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Sony further invests in Epic Games

Neo Blaster

Member
Beyond marketing, I'm curious as to the tangible benefits this heavy of an investment brings to Playstation consumers.

I know that Unreal has applications to movies and such, although that seems beyond the scope of gaming discussion. Having tech demos done on your console is nice and all but will this result in any meaningful content? I have my doubts.
You know Epic owns just the most used game engine today, don't you? You know they debuted UE5 on PS5, don't you? Do you think it's used only for demos?
 

Neo Blaster

Member
I wouldn't be surprised if all the Sony bought companies (i.e. ND, SSM, GG, etc..) will adopt UE in the future for all of their games. That would make total sense with the porting to PC platforms happening now. We might be looking at day and date PC releases with PS next-generation (i.e. PS6+).
PS Studios already have their own customized engines, Decima being the most famous. Agreements like this target third parties, the more UE5 is optimized for PS5 the better.
 

Neo Blaster

Member
It's a marketing move. Epic will keep showing tech demos exclusively on the PS5, which means a ton of hype and good press for Playstation. It's a good move imo.
UE is currently the most used game engine on the market, how the hell did you come to 'showing tech demos'? How about making UE5 more optimized for PS5 so that can bring more third party support to it?
 

Bo_Hazem

Banned
This isn't SIE, this is Sony as a whole. I suspect their movie division is the primary driver for this. Unreal Engine for movies in the future?

They have their own engines for movies anyway, quite state-of-the-art as well in Sony Atom View and others. Probably they saw a drop in share prices by the Apple Vs Epic Games drama and thought it was a smart timing to get even more shares.
 

3liteDragon

Member
Unreal Engine is the most commonly used development engine. I could see these investments being made to optimize the engine for playstation platforms. Then there is timed exclusivity on Epic games. Both of things would be severely impact Xbox, their "most powerful console" narrative, and their over-reliance on 3rd party production.
That narrative was severely impacted the moment they started to advertise it as the “most powerful Xbox” instead of the “most powerful console” lol.
 

onesvenus

Member
Oh definitely, I didn’t mean to imply it would be any small task, but I have to imagine that, even if not with idTech, Microsoft is interested in developing their own in house engines for their games.

Now that I think about it, you can already kinda see that happening; isn’t Playground using a custom engine for Fable?
What I would love is for Microsoft to create something similar to Sony's ICE team. They have really really amazing graphics programmers working for them.

This might be the case, but not in any negative way. Epic engineers said that they took inspiration from the PS5 SSD and I/O designs and rewrote UE5 code to take better advantage of it.

My guess is that UE5 and PS5 were being developed at roughly the same time. Mark Cerny visits almost all developers when seeking feedback. He must have talked to Epic engineers and developers as well. Technologies were exchanged, and Epic decided that the I/O solution is going to play a crucial role in the future, and asked Sony if they could share some insights that Epic could use in their engine.

Sony must have agreed; Epic rewrote parts of UE5 so it could leverage I/O more effectively; and in exchange, Sony got a chance to invest in Epic.
If you are developing a multiplatform engine you don't build one of the core functionalities (Nanite) around the capabilities of a single platform. UE5, and Nanite by extension, will have to work in a number of platforms.
Wasn't also some interview where they claimed they were just using under a Gb/sec for the streaming tech? That's much lower than what the PS5 provides so I'd say the tech was inspired by the new I/O tech being available in consoles and PC.

That future is now. The Mandelorian is created in UE, and Sony is also using UE for movies. Sony Pictures aquired Nurilize in 2019:









Not anymore, season 2 moved to an ILM in-house renderer: https://www.fxguide.com/fxfeatured/mandalorian-season-2-virtual-production-innovations/
 

Boss Mog

Member
Why would Sony be doing this when they don't really use Unreal Engine? Someone pls explain.
It's an investment, that tells you all you need to know. They're doing it because they think it will make them money. Fortnite is still huge, EGS is slowly chipping away at Steam and Unreal Engine is also at the forefront of gaming technology. It's good business sense that will surely pay off and help fund PlayStation exclusives down the line.
 

