-
Ever wanted an RSS feed of all your favorite gaming news sites? Go check out our new Gaming Headlines feed! Read more about it here.
Rumor/Speculation: Market speculates that Sony could buy Take Two (SEE UPDATE IN OP)
- Thread starter zombiejames
- Start date
- Status
The NBA would probably renegotiate the contract, but 2K is not the only NBA license holder. EA has one too. Sony used to have their own exclusive NBA sim before they gave it up. So it's not like NBA games would necessarily be locked to one platform...they only practically would.
Short-term, sure; but long-term they'd be another Daybreak. The pressure to make their titles synergise with Playstation would eventually become overwhelming.
I can't see it being any kind of positive for a PC-focused studio like Firaxis.
Nifty, thanks for the reply :)
I was joking with a co-worker about this today, but the idea that Sony might be trying harder to turn video game IP into movies and TV shows is growing on me. I mean, if we go back 20 years the idea of a quality comic book movie was laughable. We know Sony are working towards an Uncharted movie and a Sly Cooper series, maybe they have aspirations of turning more gaming IP into movies/shows? It'd allow their media divisions to double dip on a popular IP, and hell I'm sure they could work content from the music division in there too.
Also, this is all making me think of Shawn Laydens comments from recent interviews:
But, no, I was referencing more with the things like "GTA 5 Online," or you look at "Call of Duty," or "Fortnite," or any of those experiences. Worldwide Studios, like I say, we've been going really heavy into story-driven gaming. The power of the narrative. Big, spectacular experiences. But not a whole lot in the multiplayer side of things, I think. That's an area where you will likely see us start to make more noise in the new term.
Source
Makes me wonder if this is what he was referring to.
That's if Xbox would or even could retaliate. From what we know, Xbox might not have ever been profitable overall, and we know how much the brand has performed less than spectacularly in recent years, to the point where they no longer even bother to report sales etc. I don't think Microsoft higher ups, given Xbox's performance in recent years, simply gives the go ahead on such massive acquisitions in some sort of retaliation. Smaller acquisitions of the kind Microsoft has been making in recent months as a testing ground and bolstering move of sorts? Sure. But those massive acquisitions? I can't see it happening. Unless Xbox really turns things around next gen that is.
Of course not, just like the rumors of Xbox buying EA, they weren't going to be getting to make those sports games exclusive
Forget Sony, I heard that Take-Two / Rockstar actually wants to make their own next-gen console.
If Sony does make this happen there is no way they'll keep all the series in Take Two's portfolio exclusive.
The backlash would be beyond measure especially if they don't do PC versions either.
The backlash would be beyond measure especially if they don't do PC versions either.
This particular rumour isn't happening, but to look at this a little more generally, Sony beyond gaming is not about keeping its content to its own platforms or formats any more. The whole motivation for their music acquisitions is to make long term licensing coin from other streaming services, for example. Sony sees value in their own platform ownership in games at the moment, obviously, but this wouldn't necessarily be the orientation, or the sole orientation, if Sony did take on a tranche of big IP in an inorganic fashion like in a 'big' acquisition. I think this is all moot with regard to this rumour anyway, but I think that general characterization of Sony guarding its content behind its own formats only, is no longer accurate, and the new CEO seems to be orientating toward a strategy of general licensing of valuable content, in music and movies at least. You have to up a long way back in time and attitudes to find the kind of Sony that was wary of digital music because it wanted to sell CDs... their outlook now is a 180 from that positioning.
R* is gonna get left the fk alone.
But God, I wouldn't mind Ken Levine and Bioshock to be apart of WWS..
It wouldn't happen overnight and things probably wouldn't change that much. I mean, they could make their investments back with just the next GTA still being multiplatform, let alone 2k.
Yeah its library is going to consist of one game from R* every 5 years.
signals Sony thinking of going big if they need to?
uuuf I forgot Midnight Club existed
oh how I loved it back in the day
- The Xbox division has been increasing revenue recently.
- So you think Ms lacks confidence in xbox after they just made the single biggest yearly investment in first party?
- The acquisitions I stated are not even that big, apart from square.
- We already know MS want to turn things around with everything they have been doing, like gamepass, BC, enhanced BC, the X1S +X1X and the studio acquisitions.
You really think Xbox will just sit down, take it and die, after all the work and investment they have put in?
Last edited:
I mean, for Sony? It'd be an amazing get.
For the gamers? It would fucking suck. You can say goodbye to multi-platform games, no more GTA on xbox/pc, etc.
I love my ps4 and it has a lot of great exclusive games, but unlike MS Sony keeps their games solely on their systems, no pc ports, etc, at least for the reall big ones. They want people to have to buy a playstation to play those games.
I could also see Take two really not wanting this. I mean can you imagine trying to explain to shareholders that you sell to Sony and then you'll only be releasing the games on one system and not getting that sweet online revenue from pc/xbox sales? I don't think they'd be happy about that.
For the gamers? It would fucking suck. You can say goodbye to multi-platform games, no more GTA on xbox/pc, etc.
I love my ps4 and it has a lot of great exclusive games, but unlike MS Sony keeps their games solely on their systems, no pc ports, etc, at least for the reall big ones. They want people to have to buy a playstation to play those games.
I could also see Take two really not wanting this. I mean can you imagine trying to explain to shareholders that you sell to Sony and then you'll only be releasing the games on one system and not getting that sweet online revenue from pc/xbox sales? I don't think they'd be happy about that.
