[dragonbane]

QD has a 2nd team?

Yeah, probably. They are definetly working on two projects simultaneously.

[BadWolf]

If square enix continues to bomb I could see Sony buying them. Im not sure how much it would cost though.

Doesn't Sony own a decent portion of it already? Like 20 percent or something?

[AgentChris]

Doesn't Sony own a decent portion of it already? Like 20 percent or something?

[BadWolf]

Ah, thanks.

[RockmanWhore]

I thought that Evolution Studios and Sony Liverpool (ex Psygnosys) had merged toghter, and then Liverpool closed its door soon after the Vita release. So, didn't Sony close Evolution Studios too?

[Radius]

If square enix continues to bomb I could see Sony buying them. Im not sure how much it would cost though.

While Square Enix does continue to pump out one disappointment after another I doubt they can be bought that easily considerung how well Dragon Quest and their IPs from Eidos perform.

Wasn't there a rumor a few weeks ago that Superbot is working on a sequel to PSABR? Found it.

[Shahed]

Doesn't Sony own a decent portion of it already? Like 20 percent or something?

I believe that was before the merger. It's slightly under 10% now I think

[LiquidSolid]

Teams that have not made a game in a while - Superbot

Uh, what?

As for Team Ico, they are Sony's vanity studio. The games themselves are not profitable (I think), but they receive tons of critical acclaim, even outside the world of gaming.

Both Ico and SotC were profitable, even before the HD Collection came out (and even more so since it did).

I really don't understand where Sony's going with their decisions. Yoshida seems like one of the few Sony execs that actually has a clue but there doesn't really seem to be any sort of vision or forethought behind SCEEWWs moves. I mean, why the fuck did Modnation even exist, when they had LBP? Why were United Front and Sony San Diego developing those games (plus LBP Karting) when Sony OWNED 3 specialist racing studios at the time (4 if we include BigBig)? Why the fuck wasn't there a Vita version of LBP Karting? And while I'm at it, seeing as it takes a million years for Polyphony to do anything, why not farm out GT Vita to one of those racing studios? Just seems like they could be doing so much more.

[Dusky]

I thought that Evolution Studios and Sony Liverpool (ex Psygnosys) had merged toghter, and then Liverpool closed its door soon after the Vita release. So, didn't Sony close Evolution Studios too?

I think that was the plan, but it never happened. Liverpool closed down and some of them moved over to Evolution.

Evolution aren't going anywhere, for now.

I really don't understand where Sony's going with their decisions. Yoshida seems like one of the few Sony execs that actually has a clue but there doesn't really seem to be any sort of vision or forethought behind SCEEWWs moves. I mean, why the fuck did Modnation even exist, when they had LBP? Why were United Front and Sony San Diego developing those games (plus LBP Karting) when Sony OWNED 3 specialist racing studios at the time (4 if we include BigBig)? Why the fuck wasn't there a Vita version of LBP Karting? And while I'm at it, seeing as it takes a million years for Polyphony to do anything, why not farm out GT Vita to one of those racing studios? Just seems like they could be doing so much more.

Yoshida says a lot of things but honestly nothing ever changes. Just look at Sony's marketing.

[MikeE21286]

Alot of Sony's devs hav been posting want ads for next-gen developers so I would suppose they are ramping that up. Or maybe Vita lol?

[9thwonder]

While Square Enix does continue to pump out one disappointment after another I doubt they can be bought that easily considerung how well Dragon Quest and their IPs from Eidos perform. Wasn't there a rumor a few weeks ago that Superbot is working on a sequel to PSABR? Found it.

Yup. I think PSABR did well enough. I also think Sony is going to bundle it like crazy later on in 2013. I like when Sony does that. Yeah and eidos is what I think the major barrier would be(The games they make seem to do really well). But Sony just spent a billion on cameras and a billion on some shitty music company earlier this year. I'm sure they could acquire square if they wanted to. Let's see if they will have another flop equivalent to ff14(lightning returns could be it). If they do and if Sony is doing decently I think they might look that way.

