Sony's future and possible studio/publisher acquisitions

[Loy310]

Do you guys think we see Sony make any moves soon or wait until after August when all this CMA stuff is done with? Ill admit im kind of surprised they havent done anything yet.

Wait, the cma could still give ms the finger and if they do then that means to sony that their own merger wont clear. So too much risk to start one now imo, the cma is too much of a wild card.

 

[Yurinka]

Do you guys think we see Sony make any moves soon or wait until after August when all this CMA stuff is done with? Ill admit im kind of surprised they havent done anything yet.

Microsoft might take a break from acquiring big publishers, so this has to be the time for Sony and others to buy publishers because they know MS will try to go after them in the future. They can't afford to sit around and make small moves.

Sony won't make acquisitions this fiscal year.

Sony said that due to market conditions they won't do acquisitions in the short term and spent the related budget they had for the current fiscal year in other things.

They said that they'll resume acquisitions in the mid/long term after getting cash from selling 80% of their banks business and when finding the proper opportunity after having analized the valuations more carefully.

In console or game subs market Sony has at least a 2:1 advantage over MS in most main KPIs. In key markets like EU or Japan the distance goes way, way bigger (even 10:1 or 8:1 in some cases). CoD only generate them under 8% of the SIE division revenue and is played by under 8% of the PS MAU, and CoD will continue on PS for at least 10 years. Sony doesn't need to make any big action to counter it.

 

[Nhomnhom]

Do you guys think we see Sony make any moves soon or wait until after August when all this CMA stuff is done with? Ill admit im kind of surprised they havent done anything yet.

Even if Sony decided to make their moves once this is over it would likely take some time.

I just wish they would at least start announcing more future games, it feels like we have been kept in the dark for years.

 

[Deleted member 223]

Next year for anything big, or mid. A small timer could be late this year. Konami IP's should be a no brainer imo.

 

[Dabaus]

Even if Sony decided to make their moves once this is over it would likely take some time.

I just wish they would at least start announcing more future games, it feels like we have been kept in the dark for years.

They have 18 months to plan to make moves.

 

[Bryank75]

After March 2024. IMO

 

[Edmund]

They need CDPR and Larian badly.

 

[thicc_girls_are_teh_best]

Sony won't make acquisitions this fiscal year.

Sony said that due to market conditions they won't do acquisitions in the short term and spent the related budget they had for the current fiscal year in other things.

They said that they'll resume acquisitions in the mid/long term after getting cash from selling 80% of their banks business and when finding the proper opportunity after having analized the valuations more carefully.

In console or game subs market Sony has at least a 2:1 advantage over MS in most main KPIs. In key markets like EU or Japan the distance goes way, way bigger (even 10:1 or 8:1 in some cases). CoD only generate them under 8% of the SIE division revenue and is played by under 8% of the PS MAU, and CoD will continue on PS for at least 10 years. Sony doesn't need to make any big action to counter it.

Sony better pray the devs/pubs they were interested in acquiring are still up for being purchased by the time they're ready. If they're too slow to act, others will. It's not just Microsoft they have to deal with now; it's also companies like Tencent, Sazzy Group, Netease (all three of which have been busy with investing into Japanese devs and publishers, btw), and in Western territories could see increased acquisition habits from Amazon and Netflix chiefly, though others aren't off the playing field. I do not think Microsoft will try making another acquisition for probably at least a year, maybe longer. Outside of maybe a smaller 3P developer like Avalanche or the team that made Echo Generation & Ravenlok.

And FWIW having a massive lead in countries like Japan doesn't mean that much at current when at least with tracked physical software sales, PS5 is getting steamrolled by Nintendo Switch in that territory (maybe it's more favorable for PS5 once digital sales are included, but I doubt any games are pulling off TOTK or Splatoon 3 numbers for it in the Japanese market).

As for COD, yes it might generate less than 10% of SIE revenue but considering Sony itself generates significantly less revenue than Microsoft (and less annual profit too; just to compare, MS's net profit is something like almost 3x SIE's annual revenue), but that COD money probably contributes a decent chunk more to SIE's profits, which is at least just as if not more important than the revenue, especially in a consolidating market.

