Sony Forms PS Studios Mobile Division as Smartphone Push Increases
The multi-award-winning PlayStation Studios, which is home to illustrious game developers such as Naughty Dog and Guerrilla Games, will soon have a new building. Alongside the announcement that it had acquired Savage Game Studios, platform holder Sony also revealed that it had established a new business division, which it referred to as the PS Studios Mobile Division.
This will run separately from the console division, and will focus on groundbreaking, on-the-go experiences based on new and existing PlayStation IP. Sony has been hinting at its impending move into mobile application development for quite some time now, and the company has been stealthily recruiting top-tier talent with the intention of having that group steer the initiative. In order to spearhead its initiatives, it recruited Nicola Sebastiani, an executive who had previously been in charge of the underrated Apple Arcade, in the previous year.
Welcoming Savage Game Studios to the PlayStation Studios family: https://t.co/xUidwYZrfG pic.twitter.com/9my00c62NL
— PlayStation (@PlayStation) August 29, 2022
As the Japanese multinational corporation works to aggressively expand its new business division, we anticipate that the first of many mobile-focused companies that it will acquire will be Savage Game Studios.
For a very long time, PlayStation has been known for its insistence on remaining confined to the confines of its own console and for consistently being emblematic of the very best story-driven video games. Even the best must eventually diversify their operations, and it would appear that the expansion into personal computer and mobile game platforms was the natural conclusion to this process.
Head of PlayStation Studios Hermen Hulst said: “PlayStation Studios must continue to expand and diversify our offering beyond console, bringing incredible new games to a greater number of people than has ever been possible. Another strategic step towards achieving that objective is being taken by acquiring the talented staff at Savage Game Studios.”
“I’m really excited about what Savage is working on, and I’m confident that they will provide an experience of a high quality. Our expansion into mobile, much like our expansion into PC and live service games, strengthens both our capabilities and our community, and complements PlayStation Studios’ goal of creating the best games that we are capable of,” he added.
In the year 2020, Michail Katkoff, Nadjim Adjir, and Michael McManus laid the groundwork for what would become Savage Game Studios. All three of them have previous experience working in renowned video game companies such as Rovio and Insomniac Games.
At this time, it is unknown whether Savage Game Studios will develop a new intellectual property (IP) or whether they will incorporate their future games into already established IPs. It is important to keep in mind how dominant mobile gaming has become in recent years, especially given the success of games like Fortnite and Genshin Impact, which are available on mobile devices, personal computers, and gaming consoles. It makes perfect sense for PlayStation to expand its focus on mobile gaming given that it plans to increase the number of live service games it produces. It is clear that Sony wants to target a much larger audience than it has ever targeted before as it seeks to find ways to expand its brand outside of the console. This initiative and its PS Productions adaptations are two examples of how Sony plans to do this.
