I dont want to hear "Its too expensive or their too big." There's literally no reason sony shouldnt be trying to move heaven and earth to acquire square enix at this point. They have the money and the long term relationship to prove it could work.
One concern in Sony's camp would be regarding the ROI and future profitability if they make such a big move. Adding 5,000+ staff would also bring the operational profitability down by a significant margin, at least in the short term. All these factors count, and I think the hesitance to make a move like this could be stemming from here.
Yeah. A massive acquisition like Square Enix needs to be very carefully considered. Microsoft and Zenimax was a situation where Zenimax WANTED to be bought by someone and they already had a great relationship with Microsoft. From what I understand, the company as a whole was in a tough spot. Not a horrible one, mind you. But one where the future of many at the company was in question. Zenimax had 8 studios and I think around 2,500 employees. That's a lot of mouths to feed with too many of their games underperforming commercially over the last few years.
Square Enix isn't in the same boat. Final Fantasy XIV alone has raked in a considerable amount of money for them. Tomb Raider, Final Fantasy, and Dragon Quest are all very successful franchises. They perform very well both critically and commercially. Even lower budget titles like Octopath Traveler and games they publish from third parties like Nier Automata have done very well for them. It's not very likely that Square Enix feels the need to sell and any company that would buy them would have a huge undertaking on their hands. Not just in monetary cost but in structure and organization.
As long as Sony can continue to secure deals with major publishers and they're not in danger of being bought then there is no immediate need for Sony to try and grab them. They're better off going for smaller developers that have proven themselves and would be much more agreeable to terms for the sake of stability. Assuming they would be open to it studios like Bluepoint, Housemarque, Arc System Works, and Vanillaware fit the mold for Sony perfectly. Smaller studios with good track records and a long relationship with Sony. Each of them also brings something to the table that Sony's current studios just don't.
Other studios that Sony has partnered with like Ember Lab, Haven, and Firewalk would be something that, were I Sony, I would be keenly interested to see how they perform and jump at the chance to pick them up now while their cost would be much lower. Certainly Firewalk as it sounds like they have talent that excels in FPS and multiplayer. Something Sony clearly lacks. At the very least, I would offer them long term contracts to create games exclusively for my platform with first rights on acquisition in the event they want to sell during the contract.
I definitely feel that Square Enix fits the best with Sony compared to any other publisher out there and I can't imagine them belonging to any other first party. But buying them would be a ton of money to simply deny their games going anywhere else when the deals they make with them ensure that PlayStation gets a lot of association with Square Enix titles as it is. That kind of money could buy them quite a few deals with many other companies and SE itself, smaller studios to diversify their roster, expansion of current studios to improve their output, and still having money left over to potentially buy a smaller publisher in more immediate danger of being purchased if Sony thinks it's worth it.
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