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Mergers and Acquisitions |OT| Thread Merged

Acquisitions and mergers official topic

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GigaBowser

The bear of bad news
Exactly my first thought.

A deal 6 months in the making = desperation?

Interesting take to say the least. What's his neogaf username?
You have to ask yourself though, if the deal between Sony and Bungie was in the making for 6 months, did MS's purchase of Zenimax prompt Sony to start negotiations, and did MS's purchase of Activision trigger the purchase?

Not saying it was a desperate move but it's pretty confusing that Sony spent 3 trillion on a multiplat dev and not something I think they would have done if MS hadn't started with the purchase of Zenimax.
 
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Men_in_Boxes

Snake Oil Salesman
Teams don't give players high priced contracts for the things they did. They give them high priced contracts for what they expect them to produce moving forward.

Sony gave them 3B for their post Destiny work. The fact that this guys bringing up Destiny is unreal. A tie, glasses, salt n pepper hair goes a loooong way doesn't it?
 

blastprocessor

The Amiga Brotherhood
winner award GIF
 

GhostOfTsu

Banned
Sony believes in Bungie's next IP too. We won't know if it was worth it for several years. Maybe it will be the next Fortnite, who knows? Bungie are great developers and they have a huge following.

Until then buy The Witch Queen on February 22nd 😃
 
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Barakov

Member
https://www.pushsquare.com/news/202...bungie-says-outspoken-analyst-michael-pachter

"Just to compare and contrast, EA bought Respawn about three or four years ago for $700 million with 400 developers. And those guys generate $700 million a year in revenue. Bungie does about $200 million in revenue. So I think Sony vastly overpaid."

"I think this was a statement that [Sony's] not going to let Microsoft get ahead of [it], so [it'll] just buy something out of desperation," Pachter adds, in rather damning fashion. "It's not really a deal that makes a whole lot of sense to me," he concludes.


I don't think this was a reaction to the Activision deal by Microsoft, but I do think Bungie's price tag was over-inflated. Thoughts?
iwhE3ps.png

At this point, you have to wonder how many times Pachter has been right about something games industry related.
 
For once I agree, it’s a terrible deal, one of the worst. No IP required, Bungie still multiplatform, for 3.6B!! then what do the gain?!? Online knowledge/capability?!?!? Fuck that, just sign some exclusive partnership or something
 

Abriael_GN

RSI Employee of the Year
For once I agree, it’s a terrible deal, one of the worst. No IP required, Bungie still multiplatform, for 3.6B!! then what do the gain?!? Online knowledge/capability?!?!? Fuck that, just sign some exclusive partnership or something

Imagine dying on the same hill as Pachter.

What does "No IP required" even mean? Did your brain short-circuit or something?

Sony acquired the Destiny IP and the new IP Bungie is creating.

Know-how and tech to enter the hottest (revenue-speaking) field of the gaming industry isn't nearly as small as you describe it.
 
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kingfey

Banned
For once I agree, it’s a terrible deal, one of the worst. No IP required, Bungie still multiplatform, for 3.6B!! then what do the gain?!? Online knowledge/capability?!?!? Fuck that, just sign some exclusive partnership or something
Are you saying FPS studio is terrible deal for Sony?
 

ChiefDada

Gold Member
https://www.pushsquare.com/news/202...bungie-says-outspoken-analyst-michael-pachter

"Just to compare and contrast, EA bought Respawn about three or four years ago for $700 million with 400 developers. And those guys generate $700 million a year in revenue. Bungie does about $200 million in revenue. So I think Sony vastly overpaid."

"I think this was a statement that [Sony's] not going to let Microsoft get ahead of [it], so [it'll] just buy something out of desperation," Pachter adds, in rather damning fashion. "It's not really a deal that makes a whole lot of sense to me," he concludes.


I don't think this was a reaction to the Activision deal by Microsoft, but I do think Bungie's price tag was over-inflated. Thoughts?
His reasoning is stupid - EA purchased 4 YEARS AGO . That was Respawn value 4 YEARS AGO. He knows better but its obvious he wants attention.
 
