350°

Squaring Up For Acquisition?

One company acquiring another is never as simple as an accepted offer and paperwork.

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goombastomp.com
Zeldafan641378d ago

Square doesn't want to almost completely lose the Japanese market by abandoning the Switch.

Zeldafan641378d ago ShowReplies(5)
TricksterArrow1378d ago

By your logic, Bethesda shot themselves in the head by neglecting the biggest market share, that is PlayStation and Nintendo by being acquired by MS. Your view is too simplistic from a business view point. Sales are not everything. A big chunk, yes, but not everything.

1378d ago
shinoff21831378d ago

I really hope sony scoops square.

shinoff21831378d ago

Ms went and bought up the best wrpg devs why cant sony buy square without hate.

The only games im interested in on xbox are gonna be fallout starfield(possibly) and a few inxile. Why cant sony get in on scooping up companies

annoyedgamer1378d ago

PlayStation is based in the US now.

Sayai jin1378d ago

Yes, I Hope Sony goes for it.

LOGICWINS1378d ago

I think Sony should go for them. The competition will ultimately force Xbox to take Japanese IPs more seriously. This benefits me at the end of the day.

+ Show (1) more replyLast reply 1378d ago
Zeldafan641378d ago

I wouldn't mind Sony purchasing Square so long as Dragon Quest kept coming to Nintendo consoles. I'm fine with Final Fantasy being console exclusive to Sony.

Eonjay1378d ago

I mean... at this rate I wouldn't be surprised to see them supporting the Switch.

ABizzel11378d ago

It's more so your point is illogical. The majority of Square's best-selling games have completely skipped Nintendo platforms or had releases YEARS later with modest sales at best.

The Japanese market isn't producing numbers. Square's efforts on Nintendo come in the form of occasional AAA support from franchises like Dragon Quest, Kingdom Hearts, spin-offs of larger IP, and extremely niche JRPGs.

I don't disagree that if Square were to be purchased it would be a good fit at either Sony or Nintendo, but their AAA games would likely be technologically held back going with Nintendo, and Sony and Square's paths towards Live Service align MUCH better, and Sony and their devs can also help Square achieve a much better technological evolution than Nintendo could.

Sega seems like a better fit for Nintendo IMO than Square.

neutralgamer19921378d ago

Whether we like it or not Sony will buy square and announce around the time MS/Bethesda conference. Not only that but Capcom acquisition is in the works too

Sony passed on the opportunity to spend $300 million go buy square USA division because it hasn't generated any major profit over the years( yes their games sold but their budgets were mismanaged all the way through, SE let them do their own thing so Crystal Dynamic CEO made the sequel to time raider timed exclusive for only $10 million dollars) the reason that's a big thing is because that game needed to sell and the CEO was a known Xbox fan so making timed exclusive is not a bad thing but more like for 100 million not 10

Sony paid 85% of development for FF7 remake

Sony funded FF16
Sony are funding street fighter

These games will come to PC but never to any other platform. FF7 remake part 2 will be PS5 exclusive for 18 months

People really think Ms can spend almost 100 billion on acquisition but Sony can't buy publishers which are worth between. 5-7?

Sony depends on PlayStation while for Ms Xbox brand is a not a necessity

Zeldafan64

Who cares man Nintendo is such a fade. PlayStation sells the most software and generates the most revenue for almost every publisher. But that's not how it works.

Christopher1378d ago

***Whether we like it or not Sony will buy square and announce around the time MS/Bethesda conference. Not only that but Capcom acquisition is in the works too***

https://st.depositphotos.co...

neutralgamer19921378d ago

Christopher

No brother don't need that. Remember few years back Ms had the gamecom conference and Sony announced acquisition of insomniac. Expect something along those lines

Early more PS Blog. And capcom has been in the works a lot longer

annoyedgamer

No Sony shut down smaller studios in Japan and are actually trying to have a bigger presence in Japan. They know if they make monster hunter, dragon quest and final fantasy exclusive to PlayStation that Japan market will be a big get

People remember Sony shutting down Japan studios without realizing they made PD(GT developer bigger)

And look up team asobi they are huge now and are hiring to even grow bigger. People focus on a studio shut down without realizing most of the people were actually moved to Asobi and PD

Christopher1378d ago

***No brother don't need that. Remember few years back Ms had the gamecom conference and Sony announced acquisition of insomniac. Expect something along those lines***

https://media.shafaq.com/me...

