There’s eff all happening in the games industry at the minute, so how about a hot rumour to rustle your jimmies this evening. Market Watch is reporting that stock in Take Two interactive is up following speculation that Sony is in “advanced board level discussions to acquire [the publisher] in a mostly cash deal”. This kind of purchase would secure the Japanese giant rights to huge multiformat franchises such as Grand Theft Auto, Red Dead Redemption, NBA 2K, and Borderlands.
As such, it seems pretty bloody unlikely, doesn’t it? Financially, we’re not even sure the PlayStation maker would have enough capital to table a purchase like this, but even if it did, the aforementioned brands would be much less valuable if they were to switch to a single format. Of course, it’s perfectly possible that the platform holder could continue to release Take Two’s titles on multiple devices, but then it begs the question why it would bother to buy them when they already release on the PS4 anyway.
We’re going to say this one is extremely, extremely unlikely – it reminds us of when Microsoft was linked with EA. There’s probably some interest here – which company wouldn’t want to own GTA, for example? – but realistically it's never, ever going to happen. At least it’s given us something minutely interesting to write about on an otherwise desperately dismal Wednesday, though, right?
[source marketwatch.com]
Comments 66
Nope.
That image is perfect.
@Cpt_Price No.
My uncle works for Rockstar.
He tells me it's happening y'all.
My sauce is legit.
It's probably true that there are rumours influencing the market. He probably also knows they are false.
Gta 6 ps5 exclusive, stranger things have happened at sea 😂
agent ps5 exclusive confirmed.word up son
No. They’ll lose the respect of many if they sell out to a company like Sony. Take-Two games deserve to be played by gamers everywhere. Their games shouldn’t be exclusive to PlayStation after how majority of the fanbase dragged Grand Theft Auto V & Red Dead Redemption 2 in favor of The Last of Us & God of War.
gta 6.max Payne 4.bully 2.manhunt 3 exclusive to PlayStation.😍💕💞❤💗💖😇.man that will be legendary..word up son
This is one rumor that, even if there was the remotest chance of it being true, I couldn't agree with. Let the big publishers remain free and multi-format. Now if Sony were to acquire a few talented indie developers and nurture them to become something truly unique, that I could get on board with.
This would be an awful move on take two's part if they did this.
The only reason I can think of as a reason to do this is to cut Microsoft out 2K games releasing on Xbox. They could market the vast mainstream appeal of 2K's brands to drive more PlayStation console sales, and if Sony choose to still offer support on PC for those titles that could open up a potentially new revenue stream. Sony could revisit their partnership with Valve, and with the marketing might of the Sony machine could increase profits for both platforms.
It isn't as farfetched as anyone might think at first glance, but will it happen? I mean... It's entirely possible!
But uh... No. Hahaha. No way. It's highly unlikely.
article removed almost as fast as it appeared
Right CD Projekt Red was cloud cuckoo land but this planet Off Your Bleeding Head Son!!!
I would put this as 'extremely' unlikely BUT as we know, that doesn't mean impossible.
I know that Sony in recent years have stabilised and actually been more financially successful. For a few years, the gaming branch successes were offsetting some of their other branches 'losses'. Their Movies (Sony Pictures) were at a loss but films like Jumanji and Spider-Man Homecoming have helped boost that branch. They sold off there PC (Vaio) too which wasn't doing well up against all the other PC brands. Their Mobiles too struggle against the likes of Apple, Samsung and the rest. Sony Cameras too took a hit with the Smartphones camera/video capability and the Audio/Visual hardware has also struggled to compete with Samsung and LG.
We know how successful they have been with their gaming branch which has often kept Sony in business. Even so, I can't imagine that Sony would have the capital to buy into, even own outright Take Two. Red Dead and Grand Theft Auto (especially GTA) would give them a 'massive' price as these assets are extremely successful.
Take Two have set up a new studio too - not yet named - that is being led by Michael Condrey formerly of Sledgehammer Games (CoD: Advanced Warfare and WW2) and Visceral Games (Dead Space), and is working on as yet unannounced project.
To me this would indicate that Take Two are not in a financial position to consider selling to anyone. I can't imagine that they are looking for financial security or to limit their platform choices.
Sony has had investment in a company - Square Enix - and I don't know if they would be willing to be in that position again.
As I said though, I won't say never but I would put this as very unlikely...
Don't think you need any intuition points for this one, Detective Phelps.
As long as you still need to mash X to run I don’t care who owns them.
Why waste your money on something like that. I see so many smaller great studio's that would be better. And then you still have a ton of money to make new IP's.
It's the only way Sony can persuade Rockstar to get back to working on Agent.
Sony here's an idea.
Buy Sega.
Funny how some people are saying that Take Two should be multiplat, but at the same time praised when MS bought those studios.
But yeah, I doubt that would happen. Personally, I would prefer a studio like Insomniac to be part of Sony.
