PlayStation Has Acquired Firewalk Studios

[Puff]

I hope Sony will buy Ember Labs. They have potential

 

[Nhomnhom]

[M&A - Developers]

-Arc System Works​

​

-Vanillaware​

​

-Deviation Games​

​

-Ember Lab​

​

-Shift Up​

[M&A - Publishers]

-Capcom (lots of valuable IP, in-house fighting game talent, big MMO asset in Monster Hunter, etc.)​

​

-Square Enix (Final Fantasy, lots of valuable IP that could due with new installments like Einhander, Parasite Eve, etc.)​

[Investments (Financial & Share Purchases)]

-Kadokawa/From Software​

​

-EA​

​

-Take Two​

​

-Ubisoft​

​

-CDPR​

​

-Bandai Namco​

​

-Koei Tecmo​

​

-Devolver Digital​

​

-Sega Atlus​

​

-Konami​

​

-Epic​

​

-Pearl Abyss​

SE is probably undervalued, Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest are huge and they have being held back by terrible leadership that can't let go of NFT.

If Sony ever want to go in the Nintendo/Disney direction of having theme parks and all SE is perfect. Final Fantasy is also highly adaptable to other mediums.

 

[ethomaz]

Their game was leaked here...

This upcoming First Person Shooter is the Firewalk Studios.

 

[One eyed jacks]

If they're sticking to just developers, Arc System Works or Vanillaware would be great picks, if not both. But if we're talking publishers, well, that potential opens up a lot more.



I get the feeling Sony are going for a balanced approach, so I wouldn't be surprised if more known devs and a big publisher or two are in the pipeline.

Honestly, if I were in charge of their M&A strategy, I'd do the following:

[M&A - Developers]

-Arc System Works (in-house fighting game talent)​

​

-Vanillaware (high-quality 2D action-adventure RPG content, great fit for certain legacy PS IP)​

​

-Deviation Games​

​

-Ember Lab​

​

-Shift Up (Stellar Blade dev)​

[M&A - Publishers]

-Capcom (lots of valuable IP, in-house fighting game talent, big MMO asset in Monster Hunter, etc.)​

​

-Square Enix (Final Fantasy, lots of valuable IP that could due with new installments like Einhander, Parasite Eve, etc.)​

[Investments (Financial & Share Purchases)]

-Kadokawa/From Software​

​

-EA​

​

-Take Two​

​

-Ubisoft​

​

-CDPR​

​

-Bandai Namco​

​

-Koei Tecmo​

​

-Devolver Digital​

​

-Sega Atlus​

​

-Konami​

​

-Epic​

​

-Pearl Abyss​

Some of these companies they would obviously want to invest in more/buy more shares in than others, if the shares are available to buy. Take Two, for example, would be a higher-priority investment target than Sega-Atlus, especially if Sony acquired Capcom and/or Square-Enix. The point of the investments and share purchases is so that Sony has key investments in key 3P partners, to have some say in case competitors try to purchase these companies, among other things.

I think Sqaure Enix, Capcom & Take Two should be Sony’s targets/retaliation.

 

[Nhomnhom]

Their game was leaked here...

This upcoming First Person Shooter is the Firewalk Studios.

The real leak is Death Stranding 2 in 2024.

Wolverine, Death Stranding 2, Rise of Ronin. Things are taking shape.

 

[Deleted member 417]

I don't think one senator can force them to hand over all of their plans. They could try a subpoena, but they'd have to convince a judge that they actually need all of that.

Could some of those documents be visible to MS because of the ABK deal?

 

[Nhomnhom]

Firewalk, Firesprite, Firewall.

 

[Swift_Star]

People, this has nothing to do with ABK.
Currently. ABK concerns are cloud related. This acquisition has no bearing on MS's process. They're completely unrelated.

 

[AshHunter216]

Could some of those documents be visible to MS because of the ABK deal?

Maybe something related to timed exclusive deals or 3rd party full exclusives they may have, but not acquisitions.

