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[SaucyJack]

If we’re playing fantasy M&A with Sony's $18 billion budget…..

Cash acquisition of Square Enix + Capcom + Kadokawa + the gaming ip of Konami. Add Kojima Productions, Remedy
too.

I'd be surprised if several of these haven’t been discussed already And I’ve been convinced for some time that moves are afoot with Squeenix.

Spoiler

Then acquire Take Two through issuing new shares.

 

[N30RYU]

Sony just need to merge psnow and ps+, release the games planned for 2022, make as much PS5s as possible and announce sequels/remakes for Socom, Killzone, Warhawk, MAG, Resistance... plus new and unique ones you can't find on other platforms

 

[SF Kosmo]

Sony doesn't need to react, they only need to continue with their current strategy of focusing on consoles and dominating MS on console:
-Even adding ABK to MS gaming division and assuming all their games continue on PS (that won't happen), their revenue will be smaller than Sony's game division, Tencent and Sony are still bigger than them
-Sony consoles have 2x the userbase of MS as they did last gen
-Merging Plus and Now, Spartacus will start having 2X the subs than Gamepass
-Sony sold over 1700 games for their console, more than any other console in gaming history
-Sony PS4 exclusives won a ton of gotys and like half a dozen of them sold over 15-20M
-Sony doesn't need to buy IP, has a ton of successful ones and frequently creates new ones
-Movies, TV shows, ports of old PC games, VR and mobile are good to grow the fanbase and generate extra profit

So I think they should continue doing basically the same they had planned to do:
-Continue growing their internal teams, adding manpower to make more GOTY candidate and winners
-Continue acquiring partners (gamedev/porting/outsourcing studios) who previously did work for them with exclusives, that may help grow in new areas or genres or that will support the main teams
-Merging Plus and Now, throw on top hundreds of games more from all their generations (even if PS1/PSP/PS3 are cloud only) and add a new tier available worldwide that would be PS Now without cloud gaming, so would include all the PS2/PS4/PS5 games that can be downloaded. So a bas Gamepass like tier
-Release Spartacus (the cloud gaming tier) on smartphones, tablets, smart tvs and open it to a few contries more
-Reveal and release PSVR2 solving many of the issues PSVR1 had
-Try to solve the chip shortages issues asap and build new factories to manufacture a shit ton of consoles once chips became available
-Release GOTY candidate games like Horizon 2, GT7 and GOWR and show the ones for H2/next year
-Release PC ports of old big exclusives like GoW and Uncharted 4 and show the ones for H2/next year (I assume Spider-Man 1, TLOU)
-Release movies and TV shows like the Metal Gear, Uncharted and TLOU ones and announce new ones (GoW, Horizon)
-Keep supporting eSports with the Tournaments feature, EVO and getting -sometimes exclusivity- on FGC games
-Release big 3rd party exlusive and sign many more
-Help the indies and their relationship and conditions with Sony (Yoshida is working on it) regarding the costs, amount of paperwork needed to publish and store visibility issues

Talking long game, Sony probably is gonna have to compete with GamePass in a real way, and that's not a small task. But I think we're talking about years before that's really going to decide a console war.

 

[Punished Miku]

You have to understand Sega had a hardcore console fanbase once. A lot of those people are still in denial 20 years after its death.

Sega is a relic of the past. SE and Capcom are indeed better choices.

They're better, but SEGA is still a cool company. They notably have diversified into having a PC presence as well. They have a ton of IP. And SEGA is about the only Japanese company that has worked well with MS since their founding, launching Xbox 1 basically as a Dreamcast 2, right up to the present day with Phantasy Star Online, tons of SEGA titles on back compat, and the entire Yakuza franchise on Gamepass.

They clearly have a decent relationship.

 

[Pagusas]

I'd love to know what the OP does a for a job, his list making is nice, though I wonder how much of his work time he spent making this

 

[tmlDan]

They have to focus on organic growth, don't buy studios, buy people.

Sony has built a reputation on being developer friendly, look at newly formed studios from industry reps and partner/purchase them.

Mike Morhaimes studio as an example, and the other two studios formed by former Blizzard senior leaders.

They can't get into a bidding war, it will end poorly for them and all of us.

Think long term, build up your IP's, be open to new ideas - you can strike gold like PUBG/Fortnite/Apex did to replace that revenue but be open to a simultaneous PC release to make it happen.

That's my play as a Sony Exec.

 

[SSfox]

So they should can take a back seat and watch the rest of the industry be bought off by MS and the bigger companies?
While Playstation buy silly PC porting studios they will lose IP like Resident Evil, Fifa, GTA, MGS, Tomb Raider, Mortal Kombat, Tekken etc.

