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Hypothetical pros and cons of Sony potentially acquiring Fromsoftware (indirectly/by proxy/parent company, etc.). Would you want it to happen?

Would you be in favour of sony acquiring fromsoftware?

  • Yes

    Votes: 155 41.0%
  • No

    Votes: 223 59.0%

  • Total voters
    378

RaZoR No1

Member
After seeing how MS and Sony managed their purchases and what is happening in the west.. please leave them alone..

But I could imagine getting Sega and Kadokawa together.
Dont know why. IMO they would fit great together
 

Saber

Gold Member
I can only see cons though. Would ruin their creative process and uniquiness. Not to mention the possibility of being infested with terrible decisions and crossover from other games.
 

Pandawan

Member
Sad news, From Software were one of the last truly passionate game developers who actually felt like they loved what they were doing. And Sony will incorporate them in one of its corporate cogs. Looks like Larian will be the last one left.
 
Elevate From's developers to the same level as Insomniac, Naughty Dogs, Bluepoint and Guerilla Games.
What does this mean, specifically? In my mind they just make different types of quality games, not that one group is on a whole different level of game development


But in any case, it is still very early for this discussion, since we do not even know whether it is true or not, there has been no confirmation from either side.
You're right. But it's an interesting future to imagine, isn't it? That's why it's a hypothetical


"4. Creative interference-/Potential conflict of interest (narrative style adjustments, development workflow mandates, etc)"

I think Sony is one of the few publishers who give a lot of creative freedom for their studios.
I don't think there's any way to *really* know this is true unless we have firsthand accounts from developers comparing working under sony to other publishers.

What we do know is that corporations have goals to achieve, some of which align with what the developers want to do, and others that don't.

What we do know is that every corporation says they want to give their creatives space to work as they naturally want to, right until they need to capitalize on a new genre and start pumping funds into experimental, unproven games that the developers might not be fully familiar with. This is not limited to sony, it has happened across the industry




What’s up with these unnecessary long ass thread titles lately?

“Pros and cons of Sony owning FromSoft?”

Done

Dude felt the need to add parentheses and shit 😂
- People don't read ops and treat thread titles like tweets.
I think forums should have more interesting discussions than shit you can find on twitter, and If you want to get good discussion you don't just type "Pros and cons of sony owning fromsoft?".
Not that it really matters though. Can't control what people post

- Added "hypothetical ... potential" was so people don't assume it's fact when it's still a rumour
Added "(indirectly/by proxy/parent company)" to try and cut off uninteresting discussion like the following, which just state things we already know or bring up non-gaming properties which are not the point of the thread:
We're not talking only about FromSoft but Kadokawa as a whole
This is obviously not just about From Software as Kadokawa is primarily a powerhouse for anime and manga,
What amuses me most about this whole story is how people on neogaf quickly focused on FromSoftware, and the fact that Kadokawa Corporation also owns Spike Chunsoft (Danganronpa, Zero, Master Detective Archives, Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero) and Acquire (Octopath Traveler 1-2) is apparently not important at all. =)
No offence to the ^ posters though
 
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GymWolf

Member
Sony was ok with 500K-seller Returnal and Armored Core is not as niche as it was in the past.
Housemarque always was a niche studio, they never made games that sold 20 mil copies like fromsoft, making niche games for hardcores was always their purpose.
 
I can think of at least two cons:

Screenshot-2024-05-13-230951.jpg
Ugh
 

Neofire

Member
After what MS did with ABK? Damn right I am in favor of it and the appellate courts and other governments, if it happens, should allow it with no resistance like they sided with MS. 🤷🏿‍♂️
 
Only if they promise more frequent releases of Armored Core and a remaster of all past Armored Core for current gen and beyond…..
then I’ll allow it lol
 

kaizenkko

Member
I don't think there's any way to *really* know this is true unless we have firsthand accounts from developers comparing working under sony to other publishers.

What we do know is that corporations have goals to achieve, some of which align with what the developers want to do, and others that don't.

