Sony's future and possible studio/publisher acquisitions

Yurinka

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But is it shifting naturally or are they pushing?

Are they moving with the crowd and not making the most of their niche?

There are huge questions..... just mindlessly following trends is not a good business strategy, I think you need a strong vision and understanding of your target customers and from what I have seen Jim and co dont seem to have that.

I could be wrong, I need to see what these GAAS games do different or better than everyone else but I remain skeptical. Highly skeptical.
AAA games get more and more expensive every generation, so they need to expand their revenue sources. As I mentioned above, even if they will increase their investment on PC and mobile they'll also increase their investment in console. So they will grow in console but also in other areas like multiplayer/GaaS, VR, PC, mobile and movies/tv shows. But not at the expenses of their growth in mobile.

I explained above how important are digital games and addons, so if they want to substantially grow in console they need to adapt and also enter in GaaS (which again, as I shown it won't stop them from growing in non-GaaS game).

71% of the gaming revenue is made in mobile or PC as you can see in this graph. It isn't something new, it has been pretty similar since many year ago but the share of mobile slightly grows every year. And GaaS is even bigger in PC and specially mobile than in console:

62726e8188a11.jpg

Newzoo_Global_Games_Market_by_Segment.png

And it isn't a fad or a small trend, it's a pattern that happened during many years so it will continue: addons/GaaS and digital will continue growing in console, and mobile will continue eating % of total yearly gaming revenue. Growth in mobile doesn't mean console market shrink. In fact, consoles always have been growing but less than mobile. I think 2022 is the first year in a decade or two where consoles will grow more than mobile probably to some rare case like new gen console release combined with some key big releases plus economical crysis or covid affecting mobile/Asia or something like that.

Because same happened with Asia: during like a decade or two Asia has been not only the biggest market in revenue for gaming but also the fastest growing one with Latin America. This is why Sony wants to grow in Asia and Latin America. For some weird reason this year Asia didn't grow as fast as in other places, maybe because they're being fucked hard by covid:

Newzoo_Global_Games_Market_by_Region.png

Newzoo-1.jpg


Same goes if we look at the number of players, instead of revenue:
Newzoo-2.jpg


Being a market leader in consoles, Sony controls a good portion of gaming in Europe and North America even if the main gaming platform in EU and NA is mobile in both number of players and revenu. But Asia and Latin America combined are way bigger, are growing way more but there consoles are way less important, PC and specially mobile are the big ones. And particularly F2P/GaaS.

So it makes sense that if Sony wants to increase their bet in AAA for console, as they will do, needs to grow substantially their revenue to afford it in a safe. And to do it needs to grow in GaaS and also need to expand to PC and mobile, specially to chase Asia. All this explains why Sony wants to grow in GaaS, PC, mobile and particularly Asia (and with less priority, Latin America).

P.S.: I forgot to include this slide in the other post to highlight how GaaS (particularly F2P) is becoming so important in PS: it generates over a quarter of the PSN store spend, which includes PS+ or Netflix.

image.png
 
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Remember_Spinal

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People may think im crazy that i would actually be more excited for Ember Lab than Square Enix lol

I’m gonna be destroyed if they get snatched up by epic/tencent/embracer/microsoft. Kena was my favorite game last year, and I just see so much potential for Sony to have a true Zelda-like game with way better production values.

I hate relying on nintendo for certain things when their games are still running on phone tech from 2012
 

DynamiteCop

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Ubisoft isn't bloated, their numbers say they are more than fine and better than ever:

328291-blank-355.png

ubisoft-net-income.jpg


The difference of Ubisoft having more workers is because they outsource way less works than all the other AAA publishers like Activision, EA, Sony, MS, Square, Capcom, etc. Ubisoft mostly use other internal studios as support studios instead of outsourcing almost everything to external outsourcing companies.

When looking at the biggest game companies of the world in terms of revenue, not counting 1st party companies or mobile gaming publishers, Activision Blizzard is the biggest 3rd party and Ubisoft is on of the biggest ones as always. Not bad at all:
  1. Activision Blizzard $1,905M
  2. Electronic Arts $1,789M
  3. Take-Two Interactive $903M
  4. Ubisoft $866M
  5. Bandai Namco Entertainment $858M
  6. Square Enix $796M
  7. Warner Bros. Entertainment $613M
  8. Sega $469M
ABK and EA are pretty far from the other publishers. And well, since ABK super likely will be acquired next year Ubisoft will climb one position on the ranking.
Activision Blizzard is technically a first party publisher now, no?
 

