Since the launch of the original PlayStation, Sony has worked tirelessly to cultivate high quality first-party exclusives at its various worldwide studios. For the most part, Sony itself has opened these studios, but now it seems that it may be looking to acquire existing studios in an effort to bolster the PlayStation 5's lineup of first-party exclusives.

This comes from Sony CEO Jim Ryan, who told investors that the company plans to invest in first-party studios "through organic growth and acquisitions" in the lead-up to the PS5's launch. Sony hasn't made a major studio acquisition since 2011 when it purchased Sucker Punch Productions, the company behind hit PlayStation exclusives like Sly Cooper, Infamous, and the upcoming Ghost of Tsushima, so this is pretty big news.

While not explicitly stated by Jim Ryan, it's possible that Sony's new plan to acquire existing studios may be a response to Microsoft's aggressive acquisitions over the past few years. Following criticism for a lack of Microsoft-exclusive titles, Head of Xbox Phil Spencer has worked to acquire a variety of studios to collect under the Xbox Game Studios umbrella, including Obsidian Entertainment, Ninja Theory, Playground Games, and more.

sony plans to buy more first party studios for ps5

Ryan didn't offer any examples of studios that Sony would be interested in purchasing, but one possibility springs to mind immediately. Over the years, Sony has worked closely with Insomniac Games on huge PlayStation franchises like Ratchet & Clank and Resistance. Most recently, Insomniac worked with Sony on the Spider-Man PS4 game that launched to rave reviews and huge sales, so it would make sense for Sony to want to acquire Insomniac as a full-blown first-party studio.

However, Insomniac's desire for independence may keep that from happening. After all, Insomniac and Sony have had a working relationship since the mid-90s, yet Insomniac has remained an independent entity. Insomniac has even gone as far as to develop exclusives for Sony's competitors, like Sunset Overdrive on the Xbox One and a variety of virtual reality games for Oculus Rift.

At this point, it's hard to say which studios Sony may be interested in acquiring, but it will be exciting to see what comes from this in the future.

Source: Push Square