They probably want to buy them to stop them making copies of GTA V as they're as sick of seeing it in the UK top 10 as we are.
not going to happen i think.
even if sony wants to,i think that take two will not be willing to skip the income of releasing the games for other systems aswell.
Of course it’s possible to buy any publicly listed company Take Two’s current value is 10.16 Billion US dollars. Even if thay did buy it they might well operated separately from the PlayStation division in the same way as Sony Music releases multi platform games .
@BAMozzy forgot to add that sonys bread and butter is insurance and banking, they make a tonne of money from insurance especially...totally agree with your comment though the buying take two seems highly unlikely.
Interesting. MS would be screwed if these all became Sony exclusives. People would buy PS instead on a rather casual level. Half of the Xbox sales would be on Playstation.
@Jaz007
Ms is aiming for the 2billion casual market with the cloud anyway. I believe Sony buying T2 is just not possible. They could have a deal though.
@PhantomJ they can be played by gamers everywhere — on ps now.
@themcnoisy seriously. that is a match made in heaven as far as i am concerned. sega would be magnitudes cheaper than take 2 and has a plethora of IP that appeals to japanese and western gamers alike — persona and sonic being the obvious ones.
It was quite funny seeing the xbox damage controllers out in force when these rumors hit, trying to downplay the news.
But when there was rumors Microsoft was buying EA, they went out full force saying its a done deal hahahaha.
Losing Halo MCC to Pc and now this, tough times.
@PS_Nation They never keep that same energy, oh its good for Microsoft trying to buy all these big studios but if Sony does it, nah nah its anti consumer.
@PS_Nation Nah. The Playstation fanbase has a history of dragging Rockstar in favor of Sony first party games (Red Dead Redemption 2, Grand Theft Auto V) and now they’re changing their tune because Sony is in the mix. No one wants to play a censored GTA with politics & personal beliefs thrown in.
As long as they accidentally send some of that money to my bank account I wouldn't mind it.
@PhantomJ You probably never played GTA or RDR then, because these games always talk about politics. GTA IV, V, RDR 1 and 2 have political views. Here is another fact, Rockstar games always sell better on PlayStation. We love our exclusives and also buy Rockstar games. Next question please.
But hey, keep spinning.
@Gamer4Lyfe Haha so true, remember the rumour about MS buying EA? Their fanbase were dreaming about the purchase, saying that it would save EA. Now suddenly it’s a bad thing if Sony purchase Take Two. GTFO with that, the hypocrisy is real.
@PhantomJ The point is you can't censor something as big as GTA without mainstream backlash, which means hitting stock value very hard. And with losing stock value those censoring idiots would get fired by the very shareholders themselves.
They Should Have Tried To Buy Bioware From EA Maybe Then they could Make Good Single Player Games Again Or Maybe Even Crytek I haven't Heard Much from them lately
@Gamer4Lyfe PlayStation has a ton of exclusives from first & third party studios, they also have more on the way. Microsoft on the other hand barely has any exclusives to their name & they got bullied by the gaming community (mostly PlayStation, sorry to say) for not having many exclusives, having bad exclusives, or releasing the same franchises (Gears, Halo, Forza). So they get small studios & everine is upset. No one knows what they want.
@PhantomJ dude it seems you have a problem with Sony fans so why do you even comment here
@PS_Nation It is a bad thing. GTA is one of the biggest series out there & has been enjoyed by gamers everywhere for years, it goes exclusive and sales will plummet & gamers will lose respect and likely refuse to buy anymore games from them. GTA, and all their other game should be enjoyed by everyone. I know this is the third time saying it but Rockstar games are for the most part, dragged by the community in favor of PlayStation exclusives. Last year & 2013.
@PhantomJ You’re using the multiplat argument, but at the same time defend MS while they purchased studios like Obsidian and inXile, both these studios were multiplat and popular on platforms like PC. Many fans are pissed that MS bought both just to create cheap games on Game Pass.
Ninja Theory were also more popular on PlayStation since Heavenly Sword. Where’s your outrage about that?
You’re just angry about the possibility that Sony will own Take Two, because if it was MS, you would say that’s the best thing ever.
@Nikoscho Really? I had an Xbox for like a month & I never noticed any technical problems. Probably because I got it just to play Cuphead, then sold it. I was always told games play better on Xbox One & the Xbox One versions have higher metascores.
I’m well aware their first party games do better than Xbox’s, which is why they got a bunch of small studios after a few flops like the latest Halo, Gears, State of Decay, and Sea of Thieves. That’s why even though I went with Xbox last gen, I got a PlayStation because of the library & how Xbox focused more on power instead of games.
What I’m saying is Take-Two shouldn’t sell out to a company like Sony for a few reasons. Their latest censorship activities, they’d lose the respect of a lot of gamers, their games would not sell anywhere near as much, and from what I’ve seen, a good chunk of the PS fanbase seems to drag Rockstar games in favor of PlayStation exclusives. The former two are merely thoughts, but the latter is true and can be proven.
