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[RUMOR] Sony Relationship With Square-Enix Might Considerably Strengthen (Investment?)

In addition to SE, what other 3P would you like to see Sony invest in (choose all that apply)?

  • Capcom

    Votes: 89 61.8%
  • Koei-Tecmo

    Votes: 27 18.8%
  • CDPR

    Votes: 44 30.6%
  • Take-Two

    Votes: 43 29.9%
  • EA

    Votes: 4 2.8%
  • Ubisoft

    Votes: 9 6.3%
  • Sega-Sammy/Atlus

    Votes: 26 18.1%
  • Konami

    Votes: 49 34.0%
  • Devolver Digital

    Votes: 10 6.9%
  • Annapurna

    Votes: 18 12.5%
  • Epic

    Votes: 11 7.6%
  • Vanillaware

    Votes: 21 14.6%
  • Level 5

    Votes: 20 13.9%
  • Arc System Works

    Votes: 15 10.4%
  • Bandai-Namco

    Votes: 26 18.1%
  • Falcom

    Votes: 8 5.6%
  • Kadokawa/From Software

    Votes: 61 42.4%
  • Neoxon

    Votes: 4 2.8%
  • Pearl Abyss

    Votes: 10 6.9%
  • Neowiz

    Votes: 9 6.3%
  • MiHoYo

    Votes: 13 9.0%
  • Moon Studios

    Votes: 12 8.3%
  • Other (mention them below)

    Votes: 5 3.5%

  • Total voters
    144
  • Poll closed .
I mostly just want Sony to keep investing and expanding their own studios. Sony is a great publisher and I wouldn't mind them buying certain talented studios that are struggling financially, but as much as I enjoy Sony's first party games, they are not very innovative. They do a really good job producing games that casual gamers love. Their games are extremely well polished, amazing graphics, and very solid gameplay.

In a way you can make this type of argument about all the platform holders tho. Nintendo's games are very "safe" (decades-old IP, proven genres like platforms and 3rd-person action/adventure, arcade racing). Microsoft's games are very "safe" too (WRPGs, FPS, racing games, GaaS/live-service which in many cases are with IP that were already big before MS got them (Minecraft) or based on decades-old IP (ESO, Fallout '76)).

So it's a bit of a reductive argument IMO. Although, I would personally like if Sony dug into their legacy IP to bring back some AA goodness. There was a one-off rumor/speculation about them doing something with a few IP like Wipeout, with Sega and Bandai-Namco, but we wouldn't see anything revealed on them for a good while. Nothing else has come from that since then (this was a few months ago), but I hope it turns out to be true.

One could say ALL the worst FF games are on PS while the majority of the best are still on Nintendo consoles where it originated. 🤷‍♂️


But if this rumor is true the only reason is Sony is scared square will move (back) torwards nintendo consoles in the future since they have had a string of failures on the playstation and nintendo is killing it .

Nintendo platforms are still hamstrung by lower performance targets relative PlayStation, and they lack any real investments in areas like cloud and VR. They also have virtually zero presence on PC.

You can feel however you want about post-FF6 FF games but a vast majority would consider FF7 the best out of the flock, and quite a few highly regard FFX. Even FF8 has seen some renewed interest in recent years because of what you can do with the Junction System.

I would've believed you if they hadn't moved their HQ to California and shut down Japan Studio.

But even if Sony were to acquire Square, Horii seems to have enough autonomy (via Armor Project) that he probably has a say about the platforms. I mean, the DQ7 and DQ8 3DS ports were published by Nintendo after all...

Again, not talking about acquisitions here. Just investments into publishers; in this case Square-Enix. Investments into various studios of the publisher, and helping with development, marketing, distribution etc. of select games. Maybe even bringing back a few legacy IP via this method.

That's my own read into what could be alluded to in that ResetERA post.

Didn't MS announce a new partnership with SE for FFXIV and more games in the future?

MS announces lots of things, but can be very vague and signal more than what substantively ever materializes.
 

RoboFu

One of the green rats
Nintendo platforms are still hamstrung by lower performance targets relative PlayStation, and they lack any real investments in areas like cloud and VR. They also have virtually zero presence on PC.

You can feel however you want about post-FF6 FF games but a vast majority would consider FF7 the best out of the flock, and quite a few highly regard FFX. Even FF8 has seen some renewed interest in recent years because of what you can do with the Junction System.


