640°

Sony Interactive Entertainment Acquires 14% of Elden Ring Developer FromSoftware

Sony's PlayStation division, Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE) has now acquired roughly 14% of Elden Ring studio, FromSoftware Inc..

darkrider623d ago

Good move, but should have got the studio.

jonny897623d ago

Kinda difficult when the big Tencent is also involved.

Army_of_Darkness623d ago

What even the point in acquiring 14% of a studio?? It's not even 1/4! Either buy the whole studio or not, no?

frostypants622d ago

@Army_of_Darkness, the point is you get a percentage of the profit.

excaliburps623d ago

Maybe they tried? I mean, Tencent co-owns it as well. Won't affect things much, I gather, no? But yeah, I'd be shocked if Sony doesn't try and acquire From. I mean, plot twist: what if Microsoft buys them? LOL!

lonewolf10623d ago

Or if MSoft get 15% to match Sony/Tencent, that would be interesting.

darkrider623d ago

Or tencent joint forces with sony!

Shane Kim623d ago

No Tencent in Sony please.

garos82623d ago

shuhei Yoshida could have done this years ago after they released demons souls but he failed to identify how much of a powerhouse they were to become

Christopher623d ago (Edited 623d ago )

Always easy to say someone should have done something once you know the end result. Not so easy when you don't and, at that time, you're struggling to compete with the 360 and a poor hardware decision that ended up being costly to them as well as slow to gain back market reach.

MONOLITHICIDE623d ago

@Shane Kim
Well why doesnt your old company do something about it?

+ Show (3) more repliesLast reply 623d ago
porkChop623d ago (Edited 623d ago )

They can't. Kadokawa still owns 69.66%. They're only selling small portions. If Kadokawa was interested in selling them off they would have done that.

sinspirit623d ago

I feel like they are just trying to deter some devs/publishers from being bought

thesoftware730623d ago

Wow, now you want them to buy studios...months ago that was taboo. lol.

TheCaptainKuchiki623d ago

Tencent is private company. You can't buy them out unless they agree to it.

strifeblade623d ago

How is that a good move. They will not gain exclusive from this move. They literally just bought some shares lol

+ Show (4) more repliesLast reply 622d ago
Orchard623d ago (Edited 623d ago )

Tencent now owns 16%… 🤢

Hopefully they don’t ever get their hands on the rest or a majority.

EDIT: NetEase just bought Quantic Dream too…

darthv72623d ago

Looks like the disagrees WANT Tencent to get 'the rest or a majority'.

Or they are just disagreeing about the NetEase / QD partnership.

ZeekQuattro623d ago

Orchard gets disagrees no matter what. A good chunk of those are probably that. Lol

DOMination-623d ago

An interesting line that may get missed by headline readers:

"FromSoftware decided to conduct the Third-Party Allotment to Sixjoy within the Tencent Group, which has strength in its capabilities to develop and deploy mobile games"

Retroman623d ago

So. was this a tactical move so Microsoft would not buy Elder Rings??

ironmonkey623d ago

Prob not but who knows. software also made Sony's exclusive Bloodborne game that was a huge success and demon souls for PS3 so it maybe cause they have a very good coop partnership already?.

lonewolf10623d ago

They already had a minor amount of shares anyway and tactical move by who as Tencent also own shares?

brewin623d ago

I dont think the SoulsBorne style games move the needle on Xbox much. Those kind of games are typically associated with PlayStation. I even bought Elden Ring on PS5 rather than Xbox Series because it just seems better suited to the Dual Sense controller. Idk, its just one of those things. I think Elden Ring actually did pretty good numbers on Xbox, but those games just feel more at home on PS.

Christopher623d ago

Likely just putting money where they can make more money out of it. I doubt their ownership will change where and how FromSoftware develops games.

+ Show (1) more replyLast reply 623d ago
Bathyj623d ago

Should have bought them after demon souls.

Godmars290623d ago

Would rather see more independent studios.

Not that the market allows for independent survivability.

Bathyj623d ago (Edited 623d ago )

Me too.
But I would rather see talented Devs in Sony's hands then Microsoft's, Tencents, Amazon etc.

Every dev Sony gets they make better. The others not so much.

Plus Demon Souls made From Software and Sony had a lot to do with that. People forget that.

Neonridr623d ago

@Bathyj - so as long as the company you support does it, it's good.

lol, the hypocrisy in this post.

shinoff2183623d ago

Id rather see sony to catch a little after ms bought all the stuff they did. Im still hoping they buy square so maybe square can put some of these smaller jrpgs on playstation to. Not just switch.

