FeastYoEyes
Member
If anything, this is them prepping for the Death Stranding 2 reveal.
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Jim Ryan confirms Sony ‘has more studio acquisitions planned’ (VGC)
FalsettoVibe
Member
Not true at all. I'm not saying that I believe Sony is acquiring KojiPro, but if they were, a contract with MS would probably not be a deal breaker. Sony could still pick them up and still honor the contract. Or Sony could take the Bungie route and
allow KojiPro to work independently. Same applies to MS. MS could acquire them and still honor the contract for Death Stranding 2. Don't get hung up on thinking a company cannot be bought because they have contracts.
Can it be a deterrent?
Yes.
But in this case, I don't see why either contract would stop anything.
Evil Calvin
Afraid of Boobs
Well MS has some acquisitions planned as well.
What's good for the goose............
What's good for the goose............
Tiago Rodrigues
Member
Shuhei Yoshida is also now in Japan, meaning everyone from Playstation leadership is there.
vivftp
Member
I've been speculating that they should partner with Ikumis new studio on their first game for a long while now.
remember_spinal
Banned
Damn, i wonder whats going on. I think this is the first time I’ve seen all the big sony people in one place in a while.
tusharngf
Member
I thought he lives there
Tiago Rodrigues
Member
Square-Enix is the one that makes the most sense to me.
At this point they have spent god knows how many billions just to secure that FFVII Remake for these years, plus its sequel, FFXVI and Forspoken alone.
It's only a matter of time tbh.
kyliethicc
Member
Sony is a Japanese company. Its nothing
remember_spinal
Banned
Good to see SIE going hard in Japan again…i think a lot of people are gonna be shocked with their japanese partnerships and output this gen
Tiago Rodrigues
Member
When was the last time most of Playstation's top guys are together in Japan...or anywhere else in the world?
kyliethicc
Member
Happens all the time and you don't realize it.
And ya know ... there was a few years of that lil pandemic thing.
SIE is based in California.
The top management is there to clearly discuss partnerships, see the state of current projects and discuss about future ones.
In any case I doubt we'll see further acquisitions announced from Sony until the Activision mess is over.
Mr Moose
Member
He lives in Japan and is head of indies, her studio is an indie studio.
El Pistolero
Banned
He will join at some point, there is no doubt in my mind...if only to ensure the rest of his team gets the means it needs to keep making videogames once he decides to retire.
kyliethicc
Member
SIE's bosses are in Tokyo
and do remember that emails and phone calls exist. travel isn't needed for anything specific
ChorizoPicozo
Member
This is what is going to happen after all these acquisition warz settle down:
Some people are going to leave to create their own shit.(just pray they are to key leadership members)
vivftp
Member
SIE has announced and completed the acquisition of 3 studios since the Activision deal was announced. They seem fine to continue business as usual on that front.
Precisely because you can do many things by phone, e-mails and video calls the fact they're all there in person has more relevance.
remember_spinal
Banned
I’m sure SIE are chomping at the bit to sell 100k copies of a game.
begotten
Member
Well whether you like it or not it's happening. They're Sonys' next AAA prop up ala Housemarque.
Tiago Rodrigues
Member
A small mobile studio (an industry Playstation doesn't do almost anything), a studio that hasn't released a single videogame ever and it's just a startup at this point (Haven) and Bungie which owns a single IP (Destiny)?
No comparison. There's a reason Bungie was acquired with no investigations whatsoever. Sony wouldn't acquire something big with lots of known IPs, studios, etc right now. Something like Capcom, Square-Enix, etc would happen later. Whatever they acquire now it's only going to make Playstation stronger as a brand. They will wait for the results of this Xbox and Activision deal.
It's no accident that both Xbox and Sony have barely acquired stuff this year. Compare it with the past year.
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Besides Bungie we're talking about some really small fishes with zero risk in getting approval.
In recent months Sony also changed their legal strategy from a wait and see approach into actively suggesting to regulators that the Activision deal is part of a "buy victory" strategy by Microsoft.
If they want to sound credible and have a chance to get UK and European regulators to approve the Activision deal only with the condition to keep COD on Playstation (their goal basically), they can't announce they're buying a Japanese publisher right now while they're crying to regulators
remember_spinal
Banned
Besides Bungie we're talking about some really small fishes with zero risk in getting approval.
In recent months Sony also changed their legal strategy from a wait and see approach into actively suggesting to regulators that the Activision deal is part of a "buy victory" strategy by Microsoft.
