Lethal01
Member
Hear me out
Vagrant Story remake by Bluepoint
Would be terrible, the low poly pixel art style is half that games appeal
Hear me out
Vagrant Story remake by Bluepoint
Yup. Square Enix is revisiting many IPs, maybe some day they bring back this one.They could always try a smaller-scale effort in the IP to test the waters, then. Maybe something 2.5D or like what they're doing with some of their JRPG remasters.
Yup.Yeah there is definitely room for a new Parasite Eve, however it gets about being made. It's got an American setting but enough of SE's Japanese sensibilities mixed in with that. Strong sci-fi/horror atmosphere with interesting hook (mitochondria evolution), hot blonde gal, etc. 3rd Birthday threw the franchise off but it's been so long, give it another chance.
Yes. I think a Fear Effect game with a fitting AA/AAA team behind could work today. And well, today certain people seem to be pretty obsessed with female protagonists and LGTB characters so at least would receive generous reviews from the gaming media.Would've been cool to see a new Fear Effect, as well, like that cancelled FE3 PS2 game. While SE can no longer do that, maybe Embracer Group decide to bring it back. The recent FE seemed like FE in name only.
Yes, many things point to Sony being interested on SE (they seem to value them a lot asking for these exclusives). But other to get rid of unprovitable teams (something they normally would do outside the context of preparing the acquisition) there are no clues of SE wanting to sell the company. It's only speculation for bored gamers, but to speculate is fun.I mean there definitely are some signs pointing to possibility of Sony going after SE; again I don't like speculating on these too much before anything's officially confirmed because it feels like all acquisition talk has turned into some form of console warring, even if talk itself involves none of that :S. I wouldn't be surprised tho, if something's cooking between them, it gets announced around June.
A lot of people sleep on SE but they're still more or less at the top when it comes to JRPGs, and they have a ton of great JRPG storylines they can pull from between the Square and Enix stuff. Enix in particular they have some pretty wild gems, publishing games like Planet Laika (100% recommend everyone play that, btw. It finally got an English translation a few months ago) and making stuff like the God Game Trinity (Actraiser, Illusion of Gaia, Terranigma). And that stuff is rife with opportunity for anime & manga adaptations, as well.
I mean FromSoft are king in their own style of RPG and Sega-Atlus have some really strong results between the Yakuza, SMT and Persona games. But still, SE is SE.
I believe it is gone to happen might not happen next Wednesday but Square Enix is losing a lot of moneySo, are they going to announce the acquisition next Wednesday?
Square shot themselves in the foot with that, they haven’t been the same since then because they didn’t publicly apologize.I don't see what Sony could get in buying Square-Enix that they don't already get from Square-Enix as it is. It didn't even seem like a big loss when FFXIII went multiplat.
Very good technical breakdowns on the finance side of these companies; on ABK, I've felt pretty much from the jump that it was a Microsoft move, not necessarily an Xbox or even GamePass-focused one, exclusively speaking. Your costs-to-revenue-to-profit breakdown basically supports the idea of why they are going to keep all the big ABK IP multiplatform; they are a business and want to recoup the costs in spending.
Even with all of MS funding that acquisition it is going to take a while for pure gaming side to recoup the costs let alone start earning on top of the costs spent. If it were up to Xbox division alone it would take many decades. So I understand their decision with ABK games on that note and why I don't personally believe they'll be putting new COD games Day 1 into GamePass, either; why do that when you're guaranteed to sell millions of copies at full price at launch on all available platforms?
On the topic of Square-Enix and Capcom WRT acquisitions it's interesting SE bring in more profit off a smaller revenue stream. I wonder if it's due to some of their other non-gaming ventures which contribute to that. Do you happen to have these P/E and P/S ratios and amounts for other Japanese publishers like Sega, Konami, Koei-Tecmo and Bandai-Namco, as well?
They could always try a smaller-scale effort in the IP to test the waters, then. Maybe something 2.5D or like what they're doing with some of their JRPG remasters.
Yeah there is definitely room for a new Parasite Eve, however it gets about being made. It's got an American setting but enough of SE's Japanese sensibilities mixed in with that. Strong sci-fi/horror atmosphere with interesting hook (mitochondria evolution), hot blonde gal, etc. 3rd Birthday threw the franchise off but it's been so long, give it another chance.
