Sony's future and possible studio/publisher acquisitions

[Yurinka]

We are close.

Yes, their current mid-term plan ends at the end of FY23, so when showing the fiscal report of FY23 pretty likely they'll announce their next mid-term (3 years, from April 23 to March 26) plan.

Pretty likely they'll announce a new acquisitions + investments + stock repurchases budget for these next 3 years. They may announce a first acquisition or joint venture at the same moment for that period, but it's also more likely that he could say that they'll wait until they sell their banks/finantial services branch for important acquisitions.

 

[shrike0fth0rns]

Sony shouldn't buy jackshit, in my opinion. Not unless they're small to mid-sized studios that require that funding in order to operate and do not want to be independent -- Sony has acquired a lot of these in the past and organically allowed them to grow and that's great. But I am 100% against them buying Square or any such large publisher.

And before any console wars arises from what I say: Let me just say that the more Sony buys, the more regulators will be on-board with Microsoft gobbling up even more publishers in the name of "competition". We must be fair. Consolidation is shit anywhere. Not just when Microsoft does it.

Ppl pretty much want Sony to acquire something big just to stick it to Microsoft. It would be good for them to buy smaller stuff and diversify genres and grow new ip creating more experiences ppl can’t find on Xbox and Nintendo. I personally find Microsoft acquisitions underwhelming asf. They bought big Ip I don’t care about and they own a lot of ip they can never fully do anything with because they still don’t have enough teams, long dev cycles and the huge demands of triple A development.

 

[gokuss4]

I will say it again
Sony will buy take two interactive
Gta6 will release exclusively on ps6 on 2028

 

[Eternal_Wings]

Ppl pretty much want Sony to acquire something big just to stick it to Microsoft. It would be good for them to buy smaller stuff and diversify genres and grow new ip creating more experiences ppl can’t find on Xbox and Nintendo. I personally find Microsoft acquisitions underwhelming asf. They bought big Ip I don’t care about and they own a lot of ip they can never fully do anything with because they still don’t have enough teams, long dev cycles and the huge demands of triple A development.

Nonsense. Nobody wants to stick anything to Microsoft. People just doesn’t want to lose access to beloved and iconic franchises. You think Sony buying Square would move Microsoft to tears? No they bought two huge publishers, they wouldn’t care. We don’t want to see Sony bowing down. Sony just need to show resistance against the bully Microsoft.

 

[AshHunter216]

Ppl pretty much want Sony to acquire something big just to stick it to Microsoft. It would be good for them to buy smaller stuff and diversify genres and grow new ip creating more experiences ppl can’t find on Xbox and Nintendo. I personally find Microsoft acquisitions underwhelming asf. They bought big Ip I don’t care about and they own a lot of ip they can never fully do anything with because they still don’t have enough teams, long dev cycles and the huge demands of triple A development.

Some of us want them to because we know that at least that way there's no risk of losing access for certain franchises to MS.

 

[Nhomnhom]

I love how my claim that Sony should buy Larian and From Software turned out. Betting on quality is the obviously winning strategy (would work with AA studios and indies as well).

Remedy is another one that would be doing drastically better under Sony than they are doing now working with Epic and making stupid decisions.

 

[shrike0fth0rns]

I love how my claim that Sony should buy Larian and From Software turned out. Betting on quality is the obviously winning strategy (would work with AA studios and indies as well).

Remedy is another one that would be doing drastically better under Sony than they are doing now working with Epic and making stupid decisions.

Remedy is too complicated. They have a contract with epic, one with tencent who also owns a small stake in them, 505 has the publishing right to control on pc and they are publicly traded. Remedy sounds like legal mess and they’ve shored themselves out so now they have too many obligations to other companies to be worth while. Also looks like Alan wake 2 bombed but that could work in Sonys favor if they want to acquire. If the value of remedy drops significantly tencent could be persuaded to give up their stake and epic its publishing rights and 505 paid off for control on pc Sony could acquire remedy relatively cheap.

 

[Nhomnhom]

Remedy is too complicated. They have a contract with epic, one with tencent who also owns a small stake in them, 505 has the publishing right to control on pc and they are publicly traded. Remedy sounds like legal mess and they’ve shored themselves out so now they have too many obligations to other companies to be worth while. Also looks like Alan wake 2 bombed but that could work in Sonys favor if they want to acquire. If the value of remedy drops significantly tencent could be persuaded to give up their stake and epic its publishing rights and 505 paid off for control on pc Sony could acquire remedy relatively cheap.

I not saying that Sony should buy them now, but I bet they had a chance and passed on it before Remedy ended up with Epic as a publisher. It's funny how Remedy always screws itself.