If they want to sound credible and have a chance to get UK and European regulators to approve the Activision deal only with the condition to keep COD on Playstation (their goal basically), they can't announce they're buying a Japanese publisher right now while they're crying to regulators
M&A won’t cease to exist because Microsoft is buying a 70 billion dollar company, thats illogical
Unlike console warriors on the internet regulators are well aware of the difference between a dev/publisher worth 500m-4b and one worth the entire net worth of Nintendo.
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vivftp
Member
Bungie also cleared quickly because they are allowing it to remain an independent entity under SIE, so nothing is being taken away from other platforms.
Anyways, an acquisition is an acquisition, and I was responding to a post saying they don't think SIE will do any acquisitions until the AB deal is completed. The evidence points to the contrary. As for the prospect of Sony acquiring a publisher, I'd guess that depends on the terms. If they acquire Square or Capcom but allow them to continue to remain independent like Bungie, I can see that have a much easier time clearing and I could see them still proceeding with that while the AB deal is pending.
And who said that they will cease to exist? Just saying that until the fate of Activision will be clear by spring next year, if they want to sound credible in their complaints with regulators to not let COD go exclusive, they can't announce that they're following the same approach as Microsoft by buying a big Japanese publisher, that would be a loss of face.
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Gojiira
Banned
Actually Bungie owns all its IP’s besides Halo, this includes Oni, Marathon, Destiny and a few others.
Really hoping Sony commits a team to a Marathon remake
Unrivaledx88
Member
How many more you want to grow organically? They have done a great job. Now if the competition wants to buy thats them forcing Sony’s hand. You cant be that dumb
Slothbeing1209
Member
It's big event for Sony so maybe all key member need to attend. Or they just come for the party and relationship lol. Or for shopping some studio like you think. We'll see.
tmlDan
Member
Wasn't that the rumor that recently came out? or maybe more than a rumor.
https://insider-gaming.com/bungie-to-revive-marathon/
Gojiira
Banned
Damn I really hope so, tie it properly into Destinys Lore and they’d have a solid exclusive. Time will tell I guess lol
Having said that I hope that linked rumour is wrong, Marathon should be more like Bioshock/System Shock and not a squad based looter.
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PhaseJump
Banned
GHound
Member
Your uncle that works at CD Projekt.
Mibu no ookami
Member
They've done MOSTLY minor acquisitions.
Their hand was forced when it comes to Bungie, they needed to be in the FPS market and GaaS market, and honestly, Bungie was the last player available in the space. There was also a sense of irony in them purchasing what historically was Microsoft's best development studio.
Everything else has been minor. I feel like they wouldn't have made the purchase into FromSoftware if Tencent didn't force their hand. I think they would have bought FromSoftware out entirely had it not been for the Activision M&A being in progress. Sony also has ownership in Kadokawa, FromSoftware's parent company. Purchasing Kadokawa would put them at 84.69% ownership, more than enough to force Tencent out. I think there is a race to buy Kadokawa/FromSoftware and Sony is somewhat held in check by Microsoft's acquisition.
I think Sony is also probably looking to buy Square Enix, but is holding off for the same reason. I think we've all speculated that Square Enix sold off the western studios to clear some of their burden, though it has been cleared that balance sheets did not transfer over. So it was mostly about getting the staff and their obligations off their books. Not something that major studios tend to do. And to sell Tomb Raider along with that for so little, the only consideration I can think of was that Sony wasn't particularly interested in Tomb Raider since they already have Uncharted, but also can't imagine Sony not wanted MORE IP, so maybe that's a sign it isn't going to happen.
I would have thought that CDPR would be an option as well, but their use Unreal engine suggests that isn't the case. That is unless Sony is making a move to buy Epic and push out Tencent, but that's obviously a bit of a reach to pair the two decisions.
KojiPro is obviously another high possibility.
vivftp
Member
Sony buying Kadokawa has been a realistic possibility ever since Sony decided to make anime one of the core pillars of their business. Square Enix also falls in there for that reason. Both organizations could work with Sonys other divisions like gaming, film and TV quite well.
Sony Group has still got ~10 billion or so dollars earmarked for M&A up until the end of March 2024, so one would think that at least one big acquisition would occur within all of Sony Group between now and then.
I still think it's possible that if Sony acquires a publisher that they'll go the Bungie route and have that publisher sit under SIE directly, putting it alongside PlayStation Studios and Bungie. Said publisher would be allowed to remain an independent entity under SIE and could continue to publish content on other platforms. That alone would go a LONG way towards getting regulatory approval because then they're not removing content from other platforms.
bender
What time is it?
Jim Ryan is buying Japan.
