Support NeoGAF

[adamsapple]

Didn't Spencer pay $100M just to get one TR game first on Xbox?

If $300M is a fair price, Spencer is a dumb bastard lol

It's almost like the value of an IP when it's in its prime isn't the same as when it's dormant and being blamed for their current publishers western sales woes.



oh my bad, just saw who posted this. Carry on.

 

[Cyber_hunter026]

This feels like a fire sale and usually that implies something else is happening.

Yeah, something is happening behind the scenes.

 

[adamsapple]

This feels like a fire sale and usually that implies something else is happening.

Yeah, it's funding Square Enix's investments into NFT and block chain.

 

[ChorizoPicozo]

Thank God wasn't Sony.

 

[poodaddy]

Goodbye weeb publisher, hello eurojank publisher.

And all is right with the world.

 

[ChorizoPicozo]

If wb is for sale it's deffo looking like Sony buy now

deffo no

 

[Ordnasella_Edadnirt]

300 Million is a steal ! To put on the perspective Sony payed almost the same amount for Insomniac wich back then i consider to be one the best deals ever but this is even crazier when you consider the potential that Eidos and CD have alongside the high quality IP's that they got it is insane ! Sony missed a really good opportunity here
Not only they losed the chance to hire top talent while also missed the chance to expand their business on Canada
getting Tomb Raider, Deus Ex and Thief could have also fitted their Idea of expanding gaming IP's to other medias , the 3 billions that the payed for Bungie is growing even more insane by the day ...

 

[Mibu no ookami]

300 Million is a steal ! To put on the perspective Sony payed almost the same amount for Insomniac wich back then i consider to be one the best deals ever but this is even crazier when you consider the potential that Eidos and CD have alongside the high quality IP's that they got it is insane ! Sony missed a really good opportunity here
Not only they losed the chance to hire top talent while also missed the chance to expand their business on Canada
getting Tomb Raider, Deus Ex and Thief could have also fitted their Idea of expanding gaming IP's to other medias , the 3 billions that the payed for Bungie is growing even more insane by the day ...

They haven't lived up to their potential in almost the entire time square has owned them.

Tomb raider reboot had potential but the series didn't have legs. Especially when compared to uncharted that Sony invented out of thin air.

Sony doesn't need tomb raider since it has uncharted and doesn't need legacy of Kain since it has god of war.

The IP don't diversify their portfolio enough and the teams would immediately be among Sonys worst.

 

[DonkeyPunchJr]

Goodbye weeb publisher, hello eurojank publisher.

From weeaboo to ikeaboo

(Actually this is just S-E Montreal but that still won't stop me from calling people ikeaboos)

 

[Punished Miku]

It's time, finally. The trilogy must be completed.

 

[Nankatsu]

Now they just have to "embrace" Deus Ex and make a sequel to Mankind Divided.

 

[MonarchJT]

Square hasn't been bought so yeah can still happen

you right ones a office and just did he the Montreal part

 

[Gone]

So damn cheap..

Tomb Raider alone is worth that much.

 

[hemo memo]

300m? I am surprised Sony didn't buy them if they are that cheap with all their "acquisition" talk.

 

[MonarchJT]

And you told us MS is going to buy them when their game is good:







How is that strong relationship looking now?

but Ms can still buy embraced !! (lol lol ok I'm joking)

 

[mejin]

It's almost like the value of an IP when it's in its prime isn't the same as when it's dormant and being blamed for their current publishers western sales woes.



oh my bad, just saw who posted this. Carry on.

Oh sure, Jan. Spencer was smart.

$300M is a tremendous deal.

 

[saintjules]

Heh, what was the context of this again? I forget.

 

[saintjules]

 

[splattered]

Microsoft must be closing on buying WB Studios then.. damn they made the wrong choice, this one would have been better for the IPs alone!

 

[Papacheeks]

300m? I am surprised Sony didn't buy them if they are that cheap with all their "acquisition" talk.

Why would they want over 1,000 employee's who made games that have all pretty much tanked? Tomb raider, Deus ex were super expensive that didn't make their money back. Tomb raider 2013 made money, but Rise, Shadow under performed, Same with Just cause series, and Avengers.

Insanely expensive games that all were over budget and under performed.

Also this selling at 300 Million is initial purchase price. In the end it will be more for final sale. Also this is a fire sale as in Square wanted to offload this, and either they didn't want to sell to MS or MS because of their current A/B deal could not buy because of total amount of Employee's made it larger acquisition than what is allowed while having a deal LIKE A/B going on.

 

[Verchod]

I was hoping Square would sell Eidos and the I/Ps they had. Didn't think it would ever happen.
Thief and Deus Ex are two of my favourite series of all time. I could totally live off just these Franchises.
Almost Wish Microsoft had bought them, just for the slim chance Arkane could of had a crack at making a new Thief and Deus ex

 

[Papacheeks]

Microsoft must be closing on buying WB Studios then.. damn they made the wrong choice, this one would have been better for the IPs alone!

I don't think Square wanted to sell to Microsoft.

