P
Sony's future and possible studio/publisher acquisitions
- Thread starter Eternal_Wings
- Start date
OP
OP
It’s because they are relatively new and small studios but with big names behind it. Would match with Sony usual purchase politics for PS Studios.
P
peter42O
Guest
Looking them up now.
Mutan Insight seems interesting. They've worked on FFXV DLC, character models and background models for various games. Working on a remake of a PS RPG. I'm going with Wild Arms or Legend of Dragoon. Could be very interested in what they're working on depending on which game it is.
JP Games appear to be working on two games with the more further along game being a shorter solo play-through experience that you can replay in multi-player. Wonder how this would work and could be interesting depending on how they implement it.
Bokeh is developing Slitterhead which I know of.
Unseen was founded by the lady who was originally the lead on Ghostwire Tokyo. Still don't know why she left Tango when Tokyo was her game. Oh well. Unseen's project is probably the furthest out if I had to guess.
We'll see what their games end up being and how their games end up doing. Definitely appear to be years away though since they all seem to be early in production for their current game(s).
Bokeh was founded by Keiichiro Toyama, former Japan Studio director, and creator of Silent Hill/Gravity Rush/Siren. A lot of the people who left Japan Studio now work at Bokeh. If Sony acquired them it would be similar to how they bought Firesprite after they closed down Liverpool studio (Firesprite was formed by Liverpool Studio employees). While I don't think the rumor is true, it would be great news. Shuhei Yoshida actually visited them not too long ago which means there's still a cordial relationship.
As to Sonys future acquisitions:
I think Sony's long-term plan should be to open at least one new first party studio within Japan headed by an industry vet like Ueda, Toyama, etc. + acquiring one big publisher (Square Enix). With Polyphony and Asobi, this would keep them extremely relevant within Japan, and they could revive several legacy IPs. The only thing I worry about is the can of worms that is a Square Enix acquisition. I don't want to see companies like Tencent and Microsoft scrambling to acquire Sega or Capcom as a result. I guess the only silver lining with the ABK acquisition is it could prevent Microsoft from trying to set up shop in Japan. If Ryan/Hulst don't make moves in Asia within the next year, I want them gone; but ideally, Sony should just promote someone to oversee development of SIE East (maybe someone within Asobi).
As for western studios, Sony is lacking two things, WRPGs and FPS games. Obviously Deviation is a target, but I'm unsure about them after the Jason Blundell departure (need to see what their game looks like first). My other target for WRPGs would be CDPR (I know this is controversial). After playing Cyberpunk post-patch, I truly believe this IP has GTA levels of hype and potential. It would be a massive get. However, after the PS Store removal drama, it's probably a bit unrealistic. I also think Tencent would outbid Sony if it came to it.
Call it hindsight bias, but Sony truly screwed up by not acquiring From Software after seeing the success of Dark Souls, and two, not acquiring CDPR before they went public (~40% of approx. 30 million Witcher 3 sales were on PS4).
Last edited:
P
peter42O
Guest
While I believe that Nintendo would be their perfect fit, Sony should go after Platinum Games. They make great action oriented games and with Sony having an excellent relationship with Square Enix, they could easily get the Nier IP for Platinum Games to work on a new one in the franchise. They're probably not all that expensive either. Sony could found a new development studio but acquiring an already established development studio would be the better move in my opinion because they're already set.
I know the majority here want Sony to acquire Square Enix. I personally don't see Sony acquiring any publisher for various reasons but one in particular, my friend told me about the other day which came to mind after Jim Ryan flew to Brussels in regards to potentially losing COD and that's the 30% cut Sony gets from every game sale. With 90% of Square Enix games being on PlayStation, Sony would be losing a lot of money in this regard. And this doesn't take into account the cost pre and post acquisition.
Jim Ryan and Herman Hulst aren't going anywhere. Hulst is Ryan's guy and Ryan is a money/numbers dude, plain and simple. His job is simple - make as much revenue and profit for Sony as he possibly can.