Would've been cool to see a new Fear Effect, as well, like that cancelled FE3 PS2 game. While SE can no longer do that, maybe Embracer Group decide to bring it back. The recent FE seemed like FE in name only.
I mean there definitely are some signs pointing to possibility of Sony going after SE; again I don't like speculating on these too much before anything's officially confirmed because it feels like all acquisition talk has turned into some form of console warring, even if talk itself involves none of that :S. I wouldn't be surprised tho, if something's cooking between them, it gets announced around June.
A lot of people sleep on SE but they're still more or less at the top when it comes to JRPGs, and they have a ton of great JRPG storylines they can pull from between the Square and Enix stuff. Enix in particular they have some pretty wild gems, publishing games like Planet Laika (100% recommend everyone play that, btw. It finally got an English translation a few months ago) and making stuff like the God Game Trinity (Actraiser, Illusion of Gaia, Terranigma). And that stuff is rife with opportunity for anime & manga adaptations, as well.
I mean FromSoft are king in their own style of RPG and Sega-Atlus have some really strong results between the Yakuza, SMT and Persona games. But still, SE is SE.
CD Projekt Red is overpriced ($2.7B value and they only did $207M in revenue last year. To put that into perspective, that's only $17M more than Eidos & Crystal Dynamics)
Fromsoft will be complicated as they have to buy the company from Kadokawa
Capcom is interesting because it would cost more than Square Enix but bring in much less revenue as a company.
Capcom Market Cap: $5.6B
Revenue 2021: $1.06B
Profit 2021: $420M
Square Enix Market Cap: $4.8B
Revenue 2021: $3.14B
Profit 2021: $570M
So not only does Capcom cost about 17% more. Capcom also makes 3X less revenue and 35% less profit. For fun, here is how CD Projekt Red compares:
CD Projekt Red Market Cap: $2.7B
Revenue 2021: $207M
Profit 2021: $56M
From a corporate strategy perspective, purchasing SE would be a mixed bag for Sony. It'd be a lot of money for little in the way of immediate reward as they evidently have a very close relationship already and any buyout would require them maintain the company as a semi-autonomous subsidiary.
Which means they'd mainly be buying a big company which is doing reasonably but not exceptionally. FFXIV being the jewel in the crown, and certainly as good an answer to MS gaining control of WoW as it gets. You could look at SE selling off some of their underperforming western studios as a way to make them look more appealing as a package, but that could be just coincidental.
That being said if there was any interest in merging, I'm sure Sony would be kicking the tires intently. With a market cap of just under $5b it wouldn't be cripplingly expensive to buy, and as I mentioned earlier it would be a real PR coup.
The problem though would be integrating their current Japanese development operation, because based purely on head-count, it'd end up like the tail buying the dog!
It would be a first for sony to do this. Which is just bad news going forward for everybody because they will do it again in the future. If they buy square enix, they will also buy capcom in the future.
MS storefront is sub 10% of ABK net revenue. Ignoring how much of that would be dlc/mtx which will be unaffected by GP.Even with all of MS funding that acquisition it is going to take a while for pure gaming side to recoup the costs let alone start earning on top of the costs spent. If it were up to Xbox division alone it would take many decades. So I understand their decision with ABK games on that note and why I don't personally believe they'll be putting new COD games Day 1 into GamePass, either; why do that when you're guaranteed to sell millions of copies at full price at launch on all available platforms?
Not true I don't think that Ms is interestedAny studio with the money would absolutely gobble up the rights to Final Fantasy. Like, do you even know how to do "bidness?"
From a corporate strategy perspective, purchasing SE would be a mixed bag for Sony. It'd be a lot of money for little in the way of immediate reward as they evidently have a very close relationship already and any buyout would require them maintain the company as a semi-autonomous subsidiary.
Which means they'd mainly be buying a big company which is doing reasonably but not exceptionally. FFXIV being the jewel in the crown, and certainly as good an answer to MS gaining control of WoW as it gets. You could look at SE selling off some of their underperforming western studios as a way to make them look more appealing as a package, but that could be just coincidental.
