Sony should buy Arrowhead and Ballistic Moon this year
- Thread starter Etifilio
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The base game they shipped already is profitable, so don't need to worry about it.
Regarding the cost of servers and post launch content, GaaS have a in their base budget a part for a minimum support during a minimum period of time.
Beyond that, depending on the performance of the game part of its revenue gets reinvested on making more or less post lanch support. The post launch roadmap gets periodically reviewed and tweaked considering such performance, plus also other reasons (issues or areas to improve detected in the game metrics, dev team ideas, market changes and new trends, user suggestions, col·laboration opportunities, etc).
At some point the game doesn't generate enough, so enters on its sunset stage and first the team and content gets reduced, servers get adapted, at some point stops getting new updates and some time later when it doesn't enough to even pay the servers, it servers get shut down.
Meaning, having a big launch and getting the base game profitable, post launch profitability isn't an issue because if doesn't perform accordingly they always can reduce it and cut it.
We don't know the money they are making or will make with passes and microtransactions. But we know that in a couple weeks they already built a very big userbase, and also know the game has a good retention with an average gameplay time of over an hour per day and also a good retention (almost 3 weeks after launch the CCU keep growin instead of decreasing).
Big userbase and big retention often implies good monetization. Obviously you never know, but things look great so far and results until now are awesome.
And yes, Sony pays the servers. In fact last year they annonced that had decreased their acquisitions and investments budget for the current fiscal year because wanted to reallocate part of that cash in a couple areas, one of them being servers for SIE.
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I'm pretty sure Sony and Arrowhead have already signed the contracts for Sony to acquire Arrowhead. For whatever reason, Sony takes a while to announce game studio acquisitions, similarly to Bluepoint and Housemarque. I expect to hear about the acquisition of Arrowhead in the Spring or Summer.
Meh on Ballistic Moon.
Meh on Ballistic Moon.
That's not really how that works.
If Sony feels like acquiring studios will help them build a portfolio that will be profitable, you do it.
That current margins would be used as a reason not to grow is actually counterproductive.
Diversification and product pipeline are really important in ensuring greater margins. The biggest issue though is taking on additional payroll without returns, but with Arrowhead, you're going to want the studio to scale out to better monetize Helldivers and with Ballistic Moon, you may want them to partner with Screen Gems moving forward on a lot of IP. Both can be extremely profitable.
I think there is this counterintuitive belief that growth and thus profitability/margins largely only comes from shrinking payrolls.
The reality is that Sony is experiencing growing pains and until they're able to reach a new level of maturity, they'll continue to have smaller margins.
Kadokawa just bought Acquire... I wouldn't say they're not invested in games.
What are you basing that on?
sony has to be conservative while spending money. they are not a triple trillion dollar company. the smart thing to do right now is to secure second party partnerships for 3 games
(like what they used to do)
IF they feel they NEED to do it. sure. (defensive acquisition) like sucker punch.
the first answer
they dont need to buy them for that....yet.
but they do. this is why you see layoffs.
Everyone is experiencing this. especially in the entertainment industry.
PS is the dominant platform, we could say that they even have a "monopoly" in certain markets.
PS's imperative issues to solve right now are:
1. Try to make PS5 cheaper to the consumer while keep making money out of every console sold.
2. Fix Bungie
3. Reduce dev cost and reduce dev time while maintaining high production levels.
4. Normalize their GaaS output.
Being overly conservative can cost you money too. These partnerships have Sony flooding studios with money only to increase their cost ultimately.
Had Sony bought FromSoftware a decade ago, they would have gotten them at a fraction of the cost of what it would take today. They had ample opportunity.
It's not just about a defensive posture. Again, buying the right studios at the right time can be cost effective and spur growth in margins.
See above
They've cited declining first party sales for over a year as a reason why they are not hitting forecasts. They absolutely need a better games pipeline and a diversified pipeline will reduce risk.
