Rob Fahey of GameIndustry.biz writes: A fair bit of attention has been focused, in the last day or two, on an article which appears in this month's Esquire magazine. Penned by one Scott Stein, it suggests that the billions of dollars which Microsoft is proposing to spend on Yahoo! would be better spent on a tactical acquisition of Sony - which he views as the best way for the two companies to step up to the challenge presented by Nintendo's Wii.
Let's dismiss the possibility from the outset. It's a ludicrous concept, one which totally ignores the fact that Microsoft's entire business is threatened by the rise of Google and other similar Internet firms. It's not that the Xbox isn't important to Microsoft, but right now, its battles with Sony and Apple over home media pale in comparison to the fight with Google over the future of computing - a future which threatens to be independent of operating systems and software platforms, the markets which are the basis for Microsoft's success.
Moreover, it ignores the fact that Sony is, of course, a lot bigger than Sony Computer Entertainment. It incorporates the world's largest movie business, one of the world's largest music businesses, and a vast consumer electronics business - not to mention the countless closely associated subsidiaries and partner companies which make up the ecosystem that surrounds any large Japanese corporation.
As of right now, there are no monopolies in the games industry, and for the sake of the medium as a whole, they never should either.
And yet the biggest tech companies in America are essentially that. They buy up all the small comps only to kill them off and steal what they have, and if they can't buy em they bleed them to death.
Eventually they’ll realize the value is with the employee not the company. Buying an IP means nothing if the people who contributed are let go. They’ll get it one day.
tech is different because they buy threats and then kill them. Twitter bought Vine and did nothing with it. Despite people seemingly liking it. Could've had tiktok a decade before bytedance. go figure.
They buy IPs not talent. That's why these buyouts never work and the IPs die. Right now it's too expensive to develop games - but I expect that to shift maybe as AI tools can make it easier. The best games have been indie games for awhile as big developers fuck their ips to death with "games as a service" -
GL compiles a list of some of the most mind-blowing video game narrative twists in recent memory, from The Last of Us to Outer Wilds
With articles like these cant you tag the games mentioned so that we can know ahead of time if there’s a spoiler to avoid?
Not clicking on your article otherwise.
Gary Green said: We have a juxtaposition of 2D and 3D visuals, flashy turn-based combat, quirky anime characters with cheeky dialogue with plenty of partial nudity; Yes, this is a Compile Heart JRPG. Whilst the engine is borrowed from Hyperdimension Neptunia mk2, Mugen Souls is more of a Disgaea spin-off. It’s not a strategy RPG as such, it merely sits within Disgaea’s ever-expanding universe (Multiverse? Netherverse? Your guess is as good as mine). You won’t find cameos though, since Mugen Souls is a franchise which aims to stand on its own two feet.
Lame. It's never going to happen. And something like this has been posted before.
i've just found out that i can't comment on the gamer zone for some reason, beats me.
just want to point out some very important things that the article didn't stress.
first off, Sony owns the Previous gen, so technically, their footprint on the gaming industry is second to none. BENEFITS?
1. I believe the wii sold mostly to hardcore nitendo fans and casual gamers. so let's assume that its a 50/50 split. so 20 at 20 million, that put us at 10 million casual gamers.
a) that most likely affects the 360, why? because of two factors, the ps2 is one of the hottest selling systems still, and secondly, the 360, even after a year alone as a " next-gen console" on the market,and its biggest games, fail to regain its previous user base.
2.the ps3 outsold the xbox 360 after on its first year, despite the 360's best software line up. EVEN MORE ALARMING
a) the ps3 had zero proven franchise games out for the entire year
b) the xbox 360 sold close to 3 million less consoles its second year then it did on its first year.
c) hardware problems, out of the 17 million 360s sold, at least 5 million of them were defective, and that trend will only continue as time goes by.
Therefore, the article is a careless in putting SONY in the same boat as Mirosoft.
and to finish this of.... the article states that : "For instance, the PS3 is seen as sporting an abundance of features players don't need - although equally, I've recently seen indications that consumers are starting to rail against Microsoft's hidden costs, which it dresses up as "choice" by offering overpriced peripherals for Wi-Fi or for recharging controllers while you play."
Huhhhh.......?!?!?!? i've never seen a more self-destructing paragraph of this calibur. If you add the first sentence to the second one, you end up with NOTHING.....lol, just amazing. So let me explain what he's saying, SONY gives you for free What microsoft is making you pay for, and you happilly buy, but somehow you dismiss it as un-necessary? ok...kewl.....
i guess the point i'm trying to make is that, the media still can't really admit that they've actually fell in love with Hating on Sony. DO Sony deserve it? i'm sure they do, but to ignore facts such as a 30% failure rate from microsoft and say that remote play on and wifi on a ps3 is not really needed, clearly shows your true colors, and clearly you're GREEN all over, and that little stinch of sony you've tried to show, dont worry, its just BLUE balls, it'll go away.
Firstly Since when was Sony up for sale???
Last I heard, business was looking very good for them....its seems some reporters forget there is more to Sony that consoles...and even electronics for that matter. sony own one of the major Hollywood studios don't forget.
I think it would cost a lot more than a search engine thats on a downward spiral.
When Sony is once again poised to trounce the XBOX brand with the PlayStation. Not to mention they would inherit MS's reputation for inferior hardware. I don't think this would happen, Sony would have too much to lose with MS's dead weight.
Now Sony buying Nintendo would be a match made in gaming heaven.
It'd be really nice..
For comments 2 and 3: Last I checked Sony was a stock company.. just buy 51% of the stocks and you basicly control it.