That being said if there was any interest in merging, I'm sure Sony would be kicking the tires intently. With a market cap of just under $5b it wouldn't be cripplingly expensive to buy, and as I mentioned earlier it would be a real PR coup.
The problem though would be integrating their current Japanese development operation, because based purely on head-count, it'd end up like the tail buying the dog!
What do they really get out of buying SE? They already get to pick and chose what they deals, the games are already associated with PS and would be releasing on PS regardless.Sony don’t have a footprint in Japan as a publisher right now after dissolving Japan Studio and transforming what was left into Team Asobi.
Sony seems most interested in anime and have been spending billions in that space and SE have the likes of Full Metal Alchemist, Soul Eater and others.
Sony don’t need franchises that are just going to compete with one another internally - for e.g. Uncharted sells and reviews better per title than Tomb Raider and just did quite well at the box office too so it makes sense that they wouldn’t be interested in those IP.
SE also said earlier in the year that they are not interested in selling any part of their company and yet here we are with their European division being sold off seemingly to no one with contacts on the insides’ knowledge.
I still don’t believe that Sony are going to acquire them because I think they’re still too obsessed with thinking that because they’re the market leader in whatever contexts they are aware of they think they can pick and choose what games to pay for exclusivity for and that it is somehow a good idea because it’s cheaper than buying the publisher that owns those IP but the last time that happened Nintendo swooped in scooped up MonHun for the 3DS effectively killing the Vita so it appears Sony still hasn’t learned their lesson.
If they bought any Japanese publisher I’d be pleasantly surprised but I still doubt it. They get every major AAA that SE puts out anyway if not exclusively.
Or maybe they have completely opposite strategies making an acquisition even more unlikely. I don't see how the studios and IPs SE got rid of makes them more attractive to Sony.Mergers and acquisitions almost never leak since they work at the executive level. I will say though that it’s very convenient that Sony dumped their Japan studios and Square dumped their western studio. It’s like they made a void in one another to eventually marry without overlap.
In terms of business, makes sense to get rid of unprofitable stuff to make your company more profitable and less risky, which means more valuable and appealing for a future acquisition. It could also mean that as part of the deal of the acquisition, the acquirer isn't interested on some assets and asks the acquirer to sell them before making the deal.Or maybe they have completely opposite strategies making an acquisition even more unlikely. I don't see how the studios and IPs SE got rid of makes them more attractive to Sony.
I also can't understand how Embracer paid so little, so I'm just lost in this one.
I don't see what Sony could get in buying Square-Enix that they don't already get from Square-Enix as it is. It didn't even seem like a big loss when FFXIII went multiplat.
VP, Head of Global Third Party Relations
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Sony doesn't seem to value IP as much but still, it seems like there is something we don't know about what it going on.Now I'm thinking regarding the timed exclusives that Square Enix has with PS like FFVIIR or Forspoken but that we don't know when are they going to be released on Xbox. I understand that for Forspoken they may not want to announce it until way after release, but for FFVIIR?
It was released over 2 years ago and as far as I know there are no signs of the Xbox port. Maybe it's true Sony and SE are in talks for an acquisition and they are holding the port back because of it, to change its faith depending on a possible acquisition?
In terms of business, makes sense to get rid of unprofitable stuff to make your company more profitable and less risky, which means more valuable and appealing for a future acquisition. It could also mean that as part of the deal of the acquisition, the acquirer isn't interested on some assets and asks the acquirer to sell them before making the deal.
But for me it's really hard to believe Sony wouldn't be interested on these 3 studios, their past catalog and at least the Tomb Raider and Deus EX IPs. I know they weren't profitable, but with a better marketting, management and more realistic espectations that Sony could offer they could address it. They would provide good new AAAs, a great catalog for PS+ and stuff to make movies, tv shows, anime or comics.
