Microsoft has a shopping list. You first address the immediate and potential audience gaps that the ABK/Bethesda acquisitions create = FPS/WRPG crowd before acquiring Square premtively because SEGA is somehow talked about by MS behind the scenes. The ABK/Bethesda acquisitions are real - SEGA is not. Opportunity cost and time of acquiring Square for something that may or may not happen is a foolish errand, and the JRPG audience is more bulletproof on Sony's ecosystem than the FPS/WRPG audience is, regardless of Microsoft acquiring SEGA. It's not a critical audience or need. Shooter/WRPG audience are critical.
Instead of dropping 2-4 billion on Square preempting a move by MS for SEGA Sony should be addressing, with that money, and time, the FPS/WRPG response that's immediate, today, in the now.
So again, not serious assessments. Most are emotional in nature.
I don't agree with this. At least, not in full. The fact of the matter is, the market is consolidating now. Microsoft aren't the only ones Sony have to be concerned about going forward; Tencent, Amazon, Apple, Google, heck even other 3P publishers could become issues for them to deal with. Say in some hypothetical situation, Sega/Atlus and Square-Enix merged. Sony may not have an interest in Sega/Atlus but would in Square-Enix...well, now the asking price goes up and there's a very good chance the Sega/Atlus side would not agree to part with the Square-Enix side. Divesting that type of merged entity just for a buyer like Sony to get the part they want can get messy and expensive, when that could be avoided much sooner.
It's not like Sony aren't getting ANY FPS or WRPG games, either. They still have Battlefield, still have Witcher 3, still have Cyberpunk, still have XDefiant, still have Fortnite and quite a few others. They can enter more secure strategic partnerships with the publishers of those games, alongside buy majority shares in them, rather than outright acquire. And, again, what would acquiring a FPS/WRPG Western 3P do for Sony in terms of effective transmedia growth? Hardly anything IMHO. That type of 3P would be valuable for the revenue stream they introduce but further share purchases in them would help in many ways with that, plus pursuing more content partnerships with those games via crossover IP appearances would drive further MTX, DLC and B2P sales of those games on Sony's platforms.
This is a perspective that is being done from an analytical POV; sure emotion is a part of it. Emotion's a part of it for all of us, no one here or anywhere are making arguments WRT acquisitions purely based in data. We're human beings, we literally can't do that.
My suggestions for Sony to buy and invest in:
Buy: Square Enix, Capcom, maybe EPIC
Heavily Invest In: SEGA, Take 2, EA, Kadokawa/FROM, Bandai Namco, Koei Tecmo, Konami
Moderate Investments: Ubisoft, Acquire, Chunsoft, Embracer, LEVEL 5, Vanillaware, Platinum, THQ Nordic
Yeah, I know this list is a bit out there, but my 2 cents.
Buy: Looks good. Both have big revenue IPs with global appeal (Final Fantasy, Monster Hunter, Street Fighter, Resident Evil, Dragon Quest etc.), treasure troves of legacy IP that could absolutely be expanded upon (Parasite Eve, Einhander, Ergheiz, Xenogears, Rival Schools, Dino Crisis, Onimusha etc.), and IP with lots of transmedia (movies, music, TV, anime, manga) potential as well as strong merchandising sales.
Epic is a bit trickier to assess in that way, though they do have a game with bigger revenue than Square-Enix and Capcom's games combined: Fortnite.
Heavily Invest In: I'd put Sega/Atlus into the Moderate Investments category; they are already leaning to Microsoft's corner and if there's one Japanese 3P publisher Microsoft could ever realistically buy, it'd be them. I don't think they would be worth heavy investments as a result. The others, though? Yeah, quite so. I would add Annapurna and Devolver Digital to that list as well or...
Moderate Investments:...replace Embracer with one of those two. I'd also personally replace either Platinum or THQ Nordic with Arc System Works, and put CDPR in there.
For all the investments, they have to be paired with share purchases as well, majority shares in some cases. Kadokawa/FROM, Bandai Namco, Koei Tecmo are ones I think Sony could buy majority shares in relatively easily. Among Western 3P publishers, similar with perhaps Devolver Digital and Annapurna. Take Two and EA less so in terms of majority shares, but a good amount either way, same with Ubisoft and CDPR. Sega/Atlus, Konami and Ubisoft I think Sony could get away with lowest amount of share purchases (relatively speaking).
