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Analyst - "One of my favorite studios, Tokyo-based FromSoftware, is currently rumored to be an M&A candidate for Sony."

RoadHazard

Gold Member
I honestly don't think Tencent would be happy about it. And if it will come to "bidding war" between Sony and Tencent we all know who would win...

No way in hell is FromSoft (or Kadokawa) getting sold to a Chinese company (or an American one for that matter). Japan has protections in place to prevent stuff like that. Sony, being Japanese, is much more likely to be allowed.
 
If there`s a company that Sony will not buy, like ever, is From Software, in my opinion.

I think, considering how popular and insane From Software become with Sekiro and Elden Ring, even exclusive games for PlayStation is out of the list for the company at the moment.
 

RoadHazard

Gold Member
If there`s a company that Sony will not buy, like ever, is From Software, in my opinion.

I think, considering how popular and insane From Software become with Sekiro and Elden Ring, even exclusive games for PlayStation is out of the list for the company at the moment.

Bethesda wasn't exactly hurting as a 3rd party multiplatform developer/publisher. That's not what decides who gets bought up and who doesn't.
 

Kdad

Member
PlayStation is the most overrated gaming company in the space....

I'm not 12 kid. I have been playing video games before you were born. 1975 is when I started playing video games. PlayStation is vastly overrated today. God Of War is nice, but nothing that can't be done elsewhere.
Shocking.
 

Hezekiah

Banned
I doubt they are being acquired but this line of thinking never made sense to me. Of course after Elden Ring, companies usually get bought when they can get the most value for them, thats would be now.

Do people think Fromsoft or even kadokawa went from being worth 3 billion to 8 billion because elden ring sold 12 million copies, which they don’t own the rights to? Lol
I think some people on here have a very basic understanding of how companies are valued 😄

What I'm interested in is the proportion of gamers who actually complete Elden Ring, and how that impacts their next game. Once again they appear to have filled their game with lots of cheap bosses.
 

Tripolygon

Banned
Absolutely.

Why shouldn't they? And no, From Soft and Namco Bandai co-own the copyright to Elden Ring. It's not purely Namco Bandai.

They dont need or want to be exclusive to Sony so of course they are going to price ridiculously high.

Elden Ring just *easily* outdid what any Sony IP has done in the same time frame.

And Kadokawa offers a lot more in terms of IP than just From Software's offerings, stuff that is synergistic with Sony's crunchyroll purchase.
Where is From Soft on this trademark?

ihSTprt.png
 

Kokoloko85

Member
Yea, sometimes that man says stupid shit. He's flip flopped on pretty much all his main criticism of his main competitor.

nicksplat doug GIF

What do you mean?
You expect to keep growing studio’s organically while others are buying studios, publishers and Ip’s. Its not exactly a flip flop, its changign strategy.

Why does it hurt fanboys so much they arent doing organic growth lol
 

Fredrik

Member
I remember being one of the fews there really trying to explain that this is a no win situation to anyone... I got a lot of heat over that.
The ball is already rolling, people already gave it a free pass twice... so other companies will do it. I keep reiterating that we need to think as 1 group - people who love gaming.
I wish I could turn back time and take your stance, you’re so right with that ending. The whole reason I have a shelf with three consoles and room with a gaming PC is because I feel like I need it because of exclusives. And what will happening once the mid gen PS and XB upgrades arrive? Two more plastic boxes to buy. 😕

It’s a good thing MS is out of VR at least. One less thing to buy.
 

Kokoloko85

Member
What he actually said was that they're going to "grow their studios organically and through acquisitions" . . . people need to quit misquoting and paraphrasing just to keep calling him Jim Lyin Ryan . . .
It's the damn "we believe in generations" all over again, when he clearly stated in that same interview they'd be supporting the PS4 for years to come.

That full quote is even dumber than the misquote.

It's as dumb as when Playstation said rumble was an outdated gimmick, because they were getting sued by the rumble people for the Six Axis.

How is it dumber? Its pretty simple
 

Dream-Knife

Banned
The demand has more to do with being able to play the game at 60Hz and eliminate the frame pacing issues (not to mention load times)
Of course they would buy the system if From went 1st party, what a no brainer. Besides most already are into the ecosystem anyway. A PC player doesn't necessarily play games only on PC, people do own multiple systems.
Owning a console for a few games is a burden, especially when they're huge and ugly.

Miyazaki is what matters here, not FromSoft.
 
Elden Ring is a new IP and it's their best selling game of all time. The IP is worthless in Bandai Namco's hands without From as the developer. On the other hand, whatever From develops next will likely sell just as well no matter who their publisher is.

All this to say, you were wrong lol

Jesus the warrior spirit in some of you
 

tusharngf

Member
NO way from soft is a valuable company. They have delivered constant hits so far apart from bloodborne and first demons souls which sold bad for a souls title.
 
Owning a console for a few games is a burden, especially when they're huge and ugly.

