Sony has had a family of developers for years and those they acquired during the PS3 era were what made the PS4 shine with their games, while the older brothers were working on their craft and pushed the PS4 even more. Now with the PS5 we will see all devs in their prime and going all out. Sony should focus on keeping their family of devs making more quality content and adding a few that would diversify their lineup rather than panic buying devs, which is what MS has been mostly doing. It will take more years for MS will be where Sony is at right now. They have the quantity… now let’s see how they will deliver quality
One company had none so they spent while the other company keeps doing smaller buyouts and growing overtime. I don't think Ms had the luxury to wait and see, they had to go big to show their commitment long term. And because they were trying to step away from traditional gaming model and instead focusing on subscriptions
Right or wrong depends on your point of view. The way I see it Sony at one time were working on a console with Nintendo so they saw first hand what was working and they learned from that. Microsoft came into gaming console business thinking they could just throw money around and fix their shortcomings
I think you're taking isarai's comment to be denigrating—to me, it's more of an observation, and an apt one at that.
I respect the PlayStation approach more because it's a very encouraging environment that raises the talent, but I also think Microsoft buying Zenimax makes a ton of sense. A massive purchase of many studios with highly acclaimed IPs. They were pretty far behind and it does help them play catch-up, for sure.
I think Sony should be flattered, honestly. Microsoft felt compelled to spend upwards of $7 B to keep pace. People would deny that, but I'm quite convinced that this was clearly a purchase aimed at leveling the gap.
"No. The criticism was that they don't build their dev teams. And they don't foster their relationships."
Bit of a blanket statement there. MS built 343i, The Initiative and The Coalition from scratch in the last decade and worked with Playground Games and Undead Labs for years before purchasing them.
How many studios have Sony built from the ground up in the last 20 years?
Yes ZeniMax is a different beast, nobody disputes that but Microsoft have done the stuff Sony does (fostering) and the stuff people thinks Sony does but doesn't (build new studios). Plus in addition they have stopped small studios from going bankrupt (inXile, Double Fine, Obsidian). And maybe Microsoft acquire Asobo, Moon and Avalanche next after they have worked with them?
How about some of the others? Obsidian's first console title was Xbox. Ninja Theory's first console game was Xbox. All of the teams they signed up have all had relationships w/ MS for a long, long time. Look into the actual people in those teams and how long they've worked with folks on the MS side.
Relationships don't just mean that they took a multiplat/freelance dev...fed them contract work for awhile...and then bought them. Sony isn't some special altruistic corporation here. They made targeted acquisitions and used the exact same PR speak as MS afterwards.
Fanboys just want to tell themselves that when THEIR multi-national corporation does an acquisition, it's SO much different than the others.
It's not. It's all the same. If Sony was comfortable with the financials, they'd get larger buys too.
@knightedhollow what are you talking about ?? Majority of MS studios they did so have a relationship with them prior to purchase. Fans swear they know what goes on in the background.
"Show me a Zenimax/Bethesda multiplatform game that sold more copies on xbox vs PS. Then look at the totals."
Not aimed at me but I'll jump in here. You're asking an almost impossible question to answer as that information is hard to find/prove. But I can almost guarantee that Oblivion, Skyrim and Fallout 3 sold more on x360 than PS3.
Also just to add facts to what was said earlier, Beth/MS have had a relationship for some time. Morrowind was exclusive, Oblivion was exclusive (until the GOTY edition came out) and Skyrim/F3 had all their DLC timed exclusive to x360.
Now last gen was a different story altogether of course. PS4 completely dominated and I imagine every single game sold more on PlayStation.
Ultrs, which one sold more? Your cimment doesn't make sense in context. I am talking about relationships not sales. Ot is a well known fact that Bethesda and MS had a good relationship for sometime. It looks like Domination beat me to it as far a s a response.
Are you denying that they had a good relationship?
Domination, pretty much said what I eould have done.