 

[Clear]

Its $300m for the "keys", but they still have to pay for the upkeep and publishing expenses. The latter being a vastly bigger sum.

CD for example are doing work-for-hire on Perfect Dark, which is likely not that profitable despite it potentially tying up a good chunk of their dev resources for the next couple of years.

Montreal have just come off Guardians Of The Galaxy, which as I pointed out at the time was a major flop despite what they were saying about it "finding its audience on Gamepass". Basically meaning that as publisher, and the ones who licensed the IP off of Marvel SE will be clawing back that expense from whatever residuals remain with the studio itself receiving nothing.

In such an instance from SE's perspective Montreal would be looking like a money pit for the next few years, or at least until they can make something that turns a profit.

Basically SE are cutting their losses in the short term. And avoiding heavy expenses trying to turn these studios into profitable endeavours in the mid-term. The $300m is basically a write-down on a bunch of IP they have neither the interest or production capacity to exploit.

See what people tend to forget is that its all well and good and saying that all these idle IP have found a new and potentially well-funded home, but that isn't to say anything is going to be done with them. Leveraging them is no less expensive or risky, and that being the case the likelihood of them being resurrected is no more likely UNLESS the new owner has a bunch of money and production capacity going spare.

 

[Rat Rage]

 

[Ass of Can Whooping]

Oof

Yeah those margins are abysmal

 

[Ordnasella_Edadnirt]

They haven't lived up to their potential in almost the entire time square has owned them.

Tomb raider reboot had potential but the series didn't have legs. Especially when compared to uncharted that Sony invented out of thin air.

Sony doesn't need tomb raider since it has uncharted and doesn't need legacy of Kain since it has god of war.

The IP don't diversify their portfolio enough and the teams would immediately be among Sonys worst.

To be honest Deus Ex Human Revolution was a fantastic game Tomb Raider 2013 was also pretty good, and most recently Guardians of the Galaxy was great, the feeling that i have is that SE never gave a crap about their western branches, Tomb Raider would be way to similar to Uncharted ? ineed but the IP "Tomb Raider" It still beloved by many and If done properly it would sell millions Deus Ex it's another historic IP that under proper hands would also flourish at my point of view.

 

[Belthazar]

This is unironically true.

That was such shit negotiation by Sony. 4 billion just to keep Bungie exactly the same as it is now (multiplat). Lol

You do know that Sony will be the one receiving all the profits from anything Bungie from now on, how the hell is that staying the same as it is now?

 

[Spitfire098]

Wow this is a way better deal than the $4 billion Sony paid for Bungie.

 

[Andodalf]

insane deal. Shocked Sony didn't want in on that

 

[Kadve]

Makes you wonder what the hell makes Gearbox without Borderlands worth 1,2 billion.

There must be something more going on here. Even if this is simply squeenix pruning themselves i don't see why they didn't put them up for auction, instead of directly making a deal with Embracer.
[h3][/h3]

 

[shaddam]

Yeah, it's funding Square Enix's investments into NFT and block chain.

I think this is just pr bullshit for investors

 

[Clear]

Here's another thing to consider, especially if you're an Xbox fan:

MS are spending huge on building up their internal studios in order to have a steady cadence of product for Gamepass, what that means is they will simultaneously be looking to spend less on paying third parties for exclusives. Now this isn't to say that they will never pay for exclusives, just that they will obviously be way more discriminatory in terms of what they need, what they pay, and what they consider valuable to their ecosystem.

The point being that the days of them paying $100m for an exclusive window on a Tomb Raider game are long gone. Which has to be a big consideration for SE as Sony are likely not going to be interested while they have a directly competitive first-party offering in Uncharted.
Think about what that means for Deus Ex, or Thief, are MS really going to want to spend big when they've basically bought most of the other WRPG developers? Are Sony going to make an equivalent bid especially while their push into PC publishing seems to be spearheaded by porting former console exclusive IP?

Market changes means IP values fluctuate, and this huge consolidation push is causing major ripples across the industry. Truth be told I'm not sure whether the market seems welcoming to legacy IP at this point in time due to the amount of competition.

 

[TGO]

Embracer not fucking about. How will purple hairs justify playing the new tomb raider now after their stances against THQN.

We gonna see those straws being grasped for with Koch media etc?

I must of missed or forgot information about Embracer because this is the first time (I remember) hearing about them.
But are you saying they're not woke?

 

[adamsapple]

Hopefully this finally explains to people why Sony/MS didn't run out for these like Bungie/Activision lol.

It's a business at the end of the day, as much as some of us are fond of those IPs and grew up playing them, they're sales failures right now.

 

[nominedomine]

To be honest Deus Ex Human Revolution was a fantastic game Tomb Raider 2013 was also pretty good, and most recently Guardians of the Galaxy was great, the feeling that i have is that SE never gave a crap about their western branches, Tomb Raider would be way to similar to Uncharted ? ineed but the IP "Tomb Raider" It still beloved by many and If done properly it would sell millions Deus Ex it's another historic IP that under proper hands would also flourish at my point of view.

