Roblox is overvalued, they were going to IPO at an $8.5B valuation (irrc) in mid December but decided to push it back so they could raise their valuation.
They could definitely get WB + IP rights for a period of time + hell maybe even some star wars game rights from Disney for that money
For those that are hoping Microsoft buys CDPR low…don’t look for it. They don’t fit. Regardless of the money, they don’t have the culture or the leadership. They’re very likely to lose a lot of talent. They’ve lost talent from Witcher 3 already. They don’t own IPs. They own a PC storefront which Microsoft doesn’t need. They bring a lot of PR baggage and Microsoft is very conservative when it comes to taking risks with their image. The leadership at Xbox isn’t looking for expensive, brand risking fixer uppers. They’re looking for studios they can be hands off with. Fixing up studios that are off track due to leadership isn’t their specialty and doesn’t help them in their current strategy where they’re growing fast. The one thing CDPR did have was an incredible brand after The Witcher 3. Having a powerful brand is great for recruiting and selling the next new IP. They don’t even have that any more.
Again it’s not about the cost. It’s about the fit.
It takes 6+years to create a new studio and launch that first game. Cheaper to acquire already established
For sure. I think if CDPR didn’t have issues at the top and you could pin it all on investors like Bethesda could, there might be a case here. Bethesda in contrast had stable creative leadership within each studio. I think a better approach would be to go for a normal sized AAA studio and build them up to CDPR levels…by grabbing the talent that is leaving there.
I think the fallout from Cyberpunk will blow over sooner then people expect. It’s a set back I agree, but they’ll come back stronger. As for talent, within Eastern Europe, CDPR are a magnate for the best devs, they’re like rockstars basically and every young dev aspires to work for them despite thier shit work practices.
MS need heavyweight names attached to Xbox. For example imagine if CDPR are an Xbox studio when they announce the next Witcher game? The hype, exposure, youtube views alone would generate so much momentum and hype for Xbox, that millions of subs would be sold off the back of one trailer
This is about wrestling back mindshare from Sony, fighting off google and Amazon, and for that, MS need the biggest brand and names. Right now, Xbox has no mindshare amongst the mainstream at all
I think your basis is sound. A superstar name can lift the brand significantly. Rising tide raises all boats. That’s why I think over-paying for Bungie to make a new IP or going hard to pry FromSoftware from their parent company would make a lot of sense. Bethesda has that too. Those studios have stable leadership and require little work and handholding from Microsoft though. They would need to reinvent the culture at CDPR. Just too many exceptions from Microsoft. Bethesda could jump back ahead of CDPR this gen. Not just investment of money but also time with CDPR. They would require a lot of attention and in their case, because they have a lot of clean-up prior to going full production on their next project, I don’t think you gain that much time vs building a studio from scratch.
It comes down to how you interpret the language used by Nadella and Spencer over the last few years. There is no right and wrong interpretation like but for me I think they’re done buying studios like Bloober or even Asobo. They’re after the statement acquisitions, the ones that get shit done
Yeah Techland also has reports of bad management
I think they’ll get both. They’ll look for gems. Teams that bring something unique to the table. But yes, I agree with you they’ll not limiting themselves there. Nadella wouldn’t even mention buying studios if they weren’t looking at something else significant.
Screw it. My new top 5 wish list -
For now. Now that it’s a new gen it would be best for them to acquire the big name studios to get people talking, but I think eventually they’ll be content with the AAA studios they have bought, and after the intiative they’ll know how to make a new studio, and after all the smaller acquisitions grow they’ll know a way to grow other smaller studios they acquire and make them as good as the XGS studios.
Do you view big name studios as some of the publishers out there that are currently private or may be had by buying from another corp or are you thinking individual studios.
I’m hopeful they will bring Sega/Atlus 9n board for the family friendly games, giving them more strategy games and JRPG.
Just any dev that has a notable reputation, be it jack box,hello games, from soft, Bungie to a publisher.
I hope at the very least sega games don’t skip Xbox like Capcom games don’t for the most part now.
I don’t remember who said that, but the best insider you can have is Nadella himself. If you take good care in listening to what he is saying, you can have an idea of what is going to come next. In that case, I too agree that there could be something else big.
Truth. I think the below quote from him earlier this month really hits on that point.
Quote: “We are absolutely very, very much focused on gaming, and ensuring that all the three billion gamers around the world get the best content, best community and the best cloud services to power their gaming experiences going forward.” Nadella said. End Quote
If they’re talking about ensuring all three billion gamers get the best content, that tells me they will be opening up their wallet more and bringing a bunch more content, working with studios that haven’t brought their content before and probably adding more new exclusives and first party content. The other thing it tells me is they are preparing to expand the xcloud content beyond just gamepass, because how else will the best content be available to 3 billion people. I’m expecting something more similar to Prime where their subscription service is available but so is anything you bought from the store.
I’ve been saying that since 2017 when they restructured. Lol
I agree, they also talked about expending xCloud beyond just Game Pass Ultimate, and offering new subscriptions for it. That coupled with xCloud coming to PC, iOS and potentially Samsung Smart TV’s this year tells me that 2021 will be a very important year for xCloud.
In 2021 we can expect Xcloud to grow a lot. They are going to integrate Bethesda’s tech (Orion) to XCloud (lead engineer of Orion now work at Microsoft for Azure). Microsoft is also going to replace Xbox One’s blade by Series X’s blade. XCloud is going to expand in even more regions, iOS web app is coming, Samsung TV app is coming, XCloud stick is coming. With Cyberpunk, people are more open to use cloud because they understand their actual console (PS4/Xbox One) are to weak, Stadia and Geforce Now have grown a lot due to Cyberpunk because they are cheap and efficient. XCloud is definitely going to have a great 2021 and beyond, Cyberpunk prove cloud gaming have a future closer than most people think. 5G is also going to be an important part of democratisation of cloud gaming. XCloud can also be a bundle with a lot of suscription, like your company buy a " work and play pack" and every employee can play XCloud and use office, or bundle it with HBO Max/Bein Sport.
To talk about studios acquisition, Nadella is clear, they are all in and want the best content, we can expect an acquisition that is going to have a good press. The italian who work at Xbox said that they are going to be one " big " acquisition and one smaller. My realistic predicition :
Big :
Small :
I have heard bad things about Mercury Steam’s financial situation, they might accept an offer; that being said, I don’t know how much potential they have.