• Light/Dark
  • Ever wanted an RSS feed of all your favorite gaming news sites? Go check out our new Gaming Headlines feed! Read more about it here.
  • We have made minor adjustments to how the search bar works on ResetEra. You can read about the changes here.

Excluding acquisitions, what steps should Sony take to stay competitive?

Servbot24

Servbot24

The Fallen
Oct 25, 2017
43,197
In this thread please no cheerleading for capitalist mega corporations to buy out chunks of the industry. Regardless of which corporate figurehead is your best friend.

Generally speaking, there has always been a competitive push and pull between the major platform holders that results in waves of momentum for one console or another. PS2 puts on the pressure with a huge library. XBox 360 puts on the pressure with superior online play. PS4 puts on the pressure with a better price tag and tons of GOTY level games (though XBox really helped them out). And now, XBox is putting on pressure with GamePass and vastly increasing their studios which hopefully will result in great games down the road.

So, what is Sony's next move? I think it's fair to say XBox fans are very excited about the future, whereas there's a bit more trepidation for PS, since it was going to just be business as usual until MS bought Bethesda out of the equation. Is it required for Sony to make a splash to answer MS's competitive moves, or is staying the course enough?

At the moment Sony's main draw is their extremely high quality video games. Which theoretically should be the be all and end all. But it seems like eventually they will have a miss. What if GOW:R or Horizon 2 are misses? I doubt that will be the case, but eventually something will falter. When prestige titles are the primary draw of your console, that would be a borderline disaster. It feels like Sony is walking a tightrope if they are pinning everything on that track record.

GamePass competition is an obvious possibility. They may not be able to match MS's service, and I can't imagine them putting games like God of War Ragnarok up for "free" on Day 1. But they have a giant back catalogue which could possibly be the unique identity of the "PlayStation Pass". Every single PS game from PS1, PS2, PS3, and PS4 for a monthly fee would be enticing and is something no one but Nintendo has the history to match. It would not be the same thing as GamePass, but it would be something special that PS fans would love.

This has 0% chance of happening, but if Sony could offer free online play that would certainly make waves.

What I would personally like to see is a super strong indie initiative. Fund fledgling indie studios. Make a program where indie studios can be featured in State of Plays and general advertisements. Encourage and showcase with pride a wide variety of small and creative games. PS3 was good at this but it fell off a bit with PS4. It might not be a megaton, but I think it would make a real improvement.

Anyhow enough rambling from me! What are your thoughts on how Sony can make a competitive impact, without simply buying everything out?
 
Lord Fanny

Lord Fanny

Banned
Apr 25, 2020
25,953
Servbot24 said:
What I would personally like to see is a super strong indie initiative. Fund fledgling indie studios. Make a program where indie studios can be featured in State of Plays and general advertisements. Encourage and showcase with pride a wide variety of small and creative games. PS3 was good at this but it fell off a bit with PS4. It might not be a megaton, but I think it would make a real improvement.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Doesn't this already happening? Maybe not the outright funding part, but State of Plays and other Sony advertisements have plenty of indie titles in them. I know because it feels like people bitch about how much indies are in them most of the time.
 
Lobster Roll

Lobster Roll

signature-less, now and forever
Member
Sep 24, 2019
34,415
Considering Microsoft adjusted their entire strategy because mirroring Sony's wasn't working out, I think Sony is good to keep doing its own thing without the sky falling.
 
HououinKyouma

HououinKyouma

The Wise Ones
Member
Oct 27, 2017
8,367
Pretty much keep doing what they're doing. Demand is still far greater than supply, so their first priority should be getting consoles out there.

After that, just keep a diverse portfolio of games and keep on keeping on.
 
FIREKNIGHT2029

FIREKNIGHT2029

Member
Oct 31, 2017
3,287
They need to keep doing what they've been doing for years now which is making great videogames (and make more PS5s so people can actually buy them). MIcrosoft finally getting competitive doesn't mean Sony needs to change what they are currently doing which works wonderfully for them.
 
M4n

M4n

Member
Oct 25, 2017
191
Leon, Spain
Continue to make great games in addition to acquiring interesting studios that fit within the brand, such as Bluepoint, Housemarqe or Remedy.
 
YozoraXV

YozoraXV

Member
Oct 30, 2017
2,986
Try making some multiplayer focused games.

They will never be able to have a subscription service if they have a bunch of one and done single player games with little replayability.
 
Nintendo

Nintendo

Prophet of Regret
Member
Oct 27, 2017
13,387
Keep making the top tier games like they've been doing for more than a decade. Many of their games have faltered and that's ok. They still have some of the best devs in the industry.
 
sacrament

sacrament

Banned
Dec 16, 2019
2,119
They probably need to do something at some point, but they don't really need to do anything but more of what they already are. If they get boxed out of exclusives, then they'll need to consider something or if they start making some missteps on their 1st party (they could be a few releases from dropping the bag all together, but that's highly unlikely considering their consistent quality they've operated with).

It's feeling like a high watermark at this point though, so continued growth/market share growth may need something different but they're fine for the next few years.
 
