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A huge purchase is imminent within 1 month from now

Bonuses, rewards, benefits, computer rigs, rent, tech development, game engines. Then actual game development cost: mo-caps, hiring musicians, actors, etc. Then overall division expenditures include server costs, making third-party timed-exclusivity deals, gamepass/ps+ deals, marketing expenditures, hardware cost, hardware RnD, hardware loss per unit, game publishing. I can go on and on.

You oversimplified it to "$10,000 per employee salary = total expenditures of Xbox" lol.

By your own account, you don't know what PlayStation spends $21.5 billion on. But, even without knowing, you want to claim that Xbox does not similar expenses.
That's the thing, you oversimplified it by saying Microsoft has more studios so they are spending way more than Sony. Running the studios themselves doesn't cost much though, so that conclusion is wrong.
 

Hezekiah

Banned
How did psychonauts flip? You don't know how well it performed until they put that "one million players on gamepass" thing they do for sea of thieves. the sale of the game isnt as important as raw sales. Forza will win racing game of the year no doubt, might be a goty contender. flight sim xbox has a 90 on meta critic, psychonauts 88, death loop 89...halo at worst will be 80 but still will have agiant player base...no matter how you slice it or FUD it theyre in a great position and will probably have their first goty in forever this year.
There was a thread on here about Psychonauts not selling well as it didnt chart in the August NPD. That obviously didnt include Xbox digital sales, but it appears not to have sold well (and to be fair the first game flopped). But you're right, we wont get actual figures from Microsoft.

"the sale of the game isnt as important as raw sales" eh?? Sorry, I'm, struggling to make sense of that.

Shows you haven't played Wasteland 3. It's one of the best games released in years. It's an incredible game, but you'd know that if you tried it.

On 343, how do you know they've blown any money? Everwild is in development hell based on what exactly? Making changes or adjustments to plans doesn't mean development hell. God of War 2018, for example, quite literally had the full development team in revolt and disagreeing with the director's direction. Kratos' son was taken out like 3 to 4 times. It's called the development process.

Many negative views on here to redfall's initial showing literally centered on the fact that there was a black girl in the damn trailer... I don't know what you are talking about there. :messenger_tears_of_joy:

Psychonauts 2 is an incredible game. No, it doesn't place any pressure on their next game at all. That's the beauty of the game pass model. It's one more of many reasons for why people will stick around and play games on Xbox. It's okay for it to not have the draw of a Halo, a Starfield, or a Elder Scrolls 6. Many Xbox gamers have been playing and enjoying it, and for some who aren't, they're just finishing off the games they're already playing.

Psychonauts was also an existing contract and commitment the team had before Microsoft ever acquired them. Microsoft's funding just allowed them to make the game even bigger and better. This isn't even the big AAA Microsoft has already greenlit for their first big new project under Xbox. It seems many still don't understand that with the Xbox Game Pass business model, it takes pressure off Microsoft's first party titles. They don't all have to drive massive subscribers. Some are the ones that drive more subscriptions, others are just the ones that keep people subscribed. Psychonauts 2 is a game that many people who are already firmly convinced by Game Pass will stick around to play. It's that good a game. Let the juggernauts do what they do best and push more people to it. Psychonauts never needed to be that game. Psychonauts shows Microsoft that Double Fine will knock that shit out of the park with a bigger budget, which is exactly what they'll get on their next project.
Re: Wastelands 3 - you realise what you've said as with nay opinion is entirely subjective right? Eurogamer gave it a 'Recommended' rather than 'Essential' - does that mean they didnt play it either? It's a good AA game. Just because I'm saying it isnt GoTY material doesnt mean I'm saying it's bad.

343i's Halo budget has been widely documented to be massive - are you seriously questioning that? There have been lot of pieces from Schreier about how badly they have been managed, to the point where they are launching a year late (six years since their last game and with a huge development team), without co-op and Forge.

I didnt see anybody on here complaining about the black girl. Most people were saying the trailer looked crap and/or a bit generic, and was an odd game to finish the conference on. You sound a bit triggered about this, maybe you're an Arkane fan - I am too, I have both Dishonoured games and Prey, but we've seen very little gameplay footage to justify some of the hype you're giving it.

I dont think anyone thinks GamePass wont be sticking around, but Psychonauts 2 was on the biggest platforms PS4, and of course PC where GamePass is apparently less popular than Xbox so if sales as it seems are low, it's not great in terms of the expected commercial reception.
 

