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New PlayStation Job Implies Acquistion/s Are Underway

Marcus Brutalius

Marcus Brutalius

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Oct 27, 2017
3,579
Well, I prefer Sony buying some renowned studios over....tadaaa...Google.

Some of you have been cheering way too much at this streaming+subscription future. Latency is my least issue with this tech -my biggest fear is the fragmentation of the industry that comes before the consolidation process. A battle for content is inevitable.

If Stadia isn't just some hobby project, we can bank on the meltdowns on this board when the first "game X is Stadia exclusive" thread appears. Google has a pretty beefy warchest as well, you know.

MS's aggressivness is lauded and you can find 300 pages worth of people suggesting new aquisitions on this site, while Sony is arrogant again, because they're doing nothing.

This news may turn out to be a whole lot of nothing, but the reaction is funny nontheless.
 
Neil98

Neil98

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May 2, 2018
2,039
Madrid, Spain
Bluepoint, Insomniac, Take Two, Kojima Productions and From Soft. Also Sony should buy the rights to make Konami games and give all of them to Kojima. MGS6 by him and Silent Hills would be dope. READY AT dawn and Supermassive would be good too, and also Quantic Dream, but this last one is owned by Tencent.
 
Smoshow

Smoshow

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Oct 25, 2017
1,632
I personally don't like these companies purchasing others unless it keeps them from folding.
 
Imitation Of Life

Imitation Of Life

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Oct 25, 2017
9,205
Sony is going to acquire more studios. Raging against is just pissing into the wind. This service stuff is all about content. Insomniac, Bluepoint and Housemarque seem like good candidates right now. Not sure about Kojima Productions, but I wouldn't be surprised.

Acquiescence said:
I could see Sony acquiring Konami and then putting Kojima back to work on Silent Hills after development with Death Stranding has wrapped up.
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They gonna buy the Silent Hill IP too or just make a spiritual successor?
 
12Danny123

12Danny123

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Jan 31, 2018
1,722
PersianPrince said:
Why are so many people these days opposed to exclusives or studio acquisitions? Im actually curious.

I would love to have more first party games from Sony.
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dotyoureyes said:
Holy shit...I checked after you posted this and wow the tone is so different lol. Dis-approval largely in this thread, not so in the other.
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Largely down to the fact that Microsoft won't be changing much regarding multiplat releases. If Game Pass came to Switch the only loss for an acquisition from MS is the loss of PS Support. If Sony bought a company, they would only release those games on PS consoles.
 
dotyoureyes

dotyoureyes

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Jun 11, 2019
488
12Danny123 said:
Largely down to the fact that Microsoft won't be changing much regarding multiplat releases. If Game Pass came to Switch the only loss for an acquisition from MS is the loss of PS Support. If Sony bought a company, they would only release those games on PS consoles.
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I don't know about that....some of those replies were on the warrior side. Some sure, but def not all. I bet some of those folks don't even game on PC.
 

ImaLawy3r

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Jun 6, 2019
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jacks81x said:
I feel this way because they already have one foot in the door. PS Now is available on PC. It used to be available on TVs and other devices as well, but didn't work well so they rolled it back. They recently released an official Remote Play app on iOS and at the Apple conference a couple weeks ago Dualshock 4 support was announced. So they're definitely setting up to be at least ready for streaming across various devices. We'll see whether they go all the way with that, but I think they're going to want a slice of the cake if Stadia and XCloud prove to be profitable.

Full disclosure: I'm a Sony shareholder.
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I'm an MS, Sony, and Nintendo Shareholder as well...just with very little shares... :/
 
Acquiescence

Acquiescence

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Oct 26, 2017
10,257
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i-hate-u said:
They don't own Kojima
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harSon said:
Nobody is going to buy Konami unless they're willing to just sell the rights to their intellectual properties. The problem with purchasing publishers, let alone a business like Konami who makes most of its money outside of gaming, is that there's a bunch of redundant stuff you get alongside it.
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Guys, come on, I'm not being serious. Konami are (inexplicably) doing better than ever, so there's no way they're getting acquired any time soon.
 
iareharSon

iareharSon

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Oct 30, 2017
8,939
jacks81x said:
I feel this way because they already have one foot in the door. PS Now is available on PC. It used to be available on TVs and other devices as well, but didn't work well so they rolled it back. They recently released an official Remote Play app on iOS and at the Apple conference a couple weeks ago Dualshock 4 support was announced. So they're definitely setting up to be at least ready for streaming across various devices. We'll see whether they go all the way with that, but I think they're going to want a slice of the cake if Stadia and XCloud prove to be profitable.