What we do know is that every corporation says they want to give their creatives space to work as they naturally want to, right until they need to capitalize on a new genre and start pumping funds into experimental, unproven games that the developers might not be fully familiar with. This is not limited to sony, it has happened across the industry
Well, there's a lot of developers from different studios who said that. Even that Days Gone director, who have blame Sony a lot of times, said that their give freedom when it comes to game development.
 
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Hookshot

Member
Pro - Every region of all their games becomes a winter wonderland thanks to the graphical glitches from Sony's console

Con - People on other platforms who want to play their games will have to make a PlayStation account and that will limit the number of countries that can massively.
 

Kenneth Haight

Gold Member
There are no pros really.

Consolidation and mergers and acquisitions have gone far enough this generation and are of no benefit to anyone apart from shareholders and Bobby Kotick, the real winner.

There’s only one side driving this though, all actions have a reaction and it will be interesting to see how this plays out.
 
Personally don’t give a shit as I don’t play most of their games. BB was cool, Elden Ring was great. Never touched a Dark Souls game. I assume their games will remain multi platform.

Can’t wait to see how they make Elden Ring 2 a GaaS title.
 
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Edellus

Member
Not that it is necessary nor likely to happen, but the idea of Sony mandating technical performance improvements from FS interests me as an end user. For example, what a FS game would look like and run if it was made in an engine like Decima or the one used for DS remake. I imagine it would be glorious.

I expect that if they buy FS, they'll keep their games, or at least current franchises, multiplarform. I don't think it make sense to reduce those franchises' existing user bases for added exclusivity value to the PS brand. I think they've got that value advantage more than covered enough. I mean, their major competitor is going full multiplarform.
 

MagnesD3

Member
I really wish 😅🤣

I wasn't a member during Acti/MS deal .. but I assume same vibes were around .. only flipped 🤣
The xbox deal was terrible as well, Microsoft now has a ton of IP thanks to this they will never meaningfully use and they lack the talent/proper management to execute.
 

TrebleShot

Member
The cons list is the pipe dreams of internet fan boys.
The multi national conglomerate is not a friend, they exist solely to make money and sell you their products.
 
Sony buying From Software would be like Bungie. Nothing will change guys. It's not Playstation that's buying FromSoftware. It's Playstation's parent company buying From's parent company. They will still release their games everywhere.
 

wipeout364

Member
I know people on here get upset when talking about Sony and Live service but the truth is that’s where the holes in Sony’s portfolio really show up. Buying From Software does nothing to fill that gap. Sony already has more than enough single player game action/rpg output.

Microsoft is not a threat as they have not been able to manage Japanese studios so losing the From Software games on the PlayStation platform seems extremely unlikely in any future I can see.
 

Kotaro

Member
The only ones say YES is Sony fanboys, as clear as that

There's not one positive aspect having From Software under Sony's management. This is the worst possible outcome :messenger_pouting:
 

pudel

Member
They are not independent in the first place
Okay, but also doesnt make things better imho when one big company is eating the parent company of From (unless its really necessary for surving at all, which I dont think it is). Just more idiots above you who you have to report to.
 
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angelgs90

Member
Sure! Merging independent devs into some few big corporations can't go wrong.

They will never shut down studios or something like that.
 

playbignbox

Member
Pros:

- More resources available to From Software, such as budget and/or technologies.

Cons:

- Restriction of the studio's creative freedom
- Exclusivity of games on the PlayStation platform
- From Software losing autonomy
 

Begleiter

Member
Corporate consolidation is always bad. It's probably more about their anime business than anything else - this purchase gives them Bookwalker.
 

Fbh

Member
As someone who primarily plays on Playstation I see no pros other than ensuring they don't get purchases by MS I guess.
FROM has been great as a third party dev and it's nice their games come to all major platforms. I also have zero confidence in current playstation leadership.
 

nial

Member
Housemarque always was a niche studio, they never made games that sold 20 mil copies like fromsoft, making niche games for hardcores was always their purpose.
I mean, I don't think anyone else wouldn't want From Software to keep up making their 20M-seller Souls games, but if they can have a separate team making other stuff and it goes just fine, why not? Guerrilla just released a Lego game with a budget of like $10M, it's okay.
 
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