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[Mibu no ookami]

is better for sony to secure third party contracts like those in the early days (a deal for 3 games).

imagine acquiring a studio/publisher that is bonded to make several games for your direct competition...Defensive move.

sony is having the right approach buying smaller/new studios and supporting them to make their games. (they have the infrastructure to do so)

Unless....what Phil Spencer said is true....but who really takes what Phill says seriously anyway.

It's a much more sustainable growth strategy since there are no regulatory concerns here and the cost is so low, but you can tell from linkedin these studios aren't growing super fast. I think their games are pretty far from being ready for prime time, but again, I don't think that's a bad thing. There is no rush to having these studios produce. Literally 1 out of 5 of these could hit and it would be worth it.

 

[ChorizoPicozo]

It's a much more sustainable growth strategy since there are no regulatory concerns here and the cost is so low, but you can tell from linkedin these studios aren't growing super fast. I think their games are pretty far from being ready for prime time, but again, I don't think that's a bad thing. There is no rush to having these studios produce. Literally 1 out of 5 of these could hit and it would be worth it.

well yeah. MS's acquisitions are product of desperation.

 

[RickMasters]

Wet Dreams Don't Die.

5bn sounds pretty short of the 25Bn stock price for T2I. But as Ive said in my other posts. I think they would sell for way more, and it would be a bidding war, that escalates the price. but thats if they were for sale. which I highly doubt, given their kind of earnings.


Im seeing some people here say maybe they brought them in secret but thats a serious case of wishful thinking at best.

 

[Mibu no ookami]

well yeah. MS's acquisitions are product of desperation.

I think the Bungie acquisition was pretty a desperate one.

 

[Baki]

Really? you dont think the idea of GTA exclusive to their own gaming system would be tempting to amazon? or tencent for sheer revenue? I Think MS would over pay to beat sony to it. I think the others would bid because its a chanfce to own GTA. Either way, I dont see them settling on their stock value if they can get more, and honestly I dont think they care who buys it. These companies love money, not each other.

Board would say no to MS as the likelihood of regulators OKing the deal with MS will be dramatically lower if the ABK deal closes. Amazon would be forced to make GTA mutliplatform and would therefore assess the value of Take2 as any financial buyer. Likewise for Tencent, they would assess T2 value as a financial asset, which means they won't overpay for T2. Sony would be the only strategic buyer in this situation, which means that the bidding war won't go high.

https://www.neogaf.com/threads/sony...-investments-acquisitions-until-2024.1653902/

Hope this debate puts down to bed.

It doesn't.

 

[ChorizoPicozo]

I think the Bungie acquisition was pretty a desperate one.

exactly. and they overpaid for that.

 

[Mibu no ookami]

exactly. and they overpaid for that.

Overpaid is pretty vague.

Did they pay more than they would have in a normal situation? Maybe. More than Bungie is worth? We'll see.

Disney bought Marvel for 4 billion and Star Wars for 4 billion. If you compare those to Bungie, yeah, Sony overpaid.

But you have to consider that Sony is buying content creation and not just IP.

They bought Insomniac for 229 million dollars and Insomniac doesn't really have any IP worth mentioning, but they do have content creators and they have shown themselves to be proficient at making Spider-Man. Even if Spider-Man 2 is the last Spider-Man game Insomniac makes, it'll have been a good buy as Spider-Man 2 is going to put PS5 into a separate category from Xbox Series this year.

If Bungie creates for Sony a franchise half as popular as Destiny or Halo, it'll probably be worth it for them in the long run.

I think the move was desperate, but I don't think it was faulty.

 

[RickMasters]

Board would say no to MS as the likelihood of regulators OKing the deal with MS will be dramatically lower if the ABK deal closes. Amazon would be forced to make GTA mutliplatform and would therefore assess the value of Take2 as any financial buyer. Likewise for Tencent, they would assess T2 value as a financial asset, which means they won't overpay for T2. Sony would be the only strategic buyer in this situation, which means that the bidding war won't go high.



It doesn't.

Would they? off the back of an ABK acquisition that keeps COD on everything, I think that would more than prove that MS would be OK with GTA staying multiplatform....plus we all know they are not stopping with ABK.


but sony...the only strategy sony would have is one where GTA, RDR, and the rest all go exclusive. Which for GTA would and RDR would be a big no-go. and they really dont have a history for keeping multiformat products, multiformat, so I dont see them getting T2 without the suggestion of divestment.

apparently...according to a post just a few above ... sony have given the PS division 5 billion to spend between now and 2024....hardly enough to buy T2 though, is it? thats 20Bn short no?

