1090°

Sony Can Make a Huge Splash for PS5 Fans By Acquiring One Studio

Responding to Microsoft's Bethesda deal, PS5 fans are calling for Sony to make a counter acquisition, and one studio would make a world of difference.

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gamerant.com
Sonyslave31312d ago

From software is already owned lol do people even do their research.

RazzerRedux1311d ago (Edited 1311d ago )

lol....what? Just because a developer is owned by a parent company doesn't mean it cannot be sold.

The question is whether a) Sony is interested in buying From Software and b) Kadokawa is interested in sellling. Both have to be true for this to even be possible.

porkChop1311d ago

This would be like Take Two selling Rockstar. They aren't going to sell their most prestigious dev.

DiRtY1311d ago

Well there are a couple of more questions than these two. For example: "How much?"

SullysCigar1311d ago

^ Everything has a price, @porkChop

RazzerRedux1311d ago (Edited 1311d ago )

@porkChop

Maybe, maybe not, but that isn't the point I made. They could sell if both parties were interested.

@DiRtY

Both parties have to agree to be at the table before they can start negotiations.

@olivier1

Nothing stopping from Kadokawa from inviting bids from anyone.

1311d ago
UltraNova1311d ago (Edited 1311d ago )

Sully gets it, and after MS spending 7.5 frickin billion on a single purchase (Zenimax) all of you should have been able to get it too. It's a matter of how deep is Sony willing to put their hand in their pocket and anything is possible.

That said, Sony doesn't need to respond to anything, they only need to keep making the games everyone wants to play. To that end MS, barring any bad decisions, now has the IPs that everyone wants to play as well. This is to our benefit in the end - the heat is up and consistency to quality will crown the ultimate winner.

This gen is poised to be the most competitive and exciting yet, and I for one can't wait to see how it will turn up!

Marquinho1311d ago (Edited 1311d ago )

Why in this world would Kadokawa Corporation be willing to sell their golden egg chicken?

That would only happen over a ridiculously overpriced sum of cash... and that doesn't sound likely to happen.

This guy obviously wrote this "article" over wishful thinking and zero research. He doesn't even mention Kadokawa anywhere. lol

If anything, Sony should go for Bluepoint.

umair_s511311d ago

Sony doesn't nearly have the revenue compared to MS. They have to be very conscientious. There is a reason why PS5 is overclocked compared to Series X.

bouzebbal1311d ago

What a dumb subject people are starting to have.. xbox can buy all devs in the world, talent cannot be bought. Sony worst 1st party quality and talent wipes the floor with all we've seen from xbox game studios this gen combined.
Sony bought insomniac, that's better for me than a publisher who has been making flawed games lately..

East76lands1311d ago

There's no need, people shouldn't overreact about the Bethesda takeover, it's a huge statement of intent but as it stands Sony is still the company with the established quality.

Rimeskeem1311d ago

Did Notch not sell Minecraft? His entire career to MS

@porkchop

Army_of_Darkness1311d ago

Not from software. A lot better developers out there like blue point (Sony will buy them if demon souls sells very well), house Marquee (love their twin stick arcade shooters) just imagine what they could do with dev funds by sony! Or even platinum games! They are also awesome!

1311d ago
derek1311d ago (Edited 1311d ago )

Sony has been too slow at buying obvious talent when they were in a position to do so. They are way to conservative in securing content for their brand. That being said I think the Zenimax purchase is a terrible buy for Microsoft, overpaying for a bunch of ip, whose popularity is in the past and could very well continue to decline. I've said it b4 having a big fat bloated entity like Microsoft involved is bad for gaming. They don't have the patience or commitment to contribute new or fresh ip to the industry and compete creatively. They just want buy their way to dominance like they did with their windows operating system. Ultimately it won't work and they'll eventually abandon the xbox brand, like they've done with mobile etc..

Greatball19871311d ago

Just because a company can be sold doesn't mean that it's for sale lmfaooooo

TakeTori1311d ago

Also, just don't buy From Software, man. They're my favourite Japanese company and I want to continue playing their games on PC.

