Blog: PlayStation

We just published our flagship games report MIDiA Research’s Global Games Forecasts 2025–2031 and its accompanying dataset. What you need to know: The games market is mature , so double-digit growth is a fantasy and the industry will only see slight growth going forward The global number of gamers will keep growing , but ARPPU will slightly decrease over time due to growing gamer numbers in emerging markets The oversaturation of live services will see the developer pendulum swing back towards premium games on console and PC The mega-budget strategy will slowdown in favour of shorter budgets – outside of the live-service incumbents and a few select “prestige” studios Multi-game subscription user growth is reaching maturity , though revenues will grow via pricing increases (and perhaps ad-based tiers) in the future The report dives into player forecasts , revenue forecasts for software (full-game advertising, and in-game split by cosmetics and progress-based) , hardware (console and XR), and subscriptions – all up to 2031, with platform and regional splits.

Diminishing returns on console generations, cash-strapped consumers, and increasing console prices might just open up a new pricing model for consoles – one in which consoles look increasingly like smartphones.

Game publishers have long used third-party video platforms such as Twitch and YouTube as springboards for game promotion. In return, Twitch and YouTube receive ad- and creator-driven revenues (like donations).

Seemingly every manufacturer in the games space is working on a portable machine. Now, Bloomberg sources claim that Sony has started early work on a portable that plays PS5 games. Microsoft’s head of gaming, Phil Spencer, has already confirmed that Xbox is working on its own portable (also per Bloomberg ).

Japanese media conglomerate Kadokawa recently confirmed that Sony sent it a letter of intent to acquire Kadokawa (increasing its current 2% stake). Kadokawa owns FromSoftware, the developer of Elden Ring , a 25-million-selling game that became a huge cultural moment in 2022.

PlayStation recently launched a remaster of 2017’s Horizon Zero Dawn forPS5 and PC. As part of a specialpromotion from Sony, anyone who already owns the original Horizon Zero Dawn can paya $10 upgrade fee to access the remaster.

It’s no secret that the bulk of AAA games market revenues come from in-game purchases , mostlyfrom live-service games. It’s also impossible to ignore that the live-service market is fiercely competitive.

PlayStation is taking its PVP hero shooter Concord off the market after just two weeks. The game’s Steam numbers point to incredibly low sales. ‘’At this time, we have decided to take the game offline beginning September 6, 2024,’’ said Firewalk Studios’ game director, Ryan Ellis .

Every segment in the games market is facing challenges. While some experts remain optimistic about gaming’s growth pace returning in the near future, the truth is that many arguments for this never-ending growth are shaky.

Sony’s second State of Play marketing event of 2024 has increased anticipation for the company’s upcoming game releases. The roughly 30-minute presentation advertised 14 games consumers can look forward to in 2024 and 2025.

Sony released its earnings for the 12 months ending March 31, 2024 (FY2023). As always, gaming was Sony’s biggest vertical and the heart of its cross-media strategy . Revenues grew +17% in FY2023 to $28.

When rumours began circulating of a Paramount sale, TV streaming was already entering a new phase. The industry’s biggest beasts have been locked in an all-out war for subscribers, spending and borrowing big to capture as much of the market as possible.

Everyone was talking about the Super Mario Bros. Movie (The Mario movie ) and HBO’s The Last of Us this time last year, and now Fallout has entered the mainstream thanks to the Amazon show. But, for game publishers, the transmedia strategy is nowhere near maximising its potential.

Gaming has been mainstream for a while, but in recent years it has started flexing its cross-cultural muscles, intersecting with music, sports, and increasingly with video . The latest example is a new live-action movie, based on The Legend of Zelda games franchise, announced this week as a collaboration between Nintendo and Sony Pictures.

During Sony’s Showcase event last night, Sony unveiled Project Q – a handheld gaming device. It will come to the market later this year, though Sony did not specify the exact date or price yet. Project Q will enable the user to stream the games that are installed on their PS5 device over wi-fi.

The HBO Original production of Naughty Dog’s The Last of Us is solidifying the foundations of modern expectations for games video crossovers. With the games market increasingly saturated and seemingly dominated by a handful of games, companies that are acting on the cross-entertainment opportunity have a better chance of nurturing fandom of their IP and weather the current macroeconomic dynamics.

Motion capture (MOCAP) has been synonymous with big-budget productions such as Avatar and The Lord of The Rings since their respective releases. Sony hopes to change that. Sony’s January 2023 release of Mocopi , a mobile MOCAP hardware, will allow users to attach sensors to their person and have an avatar mimic their movements on-screen.

PlayStation recently announced “ PlayStation Tournaments ”, a new on-console tournaments platform designed to centralise events. Participants can enter a range of tournaments and win prizes based on their performance – including in real life (IRL) prizes.