Acquisitions in the Gaming Industry - Discussion, Evaluation and Predictions

[Tokuiten]

"Metroid Souls" gives me "Yakuza F-Zero" vibes

From Software is independent from Bandai Namco.

The best vibes then

Thanks

 

[Diaochan]

You don't think they could make a new game called "Something Souls" and take all the profits for themselves? That almost explicitly what they said they are going to do!


And Sony stock is down and tencent stock is up. Did Sony hurt from this and Bandai gain?

FromSoft "Take all the profits for themselves" which 16% go to Tencent and 14% go to Sony, lol. And what a good strategy to just abandon the Elden Ring IP and make "Something Souls" games instead! No wonder Sony stock is down lol.

 

[BoktaiFan]

FromSoft "Take all the profits for themselves" which 16% go to Tencent and 14% go to Sony, lol. And what a good strategy to just abandon the Elden Ring IP and make "Something Souls" games instead! No wonder Sony stock is down lol.

I'm sorry but what point are you making here? They literally "Abandoned" the Dark Souls IP to make Elden Ring and that was a massive success.

Are you still suggesting that Bandai isn't getting cut out or are you just trolling at this point.

 

[MegaXZero]

Bandai Namco co-owns the Elden Ring and Dark Souls IPs so how can FromSoft cut Bandai Namco out? By not making any more Elden Ring or Dark Souls games? I doubt it.

Meanwhile is FromSoft going to self-publish Demon's Soul or Bloodborne games now since Tencent helping them to cut out from Sony?

And fwiw, Bandai Namco's stock went up after this news, so no one thinks they are hurting from this.

So what are they going to self publish then? This isn’t hard, and they already made Elden Ring instead of Dark Souls 4 Open World. At this point “the next game from the Elden Ring team” will carry them easily in a new IP. They just need a lot of resources for such a big worldwide release…which they just did work towards.

 

[Simar]

They could switch from GRRM to Brandon Sanderson.

FROM/Miyazaki: "For the last two years I've been lying to you.. We've developed an extra game!" "We couldn't stop developing so we made 5 extra games. 4 of them are set in the Cosmere; one is a new IP."

 

[Diaochan]

Are you still suggesting that Bandai isn't getting cut out or are you just trolling at this point.

So engaging in a meaningful conversation was never your intention? Got it.

So what are they going to self publish then? This isn’t hard, and they already made Elden Ring instead of Dark Souls 4 Open World. At this point “the next game from the Elden Ring team” will carry them easily in a new IP. They just need a lot of resources for such a big worldwide release…which they just did work towards.

If it's that easy then why didn't they self publish sooner? Elden Ring isn't their first successful game. And I doubt they are cutting off ties with both Sony and Bandai Namco to self publish everything already, because that would be a bold move that I haven't seen in a long time. Also Bandai's stock has gone up following the news tell me that there is nothing to worry about for them.

 

[BoktaiFan]

So engaging in a meaningful conversation was never your intention? Got it.

I have no idea what you are even talking about at this point

 

[Terrell]

So engaging in a meaningful conversation was never your intention? Got it.



If it's that easy then why didn't they self publish sooner? Elden Ring isn't their first successful game. And I doubt they are cutting off ties with both Sony and Bandai Namco to self publish everything already, because that would be a bold move that I haven't seen in a long time. Also Bandai's stock has gone up following the news tell me that there is nothing to worry about for them.

Considering the size of Sony, Kadokawa and Bandai Namco, their stock movements could be based on so much more than what happens with one developer’s slight change in ownership structure, to the point where I wouldn’t even factor this into the equation. In fact, looking at the 5 day trading of Bandai Namco, looks like the stock being up is mostly a correction from the tumble it took on Monday trading. You’re reading more into the day-by-day movements of stock than warranted.

 

[Diaochan]

Considering the size of Sony, Kadokawa and Bandai Namco, their stock movements could be based on so much more than what happens with one developer’s slight change in ownership structure, to the point where I wouldn’t even factor this into the equation. In fact, looking at the 5 day trading of Bandai Namco, looks like the stock being up is mostly a correction from the tumble it took on Monday trading. You’re reading more into the day-by-day movements of stock than warranted.

