Sony desires 20 p.c of latest video games to be on smartphones by 2025, and final August it introduced a brand new PlayStation Studios Cellular Division to assist make that occur. However you need to know that what Sony’s constructing doesn’t appear to be a brand new sport studio that may produce its personal video games, nor, say, a strategy to port Sony’s largest video games to telephones the way in which they’re getting ported to PC.
17 present and former job postings counsel that PlayStation Studios Cellular is extra of a cross-functional administration, technique, licensing, and assist crew.
They determine what PlayStation mental property would greatest match a cell phone, assist dish out that licensed IP to inside and exterior sport studios alike, oversee the titles, ensure the ultimate video games stay as much as Sony’s expectations — and perhaps make investments and even purchase exterior builders if there’s strategic worth in it.
Right here’s the outline for a Senior Exterior Producer function, for instance:
Be an envoy for PlayStation, collaborating with prime cell sport builders in evaluating, producing and releasing PlayStation Studios Cellular video games on the highest stage of high quality, on time and on price range.
And plenty of roles ask potential staff to have a “confirmed monitor report” with free-to-play video games particularly. I’ve solely seen one sport designer function to this point, and its major duty is: “Assist sport design for inside initiatives and supply session for initiatives with exterior companions on cell F2P techniques, economic system administration and retention options.”
Tried and true, a minimum of for console
Leaning on exterior studios wouldn’t be shocking: it’s a method that’s labored for Sony up to now. Many lauded first-party and third-party video games have come out of Sony’s PlayStation Studios (previously Sony Interactive Leisure Worldwide Studios), even when Sony did briefly attempt to faux the model was solely about its personal first-party exclusives when the PS5 first launched.
Moreover, that is the third time Sony’s tried to get smartphone gaming off the bottom, following its failed PlayStation Cellular platform and its WayForward studio that’s solely produced two video games (Everyone’s Golf and Disgaea RPG) particularly for the Japanese market. (Sony was additionally getting ready to deliver its PlayStation Now cloud gaming service to telephones, I found in 2021, however let’s not rely that since Sony by no means introduced it.)
Among the postings describe the group as a “small however shortly rising crew” the place staff will “put on many hats and contribute to the nascent tradition for cell sport design at PlayStation Studios whereas championing the efforts throughout the corporate.”
The job postings do make it seem to be there’s actual curiosity in tapping Sony’s inside studios to provide the video games, too, ought to these efforts be championed efficiently. The corporate’s head of cell product describes his job as together with each externally and internally developed titles:
Answerable for supply of PlayStation Studios high quality cell titles, together with internally developed inside present & acquired studios and externally developed by way of licensing, co-development and co-publishing partnerships.
Most present roles are for product managers and exterior producers in San Mateo and Amsterdam; the corporate’s additionally hiring a Director of Cellular Engineering and a product technique analyst. Beforehand, Sony additionally went on the lookout for a finance supervisor, administrators of cell product administration, enterprise growth and studio operations, and a Korean translator in Amsterdam.
In keeping with their LinkedIn pages, Sony’s hires presently seem to incorporate:
- Nicola Sebastiani as head of cell; she previously was head of content material for Apple Arcade
- Olivier Courtemanche as head of cell product; he was previously director of product for Zynga and briefly head of content material for Meta’s Horizon. Amusingly, Sony seems to have constructed the function particularly for him:
- Kris Davis as head of cell enterprise growth; he spent seven years doing that job for Kabam
- Uyen Uyen Ton Nu as head of cell advertising; she spent eight years doing that for Tremendous Evil Megacorp (that studio, by the way in which, is engaged on a challenge for Netflix’s cell video games lineup)
- Justin Kubiak in licensing; he was former VP of cell publishing at NCSoft and beforehand head of video games partnerships for Samsung
We’re positively desirous to see what they provide you with. Sony has beforehand mentioned that Savage Sport Studios, the primary group that PlayStation acquired to provide cell video games, already has “a brand new unannounced AAA cell stay service motion sport” within the works. Their job postings present they’re on the lookout for expertise with the Unreal Engine.
Nintendo additionally lately stood up a brand new firm with associate DeNA (co-developer of Tremendous Mario Run, Fireplace Emblem Heroes, and many others) to probably produce extra cell video games. And like Sony, Netflix additionally leans on exterior companions for its personal cell titles, although it’s additionally taken the Apple Arcade technique of bundling video games you beforehand had to purchase into its paid subscription.