Sony Boss Tells PlayStation Owners To 'Expect More Acquisitions'

I mean, at this point, we have an arms race. When the dust settles, I can’t imagine there will be many large studios that haven’t been snatched up. MS really escalated it, so no one can blame Sony for trying to keep up. At this point, you just have to hope that the publishers get picked up by your console of choice.

Sounds about right. And before people sound off for them to buy Capcom or Square Enix it’s important to remember Sony and Microsoft can only buy when a company is willing to sell.

Smart move by Sony. A ton of cash for just Bungie but they will be raking in the cash to help fund more development/acquisitions. Lots of bigger fish swimming around the gaming industry and Sony is adjusting their strategy to stay competitive. PC day n date on 2023 I'd imagine if they don't do it at the end of the year already.

Competition is good for my wallet so keep it up folks.

Tit for tat……. Boring!!

God knows how the gaming landscape will look in a few years and who’ll be owned by who. I dislike the whole direction gaming is going with market consolidation and NFT’s. I feel burnt out by the whole thing.

Square Enix, Sega or Capcom please! Especially Square Enix.

I hope it's not Square Enix, Sega or Capcom but I don't think that Sony has the money and I don't think that they want to sell to Sony either.

I'm happy for Sony and Microsoft buying these studios/publishers. They're just protecting themselves from other tech companies that could do the same thing (and probably will do in the future).

Will be less concern at Microsoft about the monopoly accusations now Sony is buying Bungie and continuing to purchase developers. I like Bungie, sounds like they will stay multiplatform, but if they go exclusive I will play them on my PS5

Please no Capcom. Please no Capcom. Please no Capcom.

@Medic_Alert great post. I personally never thought the monopoly accusations held any water, you explained the reasons well. I just meant any small doubts they may have had can be further squashed after this news as that argument is even weaker now

Master Chief collection notwithstanding, I only played through the base game of both Destiny and Destiny 2. Never touched any DLC.

I can't say this bothers be too much. Bungie is pretty much in Bioware's position. A husk. The company in name only. All the heart is gone.

That's said, I'm not particularly interested in Activision either.

@BomberBlur07 : From what I've read elsewhere Capcom will most likely remain independent. Apparently the founding family still holds key roles at Capcom and, referring to another company they founded and were pushed out of, Irem, have stated they have no intention of losing control of Capcom.

@Sakai I read somewhere MS currently have around 10% of the gaming market, Tencent around 15%. They’re nowhere near a monopoly that’s just a phrase PlayStation fans like to come out and accuse them of.

I bought a PlayStation 4 mostly for the third party Japanese exclusives (Persona 5, Tales of Berseria, FF7R, Street Fighter V, etc.). It would be somewhat disappointing if these third party games became first party games with no chance of going elsewhere, but it makes no difference in the end since they were exclusive in the first place.

It's a bright day on Push Square. I don't know if they'll write as many articles about this as they wrote about Microsoft acquiring Activision, though.

@Banjo- Why not any of those? They would be perfect for Sony and PlayStation.

That's fine, but at least buy something good and for a decent price.

Bungie isn't what they were, and Destiny has been bastardised since before even the first game launched. They are a bad purchase, especially at $3.6b. Insomniac is how you buy a dev.

In contrast, Bethesda was just twice the price and came with some of the biggest franchises in gaming and multiple devs. Acti, is at least a massive publisher with massive franchises, and both were hitting a point where their quality and culture was getting really bad and a change was needed.

If Sony is to buy more, buy small but better, or buy something worth the big price tag, and something that requires buying. Like getting Konami's gaming assets, or Ubisoft.

Both companies could simply be looking at all the buyups Tencent have been making and reacting to that.

The comittment from both sides to make games multiplat makes me think while ultimately its about profits. Its also to some extent keeping companies like Tencent et al away from key developers.

@Banjo- the hypocrisy in the comments is so funny over there.

@Fenbops At least this helped to make shooter a valid genre again! 😂

@Medic_Alert I can kinda see that, now that you bring it up.

Though, still, $3.6b, for one dev, with only one major franchise. In this case, I still would have looked at a smaller dev that's had a break through hit, or looked at major publisher (like the previously mentioned Ubisoft, or even EA) that has both the expertise and the quantity and quality of established IPs.

Maybe it's just me, but pound for pound, it seems like a bad buy.

@Hypnotoad107 it wasn’t MS as much as groups the size of Tencent that prompted Ms to start.

Ok. Just make some great games. That's all I care about.