Woopah

Member
Yea I meant forspoken since Guardians is done by western team.



True and I expect some things for TGS, but I do know Capcom has at least 3-4 titles that are PS exclusive. 2 of them are timed, and one is probably going to have a longer exclusivity than 1 year because of Evo being owned by Sony. One of them is a action game, one is a fighting game, we know about progmata but I dont think that has a exclusivity.

There is a sequel to monster hunter world in the works and has been for some time by different team than Switch team.

Capcom has a lot they are working on but re-structuring and covid really kicked the shit out of them. I know of at least 2 projects that restarted.
Do you know if those games were in the Capcom leaks, or we they something else? The next Capcom announcement I expect is the Switch Resident Evil and that will probably be in a Direct.
 

Papacheeks

Banned
Do you know if those games were in the Capcom leaks, or we they something else? The next Capcom announcement I expect is the Switch Resident Evil and that will probably be in a Direct.

Yea thats what I was alluring to and was drinking last night so my inclusion of nvidia in my comments was about the data leak. The capcom leak was 100% legit. So dragons dogma is one of them but I've heard since Monster hunter world a new direction was considered. Some of the people who did Dogma worked on monster hunter. We do know RE4 restarted because of feedback from RE3. Expect similar support for VR like RE7/8. RE4 even though it debuted on Gamecube and I always say it was to me a gamecube game first is associated with PS2 because they added ada wong missions and it sold like double on Playstation. There's rumors of some exclusivity with that. But mostly timed.

I know Sony is being serious with exclusivity on Japanese titles because their new studio they were putting together this year wasn't set staff wise. A lot of the deals we are going to see started last year and beyond. Gamepass actually has helped Capcom/Square a lot more than people realize. Because of gamepass Sony has been paying more for exclusivity, helping keep capcom/square very flush on top of stock ownership.

I know December is going to be a big month for Japanese publishers which if you notice have been pretty quiet outside of a few titles. CAPCOM has been quiet the whole year. They released RE8 and monster hunter rising and we have not heard anything from them since last year on new games. Capcom is taking a sony approach going forward in how they reveal games.

Notice most games they show are usually within 6 months or so of launch. Street fighter is one of the games teased because they are done with content on SFV and sony wants a big EVO blowout next year. Expect Sony in a big way to go all in on all fighters in Japan. There is a secret project that was talked about by capcom that was described as a seikiro/NIOH game? Not sure if this is a new IP or something within the universe of Onimusha, or if this was scrapped. 2 Project restarted and a lot of people were pulled off things and put on others. Capcom's changes in teams in street fighter was not the only change that happened. There's a different team on RE4 remake now.

In terms of sales Monster hunter is the reason Dragons dogma sequel hasnt been seen sooner. It's very far along but I know a lot of stuff has happened.

But next couple years Capcom is going to be making more games based off of IP's that we all know. Progmata is not the only new IP in the works. But their focus going forward is going to be a lot of things we know.
 
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Heisenberg007

Gold Journalism
That's the thing, you oversimplified it by saying Microsoft has more studios so they are spending way more than Sony. Running the studios themselves doesn't cost much though, so that conclusion is wrong.
They have more studios. They have more employees. They have more games in development. They have to pay more for timed exclusivity deals. They spend more money on Gamepass deals. They spend more money on servers and support xCloud via XSX.

How can they spend less than PlayStation?
 

Dabaus

Banned
Yea thats what I was alluring to and was drinking last night so my inclusion of nvidia in my comments was about the data leak. The capcom leak was 100% legit. So dragons dogma is one of them but I've heard since Monster hunter world a new direction was considered. Some of the people who did Dogma worked on monster hunter. We do know RE4 restarted because of feedback from RE3. Expect similar support for VR like RE7/8. RE4 even though it debuted on Gamecube and I always say it was to me a gamecube game first is associated with PS2 because they added ada wong missions and it sold like double on Playstation. There's rumors of some exclusivity with that. But mostly timed.

I know Sony is being serious with exclusivity on Japanese titles because their new studio they were putting together this year wasn't set staff wise. A lot of the deals we are going to see started last year and beyond. Gamepass actually has helped Capcom/Square a lot more than people realize. Because of gamepass Sony has been paying more for exclusivity, helping keep capcom/square very flush on top of stock ownership.

