Sony's vaunted Worldwide Studios network is already very strong, spanning a dozen or so developers across the globe. However, in an interview with Kinda Funny Games, executive Scott Rohde has admitted that the organisation's always open to the idea of adding more teams – assuming that the alliance makes sense for all parties.
"I think that we're kind of in a sweet spot [right now], but we're always open to [acquiring more studios]," he explained. "Remember, we worked with Sucker Punch for a decade before we acquired them. So there are those relationships that may even start with a smaller game and teams grow. And this is on a worldwide basis."
Rohde continued that the company always has an "appetite" for expansion. "If the relationship works and if both sides are loving the relationship and we think, 'Wow, you did something great and we want to see you grow to the next level' then absolutely, we're always looking at that." The question is: which teams would be ripe for acquisition?
A number of names immediately spring to mind: Quantic Dream, Housemarque, Clap Hanz, Insomniac Games, Tarsier Studios, and Supermassive Games. The thing is that all of these developers seem comfortable working with Sony while maintaining their independence, so it's not immediately clear what benefits going full first-party would bring.
Are there any studios in particular that you'd like to see brought under the Sony umbrella and why? Perhaps you'd like a team to be given the security to expand, or want to know what a specific developer could do when focusing on a single format. Stage a hostile takeover in the comments section below.
[source youtube.com]
Comments 34
I think Ovosonico, the team who developed Murasaki Baby, might really blossom under Sony's patronage...other than that I think it would be super cool if they brought in Kojima now that he's on the lose! I know, dreams! But, stil...
Housemarque for sure, too many great games.
@Feena I agree with Kojima, but there are two problems with that: a) he may not have the appetite to work with a big publisher again, and; b) it would have to be a long-term thing, as he likely wouldn't have anything to show for five or six years.
My understanding is that Ovosonico have signed a multi-game deal with Sony, so it's possible if their output impresses. I really didn't like Murasaki Baby, but I'm eager to see what they come up with next.
hurf durf buy nintendo.
@get2sammyb Murasaki Baby wasn't a great game but it showed a lot of potential - so I am happy we will be seeing more of their work , I didn't know about the multi-game deal!
I agree with with you say about Kojima. But if he stealthily (...) worked on a project for Sony for some years and then reveal it, that would be a hell of an jaw dropping announcement.
@ferrers405 My thoughts exactly. Have they made a bad game? Or even a mediocre one? I don't think they have, and that sort of pedigree with downloadable titles makes them really valuable, I think.
On a related note, Alienation looks amazing!
Getting Kojima and giving him a dream team of people to work with would be awesome; they could even try and aquire the Fox engine, which they can in turn lease out to other companies. Kojima at the right publisher can surely put out a game every 3 years, he just needs a business guy right beside him: the brains and the artist running Sony's new studio.
Housemarquee was the first name that popped in my mind as well @ferrers405, it feels as if they "deserve" it. Some phat Sony cash for 20 years of loyalty and making some excellent games.
But what is the most important and most lucrative business on consoles these days? Remasters! I honestly feel Sony should get Bluepoint games, who did the Uncharted remaster, aboard. Or look at that Dutch studio that did Tomb Raider for the 360; some of these guys can work magic. They also have to invest in their own, bigger localization "studio" not just guys who translate stuff, but some of them who know code too to make localization less of a hassle. There are so many Japanse games not being localized, or localized to slow, where Sony could be the localizer and publish it in return. Sony wants to be more active on the publishing front, and with games that are already finished it's easy money.
@Feena I don't see Sony grabbing the Kojima crew, simply because I don't think they can afford him, at least not without closing one of their other studios. MGSV cost was crazy, and while Playstation is doing great, Sony's other departments are not that profitable. It would be a big risk in my opinion. Also, games that expensive kinda have to be multi platform to increase revenue. I can only see Kojima going to a big third party, like EA, Ubi, Activision or Rockstar. The latter seems the more likely.
What about Capcom? They still have some popular IPs that given the right attention could be great again. I'm not generally a fan of moves like that but if there's one company that I think would benefit from being bought out by one of the big 3 it's Capcom and I also think it could benefit gamers. On its own, as the company is now just putting out re-release after re-release, that's not good for anybody.
Bring as many of the original team of Team Silent back together again. They don't have to make horror games if they don't want to, but wow, can they make some really compelling games.
Also whatever company Swery65 is with. He's incredibly experimental (but I would say more refined in his concepts than Suda51).
I wish for a reformed Iguana Entertainment,the guys behind the old Turok games and forsaken for N64.Turok 1,2,3 and rage wars were all absolute classics in my book..Yes i'm old..Still can't believe Sony ditched Psygnosis (worst thing ever) if it was me i'd deffo snap up R8 games for any price,get as many of the original team as possible on board and have them make a whole range of Psygnosis style ip's.Oh and reform Looking Glass Studios also,including buying back the rights to the Thief series.Hows that for some Sony exclusives eh? Oh well i can dream..
Rare would had been a perfect fit with Sony. Rare's games are creative but under Microsoft they just became another tool to earn money and over the years it was sad to see Rare slowly dwindle. Also very sad to see a great British software house of the 90s crushed under America might. I'd love to see Ocean, Mastertonic, Gremlin and Elite resurrected and turn their 80s-90s games into new AAA brands.Eg. jet set willy, skool daze, monty mole, Fairlight, head overy heels
In all honesty, I'd say Sega. Stay with me. Sega as a developer has been lacklustre recently, but Sega as a publisher is a different story. If Sega's recent apology is sincere, they are a company looking to change and a buyout from Sony might be a good move to completely turn that ship around. If you sever it from SegaSammy holdings and reorganise the structure of the company, the potential is huge.