+ Show (13) more repliesLast reply 1311d ago
1311d ago Replies(13)
Bathyj1311d ago

Well there are no stray developers.

Everyone's already owned, including you now.

The_Sage1311d ago

Ouch... Bathyj from the top rope.

Jin_Sakai1311d ago

Sony should buy Bluepoint Games for sure. They could also acquire Square Enix. They always work close with Sony.

neutralgamer19921311d ago (Edited 1311d ago )

I would love to see Sony be aggressive but they usually buy studios who have worked with sony in some exclusive manner in the past

Bluepoint games are next in my opinion

Some publishers I would love Sony to buy

Capcom due to their history and how many valuable IP's they own

Sega for same reason as capcom even more IP's

Square enix because a decade or so ago Sony bought a bunch of shares when share were struggling to help them out. So I could see approaching them

Now I don't think none of these studios alone will cost Sony 7.5 billion

They could also approach AT&T to buy WB games which was estimated to cost under 5 billion

We saw Sony made a multi billion dollar offer warframe developers parent company

Let's see in any case I think bluepoint are next (rumor has it they want to remake all 3 jak and Dexter games into one large game with improvements)

throne1311d ago

that'd be cool if it happens....I wouldn't want sony to just make some panic buy but I feel sega would be a good fit for them especially coz of their history with yakuza,persona not to mention the new ip judgement is synonymous with playstation all these years

jjacks491311d ago

Bluepoint games makes too much sense. I think something not talked about enough is Sony Bend. I’d argue it’s the weakest of the Sony developers, but it has grown and put out a good game with days gone. It just took forever. I hope Sony bend grew to the size of the other developers under Sony’s umbrella. If Sony bend can make the jump in quality int makes Sony’s first party that much stronger. Even with the acquisition of Bethesda Sony developers take the top two or three spots. Naughty dog.. Sony Santa Montica and we have seen gurillia games developer into a top notch dev team.

What people aren’t talking about is over the next year and half ( if they don’t get delayed which admittedly is a big if) Sony will be releasing a new god of war/ a new horizon/ a new Spider-Man/ all of them are gang busters.

Shikoku1311d ago

@porkchop and no one thought bethesda would sell themselves off either everything has a price

ArthriticPowers1311d ago

That's incorrect. Rumours had been circling for 2yrs

UltraNova1311d ago (Edited 1311d ago )

Ever since Fallout 76 crashed and burned, then kept crashing and burning, Bethesda's foundation was shook. It was the best time for them to sell. And what a deal they've cut for themselves huh...

Sayai jin1311d ago

It comes down to the companies strategy and cash on hand. Just because some people who are caught up in the so called console war or uoset, now want Sony to buy a studio. If it is not in Sony's Strategy it won't happen and even if it was something they were interested in, it comes down to the number 2 I mentioned. Cash on hand. Sony as a whole has $33 billion. In contrast, Microsft has $137 billion cash on hand. These numbers are for thr companies as a whole.

neutralgamer19921311d ago

Sayai jin

33 is a huge number too and because PlayStation is sony's top earner and bread/butter they could a realistically spend 10 to 15 billion

Because it's in their best interest their PlayStation generates more money because the more money it generates the more profit they will make. On the other hand Microsoft is not dependent on Xbox brand to earn them a profit

I feel like a lot of times people don't understand the priorities of what companies are very different

Sony could one to two big publishers from Japan and that would help them a lot. For example square enix and capcom

attilayavuzer1311d ago

@neutral

Just a quick note-Sony's financial services division is generally their most profitable. PS has far more revenue, but is really expensive to run. Their financial reports are a little funky to read, but I can't imagine them cannibalizing that many of their divisions to funnel billions into acquisitions for gaming. Makes sense for Microsoft-trying to own the game subscription space-but there's virtually no reason for Sony to buy studios that are going to continue to release on Playstation anyway.

Indo1311d ago

@porkChop and @SullysCigar you guys both right. Sony as far i know, got enough money to make a purchase and not scared to buy a property per say. But it has to be worth it, from personal experience BeThAsDa needed this deal from Microsoft.

