Sony's future and possible studio/publisher acquisitions
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"Areas where Sony is not strong in" sounds like GaaS and mobile. I wouldn't expect any meaningful acquisitions from a fan perspective. Certainly not Singleplayer studios/publishers.
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Sony is also not strong in Japanese RPG. Sony won’t acquire more GaaS studios after Bungie. Maybe Deviation Games and Arrow Head but that’s it. Sony will definitively focus on Japan, China and Korea for next acquisitions. The run for acquiring western studios is over. Now it’s Asia’s turn.
I do hope they strengthen their presence in Asia, or at the very least the major players in Japan elect to stay independent. They also mention more players engagement, which big rpgs would also do. The interview was done at the beginning of last year, so we'll have to see if they made any additions since then.
China and Korea can be almost as bad as GaaS. A lot of their games are vaporware and new IPs don't have nearly the same pull as established ones. You can't offset a loss of an established IP with a new IP from Korea/China. Apologies to any Chinese/Korean devs that create some good games but for me, most of them don't pan out well.
Sony definitely lacks in WRPGs and should definitely secure japanese publishers/devs. Will they, though? I seriously doubt it.
Hence why Microsoft is trying to lock them out of the west by buying the bigger ones.
Top genre (Bethesda=WRPG)
(Activision=FPS)
I wonder who is next?
They definitely would've bought CDPR if they were given the chance. They definitely need to do atleast something small in the Eastern territories. I mean atleast they are trying to build relationships with China and Korea now though I mean yeah fodder now maybe a hidden gem in the future.
Areas Sony aren’t strong in and need expertise are rpgs, fps, and sports games. Square fits the rpg and mobile slot nicely. No idea what Sony is dragging their feet on though?
Maybe the strategy is if they just overwhelm with market share all the other third parties will distance themselves from Microsoft even more since gamepass is a deterrent from buying games and series consoles are selling worse than the Xbox one? Dighton Microsoft probably gonna stop doing less game pastilles now that they’ll have activision under their belt as well?
Maybe the strategy is if they just overwhelm with market share all the other third parties will distance themselves from Microsoft even more since gamepass is a deterrent from buying games and series consoles are selling worse than the Xbox one? Dighton Microsoft probably gonna stop doing less game pastilles now that they’ll have activision under their belt as well?
Sony has the console with the biggest amount of Japanese RPG. And some of the top selling ones are even PS (at least timed console) exclusive. Can you list big selling Japanese RPG not available on PS other than Pokemon?
In RPGs they have Bloodborne, Demon's Souls, Horizon and basically all the 3P ones. For FPS they have Bungie, Firewalk (ex-Bungie) plus Deviation working for them and basically all the 3P ones. In sports they have MLB and Gran Turismo and all the 3P ones. With recent acquisitions and announced projects they'll improve in the FPS, MP and GaaS areas.
They could improve in these genres specially in the 1st party area, but aren't/won't weak there specially when also considering the 3P for the whole context. In addition to this, in sports they could grow making their soccer/basket/American Football game, but it's almost impossible to fight against the current leaders specially considering the licensse the other ones may have in exclusivity.
When after some years they will go back to make more latively big acquisitions, I think their priority will be mobile games in addition to very popular console+PC games in Asia. Because these are the areas where they can make the biggest growth after growing in FPS/MP/GaaS plus PC.
Fighting has been growing since the SFIV launch and now is becoming one of the top genres. Sony is the console maker in the best position for fighting games thanks to 3P, but they have no 1P fighting team other than Lasengle (Melty Blood: Type Lumina, not a big player in the genre) under Sony Music. So I think that after investing in mobile + big in Asia stuff, I think they will consider to get one or more big fighting team.
Capcom and Namco Bandai would be the most appealing ones specially when also considering eSpors but they are in a great finantial shape and may not want to sell. Outside eSports, MK is the biggest player, and WB may be open to sell MK+Netherealm. ARC had with Dragon Ball FighterZ the most successful game ever and Sony may be interested on similar anime adaptations, plus Guilty Gear at least at launch was bigger than ever, even if not in a major position inside the genre. They are a good and cheap option for Sony, but since they are also now better than ever may not want to sell.
