Iâm curious what the small divestiture is. I cant honestly think what it could be. They wonât divest xcloud or activision. So what are they offering? Clearly a face saver of some kind, but what is it?
The CMA has been hung out to dry by the FTC and is now trying to get a âwinâ that as you say ironically would mean less choice. Of the big 3 western regulators, the EU is the only one to come out looking competent.
Previously, I would have been 100% on board with Sega. I actually would have preferred it if they got Sega over ABK. Now with the deal closing, I wouldnât be a fan of them getting Sega. Thatâs just one too many publishers under one roof IMO.
Now with this deal, Iâm really hoping things improve with the staff and devs at ABK. Get Kotick the hell out and clean up ABK while allowing studios to move away from COD if they want. If they move COD from being an annual franchise, they wouldnât have to dedicate so many studios to the IP. Would love to see Toys For Bob tackle Banjo.
But but but⌠I was told by more than a handful of people that Microsoft would never buy someone like Ubisoft because of a similar employee count.
That was all said in direct contradiction to the examples Iâd always lay out: LinkedIn and Nokia⌠and now ABK.
This is not me at all advocating for Ubisoftâs acquisitions or hinting at any information, this is just me pointing out that it wasnât just Florian whoâs been right a lot lately
Saw one industry person lash out that this outcome (somehow) means that xCloud will replace consoles and become the only option to play games. Folks need to pause and take a walk or something before posting their angry hot takes. Iâm here for the entertainment though.
Some to the point that theyâve tripled in size. Yes, I know UL and Compulsion were already small at the time of purchase, but the point is obviously still valid.
They already have a good relationship with Sega, they donât need to purchase them to get their content. I doubt it would do much to help their situation with other publishers since I doubt any future publisher acquisitions would lead to exclusivity or anything else that would greatly help their standing in Japan. I think for long term growth, they need to put in the long term work on making their products and services more attractive to that audience, which I know they are doing and continue to work on.
Microsoft can grow SEGA though, Microsoft needs more devs in JP and having SEGA as their âhubâ will help with that. Can you just imagine Microsoft trying to start up a new JP studio from scratch, thatâll never happen now. I agree they should partner up with other companies but itâs way more expensive that way because of the market share. I think if Microsoft bought SEGA there would be exclusives but only new IP.
They canât just keep relying on GP deals for their Japan content
all it takes is for a Square type situation where they had lots of games coming to Xbox and GP and then basically overnight became a joke in terms of support
Iâm not saying that will happen something like Sega too but thatâs the risk you take with third party deals, it happened for Sony with Bethesda and now ABK
If you want security, in the long term owning the content is far better than renting so they need to start acquiring Japanese/eastern content at some point
Iâm here for the entertainment though.