SaltiestGaming

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Hi passionate gamers,

I wanted to discuss with you which studios and maybe publishers we will see in the upcoming days, months or years. Don't get me wrong, it should be not a fire to lit console-wars. I just want to hear your opinions which studios or even publisher are realistic. You see the landscape of the gaming industry turned into an arms-race with companies like Microsoft, Tencent and Embracer Group, buying studios or publishers like there is no end. So we heard it more than one time confirmed from Sony execs like Jim Ryan or Kenshiro Yoshida they're not finished by long. So not long ago they hired a Director for acquisitions and complex mergers for Playstation division. So every thought, rumor or even maybe leak would be appreciated. Looking forward to exciting discussions with you!
From Soft, Square Enix, Capcom, CD Projekt Red to name a couple
 

Remember_Spinal

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Hi passionate gamers,

I wanted to discuss with you which studios and maybe publishers we will see in the upcoming days, months or years. Don't get me wrong, it should be not a fire to lit console-wars. I just want to hear your opinions which studios or even publisher are realistic. You see the landscape of the gaming industry turned into an arms-race with companies like Microsoft, Tencent and Embracer Group, buying studios or publishers like there is no end. So we heard it more than one time confirmed from Sony execs like Jim Ryan or Kenshiro Yoshida they're not finished by long. So not long ago they hired a Director for acquisitions and complex mergers for Playstation division. So every thought, rumor or even maybe leak would be appreciated. Looking forward to exciting discussions with you!

Looking at this list its just like damn…if any of those studios in the top row were were indepdent and got bought by someone it would be such a megaton announcement, thats how good sonys individual studios are. Almost all of sonys studios are the best in their class at what they do.

Waiting for pixelopus, bend, and london studio to catch up this gen.

Also waiting to see what Firesprite and Haven can do
 

Dabaus

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For what it’s worth I just don’t think capcom is on the menu at the moment. They have a good relationship with Nintendo and also are porting resident evil village to be able to play on iPads or some apple devices. I’d say capcom probably won’t get bought by anyone simply because they have a overall good relationship with everyone and Nintendo and now Apple I think would bid heavy to keep them at least out of Microsoft’s clutch’s.

Square enix from what I can tell is literally begging Sony to buy them.
 

Remember_Spinal

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For what it’s worth I just don’t think capcom is on the menu at the moment. They have a good relationship with Nintendo and also are porting resident evil village to be able to play on iPads or some apple devices. I’d say capcom probably won’t get bought by anyone simply because they have a overall good relationship with everyone and Nintendo and now Apple I think would bid heavy to keep them at least out of Microsoft’s clutch’s.

Square enix from what I can tell is literally begging Sony to buy them.

capcom isn't being bought by anyone, that im 100% sure of.
 
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Eternal_Wings

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Konami would be fire too. Imagine the Japanese just buy or license all their IPs like Castlevania, Metal Gear Solid, Suikoden, Silent Hill etc. That on top and Square Enix, and Sony is official the winner.
 

Bodycount611

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Konami has some very successful baseball franchises in japan, namely Power Pros and professional baseball spirits(the official Japanese baseball league sim).

the latter just moved exclusively to Switch last year because of low sales on PlayStation 4.

ebaseball-professional-yakyuu-spirits-2021-grand-slam-667839.11.jpg


both are incredibly popular, actually. Oh and a long-running Japan-only game Momotaro Dentetsu was like the best selling game last year.

Konami is doing extremely well here, making Switch exclusives that is. :LOL:



two things would need to happen for them to sell to sony.

-They decide to get back into AAA production and invest millions into making state-of-the-art games. Won't happen, they're cheap.

-They decide to let go of their entire home market, and literally the root of 99% of their overall business. Won't happen, that's basically company suicide.

another one who will never sell to Sony, sorry. Look at these things logically, not what would wet the dreams of sony fanboys. Bungie made sense for Sony with new gAAs push, and the fact that MS was cornering the entire western games/shooter market. Sony had no choice but to fire back.

Bethesda and Activision, and Ninja Theory, and Double Fine... all were in deep trouble, either financially or otherwise. MS is like a vulture praying on dead carcasses. That's why they got acquired.

this whole acquisition speculation (A.K.A begging) is getting old tbh. We have MS to thank for that.
 
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Eternal_Wings

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another one who will never sell to Sony, sorry. Look at these things logically, not what would wet the dreams of sony fanboys. Bungie made sense for Sony with new gAAs push, and the fact that MS was cornering the entire western games/shooter market. Sony had no choice but to fire back.
How do you know it won't ever happen??

Are you fearing Sony could buy some Nintendo developers. It has nothing to do with fanboys fantasies like you claim. I and others already posted/linked sources which reinforce our arguments. You didn’t reply because you couldn’t therefore you have no valid statements to make. We’re here to discuss what is realistic for Sony to acquire and SQEX is very much possible. do you want to live in a Nintendo only world or something?
 
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Bodycount611

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You’re starting to getting on my nerve. Where the hell do you know for sure it will not ever happen??