None of us know any of this. Let's not act like we do. One time something happens doesn't mean every time it happens. And, even then, doesn't mean it happens with these companies.

We really need to cool it as a hobby group with these random predictions of who is next when doing this is actually bad for the industry as a whole. Let alone the basis for them is about as credible as Petrol companies telling us Petrol hasn't caused any climate change.

tay87011378d ago (Edited 1378d ago )

i can almost guarantee you that when sony aquires them they will continue to let them make games for the the switch. nintendo isnt really sonys competition, MS is. sony can cohabitate with nintendo just fine. plus sony could make a killing from the software sales as well.

ALMGNOON1378d ago

Bethesda lowest sales are on Xbox 🤷🏻‍♂️

Mr_Writer851378d ago

"Square doesn't want to almost completely lose the Japanese market by abandoning the Switch"

But IF (and that's a massive if) Sony bought Square they wouldn't need to worry about that. As it would be Sony's problem.

And it's not like Square games don't sell on other platforms in Japan is it?

+ Show (6) more repliesLast reply 1378d ago
DefaultComment1378d ago

Why is it that you people think square Enix is for Sale? Just because they sold their West studios and some of the west Ips, that doesn't mean that the company is going for sale. They just cut the fat because the most profitable is their Japanese IPs and like hell they wanna let go to that Japanese market of Jrpgs.
They are doing fine, for instance their MMORPG FF14 is good since most of their Blizzard /warcratt fan base moved to it, and now they are announcing more Final Fantasy VII news? it's gonna be OK. I mean take it like this...the prime games pretty much has a time exclusivity to Sony and the second class games(leftovers) are for Nintendo and that's how it's been for years now. So they got nothing to worry about.

Zeldafan641378d ago (Edited 1378d ago )

I wouldn't call games like Triangle Strategy and Octopath Traveler second class leftovers. The music, story, characters, gameplay and voice acting of both those games are great.

DefaultComment1378d ago

I don't like to call them that neither but they are at the end of the day the budget for those games is significally smaller than a FF16 or FF7 remake. Square is happy making half ass games for the Switch because they are confident it will do decent sales. I hate that attitude from them but it is what it is.

shinoff21831378d ago

I dont consider those leftovers. I wanted them on playstation to no luck

lellkay1378d ago

I wouldn't agree on the stories, characters and voice acting. Thought that was awful.

Gameplay and music was good though

franwex1378d ago

Square wants to sell, EA wants to sell, Ubisoft want to sell, Activison is attempting to sell.

What is happening? Is it the current stock market sell off putting pressure? Is it unrealistic expectations of their products?

At the end of the day, just make good games. Don’t release service crap. Be more like Capcom and turn things around instead of trying to run away.

Eonjay1378d ago

Well, Activision is selling almost exclusively because of Bobby Kotick. Microsoft is the primary source because they were already looking to take content from the wider market and make it exclusive to their subscription. Microsoft was headed in this direction for a long time though as is evidenced by Office 365. And so when investors saw that they could cash out to Microsoft they showed up in droves looking for checks. Sony originally wasn't looking to aquire but changed its tune once it saw that Microsoft wanted to remove options from its competitiors through brute force. Suddenly to investors, the preceived value of their stock went up and is allowing some to cash out and make bank. The situation with Bobby is even more complex because he realized that in order for him to save himself and make out as best as possible, he needed Microsoft to buy what was left of Activision, paying him out for the stock and then terminating him go so that he could bank roll the tripple salary perk that the Microsoft buyout would initiate. Thats right, in order for Bobby to get close to the billion dollar payday, he needs to be fired by Phil Spencer. Effed up for sure.

kayoss1378d ago (Edited 1378d ago )

Games are getting too expensive to make, Not all games will become successful, and companies are struggling to keep up with the quality and expenses.
This is why some companies are moving toward Game as a service model. They just need to make one game, periodically release content and not worry about creating a brand new game from the ground up. Games like Destiny 2 is now a full fledge service. If your game is successful, you will make more profits in the long term by keeping players playing your game.