 

[Baki]

Would they? off the back of an ABK acquisition that keeps COD on everything, I think that would more than prove that MS would be OK with GTA staying multiplatform....plus we all know they are not stopping with ABK.

Here is ELI5 version of what would happen if MS tried to approach T2 after ABK closes with significant concessions.

> MS approaches T2 with a bid
> Board of T2 consider the bid (price but most importantly, likelihood that regulators will approve the deal. If regulators don't approve the deal, the acquisition burns 1 year of time, money and all they get is the breakup fee)
> In this case of MS, considering all the trouble regulars gave them for ABK, they would consider that it's very unlikely regulators would approve another big purchase. They would say no to MS and wait for another bid.

but sony...the only strategy sony would have is one where GTA, RDR, and the rest all go exclusive. Which for GTA would and RDR would be a big no-go. and they really dont have a history for keeping multiformat products, multiformat, so I dont see them getting T2 without the suggestion of divestment.

For Sony, they would be happy to keep GTA multiplatform as T2 gives them many other IPs, Zynga and an opportunity to bolster their live service revenue.

apparently...according to a post just a few above ... sony have given the PS division 5 billion to spend between now and 2024....hardly enough to buy T2 though, is it? thats 20Bn short no?

Sony in 2021, put together a budget of $18B to be spent on investments and acquisitions for the next 3 years. They have spent most of the money and now have $5B left in this budget. What you need to understand is that there's a difference between what Sony plans to spend and what they can spend. They could spend a lot more than $18B in 3 years, but they decided in 2021, that's the amount of money they're going to spend. Obviously, in Jan 2022, MS changed the game by buying ABK. Such a big move, which wiped $20B off of Sony's stock market value, is the type of move that can make a company reassess how they're going to make investments and acquisitions. Should Sony decide they want to buy Take Two, they have more than enough cash/stock/debt to pull the deal off.

 

[ChorizoPicozo]

Overpaid is pretty vague.

Did they pay more than they would have in a normal situation? Maybe. More than Bungie is worth? We'll see.

Disney bought Marvel for 4 billion and Star Wars for 4 billion. If you compare those to Bungie, yeah, Sony overpaid.

But you have to consider that Sony is buying content creation and not just IP.

They bought Insomniac for 229 million dollars and Insomniac doesn't really have any IP worth mentioning, but they do have content creators and they have shown themselves to be proficient at making Spider-Man. Even if Spider-Man 2 is the last Spider-Man game Insomniac makes, it'll have been a good buy as Spider-Man 2 is going to put PS5 into a separate category from Xbox Series this year.

If Bungie creates for Sony a franchise half as popular as Destiny or Halo, it'll probably be worth it for them in the long run.

I think the move was desperate, but I don't think it was faulty.

Sony paid a billion just to retain talent, if I remember correctly. And those contract terms... yikes. Bungie definitely had the upper hand in that transaction. The latest expansion didn't have the best reception, and Destiny overall hasn't had the smoothest ride either.

jason reported issues with their engine and production pipeline.

UNTIL Bungie delivers the goods i think is safe to say that sony overpaid.

also Sony has said that this acquisition was due to Bungie's expertise in GaaS....expertise with a rocky track record.

another way we could see if this acquisition was a "genius move or a total failure" will be the state in which Factions handles its GaaS approach....i don't know why ND hired the Fornite's "monetization designer" if they already had Bungie's expertise in-house.

 

[Mibu no ookami]

Sony paid a billion just to retain talent, if I remember correctly. And those contract terms... yikes. Bungie definitely had the upper hand in that transaction. The latest expansion didn't have the best reception, and Destiny overall hasn't had the smoothest ride either.

jason reported issues with their engine and production pipeline.

UNTIL Bungie delivers the goods i think is safe to say that sony overpaid.

also Sony has said that this acquisition was due to Bungie's expertise in GaaS....expertise with a rocky track record.

another way we could see if this acquisition was a "genius move or a total failure" will be the state in which Factions handles its GaaS approach....i don't know why ND hired the Fornite's "monetization designer" if they already had Bungie's expertise in-house.

I wouldn't look TOO much into the PR comments as to why Sony bought Bungie.

Do they want to utilize some of their expertise in GaaS, sure, probably, but that's not really the reason why they bought them.

Let's see the next actual game release Bungie has and we'll see where they stand on being worth it or not.

 

[ChuckeRearmed]

Square-Enix will happen eventually.

I have been hearing that for 10 if not more at this point....Probably even in PS2 but can't be sure.

 

[Loxus]

https://www.neogaf.com/threads/sony...-investments-acquisitions-until-2024.1653902/

Hope this debate puts down to bed.

