PlayStation Doesn't Need To Make A Big Acquisition To Counter Xbox

PlayStation doesn't need to make a massive acquisition to compete with Xbox. They need to continue building on what they already do well.

[PrimeVinister]

Agreed. Xbox only bought big to catch up with Sony, games-wise.

[NecrumOddBoy]

This. If you look at the top games; there are very few in percentage to the consoles sold. 115 million PS5s but most exclusive only reach about 10% max on sales. I say this because this acquisition from Bethesda isn't news for the majority of consumers (still fairly casual) that will but a new system for Netflix and other games they see that might look appealing (the super popular titles and sports games for example). This news resonates almost exclusively within the hardcore community who follows the games industry more closely.

After a lot of further review on this, MS isn't going after Sony. They are going after "gaming in general." We are going to see MS in more publishing and service roles and to be honest, I would expect Game Pass to expand to the next Nintendo system and quite possibly, PS5 in the future. MS is trying to get consumers on their service, less than their consoles. If they have 100 million subscribers across PS5/Switch/PC with only 20 million on Series S/X, they still are winning. Services seem to be their goal and they are trying to still figure out Game Pass. It's not financially beneficial at the moment; also, in the end, console sales are not where the money is at, it's still about games and services...

Things are definitely changing.

[fr0sty]

https://www.youtube.com/wat...

[umair_s51]

Pressure is not on Xbox it's on Sony.

[IRetrouk]

How do you figure that 🤔

[umair_s51]

It's about profit margins. MS is undercutting Sony.

[NEXUS-6]

umair_s51 - Sony destroyed ms in profit margins this gen, and next gen will continue that.

ms has to get back $7.5 BN before they even start turning a profit on that ludicrous investment.

Sony has to make back $400mn for Insomniac which they'll do before Christmas.

[IRetrouk]

How?

[Bender6502]

Which they have more than done. Watch this space.

[NeoGamer232]

If Sony were to react with their own acquisition spree MS would again react and it would be a never ending cycle. MS felt they needed to do something and did. If Sony does the same it would just trigger MS to do the same. And everyone knows if this turns into a competition on buying studios/publishers it is obvious who will win that one.

Sony is best to just keep focused and doing what they do well. Make sure the PS5 is a great gaming console and make sure it has a great selection of games.

[Darkborn]

Nah I don't think so. There were tons of leaks and briefings stating the xbox investors were pissed at the revenue and stock of the Xbox most of this gen. I'm actually surprised they were able to get the OK to buy something this large. Since this happened I'm sure they have to actually turn a profit otherwise they won't do it again. They probably still haven't actually profited directly from the mojang acquisition yet.

[NeoGamer232]

@Darkborn
Xbox Investors?

You think MS gives any time to the "Xbox Investors". Xbox is a zit in Microsoft's finances. MS has stated that the XB world is not a world that they make a ton of money on, but it drives innovation in Windows and other MS businesses so it is strategically important to be there.

[umair_s51]

It's not about the past it's about the future. If Sony will rest on it's laurels they will lose their customer base.

[Master of Unlocking]

"Everyone knows if this turns into a competition on buying studios/publishers it is obvious who will win"

Maybe not so obvious. Having deep pockets is only part of the problem when you want to acquire studios. If that turned into a competition maybe MS could pull out the checkbook again, although even that is uncertain, as stockholders also have a say in this and could well veto that decision in a general meeting of shareholders until at least MS have recouped some of those ludicrous 7,5 billion dollars, which is gonna take a while... if ever. But there are only so many studios out there capable of developping AAA titles that are system sellers. Well, there are many still out there, like Capcom, Square-Enix, Sega, etc, but they're too big to sell to MS. And being japanese even if they were to sell to one or the other, my best bet would be they would sell to Sony.

