Chaos
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While I see the point you are making I think the problem is with Ubisoft is that the culture there is toxic. There have been allegations across that company and management have failed in many areas when it comes to Staff wellbeing.
I think Microsoft just wouldn’t want the hassle of trying to Re-invent a culture to that many people as it would take quite a lot of work especially on the PR front.
That’s why I believe they would be looking at companies like WB, Take Two and possibly Sega or Capcom.
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If you read project management, there is a point beyond which the overhead is just communication. The more is not necessarily the merrier.
Although, it is rumoured that 200-300 ppl is approx the standard for AAA. With exceptions like Kojima, Obsidian and Ninja Theory all embracing small teams for AAA mantra. Whereas 343i, cdpr, ubisoft themselves, ND all take the extreme approach of 500+ for such projects.
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The problem with this for me is, if Tencent was going to buy Ubisoft would Microsoft sit back and let it go because they don’t want toxic people? I know people are saying they should just outright go for them now which I do agree with but I highly doubt Microsoft will let a publisher go like that because of toxic people there.
I do think Microsoft is ok with buying a company with toxic people if they have the IP/staff they need, they will do sweeping changes that are necessary. I know people will bring up Gearbox and magic man but I think Microsoft thought the IP and everything around the studio wasn’t worth the hassle, but someone like Ubi would be worth it.
It is a bit naive to think Take Two, WB, SEGA and Capcom are 100% squeaky clean and I’m 100% sure there are people within all Xbox teams that are a bit iffy as with almost any team in pretty much any company. I guess the difference is between if it’s known or not which is a bit crappy.
Again I don’t see anyone off limits if their IP is big enough, just look at Minecraft for example lol.
They will insist on some sweeping change conditions first. They might ask for some of those toxic people to be sidelined or phased out.
There is a legal clearance that is needed for the acquisition from Microsoft’s own M&A teams.
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I’ve been meaning to post something about “the head count issue” for a while, but keep putting it off. @Knottian and @Daniel have beaten me to the punch, but I’m going to put on my professor hat and add my two cents anyway.
Viewing high head count as a negative (focusing on the expenses) is an example of what many financial analysts or economists call having an “accounting mindset.” I cannot tell you how many times I have been in a meeting and heard an accountant say something like, “we can’t do that - it would negatively affect OpEx (operating expenses).”
What the accounting mindset ignores is the benefit of whatever action is being considered. Why might we want/need high head count? It is not to generate high expenses - that is just a side effect. We want it to be more productive, increase output, put out more games on a quicker timetable, etc. If we get all those expected benefits then the high expenses should be covered by higher revenue, cash flow, etc.
Employees do not show up on the firm’s balance sheet. Conceptually, however, they are still an asset of the firm. In many ways (especially for software companies) they are by far the most important asset. So, saying “head count is too high” is similar to saying “the firm has too many assets.”
Of course, there is such a thing as non-productive or under-performing assets. I am not saying that more is always better. But I am saying that we must consider both the costs and benefits of high headcount, not just the costs.
In the most recent 12-month reporting period, Ubisoft had higher operating margins than EA, so the high head count has not made them uncompetitive financially. (Though to be fair, Ubi’s margins are lower than Activision’s and Take Two’s).
If Ubisoft can be profitable on its own with high head count there is no reason to be believe a Ubisoft division of Xbox will not continue to be profitable for Xbox.
There is more I could add here about the risk implications of high head count, but this has gone on long enough I think.
Please note: I am not arguing that Ubi currently has the “correct” number of employees or that Xbox necessary wants/needs to add 18,000 (or whatever) employees. I am simply saying that arguing that Xbox can’t / won’t buy Ubi (or anyone) because their headcount is too high is an overly simple and reductionist opinion.
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Per your edit, I want to also reiterate that I’m not advocating for an Ubisoft purchase, nor have I heard anything that suggests that whatsoever, I’m simply negating the erroneous argument that MS wouldn’t take on thousands of staff members when they’ve done so repeatedly in the past during acqusitions and in normal operations.
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100% thanks for expanding on what we have been saying. Game Pass is Xbox/MS #1 priority and having more 1st party games in there is what they most likely want. I can see MS wanting Game Pass at some point in the future be almost entirely 1st party only, to get there you need people and IP which Ubi ticks right now. Like Knottian said, I’m also not saying Microsoft should or is buying Ubi, I am saying it would be a smart fit for them content and workpower wise.
