Top
810°

Why Microsoft should acquire Sony's gaming division

Don Reisinger of CNET Writes: "As I was thinking of something to discuss today, I peered beneath my HDTV and saw my Wii sitting next to my Playstation 3 and Xbox 360. And as soon as I looked at all three, it had me thinking: the Wii is a wildly successful platform, but the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 are still limping along in the hope that they'll compete with Nintendo's platform at some time in the future.

But when we objectively consider the state of the industry, it becomes blatantly clear that Sony and Microsoft simply don't have what it takes right now to compete and more consumers are more excited about Nintendo's platform than anything Sony or Microsoft can dole out.

Realizing that, why wouldn't Microsoft acquire Sony's gaming division and consolidate its power and influence in the gaming space? I know, it may sound radical and at first glance you would think that Sony would never agree to such a deal, but keep an open mind for a minute and hear me out.

Sony's gaming division is quickly becoming a drain on its financial stability and shareholder confidence, while Microsoft is chugging along at a pretty good clip even though it has little influence in Asia. And although neither company can beat Nintendo alone, don't you think it's entirely possible that Microsoft and Sony could become a powerhouse in the industry if the former acquires the latter, thus making it a valuable idea?"

Read Full Story >>
news.cnet.com

Ad
The story is too old to be commented.
pwnsause5345d ago

not surprised this is a cnet article. they still think microsoft is rich.

Captain Tuttle5345d ago (Edited 5345d ago )

It doesn't mean this is a viable idea though.

TOSgamer5345d ago

Its just this one idiot who writes a blog there. The same idiot that said the 360 would win the console war as late as Feb of this year. He's a moron and cnet really should remove his blog.

cahill5345d ago (Edited 5345d ago )

MS - 63B dollars in total assets

http://finance.yahoo.com/q/...

SONY -126B in total assets

http://finance.yahoo.com/q/...

SONY is 2x as big as MS. MS just has more market cap which is irrelevant since it takes into account the amount of products which u have sold and are concurrently in circulation

@why disagree??

balance sheets showing total assets posted above. Facts are facts and cant be tweaked sorry

Jamie Foxx5345d ago

article i think i have ever read...oh look theres a pig flying

theKiller5345d ago

sony will never give up on the studios that built the playstation brand with ps1 and ps2 that its still kicking 360 ars now!!!

they r not loosing, they r investing now!! they r spending millions on games and the games return at least twice as much!! unless if it was a big flop!

u got uncharted,warhawk, heavenly sword, resistance 1, motorstorm etc, they sold millions of copies world wide!

besides competition is always healthy for the industry, i dont want MS to die although with the 360 they made a big embarrassment with the hardware

PS3rd the Turd5345d ago (Edited 5345d ago )

lol Nasim is saying Sony is more wealthy than Microsft now ha!!!!!!!!

Seriously Nasim. Go ask your parents. Microsft is one of the top 5 richest corporations in the world. Sony isn't even remotely close.

Microsft has a monopoly on PC's. What a clown. Bill Gates by himself is worth 65 billion and he's only the chairman!!!

Noob don't make me own you Nasim. Microsft is worth WAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY YYYYY more than Sony. WAY more.

Should I own you Nasim?

Microsft just offered 44.5 BILLION to yahoo... DID MICROSFT OFFER WELL MORE THAN HALF THEIR COMPANY TO BUY YAHOO???? HAHAHAHAHHA Is Microsft BARELY worth more than the 44.5 billion they offered to Yahoo?? http://www.techcrunch.com/2...

Nasim you're an IDIOT. Microsoft is SO MUCH wealthier than Sony. Why do you think he's talking about Microsft buying Sony's game division and not the other way around you dummy?

NASIM is a desperate Arab and Microsft could crush little Sony under it's pinky = 110% FACT and everyone knows it.

Captain Tuttle5345d ago (Edited 5345d ago )

NET Tangible Assets are all that matter and both companies are about equal. Sony has a ton of liabilities, $90 billion or something.