COD being on PS platforms for the next 10 years isn't a great tradeoff considering Sony's profit margins off its revenue will decrease, that they will no longer have marketing rights to COD releases, and will lose out on early perks that absolutely entice enthusiasts of the brand. Plus it means one less IP (and associated 3P) that Sony can independently engage in deliberations for deals, codevelopment, cofunding etc. with. That can't be understated, IMO.

 

[Eternal_Wings]

Sony better pray the devs/pubs they were interested in acquiring are still up for being purchased by the time they're ready. If they're too slow to act, others will. It's not just Microsoft they have to deal with now; it's also companies like Tencent, Sazzy Group, Netease (all three of which have been busy with investing into Japanese devs and publishers, btw), and in Western territories could see increased acquisition habits from Amazon and Netflix chiefly, though others aren't off the playing field. I do not think Microsoft will try making another acquisition for probably at least a year, maybe longer. Outside of maybe a smaller 3P developer like Avalanche or the team that made Echo Generation & Ravenlok.

And FWIW having a massive lead in countries like Japan doesn't mean that much at current when at least with tracked physical software sales, PS5 is getting steamrolled by Nintendo Switch in that territory (maybe it's more favorable for PS5 once digital sales are included, but I doubt any games are pulling off TOTK or Splatoon 3 numbers for it in the Japanese market).

As for COD, yes it might generate less than 10% of SIE revenue but considering Sony itself generates significantly less revenue than Microsoft (and less annual profit too; just to compare, MS's net profit is something like almost 3x SIE's annual revenue), but that COD money probably contributes a decent chunk more to SIE's profits, which is at least just as if not more important than the revenue, especially in a consolidating market.

COD being on PS platforms for the next 10 years isn't a great tradeoff considering Sony's profit margins off its revenue will decrease, that they will no longer have marketing rights to COD releases, and will lose out on early perks that absolutely entice enthusiasts of the brand. Plus it means one less IP (and associated 3P) that Sony can independently engage in deliberations for deals, codevelopment, cofunding etc. with. That can't be understated, IMO.

Well I think if Sony should possibly announce a major deal they don’t need necessarily to have cash set aside. Microsoft didn’t have reserved $69B for Activision Blizzard, it was a spontaneous action. This can also apply as well for Sony. It’s not required to announce certain budget to acquire something. Sometimes opportunities do emerge coincidentally for companies. As I think it’s either November (busy month traditionally in Japan) or it will be within next fiscal year 2024.

 

[DForce]

Sony won't make acquisitions this fiscal year.

Sony said that due to market conditions they won't do acquisitions in the short term and spent the related budget they had for the current fiscal year in other things.

They said that they'll resume acquisitions in the mid/long term after getting cash from selling 80% of their banks business and when finding the proper opportunity after having analized the valuations more carefully.

In console or game subs market Sony has at least a 2:1 advantage over MS in most main KPIs. In key markets like EU or Japan the distance goes way, way bigger (even 10:1 or 8:1 in some cases). CoD only generate them under 8% of the SIE division revenue and is played by under 8% of the PS MAU, and CoD will continue on PS for at least 10 years. Sony doesn't need to make any big action to counter it.

Yes, but if Sony acts slow, then that gives MS an opportunity to go after another publisher. This is not just to counter ABK, but to stop the competition from getting stronger.

 

[Bryank75]

Yes, but if Sony acts slow, then that gives MS an opportunity to go after another publisher. This is not just to counter ABK, but to stop the competition from getting stronger.

My worry. Sony have been lethargically slow on everything....

By the time they might be ready to do something, will it even be possible? Will it be effective? I just don't know.

 

[Yurinka]

Sony better pray the devs/pubs they were interested in acquiring are still up for being purchased by the time they're ready.

Probably Sony wanted to acquire devs or pubs and had the money, but dediced to leave it for another time because they may have asked them and none of them wanted to sell.

If they're too slow to act, others will.

Some of them don't sell because they don't want to sell and don't need to sell. Some people sell even if they don't want because their finances suck and their only alternative is to fire a huge portion of the company or to go bankrupt and selling is their only option to avoid it.

It's not just Microsoft they have to deal with now; it's also companies like Tencent, Sazzy Group, Netease

There are people who don't want to sell. And between who are open to sell, they never would sell to certain companies: only would sell to certain ones.

