Xbox Acquisition |OT6| If this is about competition, let us have competition

[TheBrightestSun]

@KakkaKarrotKake

Not to mention the increased scrutiny they’ll likely have after the ABK deal goes through,

I would not say that scrutiny would be that big still as they still would not be near 50% of the market share. Tencent will acquire something big and case is closed.

I do think we need to sacrifice some publishers and it will probably happen sooner or later.

@KakkaKarrotKake

Another big purchase in the west would just feel like overkill, at least in the next couple of years and from Phils own words it seems he agrees

The thing is that with ABK their position on the west is insanely solid - not a single developer would want to skip Xbox platform.

They need to tackle asia 100%

@KakkaKarrotKake

I was actually thinking about this and MS acquiring Square makes more sense than Sony despite all the deals that have been happening

I believe Sony won’t buy Square Enix - otherwise they would not make all those deals. Sony certainly does not want to engage into bidding wars. Not to mention I cannot find a reason why would Sony buy Square Enix. What for? They don’t believe in subscription and they don’t believe in smaller games anyway and don’t need to produce tons of them.

[KakkaKarrotKake]

@TheBrightestSun

I would not say that scrutiny would be that big still as they still would not be near 50% of the market share. Tencent will acquire something big and case is closed.

I do think we need to sacrifice some publishers and it will probably happen sooner or later.

I agree that they could acquire more based on objectively not being a monopoly but I dont trust these regulators lol

Some of the dumb nonsense being thrown around by people like the CMA and that’s before this deal

@TheBrightestSun

I believe Sony won’t buy Square Enix - otherwise they would not make all those deals. Sony certainly does not want to engage into bidding wars. Not to mention I cannot find a reason why would Sony buy Square Enix. What for? They don’t believe in subscription and they don’t believe in smaller games anyway and don’t need to produce tons of them.

and yeah they need to go after Asia hard, they appeal to too large an audience for MS not to have them as a big part of their first party GP offerings

Only reasons I could see Sony going after Square is the continued GaaS revenue from FF14 subs and as a defensive move to try and stop someone else from buying them

Like you said they dont seem to give a crap about Square smaller stuff while that stuff would be perfect for GamePass

[TheBrightestSun]

@KakkaKarrotKake

Only reasons I could see Sony going after Square is the continued GaaS revenue from FF14 subs and as a defensive move to try and stop someone else from buying them

The problem is that as soon as Square Enix is available for a full blown purchase we will get at least Microsoft, Tencent and maybe even Saudi onboard. Sony does not want to engage in such battles. Even ABK had another potential suitor that asked for more time but Microsoft was swift to lock ABK talks down. And that was 60b+ transaction.

[Thickchunkypoop (Poop)]

After ABK, would you rather

• Xbox acquire a publisher with 5-8 studios
• Xbox acquire 5-8 studios individually

[NierlyCrazy]

@Thickchunkypoop

After ABK, would you rather

• Xbox acquire a publisher with 5-8 studious
• Xbox acquire 5-8 studios individually

Man…. If they went for 8 studios I’d absolutely lose it potentially.

I think in a lot of cases, 5-8 independent studios could be more exciting that an entire publisher due to the diverse possibilities.

[Thickchunkypoop (Poop)]

@NierlyCrazy

Man…. If they went for 8 studios I’d absolutely lose it potentially.

I think in a lot of cases, 5-8 independent studios could be more exciting that an entire publisher due to the diverse possibilities.

I agree. Downside of individual studios is it could be harder to manage, upside is variety.

[NierlyCrazy]

@Thickchunkypoop

I agree. Downside of individual studios is it could be harder to manage, upside is variety.

I think the biggest upside to a publisher is both the immediate IP catalog, immediate content pipeline, and I also agree with your management take.

[Cairnst (Bill Cairns)]

@NierlyCrazy

Man…. If they went for 8 studios I’d absolutely lose it potentially.

I think in a lot of cases, 5-8 independent studios could be more exciting that an entire publisher due to the diverse possibilities.

I ended up voting publisher simply cause I think if they focused on studios we’d be more likely to see more support teams than anything else - which is definitely still good but perhaps less exciting. Ideally they’ll reach a point where they have a good range of publishers and can slow down and focus on individual studios as opportunities and needs arise.

[NierlyCrazy]

@Cairnst

I ended up voting publisher simply cause I think if they focused on studios we’d be more likely to see more support teams than anything else - which is definitely still good but perhaps less exciting. Ideally they’ll reach a point where they have a good range of publishers and can slow down and focus on individual studios as opportunities and needs arise.

Understandable!

Yeah, it’s an interesting cycle and we’ll see how things progress once ABK closes.

I think getting internal support teams could help potentially accelerate the current development pipeline, but I guess technically adding more teams/publisher does that too just by adding more titles.

[AllianceOfficer]

I believe they’ll do both. Think the next step is adding 6-8 or so independent studios to XGS and Bethesda. Both have needs for support and room to add some studios that build upon what they do well.

