In a recent interview with Norges Bank Investment Management, Sony CEO Kenichiro Yoshida offered insights into the future of PlayStation gaming. He touched on several trends, including cloud gaming, subscription models, and the recent Microsoft-Activision acquisition.
According to the interview, Yoshida’s vision for PlayStation paints a picture of universal inclusion, where gamers can seamlessly access their favorite titles across various platforms, including PC, mobile, and cloud. While PlayStation will remain the core product, this expansion highlights Sony’s desire to reach a broader audience beyond traditional console gamers (thanks Insider-Gaming).
The discussion shifted to the growing popularity of subscription models in the gaming industry. While acknowledging their value, Yoshida expressed reservations about a one-size-fits-all “all you can eat” approach we’ve seen from many studios. He pointed out that gamers tend to focus on a single title at a time, potentially diminishing the appeal of unlimited access models compared to video streaming services. This suggests that Sony intends to pursue a hybrid strategy on the PlayStation Network, incorporating both subscription options and traditional pay-per-content purchases.
“People usually play one game at a time. So [the] all you can eat type of many games may not be so valuable compared with video streaming services. So we’ll have a kind of balanced or hybrid service on PlayStation Network: a subscription as well as pay-per-content.”
Kenichiro Yoshida
Yoshida addressed the elephant in the room: the recent acquisition of Activision Blizzard by Microsoft. While refraining from specific predictions, he emphasized the importance of healthy competition for industry growth. It wasn’t an answer that would make any tabloids, but one that I’m sure was practiced in case the question came up.
While the interview itself is really long, the part that deals just with gaming is short. However, the CEO of Sony managed to cover a lot of ground and answer many questions about the future. With Ubisoft, Microsoft, and Sony all on the bandwagon of games-as-a-subscription, we may see a brand new era for gaming due to the innovation that comes with competition.
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