I don’t think that WB franchises rights are that important. Mortal Kombat would probably be included with Netherrealm and Lego/Lord of The Rings rights are not owned by WB. MS would just be getting Batman and Harry Potter rights.
You also don’t need to literally acquire the whole of Warner Bros to do a Batman game. Negotiating a contract shouldn’t be that hard.
And even if MS acquired WB games but don’t get Harry Potter/Batman rights it would still be a good deal. Rocksteady is an amazing studio, they could still make great games without the batman IP.
If they acquired the whole of WB/Discovery they’d be getting all the DC characters. That could be a huge long term investment while DC is likely currently undervalued, and if you look at how the Marvel IP value has blown up with the success of the films.
I want Microsoft to acquire all of WB and DC. They could license out the movies, tv shows, etc. like what’s already been happening. In other words, Microsoft licenses it all out but puts no money into any of that stuff. Let the company that’s paying for the license deal with all of that stuff.
Microsoft would only have to invest into the WB Games division and studios.
MS owning the entirety of WB would give them access to other subscription services. They could do deals with Disney and Netflix to license out the movies. Its $$$ all round
Yeah, gaming would be just a side note. That’s why I say that WB has 0% chance of happening. They are a movie company mainly, and for all we know Microsoft has 0 interest in this area at the moment.
Not to mention the rumor is their version of gamepass is going to be a service that includes access to their movie library and streaming services like crunchy roll and funimation. It seems reasonable to expect Microsoft would be interested in something similar
You’re right but I don’t trust Microsoft to not screw with Xbox if they made a move that big. When you add a 40B dollar multimedia conglomerate to the fold all of a sudden expectations and roadmaps start changing. The geniuses who pushed for the XBLG price hike start showing up in way more meetings because the priority is maximizing that WB investment. Just give me WB Games and let Discovery take the rest.
Never say never. HBO Max is compelling as an entry into the tv streaming business.
Despite all the Sony as a competitor narrative - their true trillion dollar competitors all have streaming services - Prime Video, Google Movies, Apple TV.
The only question that would remain to be asked is that IF you are investing 120bn+ into streaming - who is a better target - WBDiscovery valued at 120bn or someone who owns all their IPs (like a Disney valued at 150bn), or even someone small like an NBC or Paramount or Viacom.
I would like MS to focus only on gaming instead and buy out only the WBgames section along with licenses being transferred to xbox or IP being purchased. But gaming is a small universe compared to movie/tv streaming sub numbers. Netflix has 200m, Disney has 110m, and HBOMax has 65m already with the Amazon PrimeVideo numbers being the only uncertain factor (70m+?).
Microsoft will not spend 100+ billion to go into the movie industry.
Gaming is not a small universe for streaming, compared to movies…it is just largely untapped as it has been harder to implement (latency, image quality) due to broadband speeds and streaming technology, compared to showing a moving picture on your screen.
Gaming is far bigger than Films and TV for revenue stream available and the ability to tap into that via a streaming stick or mobile device is massive.
Microsoft have 4 key areas they are concentrating on for the future.
Azure cloud servers. PC software (Windows, Office, Teams etc). Xbox gaming and cyber security.
I do not see Microsoft going anywhere near the movie industry. They are a service based tech giant.
Amazon and Google are their competitors in the cloud services area… that is it and Microsoft hold a technological and percentage lead.
Completely agree with the gaming being a larger industry and also being untapped.
I would just ask - NOT to underestimate how these top 5 companies strategize; especially how MS strategizes. The MS strategy teams consider all kinds of acquisitions and long term investments- and not just their core pillar based acquisitions on investments. Github acq would have not happened otherwise, Bing investments don’t happen, and Azure investments don’t happen – if they only look at what they have been doing. Azure started roughtly around the same time that AWS started internally at Amazon, btw, although AWS was released first.
And Satya has led two of these far reaching initiatives - Bing and Azure - both when they were in their infancy and being looked down upon by the Windows and Office divisions.
Microsoft already has Gamepass. Why try do compete with Disney, Netflix and other giants in the movie subscription market while you can just further invest into Gamepass, a service that has 0 competitors at the moment.