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[feynoob]

Microsoft should stop trying to go for the silver bullet and just actually put in the work. You don't have to be terribly organic in your growth but it's obvious what you're trying to do when you buy big publishers. Just do what you did prior to your attempted publisher spree. Buy smaller companies you can grow over time that fit your strategy. Assuming you have one beyond, "Let's spend money". Work with upstart studios and grow a relationship over time. No, Microsoft. That doesn't mean force them to make Day 1 GamePass titles. Work on your goddamn management in the meantime and fire these useless fucks long before they have a chance to ruin your shit. Bonnie Ross should have been gone 5 years sooner. Greenberg should be a shift manager at McDonald's, not your general marketing manager.

Look at playground studio and obsidian.
They have 2 titles in the work for both companies.

MS needs to expand their studios like that.

 

[feynoob]

That's a key point that a lot of people fail to take into consideration. Not every company has a "for sale" sign outside.

Most companies want a comfortable fundings. They can't sustain their company without enough fundings.

 

[bluecowboys]

I would trade in ABK deal if we could get koie tecmo and capcom.

 

[Varteras]

I would trade in ABK deal if we could get koie tecmo and capcom.

We?

 

[Topher]

Most companies want a comfortable fundings. They can't sustain their company without enough fundings.

Sure. I think a lot of companies also enjoy being independent.

 

[Varteras]

Sure. I think a lot of companies also enjoy being independent.

Yep. Look at Ubisoft and CD Projekt. Despite their tough times, they don't want to sell.

 

[Mr.Phoenix]

Easy to say that when you have like 60-70% worldwide marketshare in gaming and more than 70-80% in a lot of countries

Always amazed how people ask Xbox compete in a way that dominating market leader is competing. By the same logic I can always say that Sony should try and buy publishers, because Microsoft can afford to do. But then it becomes "unfair" as Sony has less money

Don't forget Sony came into this gaming thing with a stacked deck against them in Nintendo and Sega. Also don't forget that the PS360 gen happened, one which MS practically won in NA and drew even with Sony worldwide.

MS has no one to blame but itself. What's really interesting though is how since after the 360... it actually started during the 360 gen to be honest, MS has somehow managed to find something they deem as more important than just making and releasing games. With XB1 it was their whole TV/all in one thing and of course....kinect. With the Series its gamepass, which on the surface one would think is at least about games, but its more about being console/platform agnostic than anything.

Its like, MS needs to just focus on being a game console first and foremost and win that battle.

 

[Puscifer]

You would automatically get attention from people who until now only had a Playstation because of the Japanese games. And why wouldn't Xbox players want Japanese games?

Just because there are almost no Japanese games there yet, doesn't mean people don't want them. You don't want to supply your console only with Halo and Gears of War. People need variety.

Yeah but they've tried with Japanese stuff and it doesn't work out, there's a shin Megami Tensei Japanese only game, Mistwalker existed literally to get Japanese interest in Xbox and 2 failed games later it was stopped, Square Enix shipped Xbox exclusive games on the 360. The audiences are just too different, they don't want it.

 

[James Sawyer Ford]

They didn't want Bungie. They would let Bungie go free just to buy them again.

More like Bungie didn't want Microsoft.

 

[TheGodfather07]

Did he pull that outta his chunky fat ass? Where is the evidence for his claims?

 

[Spyxos]

Yeah but they've tried with Japanese stuff and it doesn't work out, there's a shin Megami Tensei Japanese only game, Mistwalker existed literally to get Japanese interest in Xbox and 2 failed games later it was stopped, Square Enix shipped Xbox exclusive games on the 360. The audiences are just too different, they don't want it.

I wouldn't say they didn't want it. The games and the brands were just too small. I mean Blue Dragon and Lost Odyssey almost nobody played.

No matter what console, I don't think these games would have gotten much attention. But if it were games like Final Fantasy or Resident Evil. That would have sparked interest.

 

[XesqueVara]

Yep. Look at Ubisoft and CD Projekt. Despite their tough times, they don't want to sell.

Ubisoft is too much Bloated to what they delivers

 

[SlimySnake]

Probably the western division of Square. Aaaaaaaaaahhhhh ! This really pisses me off, you had to go for the big didn't you Microsoft. Since you were going to blow a shit ton of money on ABK, go offer Embracer whatever they want for Crystal Dynamics and Eidos Monteal. While your at it grab Focus Home and then take a break.

I still cant believe Crystal Dynamics with the Tomb Raider IP, Eidos Montreal with the Deus Ex Ip were available and neither Sony nor Microsoft went for it. Absolutely shocking display of ignorance.

 

[Thief1987]

CMA's decision will end up damaging the entire video games industry.