Western studio wise, Larian would be huge for Sony in regards to WRPG's. Especially on PC. FPS wise, Sony should try to acquire Deviation now. They're not established yet and are most likely very cheap to acquire. A simple scenario of low risk, high reward. I love CD Projekt Red. They would be a huge get for Sony but in all honesty, I don't see CDPR selling to anyone. They really have no reason to do so plus they just opened up one or two brand new studios including one if I remember correctly in Boston for the Cyberpunk sequel. And they recently acquired The Molasses Flood. CDPR would have to have their next two games minimum completely bomb and let's be honest, even after Cyberpunk 2077 (which at launch was still better than the vast majority of games out there on so many levels), their fan base will still be there day one and they will still make a killing. Besides, if anything, Cyberpunk 2077 humbled CDPR and I believe they will be even better than what they were with The Witcher 3.
I know a lot of people love From Software but I don't see Sony acquiring them. If anything, there's a far greater chance of Bandai Namco acquiring them. They need to stay multi-platform because if fully exclusive, they will barely sell. Bloodborne was around 5m+ if that. Sony wants 10m+ if not 20m. They wouldn't get that from an exclusive souls game in my opinion. As for CDPR, im pretty sure they don't own The Witcher or Cyberpunk IP's. As far as im aware, they pay for the games license. This could be one reason why most companies wouldn't acquire CDPR. Pretty sure their only IP is Gwent.
P
peter42O
Guest
I don't think Platinum sucks. I think they're good but always take on way too many projects at once which usually burns them in the end. I also don't think that they should do live service games when that's not their specialty. With a stronger focus and bigger budget, I think Platinum would be great with Sony.
I honestly dont even like the games people love from them. Thought astral chain sucked
Love NA but thats probably mostly to do with Yoko Taro
P
peter42O
Guest
In all honesty, neither do I but I still think that they hit more than they miss and when they did miss, it was because of taking on too many projects at once. While I do believe that they would be perfect for Nintendo due to their games not being visual showcases and having worked with Nintendo, Sony could elevate them to the next level. I did like and enjoy Nier Automata but visuals left a lot to be desired. Imagine that game but with the visuals and animations that nearly every Sony game has.
That is what I am hoping too. That this is just to not rock the water while regulators can be influenced one way or another and then they can see how far they have to go in terms of countering the re-balance of the industry.
There is no rush, they have have GOWR coming and had a great year.
I heard a statement in regards to sports that I think applies here for PlayStations strategy:
“Focusing on your own team is ALWAYS more important than just seeking the downfall of your enemies. People that don't grasp this are either non-competitive or never learned any lessons from competition. You build your team as the number one priority. There's obvious philosophical reasons for why making a moral case for yourself is more important than centering your identity on how bad the other guy is, but moreover, in practical terms, on a competitive level, your objective is to win, not to see a particular adversary lose.”
I think Sony should focus more on building up their studios and acquiring key partners rather than putting everything on hold hoping to make this deal fail.
“Focusing on your own team is ALWAYS more important than just seeking the downfall of your enemies. People that don't grasp this are either non-competitive or never learned any lessons from competition. You build your team as the number one priority. There's obvious philosophical reasons for why making a moral case for yourself is more important than centering your identity on how bad the other guy is, but moreover, in practical terms, on a competitive level, your objective is to win, not to see a particular adversary lose.”
I think Sony should focus more on building up their studios and acquiring key partners rather than putting everything on hold hoping to make this deal fail.
Love that quote... it also kinda fits with my idea that they should be building the PlayStation console portfolio, exclusives etc.... not worrying about other platforms.
Exactly. Microsoft wasting 70 billion on activision is a perfect alibi to go on their in shopping spree and lock down key ip and partners. I get that they can’t have it all. But some companies and ip are to vital to the brand to leave them be a free agent for someone else to get.