Looks like you skipped out on the word "only". Yeah layoffs are a tool for improving margins, but they aren't the only tool. There is a reason why Sony is stood up PlayStation Productions and bought Audeze. They are diversifying their offerings.
Sony never had a pro controller until the Dual Sense Edge, they put out a "pro" adapter for the Dual Shock 4 towards the end of the PS4s life and it sold well. The Dual Sense Edge continues to be the best selling peripheral in America (dollars) basically since it came out.
All of these moves goes to improve margins and create more stable operating income and they have nothing to do with layoffs.
This is a super simplistic view that largely ignores the reality of things.
1. They've already said they've done about everything they can to reduce the cost of PS5s
2. Fixing Bungie assumes that Bungie is actually broken. It's so funny how Bungie is a release away from being "fixed". If Final Shape is successful and Marathon are successful, did someone fix them?
3. Another simplification. Everything costs something. You're not going to increase production levels and reduce costs and time. It's like saying I want a fast car, cheap, and reliable... Well, if that was so simple the market would be flooded with fast, cheap, reliable cars.
4. What does this even mean? This was just a generality. They just started shipping their GaaS games. Games take time to develop. They have a GaaS roadmap. That was maybe your worst comment on the list because it just doesn't mean anything.
Everything you said was vagueries and generic nonsense. Let me tell you what Sony ACTUALLY needs to do
1. Increase their pipeline of games to PC
2. Lean heavier on transmedia as a method of getting more exposure for IP
3. Diversify their portfolio with games that attract different audiences which will require more studios not less
4. Increase the focus on remakes and remasters where appropriate, they're cheaper to develop and go to strengthen IP, particularly with eventual PC ports and transmedia titles
5. Make cuts where appropriate to studios that aren't delivering on profitability and don't have much potential to, churn employees that are not performing at a high level
6. Diversify their gaming platform with handheld, cloud, mobile, and PC, focus on emerging markets for great TAM in console market
Let me tell you a story about Santa Monica Studios. They put out a really bad God of War game in God of War Ascension. Then their next game a new IP was canceled. They ended up having layoffs. They were not dissimilar to where Bungie is now. Their next product not too long after that was God of War 2018, which is one of Sony's best-selling original games, which was followed by Ragnarok.
The attention is on Bungie because Sony just bought them for 3.6 billion dollars, but Bungie has an extremely strong track record. The idea that they need to be fixed is laughable and is people taking a quote and some articles too far.
Yes, deadlines are important, but releasing a great game is more important. If Cyberpunk launched a year later, it could have avoided a lot of bad press. Particularly if they had skipped the last-gen versions.
but they are not overly conservative. just look at the studios they have recently bought, marketing deals, Thirds and seconds party exclusive games/partnerships.
also dont forget sony's recent acquisitions as well.
what i am saying is that making these acquisitions right now is a bad strategy.
1.Post pandemic bubble burst.
2. Recession and inflation
3. high interests
4. the exchange rate between currencies. (dollar vs yen)
5. sony just lost 10B in stock value.
this year specifically is going to be a bitch to the industry. PS shouldn't just buy a dev or publisher just because; unless if its absolutely necessary, otherwise they should wait.
around that time sony was facing very difficult financial times.
right now is not the right time unless you want PS to face the shitshow xbox is facing of.
What they need is to keep their house in order FIRST, before bringing more people inside and face a potential xbox cluster fuck type of shit.
yes they are.
And movies, TV shows.
and that's my point. If they cant figure out something, they can't spent money on acquisition aka debt, negative money. They need to be frugal and focus to improve margins first.
that's my point.
PS internal development situation is not flowers and rainbows. they are spending too much money and time to make more of the same. they need to figure out what the fuck is happening first.
