I believe they’ll agree to sequels, it’ll just be more expensive this way.
1 Like
I think it’s the contract work between Gearbox and 2K, that forces Gearbox to continue with 2K. Something along the line of a right of first refusal or anything like that.
1 Like
This just makes me realise how much I overvalue IP. To me TR, Deus Ex, is huge, seems it really isn’t.
I think its the same with a lot of suggestions
5 Likes
We all do it.
2 Likes
Gotta say very disappointed this morning and my hopes for any WB studios or any acquisitions big or small till the ABK deal is done are probably not happening. Not a doom post but my expectations have certainly dropped significantly given that Xbox dropped the ball so hard on the square west deal 300 million is nothing for them
2 Likes
Edit. Meh fuck it.
Win some lose some.
Yeah, I’m honestly thinking back on what MK is actually worth now.
1 Like
So many people talking about MS dropping the ball on that, when nobody know their intention, or even why they skipped it. At least, these IP’s will stay multiplatform, so I don’t really care Embracer got them. Maybe these IP’s weren’t worth enough for MS and they were perfectly fine with Embracer getting them instead, while they focus on other stuff. So many possible reasons and you would have to work exactly for MS M&A team ( which they are recruiting for ) to know the why.
7 Likes
Doesn’t confirm anything.
3 Likes
I imagine because the ATVI deal is under the microscope they can’t. That or they’ve run the numbers and those studios make games that just don’t make any money to recoup the investment.
Look at this this way. Those studios are known to make primarily single player games and the return on investment isn’t anywhere near that of a GaaS. Avengers was a train wreck, a golden goose IP and Guardians performed poorly as well.
There’s a third option here as well. Square could just have flat out refused to sell to Microsoft. They’re in bed with Sony, it’s not out of the realm of possibilities that they did them a solid.
2 Likes
Nobody knows anything about the goals, strategies or desires in relation to who Xbox may look to aquire next. No matter how many times you post the same comment isnt going to make it more real.
5 Likes
Said it in the other thread but I’ll say it here too. This only furthers my belief that the Japanese publishers won’t be getting acquired by anyone. The acquisition war finally came to a Japanese megacorp and they just sold the Western half off. We also hear about Warner bros, Ubisoft, etc. wanting to sell but nothing from the JP publishers, which I should add are almost all family owned and are entrenched in non-gaming divisions.
I also think this shows Square is not interested in selling the entire company, so I really do doubt Sony will acquire them. I don’t think Sony would even be interested. It would not save PS in Japan like I’m seeing some people say considering all they get is FF which is a dying brand there (KH would stay multiplat because Disney and DQ would be required to be on Nintendo because Horii).
And, considering what Square is using that $300 M on, hopefully, for the greater good of the gaming industry, this turns out to be an incredible failure for Square Enix. I mean that.
3 Likes
Always said MS should invest in mid sized Japanese devs not publishers. 
Not necessarily. After all they started with the acquisitions with smaller independent studios like Compulsion, they get a real chance of proving themselves now, what they can do. I doubt MS is only looking for the huge stuff now. After ABK I see no reason they can’t get something like Asobo or even Moon Studios. At the end of the day every new studio means a additional game to Game Pass, small or big. I could see a IO Interactive at Xbox in the future maybe.
Microsoft went from Bethesda to Activision. What is an overkill even?
Microsoft always subverts expectations.
1 Like
Exactly! Something I talked about too. The only caveat is that there isn’t actually exactly much “mid sized” Japanese devs to pick from.
2 Likes
Forget Moon Studios and regarding Asobo. I doubt personally. Just like with CD or Sega alliance - they made a 10 year contract for Microsoft Flight Simulator. They would not do that if they were planning to buy Asobo.
And this is not 2018-2019 anymore. Regarding IO, CE, and Avalanche - now that’s interesting - as they all make MMO or co-op games that basically provide high (at least should) engagement values. Just like Sony bougth a bunch of studios - and all are making some GaaS games.
4 Likes
All fantastic points, interestingly they paid a good bit for tomb raider exclusivity I wanna say 100 mill but I’m probably wrong,also Xbox lacks 3rd person games those studios make those games very well, both guardians and avengers are in gamepass right now and supposedly did very well. More personal than anything tomb raider is one of my favorite IP so that’s the majority of the disappointement than anything but your absolutely correct in the fact that we have no idea what the circumstances are behind the deal.
Any company owning most of the major publishers would be a major red flag for me. Should be a red flag for all gamers tbh.
Not saying Microsoft is there right now, but if they grabbed T2 and EA (like some have been hoping for) that’d be worrying to me.
1 Like
I half wonder if this is more of a case of “picking their battles”. Going by rumours there’s a lot of potential acquisitions in the air right now, I would have liked to have seen Microsoft pick up the Western branches of Square Enix but honestly I’d rank them below anything Microsoft can get from WB Games right now. While we can debate just how restrictive the Activision deal is I’m fairly sure we can all agree they ARE restricted right now.
1 Like