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Rumour: Sony in talks to acquire Paramount
- Thread starter Pelta88
- Start date
Roronoa Zoro
Gold Member
Rise of the Ronin was discount Ghost of Tsushima. This could be discount Red Dead
Roronoa Zoro
Gold Member
I think they'd mainly be swooping in for IP for gaming and movies.Basically all of Paramount is a sinking ship. But Apollo and Sony are doing the vulture bites looking to swoop in and buy for cheap in hopes of turning it around.
Paramount Global Sees $1 Billion Charge in Q1 for Layoffs and Programming Write Offs
Paramount Global saw a business downturn in both its TV and film units even as it worked to stem losses in streamingvariety.com
Mibu no ookami
Member
They'd have to make an agreement for licensing rights, that doesn't mean they'd have to pay for them.
PlayStation Productions has almost exclusively work with Sony Pictures where they could probably make more money farming out IP to various studios.
They clearly have a mandate from Sony Group to play nice.
Do you think Sony Pictures paid Insomniac to feature Marvel's Spider-Man 2 in Spider-Man Across the Spider-Verse? Or that Insomniac paid for licensing to use the Raimi Spider-Man suits or the Spider-Verse suits?
There hasn't been a Mission Impossible video game since the 2000 gameboy color game.
midnightAI
Member
The interesting one would be Indiana Jones
bitbydeath
Member
South Park Digital Studios is owned by Paramount. They’re a new gaming studio that have only made Snow Day so far.
Lord Panda
The Sea is Always Right
I mean, can Star Trek get any worse than it currently is under Abrams, Kurtzman, and their band of knobheads?
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Edgelord79
Gold Member
Isn’t PlayStation their most profitable division?
nial
Gold Member
They would, this is not Naughty Dog sharing their tech to Insomniac for free, but two different entertainment companies (just under the same corporate umbrella) with M&A operations working for their own interests.
Could they? They're simply joint productions common in the industry, not sure how they would make more money working with, say, Warner Bros. instead.
No, it's been an effort by the heads of Sony Group to foster the relationships between their different subsidiaries. It's not a mandate per se, just 8 years ago SCE was working in the Ratchet & Clank movie without any sort of involvement from SPE.
Yes, SPE and SIE paid each other, they're cross-promotion opportunities that make a lot of sense.
Unknown Soldier
Member
They're going to get a lot of traditional media and content library for pennies on the dollar if this happens lol
But how they plan on making money with it is an open question. The reason why all the traditional media company stocks are in the toilet is they are all bleeding money from running unprofitable streaming services after killing all their old cash cows
But how they plan on making money with it is an open question. The reason why all the traditional media company stocks are in the toilet is they are all bleeding money from running unprofitable streaming services after killing all their old cash cows
Deerock71
Member
Iced Arcade
Member
wouldn't mean anything, Sony Pictures runs almost as if it's a separate business from playstation.
quick example... Sony has always owned Ghostbusters and games/IP was never geared toward exclusive PlayStation material.
StreetsofBeige
Gold Member
Sony has always been a weird company. It's the only electronics company that has AV gear, movies, music, games, and even back in the day VAIO.
You'd think they would do awesome cross promotions across product lines which no other company can do. But they've never really bothered.
The company's most profitable game ever is Grand Fate Order. A game with billions of sales over the years (probably at $5B by now), but is handled by Sony Music. The company seems like a territorial pillar kind of company.
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deriks
4-Time GIF/Meme God
Could have something, but would be A thing and not be THE thing
I mean, Paramount is doing Halo - very shitty, but still
Im sure it is but if they bleed money from this merger they'll save money anywhere they can including their gaming division. So far the streaming wars have been a mess and all these streaming companies are bleeding money which is why they keep merging with each other.
StreetsofBeige
Gold Member
Yes.
Problem is the profits arent growing despite top line sales doubling. Overall division profit margins have dropped from 13% to only 6% for two years in a row (is was about 13% for four years in a row before that). Somehow this division (despite having tons of first party sales, 30% digital cuts, a trend to more and more digital sales as every year passes, and around 40M PSN subscribers) has operational costs of 94%.
DeepSpace5D
Member
Survivor: The Game developed by Bungie. A 30-person slow battle royale where one person gets eliminated each week.
$19.99 booster packs come with an immunity idol, a bucket of rice, and a pep talk from Jeff Probst.
$19.99 booster packs come with an immunity idol, a bucket of rice, and a pep talk from Jeff Probst.
Kerotan
Member
Sony would own bravia core and paramount+. Would you say they'll merge or keep them seperate?
MarkMe2525
Member
I don't believe they can get worse. Discovery, Picard, and the (newer) movies are a bastardization of what I knew Star Trek to be, growing up in the "Next Generation" era. People like different things and everything changes, but did we need another shooty, space battle, action oriented franchise? I always figured that genre has had enough representation, and they would have benefited from sticking with a more understated and thoughtful approach to story telling.
