Sony loves live service games. We’re yet to see the fruits of its labour, but apparently it has ten Fortnite-esque ongoing online multiplayer games in production – and it just spent billions buying Bungie and investing into Epic Games. Now the platform holder’s put its hand in its pocket once more, investing in software company AccelByte.
You probably won’t have heard of this firm unless you’re a game developer, but essentially the startup is responsible for building backend tools that can help power live service games, including the likes of Payday 2. It provides features like analytics, in-game monetisation, and more – it’s all about versatility and scaling to a particular product’s needs.
Needless to say this is a big deal if you’re making games, and it’s probably safe to assume Sony is using the technology for its upcoming titles. It’s one of three companies – alongside Galaxy Interactive and NetEase – who’s contributed to a $60 million investment into the organisation. Obviously this is chump change for firms like PlayStation, but it does help to reinforce where its focus is right now.
Unsurprisingly, AccelByte’s founder Junaili Lie previously worked for Epic Games, and his company’s goal is to provide AAA calibre tools to developers both big and small. With the number of live service games exploding, this will probably prove a shrewd investment from Sony, as it’s bound to make back its money as AccelByte inevitably grows – and it’ll no doubt get access to its tools to boot.
