Sony: We're Not Going Around Making Random Acquisitions

Why are people saying this??? They haven't gone and bought up gamefreak, this is a company that published exclusively for them, and has been working with them for a while.

@Just_2_milky I don’t think anybody’s saying this other than Herman Hulst. What a bizarre statement.

Finally! Can I say that?

@Just_2_milky most likely people that are aged up to 20 years. If you meaning "arm races" speculations.

To be fair pretty much any acquisition is going to be one you either slightly entertain the possibility of, never seriously thought about or never saw coming

Even the people ragging on Microsoft for THAT buyout often forget in order for stuff like this to happen, the third party has to approach them first. Same with Rare being bought by them when Nintendo had a massive ownership stake in them. Same with Insomniac after Spidey PS4 came out. Hell Guerilla Games used to make Game Boy Color games before Killzone lol

Really no acquisition is like this random thing that happens on a Tuesday morning that you see overtake your Twitter notifs. This stuff usually builds up after an immense amount of trust between both parties

Konami legacy IP acquisition next to go along with that Bluepoint announcement would be a fine thing indeed!

I think what Herman is saying is spot on, and this is the organic growth ive talked about in the past. Sony have always been good at nurturing talent through its X Dev programme before bringing them in house. Its a relationship that benefits all parties, but not at the expense of gamers on other platforms.

Wouldnt be surprised to see Haven, Deviation or Firewalk have a similar roadmap in the future if everything works out. Blue Box Game studios on the other hand....

Conversely, i dont see this as a route for Kojima Productions. I think Hideo Konima values his independance and new found freedom too much to go back to working for a si gle publishing partner

@nessisonett @Just_2_milky What am I missing? Who mentioned Gamefreak and what was the bizarre statement Hulst made? I can't find either in the article.

@nessisonett The Interviewer : "...Looking at the industry from the outside, it feels like a bit of an arms race. Is that how you see it, Hermen?

HH: No, not at all. We're very selective [...]"

I don't think Herman Hulst was saying that at all

N.i.c.e. now bluepoint is waiting for sony.this is definitely gonna happen.sony is making big move today.make more word up son

@Rob_230 Kojima I don't see being acquired by anyone. He's already lived through the experience of working under a higher corporation and he's clearly had enough of it. Kojima and Masahiro Sakurai are basically like the freelance contract developers of the Japanese gaming world at this point

Given the overall quality of Sony's first-party output, it's fair to say this approach works.

@Total_Weirdo I'd say at least the big ones are definitely of AAA caliber imo. Elder Scrolls, Fallout, DOOM and Wolfenstein being their property is nothing to really scoff at

Even the higher tier AA franchises like Dishonored or Evil Within are solid gets. If I wasn't already a PC gamer I'd probably get an Xbox for a few of those so they have that going for them

@Rob_230 I really hope Sony makes a partnership with Ikumi Nakamura's new studio that would be awesome 😁

I do love that they'll build a strong relationship with the devs before acquiring them and even if they don't, you know these devs would want to work with Sony again for exclusive games.

"It's not like we're going around and just making random acquisitions"

I don't think Bethesda purchase was random 😕

@AJ1 They're probably purposely wording it that way to give off the competitive image and trigger a few folks. It's all publicity. Some people on PureXbox are already in meltdown mode because of that quote

Sony acquiring Housemarque and Bluepoint just makes natural sense to me. I don't want Sony going after studios that seem like odd fits or wastes of resources (for example, Xbox acquiring the Compulsion for some reason...).

I'd like Sony to acquire Level 5 games and Falcom. Not because i want to deprive gamers on other platforms, but in the case of Level 5 they have as good as announced they are in financial trouble, whereas Falcom could really do with the support to help them expand their global reach. It would fill the hole in Sony's portfolio for first party JRPG ip too

@AK4tywill sorryy, just the 1st.studio I could think of that Sony has never talked with.

Sony doesn't have the buying power of Microsoft and this targeted approach makes sense. I don't see any issue with homegrown exclusive IPs on any console but I don't want to see every game producer snapped up by either side. Not only is that bad for the Devs and consumers but the quality of the products would suffer also, so what he's said is good news.

Sony buys companies that mostly make Sony games.

Microsoft bought a company that released games to all platforms and was going to release their games to the Xbox anyway. It was just to lock Sony out.

@OmegaStriver agreed. That’s why Xbox just seems icky to me right now. And I have all three consoles.

@Shepherd_Tallon Sony already had majority share in Square. They sold all of their share in 2014 when they was still trying to recover and streamline its business.

@get2sammyb THIS! People really need to read articles...

Yup, sony usually acquire developers that already close to playstation (like insomniac and housemarque) rather than just randomly bought it, like say, microsoft with rare.

@Shepherd_Tallon Yup. Back in 2001, Square Enix had financial problems and Sony bought their stocks. Now Sony was in financial trouble after every thing that happened during the PS3 era that Square bought back their stock to help Sony financially.

