But does Microsoft really need EA or Take Two after the ABK acquisition? They could go after another publisher or studio that basically makes similar games as EA or Take Two and get them for much cheaper and less time for the acquisition to get approved.
For regulators I am not sure if it will change the amount of documents but they will certainly ask questions against horizontal mergers (granted EA Play is a part of Game Pass though). But sport licensing will have to be renegotiated after the acquisition (maybe regulators will ask the questions to the license owners?)
Take 2 is a good option though as it does not have a streaming service but Rockstar makes a single game per gen. Are they really worth it? Take 2 output in general is not that big.
That’s why Square Enix is a shame - if not for their internal issues, they would be a very good option. I do curious if Microsoft will do something there. But with SE and JRPG, in a lot of cases Nintendo is heavily invovled too.
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Just gotta find the right ones in the sea of talent…
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Yeah, I agree. I also expect MS to be more aggressive now before Gamepass has really taken off, while Sony has more marketshare and while Tencent has more revenue. Waiting for acquisitions will just make it harder for them to happen.
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no they don’t but that doesn’t mean they wouldn’t of wanted them. Lets say they bought SEGA, how much marketing would it take to put football manager in the same universe as fifa or EA Sports FC level alone same level. Hell same logic could of applied with Activision, they could of bought ubisoft and got rainbow 6 but how much work would it take to put it on a similar level to CoD. If you want one for T2, if they bought embracer group how much promotion would it take for saints row as GTA
ABK acquisition…Was a lot of things but after ABK neither EA nor T2 would be that high point of interest for Microsoft for sure.
Still I stick to my prediction that Microsoft will acquire neither EA neither Ubisoft. And I am cooling down with T2. Because let’s be real
- T2 makes licensed sports games
- Rockstar makes a single game per gen basically.
- And by and large their output is not that big
ABK’s problem was COD consuming the souls of too many developers (and even then their output was big - COD every year, Warzone 1 updates, Warzone 2 (with updates), upcoming zombie) with M rated games studios even involved there. Blizzard’s issues aside they were a powerhouse in various areas (mobile, MMO, Diablo and upcoming survival games as Jez stated that their roadmap looks good) and King was the mobile king.
ABK gives
- a lot of Gaas games
- mobile (King, COD, Diablo)
- Blizzard
ABK is a crazy crazy good acquisition.
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Just because Microsoft isn’t cash-strapped doesn’t mean Microsoft doesn’t have lofty goals for the gaming division or for GP. Haven’t they announced that they want to be the market leader and reach 3 billion players? It’s a business, you have to keep that in mind.
Except that EA Play Pro is only available on PC, so you can totally merge this service with GP for PC.
I think the very large community licenses (Minecraft, COD, FIFA, GTA) will remain cross-platform. The games will still be present on the GP (probably the priority in their eyes), and that will not prevent the arrival of many other exclusives on Xbox.
One does not prevent the other. You get service subscriptions and revenue with EA, and diversity with Capcom. These two complement each other well and would be of interest to Microsoft. The billions you earn with ABK and EA can be invested in XGS, Bethesda and Capcom. You will reach a very wide range of consumers. It is not a question of despising one in order to push the other.
You’re literally pushing acquisitions for genres. You clearly say to give up profit to get certain niche games that Xbox doesn’t have. I’m just telling you that EA goes beyond just playing Sports.
I get the impression from Xbox that they are looking long term, personally until they are done acquiring which they clearly aren’t (they have said as much) then I can’t see them causing any upsets in the industry. They will want to be seen as the good samaritan until they have everything they want/need.
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Never said otherwise, I just said they could of bought stuff which would of been cheaper than ABK to match their content. You would get any purchase that is close to a 1 for 1 when it came to any of these though
Those 3b games are not coming from consoles though. That talk is certainly about mobile and PC mainly.
EA Play Pro is not available on Playstation?
COD is debatable though. Anything that it is not written on paper is up in their air. Unlike Bungie or Mojang, I think Microsoft would not provide ABK same independence.
