Hard disagree on that front.
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Of those id say only NRS is a “must”
They need to make sure they dont get shut out of the fighting genre again, snatching the #1 fighting dev is a good way to prevent that
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Well, I could see them license the IPs out, like Disney/Marvel. Everything else I also strongly disagree.
I mean you’re right. But acquiring the whole thing is basically having another publishing entity under Xbox. Which maybe Phil would want, idk. But if he gets them then that’s what, 5 publishing entities if you split Activision and Blizzard? Although looking at Disney they have like 7 publishing arms under them so… yeah you right, go for it Phil.
I think going by Phil’s statements and what they have done, they are prioritizing going after IP, at least for the bigger acquisitions. So I think that leaves out publishers like WB and CDPR who bring little in the way IP if MS acquires them. Unless they can be had for a relative bargain. I’d also rule out Square, at least the Japan part and just accept that FF is now a Sony franchise. Maybe they would sell the western park or CD and Eidos or something though.
Take Two is also probably off the table. It’s not just it’s recent mobile acquisition but while GTA and RDR are huge, they are once a generation games at this point, and those games already have insane production values so it’s not like they need “saving” by MS.
EA also likely not a target as it’s been mentioned a large part of what they do is with licensed IP, and they already have that EA Play deal so that’s probably good enough.
So that would leave Ubisoft as the last large publisher remaining. Definitely a lot of valuable IP there and active big franchises. Can’t imagine they would be able to get them with this deal pending though.
Then that leaves Sega and Capcom. Either would be great but I’d prefer Capcom. So many valuable IP’s. They will be harder to get though with all their recent success.
Then of course they could focus on a few smaller studios like Asobo, IOI, and Avalanche.
I dream of Capcom but Sega would be fantastic as well.
If Phil makes a deal for the IP…WB will be the best get
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$4B for mostly workforce that is tied to licenced IP…
There are a lot of really great IP still on the board. Crossfire wasn’t mentioned here but it’s the equivalent of COD in Asia and has a billion lifetime players. You want a big IP, that, roblox and GTA are the biggest.
But…. Certain studios specialize in a skill set that MS currently does not have. Fighting, and open world melee combat games.
I hope you can elaborate. Assuming $4B is the asking price, and I imagine it could get higher with some time. How would that be a good deal to anyone for mostly AA/AAA workforce that doesn’t on its own (outside of NR) have anything big to leverage?
Fighting, yes. The other games are nothing special and multiple Xbox/Bethesda/Activision studios are capable of making those games and we have so much evidence most AA/AAA studios can probably make those games and make them well. They’re not really that of a speciality.
What about avalanche?
I just think 4B for just a workforce with no IP’s is too much. But thats just me.
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Licenses are not important now the important thing is to get all of WBIE studios , Talent is enough and they are talented . Besides that, Microsoft has a lot of IPs now ,WB can work on one of them.
And if they want to work on a new title, it is not a problem, Microsoft will give them enough time, especially since Microsoft have so many studios that they can fill the year , And this will help WBIE studios not feel pressure to release their games quickly .
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Yes. And I’m not saying I don’t want it to happen, the studios are talented with great track record, but I’m just not seeing any real value that MS and others could be seeing for that price.
How about they just go after all of the mascot platformers lol.
They could get Ty the tiger
Maybe a Gecko with glasses
That Kangaroo with boxing gloves is cool
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Maybe I’m reading too much into this article, but with other companies possibly entering the video game market and with the streaming wars heating up I can’t see a reason why Discovery Warner would want to sell their game studios anymore.
You’d think they’d want a piece of the video game market, but maybe they don’t want it.
They did sell off a mobile game developer and those bring in more money, then consoles.
I want to bring up something else with Crysis 4 being announced and was one of the leaks from a few years ago, I want to bring up Ryse Next was said to be in development too.
So with Crysis 4 coming, do you think that Ryse 2 is really happening and if it is, should we expect Microsoft to buy them or not?
The way I see it could be two situations:
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WB are entertaining the idea of selling and ask for that $4B or possibly more but most willing to buy don’t see value for that price. WB decide they don’t want to sell.
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WB are desperate to sell and get rid of that division. Buyers don’t want the whole thing, certainly not for $4B, so WB start selling studios individually. MS can get some studios that they’d want that way without paying for the whole thing.
I think the people here forget the reality of the current market. Here is a little overview of some recent acquisitions:
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Embracer Group → Saber Interactive (2020) $525,000,000
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Embracer Group → Flying Wild Hog (2020) $137,000,000
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Tencent → Sumo Digital Group (2021) $1,300,000,000
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Embracer Group → Aspyr (2021) $450,000,000
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Electronic Arts → Respawn Entertainment (2017) $450,000,000
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Sweden Enad Global 7 → Daybreak (2020) $300,000,000
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I think my new list of studios I want Xbox to Aquire is now
Unknown worlds entertainment-subnautica
Team cherry- hollow knight
Absobo- plague tale
Spiders- greedfall
I’m almost done with subnautica and it’s a fantastic game. These companies can really bring the variety and quality to xbox
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