I don't like acquisitions on the whole but I think this is an interesting development from Sony and is very in line with what their unique selling point is.

Making studios work needs a lot of vision and careful nurturing. Buying say, Naughty Dog, doesn't guarantee a Last Of Us. If Sony bought SquareEnix for example, what would they be buying? A large publisher with varied titles and mixed success in terms of quality?

Better to invest in a smaller studio then build them into something larger. I think that we are going to see expansion of major studios to increase output.

I am just worried Microsoft might buy someone I like really. Well I liked 'id Software' but Microsoft got them unfortunately Don't be to laid back SONY tho!

@Rudy_Manchego When it comes to purchasing studios... It not just about the titles, but also about the Technology. If Sony did buy Square Enix they would also now have owner ship of engines like luminous engine.

It the same thing with Microsoft buying Zenimax. Microsoft didn't just buy the studios they bought id Tech 6, Zenimax work on VR, Orion.

EDIT: Micosoft purchase of Zenimax also basically crippled Vulkan. Since the next DOOM and Wolfenstein game will probably be running DX12U

Don’t make random acquisition, just acquire Kojima Productions please

Okay, let's get Bluepoint to remake Dark Cloud 1 and 2 now.

I believe moving to the US was a huge mistake of sony entertainment. They have alienated the Japanese companies they used to work with and now they want to make movies on the IPs which are less and less exclusive to to the PS platforms. Now, from an high and might horse they come out saying that they won't make random acquisitions. Of course!! They don't have the money to do it after the PS5 shipping fiasco, only cheap shots against Microsoft acquisition of Bethesda.

About some comments of "Sony acquire who is close to PS and MS want to lock out sony"

Housemarque made Xbox games before sony start paying for exclusivity. Insomniac even made Xbox exclusive titles (Sunset Overdrive, remember?!). Sony even pay and make agreements to keep previous multiplatforms franchises like Spiderman and some Final Fantasy titles exclusive to their platform... so it's not like sony don't lock other players out and MS is the bad guy. That is not even close to being true. So lets stop with the double standards of "MS acquire is bad, sony acquire good".

That said, I think it was great that microsoft have acquired so many studios these years as well as I think its great sony have acquired Housemarque and Bluepoint(pratically confirmed by now), this is something I was expecting they would do a long time ago. Bluepoint made a great job in all remasters they worked on (Uncharted Collection on PS4 was great). Housemarque I don't think I've played any of their games before, but I'm looking forward to Returnal when I get a PS5 sometime in the future.

No acquisitions are random to be fair.

This is a good move by Sony. I'm all for exclusives and acquisitions as it gives each platform a unique 'feel' and reason for me to own it.

And if anyone is STILL annoyed about the Bethesda deal, Xbox didn't buy them, Microsoft did. They have a far longer history developing for DOS and Windows than they've ever had with PlayStation. So surely that makes it a perfectly logical purchase for Microsoft?

@eduscxbox
It's a matter of point of view.
The truth is these studios made MANY exclusives (bar some odd ones) for the platform and were bound to make MANY MORE ANYWAY and it is objectively more natural evolution.

Buy either Atlus or the Persona IP before Microsoft buys Sega. No doubt if they start feeling threatened by Sony waking up they'll make another huge acquisition.

@AJ1 Not everything they say has to be an attack on xbox. They are saying they don't go for random developers that doesn't mean they think xbox does, just that if they did go for random developers they wouldn't get quality and thats what it would take to be in an arms race just grabbing everything in sight.

I could care less, I would rather see Sony actually communicate with their customer base, admit issues with their new hardware, and be straight regarding software and hardware updates and release windows.

@Feena Absolutely. This person gets it. I think it's evident at this point an acquisition arms race is going to occur, whether Sony and Micosoft call it that or not. That's just where the market dynamics are headed. However, Sony's acquisition of Housemarque does not serve as an effective first salvo in this battle. The proper response to the Bethesda acquisition by Xbox is for Sony to acquire Kojima. I know that will cost billions of dollars, but as we saw with Bethesda, that's the cost of competing in today's market.

@TheFrenchiestFry
'purposely wording it that way to give off the competitive image and trigger '

Not at all haha

There is absolutely nothing wrong or 'triggering' saying they don't buy studios randomly. If console warriors see that statement as an attack on their favourite box it's on them and the voices in their head haha

@JJ2 Well yeah that's why they do it. It gives them the image of a super competitive company that wants to generate publicity and clicks over what they say Ken Kutaragi and Kaz Hirai did the same thing during the PS3 days

It's clearly also meant to rub off elitists for those reasons too since they know they exist

@TheFrenchiestFry
Huh, no?
You are seeing things that aren't there. He is voicing what seems obvious for you and me simply because a lot of people aren't following gaming news as much and don't know these studios.