Silly gameAr1378d ago

There won't be any 3rd party companies left at this point.

Knightofelemia1378d ago

The value of acquisition is never low if somebody drives up with a dump truck full of cash and bangs on your door then you will accept it. Every company has a price no matter who it is problem is the company that is making the purchase and how they will utilize your library of games. And do it in the right way that won't piss off the fans of a particular series. And if Sony buys SquareEnix good on them. I would rather see a Japanese company bought up by a Japanese company then see SquareEnix get bought up by a company like Tencent.

Show all comments (35)
40°

Indie World Showcase 3.3.2026

Nintendo: "Join us on March 3 at 6am PT for a new Indie World Showcase! Tune in for roughly 15 minutes of news and updates on indie games coming to Nintendo Switch 2 and Nintendo Switch."

50°

Hogwarts Legacy 2 Planned for No Earlier Than 2027, With More Major WB Games Releasing the Same Year

Hogwarts Legacy 2 will arrive no earlier than 2027, as Warner Bros plans major franchise returns between 2027 and 2028.

Retro19862d ago

Thats ok ! Take Your time and make it gooood.
Playing the first one these days, and got a long way to go before finishing. Awesome game! Gonna 100% it.

repsahj1d 11h ago

I got mine just 5$ for switch 1 version and 5$ for switch 2 upgrade! Very beautiful game.

scorpio_20491d 9h ago

Man I hope they emphasize the school aspect and minimize the open world Ubisoft-ness of the first game. Open world is fine but it felt like every other game when I left the school.

120°

The Idea of Microsoft Sunsetting Xbox Is Absolute Nonsense, but It Exposes a Massive Problem

A few days ago, an interview with Seamus Blackley, designer of the original Xbox, sent shockwaves among the community.

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simulationdaily.com
Christopher3d ago

***This whole conspiracy theory (because that’s what this is) is basically entirely based on the idea that everyone involved is lying to us. ***

C'mon now. It's an opinion. Just like your opinion here. And it's from an industry professional who does have more knowledge than we do on how these things work and access to people inside the industry.

I'm not saying he's right, but you spend all this time arguing his stance and why his words are illogical, but then you go and make this sort of statement? Hypocritical.

SimulationDaily3d ago (Edited 3d ago )

It's from someone who has not worked at Microsoft or anywhere close to Microsoft or even in the gaming industry for over 20 years, and has worked at Microsoft for less than 4 years in total. He doesn't know a single one of the people involed and his experience of the topic is so diluted that he has no more authority than any rando on Reddit.

And almost none of the articles citing this silliness do the bare minimum due diligence to mention that essential context.

When you present a ludicrous hot take from someone who is nowhere near a position to know a thing about what Microsoft is doing today, if you think that readers aren't entitled to be made aware of that, we'll have to agree to disagree.

The truth is that a lot of the media outlets in this industry have chucked the bare minimum of professional reporting ethics into the recycle bin in the name of making a quick buck, and this is a pretty obvious example. This has been going on for years, it sucks, and it's only getting worse.

Misleading information for clicks may not offend you, and that's fine, but as someone who has dedicated the past 25 years of his life to informing people, it certainly offends me, and I see no reason not to express that position. Firmly.

Christopher3d ago

***Misleading information for clicks may not offend you, and that's fine***

You really need to stop with the logical fallacies. There's nothing there that says my opinion on the original matter other than calling out your hypocrisy of doing the same thing you complain they're doing. Not even a part of the conversation.

Also, he didn't do it for clicks, journalists turned it into clicks.