Miyazaki is what matters here, not FromSoft.
Huge and ugly? If it runs the games I want and does it well, it could look like a potato for all I care :messenger_tears_of_joy:

And yes it's Miyazaki, but it's also his team and processes they have in place to get the quality games they do. It's a team effort like most things in life.
 

skneogaf

Member
I want FROM SOFTWARE games on pc so this would be bad.

Maybe then though we'd get bloodborne patched or remastered
 

Tripolygon

Banned
Elden Ring is a new IP and it's their best selling game of all time. The IP is worthless in Bandai Namco's hands without From as the developer. On the other hand, whatever From develops next will likely sell just as well no matter who their publisher is.
1. Did I say From is not a successful developer?
2. Did I say Elden Ring wasn't successful?

Just because From Soft is a successful developer does not change the market valuation of Kadokawa. In the same way just because Activision Blizzard owned lots of successful developers and IP did not change how much Microsoft paid for them.

Microsoft is buying Activision at roughly $15 over their stock price at the time the deal was announced. Activision stock was trading at ~$80 and Microsoft is buying them at $95 a share, which is 15% over market value.

What CosmicComet CosmicComet is suggesting is that Kadokawa would ask for 5x their market valuation because Elden Ring, an IP they don't even own sold well. Activision which has a lot more successful ongoing IP sold for only 15% over market price.
I didn't say MS can pay x more than Sony.

I said Kadokawa would likely ask for 5x more than their worth to be bought.

MS and Sony could both easily do that. Only Sony would not be willing to do so with their god awful prioritization scheme.
Seriously people, think.
 
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Dream-Knife

Banned
Huge and ugly? If it runs the games I want and does it well, it could look like a potato for all I care :messenger_tears_of_joy:

And yes it's Miyazaki, but it's also his team and processes they have in place to get the quality games they do. It's a team effort like most things in life.
It's a pain to even have set up. I don't even use a modern TV anymore. So I'd hook it up to a monitor, but again it would be in the way.

Just as Takahashi is the Xeno series, Miyazaki is the Souls series.
 

Astral Dog

Member
I always assumed FROM wasn't quite happy with how Sony treated Bloodborne and they changed to focus on multiplatform releases as much as possible, after Elden Ring i don't see any reason why that would change
 

Fredrik

Member
I always assumed FROM wasn't quite happy with how Sony treated Bloodborne and they changed to focus on multiplatform releases as much as possible, after Elden Ring i don't see any reason why that would change
They would decrease their sales for sure. But so will Bethesda and that didn’t stop them to sell to MS.

I think it’s all about the money. Insomniac, Ninja Theory, Bluepoint, Bungie, they all said at some point that they liked to be independent, but when a big enough check is thrown your way everybody is for sale. If it happens with FROM we can only hope they dictate the terms like Bungie and make sure they’re still allowed to release games on all platforms, and without any 3 years delay bullshit.
 

Astral Dog

Member
They would decrease their sales for sure. But so will Bethesda and that didn’t stop them to sell to MS.

I think it’s all about the money. Insomniac, Ninja Theory, Bluepoint, Bungie, they all said at some point that they liked to be independent, but when a big enough check is thrown your way everybody is for sale. If it happens with FROM we can only hope they dictate the terms like Bungie and make sure they’re still allowed to release games on all platforms, and without any 3 years delay bullshit.
Honestly wouldn't make any difference for gamers if they were sold or not in that case
 
Yeah. FROM would just be the icing on the cake if they were to acquire Kadokawa.

The fundamentals of the company are eh but I don't know enough about Kadokawa's business to say one way or another whether an M&A with Sony would make sense. I mean just looking at their wiki they deal in more than just anime production. Is Sony even interested in the whole manga side of things?

Sony aggressively wants to own anime and manga publishing and distribution in the West.

Given how most anime derive from manga to begin with, you betcha ass Sony would be keen on buying up Kadokawa's manga operations as well. This would position them nicely for full vertical integration and ownership of the entire international anime/manga value stream. The IP value alone would be worth it from a merchandising perspective as well as the possibility to expand those IP into other media formats too, e.g. games.

A Kadokawa purchase makes perfect sense for Sony and I've been predicting it for a while. I think they're looking for the best time to buy them.

That said, I don't think a Kadokawa purchase from Sony would necessarily result in Kadoawa Games (incl. From) being carved out and rolled under PS Studios. I think they would very likely run Kadokawa as a separate subsidiary and just publish the games by their game studios under the PS umbrella if at all.

Outside of PD and Team Asobi, SIE Japan Studio has been historically not well managed. So they'll probably continue as a support studio for 3rd parties and the games arm of Kadokawa.

That's the way I see it.
 
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SLB1904

Banned
Elden Ring is a new IP and it's their best selling game of all time. The IP is worthless in Bandai Namco's hands without From as the developer. On the other hand, whatever From develops next will likely sell just as well no matter who their publisher is.
Dude like I said before. That's not this work, just because elden sold tons doesn't mean their next game will sell the same. The marketing with the creator of game of thrones helped a lot elden ring. Assuming that whatever they make next will be as successful is fools errand.
 
