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[Setsuna Mudou]

Kadokawa would be THE get. Not only take From Software with 2 to 3 dev teams inside, but all the anime portfolio they bring as well. Way more sense than the paying for crunchyroll.

Would make too much sense

 

[Rocco Schiavone]

How about developing a decent third person shooter??(Socom)

 

[Killjoy-NL]

Horizon online MMO? Why! Has part 2 even sold 1/2 as first game?

It probably sold enough.

They're also working on a Horizon tv show, so that could go well for marketing.

Gaf complaining about the franchise is meaningless.

 

[6502]

At this point I don't understand why Sony would make significant aquisitions. They are 2 - 4 years away from effectively having the console market to themselves, why take more risk yourself when you can just take a cut of every game on your platform?

 

[feynoob]

There's definitely a point in which you start to cannibalize sales. I don't think there is any evidence that Sony is near that point, especially as they look to diversify the type of games they make.

PlayStation is as guaranteed a revenue stream as any in entertainment at this point, especially with the shape and condition of Xbox.

This industry is not guaranteed. All it takes is 1 decision from heard up and you can screw up your entire progress.

In 1-2 gen, we might not even have a console. Ps6 might be the last console we see.

 

[Mibu no ookami]

This industry is not guaranteed. All it takes is 1 decision from heard up and you can screw up your entire progress.

In 1-2 gen, we might not even have a console. Ps6 might be the last console we see.

That's silly hyperbole.

 

[Angry_Megalodon]

This industry is not guaranteed. All it takes is 1 decision from heard up and you can screw up your entire progress.

In 1-2 gen, we might not even have a console. Ps6 might be the last console we see.

There are more players than ever. People want to play games, so as long as console manufacturers make consoles, they will sell. A different question is how many profitable platforms the market supports.

 

[Hardensoul]

It probably sold enough.

They're also working on a Horizon tv show, so that could go well for marketing.

Gaf complaining about the franchise is meaningless.

I didn’t bring up anything other than the MMO concern. I’m very familiar with MMOs since I play WoW up until last year and I may get next Xpac.

I didn’t realize my query seem to hint at console/fanboy war, according to the reply. I keep away from that crap.

 

[Sneakysnake]

Becarefull buying too much stuff. It doesnt end very well. Ask MS about it.

MS last purchase (ABK) resulted in them posting the highest revenue they ever have and massive profit growth...and you have convinced yourself that this is bad for them bc like Sony, they laid a bunch of ppl off to make themselves even more profitable? Let me guess. You're someone who says "fuck capitalism" and when asked for an alternative to capitalism, you list a bunch of European countries that are also capitalist?

We gaming nerds on forums make up less than 1 percent of gamers. Our feelings and opinions don't change the numbers. This acquisition was vital.

 

[feynoob]

That's silly hyperbole.

It is. But anything can happen. You can't mess around in business world. Blockbuster and sears learned that in the hard way.

There are more players than ever. People want to play games, so as long as console manufacturers make consoles, they will sell. A different question is how many profitable platforms the market supports.

Technology can change in 6-8 years from now. In that time, we might find a new way to play games.

Keep in mind that these companies can reach more audience without the need of hardware itself and save billions in the process.

 

[feynoob]

MS last purchase (ABK) resulted in them posting the highest revenue they ever have and massive profit growth...and you have convinced yourself that this is bad for them bc like Sony, they laid a bunch of ppl off to make themselves even more profitable? Let me guess. You're someone who says "fuck capitalism" and when asked for an alternative to capitalism, you list a bunch of European countries that are also capitalist?

We gaming nerds on forums make up less than 1 percent of gamers. Our feelings and opinions don't change the numbers. This acquisition was vital.

Profit means jackshit, if you are destroying your studios morale.

Short profit is always an oversight and leads to disaster in the future.

Xbox had alot of talented studios which could have helped them. Instead they cut their losses and damaged the morale of their smaller studios.

 

[Killjoy-NL]

I didn’t bring up anything other than the MMO concern. I’m very familiar with MMOs since I play WoW up until last year and I may get next Xpac.

I didn’t realize my query seem to hint at console/fanboy war, according to the reply. I keep away from that crap.

That's what I was replying to. The Gaf comment has nothing to do with fanboy/console war. There's enough PS gamers here that hate Horizon just as easily.

 

[feynoob]

That's what I was replying to. The Gaf comment has nothing to do with fanboy/console war. There's enough PS gamers here that hate Horizon just as easily.

The ending sucks badly.

 

[willothedog]

The money is for Paramount...

Sony are rethinking the bid so it might not even happen.

https://www.reuters.com/business/media-telecom/sony-rethinking-its-bid-paramount-cnbc-reports-2024-05-14/

 

[IntentionalPun]

It may not really be more than their last strategy considering they are including share buyback (which was nearly half a trillion yen last time.)

