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News has been quiet on the acquisition front in recent days, at least when it comes to video game IP. However, according to a new report, Sony is currently in talks with a monied ally to acquire storied picture-house Paramount and all the cross-media potential such an addition would bring.
That's according to a new piece in the New York Times (thanks, ResetEra), which says that Sony Picture Entertainment is currently in talks with Apollo Global Management, an investment firm, according to two sources familiar with the situation. Previously, Apollo had made an offer to purchase Paramount for at least $26 billion, a bid which was rejected.
The terms of the joint bid are still being discussed, and it's entirely possible the twosome will not make a formal offer. According to sources granted anonymity to speak on the subject, an official offer could not even be made currently, as Paramount is engaged in exclusive discussions with Skydance. Apparently, the deal Skydance brought has generated significant investor pushback.
The ramifications of such an acquisition could be potentially huge. For starters, it would bring adaptations of Sonic and Halo into the PlayStation platform holder's growing media empire. After the news broke, shares in Paramount increased 11% in aftermarket trading.
What do you think of the news? Could you really see Sony acquiring Paramount? Let us know in the comments section below.
Comments 42
Bad bad bad bad bad. Consolidation is already concerning but having a studio as old as Paramount be folded into another company is, well, exactly what’s been done to Fox. And look at what’s happened to talented studios like Blue Sky amidst acquisition uncertainty.
Would that mean they'd get the rights to Indiana Jones? Those movies are Paramount, aren't they?
@Bingbongboyo Disney atm. So they have already been bought and merged!
At this point, it’s probably the best Paramount can hope for. There has been talk of them breaking up and selling off pieces. Wells Fargo analysts had a harsh financial view of them recently. Didn’t sound very good.
Why would playstation fans care about this?
@Kraaatos I guess it could allow PlayStation to make Star Trek, Mission Impossible or Nickelodeon games without the licensing costs...
(Having looked at their list of franchises it appears most may be owned by others, Addams Family was only the 90s films, Godfather might still be the Puzo estate or the Coppolas etc.)
Can’t wait for the “How I Met Your Mother” open world video game.
Sony helping Nintendo with Zelda and MS with Halo, what an era!
would have been a better article if it was about halo coming to playstation, otherwise 🥱 😴
It's almost as if a focus on streaming and on quantity over quality is a bad thing. Whoever told these studios that streaming was the future based on the artificially inflated Covid numbers really messed up.
@LifeGirl i think it was more a netflix thing than just that.
@Savage_Joe because he took the mask of.
@Bingbongboyo "Indiana Jones is a film franchise that started in 1981 as a collaboration between Lucasfilm (the production company) and Paramount Pictures (the distributor). Following their acquisition of the production company in 2012, The Walt Disney Company currently owns the rights to any forthcoming films and television series."
@nessisonett While I can’t disagree with the sentiment, Paramount (the incarnation you’re referring to) was already folded in long ago by Gulf+Western, Viacom, National Amusements etc. The incarnation I think this news piece is about is Paramount Global, the conglomerate formerly called ViacomCBS. But again, agree we don’t need more consolidation.
Paramount Plus probably the final nail in the coffin.
Sony were smart not bothering to seriously go down that route. Just licence your films and shows
@Anthony_Daniels In the UK if you're using a ChromeCast, it's often 2nd or 3rd in the list of entertainment apps, just behind Disney Plus and usually ahead of Prime Video, Apple TV and Netflix (although I guess many of those are used on non-Android devices).
I wouldn't be surprised if Sony have an eye on Paramount Plus - an established streaming service they could add Sony movies and TV shows to, promote on PlayStation and perhaps offer a combination sub with Crunchyroll might be of interest to them...
Would be interesting times to live in where Sony makes Halo, Sonic and Zelda adaptations.
Microsoft should acquire Disney to make up for this, they'll never be able to compete.
@Kraaatos Because an acquisition this large would tie up potential funds from the playstation division into a high risk addition. The money Microsoft is using in its purchase of AB didn't come from its gaming division, meaning it pulls net income from its much more successful divisions like Azure and Office. If this goes through, expect Sony to take far less risks in its games and expect no further expansion of its studios for awhile.
I would be very concerned if this goes through. Excluding Spiderman, Sony's film division isn't historically great at pulling in profits and this acquisition could turn into a WarnerMedia-AT&T situation real quick.
Sony making a proper live action Airbender show or a proper videogame for it would be absolute tiiiits
@BeenGamingSince_83 @Blofse thanks for the clarification! It would have been good for Indy to be a part of the PlayStation family! Damn you Disney!
@Generiko1999 Sony has had a hand in a lot of cookie jars over the years, though.
Sony made the sound chips in the SNES.
Sony Music has produced a lot of video game music.
Heck, Sony used to be a third-party game developer.
There is probably a ton of Sony-branded stuff floating around "the industry" for various uses: cameras, headphones, etc.
No different than pretty much every company in the world using Microsoft products in some way, shape, or form.
The only one of the "Big Three" who doesn't have its hand in cookie jars is Nintendo - unless Sony and Microsoft have Hanafuda-based tournaments in Japanese offices.
One topic: pretty sad to see a movie icon like Paramount falling on such hard times that it needs to look to merging. Then again, I couldn't tell you if I have seen any memorable Paramount movies in years.
