The Sony and Bandai Namco announced a collaborative pilot project focused on generative artificial intelligence applied to video production.
The novelty was presented by Hiroki Totokipresident and CEO of Sony Group, during the presentation of results for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2025 and the company’s corporate strategy.
The partnership is the first public one between the two Japanese entertainment giants explicitly focused on generative AI research in audiovisual content.
According to Totoki, the project recorded relevant gains in speed and productivity per person involved in the tests, even though it exposed known limitations of current models on the consistency and controllability.
The initiative allowed, according to the executive, to reach a level of sophistication in production that was previously unfeasible due to time constraints.
The presentation did not detail which specific products the collaboration will apply to, and Totoki avoided connecting the pilot directly to the gaming market, even though Bandai Namco operates one of the largest gaming divisions in Japan and is responsible for franchises such as Elden Ring, Tekken and Dragon Ball.
The omission draws attention at a time when the use of generative AI in game development divides the community.
Sony Pictures already has US$50 million invested in AI
The Japanese group’s film division came out ahead…
THE Sony Pictures has already invested more than US$50 million (about R$246 million at the current exchange rate of R$4.92 per dollar, without considering Brazilian taxes or import fees) in AI capabilities distributed in production planning, content protection, corporate productivity, data analysis, innovation and conversion to 3D.
Sony Music operates on a parallel front: the conglomerate’s music division leads coordination by a sectoral standard for AI-generated content labelingwith the aim of increasing transparency with consumers and protecting intellectual property rights in partnership with licensors.
The initiative tries to anticipate regulation that is already advancing in markets such as the European Union and the United States.
“Human creativity needs to remain at the center. AI is a powerful tool, but it does not replace artists or creators. It is an amplifier of the human imagination and a catalyst for new possibilities.”
Hiroki Totoki, chairman and CEO of Sony Group
The CEO’s speech comes in parallel with a series of layoffs in the entertainment sector attributed to the advancement of generative AI.
Sony’s official positioning seeks to avoid direct association with this movement, maintaining the focus on productivity gains per professional, and not on replacing teams.
The market reading, however, is more cautious.
PlayStation already incorporates AI in first-party studios
Hideaki Nishinopresident and CEO of Sony Interactive Entertainment, addressed the use of AI within the PlayStation in more technical detail.
The executive stated that development cycles, which are increasingly longer for the brand’s exclusive titles, can be accelerated by AI, while at the same time enabling the entry of new creators into the market.
The studios Naughty Dog and San Diego Studiotwo of Sony’s internal production pillars, adopted an internal tool called Mockingbird.
The system generates facial animations for 3D models from performance capture data in a fraction of the time required in traditional workflow. AI also works in hair animation, with models trained from videos of real hair that start to render hundreds of animated strands autonomously.
Nishino also signaled an effect that worries part of the industry. The executive admitted that AI will generate a significant increase in volume of content produceda phenomenon that some sector critics describe as “slop”, that is, shallow and disposable games created on an industrial scale by making production cheaper.
Sony has maintained that its studios and intellectual properties remain committed to high-quality releases.
“As AI capabilities evolve, the role of our creators will remain unchanged. The vision, design, and emotional impact of our games will always come from the talent of our studios and performers. AI serves to augment those capabilities, not replace them.”
Hideaki Nishino, president and CEO of Sony Interactive Entertainment
AI also underpins PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution (PSSR), PlayStation’s exclusive upscaling technology. PS5 Pro which received its second version in February 2026.
The algorithm now runs on a neural network shared with the AMD FSR 4.1 via the Amethyst project, a partnership started in 2023 between the two companies. The next console generation should deepen this architecture.
Financial results show another side of the story
The presentation took place together with the release of the financial results for the fourth fiscal quarter of 2025, ending in March 2026. The numbers from the gaming segment exposed the pressure on the company’s hardware.
The table below concentrates the main indicators released by Sony:
| Indicator | FY25 Q4 Result |
|---|---|
| PS5 sold in the quarter | 1.5 million units |
| Year-over-year variation in sales | 46% drop |
| Cumulative total of PS5 shipped | 93.7 million units |
| Group revenue in the fiscal year | US$82.8 billion (+4% YoY) |
| Annual operating income | US$9.6 billion (+13% YoY) |
| Operating income for the quarter | 463.3 billion yen (~US$2.95 billion) |
| Annual net profit | US$6.8 billion (down 3%) |
| Impairment Bungie | US$800 million |
Sony only sold 1.5 million PS5 in the fourth fiscal quarter, against 2.8 million in the same period of the previous year.
