| Qwark said: Bethesda and Actibliz are still very much their own publishers and largely manage their own studios. Most of their games are just exclusive to the MS ecosystem now. Probably not something Sony would do, as they are less multiplatform focussed. Sony never has been great at growing fast they buy a few studios each gen, but also close a few. During the PS4 era Sony shut down: |
Bungie is currently a multiplatform studio for Sony, and Sony has a dedicated PC studio and a dedicated mobile studio.
They've been talking a lot about their ambitions to expand on mobile, PC, and they want to double their first party revenue over the next few years.
They've never been under pressure to grow like they are today.
Qwark said: Japan Studios (80%+ was fired), Revolution, Guerilla Cambridge. That's a lot more than Xbox which doesn't really have a one strike is out kind of rule. |
You seem to have forgotten that MS closed a bunch of studios last gen.
Big Park, Lionhead Studios, Press Play, Team Dakota.
MS has consolidated or closed plenty of studios too.
| Qwark said: I can't see PlayStation acquiring any publisher considering they are still bigger than Xbox in revenue and I expect that if they wanted one, they would have bought one by now. Playstation just closed Pixelopus and is reorganizing left and right. They haven't bought a studio for a while and I think they won't buy one in the foreseeable future. Definitely not something big. |
I have no idea if Sony will buy someone big. I think chances are pretty good they'll buy more small studios this year. But I wouldn't count anything out.
The past is only a good indicator if nothing changes.
The landscape of the gaming industry has changed.
MS has become substantially more entrenched in gaming this generation, and just became Sony's biggest third party publisher.
Sony has talked extensively about wanting to grow. They've expanded a lot on PC, they've established a mobile division, they've talked extensively about making their own live service game, that pretty much every other publisher already has.
There wasn't really any pressure to grow substantially before the Activision acquisition went through. Sony's studios hold up fairly well against Zenimax + Xbox Game Studios. And Sony was pretty set on blocking the deal, instead of trying to match it somehow. That obviously didn't work.
The company is clearly cognizant that they need to expand somehow.
