I can only dream. Sega is my nostalgia weakness. Genesis my favorite console ever. They fit a lot of needs. I still feel like there is a partnership but not buyout. It is more possible with this restructure though.
Xbox Rumors and Speculation
- Thread starter Andy
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I can only dream. Sega is my nostalgia weakness. Genesis my favorite console ever. They fit a lot of needs. I still feel like there is a partnership but not buyout. It is more possible with this restructure though.
It's a discussion thread about Xbox investing in studios, I'm not sure what else you were expecting?
Game Pass cheerleading. Big, big difference.
I happen to believe not only is Game Pass a paradigm changing way for the mainstream to be exposed to many more types of games and genres, it's good for many developers as their ideas or IPs may not fit a traditional model but fit within this one. Sega is a perfect example of a publisher with dormant or dead IP that could find a new home here.
Then we should all be rooting for them to make deals like they did with EA
Microsoft doesn't need to own every publisher to get games on Game Pass
Nobody needs anything. These corporations make these scale of investments thinking 10 years into the future. They're competing with TenCent, Google and Amazon to control cloud and subscriptions. Deals don't prevent TenCent from swallowing up Take Two and making GTA streaming and sub exclusive in the future.
Consumers still think of this as Xbox vs Playstation and what will or won't make it on their favorite plastic box. This is much bigger than that.
Additionally in deals you don't own the IP. Less upside with the success means less investment in it's success. For many of these devs and pubs, getting bought by Microsoft will mean more investment in more IPs and more options for creatives. Not all. Personally I hope EA and Take Two can maintain complete independence from everyone. If it's TenCent or Microsoft, then I'll pull for Microsoft. Hopefully it's neither. I like that with who've they bought so far, many studios are going to be able to do better. Even Zenimax was pushing their studios from their single player strengths towards GAAS because of the economics of AAA gaming.
And I don't think Microsoft is wrong to do it. Every time I said maybe it wasn't so great when they bought Bethesda everyone would jump to their defense just like you are doing but I don't know why.
We know why they are doing it. It doesn't make them the bad buy. You don't need to defend them but nobody will celebrate when Amazon is doing it. They will just think its sucks.
I'm not defending Microsoft. Defending people who you said people were corporate cheerleading. Some just like Game Pass. That said, it's not a big deal either way. You're entitled to be concerned. The industry is reshaping. Nothing is guaranteed. My point is it's not necessary to make it personal to those who are focused on different things. If we destroy the industry with our Game Pass habit, feel free to give us an ear full at that time.
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EU to rule on MS Zenimax acquisition by March 5th
www.reuters.com
EU to rule on Microsoft's $7.5 billion ZeniMax deal by March 5
EU antitrust regulators will decide by March 5 whether to clear Microsoft's $7.5 billion acquisition of ZeniMax Media, the U.S. tech giant's biggest gaming acquisition to better compete with Sony Corp's PlayStation.
www.reuters.com
Microsoft carries out its activities as a developer, publisher, and distributor of games for personal computers ("PCs"), video game consoles and mobile devices through 18 development studios located in the U.S., UK, Canada, and Sweden: eight subsidiaries and ten fully integrated studios.
Almost 600 Xbox jobs listed at Indeed. While not all will be developer jobs, not sure if people appreciate how crazy that is. Before the buying spree started back in 2018, their entire division was about that size. You can build 3 to 4 healthy AAA studios with that number. Instead it likely means less reliance on contract work which just furthers their long term commitment to gaming.
Was hearing about the Gearbox thing a few days before they were bought. Wasn't excited about that one. Glad Microsoft has to spend their money on other IP. Not sure Borderlands moves the needle much for them.
I'm not a big fan of Geabox either. Borderlands is their only interesting game franchise.
I would've thought for sure MS was gonna invest in Asobo.
I would've thought for sure MS was gonna invest in Asobo.
I honestly don't think we're going to hear about anything until after the Bethesda acquisition is approved and finalized by regulators. Once that happens , I'd wager MS check book may open one more time. I'm not as staunchly a believer as OBM that they'd pick up another publisher. But I could easily believe they pick up one of their long time collaborating developers.
Microsoft isnt waiting for the Bethesda deal to go through in order to purchase more studios. Their doing both right now.