1310d ago
+ Show (6) more repliesLast reply 1310d ago
LordoftheCritics1312d ago (Edited 1312d ago )

Souls games don't even come close to the audience numbers of Bethesda's games. Sony would need to buy a more non niche game type maker.

Also Sony doesn't need From Software, those games are pretty much already on PS devices and Sony seems to have a good relationship with them.

RgR1311d ago

Considering games sell lots more on playstation I think they have a good relationship with all devs

DEEHULK881311d ago

That wasn't always the case during the 360 generation

Bathyj1311d ago

You should watch from bedrooms to billions. Before Sony platform holders didn't really like 3rd party Devs at all. Gaming would not be where it is now without them. Very interesting show

Unspoken1311d ago

Didn't Sony just buy Insomniac?

Neonridr1310d ago

when you have over 2x the install base, you better hope the game sells more on your platform. That's just simple statistics though.

+ Show (1) more replyLast reply 1310d ago
Abnor_Mal1311d ago

"Also Sony doesn't need From Software, those games are pretty much already on PS devices and Sony seems to have a good relationship with them."

Same could be said of Bethesda games being on Xbox, yet here we are commenting what company can Sony buy to "counter" that mega purchase.

enkiduxiv1311d ago

If they could somehow acquire From Software, they could hold news Souls games for ransom. Perhaps they could even strike a deal with MS to allow Elder Scrolls on Playstation in exchange for Bloodborne on GamePass.

1311d ago
badz1491311d ago

@LordoftheCritics

LOL somebody is overselling Bethesda big time now that MS owns it. check your fact and you'll see the only major selling games Bethesda has made this gen is Fallout 4 and to some extent FO76. their other games didn't really lit up the chart that much. sorry if that disappoints you.

SullysCigar1311d ago

I enjoyed FO:NV, but Fallout 4 lost something and I couldn't get into it. Obviously 76 was an abomination and one lie after another.

Skyrim's a tricky one; I was very late to the party on purpose, because I knew how mad everyone was that it was such a bug fest. Literally played it 3-4 years after release and it hooked me big time. I didn't expect it. So I went for full completion, put ridiculous hours into it, watching that completion percentage move up through the nineties, and then BAM - quest bug that they never bothered fixing. It was all over their forums and they just didn't bother patching it. I was livid. P!ss poor show on their part.

1311d ago
badz1491311d ago

@MagicLebronJordan

I didn't make this shit up, OK? just look it up yourself. I never said their games are bad but aside from Fallout and Skyrim, not a single game from Bethesda has light up the sales chart this gen. did you say Doom? Wolfenstein? see these charts:

https://www.npd.com/wps/por...

https://venturebeat.com/202...

where's Doom Eternal?? Where is Wolfenstein YB??

it's no secret that Bethesda is kinda struggling to sell their games this gen and their reputation is dwindling fast after the abomination that was FO76!

1311d ago
Profchaos1311d ago

Exactly they do well in gaming circles but that doesn't appeal to the cod crowd

Neonridr1310d ago

@badz149 - why would either of those games be listed in an August chart when neither game were new anymore?

badz1491310d ago

@Neonridr

wow you're so quick to call me out you didn't look at the whole chart. those pages I put there also list the top 10 selling software to date for the whole year. Doom Eternal is not up there in 2020 as it released this year and Young Blood was not up there either when it launched last year.

+ Show (4) more repliesLast reply 1310d ago
enkiduxiv1311d ago

I don't think they need to acquire a Japanese Studio at all quite honestly. They seem to have a pretty solid advantage in that market already. I would go after some of the promising European indie developers. There are plenty that seem to be just one big hit away from becoming the next CD Projekt Red. Imagine if Bloober expanded for instance and started creating titles with actual game play.

gold_drake1311d ago

u overestimate Bethesda games a little bit there.

Class_Viceroy1311d ago

What do you consider niche? Souls series has sold tens of millions of copies. Souls-like is very much a mainstream brand now.

Fallout 3, 4, 76 and New Vegas have sold roughly 34 million world wide as of March 2020.

