Is it time for Sony to become a pure gaming company (similar to Nintendo and Sega)?

Sony is currently in an acquisition war with Microsoft, both are trying to purchase as many studios as they can. Problem is, Microsoft is a trillion-dollar company which means Sony cannot make the same amount of acquisitions. But there is something that Sony can do to acquire as much as possible: they can sell off some of their non-gaming divisions, then use that money to purchase more game studios than they otherwise could. For example, Sony can sell off their camera technologies and financial services divisions, then use that money to purchase a huge publisher like Take-Two, Ubisoft or Epic Games. That would definitely help them compete against Activision Blizzard (soon to be owned by Microsoft). I know it will be a risky thing to do, but could be worth it in the end.

The only non-gaming division that Sony could keep would be Crunchyroll anime streaming service, because anime and video games pretty much go together hand-in-hand. Plenty of gamers watch anime, and plenty of anime watchers play video games. There are plenty of video games based on anime, and anime based on video games. Two sides of the same coin if you ask me.

Your thoughts? Would you like to see Sony become a pure gaming company?

Sony's acquisitions are nice though. Nixxes is already hard at work making native PC versions, meanwhile I don't even know what they were going to do under Square Enix, who seemingly was only interested in live service.

Bungie is also a respecetable developer.

Meanwhile Activision-Blizzard is poop.

I’d love for Sony to become a third party company like Sega has become. We don’t need a company who just copies other companies. Sony lacks innovation.

No, being a major console player is more than about what they can make on their own stuff on their platform, royalties just for publishing on the platform are huge when one accounts for all third party sales and DLC and microtransactions and such. They'd be giving up a lot.

No. Really bad idea. It would leave sony very exposed to any big changes in the gaming market. They would have no fallback should their games division suffer. It would make games production even riskier for them.

One of the reasons MS is so big and can make so many acquisitions is because they offer a lot of different services to different markets. If xbox crapped the bed tomorrow MS, as an entity, would be just fine. They have boat loads of revenue coming in from other industries that they can use for xbox if they so wish.

Nintendo, in contrast, are in a very precarious position. They are fine now since the switch is doing so well and a boat load of software sells on it. But what if the switch 2 fails? what if its another wiiu? Their theme park is nowhere near enough to fall back on (thats more of a vanity project anyway). They seem to be pulling back a bit from the mobile side and that, in its current form at least, is also not enough. They have no Gameboy/DS to fall back on. They are also comically ill equipped for multiplat development. They know how to make games for their, and only their hardware. that's it.

They do have a boat load of cash in the bank and can run for a while under tight wiiu/Gamecube conditions. But they wouldn't be able to sustain that forever. Nintendo, by all accounts, is not a small company (it's just small relative to Sony and MS).

So no: really bad idea for a company the size of Sony to throw all their eggs in the gaming basket.

Wouldn't becoming a pure movie company be more natural?

@osan0: Sony experiences massive losses in their non-gaming segments as well (they lost billions trying to compete against iPhone with their Xperia phones, they had to sell off their Vaio laptop line to another investment company due to heavy losses, plus their Bravia TVs are struggling against Chinese TV manufacturers), so it would be a mistake to assume their non-gaming divisions are some kind of financial safe havens. If anything, PlayStation is actually safer than most of their other segments.

@Litchie: Perhaps I can add their movie business in the same basket as their Crunchyroll anime business since there’s plenty of overlap between movies and games.

@lavamelon: Sony has Morbius, they’ll be fine.

Why would they sell their camera sensor business when they are a market leader in that? Doesn't make any sense whatsoever.

Bungie is a dumpster fire. Nixxes is a solid pickup though.

Sony makes the best TVs and they make great movies. So they need to retain those products as well.

Sony, like Microsoft, does not need to do this. Like...at all.

iirc gaming is actually a fairly small % of their total income, about ~25% last time I read. Maybe not small small, but not the majority by a long shot.

Staying diversified is probably their best bet.

Also, who knows what the next ten years will have for us? It might be that there is no need for dedicated consoles in a generation or two, and if you are a company that produces exactly that, you might find yourself in a tough situation.

These companies are banking big on gaming becoming bigger. Just like Tencent, what they are doing is huge investments to reap the profits later.

