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Sony investor opines SIE in growth mode and could have a budget of $13-$18B for acquisitions

MonarchJT

Banned
drive off 50 cent GIF


If they could so easily, why wouldn't SE just give them more funds to?

Some of you are delusional.

Making top tier games at the level of ND and Rockstar isn't just about fucking money. It has more to do with talent than anything else.... like at all.
uhm I'm sure that the remake of tomb raider is very close to what ND did with uncharted that said that naughty dog is a first party and we know which very often gives us more optimization as a result
 

Sanepar

Member
Japan they could acquire from(via kadokawa) and kojima.
Invest a bit more on square stocks or maybe capcom.

I think these partnerships with new studios will result in some acquisitions in the future.

It will be nice when they have more than 20 studios(17 now) to have a great shot of 4 aaa per year.
 

Bo_Hazem

Banned
Konami in 2021? Are they even still a top developer, only got IPs imo.

Konami = eFootball + FIFA license = EA's FIFA is dead.
MGS + Kojima Productions = Massive IP reborn.
Silent Hill? Contra? Castlevania? I think they can be rebooted properly with a juggernaut like Sony.

Of course, eFootball being multiplat and even smartly helping their PS Mobile division with its mobile version, also being developed with UE.
 
Konami = eFootball + FIFA license = EA's FIFA is dead.
MGS + Kojima Productions = Massive IP reborn.
Silent Hill? Contra? Castlevania? I think they can be rebooted properly with a juggernaut like Sony.

Of course, eFootball being multiplat and even smartly helping their PS Mobile division with its mobile version, also being developed with UE.
Honestly...Sony studios working on those IPs isn't that exciting for me. Imagine wasting 3 studios of your own company making IPs that had their time instead of something new.
But this is me... I'm sure nostalgia would have other users agreeing with you.

Also, Kojima didn't leave Konami and created his own studio only to go back and work on the same series again for sure.

I'd imagine Sony acquiring Kojima productions before anything Konami related tbh
 

Bo_Hazem

Banned
Honestly...Sony studios working on those IPs isn't that exciting for me. Imagine wasting 3 studios of your own company making IPs that had their time instead of something new.
But this is me... I'm sure nostalgia would have other users agreeing with you.

Also, Kojima didn't leave Konami and created his own studio only to go back and work on the same series again for sure.

I'd imagine Sony acquiring Kojima productions before anything Konami related tbh

Maybe if you're talking about acquiring only IP's, but we're talking about an existing division/company that has its manpower. Maybe migrate some internally to Kojipro for that project, the ones that helped make the older ones for experience.

Other games like eFootball (previously PES and Winning Eleven) would use the same team at Konami but with a bigger budget and a massive license that Sony could get money back from. They already hold UEFA Champions League from its balls since 1997, so $500M/yearly isn't scary with FUT making more than $1B, let alone game sales and other MTX.
 

Men_in_Boxes

Snake Oil Salesman
So that's 2.5 Ubisoft size acquisitions.

Sony buying Tencent and Apple confirmed. Lock it it. Throw away the key.
 

Bryank75

Banned
What I think Sony are doing well is making their money go far..... instead of buying Capcom or Ubisoft, they can build a better, mini version of those and buy them for a fraction of the price.
Haven will have a lot of the Ubisoft talent and none of the baggage. Sucker Punch is making a superior game to Assassins Creed and from the rumors Guerrilla may be making a Monster Hunter-like game in the Horizon universe.

If they got Arc System Works, that would fill the 1st party fighting game niche,

Then they can look at areas where they might need to spend a bit more to get something that can expand their reach across media.... something based on IP acquisition.

While also building on the IP's they have established like GOW, Uncharted, TLOU, Horizon, Ghost of Tsushima, Death Stranding etc. and adding massive partnerships like Spider-man and Wolverine to their arsenal.
 

yurinka

Member
I thought they only had minority shares? Where did you get the 51% number from?
As far as I know Kadokawa gave 2% of the company to Sony and 2% to CyGames' parent company as part of a 3 ways deal where these companies would help Kadokawa to bring their games to the anime and console and mobile worldwide market, since until now they've been focusing mostly in Japan.

