VGC: PlayStation has seemingly appointed Apple Arcade’s former content boss to lead its mobile push

[TheRealTalker]

This is old by a few days but I don't believe I saw a thread about it.

Anyway, you know how a few months back PlayStation Studios was hiring for a head of mobile?

He was hired as of 4 months ago.

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Lock if old:

PlayStation has seemingly appointed Apple Arcade’s former content boss to lead its mobile push | VGC

Nicola Sebastiani is helping the company bring its IP to mobile…

www.videogameschronicle.com

Sebastiani joined PlayStation in July following almost eight years at the iPhone maker, according to his LinkedIn profile. VGC has contacted Sony for confirmation of his appointment.

During his time at Apple, Sebastiani served as head of games business management for the App Store before being appointed head of content for the company's game subscription service Apple Arcade.

A job advert spotted in April revealed that PlayStation was opening a new business unit to adapt its "most popular franchises" for mobile.

It said the company's head of mobile would work at its San Mateo or Los Angeles offices in California and be responsible for developing a product roadmap for a 3-5-year time frame....

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The one thing you can credit to Apple Arcade is the content they snagged for their platform and it seems Sony may be serious in releasing better content for their mobile push then before.

Let's see where this takes them in the coming months/years.

 

[Joshua]

Apple Arcade is sooo solid and the last 6 months have really transformed the service (by adding classics, the + games, etc). This is a good get on Sony's part.

 

[Nightengale]

Thanks Andy. /s

 

[Rumenapp]

More Wipeout games coming then.

 

[Nightengale]

More Wipeout games coming then.

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I personally do not think that Wipeout is part of the cited mobile slate of games.

If I look at the hiring details - the mobile team is parked under PlayStation Studios, which is Hermen's division. The role and expectation that they're looking for are product managers of an internal portfolio managed by SIE.

Which does not fit the criteria for the 2 SIE-IP mobile games we know of now, which is Wipeout and Guns Up.

The way those games are being handled is closer to a licensing approach.

 

[CosmicGP]

I was going to make a joke following mr playstation ceo's wish to sell 100 million PS games that they were going to make mobile games..... >.>

 

[Det]

I personally do not think that Wipeout is part of the cited mobile slate of games.

If I look at the hiring details - the mobile team is parked under PlayStation Studios, which is Hermen's division. The role and expectation that they're looking for are product managers of an internal portfolio managed by SIE.

Which does not fit the criteria for the 2 SIE-IP mobile games we know of now, which is Wipeout and Guns Up.

The way those games are being handled is closer to a licensing approach.

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Does SIE even have any involvement with Wipeout Rush? From what I can tell, Rogue Games is the developer & publisher.

 

[Liam Allen-Miller]

Which does not fit the criteria for the 2 SIE-IP mobile games we know of now, which is Wipeout and Guns Up.

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You're forgetting the GOAT PlayStatiom Mobile game powered by Coke Zero™.

Spoiler

:P

 

[Planet]

Does SIE even have any involvement with Wipeout Rush? From what I can tell, Rogue Games is the developer & publisher.

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Are you sure?

 

[TheRealTalker]

Are you sure?

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That just says Sony owns the WIPEOUT I.P

 

[AAION]

what a cute pfp

 

[NekoNeko]

Are you sure?

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that just says sony owns the copyright and trademark which isn't exactly proof of anything.

 

[CubeApple76]

I do think there is room in the mobile landscape for high quality, non-pay to win games made for mobile. Probably it wouldn't be realistic to charge high prices for them, since most will balk at paying more than a few bucks, but as a sub option it may be possible. I mean apple arcade proves this is a viable model. Even if they could do things like port some of their vita games that would be cool - phones nowadays are more than powerful enough to run those

 

[TheRealTalker]

I do think there is room in the mobile landscape for high quality, non-pay to win games made for mobile. Probably it wouldn't be realistic to charge high prices for them, since most will balk at paying more than a few bucks, but as a sub option it may be possible. I mean apple arcade proves this is a viable model. Even if they could do things like port some of their vita games that would be cool - phones nowadays are more than powerful enough to run those

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apparently Apple Arcade isn't profitable but I do like the idea of what it represented of no microtransaction mobile games

from there you can have games that focus on content or other things and therefore create a place for smaller sized games or AA games, etc...

who knows you could have those games be ported to console too for an even bigger audience

 

[Planet]

That just says Sony owns the WIPEOUT I.P

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That clearly indicates involvement I'd say. Or do you only count code or asset development?