Sure sony had 30 billion of cash to play with so capcom, sega, square enix or Namco next please

Though I'm sure they are all safe from western buyers so maybe sony will leave them alone and go for another Western company like Warner Bros, 2K or techland (dying light devs) or even CD project red

@Banjo- Bungie said they will stay multi platform, so Xbox only players have nothing to worry about.

@Xiovanni Now that's just cursed.

Anyway, Capcom shouldn't be bought.

@FatalBubbles I know, they have said it but since Bungie had said they want to be independent previously, I assume that their condition is to stay "independent" but they should realise that once the acquisition has been completed, they're not their own boss anymore. To me, it's a bit weird seeing Bungie agreeing with Sony or any other company about being acquired.

im glad sony fights back. competition is always good for consumer.

@UltimateOtaku91 so you do want acquisitions? I can’t keep up.

Cool I guess, but then again Microsoft has enough resources to buy 10 Sony's if they wanted to.

@K1LLEGAL I'm against it in the long run especially when it comes to the big 5 (EA, Ubisoft, Square enix, Bethesda, Activision) as they made a whole portfolio of games across all consoles but as soon as Microsoft started gobbling those up and threatening the PlayStation ecosystem in a big way to a point where it could effect the actual playstation brand not being around in the future then yes I will support sony buying more "Big" acquisitions to stay relevant in the game

Ones like this (Bungie) I'm fine with as it's just a developer with a couple IP's like double fine and obsidian was.

@Banjo- Based on their history I would say it’s odd too unless Sony has confirmed to them that they will be able to do their own thing.

Personally, I could see Sony making a play for From Software. They've worked closely together in the past, already own a couple of percent, and have been shown to go for the somewhat smaller but still proclific and bankable studios (not that FromSoft are small by any means, but they aren't Activision level, which I really couldn't see Sony going for). Plus, FromSoft seem a little unsettled so far as publishers go, bouncing from Bandai Namco, Activision and Sony. If it meant a Bloodborne 2, then happy days.

I also wouldn't be massively shocked to see them go after Remedy or even Konami. Although by and large, I'd rather they didn't (unless it gets Konami actually making games again)

Honestly though, it really feels that this gen more than any previous the way to go is to own all 3 systems (or a switch and a PC). This is the first time in my life I own all the major systems, and I'm glad I made that decision

@FatalBubbles Yep, Sony probably confirmed that to Bungie but Sony could change their minds in the future and I'm surprised that a developer so proud and concerned about their freedom is willing to become a subsidiary now.

@PapaGlitch That's kind of bad for people that don't have the cash to buy all three consoles though.

@JudaiMasters fair point, especially as as the PS5 and the series X at least are far more expensive than the PS4/Xone were at launch. I just meant for those in the priveledged position to get all 3, this gen makes more sense than previous gens

@Snake_V5 I want to play Mega Man in Nintendo in the future.

Hopefully Sony will follow Microsoft's steps on creating a subription service that can be played through the cloud on any device. I'd love to have the option of playing Playstation's exclusives on a Smart TV app, without the need to spend enough money to feed a Brazilian family of four for two months on yet another piece of plastic and metal.

At that day, I won't have to worry on who currently owns Capcom or FromSoftware, I'll just juggle with videogame subscriptions the same way I do with streaming platforms today.

The only japanese company worth the money, as far as western market concerned, is Capcom. RE and SF are game changers. Squareenix is also important, but Sony is already its semi-exclusive platform (especially in the case of its japanese titles) and thus there is no need to waste billions on it, except if Sony decides to go after Nintendo and snatch the Japan market.

@Magabro I highly doubt it they do than, especially in short term. Sony is still too focused on traditional selling hardware model, and sub services are more or less afterthoughts for them. It is highly unlikely that they put their first party exclusives day one on a 15$ sub service.

@Magabro only thing that worries me about that is the Internet quality needed, at what speed of Internet do we need to run games at 4K? Xcloud on my phone was just about stable for me on 100 mbs and that was only 720p

Also what happens when the Internet goes down, for hours sometimes or those people in affected areas which have bad weather or go weeks without Internet etc

Also even if you have a fast Internet speed, the more devices connected to the Internet in the house such as computers, tablets, phones, other smart TVs then there will be lag, and finally which I find most annoying is using Bluetooth devices whilst using cloud gaming, the input delay on controllers can get annoying and then headphones that I've tried so far over Bluetooth have audio delay which is unbearable, so imagine having 100mb speed Internet playing on cloud gaming on your TV with Bluetooth headphones and controller connected and other devices connected to the Internet and with a low resolution setting for the streaming? That doesn't sound good for the future of gaming

I like that Sony and MS are buying up studios. This makes it more and more difficult for non-gaming companies to come in and ruin the gaming market. I don't want to see Netflix, Apple, Amazon, Google, etc in gaming...

