Sony plans to allocate 55% of its PlayStation 5 game development spending toward live service games for the year ending March 2024, and as much as 60% for the year ending March 2026. The new numbers come from Nikkei Asia, which reported yesterday that Sony has assembled a 300 billion yen (~$2.13 billion) war chest that will go toward game R&D, with one goal being 12 live service titles running by the fiscal year ending March 2026. Some of today’s most popular live service games include Diablo IV, Fortnite, and Destiny 2, but while those have done very well, the segment continues to draw criticism from some for microtransactions, online requirements, and other reasons.
The company will pour 300 billion yen (about $2.13 billion) into research and development for its game segment for the fiscal year ending in March 2024. The amount, which will account for around 40% of its total R&D spending, now surpasses spending in electronics and semiconductors.
The figure is more than the 271.1 billion yen spent on game R&D last fiscal year, and more than double the 144.5 billion yen in fiscal 2020. Sony Group plans to spend 760 billion yen in company-wide R&D this fiscal year, up 3% on the year.
Sony’s pivot from a focus on hardware to a subscription-based business model is spurring the company to step up R&D. Having long relied on sales of its PlayStation game console, the company will now focus on live service games that let customers purchase add-ons for titles streamed online.