SimulationDaily3d ago (Edited 3d ago )

@Christopher: his opinion is not the problem, besides the fact that it's nonsensical and based on nothing.
The problem is that it has been presented as a take from someone with authority by professionally bankrupt media that fills up the fact that they have nothing relevant to say with fluff for clicks, regardless of the fact that such a presentation ends up misinforming people.

ABizzel12d ago

Regardless of everyone’s opinion, one thing that’s never good is to be in the comments arguing with people on their opinion, about your opinion, especially in a place where you have no monetization.

1Victor2d ago

@simulation
The way I see it you’re flipping the crumpet and assuming that because he hasn’t been a part of Microsoft for so long he don’t have contacts inside or he is exaggerating what we all can see in Xbox history of lies, deception and half truths since the 360 era.
Its very disingenuous of you to come and complain about his opinion when the patterns has been clear for way over a decade.
Microsoft is a corporation here if they don’t dominate they terminate the product you sound old enough to to remember Zune and windows phones you if not ask bing what happened to them.

ApocalypseShadow2d ago

'Xbox Is Being Sunsetted' — Seamus Blackley, One of the Creators of Xbox, Thinks Recent Shakeup Spells the End for Microsoft's Gaming Business

It clearly says that Blackley THINKS...has an, OPINION, on the matter.

I think his opinion hurt you enough that you had to create an N4G article to try and discredit his OPNION. The fact that someone that hasn't been in the industry for years, carries more weight than someone that only has one comment on his video, yours. And, has less than 2 thousand subscribers. What makes your opinion better than his? He's someone that actually worked at Microsoft. What's your background besides MS Flight Simulator and FFXIV videos?

Here's the deal, Microsoft spent upwards of 100 Billion or more to try to beat Sony. They tried to buy industry pillars like Nintendo and Sega who said no. They pretty much created a service to devalue games to try and control the market and failed. They never won a generation. Most powerful system in the world or not. They couldn't do it by undercutting Sony with their Achilles heal of Series S. Nothing the 3 Trillion company could do but end up releasing their games on Nintendo and Sony's platforms. Their competitor's systems. The amount of coping in your defense of the current Microsoft heads is just hilarious. It is true that not having a gaming background means nothing if you can turn a business around. But there's nothing to turn. Outside hardened Xbox fans, there's no reason that any gamer needs an Xbox when the games are releasing on competitor's platforms. Nadella isn't stupid to try and go back to exclusives that Xbox fans don't buy enough of to keep the developers they bought afloat. Heads have to roll. Just like the Sega days of heading into a new direction.

Read the writing on the wall. Xbox as you know it is dying and dead. No game sales numbers. No console sales numbers. Nothing. Nothing will change their transition to third party other than an outright ban of Japanese game consoles. But the backlash would be so severe, that any new Xbox would be boycotted everywhere. If any new system is released, it would be in name only or the fans that are left. A PC with Microsoft's name on it like the Ally and the Quest headset. but nothing more than that. A platform that has never been profitable. A game service that has never been profitable. That was once almost canned by Nadella before.

Land that MS Flight Simulator plane and leave the clouds. It's over for them. She's there only to help their transition. No system they sell will bring them back when they never were leaders to begin with in the industry. I came out of N4G retirement just to say this. Your opinion carries no weight and is unsupported by the facts of where Microsoft's position is currently.

+ Show (2) more repliesLast reply 2d ago
lodossrage3d ago (Edited 3d ago )

@SimulationDaily

He may not be in the xbox loop anymore. But he'd surely have a better idea than any of us random people commenting would.

And how to WE know he doesn't know any single person involved? It's not like we can see the man's contact list or know his life personally. And all he did was give his opinion. He never said it was fact. An opinion is not misleading info. If he tried to pass off his opinion as FACT, then you'd have something. But that didn't happen.

We can't be mad about someone coming to the man for an interview answering a question he was asked

SimulationDaily3d ago (Edited 3d ago )

He's not in *any* loop, and he has not been for 2 decades.
How do we know? His responses tell us that. Unless you're unable to read between the lines, you can easily see that he's spitballing without any direct knowledge. The fact that he completely ignores the presence of Matt Booty tells us that he didn't even really read the news, let alone have any real knowledge about it.