Reallink

Member
Epic is worth like $30 billion, this is an utterly meaningless investment. Tencent probably has like a 10+ billion dollar stake for comparison, as they bought in big much earlier. I don't know what Sony is hoping to buy with their chump change, maybe co-marketing deals.
 
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Beyond marketing, I'm curious as to the tangible benefits this heavy of an investment brings to Playstation consumers.

I know that Unreal has applications to movies and such, although that seems beyond the scope of gaming discussion. Having tech demos done on your console is nice and all but will this result in any meaningful content? I have my doubts.
Sony: play all our new aa games free on epic when you sign up for ps+ gamepass. AAA will cost money though.

If you can't make your own use someone elses service.
 

MiguelItUp

Member
Well they do... otherwise they wouldn't have done another round of fundraising. It's not necessarily a bad thing, mind you, especially if it's supporting future growth initiatives.
Of course! But I think it's less of a "they NEED the money" kinda thing, and more of a, "sure, extra money won't hurt" kinda thing.

Yeah definitely not a bad thing by any means in the long run, I'm just hating because I really wish Epic would get back to UT. :(
 

Dream-Knife

Banned
Unreal Engine is the most commonly used development engine. I could see these investments being made to optimize the engine for playstation platforms. Then there is timed exclusivity on Epic games. Both of these things would severely impact Xbox, their "most powerful console" narrative, and their over-reliance on 3rd party production.
Does Epic still make games?

Last Unreal Tournament was what? 2004?

I guess it was just a Quake clone, but no Unreal or Quake games kinda sucks. Then again it would be on EGS so it might as well not exist.

EDIT: https://www.ign.com/articles/epic-i...as-it-battles-to-gain-market-share-from-steam

Guess it'll give them back the money they're losing.
 
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Dabaus

Banned
Yeah, they have a few percent of Kadokawa but you're right...they should have sizable investments in some of those companies. Or a controlling stake in one would be great.
Exactly. There’s no reason to go out and buy an entire publisher but for sure someone like sqaure enix should have some form of investment.
 
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I do smell Sony putting more 1P games on PC through EGS via exclusivity distribution deals playing some kind of factor here. Epic optimizing UE5 for PS5 (altho phrasing it that way doesn't sound best, it could almost insinuate they aren't optimizing it for other platforms) is a good guess but, why would they need a financial incentive via investment to do something they aught to just do out of common sense? They've made previous UEs very much suited for other platforms including Sony's previous systems without Sony needing to invest millions into them.

So, I think it's more to do with those PS 1P ports to PC (via EGS) and maybe some stuff for their film and television production studios WRT UE5, those seem like the best guesses.
 

sainraja

Member
Well they do... otherwise they wouldn't have done another round of fundraising. It's not necessarily a bad thing, mind you, especially if it's supporting future growth initiatives.
But look at how they are spending some of they money they are making, by throwing a lawsuit at Apple. I mean, sure, Apple takes a big cut but it is their ecosystem. They've always controlled their ecosystem more so than others have. That money could have been spent better.
 

SSfox

Member
Calling it now. That's a hardcore smell that all Playstation exclusives will end on PC EGS day by day, in a year or two. So that's what Jimbo and Hermen have planned for the long run HEH?

Maybe soon Nintendo will be the only brand that will be making exclusive games.
 

Neo Blaster

Member
Calling it now. That's a hardcore smell that all Playstation exclusives will end on PC EGS day by day, in a year or two. So that's what Jimbo and Hermen have planned for the long run HEH?

Maybe soon Nintendo will be the only brand that will be making exclusive games.
So, Sony is PAYING Epic so they can have PS exclusives on their store? Shouldn't it be, maybe, the opposite?
 