More people = more games simple as that haha.
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Exactly, I want to remind that people keep asking “bring X ip” back and “when they gonna do sequel to X game they did years ago” and the response from the devs is no chance because they are all busy, XGS weeks ago had +400 positions open for existing projects, a studio in hiring numbers. They can’t hire a batallion overnight, that’s why you have third party studios working on projects, Sega has been taking on RTS side since Halo Wars 2, and Gears Tactics was developed by Splash Damage.
That’s why Satya said that he buy studios because he can’t build one overnight and have a project running by the next week. CD even with its issues has a competent team, and the fact that The Initiative is entirely made by key staff means that the latter will be responsible for all design and decisions, while the former is responsible for the labor. This is what Mistwalker does.
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Yeah it’s funny seeing people like “they have so many IP do something with them!” but then get mad Xbox is partnering up with another studio to make content faster. Who are going to make these old remakes and w/e, I honestly can’t really see any of the teams doing it so they’re probably going to get 3rd party companies making remakes and remasters, will people moan then too? there is only so many people working at XGS and all are working on stuff already so it’s kinda hard to work on old IP without ya know people.
Would people get angry if TT made a remake of Banjo because it’s not a 1st party? I would say no but then again you have people already moaning that Xbox is partnering up with a 3rd party for a reboot now…
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FTFY.
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Honestly, if MS ended up acquiring these guys along with IO, I hope they’d acquire franchises too. Tomb Raider, Deus Ex, and Thief would be very exciting. Arkane could do one hell of a Thief game. Also, does SE own the Legacy of Kain/Soul Reaver series? That’d be a fun reboot.
Right now, I’m not sure the news is anything more than a partnership to contract for additional resources but we’ll see.
Im back fior a minute off topic. Im on my console edge browser thats my sole internet browser, suddenly about a month back this site was unviewable. Thank you nick and gang at xboxera i contacted you on twitter and you somehow made the site readable only for me. You cannot tell im in tears…i woke up this morning, my edge would not load. Low and behold xbox replaced that browser. Its awesome youtube loads amazingly fast, it took 2 mins on average for a video to load , this site fully functional so happy…so all this in r.preparation im assuming for xbox one to stream gamepass in browser since many of us cant get our hands on the new console. ok back to topic…i see we are back to ubisoft and se trashn on here, i guess im their champion. First off, i saw several months back on a serious stock website that ubisoft was doing bady financially. during the pandemic. So that with the management issues would maybe make a buyout by Microsoft more appealing. I think ubisoft would give xbox the yearly boost fot triple aaa games. I think they better fit than warner bros. Also se not going tosell off parts, its all se or nothing. Cd makes one bad game and you want to trash them. Se doesnt they opened a cd division in the same area as id,how convenient seriously ff 14 has dehroned wow its te number 1 mmo worldwide . Also dq12 is in production,rumors of ff10 sequel…theres alot i cant see phil.and gang chucking away for 2 western developers cause you all hate the jrpg division.
In before Xbox acquired Crystal Dynamics and they become another studio putting out 1st person perspective games that everyone begs to do 3rd person games 
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If Xbox could Aquire Crystal Dynamics and Absobo in my mind they would be set in terms of first party.more is always better but those two would be amazing
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this is why i said UBI is the best option right now. all of this plus IPs they hold for really good amount of value
Well said. I work for a company with over 100k employees. I know it should be obvious but just saying it anyway. Not all employees are managed by a single entity or HR group. It is all localized to regions/countries or even companies. Say for example they did acquire Ubisoft. Ubisoft can keep they own HR teams and the problem is mainly a logistical one while they changeover to MS systems and processes. Company I work for have acquired a lot over the past few years. Most employee would not have noticed any changes at all.
Companies this size are so big that acquisitions of this sort should not pose that much of an issue.
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Pretty funny how this CD / Initiative stuff kinda killed this thread. Wonder why that is.
SE never seem pleased with the sales results for either Crystal Dynamics or Eidos Montreal.
Avengers was a flop. The Tomb Raider games were successful but Square wanted more. Deus Ex MD bombed. Thief bombed. Deus Ex HR was a huge success.
Square right now must be thinking, why not sell them, and actually finish in the green. The money can be used to hasten development on FF
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