Could Microsoft look to buy Steam?

SlimySnake said:
Valve is only worth $7.7 billion according to google.
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Pretty much what they paid for Bethesda and a fraction of a fraction of what they paid for ABK.


I'm not saying they would but….. they pretty much own the home PC market, while having the worst games store apparently. So maybe buy steam and integrate steam and gamepass.



And let us unify our Xbox and steam accounts. Then I'd really have everything on one box. Xbox games, pC games and Playstation games, that I bought on steam. All in one box. That's my only reason why I'd like them to buy valve. That and I think we would actually get t half life 3…. And maybe console versions of team fortress and counter strike? It's been too long….


I'd be all for it… for the reasons above.
 
timothet said:
$7Bil would be an insanely low price for Steam. They reportedly made $1Bil from CS cases alone last year. They quite literally are printing money that way and it costs them close to nothing. They have unbelievable profit margins.

Buyer would also probably need to pay decent premium on top of actual value of Steam as an incentive.
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Pretty sure that 7bil number is from years ago, and just a guesstimate.

I genuinely think someone would have to pay more than the Activision number to get them.
they are a private company, that prints money for fun, and doesnt need to sell.
 
Ogbert said:
I'd wager it's closer to 700 billion.

It also wouldn't get past competition authorities as it would represent genuine horizontal consolidation.

So no.
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I'm a bit surprised so many are quoting that 7bil number. I dont think anyone sells as many games as Stream, in fact i wouldnt be surprised if you put all the other PC launchers togeter, along with Xbox and Playstation, that Steam probably sells more software.

hense my 'they would need to spend more than the Activision price to get them'.

No point posting a years old guesstimate for Valves value when in reality you would probably have to pay 10-20 times that number to get them.
 
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I hope not, Steam must remain separate from Microsoft, otherwise PC gaming will just become Xbox gaming and lose a lot of freedoms the platform enjoys, i hope this never happens.
 
HeisenbergFX4 said:
Likely but pretty much everything has a price
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bob barry jr april GIF
 
Would Steam even exist without Microsoft's install base and open eco system? Just imagine if Windows was like iOS where no 3rd party stores were allowed..
 
Gabe business is personal, you don't know what will happen when he's gone, hate to break it to you pc gamers but it's the truth, there is a huge possibility cause otherwise it's gonna be a huge mess when that happens .
 
Stuart360 said:
No point posting a years old guesstimate for Valves value when in reality you would probably have to pay 10-20 times that number to get them.
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The real argument is that since Valve is privately held, there's no way for MS to do hostile takeovers or any of the other shit that happens to publicly traded companies. There are no stockholders to appeal to.

For Valve to be sold, either Gaben has to turn to the dark side or die. One of his kids is a racecar driver, but I think the other one is involved in gaming. Hopefully he inherits his dad's level head.
 
Stuart360 said:
Pretty sure that 7bil number is from years ago, and just a guesstimate.

I genuinely think someone would have to pay more than the Activision number to get them.
they are a private company, that prints money for fun, and doesnt need to sell.
Click to expand...
Google says it's from 2022.

Valve is a storefront. They get 30% cut off all games sold but they don't actually make their own games.

Pc sales aren't typically that high. They make up around 10-15% for most games with PlayStation taking 50-60% and Xbox taking the remaining 20-25%.

There are some exceptions for pc focused franchises like cyberpunk, Witcher 3, elden ring and Bethesdas AAA rpgs but they are just that. Exceptions. Sonys revenue in 2022 for all digital store sales, console sales, first party sales and subscriptions was around $18 billion. Valve doesn't sell $500 consoles, $70 controllers, $70 mandatory online subscriptions, first party games that sell tens of millions of copies every year and definitely don't get the lions share of third party sales and especially microtransactions. I wouldn't be surprised if their yearly revenue is 1/3rd of PlayStation's.
 
Stuart360 said:
I was exaggerating with the 500bil, although i would expect them to cost more than their value.
If anyone could realisticly get Valve for anywhere close to that 7bil number, companies would of been all over them already.

I would honestly expect that someone would have to pay more than the Activision number. Remember Valve is a private company.
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Valve is a private company so they might be all over them but they can't do anything about it if valve doesn't want to sell. Has nothing to do with the value of the company being higher than you imagine it to be.
 
