The gaming sector is ripe for merger and acquisitions, many studios with multiple offers according to Brad Sams

We may be seeing the mergers accelerate at a rate not seen before.

Merge me if old

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He specifically talked about IP valuations soaring. Is that any hints to maybe not necessarily studios themselves but also just IP being put on sale. If that’s the case, man, it’s gonna be a fucking crime scene.

Imagine the likes of Metal Gear solid, Silent Hill, Tomb Raider (unlikely), Deus Ex, Splinter Cell, etc being up for sale and like a dozen or more different companies are tryna buy that shit, would be interesting to watch.

Hey fellow buddy, come join the talk over at our OT: Xbox Acquisition |OT| - So We’re Back to Making Lists, Huh? - #4373 by Searsy82

I still maintain that even now, there are IP you can still get for cheap that hold decent “hardcore cred” if you pick smart enough.

Particularly now that Game Pass exists and the game doesn’t need to sell 10 million copies to be viable. Off the top of my head:

  • Rock n Roll Racing
  • Shinobi
  • Maximo
  • Gun Valkyrie
  • Tenchu
  • Deathrow

All of the above could easily have new good games made that would kill it on Game Pass and cost jack all to purchase from their current IP holders

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takes a shot:joy:

Awesome!!! Hoping a lot of shit gets acquired!!!

I expect Tencent to be actively involved in many of these deals.

Considering Brad reported it and covers only Microsoft I believe Microsoft definitely in the talks

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More then ever, I think MS will get the Tomb Raider and Deus Ex IP plus the studios

Microsoft already has perfect dark and Indiana Jones which presumably will cover those bases but i guess you can never have too much of a good thing.

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Tomb Raider in the right hands is way bigger then both

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I hope Square Enix buys Platinum Games. Their collaboration on NieR: Automata was amazing but the studio seems to be experiencing hard times.

Square buying Platinum would mean even more possibility in the future for their games to skip Xbox lol. Imagine the next Nier or Vanquish or whatever is a two year PS timed exclusive.

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I mean, NieR: Automata was timed and Wonderful 101 skipped Xbox. Babylon’s Fall AD is timed (at least)…

While I don’t work in video game M&A, in other industries every headline acquisition (especially those of a big fish paying a premium) compounds the interest for additional M&A. Every owner of a studio looks at each new deal and says “maybe we should explore our strategic alternatives too”.

With the boom of gaming and multiple large acquisitions in 2020, I wouldn’t be surprised if there is a large amount of consolidation in 2021.

Didn’t they get a investment from Tencent or another chinese conglomerate and are planning to be a publisher themselves ?

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Platinum seems like a studio Sony could afford but i think Tencent is a more likely buyer.

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I don’t think platinum has ever worked with Sony so I’m not sure how likely that is

No they haven’t far as I know

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Maybe Nintendo nabs Platinum like they did Monolith. They’re a great team with fast, regular, mature output. Especially since Nintendo seems to have reclaimed part of the hardcore through the Switch, it wouldn’t be a bad buy. Platinum would just need to be willing to stick to underpowered hardware and maybe get an exception to use the cloud.