If this FromSoft investment from Tencent and Sony was that much a big negative deal to Bandai then surely even their stock would drop hard, which they haven't and instead have gone up. I'm just showing people the evidence that this isn't bad news for Bandai Namco, that's all.

 

[Terrell]

If this FromSoft investment from Tencent and Sony was that much a big negative deal to Bandai then surely even their stock would drop hard, which they haven't and instead have gone up. I'm just showing people the evidence that this isn't bad news for Bandai Namco, that's all.

In the current term, yes, and current-term changes are what typically get investor attention. So long as Elden Ring games keep getting made (and I see no reason to suggest they won’t), Bandai Namco is fine. But in the much longer term, when From is done with Elden Ring like they were with Dark Souls, yeah, this could spell bad news for Bandai Namco and investors will respond accordingly in the moment there is follow-through on that.
So yeah, one has little to do with the other.

 

[Golden Darkness]

Tencent buying a stake Guillemot Bros, which has stake in Ubisoft.

 

[Phonicjoy]

Tencent buying a stake Guillemot Bros, which has stake in Ubisoft.

Interesting that this holding only had 17,5% of Ubisoft Entertainment SA voting rights and only ~6% of shares as of march last year. Unless the Guillemots own shares in Ubisoft through other holdings that seems like not a very tight grip. This seems to be valued at just 400 mil pounds.

 

[Tokuiten]

Imran Khan: Microsoft has talked with Major Japanese Publishers about Acquisitions:

Imran: "Microsoft has talked with major Japanese publishers about acquisitions" Rumor - Microsoft

https://youtu.be/_IlcsmBx-SE?t=8321 They have talked with major Japanese publishers about acquisitions. I can't speak to how far those conversations have got. That's not a thing that most people know about. And I certainly don't. But they have talked. They are very clearly interested in some...

www.resetera.com

 

[enpleinjour]

Microsoft Reportedly Approached Several Japanese Studios For Acquisition Talks

A new report says studios big and small were recently approached.

www.usgamer.net

A tale as old as time for MS. Can't see any major JP pub ever selling to MS, their entire IP lineup will be effectively killed in one go.

 

[Terrell]

Microsoft Reportedly Approached Several Japanese Studios For Acquisition Talks

A new report says studios big and small were recently approached.

www.usgamer.net

A tale as old as time for MS. Can't see any major JP pub ever selling to MS, their entire IP lineup will be effectively killed in one go.

I mean, if you’re selling your company and your IP, it kinda might indicate that the company executives don’t give a crap about what happens after the fact.

That said, talks are one thing, they’d actually need a bite. And I doubt there’s any takers.

 

[Remember_spinal]

I could see platinum taking an offer, but i don’t know what that would do for microsoft

It would pretty much guarantee the end of Bayonetta and Nier though. I think anything beyond a publishing deal would be a fools errand

 

[Tungsten]

I could see platinum taking an offer, but i don’t know what that would do for microsoft

It would pretty much guarantee the end of Bayonetta and Nier though. I think anything beyond a publishing deal would be a fools errand

I think the current rumor is that SE is moving Nier back in-house.

 

[Terrell]

I could see platinum taking an offer, but i don’t know what that would do for microsoft

It would pretty much guarantee the end of Bayonetta and Nier though. I think anything beyond a publishing deal would be a fools errand

Scalebound tells me that Microsoft ain't even glancing in that direction anymore.

 

[Johannes]

Scalebound tells me that Microsoft ain't even glancing in that direction anymore.

Ten years ago same could have been said about Obsidian after Stormland, but now it's been Microsoft's in-house studio for four years or so. Not that I think it's a likely thing to happen or even a purchase Microsoft should pursue.

...

Feels like we have heard insider "scoops" for God knows how long about Microsoft buying Japanese publishers - to a point it feels yawn-inducing at this point. I would be more surprised if the publishers and independent studios _wouldn't_ be in the talks. It's a whole other story to materialize these discussions.

 

[fiendcode]

PC seems pretty attractive for the big Japanese publishers (just ask Square Enix or Capcom), I don't think a MS acquisition is entirely out of the question. The thing is they'd need to offer enough to really buy out the founding families. They're not going to get market rates on anyone.