Full disclosure: I'm a Sony shareholder.
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Given that Sony is extremely successful with the traditional model of selling consoles and software, do you think investors would be happy if they sacrificed short term revenue for the potential of greater revenue down the road by coinciding new releases on their streaming service? Unless they're willing to do that, I don't think they can compete with Microsoft's plans for streaming.
 
nolifebr

nolifebr

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Sep 1, 2018
11,465
Curitiba/BR
Realistically, I think it might be some of these (though I believe they will not buy any big studio like these ones)

Housemarque - It seems to be having trouble to find success with its games, and a financial security would probably be well received.
KojiPro - Kojima has an old relationship with Sony, as well as getting big support from Sony in his studio.
Bluepoint - They have a desire to create their own IP and with their track record with Sony, it would not be strange to see them joining the WWS.
Insomniac - They have praised Sony quite a lot lately, with even Ted Price saying it's impressive to see the freedom that studios like Naughty Dog and Santa Monica have under the SIE management.

Remedy has the "Sony profile", but they did not receive a large Chinese investment last year? Is it also possible for Sony to consider acquiring someone who makes type of games that they don't have now (fighting, racing or FPS)

And worse it is to see independent studies being bought by larger companies. With Google, Apple and Amazon joining the gaming market, this will happen more and more, since exclusive content will be the great differential.
 
Melchiah

Melchiah

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Oct 26, 2017
4,190
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12Danny123 said:
Largely down to the fact that Microsoft won't be changing much regarding multiplat releases. If Game Pass came to Switch the only loss for an acquisition from MS is the loss of PS Support. If Sony bought a company, they would only release those games on PS consoles.
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Considering the size of PS4 userbase, and how most people outside of forums like this only play on one platform, it affects a plenty of people negatively. It's like saying locking some future titles away from both XB and Nintendo platforms wouldn't be a big deal, as the combined userbase is about the same.
 
vivftp

vivftp

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Oct 29, 2017
19,744
Well we know Sony are planning to expand from Jim Ryan's comments about expanding via organic growth and acquisition. With organic growth pretty much all WWS have grown in body count as of late, they've got Manchester studio that has yet to announce their first game and San Diego studio that has yet to be officially announced.

As for people thinking Sony are looking to do this as a reaction to Microsoft, why? XGS are the ones who were playing catch-up in terms of bolstering their ranks with studios. Before their spending spree that began in 2018 XGS had what, 6 studios vs. PlayStations 13? If WWS is planning further expansions I have to imagine it's because we're at the start of a new gen and they feel they will require more content instead of saying, "Microsoft just bought a few more, quick pull out the checkbook!!!"

As for potential candidates, I was joking about it a few days ago in the SIE thread but it'd be funny to see them buy Square Enix just to see the meltdowns :) As someone in that thread later pointed out to me, Sony did own 18% of SE up until 2014, so the two organizations do have some deeper history together. Not saying it's gonna happen, but it'd be interesting to see it play out.
 
Pokemon Master Tim

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Jun 14, 2018
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DangerMouse

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Oct 25, 2017
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Host Samurai said:
Like I said in the other thread, I am only a fan of this when it's a small studio that has had trouble in the past and they look to expand them. The only big dev that Sony should buy is KojiPro, since he helped build the Playstation brand.
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Yeah, he and his team have contributed a ton to the brand since it's very beginning and the mutual benefit is clearly still strong with the whole Guerrilla engine co-production thing which is helping him set up his new studio incredibly quickly. If they're going to continue sharing the engine like this it doesn't really make sense not to bring them in.
You're right I think that's why Double Fine is not getting much complaint despite recently doing those remasters for Playstation, since they clearly had money problems and why I think Mistwalker would be okay if they want to get back into console games.

Acquiescence said:
Whatever the acquisitions are, I hope Sony don't announce them in front of an audience of whooping trained monkeys.
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Agreed, do it more like how they're handling creating their new studios, the bigger deal should be an eventual game announcement.
 

Deleted member 2379

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Sillegamer said:
With PlayStation CEO Jim Ryan talking openly about acquisitions, a new job listing for M&A Program Manager seems to hint that SIE may have already or is in the process of acquiring new studios.



Link: https://boards.greenhouse.io/sonyinteractiveentertainmentplaystation/jobs/1725873
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Haha they are essentially hoping that they can find a low-level PE associate in the Bay Area who is willing to leave their current job for a 6 - 9 month contract at a much lower payscale.

