Is Sony Planning To Acquire The Developers Of Warframe?

General news News PlayStation PlayStation News 07/04/2020

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Bloomberg says Sony Corporation is preparing a bid for Leyou Technologies.

The Hong Kong-based Leyou Technologies has a few subsidiaries: Digital Extremes (the devs of Warframe, which continues to be successful), Splash Damage (the devs of Gears Tactics), Athlon Games (Los Angeles-based publisher – they work together with Amazon on an online game based on Lord of the Rings), and Certain Affinity (20% minority stake).

Sony is reportedly working together with a financial adviser on a potential offer for the company. Sony Corporation hopes to edge out the other bidders with greater financial certainty. Charles Yuk, Leyou’s controlling shareholder, is said to pick a buyer and sign the contract by the end of July. The talks are ongoing, and there is no final decision yet. Other bidders could still show up. As expected, nor Sony, neither Leyou has commented on the subject.

The news made the Chinese firm’s share value increase by 9.8% (it went through a 20% increase since the start of 2020), and the company is valued at 1.1 billion dollars. It could start a potential bidding war. In late 2019, Yuk was in talks with iDreamSky, a mobile publisher, about a buyout. They worked together with CVC Capital Partners, with a 1,23 billion joint offer, but the coronavirus halted this initiative. In May, Leyou has confirmed that they got a non-binding takeover offer from their rivals Zhejiang Century Huatong Group (ZCHG). So there are several potential buyers in the story, and there might be more behind the scenes.

It’s clear what Sony’s plan is: they want to expand Sony Interactive Entertainment’s portfolio, and Digital Extremes would be a good addition – Warframe might be worth it for them, although the free-to-play title might lose its multiplatform status. However, the story is not over. ZCHG and iDreamSky+CVC might be working on their new offers behind the scenes, too.

Source: Gematsu, GI

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