What a load of barnacles.
1. Who even gives a fuck about this studio what is sony's obsession with competitive fighting games?
So uh.. why? they create NICHE fighting games.. a genre that is niche in itself
this seems weird on so many levels
Anybody who likes Arc systems games owns a Playstation. It does nothing except give stability to the developer. There is no market share gain or mindshare gain with this purchase. Arc systems has always struck me as pretty independent so this would surprise me but development costs are high and I would guess the games Arc sells are selling pretty low numbers in 2021.
Two thing make sense.
Sony buying EVO
Sony buying all editors of Japanimation (Funimation, Crunchroll)
But hard to believe this acquisition, arc sys don't hint sales at 10M.
Most Sony and MS teams didn't reach 10M sales. But a few fighting games combined this generation sold over 60 million copies and generated with DLC maybe that or even more money:
Arc System Works recently achieved over 6M copies (+seasons of DLC) it with Dragon Ball with Bandai as publisher. Maybe with Sony's marketing efforts as publisher, which know includes EVO, plus some other very popular IP from Sony's games or animes (or even from Kadokawa) they could perform even better.
In addition to this, the console exclusive Street Fighter V sold 5.5M (and counting) + pretty likely more money from the fuck ton of DLC released. MKX sold 11 million sales and MK11 had a better sales start. Tekken 7 sold over 7 million units + DLC and counting. Smash Ultimate sold over 23 million copies + DLC.
So as of now fighting games are a juicy, interesting niche but not only that, there's a big business growth potential in the fighting genre for many reasons:
-Arc System Works is working on Dungeon Fighter Duel, fighting game of a Korean beat'em up MMORPG game that has an insanely huge userbase and has been in the top 3 top grossing PC games worldwide during years, often becoming top 1 above LoL
-There's a League of Legends game fighting game in the works made by the EVO creators, so very likely will grow the genre and pretty likely will be PS console exclusive
-FGC and FGC eSports viewship keeps growing year after year, making them a great potential marketing channel
-eSports are becoming bigger and now Sony and the UFC guys will be backing EVO, so it will become bigger
-Netherreal, Capcom, Bandai Namco, ASW and maybe even SNK are in a good shape and can continue growing themselves inside the genre
-Fighting game publishers have been increasing their bets on eSports in the recent years
-Now fighting games with ASW's Guilty Gear Strive as the latest and best example are betting for a proper quality rollback netcode, which will improve online multiplayer experience
-PSN speeds on PS5 doesn't seem to be a shit anymore, which will improve online multiplayer experience
-PS5 wifi is awesome in terms of speed and latency unlike the base PS4 wifi, which was crap, which will improve online multiplayer experience
-Sony is investing on online tournaments and eSports related stuff like betting ingame stuff, NFT or even money on eSports results
So it makes sens to see Sony buying Arc System Works, specially considering that since Sony is now pumping fighting games genre and its eSports will want to milk it with 1st party games, and now that also has a ton of top anime brands like Demon Slayer (top 1 box office in USA and Japan etc) and now even has access to anime Kadokawa IPs will want to make some anime games because it would also help them market their Crunchyroll, Funimation, etc branches.
The cost of maintaining a studio is not cheap.
It depends on the size of the studio. Arc System Works has 164 employees, which isn't too big specially considering they work on multiple games at the same time, so that cost gets split into more projects.
2. Sony has never worked with this studio in the past this would go against the "organic growth" PR phrase Jim Ryan and Hermen love using.
2. Sony was also interested in acquiring Leyou last year, and they had no prior relationship with them either.
Arc System Works has a long tradition on making PlayStation console exclusive games that goes back to the first PlayStation consoles.
In the long run I think a studio to concentrate on RPGs could be useful to them
They don't need to have a Sony studio to make RPGs when they have all the Square Enix exclusives plus smaller JRPG exclusives and tons of multiplatform western and Japanese RPGs, most if not all of them selling best on PlayStation. If Zenimax future games stop being released (even after a timed console exclusive) on PS, Sony won't miss them because their sales on PS4 were a tiny portion of the over 1500 PS4 games sold.
I wonder if this happens if we will get Dragon Ball FighterZ 2 as a PS5 exclusive or not at all? I was hoping to see a similar game for Naruto or My Hero Academia too, so this should be interesting. Honestly, I’m not interested in Guilty Gear. The franchise has always bored me to tears, so if they keep pumping that shit out I won’t need to buy a PS5.
Namco Bandai was the Dragon Ball FighterZ publisher, the one who has the rights to make DB games. Buying ASW wouldn't give them access to the Dragon Ball IP. Sony has their own brands via Crunchy Roll/Funimation/Aniplex/Sony Pictures plus now has access to the Kadowaka brands. So they could do Naruto, Demon Slayer, Cowboy Bebop, Kill la Kill, Evangelion, Fullmetal Alchemist, Fate/Stay Night and many other ones whey own these brands or their animes, so may be interested on promoting them making games.