The 46% drop reflects the combination between the maturity of the console, which is in the fifth year of its useful life, and the two successive price increases applied in less than twelve months to mitigate the memory shortage that is putting pressure on the entire industry.
Operating income for the quarter rose 12% year on year to 463.3 billion yen (about US$2.95 billion or approximately R$ 14.5 billion). The positive result was driven by PlayStation Networkwith growth in revenue from subscriptions and sales of digital content, a front that compensates for the stagnation of hardware.
Sony also recognized a write-down of US$800 million related to Bungiestudio acquired in 2022 for US$3.6 billion. The decision reflects the below-expected performance of Marathon and post-Destiny 2 developments.
The company has not yet set an official date for the launch of the PS6, with previous reports pointing to 2028 or 2029 as possible windows due to the RAM memory crisis.
Bandai Namco comes with its own AI baggage
The choice of Bandai Namco as a partner is not arbitrary. The two companies have already invested together 10 billion yen (about US$67 million) at Gaudiy studio in May 2025, focused on applying generative AI and blockchain to expand fan experiences around intellectual properties.
The project covered use cases such as imaging within the official modeling kit community GUNPLAbased on the Gundam franchise.
The new initiative in video production deepens the relationship; Bandai Namco controls an extensive catalog of anime, toys and games, which depend on audiovisual pipelines designed for campaigns, trailers and branded content.
Sony, in turn, operates Sony Pictures, Sony Music, PlayStation Studios and Aniplex, the latter subsidiary dedicated to the production of Japanese anime. The crossing of the two bases accelerates tests in real production volume.
Sony also reported concrete AI gains on operational fronts. The company claimed to have captured more than US$700 million in additional revenue in recent years through AI-based payment routing, an indicator the group cites as proof of the technology’s commercial effectiveness in areas beyond creative output.
Market reaction
The announcement comes in a divided sector: in February 2026, Larian Studios, creator of Baldur’s Gate 3, suffered negative reaction from the community itself when publishing posts considered ambiguous about the use of generative AI in development.
Sony tries to navigate this sensitivity by positioning AI as an internal productivity tool, not a replacement for creative pipelines.
NVIDIA, in turn, extended its AI upscaling lineup until the announcement of DLSS 5which received divided reaction from the community due to issues related to image artifacts in low base resolution scenarios.
Sony observes this return before delving deeper into the use of the technology itself. THE PSSR 2 current model already corrects much of the criticism directed at the original model, based on the shared neural network of the Amethyst project.
The composition of the ad shows two Sonys in the field: the financial division deals with the hardware and memory challenge, while the corporate division advances in AI on all possible fronts.
Sony Pictures, Sony Music, PlayStation Studios and now the partnership with Bandai Namco make up a portfolio that attempts to put the company in a position to take advantage of productivity gains without publicly exposing sensitive workforce decisions.
The fine line between productivity and volume
The central question still remains open with this announcement. On the one hand, Nishino recognized that AI will increase the volume of content, and the gaming industry has seen disproportionate growth in disposable releases on Steam, the App Store and Google Play.
On the other hand, Sony itself controls one of the biggest filters in this market through the PlayStation Store, and its curatorial choices gain additional weight in this scenario.
The question for the next few quarters is how the pilot with Bandai Namco turns into a concrete product. Trailers, marketing pieces, and branded content are the most likely terrain for the first deliverables, given the stated focus on video production. The move to entire AI-generated or AI-assisted games depends on a technical leap in game models. consistency which Totoki himself cited as a current limitation.
Confirmation of additional details should occur throughout fiscal year 2026. Until then, the pilot serves more as a strategic signal than a product. Sony has made the path clear, but now it’s the actual execution that will ultimately determine whether the commitment to generative AI generates productivity and competitive advantage or just more volume.
Sources): Variety
With PS5 sales in decline, Sony still doesn’t know when it will launch the PS6.
Source: www.adrenaline.com.br
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