Sony's future and possible studio/publisher acquisitions

[kyliethicc]

Yes, it's PR. If I recall correctly, the deal indeed was that Bungie publishes independently from PS under SIE. Probably why the FTC didn't object to the sale.

It’s mainly to avoid 1- having Hulst have to run Bungie, and 2- using PlayStation Studios as a publisher on Xbox.

Because technically the publisher of Destiny 2 and other Bungie games on PlayStation/PC/Xbox will remain just Bungie.

Just like how PlayStation Studios doesn’t publish MLB on Nintendo/Xbox.

 

[BloodMod]

It’s mainly to avoid 1- having Hulst have to run Bungie, and 2- using PlayStation Studios as a publisher on Xbox.

Because technically the publisher of Destiny 2 and other Bungie games on PlayStation/PC/Xbox will remain just Bungie.

Just like how PlayStation Studios doesn’t publish MLB on Nintendo/Xbox.

That's a good point. Makes sense for logistics.

 

[Dabaus]

Deal closed sooner than expected so I wonder if we wont see any new acquisitions for a few months because they had an extended timeline for negotiations? With that said I expect them to close in quickly on deviation games and maybe ember labs. I think they’ll wait for square enix to officially sell off crystal dynamics before any announcement of them being acquired is made but I think SE or fromsoft will be acquired before this year is over.

Just my opinion.

 

[Muddasar]

Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE) is PlayStation.

PlayStation Studios is the product development division within SIE.

Bungie is not part of PlayStation Studios. They’re a part of PlayStation.

Jim Ryan runs PlayStation (SIE).
Hermen Hulst runs PlayStation Studios.
Pete Parsons runs Bungie.
Both are part of PlayStation (SIE) and both report to Jim Ryan.

Right so Bungie and Playstation studios are separate but work under SIE.

Hermen Hulst and Pete Parsons are basically working under Jim Ryan.

 

[Yurinka]

So they closed the Bungie and Haven acquisitions on time to announce new ones in a couple of weeks at EVO, perfect xDD

Jimbo appears after the EVO finals and announces he bought Bandai Namco (so Dimps too), Capcom, ARC System Works and Netherealm. Throws the mic and leaves.

 

[ksdixon]

I thought Bungie will be part of SIE.

That tweet says welcome to the Playstation family.

Bungie part of PS studios?

PS Studios is still a shit tier branding term that makes no sense.

Bungie is a fully independant studio, who'll still be releasing multiplatform games, under SIE and not PS anything appatently.

Sony Interactive Entertainment is PlayStation. Same thing.
PlayStation Studios is a division within PlayStation (aka SIE).
Bungie is not part of PlayStation Studios. They’re a part of PlayStation.

Jim Ryan runs PlayStation (SIE).
Hermen Hulst runs PlayStation Studios.
Pete Parsons runs Bungie.
Both are part of PlayStation and both report to Jim Ryan.

What a fucking mess! Why can't they ever, ever do anything simply? We'll have a TV service, but not call it PSTV, because we already had that old product and it was a Vita with HDMI out, like the original dev Vita had but we removed...

PS Studio should = an exclusive PS studio. What a novel idea! Not, for example, a PS Studios logo splashed all over Death Stranding, and then KojiPro up and goes and makes a Stadia/Xbox game. Now we are dancing around about where within Sony that Bungie will be positioned, who owns what, even though it's supposed to be a 'One Sony' mentality behind the scenes. Or Sony owns Bungie and are gonna say Welcome To The Family, but Bungie will (obviously) still throw their Destiny games on every platform. It's a fucking mess, and no matter how much hoop jumping people do, no one's ever been able to make the 'PS Studios' branding make sense to me, in the way which Sony use it.

 

[kyliethicc]

PS Studios is still a shit tier branding term that makes no sense.

Bungie is a fully independant studio, who'll still be releasing multiplatform games, under SIE and not PS anything appatently.


What a fucking mess! Why can't they ever, ever do anything simply? We'll have a TV service, but not call it PSTV, because we already had that old product and it was a Vita with HDMI out, like the original dev Vita had but we removed...

PS Studio should = an exclusive PS studio. What a novel idea! Not, for example, a PS Studios logo splashed all over Death Stranding, and then KojiPro up and goes and makes a Stadia/Xbox game. Now we are dancing around about where within Sony that Bungie will be positioned, who owns what, even though it's supposed to be a 'One Sony' mentality behind the scenes. Or Sony owns Bungie and are gonna say Welcome To The Family, but Bungie will (obviously) still throw their Destiny games on every platform. It's a fucking mess, and no matter how much hoop jumping people do, no one's ever been able to make the 'PS Studios' branding make sense to me, in the way which Sony use it.

It’s actually very simple.

PlayStation Studios is SIE’s publishing label and product development umbrella.

Bungie is an independent subsidiary of SIE. Same as Audiokinetic and EVO.

 

[Muddasar]

It’s actually very simple.

PlayStation Studios is SIE’s publishing label and product development umbrella.

Bungie is an independent subsidiary of SIE. Same as Audiokinetic and EVO.

Bungie are basically to Sony what Marvel and Lucasfilms are to Disney.

Operate independently but their ass is still owned by Sony.

 

[Aidendelaney95]

Deal closed sooner than expected so I wonder if we wont see any new acquisitions for a few months because they had an extended timeline for negotiations? With that said I expect them to close in quickly on deviation games and maybe ember labs. I think they’ll wait for square enix to officially sell off crystal dynamics before any announcement of them being acquired is made but I think SE or fromsoft will be acquired before this year is over.