[mark3214uk]

true but purchasing Bethesda does not even come close to catching up with sonys first-party studios games,if they had to get to 10 to catch up there at around 4 now after purchasing bethesda

[FallenAngel1984]

Are people not satisfied with the Insomniac acquisition from last year

[NecrumOddBoy]

I am not disagreeing with you but I don't think that is really valid in comparison. Insomniac is one studio that has a 9 to 1 track record of creating Sony exclusives anyway. That is like MS acquiring Playground Studios. It just made sense. MS just bought a publisher and took 3rd party studios within it. It's bigger than just Bethesda. If Sony bought Capcom or Square, for example, I would still think that would have been a dick move (although, I would really love it if Octopath Traveler came to PS5. I put 95 hours into the Switch game and really would have loved some trophies).

[NEXUS-6]

I'd like BlusPoint and Kojima under Sony - all the other big companies are heavily invested in multi-plat gaming and it wouldn't be right to chain them to a single platform.

[Master of Unlocking]

Just like the studios under Bethesda's belt were. The Wolfenstein , Doom, Fallout or The Elder's Scrolls games have always been on Playstation consoles, but that didn't stop MS from acquiring them.

[NEXUS-6]

Bluepoint have been a dev for hire for various consoles. Although their best work has been done on PS consoles.

Koji is a new studio, and their one game is exclusive on console and available on PC. Even under Sony that probably won't change.

The studios I'm referring to are people like Capcom, and buying a parent company like SquareEnix is not good for the industry.

Even if Sony had the means to, I'm fairly sure they wouldn't.

[Sitdown]

Had to double check the date, didn't we already have these articles already? It's simple, if Sony needed to, they would. Microsoft needed this move to try and level of playing field, and/or continue to cash in.

[TheEnigma313]

Sony doesn't need to react to everything MS is doing; they're in an amazing position right now. MS has to clean up the mess from last gen.

[Elda]

Absolutely correct.

[Baza]

Naughty Dog, Santa Monica, Guerrilla, Insomniac and Sucker Punch are all better studios than Bethesda Studios...

[Unknown_Gamer5794]

Their games are far less glitchy too.

[FloydianAndroid]

I agree with you on that.

[FloydianAndroid]

I wish people would realize that Sony and PlayStation aren’t in direct competition with each other. Sony is selling software and are deficient with services and back compat, Microsoft is a hardware company that has great services and just wants gamepass as many places as possible, and Nintendo is about software and innovations like portability and unique concepts like labo. All three companies cater to different audiences. That being said Sony seems to be tripping up from a PR standpoint. Microsoft is trying to establish a stronger exclusive portfolio and continuing to push gamepass. Nintendo continues to make great game a bit are clueless when it comes to online play. The fanboys are the only ones fighting a war.

[Unknown_Gamer5794]

Not to be that guy to jump on an amusing typo, but of course Sony and PlayStation aren't in direct competition with each other. :P

[ANIALATOR136]

It should be buying Konami IPs

[RaiderNation]

I would much rather see Sony grow and cultivate talent from within than to go out and try to buy a large developer. However I do hope Sony does acquire smaller teams like Housemarque and Blue Point. Like Insomniac, it just makes sense. They've been working so closely and so exclusively with Sony for so long. Sony just needs to put a ring on it with them.

[FloydianAndroid]

You do realize both insomniac and naughty dog were acquisitions right?

[RaiderNation]

What does that have to do with anything I said? What Sony has done previously has nothing to do with what I would like to see them do going forward. Yes, Insomniac was a great get but lets be honest, they were already practically a Sony dev in everything but name. And when Sony bought Naughty Dog, they weren't yet "NAUGHTY DOG " They were a small, unknown studio, just like Blue Point and Housemarque which I'm totally on board with Sony acquiring.

[CrashFistfight]

It’s way cheaper to create new studios, and develop new Ip’s. Open 3 or 4 new studios(2 in Asia), and create a new team at Sucker Punch and Bend, then get the studios with the good working relationships like Bluepoint. This is a much better option not only from cost, but it also limits the negative feelings from gamers who can no longer play certain games because of exclusivity.