Who in the world told you that an opinion can't be misleading information? Of course it can be, when it's wrongly presented as the view of someone with authority on a topic, without being contextualized, which is exactly what happened here.

If you don't know a thing about a situation and someone asks to interview you on it, you can say no.

lodossrage3d ago

His response doesn't tell us who he does/ doesn't know regardless of how long he was away from Microsoft. Again, we don't know this man's personal life or professional contacts to speak on such.

And who in the world told me an opinion can't be misleading info, living my life all these years tells me that. If you're presenting an opinion that should tell you it's not fact. No rational thinking person will sit here and misconstrue the two.

And again, he was asked a question. He never presented himself as an authority, he openly admits he hasn't been there in forever. What more context does he need when he already told us he hasn't been there in so long? Nor has he acted like is opinion is fact.

Now can he say "no" or "no comment" when asked a question? Sure he can, but he doesn't HAVE to. He can offer up his opinion the same way we all do here.

And how can you say he's doing this for clicks? He's the interviewee, not the interviewer or site owner. You have to realize with the video you made you can be accused of the same thing you wrongly pointed the finger at him for.

And for the record, since I know how this site is, I'll say this now. No, this isn't an attack on you. I actually like having convos like this that aren't troll based.

SimulationDaily3d ago (Edited 3d ago )

His response is incredibly vague and drifts into the factually incorrect, for example, when he says "It would have been shocking if they had somebody in there in a meaningful role who was passionate about games, passionate about the creator-driven business of games."
Matt Booty is the second-in-command, which is definitely a "meaningful role," and he's very obviously passionate about games and the creator-driver business of games. As a matter of fact, much more (and with much more relevance) than Blackley himself, who dropped the industry and went to do something else 25 years ago.

No one said HE did it for clicks, although all these "former X" usually do this kind of stuff to appear somewhat relevant when they have not been relevant for a long, long time.

The site that interviewed him and the sites/influencers who presented his opinion with no context as authoritative did it for clicks, because they had no access to any the people even remotely involved, and scraped the bottom of the barrel for something to fill the quota and generate some clicks, and they absolutely misled a ton of people into believing that what he says has some merit.

The "massive problem" isn't that he has an opinion. Opinions like his are a dime a dozen. Is that today's gaming press will fill the air with white noise with zero merit, disingenuously painting it as relevant, regardless of whether their readers are misled into believing something that does not exist.

blacktiger2d ago

First of all I did not watch the video but as far as conspiracy theory goes. Here is my take.

The whole idea for everyone to lie to us is about not owning and be happy. But here is the thing why is it so important for everyone to not own and be happy. What does the elite gain whether we own or not. I understand we not owning cars rather rent is what they want.

But why mess around with video games? I tell you why.
Because they don't want to sell "GPU"
GPU is the main problem. GPU is everything! From 3d printing your house to Mining Bitcoin. Not to mention it's the future that can cripple future government.

Profchaos2d ago (Edited 2d ago )

Blackley is the father of Xbox if anyone wants to see it's success it's Blackley

Yet he doesn't think it's long for this world simple as that

I'm more inclined to believe we've been lied to because Xbox has a history of lies and half truths

Stopac2d ago

@SimulationDaily its not a good look for the author of an article to go to the comment section to argue commentors.

+ Show (2) more repliesLast reply 2d ago
3d ago
Vits3d ago

Look, I understand the indignation about how the media is talking about this interview. I completely agree on that front. That said, personally, I don’t think Blackley is wrong. Not because he’s a former Xbox executive, but because what he described is something we see time and time again in the corporate world.

If you’ve ever worked in this kind of environment, the sequence of a head leaving, obvious substitute leaving, and then a much younger, completely unrelated executive stepping in feels like déjà vu. Every time we see this pattern, it’s usually because the company is looking for a “shake-up” in a business unit, which often just means restructuring. And restructuring usually means layoffs and shutting things down.