Gosh you’re a blatant and diehard Nintendo fanboy, who is fearing Sony could buy his beloved developers. It has nothing to do with fanboys fantasies like you falsely claim. I and others already posted/linked sources which reinforce our arguments. You didn’t reply because you couldn’t therefore you have no valid statements to make. So if your just here to provoke and telling nonsense, then get the hell out of here. We’re here to discuss what is realistic for Sony to acquire and SQEX is very much possible. If you want to live in your only Nintendo world, do it elsewhere but not here!
I don't know anything for sure but i can take an educated guess and make an informed decision.

I mean anything's possible, but it certainly is far fetched on both the Konami ans S-E front. we've had nothing to indicate either company is looking to sell, and judging by Sony's last acquisition (Bungie) they'd still just be making multiplats anyways if they did. You're hoping on some pipe-dream to give you ammo against xbox fanboys, i'm basing my guesses on reality.

sony's low marketshare in Japan make it extremely unlikely that they acquire any Japanese company that is still heavily in business with Nintendo. Especially not ones with decades of independence under their belt like Capcom, S-E, konami, sega. These guys won't sell.

you're acqusition-begging. plain and simple.
 
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Darth Vader

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another one who will never sell to Sony, sorry. Look at these things logically, not what would wet the dreams of sony fanboys. Bungie made sense for Sony with new gAAs push, and the fact that MS was cornering the entire western games/shooter market. Sony had no choice but to fire back.
Gosh you’re a blatant and diehard Nintendo fanboy, who is fearing Sony could buy his beloved developers. It has nothing to do with fanboys fantasies like you falsely claim. I and others already posted/linked sources which reinforce our arguments. You didn’t reply because you couldn’t therefore you have no valid statements to make. So if your just here to provoke and telling nonsense, then get the hell out of here. We’re here to discuss what is realistic for Sony to acquire and SQEX is very much possible. If you want to live in your only Nintendo world, do it elsewhere but not here!

Can we please keep things civil? It's ok to disagree, no need to start with fanboy accusations ;). Love to see the engagement regardless, just don't want things to get too heated!
 

Bryank75

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I don't know anything for sure but i can take an educated guess and make an informed decision.

I mean anything's possible, but it certainly is far fetched on both the Konami ans S-E front. we've had nothing to indicate either company is looking to sell, and judging by Sony's last acquisition (Bungie) they'd still just be making multiplats anyways if they did. You're hoping on some pipe-dream to give you ammo against xbox fanboys, i'm basing my guesses on reality.

sony's low marketshare in Japan make it extremely unlikely that they acquire any Japanese company that is still heavily in business with Nintendo. Especially not ones with decades of independence under their belt like Capcom, S-E, konami, sega. These guys won't sell.

you're acqusition-begging. plain and simple.

If you look above, Wings comment was altered to make it less inflammatory... he was notified.

Passionate debate is welcome but dont go too far.... goes for both of you. Just try to be respectful!

🍻
 
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Eternal_Wings

Eternal_Wings

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I don't know anything for sure but i can take an educated guess and make an informed decision.

I mean anything's possible, but it certainly is far fetched on both the Konami ans S-E front. we've had nothing to indicate either company is looking to sell, and judging by Sony's last acquisition (Bungie) they'd still just be making multiplats anyways if they did. You're hoping on some pipe-dream to give you ammo against xbox fanboys, i'm basing my guesses on reality.

sony's low marketshare in Japan make it extremely unlikely that they acquire any Japanese company that is still heavily in business with Nintendo. Especially not ones with decades of independence under their belt like Capcom, S-E, konami, sega. These guys won't sell.

you're acqusition-begging. plain and simple.
It’s utmost hopeless to discuss further with you. But I will reply one last time to you. No matter what I or the others say. You’re completely ignoring facts and sources which we have linked in this thread. Hm six upcoming AAA console exclusives, which will only go to PC after the deals expire. Real gaming industry insiders like Jeff G. and Greg M. talking about it and not only one them hinting to an upcoming deal. Still not enough?
It has nothing to do with begging, it’s just a fact that Sony is not finshed with acquiring gaming companies. It’s not a fanboy fantasy it’s more your personal wishing for it not happen. And you’re don’t seem to be very updated. The Japanese customers are only a small portion today of Square’s revenue. Except the mobile games and DQ there is nothing else the Japanese would buy Square’s games. Square Enix would have died without it’s fans around the world. All that big games like Kingdom Hearts, Final Fantasy wouldn’t have survived with it’s fans in the west.

And like I replied last time with confirmed sources, Nintendo’s exclusives games are only niche and in terms of selling numbers low compared to Sony’s exclusives SE games. And don’t forget the numbers I linked are not only Japan. But like I have to known you now, you will ignore this and keep repeating same pointless platitudes…
From this on to say, I will ignore you because to discuss with you, will lead to no good.
 
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