Sony Planning To Create Mobile Games With Your Favourite PlayStation Characters
Updated: Aug 10, 2021
Mobile games created around popular PlayStation games like Uncharted, God of War and more may be coming to our phones in the future.
A set of investor relations documents Sony published on 26 May 2021 for its Corporate Strategy Meeting on that day detailed that Jim Ryan, CEO of Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE), is considering expanding to the mobile gaming industry to “provide more choice to gamers”.
“Mobile is just one of the areas we are exploring to reach millions of gamers beyond our platforms,” Jim Ryan said. He also explained that the PlayStation has a huge list of diverse first-party IP that can transition to smartphone gaming and complement the company’s AAA games or live service games.
This move from Sony isn’t entirely unexpected as the company posted a job listing for Head of Mobile, PlayStation Studios, SIE, in April 2021. According to the listing, the successful candidate will work on “adapting PlayStation’s most popular franchises for mobile”, giving credence to Jim Ryan’s words.
Uncharted: Fortune Hunter is an example of a mobile game that is based on its console counterpart, the Uncharted series. Credit: Naughty Dog
You may remember that Sony previously closed its PlayStation Mobile division in July 2015. The mobile division was a framework for PlayStation Vita (PS Vita) and Android indie games. However, due to the PS Vita not gaining any traction with indie developers, Sony gradually closed the mobile division, starting with the Android side. However, the division managed to release one last mobile game before closing: Uncharted: Fortune Hunter.
Based on the job listing, it is highly unlikely that Sony will port its PlayStation games for mobile gaming. Instead, they will probably create games based on the IP for mobile gamers. However, Ewdison Then of Slash Gear believes that ports are still a technically viable option for the company as PS4 emulators are available to download for mobile phones.
Jim Ryan did not disclose which of its franchisees will have mobile games created around them during Sony’s Corporate Strategy Meeting.
Written by John Paul Joaquin