I'd rather they didn't acquire them, but I can certainly see the appeal for Sony. In regards to S-E selling much of their western studios and IPs, in the case that the acquisition does happen, it could have been done in order to avoid any extended investigations into the transaction and avoid potential monopoly-accusations as well, like what is happening with Activision-Blizzard and Bungie right now.

The main reason I don’t think this is currently plausible is that of all the major acquisitions that have happened over the last 2-3 years, there were 0 leaks before they were announced. Absolutely nothing. Which makes me think that these discussions don’t get past the C-suite and a small ground of highly NDA’s lawyers and accountants.

SE EU was a failing business. It doesn't matter how everyone personally values the associated companies and their IP, nor does it matter if the studios were badly managed. The reality is that the likes of CD and Eidos have been developing games for the last decade that have failed to provide the profit that goes with their investment and development times. It's that simple.

And this is why they ended up being sold off for what appears so cheap. Sure, it's a shocking price, but when you consider that neither CD or Eidos are very much profitable, that SE lost $200M in their Marvel games, it's not overly surprising that they want to get rid of these studios. Perhaps they were too hasty, but it is what it is.

As for a Sony acquisition? Why would Sony give SE a Bungie like deal? Also, KH belongs to Disney.

At this point companies are going to become way too bloated. The big publishers have been focusing too much on a handful of big IPs, and when they start absorbing each other, the smaller brands are going to be left aside in favour of the main series. This consolidation will only result in less games for everyone. Not to mention the shrinking of the console libraries due to even decreasing multiplats...

Square is a company that is not only about games, i would like them to remain independent but just thinking microsoft buying them and completely ruining them makes me want to vomite. They make games, toys, movies , anime , i think books/manga too ? Its a perfect fit to sony but i fear they would lose their identity or maibe sony can put them on the right path since square leadership it was always questionable in some points. If a deal like this happens only nintendo loses since square makes them a lot of exclusives.

Wait and see but these days rumours and fake insiders and leakers and attention whores are everywhere spreading lies.

Has any of the acquisitions had an "insider" leak beforehand? The Closest I know of is Sony tweeting one early and then deleting it about Housemarque. Some may have forgotten but for a while Sony-owned 20% of Square until 2014.

*Bluepoint

But yeah, if actual Sony software isn't leaking, how would an acquisition?

Its always possible though. My guess is that AA title development will be dropped, and the outsourcing team will be moved to xDev. 

Oh, and that Yoshi P gets a promotion. 

Last I heard, Playstation was trying to move its focus away from Japan and now suddenly they want to be all in. IDK, I'm 50/50 on this.

Yeah, they lost Japan to Nintendo. While Final Fantasy is more popular in the west than Japan. Dragon Quest is the opposite but Sony's been clear they don't care about Japan anymore. So it makes no real sense.

No, I don't think that's quite true. Like, I understand the sentiment, but I don't agree with it. 

Unless Sony plans to get a handheld made, there's no getting back into Japan. Not even Nintendo has a dedicated handheld anymore but the Switch having a portable factor has helped it immensely in the country. 

As for software, it's not as if there's no substitute for the loss of Japan Studio. Team Asobi is basically the new inhouse studio, and Xdev Japan are the new external team: it's basically Japan Studio but as 2 separate entities. 

In that sense, SE could be a good get. They build upon their internal studios with SE's own, and the external development SE does will just move into Xdev.