I know December is going to be a big month for Japanese publishers which if you notice have been pretty quiet outside of a few titles. CAPCOM has been quiet the whole year. They released RE8 and monster hunter rising and we have not heard anything from them since last year on new games. Capcom is taking a sony approach going forward in how they reveal games.

Notice most games they show are usually within 6 months or so of launch. Street fighter is one of the games teased because they are done with content on SFV and sony wants a big EVO blowout next year. Expect Sony in a big way to go all in on all fighters in Japan. There is a secret project that was talked about by capcom that was described as a seikiro/NIOH game? Not sure if this is a new IP or something within the universe of Onimusha, or if this was scrapped. 2 Project restarted and a lot of people were pulled off things and put on others. Capcom's changes in teams in street fighter was not the only change that happened. There's a different team on RE4 remake now.

In terms of sales Monster hunter is the reason Dragons dogma sequel hasnt been seen sooner. It's very far along but I know a lot of stuff has happened.

But next couple years Capcom is going to be making more games based off of IP's that we all know. Progmata is not the only new IP in the works. But their focus going forward is going to be a lot of things we know.
Are you saying gamepass as aservice has helped square/capcom or because of gamespass sony is paying them alot and thats how gamespass is helping them? Also, how do you know all this?
 

hlm666

Member
Are you saying gamepass as aservice has helped square/capcom or because of gamespass sony is paying them alot and thats how gamespass is helping them? Also, how do you know all this?
I thought it ment because microsoft is probably dropping offers all over the place for gamepass deals Capcom/Square are asking for more from Sony than they used to because MS has probably offered at the very least what Sony normally would.
 

Papacheeks

Banned
Are you saying gamepass as aservice has helped square/capcom or because of gamespass sony is paying them alot and thats how gamespass is helping them? Also, how do you know all this?

Because of Microsoft being aggressive with deals, and with the money they spent on DMCV, Yakuza a lot of Japanese publishers with IP they are getting calls for having on Gamepass they can now charge more for exclusivity deals. Before Playstation was naming their price and publishers knew that Playstation platform sold to Japan well unlike Xbox.

Now with a renewed interest in Japanese developed IP's, publishers can ask for more money now because of deals MS is doing. I talk to people I know who work in the industry, people from ASIAN markets are seeing a uptick in interest. ANd increase in prices for exclusivity for big games is also why your seeing Sony promote more studios from China and Korea.
 
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Dabaus

Banned
Because of Microsoft being aggressive with deals, and with the money they spent on DMCV, Yakuza a lot of Japanese publishers with IP they are getting calls for having on Gamepass they can now charge more for exclusivity deals. Before Playstation was naming their price and publishers knew that Playstation platform sold to Japan well unlike Xbox.

Now with a renewed interest in Japanese developed IP's, publishers can ask for more money now because of deals MS is doing. I talk to people I know who work in the industry, people from ASIAN markets are seeing a uptick in interest. ANd increase in prices for exclusivity for big games is also why your seeing Sony promote more studios from China and Korea.
So to be clear, they have more money because sony is paying them extra or because MS is paying them for gamepass or both? Also have you heard anything about sony acquiring any studios or publishers?
 

Papacheeks

Banned
So to be clear, they have more money because sony is paying them extra or because MS is paying them for gamepass or both? Also have you heard anything about sony acquiring any studios or publishers?

When you have more people wanting to pay money to put it on a service, you can use that as leverage. During negotiations things like that will be brought up to help bargain a better deal for the publisher of said title. I have not heard about any acquisitions, Sony is being very careful with what they buy. And the only thing thats been talked about is a merger not a buyout with a Japanese publisher.

Though it makes sense to buy someone like capcom, i just dont think Sony would do it. The amount Square or capcom would want would be pretty high. And in terms of making that money back Sony has done the numbers and outside of resident evil and monster hunter brand there isn't anything capcom has currently that would help mitigate the money spent on ownership in a 5-10 year cycle.
 

Dabaus

Banned
When you have more people wanting to pay money to put it on a service, you can use that as leverage. During negotiations things like that will be brought up to help bargain a better deal for the publisher of said title. I have not heard about any acquisitions, Sony is being very careful with what they buy. And the only thing thats been talked about is a merger not a buyout with a Japanese publisher.

