I think they all know everything is going to transform to a subscription that will be locking content away from hardware providers and hardware agnostic platforms
Sony Game Studios Acquisitions and Divestitures
- Thread starter BRiT
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We shouldn't think hardware but platform. Console platforms may be replaced with cloud content platforms in the future, but it's still content locked behond a paywall either way.
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I've always felt that consoles, as the traditional business model existed - e.g. ignoring Nintendo who try not to sell hardware at a loss - are a bit harder to pigeon-hole than them being considered another paywall. In market terms, it's absolutely a walled garden, but the walls of the garden hit publishers/developers rather than consumers because the purpose of the wall is to make gaming monetarily accessible to consumers where other hardware options are more (too?) expensive.
The whole Cloud Thing(tm) is going to challenge and change a lot of perceptions and business models, what with costs being is very different places.
I read about this earlier and was going to post it, but you beat me to it. I had figured that Sony would start to think about doing this and mentioned it in the other thread. The apparent acceptance of the MS/ABK deal has created legal and regulatory precedents for other tech players to follow. Sony hasn't targetted 3rd party publishers aquisitions in the past and only looked at increasing their own 1st party studios, but this MS deal will likely force both Sony and others to make similar deals. I think there is going to be a lot of consolidation in the industry as Amazon/MS/Sony maybe Apple start swallowing up content and IP.
Is MS doing this?
Oh no thats right they are taking short cuts and buying 3rd Publishers instead.
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Sony's not the one that's struggling with (quality) first-party output, so...
bait, catch and release....
This is only mostly true at Playstation, not Sony as a whole. They have purchased more than a few film, television, anime, and music publishers. Also, when they first entered the market, they did pick up Psygnosis, who was both a developer and a publisher. Recently, they've concentrated more on picking up independent studios, usually ones that they had already published games and own IP from. But they aren't new to buying publishers in the abstract. They simply haven't done it recently IRT video games. Unless you count Bungie. They self published Destiny 2 after their contract with Activision ended, and all of the expansions afterwards. They also used to publish other companies games before they became a Microsoft studio, but stopped once that happened.
Oh, and Sony also own stakes in several publishers. Epic, From Software, Scopley, Devolver... Sony invested in all of those, and maybe more, in the last few years. Sony also owns things that own things. Like the Game Show Network, owned by Sony Pictures. GSN has a games division that publishes games. That's a pretty deep rabbit hole, though. I don't think I have time today to research all the stuff they own that own a video game publisher.
Yes. This consolidation is all round bad. Anyone who is against megacorps should be against the HW companies swallowing up talent. The more one buys, the more the other buys. Exactly as I said in the AB thread, we now have an acquisition arms-race, MS's moves have pressured Sony into acting at a far larger scale than the historical standard of the console space.
I apologise, instead of typing "Sony" I should of typed "SCE/SIE" or just stuck to "Playstation" so as to avoid confusion.
As for GSN Games Sony sold that company off to Scopely who themselves have just been acquired by another company.
Yes SCE/SIE owned Psygnosis and Sony themselves own Bungie, then again MS bought Rare who used to publish their own games (as Ultimate Play the Game) before being partly acquired by Nintendo bitd.
The point I was making is that Microsoft's recent acquisitions of both Zenimax/Bethesda and now soon Activision will put pressure on Sony to respond and will likely spark more and larger acquisitions by, not just Sony/SIE, but also likely other tech companies wishing to get a slice of the gaming content pie.
Thats definetely a sign of the industry's roadmap. There is a big shift expected in how games are distributed
Sony is following MS's footsteps or I should call it, an arms race. Its good for the idustry according to MS, so....eat it up now.
Told you it was a rabbit hole.
That's true. Though Sony... Or Playstation's success is what put pressure on Microsoft to purchase Zenimax and Activision. It's an arms race for sure. A race where escalation is the purpose.
If, and this is a big IF, Sony does acquire Take-Two, I still see them as being mostly independent, probably more so than Bungie. Sure, exclusive content will be par for the course on PlayStation, but nothing beyond that.
Personally, I'm worried about games like GTA falling into Sony's or Microsoft's hands, in fear that political agendas and media pressure (especially, this day and age of oversensitivity) will force them to make outrageous compromises beyond those typically associated to GTA. Hell, even at this juncture of Take-Two being independent, I still have this feeling that GTA 6 will be avoiding all the hot button material that makes GTA games what they are.
Personally, I'm worried about games like GTA falling into Sony's or Microsoft's hands, in fear that political agendas and media pressure (especially, this day and age of oversensitivity) will force them to make outrageous compromises beyond those typically associated to GTA. Hell, even at this juncture of Take-Two being independent, I still have this feeling that GTA 6 will be avoiding all the hot button material that makes GTA games what they are.
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I would say that Microsoft's failures in the previous generation have heaped greater pressure on Microsoft than anything else, but since Microsoft's failure helped Sony be successful I guess its 2 sides of the same coin. They had their foot on Sony's neck for early part of the 360 generation then took they eyes off the prize with chasing the novelty motion control of Kinect then the infamous Xbox One reveal (which incidently was 10 years ago yesterday).
All the more reason why they shouldn't need to buy even more studios than they have in the last 3-4 years (13 i believe now)
They should just take those billions and start new studios of their own.
Regrettably, at this point and time, this is no longer an option. As Shifty Geezer has pointed out, "MS's moves have pressured Sony into acting at a far larger scale than the historical standard of the console space." Personally, I wish Sony and Microsoft would leave these huge publishers alone, unless they're seriously hurting financially. Neither ABK or Take-Two are hurting. Both Sony and Microsoft should be nurturing new IPs internally and externally, and filling in the gaps with 'independent' third-party publishers IPs.
I dunno , seems like a whole lot of hand waving to excuse sony purchasing studios which seems most of the board is against when it comes to MS. Perhaps it was MS who no longer had an option with Sony's increasing buying spree?
Yes this forum has convinced me that I was wrong that both companies should just buy developers when they see fit. Instead they should just invest in their own studios and wait 5-10 years for them to release a game. That seems to be the right way.
Well hopefully when it comes time for Sony to purchase Take2 the CMA and FTC can stop the purchase so that Sony can't foreclose on MS
The gaming boards that I visit, including this one, for the most part, gamers are against major acquisitions, or at the very least, would like to see strong structural remedies in place on protecting multiplatform gaming, other than promises. It's just the fanboys and shills on both sides that keep fanning the flames of conspiracies and whataboutism.
Nobody is really saying that, not at all! Nobody is stopping Sony, Microsoft, or Nintendo from purchasing small or midsize developers who they have (or had) longstanding relationships with, or long-term partnerships supporting and developing new IPs for their respective systems. ABK, EA, Take-Two, Ubisoft, Capcom, Square/Enix, Sega, and all the other major publishers, IMHO, should stay independent from the console manufactures.
Well hopefully when it comes time for Sony to purchase Take2 the CMA and FTC can stop the purchase so that Sony can't foreclose on MS
I hope that all trade and consumer regulatory bodies, no matter where, are doing their job. Nintendo, Sony, Microsoft, Apple, Google, Alphabet Inc (Amazon), Disney, Comcast, AT&T, and so-on-and-so-on, need proper regulation. So, no arguments there...
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