 

[JuniperAndSage]

I do think there is room in the mobile landscape for high quality, non-pay to win games made for mobile. Probably it wouldn't be realistic to charge high prices for them, since most will balk at paying more than a few bucks, but as a sub option it may be possible. I mean apple arcade proves this is a viable model. Even if they could do things like port some of their vita games that would be cool - phones nowadays are more than powerful enough to run those

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It's the F2P ("pay to win") part of mobile games that's appealing and responsible for them being played by tens of millions of people.

 

[TheRealTalker]

That clearly indicates involvement I'd say. Or do you only count code or asset development?

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I mean of course said has to mention said clause because they don't actually own the I.P but it doesn't mean Sony published it or developed it

 

[Det]

Are you sure?

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I meant involved with respect to developing and/or providing publishing resources i.e funding, production support. That just indicates SIE licensed it to them - beyond that, I can't see any other mention of involvement. Don't care either way, I was only curious how, or if, Wipeout Rush relates to the internal SIE mobile strategy - specifically with this ex-Apple VP. Regardless, I expect them to license out other IP to 3rd party studios on the mobile side, along with internally developed/published titles.

 

[Fisty]

Tbh, all they really need is someone with an eye for quality in that space. I've barely heard anything about Apple Arcade, but when I do it's about the general quality of the titles. I probably won't end up playing the games but a couple of big partnerships could really take off

I meant involved with respect to developing and/or providing publishing resources i.e funding, production support. That just indicates SIE licensed it to them - beyond that, I can't see any other mention of involvement. Don't care either way, I was only curious how, or if, Wipeout Rush relates to the internal SIE mobile strategy - specifically with this ex-Apple VP. Regardless, I expect them to license out other IP to 3rd party studios on the mobile side, along with internally developed/published titles.

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I dont think this hire really relates all that much, I think his position and experience means he will be working on something more "mobile games service" adjacent for Sony than traditional publishing or something like that. He probably wouldn't be too involved with Sony licensing it's IPs to mobile devs, publishing, etc.

 

[Pai Pai Master]

I was going to make a joke following mr playstation ceo's wish to sell 100 million PS games that they were going to make mobile games..... >.>

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Sony announced a first party push into mobile games a while back

 

[JaseC64]

Dragoon Mobile coming soon.

 

[Deleted member 14089]

Oh dang, that's big considering the curation and initial state and growth of Apple Arcade.

Also, Epic Games really set a standard of mobile graphics with their infinity blade series and if playstation can ascend that to another level that would be cool.
Especially since there probably won't be another portable.

 

[Angie]

Did Andy gave Nightengale credit for first finding out?

 

[Det]

I dont think this hire really relates all that much, I think his position and experience means he will be working on something more "mobile games service" adjacent for Sony than traditional publishing or something like that. He probably wouldn't be too involved with Sony licensing it's IPs to mobile devs, publishing, etc.

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Oh I agree, bad phrasing on my part. What I meant to ask was: is licensing IP to 3rd party mobile devs part of their internal mobile strategy, or is it along the lines of an Aniplex/SMC situation where they license/publish games (mobile or otherwise) irrespective of SIE's new push. Purely interested from a future direction POV i.e. if this is an internal SIE mobile division license we can expect more IP to be licensed to 3rd party mobile devs, if not, who knows.

 

[CosmicGP]

Sony announced a first party push into mobile games a while back

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Oh. I totally missed that.

 

[Fisty]

Oh I agree, bad phrasing on my part. What I meant to ask was: is licensing IP to 3rd party mobile devs part of their internal mobile strategy, or is it along the lines of an Aniplex/SMC situation where they license/publish games (mobile or otherwise) irrespective of SIE's new push. Purely interested from a future direction POV i.e. if this is an internal SIE mobile division license we can expect more IP to be licensed to 3rd party mobile devs, if not, who knows.

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Oh I see, yeah I would guess Wipeout is an older deal since initiatives are usually announced very early and the timing doesn't really line up.

I gotta say I'm surprised by the prospect of the actual Playstation segment getting involved in publishing on mobile, its a tough market to crack and I would have guessed they would have just stuck to licensing. Maybe this key hire is how they plan to do that, but again it seems like bringing in someone with that resume would be for something bigger than traditional publishing. Obviously, I would also say that first party development of mobile games is out of the question fwiw.

 

[Beefsquid]

Apple Arcade is seriously great, so I feel like this is an exciting move. Interested what Sony has planned.

