After reading various articles documenting the up's and down's of Sony's various projects (gaming and non-gaming devisions), it made me wonder what the ramifications would be if Apple tried some kind of 'buy-out'.
It's been mentioned before in various articles, i just wondered what people's thoughts on something like this happening?
Maybe I'm missing something but I can't see what value Sony would bring to the Apple brand.
Ninty will start dealing in trading cards and love hotels again to survive.
Mario and Peach love hotels......
MS may well also have to exit console biz unless they pull out an apple from their hats.
One apple rules all .
I can see Sony being bought up after next gen or midway through.
Nintendo just relying on Nintendo Network and handhelds, maybe a tablet after Wii U.
Microsoft and Apple fighting it out for the living room space.
In fact, the quicker each company can get to a cloud gaming solution, the better their chance of survival.
I think Nintendo's knows this which is prob why it doesn't waste money on expensive tech it doesn't need at the moment.
I did consider this too recently. I think there is a distinct possibility there will be a new player next time around, and Apple are a likely candidate. There are some parallels between Apple and Sony too, in terms of style/image they want to portray. I do question what exactly Apple stand to gain from such a deal though. Do they really need Sony, or would it significantly help them? Possibly, but there are a lot of downsides too.
Unless there is important tech or patents Apple really need i can't see it happening. Too much baggage, and realistically Apple can do it by themselves quite easily. So I can see why you asked the question, but no can't see it happening.
lol...that was exactly what i thought after reading the latest sony news here. imediateley "apple" came to my mind...it would totally make sense. not for the upcoming gen but the one after that.
i can also see nintendo only continuing in making handhelds and multiplat games.
i can really see all this happening - not sure what to think of it though. sony definiteley manouevered themself into a very tight corner.
that said: i do use a mac mini....but i am not an apple fan at all. not really a fan of sonys image either but for the sake of this world i´d rather see apple disappear than sony ;)
Well what do Sony have that Apple could want?
MP3's? No.
Tablets? No.
Phones? No.
Laptops? No.
TV's? No.
PlayStation (all of it)? No.
For everything listed Apple has a direct competitor, that's doing better, ok it hasn't got a console, but it's got ios gaming & that's doing really rather well isn't it?
Apple have zero reason to buy Sony, not even for the brand.
the playstation brand still is kinda strong. if they want to get into console gaming they would also buy into a lot of biz knowlege...
@Orbit
Flying minds here think that acquiring a fortune 500 company is a childs play. Apple will try to do something on its own rather than acquiring.
Edit- Sony assets exceed that of apples (not by much), at 160 billion compared to 150. Impossible for anyone to buy sony, especially as they are improving now.
Sony don't have anything Apple want.
Seriously, what do you think Sony have that Apple want? The Playstation brand? That's not Apples style, and at this point in time they don't need anybody else branding to get in to the home console market, they put "i" in front of "console" and it will sell. They certainly don't need Sony's console tech, Apple are more than capable of developing their own.
Apple certainly have no interest at all in the majority of Sony's business, consumer electronics, their computer division, mobile phones, that's all stuff they would just shut down,
The only things I can see as worth anything to Apple are their patent portfolio (and then only a portion of it) and a very big *if* they were thinking of entering the gaming arena Sony do have a sizeable portfolio of gaming IP and quality development studios that someone like Apple might be interested in, but it's hard to see them justify buying the entire company.
If Sony were to dissolve then Apple will be among the vultures scavenging the corpse, but they're not going to buy the farm.
it´s just speculating a bit. on a videogame related site. for the fun of it....
Sony's not going anywhere, they just have to restructure their entire company to represent the modern world. Their designs & quality generally receive much appraisal across the world but with the rise of the Koreans almost as good quality at an affordable price along with the likes of Apple dominating the premium spectrum in a few of their competing markets, they really need to reorganize themselves & find out where they fit in the world. It no longer makes sense to buy a Sony product for $100+ more if you feel the only advantage is the Sony branding, it simply does not carry the same weight it used to.
@OM, That's not even a fraction of what Sony sells & does, you're forgetting so much more about the company. It's not so much the consumer products that Apple would want from Sony, but the tech & patents, it also wouldn't hurt having their production studios putting those darned licensing fees straight back into the company.
what can they do...apple ruined the walkman
Sony are the Nokia of Japan..
There's nothing they have to justify a buyout. They 're just a waste of money.