If true, there has to be some rumbling going on to make this kind of move. They would have to see value in talking the company on as owning it rather than as a partner.
It either means they think we're going to see another big player get acquired somewhere by a company, or something else big is happening.
It either means they think we're going to see another big player get acquired somewhere by a company, or something else big is happening.
Because only one of these is possible. You can figure out the rest, right?
Whilst I don't think this is necessarily true, a difference in reception isn't exactly surprising. Whilst both platform holders have had blunders, closures etc, Microsoft's track record of IP, studio and exclusives management in recent years has been especially poor, notably in comparison to Sony and Nintendo. Whether you look at the decline of Halo, Gears, Crackdown, exclusives like Sea of Thieves, certain other titles, Fable, Rare as a whole, Lionhead, Scalebound and so on, and then compare to Sony or Nintendo's recent exclusives and output, it's little wonder many have so much more confidence in Sony's management of studios and IP over Microsoft's.
TakeTwo (TT) under Sony means a lot of people (Xbox gamers) are potentially pushed to invest in a Sony platform in order to play TT games, but games that ultimately are still likely to be really high quality (potentially also with less aggressive microtransactions or GaaS emphasis). A TT under Microsoft however might lend to a greater chance of TT putting out worse quality games altogether, which to many is potentially worse.
That and lots more people own a PS4 over an Xbox One in the first place, hence another reason there could be less pushback to one over the other.
Last edited:
Uh, well, they'd be bought. Not shareholders (except to the extent the package consisted of Sony stock). So, the price would have to be at a premium significant enough to justify the sale, but after that there would be no shareholders to satisfy.
Im amazed the thread hasn't been locked yet. This whole rumor, interesting or not, feels like it's based just off of a single assumption or thought. Even if it's cool or major news in the future and the rumor somehow ends up being right, it kind of just feels like this thread is talking in circles
Most people are saying this seems unlikely and if true will be bad for gamers tho?
Ordinarily I'd dismiss this but given that Google and, I'm assuming Amazon, are going to enter the gaming space soon I think there's a chance (however slight) that this is Sony shoring up their IP catalogue to do battle against the Silicon Valley titans when it comes to who can launch the 'Netflix of games' first.
We've already seen it with Netflix paying big money for Ryan Murphy and WarnerMedia cutting a similar big money deal for Greg Berlanti. Yes those aren't the same things but it does show the importance of talent and IPs when an incumbent industry leader finds itself potentially going head to head with the near bottomless pockets of Silicon Valley's big players.
What if/when Apple, a trillion dollar company or thereabouts, decides to launch a streaming games platform too? Sony will need everything at it's disposal to fight and potentially owning the GTA and Red Dead properties could be a real game changer as the 'streaming wars' start to heat up.
We've already seen it with Netflix paying big money for Ryan Murphy and WarnerMedia cutting a similar big money deal for Greg Berlanti. Yes those aren't the same things but it does show the importance of talent and IPs when an incumbent industry leader finds itself potentially going head to head with the near bottomless pockets of Silicon Valley's big players.
What if/when Apple, a trillion dollar company or thereabouts, decides to launch a streaming games platform too? Sony will need everything at it's disposal to fight and potentially owning the GTA and Red Dead properties could be a real game changer as the 'streaming wars' start to heat up.
Of course it would.
More people have PS4's, more people prefer Playstation, more people are hoping to remain with Playstation next gen if, god willing, they don't screw things up regarding backwards compatibility.
Were Microsoft in talks to buy T2 it would annoy a lot of people who honestly aren't interested in Xbox but would have to end up shelling out for it just to play Rockstar games.
But in the end it doesn't matter if this rumour is true anyway, it'll just be a Minecraft situation and the games from T2 will still be multiplatform... probably.
That's how I see it. Like minecraft is still multiplatform-ish
Sources ?
You say that as if Rockstar takes orders from Take2 or anyone else for that matter. If Rockstar could be told what to do I'm sure there wouldn't be that torture scene in GTA V.
Looks like I missed the fun. It's weird coming to huge "news" like this after it's been debunked.
You make a valid point, but isn't there some kind of rule against Japanese companies being acquired? I'm sure I read that somewhere. Insomniac don't want to be bought and Spider-Man and Ratchet & Clank are both their most successful games to date by far. PlayStation fans could definitely lose out on lots of great content to play without an internet connection, but perhaps Sony will allow these Xbox games to be accessible on their console. Or will hell freeze over first? Not sure.
To be honest, the investments they've made into first-party are substantial but still relatively small when looked at in isolation. Given what Playground Games and Undead Labs do for Xbox, it was only a matter of time before they were acquired even if Xbox wasn't in a position where they needed to make the moves they have. These acquisitions happened in a burst fashion so that Xbox has content lined up for next-gen and for Game Pass "per quarter", and that amplifies the impact. The chosen studios are pretty smart purchases as a lot of them punch above their weight to provide great games, but it looks as though they were chosen because of their size. MS could have purchased bigger studios but why they didn't? It feels like bigger purchases were out of their grasp. We just found out that The Initiative plans to stay small after the dialogue that it was to be a "AAAA" thing. It's definitely not a certain that MS could be in a position to react with humongous acquisitions, just like Sony being in the position to acquire Take-Two is not really certain.
- Status