FYI it'd be more accurate to compare Kena to Starfield or Redfall if Sony has bought Ember and canned any Xbox or Switch port. Not Deathloop or Psychonauts
I don't think there were any rumors about Redfall's status at all prior to this year; even behind-the-scenes I doubt there was any sort of deal being worked out. Unless the idea is it would've been multiplat if not for the acquisition, which is likely. Then again, Sony were gunning for timed exclusives with Bethesda so that could've ended up its own kind of exclusionary thing either way in all honesty.
If they were public (ie listed) it would be obvious, so I'd say they are definitely not public. Plus, as far as I'm aware, under SEC rules they are not obliged to provide much disclosure unless it's a "material" (ie significant) acquisition. Given how tiny Ember Labs is and how gigantic Sony is, they probably don't need to provide any advance disclosure. Same was the case with purchasing Housemarque (I think SIE announced it but Sony itself didn't have to make any prior disclosure that would give it away).
Fair enough, but I figure what counts as "significant" could be up for debate. I know it's most likely WRT financials if dealing with the SEC, but there are other ways I personally think it could be looked at as.
Not that I think Ember Labs would fall under those, this is just me musing.
Honestly most people's thoughts on acquisitions and obtaining exclusives seem to change based on who does the buying. It's super annoying though. To me it's cool either way. I just wish more people here were more consistent.
Agreed; like, I'm not going to cheer on acquisition rumors regardless who it is, but once something gets announced, I'm not going to argue it being "wrong" or illegal or something dumb like that. As if a company's going to reverse course because of internet crying. I just accept that it's happened and look at it from an optimist POV, what good can come of it from there...regardless of who's doing the acquisition.
The only possible exceptions to this might be Tencent and Embracer Group, the former because of CCP ties and the latter because they seem to actually want to eat up every single company out there.
It's on PC? And it's only $40? Plus since it's release has been on sale for like under $30?
Also Sony has a history in FIlms/Animations which I understand Ember labs has done some work outside of games for them. Microsoft is not a film company nor have they any experience in animated films/TV.
So in terms of fit for a studio that primarily has been in TV/FILM Ember labs is better suited with a company like Sony. Kena is ember labs first ever game. They primarily made commercials, and short animated films.
While, again, I'm not in here to cheer on or hope/wish for an acquisition in this instance (or any rumored instance), I can see this as a good reasoning as to why a Sony acquisition of Ember Labs would make more sense logistically than by a different suitor. They do have a lot of CG work for various films, shows and adverts, and if they were ever interested in doing a CG animated series spun off from the games (or a CG film), they have the Sony Pictures and Sony Television branches there to work with. And while Sony doesn't own any anime production studios, they could lean into utilizing Crunchyroll to partner with one to do something for the IP as well, if that's what they wanted to do.
I did say a while ago that in the possibility of future mega acquisitions happening and other companies stepping into Sony's turf of making more cinematic 3P action-adventure story-driven games of comparable quality, Sony'd need to rely on their strengths of vertical integration with other entertainment fields to bolster their gaming IP. Seems like they are doing that, which would be a good move. I don't
personally think that requires relying on acquisitions per-se (hence why I'm not really into talking about rumored ones, especially those on weak rumors), but that's always an option.
Ember Lab is a new, small company. I highly doubt they are public. I think they only posted some exclusives they funded in a video, I don't see as a tease of acquisition.
Yeah, it seems like they might be private. Also agreed, I don't think this video points to anything in particular happening in terms of acquisition, people are reading into it things that aren't there.
But in the off-chance something does happen next year involving it, I guess we can point back to things like this video as an incidental sign, although that might just end up being confirmation bias in this video's case.
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