After buying Bungie, Sony could well set its sights on another heavyweight in the video game industry. According to renowned insider Jeff Grub, the Japanese manufacturer could well position itself to buy Square Enix, the fathers of Final Fantasy and other cult licenses.
As you may know, Square Enix has taken the media stage by announcing the sale of its Western studios for a total of 300 million euros. The Japanese publisher therefore separates from Crystal Dynamics, the studio behind the latest Tomb Raider trilogy, but also from Eidos Montreal, the fathers of the Two Ex: Human Revolution and Mankind Divided.
The two studios are also behind the very disappointing Marvel’s Avengers, a failure both critically and commercially. However and according to the famous insider Jeff Grub, the resale of these studios would be an integral part of a well-established strategy of Square Enix. According to him, the Japanese publisher would have voluntarily separated from its licenses with disappointing sales (if we exclude Tomb Raider) for “position themselves for an acquisition”. He pursues : “This kind of deal can fall through or be turned upside down. It happens all the time”, he relativizes.
Square Enix, Sony’s next takeover target?
It is true that if we look at the current catalog of Square Enix, the Japanese publisher has remained in control of its strong licenses, starting with Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest, Life is Strange, Just Cause or even Nier and Kingdom Hearts. Moreover, and according to statements from internal sources relayed by Jeff Grub, it may well be that negotiations are already underway between Sony and Square Enix. “You never hear enough about studio acquisitions to talk about it with certainty. The big rumor was Sony buying Square Enix. But I can’t confirm that, and I still don’t have enough information,” he wrote on Twitter.
As he points out, it is very difficult to have reliable information on possible takeovers with their formalization for legal reasons. If such an operation were to succeed, Sony could therefore exclusively offer the next Final Fantasy on PS5 for example. One more argument that could push players to opt for Sony’s latest console rather than the Xbox Series X.
As a reminder, the historic takeover of Activision-Blizzard by Microsoft was an electric shock for Sony. Shortly after, the Japanese manufacturer also began to build its army of studios. This major operation began with the acquisition of long-standing partners, such as the Housemarque Games studio (Returnal) or Bluepoint Games, specialists in HD remakes (Shadow of The Colossus, Demon’s Souls). But Sony’s biggest blow so far lies in the acquisition of Bungie, the fathers of Destiny 2 and the first Halo.
Source : Jeff Grub via Twitter