Thing about large purchases, they take time. Also just because they intend to buy, doesn't mean a seller will agree. It does appear that the purchase of Bethesda has sparked a bubble in the market so many companies are considering selling just to take advantage of the high demand. Microsoft single handedly drove up the cost of everything and now other buyers are trying to get a share before things go much higher...which has ironically caused spikes to rise even faster. It's like in sports free agency when there's a runoff...and then a few free agents either get over-paid riding the wave or wait too long and are left out. A studio like Insomniac would probably be worth 2-3x what they got from Sony last year if they sold right now.
I'm hoping that the result of this is companies like Ubisoft, EA, Activision and Take Two are so high everyone backs off. I believe the rumors of TenCent involvement drove Microsoft to the table to at least kick the tires. I think any of those companies getting bought isn't really great for the industry. I'd argue that companies like Bethesda and Sega are different because the current market doesn't support what they used to be good at (with some exceptions). There were rumors of Arkane and Tango getting shut down in addition to other Bethesda studios pivoting harder to GAAS before the acquisition.
Still think many of the rumors are conflating strong Game Pass partnerships with actual purchases. Sega still seems like a mess to purchase. A long term partnership similar to when Netflix partnered with Disney could happen with companies like Sega and Ubisoft.
Paradox is a publisher who makes sense. Won't excite the console crowd but they'd move the needle on PC. They have good PC IP and strong studios despite the lack of employee count. They have the old leads from FASA (Mech Assault and Crimson Skies) who recently did very good isometric Shadowrun games on PC. Could they be scaled up and eventually take back Mech Assault or make an iso-metric to AAA conversion of Shadowrun like Obsidian is doing with Pillars of Eternity (to Avowed)? As someone who moved from PC to OG Xbox in 2001, I think people grossly under-rate the potential of those PC-centric devs once they move their game design to AAA. Bungie, Bioware and Bethesda were all PC devs making very niche PC games before Halo, KOTOR and Oblivion became mainstream console games.
I'm hoping that the result of this is companies like Ubisoft, EA, Activision and Take Two are so high everyone backs off. I believe the rumors of TenCent involvement drove Microsoft to the table to at least kick the tires. I think any of those companies getting bought isn't really great for the industry. I'd argue that companies like Bethesda and Sega are different because the current market doesn't support what they used to be good at (with some exceptions). There were rumors of Arkane and Tango getting shut down in addition to other Bethesda studios pivoting harder to GAAS before the acquisition.
Still think many of the rumors are conflating strong Game Pass partnerships with actual purchases. Sega still seems like a mess to purchase. A long term partnership similar to when Netflix partnered with Disney could happen with companies like Sega and Ubisoft.
Paradox is a publisher who makes sense. Won't excite the console crowd but they'd move the needle on PC. They have good PC IP and strong studios despite the lack of employee count. They have the old leads from FASA (Mech Assault and Crimson Skies) who recently did very good isometric Shadowrun games on PC. Could they be scaled up and eventually take back Mech Assault or make an iso-metric to AAA conversion of Shadowrun like Obsidian is doing with Pillars of Eternity (to Avowed)? As someone who moved from PC to OG Xbox in 2001, I think people grossly under-rate the potential of those PC-centric devs once they move their game design to AAA. Bungie, Bioware and Bethesda were all PC devs making very niche PC games before Halo, KOTOR and Oblivion became mainstream console games.
Nobody floats Paradox for acquisition but it really does make sense. Really shores up the PC side of their library and who know what they could do on the console side with MS resources behind them.
I agree with you that Sega would be an absolute mess to purchase. Language barriers, work culture differences, regulators, etc. BUT....... it would absolutely fill the holes in their portfolio, both on console and PC. I feel like MS need to at least form a beneficial relationship and partnership with them a la the one Square Enix has with Sony.
I never said they were not working on other deals. I meant that you will not HEAR about those other deals until the Bethesda one clears regulators. Sorry for the confusion.
It would be cool to see Techland get bigger with even more projects. We haven't heard anything about Dying Light 2 for a while now.
Yeah, this would make more sense than some people claiming they're not doing acquisitions this year. Considering the rumors about them looking at publishers now, Polish and Japanese studios last year, it 's hard to believe they put their eggs in one basket.