30 years ago, Sony almost bought Bullfrog Productions and the FIFA license
Former managers of Sony’s gaming division gave an interview to The Game Business portal, in which they shared memories of working at the company in the 1990s. Among other topics, they revealed details of two deals that fell through.
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Former senior producer at Sony, Martin Alltimes, recounted that three decades ago, Sony was very close to purchasing Bullfrog Productions — the studio of Peter Molyneux.
According to him, at that time, Molyneux approached Sony with a request to publish some games: specifically, he presented Dungeon Keeper and the never-released The Indestructibles. After hearing the proposal, the company decided it would be simpler and ultimately cheaper to purchase the entire Bullfrog Productions. However, Sony was not the only one interested in the studio — Electronic Arts (EA), which had previously collaborated with Molyneux, also wished to acquire it. Ultimately, in 1995, EA signed an agreement with Bullfrog Productions and became the owner of the studio.
The second deal that fell through involved FIFA. Former vice president of software development for PlayStation, Juan Montes, recalled that around the same time, Sony was working on its own football simulator. The company considered releasing it under the FIFA license and even negotiated with the International Federation of Football, but here too, it lost out to EA.
"In the end, we decided to forgo this deal to maintain good relations with third-party teams," Montes admitted.