Is 7.5 billion too much and MS overpaid?

Skyrim is one of the best selling games of all time.

They can make a big portion of that back from the next elder scrolls, doom ...etc
That is assuming the next TES will be as successful as Skyrim which is a big "IF" IMO. Trends and people's tastes change. What was massively popular 10 years ago does not guarantee that it will still be as popular.
 
They could have bought 1-year exclusivity for the best 3rd party games this entire upcoming gen with that money.
Its a strong move, not necessarily the best one.
 
MS has the money and wanted to drop a bomb that shows how serious they are about gaming. Sony or Nintendo aren't going to buy a big company for 7 billion dollars.

Xbox needed a jolt as people were still laughing about Halo or how the ps5 was going to be the best selling thing ever made by humans.
 
That is assuming the next TES will be as successful as Skyrim which is a big "IF" IMO. Trends and people's tastes change. What was massively popular 10 years ago does not guarantee that it will still be as popular.

At this point that's like betting against a Rockstar game. A new TES will sell by the truck load.
 
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I think it only seems overpriced if you believe Microsoft bought it to counter the fucking PS5. They did not. They are intending to change (and dominate) the entire industry.

There are billions of potential GamePass customers around the world. That's who Microsoft are working towards. Just like they did with Windows.

While the competition is focused on hilarious Craig memes Microsoft are quietly playing a different game.
Comparing GamePass to Windows ffs 🙄.
 
They make $139,000,000 a day in net profit, it will take Microsoft 53 days to pay back what they spent on Zenimax/Bethesda.

The spent roughly 1/7th of their yearly profit on this acquisition. How is that pocket change? Other branches of Microsoft need investment too.
Anyone who thinks Microsoft can spend money like this willy nilly is a fool.
 
Skyrim was reported at 1.4 billion in revenue in 2016. if it is at 1.5 billion now, It'd still take 5 Skyrims to make back the 7.5 in revenue. Did they just buy 5 future Skyrims?

If they immediately cancel all PS5 related projects like they might, this deal seems even worse, as part of their earning potential was Playstation sales.

I kind of understood Minecraft because beyond the game being huge the toys and other stuff were huge too. Elder Scrolls Lego incoming? Do people actually buy the Fallout bobbleheads and such? Maybe they do and I just don't know it.
 
ES is one of the biggest RPGs franchises nowadays. They also bought ESO which has a quite active user base. So I think it is probably worth, but it is a long term investment.
 
Surely they have done their due diligence on this investment. This would have been in discussions for months if not years. Microsoft aren't stupid. The other thing that would be interesting to note is what division or budget of Microsoft this went against. Did the Xbox unit of Microsoft fund this? Or was it used from other funds within Microsoft.

Microsoft have to know what projects are in the pipeline at all the Zenimax studios, and there must be some items there they are comfortable with they possible earnings potential. But as they are using this as a big dick move in this critical initial time of a next gen changeover, there has to be return on investment. Thats always the goal. ROI on 7.5 billion is going to take time. Just the annual capex and opex costs of all these studios is going to be tremendous. SO they need to keep all these studios running, plus make profit to make the return. Its going to take time. 1 Bethesda game is not going to do this. Multiple games over a period of time will. But thats also by making sure Bethesda games are sellling in alll possible markets, inc PS. Its also something to consider why Zenimax agreed. Was there major debt? Does Zenimax not see potential of 7.5 Bill in the next 10 years? All some interesting questions to ponder.

Some exciting news. This is why i love gaming news.
 
ESO alone has like 14 million subscribers. It doesn't get talked about much, but it's a giant moneymaker for Zenimax. Also people seem to forget that Bethesda has some very successful mobile games.
 
I think they underpaid honestly

They got 2 huge IPs(Fallout, ElderScrolls) 1 Historical and revered Hardcore IP(Doom) and a bunch more

They also got all them studios!
 
Im not sure why it matters, they bought several IP's in that mix which have an unlimited potential. They can make a heck of a lot more with it than Bethesda ever could, M$ has the clout, resources and experience to make more things happen than Bethesda/Zenimax could on their own.
 
Xbox One sold 50 million units, only 15 million of them signed up for Game pass... if X Series sells the same or better because of this and everyone goes for the game pass model, this deal will pay for itself in a year and a half.
 
The big thing that people are missing here is that they now own ID tech which they could move all the games going forward to and save them a ton on licensing engines.
 
Their lawyers and accountants will construct the purchase in a way that it will never cost them 7.5 billion when it's all said and done, just in terms of taxes for starters.
 
Their lawyers and accountants will construct the purchase in a way that it will never cost them 7.5 billion when it's all said and done, just in terms of taxes for starters.
It will cost them 7.5 billion...
But better have 7.5 billion amortized than being dead money as cash on hand if they don't use it as a buffer.
 
Came to post the exact same thing. Does people not realise how massive MS is?
Especially if they paid with over seas money they can't bring to the USA for stock holders any ways with high taxes. These crazy Microsoft deals are usually paid with that money its basically house money sitting there to try crazy stuff with.
 
That's their market cap, not what they have.
They own a portion of their own stocks, which can be diluted for cash. Or issue completely new ones, anytime they desire more cash, basically they can manipulate that $1.6 Trillion however they want.
 
They own a portion of their own stocks, which can be diluted for cash. Or issue completely new ones, anytime they desire more cash, basically they can manipulate that $1.6 Trillion however they want.
Dude, stop saying silly stuff. While still within the realm of what is possible, it is firmly ensconced in the domain of moronic.

That's not how securities work.
 
These kinds of acquisitions are never fair. Zenimax/Bethesda is a healthy, self sustained company and in these kinds of cases you always need to pay way above market price to make it worth.

I doubt Zenimax/Bethesda itself will ever make back 7.5B in profit. It's more of an investment for Xbox brand as a whole.
 
For all those IPs . You can do so much with them if you want. Anime , Movies , toys , comic books , more games ( of course) , merch , etc. If MS plays their cards right , they could turn a profit on this in about 3 or 4 years easily
 
Dude, stop saying silly stuff. While still within the realm of what is possible, it is firmly ensconced in the domain of moronic.

That's not how securities work.

Breaking news for you, companies do buy & sell their own shares for cash flow all the time, it's perfectly legal and accepted practice.

Glad that you've learned something new today.
 
Maybe but if it doubles sales of xbox consoles and game pass subs it won't matter. I think it does that. There's no way MS let's Elder Scrolls 6 or Fallout 5 or Doom or Dishonored 3 onto the PS5. I've seen a lot of desperate sounding takes on this acquisition relating to the exclusivity of Bethesda games. It's beyond wishful thinking. MS doesn't spend 7.5 billion without giving customers a reason to move to their platform. Don't over think this. "case by case" means they might throw some ports Nintendo's way at best. Sony won't get a sniff.

Once again PC stays winning.
 
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Yes, they most definitely overpaid. But they are in desperate situation. Some of their 1st party studios (343i) just suck.
 
When you consider the amount of IPs Bethesda holds, I think MS will at least break even on the investment.
 
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MS is worth something around 3 trillion? I think what they did was good for business and pennys in regard to what they have. It keeps Sony on their toes...Someone buy Capcom now!
 
This deal isn't just about gaining exclusivity for Zenimax IPs, but all the technology as well. Now all the other XGS can benefit from that technology sharing.
 
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