What if Microsoft bought all of Warner Bros?

Gaming
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Watching the Halo trailer and the production value I understood that Microsoft has invested a lot, there is also a Fallout series by the directors of West World which will be broadcast on Amazon Prime, apparently Blizzard is in discussion with Netflix for a Diablo and Overwatch series, there is a Minecraft movie in the works at Mojang.

I tell myself that Microsoft could also attract moviegoers and a public that does not care about video games, but they could learn to publicize these licenses and attract new users to Gamepass.

That’s why I thought that if Halo and Fallout works well… Microsoft might consider buying a production company. They could not have Monopoly by buying Warner / DC, LOTR, Harry Potter, Game oh Thrones, Looney Toons, Rick and Morty… They could get a number of IPs and cult characters for XBOX games, Movies and Metaverse in addition to the gaming division and the HBO platform.

imagine owning The Elder Scrolls, Warcraft, LOTR, GoT you own the greatest worlds of heroic fantasy across all media.

With Starfield, Halo, Starcraft you can also have Star Wars level Universes.

Microsoft could completely compete with Disney by adapting their video game IPs.

Obviously I think that buying the merged company Warner / Discovery has a huge cost probably as much or more than Activision but I think it’s an interesting sector to extend the scope of XBOX licenses like Warner.

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You mean the whole WB and not just game division? I can see more investment going into TV if Halo becomes huge success. It won’t be as bad as “TV TV TV” era since they would let established production to do it. As to buying the whole WB, I don’t know if it’s possible, but I have no knowledge on financial move regarding with tv/movie production.

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Yes I am talking about the whole Warner group which includes the gaming division but it is not that important it is above all the IPs which are very precious at Warner and the IPs are very important for the Metaverse that Microsoft wishes to build but it would above all open the door has a new audience. maybe even merge HBO and Gamepass or create an offer that bundles Gamepass PC games / Consoles / Mobile games with King and Alpha Dog / Bethesda / + Movies and Series with HBO.

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I see your point. In that case, that would be interesting purchase. We can get Space Jam with Master Chief saving Looney Tunes. But seriously, I don’t know if Microsoft sees it as fit, at least for now. The Halo TV series is going to be a huge test and if it moves numbers and reception is strong, I can see Satya thinking about it. Time will tell.

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I actually think buying WB makes sense. Microsoft stock is so valuable and the Microsoft company is worth so much. Might as well spend money on the entire WB company. HBO Max is struggling, movie theaters are struggling, but owning the Batman, Matrix, Mortal Kombat, Lord of the Rings, on and on… that sounds like a nice chance to diversify and strengthen while the Microsoft stock price is high. I think you could convince the shareholders and regulators that it is a metaverse play and they’d go along with it. Even if the metaverse turns out to be total bs it’s still smart to invest in new areas that follow subscription, cloud, and entertainment models. It’s hard to see the downside.

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Microsoft doesn’t seem that into getting into the film industry. Also, I think they view video games as their big form of entertainment compared to Apple with music, Amazon with film, Google with YouTube. I don’t think its that worth an investment unless Microsoft wants to get into the stream war

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They haven’t really talked about other forms of media yet right? Just gaming so far. Would be insane if discovery does that sale.

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Metaverse is a buzzword and I dont think It plays into anything acquisition wise.

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Too much fields where they have no interest

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10

On the contrary, Satya Nadella talks a lot about Metaverse and the idea of acquiring culturally strong IPs

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11

That’s alotta debt to assume, Idk about that. I wonder if they could try and buy gaming rights like Sony has with Spiderman though.

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MS want the biggest and best gaming IPs. They have Halo, Elder Scrolls, Minecraft. Call of Duty. WOW, Fallout under one roof.

Start asking, what else is with these?

Take Two will happen as they have GTA.

Bungie cause they have Destiny.

Techland as its Dying Light.

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I’ve talked about this in the past and I’d welcome it.

Now with Warner being merged with Discovery, I’d say the price would be around 100 billion.

I think Disney bought Fox for 60 billion.

So the price would be higher, plus it would come with all the DC properties too.

We know with Microsoft recently buying Activision Blizzard, that MS has no problem spending an insane amount of money to buy another company.

But I will say this though I don’t think it would happen, because MS is still in the process of buying AB.

But if they did it would be because MS sees Amazon and Apple getting into the movie business and wants a way to bring their Ups to both the big screen, plus little screen.

I can just imagine a HBO Max show that is about the Cog in Gears of War.

A Shadowrun tv series, an Elder Scrolls movie, a Perfect Dark spy movie, an animated series of Psychonauts or Banjo Kazooie.

There definitely is mass possibilities if MS were to buy all of WB and then that doesn’t even begin to include all the new video game studios they’d own too.

Also that MS would now own DC, which if I’m being honest, with the right leader behind DC would not only rival what Disney is doing with Marvel, but surpass Marvel too.

So DC is an extremely undervalued property and with the right team, maybe bring onboard Greg Weisman, Bruce Timm, Alan Burnett, Paul Dini and Brandon Vietti to help shape the world, then you’d just need someone who can really lead the way forward and would have great success.

That all being said I don’t think Microsoft will buy the whole company. Part of it because the purchase would be huge and I don’t think the execs want the government really looking more into the company.

But dang, would it be the shot heard around the world if they did.

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Making their own and nurturing the ones they have I reckon is the next step.

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They are not done acquiring though, but yea, they will do that as well.

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Yes I lean towards buying all of WB discovery in one swoop. Pull a Bruce Wayne with it. How did you get WB to give you the rights to DC? I bought WB! HBO Max and Gamepass together??? The WB studios have so many Intellectual properties it is crazy. There is so much potential to having the entirety of Warner Brothers including complete control over gaming IP. Speaking of those big IP Batman, Wonder Woman, Looney Tunes, Scooby - Doo, Any of the Cartoon Network or Boomerang shows. Plus they get already built and functioning film studios and TV channels. To me, it makes way to much sense if your goal is broadening the userbase you could potentially reach with a subscription service.

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Nah, tv/movies are way less profitable than gaming because the production costs more on average, also MS is barely tuned on gamers frequencies after 20 years, they are not ready for Hollywood crazyness, not even close. I think WB ship sailed in 2020, Zenimax and ABK are hugely better deals, considering also their games are also better (on average, outside the odd one here and there).

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I don’t get the impression that Microsoft is looking to get into the movie industry.

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They don’t have to be involved with any of the TV/Movie/Comic book business if they don’t want to be. Let them run independently like they let their game studios run. Just sign the paychecks and collect the revenue. The main focus in the short term would be the game studios and game rights. Then the longterm in time they could start collaborating with the film studios for Halo, Gears, Fable, or whatever IP they choose to make HBO shows or movies that will be included with a new gamepass tier that also includes access to Cartoon network, Boomerang and all of the other properties they would own. They could even use the DC comics subsidiary to release comics or graphic novels for the Game IP.

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I dont think the goverment would really care. MS has almost no presence in the tv/film industry. If its profitable then sure why not go ahead and do it.