I stand by my prediction that the next major acquisition from Microsoft/Xbox within gaming will be either Square or Ubisoft but Microsoft doesn’t need to buy square. If they want to acquire someone for the sole or primarily reason to break into Japan, Square Enix is obviously the best choice. However, we don’t know what Microsoft’s core goals are here and that is the problem. Speaking personally I think Microsoft has multiple goals but their are 3 core ones, which are (in no order):
Being able to expand the appeal of game pass (if that be adding new genres of games or games that appeal to different areas of the world or making it more enticing for casual gamers) since that would naturally lead to more subscripters and a more consistent flow of money which would just continue to grow
Add pressure to other platform holders e.g. Sony/PlayStation to allow game pass on their platform. Odds are they eventually will have to allow it if enough pressure is put in place, but without that pressure why would they allow the entire game pass experience on their platform. It either wouldn’t come or be heavily cut back, maybe just incuding Microsoft owned games being generous with sony getting a cut of the money from the subs being made on PS because sony would both want money from it if they allowed it while not wanting it to eat away at the money they could make from game sales (their 30% cut)
Stop others from buying gaming companies who Microsoft doesn’t want other companies e.g. apple to get. So they would likely buy/try to buy them before others become more agressive within gaming. Against companies like apple, amazon, google ect. Microsoft losing is far from unrealistic (same goes with the others. They all have skrew you money)
The thing is a Square Enix acquisition isn’t just for Japan. It’s for Eastern audiences which include the likes of Korea and China.
Besides the Blizzard games, a lot of what Xbox currently offers isn’t that attractive to Eastern audiences. If they miss out on making a decent dent in China and allow Sony to capture that audience it would be a significant market they would miss out on.
I was mistaken about something with them, they made Night in the Woods but I just looked it up and I was mistaking them with Playism who published it apparently, so thats my bad (still a good pick up in my opinion though) but I don’t believe they are located in Japan
They would already have a big presence in china with Blizzard alone. Starcraft is like a national sport there.
We also have this:
Like many enthusiasts around the world, Chinese gamers were shocked when the news came to light due to the “absolute silence” of both sides prior to the acquisition. However, following the announcement, gamers on Chinese social media Sina Weibo gave a thumbs-up to the merger.
According to an online vote launched by Sina Technology on Sina Weibo, over 13,000 netizens held a positive opinion toward the merger out of 20,000 voters as of the press time. With many commenting that the deal will help Activision Blizzard finalize new titles in their development pipeline.
Shao Ran, a Beijing-based Activision Blizzard fan told the Global Times on Wednesday that the acquisition may accelerate the development of Blizzard’s games that have been repeatedly postponed.
Dont think anything square does will be ever at that level.
TT Games is showing why I’ve been saying they should be Xbox’s top buy from WB. If Xbox secured TT Games, they’d be securing potential to be on par or slightly below Nintendo in family games. I’d say if they then were to secure Sega they could be above them.
Where I do think Xbox messed up was not securing Sumo Digital, would have been a great add for family friendly games and racing games.
My kids love the Lego games but IMO this is a bit of a stretch.
Nintendo is the family console, it’s what they have specialised in for over 40 years, it will take more than a couple acquisitions to simply catch up.
I mean Xbox can still use them as does a lot of publishers, they’re in the credits for Forza Horizon 5 so they helped in some way. And I’m more than positive Xbox would gladly let Sumo make a new Crash team racing, or some Xbox Mascot kart racer after that fantastic Team Sonic racing game.
IDK man, Microsoft has decent amount of E rated content but even with TT games and SEGA, I think nintendo would still win. Most of the big gaming companies have E rated stuff though but the only one that even comes close to mario’s level of iconicness which isn’t owned/co owned by nintendo is probably sonic and I think Mario is still decently bigger. Then you have stuff like pokemon, animal crossing, the mario spin offs, kirby, metriod, smash bros, the wii branding of games, donkey kong, yoshi, legend of zelda. I doubt it would even come close to beating nintendo in terms of E rated content but thats just me.
If I am not mistaken, WB no longer has the lego license so that wouldn’t even be included assuming I am not mistaken
I do not consider Zelda or Metroid as one of the E rated items. But Xbox if this happened would have Minecraft, Sonic, Crash, Spyro, Banjo, SoT, Ori, Viva, and Zoo Tycoon. They could definitely leverage these to draw even with Nintendo.
I count legend of zelda personally but fair with metriod. But out of this list have 1 big series in sonic, 2 franchises which definitely have a following and were big but compared to what they used to be…yeah they died off a lot in crash and spyro, banjo is currently dead and really niche, SoT is a pretty cool online game and has found its own following, Ori needs a new dev and if we considering it an indie thing then its big but when compared to triple a status…ehhh (granted its a great game), viva pinata is dead atm and zoo tycoon is niche but tycoons definitely have a following. Its a good line up of E rated content but I don’t see it on par with nintendo personally
Like I am not trying to crap on these series by the way but when Nintendo has franchises like Mario, Legend of Zelda, Pokemon, Animal Crossing, Smash Bros, Kirby, the wii line of games, the mario spin offs (Which includes mario kart, mario RPG’s and mario sports games), donkey kong, yoshi, warioware, wario land ect. its going to take a lot to even come close to it
The only one there is really Minecraft and possibly Sonic.
My kids know who Spyro is but that’s only because my wife plays it.
Ori is not owned by Microsoft, it’s owned by Moon.
Banjo, Crash, Viva and Zoo arent really known by kids these days.
SoT is more of a teenage property IMO.
On the other hand if you ask my kids, nieces or nephews who Mario, Kirby, Zelda, Pokémon, Yoshi, Splatoon, Animal Crossing or Donkey Kong is and they will know for certain.
My bad, I thought they only owned the publishing rights, either way now that TakeTwo have signed a new publishing deal with Moon who will make Ori 3 - I suspect it will now be a dormant IP!
Animal crossing new harizon is the 2nd best selling switch game just behind mario kart but I will be honest, while a lot of nintendo games are definitely E rated but I think they appeal most to older teens and younger adults and the stats prove this