MS not buying more studios will only damage fanboys' butts, nothing more.

 

[Drizzlehell]

Dunno who these guys are but I've learned to take some random podcasts with a rock-salt sized grain of salt after I listened to a total of 6 hours to some old curmudgeon declaring with absolute certainty that VR is dead.

 

[Knightime_X]

It's just blocked and not actually stopped.
Just another detour.

 

[Nydius]

It's just blocked and not actually stopped.
Just another detour.

Put down the hopium.

Being blocked by CMA is being stopped. This is no "detour", it's a nearly impassable rock slide in the middle of the highway. There's no way through or around except for one very, very slim path that has almost no chance of success.

 

[James Sawyer Ford]

I already said this would happen in the other thread. Xbox will be stripped of funding because this deal fell through. CMA's decision will end up damaging the entire video games industry.

They literally spent almost 2 years working on this deal. Promoting the deal. Word of mouth spread. And now the deal is dead. 2 years of stagnation in preparation for some momentum from this deal and now it's negative momentum. Why bother with more acquisitions if the government's are just going to step in and tear them to shreds if you try to go big.

The government wouldn't be stepping in for smaller studios or publishers. The issue is that ATVI is a $70B company, a larger market cap than Nitnendo and almost as big as all of Sony.

That's the risk you take when you go after the biggest fish in the pond. It was an extremely high risk move based on the size.

 

[bender]

I feel so horribly, horribly bad that fans aren't going to be able to love Microsoft swallowing more developers and publishers.

 

[XXL]

It's just blocked and not actually stopped.
Just another detour.

This is gonna be a rough ride down for some of you

 

[Ozriel]

There is literally no way Jez would know this. Acquisitions are usually kept pretty close to the chest…there's a reason why even well connected folks like schreier didn't know about any major acquisition until just before the announcement.

These people do an podcasts and say shit for clout, because they know people will fall for it.

 

[Ozriel]

Meh. Why does Microsoft constantly feel the need to acquire instead of develop? It reminds me so much of those sports teams bewildered that they can't get a championship even though they spent a ton of money acquiring high priced talent from other teams. Sure it takes time to develop a champion organically, but part of developing it isn't just about names and talent. It's about creating an environment where champions can succeed. Once you have the culture and process of success nailed down you can then spend on the high priced talent because they will thrive instead of flounder in mediocrity.

Why does a company that needs games prefer to acquire established studios with a delivery pipeline vs start from scratch?

Some of the things I read here…

 

[onnextflix5]

$300m was the price Embracer paid for CD, Eidos Montreal and the Tomb Raider IP (alongside 50 others).

$300m.

This was only 11 months ago.

$300m absolutely blows my mind. This is tomb raider for fucks sake! And two quality studios.

Well ms was tied up with the abk deal, what was Sonys excuse, considering they already made their money back just renting out tomb raider lol

 

[Oof85]

The government wouldn't be stepping in for smaller studios or publishers. The issue is that ATVI is a $70B company, a larger market cap than Nitnendo and almost as big as all of Sony.

That's the risk you take when you go after the biggest fish in the pond. It was an extremely high risk move based on the size.

No, you've really missed it.

This is the purchase price for ABK at a premium.

If someone were to put in a serious bid for Nintendo, they'd have to bring way more than the 49 billion that their market cap currently is to even expect them to hear it.

And in light of the success of the Mario movie and the probable expansion into more cinema properties + their theme parks, Nintendo isn't going for anything less than at least $80-100 billion.

The same with Sony.

But no one is gonna make that bid so we'll never really know.

 

[James Sawyer Ford]

No, you've really missed it.

This is the purchase price for ABK at a premium.

If someone were to put in a serious bid for Nintendo, they'd have to bring way more than the 49 billion that their market cap currently is to even expect them to hear it.

And in light of the success of the Mario movie and the probable expansion into more cinema properties + their theme parks, Nintendo isn't going for anything less than at least $80-100 billion.

But no one is gonna make that bid so we'll never really know.

The premium for ATVI is about 15% to current market value. Regardless, it doesn't disprove my point which was that Activision is too big to ignore and would face a ton of regulatory scrutiny.

 

[ComputerBlue]

why would Microsoft buy Sega or Square Enix when they have an audience that just doesn't want Japanese games? ABK made sense because it fit their demographic of buyers perfectly.

So they can steal that audience from competitors.

 

[Darsxx82]

Crystal Dynamic and Eidos. There is no other option that makes more sense. Crystal is co-developing Perfect Dark and Eidos is helping PlayGround with Fable (and apparently also supporting other XGS Studios).

