Support NeoGAF

[Sensei]

Bandai Namco Holdings Inc. ("Bandai Namco") and Sony Group Corporation ("Sony") today announced the signing of a strategic business alliance agreement. Sony also agreed with existing shareholders of Bandai Namco to acquire 16 million Bandai Namco shares held by those shareholders for approximately 68 billion yen. With the acquisition of these shares, Sony will become a shareholder holding approximately 2.5％ of the total issued shares of Bandai Namco.

Source

 

[Skifi28]

Sorry, but I don't have anything useful to contribute.

 

[Skyfox]

We need a new ridge racer

 

[Mr Moose]

£342,452,558/$463,860,457.

 

[PonyStation4]

Still waiting on Sony to buy Kadokawa

 

[PeteBull]

Way better purchase than concord/fairgame$ studios and bungie, by a mile ^^

 

[vaibhavpisal]

Once they buy a few big publishers, expect them to go 3rd party.

 

[lh032]

Still waiting on Sony to buy Kadokawa

 

[Boss Mog]

Still waiting on Sony to buy Kadokawa

Next Wednesday.

 

[Sebastian1295]

Once they buy a few big publishers, expect them to go 3rd party.

 

[Sebastian1295]

£342,452,558/$463,860,457.

I have that much money in my bank account if you count boardwalk and parkplace as valuable assets.

 

[LordOcidax]

Way better purchase than concord/fairgame$ studios and bungie, by a mile ^^

2.5%

 

[Randall365]

Bloodborne 2 incoming!!!

 

[I'm nobody]

I have that much money in my bank account if you count boardwalk and parkplace as valuable assets.

Almost my bitcoin balance

 

[Fake]

If this means a Bloodborne patch, I fucking in.

 

[Mr Moose]

Bloodborne 2 incoming!!!

If this means a Bloodborne patch, I fucking in.

What does Bandai Namco have to do with Bloodborne?

 

[Madjaba]

Tales of (the) LastofUsxia, here we go !

 

[Sooner]

What does Bandai Namco have to do with Bloodborne?

Well if you play the Kevin Bacon game with them, they eventually tie together.

 

[hououinkyouma00]

What does Bandai Namco have to do with Bloodborne?

I think people think that since Bandai Namco published Dark Souls and Elden Ring that they are involved with Bloodborne somehow when in reality Bloodborne is published and owned by Sony.

 

[llLeonhart]

Next Wednesday.

Actually next wednesday is Xbox buys Sega day, but the wednesday the week after it'll definitely be announced.

 

[Hudo]

Maybe Bamco could make a new WipeOut. Sony needs some good-ass arcade racers. Dunno if Bamco could pull off Motostorm, though.

 

[Duchess]

2.5%?

That's basically the square root of fuck all.

 

[saintjules]

We need a new ridge racer

I'd personally love to see a remake of R Type 4. Nothing compares in the series imo. But yes, would love to see a new RR too.

 

[tanners]

wish theres a new tales game

 

[Kotaro]

Still waiting on Sony to buy Kadokawa

Nintendo is negotiating with Kadokawa and From Soft as we speak right now

 

[vaibhavpisal]

Nintendo is negotiating with Kadokawa and From Soft as we speak right now

Whoever buy that will go 3rd party immediately.

Be careful what you wish for.

 

[The_Mike]

Once they buy a few big publishers, expect them to go 3rd party.

Sony are already third party.

 

[Radical_3d]

I have that much money in my bank account if you count boardwalk and parkplace as valuable assets.

I have that much if we count Warhammer.

 

[Unknown?]

Can we get a Horizon Musou spinoff? XD

 

[vaibhavpisal]

Sony are already third party.

True.

They still intend to trick their fanbase into thinking they have exclusives by delaying some xbox ports.

But cat will be out of the bag once they buy this.

 

[deriks]

Every year another piece o cake is getting eaten

 

[JPSLotus97T]

We need a new ridge racer

 

[The_Mike]

True.

They still intend to trick their fanbase into thinking they have exclusives by delaying some xbox ports.

But cat will be out of the bag once they buy this.

The fanbase know they are third party.

They just don't count it as third party as long as it's not on Xbox.

It's not a bad thing. It's just silly to deny it.

 

[ReBurn]

I like the arrangement they have. I wonder which games Bamco will be porting next?

 

[vaibhavpisal]

The fanbase know they are third party.

They just don't count it as third party as long as it's not on Xbox.

It's not a bad thing. It's just silly to deny it.

Some of the fanbase prefer to stay ignorant.

Easier to cope that way.

 

[drganon]

Mike and Vaib having a duel to see who can be the dumber xbot.

 

[Audiophile]

We need a new ridge racer

 

[thicc_girls_are_teh_best]

So it seems Sony are finally doing what I was suggesting to do a long time ago: make strategic investments and share purchases in various 3P publishers. 2.5% does seem small tho, so I can't see how it amounts to much materially unless it grows over time. Also hopefully other companies are in consideration, like SEGA/Atlus and Take-Two.

