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$10 billion later, Microsoft isn’t done buying game studios yet

Tiamat2san

Tiamat2san

Member
Realistically techland, asobo...

ideally a big Japanese company like Sega, capcom, Konami or square.

the meltdown would be like Craig....infinite!
 
12Dannu123

12Dannu123

Member
Shrap said:
I find it completely bizarre that people are supporting this. Buying up studios, unless they are small/medium, isn't good for consumers. All it does is limit the platforms games are available on that were previously unrestricted without any benefit.

I really hope this isn't starting a trend where every big publisher/developer gets snatched up.
Click to expand...

The only loss is PS only gamers. Everyone else is fine, until Sony is forced to accept Game Pass on PS5, PS gamers will continue to get shafted by MS.
 
Albion

Albion

Member
Why don't you just show us footage of all these cool studios' games running on the next gen? I feel like ive been reading more about next gen than seeing it.
 
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Walter Matthau

Walter Matthau

Member
The endgame for Xbox is not XSX, it's Gamepass and xCloud services which are still in their infancy. If they don't build up their catalog now then late competitors can swoop in and eat their lunch.
 
S

semicool

Banned
I'd rather MS buy a big studio than Google or Amazon so they can put them Exclusively on their Exclusively respective streaming platforms. At least we would still have the option to buy and play the IP natively.
 
Bryank75

Bryank75

Banned
Maogp said:
If i were Microsoft I would attack the European front, Japan has too many competitor that are very strong.
I would acquire some strong european publisher like THQ Nordic, Techland or KOCH media.
Click to expand...
People will resent them more than anything if they buy a Japanese brand and on top of that the government can just block an acquisition of any stock over 10% for any reason.... it's not just a law, it's just what the government think is best for the country.
 
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aries_71

aries_71

Junior Member
I heard Bungie did want to be acquired? But why? Didn’t they live MS to find freedom?
 
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lock2k

lock2k

Banned
4dd4ce440495e8021da09f9512bd6678.png
 
RokkanStoned

RokkanStoned

Member
Only purchase I could imagine accounting for their weaknesses is Square Enix. They'd grab Tomb Raider, Drakengard/Nier and Legacy of Kain for 3rd person action adventure storydriven game. Deus Ex and Thief, just ruling those immersive sim rpgs. Just Cause for sandbox game. Gex for kid game. And of course, all the great japanese titles Chrono, FF, KH, DQ, Star Ocean and Valkyrie Profile.

Of course, that's HIGHLY unlikely, but would basically say "buy an Xbox". Personally I'd like them to instead manage their studios properly and get new IPs instead. Perhaps investing in a few new creative studios in Japan. Doing the work, recruiting the right talent, having a good project supervisor. That and actually using some of their nostalgic hitting IPs like Banjo & Kazooie and to an extent Perfect Dark.

A personal desire is for either Sony, Microsoft or Square Enix to buy the Shadow Hearts/Koudelka IP from whoever currently owns it.
 
L

LazyParrot

Member
MS didn't buy Bethesda so Xbox would have more games. All their games were coming to Xbox anyway. They bought them to take games away from Sony (and, therefore, potentially, a ton of players). It's kind of a dick move.

And yes, it would have been just as much of a dick move if Sony had done the same thing.
 
12Dannu123

12Dannu123

Member
RokkanStoned said:
Only purchase I could imagine accounting for their weaknesses is Square Enix. They'd grab Tomb Raider, Drakengard/Nier and Legacy of Kain for 3rd person action adventure storydriven game. Deus Ex and Thief, just ruling those immersive sim rpgs. Just Cause for sandbox game. Gex for kid game. And of course, all the great japanese titles Chrono, FF, KH, DQ, Star Ocean and Valkyrie Profile.

Of course, that's HIGHLY unlikely, but would basically say "buy an Xbox". Personally I'd like them to instead manage their studios properly and get new IPs instead. Perhaps investing in a few new creative studios in Japan. Doing the work, recruiting the right talent, having a good project supervisor. That and actually using some of their nostalgic hitting IPs like Banjo & Kazooie and to an extent Perfect Dark.