I want there to be gaming companies in gaming. Nintendo, MS, and Sony have all been in gaming for at least 25 years. They know what gamers want. If the industry has to consolidate, I am glad it is under Sony, Nintendo, and MS rather then the other companies that just jumped on the bandwagon.

@Rural-Bandit “ or do what must fans of the industry does and buy both”

Oh, I absolutely agree. I always have all the consoles. But selfishly, if someone is getting acquired, I’m rooting for it to be by MS, because that means more games on GPU.

I can have different game libraries on different consoles.

@NeoRatt Nintendo was a newcomer after the North American video game crash of 1983, Sony wasn't a gaming company when they wanted to push CDs as the new medium & the OG Xbox was a reactionary move to counter the dominance of the PS2.

Why just let these 3 companies control the gaming market? You never know what a newcomer, no matter how big or small they are, might bring onto the market.

@hbkay agreed

@Banjo- God knows there will be plenty in the comments about it

I'm weirded out by this one honestly. Almost feels like the largest purchase they could afford without going too small. I definitely feel like they should focus on NiS, Fromsoftware and Atlus. I know Atlus is owned by Sega, but with Sega seemingly ready to give up everything except Sonic I think they could find a reason to buyout. I'm team Xbox at this point, but Sony has been really going all in on anti cross play chicanery and punishments for third party devs.

Which will draw the short straw and buy Ubisoft? Will Phil and Jim play rock paper scissors for that one? Sony can have EA.
But being real I won't be surprised at all if Sony buy Take Two. And make GTA exclusive.

@S1ayeR74 not sure they have that kind of cash to buy Take Two. I could be wrong but not sure how they can fund something like that. Likely some more smaller studios or maybe some IP? A joint venture, partnership?

@Snake_V5 Is easy to think those companies are a perfect fit from a westerner perspective, but you have to remember those companies are 100% japanese. and Nintendo is King in Japan, not Playstation. and by a huge difference. Nintendo games are in top 30 usually withouth any PS game at sight. And console sales... wel... Nintenod practically pushed playstation completely away of Japan. I might be wrong but i dont think those companies are willing to be sold and become exclusives and loose the Nintendo money.
Other problem can be Japanese companies usually dont want to sell to foreign companies. and yes Sony is japanese but in the last couple years Sony Computer Entertainment moved its headquarters from Tokyo to California. that was just the first of many moves japanese players didnt like at all. also the change of the confirm button from O to X was a very bad move which is a cultural thing in Japan. also the Closing of JapanStudio the only 100% japanese game developer in sony catalogue. so as you can see, Sony has been moving away from Japan I personally think the purchase of any of those 3 studios very unlikely. again.... i might be wrong.

@Hypnotoad107 problem is if its a true arms race sony can and will be outspent by MS and if MS wants to really play dirty they can jack the price up on sony to the point sony overspends and runs into money trouble. MS has the money to spend sony has some but no where near as much as MS could pump into it.... but the true loser is gonna be Ninty.....unless these companies decided to support ninty i can see them having a N64 era as far as 3rd party supporrt again.

@Sakisa well thats not technically true... they can do a hostile takeover it they are publicly traded company....essentialy you buy 51% of the shares and your the majority owner

Markets have blood in the streets, I guess they figure its a good time to scoop up acquisition deals.

I only want 2 things. I want MS to buy either Take Two or Ubisoft and my dream. Find a way to Buy Nintendo. PLEASE

GOGOGOG M$ please buy Square-Enix, Sega and Capcom

Edit: And when your done conquering the world, please make crossover games.

@Banjo- I wouldn't worry about Sega. Not worth it.

I think Capcom and Square are the only sane options.

They def have the money lol. They just spent 3.6B for one studio. That's overpriced imo and they didn't care. They won't get a T2 or EA tho, but the smaller ones for sure. They probably still have 10B or more for acquisitions and they could always pull more. Sony head already said they expected this consolidation a year ago.

I would personally would go for Capcom since SE is already almost exclusive to Sony.

@Ashadelo I think Ubisoft is next for Ubisoft tho.

Because of Japanese laws and SE and Capcom games selling way better on playstation. I think Sony will support switch with them tho and use them as bargaining for Bethesda and Activision games.

