Mibu no ookami
Demoted Member® Pro™
They announced in the fiscal year earnings that they plan on spending 11.5 billion USD on strategic investments (including music catalog purchases and buypack plans).
This is significantly more than what they actually spent in the previous mid range strategy. Who knows if this involves Paramount or not, it wouldn't really make much sense if it did.
Depending on whether that is the case, it would be pretty easy to assume that SIE will spend as much or more than they did acquiring Bungie on other publishers/developers in the next 3 years.
I think the most likely candidates would be
Honorable Mentions: Playrix and Bandai Namco. Both for mobile, but Bandai Namco especially for synergies in anime. Bandai Namco might be a bit too large to take on without private equity involved, I could also see maybe a stock swap rather than an all cash deal, especially since they're doing stock buybacks.
This is significantly more than what they actually spent in the previous mid range strategy. Who knows if this involves Paramount or not, it wouldn't really make much sense if it did.
Depending on whether that is the case, it would be pretty easy to assume that SIE will spend as much or more than they did acquiring Bungie on other publishers/developers in the next 3 years.
I think the most likely candidates would be
- FromSoftware/Kadokawa
- Current Market Cap: 2.78 Billion USD
- Sony already owns 14.09% of FromSoftware and 1.93% of Kadokawa
- Fully owns Elden Ring now, Sony already owns Demon's Souls and Bloodborne, and Armored Core has shown to be a much stronger IP now
- Buying a Japanese company makes sense because of the currency rate
- Sega
- Current Market Cap: 3.7 Billion USD
- If they are successful in buying Paramount, this would give them the full rights to the Sonic IP
- Persona exclusivity
- Transmedia opportunities for Sonic, Persona, and Yakuza
- Virtual Fighter for EVO
- Again, currency is favorable
- Arrowhead
- Private Company
- Build and expand out on Helldivers 2
- NCSoft
- Working with Sony on Horizon online MMO
- Significant experience in GaaS, MMO, and Mobile
Honorable Mentions: Playrix and Bandai Namco. Both for mobile, but Bandai Namco especially for synergies in anime. Bandai Namco might be a bit too large to take on without private equity involved, I could also see maybe a stock swap rather than an all cash deal, especially since they're doing stock buybacks.