Sony's future and possible studio/publisher acquisitions

[Fenton]

This is why Sony not buying big AAA studios. Playstation Brand honestly seems neglected

Why don't you just buy

Larian Studios
Remedy
Ember Lab
CD Projekt Red
Kojima Productions
Platinum Games
From Software

Sony?

Are they for sale?

 

[Puff]

Are they for sale?

All3Media, the production-distribution giant behind “Fleabag,” “The Traitors” and Jamie Dornan-starrer “The Tourist,” will return to the sales block in September after ITV backed away from a deal last month.

The indie powerhouse, which is owned by Warner Bros. Discovery and Liberty Global, is now being quietly courted by a string of European players, from Plan B owner Mediawan to Banijay and Sony Pictures, according to several industry sources

 

[Fenton]

bro I meant the gaming studios Not easy if they don't want to get sold.

 

[Puff]

bro I meant the gaming studios Not easy if they don't want to get sold.

well everything can be arranged with enough $$$

 

[Nhomnhom]

The continued focus on Japanese pubs and the obsession surrounding them here leads to nowhere.

ABK/Bethesda acquisition problems enumerated:

1: WRPG (Western RPG) audience differentiation. Deprived of content for Fallout/Elder Scrolls/Diablo/WoW (IP). Deprived of developers - Blizzard, Bethesda, Obsidian.

2. Shooters (FPS moreso than TPS) audience differentiation. Deprived of Call of Duty after 10 years. Deprived of Doom, Rage, Overwatch. Studios that go along with it.

How do you Square those audience needs with Japanese developers/publishers, their titles, and genre strengths vs. similar developers, medium or large in the Western world that are available likewise to serve those audiences.

• Enumerate developers based on the effectiveness to address those audiences, say 1-3? 1: being highest priority.
• Then enumerate those same developers along the lines of how an acquisition is likely to proceed - cost/agreement wise as well as outside scrutiny wise?
• Lastly what will be the expected reaction by competitors if those acquisitions are made (when talking about Japanese publishers, Nintendo's "feelings" matter).

The more you go down common sense questioning, the less attractive Japanese publishers and developers become.

There is no need for Sony to copy MS and answer them point by point, Sony can build on strengths of their own.

 

[Vertigo]

I’ve revised my ideal purchases.

I mostly included Square for fanservice but I still don’t see them worth it outside of FF14 development experience. Same about scooping up Konami for MGS and Castlevania IPs.

CDPR, From Software and Kojima Productions is the way. CDPR is way too expensive; bigger than Ubisoft for instance… but … they should

 

[Eternal_Wings]

I’ve revised my ideal purchases.

I mostly included Square for fanservice but I still don’t see them worth it outside of FF14 development experience. Same about scooping up Konami for MGS and Castlevania IPs.

CDPR, From Software and Kojima Productions is the way. CDPR is way too expensive; bigger than Ubisoft for instance… but … they should

CDPR won’t sell or really hard to convince. Even if they would be willing their games would be pretty much Multi. Kadokawa won’t sell Fromsoftware or more than a couple of shares.
Kojima doesn’t want to be acquired, also hypothetically the studio would become worthless if he retires.
Ubisoft is trash and they also don’t want to be bought. I swear people here want to see Sony badly fail. Square Enix is the only company which makes sense for Sony to acquire.

 

[Deleted member 223]

There is no need for Sony to copy MS and answer them point by point, Sony can build on strengths of their own.

The answer should be mostly a direct answer as opposed to an indirect one.

You don't tell people used to eating beef and pork meat that from now on in your platform there is going to be a rationing of beef/pork, and it will be somewhat compensated by higher rations of fish meat. Some will accept the rationing without dabbling into fish, albeit somewhat unhappy, some will accept the trade-off and consume more fish instead, while some will say, fuck your fish and fuck your rationing and they'll go where the beef and pork meat is at with no restrictions. Since the beef/pork meat consumers dwarf the fish consumer by sheer numbers in your platform it's self-defeating to settle for indirect responses - it literally cedes the initiative to your competitor and cedes ground. The response and effort should be as direct as it can possibly be.

There is no cute way to go about it with mental gymnastics. Now you can be of the opinion "fuck em" but wells that's you. They won't say "fuck you too", they'll just leave and take their money with them, but not to a bank, but to your competitors. The identity of the PS platform isn't just what PS studios produce. That gets mixed a lot in flawed arguments. PlayStation is just as much COD as it's Uncharted. Just as much Elder Scrolls as it's God of War. That is to say, those different audiences all find a home in PlayStation. If PlayStation is no longer a suitable home for the WRPG audience that's a problem in need of correction. IF PS suddently becomes a nonoptimal home for FPS that's a massive problem in need of correction.

