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Forums - Sony Discussion - Sony paid $229 million for Insomniac

DonFerrari on 11 February 2020
Otter said:
They're such a consistent studio quality wise and they seem to be super efficient. They've produced like 4 AAA games this generation seemingly without any massive delays and always delivered a super polished product at the end, which feels loved and not just pumped out by a massive machine. Ratchet is still probably the best looking platformer of the generation and that game is like 4 years old.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=47&v=LTOxsgGzCU4&feature=emb_title

Also I'm not sure some you have a fix on how much game studios cost.

I don't think vgc wrote any article on the price of any studio MS acquired besides mohjang, so we really haven't seem how much would similar studios sold by. 



duduspace11 "Well, since we are estimating costs, Pokemon Red/Blue did cost Nintendo about $50m to make back in 1996"

http://gamrconnect.vgchartz.com/post.php?id=8808363

Mr Puggsly: "Hehe, I said good profit. You said big profit. Frankly, not losing money is what I meant by good. Don't get hung up on semantics"

http://gamrconnect.vgchartz.com/post.php?id=9008994

Azzanation: "PS5 wouldn't sold out at launch without scalpers."

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sales2099 on 11 February 2020
DonFerrari said:
sales2099 said:

Hey easy on the propaganda. In the last 4 months MS announced Everwild, Grounded and Project Mara. Bleeding Edge in March. You don’t have to like these games but you should at least acknowledge what they are doing now. 

I think I already talked to you in recent past that yes they are improving.

So you do agree that not having plenty of owned IPs is irrelevant if the studio can make plenty of new games and create IPs?

Good, so long as you see that. 

I do agree actually. They don’t have any Ips but are certainly a talented studio that pumps out games at a decent pace. And can do anything Sony tells them to do with a reasonable assumption of quality. I still think the amount was a bit high given they all ready have such a close partnership 



Xbox: Best hardware, Game Pass best value, best BC, more 1st party genres and multiplayer titles. 

 

DonFerrari on 11 February 2020
sales2099 said:
DonFerrari said:

I think I already talked to you in recent past that yes they are improving.

So you do agree that not having plenty of owned IPs is irrelevant if the studio can make plenty of new games and create IPs?

Good, so long as you see that. 

I do agree actually. They don’t have any Ips but are certainly a talented studio that pumps out games at a decent pace. And can do anything Sony tells them to do with a reasonable assumption of quality. I still think the amount was a bit high given they all ready have such a close partnership 

Although I think Sony have better strategy on console I don't think MS is dumb (yes they made several mistakes in hindsight but well who could really assure that wouldn't work? Console market is like 200M people, what certainty do we have about the 6B that don't buy consoles? The only certainty is that current tactics haven't made they buy consoles).

So the studios they bought they probably paid the right price, sure some were a little more than what should be (premium) and others they saved from closure (so probably cheaper). I do expect they have either some good new IPs mixed with some famous IPs improved with better financial health available to dev.

All in all I'm eager to see if MS will entice me to consider XSX (played X360 a lot start of gen with friends and liked the 4k BD idea for X1S and the power of X1X, but with lack of exclusives I couldn't justify buying it), if they can at least make me consider the console that would mean for whoever is already a Xbox fan then they will have a blast of a good time.



duduspace11 "Well, since we are estimating costs, Pokemon Red/Blue did cost Nintendo about $50m to make back in 1996"

http://gamrconnect.vgchartz.com/post.php?id=8808363

Mr Puggsly: "Hehe, I said good profit. You said big profit. Frankly, not losing money is what I meant by good. Don't get hung up on semantics"

http://gamrconnect.vgchartz.com/post.php?id=9008994

Azzanation: "PS5 wouldn't sold out at launch without scalpers."

mjk45 on 11 February 2020
sales2099 said:
DonFerrari said:

I think I already talked to you in recent past that yes they are improving.

So you do agree that not having plenty of owned IPs is irrelevant if the studio can make plenty of new games and create IPs?

Good, so long as you see that. 