Remember the shake up at execute levels last year.
and there is this expectation of sony closing a studio inside the insomniac leaks.
they had 12 GaaS planned then they reduced them to 6. Factions was canceled
fairgames and concord have to stick the landing.
they are alreadt doing it.
they are already doing it
GaaS
they already bought some studios and have partnerships with others.
it seems that deviation games was not a smooth collaboration.
this is the shit PS has to avoid
they are already doing that. ND is a joke a this point for that
they are doing that.
they are doing that
the difference between Bungie and SSM
Bungie's leadership is SHIT.
Yes, some extra points:
6. SIE profitabiliy in recent years has been severly impacted by costs related to recent acquisitions, they are still paying stuff related to Bungie and others. It would be beter to wait until the costs of previous acquisitions already have been paid and they have been p roperly integrated in their workflow and pipeline. Because they now have to reduce costs and aquisitions imply costs.
7. Component costs and shipping prices increases worsening the profitability of hardware, accesories and physical games. They have to optimize and reduce costs and maximize revenue to create profitability that compensates it. To reduce acquisitions would help.
8. Around October 2025 they'll have sold their banks stuff getting a lot of cash to use in acquisitions, so better wait for it.
9. Many investors are moving away from gaming to invest in AI instead because growth has been stagnant for a couple years in gaming while there's a lot of growth potential in AI. So it's good for Sony to invest in repurchashing Sony stocks to be better protected against big market shifts.
10. Due to being in a privilege position, Sony can handle better this market conditions better than others, who will be forced to trim the fat firing uneeeded, less productive workers optimizing and lowering their value, and may be forced to sell in a year or two to survive. That point will be a good opportunity for Sony to acquire.
11. There's a financial war between OTAN (meaning mostly USA) and BRICS (meaning mostly China and Rusia), which resulted so far on USA forcing the West cutting ties of their commerce with the big Russian market via Ukraine. USA may to the same next with China via Taiwan in the next few years, which would highly damage Sony, so Sony should be conservative considering they could see their market way more damaged than when losing the Russian one.
Yes. So far they are in a good position, but would be better to reduce some costs, and maximize revenue, productivity and profitability where possible to increase profitability.
No, there isn't.
That was pretty likely a misundertanding of the meeting minutes where they were mentioning instead that they had greenlighted a new game that would be released in 2027 (I assume Venom), so they Insomniac was going to move Insomniac + support/outsourcing resources on games to be released in 2028 or later to the games being released 2027 or sooner.
Another option would be that the mail would be pretty old and they were talking about PixelOpus or some external outsourcing studio.
No, go and read the original source to listen his real words. He said that they were working in the 12 GaaS (denying rumors of cancellations).
Totoki said that they had 6 of them locked to be released before their previous March 2026 deadline, but they still were reviewing the other 6 and at least some of them may not going to make it and would be released after March 2026, which no longer is their goal date.
Some months later ND killed TLOU Online, so there are 11 alive. Out of them MLB, GT7, Firewall Ultra and Helldivers 2 already have been released. So 7 to be released. 6 if we count Destiny as one of the 12 IPs. Concord will be released this year, and Fairgame$ maybe next year. That would mean 4 or 5 left (Deviation new IP, London new IP, Firesprite MP game, Horizon Online and maybe something else as could be the Neon Koi game if they also release it in console+PC, or Bungie's unannounced new IP).
Agreed, along with Embar labs, BlueTwelve and Slocap.
Maybe even Giant Squid.
They should of got Acquire (Octopath) but that leads to my next wishful purchase.
They need one big boy like FromSoft (who also has Acquire studio )
I know they arent going for anything big like Warner, Square, Capcom, Konami etc. So maybe a handul of small studios like above (which they have all worked with PS) and a big studio like FromSoft.
Studios/Publishers don’t need to be struggling to be bought, Activision wasn’t struggling lol and neither was Bungie. Show them the money Sony.
Also expand those current studios to have multiple teams and also intern teams to work on already made older IP’s or remakes.
