OP
OP
Reuters: Sony in talks to buy media powerhouse behind 'Elden Ring', sources say
- Thread starter Puff
- Start date
I'm not. And don't be a moron, avoid insulting those who disagree with you.
I never said Sony was going to stop making acquisitions forever. I said what Sony said (a while ago), that for the short them they wouldn't acquire and would keep a low profile, and that would resume them in the mid-to-long term. And that later in the road (maybe around late 2025-early 2026) they'd they'd sell most of their banks division and would use that money mostly to acquire stuff, mostly for entertainment.
And -more recently- said that meanwhile they obviously would continue exploring opportunities that could arise, and that would be more more strict and conservative with the valuations and risks.
So what I said fits what they are doing.
Which btw, they didn't acquire Kadokawa. What we have is rumors -which I think are credible but can be bullshit- of them being in talks. These talks I assume are real, since big corporations in this context are always exploring M&A or investment options even if in most cases they don't buy/sell the company. But this is one thing, another one is having the acquisition almost agreed and being in negotiations, and after that having agreed it and to get the ok from regulators (I think they wouldn't have any issue here because despite being market leader Sony doesn't have almost the totality of the market at all in gaming, consoles, PC, mobile or cloud gaming and because Kadokawa has a tiny marketshare in gaming).
No. Sony owns both IPs, which means they don't need the greenlight or anything from Kadokawa/FromSoft to make ports, sequels, movie adaptations, etc. of these games.
If Sony would have wanted, they would have make it, even without FromSoft.
Yes. Normally acquisitions aren't leaked, particularly those who are made with the first investment form the acquirer on the acquired company.
In this case, Sony already invested in both FromSoft and Kadokawa, Sony has a gaming+anime deal with Kadokawa, and both FromSoft and Kadokawa have an almost 30 years long relationship of dozens of exclusives. So since the moment that the old Kadokawa management retires and the new one says it's interested to sell, everybody will think that Sony is going to be one of the interested ones to acquire them.
So maybe it isn't really a leak, but maybe just an informed guess. Because obviously if they say they are interested to sell, a day later they will have Sony, Tencent, Microsoft etc. knocking their door to explore options, conditions, possible synergies, pricing, etc. even if they aren't intersted to acquire.
In fact, Tencent and Sony, as big stakeholders, must be informed about it. Not because of them acquiring the company, but also to maybe just buy a portion or to get a report of Kadokawa's plans and possible acquisition by somebody else.
Do I think both Sony and Tencent are in talks with Kadokawa right now? Yes. Does it mean one of them will acquire them? No. Is it possible that one of them may end buying them? Yes, maybe. And maybe not.
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Ah yes, the low tier lawyer from Michigan, Hoeglaw who also shills for Xbox ABK/Zenimax acquisition. Lol.
This would be a 5 billion dollar deal tops, yet people will compare it to a 75 billion dollar mega deal lmao. Anything Sony does, the mob will come after them.
After this deal is done, They will own FROM software, PD, Asobi, Acquire, and Spike chunsoft. This would make their Japanese lineup better than ever, and I hope people can move on from saying Sony has no interesting developments in the country anymore.
After this deal is done, They will own FROM software, PD, Asobi, Acquire, and Spike chunsoft. This would make their Japanese lineup better than ever, and I hope people can move on from saying Sony has no interesting developments in the country anymore.
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Yurinka is so full of shit.
He was saying as recently as Wednesday that Sony was taking a pause from acquisitions. He was convinced that they would start any acquisitions until they had sold off their financial segment.
You're taking this L whether you want to or not.
I'll forgive you for leaving off prestigious developer Polyphony Digital.
Not sure they incorporate the others under SIE, but it is possible. You could use them as building blocks like I mentioned with acquiring Level-5 and teaming them up with Asobi, Acquire could do something similar. I could also see Acquire working with Sucker Punch on Ghost in the future. There are mobile gaming elements that could just as easily fall under Sony Music but SIE really needs to start putting more emphasis into.
And they already have some money already budgeted and ready to use for acquisitions, can also pay with stocks, can sell stuff to get more cash, plus can get more debt etc.
Sony can afford to buy Kadokawa, for sure. It's dumb to say they'd go bankrupt because of it. And well, if things go well and Sony buys it, there's maybe also the option of someone like Tencent who could say that they won't sell their part, so maybe Sony wouldn't buy the 100%.
Meaning, maybe instead of buying the 100% Sony could just buy whatever they need to reach the majority of the stocks needed to control the company.
Kadokawa's market cap is $3,4B. In recent big acquisitions were paid with a preminum of around 40-60%, so let's say it's 50% this time. So to get the 100% would pretty likely cost around $5B. Let's say Sony acquires 50%, which would be added to what they already have.
That would be $2.5B, something they could afford even with their budget for acquisitions/investments/stock repurchases, maybe reviewing the budget a bit. Kadokawa isn't ABK, it's way cheaper and there are many options.
I assume Sony would have prefered to wait for the next year, but saw the opportunity now of them wanting to sell and maybe went there to make sure MS, Amazon, Tencent or similar don't get them. Which I'm not sure until which point would be possible because maybe Kadokawa could be protected against being acquired by foreigner companies, and Kadokawa owners could also prefer to sell to a Japanese company than to a foreigner one.
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Kadokawa is probably worth 5 billion tops. Yes fromsoftware is the big get for gaming, but that comes with alot of baggage unless your a Japanese company interested in Anime...What im trying to say is that whatver value someone could put on Kadokawa as a whole isnt their true value because its an extremely niche company that focuses almost entirely domestically in Japan. Unless your a japanese company, or perhaps Asian, Kadokawa is of little value. In my opinion,.