I don't know if Sony already had Kadokawa stocks, but I highly doubt they'd have 51%. That would mean Sony owns them an can do basically whatever they want with them, and it isn't the case.

It will be nice when they have more than 20 studios(17 now) to have a great shot of 4 aaa per year.
Think that they are growing all their current internal studios with the idea of -as they already do at Insomniac- instead of having a single main project under development to have 2-4 at the same time. They have been growing them for a while and continue doing it, so I assume we'll start seeing these studios having 2x or 3x the output they already have now.

So by the end of this generation and the start of the next one they will be releasing way more than 4 AAA games (+ smaller games + 2nd party games + 3rd party exclusives).
 
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Godot25

Banned
Problem for Sony is that almost every big gaming Company is publicly traded, so everybody would know that they are trying to buy something. Do you really think Microsoft would let Sony buy Take-Two? Or other big gaming company?

Probably not and they would face bidding war like Take-Two suffered when they tried to buy Codemasters.

Microsoft had an advantage because Bethesda was private company, but there is none other left.
 

Neofire

Member
All SIE acquisitions since Insomniac have happened during Jim's years including that studio.
I'd say he's doing a better job than the previous CEO in this.
Everyone is entitled to their opinion such as you. While I disagree with you wholeheartedly, noone could predict what Jim's would have done if he had still the CEO. Your assumption isn't fact my guy.
 

Lognor

Banned
What does the warchest for Microsoft look like for acquisitions? There is no doubt they could outspend Sony. If it's a major third party that Sony tries to acquire you have to assume Microsoft would consider countering and Microsoft can easily outspend Sony.
 

Heisenberg007

Gold Journalism
What does the warchest for Microsoft look like for acquisitions? There is no doubt they could outspend Sony. If it's a major third party that Sony tries to acquire you have to assume Microsoft would consider countering and Microsoft can easily outspend Sony.
doesn't work that way. You bid only after taking into account the potential ROI of the deal. Even then, not everyone just wants to be acquired by the highest bidder anyway. If that were the case, MS would have outbid Sony for Insomniac, Nixxes, Firesprite, HouseMarque, Bluepoint, etc. Also, it is common knowledge that MS made offers to several of its partners: Moon Studios, Bloober, Asobo, which were all rejected, and they all took money from other sources, e.g., Tencent. So it isn't always like x > y, so I'm gonna sell to the highest bidder.

Besides, MS has already spent > $10B on Xbox for acquisitions. Now I think it'd be more on Xbox to prove to MS that they can make good games in these studios and make that investment profitable before they are given more money for acquisitions, especially big ones.
 
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Bryank75

Banned
What does the warchest for Microsoft look like for acquisitions? There is no doubt they could outspend Sony. If it's a major third party that Sony tries to acquire you have to assume Microsoft would consider countering and Microsoft can easily outspend Sony.

They could....but is it going to do anything for them?

At this stage you have to wonder, cutting off massive sales potential of 130 million units, bloating overheads and having several publishing operations despite only needing one and not being able to capitalize on day 1 sales due to their commitment to Gamepass......

I don't think Sony will ever go for a western publisher anyway, but the overall picture is worth considering.

If we see big growth in Gamepass in the next quarterly, then maybe they could justify more acquisitions but if it remains around 18-21 million, I highly doubt Satya would feel confident in signing off, not that I know the man or anything.
 
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Lognor

Banned
doesn't work that way. You bid only after taking into account the potential ROI of the deal. Even then, not everyone just wants to be acquired by the highest bidder anyway. If that were the case, MS would have outbid Sony for Insomniac, Nixxes, Firesprite, HouseMarque, Bluepoint, etc. Also, it is common knowledge that MS made offers to several of its partners: Moon Studios, Bloober, Asobo, which were all rejected, and they all took money from other sources, e.g., Tencent. So it isn't always like x > y, so I'm gonna sell to the highest bidder.