But anyways, the market sucks for gaming not sure they’ll buy any companies. They don’t really need more exclusives at this point.

But in the end if they are losing 3rd party exclusives and they are worried about that they may want to buy someone.

 

[Mibu no ookami]

Sony are rethinking the bid so it might not even happen.

https://www.reuters.com/business/media-telecom/sony-rethinking-its-bid-paramount-cnbc-reports-2024-05-14/

Did you actually read the article?

It doesn't say anything about them bowing out, rather they may be reconsidering their approach to buying it.

 

[ByWatterson]

This industry is not guaranteed. All it takes is 1 decision from heard up and you can screw up your entire progress.

In 1-2 gen, we might not even have a console. Ps6 might be the last console we see.

Maybe? But that would mean smart TVs have built-in hardware capable of running high-end games. The pace of hardware development versus the obscene cost of actually getting use out of it means we're probably reaching some horizon where we simply don't need hardware more powerful than could fit into a television. But we're not there yet and we don't know when we will be - especially if AI can reduce costs of game dev.

But, we're not going to an all-streaming or all-PC future, and to suggest otherwise is absurd.

 

[Killjoy-NL]

The ending sucks badly.

Ok. Don't necessarily disagree.

But the franchise sold 32M copies (HZD 24M, HFW 8M), so it's a decent selling franchise.

If the MMO turns out to be any good, it'll probably be a profitable game.

 

[BoxFresh123]

Expected Arrowhead to join TBH. I know they already own the ip but you do a solid for Sony and they'll probably bring you in-house.

Slightly less convinced given this PSN debacle. Sounds like a lot of stuff happened over their head that could give them pause.

 

[Frwrd]

Depending on whether that is the case, it would be pretty easy to assume that SIE will spend as much or more than they did acquiring Bungie on other publishers/developers in the next 3 years.

Take Two for fuck sake! Sony, what the fuck you waiting for!?

"Do it! Just do it!" (Insert gif)

 

[Mibu no ookami]

Take Two for fuck sake! Sony, what the fuck you waiting for!?

"Do it! Just do it!" (Insert gif)

No M&A makes more sense for Sony than T2, but it would require a fundamental shift in strategy to acquire them. It would have to be a mix of cash and stock, with the result of T2 shareholders owning at least a fifth of Sony.

 

[willothedog]

Did you actually read the article?

It doesn't say anything about them bowing out, rather they may be reconsidering their approach to buying it.

Yes, that is why I posted it.

 

[Mibu no ookami]

Yes, that is why I posted it.

Doesn't sound like you read it.

 

[Zathalus]

I can see Sony buying a few more smaller studios, but publishers are not going to happen. I'd wager most of the the money is for the rest of the company.

They have basically won the home console war, they can use the warchest to expand their other operations.

 

[feynoob]

Ok. Don't necessarily disagree.

But the franchise sold 32M copies (HZD 24M, HFW 8M), so it's a decent selling franchise.

If the MMO turns out to be any good, it'll probably be a profitable game.

The franchise is about robot dinosaurs. Cool concept which every gamer likes. It will sell like hotcakes.

The story side is just garbage.

 

[Killjoy-NL]

The franchise is about robot dinosaurs. Cool concept which every gamer likes. It will sell like hotcakes.

The story side is just garbage.

No lies detected.

Although the story of HZD was pretty good, imo.

 

[Oddvintagechap]

Ok. Don't necessarily disagree.

But the franchise sold 32M copies (HZD 24M, HFW 8M), so it's a decent selling franchise.

If the MMO turns out to be any good, it'll probably be a profitable game.

That MMO game is for mobile too, that Sony isn’t developing. Potentially making it Playstation’s biggest money maker. Think Genshin Impact or Fate/Order.

And there’s a Netflix show coming.

Basically not only does it make money for Playstation, other companies are investing in it.

 

[Mibu no ookami]

That MMO game is for mobile too, that Sony isn’t developing. Potentially making it Playstation’s biggest money maker. Think Genshin Impact or Fate/Order.

And there’s a Netflix show coming.

Basically not only does it make money for Playstation, other companies are investing in it.

If the Netflix show is a hit, the rest of it will pay dividends (assuming the quality is there)

 

[Sneakysnake]

Profit means jackshit, if you are destroying your studios morale.

Short profit is always an oversight and leads to disaster in the future.

Xbox had alot of talented studios which could have helped them. Instead they cut their losses and damaged the morale of their smaller studios.

Oh absolutely. IF this ends up spreading through the company and ruining the morale of the devs then you would be absolutely right. I'm afraid that might actually happen but I'm betting it does not.