 

[Nhomnhom]

The answer should be mostly a direct answer as opposed to an indirect one.

You don't tell people used to eating beef and pork meat that from now on in your platform there is going to be a rationing of beef/pork, and it will be somewhat compensated by higher rations of fish meat. Some will accept the rationing without dabbling into fish, albeit somewhat unhappy, some will accept the trade-off and consume more fish instead, while some will say, fuck your fish and fuck your rationing and they'll go where the beef and pork meat is at with no restrictions. Since the beef/pork meat consumers dwarf the fish consumer in your platform it's self-defeating to settle for indirect responses - it literally cedes the initiative to your competitor and cedes ground. The response and effort should be as direct as it can possibly be.

There is no cute way to go about it with mental gymnastics. Now you can be of the opinion "fuck em" but wells that's you. They won't say fuck you too, they'll just leave and take their money with them, but not to a bank, but to your competitors. The identity of the PS platform isn't just what PS studios produce. That gets mixed a lot in flawed arguments. PlayStation is just as much COD as it's Uncharted. Just as mmuch Elder Scrolls as it's God of War. That is to say, those different audiences all call PlayStation their home.

Remember when Sony wanted to answer Halo? It never worked out and Halo just ended up killing itself.

CoD will still exists on PlayStation for at least the next 10 years and there are plenty of games on the same genre already.

The RPG thing is a little more pressing since TES + Fallout + Starfield + Fable + Obdisian all add up (and who knows if a Diablo expansion will be released on PS5 or not).

Larian + From Software would be what I would go after. But with that said, l would still take Capcom over anyone else. CDPR is another good target but I have some concerns regarding their fit.

 

[Deleted member 223]

CDPR is literally the studio that nailed cinematic story telling with a AAA RPG and almost got a GTA competitor off the ground with Cyberpunk. They'll benefit greatly from Sony engine tech and specialists, better project lifecycle management, mocap, audio tech, actor connections etc. Sony gets profitable and impact name IPs, as well as a relatively cheap workforce at the heart of eastern Europe + GOG. GOG can serve as Gakai did... same blueprint, instead of cloud, a PC store launcher. It makes way too much sense acquisition wise.

As for the Halo comment, well it says a lot that Halo carried the X360 in part, and attracted millions of loyal consumers to the Xbox brand for a decade +. It says a lot that Bungie today is owned by Sony.

I think that comment defeats itself, just a matter of perspective. "Can't beat them or replicate, buy them". Literally Bungie's acquisition in a nutshell.

Failure is always baked into anything worth doing. Guerrilla are the mid Kings. At least Jimbo and Hermen understood this by going after Bungie. Likewise the Horizon IP is no Witcher.

Moreover at this point, a CDPR buy leans more as a defensive protection buy than the merits of it, which are strong too. They're way too cozy with Microsoft, currently on a low as well. Acquisition timing perfect target. As you have correctly pointed out there are not too many AAA WRPG studios and IP left.

This is the current set up for the WRPG market:

Xbox/PC: Baldurs Gate, Elder Scrolls, Souls, Fallout, Obisidian RPGs, Diablo, other Blizzard RPGs, Witcher.
PS: Baldurs Gate, Souls, Witcher, Horizon.

Now you tell a hardcore WRPG player who has made PlayStation his main platform that such situation is fine and dangle the JRPG carrot: "Final Fantasy timed exclusive". Cmon now. It's laughable.

This is more balanced.

Xbox/PC: Elder Scrolls, Fallout, Obsidian RPGs, Diablo, other Blizzard RPGs.
PlayStation: Witcher, Souls, Baldurs Gate, Horizon, Castlavania IP rights (and game).

Obviously, considering the leadership we're dealing with (Jim/Herman), in the event of buying Larian and CDPR, some of those IPs will release on PC, Day 1 even.

Regardless, with the above arrangement you give the WRPG audience a strong choice and make a strong case for your platform. Fire with fire. You don't cede ground - you take away as much.

The FPS space is more workable considering the third party players involved are huge (EA/Ubisoft etc), and thus a MS acquisition is unlikely for the time being (unlikely, not impossible). Moreover, there are still a great many options on PlayStation, even if undermanned.

 

[Nhomnhom]

CDPR is literally the studio that nailed cinematic story telling with a AAA RPG and almost got a GTA competitor off the ground with Cyberpunk. They'll benefit greatly from Sony engine tech and specialists, better project lifecycle management, mocap, audio tech, actor connections etc. Sony gets profitable and impact name IPs, as well as a relatively cheap workforce at the heart of eastern Europe + GOG. GOG can serve as Gakai did... same blueprint, instead of cloud for PC store launcher. It makes way too much sense acquisition wise.