Hardware specs don't make you money. There are ALOT of switch centric games on PC what are you smoking?
 

Ansphn

Member
One could say ALL the worst FF games are on PS while the majority of the best are still on Nintendo consoles where it originated. 🤷‍♂️


But if this rumor is true the only reason is Sony is scared square will move (back) torwards nintendo consoles in the future since they have had a string of failures on the playstation and nintendo is killing it .
Square dont feel the same way you do about Nintendo.
 
Hardware specs don't make you money. There are ALOT of switch centric games on PC what are you smoking?

I mean games like mainline FF usually target certain performance metrics that Nintendo systems these days generally don't provide. Hence why S-E likely wouldn't target Nintendo systems as the root of software development of said games. Ports? Sure, down the line. But that is a different thing.

And insofar as "Switch centric" games on PC, well what do you mean exactly? Like in terms of platformers or games with anthropomorphic characters? That's always kind of been a thing. And from what I can see, most of those games don't really sell that well, nor do they become very well-known. The ones that do are probably within the 1% (if even that) of all of such games on PC/Steam.
 

Roni

Member
A Metal Gear Solid title developed by Naughty Dog would be the perfect storm: half the audience would be alienated by the wokeness and wouldn't stop talking about it, the other half would be thrilled by the production value and wouldn't stop talking about it and the media wouldn't stop making articles, videos and headlines about it. So, yeah, they should get stuff from Konami.
 
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bender

What time is it?
A Metal Gear Solid title developed by Naughty Dog would be the perfect storm...
giphy.gif
 

GHound

Member
The plot twist is that Square is getting bought by Disney and will then be spun off as part of a joint venture with Sony Pictures. All of the resulting games will not only be mobile but also exclusive to people with Disney+ subscriptions.
 

Go_Ly_Dow

Member
Its extremely unlike insiders who post on the forums would know if there's high level acquistion talks happening. So it will probably be more timed exclusivity for some of the pipeline games I mentioned, DQ12, FF9R, future NieR, KH4. In order from most likely to least likely for timed exclusivity to PlayStation.
 
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Woopah

Member
Its extremely unlike insiders who post on the forums would know if there's high level acquistion talks happening. So it will probably be more timed exclusivity for some of the pipeline games I mentioned, DQ12, FF9R, future NieR, KH4. In order from most likely to least likely for timed exclusivity to PlayStation.
DQ12 would be the least likely no? Given the history of the series on Switch?
 

RoboFu

One of the green rats
Am I the only one who loves the look of FF7 in evercrisis?

That could a small remaster project they could do that a lot of people would love.
 
With public traded companies you never know until it's made public. I don't want acquisitions. I just want choice. I hope the rumour is just that, a rumour.

Exactly. I don't know how people are concluding this has to do with a potential acquisition. Don't feel the source was suggesting it, and I know I wasn't suggesting it either.

All they indirectly said was that there'll be more exclusives between S-E and Sony. That's about it. Whether that's due to straight-up deals, or (what I would prefer) key big investments by Sony into S-E perhaps along with share purchases (because this could hopefully lead to more than just FF-related stuff, like maybe bringing back other legacy/dormant IP with game & transmedia potential), is anyone's guess.

But you're right, it wouldn't be hinting at an acquisition as in this person having details, because that kind of info getting out ahead of announcement for publicly-traded companies is illegal and would suggest insider trading is happening.

Yes... This rumour seems like some resetera classic trust me bro.

Head on the Block has a pretty consistent track record though. And again, they may not even be hinting at anything, this could just be their own perspective.

If anything's being hinted towards, at most it'd be additional exclusives from Square-Enix to PlayStation. If that's the case, then I'm thinking it could be related to some big investments by Sony into Square-Enix themselves. Whether that's upfront investment, share purchases/stock options, a mix of both I dunno.

But I have felt for a while that such an option of approach with several notable 3P was a good thing for Sony to do in the meantime, if they aren't looking to acquire any of them but want to solidify corporate partnerships and brand identity associations with them and their IP.

Its extremely unlike insiders who post on the forums would know if there's high level acquistion talks happening. So it will probably be more timed exclusivity for some of the pipeline games I mentioned, DQ12, FF9R, future NieR, KH4. In order from most likely to least likely for timed exclusivity to PlayStation.