Why Sony wouldn't be interested on them? I think Sony would be interested on them, but if we have to find potential reasons maybe they are:
- Maybe Crystal Dynamics (and who knows if Eidos Montreal too) is too invested and busy with MS and Perfect Dark and who knows if had signed to help MS with more projects
- Unprofitability of their recent AAA and mobile games
- Maybe the Avengers and Guardians failure created a very bad relationship between Marvel and these studios, blocking any future relationship between Marvel and whoever owns them, so Square and Sony would avoid them
- Maybe in addition to unprofitability and delays they had serious internal management issues like too crazy crunch, harassment, ugly and unrespectful fights between studio management and SE management or something like that
- Maybe Sony doesn't care about all their IPs and back catalog games and only is interested in Tomb Raider, maybe MS already signed some kind of exclusive (like day one on GP+blocking PS+) for the future(s) enries and maybe is movie/tv shows/anime are already sold to someone else
- Maybe Sony thinks they already have too covered with their 1st and 2nd party the genres covered by these studios and is interested instead in acquiring something else that SE could bring as new to 1st party games, like JRPG.
- Maybe they consider Tomb Raider is too similar to Uncharted specially now that Sony is getting rid of all their white male protagonists (so maybe they plan to have only female or trans leads for future Uncharted games)
The pricing is too suspicious, there must be multiple huge issues there that we aren't aware of.Sony doesn't seem to value IP as much but still, it seems like there is something we don't know about what it going on.
It's odd the value is so "low" and that no other big publisher was willing to pay more or to buy specific studios or IP for a premium.
I doubt that is true, I wish I knew how much MS paid for the Gears of War IP to use as a reference but I did a quick search and didn't find it.The value of the package is so clearly way above $300M. Even to tell SE 'don't worry about the $200M you lost with their last couple of games, I'll pay you $600M instead of 300M to cover it'. Still would be an awesome deal.
Why would it be bad news? So you mean Sony should just sit and wait until all the others big industry ogres will eat everything?
I agree it would be out of character for Sony. Based on their history, nothing suggests they would want to take on a company thats as big and diverse as Square Enix or Bandai Namco. I may be wrong, but I think Capcom is much more streamlined than the former two, and would be easier to integrate into SIE.
Still, if I'm Sony, then I'm going after WB aggressively (Mortal Kombat IP alone is huge). Plan B would be Capcom (Resident Evil and Street Fighter). Plan C is Square Enix (Sony already has a big stake in SE, good relationship, and can easily continue to lock down exclusivity deals without acquiring them).
Microsoft, Embracer, Facebook, and soon other will join, Sony need to act and not just keep watching big devs that made Playstation being eaten but the big Ogres.you mean microsoft? there isnt anyone else eating up huge publishers.
Yeah I agree that Sony need to counter Microsofts purchase of two big Western publishers. Microsoft won't stop there either. Sony better get in there while they can.
MS bought Gears ages ago, prices were super different back then. And it was a very different case, since that IP was already exclusive and published by them.I doubt that is true, I wish I knew how much MS paid for the Gears of War IP to use as a reference but I did a quick search and didn't find it.
Maybe, or they’re selling off some studios so Sony can buy them easier, maybe Sony just want their japanese studios.Well the embracer deal could be the result of a full acquisition with Sony not working out, so SE shed some stuff they don’t like to be more agile again.
Perhaps the Sony full acquisition is already off the cards and what we’re seeing is SE trying to take a different path.
You guys underestimate Microsoft, if they weren't already busy with Acti/Blizz purshase they would already bought 2 others publishers by nowThey don't even have to buy them, Sony can close deals to promote the big Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest and Kingdom Hearts games(since the Switch can't even run them) without having to burn their cash or dirt their hands managing that mess
They don't even have to buy them, Sony can close deals to promote the big Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest and Kingdom Hearts games(since the Switch can't even run them) without having to burn their cash or dirt their hands managing that mess
I agree it would be out of character for Sony. Based on their history, nothing suggests they would want to take on a company thats as big and diverse as Square Enix or Bandai Namco. I may be wrong, but I think Capcom is much more streamlined than the former two, and would be easier to integrate into SIE.
Still, if I'm Sony, then I'm going after WB aggressively (Mortal Kombat IP alone is huge). Plan B would be Capcom (Resident Evil and Street Fighter). Plan C is Square Enix (Sony already has a big stake in SE, good relationship, and can easily continue to lock down exclusivity deals without acquiring them).
MS storefront is sub 10% of ABK net revenue. Ignoring how much of that would be dlc/mtx which will be unaffected by GP.
Again, don't think that MS needs to recoup the cost, that money has turned into an asset.
In 2021, net revenues splits.
