Reuters: Sony in talks to buy media powerhouse behind 'Elden Ring', sources say

[Eternal_Wings]

There will be a lot of salty tears if this happen. Not that I care mucj about this possible purchase. Square Enix would have impressed me more. But I guess Souls sells even more than FF and Co.

 

[Gediminas]

Better later than never. It was most obvious purchase for years.

 

[Puff]

Xbox Game Studios + Bethesda + ABK |OT32| Mythologies, Histories, Prophecies OT

https://x.com/doublefine/status/1858584975446339976?s=46

www.resetera.com

Xbots are already melting down over this

 

[mibu no ookami]

@Yurinka Told you they weren't going to wait.

You're dealing with rabid fanboys who see everything through the lense of a console war. You know this because it has nothing to do with the games they get to play, but rather they somehow get more enjoyment if others can't play.

Microsoft bought studios so Sony needs to buy studios.

That being said, I still think they'll invest in SIE within this mid range plan.

The strategic investment framework for the 5th Mid-Range Plan is a target of 1.8 trillion yen, including share buybacks, over three years. Our basic approach under the framework is to conduct strategic investments and agile share buybacks within this range over a three-year period, without overly favoring any specific segment.

When you realize that Sony is going to be spending for SIE, maybe you'll shift your tune. Who am I kidding, you'll be angry that it isn't Square Enix.

@Yurinka

Here is a link to the question about whether a weak yen would cause Sony to delay M&A, particularly foreign MA

And the answer he gives is that they look at the hurdle rate to analyze any given acquisition and that the weak yen itself does not give them pause or reason to delay.

Here is the transcript answer that is a bit different from the audio answer.



If you took that 1.8 trillion yen and assumed the difference between that and the previous 1.3 trillion was going to buybacks. That would be 500 billion towards buybacks.

With 1.3 trillion yen seemingly split between Pictures, Music, and Gaming, that would be approx. 433 billion yen towards gaming, which is about 2.7 billion USD, give or take for obvious opportunities in one segment or another.

I think in the next 3 years we can expect Sony to spend anywhere between 2-4 billion USD on expanding SIE through M&A. Which is why I think the obvious result will be Sony buying FromSoftware or Kadokawa.

Buying all of Kadokawa would cost between 3.5 and 4.2 billion, but it gives you a lot of things that helps Sony Pictures and Sony Music, so it wouldn't count just against SIE like maybe FromSoftware would or maybe SIE tries to buy just FromSoftware.

Either way, it still leaves Sony with more than enough money to buy studios like Ballistic Moon, Arrowhead, and Studio Gobo, which will be the highest targets Sony will probably be looking at for studios they're working with. Maybe S-Games as well.

 

[DarkLordOtaku]

Point to me a similar case that was blocked by Japanese antitrust laws.

Japan is actually pretty friendly on the concept of corporate takeovers and consolidation.

Their laws pretty much only extend to the point that a true monopoly is formed with the intent of blocking new entrants. From a gaming perspective, I think they're fine. However from an anime perspective, I think there is potentially enough marketshare owned between both companies to be at least eyebrow raising.

I don't have any examples, because as I mentioned Japan is generally loosening their anti-trust laws, not strengthening them.

 

[arvfab]

It's kind of a no-brainer, especially moving forward with a PC Store.

Elden Ring 2 makes for a massive exclusive on a PC store.

You started your comment so good, only to land in a huge mountain of in the end. I revoke the I gave you yesterday.

 

[Petekilla]

LOL, why do people think regulators care about small purchases like this?

Because Sony would be getting a monopoly with manga.

 

[anonpuffs]

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAA

 

[Petekilla]

BTW if this deal happens. I wouldn’t expect From titles to be exclusive. This will probably be like Bungie, where Sony will allow them to publish and release their titles everywhere.

 

[Evilnemesis8]

Japan is actually pretty friendly on the concept of corporate takeovers and consolidation.

Their laws pretty much only extend to the point that a true monoply is formed with the intent of blocking new entrants. From a gaming perspective, I think they're fine. However from an anime perspective, I think there is potentially enough marketshare owned between both companies to be at least eyebrow raising.

I don't have any examples, because as I mentioned Japan is generally loosening their anti-trust laws, not strengthening them.

Anime =/= Light Novels/Mangas
Sony buying a piece of that market isn't going to trigger any anti-trust concerns.

Japan: leading publishing companies based on sales | Statista

Shueisha was heading the ranking of the biggest Japanese publishers in the period from 2021 to 2022. The company was followed by Kodansha.

www.statista.com

Because Sony would be getting a monopoly with manga.

Shuheisha/Kodansha/Shogakukan (and many others) say hi.

 

[Petekilla]

Also Tencent has stake in Kadokawa and has much more money than Sony. Could they try to outbid them?

 

[JackGrensleaves]

I hope this will be like MS and that politic of "case by case" this game multiplatform (Elder saga) this game dont (BB2, new FROM IP by Miyazaki) etc.

 

[mibu no ookami]

Because Sony would be getting a monopoly with manga.

They wouldn't be a monopoly. Do you know what a monopoly is?

I hate that people just say things just to say them.

BTW if this deal happens. I wouldn’t expect From titles to be exclusive. This will probably be like Bungie, where Sony will allow them to publish and release their titles everywhere.

They absolutely would become exclusive. The Bungie acquisition was more an exception to the rule because their board of directors kept control post acquisition.

That won't be the case with FromSoftware as Kadokawa doesn't give a fuck about that.

Sony will force Tencent out of FromSoftware and the games are 100% becoming exclusive, so Xbox is out. The bigger question is whether Sony would continue to publish their games on Steam or an exclusive PC Storefront, but my guess would be an exclusive PC storefront. It's kind of the point of a buy like this in tandem with what they have with Bungie.

Future Bungie games for that matter beyond Destiny 2 and Marathon are likely to be foreclosed on Xbox too.

 

[Danja]

Would love to see it happen just for PC players tears and meltdowns

 

[Yobo]

If Sony had vision they could have bought them 10 years ago for $100 million. Same for Atlus

Right now they are sleeping on acquiring Arrowhead who in ten years will probably be celebrating 100 million sales of Heck-divers published by EA

 

[BillyZ]

Would love to see it happen just for PC players tears and meltdowns

Why? They will be on PC day and date. And if they complain enough no PSN requirement either.

 

[Infinity]

Obvious choice for sony
I also think sony wants to by cd project and make gog there pc launcher imo

CDPR needs to stay far away from Sony.

 

[jp21]

I see this acquisition as Sony Group getting Kadokwa not SIE getting FromSoftware tbf. I don’t think those titles will be exclusives. I mean Aniplex (owned by Sony) is releasing The Hundred Line on Switch and PC but not on PS5.

 

[mibu no ookami]

Also Tencent has stake in Kadokawa and has much more money than Sony. Could they try to outbid them?

Japanese companies are going to favor selling to Japanese companies. That's a reality. It's also always going to be easier for Japanese companies to buy large cap Japanese companies than foreign companies.

This is devastating news for some people, but this probably goes down by the end of the year.

 

[Infinity]

didnt people say acquisitions deals don't leak?