Same goes for Sony or even Nintendo though. Japan's sort of unique in the issues it presents versus most American or European firms.

 

[Vault-Tec]

 

[Terrell]

Trying to get out ahead of the Saudis and looking for revenue sources in overseas businesses and markets that are outside the whims and control of Chinese government regulation. The "focus on Europe" part of the announcement is nearly choreographing their primary target as either Ubisoft (most likely) or Embracer (less likely but possible). But I don't think Marvelous is totally off the table, either.

Either way, brace yourselves for a bidding war that everyone in going to want to morbidly gawk at.

 

[fiendcode]

Well, they already lost Capcom to the Prince. Although Tencent's relationship with them cooled quite a bit after MHW had to be pulled from WeGame.

I wonder if Tencent will spook everyone and start really investing in Nintendo after their Switch deals?

 

[Tungsten]

Next round of acquisitions.

 

[Tokuiten]

Next round of acquisitions.

- Announce 1500 Dollars-VR headset
- Say it is "for productivity", but then keep mentioning how much game-content there is, too
- Acquire game studios to make exclusive content for 1500 Dollars-VR headset that's made for productivity

Sorry, but I just found out about today's Meta Quest Pro-news and there's too much ridiculous stuff going on rn lol.

 

[Vault-Tec]

Updating my list

• (orange = mobile focused acquisitions)
• (green = acquisitions above 1 billion)

2018

February:

• THQ Nordic acquires Koch Media (including publisher Deep Silver) for $149M

May:

• Zynga acquires Gram Games for $250M
• Nordisk Film acquires Avalanche Studios for $103M

1. - Avalanche Studios
2. - Expansive Worlds AB
3. - Systemic Reaction

June:

• MS acquires Playground Games
• MS acquires Ninja Theory
• MS acquires Compulsion Games
• MS acquires Undead Labs
• MS announces The Initiative

November:

• MS acquires Obsidian Entertainment
• MS acquires inXile Entertainment

December:

• Zynga acquires Small Giant Games for $700M

2019

February:

• Sony acquires Insomniac Games for $229M
• THQ Nordic acquires Warhorse Studios

June:

• MS acquires Double Fine

December:

• Google Stadia acquires Typhoon Studios

2020

January:

• Tencent acquires Funcom for $148M

February:

• Embracer acquires Saber Interactive for up to $525M

June:

• Warner Bros looking to sell gaming division, interest by MS, Activision, EA and Take Two (didn't sell ultimately)
• Focus Entertainment acquires Deck13
• Zynga acquires Peak Games for $1.8B

July:

• Sony weighing a bid for Leyou Technologies according to Bloomberg

August:

• Embracer acquires 4A Games (Metro) for up to $71M
• Take Two acquires Playdots for $192M
• Tencent acquires Leyou Technologies for $1.5B

1. - Splash Damage
2. - Athlon Games
3. - Kingmaker
4. - Radiance Games
5. - Digital Extremes

September:

• MS acquires ZeniMax-Bethesda for $7.5B (roughly 2.5k employees)

1. - Bethesda Game Studios
2. - Arkane Studios
3. - id Software
4. - Machinegames
5. - ZeniMax Online
6. - Tango Gameworks
7. - Alpha Dog Games
8. - Roundhouse Studios

October:

• Sumo Group acquires Pipeworks Studios for up to $100M
• Creatures Inc acquires Ambrella (Hey Pikachu!, Pokémon Dash, Pokémon Rumble)

November:

• Take Two acquires Codemasters for nearly a billion
• Embracer acquires 12 studios (including Flying Wild Hog)

December:

• EA outbids Take Two and acquires Codemasters for $1.2B
• Enad Global 7 acquires Daybreak Games Company for $300M
• Nordisk Games acquires 40% of MercurySteam

2021

January:

• Nintendo acquires Next Level Games
• Tencent acquires majority stake in Klei

February:

• Embracer acquires Gearbox Software for up to $1.3B
• Embracer acquires Aspyr Media for up to $450M
• Embracer merges with Easybrain in $640M deal
• EA acquires Glu Mobile for $2.4B

March:

• Epic acquires Mediatonic (Fall Guys)
• Nordisk Games acquires 30% of Supermassive Games
• MS completes ZeniMax-Bethesda acquisition