That said, I don’t think Xbox as a brand is going to vanish. What I think is more likely is that the division will be significantly reduced and absorbed into another part of the company.

SimulationDaily2d ago (Edited 2d ago )

Glad you understand my view on the press. It's good that at least someone here does.
That being said, placing Matt Booty as Sharma's vice conflicts with that view. Hiring a young CEO with a background of success and supporting them with a veteran vice president is a completely different scenario then one you describe.
The sole idea that Microsoft would be willing to throw away circa 8% of its revenue because of AI is pretty ridiculous.
And if you listen to the reports, you'll know that Sarah Bond was far from the obvious substitute for Phil Spencer.

Vits2d ago

It’s actually the opposite. If they weren’t planning to completely bulldoze the place, then Sharma would be completely alone with an entirely new leadership team, at their mission would be to turn that ship into something else, but keeping the unit itself. The fact that she got Booty as a second hand, instead of a completely new second hand, tells me that they need someone with "experience" to smooth things over while she bulldozes everything.

And honestly, people would be surprised by how often companies choose to “lose” revenue when they realize they can save the same amount or more by simply exiting or reshaping a business line. And that is before AI, that just promise to do anything and it's currently Microsoft focus.

But time will tell. Let’s revisit this in a couple of years and we will see what actually happened. Unfortunately, and I truly mean that, because I don’t want to be right about this, I’ve seen this pattern play out too many times not to believe I’ll end up being right in the end.

SimulationDaily2d ago (Edited 2d ago )

Absolutely, let's reconvene in a couple of years. I have absolutely zero doubt about being right. Xbox will still be there, likely bigger than it is now.

"Bulldozing" doesn't fit today's Microsoft's MO at all, nor that of 99% of companies. Companies may choose to lose revenue, but that happens on dead weight businesses, which gaming is not.

And even when they do, they don't park a very successful young executive with a spotless career like Asha Sharma on a business they want to drop. Not only is it massively counterproductive for the company, but she'd likely quit, because she has the resume to get a job anywhere that would give her a business she can lead to success, as she has done with literally everything she has touched in the past decade.

Would I rather see a gamer at the top? Sure, but there's zero doubt that Asha Sharma is an extremely capable exec. Her resume proves it, and you don't waste extremely capable executives doing the palliative care doctor thing.

gold_drake2d ago (Edited 2d ago )

i mean, the leadership was changed out rather swiftly, with someone who has no odea of the business the former had atleast some know-how.

i think they are slowly trying to find something else they can make money off of, and xbox might just be the thing thats costing them more than they think its worth.

that's business. unfortunately

SimulationDaily2d ago

Leadership was changed to someone who has plenty of ideas (and plenty of success under her belt) about *business*, supported by someone who has one of the most extensive careers in the gaming industry.

You don't waste a very successful young executive (who Asha Sharma is; her career is spotless) to babysit a business you want to spin down. This is how business works.

ocelot071d 22h ago (Edited 1d 22h ago )

Question - it's obvious the way the Xbox division hasn't performed well for Microsoft for a long time. The hardware sales has been abysmal compared to their only 2 competitors Sony PlayStation and Nintendo Switch.

I agree with you. You don't put someone like her into a position to babysit a business you want to spin down.

But is sunsetting Xbox hardware really spinning down the business? What if she transforms Microsoft Gaming into the number one game developers/publisher's? Bigger than EA and Ubisoft. Microsoft gaming make plenty games each year for every available console, PC, Handheld PC as well as mobile users via cloud.

GotGame8182d ago

Yeah, not worried about it! Microsoft said it's going with PC Architecture next gen! Hopefully Steam ready! Also, hopping it is upgradable, like Sega and Nintendo were 3 decades ago.

No need for a Pro version. Upgrade memory, exchange/add a board. Buying a mid Gen console upgrade last Gen, you could instantly tell the difference. The majority of current gen games optimized for PRO are great, but they certainly don't make me want to Rush out and buy one. I am happy with my PS5.

It brings me to ask, why so many 5 Pro/Vs Switch 2 comparisons? Seems kinda strange.

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