Bethesda is as Strategic as any acquisition can get, and their games can be real console sellers.....Would hardly consider it "random"by any standards, but rather a well thought-out strategic move

Nice job securing Housemarque, but is not in the same Ballpark, hell, not even in the same planet as Bethesda

@JJ2 A lot of people not following gaming news will continue to not follow gaming news. This clearly isn't targeted towards the person buying a PS5 for something like a few CODs or a FIFA game every now and then. These announcements are SPECIFICALLY for the people who actually keep up to date with the industry or gaming news to an extent. Average Joe down the street doesn't give a rat's bossom that PlayStation got the Returnal developers, especially if it's a game on a console they can't realistically get yet

@TheFrenchiestFry
No, I think you try to simplify a bit too much. People arent divided in 2 categories haha
For instance, before 2014 I didn't have a clue and didn't follow gaming news.
The article is not aimed at anyone in particular and trying to inform.

Edit
I meant the original article of course.

Good news...but not surprising news. And not really going to change the gaming landscape as both studios only made games for PlayStation anyway. Does give the studio's more financial support though...so hopefully we'll be getting bigger better games out of them going forward.

@GADG3Tx87 I'd be surprised if Microsoft buys sega. And just because you can doesn't mean anything and everythings for sale... there's been rumours of Xbox wanting sega but not rumours sega wants to be bought. There's decent history there between MS and sega though. But the time to do it would have really been before the launch of the series consoles and then market them as the 'sega xbox' in Japan ...to panda to the Japanese mistrust of anything foreign.
It would be a big get though if they did have sega. But I reckon the murmurs of wb gaming studios have more behind them. Avalanche is already working on an Xbox exclusive. IO too. If they get Rockstar making batman exclusive. Or Neverrealms making mortal Kombat exclusive....that would be bigger for them than sega I reckon. Least in the west.

This is the difference between acquiring a studio that has basically made 1st party games for your platforms the entire time vs snagging away a studio that has built up an audience selling games on multiple platforms. Unless they were straight up going bankrupt otherwise, I can't condone it when a big publisher is snatched up just to deprive a certain platform of games.

@PlatinumGamer quoting from purexbox:
"Speaking to GQ Magazine, Hulst was probed about the on-going race between companies to purchase developers under their umbrellas. Citing companies such as Microsoft and Facebook, he was asked whether he sees the competitive nature as an arms race, to which Hulst disagreed."
Unquote:
Xbox was mentioned in the question and just to clarify, I never owned an xbox but I still think that the line I mentioned earlier was not professional from sony's representative.

@ATaco 1)You're use of the word 'snatched' is disingenuous. No 'big publisher' gets 'snatched up'. Don't be soft. They wanted to sell.
2)Before Microsoft bought Bethesda Sony was paying them for timed exclusivity...which is why we're getting their first two games since Microsoft bought them as Playstation timed exclusives. This should tell you something.

You guys need to stop with the theatrics. I've never once heard a playstation only owner moan about depriving others when Sony keeps paying out for year long timed exclusivity. Nor am I likely to ever hear 'i can't condone this' if Sony announces they've acquired a prominent 3rd party publisher'. Trust they would if they could. And if they can they will. Then you'll be here congratulating them - we both know this. So take a breath.

@Bleachedsmiles Who wouldn’t want to sell when you’re offered 7.5 billion dollars. 😝

@Bleachedsmiles

So your way to counter my statement is make up a whole bunch of assumptions about me? Trust me when I say that I call out everything that I see as wrong. Be it from Nintendo, Microsoft and even Sony. I'm not loyal to a company, I'm a consumer and my money is what they want. People don't understand that we have all the power, we're just too quick to give it up. I don't condone Nintendo's limited time releases, I don't support how much PS Now lags behind Gamepass and yes timed exclusivity is both bad and pointless to consumers. We get no benefit from it. Though there's a big difference between getting to play something eventually and never getting to play it at all even though you thoroughly enjoyed their past releases and supported them by buying day 1 (even broken garbage like Fallout 76).

But yes, go ahead and boil down my stance to "lol you're just a blind Sony pony" some more.

@ATaco Then apologies. I'm making assumptions on the language used...but assumptions all the same.
And yeah, none of these companies are saints.

Personally though, I find timed exclusivity more Anti-consumer than flat out exclusivity. Exclusives atleast add some value to your investment. Of course the assumption is the next fallout, elder Scrolls, doom etc isn't going to hit playstation. It's a fair assumption. So let's say the next fallout is exclusive (which would be the smart move for Xbox). Yeah it sucks for PlayStation only owners. Just as, let's assume, the next sunset overdrive being playstation exclusive will suck for Xbox only owners. But that's business. And the messaging should be clear so you know what you're investing in as a consumer.
Timed exclusives from 3rd party though just tell us that one install base is valued more than the other. Yet expected to pay the same. That's more a piss-take really. Worse is exclusive content from 3rd parties. Yet, again, expected to pay the same.

@TheFrenchiestFry I think its a good thing that some big minds stay unchained.

@AJ1 What that go for companies they worked with for a long time? I think its a honest and good answer.

@OmegaStriver Bethesda have mainly published games for Microsoft via DOS, Windows and Xbox. Therefore it makes perfect sense as a purchase.