June:

• Sony acquires Housemarque
• EA acquires Playdemic from Warner Bros for $1.4B
• Take-Two acquires Nordeus for up to $378M

July:

• Tencent acquires Sumo Group for $1.27B
• Sony acquires Nixxes Software

September:

• Sony acquires Firesprite (which also acquired Fabrik)
• Sony acquires Bluepoint Games
• Netflix acquires Night School Studio

October:

• Tencent acquires 22% of Bloober Team for $19.5M

December:

• Tecent acquires Turtle Rock Studios
• Embracer acquires Perfect World Entertainment for $125M

2022

January:

• Take-Two acquires Zynga for $12.7B
• Sony acquires Bungie for $3.6B (roughly 1k employees)
• MS acquires Activision-Blizzard-King for $68.7B (over 10k employees)

1. - Infinity Ward
2. - Treyarch
3. - Sledgehammer Games
4. - Raven Software
5. - Beenox
6. - High Moon Studios
7. - Demonware
8. - Toys for Bob
9. - Solid State Studios
10. - Digital Legends
11. - Activision Shanghai Studio
12. - Blizzard Entertainment
13. - King

February:

• Nintendo acquires SRD
• Tencent acquires Inflexion Games

March:

• Sony acquires Haven Studio
• Tencent acquires majority stake in Tequila Works
• Netflix acquires Next Games for $65M
• Netflix acquires Boss Fight Entertainment

April:

• Saudi Prince acquires 96% of SNK
• Embracer (through Aspyr) acquires Beamdog

May:

• Embracer acquires most of Square Enix's western division (Crystal Dynamics, Eidos Montreal and Square Enix Montreal) and a catalogue of IPs (Tomb Raider, Deus Ex, Thief, Legacy of Kaine..) for $300M (~1.1k employees)

July:

• Nintendo acquires Dynamo Pictures

August:

• Sony acquires Savage Game Studio
• Sony and Tencent buy 30% stake in From Software (Sony 14%, Tencent 16%)
• NetEase acquires Quantic Dream
• Embracer Group acquires Limited Run Games, Tripwire Interactive, Tuxedo Labs, Singtrix, and Lord of the Rings IP.
• Blizzard acquires Proletariat, King acquires Peltarion (AI)

September:

• Tencent raises stake in Ubisoft

October:

• Meta acquires Camouflaj, Twisted Pixel and Armature Studio

 

[Astrogamer]

Probably not a huge acquisition overall, but I think almost everyone missed that Zordix acquired Maximum Games for $42 million back in November 2021. They are mostly a retail publisher but, they have an indie label with Modus Games.

Zordix has acquired Maximum Games

Sweden's Zordix Group has acquired Maximum Games. The firm has been bought for $42 million in cash and shares, with another $30 million on the table depending on whether the company hits certain b...

www.pcgamesinsider.biz

Jagex bought Pipeworks off Sumo Group back in July.

Jagex makes its first acquisition in Pipeworks

RuneScape maker Jagex has made its first-ever acquisition. That's according to GamesIndustry.biz , which reports that the UK-based company has bought US games company Pipework Studios for an undis...

www.pcgamesinsider.biz

Nordisk also completed their acquisition of Supermassive in July

Nordisk Games is buying Supermassive

Danish firm Nordisk Games is acquiring British developer Supermassive. No figure has been placed on the deal, which comes in the wake of Nordisk buying a 30.7 per cent stake into the studio back i...

www.pcgamesinsider.biz

Bandai Namco acquired a majority stake in Limbic Entertainment last week

Bandai Namco Entertainment Europe acquires majority stake in Limbic Entertainment - Gematsu

Following its minority stake acquisition of Limbic Entertainment in December 2020, Bandai Namco Entertainment Europe has increased its investment and acquired a majority stake in the German developer…

www.gematsu.com

 

[Remember_spinal]

Not really gaming but similar to Nintendo’s acquisition of Dynamo.