 

[shrike0fth0rns]

I not saying that Sony should buy them now, but I bet they had a chance and passed on it before Remedy ended up with Epic as a publisher. It's funny how Remedy always screws itself.

I think had control been a lot more well received possibly which is a shame because I really loved control

 

[Remember_Spinal]

Sony should 100% buy Remedy

Remedy is tied up for the next decade in deals with other publishers

 

[Yeona]

Ppl pretty much want Sony to acquire something big just to stick it to Microsoft. It would be good for them to buy smaller stuff and diversify genres and grow new ip creating more experiences ppl can’t find on Xbox and Nintendo. I personally find Microsoft acquisitions underwhelming asf. They bought big Ip I don’t care about and they own a lot of ip they can never fully do anything with because they still don’t have enough teams, long dev cycles and the huge demands of triple A development.

Some of us want them to because we know that at least that way there's no risk of losing access for certain franchises to MS.

I understand that sentiment. And I have that same sentiment when I think about it on an immediate sense. The thought of losing ATLUS' games (well, some of them, anyway) to Microsoft, so they can go die in some Game Pass corner in obscurity forever, is deeply revolting to me to the point where I'd say I'd like Sony to buy SEGA just so that will never happen.

But I have to remind myself that we're talking about a company over 100x smaller than Microsoft which likely cannot afford to maintain the highest quality possible for all of the studios I'd like them to own.

I don't personally give a fuck if Xbox players have access to the games I want to play. If they want to play those games, they can buy the platforms they're on. It's what I do. But I do care about the inevitable issues that come with a quickly diminshing number of publishers wholly owning a rapidly increasing volume of the entire industry. It's happened in a lot of other industries and it literally was never a good thing, ever, not a single time. And more importantly, it's not a process that can be reverted.

 

[reziel]

I understand that sentiment. And I have that same sentiment when I think about it on an immediate sense. The thought of losing ATLUS' games (well, some of them, anyway) to Microsoft, so they can go die in some Game Pass corner in obscurity forever, is deeply revolting to me to the point where I'd say I'd like Sony to buy SEGA just so that will never happen.

But I have to remind myself that we're talking about a company over 100x smaller than Microsoft which likely cannot afford to maintain the highest quality possible for all of the studios I'd like them to own.

I don't personally give a fuck if Xbox players have access to the games I want to play. If they want to play those games, they can buy the platforms they're on. It's what I do. But I do care about the inevitable issues that come with a quickly diminshing number of publishers wholly owning a rapidly increasing volume of the entire industry. It's happened in a lot of other industries and it literally was never a good thing, ever, not a single time. And more importantly, it's not a process that can be reverted.

Playstation as well as Nintendo won't lose Atlus titles atleast not to Xbox people tend to forget or outright ignore that their I.Ps are made by the Japanese for the Japanese the rest of us are just a bonus. So them just catering to Xbox an American company and disrespecting their own people will enevitably shoot themselves in the foot and ultimately cause they're immediate downfall as a company. I mean look at what's beginning to happen with the Yakuza franchise its not exactly boosting their sales with how they're designing the games now.

 

[Nhomnhom]

Playstation as well as Nintendo won't lose Atlus titles atleast not to Xbox people tend to forget or outright ignore that their I.Ps are made by the Japanese for the Japanese the rest of us are just a bonus. So them just catering to Xbox an American company and disrespecting their own people will enevitably shoot themselves in the foot and ultimately cause they're immediate downfall as a company. I mean look at what's beginning to happen with the Yakuza franchise its not exactly boosting their sales with how they're designing the games now.

Weakening the perceived value of your games on the platform where the vast majority of sales are made is a terrible long term strategy.

It's the one thing SE got right.

 

[Dabaus]

I think in hindsight, with bungie missing revenue goals by deep double digits, all their games delayed, none of them exclusive to begin with, rumors of more layoffs, and their "expertise" in GAAS probably over hyped...I think its safe to say bungie has been a tremendous waste of time and resources. The entire GAAS initiative in general has been a major waste of time and resources at the determent to what makes Playstatio, well Playstation.

I wouldve rather seen that 4 billion they used on bungie invested in a few Japanese publishers. I wouldbt be surprised if we see more layoffs across all PS studios, more projects cancelled, and more studios closed because Jim Ryan/Sony bet the ENTIRE generation (sans insomniac) on GAAS games that NOBODY was even asking for. Who was asking for a Destiny like Last of Us?

Now not only will it take years to get their first party back to what they are good at, but Microsoft in the meantime has acquired 2 publishers while sony really hasnt made any major moves. PS5 is selling great and sony can use that as a cushion to ride out the rest of this generation, but if they think they can repeat the PS5 momentum on more GAAS nonsense and TV shows then idk what to say.

