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Kadokawa Open to Sony Deal Under Certain Conditions

Gaiff

SBI’s Resident Gaslighter
They have just as much of a proven track record if not more on PS consoles. DeS and BB are not on PC and the world has not been turned upside down.
Neither sold anywhere near as many units as Elden Ring or even Dark Souls III, so what’s your point?
Exclusive FROM games or exclusive Elden Ring 2 would do just fine and would push a lot more PS console sales, which at the end of the day is FAR more valuable to Sony than selling a few extra million copies of a game.
I’m sure it’d do fine, but Demon’s Souls and Bloodborne don’t have the AAA budget Elden Ring has and if the sequel costs north of $150M to produce, BB or Demon’s Souls sales figured won’t be good enough at all.

The point is, Elden Ring 2 is a slam dunk on PC. Sony wouldn’t run the risk of losing almost half the sales because maybe they might entice a few players to get a PS5 to play it.
 
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John Wick

Member
Hopefully dumb fucks Sony will just buy the full company instead of being fussy pricks and screwing themselves out the deal like previous acquisition attempts with other companies
 

RedC

Member
It's highly likely that if this aquistion goes through, Sony will have to commit to continue releasing From Soft games on "high performance consoles" that the FTC created to fight against the Xbox and Activision Blizzard aquisition, especially given the dominance Sony has in this vertical.
 

Ebrietas

Member
Neither sold anywhere near as many units as Elden Ring or even Dark Souls III, so what’s your point?
The "point" is that sales would still be completely fine even if it sold 25% less than it would multiplatform and Sony's PS business would not be upended but in fact expand.
I’m sure it’d do fine, but Demon’s Souls and Bloodborne don’t have the AAA budget Elden Ring has and if the sequel costs north of $150M to produce, BB or Demon’s Souls sales figured won’t be good enough at all.

The point is, Elden Ring 2 is a slam dunk on PC. Sony wouldn’t run the risk of losing almost half the sales because maybe they might entice a few players to get a PS5 to play it.
From's games are not big budget titles compared to the stuff Sony normally produces. The next From game, be it Elden Ring 2 or something else, would have no problem selling 15-20 million on PS5. The series is more popular now compared to when BB and the Dark Souls trilogy released so comparing to those numbers is meaningless.
 

fersnake

Member
i feel like a lot of ppl have hemorrhoids or some kind of butt hurt in here.


Happy Eddie Murphy GIF by Laff


do it sony just for the LOLs.
 

Gaiff

SBI’s Resident Gaslighter
The "point" is that sales would still be completely fine even if it sold 25% less than it would multiplatform and Sony's PS business would not be upended but in fact expand.
Considering in its first month, 44% of the sales of Elden Ring in Europe were on PC, you risk losing a lot more than 25%.
From's games are not big budget titles compared to the stuff Sony normally produces. The next From game, be it Elden Ring 2 or something else, would have no problem selling 15-20 million on PS5. The series is more popular now compared to when BB and the Dark Souls trilogy released so comparing to those numbers is meaningless.
Yet you’re the one who brought up Demon’s Souls and Bloodborne as if they had relevant. Bloodborne sold around 7.5M on PS4, so it’s ridiculous to even bring it up.

15-20M when Elden Ring was at 25M back in June with most of its sale being on PC doesn’t make it sound wise to make it exclusive. Elden Ring will likely reach over 40M down the line, so 15-20M would be a terrible decision. They’d be gambling 30-45% of the sales and that’s just moronic.
 
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powder

Member
It's highly likely that if this aquistion goes through, Sony will have to commit to continue releasing From Soft games on "high performance consoles" that the FTC created to fight against the Xbox and Activision Blizzard aquisition, especially given the dominance Sony has in this vertical.
This deal is happening in Japan. You don’t have any idea what the FTC is going to say about this domestically. On paper this deal is a dingleberry financially compared to the Activision Blizzard acquisition. Gaming isn’t even the core part of Kadokawa’s business.

I say this as someone who doesn’t really care if it goes through, I’m just sick of seeing people post speculative comments like this as if they’re some kind of reporter.
 

XXL

Member
I’m sure it’d do fine, but Demon’s Souls and Bloodborne don’t have the AAA budget Elden Ring has and if the sequel costs north of $150M to produce, BB or Demon’s Souls sales figured won’t be good enough at all.
You're kind of missing some important context here.

From Software is mainstream now, they weren't when Bloodborne and Dark Souls released they were just loved mainly by forums and hardcore gaming circles.

Elden Ring put them on the map of the general public.

A sequel to Bloodborne will be much larger than the original in this respect.

With that said, I think it'll still release on PC, but I do think Xbox will be cut off.
 

Gaiff

SBI’s Resident Gaslighter
You're kind of missing some important context here.

From Software is mainstream now, they weren't when Bloodborne and Dark Souls released they were just loved mainly by forums and hardcore gaming circles.

Elden Ring put them on the map of the general public.

A sequel to Bloodborne will be much larger than the original in this respect.

With that said, I think it'll still release on PC, but I do think Xbox will be cut off.
No, I’m not because that’s exactly my point. From became a household name with Elden Ring that has now sold over 25M copies with the most popular platform being presumably PC.