This isn't a senior level person who will search and execute deals. This is an excel monkey willing to take a pay cut for a contract gig with no future.

Typically you just hire a bank for this.

Don't read anything into this posting. If you are actually hot on the trot for new deals you hire someone more senior or you offer a career path. This is essentially we had someone quit and need a body to plug the gap for a bit.
 
jacks81x

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harSon said:
Given that Sony is extremely successful with the traditional model of selling consoles and software, do you think investors would be happy if they sacrificed short term revenue for the potential of greater revenue down the road by coinciding new releases on their streaming service? Unless they're willing to do that, I don't think they can compete with Microsoft's plans for streaming.
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I don't know what their long-term goals are, but I think they're at least putting themselves in position to adapt depending on how the landscape changes over the next decade or so. They're setting themselves up to be flexible, and I think that's ultimately a good thing. If they want to remain traditional, they can do that. If they decide to go all in on streaming, they'll have the infrastructure in place and ready to go as well.
 
Jeffram

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Oct 29, 2017
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Gamechanger87 said:
Haha they are essentially hoping that they can find a low-level PE associate in the Bay Area who is willing to leave their current job for a 6 - 9 month contract at a much lower payscale.

This isn't a senior level person who will search and execute deals. This is an excel monkey willing to take a pay cut for a contract gig with no future.

Typically you just hire a bank for this.

Don't read anything into this posting. If you are actually hot on the trot for new deals you hire someone more senior or you offer a career path. This is essentially we had someone quit and need a body to plug the gap for a bit.
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You typically higher 3rd party consultants, but a PM might be responsible for keeping track of how things are progressing for internal assurance.
 
vivftp

vivftp

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Regarding the general topic of acquisitions, it's worth remembering that we also have other huge players moving into this market in the form of Google, and supposedly not far behind them we'll have Amazon, Apple, Wal-Mart and Comcast. Those companies will also need content for their services and if they decide to flex a bit of their muscle they could decide to snap up a bunch of studios. If there is a serious chance of this happening then I much rather an existing, established player like Sony, MS or Nintendo act first to secure studios and IP rather than potentially let a newcomer waltz in, throw some money around and fuck up a studio or IP, only to later realize this isn't worth it and bow out of the market.

Acquisitions are likely to become more commonplace going forward so if someone has to do it then at least let it be a company with a track record of treating devs properly, giving them the creative freedom and time to do their own thing, and a proper budget and marketing. SIE has proven themselves in there, and I'd have 100% more faith in them to produce a good product over whatever the hell Amazon, Google or Wal-Mart might produce.
 
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Deleted member 2379

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Jeffram said:
You typically higher 3rd party consultants, but a PM might be responsible for keeping track of how things are progressing for internal assurance.
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I wouldn't hire a consultant for this this work. They want this person to do two things. Support diligence and possibly work on integration. No need to pay consultant rates.

The cheapest option is a bank with a success fee. Let them throw a few analysts to keep the GANT chart going on timing for closing a deal. The integration side obviously isn't of scale enough to require a third party.

They are willing to throw probably $50K at this max. I wouldn't take this as anything really serious.

How are you going to manage integration over 6 - 9 months when you have no insight into the two businesses you are integrating and there isn't a full team.
 
DangerMouse

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sora87 said:
Just build Japan Studio up even more. We need more of those type of games on PS5.
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Pretty much this. Hopefully with some of the already existing projects from the PS3/Vita era and their couple of PS4 projects now complete we'll start to see more of the results of that supposed restructuring of the studio somewhere around 2013 or so whenever the SSM guy went over. They need to beef them up more with more talent so that they can work more efficiently on their multiple projects. The studio is one of the ones that should be contributing much more to their Japanese games library again like they used to.
 
Omnistalgic

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get2sammyb said:
I'm not sure this really means much of anything at all. Sony recently bought that audio middleware company, for example, so the role could be related to integrating that.

Must admit, it's becoming a bit tiring seeing these acquisitions turned into a sport. I used to think exclusive list wars were bad, but we may have found something worse.
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MS pimped it out at E3...

No one else to blame but the warriors who took the charge.
 
B.O.O.M.

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Oct 25, 2017
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As I mentioned before in a similar topic, I think smaller indie developers make more sense for acquisitions. I would love to see what DrinkBox can do with a big/decent budget for example
 
CatAssTrophy

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Hmmm, I agree that we may be reading too much into this.

My perspective on acquisitions though is that I would rather the big companies only acquire studios that have a history of working so closely with them that they might as well have been first party in the first place. That's how Sony has historically handled most of their studio purchases, as far as I know. Feel free to correct me.

