Sony establishes PlayStation Mobile division, buys Savage Game Studios

Sony acquired Savage Game Studios, a mobile game developer, and will integrate it into the PlayStation Studios stable. But, perhaps more important, Sony plans to push mobile gaming in line with previous efforts to reach PC gamers through its AAA intellectual property.

“Our mobile gaming efforts will be similarly additive,” head of PlayStation Studios Hermen Hulst said in a statement Monday morning, after mentioning the recent PC launch of Marvel’s Spider-Man And the forthcoming release Legacy of Thieves Collection – Uncharted On PC. However, Savage Game Studios will be part of a new PlayStation Studios Mobile Division, “which will operate independently from our console development and focus on innovative, on-the-go experiences based on new and existing PlayStation IP.”

So, this doesn’t sound like porting existing console titles over to mobile platforms, an approach that would probably be better served by cloud streaming, anyway (and PlayStation Plus does not yet support streaming games to mobile devices). Savage Game Studios Michael Katkoff, in the same statement Monday, mentioned “the ability to potentially tap into PlayStation’s amazing catalog of IP and the fact that we will benefit from the kind of support that only they can provide.”

Hulst said Savage Game Studios is “already working on a new unannounced AAA mobile live service action game. It’s too early to reveal more, but I’m so excited for when they’ll be able to.”

Savage Game Studios, which was established in 2020, is located in Berlin and Helsinki. Mobile and other titles have not been launched by the studio. The studio announced seed funding of $4.4 million to develop a mobile shooter in January 2021.

Sony’s last major effort in the mobile space was shut down in 2015, although it was altogether a different thing back then. PlayStation Mobile was an Android storefront and development platform for indie titles on Android phones and the doomed PlayStation Vita. It started in 2012, but it closed its Android support in 2015.

Other than that, PlayStation IPs are only available on a limited scale for mobile. The puzzle game Uncharted: Fortune Hunter Approximately one week prior, it was made available on iOS and Android. Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End PlayStation 4 launch; also, an infinite runner known as Run Sackboy! Run! Launched on Mobile the Same Day LittleBigPlanet3 Hit PS3 or PS4.

Nintendo was also notoriously reluctant to make its franchises available on smartphones and tablets until it finally agreed to a partnership in 2015 with Japanese mobile developer DeNA. That union eventually brought adaptations like 2016’s Super Mario Run, 2019’s Mario Kart Tour, And the temporary Dr. Mario WorldThe company was closed in November 2021.