Sony's future and possible studio/publisher acquisitions

[Johnic]

You know we got Kiichiro Urata for her?
Urata is real legend and very big upgrade compared to her. He was the reason why Microsoft had so many Japanese exclusives in 360 era and also who managed to drag Capcom out of there misery. Urata is a true leader that I won’t to see leaving. He will be PlayStation‘s next CEO I am calling it. Btw Kiichiro Urata has the next second highest position after Jim Ryan: SIE Company Director.

Sony Interactive Entertainment representative director and deputy president Masayasu Ito to retire

Masayasu Ito will resign as representative director and deputy president of Sony Interactive Entertainment on October 1, and current director and deputy president Lin Tao will replace Ito, the comp…

www.gematsu.com

Much obliged.

 

[On Demand]

You people are still of afraid of MS and them possibly getting Japanese games.

They will do nothing for Xbox. They’ve been trying since the 360.

It really doesn’t matter.

 

[avenovah]

Next Smash Bros. without Sakurai?

5:31

If only Sony could make an offer... Perfectly matched with EVO.

 

[Eternal_Wings]

I think Pearl Abyss is next for Sony. I have feeling. They also have just a market cap of 500 Million Dollar.

 

[Eternal_Wings]

Next Smash Bros. without Sakurai?

5:31

If only Sony could make an offer... Perfectly matched with EVO.

You mean like offering him to do a PlayStation All-Stars?

 

[avenovah]

You mean like offering him to do a PlayStation All-Stars?

Yeah, something like that.

 

[shrike0fth0rns]

Man, I wouldn't want to be in @Eternal_Wings's shoes when Microsoft buys Square Enix.

Let us gen buy it it won’t save them. They are buying one of the most valuable ip in gaming the media cares, regulators care, fanboys care but the consumer market doesn’t seem to care. I want Xbox to buy more and this point. I want to see how much of a bloated pathetic mess Xbox becomes before it takes its last grasping breath in the console space

 

[Deleted member 223]

I'm up for change from the clown Jim Ryan... the faster the better. At this point, the acquisition war is one the lesser issues on the totem pole. Shit just keeps piling up.

 

[Eternal_Wings]

Let us gen buy it it won’t save them. They are buying one of the most valuable ip in gaming the media cares, regulators care, fanboys care but the consumer market doesn’t seem to care. I want Xbox to buy more and this point. I want to see how much of a bloated pathetic mess Xbox becomes before it takes its last grasping breath in the console space

Microsoft will never get Square Enix.
Forget it dude.

 

[shrike0fth0rns]

Microsoft will never get Square Enix.
Forget it dude.

Strange things have happened. Ppl like to make up sht like oh Japan has laws against forgiven companies buying Japanese once. No it doesn’t. They have certain restrictions against strategic brands that’s important to the government, economy and especially tech but the Japanese government wouldn’t care all that much. If square really wanted to sell and Microsoft really wanted to buy it could happen. That said it would be fcking stupid and a horrible decision by either corporation but Xbox leadership is stupid as Fck and square executive leadership team isn’t much better.

 

[Eternal_Wings]

Strange things have happened. Ppl like to make up sht like oh Japan has laws against forgiven companies buying Japanese once. No it doesn’t. They have certain restrictions against strategic brands that’s important to the government, economy and especially tech but the Japanese government wouldn’t care all that much. If square really wanted to sell and Microsoft really wanted to buy it could happen. That said it would be fcking stupid and a horrible decision by either corporation but Xbox leadership is stupid as Fck and square executive leadership team isn’t much better.

Nah Square Enix rejected them twice and Microsoft is not above the law. Japanese government are very aggressive and merciless when it comes down to hostile takeovers of Japanese companies. Square Enix will never sell to Microsoft. It makes zero sense of business view, especially because Square is not just video games. There is no way in hell this scenario would happen. Square Enix will look for a partner which they do share synergies like they have with Sony: Anime, Music, films etc.

 

[Yeona]

You people are still of afraid of MS and them possibly getting Japanese games.

They will do nothing for Xbox. They’ve been trying since the 360.

It really doesn’t matter.

I'm not afraid of MS getting Japanese games. I'm afraid of MS paying off Japanese studios which will be tempted by paycheques that they usually can't get due to their niche status, to go and die in their ecosystem having lost the few players they already had. I don't even blame the devs themselves for it, gotta pay the bills. Since you noted the Xbox 360, I wanna just underline this little game here, which was a true exclusive, and which Microsoft did not lift a finger to push. It was developed by a studio then called Softmax, a south korean dev that had a long history of japanese-style RPGs on PC. It was bombed so bad the studio literally fell off the map.