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ReBurn

Gold Member
I don't think it's desperation from a "we need a certain library of game IP" perspective as much as it is a "we need tech and infrastructure now" sort of thing. Destiny can fill the online shooter gap if it becomes a problem for them but it seems more like a way to get them to a place where they can build more connected, online multiplayer games without having to build their own tech to do it. So the "desperation" isn't desperation as much as it not wanting to take the time to build from scratch to get a piece of the GAAS pie. That could be worth the investment. A good online game with MTX could easily pull in a couple billion bucks a year. That game doesn't have to be Destiny.
 

jakinov

Member
- Bungie has more brand value than Respawn
- Bungie game is GaaS they continue to make large revenue yearly instead of every X years after a game is made
- on that same note GaaS have potential to continue to grow without making a brand new game
- GaaS also likely means better margins as core technology and tooling mostly stays the same and content just gets churned out
- Bungie at 800+ employees is a well oiled machine, it's hard to get a shit ton of employees to work effectively with each other to produce results, bungie gets shit done, look at 343 who had way too many people but they just end up stepping on each others toes
- Bungie deal likely wasn't retaliation to Mirosoft, they even said it was GaaS and growth. The entire divsion as a whole increases revenues and more profit overall.

Respawn today with both Star Wars and Apex (GaaS) would sell for quite a bit too. Even Remedy is worth over $500M right now and EA bought codemasters for $1.2 Billion. And bugine is arguably better than all that.
 
Don't think desperation is true, but the price is to high.
Minecraft was $2.5bn, Respawn was $700m after bonus payouts because they performed that good. Insomica was $225m (tho without any IP)
Zynga and Activison were both sold below last year's high.


BUT who knows. Could turn out as a bargain.
 

Shmunter

Member
Of course it is. Sony the house of original home grown ip’s had to pay for something they should have developed. How many decades are they in the business for?

Conversely MS buying publishers is the same story. Neglect and a need to remain competitive by paying out.

Regarding the price tag remains to be seen. Sony still has a keen eye for talent and have likely seen what’s in the oven.
 
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RoboFu

One of the green rats
If I had to guess … It’s mostly about keeping their stock up. Im sure investors have been asking about all the MS acquisitions and this is just to keep them and would be investors happy and interested.
 

Deerock71

Member
Conversely MS buying publishers is the same story. Neglect and a need to remain competitive by paying out.
I actually view this as a chess move along the lines of potentially taking the queen. Those were pieces both Sony and Microsoft had, mind you. It produced either the largest 3rd party revenue for both, or close to it (source: my ass, but I'm sure somebody has a better source that could back that up). One could make the case EA might be the 3rd party queen, but my point still stands; taking a piece away from Sony's board THIS substantial, while not a kill shot, is a massive blow to the playing field.
 

Thirty7ven

Banned
This dude is an idiot, trash takes for 15 years. I’m sure if any other company had bought them it wouldn’t be desperation.
 

Shmunter

Member
EA bought Respawn well before Apex Legends was a hit. They had only released Titanfall to average sales

Sony is buying a dev in their prime, not at their low
Im no crystal ball gazer, but I’d bet my bottom dollar Bungie has a top 10 BR game well underway.

I’d say it’s easier to guarantee a top 10 than not. They have the best shooter mechanics in the biz, they have successful monetisation experience, they not only have the Bungie “Makers of Halo and Destiny” seal of approval, but also now Sony. The quality and hype will make it a hit in every category.
 
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Lognor

Banned
Sony definitely overpaid. It will be interesting to see what the next big acquisition looks like. Do you need to overpay now to win?

And I read that bungie went to Microsoft to discuss an acquisition but bungie's price was too high for ms
 

MonarchJT

Banned
well isn't like Sony had any other chance. cmon Guys now that Xbox have all Microsoft funding is not even fair to compare them
 
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MonarchJT

Banned
Imagine dying on the same hill as Pachter.

What does "No IP required" even mean? Did your brain short-circuit or something?

Sony acquired the Destiny IP and the new IP Bungie is creating.

Know-how and tech to enter the hottest (revenue-speaking) field of the gaming industry isn't nearly as small as you describe it.
abrabriel how is possible that you are so chained to the industry and still after 15 years that I read you are so Sony partisan? cmon man
 
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S

SpongebobSquaredance

Unconfirmed Member
I think it's a schtick. There's no way someone can be so wrong almost 100% of the time and have an actual job in the industry as an analyst.
there are probably also analysis he does for cash when a company hires him. the stuff he says on interviews is public.
 
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