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Sony teasing a possible Ember Lab acquisition?

Topher

Gold Member
Would rather they stayed independent or MS bought them out as it'll ensure a Kena sequel makes it to the PC. I sure as shit ain't going to piss five hundred quid away for it if Sony locks it to their console or delays a port for a couple of years.

Vine Ok GIF
 
Video screams 14 year old to me. Not much else to show and fit the theme.

Would rather they stayed independent or MS bought them out as it'll ensure a Kena sequel makes it to the PC. I sure as shit ain't going to piss five hundred quid away for it if Sony locks it to their console or delays a port for a couple of years.
As a PC only player who enjoyed Kena I 100% agree.
 
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odhiex

Member
I don't care whether Sony is buying the studio or not.

Ember Lab is very talented. Kena is so Good!! Bought it yesterday through the sale, now aiming to finish it first before other games.
 

bitbydeath

Gold Member
Not sure if it means anything acquisition wise but it does show interest in their abilities which could lead to an acquisition. Sony did something similar with Returnal prior to the purchase of HouseMarque.

E2Wn0IkXEAAV1L8
 

supernova8

Banned
It's kind of illegal to tease an acquisition unless the deal has already been signed, is it not? It's very hard to see if Ember Lab is a public or private company, but if they're public, and this is some way to tease an acquisition, then we'd of seen something reflected in their stock prices prior to this.

That said, I highly doubt it's a sign of any acquisition; that clip was focused on Sony as a whole and with a lot of filmic/cinematic properties. So I figure they'd want to showcase gaming exclusives that would fit the bill, and of those their best choices are Rachet, Kena and Miles Morales. Apparently Sony want to improve relations with indie devs, so if they only have enough to slot two games and Miles may've been redundant due to No Way Home, pick Kena and kill two birds with one stone.

IIRC the game is still slated to come to other platforms sometime next early next year, I would be surprised if this spot in a short advert was indicative of any purchase because that'd also likely mean Sony cutting out said other platforms for getting a game it'd otherwise receive, and that would upset a decent bit of folks considering such a pre-existing deal is honored in other instances (i.e Psychonauts 2, Deathloop etc.).

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).
 

mckmas8808

Mckmaster uses MasterCard to buy Slave drives
Maybe, but Sony generally don't give off the vibe they'd play that way. And that's not just in relation to Xbox; if the game was in some way planned for Switch and Sony acquired Ember Lab, they would most likely shelve that version as well.

But you all already know I'm not into this acquisition speculation stuff anyway; I just wait for an outright confirmation from the source itself if something's gone through or not, and go from there, generally positively. Tho, I will say it's funny how some people's views on acquisitions have changed since this time last year.

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.
 

AmuroChan

Member
It's very easy to check if a company is publicly traded or not. Just go to Google Finance and type in the company name.

Also, it is very rare for a company as small as Ember Lab to be publicly traded.
 

JoeBudden

Member
Why? Not make a bigger team and continue with a new IP? What's peoples' obsession with remakes?

Sony has already been pretty aggressive with creating new IPs. Probably the most out of any other company. The 3 studios they partnered with this year (ex. Deviation Games) are all making new IPs too.

Meanwhile they own tons of different IP that haven't been touched in many long years.
 
Video games, sony movies, sony tv shows and anime in one video.

Is Sony teasing the long rumored subscription service?
There’s electronics in there also but i think there is gonna be more brand synergy from this point on.

Sony pictures, SIE, Aniplex, Sony Music, etc. never worked together, now they are cross posting and advertising other products. Spider-man No Way Home has been advertising the games in all the trailers and commercials. They even had tom holland talking about the game in interviews. I’ve also seen then advertising their games as categories twice in the past year on Jeopardy

I think the head of Sony Pictures said that Gaming acquisitions were gonna outpace everything else at sony now also
 
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Sony has already been pretty aggressive with creating new IPs. Probably the most out of any other company. The 3 studios they partnered with this year (ex. Deviation Games) are all making new IPs too.

Meanwhile they own tons of different IP that haven't been touched in many long years.


They’ve been pretty good with creating new IP and expanding old IP. Last year they brought back Demon’s Souls. The year before that Medievil got a remake. This year Ratchet and Clank got a new game. Next year God of War and Gran Turismo get a new game. The year after that Twisted Metal, Sonys oldest IP is more or less confirmed to be coming back.

Then there are the sly cooper rumors. They have a lot of IP but Idk how marketable they all are. I’m sure we’ll see more with the launch of VR also, stuff like Wipeout is sure to make a return
 
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Would rather they stayed independent or MS bought them out as it'll ensure a Kena sequel makes it to the PC. I sure as shit ain't going to piss five hundred quid away for it if Sony locks it to their console or delays a port for a couple of years.

what about the millons who play on PlayStation having to piss five hundred quid away on when microsoft lock it off the system? console wise, more people lose out when its exclusive to xbox as its the much smaller brand. also you expect sony to do nothing and just sit there while microsoft buy up an entire pulisher and lock huge games off their system? atleast ember labs is a new studio with no prior history on xbox. its not like sony are permenantly taking away well loved multiplatform games away from xbox.
 