 

[Nightengale]

I dont think this hire really relates all that much, I think his position and experience means he will be working on something more "mobile games service" adjacent for Sony than traditional publishing or something like that. He probably wouldn't be too involved with Sony licensing it's IPs to mobile devs, publishing, etc.

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This is the job description that he was hired to do.

Do you want to lead the development and strategy of mobile gaming and help shape the future of gaming for a world-class studio? As Head of Mobile, you will own and develop the mobile games strategy for PlayStation Studios and help build a foundation for future growth opportunities. You will lead all aspects of the expansion of our game development from consoles and PCs to mobile & Live Services with a focus on successfully adapting PlayStation's most popular franchises for mobile. You will be responsible for building and scaling a team of mobile leaders and will serve as the Head of this new business unit within PlayStation Studios.

Major Areas of Responsibilities:

• As the business unit leader, you will promote the vision, mission, strategy for mobile game development within PlayStation Studios and be responsible for driving the business unit commercial success and profitability.
• Build and execute against a mobile 3-5yr business plan, outlining growth targets, resource s needs & KPI's
• Partner with PlayStation Studios Leadership Team to develop mobile product roadmap for a 3-5-year time frame.
• Build and scale multiple game teams and product leaders to deliver against future title plans.
• Partner with the Corporate Development Team to drive M&A strategy in-line with long range plans.
• Manage existing mobile slate already in development while delivering against revenue and profitability goals.
• Build out capabilities in mobile live operations in partnership with technology, operations, studio, analytics, and customer service teams.
• Partner with central publishing teams to develop capabilities in-line with new mobile games commercial strategy.

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[manuvlad]

I saw a headline for an article or something that states that Apple makes more money with games than Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo combined. I don't know how accurate this information is, but it doesn't seem so far-fetched to me. So, It is smart for Sony to invest heavily in this segment using all the expertise that the company has in the gaming and entertainment industries.

 

[HStallion]

I was going to make a joke following mr playstation ceo's wish to sell 100 million PS games that they were going to make mobile games..... >.>

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That was one of the big take aways from Ryan's comments about reaching hundred of millions of people.

 

[Fisty]

This is the job description that he was hired to do.

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Ah very interesting, it specifically mentions M&A while not ruling out first party development. Seems Playstation might have a very aggressive plan to push into that space if that's what they want out of Sebastiani.

Pretty bold tbh, not sure I like the direction if that's actually the plan but I definitely see the business case for it

 

[Diarrhea Day-Lewis]

Apple Arcade has been a great service. It would be random but if Sony worked a selection of mobile games into a ps+ game pass revamp that would be cool. Get X number of games on PS5, get Y games on mobile.

 

[TheRealTalker]

Ah very interesting, it specifically mentions M&A while not ruling out first party development. Seems Playstation might have a very aggressive plan to push into that space if that's what they want out of Sebastiani.

Pretty bold tbh, not sure I like the direction if that's actually the plan but I definitely see the business case for it

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they should try and get or work with MistWalker

I wonder if he worked with them and could be a bridge in doing so

 

[Drek]

The single most obvious miss to me for Sony in mobile is not having PSP and PSV emulator wrappers for all their first and any interested third party games so they can re-monetize them onto handhelds. Games like Golden Abyss and KZ: Mercenaries would probably clean up on various app stores.

 

[Fisty]

they should try and get or work with MistWalker

I wonder if he worked with them and could be a bridge in doing so

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I think the interesting question is if Sony/PS going to try to create a "AAA mobile" segment or just continue on the established and successful path of gacha, cooldowns, etc etc. Of course I'd much rather see projects like Fantasian over stuff like Fate Grand Order, but it's kinda obvious which one is pulling in more profit.

 

[BabyDontHurtMe]

I wonder if Sony will have more cross-platform games with PC-Mobile-Console through this. Not like Sony's first-party games but these "PlayStation Mobile" games could be of a high enough quality to port to other platforms, similar to Genshin Impact.

 

[Combichristoffersen]

The single most obvious miss to me for Sony in mobile is not having PSP and PSV emulator wrappers for all their first and any interested third party games so they can re-monetize them onto handhelds. Games like Golden Abyss and KZ: Mercenaries would probably clean up on various app stores.

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Put Golden Abyss and those portable Resistance games on PS4 and PS5 too, and I'd gladly buy them.

 

[TheRealTalker]

I think the interesting question is if Sony/PS going to try to create a "AAA mobile" segment or just continue on the established and successful path of gacha, cooldowns, etc etc. Of course I'd much rather see projects like Fantasian over stuff like Fate Grand Order, but it's kinda obvious which one is pulling in more profit.

