Sony Doesn’t Have Enough Original Franchises Built From the Ground Up, Executive Says

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Kat Bailey
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Kat Bailey

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Sony Chief Financial Officer Hiroki Totoki doesn’t think that the media giant has enough franchises that it has “fostered from the beginning,” calling it an issue for the company as it seeks to rival its competitors in the space.

“Whether it’s for games, films or anime, we don’t have that much IP that we fostered from the beginning,” Totoki said in an interview with the Financial Times. “We’re lacking the early phase (of IP) and that’s an issue for us.”

PlayStation fans quickly seized on Totoki’s comments, posting images of Sly Cooper, Resistance, and other long lost franchises. But as others pointed out, Totoki was referring to the business as a whole, which is lacking in homegrown properties on the scale of, say, Mario. Outside of Spider-Man, Sony’s biggest transmedia sucess is arguably The Last of Us, which debuted to great fanfare on HBO in 2023.

One fan opined on Reddit, “This comment is referring to Sony as a whole, not just its games division. From that perspective, I think I would agree. As a casual viewer I couldn’t name anything that stands out to me from their film division that isn’t an existing IP, and even what they are making doesn’t have the greatest reputation. What is Sony Pictures without Spider-Man? Hotel Transylvania?”

Sony has prioritized the acquisition of major franchises, at one point seeking to team with Apollo to acquire Paramount for $26 billion in a deal that ultimately fell through. Still, Sony is hoping that it can continue to develop popular properties of its own.

Whether it’s for games, films or anime, we don’t have that much IP that we fostered from the beginning

“We have the technology and creation is the area where we like and where we can contribute the most,” CEO Kenichiro Yoshida said as part of interview. “By putting our efforts in creation, that also means that we will work with partners on the distribution side. So I think we have developed very good relationships with the so-called Big Tech players.”

The interview also quotes Crunchyroll President Rahul Purini, who says the streamer is seeking to team with Sony to co-produce shows amid rising production costs. He estimates that there are around 800 million anime fans globally, which he believes could rise to a billion in the next few years.

“Given the constraints within the ecosystem, there is opportunity for various companies, including Sony, to see if there is a way to add additional capacity, bring additional talent and potentially leverage digital technology in the creation process,” Purini said.

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Fans are getting nostalgic for Infamous and other lost PlayStation properties after a Sony exec that it wasn’t doing enough to make new franchises.

Sony is just one of many media companies to join the frenzy to find valuable franchises for streaming services, video games, and other platforms. Nintendo, Sega, Warner Bros., and Disney are among the companies to dig into their portfolios to find fodder for movies and amusement parks, resulting in a host of revivals, some of them quite obscure.

Elsewhere, Sony’s attempts to create its own online franchise hasn’t gotten well, with Concord set to be pulled offline less than two weeks after launch. Prior to the cancellation, Concord was set to appear in Amazon’s Secret Level series, though it’s unclear whether those plans will move forward.

In the meantime, Sony fans are being left to fondly reminisce about Infamous, Jak and Daxter, Dark Cloud, Gravity Rush, and other lost classics. Hey, at least there’s always Astro Bot, right? Sony’s nostalgic platformer will be out September 6.

Kat Bailey is IGN’s News Director as well as co-host of Nintendo Voice Chat. Have a tip? Send her a DM at @the_katbot.