Sony's future and possible studio/publisher acquisitions

[Eternal_Wings]

With the way currencies are falling, including the yen, i wonder if that changes sonys plans any? The fact theyre strategy is now kill the activision deal, rather than make any of their own is telling as well. I dont think we'll get alot of big moves from them. So much for "Sony can be a buyer in a sellers market" or whatever their ceo said earlier this year. Still waiting for that.

Sony decreasing share prices are mostly caused by the recession and the Activision Blizzard King deal. If your value drops it because shareholders sold their shares. In order to win the trust back of shareholders, Sony needs to grow. In Order to do so they will need to acquire companies. This cannot be satisfied by only buying small studios. Sony will need to purchase a big company like Square Enix. If you watched Aniplex (Sony Anime branch) are having at the moment a lot of successful collaborations and the next big hit will be likely the Nier Automata Anime produced by 1A Pictures (Sony). The key is group synergies and there a plenty of them for Sony and Square Enix. I am pretty confident this merger will happen. Sony didn’t buy much this year, so I am pretty sure in November Sony will make its moves. Don’t forget that they announced back then they are planning to spend money up to 44 billion dollars. Money rotting in the bank will just lose more value. So Sony will need to invest in order to grow. After the merger, Sony share value will rise, because after completion, they will remove Square Enix from the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

 

[Airbus]

Sony in the future are going to buy

Capcom

Square Enix

Ubisoft

THQ

Rockstar

 

[Bryank75]

With the way currencies are falling, including the yen, i wonder if that changes sonys plans any? The fact theyre strategy is now kill the activision deal, rather than make any of their own is telling as well. I dont think we'll get alot of big moves from them. So much for "Sony can be a buyer in a sellers market" or whatever their ceo said earlier this year. Still waiting for that.

I think they waited too long. They thought things would change to their favor but they never did.

Very foolish.

 

[RE4-City]

I think they waited too long. They thought things would change to their favor but they never did.

Very foolish.

I don't know if the bungie purchase would of completed as fast as it did if let's say they also decided to buy Capcom before it finished. There is a reason Microsoft hasn't announced any new gaming purchases since the activison deal

 

[Dabaus]

I think they waited too long. They thought things would change to their favor but they never did.

Very foolish.

Microsoft is clearly on the hunt in japan now and with the dollar strong and the yen weak, theres no telling what may happen. Sure i can be frustrated microsoft is destroying the games industry but whats sony even doing? More last of us stuff? Like i get they want to promote that franchise but playstation is more than just naughty dog and god of war. Every day they dont do something is another day closer to another company making a move or currency's falling even further. If microsoft nabs square or capcom id blame sony at this point.

 

[Eternal_Wings]

Microsoft is clearly on the hunt in japan now and with the dollar strong and the yen weak, theres no telling what may happen. Sure i can be frustrated microsoft is destroying the games industry but whats sony even doing? More last of us stuff? Like i get they want to promote that franchise but playstation is more than just naughty dog and god of war. Every day they dont do something is another day closer to another company making a move or currency's falling even further. If microsoft nabs square or capcom id blame sony at this point.

Microsoft can’t buy large Japanese corporations and neither could Apple or Disney. The laws become in 2019 way more stricter for foreigners. It’s not going happen, that Microsoft will ever get Square Enix or Capcom. This are some horror scenarios which Xbots are saying. Sometimes if I read how uneducated this Twitter trolls are I could get a headache from it. They lack the fundamental knowledge about how economics work in general and especially Japan is really special with their law system. You are getting much to affected by the words of the misinforming internet trolls. They know shit.
But as I said, we will need patience. Sony will not rest, they will do something big. As I said one post above, synergies are the key for Sony. And for example there a plenty of them with Square Enix.

 

[Old Gamer]

I think they waited too long. They thought things would change to their favor but they never did.

Very foolish.

Jim "No Complacency" Ryan.

If not as a moral obligation to protect the industry from MS, you'd think at least greed would motivate them to secure their business and stop sitting on their thumbs. But nope, not even that.

 

[Bryank75]

Jim "No Complacency" Ryan.

For me it seems like Sony had about 30 billion, maybe 35 a year or so ago....

Now it is down to about 8-10 billion in cash reserves and what do we have?

Bungie is the only thing of note worth in the billions..... yet the cash reserves have been depleted quite a lot,

When they were ta 35, they could have just gone out and bought Capcom, Square, Bungie, CDPR and maybe another few smaller things and still be better off than they are now.

It just annoys me so much.

 

[Dabaus]

Jim "No Complacency" Ryan.

If not as a moral obligation to protect the industry from MS, you'd think at least greed would motivate them to secure their business and stop sitting on their thumbs. But nope, not even that.

This is a great point, even for the sake of greed or just making more money they should be making moves regardless of what microsoft is up to.

For me it seems like Sony had about 30 billion, maybe 35 a year or so ago....

Now it is down to about 8-10 billion in cash reserves and what do we have?

Bungie is the only thing of note worth in the billions..... yet the cash reserves have been depleted quite a lot,

When they were ta 35, they could have just gone out and bought Capcom, Square, Bungie, CDPR and maybe another few smaller things and still be better off than they are now.

It just annoys me so much.