It's a good thing the rumor isn't about acquisitions, then. For real, why are people jumping to that conclusion? If anything it's about more timed exclusives or perhaps outright exclusives.
I personally speculated that could be in part due to some strengthened large investments from Sony into Square-Enix, and the poll question is really about what other 3P people would like to see Sony invest in more notably, not acquire.
 

Sojiro

Member
One could say ALL the worst FF games are on PS while the majority of the best are still on Nintendo consoles where it originated. 🤷‍♂️
Don't get me wrong, I can agree that FFV and FFVI are pretty damn high on my top FF game list, but I personally have IX as the best, with XII, X and VII up there too, I can't agree with that take lol, even if XVI is a very different beast (with a lot of mixed reactions) for the series. I still don't want to see Nintendo lose SE support though, a lot of games I have picked up and loved were done by SE, and their smaller scaled games have been great for the system.
 
I chose:
Capcom
Koei-Tecmo
CDPR
Take-Two
Kadokawa/FromSoftware
Pearl Abyss
Other

But I instantly regret this choice if I look at it strategically and realistically.

First, I don't think PlayStation should focus much on SE at all, timed exclusives at the most, imo.

Capcom is strategically a lot more sound and PlayStation should make an effort to acquire them.

I would personally scrap CDPR and Take-Two off my list and try to acquire a stake in Koei-Tecmo and Pearl Abyss and add onto the current position of Kadokawa/FromSoftware.

When Black Myth: Wukong comes out and turns out to be critically and financially acclaimed, I feel PS should try to acquire a stake in Game Science (if Game Science would even want to, since they've expressed they want to stay independent before).
 
Wonder if this is partly due to Square-Enix banking so hard on NFTs only to see the market disastrously collapse. They made a big mistake and now a lifeline is needed?

That's a good point actually. The NFT backfire could be feeding into any moves they're doing with Sony. Or Nintendo or Microsoft, for that matter.

Sony should buy Google stadia.

You joke, but Stadia cloud tech could be quite good for Sony's cloud plans.

Tho from what's been mentioned their current cloud streaming is already very good and doing 4K.

I chose:
Capcom
Koei-Tecmo
CDPR
Take-Two
Kadokawa/FromSoftware
Pearl Abyss
Other

But I instantly regret this choice if I look at it strategically and realistically.

First, I don't think PlayStation should focus much on SE at all, timed exclusives at the most, imo.

Capcom is strategically a lot more sound and PlayStation should make an effort to acquire them.

I would personally scrap CDPR and Take-Two off my list and try to acquire a stake in Koei-Tecmo and Pearl Abyss and add onto the current position of Kadokawa/FromSoftware.

When Black Myth: Wukong comes out and turns out to be critically and financially acclaimed, I feel PS should try to acquire a stake in Game Science (if Game Science would even want to, since they've expressed they want to stay independent before).

Would the choices be easier if I said that it doesn't have to involve any acquisitions, only investments into 3P publishers? 😉
 

EDMIX

Writes a lot, says very little
A Metal Gear Solid title developed by Naughty Dog would be the perfect storm: half the audience would be alienated by the wokeness and wouldn't stop talking about it, the other half would be thrilled by the production value and wouldn't stop talking about it and the media wouldn't stop making articles, videos and headlines about it. So, yeah, they should get stuff from Konami.

I need them to remake the games, so fake bandwagon fans to keep talking about "wokeness" keep saying that this is in the game based on Naughty Dog and some secret agenda

images
images


tumblr_nlxg4mp2Zm1urs778o1_640.gif
tumblr_msinonwKKy1rsjhp0o3_250.gif





10cover-7558.png


"OmG, why is Naughty Dog FORCING this agenda on this beloved franchise"
 

Silver Wattle

Gold Member
Capcom, Square Enix are the only Japanese studios I think are worthwhile investments, Capcom because they are a well oiled machine with good IP and SE just for the IP and semi functionality.
 

Go_Ly_Dow

Member
DQ12 would be the least likely no? Given the history of the series on Switch?

DQ12 is being built on UE5 which rules out the Switch 1. It also makes the most sense to moneyhat as it would help Sony in Japan to have it exclusive. So it's one I think both Sony and Nintendo would be approaching S-E for to see if a deal could be worked out.
 