They devalued so much what they had and now are selling it for peanuts while trying to spin it as something positive, using buzzwords and nonsense.

 

[Interfectum]

Pretty crazy, this is a bigger buy than Activision and only cost 300M!!!

 

[Kokoloko85]

Jim Ryan is the dumbest fuck if he spent all that on Bungie but not these ips

300 Million is a steal ! To put on the perspective Sony payed almost the same amount for Insomniac wich back then i consider to be one the best deals ever but this is even crazier when you consider the potential that Eidos and CD have alongside the high quality IP's that they got it is insane ! Sony missed a really good opportunity here
Not only they losed the chance to hire top talent while also missed the chance to expand their business on Canada
getting Tomb Raider, Deus Ex and Thief could have also fitted their Idea of expanding gaming IP's to other medias , the 3 billions that the payed for Bungie is growing even more insane by the day ...

Bungie deal smells of desperation. MS was probably buying them outright and playstation gave them money to stay independent..
Only an idiot would pay close to 4 billion for bungie to stay independent but not buy IP that could strengthen your brand for a 10th of the price….

Square is nowhere near worth the purchase it was yesterday now lol.

I guess them being not platform exclusive is good though

 

[kyliethicc]

SQ management is lucky they have people like Yoshida bringing in the money

Because they are actually fucking retarded.

Meanwhile Embracer Group has people like this running shit. Absolute legend

 

[FalsettoVibe]

There is something bigger going on.....

 

[Interfectum]

The rise of Embracer Group fanboys begins today.

 

[FalsettoVibe]

Jim Ryan is the dumbest fuck if he spent all that on Bungie but not these ips



Bungie deal smells of desperation. MS was probably buying them outright and playstation gave them money to stay independent..
Only an idiot would pay close to 4 billion for bungie to stay independent but not buy IP that could strengthen your brand for a 10th of the price….

Square is nowhere near worth the purchase it was yesterday now lol.

I guess them being not platform exclusive is good though

Armchair expertise at it's finest.

 

[Zeroing]

There is something bigger going on.....

Yeah it's on the European websites square enix stated they sold their western studios to further bet on backchain.

Like I said many times, square enix is a management mess!

 

[Kokoloko85]

Armchair expertise at it's finest.

Sure. The "expets" at square done a great done with the westernstudios. The "experts" at Sony did a great job with Vita. The experts at Nintenso did fantasic with Wii U. All thos "experts" politicians.

Like I said, only an idiotwould think 4 billions for bungie is a better deal than 300m for Hitman, Tomb Raider, Legacy of Kain and Dues Ex…..

Only an idiot would think experts should be the only ones "thinking"

 

[Interfectum]

Jim Ryan is the dumbest fuck if he spent all that on Bungie but not these ips

Those IPs are nearly worthless which is why they got sold for cheap. Bungie is a long term play that secures Sony's relevance in video games for the next decade. I think they made the correct move here.

 

[Kadve]

I must of missed or forgot information about Embracer because this is the first time (I remember) hearing about them.
But are you saying they're not woke?

To make a long story short: they made a trainwreck of a marketing stunt involving 8chan (yes, you read that right) that caused members on a certain other forum to completely loose their shit. To the point that even mentioning them in positive light would get you banned.

 

[Kokoloko85]

Those IPs are nearly worthless which is why they got sold for cheap. Bungie is a long term play that secures Sony's relevance in video games for the next decade. I think they made the correct move here.

There worthless in the wrong hands. Just like anything is. But those games could of been huge exclusives in the right hands.
Like MGS, Pes or Silent Hill.

Hell Sonic is one of the biggest movie hits. Dune was nonesne and unknown until last year.
Theres no guarentee Bungie'e next Ip will be anything.

 

[ToTTenTranz]

insane deal. Shocked Sony didn't want in on that

Tomb Raider overlaps with Uncharted and to be frank, most people forgot about Deus Ex the moment Cyberpunk 2077 was announced.
Legacy of Kain could be a nice franchise for Sony but they already have a bunch of well established franchises in the 3rd person adventure genre (Horizon, Spider-Man, etc.).

 

[balls of snow]

Guess GotG died at one game huh.

 

[FalsettoVibe]

Sure. The "expets" at square done a great done with the westernstudios. The "experts" at Sony did a great job with Vita. The experts at Nintenso did fantasic with Wii U. All thos "experts" politicians.

Like I said, only an idiotwould think 4 billions for bungie is a better deal than 300m for Hitman, Tomb Raider, Legacy of Kain and Dues Ex…..

Only an idiot would think experts should be the only ones "thinking"

There are people involved in this that make way more money than you and I and have way more insight into what these IPs/Companies are worth to them. Tomb Raider is the only real item of value here and 300 mil was
obviously not worth it to them. And why are you singling out Sony?

 

[TGO]

To make a long story short: they made a trainwreck of a marketing stunt involving 8chan (yes, you read that right) that caused members on a certain other forum to completely loose their shit. To the point that even mentioning them in positive light would get you banned.