And FWIW having a massive lead in countries like Japan doesn't mean that much at current when at least with tracked physical software sales, PS5 is getting steamrolled by Nintendo Switch in that territory (maybe it's more favorable for PS5 once digital sales are included, but I doubt any games are pulling off TOTK or Splatoon 3 numbers for it in the Japanese market).

PS worldwide sales -counting both digital and retail- are way, way bigger than the Switch ones.

Japan is a small portion of these worldwide sales: this is why all Japanese companies stopped making Japan only games, or games targeted mainly to Japan, and instead target a worldwide audience.

As for COD, yes it might generate less than 10% of SIE revenue but considering Sony itself generates significantly less revenue than Microsoft

No, in the case of gaming SIE makes >25B in revenue per year (with billions of profits) and MS makes around 15B (with very likely billions of loses).

(and less annual profit too; just to compare, MS's net profit is something like almost 3x SIE's annual revenue), but that COD money probably contributes a decent chunk more to SIE's profits, which is at least just as if not more important than the revenue, especially in a consolidating market.

If some day CoD leaves PS (for minimum 10 years will stay there), most CoD PS players will continue on PS playing other games. So Sony won't lose most of these profits.

COD being on PS platforms for the next 10 years isn't a great tradeoff considering Sony's profit margins off its revenue will decrease, that they will no longer have marketing rights to COD releases,

CoD will continue so its profits will continue. Sony will spent the marketing budget they were spending on CoD now in other games, very likely 1st party shooters. So it will be more profitable for Sony specially considering Sony gets 100% of that revenue instead of 30% or 20% (meaning, they need way less sales with 1st party games to make the same revenue and profit than with CoD sales).

Let's say CoD has a 80%-20% deal. A 1st party game of the same budget and price would need to generate 5 time less of revenue to generate the same revenue to Sony. So let's say a CoD sells 10M units on PS. A Sony shooter would need to sell 2M units to make the same amount of revenue.

Regarding profit, obviously the CoD marketing costed Sony less money than the one needed to make a 1st party AAA GaaS shooter so would need to sell way more than these 2M to get the same profit they were getting from CoD. But well, the recent Sony AAA sold or are in track to sell over 15/20M units. Some of their shooters will sell around that (in most cases less I think, but on top of that they'll get way more money from the DLC/MTX/passes/etc).

In 3-5 years:

• Sony will have in the market like half a dozen 1st party shooters
• SIE's revenue and profit coming from shooters will be way higher than now
• As a result of SIE growing their investment in all areas (not only in games, software, 1st party or shooters, they will be generating way more revenue and profit, and their userbase will grow continuing the current trend
• CoD PS revenue and profit will represent a smaller percent of the total SIE revenue and profit than now
• CoD PS MAU will represent a smaller percent of the PS MAU
• Some CoD PS players will stop playing CoD because moved to the Sony 1st party shoters

So if CoD would have left now Sony wouldn't be worried because only a tiny portion of their userbase actively plays it and it represents a tiny portion of their revenue. But in a few years, CoD will be even less important for SIE.

And well, to leave PS would be a super idiotic idea for MS because putting it day one on GP most of the (non-mobile) CoD revenue is going to come from PS because they will lose a big chunk of the PC and Xbox sales. So make sure MS will renew the deal 10 years from now.

Yes, but if Sony acts slow, then that gives MS an opportunity to go after another publisher. This is not just to counter ABK, but to stop the competition from getting stronger.

Most of the top publishers or developers are having record finantials and are growing, or are a family business. Meaning they don't want to sell. And if they don't want to sell there is no acquisition.

On top to that Sony would have to face regulators with any big acquisition and would have more issues than MS is experiencing now:

MS had issues with regulators with the ABK acquisition in markets where Sony is outperforming them 4:1.

Imagine how regulators would react if that acquisition was being made by the one who has a 4:1 advantage.

It is not like going to the grocery and buy a bag of potatoes.

My worry. Sony have been lethargically slow on everything....

By the time they might be ready to do something, will it even be possible? Will it be effective? I just don't know.

Maybe they would like to do it but they can't because the companies they would like to buy don't want to be sold, or because they know that regulators wouldn't allow them to buy these companies.