That's what I'm afraid of. Putting aside those weird like... thinly veiled fetish bullshit games which frankly after 30+ years of playing JRPGs I've basically ran out of patience for, the only thing I want is that those niche JP developers that I love are able to make the games they love making, and delivering them to the few people who still love playing them. Microsoft buying them out is antithetical to that, in my view.

 

[historia]

There is a rumour that SE has PS5 Pro devkit. My guess is that Sony sent them before August.

 

[historia]

Strange things have happened. Ppl like to make up sht like oh Japan has laws against forgiven companies buying Japanese once. No it doesn’t. They have certain restrictions against strategic brands that’s important to the government, economy and especially tech but the Japanese government wouldn’t care all that much. If square really wanted to sell and Microsoft really wanted to buy it could happen. That said it would be fcking stupid and a horrible decision by either corporation but Xbox leadership is stupid as Fck and square executive leadership team isn’t much better.

Let's be honest here, if that the case MS just buys Sony outright?

Back in 2019, Sony market cap was around 120B US Dollars. MS cash on hand around that time was 140B US Dollars.

 

[Zzero]

Let's be honest here, if that the case MS just buys Sony outright?

Back in 2019, Sony market cap was around 120B US Dollars. MS cash on hand around that time was 140B US Dollars.

Unlike Activision, that actually would be blocked as anticompetitive pretty much everywhere. Or MS would have to divest Playstation.

 

[Yurinka]

If only Sony could make an offer... Perfectly matched with EVO.

He's 53 years old, he'll make a couple games before retiring.

 

[Yurinka]

You know we got Kiichiro Urata for her?
Urata is real legend

Much obliged.

Urata's team job was to sign 3rd party Asian games, both multi and exclusive. Didn't achieve anything special compared with what Sony already signed before him.

They want to steal all Sony's plans in Japan.

Genki made a post about Xbox hiring a ex-Sony employee but it was deleted?

Klobrille made a similar tweet.

Big loss

So she was there at sony in the years when they became most out of touch with the japanese audience and lack of first party hits from japan.

And this is the person people are about to meltdown about?

And the best part is that it's not like the big bad MS is going around all ninja-like talking to these devs, keeping it all hush-hush. They're openly making moves and Sony's still too lazy/complacent to do anything with it.

I mean, when you have a company openly state they're trying to bring you down, amidst massive industry buyouts, and you're just sitting there? You deserve all that's coming to you.

People will call this doomposting but this is a clearly discernible pattern with Sony.

Under her comand Team Ico and Team Gravity were shut down and some members fired and others were put to make mobile games at Japan Studio during a year. Mobile games that got cancelled. She and other heads of Japan Studio got fired as part of the restructuring of Japan Studio. The remaining Team Ico and Team Gravity members there were moved with the rest of the Japan Studio developers to Team Asobi.

I wouldn't call it a big loss. I'd say that it was a good idea to remove people like her from Japan Studio's management with the restructuring and put in charge of the studio instead the guy in charge of Astro Bot.

It was also a good idea to move away the Asian 2nd party games outside Japan Studio to report instead to XDEV with new management, they now work in way more and better games.

She isn't a good hiring for MS unless MS wants to get rid of Tango or put them to work in mobile games.

 

[shrike0fth0rns]

Let's be honest here, if that the case MS just buys Sony outright?

Back in 2019, Sony market cap was around 120B US Dollars. MS cash on hand around that time was 140B US Dollars.

Highly unlikely. it would make Microsoft an instant monopoly. No major market in the developed world is going to let any of the big 3 buy each other. It would be disastrous for consumers. Also Sony is very important to the Japanese economy it’s top 5 largest Japanese corporation and sony is an important strategic corporation because of its manufacture of semiconductors. Letting a forgiven corporation buy a strategic valuable manufacturer like Sony wouldn’t sit well with Japanese politicians. Japans military is going through growth and expansion by 100s of billions and having locally controlled reliable source of semi conductors is important to that. They see what happened to Russia once semi conductors were cut off from western and western allied sources. As Chinas aggression forwards Taiwan increases that source is under threat. It’s high unlikely that Japan which wants to become more self reliant militarily would let a forgiven corp buy away so vital a strategic business.
Also market cap doesn’t translate into a corporation true real world value. Abk was worth $52 a share when Microsoft offered $95 a share. In an all cash deal $140billion can not buy Sony. Microsoft would have to pay a high fcking premium higher than abk.

 

[Arminius]

With Microsoft trying so many times to win over Japan, eventually they might TRY to ‘win.’

 

[Eternal_Wings]

With Microsoft trying so many times to win over Japan, eventually they might TRY to ‘win.’

They will never win in Japan. They didn’t manage to buy in 22 years a Japanese Publisher, this will not change today lol.
Some of you guys need to take a break from the internet. This whole thread become a place of quoting delusional Xbox shills and preaching hall for doom and gloom mongers. I am tired of this nonsense. Jeez…