PlayStation’s strength is that it can do it all

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When Microsoft announced last month that it is acquiring Call of Duty publisher Activision Blizzard for $69 billion, a lot of people wondered aloud how Sony could possibly compete. And to a point, that concern is fair. Microsoft is a $2-trillion company with a lot of cash to burn. Sony, meanwhile, is just your standard multibillion-dollar conglomerate. But in a world where Google, Tencent, Amazon, and other trillion-dollar companies are eying video games, Sony’s PlayStation is still well-positioned to compete, thrive, and even come out on top.

Sony’s strength is that it has the money, expertise, and properties to take on almost any idea. And the company has already shown a willingness to put a variety of strategic pieces into place for its future.

The most important strategy for Sony is, of course, the core PlayStation business. PlayStation fans brought the company to the dance, and Sony is at no risk of abandoning them as its primary dance partner.

Sony’s Games & Network Services division generated $25 billion in revenue last year along with $2.6 billion in profit. That makes it the second-largest gaming-focused business in the world behind only China’s incomprehensibly large Tencent.

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But on top of that success, PlayStation boss Jim Ryan is sniffing out new pathways for growth. And unlike Microsoft’s Xbox, Ryan is considering a more all-encompassing strategy.

Sony is going to keep making the games and consoles that it’s known for. PlayStation 5 will continue flying off shelves — if one ever ends up on a shelf — and PlayStation Studios will keep pumping out game of the year contenders.