Sony's future and possible studio/publisher acquisitions
- Thread starter Eternal_Wings
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Steam would give them almost complete control over PC and Console…especially since steam gets Microsoft games. It would be a shit show of epic (no pun) proportions
Would be fun to watch though
Nah. People on PC have other storefronts to pick from. Microsoft have their own store.
These are the arguments MS would use so Sony should use them.
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OP
Steam or Epic would be crazy. I can’t imagine Sony spending so much money. Sony will do something bigger than Bungie, but that’s not Epic or Valve imo. This bigger things will be likely buyouts of Japanese corporations like Square Enix and or further investments in Capcom/Fromsoftware (Buying shares).
I think a japanese publisher buy out is less likely than a pc centric publisher buy out at this point. Square Enix and Capcom don’t really generate enough revenue or do anything special enough for sony to want to drop a majority of its current M&A budget on them. I expect to see sony buy a large stake in a bunch of companies just to continue to secure big games from them.
Sony want PC and Mobile, those are the big money making markets. They want to increase revenue ten fold, none of those japanese companies everyone loves is doing that.
The best shot they would have is buying square enix, increasing the number of platform FFXIV releases on like xbox, mobile, etc. which im sure they don’t wanna do. FFXIV still only generates about 3-400m for square enix, which is great for a publisher but not great for sony expanding considering the other things they would have to take on from square enix, like a huge work force, side companies, and IP they probably want nothing to do with.
Thats why I think CDPR makes the most sense for something that would satisfy their “core” fanbase and their needs for expansion. Sony fans would be delighted to have witcher 4, and the new cyberpunk (and whatever new IP they are working on) as playstation games. They finally get their big WRPG that can compete with Bethesda.
Sony gets a new Mobile Developer, A PC developer, and a Storefront.
Sony want PC and Mobile, those are the big money making markets. They want to increase revenue ten fold, none of those japanese companies everyone loves is doing that.
The best shot they would have is buying square enix, increasing the number of platform FFXIV releases on like xbox, mobile, etc. which im sure they don’t wanna do. FFXIV still only generates about 3-400m for square enix, which is great for a publisher but not great for sony expanding considering the other things they would have to take on from square enix, like a huge work force, side companies, and IP they probably want nothing to do with.
Thats why I think CDPR makes the most sense for something that would satisfy their “core” fanbase and their needs for expansion. Sony fans would be delighted to have witcher 4, and the new cyberpunk (and whatever new IP they are working on) as playstation games. They finally get their big WRPG that can compete with Bethesda.
Sony gets a new Mobile Developer, A PC developer, and a Storefront.
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OP
You know that Square Enix and Capcom are more than just games?
The key for Sony are synergies. And there a plenty of them with for e.g. Square Enix. People need to see the bigger picture here. Square Enix offers so much more than only video games. Anime, Manga, Music, Movie, Toys, Mobile Games, GaaS expertise. Something like Valve or Epic will never happen. Epic has many shareholders like Tencent and they possess quite a lot of their shares. Sony buys studios or companies to close the gaps in their portfolio. Let’s be honest, if we would expect Sony to want buy heavy hitters, then there would only a company like Take2 make sense. But that’s not Sony usual way of doing business. If your theory would be correct, then Sony wouldn’t bother with buying niche studios like Housemarque. All this big publishers from the west are a high risk and Sony can’t afford to do unreasonable purchases. I am calling it, Sony’s biggest acquisition will be a company based in Japan.
You have to get away from looking at what a company is worth to investors... itreally doesn't matter in day to day business.
The 85 billion is what investors own of Sony stock, the only time Sony got money from that stock was at the IPO. Same with MSFT...they do not own the stock that is equal to 1.8 Trillion...investors own it and they make or lose money based on it going up and down...not MSFT as a company.
Sony is a highly successful company but Japanese companies in general are not popular with investors for many macroeconomic reasons.
Also Sony will never be sold and neither will PlayStation, they are too important to Japan for GDP / GNP and many other reasons.
The only thing that would be possible with Apple and Amazon or other companies is some type of partnership.... or alliance.
During the mid to late 2000's many of the professors of business around the world were talking big talk about Sony selling out to Samsung and how it would happen any day..... and they were bad shape back then but never even thought about selling.
Now Sony makes very healthy profit every year, quite a bit more than Disney or many other mega corps annually most years..... they are much much healthier than most people seem to appreciate.
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peter42O
Guest
To be honest, it would make things more interesting if Apple or Amazon were to acquire Sony and go all in with PlayStation like Microsoft went all in with Xbox. They would have the money to go after the major top tier publishers and studios. Don't know why anyone wouldn't want this to happen. But if it doesn't, better for me because the more Microsoft acquires, the more money I will save where as with Sony, not so much if at all.
Sony makes a lot of money obviously but to say that they would never sell is misinformed because any company can be bought and sold if the price is right because regardless of what anyone wants to think or believe, it always comes down to money. In regards to PlayStation, my thinking is that with an Apple or Amazon backing Sony, they would actually be able to go head to head with Microsoft and others when it comes to major expensive acquisitions.