The keyword on your OG comment was "productive" which means, in my eyes, in terms of revenue produced. The simple truth is that Bethesda had a more "productive" relationship with Sony throughout the years by making more money (in total - to appease DOMination) from partnering with Sony i.e releasing their games on PS platforms - which is especially true during last-gen as DOMination already mentioned. It's worth reminding that last-gen saw record game sales compared to any previous gens too.
Anyway, the deal MS made was aggressive and there's no excuse, but it made sense too.
Direction via output. Microsoft wants drag and drop game engines connected with other players to create the dependency of playing with friends is what gaming is about. This, of course, leads to cheaper development and leans into their bread and butter… subscriptions. Nothing wrong with it… it is a space that can be filled. IF one of Microsoft developers knocks out an awesome idea for a single player AAA game.. then we will randomly see them. But their focus is players creating fun with each other.
Sony has had a hard line approach of creating big AAA games and blurring the line of art, movies and gaming while they spend less on “connected” games, make them indie style or let the third party developers who are focusing on it have their own spot.
Both companies can make changes.. but this would favor Sony more because it is far easier to create a map/sandbox and let players create their connected PvP/co-op fun vs huge AAA games that push the gaming developments forward.
Kind of cool to be honest. Third parties for everyone… differences in directions.
I think it would be fairer to say Sony started a small town that grew into a city, and Microsoft found a metropolis and bought the election for to be Mayor of it.
One has deep rooted connections with every corner of their community, the other has ownership and power of a larger community (but shallower roots). Time will tell if Microsoft’s dev culture has shifted at all since Bungie split up.
Xbox likes to partner with established devs and give them more resources to make bigger games. PS likes to partner with smaller devs over the course of years and eventually give them an offer etc.
In other words, I feel like PS builds a relationship from the ground up with devs providing an opportunity to make something they want to make with more resources while Xbox takes them out for a really nice dinner and then says if they marry them they get to be rich.
I do wonder what the financial benefit to Bethesda is though. They kinda remind me of Rockstar where their games are popular enough that they're massively profitable with very limited budget constraints.
Both companies have the same high-level strategy: they buy what they can afford. Everything else is marketing BS. It's funny how much hate MS gets for buying Zenimax, when Sony was trying to make a deal with Bethesda themselves. Now being outbid by competition is called 'nurturing' and having a 'family' (favorite word of every dysfunctional corporation ever).
Neither corporation is better or worse, they're both cut from the same... well, spreadsheet. The difference is the size of the wallet: Sony does smaller deals and buyouts, but you bet they would buy EA in a second if they could afford (and sustain) it.
MS on the other hand is doing all kinds of deals and acquisitions, because they can (for now). Saying they don't create or 'nurture' studios is cute. Turn10, 343i, Coalition, Initiative - created. Playground - bought after a long exclusive relationship. Most of the biggest IPs on Xbox are handled by studios built by MS.
One doesnt know how to build and improve a Studio and its force to spend billions on big studios another get small studios and helps them become great.
insomniac wasn’t a small studio, the only big studio MS bought was Zenimax. The other studio that were purchased were going under anyway, y’all Sony fans are clueless. Y’all need to become friends with google.com for real lol .. spreading more false information then anything ..
Insomniac was a small studio when they started. They had around 50 employees when they created their first game, Disruptor, for PS1 (originally for the 3DO before that system tanked). Through the years, they’ve worked with many console makers but it was Sony that helped them the most, hence the whole building up a small indie studio and nurturing talent.
They didn’t go with Sony by default. It was between Sony and Sega (Nintendo used cartridges not cds) and Universal chose to go with PlayStation.
Considering you completely fabricated that point in your comment, I can only assume you’re one of those users who just throws ideas at the wall and hopes something sticks. There’s no point talking with you because you’ll just lie to make your comments seem plausible.
If that’s how you want to spin it. So if Sony went and bought say, Rockstar, then I suppose you’d slate them for it then?
