The company has been diversifying a product portfolio that could lay strong foundations for virtual worlds. The Japanese conglomerate now boasts a revived music business, a movie studio that produces Marvel blockbusters, an immense film library, and the PlayStation gaming platform. The group’s music, movie, and gaming operations drove a fiscal fourth-quarter surge of 67% over the previous year. Sony also plowed $1 billion into Fortnite publisher Epic Games last month. The Tokyo-based business had previously sunk $250m into the gaming firm. These moves have built a product package that the company is aiming at the metaverse. “The metaverse is at the same time a social space and live network space where games, music, movies, and anime intersect,” said Sony CEO Kenichiro Yoshida at a Wednesday briefing, Reuters reports. In April, Yoshida said the Epic deal would “deepen our relationship in the metaverse field.” The August acquisition of anime streaming company Crunchyroll added another weapon to the armory. Sony has made cross-platform integrations a focal point of its metaverse ambitions — a strategy that may jeopardize the dominance of PlayStation. The company recently joined the list of platforms that support Fortnite Shared Wallet. “PlayStation has played a huge role in the social gaming revolution that’s nurturing the growth of the metaverse as a new entertainment medium,” Epic CEO Tim Sweeney tweeted on Monday.
— Tim Sweeney (@TimSweeneyEpic) May 16, 2022 The Lego Group joined Sony in splurging $1 billion in Epic — a week after the toymaker collaborated with Epic on a metaverse experience for children. Together, Lego, Sony, and Epic could have a formidable appeal to the kids of today — and metaverse users of tomorrow.
