SEScoops: Sony is considering to acquire Warner Bros Discovery Streaming and Studios

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Don't do it Sony, they aren't selling because their studios are doing amazing work
 
Anyone's guess if there's any validity to any of this, but if it were true it seems like the gaming aspect would just be a tiny portion of the overall proposed acquisition. I'm curious just how much IP would be included in there as there's a LOT of stuff under the WB umbrella
 
So Sony would have DC Comics and the Spider-Man copyright?
Whose getting railroaded??


Unfortunate Monolith is already gone, so dont really care.
 
It would make sense for Sony. Mortal Kombat would become their exclusive fighting game. Also Batman and LEGO games can generate tons of money in the right hands.
 
vivftp said:
I'm curious just how much IP would be included in there as there's a LOT of stuff under the WB umbrella
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One thing that would be included is the is the patent*) for the "Nemesis system". So that mechanic could finally be used outside the Mordor games.

*) which shouldn't exist, software patents are completely retarded, but that's unlikely to change any time soon
 
Jinzo Prime said:
The best game released this year is a third party mutiplatform game; you don't need to be a first party studio to build a GOTY.
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Multiplatform games always benefit from becoming exclusives. It's a law of nature! 🤷

But exclusive games always worsen when becoming multiplatform!

That's why humanity prefers exclusives hands down!
 
I mean, if that means we might get a Mad Max game or Lord of the Rings game in the future, then sure. Let Sony have them. It's not like WB know what the fuck they're doing.

But sounds a bit like a bad deal, tbh. The only thing that is working well in there is NetherRealm studios. WB shut down their most valuable asset, Monolith Productions, due to their mismanagement of that studio. Rocksteady is fucked and the other studios aren't worth shit. But if this deal comes with Sony being able to use the fucking DC shit, then it might be a good deal for them.
 
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Would be interesting to see what the WB debt situation is once they split off the cable and sports from the studios/streaming. It was ~$34b last year and the sports/cable side would get a 20% stake in. the studios/streaming. I doubt Sony wants any part of the shitty end of that split.
 
bitbydeath said:
This'll be round three for Sony as far as movie studio acquisitions go.

Fox - Lost to Disney
Paramount - Lost to Skydance Media
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Saying Sony lost to Skydance is misleading. Sony backed out. They didn't want to take on Paramount's debt and have to deal with their legacy media.

Whatever happens with WBD will probably set a precedent for the future of Paramount Skydance in terms of splitting off from CBS and legacy networks.

Parazels said:
It would make sense for Sony. Mortal Kombat would become their exclusive fighting game. Also Batman and LEGO games can generate tons of money in the right hands.
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I'm not sure how much sense it makes. There's a lot of Pros and Cons here.

Sony was interested in Fox and then Paramount. WB is a significantly larger get than either, especially split off from CNN. Would immediately transform Sony Pictures. At some point Sony in order to stay in the film/tv business will have to buy either Paramount Skydance, WBD, or Universal and you're likely only getting one bite at the apple.

I just don't see the synergies that I saw with Paramount.

Cons
  • It would probably complicate relations with Disney over DC and Spider-Man and Tokon and it would probably end Spider-Man MCU movies
  • I'm not sure there is much value for Sony in owning MK and NRS. They'd get way more from just buying ArcSys and focusing on Tokon.
  • I think HBO Max is super limiting for PlayStation IP, maybe that changes with a steady streamline
  • It would end Sony's strategy of selling to streaming networks
  • I think game of thrones as a gaming IP is borderline useless but who knows
  • WB doesn't have the license for lord of the rings games

Pros
  • Would probably supercharge the Harry Potter license
    • For better or worse Harry Potter would become the new face of PlayStation
  • Insomniac would probably take over making Batman games instead of Spider-Man games
    • Not sure how much juice is left in either of these franchises without a rest or revamp
In short, I think it would be great for Sony Pictures, but maybe really bad for Sony Interactive; however, it might be worth it just for Harry Potter. I think there are way better investments to make than this one, but at some point Sony has to pull the trigger on film/tv, but they're probably better off buying smaller studios like A24.

At worst, you'd have to try and buy the rights to LOTR and Middle Earth from Embracer to make this make any sort of sense.


bitbydeath said:
That'd make a hell of a cross-over.
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You can't cross over spider-man with DC without the permission of Marvel. It's a total non-starter.
 
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I see a DC doing well under Sony that side and having HBO and other strong TV/Film side that makes sense, but I do think Sony can better spend their money elsewhere. WB is walking petrol at the moment, I wouldn't dare go near them.
 
Mibu no ookami said:
WB doesn't own Blade Runner.

Making Matrix games has proven extremely difficult over the years.
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Enter the Matrix was very good. There's so much potential for videogames with that premise, but it takes some great writers to create an expanded Matrix universe.

