What do you hope Sony does moving forward?

[the-pi-guy]

I think it's time for an update to this thread.


Suppose you were Jim Ryan right now.
What do you work on?

[kitler53]

they set aside some money for aquisitions.  they need to spend it on something big: take two or from software or SE at least.  something to show gamers that while 3rd parties are now extinct sony's not going to let MS just buy up every single 3rd party.  they'll "split" them and thus it's still valuable to own a playstation.

...then as consumers we can all look forward to being "required" to buy multiple consoles just like we currently buy multiple tv streaming subscriptions.  oh joy of oh joy,.. i'm soo looking forward to needing to buy multiple consoles and pay multiple online subs to game.  /s

[Legend]

If Sony is going to buy someone, they should buy Epic imo. Fortnite is cool but Unreal Engine would give them a solid way to counteract Microsoft. Every copy of Hellblade 2 for example would give Sony a cut. Plus Unreal is becoming very popular in film so Sony would benefit outside of games too.

Epic Games Store could give Sony a quick PC storefront.



I hope they make a big developer fund and greenlight more unique games. Sony has cinemattic AAA perfected but PlayStation could become the best place to play novel big budget games too. Make an rpg that doesn't feel like any other rpg, make a shooter that doesn't feel like any other shooter, etc. I think Sony would underperform if they just tried to make direct Halo/COD competitors.

[kitler53]

If Sony is going to buy someone, they should buy Epic imo. Fortnite is cool but Unreal Engine would give them a solid way to counteract Microsoft. Every copy of Hellblade 2 for example would give Sony a cut. Plus Unreal is becoming very popular in film so Sony would benefit outside of games too.

Epic Games Store could give Sony a quick PC storefront.



I hope they make a big developer fund and greenlight more unique games. Sony has cinemattic AAA perfected but PlayStation could become the best place to play novel big budget games too. Make an rpg that doesn't feel like any other rpg, make a shooter that doesn't feel like any other shooter, etc. I think Sony would underperform if they just tried to make direct Halo/COD competitors.

agree with you epic games bit.  don't they also own a few studios such as psyonix, harmonix, and mediatonic.    more?

wonder if tim would sell.  

[the-pi-guy]

Option 1:
In the situation where the gaming industry is undergoing major consolidation, I would like Sony to be competitive. And unfortunately this seems to be the direction we are going in.

When the Activision deal goes through, Microsoft will have something like 35+ studios, some of which have multiple teams.
Sony is very far behind with regards to development capacity and gaming variety. MS has also absolutely locked down a few gaming genres like shooters and RPGs. 

Possible targets:
EA (Pros: valuable IPs, Cons: expensive, a lot of value in multiplatform sports games)

Epic Games (Pros: huge gaming development support, huge revenue, Cons: expensive, would be difficult, Tencent and Sweeney, I don't think will sell too much. Sony already owns like 2%.)

Take Two (Pros: GTA. Cons: expensive)

Square Enix (Pros: much cheaper option, would vastly benefit with dedicated RPGs)

Ubisoft (Pros: Assassin's Creed, biggest game developer in the world, very cheap.)

Bandai Namco

Option 2:
The cheaper option, and probably more realistic. Buy and build a variety of studios, instead of publishers. Sony (SIE in particular) has quite a bit of faith in their ability to create new IPs.

Buy a variety of studios like Kojima Productions. Cheaper, talented studios that don't own IPs. Buy/build like 15 studios, and start diversifying your genres. Start making a couple of RPGs and a couple shooters. Just something good enough so that people can stay invested.

[kitler53]

we'll first off,.. Sony is already doing a lot of 2. 

secondly, it doesn't have to be either or.  grab and develop the small studios but grab at least 1 publisher to change the narrative.

lastly, kena is sooo good.  Sony had better but ember labs. 

[the-pi-guy]

we'll first off,.. Sony is already doing a lot of 2. 