Elden Ring 2 would sell a lot more than 7.5M on PS5, but so would it on PC. There’s no sense in potentially risking tens of millions of sales.
 

Loomy

Banned
In summary, Kadokawa’s condition for a full acquisition reflects its desire for a comprehensive deal. Sony’s interest indicates a strategic move to enhance its entertainment content. The outcome of these negotiations could reshape the landscape of gaming and anime, offering new opportunities for both companies.
Anime? Yes, somewhat.

Gaming? FromSoftware is the only studio they own with a massive international reach. What's likely to happen is Sony takes over publishing a lot of the smaller games Kadokawa subsidiaries are currently publishing.

It's highly likely that if this aquistion goes through, Sony will have to commit to continue releasing From Soft games on "high performance consoles" that the FTC created to fight against the Xbox and Activision Blizzard aquisition, especially given the dominance Sony has in this vertical.
This deal is happening in Japan. You don’t have any idea what the FTC is going to say about this domestically. On paper this deal is a dingleberry financially compared to the Activision Blizzard acquisition. Gaming isn’t even the core part of Kadokawa’s business.
Both Sony and Kadokawa generate enough revenue in the US that this will trigger an FTC review. It will likely go through with no issues as, like you said, this is tiny compared to ABK/MS.
 
I wish more of you read articles and not just headlines.

This tweet cites an article that cites another article that does not back up this headline.

The original article just provides background on what is alleged the history of discussions between these companies. It never claims to be an update. In fact there is already a thread here citing the Bloomberg article that the subsequent article and tweet are referring to.
 

LectureMaster

Gold Member
No, I’m not because that’s exactly my point. From became a household name with Elden Ring that has now sold over 25M copies with the most popular platform being presumably PC.

Elden Ring 2 would sell a lot more than 7.5M on PS5, but so would it on PC. There’s no sense in potentially risking tens of millions of sales.
Could it be like you said, that PC folk mitigate to PS for the From fix? Tho I don't think Sony would cut off PC, but it's an interesting hypothesis to see how much pull From actually has.
 

Gaiff

SBI’s Resident Gaslighter
Could it be like you said, that PC folk mitigate to PS for the From fix? Tho I don't think Sony would cut off PC, but it's an interesting hypothesis to see how much pull From actually has.
Some will. The majority won’t, resulting in a huge amount of initial lost sales.

As you said and a few others, including myself, I doubt Sony cuts off PC. It’s a guaranteed huge win. It’s not a direct competitor to PlayStation. From is enormously popular there. Xbox might lose out.
 
Assuming both sides actually want the deal and have agreed upon a price, Sony still has to do due diligence. They have a fiduciary responsibility to do proper DD. That process can take weeks if not months.

We have no idea what phase of the process they're in based on public disclosures and once an agreement is made, it'll still need to go to Kadokawa's shareholders many of whom could be naturally antagonistic to Sony in this process, but I doubt they have any trouble clearing 50%.
 

Killjoy-NL

Banned
They cant actually afford to skip PC day one. Its where the majority of FromSoft sales are on PC. We have seen what happens when Sony forces devs to delay their PC releases.

Is that true though?

A quick google search gave me this:

"At 41%, most of the total Elden Ring sales were for the PS4 and PS5.
(Source: GSD)

  • 29% of the total Elden Ring sales were for PC.
  • 30% of the total Elden Rings sales were for the Xbox."
 
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LectureMaster

Gold Member
Some will. The majority won’t, resulting in a huge amount of initial lost sales.

As you said and a few others, including myself, I doubt Sony cuts off PC. It’s a guaranteed huge win. It’s not a direct competitor to PlayStation. From is enormously popular there. Xbox might lose out.
Yeah. I'd rather Fromsoft remain independent in terms of decision making and creativity freedom, even if they become Sony's first party. From is asset for the whole industry.
 

Kurotri

Member
why? What's it to you?
Nothing will change. They will continue to do what they do.

if m$ got them.. they would fire these people after some time. We see it time and time again
I simply do not want Sony to control anime more than they already do and I also do not want them to make FS games exlusive to PS.
 
This seems more and more likely to go through. I don't think people really have anything to worry about unless you are somehow still a Xbox only gamer.

I even doubt they delay the launches for PC. Day 1 sales are critical and it’d just be silly to lock out what might be the most popular platform for From games since Elden Ring.

From games have a proven track record on PC. It would be very counterproductive to push them back.

Xbox on the other hand, yeah, they might get locked out completely. The 10% will just migrate to PS or PC for their From fix.
Didn't Elden Ring sell the most on PlayStation? I feel like I remember it being pretty evenly split but PlayStation was the biggest chunk. It might have changed though as time went on?

Also I feel like they have more history and track records on PlayStation than anything else. People like to pretend that From has only done the Souls games and that multiple of those games aren't even on PC and the first one wasn't released day and date.

They have made 68 games I believe (counting on Wikipedia was annoying so I might have missed a couple) and out of those 68 games only 14 weren't on PlayStation consoles with most of those being DS or 360 games. Only 8 out of 68 games have ever been on PC.
 