 

[feynoob]

Oh absolutely. IF this ends up spreading through the company and ruining the morale of the devs then you would be absolutely right. I'm afraid that might actually happen but I'm betting it does not.

It did sadly. Shutting down hifi rush studio made the situation bad. These studios dont know what they need to make in order to survive.

 

[mayham2199]

I hope they don't buy anything else.

 

[mayham2199]

Oh absolutely. IF this ends up spreading through the company and ruining the morale of the devs then you would be absolutely right. I'm afraid that might actually happen but I'm betting it does not.

There's no way the hi-fi rush doesn't affect the morale at the company. Not to mention more cuts are coming they aren't done.

 

[Men_in_Boxes]

These studios dont know what they need to make in order to survive.

The bad one's don't. The good one's do.

 

[Perrott]

Dunno why people are getting excited. Around the time they bought Bungie they where saying they had put aside funds for more purchases and investments.

It was for the whole Sony Corp. Not just PS.

Around the time of Bungie's acquisition, Jim Ryan himself stated that they had more, big acquisitions lined up.

Talk around GDC 2022 was that PlayStation were going to make a move on Square Enix (as claimed by even the founder of Eidos Montreal), but for whatever reason that ended up not materializing. Maybe the raising inflation and money not being as cheap to borrow played a part in that.

 

[Wastelander92]

Would rather Sony organically grow their currently owned devs. Maybe just buy Arrowhead in the next year.

 

[DavJay]

Sony got a way better track record than Microsoft. ND, Sucker Punch and Insomniac all thrived after being bought. I prefer no acquisition because inevitable more people will be laid off but I wouldnt be as concerned as if MS did.

 

[MrA]

Sony got a way better track record than Microsoft. ND, Sucker Punch and Insomniac all thrived after being bought. I prefer no acquisition because inevitable more people will be laid off but I wouldnt be as concerned as if MS did.

not really, Psygnosis, evolution, zipper, incognito, studio london just shut down, Doubt bend will be around much longer,
bungie did best under Microsoft, rare, mahjong and playground are doing fine,


I do wonder what a Venn diagram of people slobbering over Sony acquisitions were in a frothing rage over MS acquiring activision would look like
anyway, games are business and only exist in any worthwhile form due to the awesomeness of capitalism, so if a company decides to be sold so be it, and if they need to be acquired to survive, so be it,
I also wonder what a venn diagram of people who whine about capitalism, also cry and scream and throw a fit if a crowd funded project doesn't go well

 

[James Sawyer Ford]

not really, Psygnosis, evolution, zipper, incognito, studio london just shut down, Doubt bend will be around much longer,
bungie did best under Microsoft, rare, mahjong and playground are doing fine,


I do wonder what a Venn diagram of people slobbering over Sony acquisitions were in a frothing rage over MS acquiring activision would look like
anyway, games are business and only exist in any worthwhile form due to the awesomeness of capitalism, so if a company decides to be sold so be it, and if they need to be acquired to survive, so be it,
I also wonder what a venn diagram of people who whine about capitalism, also cry and scream and throw a fit if a crowd funded project doesn't go well

Yeah Activision really needed to be bought to survive, young warrior

 

[MrA]

Yeah Activision really needed to be bought to survive, young warrior

Activision chose to be sold, their business, not mine... well except when I voted yes on the acquisition (made nearly 35 a share, most delicious), and ultimately it probably killed Xbox,

 

[tkscz]

They announced in the fiscal year earnings that they plan on spending 11.5 billion USD on strategic investments (including music catalog purchases and buypack plans).

This is significantly more than what they actually spent in the previous mid range strategy. Who knows if this involves Paramount or not, it wouldn't really make much sense if it did.

Depending on whether that is the case, it would be pretty easy to assume that SIE will spend as much or more than they did acquiring Bungie on other publishers/developers in the next 3 years.

I think the most likely candidates would be

• FromSoftware/Kadokawa
  • Current Market Cap: 2.78 Billion USD
  • Sony already owns 14.09% of FromSoftware and 1.93% of Kadokawa
  • Fully owns Elden Ring now, Sony already owns Demon's Souls and Bloodborne, and Armored Core has shown to be a much stronger IP now
  • Buying a Japanese company makes sense because of the currency rate
• Sega
  • Current Market Cap: 3.7 Billion USD
  • If they are successful in buying Paramount, this would give them the full rights to the Sonic IP
  • Persona exclusivity
  • Transmedia opportunities for Sonic, Persona, and Yakuza
  • Virtual Fighter for EVO
  • Again, currency is favorable
• Arrowhead
  • Private Company
  • Build and expand out on Helldivers 2
• NCSoft
  • Working with Sony on Horizon online MMO
  • Significant experience in GaaS, MMO, and Mobile

Honorable Mentions: Playrix and Bandai Namco. Both for mobile, but Bandai Namco especially for synergies in anime. Bandai Namco might be a bit too large to take on without private equity involved, I could also see maybe a stock swap rather than an all cash deal, especially since they're doing stock buybacks.

