The BIG PlayStation leak
The BIG PlayStation leak
Hackers have breached PlayStation: data on game sales, profitability, Marvel IP licensing terms, and more has been leaked.
Disclaimer: I do not support what hackers did. The guilty party must face its punishment.
However, the information went public. Want it or not, hide it or not, it’s there. And the leak is massive; every gaming website is writing about it. Unfortunately.
My take is that as far as it leaked, we can try to learn from it. The industry learned a lot from the Epic vs. platforms case and the Microsoft x Activision Blizzard process. Numbers here might be helpful for game industry peers from the evaluation, benchmarking, and general business understanding perspectives.
Insomniac Games Financial Results
Throughout its existence, the studio has earned over $1.7 billion. Ratchet & Clank is the only (new) game from Insomniac Games that hasn't yet turned a profit. It sold 2.2 million copies, costing $81 million to develop. Revenue from the project so far is $73 million, with $8 million needed to break even.
The development of Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 cost the studio $315 million (likely including marketing). The company expects to sell 10.5 million copies (a quarter of the plan is already complete) and earn $390 million.
The remaster of Marvel’s Spider-Man cost the studio significantly less - $39 million. The studio sold 4 million copies and made $50 million.
The development of Marvel’s Wolverine will cost the studio $305 million, with plans to release the game in 2026.
Marvel License Terms (X-Men)
Insomniac Games commits to spending at least $120 million on developing each licensed game, with an additional $30 million for marketing.
All projects must be released by 2035. Until December 2035, Marvel cannot release separate X-Men universe games, but characters can appear in Marvel games, children's projects, and some games from the 1990s.
Marvel will receive 9 to 18% of net sales from digital versions of IP games; 19-26% of net sales of physical copies and DLC; 35-50% of the wholesale cost of the physical bundle.
If PlayStation doesn't sell a total of 6 million copies of the IP game on PC and consoles in the first year, the contract may be terminated. If termination is initiated by PlayStation, it must pay a $9 million penalty and all unpaid guarantees. If termination is initiated by Marvel, PlayStation retains the right to operate games released before termination.
Insomniac Games Plans
The company plans to release a Venom spin-off in 2025.
Marvel’s Wolverine is set to release in 2026, with 173 people working on the game and resources from friendly studios being utilized.
The studio is already prepared to develop Marvel’s Spider-Man 3, scheduled for the end of 2028.
Despite the previous part's unsuccessful sales, there are plans to release Ratchet & Clank in 2029.
Marvel’s X-Men is planned for release in 2030. Although several roadmaps have leaked online, one of which includes a release in 2029 - and without a new Ratchet & Clank.
The company plans to release several new IPs.
Marvel’s Spider-Man: A Great Web, a multiplayer project in the universe, was in development, described by developers as “Marvel’s Spider-Man meets GTA Online.” The project's development seems to be on hold.
However, the company is not abandoning multiplayer ambitions. Multiplayer modes are expected in Marvel's Spider-Man 2, Marvel's Wolverine, and Marvel's X-Men.
PlayStation Game Sales
FY’21 ended in late March 2022; FY’20 ended in late March 2021.
Cumulative sales of Bloodborne exceeded 7.4 million copies, with 41% of sales coming from digital versions.
The Last of Us: Part II sold 10.3 million copies in FY’21, worse than Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales. 39% of the game's sales were digital, bringing in $447 million.
Ghost of Tsushima sold 7.6 million copies in FY’21, with 49% being digital, earning the company $397 million.
Marvel’s Spider-Man at the end of FY’20 was Sony's best-selling game, with almost 22.7 million copies sold and $827 million in revenue.
Close behind were the first God of War (21 million copies - $597 million revenue), Horizon: Zero Dawn (19.3 million copies - $481 million revenue), and Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End (18.6 million copies - $585 million revenue).
PlayStation Games sales on Steam
Data is current as of February 2023.
Horizon: Zero Dawn is the top-selling game on PC, with over 3.3 million sales.
God of War performed well (2.5 million), along with Days Gone (1.7 million) and Marvel’s Spider-Man Remastered (1.3 million - but in just six months).
Sackboy: A Big Adventure is the main disappointment among all PlayStation games on PC, with only 62.9 thousand copies sold.
The leak claims that Sony approves PC ports via email, with the condition that porting should cost less than $30 million.
PlayStation and the Industry vision
The company sees significant risks in the deal between Microsoft and Activision Blizzard. They believe the deal will help Microsoft grow its influence in the GAAS segment on PC & Console, mobile devices, and compete with Apple and Google in the mobile store market.
Sony is seriously considering the threats posed by the Microsoft and Activision Blizzard deal. The key concern is losing Call of Duty and impacting the PS+ audience, which brings in approximately $1.5 billion annually.
Sony acknowledges that Microsoft is far ahead in mobile and PC directions, with Japanese company having nothing to counter competitors.
Sony doesn't believe that AAA games in a subscription model can cover development costs and considers this business model unsustainable.
Sony believes there is no unified approach to development on PC, consoles, and mobile devices. Differences in form factor and computer power prevent using the same approaches.
The company plans to continue focusing on the development of paid AAA games, considering it the main factor in its strategy.
Also
It appears that 40% of the budget for Horizon: Forbidden West went to outsourcing. In the case of Horizon: The Burning Shores, this is 21%, assuming the slide is read correctly.