The Console War Recently Took a Dark Turn
For years, there’ve been some safe bets when it comes to exclusives. Naughty Dog is owned by Sony, so it’s a given that their games will be exclusive to the PlayStation. The same goes for Sucker Punch, while Xbox owns gaming companies like Obsidian or Ninja Theory. After an acquisition any games announced for the other console will likely come out for it, but after that the games will be primarily exclusive to their respective console.
The good news is that games are expensive, so many of a studio’s most critically acclaimed games and series tend to come after an acquisition, and Sony and Microsoft have both historically bought developers who have potential, rather than ones that have already churned out blockbuster games. Unfortunately, Xbox recently made headline news by obtaining Bethesda – the studio behind massive series like Fallout, The Elder Scrolls, and Dishonored. The good news is that the currently slated PlayStation Releases are still in place, but the bad news is that it’s likely that future games will be Xbox exclusives.
There’s been talk about Sony acquiring other studios in reaction to this, but all the suggested companies have been questionable, for one reason or another. Konami, for example, has some great games in their back catalogue, but have recently shifted their focus to pachinko machines. Square Enix would be a major get but is also one of the largest games companies out there, and any acquisition would likely put a major dent in PlayStation’s coffers, but according to analyst Michael Pachter, Sony may be in line to buy the purportedly for sale WB Interactive.
‘
“I do think Sony is in a good position to buy Warner Bros. Interactive assets should they ever go on sale again. Depending on whether AT&T chooses to sell them, and how. If they just want to license their IP out, they will probably not go with exclusivity deals, because they won’t want the games limited to just one platform, but if they sell perpetual rights to Batman or Mortal Kombat, I think those assets would be pretty cool for Sony to fold into their lineup,” he said.
Of course, WB Games is only rumored to be for sale, so at the moment this is all speculation, but there is a good chance Sony will be looking to purchase a major studio to counter Xbox’s acquisition of Bethesda, and WB Interactive would be a good choice should they get the chance to do so, likely giving them exclusivity rights to both of the most acclaimed superhero gaming franchises going forward, plus any future games in the Harry Potter, Lego, and Mortal Kombat franchises.
Do you think this would be a good move for Sony? Hit us up on Facebook, Twitter, or down in the comments to let us know.