This is more likely a non-Playstation strategy. Also Paramount has rights to sonic live-action media, not the games, Sega pretty much said they have no interest in being owned by another company. Sega would also make more as they are then being owned by Sony.

 

[TropicanaTwista]

I don't think Sony really needs anymore studios. Maybe arrowhead but I'd rather they just stay out for the most part. If anything I'd be on board with more startups like Haven and Firesprite.

 

[Mibu no ookami]

This is more likely a non-Playstation strategy. Also Paramount has rights to sonic live-action media, not the games, Sega pretty much said they have no interest in being owned by another company. Sega would also make more as they are then being owned by Sony.

Your reading comprehension dude...

 

[Roronoa Zoro]

Please buy square. That way they won't have to worry about exclusivity hurting them

 

[Roronoa Zoro]

At this point I don't understand why Sony would make significant aquisitions. They are 2 - 4 years away from effectively having the console market to themselves, why take more risk yourself when you can just take a cut of every game on your platform?

Lock down popular ip and leave less chance on your continued dominance. They're a house of cards reliant on having a higher install base

 

[Kumomeme]

• Sega
  • Current Market Cap: 3.7 Billion USD
  • If they are successful in buying Paramount, this would give them the full rights to the Sonic IP
  • Persona exclusivity
  • Transmedia opportunities for Sonic, Persona, and Yakuza
  • Virtual Fighter for EVO
  • Again, currency is favorable

 

[Matsuchezz]

It's better to buy games exclusivity than buy whole development houses. This has worked for Playstation in the past.

 

[Hardensoul]

That MMO game is for mobile too, that Sony isn’t developing. Potentially making it Playstation’s biggest money maker. Think Genshin Impact or Fate/Order.

And there’s a Netflix show coming.

Basically not only does it make money for Playstation, other companies are investing in it.

Are you saying they making Horizon a Waifu GAAS game?

 

[StreetsofBeige]

(Edited with corrected buyback numbers)

They already got about $3 billion committed or on the radar.

- They announced $1.6 billion in stock buybacks. The paramount deal sunk the stock lately, so the are buying back stock to prop the stock back up
- They are about to bid $1.3 billion on a manga app

Given that, I dont think the paramount deal would be part of the $11.5 billion as that would only leave $8.5 billion for the $26 billion all cash deal partner deal with Apollo for them. And I dont see Apollo committing $17.5 billion of it. Then again, it may be part of it if they are solely talking about cash on hand and not any money raised from outside sources.

Sony Plans Bid Versus Blackstone, KKR for $1.3 Billion Manga App

(Bloomberg) -- Sony Music Entertainment is preparing a bid against private equity funds Blackstone Inc. and KKR & Co. to acquire Japanese e-comics provider Infocom Corp. in a deal estimated to be worth around ¥200 billion ($1.3 billion).Most Read from BloombergBiden Set to Hit China EVs...

finance.yahoo.com

Sony Plans Bid Versus Blackstone, KKR for $1.3 Billion Manga App​

 

[bitbydeath]

They already got about $4 billion committed or on the radar.

- They announced $2.5 billion in stock buybacks. The paramount deal sunk the stock lately, so the are buying back stock to prop the stock back up
- They are about to bid $1.3 billion on a manga app

Given that, I dont think the paramount deal would be part of the $11.5 billion as that would only leave $7.5 billion for the $26 billion all cash deal partner deal with Apollo for them. And I dont see Apollo committing $18.5 billion of it. Then again, it may be part of it if they are solely talking about cash on hand and not any money raised from outside sources.

Sony Plans Bid Versus Blackstone, KKR for $1.3 Billion Manga App

(Bloomberg) -- Sony Music Entertainment is preparing a bid against private equity funds Blackstone Inc. and KKR & Co. to acquire Japanese e-comics provider Infocom Corp. in a deal estimated to be worth around ¥200 billion ($1.3 billion).Most Read from BloombergBiden Set to Hit China EVs...

finance.yahoo.com

Sony Plans Bid Versus Blackstone, KKR for $1.3 Billion Manga App​

It likely doesn’t include anything they’ve already set money aside for.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

It likely doesn’t include anything they’ve already set money aside for.

Fair enough. I assumed the OP is accurate when he said in the first line the $11.5B includes stock buybacks.