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Xbox is considering buying studios again...

Sony for Bungie:

leonardo-dicaprio-sold-gif.gif
 
Mr.Phoenix said:
Quite a few people can come up with $50B+, actually, Nvidia, Google, Amazon, Apple, Microsoft....etc.

But yeah, they would still have to be waiting for the man to die first.
Click to expand...
Google, Amazon, Apple could get the cash easy but none of those companies has ever made such a massive purchase, and Google/Amazon screwed up their gaming divisions.

5 biggest entertainment mergers are:

1.) Paramount Skydance buying Warner Bros Discovery for $110 billion (Saudi qatari money involved)

2.) AT&T buying Time Warner Inc for $85 billion

3.) Disney buying Fox for $71 billion

4.) MS buying ABK for $69 billion

5.) Saudi public fund buying EA for $55 billion

Saudis want to control an asset like Steam badly. I am hoping Disney buys out Epic and gets Tencent outta there. Nvidia might turn out to be best stewards for Steam.
 
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The blog post/press release had the M&A line under Services, so I wouldn't necessarily conclude they are looking to buy studios but it makes for a nice clickbait article. Maybe they want to buy Discord or some other Cloud Provider, or Twitch from Amazon 🤷 . For reference, there was another heading under Content and M&A wasn't referenced there.

From the press release:

Services
  • Fortify Game Pass with clear differentiation and sustainable economics
  • Return the business to durable growth with strong cost discipline
  • Make cloud play feel native, fast, and reliable across TVs and low-cost devices
  • Use M&A deliberately to accelerate growth where organic paths are too slow
 
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ChuckeRearmed said:
For what?
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Diversity of Games in their ecosystem, including Game Pass.

They likely will get a great deal since Dont Nod's finances aren't the best, but they are a very efficient developer that has released 5 solid games this gen:

  • Harmony: The Fall of Reverie
  • Jusant
  • Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden
  • Lost Records: Bloom & Range
  • Aphelion - releases next week
 
Monolith is already dead.......but maybe they can save whats left of Rocksteady.




FUCK WARNER FOR KILLING MONOLITH!!!!!!!!!
 
Microsoft is on a scorched earth policy of the gaming industry.
They might have already surpassed EA for most studios and IPs killed.
 
RedC said:
Diversity of Games in their ecosystem, including Game Pass.

They likely will get a great deal since Dont Nod's finances aren't the best, but they are a very efficient developer that has released 5 solid games this gen:

  • Harmony: The Fall of Reverie
  • Jusant
  • Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden
  • Lost Records: Bloom & Range
  • Aphelion - releases next week
Click to expand...
You don't need acquisitions for the games you mentioned - any indie studio can produce games like this. Acquisitions make sense if they bring something new (like IPs).
Xbox's issue is not the diversity - their issue is the game quality (and Xbox is suffering from DEI era too just like every western publisher).
They should start releasing games that people want to play. Not Avowed or ugly Outer Worlds 2. Produce games that people want to buy. Purge the studios from people who can't make games - like even Doom failed.
 
They better do more than consider. If they dont get shit right next gen, their gaming department is prob done.

Maybe they can go back to marketing TV consoles :LOL:
 
Not what she said. She was only thinking about M&A where organic growth for Xbox doesn't make sense. Maybe this involves Asian expansion with partners? If anything, Xbox needs less studios.
 
saintjules said:
That article just took information that was already posted in the Matt and Asha statement. Why make a new thread?

HeisenbergFX4

Thread 'Asha - We are Xbox'



Dear team,

Xbox has always been different.

We started with a simple idea. Games should bring people together through shared experiences. That led to the first Xbox in 2001, Xbox Live in 2002, and new ways to connect, from friends lists and achievements to parties and play across devices. Today, Xbox reaches over 500 million players around the world, with some of the most important franchises in entertainment.

From the beginning, Xbox was built by people willing to try things that others wouldn't. We placed a consumer bet inside an enterprise company because we...
  • LOL
  • Like
  • Fire
  • Strength
  • Empathy
  • Praise the Sun
  • Treasure
  • Love
Click to expand...