[Takao]

The only reason Lightning Returns exists is because it's a cheap project to make. It could bomb and Square Enix will cite it in a quarterly report as a sales under performer and things will go on their marry way.

I don't think SCE would be allowed to buy Square Enix anyways.

[9thwonder]

I don't think SCE would be allowed to buy Square Enix anyways.

Why? They need to at least sign a exclusive contract with them or something. They need more Japanese games. Maybe they should just buy the people working on soul sacrifice. And maybe buy Atlus while they are at it.

[LiquidSolid]

Yoshida says a lot of things but honestly nothing ever changes. Just look at Sony's marketing.

What's that got to do with anything? Marketing is decided and done by the publishing arms of Sony (SCEJ, SCEA and SCEE), so he doesn't really have much influence over them.

[Derrick01]

They're a prestige studio, in a similar vein to Warner Bros. bankrolling Kubrick. And in terms of what they are trying to do with AI it is easily one of the more ambitious games attempted this gen.

I don't even know what they're doing with AI as I don't know any more about the game than I did 4 years ago. I seriously doubt it's more impressive than what Last of Us seems to be doing, and even if it's the same ND was able to do it in ~3 years. Not 7.

[LiquidSolid]

Yup. I think PSABR did well enough. I also think Sony is going to bundle it like crazy later on in 2013. I like when Sony does that. Yeah and eidos is what I think the major barrier would be(The games they make seem to do really well). But Sony just spent a billion on cameras and a billion on some shitty music company earlier this year. I'm sure they could acquire square if they wanted to. Let's see if they will have another flop equivalent to ff14(lightning returns could be it). If they do and if Sony is doing decently I think they might look that way.

You're insane if you think Lighting Returns will do anywhere near as bad as XIV. One of those games was in development for over 5 years and had an enormous dev team, the other will be in development for like 2 years by the time it comes out and have a much smaller team. Even if LR doesn't do well, they're not even close to comparable.

[Shahed]

Why? They need to at least sign a exclusive contract with them or something. They need more Japanese games. Maybe they should just buy the people working on soul sacrifice. And maybe buy Atlus while they are at it.

Eidos (who are PC centric) would stop it on it's own. None of those devs will want to be tied down to a single console. They'd just leave

And Marvelous do quite well on 3DS. They won't want to give that up

[Takao]

Why? They need to at least sign a exclusive contract with them or something. They need more Japanese games. Maybe they should just buy the people working on soul sacrifice. And maybe buy Atlus while they are at it.

I can't see Nintendo allowing Sony to own a controlling stake in Square Enix. Final Fantasy AND Dragon Quest? Nuh-uh. That's before even factoring in the Eidos side of the company.

Atlus is too meh to buy. SCE could buy Falcom, they produce exclusive content for their platforms unlike SE and Atlus. They're also small, and well loved by their fanbase. Problem is, I doubt Falcom is interested in becoming an SCE studio, lol.

As for the last part, Sony's not in the human trafficking business ... at least publicly.

[AranhaHunter]

That's the problem isn't it? Game Arts is owned by Gungho, alongside another studio I felt Sony could've bought, Acquire. MarvelousAQL has too many side businesses for Sony to want to buy them. I doubt Sony wants Index Holdings. SCE just doesn't seem like investing in Japan at all. Clap Hanz has only developed SCE published games for the past 15 years and they're not a part of SCE. Media.Vision made one of Sony's largest RPG franchises in Wild ARMs and now they're making iOS games for Square Enix.

I honestly don't know what the problem with SCEJ is, Locorocco and Patapon are fun, but niche, Puppeteer, Rain, and SS are steps in the right direction, but SS should have been developed around GE time, during the peak of the PSP and MH craze, maybe it could have established itself then, it's a a lot harder now. I really don't know what they could do outside of acquisitions.