@Banjo- I hate the comments from some of the guys there that only want third person action games. It's like they still can't figure it out why sony needs FPS, multiplayer (in whatever matter) and Fighting games. Gaming is a selfish hobby and they're too stuck on that it's everything about them.

@UltimateOtaku91 Will warner bros even sell? They have 4 games coming this year (hogwarts, suicide squad, multiversus and gotham knights).

I could see Sony really wanting Netherealms for Evo. That's the best get from everyone there.

I could see Techland and Fromsoftware.

@UltimateOtaku91 @RevGaming probably not Warner Bros. At&t is too close in size of Sony for them not to push for a high selling point. Even Microsoft and Tencent probably would struggle getting a reasonable deal.

Sony has roughly $30B on hand but spending anywhere near that would be an awful idea. They have to still support their film and electronic divisions and any issues with that could be devastating without reserve funds.

If Sony is going for developers it will be single studios like Insomniac and Bungie.

@RedShirtRod $10B for Capcom then.

i'm seeing this in the exact opposite way a lot of people are, i guess? i see this as the beginning of the end of permanent exclusives, and it's about damned time. Bungie will have strong financial backing, be able to sell their games to everyone, Sony gets money and likely timed exclusivity on Bungie's new games (i expect them to be put on a new Killzone eventually). the day is coming where you'll be able to play almost everything that comes out, you just may have to wait. exclusivity hurts gamers and the companies making the games. you don't think Sony would actually LOVE to sell Spider-Man to every gamer on earth? remember that consoles lose money anyway. the real money comes from selling the games, especially digitally. the road we're on ends in a place where whatever you play games on, you'll be able to play that awesome new game they just announced, sooner or later.

@RevGaming The PS4 was so successful because of the troubled Xbox One launch and the commercial failure of Wii U but they talk as if everybody in the world bought a PS4 just to play Sony's movie-games. It's perplexing the way the shooter genre was a brainless-bro genre until yesterday.

@RevGaming But do Capcom and Square Enix want to be acquired? Capcom certainly don't because their founders want to keep the company and Square Enix apparently don't want to be acquired either and just sell their timed deals to Sony and Epic. Their will to be acquired is a sine qua non condition.

@Banjo-
I disagree. Xbox one launch was horrible, but they didn't make great games to make up for it later on. They made the worst halo and gears (and the best forza) last gen, but that didn't bring new people in. Both consoles can be sucessful (One doesn't need to lose for the other to win), but xbox wasn't doing their part to even be worth it as a secondary console. Now MS listened to the complaints, which was mostly ps fans saying "xbox has no games".

I don't like their method, because now sony and nintendo may buy studios/publishers that won't make games on xbox as a consequence. A console doesn't lose in its first year (ps3). They can comeback, and they didn't. Wii u failed but nintendo cameback swinging with the switch. The ps5 might not even sell as much as the switch.

I disagree. When you pull players that bought at least 2-3 exclusives, you could count 30 million people that preferred sony games over xbox games (not everybody that bought spiderman, bought god of war or the other games is the logic behind having a general attach rate of 30% of the player base buying at least 2-3 sony games). Xbox couldn't even pull 5 million sales apart from halo and didn't have that much variety in the AAA space, where it actually matters.

And sony games aren't "movie" games. It's pretty much an ignorant take to say that. Sony games actually have more gameplay playtime than xbox games campaigns and other third party AAA games. They're just as good when it comes to gameplay. Tlou2's gameplay carried that game 100%. It's like saying all nintendo makes are games for kids and that's not true. Yeah, sony needs a few shooters and fighting games but does xbox have vr games, a fighting games studio, a game like mario maker or dreams?

I have never heard any ps fanboy say fps are brain dead. I personally don't like Bungie. iD and Respawn are the best fps devs for me.

About Capcom and Square. Probably not. If that doesn't work, Sony might buy Ubisoft and actually help them make actual good games. It still ends up bad for both consoles, but you can't say for certain 100%. The companies are out of our control and say whatever they say to look better. Capcom or Square could be a bargain for Bethesda and Activision. Then nobody loses games they were supposed to get and it's up to the non publisher studios to make exclusives.

@armondo36
Maybe. I would like if MS and Sony bargain the publishers they got and nobody ends up exclusive, while not letting anyone get in into gaming.

@RevGaming You are free to disagree. The attach ratio of those games is not that high except for a couple of them and the one using the Spider-Man IP has been the most successful (20m shipped). Just one thing about my "ignorant take", I talk as a PS4 owner that have played most Sony's movie-games and none of them has impressed me as game but as interactive films. So, it's not like I'm talking as an ignorant or someone that haven't played them. It's not a term I created but I think it matches most of them fairly. You can disagree with me but it's not an "ignorant take".

