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Jeff Grub: Sony acquiring Square Enix was the big rumor about the next potential Sony acquisition

It is a completely different world out there now, even from 2018. I think Sony regrets closing Zipper, Evolution, consolidating the UK and SIE Japan. Sony got Insomniac for $229 million. You win some you lose some.
I don't think Sony has any regrets on closing Zipper and Evolution studios.

These studios were underperforming for years.

They probably regret not trying to save SOCOM which used to be more popular than Call of Duty. The only thing we've seen was Sony basically bring back Liverpool with the purchase of Fire Sprite.

SIE Japan wasn't really a studio. It was mostly a group of producers and they had been trying for years to make the studio more effective without much success.

I think YOU regret them closing those studios, but nothing I've seen from Sony suggests the same. They literally just closed Japan Studio a year ago AFTER they bought Insomniac and just a few months before they bought Bluepoint.

I think people get this idea that Sony has unlimited resources, but the reality is the more studios they have the more risk they have. Diversified yes, but more risk overall. As I've mentioned they are probably already beginning to feel the squeeze on lack of ROI on recent games.

Santa Monica downscaled their studio before God of War 2018. Sony is constantly re-evaluating its studios.
 

Umbasaborne

Banned
This is fine, but lets remember that the only thing that matters is that the other guys cant play our animoo games

/s i own both consoles so none of this really affects me, but i thought it was shitty when microsoft bought bethesda and activision, i think this is pretty shite too. Locking out an audience, even if its not a big audience in the case of xbox and jrpgs, kinda sucks
 

nocsi

Member
Sony used to own 18 percent of Square. They've since sold all of their Square Enix stock. Would be interesting to see why this deal makes sense now more than it did in 2014 when they sold. Yeah, they needed the money then, but I don't know that it makes any sense to me.

They have deeper roots with them than say Capcom, but Capcom makes way more sense portfolio-wise.
Sony owned 18% to save Square’s life after The spirits within. Japanese companies are fairly guarded about mergers & acquisitions and they would do it for a completely different reason than the west. Square & Sony actually have an almost 30 year history know of continually saving one another. There’s a strong deep connection between the two for that.
 

Azelover

Titanic was called the Ship of Dreams, and it was. It really was.
Sony owned a portion of SE in the early 2000's, mostly due to the Final Fantasy movie debacle. I dunno when Sony sold their stocks, but SE isn't what they used to be as far as I'm concerned. So if they didn't buy them then, I wouldn't buy them now. But let's see what happens.
 
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TheGrat1

Member
Buying SE would help SE more than it would Sony.

If Sony is going to buy any Japanese publisher/developer it would be CAPCOM. IPs have wider appeal and they can launch their next portable with exclusive Monster Hunter. That would be a huge coup.
 
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Sony owned a portion of SE in the early 2000's, mostly due to the Final Fantasy movie debacle. I dunno when Sony sold their stocks, but SE isn't what they used to be as far as I'm concerned. So if they didn't buy them then, I wouldn't buy them now. But let's see what happens.
Talking about that, a live action Final Fantasy TV series has a lot of potential, it's an IP really suited for this (despite how bad things went for the first movie).
 
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