Former Blizzard boss Mike Ybarra is now speaking out about Sony’s plans to buy Japanese media company Kadokawa Corporate. This is the parent company of FromSoftware, which is behind games like Elden Ring and Dark Souls. The experienced gaming manager classifies the purchase: Ybarra believes the deal is much better than Microsoft’s purchase of Activision Blizzard.
This is the state of things: Sony has sent a letter of intent to Kadokawa Corporation saying it wants to buy them.
The Japanese company’s market value on the stock exchange has exploded in recent days, rising by 48.5%. That’s an increase in value of over one billion euros.
Kadokawa has taken note of the takeover offer and is currently reviewing it.
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Manager explains why FromSoftware would be such a valuable purchase for Sony
This is what Ybarra says: The manager thinks highly of FromSoftware, the crown jewel around which the takeover revolves in the eyes of many gamers. He says FromSoftware is incredible. They release games quickly and their games are “AAA and epic”. Your record is fantastic.
For him, Elden Ring is “the best game of the last 10 years” – it’s a studio with 400 employees who only work on one game at a time. The developers are super-focused, an important success criterion for Ybarra.
For Ybarra, a Sony acquisition of FromSoftware would be one of the 2 best gaming deals of all time.
Only the purchase of Microsoft 10 years ago was even bigger
Which deal was even better? The only thing that was better was the bargain that Microsoft made when they bought Minecraft for just $2.5 billion, explains Ybarra. That was in 2014.
What purchases does he compare it to? Ybarra says (via x): It would only be bigger if Sony bought the Steam owners Valve or Nintendo. And both cases are extremely unlikely. He just doesn’t see how these purchases should work.
Ybarra believes: Microsoft could now regret buying Activision
How is this discussed? A Twitter user explains to Ybarra: Sony is not concerned with FromSoftware in the deal, but rather with the many anime and manga that will change hands if Sony swallows the Japanese media group.
Another contradicts Ybarra: That Microsoft bought Activision and Bethesda is much more important.
However, Ybarra counters this critical voice: Microsoft would have paid $69 billion for Activision. Such an investment brings with it enormous pressure. You can already feel this at Microsoft. He’s not sure whether Microsoft doesn’t now regret the purchase.
How good Sony’s purchase of FromSoftware ultimately is also depends on the price, adds Ybarra.
Is he afraid that games will soon only come for PS5? Ybarra says that’s annoying because he plays on the PC. But he believes FromSoftware’s games could be part of a deal to appear on additional platforms.
Bungie’s games would continue to appear on all platforms at the same time.
A user asks him about Bungie, the developers of Destiny. After Sony bought Bungie, he fears for the fate of FromSoftware if Sony gets its hands on them, they say. Ybarra replies coolly: Bungie had its difficulties even before Sony bought it. Well, he’s probably right: Destiny 2: Sony reportedly sees purchase from Bungie as a failure, is angry at “greedy bosses”