Sony's future and possible studio/publisher acquisitions

[Zzero]

Does anyone think independent Japanese devs like Vanillaware would be worth it for Sony first party? Could help fill the void left by the closing of Japan Studio.

How does acquiring a developer which already mostly does PS only releases actually help them? They're getting the console sales benefit while not taking the financial risk of paying for the development and marketing of niche games. Playstation heads in SoCal will take one look at the cute girl/anime box art and reject the purchase outright anyway. Just, for the sake of it, lets read what the descriptor paragraph in Wikipedia has to say about their most recent release and then think about what current PS Studios heads would have to say about it compared to their own work.

13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim[a] is a 2019 video game developed by Vanillaware and published by Atlus. It was released for the PlayStation 4 in Japan in November 2019 and worldwide in September 2020, with a Nintendo Switch version released in April 2022. The game is divided between side-scrolling adventure segments and real-time strategy (RTS) battles, and follows thirteen high-school students in a fictionalized 1980s Japan who are dragged into a futuristic war between mechas and hostile Kaiju in a nonlinear narrative.

 

[AshHunter216]

How does acquiring a developer which already mostly does PS only releases actually help them? They're getting the console sales benefit while not taking the financial risk of paying for the development and marketing of niche games. Playstation heads in SoCal will take one look at the cute girl/anime box art and reject the purchase outright anyway. Just, for the sake of it, lets read what the descriptor paragraph in Wikipedia has to say about their most recent release and then think about what current PS Studios heads would have to say about it compared to their own work.

Because when you've got one side running around buying up as much as possible, it might be worth it to take steps to ensure that as many unique, high quality titles continue to come to your platform as possible.

I doubt Vanillaware games are very expensive to fund and would present that much of a risk, and the whole meme of Playstation being averse to anime-styled/inspired games is pretty blown out of proportion given their willingness to lock down exclusivity for things like Stellar Blade. This would also be about diversifying their portfolio and expanding out from what they currently do, which is pretty stupid to assume they would be against.

 

[Zzero]

I doubt Vanillaware games are very expensive to fund and would present that much of a risk, and the whole meme of Playstation being averse to anime-styled/inspired games is pretty blown out of proportion given their willingness to lock down exclusivity for things like Stellar Blade. This would also be about diversifying their portfolio and expanding out from what they currently do, which is pretty stupid to assume they would be against.

They've been doubling down on a specific type of game for half a decade now and that has, seemingly, only helped them. If they do go Japanese I think Square and Platinum (more Nier) are both much more realistic options. I mean, if you want a Vanillaware-type game wouldn't you be better off buying SpikeChunsoft instead? Their titles already have western cache.

 

[AshHunter216]

They've been doubling down on a specific type of game for half a decade now and that has, seemingly, only helped them. If they do go Japanese I think Square and Platinum (more Nier) are both much more realistic options. I mean, if you want a Vanillaware-type game wouldn't you be better off buying SpikeChunsoft instead? Their titles already have western cache.

I think Square would be a good option, and while Platinum would be a good get, I don't think Kamiya likes Playstation much or would want to be acquired by them. The FFXVI team seems like they would be able to do the same style of gameplay Platinum did with Nier based on what we've seen of FFXVI so far though.

 

[Zzero]

I think Square would be a good option, and while Platinum would be a good get, I don't think Kamiya likes Playstation much or would want to be acquired by them. The FFXVI team seems like they would be able to do the same style of gameplay Platinum did with Nier based on what we've seen of FFXVI so far though.

While they might be able to re-create Nier I think Sony would rather have them continue on XIV and XVII. Luminous would probably get stuck with Nier and ruin it. FFR/KH, DQ and retro teams continue as normal (except no Switch anything,) manga division allowed to continue on/merged into existing Sony assets and the arcade division spun or sold off. They also have three seperate mobile studios who's fate I neither know nor care about and a bunch of third party publishing deals which might or might not continue based on the value of the product/IP and whether it needs a day and date PC version to thrive.

Edit: I don't know how Platinum feels about Sony. They'd be a good get for either Sony or Nintendo (very few studios are actually set up in a way that would interest Nintendo but Platinum meets the mVP for me anyway since they A) have a long and uniformly positive working history, B) have a similar quality level, C) take direction well, and D) never leak.)

Edit 2: Or, I suppose, Platinum could remain independent and keep doing Nier for them while the S-E studios all do their own things. Except for Luminous who probably get demoted to support studio or axed entirely. They're in an extremely precarious position right now because their one big title just released and is "at best" doing only okay. Thats an awful spot to be in following a merger if they don't have a second, secret, project already well underway.

 

[Puff]

Hopefully It’s True

 

[Zzero]

Except for Luminous who probably get demoted to support studio or axed entirely. They're in an extremely precarious position right now because their one big title just released and is "at best" doing only okay. Thats an awful spot to be in following a merger if they don't have a second, secret, project already well underway.

Lol I was right.

Anyways, as to the Spanish tweet, I just googled it and there were a spate of articles rumoring that Sony had acquired the studio at the same time it lists its acquisition. Thats nearly six months ago, I think they would have said something by now. Where exactly is his image coming from?

 

[Yurinka]

Hopefully It’s True

I'd say it's fake. I may be wrong but I think publicly traded companies are forced to announce their merge and acquisitions to their investors. Maybe they could delay the announcement a handful days, but not half a year.

 

[Hezekiah]

There were rumours several months ago but can't see how it could be kept quiet.

 

[Deleted member 417]

There were rumours several months ago but can't see how it could be kept quiet.