If square enix continues to bomb I could see Sony buying them. Im not sure how much it would cost though.

Looking at current market price and outstanding shares, Sony would need to own 5770000001 shares to have a > 50% ownership on the company. They own 9.52 million shares, so they would have to buy 48180001, which, if we assume a 30% premium on today's stock price, would come out to ~68.6B JPY or about 800 million dollars. They paid 50B JPY for 11% of Olympus and ~350 million for Gaikai. Looking at the shareholders though (a big number of trust banks and companies) , they wouldn't need to get 50% to get a controlling share, probably more like 35-40%.

Doesn't Sony own a decent portion of it already? Like 20 percent or something?

You probably got confused with the original deal, Sony owned like 18-19% of Squaresoft, but that went down to 8% after the merger.

While Square Enix does continue to pump out one disappointment after another I doubt they can be bought that easily considerung how well Dragon Quest and their IPs from Eidos perform.

DQ only really does well in JP and Hitman wasn't really a hit. IF (when) FFXIV v2.0 bombs, it'll have a big impact on SE, but you're right, they can't be easily bought and a hostile takeover is never a good option IMO. I find it unlikely that Sony will try to get a controlling share in SE, but their options on how to turn around their dev situation in JP are very slim right now and this is one of their options.

[LiquidSolid]

I don't even know what they're doing with AI as I don't know any more about the game than I did 4 years ago. I seriously doubt it's more impressive than what Last of Us seems to be doing, and even if it's the same ND was able to do it in ~3 years. Not 7.

Last of Us' team is at least twice the size of Team Ico, so directly comparing their output within a time frame isn't exactly fair. And that's not even taking into account all the other advantages ND have (an established engine and animation system, their own mocap studio, etc.).

Plus, they're different kinds of games. Last of Us will be heavily scripted, Last Guardian probably won't be. AI is a hell of a lot easier to pull off in the former than the latter.

[Dusky]

How viable is it for Sony to try and open some studios in Japan? Or they could just simply hire more people and create more teams within Sony Japan.

What's that got to do with anything? Marketing is decided and done by the publishing arms of Sony (SCEJ, SCEA and SCEE), so he doesn't really have much influence over them.

Yeah probably should have worded that better. It's obviously not his responsibility, I just remember him stating on some podcast how they were looking to improve the way they market games, looking at 2012 it didn't happen.

[Cyberia]

I thought that Evolution Studios and Sony Liverpool (ex Psygnosys) had merged toghter, and then Liverpool closed its door soon after the Vita release. So, didn't Sony close Evolution Studios too?

Is this confirmed?

[AranhaHunter]

Yup. I think PSABR did well enough. I also think Sony is going to bundle it like crazy later on in 2013. I like when Sony does that. Yeah and eidos is what I think the major barrier would be(The games they make seem to do really well). But Sony just spent a billion on cameras and a billion on some shitty music company earlier this year. I'm sure they could acquire square if they wanted to. Let's see if they will have another flop equivalent to ff14(lightning returns could be it). If they do and if Sony is doing decently I think they might look that way.

It was a consortium, and that shitty music company owns the rights to a whole bunch of very popular songs. Sony will make millions on royalties for years to come (split with the Jackson estate, until/if they buy Jacko's half of the venture). It's no wonder Universal bought the studios as well. Sony/ATV is now the biggest music publisher in the world and Universal the biggest music studio.

The only reason Lightning Returns exists is because it's a cheap project to make. It could bomb and Square Enix will cite it in a quarterly report as a sales under performer and things will go on their marry way. I don't think SCE would be allowed to buy Square Enix anyways.

Yeah, bug FFXIV v2.0 is a much bigger deal and it's unlikely that that won't bomb.

Why wouldn't they be allowed? Are you talking about anti trust laws? I don't think this will even come into question given Sony's non presence in JP development and the fact that buying SE wouldn't even come close to meaning a monopoly for Sony in Japan or anywhere else. SE is a public company, they can be bought, whether or not Sony will do it is another question. Personally I think the price is too high for what you get and anyone looking for a sound investment should not invest in SE.

