I think it’s too early too really say.
Elden Ring was the second best selling game of the last 12 months in the US (behind CoD). Breath of the Wild has an incredible attach rate with the Switch.
Take that as you will, but those kind of worlds have the potential to be enormous for gaming in the future.
Not sure if there are any other studios doing this though, might be something to keep tabs on. (Or just go buy FromSoft😂)
I think another reason to acquire more is that games take too much to time to develop. And as Microsoft does not encourage crunch, the games will take years and years to be made. So you really need a lot of studios to make games to achieve “big game every quarter” if the games take 4-5 years to be made.
Maybe that’s what I’m thinking of. Yeah. Thanks mate! 
What Finnish dev team exactly? And is there more known on the rumoured game you’ve mentioned? 
It was this but they got investment elsewhere and are no longer working with MS
Oh okay. Shame they (Microsoft) lost it. Thank you!
Xbox Acquisitions it’s in the title. Warned people enough.
Really think they need to go with the a diverse (content wise) acquisition strategy of studios that consistently put out high quality games and then one more purchase of a publisher or developer that just has that absolute must play banger once a gen to round out their Offering.
They have built a really solid foundation if Activision/Blizzard goes through now its time to put the window dressing on.
yeah I semi agree with this, I still think a purchase of take two could be good as having 2 hard hitting things would give Microsoft a more long lasting edge and currently Activision releases the biggest game every year and take 2 releases the biggest a game a generation but I think Microsoft should expand with more veriety. I think looking from a veriety stand point the best possible publisher acquisitions are…Capcom which own tons of faces of their respective genres which Microsoft lacks a massive or any foot in e.g. fighters, horror, visual novel and hack n slash along side other big franchises in different genres like monster hunter…Square Enix which dominate the JRPG genre which would give MS a massive hold on the RPG genre as a whole and have some other big game in different genres like tomb raider, old games like space invaders, the 3rd biggest MMO if I am not mistaken in FF14 and others…SEGA which have one of the biggest platform franchises and have quite a bit of veriety despite a lot of their franchises out of sonic being kind of niche or lacking a big following in the west (something that could improved by Microsoft if they were acquired)…Embracer group which have the most by far but mostly have high C to low B tier content and Ubisoft who have platforms and a ton of other casual stuff like rabbids, just dance, board games along side sony esk games, would give Microsoft more of the FPS market, stealth games, adventure games and more
If I had to choice out of these in terms of what would be the best choice…Capcom>Square Enix>Ubisoft>SEGA>Embracer but SEGA and Square/Ubisoft can be swapped pretty easily here, it depends on what you think they would place more importance in, domination of 1 genre with some other branches in there or smaller franchises in multiple genres so it depends on that view, I think Microsoft would prefer to get genres on the lock though. Ubisoft and Square have similar strengths there though but I do mark Ubisoft slightly lower than Square in expanding veriety personally
Yeah I would like to see individual studio purchases mixed in with publishers as well, that way your constantly keeping the Xbox brand in news year round.
Which individual studios would you like to see?
Oh indivual studios? I think Studio MDHR, Asobo, way foward, Hazelight Studios, platinum, cyberconnect, neather realm, IoI, avalanche and humaniod are all incredibily solid pick ups but being honest I think they are far more likely to continue to acquire publishers and maybe a few studios
Just the same ones I mentioned before Asobo, PCF, IOI
Yeah, dont want to sound rude to Rand buuuut…I’m pretty sure most people listen the podcast to hear what inside info that might get from Jez, at least that’s what I do
Oh on topic: CAPCOM lets gooooi!
Repeating because obviously people don’t get the message. Make a thread or go in the Community Hangout if you want to discuss other publishers acquiring, or any of the absolutely unrelated topics people have been bringing specifically into this thread for some reason. Also, we do not dogpile or besmirch members of the community.
Started deleting messages as previously warned… four times.
I really dont think MS are done with big publishers. The language used by MS execs after Activision name checked Minecraft a lot. This tells me along with thier moves so far is they are after the biggest IP in the world, and arguably the biggest of them all is GTA.
They probably could grab another one, it just depends on how much pushback they get from the abk deal. It also depends when they purchase someone as well.
IMO, if they do get another publisher it won’t be until 2024 at the earliest.
I don’t think think Xbox are done with publishers either… however on that logic Microsoft should try acquire Nintendo again for Mario and Pokémon as they are both bigger than GTA 
.
I personally don’t think they will go after any big publisher (T2 or EA) after ABK unless there is some massive seismic shift in the market.
Oh sorry mate.
If they go after take two they need to beef up visual concepts to make more sports games. I’m tired of madden not getting checked.