So maybe their best option is to follow other strategy: to poach key talent hiring them in the studios Sony already has. Or to tell key talent from these companies to fund a new team to make a game that Sony would fund and if it works and both agree Sony could buy them (you know, like Kojipro, Firewalk, Haven, Deviation...). Or maybe are telling these companies to reorganize branching out into a separate new company the portion that Sony wants to buy, as they did with Lasengle and as apparently maybe is happening in Square.

Btw, do we know who is going to publish the games of Tabata's new studio JP Games? I assume Sony may be interested.

 

[DForce]

Most of the top publishers or developers are having record finantials and are growing, or are a family business. Meaning they don't want to sell. And if they don't want to sell there is no acquisition.

On top to that Sony would have to face regulators with any big acquisition and would have more issues than MS is experiencing now:

MS had issues with regulators with the ABK acquisition in markets where Sony is outperforming them 4:1.

Imagine how regulators would react if that acquisition was being made by the one who has a 4:1 advantage.

It is not like going to the grocery and buy a bag of potatoes.

They're more than likely to face issues with EA and Take-Two than the likes of Square, Capcom, and Ubisoft. They also face little when they acquired Bungie, but they obviously cost less than the ones that I just mentioned.

Microsoft can only use the "we're in 3rd place for so long" because they will likely acquire one of the biggest publishers in the world.

Sure, it's not easy to just go out and buy a publisher. They actually have to want to be bought. But that still doesn't change the fact that MS is still going to go out and try to buy more and Sony can't afford to just sit around.

 

[historia]

Sony better pray the devs/pubs they were interested in acquiring are still up for being purchased by the time they're ready.

Well Bethesda was almost bankrupt, and ABK is in deep trouble in 2021 scandal. Probably Ubisoft will be next for Microsoft.

 

[historia]

Probably Sony wanted to acquire devs or pubs and had the money, but dediced to leave it for another time because they may have asked them and none of them wanted to sell.


Some of them don't sell because they don't want to sell and don't need to sell. Some people sell even if they don't want because their finances suck and their only alternative is to fire a huge portion of the company or to go bankrupt and selling is their only option to avoid it.


There are people who don't want to sell. And between who are open to sell, they never would sell to certain companies: only would sell to certain ones.


PS worldwide sales -counting both digital and retail- are way, way bigger than the Switch ones.

Japan is a small portion of these worldwide sales: this is why all Japanese companies stopped making Japan only games, or games targeted mainly to Japan, and instead target a worldwide audience.


No, in the case of gaming SIE makes >25B in revenue per year (with billions of profits) and MS makes around 15B (with very likely billions of loses).


If some day CoD leaves PS (for minimum 10 years will stay there), most CoD PS players will continue on PS playing other games. So Sony won't lose most of these profits.


CoD will continue so its profits will continue. Sony will spent the marketing budget they were spending on CoD now in other games, very likely 1st party shooters. So it will be more profitable for Sony specially considering Sony gets 100% of that revenue instead of 30% or 20% (meaning, they need way less sales with 1st party games to make the same revenue and profit than with CoD sales).

Let's say CoD has a 80%-20% deal. A 1st party game of the same budget and price would need to generate 5 time less of revenue to generate the same revenue to Sony. So let's say a CoD sells 10M units on PS. A Sony shooter would need to sell 2M units to make the same amount of revenue.

Regarding profit, obviously the CoD marketing costed Sony less money than the one needed to make a 1st party AAA GaaS shooter so would need to sell way more than these 2M to get the same profit they were getting from CoD. But well, the recent Sony AAA sold or are in track to sell over 15/20M units. Some of their shooters will sell around that (in most cases less I think, but on top of that they'll get way more money from the DLC/MTX/passes/etc).

In 3-5 years:

• Sony will have in the market like half a dozen 1st party shooters
• SIE's revenue and profit coming from shooters will be way higher than now
• As a result of SIE growing their investment in all areas (not only in games, software, 1st party or shooters, they will be generating way more revenue and profit, and their userbase will grow continuing the current trend
• CoD PS revenue and profit will represent a smaller percent of the total SIE revenue and profit than now
• CoD PS MAU will represent a smaller percent of the PS MAU
• Some CoD PS players will stop playing CoD because moved to the Sony 1st party shoters

So if CoD would have left now Sony wouldn't be worried because only a tiny portion of their userbase actively plays it and it represents a tiny portion of their revenue. But in a few years, CoD will be even less important for SIE.