Yes, it puts to bed this rumor but not if Take-Two is a pending unannounced acquisition.

Sony had $44B in the beginning of 2021.
Now they have $11B. They spend a total of $33B between then and now.

They recently announced they have $5 billion left for acquisitions, which means they spent $13B from the $18B they had allocated in 2021 for future acquisitions at the time.

$33B - $13B = $20B not accounted for, that was used in one quarter. $24B to be exact if you account for them gaining back cash throughout 2022.

Based on their Total Assets and Total Liabilities, that $20B when into unknown investments.

I don't think we should be sleeping on the 2019 rumor and the $20B unaccounted for in 2021, until we know where it went.

 

[reksveks]

You probably won't be sitting on an acquisition of a plc for more than a month, it feels like you are opening yourselves to liabilities re lawsuits.

 

[Gavon West]

Nothing to stop MS just paying more and buying it as well?

Even if Take Two were for sale, Sony couldn't stay on the playing field for long before the titan companies came in to outbid them. Shit just ain't happenin..

 

[RickMasters]

Here is ELI5 version of what would happen if MS tried to approach T2 after ABK closes with significant concessions.

> MS approaches T2 with a bid
> Board of T2 consider the bid (price but most importantly, likelihood that regulators will approve the deal. If regulators don't approve the deal, the acquisition burns 1 year of time, money and all they get is the breakup fee)
> In this case of MS, considering all the trouble regulars gave them for ABK, they would consider that it's very unlikely regulators would approve another big purchase. They would say no to MS and wait for another bid.



For Sony, they would be happy to keep GTA multiplatform as T2 gives them many other IPs, Zynga and an opportunity to bolster their live service revenue.



Sony in 2021, put together a budget of $18B to be spent on investments and acquisitions for the next 3 years. They have spent most of the money and now have $5B left in this budget. What you need to understand is that there's a difference between what Sony plans to spend and what they can spend. They could spend a lot more than $18B in 3 years, but they decided in 2021, that's the amount of money they're going to spend. Obviously, in Jan 2022, MS changed the game by buying ABK. Such a big move, which wiped $20B off of Sony's stock market value, is the type of move that can make a company reassess how they're going to make investments and acquisitions. Should Sony decide they want to buy Take Two, they have more than enough cash/stock/debt to pull the deal off.

No offence but this just seems like conjecture. Especially the part where you assume sony would keep anything they aquire multiplatform. they dont have a history for it so forgive me If I didnt start believing that to be the case, when their is not a single iota of evidence of them doing that with any studio they aquire bar bungie because they 'stipulated' that their games must remain multiformat...... Ill bet money they double back on this statement when the time comes.



"What you need to understand is that there's a difference between what Sony plans to spend and what they can spend."


well we have just had a few post insiuiating they bought them in secret but have a 5Bn dollar spending cap from their parent company. Its reasonable to be sceptical of their spending power, and thats putting it mildly. While PS is their most profitable division all their other divisions are failing so im sure the pool of money is not what it was in the 90s all round at sony. and they still have to spend money on those other divisions..the music, movies..TV and appliances...mobile phones...car and home audio. all these things have R&D and marketing costs so while I know they could shure up more cash Im not sure it would be enough ina scenareo where T2 goes up for sale on the open market...I just dont see a scenario where sony are the only party inteterested and all the ones I can think of have a lot more money to spend and atleast two of those would bid..... thats where sony would lose the chance to buy them.


Bottom line is I dont think shareholders get to emotionally attached to any company so much that they will give them a 'sweetheart' deal or offer to but them or get first refusal. And I doubt they have any emotional attachment to sonys fanbase either ...but im sure the idea of highest bidder would make them raise their eyebrows and their little pupils see dollar signs.

 

[Topher]

 

[RickMasters]

Even if Take Two were for sale, Sony couldn't stay on the playing field for long before the titan companies came in to outbid them. Shit just ain't happenin..

Ive said this before.

I look at what apple has been doing to promote their M2 powered macbooks as viable alternatives to gaming laptops, along with games being more prevailent on iphones and tablets, and I have no doubt their will come a day when they get serious.

amazon have been constantly working on gaming related stuff that will no doubt culminate in some sort of 'prime gaming'


Stadia failed but anybody with common sense knows it wont be their last attempt at it.


And as MS makes moves that step on their toes, they will have no choice but to be more aggressive with their own strategies towards gaming.


I feel like store fronts are the new battleground for these guys and exclusive content and deals will be the hottest commodity. Im no scaremonger but I do wonder what this all looks like in 10 years time, but i dont think the home consoles will be the main way people play games at all.