Support NeoGAF

[kingfey]

Jim Ryan confirms Sony ‘has more studio acquisitions planned’ | VGC

Exec argues not adopting Game Pass-style strategy is allowing it to invest in M&

www.videogameschronicle.com

PlayStation boss Jim Ryan has confirmed that Sony has more acquisitions planned, beyond its recent buyouts of Bungie and Haven.

Sony announced the acquisition of Monreal, Canada-based Haven last month, which takes PlayStation’s internal studios to more than 18 developers.

The move follows the company’s recent acquisitions of Destiny creator Bungie, Demon’s Souls studio Bluepoint Games, Returnal developer Housemarque, PC port specialist Nixxes Software, and Firesprite, a UK-based developer established by former members of SIE Studio Liverpool.

And speaking on the latest PlayStation podcast, SIE president Ryan confirmed that the platform holder is working on further deals to buy developers.

“We’re in a really good place with PlayStation Studios and have been for the past few years. The critical success and the commercial success of the games that they’ve been making… that has given us permission to invest heavily in content creation.”

He added: “We’re growing our studios organically and we’re growing through acquisition. We acquired five studios during the course of 2021, we’re in discussions with Bungie and we have more planned. This is getting us into a virtuous cycle where success begets success.”

The exec went on to reiterate why Sony has decided not to include day one releases in its new subscription offering, like Xbox Game Pass does, claiming that such a setup would damage the quality of its games.

“The games that we make are getting bigger; they’re getting better, they’re getting more beautiful, they’re getting richer, the narrative is getting stronger… this is really great and gamers tell us this is what they really want from PlayStation.

“Now, I have to say, putting these games into a subscription service immediately upon their release would break this virtuous circle, and we wouldn’t be able to invest in the way that we’re currently able to. So we’re not doing it. We’re going to stick to the approach that we have and has served us well under many years now.”

M&A activity in the games industry hit a record $85 billion in 2021 and has been forecast to reach $150 billion this year, with huge deals such as Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard and Take-Two’s buyout of Zynga having already been announced in 2022’s opening months.

Outside of studio acquisitions, Sony has been investing in PS5 exclusives through partnerships with several promising independent studios.

It has signed an original multiplayer project from Firewalk, a new studio founded by Bungie veterans, and will publish the debut title from Deviation Games, a studio headed up by former Call of Duty veterans Dave Anthony and Jason Blundell.

 

[kyliethicc]

put Knack in Smash Bros

cmon Reggie

 

[Calverz]

Thought he believed in growing studios organically? What happened jim?

 

[elliot5]

virtuous cycle is such a Jimism

 

[Con_Z_ǝdʇ]

Thought he believed in growing studios organically? What happened jim?

When the opposition harvests everything, fertilizing is simply not enough.

 

[T-Cake]

Thought he believed in growing studios organically? What happened jim?

 

[vivftp]

Thought he believed in growing studios organically? What happened jim?

They've been growing all their studios for the past 3 years and many of them are now multi-project. That's the organic part. The thing that many people miss is that each time they've said "organic growth" it was immediately followed by "and select acquisition". The internet seems to have selective amnesia when it comes to that which is why we keep seeing this nonsense being brought up over and over.

 

[ToadMan]

What does he mean “in discussions with bungie”? That’s a done deal isn’t it?

 

[Lognor]

This isn't a surprise. Microsoft has said the same. There is still more consolidation that will take place. For Sony, I wouldn't expect any major acquisitions. More like haven, less like bungie.

 

[retsof624]

I’m glad the title says VGC and not VCG

 

[firegamer273]

one day sony and microsoft will buy every fucking studio until there is no one left to buy XD .

 

[adamsapple]

one day sony and microsoft will buy every fucking studio until there is no one left to buy XD .

Sony, Microsoft and Tencent will own all gaming studios.

 

[xHunter]

This isn't a surprise. Microsoft has said the same. There is still more consolidation that will take place. For Sony, I wouldn't expect any major acquisitions. More like haven, less like bungie.

Cant go into a playstation thread without mentioning MS. Keep up the fighting, warrior.