[Unknown_Gamer5794]

True. The ones Sony has bought are normally studios that have worked closely with and primarily produced exclusives anyways, so there's far less ill will when Sony buys one of them, but it is true that starting new studios is an option. It's not one that MS would ever take as they're far too lazy and would rather throw cash around than actually contribute to the industry in a meaningful way, but that's definitely something Sony could do.

[Father__Merrin]

Xbox averaging 20k consoles sold worldwide Sony doesn't need to do anything

[CaptainHenry916]

They keep forgetting about that

[Father__Merrin]

I don't mean that in a negative way but they are forgetting the core gamer audience went with Sony and now that core base has had a tremendous generation of great games why would they leave.

These fanboy web outlets are really going after Sony hard this time round.

[Wrex369]

Just glad to see the industry more competitive everyone wants to bicker and shit but damn it's never been better for everyone

[aaronaton]

As a Sony fan, I wanna see them just go ahead and announce if there are some killer titles in the works. If the likes of SOCOM, Silent Hill and Metal Gear Solid are coming to Playstation as exclusives, then just say. It could make the difference between someone getting a PS5 over a Series X.

[Ausbo]

Yeah they don’t. Just keep doing what they are doing and they will be fine.

[crxss]

but why not?

[DaniMacYo]

Sony don't need to go back and forth with Microsoft. Microsoft are doing what's in their best interest right now and that's getting on with it, they have been lacking quality games and studios for ages now. This is a good move for them. Sony have already been doing this since last gen so it's really Microsoft who have just done what Sony did last year. Sony are fine right where they are. They already have big name studios and games they don't need to get another studio or two just yet.

[JEECE]

Not a fan of this "Sony already has great studios" argument. Obviously Sony has great first party studios, but the problem is that the value proposition of Playstation has decreased significantly. In the PS4 gen, we got great games from Sony's studios and basically every game Bethesda published. So it doesn't really make sense to say that what Sony already had is a counter to Bethesda, because it was already built in to the ecosystem. No matter how you slice it, the value has decreased.

[Unknown_Gamer5794]

It depends how much you're into Bethesda's games, bruh. Sure, Sony may not have a flagship WRPG glitchfest, but they have plenty of other kinds of games. Heck, some could argue that From Software's stuff is kind of like a hardcore WRPG (even if it's made in Japan). MS boosted Xbox's appeal, sure, but you're selling PlayStation short if you think the PS5 won't provide us with other great titles.

[JEECE]

It will provide us with great titles. My point is that this is not a scenario where MS created a new studio with tons of talent to make something new and exclusive to MS; they took something that PlayStation players previously had access to and made it part of Xbox.

So during PS4 gen, I could buy Uncharted, Dishonored, and Fallout. I'll still be able to buy whatever Naughty Dog puts out, but I've lost access to this Bethesda properties. It's not a comparison between the quality of Sony titles and Bethesda titles, it's a comparison between having both on Playstation and only having Sony titles (I mean only Sony titles for the purposes of this comparison, obviously there will be the other third parties).

Put differently, if someone got robbed and had 30% of their money taken away, you wouldn't tell them them that it's fine because the 70% they still have is more significant than what was stolen.

[Unknown_Gamer5794]

Point taken, I suppose, even if 30% is a very hyperbolic figure. Thousands upon thousands of games come to every console, and while Bethesda titles are more substantial than most, they're still a few buckets full in a sea of games. But, yes, they are games that will no longer be coming to PlayStation. Good thing the sea of PlayStation isn't hurting for water.

[JEECE]

It's an entire publisher (some people are forgetting this or misunderstanding this and thinking that MS just bought the developer Bethesda Game Studios). They are also one of the publishers that isn't obsessed with annualized franchises and MTs. I'm not saying they are never guilty of bad practices, but compared to Activision, EA, Ubisoft, etc, there's a much higher focus on quality there (yes I know about Fallout 76, no need to mention it, I'm speaking generally).