I agree that it's a silly article. It'll certainly generate alot of discussion though.

sonarus5345d ago

I seriously doubt they can afford it

DaKid5345d ago

here is a definition of Market Cap, it also uses Microsoft and IBM as expamles of what Market Cap means.

http://www.investopedia.com...

hardmetal5345d ago (Edited 5345d ago )

Really she can. She would advise MS to buy Nintendo instead.

lolz

DrakenSilverwing5345d ago

Yer right! i knew Sony was big and rich.. i mean i see Sony's name on everything.. well around my place.. Microsofts name is basically just on the computer.. not many other places(there may be a few)

^$#@ thats alot of liabilities tho... i suppose ya really have to spend money to make money... hehe but wow...

cahill5345d ago (Edited 5345d ago )

MC takes into account the value of the shares which u have sold to investors and shareholders ** the fluctuating price of shares

Your total assets determine how big you are financially

@captain tuttle

SONY financial liabilty falls into the category of FUTURE INVESTMENTS mostly which is 53B dollars --thats almost as much as the total assets of MS which include 30B dollars in liabilities too

" http://arstechnica.com/jour...

"The cash portion of the deal would be more than $20 billion, and since Microsoft had about $21.1 billion in cash and cash equivalents at the end of its most recent quarter, the software giant would have to spend itself dry to buy out Yahoo without a loan."

marinelife95345d ago

The other day I was eating a chocolate bar and decided to dip it in my guacamole and I thought hmmm what if someone put the two of them together... then they could together take on Almond Joy's.

n4gzz5345d ago

I have nothing against Sony, MS. I just like good product but I just don't understand that how in the hell stupid people can get job like that!!

OOG5345d ago (Edited 5345d ago )

Oh here we go with people playing business man..........

Cahill get off your crack dude,,,,why would MS have a ton of money in assets when they are primarily a software Giant...they dont need a ton of assets.....

It all comes down to which company is more profitable and MS makes way more money each year then Sony....plain and simple dont even have to play with numbers.....

but anyway.....this is just a worthless article about something that would never happen in the first place

morganfell5345d ago

Okay, I had to quit reading right after he said the games division was a drain on Sony. the games division is growing and helped boost sales.

http://www.edge-online.com/...

Ateanboy5345d ago

What an imbecile!

"More interested in NINTENDO" he says...

There's no such thing as a gamer being more interested in the Wii than the PS3 or 360.

There's only the elderly who where given a Wii as a gift... and parents who want to buy their little children cheap consoles... and those parents' little children...

And they don't play video games. They just started playing now because of the Wii. Those aren't GAMERS.

There's no such thing as a "CASUAL" gamer. You're either a gamer, (maybe a hardcore gamer), or not a gamer at all.

If you're NOT a gamer, then your interested in Nintendo.
And if you ARE a gamer, then you're interested in the PS3 or the 360.

Lol. This guy's a complete moron.

hardmetal5345d ago

You should have stopped reading after you read the title.

Tarasque5345d ago

Wow it is really getting hard to sift through the trashy articles that get posted on here.

Domenikos5345d ago

LOLs at your comment... Assets doesnt measure how rich a company is.

U can increase your liabilities or ownership equity in order to increase ur assets.

Liabilities+OE = assets, the only thing that you proved is that Sony is a bigger company than MS but that doesnt mean its richer.

Ur facts = MEH, anyway, MS buying Sony Gaming division = DUMB (get some financial knowledge first)

perseus5345d ago

"MS makes way more money each year then Sony"

I'm sorry, do you even bother to research your claims before you make them? You will find Sony on the list below of the top 100 richest companies, but guess who you won't find?

http://money.cnn.com/magazi...

Ace Killa 085345d ago

that posted that they do not dare mess with MS on the release of Halo 3? i remember that MS would sue with mighty force and really messing with MS is like messing with GOD, and honestly if some one were to say im going to be better than god or have two gods. the first god is ganna kick the other ones a$$ and make sures its dominant

DrakenSilverwing5345d ago

Right on! couldn't be much more clear then that!

----------------------------- --------------------

Most ppl just don't realize how big Sony really is.. and how much influence they have.. Microsoft might be big. and likes to buy things but they can't touch Sony.

DaKid5345d ago

Microsoft does make higher profits then Sony. Sony makes a higher Revenue.

Revenue ≠ Profit

uie4rhig5345d ago

the day that this will happen is when Microsoft announced that they bin Windows for a free Linux kernel, and they use these keywords in one sentence in the same sentence when they announce this:
Bill Gates, ass, Windows, Crap, Linux, Ownage, bin, Windows, New OS, Linux Kernel

there ya go..

morganfell5345d ago

@ hardmetal, ha ha you are dead right about that. Right after the title I should have been wailing on that back button.