Regarding other genres, there's also horror but I'd say isn't a top selling genre. I think Resident Evil may be only the big selling IP. So if acquiring Capcom they'd secure this genre, plus also would help in RPG with MH and Dragon's Dogma plus also getting DMC in hack & slash and obviously SF for fighting. But again, I don't see Capcom being open to sale, because it's a familiar company and every year they break their financial records.
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I doubt that Sony will just acquire only small studios. They will 100% acquire at least one publisher from Japan. They said it this year themselves (Hiroki Totoki): "Consolidation in entertainment has been happening and Sony doesn't want to be left behind.“
Sony knows how dependent they are on 3rd Party games, PlayStation is more a 3rd party console as opposed to Nintendo identifying over their exclusive franchises.
Sony knows how valuable Square IPs are, look at Rebirth. It caused so much hype which only Marvel Spiderman managed to do so.
I am convinced Sony will acquire Square Enix in full. Also see this, Jim Ryan’s newest interview:
The tone changed differently and that was savage. Being friendly with each other is now over. Sony knows that Microsoft is trying to put them out of business. Same as Nintendo (Phil Spencer) “we will be playing the long game”
Microsoft is dangerous and should not be underestimated the threat they potentially bear.
Also remember Totoki Hiroki said this a couple of months before:
“We will continue to make strategic investments going forward, prioritising intellectual property”
This can’t be achieved by acquiring no name developers and new IPs. They need famous gaming companies for this growth target.
See some here say Korea is nothing worth lol. Korea is drove of talent. It’s rumoured that Sony wants to buy Pearl Abyss. Korean Media reported about it. Crimson Desert looked fire ngl.
Sony knows how dependent they are on 3rd Party games, PlayStation is more a 3rd party console as opposed to Nintendo identifying over their exclusive franchises.
Sony knows how valuable Square IPs are, look at Rebirth. It caused so much hype which only Marvel Spiderman managed to do so.
I am convinced Sony will acquire Square Enix in full. Also see this, Jim Ryan’s newest interview:
The tone changed differently and that was savage. Being friendly with each other is now over. Sony knows that Microsoft is trying to put them out of business. Same as Nintendo (Phil Spencer) “we will be playing the long game”
Microsoft is dangerous and should not be underestimated the threat they potentially bear.
Also remember Totoki Hiroki said this a couple of months before:
“We will continue to make strategic investments going forward, prioritising intellectual property”
This can’t be achieved by acquiring no name developers and new IPs. They need famous gaming companies for this growth target.
See some here say Korea is nothing worth lol. Korea is drove of talent. It’s rumoured that Sony wants to buy Pearl Abyss. Korean Media reported about it. Crimson Desert looked fire ngl.
Capcom is impossible for Sony, but they can leverage relationship.
If they buy one publisher, Japanese authorities will be watching them over the next one. To avoid the risk of foreclosing content from Nintendo.
Japanese companies merges like crazy though, they only care about blocking foreign firms.
Toyota literaly put Nissan in hard place when they bought a car battery manufacturer, Sony also acquire a car centric semicondutor company back in 2000s and they went leeway with Toyota, basically cockblocking Nissan/Suzuki.
Sharp/Foxconn deal is the one triggering the foreign shares approval law.
I'd be fine with them just owning a chunk to stop an acquisition.
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I think Japanese government values Sony more.
Sony contributes a lot to Japan’s economy than rather just games. Nintendo is just a toy manufacturer lol.
Sony is the bridge that could bring Japan back into semiconductor's industry though.
Kojima always posing with his Xbox, promoting Starfield and taking pictures with Xbox executives. His undying love for Xbox goes beyond just making that cloud game with them. He has no shame.
He's done pictures like that with Sony staff too. He's got a Playstation version of that jacket as well.
Colin made a great point about money and acquisitions. Sony may not want to borrow money to make acquisitions because the interest rates are so high, and thats in part why sony takes a hit on profitability each quarter to fund the bungie acquisition. He said he wouldnt expect them to make a large purchase because of this. Anyone know what sony's cash on hand is at the moment?
I know but he has a history on Playstation so it looks genuine. He actually built his Studio with Sony money for Death Stranding.
All this Xbox stuff feels fake to me. Phil is there every few weeks. He's obviously grooming him for something, the cloud game is just an excuse.