Sony invests $250m in Epic Games to acquire a minority stake

[mjk45]

sales2099 said:

twintail said:

UE5 tech is going to be incredibly important going forward. This isn't just for gaming. This is about helping all facets of Sony's business where UE5 can be applied. Don't forget that Sony has a TV division, and even PlayStation has a new TV initiative. 

lol, it's incredible how petty you always are about this.

Who cares if MS has more studios using UE than Sony does. Using their engine doesn't automatically mean you have some better working relationship with Epic. It literally means that MS is more willing to use the engine. A working relationship that benefits both parties requires interaction between said parties.

And guess what? That is what Epic and Sony have had for the last 4 or so years. 

https://www.gamesradar.com/uk/epic-reveals-how-its-been-working-with-sony-for-years-on-unreal-engine-5/

A minority stake of 1.4% now, and not the 4 years working closely with another, is the only reason for Epic is talking up PS5?

Petty, indeed. 

As I said, it’s weird they are partnering when Sony has little interest in actually using the engine. The demo highlights how it takes advantage of PS5s tech...this only makes sense if they have games in development that use UE5. Which they don’t. Otherwise if the games are multi plat development goes to the common denominator (PCs without SSD). Again, why partner up of one partner couldn’t care less about the engine? 

Which leads me to believe it’s a short term PR boost and someone else long term like Epic Store exclusivity. That demo should have got Xbox gamers excited due to the actual studios that are making next gen games with UE instead the PR went in another direction. It’s fair game if you spend $250 million, so really I can’t complain beyond expressing my annoyance. 

I feel that to the focus on UE is narrowing our thinking , it's been pointed out that Sony mainly uses in house game engines with great success on both a technical and sales level, so the main reasons a lot of studios use UE because of its familiarity in the industry and modularity doesn't apply and if they decide to use it they can just licence it like Sony Bend, so the more likely scenario is what has been stated, that is after working with Epic over a number of years on the PS5 SSD/IO and the positives that then flowed from that work with the UE5 showcase impressed Sony enough to take a small stake in Epic .

Now looking at the amount spent and combining that with both parties history with PS5's development , my conclusion is Sony was chuffed with the results of the partnership and its effect on the PS5's development so Sony looking ahead at future developments saw taking a small stake in Epic as a way of further cementing that relationship rather than it being a big financial strategy, being more of a symbolic gesture of were behind you going forward and so fencing off what they see as an asset in regards to future development, so it seems like it is a more general outlook than just UE/fortnite. 

Last edited by mjk45 - on 10 July 2020