@PS_Nation Not defending anyone. I literally said no one can make up their minds. Why would I be happy about MS acquiring Take-Two when I’m a PS4 gamer and said GTA should be enjoyed by everyone? That means I wouldn’t be able to play their games. Wouldn’t expect someone with an obvious favor for Sony to think about that.
@Nikoscho just imagine Yukuza studio on a new Wipeout. (Yakuza studio is formed from the remnants of Amusement vision who made f-zero gx and The original super monkey ball)
@dark_knightmare2 Everyone is here debating, and you’re assuming I hate everyone. Just because I’m a PlayStation fan doesn’t mean I have to support everything done by the community and company.
@PhantomJ Its funny you keep mentioning most ps fans "drag" I think you mean "bag" by the way, Rockstar games but its that same fanbase you are talking about where the majority of sales come from.
Are you a playstation fan though, clearly you don't like any exclusives going by your previous comments.
At least MarketWatch removed the article. PushSquare is still hunting for clicks
With how prudish Sony has become, i hope not.
@Nikoscho Haha that's gold.
@Gamer4Lyfe If you’d like, I can show you examples. You missed what I said to the other guy, just because I like PlayStation doesn’t mean I have to worship the ground they walk on.
@Nikoscho I know Cuphead is big, that’s why I got an Xbox for it and then sold it. I didn’t ignore it. I acknowledged it and also said they were bullied for their library & kept being told to do better, then when they start making moves the ones who bullied them get angry & that’s why I said no one can make up their minds.
@PhantomJ All good, not trying to start anything just a conversation.
You don't have to worship sony, I don't either, for example I think their refund policy needs to be changed like Xbox/Microsoft, they should also add a gift option etc etc
Do you like any exclusives at all, I saw your previous comment saying you didn't but surely you like one? You said you like 3rd party and jrpgs.
Sony would need to find about $11 billion at today’s market cap of Take Two to fund this!
A merger of some kind would be more likely but then it wouldn’t benefit Take Two from where I’m sitting...
Much like when rumors of MS acquiring EA broke and I was hoping it wouldn't happen, I'm hoping the same here. Just like with the MS/EA rumor I don't rule anything out but don't think this would be good for anybody. The obvious ones who suffer are gamers in general who like to play on other platforms than PlayStation who would now be cut off. And as the articles mentions what's the benefit to Sony? For one it's going to cost a boatload of $ and these games being limited to one brand would lessen sales. Of course they could still publish GTA on Xbox an while keeping certain DLC exclusive to PlayStation but that'd be stupid too.
For what it would cost to purchase Take Two, Sony could spend the money wiser with multiple much more sensible acquisitions. The first should be Insomniac, which I have been saying for a few years now that Sony should just buy them already. After that, three or more of Quantic Dream, Supermassive, IO Interactive, Housemarque and Platinum.
Sony and MS will hopefully both leave companies like Take Two, Capcom, SquareEnix, Sega, Activision and EA on their own.
“Sony in advanced board level discussions to acquire Take Two”... 😂 yeah ok, next joke.
If Sony were to buy any publisher I want it to be Capcom. Their franchises are more at home on PlayStation. And can really leverage games like Monster Hunter and Resident Evil.
@Nikoscho As per community rules
Do not use profanity; Use of unsavoury language including profanity and swearing is not acceptable, please remember that this website has users of all ages.
So let's watch the language please
Thanks for understanding
@Nikoscho This is your second warning now.
Please watch the language. Next time you will earn a temp ban from the site.
@Nikoscho You’re right about the MS games, they are really awful and not even exclusive. It’s hilarious when someone still says that exclusives don’t matter, can’t be more delusional than that.
To prepare themselves for streaming wars in post console world? So we have to choose playstation subscription if we want to stream gta 7 or 8, gta series will be sold on every console but stream only on playstation subs
@Constable_What Assuming that it does happen, I don't believe Sony would make Take-Two's IPs exclusive to their consoles, I think this move would be to keep those games away from competing streaming services.
This would be great. Then Sony could censor the hell out if GTA and make of like The Simpsons Hit & Run...
@AdamNovice Capcom doesn't sound right at home on the PlayStation to me. Most of their games have never even only been exclusive to the playstation, except devil may cry and street fighter 5. They should remain a 3rd party.
This is 100% plausible, and it will happen right after they are done buying Google, Amazon, Facebook, Apple, Microsoft and the earth itself.
In a parallel universe maybe.
@Gamer4Lyfe Did I say that? I don’t feel like scrolling up again, but I don’t dislike PS4 exclusives. To make sense out of it, I said I only got the system because of its library of third party and first party exclusives. If I was only after third party games I would’ve went with an Xbox, I like a lot of the exclusives (Horizon, Spider-Man, Bloodborne, to name a few) but there are some that didn’t vibe with me. Not gonna list them because I don’t want to start a flame war
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