Most of ABK output will be exclusive obviously, that I agree (though I saw takes that ABK will be fully exclusive). Hope they stop with small games being multiplatform (like Quake Remaster) because while it does not hurt anybody, it does not benefit much either.
EA has too many multiplatform games that you will have to keep multiplatform (that’s one of my main arguments against EA in the first place).
Microsoft’s investement in Xbox does not come from Xbox as they essentially can (and do) pay for its expenses from their mothership (it is not the previous era). Xbox has finally become adopted.
no, I am pushing for diverse and exclusive IPs (Disney way). Not for genres, I just argue against acquisitions that do not make sense as they literally provide the same genres (usually people push those games for MAU as the argument).
No, nothing rivals ABK. ABK is already integrated with mobile from all their three branches, they have MMOs and crazy output cadence with tons of GaaS games.
It is crazy to think that ABK elevates MSFT to the high level player in mobile space. It gives a crazy deck of cards with Candy Crush, Diablo Mobile and COD Mobile.
totally agree
- Absobo
- Remedy
- team cherry
- from software
- avelanche
- ioi
all would have been better acquisitions and all of them together would probably be cheaper even if remedy and from had high prices. It would also fill holes xbox has and by that I mean third person narritive. I would honestly be ok with team cherry over from
None of those would come even to any of ABK branches in the size of IP or MAU.
I still doubt if Microsoft will go after smaller acquisitions. Also I don’t think Remedy is happening at all as those bridges were kind burnt.
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and nothing rivals GTA or FIFA in those specific area’s lol granted ABK is definitely bigger than EA or T2. They are basically 3 publishers all links to each core platform
Activison-Console
Blizzard-PC
King-Mobile
but my point was MS could cover the branchs ABK covers without buying ABK even if the size isn’t comparable the same way they could do it with EA or T2
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Possible, but since most big licenses will remain cross-platform, that shouldn’t be a problem. They could close an acquisition like Capcom before finishing with EA. With these two they would have a fairly rich array of content.
EA + Take Two might be a bit of a stretch. For me the priority among the giants is EA. Then you can complement with Capcom which will bring a range of interesting exclusive content. No need to acquire the whole industry. With these two Microsoft would have a strong enough publishing branch.
No publisher would bring as much to Microsoft as EA. It’s not just a question of content, this publisher has a huge community of players, and would be a golden lever for the GP.
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I agree ABK is a bigger purchase but I think a lot of xbox fans would want some of those smaller ones I mentioned. I mean after this whos bigger than ABK? take 2 EA, Ubi, Cool for xbox but they all have games I dont really care about. then keep in mind if they did get take 2 GTA wouldnt be exclusive. some cn say it would be but I dont ever believe it would be under xbox
So you are trying to define those games as their own platforms? 
Not really. What acquisition would provide the same level of influence as Activision (COD (cod mobile, 2 BR games, f2p zombie, mainline), Major League Gaming), Blizzard (WOW, Diablo, mobile, Starcraft) and King (mobile) gives? Purely on cybersport front, ABK is crazy with MLG and Starcraft. ABK was the biggest publisher with Nintendo level market cap for a reason.
EA and Take Two might have an advantage in sports titles but that’s because there isn’t much competition. And a huge part of that is that a lot of studios or publishers don’t want to pay for the licensing since sports games are pretty simple to make.
I feel like if Microsoft wants to go into having sports games it would be much easier for them to make it themselves the same way Microsoft does with the Forza franchise since even if Microsoft acquired EA or Take Two they would have to pay for the licensing anyways so it wouldn’t make much of a difference other than owning the brand to EA/2K sports.
Well, Xbox fans might want a lot of things but for general market Riot Games deal is a bigger thing 
Or just pay the leagues. I do curious what’s gonna happen when it is gonna be the time to renegotiate NBA and NFL deals.
What about Turn 10 and Playground Games with the Forza franchise or San Diego Studio with MLB: The Show. Microsoft just needs to find the right studio or build it themselves and they could compete.
Oh yeah, we’re not going to take away people’s good hearted fun. I thought maybe they’d like to embrace the chaos if for only just a little bit. Come on, what could it hurt? 
… some time later …
Alright. I won’t push it any further … today.
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