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Oh ffs….I knew today was going to happen a week ago with BS threads and nonsense on existing threads, but I woke up this morning and just wanted to go back to sleep. Key points, Microsoft is going multiplat fully soon, they are done buying whoever, and Phil is a fantastic liar and business man because he's got a lot of people fooled. You will be able to play Microsoft games wherever you want soon because they aren't making money on only their console and PC. This isn't about exclusivity, it's about releasing games wherever it makes financial sense to do so. These corporations don't give two shits about you unless you spend money to support them, and you are sadly mistaken thinking otherwise. They are going to go where the money is at…and that's PlayStation, Switch, and PC.

Insert memento.gif
 
RickMasters said:
And let us unify our Xbox and steam accounts. Then I'd really have everything on one box. Xbox games, pC games and Playstation games, that I bought on steam. All in one box. That's my only reason why I'd like them to buy valve. That and I think we would actually get t half life 3…. And maybe console versions of team fortress and counter strike? It's been too long….
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You're more likely to get layoffs than you are Half Life 3 my friend.
 
SlimySnake said:
Google says it's from 2022.

Valve is a storefront. They get 30% cut off all games sold but they don't actually make their own games.

Pc sales aren't typically that high. They make up around 10-15% for most games with PlayStation taking 50-60% and Xbox taking the remaining 20-25%.

There are some exceptions for pc focused franchises like cyberpunk, Witcher 3, elden ring and Bethesdas AAA rpgs but they are just that. Exceptions. Sonys revenue in 2022 for all digital store sales, console sales, first party sales and subscriptions was around $18 billion. Valve doesn't sell $500 consoles, $70 controllers, $70 mandatory online subscriptions, first party games that sell tens of millions of copies every year and definitely don't get the lions share of third party sales and especially microtransactions. I wouldn't be surprised if their yearly revenue is 1/3rd of PlayStation's.
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In 2022, total console gaming market sales amounted to 28.6 billion U.S. dollars, compared to 42.9 billion U.S. dollars generated by the worldwide PC gaming market. Packaged gaming sales only amounted to 9.3 billion U.S. dollars
www.statista.com

Global console & PC gaming market value worldwide by format 2026| Statista

In 2023, the digital console gaming market sales amounted to 32.1 billion U.S.
www.statista.com www.statista.com

Not sure where you are getting your percentages from Slimy but the PC market generates way more game sales than consoles, and has done for years now.
 
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GHG said:
You're more likely to get layoffs than you are Half Life 3 my friend.
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Layoffs in the tech field just seem to be a thing a the moment. But for sure I don't think another company would flinch to put out a half life 3. Especially if MS ever got their hands on that IP. I'd make obsidian write the script and then I'd let the team they made prey make the actual game.


HL3 aside… I would love to consolidate my Xbox and steam account into one. The only way that would ever happen is if MS bits valve. Not saying it would or could happen anytime soon. Just weighing up the benefit of ' what if they did'
 
I believe they'll wait until Gaben passes before offering to reverse the dump truck up with $100b in it.
 
SlimySnake said:
Google says it's from 2022.

Valve is a storefront. They get 30% cut off all games sold but they don't actually make their own games.

Pc sales aren't typically that high. They make up around 10-15% for most games with PlayStation taking 50-60% and Xbox taking the remaining 20-25%.

There are some exceptions for pc focused franchises like cyberpunk, Witcher 3, elden ring and Bethesdas AAA rpgs but they are just that. Exceptions. Sonys revenue in 2022 for all digital store sales, console sales, first party sales and subscriptions was around $18 billion. Valve doesn't sell $500 consoles, $70 controllers, $70 mandatory online subscriptions, first party games that sell tens of millions of copies every year and definitely don't get the lions share of third party sales and especially microtransactions. I wouldn't be surprised if their yearly revenue is 1/3rd of PlayStation's.
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Are you sure about that? PC is doing much better in recent years. Various reports are suggesting that PC and Console is more like 40/60 split.
 
Microsoft has the power and money to buy anyone they want. Still doesn't make it a sensible choice for them to do so. I personally don't think Gaben would sell Steam to them. However, why when talking about Microsoft it always comes to buy shit instead of producing from the ground up. I know it is always easier to buy your way through a segment when you have the type of buying of Microsoft but we need better results, and buying everything won't help them in the long run unless they change their business approach.
 