 

[vivftp]

What does he mean “in discussions with bungie”? That’s a done deal isn’t it?

It can take months for deals to finalize and go through regulatory approval. They can't legally say they own Bungie til it's done hence the mention of being in talks.

 

[kingfey]

What does he mean “in discussions with bungie”? That’s a done deal isn’t it?

Not yet. The deal is not final yet.

 

[kyliethicc]

Thought he believed in growing studios organically? What happened jim?

Microsoft spent over 75 billion dollars buying up 2 entire publishers.

This was Punished Jimbo's origin story.

 

[Lognor]

Cant go into a playstation thread without mentioning MS. Keep up the fighting, warrior.

I'm just saying it's a common thing to say. Most large companies are constantly looking at m&a. Sony saying this really means nothing. Even with the Activision acquisition ms is still looking

 

[Airbus Jr]

Sony buy FromSoft, SquareEnix, EA and Capcom

Nintendo buy Sony

Xbox buy Nintendo

Apple buy Xbox

And thus giving birth to a whole new amazing console

The iBox

Sold @ $1500

Controller and peripherals sold seperately

 

[Hezekiah]

one day sony and microsoft will buy every fucking studio until there is no one left to buy XD .

You can blame the CCP and Microsoft primarily for that.

The former aggressively expanding its reach in gaming, and the latter buying entire publishers because it's slate was bare (and still is).

 

[yurinka]

Thought he believed in growing studios organically? What happened jim?

They continue growing them organically: all their internal teams have a lot of job positions open and have been hiring a lot of people in the recent months or years. Their goal is allow their studios work in more games at the same time.

Other than this, most of the recently acquired teams like Housemarque, Firesprite (+Fabrik), Blue Point, Nixxes, Valkyrie, Bungie or Lasengle also have a long tradition of partnering with / working for them.

What does he mean “in discussions with bungie”? That’s a done deal isn’t it?

Means that during months they have to do paperwork and regulatory approvals, as happens with any big acquisition.

 

[adamsapple]

Thought he believed in growing studios organically? What happened jim?

The cheque book is made from organically harvested tree bark.

 

[MasterCornholio]

They continue growing them organically, all their internal teams have a lot of job positions opens and have been hiring a lot in the recent months or years.

I believe that’s the main issue. Some think it’s one or the other but it really isn’t that way. You can buy studios and grow internal ones at the same time. I’m pretty sure both Sony and a Microsoft have been doing both.

 

[Wastelander92]

Metal Gear and Silent Hill rights and Kojima hopefully

 

[sendit]

Sony buy FromSoft, SquareEnix, EA and Capcom

Nintendo buy Sony

Xbox buy Nintendo

Apple buy Xbox

And thus giving birth to a whole new amazing console

The iBox

Sold @ $1500

Controller and peripherals sold seperately

 

[Zeroing]

Sony, Microsoft and Tencent will own all gaming studios.

Yay! Can’t wait for that to happen so we finally focus on games!

Because over the past 2 years all that people seem to care are who buys what and what service is better.

 

[elcapitano]

Thought he believed in growing studios organically? What happened jim?

I don't even get comments like this? They weren't left with any choice with Xbox buying publishers etc.

Also who cares. Both companies can do whatever they want

 

[Dry_Kill_Logic_87]

I can't believe there are people and JOURNALISTS who think Sony must put new God Of War and all future games
day one on PS+ so that gamers can buy it for 15$. because a lot of people would do that.
how many people would need to buy it for 15$ so that Sony could actually earn any money from that game ?
we are talking about 150-200 million dollar games, right ?
two games cost 120$. you pay 120$ a year for this service and get like 5 exclusives in one year. what sense does that make

btw. I would buy Capcom or Ubisoft. Ubisoft has a lot of teams around the world.
Deviation Games guys sound very positive and happy about their project. I have faith in that team. Sony should grab them while they are cheap

 

[ButchCat]

Cause they're next.

 

[Arioco]

How about they invest in the studios they already have so they can become bigger? 1 or 2 games per generation is not good, Mr. Ryan.