Besides, MS has already spent > $10B on Xbox for acquisitions. Now it's more on Xbox to improve prove that they can make good games in these studios and make that investment profitable before asking for more money.
You seem to be a little confused. If a publisher is interested in selling and Sony approaches them, do you not think Microsoft would be aware of this? And Microsoft would not run their own numbers to see if the acquisition makes sense? Microsoft has a massive M&A team that does this full time. They are constantly looking for opportunities so there is a good chance they have already run numbers on any third party that is possibly in play. I don't think Microsoft was interested in any of those devs that Sony acquired.

And the fact that you listed three companies that Microsoft tried to acquire and failed only begs the questions how many other acquisitions have Microsoft engaged on that you don't know about? They have a ton of money for M&A and could easily outspend Sony. Yes, a publisher could decide to go with Sony instead of Microsoft even if less money was offered, but it's more likely they would go with the highest offer. The acquisitions that Sony made have all been those that have worked with Sony closely in the past. The only dev I can think of that fits that profile now is Kojima. So that could happen, but that would be a fairly small acquisition and not really move the needle. Any major acquisition and Microsoft will be right there with their wallet open.
 

Bryank75

Banned
I must admit if they get FIFA... damn.

Even if they don't I think they should do something like Fifa Street..... some street football game, that is faster and more dynamic.

Would be a good base to start if they ever got the license for the full games too.
 

Lognor

Banned
They could....but is it going to do anything for them?

At this stage you have to wonder, cutting off massive sales potential of 130 million units, bloating overheads and having several publishing operations despite only needing one and not being able to capitalize on day 1 sales due to their commitment to Gamepass......

I don't think Sony will ever go for a western publisher anyway, but the overall picture is worth considering.

If we see big growth in Gamepass in the next quarterly, then maybe they could justify more acquisitions but if it remains around 18-21 million, I highly doubt Satya would feel confident in signing off, not that I know the man or anything.
I think you have it wrong. With the Gamepass model Microsoft HAS to continue spending money for new content, similar to Netflix. And also similar to Netflix, it makes more sense for you to fill that content with your own material that you own. So while I do expect Microsoft to continue to get day one releases from third parties they will put more and more focus on their own content and so they need to keep acquiring.
 
better get spending then...

i've been really disappointed in Sony. they got too arrogant and their "spending spree" seems out of desperation.
 

Bryank75

Banned
better get spending then...

i've been really disappointed in Sony. they got too arrogant and their "spending spree" seems out of desperation.

Well Firesprite and Nixxes were real headscratchers for me.... Firesprite made nothing of note previously and Nixxes actively diminishes value of exclusives IMO.

I thought they would make acquisitions that elevated the reputation and status of Sony 1st party.

Kojima, From and studios of that caliber.

Housemarque and Bluepoint are decent but not mindblowing.
 

onesvenus

Member
I do love the "I own stock in Sony so I'm confident in what I say" as if buying publicly traded stocks is some super hard to do thing that gives you insight into anything lol.
Exactly. I also have Sony stock and I wouldn't dare to do any prediction 😂

Konami = eFootball + FIFA license = EA's FIFA is dead.
FIFA's license only covers the world cup name. Teams, players and leagues are licensed to EA outside of the FIFA deal. Even national kits are not covered by FIFA.
If you believe eFootball, with the world cup license, would kill EA's FIFA, with all the team, players and leagues, you are delusional. Nobody plays FIFA for the world cup. They play it for the national leagues and being able to play with their favorite teams and players, something the FIFA license doesn't cover at all
 

Bryank75

Banned
if they must buy studios for some reason,
buy a big japanese one

Yup, after closing down Japan Studio...this needs to be done.

Xbox is selling more in Japan and it is a sign of discontent with Sony and PS IMO..... may be small numbers still for xbox but I think it is not to be ignored.

This ignorant attitude of Jim Ryan to Japanese games and the heritage of the brand is pretty annoying.
 

Dabaus

Banned
No, this $18 billion is just for the 'Entertainment' sector. Unless they plan to have strippers at their insurance companies, that doesn't fit into the entertainment category 😄

It'll be mainly between three sectors: Sony Pictures, Sony Mobile, and PlayStation.