Mibu no ookami
Member
I wouldn't expect Sony to fold many companies under SIE rather than PlayStation Studios. Bungie was an expensive purchase and one of their qualifiers was probably a level of autonomy that they can get under SIE rather than PlayStation. If SIE were to buy a major publisher like Square Enix, one of the major focal points would be to integrate them into PlayStation Studios and get their games on track for shared resources.
Eventually, even Bungie will end up under PlayStation Studios. I would say within the next 3-5 years. Sony largely just doesn't want a major exodus from the studio, but every company has natural rollover and eventually the studio heads of Bungie will retire or leave and it'll make more sense to manage them under PS Studios. Bungie is the largest M&A deal in Sony history (not accounting for inflation). They bought the rest of the stock for Sony Financial. I'm wondering if they may look to sell it and divest from that industry.
The return on investment for studios is much better the smaller you buy, but Sony doesn't really have the luxury of only going after small fish.
Also worth mentioning that Sony Group has money set for M&A but that doesn't mean they'll spend it all or that they won't spend more.
You look at Sony's strategy in their recent acquisitions and they all make a lot of sense.
They bought a mobile dev in Germany to bolster their game development, but it'll probably lead to recruiting efforts in Germany, a market that they've never had a studio in.
Similarly with Haven, they've never had a studio in Canada. And now they can recruit specifically in Canada. Housemarque gave them exposure into Finland. Firesprite was a major return to the UK. They still had London studio, but that has always been a small niche studio. Firesprite by comparison is 2.5x larger. Bluepoint is in Texas.
Sony is venturing out of the west coast focused area.
They're also investing in support studios and pc porting studios. They want to keep making AAA games and having these support studios means you can have maintained quality across titles and dev cycles. It's about sustainability. And the PC port studios are obviously about leveraging IP to a larger audience.
That's why I think T2, CDPR, Square Enix, Capcom, Sega, FromSoftware/Kadokawa are prime targets.
T2 is obviously the most expensive option on the list, but if the Microsoft acquisition of Activision goes through, Sony will still want to respond in some way. Getting GTA and Red Dead would seriously balance things in their favor. Then you look at being able to incorporate 2K Sports into their eSports arena and fold Sony San Diego into 2K Sports and maybe rebrand MLB The Show as MLB 2K. Next big thing they can do is go after the Fifa license and make their own soccer game. FIFA is a very big deal to Sony in Europe and maintaining their edge there. FIFA 2K would be a big get for them.
CDPR is so undervalued right now. Depending on the rights surrounding Cyberpunk, it's a huge cash cow. I already called correctly that they would remake Witcher 1 and eventually Witcher 2. You're looking at probably 40 million copies between those 2 games at 70 dollars, that's upwards of 2.8 billion dollars in revenue. Then you throw in Witcher 4 and Cyberpunk 2, maybe a Cyberpunk VR and Cyberpunk online...
Square Enix obviously has a close long relationship with Sony and it makes sense to a degree, I just don't think Square Enix is worth anything at this point. I wouldn't be surprised by this though.
Capcom and Sega are much better options for Sony. Resident Evil 4 is going to be a huge success and there is only more of that to come and I think Insomniac could make a great Mega Man game and I could see Mega Man becoming Sony's mascot. Street Fighter and Monster Hunter are no-brainers, but you can also bring back Onimusha as well. Sega gives you A LOT of IP and some decent developers. I think you could look at remaking Shenmue but properly and you could ensure Persona and SMT remain exclusive. Persona is about to be on the up and up. You could also remake the original games. Sonic would immediately become Sony's mascot.
FromSoftware needs no explanation after the success of Elden Ring. Very complicated with their lack of IP ownership, but I'm sure something could be worked out with Namco Bandai here. Partnering From with Bluepoint would go a long way.
SIE doesn't have a major history of M&A. Their biggest M&A historically was Psygnosis back in the day and they've mostly only bought out small studios. Sony Pictures and Sony Music have been the bigger spenders, but if you look at Sony Group they haven't grown much as a company compared to their peers. I think they need to double down on PlayStation.
vivftp
Member
When you look at the overall picture of the last 3 years, Sony's acquisitions have been pretty harmless to he industry as a whole and other platforms. Many have been with long time partners who've almost always released on PlayStation.