But, something is still bothering me here: what exactly are SIE and PlayStation getting out of these partnerships that they wouldn't have gotten otherwise? The obvious answer should be new exclusive games, but that hasn't materialized. That it's Sony Corp spearheading these and not SIE necessarily also lends weight to the idea that these aren't primarily focused on PlayStation, when I think that should be a bigger component at play here.

And yes, when I say "focused on PlayStation", I mean new exclusive games. Obviously there are revenue growth opportunities through kickbacks from sales across various platforms, and licensing opportunities, but that doesn't do anything which, for me, is the heartbeat of a console platform. What new games are getting made by partnering with Bandai-Namco, or Kadokawa, that wouldn't have been made otherwise? Are any of them going to be leveraged to boost PlayStation console profile in market through exclusive software?

That's what I really want to see the answers to. But, yes, moves like this make sense at a base level. Strengthens & solidifies working relations with key 3P partners.

 

[PatientGamer]

This is a good long term investment, if you know anything about M&As, you'll know Sony will buy more and more until they have enough to complete a formal takeover.

 

[Zacfoldor]

I think people think that since Bandai Namco published Dark Souls and Elden Ring that they are involved with Bloodborne somehow when in reality Bloodborne is published and owned by Sony.

Sony doesn't have the talent to work on it besides Bluepoint, Namco Bandai could get Fromsoft to do it with their connections. That is the only real hope unless Blue Point does a whole remake thing. Having sullied hands touch a bloodborne reamake isn't something we can imagine. Only the hands of Miyazaki himself, one of his minions, or the greatest developers on earth can touch Bloodborne at this point. Bandai Namco has made a lot of money with from lately, surely if anyone would have the pull to get From to work on it, it would be bandai namco. Sony obviously doesn't, especially since they closed japan studios who from worked with. Maybe from hate Sony becasue they closed Japan studio? Money heals all wounds and the money talk could start with namco bandai.

Imagine insomniacs take on a bloodborne game. Not a good thought for me.

Think the above sounds crazy? Someone explain to me why there is no bloodborne 2 or bloodborne remake then, but Switch 2 is getting a suspiciously bloodborne 2 looking multiplayer game directed by miyazaki? Who at Sony should be fired over this?

 

[Pasta la Vista]

Some new Fromsoft game announcement is imminent me thinks. Really hoping for a Nightreign expansion in the short term. Nearly done with all the characters.

 

[Loomy]

2.5%?

That's basically the square root of fuck all.

At 2.5%, that makes them the 3rd largest shareholder. So not quite fuck all lol.

Largest shareholder owns less than 10% btw.

 

[onQ123]

Alright let's get a yellow Pac Man PS5 collection

 

[nial]

It's the time I have to remind gamers that neither Bandai Namco Holdings nor Sony Group Corporation are focused only on games.

 

[jm89]

Still waiting on Sony to buy Kadokawa

If they do hopefully its 1% every year so we can prolong Kotaro 's pain as long as possible.

 

[Kotaro]

If they do hopefully its 1% every year so we can prolong Kotaro 's pain as long as possible.

Nintendo will buy Kadokawa whole when Duskbloods becomes the next Elden Ring, just watch

 

[simpatico]

Would have made more sense to shoot this shot before buying all of Bungie's liabilities and debt. Parsons is gonna get a Koenigsegg out of it at least.

 

[jm89]

Nintendo will buy Kadokawa whole when Duskbloods become the next Elden Ring, just watch

Nintendo is not buying the entirety of kodakawa just because of a few games, kadokawa is more then just FROM software.

And at this point you will have to pry FROM software out of the dead hands of kadakowa.

 

[//DEVIL//]

Time to buy a PS5 for the 11th time.....

 

[Ebrietas]

So it seems Sony are finally doing what I was suggesting to do a long time ago: make strategic investments and share purchases in various 3P publishers. 2.5% does seem small tho, so I can't see how it amounts to much materially unless it grows over time. Also hopefully other companies are in consideration, like SEGA/Atlus and Take-Two.

But, something is still bothering me here: what exactly are SIE and PlayStation getting out of these partnerships that they wouldn't have gotten otherwise? The obvious answer should be new exclusive games, but that hasn't materialized. That it's Sony Corp spearheading these and not SIE necessarily also lends weight to the idea that these aren't primarily focused on PlayStation, when I think that should be a bigger component at play here.

And yes, when I say "focused on PlayStation", I mean new exclusive games. Obviously there are revenue growth opportunities through kickbacks from sales across various platforms, and licensing opportunities, but that doesn't do anything which, for me, is the heartbeat of a console platform. What new games are getting made by partnering with Bandai-Namco, or Kadokawa, that wouldn't have been made otherwise? Are any of them going to be leveraged to boost PlayStation console profile in market through exclusive software?

That's what I really want to see the answers to. But, yes, moves like this make sense at a base level. Strengthens & solidifies working relations with key 3P partners.

Sony first has to believe in the value of exclusives. They don't even keep their own games exclusive anymore. Even third party partnerships like Death Stranding, which they fully funded, they have ceded all control over and are happily publishing on competing platforms at Kojima's behest.