And well, to leave PS would be a super idiotic idea for MS because putting it day one on GP most of the (non-mobile) CoD revenue is going to come from PS because they will lose a big chunk of the PC and Xbox sales. So make sure MS will renew the deal 10 years from now.


Most of the top publishers or developers are having record finantials and are growing, or are a family business. Meaning they don't want to sell. And if they don't want to sell there is no acquisition.

On top to that Sony would have to face regulators with any big acquisition and would have more issues than MS is experiencing now:

MS had issues with regulators with the ABK acquisition in markets where Sony is outperforming them 4:1.

Imagine how regulators would react if that acquisition was being made by the one who has a 4:1 advantage.

It is not like going to the grocery and buy a bag of potatoes.


Maybe they would like to do it but they can't because the companies they would like to buy don't want to be sold, or because they know that regulators wouldn't allow them to buy these companies.

So maybe their best option is to follow other strategy: to poach key talent hiring them in the studios Sony already has. Or to tell key talent from these companies to fund a new team to make a game that Sony would fund and if it works and both agree Sony could buy them (you know, like Kojipro, Firewalk, Haven, Deviation...). Or maybe are telling these companies to reorganize branching out into a separate new company the portion that Sony wants to buy, as they did with Lasengle and as apparently maybe is happening in Square.

Btw, do we know who is going to publish the games of Tabata's new studio JP Games? I assume Sony may be interested.

Sony will not be under any scrunity if they decide to acquire Japanese publishers like Square Enix, Capcom, or Koei Tecmo, given it is Sony Group, and not SIE. Even if SIE, I still think it gonna pass.

Given Sony Group has shares some investors with those publishers, it would be their best interest if they sold for Sony as they looking for sellers anyway, given if one of them screw up.

Also I don't think Sammy like the idea of Sega being sold, Sega part is integral to their whole business. And I don't think Sony is interesting in Sammy as a whole. Same situation for FromSoftware, Kadokawa will probably raise SIE's stake but that will be about it.

So probably the most result of out this is Sony Group(not SIE) will acquire Square Enix and that is about it.

 

[VillaiN]

They need CDPR and Larian badly.

Agree. Larian with sony backing can do great stuff in shorter time. Also cdpr can expand properly in other media with sony pictures.

 

[Eternal_Wings]

Agree. Larian with sony backing can do great stuff in shorter time. Also cdpr can expand properly in other media with sony pictures.

I don’t think they would get/buy both. I remember hearing Larian declined back then in the past, offers by other interested parties.
CDPR could be worth trying.

 

[Yurinka]

Sony will not be under any scrunity if they decide to acquire Japanese publishers like Square Enix, Capcom, or Koei Tecmo, given it is Sony Group, and not SIE. Even if SIE, I still think it gonna pass.

So probably the most result of out this is Sony Group(not SIE) will acquire Square Enix and that is about it.

You're wrong.

As happened with Bungie and the other console focused studios they acquired, it would be SIE who would buy Square Enix and would be placed under it.

Any big acquisition made by any big corporation, specially when it's the case of a market leader in that market as would be the case of SIE acquiring Square, it would be investigated and would be needed to be approved by regulators. The regulators would also investigate if it has important implications in other markets where the Sony group -the owner of SIE, since SIE is a Sony subsidiary- is.

Given Sony Group has shares some investors with those publishers, it would be their best interest if they sold for Sony as they looking for sellers anyway, given if one of them screw up.

To acquire a company, they often prefer to acquire 100% to have full ownership. But acquiring over 50% is enough to have full control, so only need to convince to sell the owners of 51%+ of the company.

Also I don't think Sammy like the idea of Sega being sold, Sega part is integral to their whole business. And I don't think Sony is interesting in Sammy as a whole. Same situation for FromSoftware, Kadokawa will probably raise SIE's stake but that will be about it.