Microsoft kept the Zenimax purchase under wraps for almost a year and ABK for a few months. It's possible.

I think the CDPR purchase is real. The devs want away from the management who forced them to force Cyberpunk out of the door. Witcher has swapped to UE5 which was designed with PS5 in mind and vice versa. CDPR make 3rd person action RPG's which is a genre Sony is sorely missing out on.

It would be a perfect fit and imagine the E3 announcement that Witcher is Exclusive to PS5?

 

[Firefly]

Microsoft kept the Zenimax purchase under wraps for almost a year and ABK for a few months. It's possible.

I think the CDPR purchase is real. The devs want away from the management who forced them to force Cyberpunk out of the door. Witcher has swapped to UE5 which was designed with PS5 in mind and vice versa. CDPR make 3rd person action RPG's which is a genre Sony is sorely missing out on.

It would be a perfect fit and imagine the E3 announcement that Witcher is Exclusive to PS5?

Idk if sony would make witcher exclusive it seems like they would buy cdpr to make sure they dont lose them to MS but keep the games multiplat. Plus witcher has a big presence on pc.

In my opinion if sony is going to go after publishers/larger scale studios their strategy would be more about preservation than making the games exclusive.

 

[Deleted member 417]

Idk if sony would make witcher exclusive it seems like they would buy cdpr to make sure they dont lose them to MS but keep the games multiplat. Plus witcher has a big presence on pc.

In my opinion if sony is going to go after publishers/larger scale studios their strategy would be more about preservation than making the games exclusive.

Sorry, I should have clarified. Console exclusive. No way would anyone be insane enough to take the PR hit of removing a PC franchise from PC, while losing out on millions of sales.

But...buying CDPR and keeping the game on PC also helps sony with their PC strategy.

I am honestly surprised Microsoft didn't offer the 70 billion to valve

 

[Darth Vader]

They can negotiate a merger without communicating with Shareholders, it all depends on the status of the acquisition. It only needs to be publicly divulged once pen is on paper and shareholders need to vote on it.

Nevertheless, I don't believe this.

 

[Hezekiah]

Microsoft kept the Zenimax purchase under wraps for almost a year and ABK for a few months. It's possible.

I think the CDPR purchase is real. The devs want away from the management who forced them to force Cyberpunk out of the door. Witcher has swapped to UE5 which was designed with PS5 in mind and vice versa. CDPR make 3rd person action RPG's which is a genre Sony is sorely missing out on.

It would be a perfect fit and imagine the E3 announcement that Witcher is Exclusive to PS5?

Yeah that's true.

Would be a great purchase for a couple bill. As you say the game would still come to PC, but would a brilliant console exclusive as the best western RPG out there.

 

[Yurinka]

Microsoft kept the Zenimax purchase under wraps for almost a year and ABK for a few months. It's possible.

I think that whey they kept secret were the negotiations, and when they had the deal and its details completely agreeded they announced it.

 

[Deleted member 417]

I think that whey they kept secret were the negotiations, and when they had the deal and its details completely agreeded they announced it.

Could Sony be in a similar position?

Is that the reason Microsoft may be asking for 3rd party deals? To flush out pending acquisitions by sony?

 

[Yurinka]

Could Sony be in a similar position?

Is that the reason Microsoft may be asking for 3rd party deals? To flush out pending acquisitions by sony?

I think Sony is in a position of negotiations with multiple studios or companies but that they don't have any acquisition secured for different reasons depending on the case:

Maybe some key shareholders in a company don't want to sell are trying to convince them. Maybe in other they have some deal almost agreed but right now don't have the budget to secure it. Maybe both parties don't agree with the pricing and are negotiating. Maybe Sony isn't interested to buy a certain company in the current conditions and asked them to restructure it making certain changes before selling it and they are working on it. Maybe they are discussing the conditions of the workers after acquisitions. Maybe the studio is working on a 2nd party game and Sony wants to see how it performs and how is to work with them before acquiring them. Etc.

But as soon all these things are ready and they agree all these things, in a handful days they announce the deal. I also think that Sony maybe had some acquisitions in negotiation stages, but put them on hold temporally while MS was going through the regulatory process because to announce cool Sony acquisitions during the process could help MS get the approval from regulators.

I think this is unrelated to the 3rd party deals stuff required by MS. I think MS wants to tell them the FTC: 'look, Sony doesn't buy the publishers but they signed these deals with 3rd party of these kinds of console exclusivities. So we aren't the only ones keeping 3rd party games out of other consoles'.

 

[Gods&Monsters]

Hopefully It’s True

Is there another source besides that Spanish twitter? The CEO did leave around that time last year

 

[Fenton]

Is there another source besides that Spanish twitter? The CEO did leave around that time last year

No source, it is best to just ignore these things until any official announcement.

 

[Dabaus]

Cdpr would be quite the get for Sony but I doubt you can keep something like that a secret. Cdpr makes a lot of sense for Sony but I feel like they burned the bridge with the cyber punk fiasco when they pulled the game off psn. How do you repair the relationship after that? I still hope Sony at least invests in square enix.

Cdpr would make a lot of sense for Sony because they would have an established western rpg house and gog to release their own first party games on pc and maybe get some Japanese publishers to start to release games there as well. It could be rebranded as “PlayStation…but pc.” Say instead of ff16 going to steam a year or whatever after ps5, it goes to Sony’s rebranded gog first, plus their first party. That’d turn some heads and get some attention. Sony probably doesn’t want to give steam a 30 percent cut on their games sold and if they could get more publishers to release games on something they’d own then they’d be getting a cut from that too.