Fabieter

Member
Why are people actually prefering sony buying sqaure than investing in them. They already had a sizeable share in them a decade ago and could have made a hostile takeover, but playstation prefers good partnerships. Almost all studios that was bought by sony was basically build by sony.
 

PanzerCute

Member
No one's saying Square-Enix are being acquired. Not even part of the speculation here TBH.



Yeah, this is what I was hoping the MS/Sega "strategic partnership" was about when that got announced last year. I was even cool with those being Xbox console exclusives, to mirror what was done with the OG Xbox. Chances are likely those are going to be multi-console releases though, and the revivals announced at the VGAs might be purely Sega's own doing. But that announcement was very welcomed by me.

I'd have similar excitement if Square-Enix did similar; in their case though I can see the strategic implications in Sony also playing a hand. If that nets a few exclusives then cool.



Where was the word "acquire" ever used in the poll?



It's arguably the biggest traditional JRPG in Japan still, or certainly was back in the day. I think they care



I don't know how "investment" suddenly turned into "acquisition"; maybe I typed that in the title by mistake but can only see "investment". I'm not wearing and special sunglasses, though.
Hey fair enough, not acquisition but investment. That still basically means exclusivity deals and removing games from other platforms, and investing in a company also implies less independance for the publisher, depending on the level of the investment ofc.

So yeah I still think these are not stupid things to talk about, as the topic is basically "what other companies should be invested into to have exclusivity deals for Sony"
 
The japanese gaming industry might have to think about how to thrive and or survive in general, with all the acquisitions happening and most of them not really having a capable hand in managing western studios and or tying to make western like stuff themselves.
They got over the struggles they had with transitioning to the HD era, but I think the industry grew much more then them and that is kinda sad for the pioneers they once were.
 

KungFucius

King Snowflake
This is just bad. I bought FFXVI on PS5 but would have preferred to get it on PC without waiting. Sony sucks with this shit. Why isn't console exclusive enough? Then again, it does make the PS5 as a secondary platform to PC more viable by having yet another game that wont hit PC for a year or more on it.

But no fucking way do I want Sony to pay to delay the best version of a game to try to force me into buying a shittier version.
 

Pejo

Member
I'm against any more acquisitions, mergers, and consolidations than we already have, but in the specific case of Square Enix, it can't get much worse so whatever.

I'm just gonna sit back and wait for the 2nd big video game crash.
 

Woopah

Member
DQ12 is being built on UE5 which rules out the Switch 1. It also makes the most sense to moneyhat as it would help Sony in Japan to have it exclusive. So it's one I think both Sony and Nintendo would be approaching S-E for to see if a deal could be worked out.
It doesn't rule out Switch since UE5 will work on Switch.

Given that there have been two Switch exclusive DQ games in the past 13 months, I'd say DQ12 skipping Switch or Switch 2 is a lot less likely than FF9 or Nier 3.
 
Sega Sammy and Konamy are still present in the arcade. That could be a great way to promote Sony arcade type games if they were to make any come back someday. And Namco Bandai would ad a great value to Sony since they can create animes, movies, mangas, toys, musics and video games.
 

Ronin_7

Member
The japanese gaming industry might have to think about how to thrive and or survive in general, with all the acquisitions happening and most of them not really having a capable hand in managing western studios and or tying to make western like stuff themselves.
They got over the struggles they had with transitioning to the HD era, but I think the industry grew much more then them and that is kinda sad for the pioneers they once were.
Western studio junk is not a threat to Japan when Nintendo, From Software or Capcom are firing on all cylinders.

Japan was the only country without lay offs, I'd be more worried about Western Studios sustainably than the East and this point.
 

Woopah

Member
The japanese gaming industry might have to think about how to thrive and or survive in general, with all the acquisitions happening and most of them not really having a capable hand in managing western studios and or tying to make western like stuff themselves.
They got over the struggles they had with transitioning to the HD era, but I think the industry grew much more then them and that is kinda sad for the pioneers they once were.
Obviously not all Japan publishers are the same, but I'd say that trying to manage Western studios or develop Western-like games isn't necessarily the way forward. Capcom and Koei Tecmo are doing fine without that.
 
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