Xbox and PC is enough to recoupe, but the games actually have to be good. Not like midfield or redflop. IDK if Starfield made a profit yet though.
Sony's future and possible studio/publisher acquisitions
- Thread starter Eternal_Wings
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Somebody invite this guy to make an account please
OP
OP
I think both you and Remember_Spinal need to see the big picture, because you have hippie-like glasses on. You're talking about things as if the business market itself operates in practice on fair grounds; it doesn't. Sony doing things like they did with Stray is great, but that alone cannot be their solution to a creeping reality of market consolidation.
They. Need. Big. Known. IPs. That's just a simple fact. They have some already, obviously, but could always stand to use more. They need more teams in-house that can fully leverage those IP. They need game type and genre variety for portfolio offering on the market where they have full ownership. They need those types of assets to leverage against other direct competitors who threaten their bottom line, and those are things 3P publisher acquisitions will inevitably end up helping with.
Sony helping with Stray is fine and all, but what's the long-term benefit for Sony if Stray's developer or IP owner ends up acquired by a direct competitor who has no shyness in foreclosing access of that game (or certainly, the studio) off PlayStation? What benefit is there long-term in providing a lucrative platform for a game like Fortnite if its own parent company's owner is trying to throw you under the bus in a court case that doesn't even really concern you? The fact is, you can't really trust how other parties may play things out over the long-term unless they're fully integrated into the circle. WRT game studios, publishers, IP and the sort, that's going to involve either majority shares or M&As (or, likely, both).
You and others are too scared of these regulators; if Microsoft can finesse them, Sony can as well. Though Sony would not need to finesse them at all to get bigger M&As approved; they'd simply have to redefine the contexts in whom they are dealing with in the competitive market, the goals of competitors, their size and resources compared to much bigger companies in the tech space who have gotten aggressive with M&As in gaming. They'd also need to emphasize that PlayStation's market share is a "fair" monopoly (if even that, which requires you ignore Nintendo) that was earned through customers in the market choosing to buy their product over competitors (it is not their fault companies like Microsoft are bad at convincing customers to buy their own gaming products).
There are very strong means to build a case where even with PlayStation's market share in the traditional console gaming space, they can paint the picture that being blocked from acquiring a larger 3P publisher betrays the principals of what an open capitalist market is meant to stand for. That they, in effect, are being punished for their success in the industry, and rather unfairly. It could also be argued that Microsoft's M&As, as an example, run the threat of destabilizing the market because Microsoft as a platform holder has displayed poor means of retaining & growing their gaming brand's revenue and software output quality over many years, with a significantly smaller number of in-house studios than they have today. Why should the company with the worst track record in providing appealing solutions in the market for developers, publishers, and customers...be the one allowed to make these big 3P acquisitions? Just because they have the money to do so? Money that is earned through sectors outside of the gaming market, mind.
It isn't the job of regulators to artificially create a balance in the market by allowing a 3rd place competitor to buy their way into the realm of the 1st place competitor. But if they would seek to block a company like Sony from making a large gaming M&A of their own simply because of their position in the industry based off revenue (keeping in mind, most of that is directly attributable to 3P publisher sales, so if a 3P has a bad year, Sony have no control over that portion of dropped revenue), then a case could be made that those regulators themselves are not fit to regulate. Especially when that position was earned through fair competition and leveraging partnerships, deals & investments that have historically been deemed perfectly fine in markets for fair competition.
You don't get to suddenly, retroactively rewrite those rules, when you ignored violations of those very same rules many years prior by almost all of these Big Tech companies.
It's not me but I'm sure he is here already.
Pearl Abyss needs to be one of Sony’s next purchases. They have a bunch of cooling looking games being made.
Crimson Desert
Dokev
Plan 8
www.pearlabyss.com
Crimson Desert
Dokev
Plan 8
Games | Pearl Abyss
Learn more about the games developed and serviced by Pearl Abyss.
www.pearlabyss.com
Pearl Abyss isn't a good fit, Ember Labs is the only strong candidate right nowPearl Abyss needs to be one of Sony’s next purchases. They have a bunch of cooling looking games being made.
Crimson Desert
Dokev
Plan 8
Games | Pearl Abyss
Learn more about the games developed and serviced by Pearl Abyss.