Dark Souls series as of May 2020 hit 27 million. Probably add another 5 to 6 million for Sekiro.

While I'm not saying it's as big.....you can't compare Bethesda's entire portfolio to Dark Souls. That's not a fair comparison. But if we do a franchise comparison, you can see Dark Souls is very competitive with the Fallout franchise. With factoring in momentum (thanks Fallout 76), you could argue the Souls franchise IS more valuable than Fallout.

So while it wouldn't put a huge dent into this acquisition, acquiring FromSoftware would possibly chip away at maybe say 10-15% of what Microsoft just did if they made the Souls Franchise exclusive to PS, and whatever other IPs come down the road. Nothing will even be able to compete with Elder Scrolls, but if Sony makes 3-4 good acquisitions they can make a good dent into this arms race.

Let's also remember Microsoft is playing from way behind (Like less than half of consoles sold). And MS still has to produce good games. We won't know who wins this generation until 7 years from now.

Bobertt1311d ago (Edited 1311d ago )

Fallout 4 sold 13 million copies and Dark souls 3 sold around 10 million. The problem isn't the audience the problem is From software is only 1 game company. Microsoft bought the parent company of Bethesda and that includes 5 or 6 other game studios like ID software (Doom) and Arkane studios (Dishonored and Deathloop). Buying From software alone wouldn't compare to what Microsoft gained. Buying From Software parent company wouldn't matter either cause they are a media company not just a game developer they have a lot more groups they control that Sony probably wouldn't care about.

Sony could try to buy Konami so they could get Metal gear, Castlevania, Silent Hills, and all their old franchises but Konami is on some bs and probably wouldn't sell it to them because they want to make mobile games. Sony could try to buy Konami's parent company but similarly they got other subsidaries like Konami real estate and a sports club that Sony wouldn't be interested in.

+ Show (4) more repliesLast reply 1310d ago
P_Bomb1312d ago

Article nominates From Software. I’d counter that they don’t need From since Demons Souls can already spinoff into sequels without them and Sony also has console exclusivity on masocore cousins Nioh/Nioh 2.

I’d go after the Konami trinity of Silent Hills (PT), Castlevania, Metal Gear. Maybe make a full fledged Contra TPS while you’re there. That’s the most budget free agent checkmate I see. Legend IPs that also happened to be in limbo.

Atom6661312d ago

Agreed. And they wouldn't need Konami itself. Just secure the IP or even just the gaming rights to those IP.

knickstr1311d ago

They could probably do it for a reasonable price too since Konami doesn't really have any interest in gaming anymore.

IGiveHugs2NakedWomen1312d ago

Konami would be the obvious choice.

Metal Gear and Silent Hill would sell millions of PlayStations.

Good-Smurf1311d ago

I could see them buying their subsidiary KDE game division (not the whole company as they're do more than just making games) they have too many IPs old and new not putting to good use.
Other than their hugely successful Baseball series in Japan they don't do much with their IPs nowadays.
But that's just me they still have other choices line up it just when and who they will acquire.

ssj271311d ago

You forgetting PES which is always suffering from not having enough budget to buy licenses for soccer leagues teams etc. Under sony perhaps they can this way compete against fifa in those fields. Pes and fifa are multi-billion dollar franchises. With yearly releases and full on online microtanstration. PES is a gold mine that konami never took the risk to invest in licensing

SpeedDemon1311d ago

That would be a good fit, some great IP's there and a few that have a good history with PS. It would also help with the negativety that the people currently running the show at Konami have created.

Rocketisleague1311d ago

Konami is worth over 3 billion, lol, Sony couldn't afford that

PhoenixUp1312d ago

One developer alone can’t compare to the weight of a AAA publisher like Bethesda

That being said if Sony does acquire another dev it’s probably be Bluepoint

Atom6661312d ago

Not sure why they haven't moved on Bluepoint yet. Maybe they don't need to, but the price tag is only going up for them.

I'd buy Blupoint, triple their size, and turn out a steady flow of PS1, PS2, and PS3 classic remakes.

