Sony sees itself well positioned for the Metaverse
Sony is ready for the Metaverse. The company can take on a leading role, says CEO Kenichiro Yoshida.
The fact that the term metaverse is difficult to define makes it malleable. Everyone has a different idea of the metaverse, and that's where the power of the word lies.
Sony CEO Yoshida defines the metaverse during a strategy session as follows: "The metaverse is at the same time a social space and live network space where games, music, movies and anime intersect."
By this definition, Yoshida sees Sony well positioned for the Metaverse: The company maintains one of the largest music labels, produces Hollywood movies and owns Playstation, one of the leading gaming platforms. These three business pillars accounted for two-thirds of Sony's revenue in its most recent financial statements.
Sony invests in the Metaverse's gaming roots
The Metaverse's beginnings can be located in gaming. The biggest and most influential proto-metaverses like Minecraft, Roblox and Fortnite are games at heart.
Yoshida came up with Fortnite several times during his talk, explaining how Sony's business lines (music, movies, games) contributed to the game's success. The company is betting big on Fortnite and recently invested $1 billion in Epic Games, which itself has ambitious Metaverse plans.
The purchase of Bungie for $3.6 billion can also be seen as a Metaverse move. Sony wants to develop ten live service games in the upcoming years, and Bungie's experience with the MMO brand Destiny will be invaluable.
Sony is also investing in VR
Should the Metaverse move towards virtual reality, as planned by Meta, Sony will have a say in this as well: This year, or 2023 at the latest, Playstation VR 2 will be released.
At the same time, Sony is probably working on VR headsets that are not limited to gaming and is developing the underlying technology itself. The expertise and production capacities are apparently there.
In the Metaverse, people come together to share "space and time," Yoshida said at the meeting. The Sony CEO cited a virtual concert as an example. From superstars of the music and film scene to Fortnite and gaming to the "presence medium" of virtual reality: Sony has the puzzle pieces of the Metaverse together.
Sony's meeting is freely available on the web as a video stream.
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