 

[Badlucktroll]

Come on Konami Need AAA Metal Gear and Silent Hill back on Playstation

 

[vivftp]

How about they invest in the studios they already have so they can become bigger? 1 or 2 games per generation is not good, Mr. Ryan.

They've been doing that for the past 3 years. Every single one of their teams (maybe with the exception of PixelOpus, I'm unsure how they've grown recently) has grown considerably. Some of them are now multi-project like Santa Monica, Guerrilla and Naughty Dog. Studios like Insomniac and Firesprite are also multi-project. They've also helped brand new companies get off the ground like Haven and Deviation, and recently acquired Haven.

 

[Kokoloko85]

Studios not publisher. I doubt sony will buy a publisher like capcom, square etc.

 

[lh032]

Thought he believed in growing studios organically? What happened jim?

so he should sit and wait while Microsoft and other major corporation gobbling up everything?

And isnt firesprite, housemarque, bluepoint, Haven are all considered organic growth?

 

[Kokoloko85]

Thought he believed in growing studios organically? What happened jim?

Well when the competition starts buying IP’s it had nothing to do with building because they cant create any new decent ip’s themselves. Sony had to start shopping before ms buys everything…. does that explain it any better?

The last time sony bought an ip or studio it hadnt worked with exclusively for awhile ( growing organically ) was wipeout and lemmings. Since then its mostly been “organic”

 

[Tiago Rodrigues]

Studios not publisher. I doubt sony will buy a publisher like capcom, square etc.

Jim wouldn't just say in a random pr statement that they are looking for a publisher. It wouldn't make sense.

When you buy a publisher it's because of the studios they have. That's what you want to get...

 

[Mibu no ookami]

What does he mean “in discussions with bungie”? That’s a done deal isn’t it?

It hasn't closed. The deal was announced pending closing conditions and regulatory approval, so you can expect it could take some time. They can't really do business with them until the deal closes, which is why you won't see anything announced by SIE for Bungie until it does.

 

[vivftp]

so he should sit and wait while Microsoft and other major corporation gobbling up everything?

And isnt firesprite, housemarque, bluepoint, Haven are all considered organic growth?

Insomniac, Housemarque, Bluepoint and Firesprite should fall under "organic" to a degree considering the vast majority of each studios output has been for SIE. I recall many people expressing surprise that those studios weren't already owned by Sony when their acquisitions were announced.

Haven is as organic as you can get with Sony funding them from day 1 for an exclusive game and then recently acquiring them. Deviation is almost certainly going to be the same story, it's just a matter of time. Firewalk is a bit harder to judge as I don't think we know what shape their team was in or what they may have been doing before Sony signed them for an exclusive, but there's always the possibility that Sony buys Firewalk from ProbablyMonsters, or maybe even offers to buy all of ProbablyMonsters with their 2 other teams.

 

[Arioco]

They've been doing that for the past 3 years. Every single one of their teams (maybe with the exception of PixelOpus, I'm unsure how they've grown recently) has grown considerably. Some of them are now multi-project like Santa Monica, Guerrilla and Naughty Dog. Studios like Insomniac and Firesprite are also multi-project. They've also helped brand new companies get off the ground like Haven and Deviation, and recently acquired Haven.

Insomniac has proven capable of amazing productivity, no doubt about it, in only a few months they released Miles Morales, Spider-Man Remastered and Ratchet and Clank RA. Unfortunately that hasn't been the case for other studios, Santa Monica and Polyphony have developed just one game last gen and others like Sucker Punch, Guerrilla and Naughty Dog just two. All of them very high quality titles that I really enjoyed, and of course I know quality takes time, but come on...

 

[vivftp]

Jim wouldn't just say in a random pr statement that they are looking for a publisher. It wouldn't make sense.

When you buy a publisher it's because of the studios they have. That's what you want to get...

And IP. Sony's CEO noted in January that they're on the lookout for IP that can be utilized across Sony's entertainment divisions (games, film, TV, anime, music) and acquiring a publisher with a long list of IP would help further those goals. The interview in question was referring to large scale acquisitions on the Sony Pictures side of things, but no reason that doesn't hold true for SIE as well.