Audiokinetic - Remains independent under SIE and operates multi-platform
Insomniac - Almost exclusively on PlayStation already except for a brief foray to Xbox and Oculus
Bluepoint - Almost exclusively on PlayStation already except for a couple ports to Xbox in 2011 and 2014
Housemarque - Has been exclusive to PlayStation for the past decade
Firesprite - The spiritual successor to Studio Liverpool/Psygnosis who released 1 multi-plat game on other consoles in 2020, otherwise PlayStation exclusive
Valkyrie - A support studio that's worked on many multi-plat games
Nixxes - A port studio mostly that's worked on many multi-plat games
Haven - A brand new studio formed in partnership with PlayStation, they've never been on any other platform
Bungie - Remains an independent entity under SIE, and their content will continue to remain multi-plat
Savage Game Studio - A smaller mobile game studio
We even have partnerships like Deviation who are a brand new studio being funded by Sony for their first project. There's also Firewalk who are a studio under ProbablyMonsters who were formed to work on an exclusive PS5 game.
So far Sony's acquisitions have had very, very little impact on other platforms. They've been buying up companies that were practically first party anyways. The only one that had the potential to harm other platforms (Bungie) is remaining multi-plat on current and future games. Now we can't say what'll happen in the future of course because we don't know that. We can at least look at the past and say their acquisition choices haven't left a trail of destruction in their wake.
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vivftp
Member
I don't think we'll see Bungie going under PlayStation Studios anytime in the next several years, if ever. The very first words out of their mouth when announcing the acquisition was that Bungie was going to remain independent and multi-platform. No doubt that played a huge role in getting regulatory approval so Sony can't just say one thing and wait for the regulators to turn their back and then do something else.
Audiokinetic is also under SIE and sits alongside PlayStation Studios and Bungie. It's not so odd that they'd leave them there. My theory would be that PlayStation Studios would remain the crown jewel of SIE, pumping out all that platform exclusive goodness that we love. Then alongside PlayStation Studios they would have a host of other companies that remain multi-plat and operate independently. All of these organizations will be siblings and will share tech, information and whatnot. They'll simply be an extended family.
There're many potential targets for SIE to make a move on, both obvious and not so obvious. We can only really speculate who they might be interested in. I do personally think that if SIE were to go after a publisher then this is the perfect time. Microsoft are tied up with the AB acquisition so they can't possibly counter-bid until that closes. All Sony has to do is promise that said publisher will remain independent and multi-plat just like Bungie and they're good to go as there's no real reason for regulators to stop it. Sony even already has the precedent with Bungie to show that they can make a large acquisition and leave it multi-plat and independent.
As I mentioned in my above post, SIE's acquisitions have had a very minimal impact on the industry as a whole so far. Buying a publisher to leave them independent is the best possible scenario IMO for several reasons:
- Sony ensures that said publisher and their content will always be on PlayStation and can't be taken away by another party
- Sony can offer said publisher FAR more funding to grow and increase their output
- Sony can utilize the IP from pretty much any publisher to make film/TV/anime content, so they have additional ways to monetize said company
- Users on other platforms don't get beloved content ripped away from them and are sure to receive future releases
- It should ensure no mass layoffs due to redundancies. I'm not saying there won't be SOME, but it'd be FAR fewer than if they were to integrate a publisher under PlayStation Studios. If anything, we'd see mass hiring like we're seeing at Bungie
Anyways, it'll be interesting to see how they continue to reshape the face of PlayStation in the coming months/years.
EDMIX
Member
Agreed, great post btw
It sound like Sony might be treating them like how they had SOE back in the day. Maybe they know for such GAAS titles they need a large install base and it would make sense to stay on all platforms as that is where its value even came from.
Why spend such a crazy about of money on such a team that has made so much money, if you'll just cause them to make less by removing a huge install base?
Kurimao
Member
a triple A Megaman game by Insomniac, shut up and take my money!
EDMIX
Member
Insomniac making Mega Man Legends 3 would be insane lol What a weird fanfiction twist that would be.
Mibu no ookami
I disagree with Mega Man ever becoming Sony's mascot, they don't really have one and I think it was wise for the to steer clear of that after the PS1 days. They mirrored Nintendo a lot in those days and only when they came into their own with PS2, you saw that great dominance in that the platform must support the idea of many concepts, not some forced character to represent the system.Think about it like this, if you had a streaming network and you tried to make some fucking show a "mascot" what happens when that lead actor goes? What happens when the director quits or gets replaced? Oh so base the WHOLE COMPANY on this idea? I don't know about all that. I think Sony was ahead of their time treating the platform like a blank canvas and it made sense to not have any 1 character be the "face" of Playstation as not to have some stigma or get forced into a box based on a notion of what they only do or something. So I don't know that even if Sony bought Capcom, you'd see Mega Man be that.
Consider Mega Man isn't even that right now for Capcom..
He lives in Kyoto.
Buhaj
Member
You're throwing rumors then, thanks for confirming kid.
GHound
Member
Reading comprehension check failed on this one apparently.