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Forums - Gaming Discussion - Lets have a discussion: Multiple sources say SONY's next big grab is Square Enix.

Recently Square Enix sold off their western division pretty much and they gave a very dumb reason for doing so. A.I. and Blockchain nonsense. Even without this rumor that just sounded stupid. Lets say that it is true; Why would SE sell off all those developers at such a dirt cheap price if they want to invest more in costly tech? They basically said I want to sell my $20,000 car for $5000 to invest in another car for $50,000!? Answer is clear they wanted to get rid of them quickly. It is not about money. They sold them off for pretty what they lost in developing those Marvel games and called it a wrap. 

This could all be wrong but lets assume this is true: What are your thoughts on this? I prayed that our Japanese developers stayed out of this shit. I cannot foresee how this will positively effect our industry going forward. There are just some developers that I believe have no business being under one of the big 3 and SE is waaaay up there. I am curious to see what SE is going to get out of this. Maybe a deal like Bungie? I don't know why but there is something super slimy about SONY owing Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest, Kingdom Hearts. 



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I don't think that's happening when SE just lessened their value.



Bite my shiny metal cockpit!

For me, it wouldn't even seem like that big a deal. For one, I always buy every system anyway, so exclusives aren't a problem. For two, I will forever think of FF as a Playstation franchise anyway. I mean yeah, I was a kid when it was on the first two Nintendo consoles, but for some reason, Playstation still feels like its home to me. I guess the PS1 and PS2 games just drove that so deep into my subconscious that it seems natural, or something.



Well, I don't believe it until it's done, but it would be contrary to recent PlayStation studio investments given that they were more interested in buying western studios.
It's important for Sony to secure Kingdom Hearts and Final Fantasy installments for PlayStation though, since both brands are heavily bonded with the PlayStation community.
It would make sense for PlayStation. But it's highly a waste of money, since Sony doesn't gain that much benefit unless Microsoft tries to buy Square too and steal these IPs away.



Couldn’t care less, haven’t been a Final Fantasy player since my teenager days. And now that they have shed their studios that make games I do play, meh.

I’d imagine people who primarily use Switch wouldn’t like it though.



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Not happening lol.

And if it does happen, then Dragon Quest should stay multiplat or it'll die and then hopefully Nintendo would poach Asano from them so that he can continue making these great RPGs.



JackHandy said:

For me, it wouldn't even seem like that big a deal. For one, I always buy every system anyway, so exclusives aren't a problem. For two, I will forever think of FF as a Playstation franchise anyway. I mean yeah, I was a kid when it was on the first two Nintendo consoles, but for some reason, Playstation still feels like its home to me. I guess the PS1 and PS2 games just drove that so deep into my subconscious that it seems natural, or something.

SquareEnix though has much more IPs than just FF, and much more important ones (for me) at that. The Dragon Quest Builders series is among the greatest games of all time for me and Octopath Traveler (which is available everywhere *except* Playstation) is easily a better game than FF. Dragon Quest XI is great and Triangle Strategy is a good SRPG. So if Sony wants to buy FF and the associated studios, fine by me. But I still want the other stuff multiplat.

Last edited by Mnementh - on 07 May 2022

3DS-FC: 4511-1768-7903 (Mii-Name: Mnementh), Nintendo-Network-ID: Mnementh, Switch: SW-7706-3819-9381 (Mnementh)

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Kyuu said:

I'm by no means an expert on how major acquisitions are handled, but perhaps it can be reasoned that Eidos studios and IP's selling for as cheap as they did is a result of Sony offering to buy SquareEnix at a very high price with the condition of SE quickly selling their western studios so Sony can bypass some FTC complications.

I think it's only a matter of time before Sony starts gobbling up a few Japanese studios (Arc System Works, Kojima Productions, and FromSoftware are other candidates). Then again, the FTC giving Microsoft trouble might have the exact opposite effect of Sony trying to pick up big studios or publishers.

If this does go through, I don't think Nintendo fans have much to worry about. SE could remain semi-autonomous and these smaller 2D/HD2D games, ports, and remasters, will continue releasing on Nintendo platforms, except they wouldn't be exclusive anymore. The few Xbox fans who care about SquareEnix stuff will probably get screwed worse than they already are. And PC will remain king.

I can see DQ12 going timed exclusive on PS5 before getting ported to PC and Switch 2, but even this is unlikely.

As Sony Interactive entertainment is an american company that in recent ears focused on western games, I doubt the start to gobble up japanese studios. SIE recently reduced their japanese development capacities, this would be counterproductive if they want to expand. I can see them taking studios close to them (Kojima) and strategic IPs (which is why Square or Capcom would be possibilities), but I don't think they care at all for all these smaller devs like Arc Systems, From, NIS or Falcom.



3DS-FC: 4511-1768-7903 (Mii-Name: Mnementh), Nintendo-Network-ID: Mnementh, Switch: SW-7706-3819-9381 (Mnementh)

my greatest games: 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023

10 years greatest game event!

bets: [peak year] [+], [1], [2], [3], [4]

I don't think Square Enix is selling at all. Those rumors ae very, very loose.
I'm seeing some people mention Dragon Quest, but here's the thing. Square Enix doesn't own Dragon Quest. A company called Armor Group lead by series creator Yuji Horii owns the series. Square Enix only have an exclusive contract with them to publish the games. Also, another fun fact. Almost all DQ games weren't developed by Square Enix.



I would personally like it. Sony is my favorite manufacturer right now, but Square my favorite publisher so I wanted them to remain independent. But Square is going to an awful direction investing in Blockchain so its better to them to be bought

Microsoft buying it would mean the death of the company, Square has no relevance on MS systems, they were going to live from FF XIV alone among other game as services

Nintendo buying it would mean Square no longer had access to more top notch hardware, meaning they were likely to spend the next 20 years trapped in PS3 and PS4 levels os graphics. I'm sure this was going to upset most of current staff who likes to work in more challenging projects tech-wise, os they simply wouldn't be necessary anymore. The talent evasion here was likely to be brutal in some teams. Also, I have no idea what they were going to do with FF XIV... Honestly thinking a bit, I want Nintendo as far from Square as possible

For Sony... nothing was going to change in their gaming business I think. So it's the best choice by far