What we’ve discovered about Sony PlayStation’s new smartphone video games staff

Sony needs 20 p.c of recent video games to be on smartphones by 2025, and final August it introduced a brand new PlayStation Studios Cell Division to assist make that occur. However it’s best to know that what Sony’s constructing doesn’t appear like a brand new sport studio that can produce its personal video games, nor, say, a strategy to port Sony’s greatest video games to telephones the best way they’re getting ported to PC.

17 present and former job postings counsel that PlayStation Studios Cell is extra of a cross-functional administration, technique, licensing, and help staff.

They determine what PlayStation mental property would finest match a cell phone, assist dish out that licensed IP to inner and exterior sport studios alike, oversee the titles, make sure that the ultimate video games dwell 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 position, for instance:

Be an envoy for PlayStation, collaborating with high cell sport builders in evaluating, producing and releasing PlayStation Studios Cell video games on the highest stage of high quality, on time and on finances.

And lots of roles ask potential workers to have a “confirmed observe report” with free-to-play video games particularly. I’ve solely seen one sport designer position thus far, and its main accountability is: “Help sport design for inner tasks and supply session for tasks with exterior companions on cell F2P methods, financial system administration and retention options.”

Leaning on exterior studios wouldn’t be stunning: it’s a formulation that’s labored for Sony prior 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 fake 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 Cell platform and its WayForward studio that’s solely produced two video games (All people’s Golf and Disgaea RPG) particularly for the Japanese market. (Sony was additionally making ready to convey 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.)

A few of the postings describe the group as a “small however rapidly rising staff” the place workers 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 look like there’s actual curiosity in tapping Sony’s inner 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:

Liable for supply of PlayStation Studios high quality cell titles, together with internally developed inside present & acquired studios and externally developed through 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 Cell 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 at present 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 position 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 best way, is engaged on a venture 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 give you. Sony has beforehand mentioned that Savage Recreation Studios, the primary group that PlayStation acquired to provide cell video games, already has “a brand new unannounced AAA cell dwell service motion sport” within the works. Their job postings present they’re on the lookout for expertise with the Unreal Engine.

Nintendo additionally just lately stood up a brand new firm with companion DeNA (co-developer of Tremendous Mario Run, Hearth Emblem Heroes, and many others) to doubtlessly 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.