Ass of Can Whooping
Member
That's why they need to do this now while MS can't join the table
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Analysts give opinions on Sony acquiring EA, Ubisoft or Take Two in response to Acti-Blizz deal
- Thread starter Michele
- Start date
That's why they need to do this now while MS can't join the table
Ass of Can Whooping
Member
Don't have much faith the Enix side will have much of a role in the future tbh. They sold off IOI and now they've delegated Crystal Dynamics to make other studios games instead of their own.
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MrMephistoX
Member
You’d have to think mere mention or solid insider information would leak to MS and they would immediately enter the bidding war. Look at what happened with Disney and FOX: the deal was announced but Comcast came in and offered more money so Disney had to counter with an even higher offer than planned. Only difference is Sony probably couldn’t afford to counter.
Lognor
Banned
Where's the rule that a company can't have two acquisitions under contract at the same time? Go look at the history of ms acquisitions. They have made huge acquisitions in a single year more than once.
Imru’ al-Qays
Member
EA is worthless because it doesn't control Fifa, its main franchise
Swift_Star
Banned
SE won’t sell to MS. They’ll not be able to buy any Japanese powerhouse company. Give up.
Zeroing
Banned
I rather see sony on betting on new talent and smaller studios!
Buying big studios are easy but harder to maintain
Smaller studios are easier to manage and far better to make then grow while being sustainable.
MS is after IPs, Sony seems to be after talented studios.
2 different approaches.
Buying big studios are easy but harder to maintain
Smaller studios are easier to manage and far better to make then grow while being sustainable.
MS is after IPs, Sony seems to be after talented studios.
2 different approaches.
Ass of Can Whooping
Member
They're already under scrutiny with regulators. They're not going to risk jeopardizing the current one
Lognor
Banned
We'll see. Money talks
Swift_Star
Banned
It’s amusing how this Sony acquisitions talk scares the other side. It’s specially ironic seeing how they cheer acquisitions that favor their favorite platform. But I get it, it’s only good when the other side does it. Personally, I’d rather nobody do it and I hope those that are forcing this crash and burn in the long run.Fear of retaliation mode has officially began
People who cheered for consolidation are in for a bad surprise when they'll realize that this year is unlikely to end without a major acquisition and it won't be by MS who has to keep a low profile at least until their Activision deal is approved.
People should be prepared for either Capcom or Square to join/merge with SIE imo.
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JLB
Banned
to be seen.
i dont see any good replacement for Fifa -the game- right now.
Lognor
Banned
And Sony is very risk adverse so with them being larger than ms in the gaming segment why would they risk the time and money it would take to go after a major acquisition? They're more likely to go after small devs like insomniac and the returnal dev.
Maybe Sony will go after Quantic dream. It fits the mold of other devs they've acquired. Smaller in size, long term working history with Sony, focused on same type of cinematic games Sony is. Sounds like a good fit
Swift_Star
Banned
Those thinking MS will buy sega or SE are really off the mark. First things first. Both companies aren’t for sale, they’re not under media fire, they’re reaping records and records of revenue. Meanwhile, they’re multimedia companies, they don’t make only games. They have other business. SE specially has manga magazine, toys line, tv shows, movies and whatnot. MS has nothing to do with these types of business. They won’t sell FF and DQ IP to MS. This is crazy talk. Japanese government would NEVER allow DQ, a hallmark of Japanese culture, to sell to an American company. Let’s at least keep this discussion in the realm of reality.
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Ass of Can Whooping
Member
What time and money risk do you mean?
But that's the point anyway. They can't be risk-averse with the landscape changing so much. They need to grow faster and they need to be less reliant on third parties.
Woopah
Member
That's their Western division. The Enix side is Dragon Quest and Star Ocean.
But maybe that’s why they go for them since they’re hurting from BF 2042’s failure. An the decline of madden, yeah those licenses are running out real soon so who knows what EA would look like without their bread and butter sports games that ALWAYS keep them afloat.
Cuz at the end of the day I don’t think sony is concerned about their Japanese devs since they’re kinda not going anywhere anyway, an I doubt most of them would even be allowed to sell to tencent or MS/Amazon or one of them foreign companies so why even buy them. They have that genre on lock, what they DONT have is FPS which believe it or not, is always the most popular genre on their consoles every gen, whether it be Battlefield, COD, or fortnite/apex.