Things like Mario Kart and Animal Crossing selling like it is doing doesnt happen all the time. It didnt happen for Nintendo before either, so they shouldnt rely on it.
PlayStation and Nintendo need to protect some 3rd Party IP otherwise they will be on their own

 

[Just_one]

Releasing Spartacus as this :

100€/Year no tiers

- Exclusives Day 1
- 3rd Party games Day 1
- huge catalog of PS1/PS2/PS3/PSP fully downloadable and with trophy support.

Monthly : Add more the backwards consoles catalog and more PS4/PS5 games

 

[Techno_Inked]

People saying Sony doesn't have to do anything aren't paying attention.
Yes it's important to create new IPs and use the ones they have but Sony needs to make sure they won't lose access to IPs that don't belong to them and have always been related to Playstation somehow and keeps people invested in their ecosystem.

Paying for a cute year isn't enough when companies are literally cutting Sony from ever having their games on their ecosystem.

This is a race for IPs and it's a race Sony NEEDS to be a part of. They have the upperhand with Japanese companies...that's for sure what they should pursue.

Imagine the nightmares if MS somehow gets a hold of Capcom or Square-Enix.

Unfortunately the days of having plenty of 3rd party publishers in the market is done. This won't end here. It's a war for content. People thinking Sony can just ignore that? No.

Unless they realize what's best for their business is being a publisher only...but i don't think they would do that.

Sony can't keep having IPs denied to their eco-system and having 3 or 4 AAA titles per year, lmao. Now? For sure...but that's not a long-term plan for them to have. They know this.

Absolutely, well said mate. Waiting for disaster is never a good idea. The same people who were complaining about Sony being complacent are now saying that Sony doesn't need to do anything like what the heck haha

 

[reforen]

Ask MS to keep multiplat games as it are now

 

[Black_Stride]

Yes, they can, provided they want to.

How do you figure they can?
Does the gaming division have cash on hand to afford either EA or Take-Two.
And what purchase price are you giving EA or Take-Two to say they could afford them?

 

[Lupin25]

Sony should attempt to buy and secure IP, from various publishers, as another method of acquisition.

There’s plenty of dormant classic IP Sony could probe into; There’s also plenty of IP on the general downswing. Rather than securing a publisher (which could have a number of poor performing franchises), they could target specific IP to revive. Financial it applies better for their current motives.

 

[Pagusas]

Ask MS to keep multiplat games as it are now

I cant imagine contracts extended much more than 2 - 3 years out. This purchase is about the long game.

 

[reforen]

I cant imagine contracts extended much more than 2 - 3 years out. This purchase is about the long game.

Contracts could be like the ones with Bethesda, from there all the games to gamepass platforms

 

[Ass of Can Whooping]

Fuck no to sega aquisition. You cannot fight these swarms of rats with a retarded hedgehog

 

[Hunnybun]

Their first party games don’t make anything for them. Certainly not enough to sustain a console business.

Based on? They've had several mega hits recently, you suggesting something like TLOU 2 didn't make a profit?

In any case, the point is that producing exclusive content isn't some drain on their resources. They sell the game's at the end of the day, and make most (probably all and then some) of the cash back. So the idea that it's an investment activity is just wrong.

 

[Kerotan]

Take Two: 19.10B
Ubisoft: 7.34B
Capcom: 4.82B
Kadokawa Corp: 2.86B

If I was sony I'd spend the next 3 years profits trying to get these guys. It will provide them some insurance and their yearly profits would increase by a few billion after these acquisitions anyway.

Sounds crazy but if they don't there's a huge risk MS buys T2 or Ubisoft.

 

[wowbaggerBR]

How do you figure they can?
Does the gaming division have cash on hand to afford either EA or Take-Two.
And what purchase price are you giving EA or Take-Two to say they could afford them?

The same way any other corporation does, taking debt. Disney was a 20bn business when they got Fox for around 70bn. Now they are worth six times what they were when they started to work on that deal.

 

[Hitchyhero]

Announce sequals to popular games... Just show the title screen.... and say they are coming out the following year... Get loads of console sales and then delay the games.

 

[iHaunter]

People seem to be forgetting an important thing. Microsoft is doing this to catching UP to SONY, not the other way around. Sony doesn't need to do anything.

 

[ByWatterson]

People seem to be forgetting an important thing. Microsoft is doing this to catching UP to SONY, not the other way around. Sony doesn't need to do anything.

But they are catching up. That's the point.

 

[Lanrutcon]

...ninjas.