I do agree actually. They don’t have any Ips but are certainly a talented studio that pumps out games at a decent pace. And can do anything Sony tells them to do with a reasonable assumption of quality. I still think the amount was a bit high given they all ready have such a close partnership 

History also plays a part, Sony have tried to buy Insomniac in the past but were knocked back , the price was obviously worked out on the perceived value of future Spiderman games and to garner a change of heart from Ted Price , there most likely was a clause keeping management tied to Insomniac for a period of time we should remember that the top selling games often pay royalties to the developer that can be run into  the hundreds of millions.



Research shows Video games  help make you smarter, so why am I an idiot

Mr Puggsly on 11 February 2020
DonFerrari said:
Mr Puggsly said:

Sony bought Insomnic to work on that hot new IP, Spiderman.

Which came after the new PS4 IP, Ratchet and Clank.

I agree, PS4 made a fortune. Sony has more money than MS now.

3 gens in VGC and you still think MS will put a lot of money of other areas into Xbox? Ok.

Yes Sony have a legacy of milking same IPs right? If they so much wanted they could keep Insomniac feed with unnused IPs for like another 3 gens.

Mr Puggsly said:

Again, Sony didnt need to make this purchase to get notable content from the studio. Which is why the amount they paid seems excessive.

Certainly you agree with that because its an obvious fact. They were essentially dedicated to Sony already.

If Insomnic is worth that much it seems like they could have funded SO on their own. Maybe just get some funding from a multiplat publisher as well.

Rare has had success with MS even with new IPs. There is potential for more success using old IPs, like Killer Instinct. Either way many studios purchased by Sony and MS were shut down. Yet Rare is still relevant.

Anyhow you have the impression I am bashing Sony because you're sensitive in regard to Sony. I am simply saying they seemingly paid too much unless other companies wanted to buy them as well.

If this studio is so talented on its own, then MS is dumb for not making this purchase.

I forgot you know the details of the contract and if it will be a good deal to Sony. Sony had to invest almost all money needed to make the game and the studio would receive a cut from the sales. Sony basically paid to whatever they invest be theirs (much better to invest in yourself than on others) and all profit be theirs as well, considering RC and SM that seems a logical move, Insomniac have been quite stable on launches and quality so a very safe and sound investment.

Being worth a lot isn't the same as having a lot of money on their pockets or assuming risks for new products. They got funding from publishers and didn't turn good. You see to be talking a lot of things you don't know about.

Please show us how much MS made of the plenty of Rare IPs for you to consider the studio having a lot of IPs the important aspect. Naughty Dog and other studios from Sony dropped a lot of successful IPs and haven't developed them anymore.

My sensitivity is towards your lack of knowledge to judge it being too much, but seems like mohjang was the purchase of the century.

Not all studios are available to everyone to buy, still waiting for MS to use all that infinite money to buy EA, Acti, Ubi, Taketwon, etc.

"You still think MS will put a lot of money of other areas into Xbox." What does that even mean?

I was suggesting they evidently bought Insomniac to make Spiderman and maybe Ratchet and Clank. Maybe even a Resistance reboot. But they might have other stuff too.

The rest of your thoughts are rambling. MS could have certainly bought Insomniac for less than EA, Acti, Ubi, etc.



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HollyGamer on 11 February 2020

They can do VR as well and their VR titles also one of the best, they also can do multiple project at the same time and can do multiple triple A games at the same time with VR And their games are top quality. They can develop games with small man power. 200 million are super cheap considered how much they can do, on top of that they already familiar with Playstation culture and fans.



Pemalite on 11 February 2020
Jpcc86 said:

Mostly in cash?

It isnt that much tho, is it? I think EA paid over 400m for Respawn back when the only game they had was Titanfall. Whereas Insomniac has been consistently doing great games for decades (as far as im concerned they're yet to make a bad game) and their latest game sold well over 13m copies. 

I think EA was betting on Respawn knocking it out of the park considering that they consisted of Call of Duty veteran developers.

But it is a fairly low price, obviously Insomniac will get more out of it like more resources, technologies and financial support in the future which means they will cost more than the raw numbers might otherwise imply.

twintail said:

Sony doesn't own Spiderman. They never have and they never will.

