It wasn’t just $300 million, as has been reported; there is more debt being taken on than the face-value of the acquisition alone, for example. That said, all the things I said earlier about not having the details on who may or may not have bid, or who may have been turned down, stands.
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Profit margins for these studios were apparently low. This is probably why MS and others such as Sony, EA, and Tencent weren’t interested. As much as some people like their IPs, they apparently aren’t popular enough and/or the development costs are too high.
Also for MS, one could imagine it would have resulted in unwanted media coverage for their AB deal such as “MS continues its acquisition spree” or the likes. Perhaps MS might have been interested in only CD (with them working on PD), but that would have been difficult with Embracer willing to buy everything.
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I don’t think anybody is gonna pick up Ubisoft.
But Netherrealm acquisition will be a litmus test regarding what Microsoft can or cannot do during ABK deal. Though I believe the continue to acquire - simply because nobody is interested in the amount of studios or even gaming IPs there as thee politics don’t even mention that - I do wonder if Satya is asking Phil to buy something that would allow him to make some nice speech. Like “Hey 300m is nothing, I can’t tell about it in the news, it is not serious”. 
Nah, nobody would care. Bethesda deal did not generate serious headlines at all. Even ABK deal generated headlines due to the amount of money involved there.
If MS buys Ubisoft, imma get an XboxEra tattoo. I just want someone to remake the first Assassins’ Creed and I don’t trust current Ubi management to do justice to it
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Agree.
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I literally said this first thing this morning 
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MS didn’t make any purchases until Zenimax was in place, and there’s a good chance it’ll be the same with ABK. If the right opportunity comes by then they might of course (assuming it’s not too big a purchase), but considering the financial performance of these studies that probably wasn’t the case here. Perhaps they wanted CD by itself but that would have been difficult as I mentioned.
Microsoft was simultaneously purchasing a lot of (albeit not gaming related) companies while the deal was in progress.
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We didn’t know it at the time but when WB Games was first reportedly up for sale they would have been pretty deep into the process of buying Bethesda, as it was announced shortly after and had been in the works for a while. To be fair though “in the process” isn’t the same as “definitely happening” so perhaps they weren’t necessarily looking to buy both at once. Though while they didn’t announce any further acquisitions at the time there also isn’t any obvious examples of studios they missed out on in that time, nor was there any rush to buy studios once the deal closed. From what we know it seems there was several months between Bethesda closing and Microsoft beginning to court Activision. There might have simply not been any opportunities Microsoft was interested in at the time.
This feels different, SE West felt like a pretty natural fit and between Square Enix, WB Games and Ubisoft it seems a LOT could happen between now and when Activision closes.
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Thank you for pointing this out it’s a very large asterisk that is being overlooked and was buried in embracer’s press release and more than likely is one of many reasons why Microsoft may have passed on the deal. I will still hold out hope that square west at some point can be brought into the Xbox family but for now I will continue to watch WB closely to see what if any are Microsoft’s limitations are as the ABK deal is ongoing
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I didn’t play it much so I’m really not qualified to speak on it and I’m just reiterating what I’ve read around online but it sounds like Square Enix was behind a lot of that game’s failures. I would think that’s Sony would be more flexible and would make sure they get it right.
I also think there is some value in all the lessons they have learned from it. If I look at Rare now, they could probably create a GaaS that hits the ground running.
Also keep in mind that I agree with your overall point about the importance of GaaS. It truly drives revenue where AAA games don’t.
But At the same time I don’t want to discount the power of exclusive games where it could be argued that AAA exclusive games do a whole lot to sell consoles. Also, GaaS won’t sell subscription services whereas high quality exclusive content will.
But yeah, it’s getting to the point where Nintendo should really consider a GaaS in their portfolio. Every publisher should have one.
Nah…Square-Enix latest games are not good, plus Xbox can survive without final fantasy series. IMO!
It’s almost like doom and gloom aren’t the only option!
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Your right, I’m just really frustrated they didn’t get them.
Posted this a few days ago but now it’s a very hot topic,
Square games range from being pretty good (Triangle Strategy was very recent and was a big success) to like, the worst fucking shit of the year.
Let’s hope they do 
The ultimate move. Mwahahaha 
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First time Jez said something coherent about bussiness!!
PD: on mobile sorry for the grammar 
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There are several options tbh. Not every opinion that is not “LEGO The Movie - Everything is Awesome!” in nature is doom n gloom.
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Now that that Square Enix thing happened, what other crazy predictions do yall got?
My prediction is Sony will acquire Square Enix, maybe the Harry Potter devs, and will try to go for NetherRealm. Square Enix is pretty light weight now, and that content is system seller for them. PS fans love FF7 Remake, remember the reveal and the large pop off at E3.
They need RPG relevance and already have the marketing deal down for Harry Potter. If anything Sony has been in bed with WB for years now. On top of that they own EVO now so they need a Fighting Game franchise to push their esports scene. Mortal Kombat has to be it and its a service game.
Pretty big moves and I think MS can’t really do much right now. Going to be interesting if MS does any moves.
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How?
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