Xbox Acquisition |OT3| 100% Organic Growth

GTA 5 made something like 1B in the last 12 months mostly from MTX, GTA alone could probably pay back that entire buyout with the next GTA over 5 years after it’s launch. Imagine if MS buys them makes GTA exclusive and the next GTA has a battle pass monthly sub like other games. The board aren’t going to knock back that, the funny thing is the board members will probably know what GTA is and how big it is so they would love it.

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That’s quite a take lol.

GTA absolutely appeals to the casuals and bringing that game only to Platforms where Gamepass exists definitely would bring new customers from other ecosystems to Xbox.

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They will know what GTA is trust me.

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LMAO love the OT name

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Are people aware that most kids nowadays just play Fortnite, GTA online, Warzone and Apex? I get the family friendly thing aspect is a thing but I feel people got the notion that kids are only playing E rated stuff when I think reality kinda different.

Not saying I wouldn’t take Fuzion Frenzy reboot or other family stuff

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Kids probably are even playing DOOM nowadays :joy:

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My little cousin was playing GTA V when he was like 6 lol.

Yeah, I play more E rated games than my 7 years old cousin.

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I personally know of several kids that play the games you mention in addition to family friendly titles.

That’s not true whatsoever.

But too many people like yourself don’t stop to consider that (1) the famed “war chest” is not, in fact, unlimited, and (2) you need to consider the value (benefit / $) that you’re getting from an acquisition.

As a dollars-and-cents acquisition, Take Two is ridiculously expensive for what it is. Net profits for the past couple years (the highest in the most recent five years) was approximately $380m per year. So when you’re like “lol you gotta get Rockstar and NBA2k they make billions of dollars lol” you’re not seeing that (1) the games are also extremely expensive to make (Rockstar budgets and NBA licensing expenses), and (2) Take Two is otherwise not very profitable. And that’s before we take into account that if MS were to buy Take Two and make all the games exclusive to their platform, the overall company would likely be in a deep loss position due to the lost revenue on Playstation platforms.

So why are you paying $25B for Take Two if what you really want is to have Rockstar games and NBA2k and Bioshock on Game Pass day 1? The cost to add NBA2k to Game Pass on day 1 would be like $150m annually. Same for Bioshock. And for the once-every-five-years Rockstar game, who knows? Would $1B do it? At any rate, you could do five years of 2k, Bioshock, an the next GTA game for under $2B. Now, they wouldn’t be exclusive and you wouldn’t get the revenue from Steam sales, etc. But to me, you’re getting 80% of the benefit at 8% of the cost. (You want the back catalogues of GTA/RDR/Bioshock/Xcom too? You can do those deals as well, for a relatively nominal price… well, “nominal” in terms of the numbers we’re talking.) Doesn’t that seem like a much better deal? I think so.

And look, admittedly those numbers are all made up. But I’m guessing whatever reasonable numbers you put in their place will arrive at a similar answer.

This

I’m not gonna lie, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a kid actually play E-rated games aside from Minecraft. I myself was playing Skyrim and Counter-Strike as a 8-year old. Everyone I know irl only plays stuff like Valorant, Overwatch, Minecraft, and the stuff you mentioned.

Edit: Hold on, I just realized I saw a kid play LEGO Batman once. That’s all.

Actually, you are right about that. I’ve seen it myself.

Regarding Dan Houser and Leslie Benzies being just the two guys, remember that Microsoft acquisition of Rare was re-reviewed as a near dud because most of the key staff had left before the acquisition and Star Fox Adventures is pinpointed as the start of the studio decline. Not saying that Rockstar can’t be competent without them, but they have a huuuuuuuge responsibility to take over from them, a failure to deliver would hurt it. The bigger the tree, the bigger the fall. Look at 343i Halos reception.

The fact people ignore that E is rated for “Everyone” and not just kids is head scratching.

@Shpeshal_Nick you better uninstall Rocket League.

For real. Phil has mentioned Japan and family friendly content specifically. Are we really going to act like he’s not looking for studios that specialize/originate in those areas?

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Let’s not revise history please: the Stamper brothers didn’t leave until 2007 (years after the acquisition) and there wasn’t some mass exodus before the acquisition as you so state baselessly. There have been some departures over the years… but considering the fact that the studio has existed for nearly 40 years, you’d be delusional to think that wouldn’t happen; hell Louise O’Connor is a perfect example of someone who’s been there for 20 of those years, and she’s certainly not unique in that regard.

As for 343’s “reception” of Halo… are you talking about the fringe vitriolic Youtubers that ignore quantitative data? Like the fact that Halo 4 sold more than Reach or ODST, or the fact that 5 more than likely surpassed those two benchmarks easily on a device with a fraction of the user base (remember O’Connor confirmed that the game sold 5 million in the first 3 months in spite of the One userbase att). Add in the REQ packs and I can guarantee 343 and MS both were happy with the results; sure, it was divisive among Halo players, but pretending it wasn’t successful because of some angry nobodies online is peak disingenuous argument.

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lmao yeah my nieces and nephews just play fortnite, minecraft, and rolblox. Like I remember my brother my nephew a switch and the lad didn’t even touch the mario and other nintendo games and mainly played fortnite

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I said most of the key staff and not a mass exodus overnight, but that around three years before the acquisition longtime developers were leaving the studio, specially those who worked on Goldeneye (Free Radical), most Rare fans consider that SFA was the start of their downfall and during the Xbox and first half of the 360 years they did what they usually did to lower reception compared to the originals, the criticism was already spread at that point.

And yes, 343i reception of Halo, because fans and critics had a negative reception overall, you go from a average of 9.5 to 8.8 to low 8s, I didn’t say about the financial results because they solely carry on the franchise legacy, but Halo 5 is considered the “enough is enough” moment, the saga was already losing it’s number 1 online play spot to call of duty, but now it barely keeps on top 50 most played on Xbox Live, they lost to Call of Duty, Battlefield, Rust, Fallout, and Ark, even Halo MCC has more players on than H5.

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Any news or new rumors? :eye: :nose: :eye:

My dad, a high ranking Microsoft employee (let’s call him Uncle P-Spencinator to protect his identity), says Xbox is buying Ouya, so… stay tuned.

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