 

[buenoblue]

All they have to do is make good games still and they will be fine. Look at Nintendo. They don't get cod or any of the big 3rd party games and they are doing great. Is cod the biggest game in the world? Sure. But so are marvel movies. And the vast majority of people I know don't go and see marvel movies or play cod. Xbox has alot of investment now from Microsoft, so they are under pressure for it all to pay off or it could get messy real quick.

 

[Bonfires Down]

For now, just spend all they can on growing their own studios. Sure, they could buy some smaller publishers and they probably should. But they certainly can't outspend Microsoft. They don't need to spend billions and billions acquiring IPs when that money is better spent expanding their current crop. Microsoft has endless money and they wanted to grow Game Pass quickly before others get the chance to build subscription services. For them it makes sense to throw around billions and billions buying studios. For Sony it does not.

 

[Lt.Calley]

Either buy Take 2 or merge the entertainment division with them. GTA exclusive on playstation will be the biggest mega bomb.

 

[Punished Miku]

All they have to do is make good games still and they will be fine. Look at Nintendo. They don't get cod or any of the big 3rd party games and they are doing great. Is cod the biggest game in the world? Sure. But so are marvel movies. And the vast majority of people I know don't go and see marvel movies or play cod. Xbox has alot of investment now from Microsoft, so they are under pressure for it all to pay off or it could get messy real quick.

Nintendo basically got pushed out of the market with the Gamecube. But Nintendo has gigantic balls, so they decided to take an insane gamble on a totally different type of system and appeal to an unproven and untapped audience. Switch in its own way also tries to do this.

I don't think Sony has it in them to really take that kind of leap of faith. They will follow a more traditional Gamecube model until it doesn't work. Then what?

Nintendo also doesn't push cutting edge cost in development or hardware or software. They're priced as an affordable complement system.

 

[Kokoloko85]

Fuck no to sega aquisition. You cannot fight these swarms of rats with a retarded hedgehog

Sega would bring in Yakuza, Persona, SMT, Disgaea, Total War, Football Manager and plenty of classic IP’s like Sonic, Panzer, Virtua Fighter, Streets of Rage, Jet Set Radio.

Sega is probably what they need the most, JRPG’s, Yakuza, PC games, Fighters and classic IPs

 

[Techno_Inked]

Take Two: 19.10B
Ubisoft: 7.34B
Capcom: 4.82B
Kadokawa Corp: 2.86B

If I was sony I'd spend the next 3 years profits trying to get these guys. It will provide them some insurance and their yearly profits would increase by a few billion after these acquisitions anyway.

Sounds crazy but if they don't there's a huge risk MS buys T2 or Ubisoft.

It would take Sony 15-25 years to be able to have the capital to buy all the ones you just listed if they decide to keep their investment strategy as is.

 

[Metnut]

They likely should just stick to their strategy. It’s working and they keep coming up with great games. They can acquire a few studios (maybe Sega and Square Enix) but they can’t really try to match Microsoft.

If they really want to get aggressive, they can require anyone releasing a game on PlayStation (whether Indy or otherwise) to sign a contract stating that such game cannot appear on Gamepass for at least 5 years. Not sure this would work, but PS5 is still going to be big and Sony has a lot of leverage still.

 

[just_like_that]

world war 3

 

[kuncol02]

Sony should attempt to buy and secure IP, from various publishers, as another method of acquisition.

Why? They sit on so much of IPs they don't use that it's not even funny.

 

[tmlDan]

It would take Sony 15-25 years to be able to have the capital to buy all the ones you just listed if they decide to keep their investment strategy as is.

They already publicly stated the investment strategy has changed - they can 100% afford to buy publishers. Why do people think Sony has no money lol

The biggest advantage Sony has is Japanese Studios, they have the leg up in acquiring them and should look into it as an alliance against western companies.

 

[Black_Stride]

The same way any other corporation does, taking debt. Disney was a 20bn business when they got Fox for around 70bn. Now they are worth six times what they were when they started to work on that deal.

I see.
So Sony is definitely NOT buying EA or Take-Two.
Got it.

 

[Faded Memory]

Send their best ninja’s to take down the Microsoft cartel.

 

[Kokoloko85]

People seem to be forgetting an important thing. Microsoft is doing this to catching UP to SONY, not the other way around. Sony doesn't need to do anything.

??
And what happens when Sony cant make the profit it use from games like Call of Duty, GTA, Fortnite, Fifa? Heck even Persona, Yakuza, Resident Evil, Street Figher, Tekken etc.

You think Sony can survive without these games and off their 1st party games only?