Sony are one of the biggest corporations in the world, and about a million miles away from anything Apple could want to buy.
It'd be like buying gigantic, rusty old battleship, when you already own a brand new mega-yacht.
@Poly
Exactly. It's just musings if anything.
We all know at some point Apple will enter the home console / streaming / TV Service.
If / when that happens, something's got to give for at least one of the current gaming companies.
I can't see it being MS, their far to well positioned from a 'all in one' media solution perspective at the moment.
Likewise, I think Nintendo are well positioned for a handheld streaming service using Nintendo network. They also sell at profit on launch and have mario, Pokemon et all to fall back on.
After Vita and the grind Sony have faced trying to make the PS3 profitable, I can only think it'll be Sony who will bow out first. Wether that means teaming up with Apple or whatever, I'm not sure! :)
Apple do not need to buy Sony to enter the home console market, their already in it. How many homes have a idevice? How many ios games are sold daily? And more devs are ready to dedicate serious time to capture a slice of this lucrative pie.
Though if you still think a portable device can't be considered a home console, just wait till the Apple tv rolls out... That's as close Apple will get to a games system for the home.
Until I see the same quality, functionality, etc as console & PC games become common on iOS, I will continue to disregard it as a gaming device. Frankly I think anyone who buys it for gaming is crazy- unless they have the intention of rooting(jail breaking) it to run retro games but you'd be better off grabbing an Android device for that, skips the need to hack it. There's potential for smartphone platforms to become powerful gaming machines but that just isn't going to happen until either Google, Apple or to a lesser extent MS actually try to do so.
No, it's until Apple, MS or to a lesser extent Google, genius..
Google is doing well in the mobile space, Microsoft are doing pathetic & taking down the once great Nokia with them. I don't think shrinking Windows will help them either- especially when it loses all its functionality.
Google have never ever tried doing anything videogames related. They're doing the least out of the three.
As for MS, their WP is the fastest growing mobile OS. Nokia has been 'great' in the dark days of Java Micro Edition and uneducated consumers who had no choice.
None of the major smart phone platform holders have tried much & that's my point. Having a game division on your store means nothing. I doubt that even Nokia can prevent that sinking ship no matter how nice their hardware looks. Sure it may be growing but is it fast enough to make it relevant? Blackberry still means more to me than WP...
No one mentions Steam Box?
There is going to be a slew of devices that will play games, movies, music, TV and what not heading to market soon. I think the gaming landscape is going to be repaidly changing. And i think the focus is going to be on services, not sentiant raw horespower to run games.
I don't see Apple buying Sony. I don't see the value in it.
But I do see a time when games are only a small part of the marketablity of what will become consoles(set top boxes/tablets/smart TVs) or whatever you want to call them.
I think one secreat weapon Sony has could be Giakia. I think it was a great investment. If Sony use it in everything they make from Tvs to Tablets and phones to of course consoles. The generational cycle of the hardware could soon become irrelenvent. So, in that respect I don't see the value in anyone buying Sony.
No mentions the Steam box, as we figure we'll see it when we see Half-Life 3...
:-/
I wonder if Sony will try and push 4k with PS4, they could call it PS4K. :)
@monkeygourmet, You would probably need the absolute top GPU in quad SLi (or CrossFireX) configuration to run a modern game @4k on max settings. I mean, top cards like the GTX690 can't even maintain the prime 60FPS on Metro 2033 @2560*1600.
@C Jack
I mainly meant for movie playback, although maybe some PSN games?
Sony love to use the new Playstation to sell their new TVs and media, blu ray etc... Although maybe they won't bother this time with the download approach.
However, with films like Hobbit being shot in 4k and people's limited download speeds, I think we have one more gen of physical media.
I can see them pushing 4k to sell their new TVs while everyone else goes download and cloud.
Could be a big mistake for them if their trying to keep the price down.
Nintendo has timed the HD jump perfectly from a business perspective, although they aren't desperate to sell you the new TV.
I upgraded to 3D last year, and it's been shit for gaming on a PS3 at least. What a waste of marketing that was...
Sony is doing fine. The camera department is actually a real thread to others. What isn't doing well is the games department and playstation brand. But they'll get back on their feet. It's neither another Atari nor SEGA. And Apple is on an entirely other level as Sony and would gain absolutely nothing by aquiring what, the whole Sony Inc.? The only thing Apple is interrested in, are the Sony camera modules for their iPhones/pod/pad.
Nah, Sony isn't going anywhere.
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