How viable is it for Sony to try and open some studios in Japan? Or they could just simply hire more people and create more teams within Sony Japan.

You'd think they'd be expanding like sister studios SCEE and SCEA, but they haven't. Not sure what the deal is there.

[sublimit]

I mean, why the fuck did Modnation even exist, when they had LBP? Why were United Front and Sony San Diego developing those games (plus LBP Karting) when Sony OWNED 3 specialist racing studios at the time (4 if we include BigBig)? Why the fuck wasn't there a Vita version of LBP Karting?

Um... i was never that interested in LBP but i LOVED Modnation Racers (the PS3 one).I hope UF makes another one either for PS3 or PS4.
And LBPKarting looks crap in comparison to MR in terms of gameplay.MR is a more "realistic" kart racer than LBPKarting and i really liked that.

[Derrick01]

Last of Us' team is at least twice the size of Team Ico, so directly comparing their output within a time frame isn't exactly fair. And that's not even taking into account all the other advantages ND have (an established engine and animation system, their own mocap studio, etc.). Plus, they're different kinds of games. Last of Us will be heavily scripted, Last Guardian probably won't be. AI is a hell of a lot easier to pull off in the former than the latter.

We seem to know a lot about a game that has basically been vaporware for 3 years now.

[AranhaHunter]

Eidos (who are PC centric) would stop it on it's own. None of those devs will want to be tied down to a single console. They'd just leave

Sony wouldn't necessarily stop PC development. SOE went under SCE's umbrella (from SPE) some years ago and they are still mostly a PC developer. Only difference is that now most of their games find their way to PS consoles (like the rumored PS2 on PS4).

I can't see Nintendo allowing Sony to own a controlling stake in Square Enix. Final Fantasy AND Dragon Quest? Nuh-uh. That's before even factoring in the Eidos side of the company. Atlus is too meh to buy. SCE could buy Falcom, they produce exclusive content for their platforms unlike SE and Atlus. They're also small, and well loved by their fanbase. Problem is, I doubt Falcom is interested in becoming an SCE studio, lol.

So you would think Nintendo would get into a bidding war with Sony? Interesting and possible, but I don't think that's Nintendo's ethos, they have moneyhatted some games before, helped with development, but getting into a bid that high is highly unlike them. Sony, on the other hand, has been known to spend ridiculous amounts of money on companies before. Also, Nintendo has IPs just as big, if not bigger than FF and DQ, they wouldn't need them to stay relevant in JP. The same cannot be said for Sony.

On your second point, Falcom is niche, nice to have but it won't really help SCEJ become a more self sustained publisher in Japan.

[sublimit]

I would like to see Sony acquire Mistwalker.With the right support from SCEJ they could become Sony's Monolith Soft.

[Takao]

I would like to see Sony acquire Mistwalker.With the right support from SCEJ they could become Sony's Monolith Soft.

Acquiring Mistwalker does nothing for Sony except having a man who's publicly announced his displeasure for your hardware on your pay roll. The only games Mistwalker actually developed themselves rather than just planned have been the iOS games no one cares for.

[~Devil Trigger~]

All Sony studios are helping Team Ico to finish The Last Guardian

resources well spent

[Kazuma Kiryu]

mistwalker would be an awful choice. a studio that makes average games on platforms like 360, ds, wii and ios? bad move.

[dan2026]

What has Sony actually been confirmed to be making for the Vita?

There has to be something, its their own machine for God's sake.

[sublimit]

Acquiring Mistwalker does nothing for Sony except having a man who's publicly announced his displeasure for your hardware on your pay roll.

I think this whole "Sakaguchi hates Sony" has been seriously blown out of proportion.Sony isn't the same Company it was in 2006 and Kutaragi is no longer in the company.

