Bloomberg…
CAPCOM!!!
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would love that definitely if they can get licensing the ips too as a counter to sony
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Capcom, Square Enix, Fromsoftware are the best assets imho
Would love to see MS push harder on them.
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If MS could get one of the 3 you said or WB I would be so happy haha
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Same, as they all fit.
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Ok, let’s talk acquisition targets.
From Software: Great fit but Kadokawa needs to sell. Unlikely.
Platinum: Attempted. They refused to sell. Tencent infused cash into them. Not happening.
Marvelous: Great dev. Little relationship with Xbox. Tencent bought a stake.
Level-5: Awful relationship with Xbox due to gripes over something 15 years ago, but beggars can’t be choosers, and they are struggling.
SEGA: Lifelong partner of MS. Getting close again. Encountering some restructuring pains. I don’t see an acquisition but expect MS to invest in this relationship beyond Yakuza. Unifying SDK between PC and Xbox makes Persona and SMT coming to Xbox a no-brainer if a PC port exists.
Tango Gameworks: Psyche! They already will own these guys come early next year. Talented devs. Great turnaround. Smart purchase.
Square Enix: Cold day in hell as it will have frozen over if they ever accept an MS buyout. That said, Square Enix Europe is another story and within the realm of possibility (but hopefully SE just fixes things up there. No need to make exclusive if they are doing well.)
Capcom: Lol, no. Doing great right now. No reason to sell.
White Owls: Very possible
JP Games: Very Possible
Valhalla Games or a new Itagaki studio: Incredibly possible. Devil’s Third was a massive dud and MS jumped ship, but dude is still stupidly talented.
Koei Tecmo: Unlikely. Super close to Nintendo, decently close to Sony. MS seemed to burn a bridge with them halfway through the 7th gen.
Sony: Lol
Nintendo: Lol
SNK: Ownership too complicated, Tencent ties.
Kojima Productions: Not outside the realm of possibility. It fits many of the terms MS is looking for. It’s AA, Creator driven, has a decent fanbase but is too niche to justify mega budgets without the help of an established IP or Game Pass. I see Microsoft going for them provided A. Kojima signs to a 10+ year contract and B. The rumours of the bridge burnt with Sony are true and they do not have any existing contracts that would complicate things (i.e. right of first refusal to all publishing initiatives)
Bandai Namco: If any of the major publishers/devs are bought, it’s them. Probably the best relationship with MS besides Capcom.
Grasshopper Manufacture: Provided Gungho is willing to sell, great fit for all the reasons Kojima works, but Nintendo’s strong relationship with them makes them unlikely to sell unless a concession is made to put games on Switch as well as the Xbox ecosystem.
Intelligent Systems: Never happening, but Nintendo needs to lock these guys down soon. They part-own the Fire Emblem IP and have been a dutiful second party for 30 years, but firm conglomeration is happening. Please Nintendo buy them and HAL, do not take friendship for granted (sorry, this is a big aside. I’m a massive Nintendo fan, arguably as much as I am an Xbox one, the community can just be exhausting after a while).
Inti Creates: Great dev with Game Pass friendly content.
ArtPlay: Creator driven dev. Bloodstained reviewed great. The content pipeline needs work, the game took a good while.
Yuke’s: Great wrestling developer who ended with 2K on a sour note. Would be able to provide great sports titles to Game Pass, and they make shooters too. Dark Horse dev.
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Halo Extreme Beach Volleyball. 
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Bandai Namco/Koei Tecmo getting acquired by MS would nuke Nintendo’s first-party output hard. Wouldn’t want that. MS can take Level-5, they’re talented but have shitty management (Hino) that has run the studio into the ground financially. And Phil’s trips to Japan seem to have worked on Koei Tecmo, they were featured in the Bloomberg article as being high on Xbox.
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Agreed. Nintendo works well with them. Also glad Koei Tecmo is warming again. Would love to see Ninja Gaiden come back (I gotta play those again, I played them on the PS3 and Wii U and wanma see what Series X does to them) and I want to see Romance of the Three Kingdoms come too. Xbox gamers seem to be the warmest towards strategy of the three console holders so it just makes sense.
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Isn’t the latest Three Kingdoms game already on Xbox? I agree though, I’d love to see all their games come to Xbox.
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Nope 
XIII is though which I didn’t realize.
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XIII is what I was thinking of. I bought it when it came out but haven’t gotten around to playing it yet. 
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Oh boy, oh boy…hoping for -
- WB Interactive (with a 10 year licensing deal)
- Square Enix (not the publisher but would love to see Microsoft acquire Crystal Dynamics and Eidos Montreal along with those 5 IP’s others mentioned a few days ago)
- Sega (would definitely help Xbox in Japan)
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I maintain my long held position of Sega + Eidos gets them the worldwide audience for game pass provided they invest a bit in Sega to increase jrpg production. Anything beyond that is just bonus.
With that in the fold, you would have to be a fool to be an active gamer anywhere in the world and not have game pass whether that is series x, series s, pc or streaming.
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This is my exact sentiments for any remaining publisher acquisitions. Then go after Asobo, Techland, IOI… well you know the rest, no need for me to repeat my list ad nauseam 
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oh boy
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hnnnnnngh
Capcom!
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