Sony Pictures' Head has already confirmed that they are almost done with acquisitions, and the next target area for consolidation is gaming. That leaves PS mobile and PlayStation. Considering the urgency and the trend so far, the majority of that budget will go to PlayStation. The IPs they create in PlayStation will be ported and made into mobile games, so the priority will remain PS after all.

And I know most people just pick Square Enix, I think Capcom would be a much better option. They already have SE's best IP (Final Fantasy) on lock. Any new IP that SE creates, Sony can lock it as timed or full exclusives as well (e.g., Forspoken).

With Capcom, they get Street Fighter (for Evo), Monster Hunter (penetration into that Nintendo market and Japan), Resident Evil (Japan + PSVR 2), DMC, and more. Making all these games exclusive to PlayStation would be on the executives mind after Bethesda's loss. Apart from that, I think Kadokawa or FromSoftware is a surefire target as well.

Let's see what they do and how they do it. But there is absolutely 100% something big coming. Too much official evidence to say otherwise.
I agree that Capcom makes the most sense from sony. Square and konami are too big. Square is a mismanaged mess and seems to happy in their current situation ie: Take the money hats from sony and nintendo, port to PC, see how much MS wants to give for a gamepass deal. Capcom on the other hand is efficient and has had a good track record as of late and doesnt have the baggage of being involved with different sectors of business sony may not want. I dont see sony going after a western publisher nor do i think they should.
Problem for Sony is that almost every big gaming Company is publicly traded, so everybody would know that they are trying to buy something. Do you really think Microsoft would let Sony buy Take-Two? Or other big gaming company?

Probably not and they would face bidding war like Take-Two suffered when they tried to buy Codemasters.

Microsoft had an advantage because Bethesda was private company, but there is none other left.
I dont think thats how it works. Bethesda was a perfect storm for MS because the founder had a good relationship with xbox execs, todd howard is an xbox fanboy, the company was doing poorly so they wanted to sell, they were a private company, and you had Google and Amazon skulking about looking to get a foothold in the games industry.
 

Jen_yakzua

Member
What I think Sony are doing well is making their money go far..... instead of buying Capcom or Ubisoft, they can build a better, mini version of those and buy them for a fraction of the price.
Haven will have a lot of the Ubisoft talent and none of the baggage. Sucker Punch is making a superior game to Assassins Creed and from the rumors Guerrilla may be making a Monster Hunter-like game in the Horizon universe.

If they got Arc System Works, that would fill the 1st party fighting game niche,

Then they can look at areas where they might need to spend a bit more to get something that can expand their reach across media.... something based on IP acquisition.

While also building on the IP's they have established like GOW, Uncharted, TLOU, Horizon, Ghost of Tsushima, Death Stranding etc. and adding massive partnerships like Spider-man and Wolverine to their arsenal.
I would get netherrealm instead because with the exception of db fighterz I haven't played their games more than two months before I go back to MK or tekken
 

Heisenberg007

Gold Journalism
You seem to be a little confused. If a publisher is interested in selling and Sony approaches them, do you not think Microsoft would be aware of this? And Microsoft would not run their own numbers to see if the acquisition makes sense?
As you said -- and as I said -- it has to make sense.

Something like Square Enix or Kadokawa, for example, does not make sense for Xbox.
Microsoft has a massive M&A team that does this full time. They are constantly looking for opportunities so there is a good chance they have already run numbers on any third party that is possibly in play. I don't think Microsoft was interested in any of those devs that Sony acquired.
Why wouldn't MS be interested in Bluepoint or HouseMarque? HouseMarque Head even confirmed that they received offers "from the usual other major players" but they accepted Sony's offer. When you think of "usual other major players", does Microsoft not appear on that list? Of course, it does.
And the fact that you listed three companies that Microsoft tried to acquire and failed only begs the questions how many other acquisitions have Microsoft engaged on that you don't know about?
Exactly. As I said, they can't and don't end up buying every one they want to. That's the point.
They have a ton of money for M&A and could easily outspend Sony.
You are thinking MS vs. Sony. When in reality, in the long-term it will always come down to Xbox vs. PlayStation. The entirety of MS money isn't to supplement Xbox. The profits that other divisions make are not there for Xbox to spend on acquisitions (until Xbox shows massive growth and profitability). Same goes for PlayStation or literally any other division/company.

