The people that bring up Roblox
Did you not see the valuation this week?? Lol nobody is buying that.
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Is it GamePass excitement or people just being console warriors? I see a lot of the latter tbh, here and elsewhere. I don’t disagree with anything else you’ve said, but I’d rather “prestige” devs like the ones you listed remain independent and multiplatform.
Agreed. The only change I would note is that if anyone is going to spend that kind of money on Ubisoft then they might as well spend a bit more to get Take Two.
You have to remember Sony doesn’t have that kind of money just lying around. Not saying they couldn’t get a loan, do the deal partially in stocks, etc. However, this would be a major acquisition for sony after just spending a billion on Crunchyroll. As just because the market cap is let’s say 9 billion after rounding up and You probably aren’t getting square Enix for under 11 or 12 billion dollars.
The risk isn’t worth the gain if you are Sony. I would see them getting individual studios.
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We don’t even really know if they aren’t still working on deal. An acquisition of that size and that many moving parts isn’t something you wrap up in a month over a couple weekends. It would be months and months of negotiations. seems like it would be like Bethseda acquisition. After spending months to a year+ on it we would just wake up and see it. if were to happen.
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The Publisher Acquisition with Bethesda is just a 1 off thing tbh. Don’t think we will see those frequently.
Not sure if you’re understanding what I’m saying - I don’t disagree. I think WB or others could be currently being looked at, but stating they are or aren’t as borderline fact is where I take issue.
I don’t know, in my opinion if you think the recent rapid developer purchases (not just by Microsoft) and the purchase of a publisher like Bethesda are just anomalies, you’re missing the big picture. I completely understand why people would think things are going to slow down, and historically for the video game industry this has not been the norm, but that’s ignoring that the video game industry is currently at a precipice.
The video game industry is primed for a shakeup due to the introduction of cloud streaming. This is an unprecedented pathway into the industry for new blood, particularly titans like Amazon, Facebook, and Google. Suddenly, without any of the need for difficult, slow and costly R&D into console hardware, without having to manufacture the consoles, put together all the many partnerships necessary to get them to market and keep them on the market, and without the herculean effort it takes to break into an industry whose customers are famously cold and indifferent to new systems, they can provide an easy and affordable entry point into their ecosystem for users. They can even attract users that have never been in the traditional video game ecosystem.
This is huge and cannot be understated. This is what all these big tech companies have been waiting for while they’ve been on the outside looking in. Once you take into account that the industry is growing faster than ever before, and making more money than ever before, but developing games is costing more than ever before, there is no question in my mind that things are not going to slow down. They’re not going to go “back to normal”. This industry is going to continue to consolidate, and likely at an ever-increasing pace, and will likely look quite different in 5-10 years. You’ll find that analysts watching the industry will say the same thing. Big moves will happen, and it’ll be several years before we know who the real leaders of the new industry are going to be.
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Yes. The possibility of every major publisher being owned by Microsoft, Google, Amazon, or Apple scares me.
When are where did he say this?
As long as it’s Asobo, that’s all I care about.
My endgame for acquisitions are Asobo, IO, and maybe a Japanese games studio to make RPGS.
WB gaming if they go back up for sale.
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the most recent xbox two podcast
The way he said that, it seems more speculation on his part, or he wouldn’t have used “probably”.
I get where you’re coming from, there’s a lot of uncertainty with how this is all going to play out. Heck, it’s possible the current big players aren’t even leading the industry in a decade, but, change is inevitable, and I trust the current big three to each have sufficient foresight and planning to rebuff to at least some degree the new competition.
I think MS are currently best situated for the future, and Nintendo are very strong in the industry, and can pivot if need be. Sony, despite their massive mindshare are probably in the weakest position when thinking 10 years from now. But, they have a loyal fanbase and are already making some of the right moves, so they could be fine. I wouldn’t count anyone out, and it’s hard to predict who will come out on top, but it’s going to be interesting to watch.
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We saw some of the awesome tech Ninja Theory is working on today and will likely be showing other Xbox devs at some point. This type of thing is what you want studios to collaborate and share under a big umbrella like Xbox.
This also shows the value of having these folks on the team to develop and share the tech. For that reason I think it is worth pushing for Asobo to join asap in order to get them in the fold and sharing tech with the others. Also bring in devs that can really innovate and drive new tech. There’s not a ton of those studios so get them while you can. Hello Games is one so I hope they acquire them.
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This is correct; if you’re a public company XYZ and you announce a sale to company ABC for $20/share, when company 123 gives you a new offer for $30/share, management/board of XYZ are legally obligated to at least consider selling to 123 because of their fiduciary duties to shareholders. The way this happens is the selling company would pay the “breakup fee” in the definitive agreement they signed with company ABC prior to their deal’s announcement, and then go take the $30/share. As long as the breakup fee is less than extra value of the new bid, they are likely to go with 123.
All that said, this isn’t a major reason for MSFT to avoid buying public companies. There are many public companies who IPO solely as a step towards selling, as it provides early liquidity and tons of price discovery (uses institutional investors to evaluate what the company is worth, and give acquirers a good idea of what they need to pay).
Also if a private company wants to sell, their investment banker isn’t going to just let them sell to the first big company that wants to buy them; they’ll set up a limited or broad auction with competitive bidders to get the best price/result possible. In my initial example, the banker would be in trouble because their poor process didn’t find the $30/share offer, which lost value equivalent to the breakup fee.
Source: Investment Banker
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If Jez thinks is true,
I see Asobo.
I also see with Playful or Playtonic. Phil has been adamite that there isn’t enough family-friendly games on GamePass, and having either the Super Lucky Tale’s (which was HUGE in GamePass) or Yooka-Laylee IPS would be great and you could have a studio that could rotate in an out of family-friendly titles such as Banjo, Viva Pinata etc.
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It scares me alittle as well, but what scares me more is if these major publishers go up for sale how will Microsoft react when they battling with companies that have the same f u money as they do.
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Why would these publishers go up for sale?
Ubisoft is fine
Capcom is fine
EA is fine
Take two is fine
Square Enix is doing quite good (Avengers aside)
Thats 5 big publishers that dont need a cent or be tied down to any platform cause they make good money from all of the current platforms.
If we see any acquisitions from a publisher its probably WB because of AT&T and the rest is just studios being acquired by one of the bigger pubs/console makers.
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You missed the part where I said if these publishers go up for sale.