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//DEVIL//
Member
Ghost Busters is not a ninja turtles
Iced Arcade
Member
k cool but I also didn't say any IP was bigger than another (turtle games haven't lit up carts either)
just stating a fact Sony pictures and PS are basically separate companies. cool dream to dream up though for sure
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hybrid_birth
Member
Next thing you know, Xbox buys Netflix, names it XFlix. And the porn community subscribes in droves. Only to find out its not XXX and unsubs.
Not Serious
yurinka
Member
Sony has many streaming services and tv channels, Paramount too. If I was them, I'd merge all in a single service with the entire cinema+tv shows+animation/anime+tv channels+music monster catalog of both corporations to properly compete against Netflix, Spotify, etc.
But I assume won't happen. In fact, I think that the acquisition won't even happen and it's just an strategy from Paramount to make the folks who have exclusive preference talks (Skydance as I remember) for the acquisition pay a higher price.
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yurinka
Member
No, they aren't a sinking ship at all.Basically all of Paramount is a sinking ship. But Apollo and Sony are doing the vulture bites looking to swoop in and buy for cheap in hopes of turning it around.
Paramount Global Sees $1 Billion Charge in Q1 for Layoffs and Programming Write Offs
Paramount Global saw a business downturn in both its TV and film units even as it worked to stem losses in streaming
They make $30B per year and a gross profit of $10B per year.
https://www.macrotrends.net/stocks/charts/PARA/paramount-global/revenue#:~:text=Paramount Global revenue for the twelve months ending December 31,a 5.49% increase from 2021
https://www.macrotrends.net/stocks/charts/PARA/paramount-global/gross-profit
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SplunkyMunkey
Member
So let me guess this right Microsoft buys publishers sony buys paramount does that mean that if Sony indeed does buy paramount with movie ips does that make sony for gaming rights for the movie ip rights? So sony could make TMNT or say transformers playstation exclusive since they own the movie rights?
Mibu no ookami
Member
Not exactly how that works.
Sony Pictures would still need to convey the rights to Sony Interactive. It's also key to understand that Paramount doesn't necessarily own the game rights to properties it owns movie rights for.
Transformers for example is owned by Hasbro not Paramount, just as Sonic is owned by Sega not Paramount.
TMNT would be an example that Paramount actually owns and would probably end up being a SIE game. The same can be true of nickelodeon properties like Spungebob and Nickelodeon Brawl. Mission Impossible and Star Trek are other major properties that would probably end up with SIE.
Star Trek in the hands of Sony would be a massive property.
Mibu no ookami
Member
I don't think the Skydance deal goes through and if it does, it'll be challenged in court by the shareholders who gain nothing from sale. Skydance has about two weeks to close before Paramount can look at other bids again and my guess is that time will come and go. The Sony-Apollo bid would likely be successful. Apollo will take CBS since Sony can't own CBS and maybe they make a deal for Star Trek co-ownership across media.
Pretty big deal if it goes through with some far reaching ramifications.
All Sony Pictures and Sony Pictures TV properties probably end up on Paramount+ after contracts expire. This probably includes Seinfeld and I'm not sure that Sony Pictures alone is really going to improve Paramount+ content. I guess we'll see. They do have a lot of TV shows.
I think you see a Sony+ bundle of sorts that includes Paramount+, PS+, and Crunchyroll. I don't think you'd see music get involved.
Sony could use Paramount+ as a vehicle for PlayStation Productions, but I also think putting all PlayStation Productions content on Paramount+ will hinder the transmedia strategy, so maybe the best bet would be to do a share, where something like The Last of Us is on both MAX and Paramount+ and you have greater exposure rather than less.
Men_in_Boxes
Snake Oil Salesman
KungFucius
King Snowflake
Not to mention other possible synergies. If Sony could make P+ profitable by channeling its movie and show IPs there for more vertical integration, then it could have more to invest in gaming. Or it could go the other way, gaming could be on the decline and the profits from it could be diverted to shows and movies. Regardless if a gaming company grows through acquisition in another space, there are likely going to be ramifications to the gaming space.
Mibu no ookami
Member
As Sony is rumored to want to put out a handheld, having more family friendly IP would go a long way towards better marketing such a device.
Having Avatar and Spongebob and giving them the Marvel's Spider-Man treatment and making actually competent games out of them would go a long way.
Having Avatar and Spongebob and giving them the Marvel's Spider-Man treatment and making actually competent games out of them would go a long way.
SplunkyMunkey
Member
I getcha now basically just movies that Paramount has done. Would like to see a new rugrats game my daughter loves
Melon Husk
Member
As long as you keep the Sony Pictures people firewalled from Paramount, good.
VolticArchangel
Member
Can see a merger happening initially, with Sony owning most of the operating shares, and buying out the remaining ones later down the line.
LordBritish
Member
The tv show about the making of the Godfather movie... called THE OFFER is awesome on Paramount... thats all i got...
StreetsofBeige
Gold Member
You should look at the Net Income tab.