I’d love to see Bethesda add Platinum Games, IOI and Double Eleven. While XGS adds Asobo, Certain Affinity, Supergiant Games and People Can Fly.

It’s also likely that we’ll see ABK add studios not long after acquisition. They have been continuously acquiring studios for a long time. I wouldnt be surprised if with Xbox at the helm that they decide to add some family friendly studios to help bring back their IP like Crash, Spyro, not to mention their billion dollar franchises Guitar Hero and Skylanders.

After a year plus, they’ll add another publisher.

[Sindarion]

@Dappaunit

Everyone expects Sony to buy Square Enix, but more than likely, Microsoft is going to buy them because of Project Flare. Square Enix is heavily invested in cloud gaming and technology. Microsoft is looking for companies that perfectly align with the cloud. I think all those games going to Sony and Nintendo is about getting everyone off the suspicion of them being bought by Microsoft. Final Fantasy 7 remake is a trilogy, so it’s not a big deal to bring it to Xbox when you can third one with all the rest together

Hello and welcome!

It is kinda insane to think, if they really add Square Enix ( which i would be all for it), that they would have the three biggest MMORPGS under their belt. (TESO, WoW and FF XIV)

I would love it alone for the fact that we would have no longer these silly exclusivity deals with Sony and if it would mean that we would get another Dragon Quest Monsters (or for my american friends Dragon Warrior Monsters) game like the ones on the OG Gameboy or GBC.

Many people love the OG Pokémon games on the GameBoy but my favorite GameBoy game was Dragon Quest Monsters.

[deiv]

@TheBrightestSun

I maintain my stance that they won’t acquire other big western publisher because honestly there is no reason to as all others are just not attractive after ABK.

After see how Microsoft is taking the ABK acquisition (with a lot of caution and clarifying doubts) I think the same thing.

They probably want to avoid that process for a long time. However, small developers? They will most likely go after them again.

[DeoGame (Farewell)]

@Thickchunkypoop

After ABK, would you rather

• Xbox acquire a publisher with 5-8 studios
• Xbox acquire 5-8 studios individually

To be that kinda A-hole, it depends. On studios and publishers.

All else being equal, publishers tend to have the bigger cache and back catalog. But smart studio acquisitions go a long way too.

[BRiT]

@Thickchunkypoop

After ABK, would you rather

• Xbox acquire a publisher with 5-8 studios
• Xbox acquire 5-8 studios individually

Nintendo has 8 game development subsidiaries so they would fit Choice A…

[Cayde4Ever (Cayde)]

@DeoGame

To be that kinda A-hole, it depends. On studios and publishers.

All else being equal, publishers tend to have the bigger cache and back catalog. But smart studio acquisitions go a long way too.

I could see them opening there own support studios in areas that specialize in it like Malaysia, China, India

[Resist]

after ABK goes through, i want them to acquire all the support studios that are currently working with them on all their first party games, and a localization studio/port studio for japanese games along with some midsized japanese studios ( white owls, platinum, tri-ace, tri-crescendo, cyberconnect2 etc.)

[Jorge_Alexander_Acos (Jorge Alexander Acosta Duarte)]

@Resist

after ABK goes through, i want them to acquire all the support studios that are currently working with them on all their first party games, and a localization studio/port studio for japanese games along with some midsized japanese studios ( white owls, platinum, tri-ace, tri-crescendo, cyberconnect2 etc.)

Well I dont know about acquiring all those support studios but CA HAS to be secured. I mean, these guys have asisted a lot of xbox/abk games, not to mention they are doing a game AND its quite a sizeable studio.

If MS let someone else snatch them I will go full console warrior on twitter shitting on xbox and supporting Ouya.

[TheBrightestSun]

@Resist

i want them to acquire all the support studios that are currently working with them

And turn into Ubisoft

I for one don’t expect them to acquire support support studios unless they are either being bought by other hostile company.

[Hue]

@Frederico_Burnoz

…Nothing relevant will be bought by MS in Japan. Targeting is the perfect word to describe this, “Who’s ready to die from irrelevance in your home country!” The Xbox Series X/S have sold a combined total of over 363k sales in Japan. The PlayStation 5 in comparison has sold 1.973.279 million, and the Nintendo Switch unsurprisingly comes in at a whopping 26 million across all 3 units available. they may have talked to them but they probably got the same response they did when trying to buy nintendo. And Persona 6 will probably be PS4/5 exclusive to.

949×144 48.2 KB

Ok, question:

If Xbox doesn’t buy a Japanese publisher, how will they grow their market share in Japan?

Even in the 360 era they did exclusive Japanese titles such as Lost Odyssey and Blue Dragon and couldn’t break the market.

If they don’t acquire Japanese talent and can’t make it with exclusive titles (aimed at the Japanese market) should they just give up?

[TheBrightestSun]

@Frederico_Burnoz

Targeting is the perfect word to describe this, “Who’s ready to die from irrelevance in your home country!”

By targeting PS5 they are kinda already dying from irrelevance in Japan anyway Xbox at least has a potential for growth.