Sony's future and possible studio/publisher acquisitions

Dabaus

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I really think if sony went for CDPR theyd guarantee theyd stay multiplatform and itd probably be a stipulation for them wanting to be bought by sony anyways. Itd still be a great pick up for them if it were to happen regardless though.
 

Gediminas

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Screenshot-20230522-170535-Chrome.jpg


Imagine if the Witcher 4, Witcher Remake & Cyberpunk Sequel is exclusive to Playstation
PS5/PC it would be.
 
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avenovah

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Comment on Game Informer:

Even though I have the option to buy FFXVI, I hate that Sony & Square Enix are willing to disregard an entire base of gamers, repeatedly. This isn't new to Xbox fans, regardless of how Naoki Yoshida tried to make it sound like a one-off deal. It's an established pattern: most Final Fantasy-related products will be a Sony exclusive. This could simply boil down to Sony being the willing party to pay the most cash for exclusive rights. So, how are their ambitions any different than Microsoft? Sony's complaints and concerns to the FTC about Microsoft acquiring Activision Blizzard are hypocritical in so many ways. And people wonder why Microsoft is trying to strengthen their position through acquisitions. They learned by watching the competition.

Some people live in a bubble...
 
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Eternal_Wings

Eternal_Wings

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Comment on Game Informer:



Some people live in a bubble...

They should be more honest. Square Enix would never offer FF to MS. Because exclusive FF to Xbox would be dead on arrival lol.
I will say as many times as needed: Japanese games never sold well on Xbox, not now nor to X360 era. Square Enix recent releases proved it again.
 
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Kadokawa / From is essential, especially against PC in the future. They need full control over it.

I think CDPR could be justified as a full purchase too but as we've discussed many times, their PC storefront is an issue.... but would be a nice exclusive store to splinter PC users and not allow a unified store for PC in steam.

I agree with the others... but the investments need to be large, they need a chunk and probably a member on the board of directors.

I would hope Sony tries to buy stocks in multiple publishers and have at least one person on their executive board of directors.

I agree with these takes and feel that will likely be Sony's strategy for gaming expansion; invest in the big 3P publishers and buy a good amount of shares in them, and try to get Sony-connected people into board member positions (IIRC someone from Sony left to join Capcom or it could be the other way around in that case). Companies like Capcom, Take-Two, EA, Epic etc. are very safe to invest in & buy shares in; even in the event they were to decide to sell, Sony still get paid out on their shares and likely at a premium, so they essentially make money on those investments assuming the company isn't in too much debt (or maybe they as a shareholder wouldn't need to account for that debt, I'm not 100% sure how these things work).

They could use the rest for more 3P exclusivity deals (marketing, co-funding, co-development etc.), and some as bonuses for developers just to show that extra appreciation for their hard work (and retain even more talent, of course). Depending on how much is left from whatever would be allocated towards gaming, maybe buy a few 3P developers and if permitting, a publisher. But, I don't think those need to be first steps; buying shares & pumping some capital investments into as many key 3P partners as possible should probably come first, and seeing what PS-connected people can find positions at these 3Ps, preferably as members of the board (but that doesn't have to be the only position they could fit in).

It's also worth keeping in mind that these sort of deals don't have to involve just straight cash; Sony and Take-Two for example could buy shares in one another, in addition to Sony injecting some capital investment into Take-Two. There's a lot of ways to mix and match it all together, so there's great flexibility. And of course, other things like if an opportunity presents itself for a part of Sony, say Sony Pictures, to co-finance, distribute, or produce a film or television adaptation of a 3P partner's gaming IP (such as what they're doing with Capcom via Sony Picture's multi-year deal with Legendary Pictures, who are producing the live-action Street Fighter film).
 

Gediminas

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They should be more honest. Square Enix would never offer FF to MS. Because exclusive FF to Xbox would be dead on arrival lol.
I will say as many times as needed: Japanese games never sold well on Xbox, not now nor to X360 era. Square Enix recent releases proved it again.
it wouldn't be for half billion or more. like 1 year exclusivity. PS5 will easily sell FF16 over 10M first year.
it can ship over 1M in first week in Japan alone.
 
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Eternal_Wings

Eternal_Wings

Dein Nomos
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Damn even Destin thinks it will be Square Enix. Destin saying this mean something, as him being a full Xbox supporter.



