Oh damn I never even knew this. Guys this is also what Xbox means with giving creative freedom. I like this because it much more safer for them and we can avoid another Lionhead(smdh) situation. I’m assuming Bungie was a subsidarie too?
Edit: Ok other people already pointed this out, haha I should really wait on the trigger.
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I’m 99.99999% sure those figures are in yen, not US dollars.
2 trillion dollars in debt would be absolutely preposterous. 17 billion USD debt (the yen->USD conversion ratio) seems much, much more sane and in line with what I can find elsewhere.
The article also says
“Sony Group has $26.35 trillion in total assets”
Sony does not have 15x more worth in assets than Microsoft is worth as a company
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I’m not sure about Bungie’s situation. Technically, it’s still possible for MS to separate with a studio even if they were previously integrated, but I imagine there are more headaches to unwind it all.
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Need Xbox acquisition news like I need water fr. Anyone got some?
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Sony’s been playing the long game.
The real Xbox acquisition was Sony buying them all along!
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This is super stuff, profjjj.
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Stray Bombay is such an offbeat cool name.
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It sounds like a martini
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Thiis took a very strange turn.
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I’ve not heard of separation as a part of the strategy for acquisition that you and Sydle are alluding to.
Separation/forced churn is a horrible time for any company, and acquisitions have little role there
I didn’t “allude” that.
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There are interesting possibilities here.
Building a subsidiary is an interesting exercise in its own right. The mechanics of carving out that subsidiary and then making that unit fairly independent for an acquisition by a different company, is a very curious exercise
Like Sega selling of Visual Concepts to Take2, or Crytek selling their Sofia division to Creative Assembly, or even Chapter 11 type of buyouts from Midway.
Although, we are talking about xbox, there seems to be an adjacent spinoff that seems to be clustering assets for a sell off later (wbd), I feel.
Although, this was alluded to by one of the investors there. lol 
I think we’re missing each other.
It’s probably been a year or two since, but Xbox leadership stated how they were acquiring studios that needed resources and aiming to enable them to run more or less independently. They also stated that the way the acquisitions are structured makes it easier to part ways if things ultimately don’t work out between the two parties.
I will work on finding the article or video.
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I agree if that is the point, but that is not central to the acquisition.
That is just an administrative structure in place, and fallback PR for a press that has been hungry for xbox’s blood.
I might have read what you are referring to. And this is not uncommon in acquisitions, I feel.
All in all I just want Microsoft to keep their word and allow creative freedom.
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It wasn’t common with prior Xbox acquisitions where they did assimilate studios and have them adopt all things Microsoft as far as people and asset management go (e.g. standardizing and leveling roles, adopting MS performance review and management process, getting a Microsoft email, etc.).
I think it was someone from Rare or one of the other studios that commented how much work that was and how it effectively changes a culture. By contrast, the new studios get to retain their culture and way of doing things to a greater extent. My earlier comment about being acquired as a subsidiary, even with easier ways to separate if necessary, was an example of how differently MS approaches things these days and really aims to let the studios be themselves and focus on their craft, without all of the rigor and change that comes with proper folding into Microsoft.
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I’m not sure if MS would want to buy the studio Far From Home, but their new game, Forever Skies looks interesting.
It might be a smart move to get in good with this Polish game company and see where they go from there.
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Microsoft getting a studio in Poland would be a good idea. Poland has a lot of good talent imo. I like that Microsoft has a lot of European studios now.
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Maybe but if you can tie in some Uncharted-like set pieces and on-the-ground gameplay, a rebooted Crimson Skies could be excellent. That’s what I’d love to see Asobo do next. They’ve got the narrative action and flight stuff down (though they’d need to go more arcade-y). Another interesting option would be Playground if they built another studio.
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