Sega and Sammy no longer are different companies. Sega Sammy is now a single company who works in multiple business. But their main business is gaming, and around half of the money they make comes from gaming, so pretty likely Sega Sammy wouldn't want to branch out and sell their gaming part, which is basically the only one where Sony would be interested.

Kadokawa's case is different: they also have different businesses outside Sony interests, but for Kadokawa gaming is not their biggest part. In addition to this, Sony wouldn't be interested on all the Kadokawa game publishers and developers: Sony would only want From Software. With Elden Ring, From made a shit ton of money to Kadokawa, so they won't want to sell From.

But Kadokawa has a deal with Sony, where Sony helps Kadokawa sell the Kadokawa games and anime to the rest of the world outside Japan, and Sony is also interested on Kadokawa's anime and manga IPs. Meaning, Sony has a lot of power over Kadokawa and each other want to keep the other part happy.

So with Kadokawa's case the most likely scenario is that Sony won't buy Kadokawa or From Soft but Kadokawa won't never work against Sony's interests in gaming or anime as would be making Xbox or Nintendo exclusives, or to sell the company or From to MS or Nintendo. I also think over time Sony will increase their stocks of Kadokawa and From but without fully owning it, while also increasing Sony's market share in console gaming, game subs and anime. So Kadokawa will depend more and more on Sony.

Well Bethesda was almost bankrupt, and ABK is in deep trouble in 2021 scandal. Probably Ubisoft will be next for Microsoft.

Ubisoft is not in deep trouble at all.

They only had the combo of covid related delays, 2 games under performing, a few games that required extra time and a few games cancelled. Normal stuff that frequently happens in all publishers, they only had back luck that it happened together, so they had a bad year or two but nothing specially worrying. They didn't need to fire thousands of people, only to reduce some costs here and there.

They have a shit ton of big selling games under development that soon will start to be released. Once released will be in great finantial shape again.

Ubisoft wants to be independent, and recently Tencent did help Ubi's management (Guillemot family, majority in the Ubi board) get control of the company. They also signed that Tencent won't buy more in several years, I don't remember if in 5 or 8, and that they won't sell in that period.

 

[Yurinka]

They're more than likely to face issues with EA and Take-Two than the likes of Square, Capcom, and Ubisoft. They also face little when they acquired Bungie, but they obviously cost less than the ones that I just mentioned.

Yes. EA, Take 2 or Bandai Namco are way bigger than Square, Capcom or Ubisoft and they are way smaller than ABK so they would be easier to acquire (if MS or Sony wants to acquire and their shareholders want to sell) regarding having issues with regulators due to their size and impact in the market.

As happened with acquisitions of Bungie, Bethesda or Activision Blizzard King, the acquisition of any big publisher would need to be approved by the regulators. As of now, only ABK caused some issues with regulators because even if they are a very small portion of the market, they are the biggest 3rd party in consoles.

The problem is who buys them: MS had issues with market regulators even if MS has a 20% market share in some players. Imagine what would have happened if it would have been Sony, the ones with 80% market share there, the ones trying to buy.

Microsoft can only use the "we're in 3rd place for so long" because they will likely acquire one of the biggest publishers in the world.

They can use that because it's true.

They are in the last position of the console race and their main competitor Sony heavily dominates them, specially in top markets like EU and Asia by a huge distance.

ABK, even if the top 3rd party publisher in consoles, only represents a tiny gaming market share, even in console or in PlayStation.

So MS acquiring ABK would change things much, it only would help MS to get closer to Sony but still behind, and without basically hurting PS's market at all, because it's so big that even if they'd remove ABK from there -CoD will continue for at least 10 years- wouldn't be almost noticiable.

Sure, it's not easy to just go out and buy a publisher. They actually have to want to be bought. But that still doesn't change the fact that MS is still going to go out and try to buy more and Sony can't afford to just sit around.

MS tried and failed to acquire several publishers and developers in the recent years. It may also been the case of Sony, as en example with Kojipro, Ready at Dawn, Quantic Dream or Supermassive. Maybe Sony wanted to buy them and maybe they didn't want to sell, or at least not to Sony because wanted to remain multiplatform or wanted to sell to the highest bidder and wasn't Sony. Same goes with MS.