He is right this marriage is inevitable.
 

avenovah

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Damn even Destin thinks it will be Square Enix. Destin saying this mean something, as him being a full Xbox supporter.



He is right this marriage is inevitable.

history repeats itself

 
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Eternal_Wings

Eternal_Wings

Dein Nomos
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history repeats itself

Stake only didn’t work out for Sony in the past. They would at least need a controlling stake 50%>.
 
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Eternal_Wings

Eternal_Wings

Dein Nomos
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Guys look at this!
PlayStation Business Update:
IMG_6062.jpeg
“Covering every major genre”
JRPG and WRPG are lacking

For this they will need to acquire Square Enix and CDPR
 

Puff

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What a bad week for Sony in PR first the Showcase disaster now this

What Sony needs is a major publisher purchase with major IPs. I think Sony just need to go and buy Fromsoftware, Capcom & Square at this point. PlayStation is being forced to respond.
 
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Eternal_Wings

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What a bad week for Sony in PR first the Showcase disaster now this

What Sony needs is a major publisher purchase with major IPs. I think Sony just need to go and buy Fromsoftware, Capcom & Square at this point. PlayStation is being forced to respond.
Well I think they would buy Capcom only if Activision Blizzard passes. Square Enix is not a question of “if” more of “when”. Fromsoftware I can only see if Kadokawa is willingly to sell.
 

AshHunter216

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What a bad week for Sony in PR first the Showcase disaster now this

What Sony needs is a major publisher purchase with major IPs. I think Sony just need to go and buy Fromsoftware, Capcom & Square at this point. PlayStation is being forced to respond.
It's a bad week, but I think the long-term damage will be minimal to nonexistent.
 
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Nhomnhom

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What a bad week for Sony in PR first the Showcase disaster now this

What Sony needs is a major publisher purchase with major IPs. I think Sony just need to go and buy Fromsoftware, Capcom & Square at this point. PlayStation is being forced to respond.
What would Sony do buy Capcom, SE and FromSoftware to then have them working mostly on GaaS?
 
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Dabaus

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I think this week has shown whatever hopes we had for sony as far as direction and acquisitions go isnt happening. They are a GAAS company now, which is funny because MS seems to be going the opposite direction with hellblade and starfield in their relatively immediate future. I dont think sony will even make any big moves until they spin off their financial division and who knows when that will happen?

What, if they even happen, big moves will they make? They seem to take square enix for granted from what i can tell. Capcom more less the same. Im trying to think of any midsized publishers or companies with an active GAAS that sony would want to go for and i guess pubg or some korean company weve never heard of before? I would think SE would be a slam dunk what with ff14 but theyd rather waste years and hundreds of millions of dollars trying to create the next big thing, which doesnt seem to be working out.
 
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Nhomnhom

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I think this week has shown whatever hopes we had for sony as far as direction and acquisitions go isnt happening. They are a GAAS company now, which is funny because MS seems to be going the opposite direction with hellblade and starfield in their relatively immediate future. I dont think sony will even make any big moves until they spin off their financial division and who knows when that will happen?

What, if they even happen, big moves will they make? They seem to take square enix for granted from what i can tell. Capcom more less the same. Im trying to think of any midsized publishers or companies with an active GAAS that sony would want to go for and i guess pubg or some korean company weve never heard of before? I would think SE would be a slam dunk what with ff14 but theyd rather waste years and hundreds of millions of dollars trying to create the next big thing, which doesnt seem to be working out.
If they buy anything big it's going to be mobile related or even worse some radioactive trash like Epic.

My faith is at an all time low, some years ago I already suspected we were heading into a bad place as far as PlayStation is concerned but this is happening way faster than I anticipated and at the expense of sacrificing what they were good at doing.
 
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Eternal_Wings

Eternal_Wings

Dein Nomos
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If they buy anything big it's going to be mobile related or even worse some radioactive trash like Epic.

My faith is at an all time low, some years ago I already suspected we were heading into a bad place as far as PlayStation is concerned but this is happening way faster than I anticipated and at the expense of sacrificing what they were good at doing.
I think if the Acquisition of Activision Blizzard gets approved for MS, then Sony will be forced to respond. It will be likely a publisher with a strong arm for mobile gaming and GaaS experience. I know I have said it a couple of times: the only publisher which fits the criteria are Square Enix.