MS doesnt really need to catch up the anything as they are far richer than Sony. They just need to buy what Sony has been making profit off and they will own all the IP’s that were popular on Playstation. People will then buy an Xbox or gamepass as thats the only place to play the games they love. Very simple, if Sony doesnt buy some of these IP’s they are gonna lose

 

[yurinka]

Talking long game, Sony probably is gonna have to compete with GamePass in a real way, and that's not a small task. But I think we're talking about years before that's really going to decide a console war.

Merging Plus and Now, their Spartacus will double the subs Gamepass has at launch. And this is not counting what the improvements will help grow Spartacus. Sony doesn't need to do anything special to compete with Gamepass, they already are dominating it.

And subscriptions are only a small part of Sony's revenue, they make a lot of money from other sources, as it's selling games (1st+3rd party) for their console. Because remember: Sony console installbase is 2X the Xbox one.

The one who needs to spends dozens of billiions to compete is MS, not Sony. Sony is the one dominating in console -so game subscriptions too-.

We won't start seeing the real impact of the MS acquisitions on all these companies they bought until now until the 2nd half of the generation. But we have to remember that the last Zenimax big hits were in 2011 and 2015, and that Activision focused all their teams on CoD that underperformed this year and Blizzard has many issues with their current teams and projects.

We'll also have to see how many of the upcoming games of these acquired publishers are exclusive or if MS will continue releasing them on PS as did until now as of with the updates of Minecraft/ESO/Fallout 76/Doom Eternal/CoD Warzone or the releases of Minecraft Dungeons, Quake remastered, Psychonauts 2, Deathloop or Ghostwire Tokyo.

 

[Hunnybun]

Of course, the one thing that I've not seen anyone mention yet: if COD does go exclusive, then it WILL hurt that brand. That is surely inevitable. The majority of its players are on PlayStation: not all, and probably not even a majority, are going to move across.

You'd be looking at maybe a 50% reduction in the console player base.

That's obviously irrelevant to the impact on Sony's bottom line. BUT it does mean that in time it'll be that much more plausible to other games to challenge its dominance, and possibly even for Sony to put out its own competitor.

 

[ByWatterson]

Nintendo basically got pushed out of the market with the Gamecube. But Nintendo has gigantic balls, so they decided to take an insane gamble on a totally different type of system and appeal to an unproven and untapped audience. Switch in its own way also tries to do this.

I don't think Sony has it in them to really take that kind of leap of faith. They will follow a more traditional Gamecube model until it doesn't work. Then what?

Nintendo also doesn't push cutting edge cost in development or hardware or software. They're priced as an affordable complement system.

Nintendo also caters, mostly, to an entirely different audience. Yes, lots of adults own Switches, but their core audience is still kids. Sony, I think, is stuck between one competitor willing to go all out to dominate the market they currently do, and another competitor that has the alternate audience pretty sewn up.

 

[DJ12]

Sonys strategy to turn your frown upside down:

Continue to innovate with console technology.
Continue to create great games.
Finally agree to let Microsoft have a gamepass presence on PlayStation.

On a personal note they can forget item 3, but the OP is obviously butthurt about losing CoD and Skyrim so it will make him feel better.

 

[yurinka]

??
And what happens when Sony cant make the profit it use from games like Call of Duty, GTA, Fortnite, Fifa? Heck even Persona, Yakuza, Resident Evil, Street Figher, Tekken etc.

All these games are on PS, none of them are Xbox exclusive. Out of these MS only acquired CoD and Phil said they plan to support the communites of the Bethesda and Activision on non-MS consoles. Looking at what they did with Mojang and Zenimax, at least CoD Warzone will continue there and getting its updates and so on.

You think Sony can survive without these games and off their 1st party games only? MS doesnt really need to catch up the anything as they are far richer than Sony.

Sony doesn't only has 1st party. They have the support of a shit ton 3rd party publishers, including Microsoft.

Remember that Sony's game division makes more money than MS game division+ABK combined, and that Sony has 2X the console userbase and game subscription subs than MS, plus there over 1700M games sold for PS4.

And this is after MS spent dozens of billions trying to catch up. MS continues behind. Meanwhile Sony is having more revenue than any other console maker ever had, with a huge profit and great growth.

Nintendo also caters, mostly, to an entirely different audience. Yes, lots of adults own Switches, but their core audience is still kids.

This is wrong, the average demographics of the Switch users are almost exactly the same than the PS, Xbox and Steam ones. The main difference is that they have slightly higher percentage of women. A majority of the Switch users also have other console or are PC users. So pretty likely they are HD console/PC players who have a Switch as secondary console to play its exclusives or use it as portable.