True, and COVID certainly created a lot of gamers and they will need to keep them hooked.

But Sony is a huge company that produces a lot of different kinds of goods, I don't imagine them being a majority-gaming company any time soon.

Sony should get into the fairytale business,with the amount of bullshit they spout.

Once upon a time.. exclusives, generations,SSD....The End

I wonder if the TC knows what he is talking about, as his suggestion would harm Sony's profitability. It is best for Sony to diversify its investments instead of putting them into one basket.

They should just stop the charade of Movie-games and just go full Movie production. ;o

Leave the gaming biz to the pros at MS. :P

Nah. They have numerous other revenue and profit generators beyond gaming. Just read their quarterly and yearly reports on a regular basis. If something becomes unsuccessful they can drop it , sell it , or adapt and turn things around like they did with gaming. They can even venture into new things! Diversify. Expand if possible. Streamline when needed.

Can't see that happening. Sony are too big to do that.

They're doing fine the way they are now. Why would they change that?

It would also be a big mistake to assume that gaming is any sort of safe haven for Sony. It is a highly volatile business and, historically, any time a company has felt comfortable in their position in the industry they have ended up with a very bloody nose.

No. They make great TV's with their Bravia line.

No, they aren't. Microsoft sees Sony as a small fry. Microsoft competes with Google and Amazon.

Sony makes quality electronics. Why would I want them to give that up to acquire more studios? Why would I want them to take away multiplat games from gamers and make them exclusive?

@BassMan: Sony have been offering their first party games to PC gamers, PlayStation exclusives are becoming a thing of the past nowadays.

@lavamelon: I am happy that more Sony games are coming to PC, but buying established developers or publishers who develop multiplat games is not cool. I don't care if it is MS or Sony doing it. Games should be available to as many gamers as possible.

@lavamelon: Most of Sony's revenue comes from outside the gaming industry.

@dabear:

Maybe I read that wrong but it said Sony's Game and Network Services was the main source of revenue.

@PSP107: But, 75% of Sony's revenue comes from other sources.

Sure, the Game and Network Services is the most profitable segment, but it only represents about one-third of the Sony Group's total revenue.

https://www.sony.com/en/SonyInfo/IR/library/presen/er/pdf/21q4_sonypre.pdf

Given gamers seem to prefer tech monopolies to control this industry and not pure gaming companies...

Terrible idea.

Sony's non-gaming divisions have recovered and become profitable. The majority of Sony's revenue now comes from their non-gaming divisions (though PlayStation remains their biggest division).

Sony has dominated the movie box office for much of the pandemic era, with blockbusters like Bad Boys, Demon Slayer, Spider-Man and Uncharted. Sony Music is profitable, with plenty of successful artists signed to them and a rise in streaming profits. Sony Music Japan is also taking over much of the anime industry, with Aniplex, Funimation and Crunchyroll, while also owning hit mobile games like Fate/Grand Order. And Sony Electronics has had great success as a mobile camera manufacturer, manufacturing the cameras in most Apple and Samsung phones. Sony's non-gaming divisions are in a far better shape today than they were a decade ago.

It would also hurt the PlayStation brand on top of that. The PlayStation brand is heavily dependent on cinematic games. And that's helped by Sony itself having a reputation as a film production company. Selling off Sony Pictures would hurt Sony's image as a cinematic gaming company. And PlayStation benefits from cross-pollination with Sony Pictures, like the crossover of Spider-Man and Uncharted between movies and games.

Speaking of Spider-Man, that is easily Sony's single biggest media IP, and the biggest superhero in the world. And that's owned by Sony Pictures. Selling off Sony Pictures would mean losing their biggest media IP.

I don't see any good reason at all to sell off their non-gaming divisions. If that's what they need to fight an acquisition war with MS, then it's just not worth it.

@st_monica: @dabear:

Are you guys combining Sony other services vs just it's Game/Network Services?

I was specifically talking about the Statista link, which only shows up to 2020. In that link, it shows that Sony's revenue from "games and networking" accounted for 25% of their total revenue (Games and Networking is a category).

So, selling off or eliminating everything but "Games and Networking" would mean Sony would lose 75% of it's revenue - quite a silly proposition.