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SIE had Forward Works as their spin off Gacha team but recently this year they got moved out of SIE and put into Sony Music.

So I am guessing that hints at the direction PS Mobile itself is going, since FW was the one that did small gacha games with PS I.Ps and SIE has decided to move away from that possibly?

 

[Spicy Noodles]

I mean genshin impact made 2 billion $$ from phones only not counting console and pc. Gonna need to bring out the waifus tho lol.

 

[Fisty]

SIE had Forward Works as their spin off Gacha team but recently this year they got moved out of SIE and put into Sony Music.

So I am guessing that hints at the direction PS Mobile itself is going, since FW was the one that did small gacha games with PS I.Ps and SIE has decided to move away from that possibly?

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I hope so, it would be good to keep that separation because if AAA mobile with their IP is the aim then it's best to keep the gacha stuff with Sony Music as it currently is and create new teams with a different background under Playstation targeting phone hardware. I really dont see those two markets crossing over much and if Sony wants their current bread and butter market to dip into mobile, it won't be for games developed by teams geared toward the current mobile market.

 

[TheRealTalker]

I hope so, it would be good to keep that separation because if AAA mobile with their IP is the aim then it's best to keep the gacha stuff with Sony Music as it currently is and create new teams with a different background under Playstation targeting phone hardware. I really dont see those two markets crossing over much and if Sony wants their current bread and butter market to dip into mobile, it won't be for games developed by teams geared toward the current mobile market.

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Yeah I feel that may be the case. I am guessing these future PS Mobile games will be under the PS Studios banners and seeing as they are getting this Apple Arcade rep then they likely want to emulate the content that Apple Arcade provides rather then Gacha. That they can leave to Sony Music.

 

[pswii60]

Apple Arcade's content is more than decent if mobile gaming is your thing. I get it as part of Apple One but still barely touch mobile games tbh. But I still admire the work that has been done to bring such a diverse lineup of content to the service, and the enhanced versions of mobile classics like Cut The Rope et al. Certainly a strong recruit from Sony's point of view, even if I struggle to see them breaking in to mobile in a big way. Usually the big mobile hits come from the most unlikely places.

That said, the really great news is that Sony can finally bring mobile gaming to Russia and the Middle East, where they've never played a mobile game before.

 

[Mentalist]

sooo... Bloodborne on mobile when?


:)

 

[Nightengale]

Ah very interesting, it specifically mentions M&A while not ruling out first party development. Seems Playstation might have a very aggressive plan to push into that space if that's what they want out of Sebastiani.

Pretty bold tbh, not sure I like the direction if that's actually the plan but I definitely see the business case for it

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PlayStation Studios *is* first-party development. They're one and the same.
Also, we knew from the April financials that making a substantial strategic investment in mobile is a key focus area for Sony Corp.

The difference is that I see 90-95% of 1st-party mobile game driven by external development, and Sebatiani is a good talent in that respect ,because Apple didn't have their own internal mobile talent either, everything AA was external development outreach. So who they hired is someone with strong network, visibility and experience to work with external talent in developing high quality mobile games.

 

[Ravage]

I really dont see those two markets crossing over much and if Sony wants their current bread and butter market to dip into mobile, it won't be for games developed by teams geared toward the current mobile market.

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I don't think it is the goal of the mobile business team to cater to the existing PS console userbase though. Quite sure they are focusing on leveraging their IPs to attract new users in the mobile space.

 

[Nightengale]

I don't think it is the goal of the mobile business team to cater to the existing PS console userbase though. Quite sure they are focusing on leveraging their IPs to attract new users in the mobile space.

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Sony's goal is the same as Ubisoft, after the proven success of Call of Duty's triple-decker strategy.

Using mobile/F2P/paid releases to expand reach, audience, spending of the IPs.

 

[sbenji]

They are serious. This is easily an 8 figure takent acquisition.

 

[CosmicGP]

That was one of the big take aways from Ryan's comments about reaching hundred of millions of people.

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Ah. But I thought they'd try to limit it to Sony's brand of big budget games.

 

[TheRealTalker]

I wonder if we are going to get cross hybrid games? Like if Factions 2 will be on PS but also on mobile with crossplay?

 

[Simon-chan]

Finally Ape Escape and other beloved franchises from the PlayStation history will get their bastardised money-grabbing mobile games.
Can't wait.