-Foxtrot1311d ago

Yeah this is what I would do

Want to resurrect a franchise? Get Blue Point to do a remake of the original games and then a year or so later get another studio to make a brand new sequel.

darthv721311d ago

I think BP has been working on older titles to make a name for themselves in order to break away from being typecast into only making remakes.

Sunny_D1311d ago

I mean sure but they also haven’t really had an amazing game since Skyrim. Doom is good but that also undersold for them so 🤷‍♂️

SullysCigar1311d ago

Dishonored was a bit of a sleeper hit too.

The Wolfenstein titles had some charm, but they've churned out some real turds lately, like Wolfenstein Cyberpilot.

Show all comments (200)
110°

Outriders Dev's Next Game Has Been Canceled After Publishing Agreement With Take-Two Fell Through

Outriders developer People Can Fly's next game has been canceled after its publishing agreement with Take-Two Interactive fell through.

Read Full Story >>
twistedvoxel.com
Tacoboto1d 18h ago

"the capital group of PCF Group S.A."

If you're getting funding from a group that needs two different ways of Acronyming itself, things will not go the way you want them to.

banger881d 12h ago

If it was more online-only crap then good riddance.

jjb198122h ago

Outriders was crap. They slapped that game together and threw in a loot system to get players' attention. This game was absolutely jank and the always online nonsense made it stutter like crazy. People Can't Optimize.

thorstein21h ago

I liked Outriders but I could see where the artistic vision was compromised. The way the industry is now, it wouldn't surprise me that upper management would scrap something that didn't pull in money via gaas, mts, or other means.

290°

Microsoft’s Surface and Xbox hardware revenues take a big hit in Q3

Microsoft just posted the third quarter of its 2024 fiscal financial results. The software maker made $61.9 billion in revenue and a net income of $21.9 billion during Q3. Revenue is up 17 percent, and net income has increased by 20 percent.

Read Full Story >>
theverge.com
darthv721d 15h ago

Xbox content + services up 62% while hardware down 31%... seems about right with the way they tout you don't need the hardware to play. People can play on their phones or smart tv or other means. I don't hardly play on my consoles directly since getting devices like the logitech g-cloud and ps portal. Which is to also say I have been playing more digital than physical because of these devices.

solideagle1d 2h ago

you should apply in MS PR team buddy, I think you will do a great job in my humble opinion :)

Sonic18811d ago

I thought darthv72 and Obscure_Observer already work for Microsoft 🤔

dveio23h ago

MS: "Xbox services and content without AB up 1%, with AB up 62%. Hardware down 31%. In total a loss of 350 mill."

darthv72: "Seems about right."

MS: "Excuse m ..."

darthv72: "I don't hardly play on my consoles directly."

MS:

Lightning7718h ago

What he said was facts. How he plays games is no concern of you. Don't get too mad about it.

Cacabunga1d 2h ago

I can tell people like you are an absolute minority..

If service is up means their fans and fanboys accepted this model and subscribed to it. The near future you will see a big decline because the service is saturated.

darthv7212h ago

to you it may seem like the minority... but your bubble is shrinking because more and more are following suit. convenience is a hell of a drug and its also why physical sales only amount to 30% of overall game sales. times are changing, you either get with them or you get left behind.

neutralgamer19927h ago

Darth

30% physical sales: yet Phil and xbox division are in a rush go give up on that 30%. they don't have any right to give up any piece of the pie since the control such a little of the pie to begin with

also, the market is clearly speaking that the model Xbox is pushing isn't working right now the keyword being right now. you are right about freedom to play anywhere so i hope they put their games on steam

shinoff21831d 1h ago

But that's been ms for years. When things aren't going their way they try to change the way things are said. For instance console sales are down, they stop telling how many sold instead telling us how many hours spent in halo or headshots. So it makes sense console sales down just say people are playing on more devices then previous. What they won't say is how many xbox players jumped ship to ps5.

Cacabunga1d ago

Hardware sales are so bad that Sony and Nintendo are blowing the sales off the water with their hardware.

If Xbox are losers, others aren’t..
Xbox already tried everything with Xbox live then subscriptions went down so much that they had to find something else. Their fans subscribed then reached saturation rather quickly.

