They have. Years ago, in both cases.
Sony may have acquired Ballistic Moon - Rumor
- Thread starter Bryank75
- Start date
Has this rumor basically been confirmed now? Apparently there are some records showing it's happened but...I just got that from reading a chapter headline on a MBG video :/
Looks like y'all were right
Looks like y'all were right
OP
OP
Has this rumor basically been confirmed now? Apparently there are some records showing it's happened but...I just got that from reading a chapter headline on a MBG video :/
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Looks like y'all were right
Yes, Colin M looked into it and it all seems to be legit.
I would still hold off for 100% confirmation from official sources though.
Nice. Now I'm even more interested to see what game(s?) they're cooking up.
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You saw the 'Bates Motel' on the list?
It's apparently Horror / Puzzle.... I imagine it will be somewhat like Until Dawn.
That name seems familiar. All I know is, the studio has ex-Supermassive members on it and I'd say it came down between Supermassive and Quantic Dream being the best in that new style of point-and-clicks. So whatever Ballistic's working on, has a lot of promise.
We should hopefully get a reveal at the June (May?) Showcase.
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It's possible, some of the other games on the list have been revealed or even released....
I'm excited at the prospect and I always thought Sony needed a studio like that. The good thing about Supermassive was that they produced a lot of games quite quickly after Until Dawn released.
That type of studio can fill a lot of gaps in the schedule, maybe have a game every halloween or something like that. I think that is really useful.
Pretty small by the details provided in this thread. More fit for support. With the quality n scope standards Sony has set expectations wise, I don't think a small group like this would ship a AAA title anytime soon. There are however exceptions to this with Media Molecule in the past and more recently one of the biggest success stories of this new gen with Housemarque's Returnal. I guess it defeats my own argument in a way.
As long as they're productive in creating quality content for bigger projects and not forgotten by being independent and small in a sea of small is all good to me.
As long as they're productive in creating quality content for bigger projects and not forgotten by being independent and small in a sea of small is all good to me.
From the rumors I've been reading, Firesprite and Ballistic Moon are working on Until-Dawn style horror games while Fabrik, which is part of Firesprite, are working on a sci fi horror game, which could potentially be another Persistence game.
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Are Until Dawn style games a big enough deal to have an entire first party dev dedicated to making them?
If the development process is efficient, they can be a great addition to flesh out a library.
Remember, Sony’s approach has never been about having one game that sells to every PlayStation owner, but to have a wide variety of games so that more people will find something that interests them.
Looking at it that way, having a team that makes that kind of experience with the technical and financial support that Sony first-party studios receive, they could make some really fun stuff that’s unique, or at least uncommon, in the industry.
Makes sense. Personally I would like Sony to do something more in the vein of resident evil or silent hill (ie siren) for a first party horror game, or have a studio that could do Souls-likes since Fromsoft are often too busy with other projects to do any Bloodborne style collaboration with Sony.
The team doing Slitterhead is headed by a director who used to lead a team at Sony and who has very close ties, to the point where I don’t think he’s done anything that wasn’t for a PlayStation console. He was also the main creative force on the first two Resident Evil games and Siren, so Slitterhead is what you’re craving, for sure.
Until Dawn had a difficult development, since it started as a FPS PS3 PS Move game and suffered a lot of changes ended being the PS4 game we know. It took 5 years of development, which was pretty long. But even if it wasn't a huge hit, it ended being pretty successful, and their studio signed a long deal with Bandai Namco to make many similar games and now signed with Take 2's Private Division.
To the Sony or AAA standards, both horror and interactive drama adventres are a big niche. Not top genres whose hits sell over 20M copies, but they can sell over half a dozen millions, which still is a good amount of money.
On top of that, beyond sales gives their catalog or exclusives lineup more genre diversity, which makes their platform more appealing with certain tastes specially when combined with other titles. I mean, people interested in a game ilke Until Dawn could also be interested on the Quantic Dream games, or Resident Evil, etc. Or maybe a player who is mainly interested on other genres, may want to try something different so may get this one. On top of that, if Sony later wants to make a movie or tv show adaptation it's easier for them.
TLDR: directly related game and console sales may not be huge but are still good, and play a role in the bigger picture offering a more diverse catalog.
Well, they made Siren at Japan Studio with the key former Silent Hill devs and were very unsuccessful. More recently seems Sony thought it was a better idea to make some deals with Silent Hill or Resident Evil (timed console exclusivities, VR mode exclusivities, no XBO version, etc).
Bloodborne wasn't a big seller, but got critical acclaim so they made the Demon's Souls remake with Bluepoint since From was busy with other projects. I assume that after the Elden Ring success they'll want to work with From again once they are available.
Seems they are also working with these former Supermassive devs on a 2nd party game (Supermassive was busy with the other deals and now got bought).
The thing is, other than these teams there aren't more teams to make these kind of games at a top level. Unless someone like SSM or Bend wants to give an horror vibe to their next game to their next IP.
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Colin talks about it on Sacred Symbols, he used a website that requires a subscription that is used by venture capitalists etc and it says they are owned by Sony.
It seems pretty solid. I think we are all just waiting on official confirmation but it's as solid as you can get for now.
If Pitchbook says Sony bought them, it’s a dead certainty.
Pitchbook has been around since the late 90s and is an industry tool for VC firms and investors to track what’s hot and what’s new in tech startups.
Any information submitted to them is vetted through multiple means before publication, as they do not want their credibility damaged by a rumour killing finding for someone or causing any legal action against them. It’s also insanely expensive because of it being a powerful tool for a very narrow market.
If they said it, it’s the gospel truth.
I wouldn’t be surprised if deviation games and an investment in square enix has happened as well. I wonder if illfonic, the people who made the predator game would be on Sonys radar?
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Illfonic just are not up to standard atm... IMO
I'd be super excited for them to buy Deviation and go on a hire spree and poach lots of COD and Titanfall people and make a kick-ass grounded shooter. (milsim)
I'm not a fan of piecemeal-ing Square, they already sold off their iconic western IP's and now they want to sell shares in studios.... it's just so messy and I think Sony should either just buy them outright or make a longterm exclusive agreement where they have first rights to see everything they make and get it eclusive or choose marketing rights etc. Seems like they already operate like this anyway but just to get it on paper.
I think a stock buy would formalize whatever agreement they seemingly already have and also have sony be the publisher in a few cases as well. This could theoretically work out for sqaure as Sony funds the project and help Sony because it’s now a perm exclusive and they can work out the percentages of who gets what. I don’t think they need to get caught up in courts for a year trying to buy sqaure enix in particular when they already have they type of agreement you mentioned, just not formalized with Sony ownership.