Why? Those 3 games are all unique and different from Sony’s current output. It would add to the PS library.
Their only current games is a crappy mmo thats on PC and mobile, which are the 2 platforms where they have by far the largest presence. PC and Mobile is something Sony needs to move away from not get closer to. Sony has already become enough of a 3rd party publisher as it is. More resources shouldn't be wasted catering to pc, xbox, mobile.
Black Desert Online/BDO Mobile - crappy mmo that forces you to grind endlessly for hundreds/thousands of hours or pay money
Crimson Desert - may or may not be good, way too soon to say. Its one of those games that look good at first but could up being a dud, like Atlas Fallen.
DokeV - looks like a next generation children's mobile game, a live service mix of roblox and pokemon. If its successful enough, Sony can get it on PlayStation like Genshin, Honkai, Roblox and take a 30% cut.
Plan 8 - this games been in development forever and hasn't had an update in over 4 years. It's gonna be another PC/mobile Asia centric MMO grindfest.
None of their games fit the PlayStation mould and they've already built up a large audience on PC/Mobile, they have a game on Xbox and their next game is announced for Xbox.
Ember Labs is a small team that made one of the best AA games ever, 12 devs made a game that looks and plays better than 99% of AAA games. They have no gaas focus like Pearl Abyss. Kena flopped on PC and sold well on PlayStation, and they have no game on Xbox unlike Pearl Abyss. So there is no large following that'll be affected if their next game became a PlayStation exclusive. Their game is also pretty much the ideal PlayStation game, a beautiful narrative driven platformer with great gameplay. It's like a classic PS2 game perfected. They should be target #1 for Sony.
He is the biggest Ember Labs fan. Gravely overestimating them and their value.
Completely disagree with him. Pearl Abyss is the more interesting developer with more diverse set of games in development.
Ember labs is nice but Pearl Abyss is 100x a better acquisition.
so when you became a PlayStation fan, it was because of grindfest MMOs and mobile games? Yeah thats what I thought. It was probably because of games like Kena Bridge of Spirits. Pearl Abyss hasn't even released 1 single player game yet and you guys are rushing to acquire them and saying they're a 100x better acquisition than. It makes no sense to me, maybe I'm missing something. Look how beautiful, charming, soulful, and cute this game is. Pearl Abyss could never come close. All this Kena talk makes me want to go replay it again.
I understand they have PC focused games but that will change if Sony buys them. And who cares if they have games announced for Xbox. That doesn’t mean anything or that Sony can’t buy them. All the studios MS bought had games coming to PS5 that got cancelled.
I disagree about the 3 games:
Crimson Desert looks like one of the better open world RPG’s in awhile. It will immediately give PlayStation its own AAA RPG. Something it badly needs. The game has the potential to be something special. PS5 having that game exclusive would not go unnoticed. It will further make Bethesda redundant and a useless purchase that has zero affect on PlayStation.
DokeV can draw in the casual crowd. I don’t see what’s wrong with it. Looks to have pretty cool gameplay mechanics. I like it. Would be a perfect game to stream on the portal when it gets PS5 game streaming.
Plan 8 looks like a 2000’s Capcom game. Very actiony and fast paced. Arcade like.
Those 3 games are different in their style of gameplay and unique by themselves and would greatly add to PlayStation’s library and spice it up a lot.
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Maybe the old Sony, I fear with current Sony, these kinds of acquisitions will just push them closer to PC and speed up the possibility of day/date. That's why I'm against a CDPR acquisition as well, and Pearl Abyss is even worse since they have a strong gaas culture. Another bad habit that Sony needs to get further away from and not closer to.
I became a playstation fan because they offer me the japanese games I enjoy. The first playstation I bought was the ps4 pro and I bought it specifically for FF7 Remake.
Look how beautiful, charming, soulful, and cute this game is. Pearl Abyss could never come close. All this Kena talk makes me want to go replay it again.
I enjoyed Kena for what it was but Pearl Abyss's aesthetic sensibilities appeal to me far more.
Ok I didn’t know that
but it still does kind of prove my point that Sony should work with partners that create the type of games that makes sense, and that will be true exclusive to draw in more gamers like you that weren’t PlayStation fans before. Acquiring Ember Labs does that, acquiring Pearl Abyss doesn’t.