This is point i made about the 18 billion they spent. From the 18 billion i think alot of us were excited about potential gets but so far all theyve spent it on as far as gaming is concerned is Haven, a hundred million on a portion of fromsoftware, and bungie, which is i think is a far cry from what most of hoped it could/would go to. Where else did the rest of that 18 billion go?

 

[peter42O]

When they were ta 35, they could have just gone out and bought Capcom, Square, Bungie, CDPR and maybe another few smaller things and still be better off than they are now.

Only problem is that the other company has to be willing to sell.

 

[CloudStrife]

For me it seems like Sony had about 30 billion, maybe 35 a year or so ago....

Now it is down to about 8-10 billion in cash reserves and what do we have?

Bungie is the only thing of note worth in the billions..... yet the cash reserves have been depleted quite a lot,

When they were ta 35, they could have just gone out and bought Capcom, Square, Bungie, CDPR and maybe another few smaller things and still be better off than they are now.

It just annoys me so much.

This is not how things work though. The companies you mentioned might not have even be up for sale. So they just can't buy whatever because they have the cash. As far as the 35 billion goes, in 2021 Sony had ~$45B cash on hand. I found this from the other forum:

The $45 billion included "Marketable Securities" from Sony Financial (roughly ~$26 billion). Sony switched from GAAP to IFRS, so the ~$26 billion is no longer considered "Marketable Securities" under the new accounting methodology (it is now listed as "Investments and advances in the Financial Services segment").

So they never had a ton of "on hand" to spend in cash. And even that means nothing. They could have 1B in the bank and still make big acquisitions since they are in great credit standing with banks. So don't think they are limited to the cash on hand. Having a bunch of cash sitting is not a good thing anyway. It should be invested.

 

[Bryank75]

This is not how things work though. The companies you mentioned might not have even be up for sale. So they just can't buy whatever because they have the cash. As far as the 35 billion goes, in 2021 Sony had ~$45B cash on hand. I found this from the other forum:


So they never had a ton of "on hand" to spend in cash. And even that means nothing. They could have 1B in the bank and still make big acquisitions since they are in great credit standing with banks. So don't think they are limited to the cash on hand. Having a bunch of cash sitting is not a good thing anyway. It should be invested.

Exactly, which is why I ask.... why have they not gone out and used the cash they have to get something really substantial.... bizarre!

 

[Eternal_Wings]

I still believe this merger will happen. No way this was just a fluke:

Sony would be interested in buying Square Enix Japan, according to the founder of Eidos Montreal

Sony's interest in buying the Japanese division of Square Enix would have led to the sale of its western studios to Embracer Group

gamingleaksandrumours.com

 

[Bryank75]

I still believe this merger will happen. No way this was just a fluke:

Sony would be interested in buying Square Enix Japan, according to the founder of Eidos Montreal

Sony's interest in buying the Japanese division of Square Enix would have led to the sale of its western studios to Embracer Group

gamingleaksandrumours.com

I really think Square and CDPR would be the best options for cross-media buys...... film, music, anime, games etc.

Edgerunners and The Witcher shows really show what an effective strategy it is.

FFXIV and Destiny make an incredible duo of evergreen liveservice games too.

 

[CloudStrife]

I really think Square and CDPR would be the best options for cross-media buys...... film, music, anime, games etc.

Edgerunners and The Witcher shows really show what an effective strategy it is.

FFXIV and Destiny make an incredible duo of evergreen liveservice games too.

Square-Enix yes......but not so sure about CDPR.......Sony would only get video games, graphic novels, board games and merchandise rights to the Witcher series (not film). Everything for Cyberpunk though. CDPR current investors may not even want to sell though. The market cap for CDPR is like 2B. Crazy it was ~12B in 2020. They might try to hold on to stocks to see if the next Witcher game is a smash hit. Or maybe get out now as everyone's stock is on the decline. Who knows really.

 

[peter42O]

Personally, im still hoping for Sony to acquire Ember Lab.

 

[Dabaus]

I think it’d be bizarre to see Sony publicly try to kill the activision deal, then at the same time buy a square or a capcom. Unless they sort of know the deal is going through and they’ll be like “well you left us no choice.” I’d rather see Sony stack up on their own acquisitions than try to kill the activision deal.

 

[Bryank75]

I think it’d be bizarre to see Sony publicly try to kill the activision deal, then at the same time buy a square or a capcom. Unless they sort of know the deal is going through and they’ll be like “well you left us no choice.” I’d rather see Sony stack up on their own acquisitions than try to kill the activision deal.

I think they are waiting on an answer either way.

 

[CloudStrife]

I think they are waiting on an answer either way.

Yep. Sony is not going to announce any major acquisitions until the results of the MS/Activition deal is done. They're not gonna give regulators reason to approve that deal...lol.
It's smart for them to fight for Call of Duty all while hiding their hand by holding off announcements and working on a backup plan.

 

[Gediminas]

I think it’d be bizarre to see Sony publicly try to kill the activision deal, then at the same time buy a square or a capcom. Unless they sort of know the deal is going through and they’ll be like “well you left us no choice.” I’d rather see Sony stack up on their own acquisitions than try to kill the activision deal.

Couldn't it be that's sony exposed it because they are selling one thing to Sony and other to public? They said, fuck this lying snake oil salesman, taste his own medicine..