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Debunked: Arrowhead has been acquired by Sony. Announcement coming soon

analog_future

Resident Crybaby
Why can’t Microsoft grow organically like Sony does?

I know. Imagine if Sony acquired their biggest studios like Naughty Dog, Guerilla, and Insomniac...

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See, I don't mind this type of acquisitions. You have an independent developer working on a game you own, the game works and you want to retain the talent so you acquire them.
And it makes even more sense if the devs have been working almost exclusively for you for years.
 
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analog_future

Resident Crybaby
Arrowhead > Bungie.


UUhhhh those companies had been partners with Sony for years.
You do understand that Arrowhead has been working with Sony for the last 10 years, its a relative small studio and cannot be compared with Bethesda or Activision right?


So if a platform holder moneyhats a developer's games for years, and THEN acquires them, it's organic. Got it!
 

squarealex

Member
I mean, obliviously.

Simultaneously created a game with Sony which the company financed a good part of the project. (Marketing, IP properties, development), while leaving "carte blanche" (depending of the budget I suppose) the strategic choices of the game (Art, Gameplay)..

If the game reaches a certain target sales level, then Sony can enter into negotiations for a buyout of the studio if they wish.

This is how Sony works. For Suckers Punch, for Insomniac Games, for Housmarque, for Bluepoint and for many of them... and sometimes, somes games was bad or poor succes (Sumo digital for Sackboy or Lucid Games for Destruction AllStar, or older, like The Order)

The only big question mark is still Haven Studio and Firewalker (GaaS game).

Microsoft buys studio whitout working with them. But Sony some of the purchased can be questionable (Bungie, Haven, Firewalker).

The next studio(Ballistic Moon Studios) will be depending of the succes of Until Dawn Remaster and it's successor. (Studio with many veterans of Supermassive Games)
 
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Embearded

Member
So if a platform holder moneyhats a developer's games for years, and THEN acquires them, it's organic. Got it!

What Sony does with FF and Square Enix is moneyhatting, because SE is more than capable to support development.

What they so with smaller studios that are looking for publishers is not moneyhatting, its publishing and no its not organic but its not in the slightest the same as buying big publishers.
 

Alebrije

Member
Sounds logical, Helldivers could develop on a bigger IP with Sony even get a singleplayer story driven Game from other studios. Pretty sure if this is true Sony used a fraction of money to get Arrowhead vs Bungie.
 

BennyBlanco

aka IMurRIVAL69
Imagine being so greedy you let yourself get acquired by a publisher that just shut down a studio and laid off half the people at another one they had acquired a year ago.

the owner just wanted a fat check. these people dont really want to make games.

Theyll wait it out 2 years, collect their retention bonuses, then dip out like the Returnal director and all those people at Firesprite.

Smart play tbh.
 
Probably a good idea. If they are gonna have a GAAS studio, might as well be one that can put out a decent product that can be loved by most. Though, I worry what that means for Arrowhead if they have to make a product that "corporate" needs to be a giant ass money maker...
 

Puscifer

Member
Someone's going to have to tell me where the hype is with Helldiver's, I put 10 hours into it and was bored the entire time.
 

Kacho

Member
Someone's going to have to tell me where the hype is with Helldiver's, I put 10 hours into it and was bored the entire time.
Different strokes man. I see gameplay and don't have a desire to play it. Trust your gut.
 
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Puscifer

Member
Are you playing solo or something?
Groups. It feels like Deep Rock with guns, go to planet, do objective, leave. With actual gameplay being bare bones, it just doesn't feel impactful oddly enough like deep rock. I get that it's a Rick and Morty game but I'm trying to see where the hell 8 years of development went
 

SlimySnake

Flashless at the Golden Globes
Honestly, you should not be allowed to buy new studios after laying off close to a thousand people and shutting down other studios. There should be laws against treating people like cattle. If you cant afford to buy something, you cant go around selling your kids, so why are employees fair game?
 
Groups. It feels like Deep Rock with guns, go to planet, do objective, leave. With actual gameplay being bare bones, it just doesn't feel impactful oddly enough like deep rock. I get that it's a Rick and Morty game but I'm trying to see where the hell 8 years of development went
I love me some DRG, and I'd say this is the most fun co-op game I've played since then. It's not really doing anything super special by any means, but it just does a bunch of things pretty well. Guns feel great to shoot, animations are awesome, once you get to 6-9 difficulties, the chaos is really challenging, it always manages to have this skin-of-your-teeth extractions. I dunno, I think it's great, but I don't think I'd enjoy it as much if I couldn't or didn't play it with my friends or acquaintances. If none of the people I know are online to play it, I'll just continue on with my Half-Life series replay as of right now. I've not had a bad time with random groups, but it's not nearly on the same level as playing with regular people.

Are you embracing the social aspect at all? Using your mic? Planning out stratagems?
 

Heisenberg007

Gold Journalism
So if a platform holder moneyhats a developer's games for years, and THEN acquires them, it's organic. Got it!
Moneyhats?

They funded the game. They own the game. Sony hired Arrowhead to work on a Sony game. Now, assuming this rumor is true, they liked the results so they are acquiring the studio that they previously hired on contract.

How is that "money hatting?"
 
what is arrowhead known for again ?
Magicka, maybe? It was a great game, very creative and fun. But they've made 5 games total, Helldivers 2 being their biggest hit. It's probably a better purchase than Bungie, but still. Doesn't seem worth it. I could see Sony wanting to purchase Helldivers as an IP, but not the studio.

Behind the scenes? Very much probably, they're not even that expensive to run.

Sure, but seems out of the realm of possibility considering Helldivers 1 wasn't even a blip on the radar.
 
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Dazraell

Member
Don't want to dismiss it immediately, but this leaker sounds to me like yet another professional guesser from twitter. If he would want to be credible, he would probably aim to leak other stuff after the supposed Ghost of Tsushima PC announcement. At least that's what I think would be in their interest. There is no time sensitivity to other "rumors" they posted, so it wouldn't be any harm in waiting until that announcement and teasing more. This feels me like this leaker is just throwing things on the wall and hoping something will stick
 

nial

Gold Member
I could see Sony wanting to purchase Helldivers as an IP, but not the studio.
Sony owns the Helldivers IP.
Sure, but seems out of the realm of possibility considering Helldivers 1 wasn't even a blip on the radar.
Sure, but that was 9 years ago. I mean, I wouldn't be surprised if the likes of Tencent and such are going into talks with them.
 
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