Microsoft's acquisition of Activison Blizzard

[Muddasar]

You dont care for Insomniac? Firesprite was also a great purchase and I think Firewalk has tons of potential.

And in terms of a strictly business investment Bungie was great.

Hes made Playstation larger than ever. What did the previous leadership do that was so great?

They also created one of the best VR headsets under him, PS5 is a fantastic console with a fantastic controller, accessibility controller also looks awesome.

He lead Playstation throughout a global pandemic which must have been very difficult.

People forget that they gave a bunch of games away for free near the start of the pandemic.

The PS+ collections

Astro Bot being free and fantastic

Helped fund Kena. Publishing Rise of Ronin

But most of all hes increased their revenue exponentially. I think you forget they need to make money to continue and expand and that requires making moves that make them more money even if requires to open up their walled garden a bit.

They are a publicly traded company and thus have a duty to shareholders to maximize revenue and profits. If they dont they get replaced. Thats how business works and it's a simple concept

Agree completely.

Jim Ryan is in a difficult situation and has done pretty well.

If anything it’s the previous CEOs who are responsible partly for Sony’s situation.

Would Jim Ryan have closed down Zipper Interactive, Incognito, Studio Liverpool, Evolution studios and sold Sony Online Entertainment?

I doubt it.

 

[FatKaz]

Same. But thats becuase you and a few others are constantly doomposting lol

Lol exactly. Folks get too emotional and are all over the place. No offense to anyone but just calm down.

And what makes it worse is, people keep posting xbox fanboy tweets.

Like what are some of you people trying acheive by posting those tweets?

Even when some of us complain about people posting those, people still continue doing it. Holy shit people just stop posting that shit.

 

[Eternal_Wings]

You dont care for Insomniac? Firesprite was also a great purchase and I think Firewalk has tons of potential.

And in terms of a strictly business investment Bungie was great.

Hes made Playstation larger than ever. What did the previous leadership do that was so great?

They also created one of the best VR headsets under him, PS5 is a fantastic console with a fantastic controller, accessibility controller also looks awesome.

He lead Playstation throughout a global pandemic which must have been very difficult.

People forget that they gave a bunch of games away for free near the start of the pandemic.

The PS+ collections

Astro Bot being free and fantastic

Helped fund Kena. Publishing Rise of Ronin

But most of all hes increased their revenue exponentially. I think you forget they need to make money to continue and expand and that requires making moves that make them more money even if requires to open up their walled garden a bit.

They are a publicly traded company and thus have a duty to shareholders to maximize revenue and profits. If they dont they get replaced. Thats how business works and it's a simple concept

Rise of Ronin deal was made possible through Shuhei Yoshida, this was confirmed in an interview. Insomniac Games was bought because Microsoft attempted/asked to buy them. Kena’s developers were discovered also by Shuhei. He was impressed of their Zelda Majoras Mask Tech-Demo.

 

[Killer_Sakoman]

We are at page 666. The mark of the devil. Close this thread ASAP

 

[Gediminas]

You dont care for Insomniac? Firesprite was also a great purchase and I think Firewalk has tons of potential.

And in terms of a strictly business investment Bungie was great.

Hes made Playstation larger than ever. What did the previous leadership do that was so great?

They also created one of the best VR headsets under him, PS5 is a fantastic console with a fantastic controller, accessibility controller also looks awesome.

He lead Playstation throughout a global pandemic which must have been very difficult.

People forget that they gave a bunch of games away for free near the start of the pandemic.

The PS+ collections

Astro Bot being free and fantastic

Helped fund Kena. Publishing Rise of Ronin

But most of all hes increased their revenue exponentially. I think you forget they need to make money to continue and expand and that requires making moves that make them more money even if requires to open up their walled garden a bit.

They are a publicly traded company and thus have a duty to shareholders to maximize revenue and profits. If they dont they get replaced. Thats how business works and it's a simple concept

Rise of the Ronin was in production from 2017 with collaboration with Playstation. it was made PS exclusive long time ago pre-Jimbo and Hulst.