The only games Mistwalker actually developed themselves rather than just planned have been the iOS games no one cares for.

You mean Mistwalker only planned Lost Odyssey,Blue Dragon and The Last Story?Then who actually developed those games?

mistwalker would be an awful choice. a studio that makes average games on platforms like 360, ds, wii and ios? bad move.

I'm sure many people have said the same for Monolith Soft before Xenoblade.I think the playstation brand is a more fitting home for Mistwalker games than the 360 or Wii markets ever were.

[Takao]

Most of "Mistwalker's" games were actually developed by someone else:

The Last Story - MarvelousAQL
Lost Odyssey - Feelplus
Blue Dragon - Artoon

The only games they have full credit for are the iOS games. They're like Comcept. They come up with an idea, and get someone else to make it.

What has Sony actually been confirmed to be making for the Vita? There has to be something, its their own machine for God's sake.

Internal announced:

Killzone Mercenary
Tearaway
MLB: The Show 13

External announced:
Soul Sacrifice
Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time
Over My Dead Body 2
Ratchet & Clank: Full Frontal Assault

There are additional unannounced projects obviously.

[LiquidSolid]

Yeah probably should have worded that better. It's obviously not his responsibility, I just remember him stating on some podcast how they were looking to improve the way they market games, looking at 2012 it didn't happen.

Probably referring to the marketing shakeup SCEA had. He'll obviously hear about changes like that within the company, even if he has nothing to do with it.

Is this confirmed?

No. They were going to merge at one point but it fell through.

We seem to know a lot about a game that has basically been vaporware for 3 years now.

Is it really that difficult? Look at the other two games they made and take into account that TLG was meant to go even further down that route, with an incredibly complex AI partner.

It's quite possible that they tried that route beforehand, it didn't work and now they're re-designing the game to be scripted. But who knows. Either way, the original option would take a hell of a lot of work.

[KAL2006]

What has Sony actually been confirmed to be making for the Vita? There has to be something, its their own machine for God's sake.

Killzone Mercenery
Tearaway
Sly Cooper
Soul Sacrifice

Bend and Project Siren are also makin Vita games. Most likely Uncharted and Gravity Rush sequels.

[staticneuron]

How do the Last Guardian guys still have jobs? Or has the game never getting finished been mostly Sony's fault?

Because despite the scope and design of their games it has normally been up to a small team of around 30-45 people.

It seems this project is more ambitious than they can handle in a single generation so this time they are getting help. But normally they don't have hundreds of people working on their games so it is unreasonable to expect it to come out quickly. Similar to remedy and Alan Wake which was announced 2005 then released in 2010. The work to bring this generation titles to the table takes longer for smaller teams.

What has Sony actually been confirmed to be making for the Vita? There has to be something, its their own machine for God's sake.

Internal announced: Killzone Mercenary Tearaway MLB: The Show 13 External announced: Soul Sacrifice Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time Over My Dead Body 2 Ratchet & Clank: Full Frontal Assault There are additional unannounced projects obviously.

Well the did announce Ruin aka Warriors Lair and they are still working on that. So that is about 8 titles we know about.

Sony has thrown alot of support on the vita, I am not sure why people still try to push the idea that they haven't supported the vita at all.

[sublimit]

Most of "Mistwalker's" games were actually developed by someone else: The Last Story - MarvelousAQL Lost Odyssey - Feelplus Blue Dragon - Artoon The only games they have full credit for are the iOS games. They're like Comcept. They come up with an idea, and get someone else to make it.

I stand corrected then.I've only played The Last Story (and really liked it) and i didn't remember seeing the name of another company in the credits.
But even so,i'm sure the game design and art direction were all made by Mistwalker themselves so my wish for Sony to acquire them still stands.

[kassatsu]

Sony will be partnering with Disney to bring famous brands to Wonderbook in the future.

Possibly the SCE London thing

[Septimus]

I know they're not technically a Sony dev, but I need a PS4 full Ratchet game from Insomniac.

