Do we know if that is simply their QA department playing the game?
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Makes more sense…
Platinum are so unreliable they could just sink loads of money into them for bad rep.
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You guys should really get on the same page about what microsofts “end goal” is, when you argue what would be better for xbox. Some of you put diversity first, others gp sub count, and others what you would personally like.
Arguing about what would be “best” without agreeing to what end, is not leading anywhere.
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The debates that are leading nowhere is a part and parcel of the acquisition thread 
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I get that, and don’t get me wrong even though I don’t participate much I read, just thought the conversation could become much better if you found a baseline to start from.
to make money 
But in all seriousness, they are just prepping for gaming to move to the netflix model in like a decade or so when game streaming becomes viable and reliable
Wow had no idea Knack was so popular
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To be fair we do all basically want the same thing, and I don’t think anyone is really wrong. Well someone probably is, I can’t say I read every post. But when I argue for a more diverse range of content I’m arguing that because I think it’d be good for game pass and lead to more subscribers. And because I want to play more games. When others argue for a stronger Western line up through acquiring Take Two or EA they’re doing so because they think it’d be good for game pass and lead to more subscribers. And probably because they want to play more games.
Also the next acquisition could be a year away we’re probably better off not coming up with too definitive an answer otherwise we’ll have nothing to talk about.
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even if we came up with a definitive awnser it we would probably be wrong lol
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If we were likely to be right Phil Spencer would have hired us ages ago to come up with their business strategy. And since I’m still not Executive Vice President of the “We should buy Sega” division I’m guessing you’re right.
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Like I swear every publisher which was at least mid or big was speculated beside the one it ended up being and EA. The only thing we will be right about is that Microsoft is probably far from done
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With the report that Mistwalker is said to be staffing up, I can’t help, but hope the reason why is MS bought them. Getting Lost Odyssey 2 would be great. With MS really leaning into companies that helped define Xbox 360 games, Mistwalker definitely fits that bill. Plus the studio is in Hawaii, so the airplane commute, to either Japan or the continental United States is halfway between both places. So I definitely think Mistwalker could fill the JRPG void that Xbox misses out on and would be unique too.
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Sony is all but dead in Japan and is slowly losing ground to Microsoft in Europe, but whatever helps you sleep at night lol
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my weekly acquisition ranking
who goes up
Crystal Dynamics → square may be tempted to downsize its western division due to underwhelming sales.
Certain Affinity–>ok we all know they are working on halo and the new ip “MH Like”
Ioi–>is working exclusively for microsoft
Crytek–>are blatantly for sale, need resources, talented but need good writers
GSC–>why not?
Paradox–>strategy and building games, they are not financially sound despite ck3 selling well.
Oxide–> exclusive ip and big enough studio that can replace relic
Platinum–> are for sale / bankruptcy
Paramount–> if they want to enter in this sector is the best company; i dream a game based on Yellowstone series between gta and rdr2. are for sale
who goes down
Sega–> unlikely to happen: japanese pride, i think they want to see how their new “super game” sells
Take Two–> they want to expand, at least that gta doesn’t turn out to be an undertone game it won’t happen until they “milk” the new gta
Ubisoft–>might be on sale but its games know of seen, in my opinion they don’t have really interesting ip, they have a lot of dev. i see it great for amazon, netflix, google it’s a great acquisition for someone who wants to enter the industry.
Warner Bros–>they seem to want to invest more; if really some studios will pass to AT&T they will be sold for sure.
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I dunno if I’d rule out WB games completely yet - WB Discovery is largely going to be a streaming company so their first and foremost is going to b television and movies. Games can have the bonus effect of supporting their existing media but it isn’t their biggest priority. Yes, according to recent results they currently forming a plan for running the company and part of that includes gaming but they also need to raise a few billion dollars in the near future. So while the odds seem low I wouldn’t rule out that they’d sell a team or two.
Crystal Dynamics-would say the chance has gone down for them if anything due to them making a new tomb raider game, if that flops then maybe though
IoI-is their next project even confirmed? genuine question, if it is then fair but from what I heard its just rumours…IoI is a good get for the hitman IP alone in my opinion
SEGA and Take Two-them selling will make the company more money than they would make with a few massive games lol, but they need to legally work in favor of the shareholders since they are publicly traded so if they get a good offer they will review it. Like SEGA’s gaming division could easily be sold for a minimum of 5 billion right now (possibly more) and take two once zynga has gone though will probably cost $45 billion which if we assume every copy of GTA 5 were sold at full price which is unrealistic as fuck its less than a quater of than what they would be sold for…and thats the 2nd best selling game of time behind minecraft (I also wouldn’t be shocked if they are less confident in GTA 6 but thats just me)
Ubisoft-I will make this clear 1st, I don’t give half a shit about Ubisoft. But their stock has been tanking like shit and they have some powerful IPs like assassins creed, watch dogs, just dance, the board games, rayman, rabbids and far cry. They are honestly a great buy, not mention Uplay’s existence would probably make bring their back cat to game pass easy, also netflix isn’t buying them lol. The other 2 are possible though, I wouldn’t be shocked in the slightest if amazon bought them
The rest I either agree with or don’t want to comment cos I don’t want my comment to potentially be flag (I wouldn’t say anything rude, its just a sensitive subject) or I don’t have the source
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Agree with most of these except Ubisoft.
They churn out 4-5 AAA games each year which is ideal for a subscription service, plus most of those are co-op/multi-player and generally are well received. They are also super cheap at the moment. A Ubisoft acquisition would double the Xbox output overnight.
Yup I was looking at the top played Xbox games the other day and for all people online don’t seem to like it it is STILL up there. They must be doing something right considering it’s a single player game and not even a full on live service title (I mean, it has elements of it. Soft live service title?)
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The Ubisoft indifference…I just can’t believe it.
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I just don’t know what their future games look like with them moving to live service. I’ve always loved their single player immersion games.
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