@dabear: but if they sold off their non-gaming divisions to buy gaming publishers with the money they gain, then there is a chance they could easily make up for it. If Sony acquired Take-Two, I’m sure the profits from GTA6 can rival some of their previous non-gaming divisions. Although it’s hard to know for sure, it’s something worth thinking about.

Let’s count the AAA games that spawned from IPs that Sony owns, and then the ones MS owns, and compare.

Incorporating the dvd format into gaming, and doing the same with Blu-ray, offering an hdmi port, wasn’t “innovative“ enough for you?

One of those “innovations” have been utilized by your Nintendo console for 2 generations now.

Sony is entering the shark laser / satellite business, or so I heard. Also, they're entering the EV scene with honda

Morbius alone earns Sony billions of dollars every year.

Arent sony cameras the best in business right now ? Why would Sony sell it off ?

In terms of market share:

• Sony Electronics is the largest manufacturer of mirrorless cameras, and third largest TV manufacturer (after Samsung & LG).
• Sony Semiconductor is the largest manufacturer of smartphone camera image sensors.
• Sony Music is the largest music publisher.
• Sony Pictures is the second largest film distributor (after Disney).
• Aniplex (Sony Music Entertainment Japan) is the largest anime film distributor.

...It would be foolish for Sony to sell off these divisions.

says the one that talks about how great halo is calling bungie a dumpster fire.

The irony.

Bungie went down hill after Halo 3.

yeah I know. AAA game after another.

xbox players love beta games though. that is the future of gaming to them. release a game that will not be finished for years.

lol :P

No.

Sony kicking MS's butt for a decade is what made MS wake up and start to compete.

We need Sony and MS to keep each other in check.

This gen, MS is making the right moves while Sony is charging for upgrades but you better believe they are plotting and have something up their sleeves.

Competition is great, especially for the consumer

really so halo reach was bad 9.5?

then destiny which got a 6

then they went from 6 to a 9 with destiny 2.

@SecretPolice said:

@gifford38 said:

@ermacness said:

@SecretPolice said:

They should just stop the charade of Movie-games and just go full Movie production. ;o

Leave the gaming biz to the pros at MS. :P

Let’s count the AAA games that spawned from IPs that Sony owns, and then the ones MS owns, and compare.

yeah I know. AAA game after another.

xbox players love beta games though. that is the future of gaming to them. release a game that will not be finished for years.

lol :P

upset? great after another = upset?

thats like being upset because I won the lottery.

@gifford38 said:

@SecretPolice said:

@gifford38 said:

@ermacness said:

@SecretPolice said:

They should just stop the charade of Movie-games and just go full Movie production. ;o

Leave the gaming biz to the pros at MS. :P

Let’s count the AAA games that spawned from IPs that Sony owns, and then the ones MS owns, and compare.

yeah I know. AAA game after another.

xbox players love beta games though. that is the future of gaming to them. release a game that will not be finished for years.

lol :P

upset? great after another = upset?

thats like being upset because I won the lottery.

Microsoft Takes Home Award for Metacritic’s Publisher of the Year

BYDANIEL DEANGELO

PUBLISHED MAR 09, 2022

Metacritic ranks Microsoft as 2021’s best video game publisher with an average Metascore of 87.4 percent, more than any previous year’s winner.

https://gamerant.com/microsoft-award-metacritics-publisher-of-the-year/

:P

@SecretPolice said:

@gifford38 said:

@SecretPolice said:

@gifford38 said:

@ermacness said:

Let’s count the AAA games that spawned from IPs that Sony owns, and then the ones MS owns, and compare.

yeah I know. AAA game after another.

xbox players love beta games though. that is the future of gaming to them. release a game that will not be finished for years.

lol :P

upset? great after another = upset?

thats like being upset because I won the lottery.

Microsoft Takes Home Award for Metacritic’s Publisher of the Year

BYDANIEL DEANGELO

PUBLISHED MAR 09, 2022

Metacritic ranks Microsoft as 2021’s best video game publisher with an average Metascore of 87.4 percent, more than any previous year’s winner.

https://gamerant.com/microsoft-award-metacritics-publisher-of-the-year/

:P

ow please ps5 had more AAA games in 2022.

thats what counts more. more games to choose from.