Sony is expanding into mobile gaming by acquiring mobile developer Savage Game Studios. As part of the move, Sony announced that it has established the PlayStation Mobile Division.
Sony has been slowly dipping its toes outside its normal comfort zone of console exclusives in recent years, primarily by porting its first-party titles to PC. The success of these titles has been such that the company even acquired a dedicated PC port studio, Nixxes Software, to push this initiative. While there have been a select few Sony games on mobile, such as the oft-forgotten Uncharted: Fortune Hunter, the company has otherwise been absent on the platform.
As detailed on the PlayStation blog by Head of PlayStation Studios Hermen Hulst, the company has entered an agreement to acquire Savage Game Studios. Hulst says, “As we assured you before with our plans to bring select titles to PC, our efforts beyond console in no way diminish our commitment to the PlayStation community, nor our passion to keep making amazing single-player, narrative-driven experiences … Our mobile gaming efforts will be similarly additive, providing more ways for people to engage with our content, and striving to reach new audiences unfamiliar with PlayStation and our games.”
Savage Game Studios is the first to join the brand-new PlayStation Studios Mobile Division that will operate independently from Sony’s console divisions. They will be responsible for developing “innovative, on-the-go experiences based on new and existing PlayStation IP.”
The post concludes by announcing Savage Game Studio is already in the process of developing a new AAA mobile live service action game. As to whether or not this will be a new IP or use an existing Sony IP remains unclear, and there was no mention of when more details will be revealed.
The mobile gaming market is the largest in the gaming industry, and as Sony has found great success in expanding to the PC market, it seems like a natural move for it to want to capitalize on this market as well. The creation of an entire mobile division certainly makes it clear this is a major initiative for Sony moving forward.