 

[nongkris]

No one can’t tell me that the FTC injunction is one of the worst blunders in history. It literally let a dying acquisition spring back to life when all they had to do was wait. Just an embarrassing move

 

[Danja]

yeah, Layden and Kodera ultimately.

Why are you guys so quick to credit Layden over Jim? Jim has done some good things. He's shit at PR but we don't put enough blame on the CEO of Sony who has actively undermined Playstation and Jim Ryan's financially power to buy stuff.

 

[Danja]

Uncharted is a great IP that should be worked on even after ND moves on to something else. That is an obvious and safe opportunity to expand, they could've bought Crystal Dynamics to take care of it for peanuts and they would've acquired other great IPs alongside it as well.

Agreed with this but Hermen is the one who let Sqaure's Western studios get away

 

[FatKaz]

No one can’t tell me that the FTC injunction is one of the worst blunders in history. It literally let a dying acquisition spring back to life when all they had to do was wait. Just an embarrassing move

Yes 100%.

I kept telling people ms was bluffing closing over regulators, thats why the FTC filed for the injunction for fear closing over them. The answer I got back was well they need to take action just incase.

Well now we know it was a full on bluff, they where never gonna close over the CMA, it was obvious from the beginning. The FTC are inept.

 

[Killer_Sakoman]

No one can’t tell me that the FTC injunction is one of the worst blunders in history. It literally let a dying acquisition spring back to life when all they had to do was wait. Just an embarrassing move

Sony, a Japanese company, surging into entertainment media in USA was always something Americans needed to deal with. Someone had to dystroy the Japanese company. The whole FTC crap was just a play.

 

[thicc_girls_are_teh_best]

I clearly see it.

Anyway I'm out, this place is going to get really toxic and depressing in the next few weeks.

I'll enjoy FFXVI, Baldur's Gate 3, Spider-man 2 and hope that Sony will do something soon to course correct. If that doesn't happen then it's back to PC full time next gen I guess, I hope stutter and bad ports are finally sorted by then but I doubt it.

Have fun gaming, man. That's ultimate what is important. I'm seeing too many people suddenly pretend the truth of the leaked documents don't exist, or like Sony somehow have strong-armed Microsoft into a deal very favorable to them. Just can't see that being the case.

Coming in at the 11th hour suggests to me that Sony saw the writing on the wall, and have come to the table in a form of desperation. Their biggest mistake IMO wasn't in fighting the deal; it was in fighting the deal while doing seemingly nothing in the background to secure partners. Did they make any investments share-wise aside From Software and Kadokawa? Did they enter a strategic partnership with EA & Battlefield? Maybe they've been talking with 3P publishers behind the scenes about an acquisition but honestly, I'm just tired of speculating IF Sony are even doing these things. I want to see results, see that they haven't been resting on laurels of short-term profits through PS5 sales & revenue growth.

What are the 1P teams really up to aside GaaS titles? What moves are Sony making with 3P behind-the-scenes beyond just Square-Enix, marketing deals and timed exclusives? Are they readjusting their GaaS/live-service plans to be less money-wasting? Are they readjusting their PC strategy to be less impactful on the valuation of marquee games on the console itself? Is Project Q an actual PS4 portable worth giving a damn about or is it genuinely just a Remote Play device with a tacky design?

I've been asking these questions for a long time; I just want to see some results now. It feels like momentum in quite a few areas is shifting heavily to Microsoft at the drop of a dime, and a good part of that feels like it's because Sony haven't done anything to secure their own momentum.

Sony, a Japanese company, surging into entertainment media in USA was always something Americans needed to deal with. Someone had to dystroy the Japanese company. The whole FTC crap was just a play.

Just like the political parties, I'm never trusting the regulatory bodies ever again.

 

[Gediminas]

Why are you guys so quick to credit Layden over Jim? Jim has done some good things. He's shit at PR but we don't put enough blame on the CEO of Sony who has actively undermined Playstation and Jim Ryan's financially power to buy stuff.

because they made deal happen. the same with Housemarque, maybe this word is not right, but Playstation was grooming Insomniac, Housemarque for long time until they gave themself to Playstation. that's why, those studios workers aren't fleeing, aren't quitting. you clearly see the relationship between Playstation and those studios.
that's why xbox studios developers were fleeing in masses.