Hardware and exclusive games is where it’s at! Keep gamers excited, announce decent software and people will support you

itsmebryan20h ago

@shin
Well keep it simple Sony 's operating income is down 26% and Microsoft's is up 32%. No MS spin there, just facts. 😉
Cheers

S2Killinit13h ago

MS is after diminishing consoles as a medium. They want to destroy this market because they couldnt win. MS’s vision is to dissolve console gaming.

romulus2319h ago

Odd that a company that touts you dont need the hardware to play is already touting another console in the works.

darthv7218h ago

They are not reliant on the HW but still want to maintain a presence (no matter how small) is a good thing. It shows commitment to the craft. It reminds me of SNK and how they made games for their own hardware (Neo Geo) while also making them for others because they knew there was a market to do so. They knew they would sell more to others but also sell to their own niche fan base.

TheEroica12h ago(Edited 12h ago)

Perfectly reasonable post down voted by insecure corporation friendly folk.... But not gamers. Real gamer want accessibility and ease of acquisition for all.... Company shills are the only ones still telling us that hardware locking people from games is good for us.

Chevalier7h ago

@Darth

You should stop parroting metrics like an idiot without context.

"Xbox content and services revenue grew 62% in Q3 from a year earlier, “driven by 61 points of net impact” from the purchase of the third-party video game giant, Microsoft said."

61 of the 62% was from their merger so net increase is ONLY 1%

https://www.mesaonline.org/...

+ Show (4) more repliesLast reply 7h ago
purple1011d 5h ago

Xbox hardware revenue tanks to lowest point of Xbox Series generation

Profchaos1d 4h ago

I'm not surprised surface is struggling they aren't relevant anymore

DOMination-18h ago

In the last two years they've started exiting the consumer market altogether. All of the newest Surface products are business models only. They can't seem to work out what they want to do with it.

XBManiac1d 3h ago

Too expensive hardware when others offer the same or more for less? Good work, Green Team.

SimpleDad1d 3h ago (Edited 1d 3h ago )

"Despite some early successes for Xbox games on rival platforms, Xbox hardware is down by a massive 31 percent this quarter."
"Without Activision Blizzard, Microsoft’s overall gaming revenue would have actually declined this quarter."
"Xbox content and services would have only been up a single percent without Activision Blizzard..."
"It looks like next quarter is going to be a similar story for gaming at Microsoft, too."

That is crazy... so A/B/K is carrying the whole Xbox gaming.
Oh and Microsoft will be fine. Windows, Office and Cloud are growing with each pc purchase.

purple1011d 3h ago

Activision: "we gonna need a bigger rucksack/backpack please"

Microsoft: "why's that"

Activision: "to carry yo' weak ass'

Profchaos1d 2h ago (Edited 1d 2h ago )

Top brass have also wanted to start seeing returns on the 100 billion they have put into various Xbox related moves so seeing more multiplatform games is highly likely especially from abk

It's basically saying that PlayStation is the reason Xbox is afloat right now thinks to Ps5 versions of COD

Kornholic1d 1h ago

So basically PS and PC gamers' money is keeping Xbox on life support.

MrDead18h ago

The only growth MS will get out of the console industry is if it supports it's rivals platforms. Xbox is a pointless machine now. I can see them on a big push for live next, and they won't give up on trying to buy Steam.

+ Show (1) more replyLast reply 18h ago
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90°

An Update on This Year’s BlizzCon and Blizzard’s 2024 Live Events

Blizzard writes: "After careful consideration over the last year, we at Blizzard have made the decision not to hold BlizzCon in 2024. This decision was not made lightly as BlizzCon remains a very special event for all of us, and we know many of you look forward to it. While we’re approaching this year differently and as we have explored different event formats in the past, rest assured that we are just as excited as ever to bring BlizzCon back in future years."

Read Full Story >>
blizzcon.com
PRIMORDUS1d 13h ago

How about you not hold Blizzcon anymore period. You fucking POS company. I really hope Blizzard would just die.