He said he applied a 4.3x premium and said it was the standard. It's not.
The standard premium is 1.25x-1.5x and with the state of the global economy, my guess is things are going to lean more towards 1.25x
Id say it would be a good start, but one AAA team and a few smaller ones isnt enough for that region IMO.
Sony is searching for an acquisition outside the gaming business for some time already.
Kodokawa seems to fit exactly that.
The From Software is just a bonus... maybe more important here in this forum but for Sony it is not that important... what they want from this acquisition is to focus in others segments.
Sony focus is anime companies to add to their streaming services business.
Lol, Hoeg, the biggest Microsoft shill, is now oh so concerned with Sony financials. Degenerate.
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Holy shit. The whole of Gaming-Twiter is burning si ce early this morning. Imagine how the internet will melt even more if Sony should someday acquire Square Enix.
Now, I still don't necessarily like consolidation, particularly given what's been happening in gaming the past few years. However, and even though I've been quite critical of SIE lately....I think them acquiring Kadokawa would be a smart move, and eventually work out better than certain other companies in terms of their major acquisitions the past couple years (Microsoft Gaming, Embracer).
It shores up a lot of gaps in their portfolio while also solidifying a relationship that's existed since 1994, and I strongly doubt it'd result in any platforms losing access to games like Dark Souls or Elden Ring. In fact, it's likely they'd look to add platforms to the portfolio, like the Switch 2, at least with some of the older titles. I'd be more interested in seeing if it helps any in getting a Bloodborne 2, new IP, or a revival of something like King's Field.
Kadokawa's also got a lot of anime & manga IP that Crunchyroll could work with, or could be adapted into other formats or be leveraged for merchandising opportunities. And I know some of the console warriors and fearmongerers will say "b-but Firewalk"....
Listen...Firewalk just released the biggest modern AAA failure in gaming history. They were a new studio with no track record of their own beforehand, and no IP to leverage. I still think they could've at least been spun into a support studio, but SIE saw differently. Kadokawa's a powerhouse as are From Software, and have none of the shortcomings of Firewalk. We haven't seen people getting let go from Bluepoint or Housemarque, so I don't know why some want to use SIE closing Firewalk as comparing them to being like Microsoft (or worst) when it comes to M&As. Team Green are still the clear leaders on that dubious note though, yes, it'd be nice to see SIE not have to do any firings (outside of rote redundancy HR roles) or studio closures in the future.
Another thing: while them acquiring Kadokawa (& From Software) likely won't result in Dark Souls or Elden Ring going exclusive, or suddenly create stagger windows between PS & PC versions, I'd also say as an M&A it's "just" right in size so it doesn't force SIE to go fully multiplat, the way ABK basically made Microsoft Gaming do once higher ups at Microsoft Corp took over. So that preserves the console platform even tho, IMO, that could be done even better by readjusting their PC strategy with internal 1P studios (stop portinng virtually all the non-GAAS titles to Steam, for starters).
It shores up a lot of gaps in their portfolio while also solidifying a relationship that's existed since 1994, and I strongly doubt it'd result in any platforms losing access to games like Dark Souls or Elden Ring. In fact, it's likely they'd look to add platforms to the portfolio, like the Switch 2, at least with some of the older titles. I'd be more interested in seeing if it helps any in getting a Bloodborne 2, new IP, or a revival of something like King's Field.
Kadokawa's also got a lot of anime & manga IP that Crunchyroll could work with, or could be adapted into other formats or be leveraged for merchandising opportunities. And I know some of the console warriors and fearmongerers will say "b-but Firewalk"....
Listen...Firewalk just released the biggest modern AAA failure in gaming history. They were a new studio with no track record of their own beforehand, and no IP to leverage. I still think they could've at least been spun into a support studio, but SIE saw differently. Kadokawa's a powerhouse as are From Software, and have none of the shortcomings of Firewalk. We haven't seen people getting let go from Bluepoint or Housemarque, so I don't know why some want to use SIE closing Firewalk as comparing them to being like Microsoft (or worst) when it comes to M&As. Team Green are still the clear leaders on that dubious note though, yes, it'd be nice to see SIE not have to do any firings (outside of rote redundancy HR roles) or studio closures in the future.
Another thing: while them acquiring Kadokawa (& From Software) likely won't result in Dark Souls or Elden Ring going exclusive, or suddenly create stagger windows between PS & PC versions, I'd also say as an M&A it's "just" right in size so it doesn't force SIE to go fully multiplat, the way ABK basically made Microsoft Gaming do once higher ups at Microsoft Corp took over. So that preserves the console platform even tho, IMO, that could be done even better by readjusting their PC strategy with internal 1P studios (stop portinng virtually all the non-GAAS titles to Steam, for starters).
Here.
Last September Sony's CEO talked about why they are focusing in content creation.
www.cartoonbrew.com
Kodakawa basically fix some of the issues they were having...
Animator shortage...
High costs...
But maybe here the gaming part will become another doomer point.
Last September Sony's CEO talked about why they are focusing in content creation.
Sony Wants To Produce More Animation Content, But Hampered By Animator Shortage, High Costs
The company is looking at options to increase its output, including digital technologies like AI.
www.cartoonbrew.com
Kodakawa basically fix some of the issues they were having...
Animator shortage...
High costs...
But maybe here the gaming part will become another doomer point.
People like this should be banned from social media for having an opinion lol.
Or just have a clown icon near his username so he’s never taken seriously