Zarshack

Zarshack

Member
May 15, 2018
541
Australia
Sony already had better studios then MS. They still do as far as I'm concerned. They don't need to buy out other studios in response. That said, if they find devopment partners that are a good fit I'm fine with them bringing them in under their portfolio. As an owner of all the systems I only care about quality games that suit my tastes continuing to be made.
 
tapedeck

tapedeck

Member
Oct 28, 2017
7,985
Just keep making great 1st party games, play to their strength. They will be perfectly fine.
 
PlanetSmasher

PlanetSmasher

The Abominable Showman
Member
Oct 25, 2017
115,932
Zarshack said:
Sony already had more / better studios then MS. They still do as far as I'm concerned. They don't need to buy out other studios in response. That said, if they find devopment partners that are a good fit I'm fine with them bringing them in under their portfolio. As an owner of all the systems I only care about quality games that suit my tastes continuing to be made.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Microsoft has twice as many studios as Sony does. Sony's developer workforce is the smallest of the Big Three right now, especially after they butchered Japan Studio.
 
Remeran

Remeran

Member
Nov 27, 2018
3,897
I don't think they need to do anything. They're making world class games that people love.
 
Crashnburn85

Crashnburn85

Member
Oct 25, 2017
781
California
I'm a Sony fan and definitely think that their studio output has been phenomenal enough to carry the brand. That being said, I think they would greatly benefit from diversifying their portfolio some more. They don't have any killer FPS or RPGs being made-in house, something that Microsoft suddenly has an incredible advantage on with the Bethesda acquisition. I'd love to also see their studios doing secondary games in addition to the longstanding brand staples (GOW, Horizon, Uncharted/Last of Us, etc.). I know game development takes a long time, but 1 game from a studio a console cycle is painful compared to the PS3 days.
 
EntelechyFuff

EntelechyFuff

Saw the truth behind the copied door
Banned
Nov 19, 2019
10,228
Collaborating with teams like Spiders and Piranha Bytez is probably a useful short term strategy to cover their WRPG flank.
 
JaseC64

JaseC64

Enlightened
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
11,008
Strong Island NY
Don't close smaller studios like Japan Studio as it feels like they are "giving up" in certain regions which you might care about. Also makes them look bad as the competition seems to want to expand there(!). Perfect opportunity for Sony to "lose" influence there.
 
Bxrz

Bxrz

Banned
Dec 18, 2020
1,902
Sony is market leader. Unless their games start sucking, they will be fine.
 
poklane

poklane

Member
Oct 25, 2017
27,957
the Netherlands
Diversifying their portfolio, not by moving their current studios/teams to do stuff in other genres but by building more teams, be it opening brand new studios or expanding current studios.
Also, a proper answer to Game Pass. I'm not expecting 1st party games to hit such a service anywhere close to their release but Sony really should do a lot better than they're currently doing with Now.
 
Betelgeuse

Betelgeuse

Member
Nov 2, 2017
2,941
It's obvious, but a big one is continued emphasis on the development of new IPs.

What was the Zenimax acquisition all about? IPs, IPs, IPs. Sony's built a really incredible stable of IPs, and particularly so this generation in which we saw so many established franchises achieve new heights. But events like the Zenimax acquisition are rapidly changing the landscape, placing an even greater value on a platform provider's stable of IPs.

I think Sony gets this, and we're seeing a lot of internal growth in their first parties for this very reason. Look no further than SSM, which appears to be assembling a second team for a new Cory Barlog IP. Guerilla appears to have had a second team for some time now headed by Simon Larouche.

Beyond that, diversify delivery channels to reduce reliance on selling PS consoles. That means continuing to explore PC ports, PS Now, and other subscription services.
 
Scottoest

Scottoest

Member
Feb 4, 2020
11,368
iAMr229 said:
Well given the position that they're in I'd say "Keep doing what they're doing"
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

For now maybe, but your competition is never standing still, and just continuing to do the same thing because it worked for you before isn't necessarily the best strategy.

That said, "stay competitive" is a weird way to couch the premise of this thread, because... Sony have a 2:1 marketshare advantage over Microsoft. Sheer pre-existing brand inertia would very likely carry them to more marketshare than the Xbox again, so long as they didn't actively step on any rakes.

Xbox have a whole pile of talented studios under their wing now, but they still are very much in the phase of proving that they've learned the necessary lessons of the past. 2020 was a good year for them, but they need to stick the landing on the bigger, mass market games that sell consoles and services.

If they start reliably doing that, Sony might have a dilemma down the road. Until then, I suspect Sony will just keep making mostly good games, and doing what they do.
 
nachum00

nachum00

Member
Oct 26, 2017
8,421
Personally I don't give a damn about them being competitive. I just want more Japanese games, not less.
 
Plinkerton

Plinkerton

Member
Nov 4, 2017
6,061
I don't think they need to do much of anything other than keep doing what's worked before. PS4's success was built off of killer exclusives and PlayStation being the system of choice for the more casual consumer (e.g. people who only play COD or FIFA). If those two factors remain unchanged I don't see that they have much to worry about, regardless of what the competition is doing.

I think ultimately there's room in the industry for both Sony's and MS's strategies to coexist.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.