Anomander623d ago

@neonridr. Right if is MS the evil empire that Sony fans claim to be then they should go full DR. Evil with their purchases and keep all the IPs on Xbox and PC. Give everyone a chance to switch to their service in a couple years then shut down those servers outside of their networks.

Godmars290622d ago

@Anomander:

Would think influencing the market towards subscription services was evil enough.

+ Show (2) more repliesLast reply 622d ago
Christopher623d ago

So they could be Sony-fied rather than letting them be them?

Bathyj623d ago

What's this Sonyfied you speak off? Can you give an example because all the Devs I can think of pretty much pick their own projects and maintain their visions.

You think Guerilla would be allowed to drop their staple FPS franchise and do and open world action RPG under Microsoft? You think sucker punch would have done Ghost? Do you think Naughty dog would abandon successful franchises not once not twice but three times to do something completely different and have a new benchmark each time? Would Insomniac get handed properties like Spiderman and Wolverine?

Answer all that honestly and then think about what you said This Sonyfied thing is starting to sound like a good thing.

Christopher622d ago

***What's this Sonyfied you speak off? Can you give an example because all the Devs I can think of pretty much pick their own projects and maintain their visions.***

How many are doing AA games at the scale that FromSoftware does? With Sony, there's a distinct difference between their low-budget games and the expectation of AAA from their other parties.

I'm certain FromSoftware would have been pushed towards what we saw of Demon's Souls Remaster and not Elden Ring level of graphics. That level of focus can hold back other things that otherwise were put into FromSoftware games.

Bathyj623d ago

Sony didn't start this arms race and they aren't buying whole publishers with stables of developers and ip. How come you guess are always so oblivious to that?

And yes history counts. Want me to rattle off a list of developers Microsoft made worse and Sony made better?
I don't have all day, I gotta get to work.

babadivad622d ago

They actually did start it. On top of paying for exclusivity deals on third party multiplatform games. Locking gaming modes to their system and paying publishers to keep games off of Gamepass.

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320°

Microsoft's quest for short-term $$$ is doing long-term damage to Windows, Surface, Xbox, and beyond

Microsoft is pushing for no "red line" for what games could come to PlayStation, and it all revolves around Satya Nadella and CFO Amy Hood's plans to increase every department's margins.

Read Full Story >>
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Brazz10h ago

"The plan to move Xbox games to other platforms is codenamed "Latitude" internally, and I know there's debate and unease at Microsoft about whether or not this is a good idea. More upcoming Microsoft-owned games slated for PlayStation are already being developed. At least for now, they're potentially obvious games you'd most likely expect. And yes, while it's true Microsoft is a prolific publisher on PlayStation already, it has typically revolved around specific franchises like Minecraft. From what I've heard, Microsoft is pushing for no "red line" for what games could come to PlayStation, and it all revolves around Satya Nadella and CFO Amy Hood's mandate to increase every department's margins. "

Yeah, they are going to kill Xbox hardware.

Xeofate8h ago

"Yeah, they are going to kill Xbox hardware."

It's for the best.

Quit stringing along xbox fans and screwing over PlayStation owners.

crazyCoconuts3h ago

Take good care of those Xboxes if you have 'em ...

outsider16243h ago

An Xbox game on a Playstation. Never in my years of gaming did i ever thought this was gonna happen.

gold_drake10h ago

i think it will kill off the xbox brand. windows will be fine.

but there is and would be a chance that xbox might be killed off in the future. if they fail to make the money they put in. imo.

S2Killinit7h ago

They wont kill it, but they will go fully PC while keeping xbox as a brand, and go multiplatform for the most part. They will also work tirelessly to diminish console gaming’s importance.

PRIMORDUS4h ago

It would be best if Xbox goes the way of Sega, just make and publish games. I know I myself will not support them at all with buying games from them, you all can. 🙃

ChasterMies2h ago

The Xbox brand will live for the games. I don’t expect Microsoft to entirely drop out of gaming hardware. They make Surface tablets and laptops. They’ll make Xbox branded hardware for those that want it.

shadowT9h ago

"Microsoft is pushing for no "red line" for what games could come to PlayStation"

Forza and Starfield next?

Skuletor8h ago

Starfield would be no surprise and there's the rumor that it will come to Playstation after the Shattered Space DLC, Forza (along with Halo and Gears of War) I find less likely but I wouldn't be surprised if they eventually end up on PlayStation too, especially if Xbox give up on hardware and go the Sega route.

shinoff21838h ago

Not to worried about forza. I'd rather see others like what inxile and obsidian are working on. Starfield sounds like it needs more time in the oven so let it cook first imo. If starfield and it's a small if does release on ps it'll be in the fall around the time for dlc or right at the dlc and come packaged with it.

