Sony developing PlayStation mobile platform

Microsoft isn't the only one working on a mobile games platform--Sony is also developing its own PlayStation mobile experience.

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Earlier this month, Xbox president Sarah Bond confirmed Microsoft's mobile games store would launch in July. But Xbox isn't the only one interested in leveraging the $90 billion market; Sony also has big dreams of releasing its own free-to-play mobile titles.

There's just one problem: Outside of Fate/Grand Order, Sony doesn't actually have any mobile games. That's about to change, though, as Sony ramps up investments in the space, including acquisitions of studios like Firesprite and Valkyrie. Now a new Sony job listing for a mobile platform architect gives clues on what's next for Sony's mobile ambitions.

The way the job listing is worded makes me think this is for an actual game development platform, not exactly a platform meant to sell mobile games and/or microtransactions.

"PlayStation Studios Mobile is seeking an experienced software engineer to design PlayStation's platform for developing, publishing, and operating free-to-play mobile games. An individual in this role will spearhead the design and implementation of this platform; work in partnership with internal teams to connect mobile games to PlayStation services; and ensure that all mobile games meet PlayStation's quality standards."

Responsibilities

• Design the system architecture and backend services for the mobile games platform
• Measure and improve platform security, availability, throughput and cost efficiency
• Provide technical leadership and guidance to the platform engineering team
• Establish pipelines and processes to facilitate the delivery of high-quality software
• Collaborate across teams to integrate the platform with internal services
• Influence and contribute to the platform engineering roadmap
• Clearly communicate end-to-end system behavior to platform users and stakeholders
• Actively track technical innovations, changes, and trends affecting mobile game development

Desired Skills and Experience

• 8+ years of professional experience in the mobile games industry
• Experience as a technical leader in an enterprise setting
• Skilled communicator with both technical and non-technical audiences
• Expertise in software architecture, service design and distributed systems
• Expertise operating backend services at scale
• Experience designing APIs or related SDKs
• Experience with infrastructure-as-code, containers and Kubernetes/EKS
• Working knowledge of Unity or Unreal Engine
• Working knowledge of emerging technologies affecting mobile game development
• B.S. in Computer Science, or equivalent