Though it makes sense to buy someone like capcom, i just dont think Sony would do it. The amount Square or capcom would want would be pretty high. And in terms of making that money back Sony has done the numbers and outside of resident evil and monster hunter brand there isn't anything capcom has currently that would help mitigate the money spent on ownership in a 5-10 year cycle.
That actually makes sense. I could see a merger with square or something though.
 

Woopah

Member
Yea thats what I was alluring to and was drinking last night so my inclusion of nvidia in my comments was about the data leak. The capcom leak was 100% legit. So dragons dogma is one of them but I've heard since Monster hunter world a new direction was considered. Some of the people who did Dogma worked on monster hunter. We do know RE4 restarted because of feedback from RE3. Expect similar support for VR like RE7/8. RE4 even though it debuted on Gamecube and I always say it was to me a gamecube game first is associated with PS2 because they added ada wong missions and it sold like double on Playstation. There's rumors of some exclusivity with that. But mostly timed.

I know Sony is being serious with exclusivity on Japanese titles because their new studio they were putting together this year wasn't set staff wise. A lot of the deals we are going to see started last year and beyond. Gamepass actually has helped Capcom/Square a lot more than people realize. Because of gamepass Sony has been paying more for exclusivity, helping keep capcom/square very flush on top of stock ownership.

I know December is going to be a big month for Japanese publishers which if you notice have been pretty quiet outside of a few titles. CAPCOM has been quiet the whole year. They released RE8 and monster hunter rising and we have not heard anything from them since last year on new games. Capcom is taking a sony approach going forward in how they reveal games.

Notice most games they show are usually within 6 months or so of launch. Street fighter is one of the games teased because they are done with content on SFV and sony wants a big EVO blowout next year. Expect Sony in a big way to go all in on all fighters in Japan. There is a secret project that was talked about by capcom that was described as a seikiro/NIOH game? Not sure if this is a new IP or something within the universe of Onimusha, or if this was scrapped. 2 Project restarted and a lot of people were pulled off things and put on others. Capcom's changes in teams in street fighter was not the only change that happened. There's a different team on RE4 remake now.

In terms of sales Monster hunter is the reason Dragons dogma sequel hasnt been seen sooner. It's very far along but I know a lot of stuff has happened.

But next couple years Capcom is going to be making more games based off of IP's that we all know. Progmata is not the only new IP in the works. But their focus going forward is going to be a lot of things we know.
A lot of that is really interesting insight, thank you. I agree that Capcom hadn't anouunced anything big yet this year, but we've seen announcements from other Japanese publishers, with more to come at the Direct/TGS.

Are you saying there will be a specific Sony event in December where there will be announcements from Japanese third parties? Also what would you say is a Sony approach to revealing games?
 
They have more studios. They have more employees. They have more games in development. They have to pay more for timed exclusivity deals. They spend more money on Gamepass deals. They spend more money on servers and support xCloud via XSX.

How can they spend less than PlayStation?
The real question is how are they spending 30 billion dollars? There's no way they're spending that much money. Playstation also certainly isn't spending 22 billion dollars.
 
It's all in their financial reports. Sony earned $25 billion in revenue, spent $22 billion, and earned a profit of roughly $3 billion.
That's not how it works. Unless by "spent" you mean "gave publishers the money they deserve" because it's their game. When Timmy buys Cowadoody for 70 bucks on the PS store, Sony earns 70 dollars in revenue, but can only keep 21 of those dollars (or even less, I assume Activision has a discount on the store fees). You're framing it as if Sony "spent" 49 dollars here, but nothing like that happened.
 

Solarstrike

Member
Nintendo will buy SEGA.

Super Mario Nintendo GIF
 
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Heisenberg007

Gold Journalism
That's not how it works. Unless by "spent" you mean "gave publishers the money they deserve" because it's their game. When Timmy buys Cowadoody for 70 bucks on the PS store, Sony earns 70 dollars in revenue, but can only keep 21 of those dollars (or even less, I assume Activision has a discount on the store fees). You're framing it as if Sony "spent" 49 dollars here, but nothing like that happened.
"Spent" here obviously refers to all the operational expenditures, so it includes that amount as well. And the same is applicable to Xbox.
 
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If the steam rumors end up being true I wonder how much the Deck would play into the Purcahse. It’s already confirmed it can be a glorified gamepass machine. Wonder if MS would want to take that further.
 
When you have more people wanting to pay money to put it on a service, you can use that as leverage. During negotiations things like that will be brought up to help bargain a better deal for the publisher of said title. I have not heard about any acquisitions, Sony is being very careful with what they buy. And the only thing thats been talked about is a merger not a buyout with a Japanese publisher.