 

[vivftp]

Insomniac has proven capable of amazing productivity, no doubt about it, in only a few months they released Miles Morales, Spider-Man Remastered and Ratchet and Clank RA. Unfortunately that hasn't been the case for other studios, Santa Monica and Polyphony have developed just one game last gen and others like Sucker Punch, Guerrilla and Naughty Dog just two. All of them very high quality titles that I really enjoyed, and of course I know quality takes time, but come on...

Santa Monica did have a second game alongside God of War 2018 but that project got scrapped. Shit happens and projects get scrapped all the time that we never hear about. Now we know that alongside GoW Ragnarok that Cory has a separate game he's working on.

My speculation is that much like how Sony acquired Bungie to gain their knowledge of GaaS titles to use across their other projects, I think the acquisition of Insomniac has given them a lot of knowledge of how to run a multi-project studio. Insomniac cracked the code on that to great success and I don't think it's a coincidence that some of Sony's other studios went multi-project around the time of the Insomniac acquisition. I think they may be using Insomniac as a template so their other studios can become more productive and work on multiple projects at the same time.

 

[LordOfChaos]

Waiting to pee out my butt

 

[Badlucktroll]

I think there might be something to all that konami buyout trolling and millie a posting a few konami related tweets.

 

[supernova8]

Thought he believed in growing studios organically? What happened jim?

He also "believed in generations" and look how many cross-gen playstation exclusives that bagged us.

 

[amigastar]

I just hope they won't buy Arc System Works, i want my Guilty Gear on PC also.

 

[01011001]

"MuH orGaNiC sTUdIO grOWTH!!" -Sony fans that aren't hypocrites rn

 

[lh032]

Insomniac, Housemarque, Bluepoint and Firesprite should fall under "organic" to a degree considering the vast majority of each studios output has been for SIE. I recall many people expressing surprise that those studios weren't already owned by Sony when their acquisitions were announced.

Haven is as organic as you can get with Sony funding them from day 1 for an exclusive game and then recently acquiring them. Deviation is almost certainly going to be the same story, it's just a matter of time. Firewalk is a bit harder to judge as I don't think we know what shape their team was in or what they may have been doing before Sony signed them for an exclusive, but there's always the possibility that Sony buys Firewalk from ProbablyMonsters, or maybe even offers to buy all of ProbablyMonsters with their 2 other teams.

yea alot of their studios were actually organic growth, well except bungie, but then bungie is not under WWS

 

[Mibu no ookami]

Santa Monica did have a second game alongside God of War 2018 but that project got scrapped. Shit happens and projects get scrapped all the time that we never hear about. Now we know that alongside GoW Ragnarok that Cory has a separate game he's working on.

My speculation is that much like how Sony acquired Bungie to gain their knowledge of GaaS titles to use across their other projects, I think the acquisition of Insomniac has given them a lot of knowledge of how to run a multi-project studio. Insomniac cracked the code on that to great success and I don't think it's a coincidence that some of Sony's other studios went multi-project around the time of the Insomniac acquisition. I think they may be using Insomniac as a template so their other studios can become more productive and work on multiple projects at the same time.

No template is needed, it's all about resources.

There are many times during a game's development when resources aren't being utilized and people have a lot of downtime. As games become more and more expensive, this is prohibitive.

By having multiple projects happening at a time, you can best utilize resources in a studio, especially as they grow.

I think this is another reason why Sony has invested in acquiring some support studios, who can help get games across the finish line without having to crunch.

With Valkyrie and Nixxes, Sony can maximize returns on their games, while keeping resources focused on what they do best.

I'm sure even Bluepoint can help some studios tremendously.

 

[remember_spinal]

This isn't a surprise. Microsoft has said the same. There is still more consolidation that will take place. For Sony, I wouldn't expect any major acquisitions. More like haven, less like bungie.

 

[Mibu no ookami]

yea alot of their studios were actually organic growth, well except bungie, but then bungie is not under SIE

Bungie is under SIE, you're confusing SIE with PlayStation Studios.

 

[lh032]

Bungie is under SIE, you're confusing SIE with PlayStation Studios.

ah yea you are right lol