EDIT: Also when I say that Wii U was a commercial failure, everybody knows I'm a Wii U fan, regardless.

@Banjo-

But they're not interactive films. That's heavy rain, detroit, tell tale games. It wouldn't be bad take if their games were like those. Yeah they are more heavy on the narrative than other games but that's just it. Narrative focus action/adventure it's the better way to describe them (just like Starfield or Rockstar).

The "movie" adjective was created by fanboys. Not saying it's you, you could genuinely not like sony games for whatever reason (too many cutscenes or whatnot). That "movie" term was created to discredit sony success with the games and it was created for childish console war takes. Some pc master race elitist said the same thing. You can see the pattern there.

The same thing with the attach rates of their games. It's all just console war propaganda. There are few single player only games from third party that sell as much. I always kept asking myself why people don't realise that some third party AAA publishers would have love to sell that many copies on all three platforms (sometimes 4).

@RevGaming For instance, when I was playing Uncharted 4 (just one of the many Sony examples), I was intrigued by the "film" and impressed by the graphics and voice acting but the gameplay was mediocre. I could have watched someone else playing and it would have been the same to me (I have played all Uncharted games except the Vita one). The Last of Us is a bad game per se but, again, the "film" is the only part that stands out along with the controversy around the characters and story. I respect everybody that loves these games but you can't convince me. When I started playing on Xbox, after playing on PS4, I realised Xbox was more "gamey" and more what I like the most. Of course, I love plenty of third-party and Nintendo games and also Wipeout (Sony).

My point with the attach ratio is that Call of Duty, FIFA and GTA are, objectively, the best-selling games each year and that so many people bought PS4 to play them because it was $€£100 cheaper than Xbox One that had a troubled launch and the Wii U (that I love) was almost dead (shot by Nintendo). The first year of PS4 didn't have any new Sony games and outsold Xbox One so much that even Sony was surprised.

@Banjo-

My answer to the first paragraph.
I get you but I think you're bananas for discrediting it like that.

The second paragraph.
Never mentioned multiplayer games. Why is it hard to admit they're the second most successful single player publisher behind nintendo objectively speaking? First on awards too.

I never said the games were the only reason. I said xbox didn't make up for the price with their games to even up the odds after that horrible launch. I'm not saying you're wrong about that, but there were other factors that you want to discredit. Does it emotionally bother you sony gets praise for their games? Being serious here.

Edit: If you love games without being too heavy on cutscenes or dialogue, then talk good about those games. Talk more about what you like more than what you dislike, but you're jumping too many hoops and loops to make games you don't care about to discredit them. Talk about how good multiplayer games are and or games like doom (I love it too) that are just pure gameplay.

Did you play/are interested un Demon Souls and Returnal? Those two are very gamey games you might like.

Its a good time to be the founder of an indie company.

@RevGaming "I get you but I think you're bananas... Does it emotionally bother you sony gets praise for their games?"

To me, you're the one that are bananas for three reasons. Firstly, because you can't accept opinions of people that don't like Sony's movie-games. Secondly, because you think I care about people praising Sony's games when it's obvious that I don't and when my previous comments says "I respect everybody that loves these games but you can't convince me". Thirdly, because of your obsession with defending Sony's games on an Xbox website. I think that this discussion isn't going anywhere and you're being a bit disrespectful so let's end it, it's a waste of time.

@Banjo-

I already said I believe you don't like them. It's just the reasoning is weird to me. That's it.

I'm not defending sony alone btw, but Bethesda, Square Enix and Rockstar games too because they are just as much "movie" focused.

@RevGaming "Talk about how good multiplayer games are and or games like doom (I love it too) that are just pure gameplay".

I talk about them too (funny you ignore those comments) but I will talk about what I dislike as much as I want to, thanks. Ignore me if you can't deal with it.

All this buying just pushes people to the PC eventually. If you want to play them all it is the only multiplatform system. Both Sony and MS bring their a+ titles to the pc now. You also have steam and game pass there. Once the chip shortage ends and pc come down, buying two consoles wont be that much cheaper. I basically think this stuff just mainly hurts console gaming. With that said I basically think MS is trying to leave a path out of consoles anyway. MS buying is to force Sony and possible Nintendo to game pass. We know MS talked to them about it because Phil said they are not interested which means they talked, which means MS wants it. We know for sure they Talked to Nintendo due to a court filing. MS wants game pass on all systems, consoles, tv's, phones, PC's etc. Console market is a loss of money and software is where the money is.