If anyone at sony is reading this, drop the multiplayer GAAS dream because it isnt going to happen and invest in the Japanese publishers that define your brand.

 

[anonpuffs]

I think in hindsight, with bungie missing revenue goals by deep double digits, all their games delayed, none of them exclusive to begin with, rumors of more layoffs, and their "expertise" in GAAS probably over hyped...I think its safe to say bungie has been a tremendous waste of time and resources. The entire GAAS initiative in general has been a major waste of time and resources at the determent to what makes Playstatio, well Playstation.

I wouldve rather seen that 4 billion they used on bungie invested in a few Japanese publishers. I wouldbt be surprised if we see more layoffs across all PS studios, more projects cancelled, and more studios closed because Jim Ryan/Sony bet the ENTIRE generation (sans insomniac) on GAAS games that NOBODY was even asking for. Who was asking for a Destiny like Last of Us?

Now not only will it take years to get their first party back to what they are good at, but Microsoft in the meantime has acquired 2 publishers while sony really hasnt made any major moves. PS5 is selling great and sony can use that as a cushion to ride out the rest of this generation, but if they think they can repeat the PS5 momentum on more GAAS nonsense and TV shows then idk what to say.

If anyone at sony is reading this, drop the multiplayer GAAS dream because it isnt going to happen and invest in the Japanese publishers that define your brand.

I think Bungie has been a wasted acquisition in terms of furthering the GAAS ambitions of Sony, but imo it's not wasted because it taught Sony a valuable lesson and prevented the cannibalization of all their premium single-player studios into GAAS factories. Just think if Sony had not acquired Bungie; TLoU Online would be launched right now and probably dying from lack of content, and Naughty Dog would be scrambling/cancelling their single player games to try to prop up that failure.

 

[ksdixon]

You guys are nuts to shit on TLOU online like it's been the issue. Neil off in Hollywood/TV land and other issues, but nah let's shoulder it all on the undervalued and undersupported Online game.

I Don't know what a Destiny like TLOU Online means cause I don't play Destiny, but something like TLOU Factions PVP x Division overworld/mission areas x State Of Decay base-building... Yeah people want that. Look at The Day Before.

It's not even like they're building from scratch, they had original Factions to at least fill-out and build from and had years to do so. Come off it, guys.

What you guys lump at Factions Online's feet is masked studio/head incompetence, Sony mismanagement of projects and teams, etc, etc.

 

[Eternal_Wings]

You guys are nuts to shit on TLOU online like it's been the issue. Neil off in Hollywood/TV land and other issues, but nah let's shoulder it all on the undervalued and undersupported Online game.

I Don't know what a Destiny like TLOU Online means cause I don't play Destiny, but something like TLOU Factions PVP x Division overworld/mission areas x State Of Decay base-building... Yeah people want that. Look at The Day Before.

It's not even like they're building from scratch, they had original Factions to at least fill-out and build from and had years to do so. Come off it, guys.

What you guys lump at Factions Online's feet is masked studio/head incompetence, Sony mismanagement of projects and teams, etc, etc.

PS3 Sony > PS5 gen. Back then Naughty Dog was efficient. Multiple games only on that gen by ND. More variety of games and aspirations to risk some experiments. It’s considered Sony’s weakest Gen but they still sold close to 100m and Xbox got stuck at 80m+ Xbox consoles sold. Miss that gen so much…

 

[Eternal_Wings]

Jason Blundell is the head of Deviation Games…


Edit: Jason Blundell is not working at Deviation, he left the studio…
Hm maybe Blundell joined Firewalk…

 

[Nhomnhom]

You guys are nuts to shit on TLOU online like it's been the issue. Neil off in Hollywood/TV land and other issues, but nah let's shoulder it all on the undervalued and undersupported Online game.

I Don't know what a Destiny like TLOU Online means cause I don't play Destiny, but something like TLOU Factions PVP x Division overworld/mission areas x State Of Decay base-building... Yeah people want that. Look at The Day Before.

It's not even like they're building from scratch, they had original Factions to at least fill-out and build from and had years to do so. Come off it, guys.

What you guys lump at Factions Online's feet is masked studio/head incompetence, Sony mismanagement of projects and teams, etc, etc.

To me TLoU multiplayer was pretty much the only GaaS I was looking forward given that the gameplay of TLoU Part 2 is great and the original game had a good multiplayer mode.

The odds I'll like the next Fairgame$ or the next Bungie game are close to zero.

It just sucks that every multiplayer game now has to be designed around being a GaaS... I use to love playing multiplayer games when they had none of this modern GaaS design shit.

 

[Playstation Sucka]

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