Frontier is a public company traded at LSE. Way too expensive and complicated to purchase. A long term contract would be well enough
My biggest wish is the Zoo Tycoon/Planet Zoo team on Viva Piñata.
The problem is 15 studios isnât enough for what microsoft is doing when you look longterm. As right now they can get third party content somewhat reasonably into gamepass as they are really the own game in town. However, as gamepass grows and get more subs, the content going into it also gets more valuable. As then the publishers can say âwell you need my content for your service more then I benefit from it being there. So if you want game x into gamepass then iâm going to need x dollars more.â
So the goal Microsoft should have is to use third parties now well the content is cheap and grow your stable of content. As once you get a large stable of subscribers you need more content feeding into it to support the varied tastes. So they would need realistically need 20-25 studios with multiple teams if they are wanting to support gamepass internally with a steady stream 1st party content then mix-in your indies and pay out for a couple bigger third party titles and still be able to play ball on pricing.
Bungie makes a shitload of money from Destiny on different platforms. Money that Microsoft can profit from. Microsoft can also continue to put expansions inside of GamePass while having other platforms pay full price.
Bungie is already working on a new IP. That could be put into GamePassâŠand the last two franchises that Bungie startedâŠsold like hotcakes.
My point in mentioning Minecraft is because Microsoft looks to strengthen their offering to people and continue to make money. Something is already making money, go continue making money on it but for us, work on your new stuff. Also it would have people use Microsoft Account logins as well. A way to get people into their ecosystem. All of these things are considered and more.
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Well as weâve been discussing over on this thread after the SEC declaration that MS will indeed be pursuing acquisitions for the new fiscal year, I would say no they are not done. Keep in mind that their fiscal year is not the same as the calendar year, so your queryâs answer depends on which timeframe youâre describing. I, and a lot of others responding, have given a huge list of viable and wishful acquisitions.
I think will see at least one acquisition before the end of the year but who knows. I wouldnât base it off WB though. It always a long shot and Iâm honestly glad it didnât go through because 4 billion is too much even though the studios are extremely talented.
Some people might argue that 4 billion would of been worth it because MS would own Mortal Kombat and other older Midway IPâs like Fear, Condemned etc and also might of worked out exclusive licensing with WB. Getting exclusive Batman and DC based games like Injustice and Suicide Squad, LOTR and Harry Potter seems great on paper but imagine how much negotiating and having to take on that many people would of been.
Youâd have to negotiate licensing for DC characters with WB, also WB only owns the LOTR Peter Jackson rights so who knows if Peter Jackson would have to be involved if they wanted to continue the Middle Earth Shadow series. Theyâd have to negotiate with JK Rowling for use of Harry Potter and donât even get me started on the Lego Games and how many licenses they use ei Jurrasic Park, Star Wars, Indiana Jones etc.
Also with Rocksteady working on Suicide Squad and WB Montreal Gotham Knights, Traveler Tales and the Lego games and Iâ imagine other devs are already working on games. It would of been a good while before the devs started working on anything under XGS.
Maybe if MS negotiated where they got the studios, the Midway Licenses including Mortal Kombat and forgot about the licensing rights and got them for much cheaper then it might of been a better deal but it sounds like WB wants to sell everything and not piece meal or ala carte, and really was banking on a licensing deal so theyâd get a revenue stream.
After 4A being bought for 49 million dollars by THQ/Nordic MS could buy more studios for less than 1/2 the price theyâd buy WB for and also not have to worry about licensing fees. Plus itâll be better long term for MS to buy studios and let them grow organically rather then just take on thousands of employees at once.
Good point. Fiscal year ends in June. Itâs entirely possible that we donât hear anything official until next E3. With independent studios, itâs possible to keep entire studios in the dark outside of ownership until they want to reveal something.