 

[Yurinka]

Firewalk are the ones with the COD veterans, right?

Is Firewalk the studio that's rumored to be working on a Horizon live service game that looks like Immortals Fenyx Rising? Or is that a different studio.

As a consumer, this is just another no name studio with zero IPs to their name. Meanwhile, MS is getting some of the biggest IPs in gaming.

As you can see in the OP, the heads of this studio are the former heads from Bungie, who as I remember they left after Destiny 1 when they left Activision to create this studio. So these 'nonames' worked leaded the creation of the (at least then) fastest selling new IP ever.

In addition to this, they also have staff who worked in Apex Legends, Titanfall 1, Halo, Bioshock Infinite, Mass Effect and other key games.

Oh okay. I think I just remembered, Firewalk worked on Horizon Call of the Mountain. So they're a VR studio it seems.

Firewalk = former Bungie devs + devs from other top shooters, this multiplayer AAA shooter will be their first non-Bungie game
Firesprite = former Liverpool Studio+Evolution+Bizarre Creations devs, codeveloped Horizon CoM as their first project inside Sony

Their game was leaked here...

Their game has not been leaked, their partnership with Sony publishing their game was already announced way before that, back in 2021:
https://blog.playstation.com/2021/0...artnership-for-a-new-original-multiplayer-ip/

 

[ethomaz]

Did some research....

ProbablyMonsters has 3 studios:

• The Cauldron: working in a single-player adventure game.
• Firewalk Studios: working on a triple-A multiplayer game to be published by Sony Interactive Entertainment.
• Not named studio: working on a co-op RPG.

Sony got the second.

 

[Johnic]

Talent will always gravitate back to Sony no matter how much money microsoft throws around.

IP’s are meaningless if the talent that made them great leaves, just ask halo.

IPs aren't meaningless. The vast majority of the industry consumers are casuals. They don't care who makes their game, as long as they're made. How many shitty games these days are insanely popular? Casuals, which make most of the userbase, don't care too much about quality. They care about IPs they've been playing for years.

How many people are complaining about COD or how FIFA is filled with microtransactions? Yet they're the best selling games every month.

 

[Deleted member 417]

Playstation 5. It eats ProbablyMonsters for breakfast.

 

[ethomaz]

As Old Halo and Destiny 1 fan I loved this aquisition.

 

[ethomaz]

 

[Remember_Spinal]

good move, i would have thought Deviation would be first. They’re the last of the partnered studios no acquired.

 

[anonpuffs]

Did some research....

ProbablyMonsters has 3 studios:

• The Cauldron: working in a single-player adventure game.
• Firewalk Studios: working on a triple-A multiplayer game to be published by Sony Interactive Entertainment.
• Not named studio: working on a co-op RPG.

Sony got the second.

unnamed studio is called battle barge

 

[Gods&Monsters]

As a consumer, this is just another no name studio with zero IPs to their name. Meanwhile, MS is getting some of the biggest IPs in gaming.

I get the talent acquisition is important but so are IPs. Getting to play yet another game as a service new IP doesn't excite me. Losing access to more IPs, on the other hand, makes me annoyed at Sony.

P.S.

Sorry for the little rant.

Same. I'm reading the news and no emotions. No hype. Some old Bungie devs when they already have Bungie. Useless.

 

[Eternal_Wings]

Not really, this is pretty tame, they have no IP under their name.

The point is: Microsoft used and listed every acquisition Sony has made. They even complained about Sony buying last year that 10 people mobile gaming studio!
I think that Sony probably has come to an understanding that ABK will be regardless approved. So it’s futile to resist any further and it’s time to continue their business activities. With announcing this today I think Sony will now announce a lot of acquisitions including Square Enix.

 

[ethomaz]

Same. I'm reading the news and no emotions. No hype. Some old Bungie devs when they already have Bungie. Useless.

Ex-Bungie and Respawn... you can't go wrong with that
Plus you can reintegrate on Bungie too.