Paramount Global Net Income 2010-2023 | PARA
Paramount Global annual/quarterly net income history and growth rate from 2010 to 2023. Net income can be defined as company's net profit or loss after all revenues, income items, and expenses have been accounted for. <ul style='margin-top:10px;'> <li>Paramount Global net income...
www.macrotrends.net
Paramount Global annual/quarterly net income history and growth rate from 2010 to 2023. Net income can be defined as company's net profit or loss after all revenues, income items, and expenses have been accounted for.
- Paramount Global net income for the quarter ending December 31, 2023 was $0.514B, a 2347.62% increase year-over-year.
- Paramount Global net income for the twelve months ending December 31, 2023 was $-0.608B, a 155.07% decline year-over-year.
- Paramount Global annual net income for 2023 was $-0.608B, a 155.07% decline from 2022.
- Paramount Global annual net income for 2022 was $1.104B, a 75.7% decline from 2021.
- Paramount Global annual net income for 2021 was $4.543B, a 87.57% increase from 2020.
Badlucktroll
Member
Didn’t sony buy columbia house pictures or whatever? that one with the logo of the woman before ghostbusters
yurinka
Member
Yep, I did later and also looked at the operative income (operative profits / loses).You should look at the Net Income tab.
Paramount Global Net Income 2010-2023 | PARA
Paramount Global annual/quarterly net income history and growth rate from 2010 to 2023. Net income can be defined as company's net profit or loss after all revenues, income items, and expenses have been accounted for. <ul style='margin-top:10px;'> <li>Paramount Global net income...
Paramount Global annual/quarterly net income history and growth rate from 2010 to 2023. Net income can be defined as company's net profit or loss after all revenues, income items, and expenses have been accounted for.
- Paramount Global net income for the quarter ending December 31, 2023 was $0.514B, a 2347.62% increase year-over-year.
- Paramount Global net income for the twelve months ending December 31, 2023 was $-0.608B, a 155.07% decline year-over-year.
- Paramount Global annual net income for 2023 was $-0.608B, a 155.07% decline from 2022.
- Paramount Global annual net income for 2022 was $1.104B, a 75.7% decline from 2021.
- Paramount Global annual net income for 2021 was $4.543B, a 87.57% increase from 2020.
They were fine with operative and net profit until 2019, when they merged CBS Corporation and Viacom to become Viacom CBS, which later would be renamed to Paramount Global, the company being sold now.
Seems that since then every year they have something generating huge operative costs that is eating the net profits that the company is generating. I don't know what, maybe some new executives are stealing money or something to spend it in hookers and coke. Whoevers buys it has to restructure it and put some order there.
Yes, Columbia is a Sony Pictures subsiciary. Sony bought it.
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Merge them and offer few selected games which shuffles from time to time through streaming. Offer AAA games to the casuals with the hope of getting them hooked and keep them subbed.
AncientOrigin
Member
Actually that could be very great.The Yellowstone National Park is famous for all kind of sightings especially Dogman.Could be an amazing horror game.
Gameplay Gods Bless
Member
I don't think the Californians running modern Playstation studios can handle South Park.
Moriarty1889
Member
They would all be trans is my guess.
Why? If this is a commentary on naughty dogs supposed wokeness, I’d argue of all brands they’d be well suited. Star Trek was and always has been renowned for its “progressiveness”, even from the original series, waaaay ahead of its time on many things. They could do a great job with that IP. They won’t they; as they steer their own ship and make their own IP.
Hudo
Member
After TLoU2, I don't trust Naughty Dog with writing any coherent and well-paced story. Wokeness is the last thing I have an issue with.
StreetsofBeige
Gold Member
Pretty much everything they own is sinking and their streaming service is big money loser. As per the article I posted (dated Feb 2024). If Sony and Apollo want in. Then they got multiple fronts which are doing lousy.
Paramount narrowed losses in its direct-to-consumer business by $85 million in the quarter, cutting shortfalls to $490 million from $575 million in the year-earlier period. The company said Paramount+ had 67.5 million by the end of the quarter, with 4.1 million net additions in the period.
But even as advertising and subscriptions rose at Paramount+ and other broadband venues, revenues fell at the company’s traditional businesses. Paramount’s TV networks saw advertising fall 15%, while affiliate fees dipped 1% and licensing was off 25%. The company noted that it is still working its way through declines in cable subscribers and “continued softness in the global advertising market.” Film revenues, meanwhile, were off 31%, due in part to a $19 million decline in revenue from current releases and a 32% tumble in revenue from content licensing and digital home viewing.
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Fair, I partly agree with the pacing problems in last of us 2. The rest tho seemed fine to me. It was an irrepressibly depressing story tho that actively went out of its way to make you feel like crap. Which was…interesting, but certainly memorable (seriously tho, I’d suggest it have warning for anyone who may struggle with mental health problems, I could see it being quite distressing/triggering for some). Which would of course be totally the wrong vibe for the optimistic hopefully vibe of Star Trek. But that’s just what the last of us was, uncharted had a much more appropriate vibe.
Really tho, the only people I’d be over the moon to see handle it would be the original mass effect team. But that ain’t happening.
iamvin22
Industry Verified
Their sesonrs division makes a lot but their insurance division last I read is gold mine. But yea playstation kills it too