So honestly I see EA being more vital to them than square. Because if MS got a hold of EA then the FPS genre, THE MOST POPULAR GENRE, is essentially dead on your platform… I think that’s more important than final fantasy.
Badlucktroll
Member
I don’t think Sony is going to do anything.
Ass of Can Whooping
Member
That all falls under the Japan branch then with FF
They're out of touch with reality at a financial level and how the market works.
They fear of retaliation which is inevitable in some form and they are kidding themselves into thinking that Sony can't buy a publisher. Icing on the cake they also think the only way to buy something is with the cash reserves they have in hands
(which are already huge and enough to approach most publishers).Microsoft can't acquire other gaming publishers at least until current deal is closed or they risk that regulators won't approve the acquisition labeling it as a monopolistic strategy and their plans are screwed up.
Nvidia got their monopolistic attempt at buying ARM for 40 billions botched and now they have to pay a fine as well.
Even the same Sony went under extra scrutiny to buy Crunchyroll for 1.2 billion, deal was approved but the acquisition was completed 6 months later than expected.
This year someone will be grabbed and it won't be by MS.
And in general I'm not happy about this because this consolidation war will only mean that the days when you could find almost all the games you wanted on a single console will be over.
We'll need to subscribe to multiple service like it's already happening with movies and I don't think this is a better scenario for us consumers.
Woopah
Member
Its not that clear cut. Team Asano is in Japan and they are very obviously not in bed with Sony.
Enix was in bed with Sony in the PS1/PS2 days, then they were in bed with Nintendo for many years. Right now we cant be sure since there are many Dragon Quest games without platforms announced.
lastmessiah
Member
lol literally no one is afraid of Sony acquiring anything, any more than they are afraid of monsters under the bed and other things that aren't real.
DangerDiabolik
Member
Seems like a bad fit since EA make so many of these dirty multiplayer games that PlayStation players supposedly hate so much. Not to mention the amount of great PC-centric franchises that would probably go to waste.
LordOfChaos
Member
EA market cap is 37 billion, in a buyout situation you don't pay cap but a sweetheart deal over it, say 30%
Let's say 50 billion
Sony annual net income for 2021 was $11.015B
That doesn't mean they couldn't, but it would have to either incur more debt (Sony already has quite a lot, I don't want more added), pay out in Sony shares (dilution + EA people would have to agree to that), or other things like that, suffice to say EA is a far larger purchase if you're Sony than even Activision is if you're Microsoft, Microsoft can pretty well make it up in cashflow by the time of buyout
Let's say 50 billion
Sony annual net income for 2021 was $11.015B
That doesn't mean they couldn't, but it would have to either incur more debt (Sony already has quite a lot, I don't want more added), pay out in Sony shares (dilution + EA people would have to agree to that), or other things like that, suffice to say EA is a far larger purchase if you're Sony than even Activision is if you're Microsoft, Microsoft can pretty well make it up in cashflow by the time of buyout
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Self_Destructive
Member
As awful as this would be... a Sony developed Dead Space game could potentially be amazing.
Mibu no ookami
Member
People overvalue IP, especially IP that may not stand the test of time. It's easy enough to create new original IP.
Since the launch of the PS3 Sony has created the following new original IP:
Uncharted
Ghost of Tsushima
Last of Us
Horizon
The cost involved with creating this original IP was way less than buying a publisher.
Compare Assassin's Creed to Ghost of Tsushima. The Assassin's Creed franchise has sold over 150 million units. Obviously a big deal, but historic success doesn't mean much in reality. You don't get previous revenue from an old game franchise only future revenue. The best-selling AC game is AC3 and it sold over 12 million copies. New original IP Ghost of Tsushima has sold over 8 million on PS4/5 alone. Will probably sell another 2+ million on PC.
If you can compete with Ubi Soft's top franchise with an original IP what is the point in buying the company for 7+ billion dollars? At 200 million dollars per AAA game, Sony could fund 70 AAA games each with the opportunity to outdo Ubi Soft's top game or possibly become significantly more popular... Not to mention after you buy Ubi Soft you still have to fund their games and what happens when their IP lose popularity as they have been already?
