In before 50+ 1st party studios 
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50+ 1st party studios would be bonkers, I think the next gen after Series S and X you will have around 40 1st party studios.
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Of course. Their initial Game Center push was their first foray, basically where they could say “look, we’re getting involved in the gaming space” without needing to invest heavily in it. The next was their push of Metal for Mac and iOS where they courted Valve, the VR community, game developers for about a two year period (this was around the time that the original Fortnite game - not the BR eventuality we have now - was shown off on a Mac stage for the first time).
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A trillion dollar company in their infancy in the gaming realm is still a very dangerous company, Microsoft acquiring Zenimax shows that big and successful studios are a key ingredient to the Gamepass and the others will copy and that’s why you dont rest on your laurels and keep aquiring .
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Completely agree; as I’ve been pointing to for months, Phil isn’t looking at Sony when they look at these acquisitions, he’s thinking about what moves Amazon, Google, and Apple are going to be making and ensuring that Xbox isn’t missing that crucial IP.
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Microsoft is absolutely fine. They didn’t plan all of their moves yesterday - they have been carefully and patiently tracing their strategies years ago. And they will keep making their carefully planned moves on the chess board.
Before a move like acquiring huge gaming conglomerates such as EA or even CDPR, Google, Amazon and Apple not only have to decide for themselves if they want to take gaming seriously, they have to convince the market itself and the consumers that they want to take gaming seriously - and before all that, they still have to find out how to take gaming seriously. That’s a lot of things to do before companies like EA or CDPR are willing themselves to be acquired - because that has also to be taken into account, don’t forget that.
Being a trillion dollar company helps no one if they haven’t done any of these things yet - Google, which is releasing another Chromecast, revamped and renamed their TV OS once again, and didn’t care to officially support their own gaming service on their new device, proves this.
I agree with you major steps are required for Amazon, Apple, and Google to have infrastructure that Microsoft has, if I was running xbox and I have Satya Nadella backing i would be aggressive and ruthless on aquiring big developers or publishers I just cant take the risk on missing out on something great like an CDPR, EA, or Take Two list goes on and on.
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I understand your fear, but I sincerely don’t see this threat coming from a company like Google, for instance, because they clearly haven’t been carefully planning their moves. A new Chromecast (which is fine, the device itself is a success) which brings another change on their TV OS plans (Google TV becomes Android TV which becomes Google TV…dear god) and doesn’t officially support Stadia is unbelievable! Seriously. It seems they don’t talk about things like that on their meetings.
Agreed, though I think some publishers are “safe” in that they won’t want to sell, but I also still think some small/medium-sized studios will still be on the docket considering the talent still out there. Hello Games, Frontier, DONTNOD, Supermassive, and Remedy are just some of the ones that fit into that category that I think Xbox would be wise to look into acquiring. Of course I think a couple of those, and plenty of others, have already been on Phil’s list for some time, especially those with long-standing relationships (as has frequently been cited as a key motivator).
Hello Games is great - a sequel to No Man’s Sky (which has grown so much since the disastrous launch) with Microsoft/Xbox backing would be fantastic!
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I’m fiending for another acquisition. Sigh. Its a vicious never ending cycle.
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I know I already responded to this once, but after that I finally started Hades and HOLY SHIT, IT RULES. Yeah, get SuperGiant, Xbox! Post haste!
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I was going to get Hades on Steam but I’mma wait for the Xbox and probably Game Pass release
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I hope that happens, but SuperGiant games don’t always come. Transistor and Pyre didn’t. For me, it’s a great Switch game.
I hope it releases on Xbox. Sad that the last couple games have skipped.
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If there is a another major acquisition then they won’t announce it until 1-9 November
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WB could still be sold if the price isn’t to high. Anything else seems sooooo unlikely.
Zenimax was 2 years of negotiations according to rumors!? And I agree. Google, Apple or Amazon won’t make a move until their platform is a proven product. Not a successful one, but a proven one.
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I’m assuming that you mean in terms of publishers. I think there are a number of independent private studios that would not surprise me at all to see Microsoft acquired them.
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Not exactly on the “buying mode” topic but what do we think about Microsoft and Valve working together on something? No one is really talking about it but they could be working on something together maybe. There was that 1 rumour steam would come to Xbox but that went away quickly. Just food for thought honestly.
I think someone or something will be bought by the end of the 21’ financial year that’s for sure, only a matter of who and when.
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I think they might be; Gabe has been unusually outspoken about support for the Series X and Microsoft overall lately.
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