Though it makes sense to buy someone like capcom, i just dont think Sony would do it. The amount Square or capcom would want would be pretty high. And in terms of making that money back Sony has done the numbers and outside of resident evil and monster hunter brand there isn't anything capcom has currently that would help mitigate the money spent on ownership in a 5-10 year cycle.

There's also no point in buying Square/Capcom when your platform is already the primary beneficiary of their output. What value does acquiring them add? I'm not a fan of "addition by subtraction" acquisitions (i.e., the only value I'm creating is the value destroyed by my competitor not having access). I just think that's a bad way to do business long-term and doesn't really serve your own interests.

There needs to be business relationship alignment that captures something you need but do not presently have, or manages to bolster grow without having to pay an outrageous premium. Studios like Square/Capcom demand a big premium. Stuff like FireSprite, Nixxes, Housemarque, etc. does not.
 

SaucyJack

Member
When you have more people wanting to pay money to put it on a service, you can use that as leverage. During negotiations things like that will be brought up to help bargain a better deal for the publisher of said title. I have not heard about any acquisitions, Sony is being very careful with what they buy. And the only thing thats been talked about is a merger not a buyout with a Japanese publisher.

Though it makes sense to buy someone like capcom, i just dont think Sony would do it. The amount Square or capcom would want would be pretty high. And in terms of making that money back Sony has done the numbers and outside of resident evil and monster hunter brand there isn't anything capcom has currently that would help mitigate the money spent on ownership in a 5-10 year cycle.

There’s no Japanese publisher, other than Nintendo, that’s big enough to truly merge with Sony. Any merger would be a takeover in all but name.
 

Bryank75

Banned
There's also no point in buying Square/Capcom when your platform is already the primary beneficiary of their output. What value does acquiring them add? I'm not a fan of "addition by subtraction" acquisitions (i.e., the only value I'm creating is the value destroyed by my competitor not having access). I just think that's a bad way to do business long-term and doesn't really serve your own interests.

There needs to be business relationship alignment that captures something you need but do not presently have, or manages to bolster grow without having to pay an outrageous premium. Studios like Square/Capcom demand a big premium. Stuff like FireSprite, Nixxes, Housemarque, etc. does not.

I would say Square would benefit from some oversight and restructuring,

(If bought) Their western studios should be moved under PS Studios, assessed and improved where needed. Projects either approved or restarted as needed.

Their IP's need to be assessed... things like Blood Omen and Deus Ex need to come back and be executed well with a big push.

Integrating publishing & marketing through Sony, would make Square far more efficient and building their game library around PlayStation would lead to less waste. It would be far more focused.

I think all Japanese development would remain under traditional management... with things like Nier, FF series and a new FF MMO given precedence.

The IP's are also fertile ground for anime and film and highly valuable to the rest of Sony.

I would say Capcom would be unfair on Nintendo.

But something like Kadokawa or Sega could work to lesser extents in the context of an acquisition.

Many of these IP's would be great for Sony's Anime push and films and the music would also do well through SME.
 

yurinka

Member
What rumours?
The From Soft rumor was that after Elder Ring they will go exclusive to make Super Knack 3



I would say Square would benefit from some oversight and restructuring,

(If bought) Their western studios should be moved under PS Studios, assessed and improved where needed. Projects either approved or restarted as needed.

Their IP's need to be assessed... things like Blood Omen and Deus Ex need to come back and be executed well with a big push.

Integrating publishing & marketing through Sony, would make Square far more efficient and building their game library around PlayStation would lead to less waste. It would be far more focused.

I think all Japanese development would remain under traditional management... with things like Nier, FF series and a new FF MMO given precedence.

The IP's are also fertile ground for anime and film and highly valuable to the rest of Sony.

I would say Capcom would be unfair on Nintendo.

But something like Kadokawa or Sega could work to lesser extents in the context of an acquisition.

Many of these IP's would be great for Sony's Anime push and films and the music would also do well through SME.

Square and Capcom have several fertile top IPs and more than capable teams to keep milking them in addition to potential to grow and improve under a new management, and loads of great catalog games for PS Now & Plus. IPs they can milk in cinema and anime too.

Unfair to Nintendo? Other than the two recent Monster Hunters, as I remember for Switch and WiiU they mostly released old ports and some small games most of them also available (sooner or later) in the other consoles.