I think they’d fit in well with PlayStation Studios. They’d need to bulk up a bit, as you could tell they were lacking in numbers for Kena, but they have a good core and I like their design sensibilities.

The gameplay was refreshing and the world was very interesting.
 

Fredrik

Member
Would rather they stayed independent or MS bought them out as it'll ensure a Kena sequel makes it to the PC. I sure as shit ain't going to piss five hundred quid away for it if Sony locks it to their console or delays a port for a couple of years.
I payed about half that just recently, actually think it’s still on sale, look it up 👍
 

Kagey K

Banned
Would rather they stayed independent or MS bought them out as it'll ensure a Kena sequel makes it to the PC. I sure as shit ain't going to piss five hundred quid away for it if Sony locks it to their console or delays a port for a couple of years.
You can't call it organic growth if you didn't pay for a timed exclusive or 2 first
 

Ozriel

M$FT
Man, y’all need to stop jumping to conclusions off extremely speculative data.

That’s how someone saw an announcement of VRR updates for Sony TVs and came here to post that we’d be getting a VRR update for PS5 at the same time.
 

Kagey K

Banned
I don't think this footage means anything but i wouldn't be surprised if they do aqquire them. Ember Labs fits in perfectly.
One barely game, that seems to dissapont, but has good graphics makes a perfect fit for Sony?.

I thought you guys wanted the best of the best. This is not it.
 
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TheTony316

Member
One barely game, that seems to dissapont, but has good graphics makes a perfect fit for Sony?.

I thought you guys wanted the best of the best. This is not it.

It's a narrative driven game, so yeah. And for their first game it's pretty good. I've seen worse from much bigger "AAA" studios.
 

Kagey K

Banned
It's a narrative driven game, so yeah. And for their first game it's pretty good. I've seen worse from much bigger "AAA" studios.
We have seen better and worse from all studios .

Not sure what your point is.

Other than organic growth is a "catch phrase" and you don't give a shit about the quality of a game so long as it's exclusive to your system.
 

Dick Jones

Gold Member
We have seen better and worse from all studios .

Not sure what your point is.

Other than organic growth is a "catch phrase" and you don't give a shit about the quality of a game so long as it's exclusive to your system.
It's a great game, more impressive since it is their first attempt. They have won awards for the game so maybe play it rather than dismiss it out of hand. Ember Labs have huge potential. If they are as bad you suggest, shouldn't you be happy Sony are wasting resources acquiring them.
 

TheTony316

Member
We have seen better and worse from all studios .

Not sure what your point is.

Other than organic growth is a "catch phrase" and you don't give a shit about the quality of a game so long as it's exclusive to your system.

Why so defensive? My point is: I liked the game and i think they'd be a great fit for Sony.
I thought you guys wanted the best of the best. This is not it.

And what do you mean by "You guys"? I'm not here for console warring.
 

Kagey K

Banned
Why so defensive? My point is: I liked the game and i think they'd be a great fit for Sony.


And what do you mean by "You guys"? I'm not here for console warring.
Not defensive, just trying to be logical

Don't take offense to you guys if you aren't one of those guys.


Only those guys take offense to it, because they know they are "those guys"
 

TheTony316

Member
Not defensive, just trying to be logical

Don't take offense to you guys if you aren't one of those guys.


Only those guys take offense to it, because they know they are "those guys"

Ah, i see. Sorry. I'm still new here and i (thankfully) haven't seen "those guys" yet, lol.
 

MastaKiiLA

Member
I think this is reading too much into a trailer. However, EL fits well with the rest of the studios. They're clearly talented if they can nail the gameplay in the action-rpg genre on their first attempt. With or without assistance, that's awesome. And if they were to become first party, then they'd continue to have access to those same resources that helped with Kena.

Kena always felt like a bit of an audition. Don't purchasing timed exclusivity on a first timer, and giving it prominent placement at the PS5 reveal. It feels like Returnal in that respect. The brothers will probably want to wait to see how multiplatform sales go first though.
 
Sony pictures television has a lot of great productions on several streaming services.
Last thing I watched from them is... Them. It's a really well made series. I almost didn't watch it because I expect modern American cringe due to the topic (racism), but it was very good. Hope Sony keeps collaborating with Amazon on original series.
 

Papacheeks

Banned
Would rather they stayed independent or MS bought them out as it'll ensure a Kena sequel makes it to the PC. I sure as shit ain't going to piss five hundred quid away for it if Sony locks it to their console or delays a port for a couple of years.

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.
 

Ozriel

M$FT
Sonys studios have been actively cheering on Ember Lab since launch also. I’ve never seen them do this for other 3rd party studios, even Housemarque got less retweets from them when Returnal came out.












Erm…you realize this was after they won a major award at TGA?
 

Kokoloko85

Member
TBH Id rather they buy someone they’ve had a longer relationship with.
I didnt want Playstation to buy massive studios before but to save Xbox from buying every IP they didnt build it might be a good idea if Sony does buy bigger
 

AV

We ain't outta here in ten minutes, we won't need no rocket to fly through space
Somebody needs to. Kena was absolutely gorgeous but still felt like an extended tech demo, I got halfway and dropped it out of boredom.

Let the existing talent push the visuals and bring in some new folks to help build more of a real game around it.
 
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