I'm saying they should crank it up.
If Sony acquired a studio every month this year, it still wouldn't be as many studios as Microsoft announced just this past week.

(I know they don't need to match MS on everything/anything, but I think they should do more to stay competitive.

And they don't have to beat MS either, but they should make MS work for it!)

secondly, it doesn't have to be either or.  grab and develop the small studios but grab at least 1 publisher to change the narrative.

Will be interesting to see what happens.

[kitler53]

we'll I look forward to whatever Sony's new psnow service looks like.  I doubt I sub but I would really like PS3 BC.  not like I don't have too many games as-is but I also love replaying ratchet games. 

[BananaKing]

Sony need to make some acquisitions and build up their IPs and studios. If its true that MS cant make anymore acquisitions for 18 months then Sony need to jump on that.

Sony shouldn't just buy any studio left and right. They need to buy studios that are already self sustainable and make money. MS without a doubt has an absolutely crazy operation cost going on. And sooner or later I expect them to cut some fat.



Buy IOI. Hitman is great now, and they are working on a bond game. With Sonys backing it can be huge.

Buy bungie. I've been saying this forever lol. I think some Chinese corporation has a stake in them now? If so that might be hard to get

Buy From software.  Buy their whole parent company. This would be huge for Sony and not only help them in the west but also in Japan a lot.

Buy CDPR. I think this will be one of the next targets for MS. And buying them would add a huge talent and a growing studio that proved it can make hit games and quality games.

Deviation, haven entertainment and firewalk, if the games they make are successful they should have deals ready to buy them.

[the-pi-guy]

Sony need to make some acquisitions and build up their IPs and studios. If its true that MS cant make anymore acquisitions for 18 months then Sony need to jump on that.

I don't think they legally can't make anymore, but if they tried it would likely jeopardize buying Activision. 

There's already congresspeople talking about antitrust issues with the current acquisition. If MS were to attempt another acquisition, it would be much more likely to cause the current one to fail, which would be expensive for them. They would have to pay Activision a few billion dollars if it doesn't go through.

Buy From software.  Buy their whole parent company. This would be huge for Sony and not only help them in the west but also in Japan a lot.

I'd love this, but probably more expensive than it would really be worth it for Sony.

Deviation, haven entertainment and firewalk, if the games they make are successful they should have deals ready to buy them.

I think they're going to buy at least the first two. They seem to be giving them a lot of money.

[BananaKing]

I don't think they legally can't make anymore, but if they tried it would likely jeopardize buying Activision.  

There's already congresspeople talking about antitrust issues with the current acquisition. If MS were to attempt another acquisition, it would be much more likely to cause the current one to fail, which would be expensive for them. They would have to pay Activision a few billion dollars if it doesn't go through.
I'd love this, but probably more expensive than it would really be worth it for Sony.
I think they're going to buy at least the first two. They seem to be giving them a lot of money.

Well regarding kadokawa/from software. If they are profitable and make money, it just might be worth it for more than just Fromsoftware.


I think they should try and heavily target CDPR and Fromsoftware now.

Deviation, haven and firewalk once their games release. Kojima Pro is something they should consider moving on as well.

Either way, there are clearly lots of opportunities Sony should act fast and aggressive.

[kitler53]

how much money did Sony say they've set aside for aquisitions.  it was a few billion right?

[the-pi-guy]

how much money did Sony say they've set aside for aquisitions.  it was a few billion right?

Across all departments, they said they expect to spend $18.6 billion over the next 3 years (this was a year ago), focusing on IP acquisition, stock buyback.

IP acquisition being the priority.  

[kitler53]

Across all departments, they said they expect to spend $18.6 billion over the next 3 years (this was a year ago), focusing on IP acquisition, stock buyback.

IP acquisition being the priority.  

so let's say all of that goes into gaming aquisitions,..  what's the best case scenario before they run out of cash. 

[the-pi-guy]

Just under Take Two's value.  

More easily, they could buy Embaracer or both Ubisoft and Square Enix.