The reality is that Microsoft has a bigger balance sheet and Sony can’t make the same sort of industry-shaking acquisitions. Carry on dressing up the morals of this as much as you like though.
it feels like that, because MS has the bigger money pot, they just randomly bought dev companies. the Bethesda purchase came out of nowhere tbh.
the difference is in what they want for their platforms. xbox is still kind of stuck in the western fps's and bethesda kinds of games, whereas sony is more intrested in the 'creative' kinds of games, if that makes sense.
I think we can lay the 'creative Sony' myth to rest. Most of their AA/AAA games are single player third-person action, a lot of them iterations of very old franchises.
Weird I was under the impression Ghost or Tsushima, Death Stranding, Dreams, Concrete Genie, Returnal, Days Gone were new IPs, which iterations of old franchises were these from again? I seem to have forgot which pre-existing franchises they came from. Could of thought those were created from scratch because those studios wanted to.
@Chevalier: I thought everyone understands the difference between "a lot" and "all", but apparently you don't even understand the difference between "have" and "of". That's borderline illiteracy, man, do something about it.
Having creativity and expanding preexisting franchises aren't mutually exclusive though. Sony has introduced far more new IPs was my point. Xbox doesn't introduce new IPs nearly as often. Just look at the studios Sony have made partnerships with like Haven, Firewall, Deviation studios which are ALL new studios developing exclusive IPs for Playstation along the Sony's own studios which apparently have 50 games in development over half which are NEW IPs. If having that many new IPs in the pipeline isn't 'creative' then what else are you expecting? Did Xbox studios even introduce 25 new IPs since the 360 era? NOPE.
I like Sony's approach better, feels like if there is success it's very much earned. Hopefully Microsoft can start that too, instead of trying to buy what's there instead of nurturing smaller studios.
Studios blossom and elevate their quality under Sony. Microsoft just seems to turn good developers mediocre. Case in point, Rare. From Goldeneye and Perfect Dark to Sea of thieves? Honestly that's pathetic. MS didn't even trust them with the new Perfect Dark and that's their IP. Hopefully Everwild returns them to their former glory but that's a big if and a long way out.
FASA Studios, Digital Anvil, Ensemble Studios, Lionhead Studios, Press Play Games, you're welcome to look them up, all of them bought by Microsoft and all were closed, they were probably not very thrilled either. And lets not forget Bungie couldn't wait to get away from Microsoft. So probably best not to do the finger pointing over studio closures Microsoft has had their fair share, it happens.
2020 SoT confirmed to have over 15million players and counting. After the new pirates of the Caribbean expansion it would have long surpassed 12 million https://www.polygon.com/pla...
And that over 1 million sold you're talking about was steam sells alone.....in 1 month.....BOOM
The same people moaning about ZeniMax now were jumping for joy at the thought of Sony owning the GTA and Bioshock IPs two years ago. I guess Sony can do as they please and we will just adjust the narrative accordingly.
So your proof is a rumour from over 2 years ago?! Unless it actually happens that's just you grasping at straws trying to justify Xbox taking away a huge multiplatform developer away from gamers.
Maybe I wasn't clear. I'm not trying to suggest Sony are after big publishers or developers at all, just simply pointing out that some people here on N4G are hypocritical. When that rumour about Take-Two was floating about the community were pumping the air in delight.. and they are arguably much bigger than ZeniMax Media. Those people were certainly not concerned that Xbox-only gamers would potentially no longer to be able to play RDR, GTA, Bioshock, 2K Games, Borderlands, Xcom etc.
I get what you're saying in that regard now that you have clarified. All I'm saying is that's not the reality of what has happened. MS buying Bethesda and taking a multiplatform game company away is FACT. No way is the gaming community better for it. Bethesda independently could easily support and pay for their game development so having MS buying them doesn't really change that. Phil Spencer literally said he didn't want to take games away for gamers and spoke against it, then does the exact opposite of what he said.