BattleAxe5345d ago (Edited 5345d ago )

We've had this discussion before, Sony has far more revenue comming year after year. Sony is also one of the richest and biggest companies in the world. It would never happen and Microsoft(as big and rich as they might be) just could simply not afford to do such a thing. I think Microsoft would have a better chance at buying out Nintendo.

ThanatosDMC5345d ago

I have the answer to this article. Wouldnt it be simpler for M$ to just kill their gaming division?

Pain705345d ago

using above "posted" website, compare these two companies. does Sony sell a crap load of goods? hell yes!!! does MS put more in the bank? just compare!!!!!! profits is the number to look at if your interested. remember assets incur depreciation on balance sheets. $1 spent doesn't equal $1 gained which doesn't equal $1 saved. you might have to spend $4 to make $5 only to save $1.

http://money.cnn.com/magazi...

http://money.cnn.com/magazi...

The Lazy One5345d ago

Sony has worse return on it's investment a lot of the time though.

The game division is a very very small part of their company; even though they're incredibly well known for it.

Coheno5345d ago

MS should buy SONY AND NINTENDO, then where's the competition, now see that would have been a GREAT article!!! And a win win for all if you use this guys common sence...yeez...

Matpan5345d ago

69 Sony 70,924.8 1,080.1

139 Microsoft 44,282.0 12,599.0

U know I could be simplistic as you and state that the sheer fact that Sony is a Hardware seller makes it OBVIOUS that it will have an overall bigger income... and that would also mean it needs to do a much bigger effort and sell much more in order to make less than the 10% of MS annual profit...

MS is still one of the most profitable companies (has one of the best Revenue/Profit relation of that list)

Anyways, these articles are plain stupid... there are far more important aspects than just money in game here... If a thing like that would happen it would most probably be a merging into a new company... and even then... there surely are lots of company policies that would defer from one another...

Not in the next two decades... maybe after 2020... who knows :P

The Mikester5344d ago

Microsoft is rich...there one of the richest companies in the world and i'm not surprised that there so rich.
I think it's cool that Sony is richer than Microsoft though....never thought that they were though.

The Mikester5344d ago

O and this is a reply to Coheno's comment.
Do you know how that Sony and Nintendo will never be bought by Microsoft. They are competitors and i don't even like the idea of Microsoft + Sony + Nintendo put together to make one big company. Especially when i hate Microsoft.

+ Show (31) more repliesLast reply 5344d ago
IamTheStorm815345d ago (Edited 5345d ago )

That was the single stupidest thing I've read in a long, long time.

5345d ago
supahbad5345d ago (Edited 5345d ago )

so stupid, their next article,"If you're hungry, buy a sandwich." totally irrelevant

2.1-what?

Adamalicious5345d ago

No kidding! How do you get a job a CNET - show up and say "I know nothing about tech, economics, or anything whatsoever"?? What a moron.

slave2Dcontroller5345d ago

CNET next article should be appropriately titled- "Why CNET journalist are R-Tards".

Lekumkee5345d ago

That article is just plain WTF?!?! Not only what he propose makes no damn sense, it's absolutely impossible. It's so stupid I don't no if I should laugh or feel sorry for the guy for being so absolutely clueless.

dktxx25345d ago

Your a moron if you think that Sony's game division is draining "financial stability". They are already seeing quarterly profits while taking such a massive loss on the ps3. There's no way in hell this would happen. Sony buying Microsoft's game studio is more likely than this.

orakga5345d ago

Two problems with that CNet article (and that Don guy really has no clue... this isn't the first time he posted something completely far-fetched and disconnected from facts):

1) Sony's gaming division is one of the few divisions at Sony that's making money ("profitable"). So I don't know how he thought he'd get away with a statement like "with the gaming division draining investor confidence". If anything, the gaming division is the only division keeping the stock prices from crashing.

2) The fact that he still thinks the Wii and PS360s are competing in the same market. I hate to open myself for more flame, but let's come together as a crowd already and accept that the Wii users and PS360 users are completely different. Nintendo has done a heck of a job catering to the non-hardcore gamers, but they are far from winning the hardcore users.

To be fair, the concept of Microsoft acquiring Sony's gaming division (though practically impossible due to deep-rooted hatred between these competitors) is intriguing, and I could see myself supporting that move as a consumer.

But, like many bloggers on the internet, the basis of his arguments and his evidence fails the first smell-test.