No, buying a company for their IP in gaming makes very little sense in most cases, especially in the case of companies like EA that don't even own their top licenses.
Buying a publisher with a talented cadre of developers? Now that makes more sense. That is where you see a Capcom, maybe a Sega, a CDPR, a Kojima Productions.
Outside of Mario and Pokemon, IP is a dime a dozen. They don't tend to have longevity to continue to grow beyond a certain peak. Which isn't to say they are useless either, but look at Konami, buying Konami for their IP makes so little sense. Their talent has all left.
Let's say you buy Konami and you buy Kojima Productions and then you oust the executives at Konami and let Kojima return to Metal Gear. The performance of Metal Gear games even multiplatform was around 6 million copies towards the end. 6 million... Is that really worth 8 billion+ dollars? Especially once you make it exclusive and the sales probably drop to 4 million copies with the recent quality of the games? Oh do it for Castlevania... because Castlevania is a big seller...
No, the list of smart buys is relatively small.
Since the launch of the PS3 Sony has created the following new original IP:
Uncharted
Ghost of Tsushima
Last of Us
Horizon
The cost involved with creating this original IP was way less than buying a publisher.
Compare Assassin's Creed to Ghost of Tsushima. The Assassin's Creed franchise has sold over 150 million units. Obviously a big deal, but historic success doesn't mean much in reality. You don't get previous revenue from an old game franchise only future revenue. The best-selling AC game is AC3 and it sold over 12 million copies. New original IP Ghost of Tsushima has sold over 8 million on PS4/5 alone. Will probably sell another 2+ million on PC.
If you can compete with Ubi Soft's top franchise with an original IP what is the point in buying the company for 7+ billion dollars? At 200 million dollars per AAA game, Sony could fund 70 AAA games each with the opportunity to outdo Ubi Soft's top game or possibly become significantly more popular... Not to mention after you buy Ubi Soft you still have to fund their games and what happens when their IP lose popularity as they have been already?
No, buying a company for their IP in gaming makes very little sense in most cases, especially in the case of companies like EA that don't even own their top licenses.
Buying a publisher with a talented cadre of developers? Now that makes more sense. That is where you see a Capcom, maybe a Sega, a CDPR, a Kojima Productions.
Outside of Mario and Pokemon, IP is a dime a dozen. They don't tend to have longevity to continue to grow beyond a certain peak. Which isn't to say they are useless either, but look at Konami, buying Konami for their IP makes so little sense. Their talent has all left.
Let's say you buy Konami and you buy Kojima Productions and then you oust the executives at Konami and let Kojima return to Metal Gear. The performance of Metal Gear games even multiplatform was around 6 million copies towards the end. 6 million... Is that really worth 8 billion+ dollars? Especially once you make it exclusive and the sales probably drop to 4 million copies with the recent quality of the games? Oh do it for Castlevania... because Castlevania is a big seller...
No, the list of smart buys is relatively small.
30b for playstation division only? no they can't and not will we can bet our accounts
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Mibu no ookami
Member
My guess is that it will be renewed and even if it isn't the barrier to entry involved in creating a devteam to create a football game is extremely high.
Ass of Can Whooping
Member
Not betting anything dude. I'm not saying they're going to go and buy EA or Take-Two. I don't believe there's any chance they will
Square or Capcom are more likely candidates which they could easily do
Badlucktroll
Member
Here we go! Sony has been provoked.
i explained you how it work....they have divisions that need to invest to go ahead ... storically playstation (SIE) have been the division where Sony had invest less...they have projected a possible investment over 3 years of 13 / 18b to be divided between the divisions .... do your math. Also keep in mind that the entire m & a budget of all Sony is currently 24b
Buying ea will not cost less than Activision....is simply like this...Sony cant afford to buy EA or T2 just accept it
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they will get a Japanese publisher...the best they could would be Square with final fantasy...nothing earth shacking ...but good get
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Sony is the market leader if there's someone who would be blocked by antitrust would be them if buying somethigb massive not the opposite
Mibu no ookami
Member
A merger with Nintendo actually makes A LOT of sense. They aren't direct competitors anymore and their assets complement each other really well.
