some of the expectations here are just amazingly ..... i do not want to say a bad word but fuck man...
Capcom ? CDPR ? Bethesda ? jesus fuck..
Was happy reading the thread but some of the replies.. I need to get the fuck out of this thread because the percentage of some here using the brain for few seconds here is dangerously low..i can't handle it.
Not sure why you think a large industry acquisition by the market leader is so questionable in a world where Disney is sweeping up almost all of the competition. Pixar for $7b, Lucasfilm for $4b, Marvel for $4b, Fox for
$71b.
Both Capcom and Rockstar could be purchased for ~$4-5b each. In fairness, what do you think is better value? Lucasfilm for $4b or Capcom for $4b? I'll let you decide.
Sony are said to have bid for Fox in the region of $20b, so they do have money to throw around for the right purchase.
Of course, we are talking about two different industries, Movies VS. Gaming, but all acquisitions of this scope would need to go through corporate HQ and I'm sure Sony HQ aren't blind to the fact that PlayStation is their biggest money-earner and the division is more profitable than at any other time in its history and they will do anything to ensure success for future generations of the business.
To be honest, a single studio acquisition is small beans in today's market. Sony purchased Insomniac and it barely moved the needle whatsoever. While the price was undisclosed, I think Bluepoint, Remedy or any other single studio would barely register as anything more than a blip.
Industry consolidation is an inevitability, whether you like it or not.
Furthermore, every other console generation Sony has had a trump card, first with CD, then with DVD and then Blu-ray. What I mean is that Sony had something to entice potential customers and the new media formats offered Sony additional revenue streams, predominantly Movie sales. This isn't the case anymore so Sony's primary focus is on games, games, games. A single studio acquisition, while good for fans of PlayStation won't register greatly with the general public or shareholders, so the purchase of a prominent publisher makes too much sense.
You also should not discount the fact that Sony have moved their PlayStation HQ to San Mateo, Cali. US. They are no longer HQ'ed in Japan. US is the land of the merger and acquisitions, so the idea of Sony purchasing another publisher is a question of when, not if. The industry might be another decade/generation away from serious consolidation, but again, it's simply inevitable.