Lethal01

Member
Do you think Epic optimizes UE5 specifically/more so for the PS5? Because that to me would seem like a baffling decision for a game engine used across multiple developers for multiple platforms.
With Unreal Engine there are tons of things that work better or come first to certain platforms. Less in the last year or two maybe but this is nothing new.
 

Withnail

Member
Epic is worth like $30 billion, this is an utterly meaningless investment. Tencent probably has like a 10+ billion dollar stake for comparison, as they bought in big much earlier. I don't know what Sony is hoping to buy with their chump change, maybe co-marketing deals.

This is a strategic investment, not a financial one. Strategic investments are usually an indication that the companies plan to work on future projects together as a kind of joint venture. People talking about Fortnite exclusives and shit don't have a clue.
 

mckmas8808

Banned
That future is now. The Mandelorian is created in UE, and Sony is also using UE for movies. Sony Pictures aquired Nurilize in 2019:










People need to read this post slowly.......
 
Why would Sony be doing this when they don't really use Unreal Engine? Someone pls explain.




This almost has nothing to do with games. Epic games’ Fortnite will eventually die. They are diversifying in many avenues.
 

Papacheeks

Banned
Why? Xbox isn't losing anything & Epic isn't crazy enough to go from multiplatform to PlayStation exclusive

Cross pollination of their character in fortnite is only a small part of it. The customimzation of Unreal 5 thats happening to th engine specifically for PS5 is going to show you soon why they made this partnetship more than having characters in fortnite. That and using Unreal 5 like someone else mentioned for Sony studio films/tv.
 
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bitbydeath

Member
Calling it now. That's a hardcore smell that all Playstation exclusives will end on PC EGS day by day, in a year or two. So that's what Jimbo and Hermen have planned for the long run HEH?

Maybe soon Nintendo will be the only brand that will be making exclusive games.
As soon as they finish buying them 200M at a time.
 

Lone Wolf

Member
Remember, everytime you buy a game (or play a game on GP) that used UE and that runs on the XBox/PC, you will be paying a tax to Sony.

This is next level evilry!

Lol GIF by The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon
It’s a smart move. After all, Microsoft makes money on most Sony owned exclusives.
 

Renozokii

Member
Yes, one (investing in Epic) has a potential return. The other (stores) already gave what they had to give.

It's not nice for customers but it's how it is...
It’s also not really negative lmao. Would love to see some stats on when the last time the whiners about the closers booted up the ole ps3 and digitally purchased a game.
 

Renozokii

Member
Sigh. They have a billion dollars to invest in a company that has fuck all to do with exclusives, but are penny pinching with first party studios like Japan Studios and Sony Bend.

edit: nevermind, its another $200 million. the rest of the 1 billion are from other investment firms. whatever. id rather those $200 million go towards rebuilding their fledgling first party studios.
They rejected a pitch for a days gone 2 sequel and are allowing them to work on a new ip described as their biggest to date by an employees linkd in. What’s the penny pinching?

Japan studios was a failure outside of team asobi for a long and Sony is restructuring them based around the part that the most amount of people liked the most. Again failing to see the penny pinching.
 

Renozokii

Member
Yeah it's hard to see Sony throwing money around at anime, music, and now 450 million in on EPIC... while on the flipside acting like bean counters with PlayStation studios.



You don't invest 450 million into a business just so you can be friends. Which is why I'm wondering what's in the horizon that makes Sony think they will get more out of EPIC than everybody else. Tencent owns 40% of EPIC to boot, so what is Sony investing a ton of money for? Fucking hell. They make tools for everybody.
Microsoft outspent Sony by about.. what 6-7 billions in recent years but PlayStation had 3 launch ready games and 2 more coming in 2 months compared to Microsoft’s 0 on launch and 0 with announced release dates. They are also eclipsing Nintendo in quantity of exclusives. They shipped their console with a controller packed to the brim with industry leading tech and features while ms still gives ya triple a batteries on a 60 dollar controller. Point out the bean counting for me 😊
 
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