We have 15 though? Unless we don’t count either XGSGP or World’s Edge.
That’s right. Insinuating they’re done with acquiring for the time being
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I do not see any circumstance that Xbox does not acquire studios or IP this year. They will be adding to their portfolio. It’s mission critical for them to keep expanding gamepass and following the Netflix content creator style growth. If they aren’t expanding, they’re failing, which they won’t do.
I think it’ll be more along the lines of acquisitions than IP, but if they strike out, I think there are IP out there that they would have earmarked for acquisitions too.
I use to work for a startup years ago. There was rumors we were for sale and the ceo sent an email similar to what that article stated. We were sold months later…
I agree they may have already completed some acquisitions. I also wouldn’t rule out that they may have purchased a number of Konami IP as was hinted and rumored at a few months back.
Oh, ok then. Sorry, went over my head.
Hmm
I imagine XGS studios will expand by hiring more employees moreso than acquiring a whole new studio.
If every studio has multiple teams, that will result in tons of content.
One team incubates a new idea, one team supporting already released game, one team in full production. When it gets closer to going gold, it’s all hands on deck(including other studios).
I don’t know if that’s how it’s going to work. Would make for an interesting work flow.
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I’m just saying those type of emails mean absolutely nothing. Those poor people at WB probably think they are worthless too.
I had seen other speculation from people that think that email makes it even *more * certain they’re being sold lol.
But I maintain Microsoft won’t be taking on that many staff in one hit
Welcome to the forum! I agree that they could use one or two more bigger studios to fill in some gaps.
Its actually a very smart move on Thomas Mahlers part. Once their next game comes out and becomes a critical hit, they can literally ask Microsoft for like 5x as much as they were probably offered right now
Although Moon may be a pain in the ass because they’re spread out all over the world. Also Ori’s story is over so we’re likely not getting an Ori 3 anytime soon. Better idea would be to get Moon’s games on Game Pass day one.
Insomniac pulled the same thing. I’m sure Sony wanted to acquire them for a while but it wasn’t until after Spider-man came out that their clout went through the roof and Ted Price probably finessed Sony big time. Plus Sony couldn’t risk Insomniac getting scooped by someone else so they probably paid even more for them.
Same thing with Asobo, I have no doubt that they’re waiting for Flight Sim to be a critical and commercial success so that MS will end up coughing up more for them.
I imagine Bloober is thinking the same thing although they don’t have a great track record and there’s no guarantee that the Medium will be good or not
Right now, Asobo should be Microsofts number 1 priority as far as acquisitions go.
People can say what they want about devs wanting to remain independent but its always going to come down to the $$ and these studio heads are business people at the end of the day. They’re going to do any and everything to make sure they get top dollar for a buyout.
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For 2020? Maybe. Tiktok is big, they have to deal with a massive console launch, the economy is bad and there is a greater fear of globalization. It is also hard to send out Phil or Booty to talk face to face and most of the negotiations would probably be over Teams/the phone and through local liasons.
For 2021 and beyond. If we return to “normal” (or just give up) then probably back to opening the chequebooks. Booty is mainly in execution mode but they have not been told to stop, and if Sony wants to play timed exclusive games then it may embolden Satya to encourage them to buy more.
Either way, just lock down Asobo asap.
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I think they may have a small Studio buyout not sure who but thats my gut feeling. Nothing massive this year.
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Yup. They should. That studio is way too talented. They are already knee deep in Microsoft’s technology too.
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What is more likely? Bungie or Asobo?
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They even made a custom engine for Plague Tale that rivaled high end usage of Unreal on the fraction of the budget. I have no idea how they went from a licensed dev/port/support studio to a sleeping giant but they did it. Bloody wizards.
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Asobo. Bungie is probably super expensive.
My guess:
$150-200 million for Asobo
$1.5 billion easily for Bungie
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If WB’s asking price was 4 billion for almost the same amount of employees and none of the IPs, than they should go for Bungie AND Asobo.
Asobo, they have nothing to gain from buying Bungie. They technically already own part of the company (minority stake) but they already have Destiny 2 on Game Pass and it isn’t likely Bungie will work on anything else.
Asobo could easily become a heavy hitter studio for Microsoft ala Playground games, that can manage 1 ongoing franchise and make single player oriented games as well.
I would hope they get Asobo and maybe 1-2 AA developers that they can grow and maybe a big AAA dev like Techland or IO Interactive to round things out.
Eeeeeh…I can’t see them that expensive at least right now. I don’t believe they own any notable IP’s. I could see them at that price AFTER Flight Simulator comes out.