As for the Halo comment, well it says a lot that Halo carried the X360 in part, and attracted millions of loyal consumers to the Xbox brand for a decade +. It says a lot that Bungie today is owned by Sony.

I think that comment defeats itself, just a matter of perspective. "Can't beat them or replicate, buy them". Literally Budgie's acquisition in a nutshell.

Failure is always baked into anything worth doing. Guerrilla are the mid Kings. At least Jimbo and Hermen understood this by going after Bungie. Likewise the Horizon IP is no Witcher.

Moreover at this point, a CDPR buy leans more as a defensive protection buy than the merits of it, which are strong too. They're way too cozy with Microsoft, currently on a low as well. Acquisition timing perfect target. As you have correctly pointed out there are not too many AAA WRPG studios and IP left.

This is the current set up for the WRPG market:

Xbox/PC: Baldurs Gate, Elder Scrolls, Souls, Fallout, Obisidian RPGs, Diablo, other Blizzard RPGs, Witcher.
PS: Baldurs Gate, Souls, Witcher, Horizon.

Now you tell a hardcore WRPG player who has made PlayStation his main platform that such situation is fine and dangle the JRPG carrot: "Final Fantasy timed exclusive". Cmon now. It's laughable.

This is more balanced.

Xbox/PC: Elder Scrolls, Fallout, Obsidian RPGs, Diablo, other Blizzard RPGs.
PlayStation: Witcher, Souls, Baldurs Gate, Horizon, Castlavania IP rights (and game).

Obviously, considering the leadership we're dealing with (Jim/Herman), in the event of buying Larian and CDPR, some of those IPs will release on PC, Day 1 even.

Regardless, with the above arrangement you give the WRPG audience a strong choice and make a strong case for your platform. Fire with fire. You don't cede ground - you take away as much.

The FPS space is more workable considering the third party players involved are huge (EA/Ubisoft etc), and thus a MS acquisition is unlikely for the time being (unlikely, not impossible). Moreover, there are still a great many options on PlayStation, even if undermanned.

Sony does not care about RPGs, they are all about GaaS now.

 

[Deleted member 223]

Sony does not care about RPGs, they are all about GaaS now.

GaaS is a monetization model. For example, Diablo is an RPG/GAAS hybrid. I get your point tho... and I agree.

 

[Darth Vader]

CDPR won’t sell or really hard to convince.

Good thing that >50% of stocks may be with Venture funds or in the hands of the public. In that scenario, nobody needs to convince CDPR, they need to convince the funds and the public that own CDPR by making a public offering (i.e. hostile takeover)

Hostile Takeover Explained: What It Is, How It Works, and Examples

A hostile takeover is the acquisition of one company by another without approval from the target company's management.

www.investopedia.com

 

[ksdixon]

Have Capcom made a statement at all? I would guess being fam owned and selling gangbusters, it's just not a thought to them financially, incentives would have to come in other ways like wider Sony media synergies?

 

[Muddasar]

Have Capcom made a statement at all? I would guess being fam owned and selling gangbusters, it's just not a thought to them financially, incentives would have to come in other ways like wider Sony media synergies?

Saudis have bought a stake in Capcom.

 

[ksdixon]

Saudis have bought a stake in Capcom.

Aw shit.

Edit: wait, does that ensure Capcom remain multiplatform at least?

 

[VillaiN]

Have Capcom made a statement at all? I would guess being fam owned and selling gangbusters, it's just not a thought to them financially, incentives would have to come in other ways like wider Sony media synergies?

Capcom doesnt sell gangbusters of games neither do they have some insane profits. They do fine for their size.

Sony can make them great money offer along with othet synergies, movies, shows. I d love quality resident evil show ala tlou.

 

[Eternal_Wings]

This is what Sony wants:


Believe it or not, but when Sony will acquire a publisher it will be Square Enix.

 

[Muddasar]

Aw shit.

Edit: wait, does that ensure Capcom remain multiplatform at least?

Most likely does.

Edit - They also had stock in ABK which got bought by Microsoft.

Saudi Arabia has bought a $1 billion chunk of Capcom and Nexon | VGC

The stake is worth more than 5%

www.videogameschronicle.com

 

[Fenton]

Baldur's Gate 3 dev says it's not interested in being acquired, but finds speculation "flattering"

Baldur's Gate 3 developer Larian has spoken a little about acquisitions following recent reports the studio had, at one…

www.eurogamer.net