Just my opinion.

You know, I actually found it funny how they announced the closure of both the Haven deal and the Bungie one in the same week. It made me wonder if it was intentional in a way and that we might get new acquisitions news *next* week.

It just felt odd to me, announcing both in the same week.

 

[Yurinka]

You know, I actually found it funny how they announced the closure of both the Haven deal and the Bungie one in the same week. It made me wonder if it was intentional in a way and that we might get new acquisitions news *next* week.

It just felt odd to me, announcing both in the same week.

Sony has a big event coming in 3 weeks where companies like Capcom, Bandai Namco, NetherRealm or ARC System Works make important fighting game related announcements: EVO.

But I'd say announcements made recently aren't designed to be timed with any EVO stuff and I'd say they didn't announce both acquisition closures the same week on purpose, because they expected to close the Bungie announcement way later and to close it this week caught them by surprise.

 

[Eternal_Wings]

If you speak of the devil, look who Sony is looking for!



Zuby

 

[Dabaus]

If you speak of the devil, look who Sony is looking for!



Zuby

Concerning they didnt already have this position filled.

 

[Eternal_Wings]

Concerning they didnt already have this position filled.

Better late then never. Hopefully this new guy will set the right impulses, for that Sony will start to make finally big moves.

 

[kyliethicc]

PlayStation continues esports expansion with Repeat.gg acquisition

PlayStation is continuing to ramp up its investment in esports with the acquisition of technology platform Repeat.gg. R…

www.gamesindustry.biz

 

[Bryank75]

PlayStation continues esports expansion with Repeat.gg acquisition

PlayStation is continuing to ramp up its investment in esports with the acquisition of technology platform Repeat.gg. R…

www.gamesindustry.biz

Wow, very out of left field.Should be a new thread...

 

[Deleted member 223]

Konami IP's...

 

[LightBolt]

There is a storm brewing and very Cloudy. #PS5

 

[Dabaus]

There is a storm brewing and very Cloudy. #PS5

Whats that supposed to mean?

 

[LightBolt]

Whats that supposed to mean?

That Sony loves Clouds

 

[Yurinka]

I completed Stray, and I found it amazing. Very creative and unique, I see a lot of potential in this relatively small new French studio to create new IPs, not only in AA like this one but in AAA too. I think Sony should consider to give them a 2nd party deal for their next game and if that one also works well, to buy them.

This relatively small team (I think they are barely 2 or 3 dozen people) are mostly former Ubisoft staff (most of them from Ubisoft Montpellier and Ubisoft Paris) plus young talent who debuts with this game, and their 3 animators come from Quantic Dream. It would be good for Sony to have a French studio to get talent from places like Ubisoft, Quantic Dream and so on.

Concerning they didnt already have this position filled.

They have it filled, there's at least one person at SIE/PlayStation with this role: Daisuke Yamamoto.

He has been there for 3 years and a half, and before that had a senior business manager and senior financial analyst role during almost 5 years at Sony Mobile, and before that the same at Sony Electronics for over 5 years.

During these years PlayStation has been particularly successful in his area so I assume they are promoting him maybe to overview that stuff in the whole corportation, so they need to find someone to replace him. In addition to this now the gaming market is in a consolidation stage, so maybe they need someone with -if isn't the case- more knowledge and market data about the gaming industry and trends for its future, or maybe even with established contacts and relationships that could ease them.

I assume the main topics they may want to adress with acquisitions or investments for the future are:

• Increase productivity/lower costs of AAA development (with stuff like developing in the cloud that Haven is doing)
• Cover top console genres where their 1st party teams don't have a key presence or talent (FPS, RPG, fighting, horror, kids friendly stuff...)
• Secure a few key 3rd party publishers to monetize day one rival consoles, PC and mobile while PS Studios keeps focused on console exclusives
• Increase manpower of existing 1st party teams and acquire support teams to address beefier future AAA games needing more manpower
• Secure with 1st party enough content for their console and future PC and mobile stores
• Buotique mobile game devs with good reputation and people capable of properly adapting their IPs to mobile
• VR & AR devs + R&D
• eSports & online multiplayer experience (stuff like chatting with friends, streaming, creating or playing tournaments, improving the input lag in the console or when playing online, etc)
• Multiplayer games, some in competitive/eSports fashion and other ones in a more social, coop, casual fun not seriously competitive fashion
• Narrative friendly GaaS with non-gameplay intrusive (focus on cosmetics, not affecting gameplay, not pay to win, etc)
• Once they nail the GaaS, evolve it to Free To Play and later in the future to Play to Earn
• Cloud gaming R&D to improve image quality, resolution and input lag. Specially via 5G, fiber and satellite connections
• Expand on gaming accessories for console, PC and mobile
• Expand cross media and merchandising opportunities to comics, novels, toys, statues, clothing, artbooks, guides, collectibles of all kinds, etc partnering with other Sony divisions -or maybe creating new ones-
• Rethink physical stores to sell not only gaming hardware, software and accesories but also related merchandising, movies, OSTs, artbooks, etc and as a barcade social place where you can watch eSports with friends, play there local MP games or even have tiny expos (like gaming artwork in the walls of the store, or at least an area of it) or host local eSports tournaments, product presentations, press events or (for unreleased games) playtests.

P.S.: The job position is no longer open anymore, seems they already hired someone.