Sony has released details and the full slideshow of its Corporate Strategy Meeting 2023 presentation, where it discussed the synergy it’s currently trying to create between the disparate parts of its entertainment and technology businesses, including PlayStation and gaming, to expand its reach to 1 billion users across all of its services.
You can see the full thing here, which goes into the company’s goals across music, film, technology services and its market in India, but the key takeaways are that the strategy for PlayStation in particular going forward is expansion of the PS5 and PlayStation ecosystem install base through IP and exclusive content.
Sony says the primary focus in its ongoing Game & Network Services strategy is to increase the number of active PlayStation users, citing growth and expansion of the PlayStation 5 and strengthening of its first party game portfolio as a key driver to achieve this.
With 6.3 million PS5s shipped in the last quarter, it’s certainly on track with its domination of the new-gen console space, and Sony says it’s also going to expand its content pipeline with “increasingly innovative and compelling” game experiences in order to grow the install base of the PS5 even further, working with publishers and developers to achieve this.
It’s not just PS5 though. Sony wants to increase its install base on PC as well, a key target in its push towards live service games. It says that it continues to take on knowledge from Bungie after it acquired the studio in 2022 and will use this knowledge to support its ability to create and operate live service titles.
IP is also clearly very important, with the presentation highlighting Sony’s multi-faceted, multi-media approach to expanding its key IP like The Last of Us, Gran Turismo and Uncharted. It calls out The Last of Us as having become the most-watched show in history in Europe and Latin America, as well as boosting the sales of The Last of Us games and a Sony-published song used in the series (A-Ha’s “Take On Me”). Sony has reportedly invested 1 trillion yen (nearly $11 billion AUD) into its IP over the last five years alone.