For current Sony this acquisition would be awful. They would lay off hundreds of people and would be left with a lot of great IPs they dont have the manpower to develop. Maybe in the future, with better heads at SIE.
 
bitbydeath said:
That'd make a hell of a cross-over.
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I doubt Marvel/Disney would allow such a thing.....especially since most likely it would be just Spider-Man with a bunch of DC characters.
A Marvel vs DC fighting game maybe with Sony and Disney already having a good relationship maybe they can actually have the converation.

Itll be curious how they handle Spider-Man games though.

Audiophile said:
Open world Blade Runner game on PS6 w/ Decima.

Matrix game.

Sony owning the Nemesis system.

Ok.
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The only real hope i got is that the Nemesis System makes a comeback in some form.
But WB already closed Monolith.............how fucked.
 
This will %100 involve an antitrust probe, Sony Music merging with WB music (both are in the top 5 music labels around the world) alone guarantees this, let alone the concentration risk of having WB Games join SIE and WB film studios joining Columbia.

The other big question is debt, who will be taking on the gigantic debt that WB Discovery accumulated, as I understand it, the big corp is getting split up to make the studios more attractive to buyers, but the devil is in the details as they say.

bitbydeath said:
Studio acquisitions often do leak for some reason. Eg.

Pelta88

Thread 'Rumour: Sony in talks to acquire Paramount'


This has big implications for gaming ip if the acquisition goes through.
  • Like
  • Triggered
  • LOL
  • Fire

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LordCBH LordCBH Movie Studios in general are far more open and leaky with info than gaming outlets.
 
Astray said:
This will %100 involve an antitrust probe, Sony Music merging with WB music (both are in the top 5 music labels around the world) alone guarantees this, let alone the concentration risk of having WB Games join SIE and WB film studios joining Columbia.

The other big question is debt, who will be taking on the gigantic debt that WB Discovery accumulated, as I understand it, the big corp is getting split up to make the studios more attractive to buyers, but the devil is in the details as they say.


LordCBH LordCBH Movie Studios in general are far more open and leaky with info than gaming outlets.
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Despite the name, Warner does not own Warner Music.

If Disney can buy Fox, Sony can buy WB.

WB Games is literally nothing.

As for the debt it'll be interesting to see how the debt is broken down between the streaming business and the CNN end.
 
Someone over at Sony is just itching to waste another multi-billion pile of cash. The Bungie rush is clearly wearing off.

WB are struggling with their streaming business, trying to make it work. Their gaming ips aren't bringing any money. I just don't see why should Sony bother going into that mess.
 
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The studios can be purchased but not the IP's. They are not for sell. That's why Microsoft nor Tencent didn't purchase them. WBD is being split into 2 companies next year with their debt being saddled to the company that doesn't include HBO/movie studios. What is for sale is the tv,streaming, and game studios portion. All this exclusive talk is bull crap those Ip's aren't going anywhere. That debt is going to be a hard sell. Only a trillion dollar company could take this hit. Outside of Apple who else would be interested?
 
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Mibu no ookami said:
WB doesn't own Blade Runner.

Making Matrix games has proven extremely difficult over the years.
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WB have the distribution rights for the original and US distribution of 2049, while Sony already have International distribution rights for 2049 and are co-producing 2099. I think having existing links plus taking on all of WB's rights would make Alcon much more likely to allow them a license to make games in that universe. While BR isn't massively financially successful in itself, Cyberpunk as a concept is big right now and I think an alternative third-person take in a rich, dense, living world based on that universe could land well. Alcon seem fine with extending the universe, I'd think a top tier AAA game would be fine by them.

Bigger franchise of course, but Sony never owned Spidey, just had licensing/distro/production rights, though I think that existing association and relationship likely made Sony a more probable choice to greenlight.

As for The Matrix, I think prior attempts just haven't been that good and they overcomplicated it. It's The Matrix; I need cool action, lots of style, bullet time and perhaps some interesting diegetic gameplay elements built around the simulation side.
 
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Mibu no ookami said:
Despite the name, Warner does not own Warner Music.

If Disney can buy Fox, Sony can buy WB.

WB Games is literally nothing.

As for the debt it'll be interesting to see how the debt is broken down between the streaming business and the CNN end.
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Lol had no idea that Warner Music Group was not affiliated with WB, kinda explains a lot of their struggles huh?

Do you think Sony will make anything exclusive here? Things like MK or Batman Arkham or Hogwarts have strong reach and sales even on Xbox and it would probably be harmful for Sony to completely cut them off in any way.
 
On one hand it becomes exclusive and on the other hand someone will actually make use of their IPs with some* competence.


*as long as it's not gaas. Sony sucks at that.
 
FMX said:
The studios can be purchased but not the IP's. They are not for sell. That's why Microsoft nor Tencent didn't purchase them. WBD is being split into 2 companies next year with their debt being saddled to the company that doesn't include HBO. All this exclusive talk is bull crap those Ip's aren't going anywhere. That debt is going to be a hard sell. Only a trillion dollar company could take this hit. Outside of Apple who else would be interested?
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The Streaming and Studios company are the one's that are going to own the IPs.

They wouldn't be taking on the debt as that's being saddled by the network company.
 
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