That's what I (and Bryank) said. If Gamepass/Xbox division shows massive growth, they will surely receive a ton more money to spend on more devs and publishers. If they don't show growth, they likely won't get any big cheque to buy another big publisher, even if Sony is swooping in.
Yes, a publisher could decide to go with Sony instead of Microsoft even if less money was offered, but it's more likely they would go with the highest offer. The acquisitions that Sony made have all been those that have worked with Sony closely in the past. The only dev I can think of that fits that profile now is Kojima. So that could happen, but that would be a fairly small acquisition and not really move the needle. Any major acquisition and Microsoft will be right there with their wallet open.
The companies that Sony will likely target are all Japanese -- Capcom, Square Enix, Sega, Kadokawa, Konami. MS will have an impossibly hard time buying any of these companies if both Sony and MS are interested in it. If it is an American company, MS will have an upper hand vs. Sony.
 

Heisenberg007

Gold Journalism
Wild how many of the usual suspects seem to be all over acquisitions & consolidation now that Sony apparently wants to buy everyone up, too. Lot of hypocrites all around.
Aren't Sony allowed to defend its business?

They didn't start this whole acquisition scene. Their direct competitor did. Blame them for kickstarting this consolidation menace. How many studios did Sony buy between PS4's launch until Xbox started acquiring tons of studios in 2018 (Ninja Theory, Obsidian, PlayGround, etc.). Zero!

After Bethesda, what did you think was going to happen? Sony would respond in one way or another, obviously.
 
What does the warchest for Microsoft look like for acquisitions? There is no doubt they could outspend Sony. If it's a major third party that Sony tries to acquire you have to assume Microsoft would consider countering and Microsoft can easily outspend Sony.
I don't think it's that easy. Imagine Square Enix or From Software parent company. MS could outspend Sony but when you consider them as companies...why would they do that considering Sony invests in all of their businesses and not just videogames? Would MS invest in a company when only like 30 or 50% of their businesses matter to them? Also, if both Sony and MS compete for a Japanese company I feel Sony would have the upper hand considering that the Japanese government would have a saying as well.

It's not as easy as "MS has more money so they can just outbid Sony".

Of course if it's a huge western company with known IPs that MS would like to not lose access to, that would make things harder for Sony.
 
Aren't Sony allowed to defend its business?

🤣🤣You don't need to go on a shopping spree for devs and pubs to "defend" your business. Otherwise you're just validating the talking point that their acquisitions have been defensive this whole time.

They didn't start this whole acquisition scene. Their direct competitor did.

No. Embracer Group and Tencent did, but this just goes to show you were only paying attention when a platform holder did it. Kinda shows where your priorities were tbh.

Blame them for kickstarting this consolidation menace.

Meanwhile, Tencent and Embracer Group have acquired more studios in a shorter span of time than Microsoft and Sony combined :pie_thinking: ....

How many studios did Sony buy between PS4's launch until Xbox started acquiring tons of studios in 2018 (Ninja Theory, Obsidian, PlayGround, etc.). Zero!

That you know of. And I guess any studio acquisitions pre-PS4 suddenly don't count because...?

After Bethesda, what did you think was going to happen? Sony would respond in one way or another, obviously.

This sounds more like something you wanted to happen. Besides I thought the popular narrative was that "organic growth" and just putting out more games were the accepted responses? What happened to those?

This is all reminding me so much of the pivots during the console speculation period it's almost as funny as it is sad.
 

Kokoloko85

Member
And watch them not buy anyone big.

Normally Id say there method is great, just slowly building an exclusive relationship with a studio and then buying them after awhile. But while MS is buying popular gaming IP’s they had nothing to do with building, I think Sony is gonna need to do the same otherwise MS is slowly gonna buy these companies
 
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