Gaming Acquisition |OT| EA to be acquired by Saudi Arabia (and Jared Kushner)

[the-pi-guy]

Dumb purchase.

First of all they are struggling
Second of all, taking all their IPs and putting them exclusive will not help
Third of all, manage your current studios better than expand, this gen has been horrible.

Make new deals with developers, have them release a game or two, them buy them. Their most successful acquisitions have always been this way. Continue doing that

1- I'd argue the biggest reason they're struggling is bad direction. Avalanche had Hogwarts be wildly successful. Rocksteady is a great studio that keeps getting pushed on live service. - But I think Sony would want more live service unfortunately.

3 - big issue is that takes a lot of time. 


But Sony would be interested in this, for TV reasons also.  

[kitler53]

But Sony would be interested in this, for TV reasons also.  

just to be upfront,.. i didn't read the article.  

...but this was my first thought as well.   i know "game assets" is not "TV/Movie assets" but WB has some big IP in its catalog.  even if just harry potter limited to gaming that is a massive game.   

...and sony likely wouldn't keep it exclusive either.  probably skip xbox but PC feels like a certainty at this point.

[the-pi-guy]

On the Warner Bros stuff - kind of weird thing for me is that I learned about this on the movie side first.  

I'm a little bit wary on the movie/tv side. Warner Bros is really good at putting their stuff on disc. 

Sony is too, but they tend to charge more. (Though frankly they do a better job on their discs.) But it also kind of seems like Sony is a little hands off with their subsidiaries. 


On the gaming side, I would be wary if Sony were trying to continue pushing live service on Warner Games. If they just let them do what they were doing, and we were able to see a normal Batman Arkham game, I would be all over this. But if they were continuing to push Warner Games as a live service publisher, I would think this would lead to disaster.  

[Legend]

Yeah old sony would be great with warner. But current sony could make warner even worse.

[the-pi-guy]

Bandai Namco and Sony Sign Strategic Partnership (Sony will own 2.5% of Bandai Namco)

[Legend]

Just a little bit.

Funny that these partnerships with a super small amount of ownership are happening a fair amount these days. Is that new or was I just not paying attention to pre covid deals?

[the-pi-guy]

EA Announces Agreement to be Acquired by PIF, Silver Lake, and Affinity Partners for $55 Billion (Kushner + Saudi Arabia)

[nnodley]

EA Announces Agreement to be Acquired by PIF, Silver Lake, and Affinity Partners for $55 Billion (Kushner + Saudi Arabia)

I have no idea what this is gonna mean for EA, but I hope it's good. 

[nnodley]

At least it wasn't MS, I guess

[Legend]

Lol um sure. Not at all the words I expected to read this morning.

I'll need some time to figure out what this means.

[kitler53]

I have no idea what this is gonna mean for EA, but I hope it's good.

i don't think this is going to be good.

[the-pi-guy]

From what I understand Saudi Arabia has interfered with game development in the past, and this would likely kill Bioware as we know it.  

[the-pi-guy]

The leveraged buyout will be financed by a staggering $20 billion of debt, which likely means some *aggressive* cost cutting is ahead for EA in the coming months and years.

[BananaKing]

The PIF owns just 10% of this. 

I'd be a lot more concerned about the debt they have than the Saudi involvement. I bet over 95% of the people complaining about the Saudi involvement have never eben been to the country