 

[Eternal_Wings]

As I said it once, Sony won’t butter again another 3rd Party shooter. Be it EA or Ubisoft.
This is what Jim Ryan said about Battlefield, forget it they won’t partner with EA except for FIFA.

https://gamerant.com/sony-battlefield-franchise-cant-keep-up-with-call-of-duty/

 

[Fenton]

As I said it once, Sony won’t butter again another 3rd Party shooter. Be it EA or Ubisoft.
This is what Jim Ryan said about Battlefield, forget it they won’t partner with EA except for FIFA.

https://gamerant.com/sony-battlefield-franchise-cant-keep-up-with-call-of-duty/

He's right but some things are said in hope that the deal is blocked. Doesn't mean it will never happen. Anyway we have to wait and see if BF starts improving.

EA Hires Call Of Duty Boss To Lead Battlefield Team

Electronic Arts has appointed Byron Beede as the new SVP and general manager of the Battlefield series. Beede previously spent nearly 20 years at Activision Blizzard, where he most recently worked as the executive vice president and general manager of the Call of Duty series.

kotaku.com

EA CEO believes CoD’s uncertain future is a “tremendous opportunity” for Battlefield - Dexerto

EA's CEO is confident in the future of the Battlefield franchise and believes that CoD's unknown future is worth capitalizing on.

www.dexerto.com

 

[Plextorage]

Stellar Blade looks like vaporware trash, sad that you even mention it.

How about not to judge game before you 've tried it. Looks good to me and has typical japanese style

As for new IPs, all we got was Returnal and we'll be entering year 4 of PS5 in a few months.

Rise of Ronin is a Sony IP. Also, Sony Bend is working on another IP. Same as Santa Monica. Also, don't forget GAAS titles

 

[Plextorage]

Uncharted is a great IP that should be worked on even after ND moves on to something else. That is an obvious and safe opportunity to expand

It WAS great IP. With new Uncharted frachise would become saturated, just like with Gears. Fortunately, Uncharted 4 finished with franchise. No need for another sequel

 

[rofif]

Absolutely off topic but remember when the industry was thriving ?! I even made 2005-2006 trailers remix as a kid.... I was 17 in 2006 when I made this.
Man... brings back some memories. And as you will see, there are both ps and xbox games there. I didn't care back then haha

I remember being really proud of transitions

 

[Bryank75]

We are at page 666. The mark of the devil. Close this thread ASAP

 

[Bryank75]

I clearly see it.

Anyway I'm out, this place is going to get really toxic and depressing in the next few weeks.

I'll enjoy FFXVI, Baldur's Gate 3, Spider-man 2 and hope that Sony will do something soon to course correct. If that doesn't happen then it's back to PC full time next gen I guess, I hope stutter and bad ports are finally sorted by then but I doubt it.

We wont let it get too toxic. If there are any signs of the place turning into something negative, just message and we will do what we can to improve things.

 

[thicc_girls_are_teh_best]

As I said it once, Sony won’t butter again another 3rd Party shooter. Be it EA or Ubisoft.
This is what Jim Ryan said about Battlefield, forget it they won’t partner with EA except for FIFA.

https://gamerant.com/sony-battlefield-franchise-cant-keep-up-with-call-of-duty/

No offense to him, but Jim Ryan is being an idiot here. Battlefield still has way more cache than Killzone, Resistance, SOCOM or Syphon Filter. I'm not saying don't invest in a new installment to one of those, but if you want to actually cover your bets with live-service/GaaS in a way that doesn't create too much a strain on your 1P studios, then spread that out to backing up a few big 3P live-service/GaaS titles (and make some majority share purchases in some of those 3P publishers while at it).

I increasingly get the feeling his and Sony's problem is they are too focused on having "the big one" to replace COD. They don't need "the big one", they just need maybe 3-4 moderate-sized, solid bets, and not all of them need to be military sci-fi shooters. Get thematically inventive with some of your live-service/GaaS titles. It would help to be more diverse in that respect.