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I definitely think they should get BUNGIE as i think they work together best. BUNGIE can develop that next big shooter that makes GAMEPASS the service to get. WB acquisition would have been great but i think Microsoft would like to see GAMEPASS do some bigger numbers before deciding to bite. If GAMEPASS can show much bigger growth then they might seriously bid the next time AT&T makes an offer. Right now other than BUNGIE I would say ASTRONAUTS the developers of WITCHFIRE also CRYTEK RYSE could really use a sequel in that universe . BLACK MYTH WUKONG shows Asia is ripe. PHANTAGRAM/BLUESIDE devs of the KUF series, SOFTMAX developers of MAGNA CARTA rpgs would be good gets in South Korea, MISTWALKER and get TOMONOBU ITAGAKI NINJA GAIDEN BLACK developer a studio
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If MS can snag Asobo, Dontnod and Bloober, I think thatâll be good for the forseeable future and it can even carry them through next gen with each studio delivering one major game each (not including second projects)
If the gen is 5 years and MS wants to release 4-5 first party games per year. InXile, Obsidian, Playground and NT are guaranteed to at least release 2 each so thatâs 8 right there. Rare, Undead, Turn 10, 343i, Double Fine, Coalition, Worlds Edge and the Initiative make 15 total so they need only about 5 more.
Whatever they do going forward, I just hope their focus is on the quality of releases. The only way Game Pass is going to succeed is with top tier releases, hopefully games like FS2020 and Wasteland 3 are signs of things to come.
Personally I have very high hopes, theyâve now got what I think are the best and most diverse array of teams under the 1P umbrella.
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What is that, sorry Polish isnât one of my languages 
You are not alone, They should be fostering new ideas at both studios. I get so tired of people saying they are there to work on Halo and Gears that is why they exist, but even the best of things get old after so long. If not brand new IP they should both switch to a different genre in the Halo and Gears universe to release in between mainline titles. I could see 343 doing a squad based 3rd person shooter with Locke and Osiris in the vein of Ghost Recon ( I suspect since they spent so much time trying to fit Locke into Halo they would want to use him somewhere) with an emphasis on stealth and teamwork. Even though that is in the shooter genre it would still be something different to offer in between Halo infinite and whatever comes next for the main series. I would prefer that they come up with something brand new though. I donât really know what the Coalition could do with a Gears game genre swapped, but after Gears 6 I would be disappointing if they didnât put the main Gears franchise on ice for at least 7 years. Same for Halo.
Holding an Xbox controller.
As werid as this sounds with regards to the history I think Bungie + MS would be a good fit todayâŠ
Destiny could be kind of like Minecraft, a âplatformâ title that also exists on other formats (PS, PC, Stadia etc)⊠And the MS of today would actually permit this unlike MS from 15 years ago
And it would let Bunge develop their next big title well funded from MS
I can actually see this happening - MS and Bungie seem to have a great relationship overall
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I think if they got absobo I would be very happy with the first party output. Just one more developer making single player narritive games. Bungie and Tech land would be good as well. I just hope we get info soon
I donât mind if 343i wants to keep working on Halo although they should try other things with the IP like an ODST sequel thatâs a full fledged game.
Coalition on the other should be a top tier developer and they can reach that pedigree with a non Gears related project. Hopefully they will now with Rod gone
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Thinking on it, my top 5 wishlist is:
- Asobo: Obvious, theyâre extremely talented and make great games
- CyberConnect2: Extremely talented Japanese studio, just what they need
- Bloober: Great potential, just need more funding. Also highly efficient for their size.
- Hello Games: Ambitious and dedicated, No Mans Sky is such a unique game.
- Dontnod: Really touching story games, episodic structure perfect for Gamepass
Wild Cards: ThunderLotus. Small, but Spiritfarer is a Fantastic game and they can do great things. Also White Owls. Swery is one of the most creative directors out there and if he had the resources to make whatever the hell he wanted things would get crazy
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They can work on whatever they want⊠after they finish Gears 6.
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I think if they shift Gears to a live service like Halo them that may open opportunities.
I hope 343 makes something super different in the Halo universe since the plan is for 10 years of Infinite. I think the Gears universe lends itself well to âAvowedâ style experimentation, but they should also be able to do something new if they desire.