Roman Empire said:
Microsoft has the power and money to buy anyone they want. Still doesn't make it a sensible choice for them to do so. I personally don't think Gaben would sell Steam to them. However, why when talking about Microsoft it always comes to buy shit instead of producing from the ground up. I know it is always easier to buy your way through a segment when you have the type of buying of Microsoft but we need better results, and buying everything won't help them in the long run unless they change their business approach.
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You know I think about the Roman Empire every day...
 
twilo99 said:
Would Steam even exist without Microsoft's install base and open eco system? Just imagine if Windows was like iOS where no 3rd party stores were allowed..
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Yes! It would. Steam was originally created as a client to update Valve games like Counter-Strike. It spun off to a storefront and started accepting third parties in the early 2000's(?). I don't remember a lot but I am not even sure Microsoft had a game on Steam early on. Actually, Microsoft was competing with Steam.
 
Valve being bought out is the only gaming news that will truly upset me. Sony and Microsoft have their fair share of negatives for gaming. Gabe Newell is a treasure and is the only platform leader that truly cares about gamers.
 
Just because they'd want to, doesn't mean they can or will. I doubt Valve would be interested in selling.
I'd also prefer to not have one giant corporation own everything.
 
Stuart360 said:
In 2022, total console gaming market sales amounted to 28.6 billion U.S. dollars, compared to 42.9 billion U.S. dollars generated by the worldwide PC gaming market. Packaged gaming sales only amounted to 9.3 billion U.S. dollars
www.statista.com

Global console & PC gaming market value worldwide by format 2026| Statista

In 2023, the digital console gaming market sales amounted to 32.1 billion U.S.
www.statista.com www.statista.com

Not sure where you are getting your percentages from Slimy but the PC market generates way more game sales than consoles, and has done for years now.
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Gamesindustry.biz they are the only ones releasing breakdowns of ps, Xbox and pc sales.

And console revenues are far higher than that. I only have 2022 numbers but Sony was $18 billion while ms and Nintendo were around $15 billion each.

The PC gaming revenue they are counting are likely for games like World of Warcraft, league of legends etc. they gave their own launchers.
 
SlimySnake said:
Gamesindustry.biz they are the only ones releasing breakdowns of ps, Xbox and pc sales.

And console revenues are far higher than that. I only have 2022 numbers but Sony was $18 billion while ms and Nintendo were around $15 billion each.

The PC gaming revenue they are counting are likely for games like World of Warcraft, league of legends etc. they gave their own launchers.
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Your talking about revenue for Playstation and Xbox as a whole though right?, that article i posted is only on about game sales, not hardware, services, and controllers etc.
 
reinking said:
Yes! It would. Steam was originally created as a client to update Valve games like Counter-Strike. It spun off to a storefront and started accepting third parties in the early 2000's(?). I don't remember a lot but I am not even sure Microsoft had a game on Steam early on. Actually, Microsoft was competing with Steam.
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This was all happening on Microsoft's platform Windows or was Steam running on Linux back then?
 
Probably not. How much is Valve worth? I see numbers in the $6-10BN range and that seems so hilariously low. I feel like it's up there in the $25BN range given the sheer volume of product and loot boxes/gambling shit they push.
 
twilo99 said:
This was all happening on Microsoft's platform Windows or was Steam running on Linux back then?
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My best guess is that if Windows was a closed platform Windows would not be where Windows is today. The topic of Steam would be irrelevant when it comes to Micrsoft in that context.
 
PonyStation4 said:
You're delusional if you think Valve is worth more than Sony
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So Sony are only worth 10bil are they?, because thats the post i replied to with that post.

Plus you're missing the important part, Valve are a private company and could charge whatever figure they wanted.
 
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Little Chicken said:
Could you imagine the symphony of tears and rage if they even attempted to buy Valve. It wouldn't be worth it.
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To be fair, it would be that way regardless of who attempted to buy Valve. Probably more tears if it was Tencent and as many tears if it was Alphabet, Apple or any of the other usual suspects.
 
If Valve would be willing to sell, yes. But I very much doubt they would be, makes zero sense for them as they're currently thriving.
8iwJ.gif
 
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Everybody has a price.

And being a private company makes zero difference whether a company can be bought or sold. Just because a company isn't listed on a stock exchange doesn't mean it can never be sold.

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Watch some interviews with Gabe, understand a little more on how he thinks, as long as he is alive Valve will not be sold.
 
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