A personal desire is for either Sony, Microsoft or Square Enix to buy the Shadow Hearts/Koudelka IP from whoever currently owns it.
Click to expand...


Building up studios takes lot of time and effort and takes years of investment. The subscription shift is happening right now, there simply isn't enough time to build new IP and studios. So to retain their competitive advantage, Microsoft is aggressively acquiring as much publishers and studios as possible, this will keep Amazon and Google at bay in the streaming wars, while also removing third party support from Sony in the console wars.
 
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martino

martino

Member
RokkanStoned said:
Only purchase I could imagine accounting for their weaknesses is Square Enix. They'd grab Tomb Raider, Drakengard/Nier and Legacy of Kain for 3rd person action adventure storydriven game. Deus Ex and Thief, just ruling those immersive sim rpgs. Just Cause for sandbox game. Gex for kid game. And of course, all the great japanese titles Chrono, FF, KH, DQ, Star Ocean and Valkyrie Profile.

Of course, that's HIGHLY unlikely, but would basically say "buy an Xbox". Personally I'd like them to instead manage their studios properly and get new IPs instead. Perhaps investing in a few new creative studios in Japan. Doing the work, recruiting the right talent, having a good project supervisor. That and actually using some of their nostalgic hitting IPs like Banjo & Kazooie and to an extent Perfect Dark.

A personal desire is for either Sony, Microsoft or Square Enix to buy the Shadow Hearts/Koudelka IP from whoever currently owns it.
Click to expand...
i don't think it will be easy for them to buy the studio owning Dragon quest
 
BRZBlue

BRZBlue

Member
Mmnow said:
I hadn't thought of Kojima, which someone mentioned up above.

That relationship would actually be incredible. Kojima is a developer who has spent his entire career trying to just do what he wants to do, but has kept being pulled back to blockbuster AAA. Death Stranding, one of my favourite games of the last year, was incredible, but got mixed reviews and was only just profitable. Now imagine the compromises he made to get it to appeal to even that market. Then he struggled to get funding for his next game.

Now give him Microsoft money and the ability to just make the games he wants, because of Gamepass. No need to convince someone to purchase a game, so just go wild. The barrier of entry doesn't exist.

Of course that might just lead to a Norman Reedus dating sim (Troy Baker as DLC), but if that's what he wants to make, Gamepass is the way to go.

It's not going to happen. I'm not sure Kojima wants tose his independence again, and I don't blame him. But out of Sony and Microsoft right now, I think Microsoft probably would suit him better.
Click to expand...

Kojima has, atleast anecdotally, a dislike of MS. He really disliked their management style, and it was supposedly one of the reasons he sided with Sony after leaving Konami. Rumor was he turned MS down cold on any offers.
 
Corrik

Corrik

Member
MrFunSocks said:
Sega is worth less than half what they just paid for Zenimax.
Click to expand...
Sega Sammy Hldg · Market Cap
360.21 billion USD

Sega is a part of Sammy.

(I see this in Yen and USD so not sure which it is. If in yen, then in USD it is 3.29 Billion USD)


Konami Hldg · Market Cap
617.05 billion USD

(I see this in Yen and USD so not sure which it is. If in yen, then in USD it is 6.15 Billion USD)


Capcom · Market Cap
809.97 billion JPY

(This converts to 7.67 Billion USD)

Bandai Namco HD · Market Cap
1.73 trillion JPY

(This converts to 16.38 Billion USD)

Square Enix
7.909 Billion USD


You are going to pay a premium though likely over their market caps though.

 
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IntentionalPun

IntentionalPun

Ask me about my wife's perfect butthole
Shrap said:
I find it completely bizarre that people are supporting this. Buying up studios, unless they are small/medium, isn't good for consumers. All it does is limit the platforms games are available on that were previously unrestricted without any benefit.

I really hope this isn't starting a trend where every big publisher/developer gets snatched up.
Click to expand...
Since we are in the age of "purchase wars" it seems I'm trying to find the light at the end of the tunnel here.