Take Two makes A LOT of sense in the sense that GTA is just as big an IP as Call of Duty if not larger. You also get Visual Concepts and you can get back into sports by combining Visual Concepts with Sony San Diego. You get Red Dead, Bully, and Max Payne.
Square Enix and Konami make such little sense today. Maybe they would have made more sense 15 years ago, but today neither of those companies have the talent they used to. You'd be better off approaching the original talent and letting them build an internal studio for you than buying companies that have significantly declined.
I wouldn't go anywhere near either company.
Capcom would have been on similar lines, but they make a lot of sense today. Their Resident Evil remakes as well as Monster Hunter have put them back on the map. They aren't doing anything with Mega Man, but Insomniac taking over Mega Man would be a good solution. Their IP matches super well with VR and Street Fighter fits into their eSports lineup perfectly.
Sega makes a lot of sense too. Sonic replaces symbolic loss of Crash and Spyro, who Microsoft might start to market heavily. Again I think Sonic could be something that Insomniac or Sucker Punch could do a lot with. You could really expand on SMT/Persona, make Yakuza a more fleshed out series akin to GTA, Virtua Fighter hits for eSports just like Street Fighter. You could probably reboot Shenmue from scratch and those could be really big today. They would have been worth way more with Visual Concepts though.
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DForce
NaughtyDog Defense Force
Ass of Can Whooping
Member
Being a market leader doesn't mean you have a monopoly. No one is going to be blocked because of antitrust. Microsoft is much more likely to be blocked instead of Sony just for political reason
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ChuckeRearmed
Member
Neither will happen. But Ubisoft will run into a huge trouble sooner or later.
Considering that acquisitions don't leak - they require too high level access to the information - all the rumors can be considered fake.
(Sony) Hey, let me buy you while Microsoft is busy so they can't offer higher amount of money!
(another Party) ...
Considering that acquisitions don't leak - they require too high level access to the information - all the rumors can be considered fake.
Except it doesn't. Why would Nintendo want to merge with a media conglomerate which is Sony? Sony is 4 companies essentially.
Imagine that conversation
(Sony) Hey, let me buy you while Microsoft is busy so they can't offer higher amount of money!
(another Party) ...
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here we go ahahaha
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assurdum
Banned
Please don't start to talk of things you barely grasp as always, especially when Sony is involved....
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wake me up the day that Sony will invest more more than 5b in one m&a
List of acquisitions by Sony - Wikipedia
probably entire history of Sony acquisition it does not reach the cost that Sony would pay for EA or T2
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Since the author of the rumor himself denied it by saying that it was simply his personal thought ... we can at least say that this thread helped to demonstrate how soon some people change their mind about "consolidations" and how much harm they do to the industry if whoever makes them is who they like. hilarious
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Mibu no ookami
Member
What's more likely than I think Sony buying any of these big publishers is that we'll see further consolidation in the market among major publishers.
No one wants to be the tiny kid on the street.
Japanese companies were doing this for a while in the early 2000s and have slowed. Namco Bandai, Sega Sammy, Square Enix. Capcom and Konami avoided this.
No one wants to be the tiny kid on the street.
Japanese companies were doing this for a while in the early 2000s and have slowed. Namco Bandai, Sega Sammy, Square Enix. Capcom and Konami avoided this.
Mibu no ookami
Member
Ask yourself why they wouldn't.
Nintendo used to be the market leader in gaming hardware and has been relegated to the side even if they're still profitable.
Their games would sell even more units if they were released on Sony handhelds. Dealing with Sony Pictures would give them immediate distribution access to their IP in movies and TV.
For example, if Breath of the Wild was ported to PS4 today, how many units would it sell? 10 million? 15? Mario Kart? Obviously, a lot of money is left on the table here. There is a lot of benefit for both companies financially in a merger.
Andodalf
Banned
You had me at Wednesday!
Frfr though I could 100% see Amazon buying EA, Madden and FIFA are both games than can do very very well on twitch.
Nintendo HATE Sony ...probably you don't know their company history
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Swift_Star
Banned
The way you worded is pretty telling. Seems to me you’re just with fingers crossed hoping it doesn’t happen. But we all know you’re afraid of it.