These days, it almost feels as though we hear more acquisition news in the gaming industry than we hear of the games themselves. Following Microsoft’s industry-shattering bids to acquire Bethesda Softworks and Activision Blizzard, among a number of other studios, Sony retaliated in kind by taking a few prized developers for the PlayStation family. Now, after securing a deal to buy Destiny creator Bungie, the Japanese media juggernaut is looking to up its acquisition game by hiring a specialist just like Team Xbox did a while ago.
According to a new job listing by Sony Interactive Entertainment, the company is looking to hire a Director of Corporate Development whose responsibilities include “identifying inorganic growth opportunities through acquisitions, investments or joint ventures.” Sony is looking for people who can not only identify such buyout opportunities, but also help integrate the newcomers into the PlayStation Studios workplace culture in an effort to “drive significant long-term value for the company.”
It seems that PlayStation is not done shopping for new studios by a long shot. Only today, we heard that Square Enix has sold its western studios and several of its IPs to Embracer Group for a meager $300 million, and some industry commentators like Jeff Grubb seem to think the Japanese distributor itself is now up for grabs after getting rid of its costly developers.
After fighting Vivendi for years, Ubisoft has also openly expressed interest in becoming a subsidiary of another industry giant, so Sony will have no shortage of pickings to choose from and add to the PlayStation family in the near future.