Working together and only 300 million who also met IPS tops (Tom Raider)....

If (as everything points out) ABK does not happen, I do not rule out an offer from MS to Embrace Group... or even that this was a planned plan

 

[Kerotan]

Bungie would have been great for Xbox.
Halo would have gotten the help it needed.

Are you the type of guy who likes torturing People? Bungie split from MS because they wanted to stop making halo. Do you want that studio to fall apart or what?

Anyway the less MS buy the better for the industry. They've dropped the ball so hard the last 13 years I don't think we want entire publisher's at their mercy.

 

[ComputerBlue]

Bungie would have been great for Xbox.
Halo would have gotten the help it needed.

This is the reason why Bungie left, because they didn't want to make Halo anymore which is what Microsoft was forcing them to do, so they bounced and signed with Acti. So no it wouldn't have because then the studio and talent would've just disband.

 

[XesqueVara]

Look at playground studio and obsidian.
They have 2 titles in the work for both companies.

MS needs to expand their studios like that.

Most of them have already been expanded, but there is a limit to how far a studio can expand until it loses the culture.

 

[SlimySnake]

The government wouldn't be stepping in for smaller studios or publishers. The issue is that ATVI is a $70B company, a larger market cap than Nitnendo and almost as big as all of Sony.

That's the risk you take when you go after the biggest fish in the pond. It was an extremely high risk move based on the size.

The governments reviewed the $8 billion zenimax bethesda acquisition too. MS lied to them and said they wouldnt take Bethesda exclusive and they did. Both the FTC and CMA used Phil's lies to build their case against Microsoft this go around.

MS couldve gotten away with it had they not made Starfield and fucking redfall exclusive. What a dumb move in hindsight.

I am honestly surprised that Sony was allowed to take Bungie without a fight. That is literally the most expensive acquisition ever for a single studio. It opens the door for other big solo studios like CD Project, From Software, and KojiPro to be acquired, and that will be awful for both playstation and xbox fans.

 

[ByWatterson]

How have they not picked up Asobo yet?

So weird. Asobo could actually fill their narrative game void and probably costs like four dollars.

 

[killatopak]

CD Project, From Software, and KojiPro

Aren't they a publisher, owned by Kadokawa, wants to be independent?

 

[Knightime_X]

This is gonna be a rough ride down for some of you

Not really because then sony can just say cloud x y z ms bad, sony good because reasons.

And every sony fan would agree without giving it a second thought.

 

[bentanchorbolt]

Why people cheer on acquisitions, particularly acquisitions for which the buyer has had minimal prior investment or involvement with, is beyond me. Consolidation is a rot.

It will happen no matter what people ITT think about it. So why not find the silver lining when a brand you like brings on a company you like? Being drab and negative won't make it change.

 

[James Sawyer Ford]

The governments reviewed the $8 billion zenimax bethesda acquisition too. MS lied to them and said they wouldnt take Bethesda exclusive and they did. Both the FTC and CMA used Phil's lies to build their case against Microsoft this go around.

MS couldve gotten away with it had they not made Starfield and fucking redfall exclusive. What a dumb move in hindsight.

I am honestly surprised that Sony was allowed to take Bungie without a fight. That is literally the most expensive acquisition ever for a single studio. It opens the door for other big solo studios like CD Project, From Software, and KojiPro to be acquired, and that will be awful for both playstation and xbox fans.

Lots of really dumb moves by Microsoft in terms of messaging

"With all due respect, we don't consider Nintendo or Sony competitors, we are so far ahead in Cloud that our real competitor is Google"

Bungie was only $3B, a big acquisition for Sony for sure, but not nearly as big as Bethesda. I think EA/Take 2 are too big, but anything below that is probably pretty fair game (Ubisoft, etc)

 

[SlimySnake]

Aren't they a publisher, owned by Kadokawa, wants to be independent?

So did Bungie.

Then they sold to the first guy who offered them $3 billion.

From is currently valued at $850 million. Sony owns like 5% of it. If MS comes and offers $2 billion, you think anyone will say no?

CD Project was valued at $5 billion once. Down to $2 billion now. If someone comes and hands them a check for $5 billion, the guys at the top will become billionares overnight.

Industry consolidation is a very bad thing and both MS and Sony have enough money to fuck it all up for the rest of us.

 

[Zok310]

They would not have bern approved so why waste time and energy.

 

[SlimySnake]

Lots of really dumb moves by Microsoft in terms of messaging

"With all due respect, we don't consider Nintendo or Sony competitors, we are so far ahead in Cloud that our real competitor is Google"

Bungie was only $3B, a big acquisition for Sony for sure, but not nearly as big as Bethesda. I think EA/Take 2 are too big, but anything below that is probably pretty fair game (Ubisoft, etc)

If ubisoft is fair game, i think capcom and square enix would be too. That would be a disaster for both userbases.