I think both would be a great acquisition, but I think Square and Capcom won't want to sell because they are in a good shape and are doing fine, and that non-PS consoles are a good chunk of their revenue so to lose the other consoles would drop their value.

I don't see Sony buying them because they already release almost all their important games on PS, in many cases even as exclusive worldwide, and when not they are de facto console exclusives in Japan due to almost non-existant Xbox there. I think they only would buy them as a defensive move if they see MS is making moves to acquire them.

Same goes for Sega and Kadokawa but in a smaller way, but in these case with publishers whose exclusives in the recent years more focused on exclusives for PS, with smaller? size but in Kadokawa's case with the plus of having the anime stuff and tons of related IPs. The weird part in Kadokawa or Sega is that they have a huge chuck of these companies that wouldn't interest Sony, so they should separate it and sell it to reduce the cost of the acquisition.

If you ask me, if I was Jimbo I'd buy them all: Square, Capcom, Sega and Kadokawa. But I think they won't buy them and instead they will continue getting 2nd and 3rd party exclusive games from therm unless MS or Nintendo tries to buy them.
 
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I would say Square would benefit from some oversight and restructuring,

(If bought) Their western studios should be moved under PS Studios, assessed and improved where needed. Projects either approved or restarted as needed.

Their IP's need to be assessed... things like Blood Omen and Deus Ex need to come back and be executed well with a big push.

Integrating publishing & marketing through Sony, would make Square far more efficient and building their game library around PlayStation would lead to less waste. It would be far more focused.

I think all Japanese development would remain under traditional management... with things like Nier, FF series and a new FF MMO given precedence.

The IP's are also fertile ground for anime and film and highly valuable to the rest of Sony.

I would say Capcom would be unfair on Nintendo.

But something like Kadokawa or Sega could work to lesser extents in the context of an acquisition.

Many of these IP's would be great for Sony's Anime push and films and the music would also do well through SME.

You do restructuring acquisitions when a company's valuation is low, not when it is high. Square is doing fine enough on their own right now.

To go ahead and buy Square, then restructure them, could lead to talent leaving, loss of morale, etc. when the company may not have those issues presently. So it could backfire. If, on the other hand, Square was struggling, morale was low, etc. (see: Bethesda), it could make sense. Not to say Bethesda was cheap by any means, but relative to any other big publisher it was multiples more cheap precisely because they have been struggling.
 
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MrFunSocks

Banned
Not to derail this thread but I highly doubt the only purpose of buying LinkedIn was to get a huge ROI from its subscriptions alone. A majority of Microsoft's revenue is from business to business sales. Azure, Windows, Office 365, etc...... If you want data on businesses, who the decisionmakers in corporations are, and an ability to push advertising about your brands to those people then you could not have picked a better platform.
Yeh talk about LinkedIn and return on investment shows that those people have zero idea what they’re talking about. LinkedIn was purchased for data.

I also see so many people saying that zenimax needs to make back $7.5bil now for “ROI” - again showing they have no idea what they’re talking about.
 

Hezekiah

Banned
They have more studios. They have more employees. They have more games in development. They have to pay more for timed exclusivity deals. They spend more money on Gamepass deals. They spend more money on servers and support xCloud via XSX.

How can they spend less than PlayStation?
This post got people so triggered they bringing out their alt-accounts 😁 Personik Personik
 

Papacheeks

Banned
Papacheeks Papacheeks Do you think Sony will ask for exclusive rights from Square? Like that's why FF7R and XVI aren't on any other platforms.

Well there's a reason SOny still has it's stake in Square stock wise. Same goes for From Software's parent company. Would not be surprised if instead of an acquisition it's a stock buying proposal.

More like a joint effort, where both work independently but stock options are shared/converted. There is a difference between merger and takeover.

There’s no Japanese publisher, other than Nintendo, that’s big enough to truly merge with Sony. Any merger would be a takeover in all but name.

you are correct with the merger gargin, but if you own a lot of stock of said company you can have a none take over setup if both party's agree to terms.

Merger​

A merger involves the mutual decision of two companies to combine and become one entity; it can be seen as a decision made by two "equals." The combined business, through structural and operational advantages secured by the merger, can cut costs and increase profits, boosting shareholder value for both groups of shareholders.


A typical merger, in other words, involves two relatively equal companies that combine to become one legal entity with the goal of producing a company that is worth more than the sum of its parts.