It wouldnt be a surprise to me. I even expect it to happen. Microsoft are eating up western publishers and they changed the game by buying publishers. Sony needs to do the same for Japanese studios and publishers. Bungie was just the start. I expect bigger acquisitions going forward. Sony will do everything they can to protect PlayStation. They need to.
 
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Mr Hyde

Member
I always assumed FROM wasn't quite happy with how Sony treated Bloodborne and they changed to focus on multiplatform releases as much as possible, after Elden Ring i don't see any reason why that would change

Bloodborne was Sony's and Shuhei Yoshidas way of apologizing for dropping the ball on Demon's Souls and not support it. They gave Miyazaki carte blanche and complete creative control over the game. It looks like it was just a one and done deal (although I pray for a sequel. Or at least s remaster of BB).
 
Buying from after elden ring would cost them some serious dough , pretty sure it's goty and alot of people's game of the generation

Didn't Sony buy Insomniac after Spiderman 2018 though? And that went on to sell 20+ million copies.

I don't think waiting until after they've had a breakout hit is a problem for Sony, they might even prefer it that way. The question is if Kadokawa is willing to sell: I personally don't think they are. What would they gain out of it, versus what they would lose in FromSoft?

But hey, if it happens, it happens. We'll just have to wait and see.
 

CosmicComet

Member
1. Did I say From is not a successful developer?
2. Did I say Elden Ring wasn't successful?

Just because From Soft is a successful developer does not change the market valuation of Kadokawa. In the same way just because Activision Blizzard owned lots of successful developers and IP did not change how much Microsoft paid for them.

Microsoft is buying Activision at roughly $15 over their stock price at the time the deal was announced. Activision stock was trading at ~$80 and Microsoft is buying them at $95 a share, which is 15% over market value.

What CosmicComet CosmicComet is suggesting is that Kadokawa would ask for 5x their market valuation because Elden Ring, an IP they don't even own sold well. Activision which has a lot more successful ongoing IP sold for only 15% over market price.

Seriously people, think.
I would ask you to do the same before you make an incongruent comparison.

Acti-Blizzy was in a pressure cooker of a situation PR wise and were looking to sell. Hence they were willing to sell on the cheap

There is no indication whatsoever that Kadokawa and From Software would be willing to sell when their reputation is at an absolute high and they made most of their money outside the PS platform.

(And yes, they do partially own the IP to ER if you actually look at the bottom of the copyright line in-game, namco bandai and From are both listed as coowners).

Similar to realtors asking to buy my house when I'm not in the market to sell, I naturally ask for multiple times above it's worth because otherwise I don't see the value in selling.
 

CosmicComet

Member
Didn't Sony buy Insomniac after Spiderman 2018 though? And that went on to sell 20+ million copies.

I don't think waiting until after they've had a breakout hit is a problem for Sony, they might even prefer it that way. The question is if Kadokawa is willing to sell: I personally don't think they are. What would they gain out of it, versus what they would lose in FromSoft?

But hey, if it happens, it happens. We'll just have to wait and see.
Except that was Sony with the leverage against Insomniac. Not vice versa.

Spiderman is Sony's IP (along with Marvel).

Spiderman was easily the only mainstream hit Insomniac ever had and they knew they would not be able to get another crack without Sony.

Considering Sony has tried multiple time to acquire Insomniac since the PS2 days (and failed), the fact that they ultimately needed the Spiderman IP to reel in a dev that only owned the Fuse IP (Sony already owns the Ratchet and Resistance IPs), that says a lot of about Sony's relatively mild negotiation power.
 
I think their “release” of Cyberpunk has clearly shown that the CDPR board has zero scruples. Whatever happened in the past would not matter to them one bit if Sony came to them with a boatload of Now money.

Not that I think Sony will do that, because they do probably hold the broken launch against CDPR. Which they should.
Ok 🤣🤣🤣
 

Fredrik

Member
Honestly wouldn't make any difference for gamers if they were sold or not in that case
Exactly and that’s how it should be. Do it like Mojang and Minecraft. They’ve sold like 200+ million copies, wouldn’t have sold even 50 mil as a Xbox and Windows exclusive.
Bethesda was a douche move tbh. We just haven’t understood yet how bad it’ll be but once we have a new DOOM or The Elder Scrolls things will become more clear. I feel like FROM would be the same, Elden Ring is too popular, it’ll just bring in negativity, defense mechanism, all of a sudden we’ll start hearing how the Souls games were never great anyway and sales will decrease etc.
 

Hezekiah

Banned
If you mean backfire as in, millions of more clients buying into the playstation ecosystem, then I agree with your assessment :messenger_tears_of_joy:
It certainly would make the shortages of ps5 even worse.
I mean either way it wouldn't backfire on Sony at all 😁

People can either buy the games or not. That's it. If a particular game is exclusive and you decide not to buy into that particular platform that's your problem.
 
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