No doubt that Nintendo hit it big with Mario. Ever since his debut on the ’80s arcade scene, the mustachioed plumber has kept growing into one of the most recognizable characters in the world. Not just as a gaming mascot, but across entertainment media thanks to merchandise and the $1.3 billion box office hit. Even Xbox, which struggled to stay in the competition, has successfully cemented Master Chief as the face of console shooters. Meanwhile, it’s safe to say that Sony basically has nothing — and apparently, it is admitting to that problem.
According to Japanese media Nikkei (paywalled report), the PlayStation maker is now investing 10 billion yen, or around $63 million, to develop its own original characters through its Sony Creative Products (hereafter SCP) division to counter a kyarabusoku (lack of original character) issue. After all, its entertainment divisions — including games, music, and movies — account for 70% of the company’s operating profit. It’s not strictly about games, however, as the plan is to nurture these characters into profitable IPs spanning merchandise, movies, anime, and many other forms of entertainment. The report added that SCP believes that an original character can only be considered a ‘hit’ once its merchandise sales reach $12-18 billion annually.
Still, this isn’t Sony’s first rodeo, as it already had some success reviving established character IP. Last year, the company finally took the majority control of Peanuts Holdings — the owner of the Snoopy and Charlie Brown franchise — for $457 million. So far, it managed to rebuild Snoopy’s presence in the Japanese market, which had once shrunk to half of its peak. Its adaptations of Spider-Man and Demon Slayer, too, have been huge hits globally. Nevertheless, all of those are third-party IPs, meaning Sony doesn’t have as much freedom when it comes to developing and monetizing them.
Nikkei suggests that Sony’s original characters’ woes might be partially affected by a major shift in its gaming division. In 2016, it moved the Sony Interactive Entertainment headquarters from Tokyo to California. Since then, Horizon, The Last of Us, and Ghost of Tsushima have all delivered major software sales, but their realistic-looking protagonists aren’t exactly mascot material. “In the US, if the protagonist doesn’t have realistic eight-head-tall proportions, the game wouldn’t sell,” recalled one former PlayStation employee to Nikkei. “Japanese-style [stylized] deformed characters weren’t being pushed out,” added the media.
Sony’s first attempt at this original character push isn’t through gaming, however. It instead collaborated with illustrator Tsumupapa to create a mascot called Yofukashi Kuma no Nemuu (translated as Nemu’s Late Night), a cuddly bear who just can’t fall asleep because of small anxieties in its life. SCP said Nemu’s total social media followers quickly exceeded 100,000 people in one year and resonates well in South Korea’s competitive society. Recently, such cute, relaxing, ‘healing’ anime characters have become pretty popular among hardworking people across East Asia. Another example is Koupenchan, a round emperor penguin who encourages its viewers to get through their everyday struggles. Sony certainly wants a piece of that pie.
Whether Sony’s $63 million bet can bring back the glory days of PlayStation mascot characters like Ape Escape, Parappa the Rapper, and Ratchet and Clank, though, remains to be seen. For more gaming and industry news, stay tuned to the GameObserver.
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