What those people don’t realise is that this acquisition is a long term play to reach the billions of gamers worldwide. $7.5 billion, although a huge amount of money, is literally pocket change to Microsoft and is not going to affect them one bit.
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If Microsoft is still buying, id like to see them buy developers that expand the portfolio. Who is going to develop the party games? The platformers? The fighting games?
The Bethesda acquisition was great but, outside of MMO, it strengthend them in areas that they are already strong.
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I would absolutely want the 4-6 studios that are not publishers, though I’d still be excited with the other choice. Would love to see the below:
IOI People Can Fly Techland Asobo Platinum Moon
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Didn’t you know? Everyone on the internet went to Harvard business school and are all financial analyst and accountants
Duh
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Microsoft defiantly needs a studio who specialises in fighting games, because KI is just sitting there atm. What the Bethesda acquisition has done is cemented Xbox as the home of RPGs and shooters just as Sony is the home to 3rd person, narrative single player games. Now, if you are a fan of shooters or RPGs, you cannot deny that Microsoft’s ecosystem is the one for you.
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It gave them horror (The Evil Within) and some action adventure with Arkane (Prey and Dishonored).
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Which studio could fill the Bearded-man-walks-in-woods-on-an-action-adventure-in-a-cinematic-fashion-seen-in-third-person gap though?
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They need one big action adventure franchise, maybe they can buy Tomb Raider IP from SE.
IOI have been on my list for years. They are such a talented developer who are perfect for XGP. Kane and Lynch is a great cinematic third person shooter as well
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For independent studios I’d want to see
- Bungie
- CDPR
- Techland
- Bloober
- Asobo
If it was a publisher I’d love Sega. They have some studios I love. Notably Creative Assembly (Halo Wars 2, Alien Isolation, Total War Series). I know a lot of their Japanese games are important to people and I’d love to see MS make those games true multi platform releases. ie PC, xCloud, Xbox, Switch and PS day one.
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This is true. In all the excitement, we completely forgot about ZeniMax’s next-gen cloud streaming tech, “Orion”, which could be very important for xCloud too. Remember that all these new franchises and studios will also assure exclusives for xCloud, in competition with other potential future game streaming services.
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Just speculating but… Microsoft purchasing IO interactive seems complicated. They were part of Square Enix not that long ago. I wouldn’t be surprised if their ownership of the Hitman ip is contingent upon their continued independence.
I think when Cyberpunk comes out, and sells 25m copies in a month, gets a 95 metacritic, wins all goty awards, then MS will pull the trigger and buy them
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I think we should stop hoping Microsoft goes around buying huge gaming companies. They have enough studios to put out a game every couple months. A couple small studios to diversify the lineup and they need to stop and focus on executing. Grow the existing teams, improve their tech, make sure they have what they need to put out world class content.
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They had another publisher for hitman right after they left square though
That seems like the absolute worst time to buy a studio. That’s just going to increase their price tag. Lol
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It would be great if we had a few iconic Shooters they could work on if that were the case. Imagine them working on perfect dark (yes I know the initiative), but they’d be great with it I think.
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The other thing here is that when ya pull gamers over to play Bethesda titles, they will also be trying out other XGS games for free on GP too and that bodes VERY well for the enthusiasm gap surrounding XGS relative to the competition.
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I’d go with Remedy to get a 3rd person, story driven studio that can do great episodic content. Plus they have their whole ‘connected universe’ thing going which could be lucrative for MS. Asobo did real well with Plague’s Tale too.
Remedy would be amazing, love their games. Would want a Quantum Break sequel. Actually would love it if Microsoft acquired them and started to make their Universe into their own Marvel/DC like world. Put a few devs on the titles and build it out, would be wild.
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