That's unhappy news. As bad as consolidation in the gaming industry has been it's nothing compared to how consolidated the film/TV industry has become. Sony/Columbia/Tristar is big enough without Paramount. Soon it's just going to be Sony/Disney/Universal-Comcast (who also is the only provider of internet in many parts of the US), and it's only a matter of time before one of the later buys Sony/Columbia/Tristar/Paramount and that's it, the beginning and end of all media. Who also owns all the news, and along with only big-tech, ultimately keepers/manufacturers of Truth. We've gone back to the 12th century when The Church was the only keeper of history and knowledge. All through the progress of technology.
So you can watch one of the three media company's content one one of 4 platforms, streamed on internet owned most likely by one of the two media companies, or go watch their films in a theater owned by China. How are we not a commune, again?
I don't know how the media industry managed this. Profits always seem higher but all the companies are bankrupt, collapsing, and merging into one massive entity. How do a handful of oligopolies manage to still go bankrupt?
@GamingFan4Lyf Sony's virtually a monopoly in broadcast equipment. Look at the end of almost every single news, live event, concert, sports event, olympics, etc credits roll and you'll almost always see the cameras and broadcast equipment credited to Sony.
@NEStalgia It's a weird thing, huh?
Same as with Dolby/DTS.
Dolby has virtually a monopoly with sound as most DVD/UHD Blu-ray/movie theaters/streaming services use it. Disney+ will start using DTS:X with IMAX Enhanced titles starting in May, but at this point it's a little late to the party.
DTS had a good run in the standard Blu-ray market (as most Standard Blu-ray use DTS-HD MA), but everyone has now gone back to Dolby with Atmos being out there.
I guess because there is no active measures to block competition, there is nothing anyone can do about it. Courts can't force people to break habit/preference. 🤷♂️
The movie industry has crazy consolidation and it really hasn't helped. There are so few "standout" movies anymore unless they come from the indie studios: Fox Searchlight, A24, etc.
Sure Sony has a hit with the Spiderverse films, but I can't think of anything else that has been widely praised.
If they did, and ps plus premium had South Park I’d return for that alone. Plus other properties under paramount are plenty valuable on their own, not to mention Amazon prime’s addons also include paramount off shoots. They’d make their money back easily.
@GamingFan4Lyf It's that network effect that's the same thing most tech companies (and Dolby/DTS are basically tech comapanies) have built empires on. Once something gets big enough, it creates habit that's impossible to break and there's never room for competition again. Humanity's natural preference seems to basically be "communism". A single state-owned entity and predetermined choice in all things. Except instead of a communist system where bureaucrats select the single choice, we let the "market" determine our single choice by a duel to the death, and then from then on we accept our one choice.
Games and moives suffered the same fate. "Creatives" that aren't actually creative, they just like copying someone else's thing their own way, and huge budgets meaning bankers choosing what to fund, and bankers will never chose anything but the safest bet. They're bankers. What else would they do? Who would chose entertainment assortment as selected by bankers? Apparently everyone who likes their single decision made for them above.
Sony needs to buy more studios.and make more video games quickly.word up son
So sony has a stranglehold on the animation business and is now looking at the TV and movie industry idk there in a lot of businesses I can definitely see some company lobbying a complaint at them and getting federally investigated
Consolidation sucks, but I don't see why this would be blocked while Disney, which is bigger than both Sony and Paramount combined, was able to buy Fox. The only issue I can see with this is there are federal regulations in the U.S. to restrict foreign entities from owning broadcast channels, which Paramount has.
Yay, more consolidation....I thought we were done with this.
Would love a triple A TMNT game.
@CWill97 with Battle Pass
Well seeing how Halo turned out. That should be a big pass. What has paramount put out recently that is good? I hear Star Trak has been terrible recently too.
@Savage_Joe I really really like Halo the game but the show is just awful. They couldn’t just stick to the game content but needed to add in romance, bureaucracy and other stupid stuff. As my wife mentioned when we tried to watch it, “I expected this to be him just shooting bad guys and heavy action”. Me too, me too….
This sort of thing is never a good idea for anyone except the giant corporations involved. It essentially limits the options for consumers. Look at Disney owning Marvel and Fox…
Wait, what does playstation get out of this? Is it just more movies to sell? But why would anyone buy a movie/show off of playstation instead of a third party platform, where you can watch it anywhere you want?
This is really strange news to me. I guess I thought Paramount Plus was popular?
@CutchuSlow
Sony will own more IP they could potentially make games out of, but this is a Sony Pictures deal, not a PlayStation one.
@The_Wailing_Doom in the article it says it will bring sonic movies to PlayStation platforms. I was commenting at that.
@CutchuSlow
Strange wording on Push Square's part, but I think they are just speculating what it would mean since Sony would own the Sonic movies and the mediocre Halo show. As far as PlayStation goes, there would be more IP to draw from without paying licensing fees, and perhaps Paramount movies on Sony Pictures Core (of which PlayStation Plus subscribers get a selection), but I don't think much else.
What happens with Paramount+ is far more interesting.
@The_Wailing_Doom oh, does ps plus also have free stuff you can watch?
@CutchuSlow
It's not free, but it's included in PS+ Premium.
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