Atrus

Gold Member
Market seems to value the total deal at about $5.5B USD and there seems to be a lot of accretive value for Sony, though I for one don’t get the whole anime/manga angle but I’m assuming the return on investment on that is lucrative somehow.

I also don’t see any regulators stopping this.
 

Guilty_AI

Member
Is that true though?

A quick google search gave me this:

"At 41%, most of the total Elden Ring sales were for the PS4 and PS5.
(Source: GSD)

  • 29% of the total Elden Ring sales were for PC.
  • 30% of the total Elden Rings sales were for the Xbox."
That's UK data. Initial sales data pointed towards 44% of sales being on PC and current estimations (based on steamspy numbers and latest total sales numbers released) suggest it could be even more than half of total sales now.
 
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Gaiff

SBI’s Resident Gaslighter
Didn't Elden Ring sell the most on PlayStation? I feel like I remember it being pretty evenly split but PlayStation was the biggest chunk. It might have changed though as time went on?


I know that in the UK, PlayStation had the majority of the sales for the first week.
Also I feel like they have more history and track records on PlayStation than anything else. People like to pretend that From has only done the Souls games and that multiple of those games aren't even on PC and the first one wasn't released day and date.

They have made 68 games I believe (counting on Wikipedia was annoying so I might have missed a couple) and out of those 68 games only 14 weren't on PlayStation consoles with most of those being DS or 360 games. Only 8 out of 68 games have ever been on PC.
They have a long history with PlayStation with series such as King's FIeld and Armored Core being moderate hits on the different PS platforms. It wasn't until Dark Souls that they began releasing their games on PC and they have been immensely popular since. I think it's much more likely they use the games to leverage their position on PC by making them exclusive to a PlayStation store. If they did something like Demon's Souls Remake, Bloodborne Remake/Remaster, and Elden Ring 2 all exclusive to their launcher, this would be a power move. Sony obviously wants PC players in their ecosystem no matter what. Screw it if they don't buy their consoles, they'll get them to create PSN IDs and use their store.
 
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Killjoy-NL

Banned
That's UK data. Initial sales data pointed towards 44% of sales being on PC and current estimations suggest it could be even more than half of total sales now.
I see.

I found that when the Souls series sold 8M total, ~40% was on PC, so that falls in line with that.

I found these numbers as well, though I dont know how reliable they are:

Sekiro would be 3M for PS and 5M for PC. With 1.7M from Xbox, that would be ~50% sales from PC as well.
 

Mr Moose

Member
No, I’m not because that’s exactly my point. From became a household name with Elden Ring that has now sold over 25M copies with the most popular platform being presumably PC.

Elden Ring 2 would sell a lot more than 7.5M on PS5, but so would it on PC. There’s no sense in potentially risking tens of millions of sales.
I don't think Elden Ring 2 would be exclusive. Bloodborne 2 though if that's ever a thing, maybe.
 


I know that in the UK, PlayStation had the majority of the sales for the first week.

They have a long history with PlayStation with series such as King's FIeld and Armored Core being moderate hits on the different PS platforms. It wasn't until Dark Souls that they began releasing their games on PC and they have been immensely popular since. I think it's much more likely they use the games to leverage their position on PC by making them exclusive to a PlayStation store. If they did something like Demon's Souls Remake, Bloodborne Remake/Remaster, and Elden Ring 2 all exclusive to their launcher, this would be a power move. Sony obviously wants PC players in their ecosystem no matter what. Screw it if they don't buy their consoles, they'll get them to create PSN IDs and use their store.

Yeah I couldn't remember. I did search after and I found a couple sites stating that PS was a few % higher than PC but that might have been NA. Ultimately it doesn't matter too awfully much.

I don't really feel like Sony would make everything exclusive. You will probably get something like Bloodborne exclusive but I doubt a new DS or ER game would be exclusive. Gonna have to get used to logging into PSN though.

I think it's possible we get a PlayStation pc launcher at some point but who knows. It would be cool if it was cross buy if bought through the launcher.
 
Why is everyone comparing Elden Ring's sales on PC and PS5?

If Elden Ring 2 is exclusive it would contribute to not only bigger sales for Playstation but also for hardware. Maybe the game doesn't sell as much as the first one...but that doesn't mean Sony doesn't make more money, which is what they want in the end. If they have the game on sale on their digital store only they get 100% of the revenue. Steam gets nothing. Plus extra consoles sold and it would boost their brand. That's literally why exclusives exist in the first place.

I'm sure Sony knows since PS1 that multiplatform games sell more...just like Nintendo does, etc...

That said i really don't think they will turn these games exclusive.
 

EN250

Member
Phil Spencer be like:

Pineapple Express Mistake GIF


Sony be like:

Too Easy Gamer GIF by Global Esports


Next From Soft game exclusive to Playstation lol
Imagine a company who wants money more than anything, neglecting the PC audience (+ the douche PCMR who think "Souls genre" is owned by them) when they keep publishing more and more PC games?

It doesn't make sense 🤷‍♂️
 
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