Hackers Leak Sony’s Game Roadmap and Concerns About Microsoft’s Activision Acquisition

This morning, a ransomware group known as Rhysida published a massive dump of files stolen from Insomniac Games, the Sony-owned studio behind the PlayStation-exclusive games Marvel’s Spiderman 2 and Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart. The leaked files include details about Sony’s game roadmap, and various unannounced projects have been revealed including Spider-Man 3, other spin-offs in the Marvel universe, and a new Ratchet & Clank game.

The leaked documents also include a set of internal slides where Sony expresses its concerns about Microsoft’s purchase of Activision Blizzard, which is described as an opportunity for the Redmond giant to “leapfrog” Sony. This is related to the consequences of Call of Duty games coming to Microsoft’s Game Pass service, but Sony also discusses in the slides what it perceives as its own “dated pillars.”

In the slides, Sony says that Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard “could disrupt and threaten console gaming and game subscription markets.” The company also says that it sees the acquisition as a “massive threat to PlayStation Plus,” which currently generates more than $1.5 billion of annual revenue.

By acquiring Activision Blizzard, Microsoft gets to add several blockbuster franchises to its Game Pass service. It’s also getting several studios with expertise running live service games such as Call of Duty: Warzone, Diablo IV, and World of Warcraft. Moreover, with King, Microsoft is finally becoming a relevant player in the mobile gaming market.

This is why Sony is acknowledging on the slides above that its “pillars are already dated and behind the competition.” In recent years, Sony managed to consistently release single-player games that received critical acclaim and sold really well (a game like Marvel’s Spider-man sold 33 million copies as of May 2022). These system-sellers have definitely helped Sony to dominate the 9th console generation so far, but Microsoft is now taking the competition elsewhere.

As of today, Sony’s revamped PlayStation Plus service isn’t really competitive next to Microsoft’s Game Pass service, which offers access to all Xbox-exclusive games and some high-profile third-party games on day one. Moreover, Jim Ryan’s ambitious plan to launch more than 10 service games before March 2026 is not going as well as expected. Last week, The Last of Us developer Naughty Dog announced that it was canceling The Last of Us Online  – a game that’s been in development for many years – to focus on what they’re best at, and that is developing single-player narrative games.

Last but not least, Sony announced last year that it was planning to ship nearly 50% of its games on PC and mobile by 2025. This is another thing that probably was over-ambitious. Unlike Microsoft, Sony is still not releasing its own games on PC the same day they release on PlayStation 5, and the recent PC port of The Last of Us was plagued with technical issues. The company also has a weak presence on mobile, just like Nintendo.

The leaked slide does mention a “need to expand” for Sony, but it also concludes with a “premium sales model is the central approach” note. Sony appears to be justifying its commitment to blockbuster games sold at a premium by the fact that the “perfect gaming subscription service” is still “elusive.” Sony adds that the “expectation of free, best-in-class games” creates an “unsustainable” model where monthly subscriptions won’t cover the investment costs.

Since Microsoft announced back in January 2022 that its Game Pass service had surpassed 25 million subscribers, the company never shared any new data on Game Pass subscribers. In a recent interview with Windows Central, however, Xbox head Phil Spencer reiterated that Game Pass is “financially viable, meaning it makes money.” Still, it would be nice to know on what scale.