Seems this is the step Sony is undertaking to continue it's growth strategy:
TOKYO – Sony will leverage the combined strength of the group companies to expand its animation business overseas, making it the fourth pillar of its entertainment portfolio after music, movies and games.
“Our group is keen to help bring Japanese cartoons to fans around the world,” Sony Chairman Kenichiro Yoshida said at a strategy meeting on May 19., describing animation as a “company that embodies the ‘One Sony’ concept”.
With Demon Slayer being a key game in their arsenal
Sony is betting on “Demon Slayer” for even more success. Aniplex President, Atsuhiro Iwakami, wants to make the series a centerpiece of Aniplex’s prowess. It’s already made the manga into a blockbuster anime, and will now follow with a movie version hitting theaters this summer. Sony’s units will also turn the anime into games for mobile and PlayStation 4, with the ability to promote it overseas.
https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Me...out-to-conquer-entertainment-world-with-anime
So I guess certain anime games will be heavily invested in by Sony. This is from my perspective a great diversification on their part since their Anime IPs are going to see growth in the coming years in the West. It won't affect Japan that much judging from the PS4, since they had the vast majority of big anime games exclusive to the system until very recently. At the end of the day if you are releasing an anime game that's more appealing in Japan than in the West you are losing money by making it exclusive. While there are competitors in Japan who would probably now start to favor Nintendo for their anime adaptation. This will be very interesting to follow but I don't see how this is not a good thing for Sony. Aniplex just needs to keep control of this fourth pillar and I can see it paying off very quickly for them.
So the PS5 gen will be the gen of a lot of AAA Anime Games. I can see them revealing some big ones for 2022. I also bet a lot of that work is outsourced to the likes of Sega, Koei Tecmo, Capcom, From etc. We might be entering a very exciting time for anyone who loves Japanese culture. Imagine Creative Assembly being given a big IP to work on by Sega.
So overall it could at least ensure PS5 outperforms PSV in Japan but the bigger picture is World Wide. Japanese manga, anime and other items are becoming increasingly popular everywhere and Sony is seriously investing in this space.
Nintendo should definitely do the same and diversify into animation and serialization. It's the one area where I would personally focus on and probably the only way to make Metroid popular in Japan lol
Last edited by noshten - on 08 August 2020