For example, Sucker Punch should have a smaller team working on games like Sly 4 or/and Remakes of Infamous. Bluepoint who is great with remakes should be teaching the youngsters to remake Ico etc. Insomniac with Resistance remakes. Guerilla with Killzone. ND with Jak an Uncharted 1 etc
Would help release more games and prepare recruits/interns to the DNA of that studio.
Maybe even Giant Squid.
They should of got Acquire (Octopath) but that leads to my next wishful purchase.
They need one big boy like FromSoft (who also has Acquire studio )
I know they arent going for anything big like Warner, Square, Capcom, Konami etc. So maybe a handul of small studios like above (which they have all worked with PS) and a big studio like FromSoft.
Studios/Publishers don’t need to be struggling to be bought, Activision wasn’t struggling lol and neither was Bungie. Show them the money Sony.
Also expand those current studios to have multiple teams and also intern teams to work on already made older IP’s or remakes.
For example, Sucker Punch should have a smaller team working on games like Sly 4 or/and Remakes of Infamous. Bluepoint who is great with remakes should be teaching the youngsters to remake Ico etc. Insomniac with Resistance remakes. Guerilla with Killzone. ND with Jak an Uncharted 1 etc
Would help release more games and prepare recruits/interns to the DNA of that studio.
They need to stop doing this and just buy. They know certain studios will deliver. No point waiting till they are more expensive to buy after creating 3 great games. Or someone else coming and buying them like Ninja Theory or Quantic Dream.
They made more profit than ever last generation for PS. 3rd and 1st party. And none of there games has missed profit apart from destruction all stars. They are not suffering in any way despite what people say the cost of AAA games are.
These I agree with. As long as they dont reduce there quality and quantity. Or Lengths of there games. There games have been making good returns.
They do need more Gaas output for more profits for sure
Sony will lose Arrowhead and will be one of those “Sony should have done”. They have the bean counter in command that won’t understand the problem behind losing institutions value you’ve helped create for a decade.
Who's gonna buy them? They are successful now and I don't see any reason for them to sell to anyone than their long term partner.
this is a similar attitude to the Xbox fans cheering up for MS buying ABK, bethesda etc... those people never saw the consequences.
sony has very strong relationships with some studios and publishers. if there is no need to buy them they shouldn't do it just because. especially right now
yes, of course is the same, as buying one pack of candy to someone buying whole candy factory. why not..
They’ve lost strong relationships and or exclusive games like Yakuza, Persona, Street Fighter, Ninja Theory, Quantic Dream, Double Fine since last gen.
Could of lost the talent at Supermassive and Insomniac.
The only partnership they’ve kept is Ninja Theory. And Square to some extent ( Didnt get games like Triangle Strategy or Octopath, Dragon Quest also wasnt exclusive )
Lost big 3rd party exclusives like Tekken, Ridge Racer, DMC, Crash, Kingdom Hearts, Spyro all in the past. They only just got back Final Fantasy back after 2 generations.
No1 is asking Sony to spend 80+billion and theres a big difference with Sony and MS. And also a big difference between Bethesda+Activision to FromSoft and some small studios like the ones mentioned.
MS cant manage there own ips and games, have no talent, and were failing before they bought Bethesda and Activision. Especially with decisions like Kinect, Day 1 games on PC and Gamepass.
People warned them not to buy those publishers and IPs because
1.) They were failing with their own studios, IPs and managing them.
2.) Trying the gamepass route which made no sense.
3.) MS seem to destroy most things they purchase/touch.
4.) Were spending Microsoft money to bail out the Xbox division because Xbox wasnt making enough money. Just to boost Gamepass.
5. They were buying already established IPs that people loved, and they had nothing to do with building them. Something that hasnt happened in Video games for decades and never on that scale.
Sony is different, Playstation can manage a few extra studios, especially FromSoft and some small studios like Embar Labs and Arrowhead (where they have made 2 exclusives before together. Its nowhere near the same as buying Bethesda and Activision.
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Absolutely. They will be added to the Squaresoft, fromsoftware, atlus, and super massive pile.