In a merger of two corporations, the shareholders usually have their shares in the old company exchanged for an equal number of shares in the merged entity.1
 
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deteriorating wut? lol

Seriously... I've never read such nonsense in my life. What evidence is there of Obsidian or Ninja Theory deteriorating? Their production has been fantastic. Their DLC releases for The Outer Worlds were excellent and very well received. Even Grounded was well received. Microsoft allowing their studios to release small passion projects that they've been playing with does not equal studios deteriorating at all...

The 343 situation is the only legitimate argument anybody has due to the seeming lack of awareness in apparently knowing the game wasn't ready to ship. But that isn't at all any kind of proof that 343 hasn't been doing amazing work behind the scenes that we have yet to see. Many have said the playtest was some of the best feeling Halo gameplay they've played in years or ever.
 

Perrott

Gold Member
You do restructuring acquisitions when a company's valuation is low, not when it is high. Square is doing fine enough on their own right now.

To go ahead and buy Square, then restructure them, could lead to talent leaving, loss of morale, etc. when the company may not have those issues presently. So it could backfire. If, on the other hand, Square was struggling, morale was low, etc. (see: Bethesda), it could make sense. Not to say Bethesda was cheap by any means, but relative to any other big publisher it was multiples more cheap precisely because they have been struggling.
Square is not doing fine at all from a management and product development perspective lol they are in serious needs of a restructuring. This has been them these past five years or so:

-Thief sucked and underformed to the point that it killed the franchise
-Deus Ex underperformed and had to be shelved
-Hitman underperformed and they got rid of both the studio and the IP
-The latest Tomb Raider trilogy as a whole underperformed because the games were overbudgeted
-Marvel's Avengers was a flop
-Guardians of the Galaxy is not looking like it's going to set the world on fire either; will probably launch in a bad state
-Final Fantasy XV was a shitshow and what came out of it was an underwhelming product; the DLC underperformed and was canceled
-Kingdom Hearts 3 development wasn't a paradise either
-Somebody made the baffling decision to outsource the FFVII Remake and it worked out so bad that they had to bring it back to Square Enix Japan, soft-reboot the game and develop it internally
-Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin looks like a PS3 game and was laughed at during it's initial reveal
-Outriders wasn't a critical darling by any means, is it still alive? Does someone care about it?
-Left Alive, The Quiet Man, Balan Wonderworld and other similar disasters were allowed to see the light of day, and it won't be long until Babylon's Fall joins this club too

Those are a lot of failures, mistakes and mismanagements for a company of the size of Square Enix.
 
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Square is not doing fine at all from a management and product development perspective lol they are in serious needs of a restructuring. This has been them these past five years or so:

-Thief sucked and underformed to the point that it killed the franchise
-Deus Ex underperformed and had to be shelved
-Hitman underperformed and they got rid of both the studio and the IP
-The latest Tomb Raider trilogy as a whole underperformed because the games were overbudgeted
-Marvel's Avengers was a flop
-Guardians of the Galaxy is not looking like it's going to set the world on fire either; will probably launch in a bad state
-Final Fantasy XV was a shitshow and what came out of it was an underwhelming product; the DLC underperformed and was canceled
-Kingdom Hearts 3 development wasn't a paradise either
-Somebody made the baffling decision to outsource the FFVII Remake and it worked out so bad that they had to bring it back to Square Enix Japan, soft-reboot the game and develop it internally
-Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin looks like a PS3 game and was laughed at during it's initial reveal
-Outriders wasn't a critical darling by any means, is it still alive? Does someone care about it?
-Left Alive, The Quiet Man, Balan Wonderworld and other similar disasters were allowed to see the light of day, and it won't be long until Babylon's Fall joins this club too

Those are a lot of failures, mistakes and mismanagements for a company of the size of Square Enix.

Square is obviously not OPTIMALLY managed

But the cost of their IPs is still astronomically high. And Sony would need the desire to actually go in and restructure. It's not always easy. Strategic partnerships on titles like FFXV and Forspoken seems like the better move.
 

Corndog

Banned
If Microsoft buys take two. Sony should buy square Enix and epic games. Literally buy fortnite, literally buy the FF franchise. Because taking GTA and the 2k franchise to only Xbox is a major move considering those are partly the top selling 3rd party games on consoles.
FF already seems to be exclusive. Why buy square?
 
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