I think only single studios like bungie might be up for sale. Capcom, SE and Ubisoft have around 8-10 studios/teams so they will probably be treated like zenimax/rockstar going forward.

 

[James Sawyer Ford]

If ubisoft is fair game, i think capcom and square enix would be too. That would be a disaster for both userbases.

I think only single studios like bungie might be up for sale. Capcom, SE and Ubisoft have around 8-10 studios/teams so they will probably be treated like zenimax/rockstar going forward.

Dont think Capcom or Square want to be bought. Though we did hear rumors by Grubb about Sony buying Square

Ubisoft wants to be bought, per recent comments from CEO

 

[XesqueVara]

Ubisoft is bloated a fuck to the point nobody is gonna touch them, we are talking about a headcount of 30000.

 

[Varteras]

Dont think Capcom or Square want to be bought. Though we did hear rumors by Grubb about Sony buying Square

Ubisoft wants to be bought, per recent comments from CEO

I don't believe Ubisoft has said that. Guillemot has been looking for partners to help him buyout Ubisoft and take it private. Not be owned by someone else. He wants Ubisoft to stay a family business.

 

[SlimySnake]

Dont think Capcom or Square want to be bought. Though we did hear rumors by Grubb about Sony buying Square

Ubisoft wants to be bought, per recent comments from CEO

like i said, money talks. MS can afford to make from, cd project, and everyone else an offer they cant refuse.

I don't believe Ubisoft has said that. Guillemot has been looking for partners to help him buyout Ubisoft and take it private. Not be owned by someone else. He wants Ubisoft to stay a family business.

if MS makes his family billionares, he will sell before you can say acquisition.

 

[Varteras]

like i said, money talks. MS can afford to make from, cd project, and everyone else an offer they cant refuse.


if MS makes his family billionares, he will sell before you can say acquisition.

Already in bed with Tencent.

Tencent increases its stake in Ubisoft via Guillemot Brothers partnership

Tencent has made a major investment in Guillemot Brothers Limited, which by proxy increases its stake in developer/publisher Ubisoft.

www.destructoid.com

 

[Thief1987]

Dont think Capcom or Square want to be bought. Though we did hear rumors by Grubb about Sony buying Square

Ubisoft wants to be bought, per recent comments from CEO

Ubisoft is a complete mess right now with 20k+ mouths to feed, i doubt they will find someone crazy enough to step on this minefield.

 

[SlimySnake]

I just remembered that Respawn was sold for $300 million. These guys made Titanfall, Apex and Star Wars in a 5 year span. Went for $300 million. Like wtf. How does Sony pass on them and invest in startups with ZERO games under their belt like the jade raymond studio, the firewalk guys and the delusion games. neither of those three studios have even shown a single screenshot of their games 2 years after their announcement.

MS passing on them makes sense since they already have shooter studios after the zenimax acquisition, but come on. $300 million is pennies compared to what they paid for Bethesda, Arkhane, Avalanche and ID Software.

 

[StealthGoblin]

It will happen no matter what people ITT think about it. So why not find the silver lining when a brand you like brings on a company you like? Being drab and negative won't make it change.

That isn't why people are cheering it. It's console war bullshit. Industry be damned - they want their GamePass games.

I'm hoping Sony don't pull this shit.

 

[Ronin_7]

Bungie would have been great for Xbox.
Halo would have gotten the help it needed.

Bungie is a multi platform publisher and it's transforming or trying into a media Giant... Going under MS would be a mistake since they would go Xbox only.

 

[Ronin_7]

I kind wanted ABK deal to go through, specially if it meant that MS would stay away from acquisitions for a good while (at least big ones)

Oh they will lol instant block they won't risk.

Maybe smaller Devs or mid size.

 

[Varteras]

I just remembered that Respawn was sold for $300 million. These guys made Titanfall, Apex and Star Wars in a 5 year span. Went for $300 million. Like wtf. How does Sony pass on them and invest in startups with ZERO games under their belt like the jade raymond studio, the firewalk guys and the delusion games. neither of those three studios have even shown a single screenshot of their games 2 years after their announcement.

MS passing on them makes sense since they already have shooter studios after the zenimax acquisition, but come on. $300 million is pennies compared to what they paid for Bethesda, Arkhane, Avalanche and ID Software.

It's probably not always as simple as we think. It's not like these companies put themselves in Craigslist in the "Video Game Company For Sale" section and other companies are browsing for a deal. Whoever clicks first, wins. I'm sure there is a lot more to it.