Let's be real here guys, when Sony does buy a studio, it'll never be anything we want it to be.
If Sony does buy Square Enix, i'm curious if it be like bungie or make stuff exclusive.
I’m guessing if they bought square enix it would be exactly how it is now, the AA titles still get ported to nintendo and sometimes to xbox and the big AAA titles stay on playstation and pc. Final Fantasy and Forspoken, pretty much becomes permanent console exclusive.
The big change would be that playstation get all the nintendo AA games now.
I don’t really see it happening either way and I honestly don’t find it to be a very exciting proposition as a consumer. I’m already getting all the big square enix games as is, i want new stuff that i wouldnt have gotten before.
Sony might build new teams and studios with Square Enix and we get more New IPs and be better than anyone else getting them.
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peter42O
Guest
If Sony acquires Square Enix, all of their games should be fully exclusive to PlayStation/PC in my opinion. I fully expect Bungie to be fully exclusive to PlayStation/PC. I firmly believe that if you buy a publisher or development studio, their games should be 100% fully exclusive to your eco-system. If you're going to give those games to your competition, then first, why acquire them to begin with and second, why not give your competition everything you have at that point?
At the end of the day, sony is out to make money with their acquisitions, it doesn’t really make sense to buy a major publisher that generate a large amount of their revenue on multiple platforms and cut off those streams of revenue.
Those AA games on switch do a lot for Square Enix and they probably wouldn’t do half as well on playstation, especially in Japan. I don’t really understand the need to buy a publisher and making their games exclusive. It doesn’t benefit me at all if xbox or nintendo only players can’t play something
Thats why bethesda acquisition is lame
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peter42O
Guest
I believe that if you're a platform holder and you buy a company, that's it. You own them. They're yours. The past doesn't mean anything anymore. Doesn't matter what they were or what they did. If you spent billions to acquire a company and you still release them elsewhere, why buy them? If you're buying a company, it's to strengthen and to grow your platform. Can't do that if the games you just acquired are available on your competitor's platform.
Regarding the exclusivity, it benefits me as an Xbox or PlayStation gamer. I believe that the platform holders should have console exclusives meaning that they don't go on the other hardware platforms. It's also to grow your platform and eco-system.
Last generation with PS4, all that was said, was that Sony had all of these amazing exclusives that you can't play anywhere else but what if Spider Man was on Xbox for example? If you're someone that only owns an Xbox, there's no reason to buy or get invested into PlayStation because you can play their games on your Xbox.
The need in buying a publisher and making their games 100% exclusive which im 100% all for regardless of which side does it is because it grows that respective platform and eco-system. Think about it. If you're a PlayStation only gamer but you love Bethesda or Arkane or whoever within ZeniMax and you want to play their games, if they were on PlayStation, you would have no reason to invest into the Xbox eco-system which in turn means that you're not spending any money towards Xbox and Microsoft. It's all staying with Sony and PlayStation.
That's why you have them be exclusive. Because it's the only way you'll get more consumers into your platform and eco-system because no one is going to spend hundreds of dollars on an Xbox Series X or S just to play for example, COD because it's in Game Pass when instead, you can just spend the $60 or $70 for the PlayStation 5 version of the game.
It benefits me personally as an Xbox and PlayStation gamer as I want more console exclusives. I don't want less. Only way I would be cool with little to none is if Sony and Microsoft made a joint console and you get everything but that's probably not going to happen.
If someone only owns a PlayStation OR an Xbox and wants to play Bethesda games or if Sony were to acquire Square Enix, my response would be, well, buy the other box if those games are that important to you. I tell Xbox fans on XboxEra who complain about Final Fantasy VII Remake not being on Xbox, if it's so important and you want to play it, go buy a PlayStation 5. The option is there for everyone. In my mind, there's no limitation or restriction except the ones that people impose on themselves which in that scenario, they have no right to complain.
Back to Square Enix, I personally don't see Sony acquiring them or any publisher due to the cost and they would be sacrificing the 30% cut that they would be getting from every game sale from third party publisher where as Microsoft can easily forfeit that 30% cut. Also, Sony gets most of their major titles as a full or timed console exclusive anyway so the benefit of them acquiring Square Enix would be minimal at best because they're already reaping the rewards and don't have to fund their games.
Backup plan for epic games store shutting down? Have your first general in command run the opposition?
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Their use of Steam Decks should trend positively or negatively towards the idea of a new PSP?
That kind of thinking is right though sometimes. I mean, iirc MS have first buyers refusal rights if NVIDIA starts going tit's up. Something related to cutting and running on the og xb.
Sony need to be smart now to not suddenly find itself (even more) outgunned later. That goes for gaming and wider Sony tbf.
Valve would be an absolutely genius acquisition. The problem Sony definitely pissed them off with the Epic investments (as others have said). Gaben even endorsed the Series X as the "better" console a couple years ago. They are also privately held, and hardly publish any games, so it's hard to gauge their value. Good chance Gaben wouldn't even sell to Sony either.