Right and the same people that cheer for the Zenimax purchase would chastise Sony for buying someone like Take Two (which would never happen). Point is that hypocrisy you speak of goes both ways on this site so lets be fair in our assessment here and not biased about it.
Going through these comments there is so much Sony worship. These are just businesses. It’s somehow a bad thing for Xbox to buy fully formed studios. It’s somehow a bad thing to leave their cultures intact while increasing their resources, and encouraging the sharing of ideas and technologies between all parties. Sony would do the same thing if they could afford to full stop. Telling yourself anything else is delusional. They are doing all that they can do now. It’s a good strategy considering it’s really all they can do without over extending themselves. Announcing Haven and Firewalker studios projects when the teams aren’t formed shows they are feeling the heat. Sony thrives on pressure it seems. All of this is positive for us. All 3 console owners thriving and running on all cylinders. Stop the worship give credit and criticism where it’s due all around.
This article fails to address on the Xbox side Bethesda. It also fails to see the award winning Studios Xbox has purchased like Obsidian, InXile and Playground games. Overall, Xbox doesn't need to do what any other platform does it just needs to be the best Xbox for this generation and beyond. Many of us love the confidence Xbox has and are looking forward to huge blockbusters games like Halo Infinite, Forza Horizon 5, Perfect Dark, Indiana Jones, Avowed, Fable and Starfield to name a few.
Sony bought up Studios & made deals with others when the first PlayStation came out. They basically out bought Sega as they had the most money. If they could have bought Bethesda they would have.
Obsidian is the biggest acquisition to me. It hit my PS fanboy heart, but luckily their games run fine on my PC. I still can't believe no one is writing about their trailer at E3. I mean the trailer did get at one of cores of gaming culture and no one is picking this up. I have seen articles either gloss over it or call it "cheeky", but no one is diving in this one. Anyway, you hurt me Obsidian, but I forgive you.
Laughable article. The reason MS has been able to buy studios is because of the relationship. Todd, Tim and others said one of the factors of selling was the trust and vision Phil and company shared. If thats not relationship and studio building, then your smoking something.
Sony can only wish they could make similar moves as Microsoft, Allowing Xbox to buy and build a stronger first party presence is key. PS has had it for awhile, now Xbox has grown their first party studios quite a bit. Those investments will come to light in the coming years. PS on the other hand is having a rocky start with forgettable iPs and games that people mainly play once, even if they have decent exclusives they’ve never grasped the MP aspect, which their exclusives are starving for a good MP game worth playing. Xbox clearly has the MP games that gamers and their friends play for years. Playstations got some work to do when it comes to having a worthwhile MP exclusive.
I keep seeing this comment about MS and their so called unlimited funds. You would think if this was so they would have been ahead in every console gen they have been in. Yet...............
Sony has had a family of developers for years and those they acquired during the PS3 era were what made the PS4 shine with their games, while the older brothers were working on their craft and pushed the PS4 even more. Now with the PS5 we will see all devs in their prime and going all out. Sony should focus on keeping their family of devs making more quality content and adding a few that would diversify their lineup rather than panic buying devs, which is what MS has been mostly doing. It will take more years for MS will be where Sony is at right now. They have the quantity… now let’s see how they will deliver quality
Sony buys up and coming studios with promise and potential and builds them into something bigger.
MS is buying the biggest ones they can afford that have already developed themselves.
Basically Sony is buying the lot, then building the mansion, MS is buying the mansion prefurnished from the previous owner.
Xbox likes to partner with established devs and give them more resources to make bigger games. PS likes to partner with smaller devs over the course of years and eventually give them an offer etc.
One doesnt know how to build and improve a Studio and its force to spend billions on big studios another get small studios and helps them become great.
Sony has done it the right way. Basically buying studios that basically developed exclusives for Sony for years.