You think people read here?
We Dont Do That Umbrella Academy GIF by NETFLIX
 
a1842b1c32d7d830e67ae0add7b78244.gif


I can believe this. In the aftermath of a good move like reducing Gamepass, they like to balance things out with something incredibly dumb.
 
You think about competently run entities buying more studios. This makes no sense. Even the most ardent followers should be more rational about this.
 
winjer said:
Microsoft is on a scorched earth policy of the gaming industry.
They might have already surpassed EA for most studios and IPs killed.
Click to expand...
Oh idunno about that, if you factor in broader Windows, then yeah, but in just gaming Microsoft are bad, but EA are the worst company of all time in the industry :pie_open_mouth:.

Let's see
According to quick google search, Microsoft destroyed Tango Gameworks, Arkane Austin, Lionhead Studios, Ensemble Studios, ACES Game Studio, FASA Studio, Digital Anvil, The Initiative.
In addition they've heavily mismanaged every Zenimax company, Rare, most of their own core IPs, and they're responsible for Games For Windows Live, the Xbox app, and Gamepass. Also they haven't done anything with most of Activision's IPs, but tbf Activision wasn't doing much with them either.
So yeah, pretty awful.

But EA :pie_open_mouth:
They've shut down Origin Systems, Bullfrog, Westwood, Pandemic, Visceral Games, Black Box Games, Mythic Entertainment, Dreamworks Interactive/Danger Close Games, Maxis Emeryville, Phenomic. They've also basically shut down Criterion Games.
They destroyed sports games on PC pretty much single-handedly and they were the OGs of lazy year by year minimal updates to sports games. They've pretty much destroyed Bioware. They've got a huge back catalogue of IP that they're doing nothing with. The way the Sims has been managed is incredibly greedy while being lazy at the same time. Also the EA App is by far the worst of the big digital games apps.
 
Maybe Sweeney sees that the best days of Fortnite are over, the epic store is going nowhere, and is putting out feelers. Chock the Unreal toolkit with AI development features, a marriage made in heaven (hell).
 
Mr.Phoenix said:
Anybody buying steam... is basically buying a game store. Not a "gaming division"... Amazon/Google know stores.


Oh God, please no.
Click to expand...
Why you against Nvidia? Nvidia and DirectX basically built PC Gaming. MS wouldn't be allowed due to anti-trust reasons. Nvidia does a pretty good job with Steam integration for GFN service.
Odinnii said:
Ubisoft is in the bargain bin if they are interested.
Click to expand...
Lol no, they still have a massive employee count, that MS does not want to go near. Plus MS not allowed to buy Ubisoft as long as Ubisoft controls ABK Cloud streaming rights. Plus the whole Tencent involvement.

Embracer group is perfect choice for MS, unless Paramount Skydance is willing to sell Warner Bros Interactive studios along with gaming rights to Mortal Kombat and licensing rights for other DC games. But Paramount seems to want to build up their gaming division.
 
Bungie execs just high fived each other. Maybe MS will take them back if Sony cuts them loose. Another potential corporate coffer to leach off for more knitting and cooking classes.
 
March Climber said:
It's too late for that too. Streaming took over ages ago.
Click to expand...
Both Sony and MS should release $100 streaming boxes.
StreetsofBeige said:
Bungie execs just high fived each other. Maybe MS will take them back if Sony cuts them loose. Another potential corporate coffer to leach off for more knitting and cooking classes.
Click to expand...
Won't happen. MS actually considered buying Bungie again before Sony made the offer. MS went with ABK instead.

Sony's acquisitions have been horrible, outside of Insomniac. That is probably the best $260 million spent.

 
How many more billions exactly until they get a somewhat constant stream of good games? I think we're at 80 right now.....
 
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It was only a matter of time, all this losing of theirs actually strengthened their case for more m&a to get approved by the government.
 
hououinkyouma00 said:
Didn't you guys already get laughed out of a room trying to do something like that 25 years ago?

Also, Microsoft buying them is part of the reason Xbox is a failure anyways.
Click to expand...
That's what with Nintendo, right? Imagine that, Nintendo as whole would rather die than get bought by anyone...
 
A studio being bought sure seems like a good sign that their best years are behind them.

I don't know why they can't just settle for per-game funding contracts.
 
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