Yeah, I’ve often argued that Amazon and Google, specifically have a history of just dipping into an industry and bailing if the profits aren’t there within a couple of fiscal years. Apple has also dipped into gaming repeatedly, so I’m just not sold that they’re really taking it seriously despite the recent rumors to state otherwise. I will say, I think Amazon has the greatest chance of maintaining due to its Twitch integration and the leadership heading the project, so expect to see them make some aggressive moves that I think Microsoft will be wise to preempt or counter.
Apple has the biggest ammount of chances to stay than stadia or Luna, that said i don’t think any of the 3 might die. For the short run between the 3 apple easily can get more users because they want to make apple tv some kind of a console-ish. And stadia its doing fine, i mean, they woudn’t pay for exclusives for around 5 companies if they were doing bad. Luna because only its going to launch in the usa, at least for now, its the one that its going to spend more time to really be part of the market.
I never said, nor think any of them will die; I simply think they’ll abandon the market as they have with plenty of their past ventures. As for Apple, I worked at Apple for six years during and after Jobs’ passing, and I can tell you that since Cook took over it’s often been a lot of throwing things at the wall to see what sticks. In case you forgot, Apple Arcade will make at least the third foray into the gaming market since 2011 and while one could argue this will be their most serious (and financially-backed) attempt, I don’t have much faith that Cook’s Apple understands the gaming market enough to avoid yet another half-assed endeavor.
Sincere question: what were the other two gaming projects by Apple on this decade?
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Depends what you mean by small scale. Under 100 employees? Sure that sounds plausible
I don’t doubt that they’re probably still eyeing Asobo and maybe Dontnod
While size of a team can be a factor, I feel this shouldn’t stop Microsoft from acquiring smaller teams.
Studios like The Behemoth, SuperGiant, Playdead, etc. are all small, but release critical darlings almost non stop.
Talent and IP are the most important parts of an acquisition. A name of a company can be tarnished easily (just look at Bioware, Visceral, Raven Software, even Bethesda to an extent).
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I’m with you. I miss the days of Microsoft actually publishing Dust, Splosion Man, Castle Crashers, Mark of the Ninja, etc. I want them to get some teams that can regularly give us these Xbox Arcade games at a high quality. I’d love for them to get Klei or Image & Form.
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they only said 2021 as far as I know
Precisely. This and the infancy of Google/Apple/Amazon platforms. I am sure content deals can be made - as they have been done on these platforms - but I seriously doubt a conglomerate such as EA or a company like CDPR would be willing to be acquired (and limited) by platforms that have a long, looooooong way before establishing themselves on this business.
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Acquiring smaller studios might be off the table for now, it seems that Phil Spencer dream of reaching 3 billion gamers with their xbox ecosystem might not be his alone, another shares his same dream and that Sayta Nadella with his backing it seems like bigger aquistion are more realistic then smaller ones.
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In before 50+ 1st party studios 
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50+ 1st party studios would be bonkers, I think the next gen after Series S and X you will have around 40 1st party studios.
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Of course. Their initial Game Center push was their first foray, basically where they could say “look, we’re getting involved in the gaming space” without needing to invest heavily in it. The next was their push of Metal for Mac and iOS where they courted Valve, the VR community, game developers for about a two year period (this was around the time that the original Fortnite game - not the BR eventuality we have now - was shown off on a Mac stage for the first time).
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A trillion dollar company in their infancy in the gaming realm is still a very dangerous company, Microsoft acquiring Zenimax shows that big and successful studios are a key ingredient to the Gamepass and the others will copy and that’s why you dont rest on your laurels and keep aquiring .
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Completely agree; as I’ve been pointing to for months, Phil isn’t looking at Sony when they look at these acquisitions, he’s thinking about what moves Amazon, Google, and Apple are going to be making and ensuring that Xbox isn’t missing that crucial IP.
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Microsoft is absolutely fine. They didn’t plan all of their moves yesterday - they have been carefully and patiently tracing their strategies years ago. And they will keep making their carefully planned moves on the chess board.
Before a move like acquiring huge gaming conglomerates such as EA or even CDPR, Google, Amazon and Apple not only have to decide for themselves if they want to take gaming seriously, they have to convince the market itself and the consumers that they want to take gaming seriously - and before all that, they still have to find out how to take gaming seriously. That’s a lot of things to do before companies like EA or CDPR are willing themselves to be acquired - because that has also to be taken into account, don’t forget that.
Being a trillion dollar company helps no one if they haven’t done any of these things yet - Google, which is releasing another Chromecast, revamped and renamed their TV OS once again, and didn’t care to officially support their own gaming service on their new device, proves this.
I agree with you major steps are required for Amazon, Apple, and Google to have infrastructure that Microsoft has, if I was running xbox and I have Satya Nadella backing i would be aggressive and ruthless on aquiring big developers or publishers I just cant take the risk on missing out on something great like an CDPR, EA, or Take Two list goes on and on.
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I understand your fear, but I sincerely don’t see this threat coming from a company like Google, for instance, because they clearly haven’t been carefully planning their moves. A new Chromecast (which is fine, the device itself is a success) which brings another change on their TV OS plans (Google TV becomes Android TV which becomes Google TV…dear god) and doesn’t officially support Stadia is unbelievable! Seriously. It seems they don’t talk about things like that on their meetings.
Agreed, though I think some publishers are “safe” in that they won’t want to sell, but I also still think some small/medium-sized studios will still be on the docket considering the talent still out there. Hello Games, Frontier, DONTNOD, Supermassive, and Remedy are just some of the ones that fit into that category that I think Xbox would be wise to look into acquiring. Of course I think a couple of those, and plenty of others, have already been on Phil’s list for some time, especially those with long-standing relationships (as has frequently been cited as a key motivator).
Hello Games is great - a sequel to No Man’s Sky (which has grown so much since the disastrous launch) with Microsoft/Xbox backing would be fantastic!
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