They have the licensing rights for movies and then Disney now has merchandising rights which means Sony has less stake in the property.

Marvel and Insomniac have both stated that the gaming deal came because Marvel approached Sony to make a game on any IP. Sony went to Insomniac. Insomniac chose Spiderman.

It's that simple.

This.

Sony own the film franchising rights, everything else, video-games included is all Disney/Marvels.

Mr Puggsly said:
That seems like a lot to me given they didn't get any notable IPs.

It clearly a talented studio, maybe they have other projects we don't know about.

They get a developer with a very solid track record... And chances are will continue to make solid titles.

I mean they did bring us:
* Spyro.
* Ratchet and Clank.
* Resistance.
* Sunset Overdrive.
* Spiderman.

I think they have proven themselves, because all those games were enjoyable as heck. Sunset Overdrive for instance is *still* one of the best Xbox One exclusives. (Even if it was inspired by Jet Set.)

twintail said:
Azzanation said:
Considering how much money Sony and Xbox earn via Subs, i am suprised they havnt brought the whole industry out.

The price for Insomniac is dirt cheap however curious to know why the price was that low when compared to Mojang whose value was $3b for basically 1 IP while Insomniac would have afew IPs and a incredibly successful Spider Man game.

Their most popular IPs belong to Sony. SM isn't theirs either.

Maybe MS overpaid for Mojang. Maybe not.

Simple really. 

Minecraft is a massive franchise. It's the best selling game of all time at 180~ million copies sold.
Has almost hit 500~ million users, has over 100~ million active users... Has also extended into more forms like a ton of Merch, Novels and so forth... And as a developer, they have low overheads as it's a relatively small team.






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COKTOE on 11 February 2020
Otter said:

They're such a consistent studio quality wise and they seem to be super efficient. They've produced like 4 AAA games this generation seemingly without any massive delays and always delivered a super polished product at the end, which feels loved and not just pumped out by a massive machine. Ratchet is still probably the best looking platformer of the generation and that game is like 4 years old.



Also I'm not sure some you have a fix on how much game studios cost.

Off topic, which is my speciality. Visuals aside, which obviously greatly favor the PS4 remake, I can't get over how almost ever aspect of the original is wildly inferior to the remake. Playing the PS3 HD remake, and my god. There are some poor design choices in that game. Aggreed with your post. It's a lovely game. The original though? Yeesh. You'd think Insomniac didn't know the PS2 had duel analog sticks....Among many other things.



- "If you have the heart of a true winner, you can always get more pissed off than some other asshole."

Nautilus on 11 February 2020

This seems kind of... cheap?

I mean, the brand name of Insomniac might more than pay that, since millions of gamers would buy any game with their name on it(assuming the game dosent look like trash).Not to mention that with this purchase, Sony now owns Sunset Overdrive too.



My (locked) thread about how difficulty should be a decision for the developers, not the gamers.

https://gamrconnect.vgchartz.com/thread.php?id=241866&page=1

Azzanation on 11 February 2020
DonFerrari said:
sales2099 said:

Good, so long as you see that. 

I do agree actually. They don’t have any Ips but are certainly a talented studio that pumps out games at a decent pace. And can do anything Sony tells them to do with a reasonable assumption of quality. I still think the amount was a bit high given they all ready have such a close partnership 

Although I think Sony have better strategy on console I don't think MS is dumb (yes they made several mistakes in hindsight but well who could really assure that wouldn't work? Console market is like 200M people, what certainty do we have about the 6B that don't buy consoles? The only certainty is that current tactics haven't made they buy consoles).

So the studios they bought they probably paid the right price, sure some were a little more than what should be (premium) and others they saved from closure (so probably cheaper). I do expect they have either some good new IPs mixed with some famous IPs improved with better financial health available to dev.

All in all I'm eager to see if MS will entice me to consider XSX (played X360 a lot start of gen with friends and liked the 4k BD idea for X1S and the power of X1X, but with lack of exclusives I couldn't justify buying it), if they can at least make me consider the console that would mean for whoever is already a Xbox fan then they will have a blast of a good time.

Curious and serious question, do you game on PC?