Sony Acquires Minority Stake in Publisher Devolver Digital

Would rather hear news of an actual acquisition, even if I have no idea who else Sony should acquire since acquiring Bluepoint, Housemarque & Insomniac Games, maybe Ember Labs? And then just work on expanding their pre-existing studios, so that every First-Party Studio can work on multiple projects at once.

This will be to no benefit to us.

@JustPlainLoco Imo they should go after Remedy.

@JustPlainLoco this is more of a disincentive for other platform holders to acquire Devolver, than anything of any huge consequence to either party. $50,000,000 is chump change for Sony, and 5% isn't a huge voting share for Devolver's board

Edit: corrected figures

Shadow warrior 3 playas.word up son

@theheadofabroom 20 million isn't chump change for any organisation.

I thought epic bought these guys?

This is a good idea. If nothing else games like Loop Hero and Inscryption that generate buzz will actually come to PlayStation. Devolver has done an excellent job finding great indie games but so few are platform agnostic. This may be a way to incentivize them to get these titles on PlayStation day and date from the more PC focused developers.

PS We all want Inscryption on PlayStation, it really is that good. And weird.

@UltimateOtaku91 They bought mediatonic, fall guys creators

Meh, I don't think this is anything new in the world of gaming. Follow the money and you will probably be surprised just how many cookie jars each of companies of the "big three" have their hands in - even if it's only a small amount.

Death's Door is a masterpiece, by the way! It was an impulse buy for me on the MS store and I was NOT disappointed. Buy the game!

@DarthAmmii I mean it's less than 0.05% of their estimated current net worth. If the average UK family has a net worth of £87,000, that would be equivalent to them spending £43.50, so absolutely in the impulse purchase range. Whether that's considered chump change obviously varies by usage, but I think you underestimate the size of multinational corporations.

I hope they don't fully acquire them, I'd rather have an option on what consoles I want to play indie games on.

Good move. Helps devolver, who are great, and stops them being purchased outright by competition. If Sony were to buy too much stock they would be accused of a hostile takeover so 5% is enough to ensure we get most of their games on the PS system and Sony get a small profit from games on other systems

This feels so ridiculously anti-Devolver. Always thought they would remain independent. They always seemed, at least from a distance, so against the idea of being gobbled up by another company. Not an outright acquisition but still feels weird.

And sure, totally my fault for assuming to know the company, but their marketing was damn good at presenting them as off-beat, weird, and proud of it. Good for them I guess though, get that bag etc etc

I wonder what these tiny stock purchases are used for? Most of the big publishers do it. It must get them something of value. But it doesn't give them any control, even through voting, really, over the company or any direct financial gain. There must be something useful gained by it other than just the residuals.

@NEStalgia it disincentivises the competition from buying up a studio they don't want as competition

I think Epic Games owns Fall Guys now???

That was only game of theirs I really knew of.

@UltimateOtaku91 you beat me to it. I think Epic bought Fall Guys but Devolver still own the rest.

@Royalblues - How? In just about every State of Play or PlayStation Showcase, they always highlight multiple Indies & AA Games, so I fail to see how they are 'failing behind a bit in the the Indiesphere'? Hell the most common complaint about their State of Plays & PlayStation Showcase's is that they focus too much on Indies & AA Games. Not to mention when Sony does highlight and bring attention to these Indies & AA Games, very few people actually support those games upon release, instead all I hear is "Imma wait for it to come to Gamepass" or "Imma wait for it to come to PlayStation Plus".
So it's not Sony failing to support the Indiesphere, it's 'Gamers' failing to support the Indiesphere.

@Shepherd_Tallon @theheadofabroom That makes sense! I haven't played too much from Devolver, personally, but their E3 shows are always a fun watch with some cool stuff.

Honestly I'm all for whatever keeps independent publishers/studios independent. Too much industry consolidation going on right now...

@theheadofabroom Sony invested roughly 50 million, not 20.

I enjoy Devolver games. They take risks, and they publish games that other, bigger labels don’t have the guts to invest in. I still play Downwell and Luftrauser every now and again on my Vita, and Enter the Gungeon, Broforce, Shadow Warrior, Titan Souls, Hotline, Hatoful Boyfriend, and the Olli Olli games on the PS4. Underrated game on PS4 is Ruiner—check out that one.

@MrSensical I agree, I don't know the company that well but they have always presented themselves as different from the rest in many ways. For them to want/need an investment worries me as well. I've always hoped for them to remain independent and keep doing what they do but this is like bad news.

@Royalblues Bugsnax, The Pathless, Tribes of Midgard, Fist, Kena, Jett, Stray, Salt & Sacrifice, Solar Ash, Little Devil Inside. Sony is killing it on the indie and AA front. Even Disco Elysium, Fall Guys, and Axiom Verge 2 came to PlayStation prior to Xbox. What, because Death's Door and Carrion were a couple months late? Don't get it twisted.

@fR_eeBritney Enter the Gungeon, Shadow Warrior, Hotline, Carrion, Death's Door are some others. They are among the largest indie publishers in the business.

@iamtylerdurden1 I’ve heard of Hotline Miami but haven’t played it (not for me). Never heard of any of the others. Fall Guys is great though.

Hotline Miami 3 please!!! Devolver publishes some killer indie titles. This is excellent news

The only thing I know about Devolver Digital is they have awesome E3-adjacent shows. I never played any of their games, though some look appealing.

This is disgraceful. Sony buying into a multiplatform publisher that has had a stronger relationship with Microsoft is anti-consumer. If this ever leads to an outright acquisition then Sony should be ashamed of themselves.

@iamtylerdurden1 Yup, you're right, the hazards of mental arithmetic when you're tired 🤷

It didn't hugely change the point, but I should go back and edit to correct the figures.

Edit: funnily enough I made the same mistake twice, so my second message ended up correct

@__jamiie I hope you are being sarcastic about that BS you just said.... because if not...

I think Square and Sony will happen down the road.

@rpg2000 It was a tongue in cheek poke at the people who used those exact same words against Microsoft for buying Zenimax.

Seems like a good move for Sony. If they get stakes in company's rather than buy them out right I'd assume it ensures games appear on PlayStation day and date as they would on Xbox. And devolver is/was a good fit for gamepass. Also, if they did get bought out I'd assume Sony would get some change.

Some of the best indie games I've played have been published by devolver

@Bleachedsmiles I guess I hadn't thought about Games Pass/ Plus. Getting some of the Devolver games with Plus would be a nice perk, given how dire some of the recent months have been.