Kyuu said:
They'll probably try to expand in Asia (may even get SquareEnix) and continue buying smaller western developers and hope to level them up. They won't stand a chance in a battle of western publisher acquisitions. Even if they try, Microsoft may be able to block them by presenting the same hardware monopoly argument. I wonder what's gonna stop Microsoft from successfully convincing regulators that they're going to need more publishers. If PS5 extends its lead this year, what's stopping MS from using the same pretext for their next big acquisition and offering more 10 year contracts? Microsoft should be good to easily dominate Sony in 1st party software sales (counting sales on Playstation) and subscription revenues. Once the contract expire, they can choose to stay very dominant in software, or ditch Playstation to gain more hardware marketshare which would lead to an increase in 3rd party software sales, subscriptions, and brand power, but a decline in 1st party software. I hate where this is going but if it pushes Sony to look more into Asia and forces them to find/establish their next Naughty Dog, Insomniac, Santa Monica, Polyphony Digital etc, then maybe it's not all that bad. Hopefully they'll use the next 10 years prudently! |
I can't see sony being able to buy a publisher as big as square Enix without it getting blocked. Considering how dominant they are already.