There are some positive outcomes of Sony or MS buying studios, even large ones.

- Cash injections
- For MS consumers get more games day 1 on Gamepass (no I do not want to have the 'but gamepass turns every game into live service' argument again)
- For Sony consumers get.. well.. a studio managed by Sony, they clearly know what they are doing
- Better access to internal developers / expertise
- Less platforms = more focused projects from a technical perspective

But overall I'm negative on consolidation.
 
M

Mmnow

Member
BRZBlue said:
Kojima has, atleast anecdotally, a dislike of MS. He really disliked their management style, and it was supposedly one of the reasons he sided with Sony after leaving Konami. Rumor was he turned MS down cold on any offers.
Click to expand...
After the team up with Sony, Kojima said:

“It’s thanks to Sony that I was able to make a splash in the global market. It’s been 10-plus years since then and the working relationship at Sony, the people at Sony, we gel well…. I got several offers from many different companies, but with Sony it came to a point where I know these people, they know me, we know each other well.”
Click to expand...

Which is all well and good until Sony stop funding his games or start to expect a degree of editorial control.

I've never heard he's got any problem with Microsoft before. I'm sure that'd soon disappear if they agreed to fund his circumcision serial killer game sight unseen.

Nah the real reason Kojima will stay independent is because he was tied to Konami for forever and look how that turned out. I'm certain 50 publishers want to fund his games just to say they did.
 
MrFunSocks

MrFunSocks

Banned
Corrik said:
Sega Sammy Hldg · Market Cap
360.21 billion USD

Sega is a part of Sammy.

(I see this in Yen and USD so not sure which it is. If in yen, then in USD it is 3.29 Billion USD)


Konami Hldg · Market Cap
617.05 billion USD

(I see this in Yen and USD so not sure which it is. If in yen, then in USD it is 6.15 Billion USD)


Capcom · Market Cap
809.97 billion JPY

(This converts to 7.67 Billion USD)

Bandai Namco HD · Market Cap
1.73 trillion JPY

(This converts to 16.38 Billion USD)

Square Enix
7.909 Billion USD


You are going to pay a premium though likely over their market caps though.

Click to expand...
Not sure where you got all that from, but it’s not right. Maybe you’re looking at yen?

Sega Sammy Holdings Market Cap Analysis | YCharts

In depth view into Sega Sammy Holdings Market Cap including historical data from 2008, charts and stats.
ycharts.com ycharts.com

www.marketwatch.com

SGAMY Stock Price | Sega Sammy Holdings Inc. ADR Stock Quote (U.S.: OTC) | MarketWatch

SGAMY | A complete SGAMY overview by MarketWatch. View the latest market news and prices, and trading information.
www.marketwatch.com www.marketwatch.com

Their market cap is not even USD$3bil. There wouldn’t be talks of MS buying them if they were $300bil lol.
 
VincentMatts

VincentMatts

Member
They will probably focus on a Japanese purchase, but I would get Bungie if I were them.

WB aren't worth it as you don't get any of the DC, LOTR, Lego licenses with that, EA, Ubi, take2, activision all cost too much.
 
Redlancet

Redlancet

Banned
Venom Snake said:
Sure, let them buy even more third-party gaming studios so they can produce their third-party content as first-party, limiting the choice is all that the modern consumer needs. :goog_horns:
Click to expand...
You dont get the memo? According to us games media and podcasters is amazing an brillant and brave when microsoft does, the same exact people who a month ago were doing drama about Spiderman being exclusive on the Avengers game and doing boicotts to the game
 
M

Mmnow

Member
Redlancet said:
so you want to do to kojima what microsoft did to bungie or the coalition? why?
Click to expand...
Haven't there been enough bans lately? Lazy trolling ftw.

Listen man, Kojima could release his next game on a piece of cheese and I'd spend whatever he asked for it. But the Gamepass style of entry suits his non-MGS output better than having to charge $70 for it. And he hated being tied to MGS.
 
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