I think an acquisition is imminent. I read how they’re hoping to expand thier studio head count to 400. If not this year then next
Honestly, I find the insistence on AT&T selling WB Games after backtracking really confusing, and I don’t get it.
Perhaps AT&T will change their mind (given their debt situation), but at this point it seems very obvious that they’re waiting and seeing how their next 2 big titles go before deciding.
Microsoft being “interested” to me feels less like Microsoft having an inherent want to buy WB and more of just, MS being at every one of these talks. Similar to how Microsoft was there for the Gearbox acquisition talks and passed on it, I don’t see why the same doesn’t hold true for this, in terms of just having a presence during these all of these acquisitions.
just feels like a lot of reading into something we probably won’t have a better picture about until Gotham Knights and Rocksteady’s game drops.
I still feel like if MS buys anyone this year, it’s most likely Asobo.
The didn’t get the money they wanted and now they will wait and see the results of their upcoming games, which by no coincidence are all service games, imo even HP will have mtx like Ubisoft sp games.
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if an acquisition the size of AT&T was on the table they would be better off just buying disney
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I believe they were planning on buying wb games, not at&t.
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Klobrille leaked Playground and Obsidian. Someone called Rodney Bouch on resetera leaked “one studio in America and another in canada” which ended up being Undead Labs and Compulsion. The Initiative was leaked via Darrel Gallaghers position as a studio head
InXile, DoubleFine, Ninja Theory and Bethesda didn’t really leak.
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At this point I’d rather Microsoft spend money on things like the EE deal to get unlimited data for xCloud subscribers. That’s far more valuable since it grows an area that not even Sony/Nintendo are competing in AT ALL. Grow the FUCK out of xCloud and leave those guys in the dust.
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Yep exactly.
I think the most likely “big purchases” Microsoft would make are sega, take two, maybe something like Capcom. Part of the problem with acquiring anything from Japan is the government has to approve it, and they don’t want an American company like Microsoft owning a big company like Capcom or sega. I think take-two is probably the most likely because they are big but not ea or activision big. Ubisoft is a no because they have so many employees.
I still think Microsoft is more likely to go after another 5-10 smaller studios over the next couple years instead. Like play dead, IOI, larian, bungie. Even buying studios from publishers is more likely to me than grabbing a publisher. Money talks and Microsoft wants to expand more. They will find a way.
Wouldn’t money be better spent subsidizing carriers to not count data towards xCloud? They already have 23 studios/30 teams developing 1st party content. I’d rather let that execute for a while before adding a single additional studio. They need to grow xCloud.
Japan government doesn’t care if MS acquires Capcom&co, they would gladily give them instead the likes of Tencent. I see this urban legend never dies, lmao. The only difficulty is MS willingness to spend the big bucks in an uncertain market for them, because if they really want, someone who wants to sell exist everywhere.
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I doubt they would ever do something. The most they would ever do is partner with a provider.
Imo they need close to 50 studios so they get 1 new game a month in game pass. That means a mixture of publishers and studios to get
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take2 would be ~30B in all likelyhood, I dont see that happening, same for capcom, it would likely be 10+B when all is said and done.
imo the largest acquisition that they could make, that would make sense, is if WB come back on offer. Especially now that lucas film is more open to licensing things. I am not saying that they should acquire WB then ditch everything they are working on to make star wars games. but that they could use star wars games as a way to transition off of purely WB properties, into more general studios
I wouldn’t be surprised to see Suicide Squad gets delayed a year to 2023.
Also, I would think that if AT&T was going to sell off WB Games, they would do so BEFORE Gotham Knights, Hogwarts Legacy and Suicide Squad get released before if you’re the purchaser and all those games have released already, that devalues them because you’re now waiting until those studios next game to get released to get anything out of it.
Good point this
Interestingly enough, these are exactly the companies listed in this job description for an M&A senior manager.
Depends on who they are selling to tbh. The platforms have been announced for those games and have marketing rights tied up with different companies. If I was a platform holder or challenger like Amazon, I’d be more wary. For better or worse, from what we know, Sony tied up Doom 3 VFR, Deathloop and Ghostwire but the rest was fair game for exclusivity for MS and of those 3, one was a port of an old game and the other was one of two projects Arkane was working on. It’s a hard sell for platform holders with only Netherrealm and Monolith not accounted for.
Yeah, perhaps but outside of the marketing deal with Sony for Hogwarts Legacy, Microsoft could always cancel the PS4/PS5 versions of Gotham Knights and Suicide Squad. There’s no contracts as far as we know and nothing has been announced in relation to that so while some may be like, no, don’t do that. I say that if Microsoft were to acquire WB Games, I would cancel those versions without hesitation as Sony would do the exact same thing.
Granted, Microsoft would probably have to add in some money for the lost sales but so be it. Not like Microsoft can’t afford it. After all, Microsoft/Spencer shouldn’t be playing nice with Sony in regards to gaming because that only works if both sides are doing the same thing which is obviously not happening.
Just came to the realization that with Tango Gameworks (Mikami) being part of Xbox, now there is a completely direct relation to PlatinumGames in the family.
Also, those rumors about Xbox working with Platinum on a Vanquish 2 years ago are even funnier now considering Mikami was the director of the original.
Plus, that’s just another Xbox studio/leader who has a tie with SEGA (like Obsidian with Alpha Protocol).
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Mikami left 10+ years ago, if there are some ties left, they are veeery thin. XD
Plenty of PlatinumGames leadership is still there.
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