What should Sony's Acquisition Plans Be? *spawn*

[Johnny Awesome]

Bowing out of the political debate.

Spider-Man license was probably worth it for Sony given how well Insomniac executed things, but it's probably the exception rather than the rule and they need to be careful.

They also poured billions into promoting CoD over the years which is now owned by their main competitor, which also highlights the perils of spending money on exclusivity deals.

 

[see colon]

Regarding licenses, the recent sales of Star Wars Outlaws shows the perils of licensed properties. In Outlaws case, the license may have actually been a liability, because by all accounts the game mostly fine, but there are expectations on a Star Wars game, both in quality, but also in content. A Star Wars game where you don't have force powers or light sabers turns off some people. But if it were an unlicensed Star Wars inspired games, I'm willing to bet some of the public sentiment may have been more favorable.

 

[tuna]

To sell more copies. I don't think that the main goal of a corporation like Sony, neither the goal of their shareholders.

More copies at a higher price (compared to R&C) leads to more revenue. We can debate wether the cost of licensing the Spider Man IP is worth it, but looking at it from the outside it certainly seems so.

I don't think anyone really can argue that Sunset Overdrive 2 (or Resistance 4) would be more profitable that SM2.

 

[Tkumpathenurple]

Maybe so, but it's a risky business. Spidey 2018 sold 22 million copies, whereas Spidey 2 only sold 11 million. Does that indicate a downward trajectory, or is it the limited install base relative to the PS4's at the time, and we can therefore expect similar ~11m sales for Spidey 3?

It's difficult enough to guage that Disney's $100m upfront fee becomes concerning and might be better spent on 1 or 2 original games.

 

[iroboto]

Maybe so, but it's a risky business. Spidey 2018 sold 22 million copies, whereas Spidey 2 only sold 11 million. Does that indicate a downward trajectory, or is it the limited install base relative to the PS4's at the time, and we can therefore expect similar ~11m sales for Spidey 3?

It's difficult enough to guage that Disney's $100m upfront fee becomes concerning and might be better spent on 1 or 2 original games.

There’s also the trade off of, 2 unknown if will be successful titles, versus a near guaranteed success.

Given how long publishers have been doing this, the majority of the choices historically has leaned heavily towards making another sequel.

MS is still willing to make more Gears, Halo and Forza for instance, and Spider Man has not declined to that level. There is still good money to be made even in declination.

 

[RDGoodla]

To sell more copies. I don't think that the main goal of a corporation like Sony, neither the goal of their shareholders.

The profit is also more than Ratchet and Clank.

Maybe so, but it's a risky business. Spidey 2018 sold 22 million copies, whereas Spidey 2 only sold 11 million. Does that indicate a downward trajectory, or is it the limited install base relative to the PS4's at the time, and we can therefore expect similar ~11m sales for Spidey 3?

Marvel Spider Man 2 sold 11 million in 6 months.

Marvel Spider Man 2018 sold 13.2 million in 10 months.

The 2 games sold very close however PS5 has significant fewer install base than PS4 in 2018.

 

[Tkumpathenurple]

There’s also the trade off of, 2 unknown if will be successful titles, versus a near guaranteed success.

Given how long publishers have been doing this, the majority of the choices historically has leaned heavily towards making another sequel.

MS is still willing to make more Gears, Halo and Forza for instance, and Spider Man has not declined to that level. There is still good money to be made even in declination.

Marvel Spider Man 2 sold 11 million in 6 months.

Marvel Spider Man 2018 sold 13.2 million in 10 months.

The 2 games sold very close however PS5 has significant fewer install base than PS4 in 2018.

Both good points. It does seem that there's still substantial value in the Spidey license. I don't envy whoever on the Sony side is having to negotiate with Disney's $7 trillion starting point though.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

Sony shuts down Concord developer Firewalk, permanently cancels game

It’s official: Concord is never coming back

www.polygon.com

Firewalk, acquired 2023, closed down
Neon Koi, acquired 2022, closed down.

Sony's desperate shopping spree from 2020 has come to an end and now they are having to clear out all the junk they bought. They should have stuck to what they knew worked. Work second party over a few titles, prove the worth of the studio, bring them in.

 

[Nesh]

Sony shuts down Concord developer Firewalk, permanently cancels game

It’s official: Concord is never coming back

www.polygon.com

Firewalk, acquired 2023, closed down
Neon Koi, acquired 2022, closed down.

Sony's desperate shopping spree from 2020 has come to an end and now they are having to clear out all the junk they bought. They should have stuck to what they knew worked. Work second party over a few titles, prove the worth of the studio, bring them in.

Firewall showed great potential even if the product idea wasn't all that great.

The quality of the art was up on par with the best. If they aimed for a different game they might have created something that people would love to play.

It's a shame that Sony directed them towards an unfocused GaaS title

 

[Shifty Geezer]

I don't know how that business deal panned out. They were initially independent and it seems Sony bought them to keep them alive to finish the game as their owner faltered. But I think from inception Firewalk had aspirations to be mega-huge from the talent and history they started with, and GaaS was always their intention as the means to get Uberrich. It's the contemporary business plan, jump in real large with lots of expensive investment on the [promise/forlorn hope] of making back huge amounts of cash.