Okay, I understand this could be placed in various other threads, but I feel like specifically EA is an intriguing and interesting topic in regards to MS’s future gaming direction that it warrants its own thread.
EA currently:
Not performing as well as they used to (like Bethesda), with Visceral shutting down, Anthem doing poorly, stagnated yearly sports titles with little growth (although, consistently performing well) and studios like Bioware and franchises like NFS hitting near-rock bottom
Has yearly sports titles which are a near immaculate business model for a service like Game Pass
Has history with MS (both from a personnel standpoint) and now with EA Play deal, as well as Bioware and interchangeable high-level employees these past few years (Peter Moore, Casey Hudson), and not to mention the recent Titanfall franchise’s first title being an exclusive Xbox game
Other major titles like Apex which is perfect for a sub service given its seasonal with frequent live updates
For the reasons above, I can’t think of a better partner for EA, especially as they continue to struggle compared to their other large scale publisher competitors.
At this point, I believe EA would be cheaper than Bethesda as well and have to wonder that MS is interested in a company like this. ****EDIT: this is false, just fact checked myself
Although, putting it out there you guys should know me by now I’m all for Capcom (!!!), I can’t ignore the fact that EA seems so smart and obvious for MS
EA is worth over 20 billion. Not sure it would be worth it as all their sports titles would have to be multi-plat anyway as well as games like Apex, etc.
Maybe MS could get them to sell Bioware though… that would be nice.
EA currently has a market cap of ~$36B. They are setting new records for revenue and profits virtually every year this gen. You could acquire Take Two, Capcom and Ubisoft for the same price as EA.
At this point, I believe EA would be cheaper than Bethesda as well and have to wonder that MS is interested in a company like this.
They’re worth 36 billion on the NASDAQ. They’re nowhere near as cheap as Zenimax.
Take 2’s output isnt that fruitful for Game Pass, I mean sure GTA would do well but idk
If you look at the acquisition history, a large majority of them, and even all over the Bethesda news emphasizes a history between Xbox and the acquired.
Yeah but GTA alone is a critical strategic decision tool in ecosystem choice and is a huge game played for years with mtx and GTA Online is growing at insane rate YoY look at the numbers. A system seller game driving sales and bringing masses to XGP for keeping users subbed. Trust me GTA VI will be phenomenal. Better secure it yesterday. Without even mentionning the talent & technical expertise etc.
You forgot sports games. Mafia IV & Bioshock 4 IPs. Red Dead Redemption 3. L.A Noire 2. Think far away not now. The potential…
It is a gamble to make for the future. I would make it 100% if I was @XboxP3 I would buy Take-Two in a heartbeat.
A GTA exclusive to MS’s ecosystem would get millions of people to join gamepass. also, with MS’s investment the possibility of them focusing on their neglected IP would go up.
It makes zero sense as EA’s bread and butter are sports titles and they’d be forced to make them multiplatform just as Sony was forced to out MLB the show on other platforms. I just don’t understand why people keep bringing EA up as it really makes zero sense.
gta is insanely profitable because of it’s online multiplayer mode, not raw sales as impressive as they are. This is very amenable to the gamepass model.
I think there would be very little gain in it for Game Pass and Xbox.
They have certain genre easily ticked and covered like WRPGs, FPS and Strategy games. They just need to focus on quality and other areas like JRPGs.
Continued partnership makes a world more sense.
The Bioware ship has sailed. We got the holy trinity now in Bethesda/InXile/Obsidian (and eventually Playground).