Sega has a lot of modern franchises including Alien, Total War, Valkyria Chronicles and a whole host of classic titles. And I think they own Atlus too. If the right leadership and effort was put into Sega via Sony, I think it could be enormous. And who knows we might even have a decent Sonic game again. Not to mention that you have a whole host of arcade classics at hand that could put out exclusively on Sony platforms (everything from Alex Kidd to House of the Dead arcade version remastered). And who knows, we might even get a decent Sonic game again.
And for my second idea, like many, a dream would be to get Kojima back and working on games for Sony. I'd say buy the IPs for Metal Gear and Silent Hill from Konami. Get Kojima and Del Toro to complete Silent Hills. It's crazy, but right now Sony's console division seem to catering a lot to the vocal minority and this would get them a huge bunch of kudos, and sales too I imagine.
Insomniac and also Studio Kojima!
BUY SQUARE ENIX and then you not only get Final Fantasy as a first party title but also Tomb Raider, Legacy of Kain, Hitman, Deus Ex and Dragon Quest to name a few
Personally I can't think of a specific existing studio that I think would benefit both Sony and the Studio. That's not to say that I can't think of 3rd Party studio's that could or would make games specifically for the Playstation.
I do think though there are a number of talented people that could come together to create a new first party studio for Sony. The obvious one is Kojima although I do think he potential couldn't work alongside others on 'their' projects but would need his own 'team'
Capcom and Konami though may be a good option as both seem to be struggling financially. I do think though that if Sony acquired these, it would also be in their interest allow them to continue making multi-platform releases.
More realistically, I think its more likely that Sony would buy out an 'indie' developer - kind of like MS did with Mojang - maybe Hello Games (No Man's Sky developers).
My list
Sega
Capcom
Also they can merge with Nintendo and Nintendo take over the handheld side and Sony the home side and have a new smash game with sackboy and ratchet and insomniac can make a Mario game and naughty dog dose zelda. Might as well buy insomniac and naughty dog too.And we can have a gaming renaissance period.
@andrew20 Naughty Dog is already part of Sony Worldwide Studios...
I think it is near impossible insomniac becomes a first party, they prefer to own their IPS, and seem like they enjoy working on games on all platforms. My bet would always be house marque, or Supermassive Games also I'll put a side note, if Kojima wants to come on board, you give him his own studio and let him do his thing.
I agree with Kojima - let him make the Loud Mountains game with del Toro.
How about Sony buy the Half Life makers and keep Half-Life 3 a PS4 exclusive. That would ruffle a few feathers.
I would have also paid for Shenmue 3 and not make it a Kickstarter.
Finally Atlus as I love the Persona games.
Buy Atlus Sony, do it.
@john_c Atlus is a great shout!
@Dodoo @DaveIsAnAceGamer Sega owns Atlus just bought them last year. But Sega isn't doing so well right now. Imagine Sony buying Sega. All those blockbusters will finally see the light of day.
@john_c Do you mean Valve? Can't see that happening!
I struggle to think of any developer who would benefit from the status and are making ground breaking games.
A bit off topic but i'm surprised they gave up on keeping Sony Online entertainment (daybreak game company) and now in talks in acquiring more studios.................
@Rhansley64 SOE never felt like a part of their first party studios. Those guys where a studio that produced Pc games and not PlayStation games
@DrClayman gotta disagree with you there man, the risk would 100% pay for itself. Did you see the sales figures for MGSV? Whatever Kojima's next game is, you can guarantee people will flock to whatever console it's on, even if it means buying a new one. Plus, I would've thought making it single platform should majorly reduce dev lead times, which ultimately means more money too!
That said I really don't see Kojima wanting to go first party or even work with a major dev for a while after all this drama with Konami. I reckon he's just going to want to do his own thing entirely!
@Churchy This. Also streets of rage 4, Jet Set, virtua tennis and Super Monkey Ball.
I'd love for Sony to buy Sega and all of Sega's IP's! Imagine having all of Sonic, Golden Axe, Streets Of Rage, Toe Jam And Earl and all of their other licenses being just on Sony.
@NomNom Just read your comment and agree full heartedly (also because I just mentioned it too). It would be nice to have all of their games getting redone...especially Toe Jam And Earl, Skies Of Arcadia, Evolution, Time Stalkers, Streets Of Rage, Panzer Dragoon and Chronicles Of Pern!
Hello Games. Let Sony put full support behind NMS to make it the killer VR app they need. (Although this may already be happening for all we know)
Would also love to see Sega join Sony and bring back Panzer Dragoon Saga and Phantasy Star proper, none of the online mess. Man Panzer Dragoon Saga was such an excellent game, still one of my all time favorites.
@Sanquine Yeah I know, but at the same time if you look at all their PC ports there all PlayStation "console" exclusives.
Honestly at this point, I think he is just saying this to keep up appearances that Sony is the place to be for first party studios and developers that want to go first party should try Sony first. I really think they probably want to utilize all they have now even better, before opening more. We will see how they handle the supposed first party juggernaut for ps4 in 2016, but I doubt we will see them purchase a new studio anytime soon. Don't tip the golden goose, everything is working for them right now in the console and games business, no need to rattle it.
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