Buying a company that has been releasing games on various platforms and doesn't seem to have any specific allegiance is kinda gross to me. I don't really care either if it's a situation where the studio "hasn't been doing well lately" because the alternative would be for them to dissolve, go to other studios, start their own studios, etc. and we all still get multiplatform games. DoubleFine as an example was disappointing because though it's sad to hear they haven't been doing too hot in recent years, they were making multiplatform games, and could have either been absorbed by a publisher and continued that or dissolved and spread out into other/new studios. Now they're likely going MS platform only after their current projects conclude.

I'd feel the same way if, for example, Nintendo bought Grasshopper or if Sony bought Frictional or Playdead. Those companies (afaik) aren't doing "badly" as with the DF example but they were making games for multiple platforms and mostly left well alone so their acquisition would seem like purely a power move and less about a mutually beneficial relationship that already existed.
 
iareharSon

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Just because Microsoft is acquiring studios, doesn't mean Sony needs to acquire studios. Even if Microsoft wasn't pursuing Game Pass and xCloud, I still think they'd be making these acquisitions. The division was simply mismanaged and squeezed for cash for so long, that their internal studio bandwidth was severely lacking. Microsoft is playing catch-up, while Sony is already sitting on a collection of studios that's world class.
 

Deleted member 2793

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Embarrassing thread and people still try to compare with MS when they're posting "buy bandai namco, square, konami, take two, etc". Not even similar (and I hate what MS is doing as well and criticized Nintendo fans doing this same kind of dumb fanfic in another thread btw, no "gotcha" here for you).

Acquisition threads are the most fanboyish holes of this site.

Also @ lots of misinformation here. The whole NIS thing was not even true, so maybe better research before the cheerleading for the billion dollar companies. Limiting NIS company to PS only would also basically change their whole line of content considering SIE is managed in the US and has different expectations from their studios and these go against what NIS wants to make, their president themselves alluded to this.
 

Elios83

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Oct 28, 2017
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Some degree of consolidation is inevitabile.
The fact they're looking into acquiring studios and expanding the existing ones has been confirmed to investors as part of their business strategy.
It's not a rumor or some twitter speculation, it's official.
The question is more which acquisitions best fit into their strategy.
With Microsoft the pattern has become obvious, they have a few key studios which will be dedicated to AAA development (343, Playground, Coalition, Turn10, The Initiative) while most of their new acquisitions have been smaller struggling studios that will be mandated to develop smaller games in a timely fashion to be able to offer fresh exclusives on Game Pass.
Sony is more into the premium AAA mentality so their acquisitions might reflect that. Also they have a culture of acquiring studios that have developed a positive and successful relationship with them in the past and not studios that never worked with them. So basically the best candidate I see at the moment is Insomniac. Some people might say Kojima Productions as well especially if Death Stranding is a critical and commercial success but buying a studio that is focused around the personality and skills of a single man might not be considered a smart business choice.
In any case it will be interesting to see how things will unfold, next year will be huge for them.
 
B.O.O.M.

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Necron said:
I felt that Guacamelee 2 went by relatively unnoticed, which is a darn shame. I hope they're doing alright.
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Yes exactly another reason why I don't mind if such a team joins PS. They will get financial support, tech support if need be, and a hell of a lot more exposure. win-win. But yeah as you say I hope they are doing well either way
 
CaviarMeths

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Way too many people to @ on this one, but why on earth would Sony buy a studio like Bluepoint that already works with Sony almost exclusively anyway? Literally just throwing money in the garbage. Neither company would gain anything and it would add zero value to the Playstation brand. Would be like Nintendo buying HAL Laboratories. Just pointless.
 
poklane

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CaviarMeths said:
Way too many people to @ on this one, but why on earth would Sony buy a studio like Bluepoint that already works with Sony almost exclusively anyway? Literally just throwing money in the garbage. Neither company would gain anything and it would add zero value to the Playstation brand. Would be like Nintendo buying HAL Laboratories. Just pointless.
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To ensure they don't walk and sign a deal or get acquired by another publisher? Studios being picked up even though they've been working with that publisher already for years wouldn't exactly be something new.
 
LifeBrandRobot

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I really doubt this has anything to do with aquiring development studios. They didn't buy Quantic Dream after a long partnership and I doubt Sony is interested in smaller indie/PC developers. The only one I can see them wanting to aquire is Insomniac, and they want to stay independent so that ain't happening.
 
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