They also hold pretty much the most sought after IP for kids, lego. Lego would be an absolute boon to Gamepass. If they can package that, I’m pretty sure it’s more than worth whatever WB is asking. On top of that say they can negotiate for some of the IP like a Mortal Kombat so they don’t come out with only licensed material and it’s well worth it.
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Sunset Overdrive, a new IP, was made by the talented people at Insomniac, and had the full creative backing of Microsoft, and it sold terribly. Spider-Man, a well known IP made by the same talented developers at Insomniac, is one of the best and fastest selling games in Playstation history.
I agree that Gamepass is a model where a steady flow of high quality content is critical. This is why it made sense for their early (early as in since Spencer took over) acquisitions to be based on talented and creative studios that didn’t necessarily have much owned/established IP.
I think the teams at WB Interactive are very talented and would be a great addition to XGS. But, look at WB games output, it’s almost entirely licensed games or established IP. While I enjoy many of their games, their ability to create new IP is untested and unknown. The rumor last year was ATT wanted 4 Billion for WB interactive (using Zenimax as my point of comparision). I think that’s too much money if it doesn’t include IP or IP licensing.
I can’t think of a single gaming acquisition of over $1 billion which did not include IP.
Xbox will be the Ohmibod of gaming.
Totally disagree. As a matter of fact, I think it’s not worth it if they are handcuffed to Batman and LOTR… the exciting part to me would be seeing all those ultra-talented teams do new stuff.
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Gaming is growing faster than ever. As much as I’d like to see Rocksteady or WB Montreal part of XGS AT&T would be fools to sell them.
He means it isnt worth anything that ATT would be willing to sell it for without IP.
Microsoft isnt buying a bag full of studios (who are handcuffed for the short term on current projects) for multibillion dollars without IP access. They would be screwed if a big chunk of the developers made an exodus for Sony or elsewhere and they would be left holding that bag.
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Nah it would be an expense up front license agreement in addition to adding talented studios. Lego and DC and Mortal Kombat are massive properties that would easily make the money back via new gamepass subs.
I know its a dumb idea but what if microsoft bought WB without any/many good IP rights and then just turned all the WB studios into bascically a first party lucasfilm games division? Even if they could only get like 2 weeks timed exclusivity on everything that would still be big, just the marketing rights alone would make xbox/gamepass the home of star wars games even if they came to playstation day and date
Aside from netherealm ofcourse, they can keep working on mortal combat and killer instinct 
Also id needs to make a boba fett game
That’s true for every studio purchase ever. And there’s absolutely no reason to believe that would happen.
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No doubt talented developers are a prerequisite but the successful IPs are what makes these acquisitions worth billions. For example, Insomniac sold for about half the price of Respawn. A lot of that had to do with Insomniac not owning a massively successful IP portfolio. At the end of the day a successful IP portfolio is where the value lies. AT&T allegedly could not find a buyer who was willing to meet their asking price. SE had a similar experience a few years back when trying to sell IO Interactive. There is no doubt that all the aforementioned studios are immensely talented but it is their IP portfolio that sets them apart.
As a former Washington state resident of many years, one minor bone to pick: Kirkland is its own city, home of Costco. It’s a suburb of Seattle sure, but very much its own thing. 
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It would include IP, Just not WB IP
Mortal Kombat, all of the midway IP, nothing major but still something, whatever the new IP that Monolith is working on, also the FEAR IP & Asheron’s Call. Apparently Netherrealm is working on something new as well, likely in MK universe
Also, TT games has connections outside of WB, meaning Lego license could involve all sorts of franchises if not WB ones
Of course this is all under the assumption that MS couldn’t or wouldn’t work a licensing deal with AT&T, whom by all accounts they have a good relationship with, or that WB couldn’t go the route of Disney and forgo exclusivity for individual project deals
and MS wins even if a title is multi platform with day 1 on GP vs $60-70 to play on another format
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Same with bellevue no?
Correct
Netherrealm would be worth the price alone. World class fighting studio.
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This. Going big has to be rare occurrence where everything is right. I would think that smaller studios will be the route Microsoft goes.
I’m pretty confident that MS will make an announcement, for teh following reasons:
- Brad Sams says that there’s a lot of competition for studios/companies right now.
- Both Phil and Satya have both said they are actively looking to acquire more studios
- MS will DEFINITELY be involved in some/all of these discussions, which are now effectively turning into auctions, with multiple companies competing with each other to acquire talent
- The greater the competition, the faster you need to move to seal deals. Opportunities where MS wanted to take their time become more urgent and deals that might be 50/50 are more likely to become a “Yes” under such circumstances
- MS won’t win all of these races, but they will definitely win some
- MS have the best track record of running a subscription service and it is growing significantly. We have already heard that MS have over 20m subs to gamepass now and it is growing. This is likely to be confirmed at the upcoming finance call. That is 40% of the entire Xbox One sales figures over 7 years and almost twice the entire sales of Wii U, already.
- MS have lots of evidence now of a very hands off approach to studio management. People with very strong independent streaks, like Tim Schafer, keep saying publicly how great it is to be working under MS now. I can’t think of a more free spirit that would normally be less likely to join a massive mega corp and be so happy about it as Tim
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When is the next finance call?
I believe next week.
I suppose they’ll share something news about gamepass
Will people now believe Phil statement when he said that the competition will be only with Google and Amazon , or will they continue to be ignorant? Because currently all I see that there is huge and danger competition from companies like Google and Amazon who have more money and power than Sony and they can influence the gaming industry, either positively or negatively
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