Sony Invests $2.16 Billion in R&D for Live Service Games and Extended Reality

Sony Group is substantially boosting its research and development investments in the games sector, with a strong emphasis on live service games and opportunities in extended reality. According to Nikkei Asia, the company will allocate ¥300 billion to games R&D for the current fiscal year, ending March 30, 2024, surpassing its investments in electronics and semiconductors. This represents an 11% increase from the ¥271.1 billion spent in the previous financial year and more than double the ¥144.5 billion invested in fiscal 2020. The games R&D spending accounts for 40% of Sony Group's total R&D expenditure for this year, which totals ¥760 billion, a 3% year-on-year increase. As reported by Nikkei, the focus of games R&D spending will be on live service titles and extended reality products, such as AR headsets, which combine digital elements with the physical world. To enhance its extended reality development, Sony will leverage the resources of the nine game studios outside Japan that it has acquired or invested in over the last two years. The company plans to allocate 55% of its PS5 game development spending to live service games in the current fiscal year, increasing to 60% for the following year. Previously, PlayStation announced significant investments in live service games to address a gap in its portfolio, aiming to release 12 live service games by the fiscal year ending March 2026. The first live service game was announced in May's PlayStation Showcase, Fairgames by Jade Raymond's Haven Studios, while Guerrilla Games confirmed it is working on a multiplayer game set in the Horizon universe. An in-depth discussion with Sony about its live service games strategy was conducted earlier this year.