Sony is perfectly fine as they are, they can afford to continue doing their current strategy which is smarter than just to buy a bunch of known brands:

Growing all their internal dev teams to allow them make more games. Acquiring support studios to rely less on external outsourcing, acquiring PC porting teams to don't need to waste main dev team resources on ports, licensing these IPs to movies, tv shows, theme park rides and soon mobile games too. Sony also has been spending more than ever in 2nd party and 3rd party exclusivity deals.

In the last 4 years acquired studios like Insomniac, Bungie, Bluepoint or Housemarque, plus new studios with the key talent from Bungie, Liverpool Studio, Evolution or the top Ubisoft games. Invested more than ever in VR, revamped their game sub and in terms of 1st party lineup they're expanding in shooters/MP/GaaS while also growing in their traditional game types. They are developing more games than ever, being around half of them new IPs.

Once they solved the chips issue in a few months PS5 will be back to be the fastest selling console in gaming history. More than doubling the userbase of their direct competitors while also having record numbers in engagement and also in game subs and accesories sales.

Sony is doing great and will continue doing great, in fact better than before because they have been investing to grow in all areas so they will grow in userbase, revenue and profit. And pretty likely, as they estimate, in market share too. Even if MS acquires ABK and specially considering they'll keep CoD on PS (which only affects under 8% of their PS revenue and userbase, a percentage that after some time will be smaller) at least for 10 years.

Like MS, Sony will continue growing and making acquisitions, but the ones that make sense and when it makes sense. Sony doesn't need to make big acquisitions and pretty likely wouldn't be allowed to make big console publisher acquisitions because they already are too dominant in that market.

 

[historia]

You're wrong.

As happened with Bungie and the other console focused studios they acquired, it would be SIE who would buy Square Enix and would be placed under it.

Any big acquisition made by any big corporation, specially when it's the case of a market leader in that market as would be the case of SIE acquiring Square, it would be investigated and would be needed to be approved by regulators. The regulators would also investigate if it has important implications in other markets where the Sony group -the owner of SIE, since SIE is a Sony subsidiary- is.


To acquire a company, they often prefer to acquire 100% to have full ownership. But acquiring over 50% is enough to have full control, so only need to convince to sell the owners of 51%+ of the company.


Sega and Sammy no longer are different companies. Sega Sammy is now a single company who works in multiple business. But their main business is gaming, and around half of the money they make comes from gaming, so pretty likely Sega Sammy wouldn't want to branch out and sell their gaming part, which is basically the only one where Sony would be interested.

Kadokawa's case is different: they also have different businesses outside Sony interests, but for Kadokawa gaming is not their biggest part. In addition to this, Sony wouldn't be interested on all the Kadokawa game publishers and developers: Sony would only want From Software. With Elden Ring, From made a shit ton of money to Kadokawa, so they won't want to sell From.

But Kadokawa has a deal with Sony, where Sony helps Kadokawa sell the Kadokawa games and anime to the rest of the world outside Japan, and Sony is also interested on Kadokawa's anime and manga IPs. Meaning, Sony has a lot of power over Kadokawa and each other want to keep the other part happy.

So with Kadokawa's case the most likely scenario is that Sony won't buy Kadokawa or From Soft but Kadokawa won't never work against Sony's interests in gaming or anime as would be making Xbox or Nintendo exclusives, or to sell the company or From to MS or Nintendo. I also think over time Sony will increase their stocks of Kadokawa and From but without fully owning it, while also increasing Sony's market share in console gaming, game subs and anime. So Kadokawa will depend more and more on Sony.


Ubisoft is not in deep trouble at all.

They only had the combo of covid related delays, 2 games under performing, a few games that required extra time and a few games cancelled. Normal stuff that frequently happens in all publishers, they only had back luck that it happened together, so they had a bad year or two but nothing specially worrying. They didn't need to fire thousands of people, only to reduce some costs here and there.

They have a shit ton of big selling games under development that soon will start to be released. Once released will be in great finantial shape again.

Ubisoft wants to be independent, and recently Tencent did help Ubi's management (Guillemot family, majority in the Ubi board) get control of the company. They also signed that Tencent won't buy more in several years, I don't remember if in 5 or 8, and that they won't sell in that period.

The whole marketshare doesn't mean dog shit here. On what ground can regulator block the deal?