Especially since Phil has specifically mentioned wanting a Japanese developer(s).
I get they have Tango now, but I doubt it stops there (at least, for the long term).
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They bought Double Helix and locked them in a basement for 7 years and counting. Amazon is the worst publisher in the industry.
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They’re pretty bad. The worst? Idk about that. A lot of publishers have been doing shady things as of late.
Focus Home specifically.
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Yep. Xbox is done with Sunset Overdrive, Mass Effect and Titanfall situations. Owning the IP is going to be even more important in the future. The only way I see them making Indiana Jones for Disney is that it allows Machine Games to create a second team. If they ever lose the IJ license, they can transition to a new IP.
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Crying with Mass Effect not being xbox exclusive. My fav franchise ever.
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Microsoft will come out swinging this year I can see them easily aquiring at least 7 studios big and small.
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They’ll spend money in Japan, I think they contract and partner
AT&T’s problems are much larger. They have a staggering loan. Keeping expensive assets just lying around may not be a great thing for them.
Also, licensing does not pay AT&T that much, whereas an acquisition might. I heard from multiple podcasts recently that licenses cost around 3to15M (depending on tenure, etc.).
ATT is actually set up very well to succeed and pay back almost all their debt over the next 7 years. I have looked very deep into their financial situation. And this would be with keeping their massive dividend, if they cut that they can pay it back even faster.
Highly doubt 7 (unless they buy another publisher). My guess is 3 or 4 (Asobo,Bloober,Dontnod and maybe IO)
Sadly, I have no such positivity about AT&T. Everything that I have read – from their CEO announcement, DirectTV bleeding, targeted focus on loan servicing since 2019, taking out another 5.5bn in debt to service the loan and HBO Max being the focal point for future strategy— all these things point to letting some of the other assets go: Saddled with Debt and Strained by Pandemic, Avoid AT&T Stock | InvestorPlace.
From a pure business perspective, licensing actually does not pay much towards servicing any loan. Testing the waters for acquisition value seems a smart thing to do when MS is sniffing around as compared to only EA and Activision. This will allow AT&T to question their board about whether the money is better earned now (in an inflated gaming IP market) versus later when the market settles down and MS is doing less shopping.
I thought New World was PC only too.
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You’re right, must’ve been thinking of another game!
My bad.
I think Amazon and Google are of the mindset that their money will make up for their inexperience without putting the money to great use. Sega and Nintendo cut their teeth in the arcades before they made a console, Sony was publishing on the Snes and acquired Psygnosis for publishing help, MS had been making and publishing games before Sony and Nintendo were. Amazon and Google remind me of firms like Nokia or Philips that thought simply being big tech was enough.
Microsoft will do alittle offensive buying which most likely be Asobo, Bungie, and Bloober Team. Microsoft has put the gaming industry on notice with the purchase off Zenimax that will cause others to like Amazon and Google to copycat and buy publishers which then springs Microsoft into defensive buying which they will be the alpha in the bidding wars which I cant see them losing many.
Overall I think we’ll see most of the major independent developers acquired this year (Bungie, IOI, Turtle Rock, Techland, etc.), unless they have something crazy going on behind the scenes (we’ll see with Dying Light 2).
The big players? Embracer, Amazon, Google, Microsoft. Maybe Facebook.
I don’t see Sony grabbing anyone out of the ordinary (likely Housemarque and Bluepoint at this point).
I don’t think any publishers will be acquired this year Xbox/Microsoft unless its for defensive reasons, but I do expect to see Amazon/Google really try making a splash.
Stadia is dying, so if Google is going to take gaming seriously they really need to go all in.
In the case of Amazon, I’m not sure I’ve seen project mismanagement so terribly done from the get go. Two major projects cancelled with everyone looking at New World in interest for quite possibly the wrong reasons.
I will be curious to see what happens with companies like Gearbox, Platinum, etc. where they have either started publishing their own titles or someone elses.
In all honesty, I could see Gearbox going to Google. Bungie (if they’re willing to sell) will be quite the battle.
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I still think Bungie goes to Google or Tencent but I agree with the Offense/Defense tactics of Acquisition.
Wait, what? What exactly has Focus Home Interactive done?
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They’ve had a few situations over the last couple years, the major ones I can think of are;
Frogwares having their games delisted and the title ID’s not being properly transferred to them when Frogwares is the proper IP holder. Focus stated this was a new policy they implemented, but Frogwares stated this policy was never officialized in their contracts.
Aeon Must Die is also being published by Focus Home, but the studio (Limestone Games) has been having a lot of terrible internal problems including IP theft and employee abuse. It was stated that the company had contacted Focus Home to help numerous times, but Focus basically either ignored it, delayed responses, etc.
I’m sure there’s more I’m forgetting. They publish some great games, but they definitely don’t have a clean record as of late.
I think MS won’t let Bungie go easily to anybody else, not with the partnership they have in place now, and the game on Game Pass. Just my thought, but if there is a need for that, I think MS will try to acquire them.
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