I'd say the chances a pretty good. (I hope!)

[Yawnier]

I know they're not technically a Sony dev, but I need a PS4 full Ratchet game from Insomniac. I'd say the chances a pretty good. (I hope!)

I'm thinking that this is what Insomniac's fairly new studio in North Carolina could possibly be working on after FFA.

A full fledged next-gen Ratchet & Clank game similar to the likes of ToD or ACiT could be glorious.

[Takao]

Actually, I kind of suspect there will be a new Ratchet developed by High Impact Games. In PlayStation All-Stars they were the ones thanked for co-operating with Superbot despite the fact that the Ratchet games they made came out years ago.

[thuway]

I know Bend is no Naughty Dog, but I would love them to continue the Uncharted IP on Vita. I think they can take it to the next level like Uncharted 1 was to 2. Get rid if gimmicks, add more locales, more set pieces and most importantly multiplayer.

Agreed on every account. They are a small team with a big heart. Resistance Retribution was excellent. I remember they gave me a hat when I played the game at PAX. :'( I love you guys.

[Yawnier]

Actually, I kind of suspect there will be a new Ratchet developed by High Impact Games. In PlayStation All-Stars they were the ones thanked for co-operating with Superbot despite the fact that the Ratchet games they made came out years ago.

Hmm. Could be. It does not matter a whole lot to me as long as we get Ratchet & Clank in some form or another on the PS4.

[Hero of Legend]

Actually, I kind of suspect there will be a new Ratchet developed by High Impact Games. In PlayStation All-Stars they were the ones thanked for co-operating with Superbot despite the fact that the Ratchet games they made came out years ago.

Interesting, they're also credited in MW3 Wii, only three folks from the team worked on it.

Many key folks recently left to form Digital Angel, and both teams are working together on mobile stuff...

[Wax Free Vanilla]

There is actually a member here on gaf (can't remember his name) who used to work at Bigbig Studios before it closed down, and he claimed that Team Ico has luxuries comparative to the Mario and Zelda teams at Nintendo.

Yoshida must have family and friends working there, if this Olympic team was European it would have been closed down years ago.


I don't see Evolution making a Project Gotham knockoff - nobody wants that sort of shit. It'll be an open world racer done right.

[Shadow of the BEAST]

Sony needs to take care of its ips better.

stop doing cheap handheld versions and quick ports. And stop rushing games.

uncharted 3 could have been the game of the generation. Instead we got a rushed game.

Give a franchise a rest after a while.

Not only that but they also need to learn when its time to cut a franchise.

for an example why did we get an resistance 3?

apperantly the game was great, but held back by the series baggage.

[SolidSnakex]

Yoshida must have family and friends working there, if this Olympic team was European it would have been closed down years ago.

Yoshida basically created Team ICO. Ueda had never done anything in the inudstry aside from working as an animator on Enemy Zero, but Yoshida believed in him and helped him put together a team to develop ICO. So, he wants them to succeed no matter what.

I don't see Evolution making a Project Gotham knockoff - nobody wants that sort of shit. It'll be an open world racer done right.

I'd say quite a few people on this forum (including myself) would love to see a PGR knockoff. I've never been too big on open world racers, so i'd definitely prefer something that was more circuit/track based.

[SuperEpicMan]

I have to hand it to Sony, they seem like they are really trying to provide some excellent exclusives for their consoles. I get the impression they are going to have a killer launch line up for PS4 to sell the system given the amount of studios working on secret games.

[thuway]

Yoshida must have family and friends working there, if this Olympic team was European it would have been closed down years ago. I don't see Evolution making a Project Gotham knockoff - nobody wants that sort of shit. It'll be an open world racer done right.

What we need is a game in the vein of the class Burnout. The Open World racing genre is a little too complicated for my tastes.

[Canis lupus]

Yeah, probably. They are definetly working on two projects simultaneously.

Oh fantastic, hope they do something with Kara for ps4.