Additionally, there may be "thousands" of games, but some of the stuff Bethesda puts out is different from other devs. Obviously they have the first person western RPG market almost to themselves (and MS owns obsidian, one of the other major players), but you also have to consider that this gen and last gen Bethesda put out a bunch of singleplayer-focused, non annualized FPS games that other studios are not making (Doom, Wolfenstein, Dishonored, Prey). So it's not super helpful to say "welp, there's still a bunch of annualized Ubisoft games, so it's fine."

[Unknown_Gamer5794]

Bethesda is a good studio/publisher. Of that, I agree. But, even with some solid IPs now under its umbrella, the onus is now on MS to take those studios and provide us with excellent games. I could go into details about why each franchise under that umbrella isn't the earth-shattering, singlehandedly gen-winning IP it's being touted as, but I suppose if those games are that big of a deal to you, get a XSX or XSS. I'm simply saying that PlayStation has plenty of other games to offer, and there's way more to the picture. We will see which system has more to offer when all is said and done.

[isarai]

Quality over Quantity, the only decent game to come out of Bethesda lately has been Doom, they've been pretty garbage otherwise. Hopefully they return to form for Starfield and Elder Scrolls 6, but we'll just have to wait and see. Meanwhile Playstations first party make top tier masterpieces 90% of the time, with the occasional "good but not as good" game here and there. Which has been consistently the case since the PS1

[JEECE]

And last gen we had access to the great first party games and Bethesda's titles. This gen we still have access to the great first party games, but we lost Bethesda. So basically we should just be okay with a significant loss of value because we retained some value?

[JEECE]

@TryAgainFriend

Deathloop and Ghostwire: Tokyo are still coming, but beyond that nothing is confirmed. And no, news stories saying that Bethesda is still going to operate somewhat autonomously inside of MS are not confirmation that they'll keep publishing on PS5.

[Ratchet75]

Sony needs to buy or build a western RPG studio imo.

[JEECE]

Yes. A first person western RPG is essential now.

[Whitey2k]

Yes and no. No sony has better talented devs on there side and yes the fact if sony doesnt retaliate microsoft could have the option of buying out capcom ubisoft square enix etc could end up screwing sony over. So in my opinion it would be nice to purchase a big major studio.

[FanboySpotter]

*What if* take-two was considering whatever amount ms throws at them and they get rockstar.. would you still feel that way? I'm really curious because bethesda IPs are huge and scary if they end up being only on xbox and pc. I see jokes saying "lol we're getting elder scrolls on ps5 anyways" ok what if it never goes there? What sony rpg game counters that or fallout? 🤔 real curious to know

[JEECE]

People really have their heads in the sand about this stuff.

[Unknown_Gamer5794]

Nope, they just need to keep up the good work. Even with the new studios, MS still has an uphill battle ahead of them if they want to compete with Sony's first party output.

[mastershredder]

Yes. It's this Big Acquisition crap that is doing no one any good except for the new IP holder. F'em.

[Darkborn]

Bethesda has always been super pro Xbox anyways. They would always work on pc and Xbox mostly at the same time and then like the last week before release have like 2 people scrounge up a playstation port.

[ironmonkey]

Yeah and always a buggy shit mess,

[System_Call]

I don't know but people forgot that Xbox miserably lost this generation even to Nintendo?

Xbox is the one with all the pressure.

[WeAreLegion]

They DO need to get a Gamepass competitor though. Or Microsoft will take over the market by continuing to buy studios. It'll be like Netflix...except without Hulu or Prime or anything else to compete with it. It'll be insane.

[ironmonkey]

Sonys own internal studios are kicking ass this and leaps ahead of ms in terms of quality studios and sales no need to run around and buy shit unless your the one playing desperate.