err...why didn't Sony buy everything they did so far until the day they actually just did?
1. Square-Enix might not want to sell
2. Sony wasn't spending a lot on acquisitions before, now they are.
3. MS started acquiring everything and Sony doesn't want to lose IPs that have always been connected to PlayStation.
4. Other players are entering this business and Sony wants to secure their position.
Things change. Just because you don't buy a studio / publisher in 2020 doesn't mean you won't be interested in 2022. Sony was paying them for timed exclusive games...they know now that's not enough.
I could keep writing reasons but you get the picture.
Excellent points. War has changed.
People dont realize just how much gaming exploded since last gen and especially since the pandemic. The big boys are paying attention and you just have to see what Tencent has been upto to realize how the time is now to buy up whatever you can or you will be the one getting acquired.
To show how much times have changed, the PS2, Sony's most successful console made a total of $2 billion in profit for the entire generation. The PS division made $3 billion in profit in the last fiscal year alone. PS+ has 46 million subscribers. That thing alone is worth almost $3 billion and looking at how trash the games have been over the last few months, it is pretty much all profit. Add in 30% MTX from Fortnite, warzone and Genshin and sony is making $2 billion from those games alone.
We are in a crazy economic boom. Everyone is spending money. Robolox has 50 million active users and that is a platform for kids who need their dad's credit card to buy stuff on there. Companies are sitting on record cash. Even sony has $25 billion in cash reserves when they were in debt when the PS4 gen started. If they sit on that cash, and dont go out make big purchases, take on debt, they will lose. I always looked at Amazon and Netflix growing out of their ass taking on debt, not giving a shit about profits and wondered why Sony never did it. Well, they should have. Because now they are going to overpay and get into bidding wars.
Good thing is investors now realize that Sony will have to take on debt to get bigger, and they might just treat their stock like Amazon and Netflix. Sony just has to sell their vision.