-Foxtrot8h ago

In the words of Phil Spencer when he was talking about Nintendo last year

“It's just taking a long time for Microsoft to see that their future exists off of their own hardware"

S2Killinit7h ago

Yup. MS are a cancer to console gaming.

Aloymetal6h ago

100%!!
I wonder what happened to that dude that was always here posting those court articles with cartoons about MS spending all those billions in studios. He suddenly disappeared, I guess he doesn't like bad news when the green brand is in trouble. No new articles from him as of late...

PRIMORDUS4h ago

Yup, and it's only going to keep spreading.

Outside_ofthe_Box4h ago

Phil Spencer's words always comes back to bite him lol

8h agoReplies(7)
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120°

Hypercharge Unboxed Dev Saddened By Claims It'll Be 'Dead' Without Xbox Game Pass

One of the big Xbox releases heading our way in May 2024 is the long-awaited Hypercharge Unboxed, which is finally bringing its "first and third-person shooter action figure game" to Xbox consoles on Friday, May 31st.

Sadly, ahead of launch, the game's official Twitter (or "X") account has been highlighting the "trolls" who are claiming that because it's not launching on Game Pass, Hypercharge Unboxed is already set up for failure on Xbox.

helicoptergirl18h ago

It's horrible what people will say, but the truth might be harsh. There is a good chance it might not do well on Xbox if it's not on GamePass. There is a strong possibility that is the case. We'll see.

When it launches on Playstation in the future you can rest assured it will sell much better. The devs have confirmed it's coming to Playstation in the future.

"It is built in the Unreal Engine 4. The game was released on the Nintendo eShop on January 31, 2020 and on Steam on April 27, 2020. The development of Hypercharge: Unboxed for the Xbox platform was officially announced on July 16, 2022, with the developers also confirming future support for the PlayStation."

ZeekQuattro17h ago

I remember having this on my radar years ago for the Switch but never pulled the trigger on it. Crazy it's still not on PlayStation yet.

northpaws9h ago

And that's the problem of GamePass.

JEECE8h ago

Unfortunately once people are conditioned to expect to get something as part of a subscription they already pay for, they are unlikely to buy it a la carte. Some games, including this one, now look like "Gamepass Games" to a huge chunk of the Xbox audience. Maybe this game will buck that trend, and I wish them luck, but I'd imagine they'll have a rough go trying to sell this game on Xbox.

shinoff21838h ago

Hopefully their game not selling on Xbox doesn't stop them from bringing it to ps. I can't imagine why a developer would go Xbox first if their not on gamepass. Good luck to them though.

JEECE7h ago

Yeah I can't figure that out either. I mean I understand why you go there first if you get a Gamepass payday, but if you are just trying to sell copies it doesn't make sense. Fewer users overall, and a smaller percentage of those users are willing to buy indie games a la carte.

Jingsing6h ago

Yeah, I can't understand it either unless there is some deep routed fan-boyism from the developer, which isn't very clever if you are trying to make a living. Fatshark is a perfect example of a developer sending their games to die on Xbox and they kept doing it.

Jingsing6h ago

British guy saying Xbox is his dream console doesn't really sit right does it. 5 generations of PlayStation in the UK and you haven't figured out what console is going to make you the most money. That is the mistake you've made.

90°

Epic Games Faces $1.2 Million Fine Over "Unfair Practices," Plans to Fight Back

Epic Games is facing a $1.2 million fine by the Netherlands Authority for Consumers and Markets over "unfair practices" in the Fortnite shop.

Sciurus_vulgaris1d 1h ago

It might be cheaper to simply pay the fine. Fighting said fine could cost millions due to court and lawyer fees. Fortnite generates well over a 100 million in each month, so Epic has plenty of cash.

franwex17h ago(Edited 17h ago)

But if they did pay it, then they are basically admitting that they did something they weren’t supposed to be doing. If they fight it, they may win and continue to have a sense of urgency for their micro transactions thus making more money long term.

Goodguy019h ago(Edited 9h ago)

Meaning more suits to follow from others if they don't fight as well.

Not a fan of Epic nor fortnite and their micro transactions. But the game is heavily supported and is free to play, all store items are completely cosmetic.

15h ago
Furesis12h ago

I'd fight back too. These are kinda meaningless reasons to fine someone like really for THAT. It's like they just wanted to make money or something.

Sephiroushin3h ago

There is a law for something, but even if its stupid follow it because if you break it you pay for it; if they knew they cant place a “buy now” in NL then just dont do it!