 

[Hitchyhero]

Sega would bring in Yakuza, Persona, SMT, Disgaea, Total War, Football Manager and plenty of classic IP’s like Sonic, Panzer, Virtua Fighter, Streets of Rage, Jet Set Radio.

Sega is probably what they need the most, JRPG’s, Yakuza, PC games, Fighters and classic IPs

Again, I get the enthusiasm for Japanese games, but why do Japanese game fans way over estimate their popularity to a western audience. Do you seriously think games like Disgaea and Yakuza will sway over the mainstream gamers that may switch over to Xbox, and will it replace the money lost from cod sales and mtx?

 

[Techno_Inked]

They already publicly stated the investment strategy has changed - they can 100% afford to buy publishers. Why do people think Sony has no money lol

The biggest advantage Sony has is Japanese Studios, they have the leg up in acquiring them and should look into it as an alliance against western companies.

Changed to what? Sony can afford it but they really won't. Sony stated they'll spend 18 billion for strategic partnerships over a time span of 3 years.
This is for Sony as a whole, not just for PlayStation alone. PlayStation is lucky if they get even half of that.
So now it's already down to 9 billion over 3 years.
Not only that, but Sony has probably calculated that for all strategic partnerships, meaning timed exclusives, gaming events, influencers, and the like.
They probably can only spend half of it on actual M&As. This would mean 4.5 billion for 3 years and 1.5 billion per year.

 

[ElCasual]

Its simple, fuck off Jim Ryan.

 

[kevm3]

Just because MS bought Activision, why is the knee jerk reaction all of a sudden that Sony has to go out and buy someone?

Cock waving?

Mojang, Bethesda, Activision Blizzard. Sony absolutely needs to do something. Microsoft owns Minecraft, Fallout, Elder Scrolls, Warcraft, and Call of Duty. If Microsoft can eventually get Take Two, Sony is in massive trouble.

 

[ethomaz]

Hummmm…

Keep releasing games… delivery was always the key and not how many companies you brought.

 

[Hunnybun]

Changed to what? Sony can afford it but they really won't. Sony stated they'll spend 18 billion for strategic partnerships over a time span of 3 years.
This is for Sony as a whole, not just for PlayStation alone. PlayStation is lucky if they get even half of that.
So now it's already down to 9 billion over 3 years.
Not only that, but Sony has probably calculated that for all strategic partnerships, meaning timed exclusives, gaming events, influencers, and the like.
They probably can only spend half of it on actual M&As. This would mean 4.5 billion for 3 years and 1.5 billion per year.

Yes but it's probably reasonable to think they could revise that strategy in light of this.

They certainly CAN spend much more if they deem it necessary.

 

[leo-j]

They should build FPS ip , and this is great because that’s where they are lacking atm. If they buy anyone take capcom and make monster hunter exclusive to try and take japan back.

 

[Fbh]

We'd probably end up going bankrup but what the hell, I'd double down on asian devs.
Competing in the western development front is going to be really hard now that MS owns Activision, Blizzard and Bethesda. The only comparable companies are EA, Ubisoft and Take Two and I don't know if we can afford any of them, not to mention any of them could just go to Microsoft and ask if they are willing to give more money

We have a better shot with Japanese devs as we are a japanese company and their primary audience is on our platform already. Looking into Kadokawa, Capcom, Sega, Square, etc. Maybe also look into smaller devs that we can then grow from the inside, or hell open new studios and instead of getting entire studios try to snatch top talent.
Use these new studios to diversify your exclusive lineup: Add JRPG's, Horror games, shooters, fighters, platformers, etc

Then I'd go invest in Korea, open or buy some studios and have them do their trademark multiplayer games with cool visuals and fun gameplay, but adjust the grind and progression to western sensibilities, we like some grind but we don't need games to feel like a second and third job.

In the west have our top studio continue doing what they are known for, and have every/most new investments focused on multiplayer projects.




That or go all in on VR hentai.

 

[Techno_Inked]

Sonys strategy to turn your frown upside down:

Continue to innovate with console technology.
Continue to create great games.
Finally agree to let Microsoft have a gamepass presence on PlayStation.

On a personal note they can forget item 3, but the OP is obviously butthurt about losing CoD and Skyrim so it will make him feel better.

Lol I don't even play FPS games and I really couldn't care less about Bethesda and its jank.
But what I do care about is Sony losing out on money that they can otherwise spend on games I like. That's the point.

 

[GymWolf]

Buy pornhub.

Blizzard\activision is a puny little bitch compared to that.