The only studio that I am honestly surprised that they havent gotten yet is playtonic, with literally every acquisition its basically a meme at this point asking whether or not they are working on the next banjo game. Plus with phil saying they are going to focus on E rated content.
Other than the obligatory banjo comeback I would like some one to make a Jet Force Gemini game in the vein of the rachet and clank games. High production values, fun engaging gameplay E rated fun
Regarding SEGA, its not happening.
On a recent episode of the xbox two podcast Rand said that ‘Maybe they looked at buying SEGA but didnt like what they saw under the hood’, (paraphrasing slightly but thats the gist of it) When Rand says stuff like that its almost certainly true, hes apparently friendly with some high ups at xbox.
I do wonder if they might try and buy relic away from sega, I would imagine that sega needs the cash now so they might be willing too.
Rand also mentioned that he could be wrong about some of this stuff too and has been before.
While I agree I don’t expect SEGA really, I will say if Microsoft is shopping for publishers with the intentions of acquiring IP and talent, SEGA is probably one of the best ones to go with (them and CAPCOM).
Wow based on what I’ve seen from Stalker 2, maybe they are going to try to buy them. Seems to fit some of the other studio situations that they bought and Stalker 2 was funded by Xbox. They could have a clause with a purchase option.
It’s also the most sensible, given the broader appeal and the fact that they have dedicated PC studios that could further bolster their strategy IP offerings. Creative Assembly could work on another Halo Wars, with all the tools and financial backing that being a first-party studio offers
Talk of launching on a billion devices and hitting Netflix subscriber numbers are dubious, with shades of the old “just 1% of China!” meme. Yes, 1 billion devices are theoretically available to tap with XGPU cloud streaming, that’s true, but the practical addressable audience for GP in 2020 / 2021 is much, much, much more limited.
A huge percentage of gamers never play anything resembling a core game. They dip their toes into mobile gaming, but they are not “lifestyle gamers” who play so many games in so many genres that GP seems appealing to them. An additional large percentage of gamers might play Minecraft or League of Legends, but that’s their one game, and they don’t branch out much.
Netflix can reach 200 million subscribers because watching video content is extremely mainstream and penetrates into every demographic. My 75 year old aunts asked me to hook them up to Netflix. They are not and will never under any circumstances subscribe to Xbox Game Pass - no matter how many AAA games get released per month.
The realistic total market size for these services is basically the current total console & PC market + 20% or 30% on top who might be convinced to get back in (lapsed gamers) or might be convinced to give it a try. Now that is still a huge number! It’s “possible” that in some distant future you might reach 100 million subscribers or more. But even getting to that number would require keeping costs low, diversifying offerings (lots of games for gamers who might only enjoy “casual” experiences too), and spending years increasing subscriber bases.
I would consider it a big win if they hit 50 million subscribers within the next 4-5 years. It could very easily be a much lower figure than that.
Wow that Stalker 2 engine teaser is kinda getting a lot of hype lol the video already has like 35k likes and there is a few reaction videos on it weirdly enough. I didn’t really think much of the game but is it like popular or something, never played the first one.
I think the game is very popular with the CIS crowd, I was checking the views of Xbox’s last event and it was the 2nd most viewed trailer after Halo infinite I think, more than fable, forza and Avowed.
GSC game world, the devs behind the game are also privately owned.
Oo I can 100% see MS picking them up, haven’t they been struggling for money and MS funded this game for them. These are the companies I like MS picking up because I really do hate seeing studios struggling to survive. Tim Schafer was saying something like how it’s so good not having to think about where next he’s going to get money from to keep the company afloat and I think if GSC is in that situation then they might be a good fit.
Another epic thing with being a “Xbox” studio is you also make it for PC, some dev teams and games are more PC focused so it probably helps with convincing them over saying they can still focus on PC they don’t need to just make console game could win them over.
I 100% think with Xbox games on PC helped a lot with the Bethesda deal, Fallout’s home is really on PC.
I prefer third person over first person for various reasons but I will at the very least check out Stalker 2 as it does look good but only because it’s in Game Pass and even then, all depends on what kind of game it is.
