'This is not an arms race,' Sony says as it buys weapons wapens

Hot breath

But now that Microsoft is buying big, Sony feels probably the hot breath on his neck. I’m not just talking about the purchase of Bethesda, which was, of course, a monstrous move. The Xbox suddenly has the next Doom, Wolfenstein, and Elder Scrolls games in its exclusive portfolio, not to mention new projects like Starfield and Indiana Jones.

But also think a little further back to E3 2018, where Microsoft announced five new additions. Undead Labs, Playground Games, Ninja Theory, Compulsion Games and the newly founded The Initiative are making new, exclusive titles for Xbox. Later, Double Fine, inXile and Obsidian were also added. It ensures that the Xbox will soon have something for everyone, when all these acquisitions are running at full steam. Very useful, of course, if you’re trying to sell a service like Game Pass.

Sony’s Wallet

Sony has put much less in return, al it will also have felt less urgency to respond. After all, the PlayStation brand is still ahead of the console race, if there is one. Sony’s last purchase was Insomniac Games in 2019.

This week Housemarque was added, a striking studio that previously mainly made games with arcade action. The Dutch Nixxes has also been purchased, a studio known for its excellent PC ports. That’s a good thing now that Sony is increasingly releasing games on PC. The responsible studios don’t have to worry about that anymore if Nixxes takes those ports off their hands. And if we are to believe the social media channel of the Japanese PlayStation, Bluepoint will also be coming soon to Sony.

These are somewhat smaller pinpricks compared to Microsoft’s buying frenzy, but it must also be said that Microsoft has much more money than Sony. That money has to be invested, because in these economic times it is not wise to leave it in the bank. In addition, Microsoft aims to fill Game Pass with at least one AAA title per quarter. Studios and IP are needed for that.

Sony is barely joining the battle for subscription services. PS Now exists, but is not supported in the same way as Game Pass. It’s more of a nice perk that might earn Sony some pocket money, but the company doesn’t plan to put all the exclusives there on release day.

The struggle that is not a struggle

I especially notice how eager both console farmers are to avoid fighting each other. Last year, Xbox boss Phil Spencer said that Sony was not the biggest competitor, but that they mainly fought against Amazon and Netflix, for example. Sony’s Hermen Hulst made a contribution this week by saying that they are not engaged in an arms race with Microsoft. It’s not a struggle to buy up developers as quickly as possible. The studios Sony buys are logical moves that come from long collaborations. They’ve been making PlayStation exclusive games for a long time, so it feels like a natural step too.

It makes sense for Sony to say that, if only because they don’t have the money to make a purchase this big like the Bethesda deal. Microsoft didn’t buy the publisher as a result of years of collaboration, but just wanted to incorporate that entire portfolio. Sony doesn’t have that much cash. People who think that Sony will buy Square Enix for a while, will probably be disappointed.

But I think it’s nonsensical to say there’s no arms race going on. You need weapons to win a war – the battle for the wallet. PlayStation and Xbox may not be fighting quite the same war because of their different approaches, but they won’t get anywhere without weapons.

Sony’s exclusives

In addition, Sony has taken many steps to expand its arsenal. If you look beyond the pure purchase of a studio, you will see that Sony is cleverly using its more limited budget to score exclusives. Think for example of Deathloop and GhostWire: Tokyo, both games from Bethesda. So before it was bought by Microsoft, Sony was busy claiming games for itself. They may not have the money to buy the entire publisher, but they still got their share through clever deals. Or what about games like Final Fantasy 7 Remake and the upcoming Final Fantasy 16. The fact that they only (perhaps temporarily) visit Sony’s platforms also costs money, but may also bring in many (new) players.

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In addition, Sony is also partnering with new studios to bind their games. We saw that before with Hideo Kojima’s newly founded studio, making Death Stranding a PlayStation exclusive. It is now also happening with Haven, Jade Raymond’s new studio. It’s happening with Firewalk, which is now working on a AAA multiplayer game. And it’s happening with Deviation Games, a new studio of former Call of Duty developers making their own series.

Competition

Sony and Microsoft compete on exclusives. Point. Whether that is to put in Game Pass, or to justify the purchase of a PlayStation 5. They may be playing a different game, but there’s no question that they’re competing. Why do they like to avoid that?

I think they’re both a little tired of the eternal console wars. Because where there is a war, there is always a loser. They both know what it feels like to lose out in such a battle. By now both focusing on something else and attacking each other less publicly, they can both declare themselves winners.

Sony may sell more consoles than Microsoft and be happy with that. But Microsoft may bring in more money with their subscriptions, especially if they can be used on every possible platform. They are undoubtedly happy with that. They both want to fight their own war, one they can’t lose. That’s fine, but even in such a war you need weapons. So it is an arms race and it is far from over.

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