*FIXED Link

Sony Pictures Entertainment Acquires VFX Company Pixomondo (EXCLUSIVE)

Sony Pictures Entertainment has acquired the VFX company Pixomondo from Mayfair Equity Partners, a dedicated technology and consumer investor. Pixomondo specializes in virtual production and VFX an…

variety.com

They did a lot of VFX for House of Dragon

 

[reksveks]

Probably worth sharing a less dodgy site

https://variety.com/2022/artisans/n...ent-acquires-vfx-company-pixmondo-1235413544/

All kinds of dodgy ads on that first site.

 

[KR_EP]

"We think a good publishing strategy is to look at the whole market and do the global version [of any game] first, not to go separately step-by-step – I don't think that's a good approach," Tencent's global games CEO Michelle Liu tells GamesIndustry.biz.

She adds: "We can’t assume one version is the right fit or approach for all regions. So the next step [is] to do very detailed and customised publishing solutions for the different regions, especially some top 'tier one' areas. We [also] need to do very deep communications with all of the community. [There are] the things we have learnt from our industry partners."

Article warrants a full read as Tencent Games, both via its separate developers (all the ones mentioned in the article, plus Soleil) plus investing in many others like PlatinumGames but also via its Level Infinite publishing label is definitely one to watch, Fatshark already making waves (pun intended) among Warhammer/Warhammer 40K fans. Speaking of which, Splash Damage purchase of Bulkhead was announced soon after the Game Awards trailer for Transformers: Reactivate (Games Industry). While both studios have been inconsistent over the years, got plenty of titles on the way, an overall move away from support work towards original properties, including a new sci-fi IP & Wardogs King of the Hill. Enchancer Group, Tencent Games, Netease Games all building up to become major forces, but can they deliver? Ideal time to look over a recent roundtable discussion on tips for selling a studio as it provides some good insight into M&As, some useful tips as well.

Already mentioned in the Media Create thread but thought I'd look into the acquisition of Aquaplus (including Fix Records) by CREST (via Gematsu), a little further as the new parent company mentioned having video game IP of its own to draw upon. The company has published a half dozen games on Steam over the past 18 months (some of which have Switch & PS4 versions), with Aria Chronicle & Metallic Child having a good user response, although for me the one to check the demos for, Last Light with its Corpse Party/Yomawari vibes. Team Corn Field...Children of the Corn: The Game. Make it so Mr Crest! Line up is definitely worth a closer examination. Long story short, Crest seemingly have the ability to publish Aquaplus games internationally, perhaps they'll coordinate with its Animation division to produce cut scenes/TV/OVA as part of its stated 360 approach to handle everything in-house for any multi-media franchise.

Ahead of a merger to form Hike (cue Take a Hike! company slogan, please use it Crest free of charge, you're welcome), quick look over its partners to see what they do. QBist appears to be a long running support work & physical goods company, including videogame guides) & Sanetty Produce...struggling here (Sanetty more like Sanity amirite?) but I think its involved in talent for musicals/live events/stage plays including NieR Automata with Yorha. Help! Anyone able to translate the Game Division (aside from recently founded Yokohama based visual novel studio Novus) section of the above image? Visual novels are not my forte, weary as I am of falling down the rabbit hole of the final obscure frontier, the 13th circle of niche hell vndb so I'll stop there as thankfully Automaton-Media is on hand to help explain all things Novus instead. But wait, there's more, Minato Soft back catalogue to research, which originated from Candy Soft. Oooh oooh, so many more links to find, so much more text to auto-translate...so many visual novels, so little time...no no NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOoooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[reksveks]

Speaking of Tencent, they just acquired 20% of Shift Up

Tencent acquires 20 percent stake in SHIFT UP - Gematsu

Chinese conglomerate Tencent has acquired a 20 percent stake in SHIFT UP, the Korean studio behind mobile games Destiny Child and Goddess of Victory: Nikke, as well as the upcoming PlayStation 5 title…

www.gematsu.com

 

[Vault-Tec]

The studio will continue to work closely with their existing co-development partners, and will be adding new partners in the future.

SkyBox Labs will continue to operate independently within NetEase Games under the leadership of its three co-founders Shyang Kong, Derek MacNeil and Steven Silvester, and provide a full range of game development services to current and future partners.

NetEase will support the studio with resources and execution capabilities so that SkyBox Labs can achieve faster scale while maintaining the quality of work the studio is known for.

 

[J-Cat]

NetEase + SkyBox =... SkyNet...
OhNo