Apple - 17%
Google - 17%
Sony - 15%
MS - Sub 10%
35 years old and not even close to hitting the wall. Good genes.
I still don’t believe that Sony are going to acquire them because I think they’re still too obsessed with thinking that because they’re the market leader in whatever contexts they are aware of they think they can pick and choose what games to pay for exclusivity for and that it is somehow a good idea because it’s cheaper than buying the publisher that owns those IP but the last time that happened Nintendo swooped in scooped up MonHun for the 3DS effectively killing the Vita so it appears Sony still hasn’t learned their lesson.
Fake news, Sony didn't dissolve Japan Studio. Restructured it changing its management and splitting it into two separated offices:Sony don’t have a footprint in Japan as a publisher right now after dissolving Japan Studio and transforming what was left into Team Asobi.
I still don’t believe that Sony are going to acquire them because I think they’re still too obsessed with thinking that because they’re the market leader in whatever contexts they are aware of they think they can pick and choose what games to pay for exclusivity for and that it is somehow a good idea because it’s cheaper than buying the publisher that owns those IP but the last time that happened Nintendo swooped in scooped up MonHun for the 3DS effectively killing the Vita so it appears Sony still hasn’t learned their lesson.
If they bought any Japanese publisher I’d be pleasantly surprised but I still doubt it. They get every major AAA that SE puts out anyway if not exclusively.
Said a while back when replying to yurinka on a similar topic, but if that's what Sony are going to be leveraging then it's only going to work if they can significantly increase supply of PS5s.
Are you an expert on Japanese culture?Square shot themselves in the foot with that, they haven’t been the same since then because they didn’t publicly apologize.
I don’t know about you but…Are you an expert on Japanese culture?
I am not saying that it is better really, just sharing that information. You can probably do some bad maths to guesstimate how much of ABK comes from each platform holder.OK I'm not a big finances guy so I need you to explain to me how net revenue splits work and why lower is seemingly better (if I'm reading that right).
That game still looks great to me somehow.Would be terrible, the low poly pixel art style is half that games appeal
Sony sold their Square Enix shares years ago, and i really doubt Microsoft or Nintendo would try to buy them(ok i guess Microsoft is a wild card, but Nintendo would never ever want to manage Square). i don't see anything drastically changing their relationship tbh, only reason i see Sony buying Square is because Microsoft is planning to buy them first, but most likely Square will remain independent for many years (GAF can ban me if they are bought this year )That's one strategy. It'll probably even work for them right up until the point someone buys them that won't play ball or has their own platform.
They deprive some Switch exclusive games and get them instead.I don't see what Sony could get in buying Square-Enix that they don't already get from Square-Enix as it is. It didn't even seem like a big loss when FFXIII went multiplat.
Topic is interesting, but Jeff Grubb has absoilutely no credit. That being said... and not crunching numbers, my opinions:
- SquarEnix was always a mess from a management perspective. You just have to read about how they came up with FFVII for example (buying super computers and stuff). Even today, I do belive they are trying to recoup some of their brand reputation after FFXIII, FF XIV (original launch), Drakengard 3, The Quiet man... although... some revitalization from old games are actually pretty incredible, like the Pixel Final fantasy line, or the Mana series, which a lot of people thought were dead.
And what about expecting to sell 15 million Tomb Raiders 3? These are Nintendo levels of selling. The management is delusional.
The potential is there, but... the management of their products SUCKS. How much would cost to make it a more organized company?
- Capcom, on the other hand... suffered a lot with some pretty underwhelming Resident Evils (5, 6...), some not so good decisions with Street Fighter... BUT, around 5 years ago they pretty much started striking gold every single year. Somehow, it feels like they reorganized the company's structure, and Resident Evil 2 Remake, with that awesome new engine just shows that the company, somehow, has a really reputable name again.
Somehow, I think that Squarenix has more products, franchises, but Capcom is already on the cusp of taking any of their franchises and turn it/them into a multimidia billion dollar thing. And they wouldn't need a monstrous re-organization, internaly, like Square.
Then there's Konami... goddamit. I do believe that the owners are sitting in a giant gold mine, but are too greed or afraid to invest. So... if the price is low, I would definitely buy konami first, even with all the problems.