I agree
Yup - Lara Croft was even a key icon for GamePass advertising. With the Perfect Dark connection and needing more of those big cinematic single player games it was a no brainer.
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I guess there’s two ways to look at the backlog acquisition situation.
For a publisher that has released most games on Xbox, that means an almost immediate boost to the permanent Game Pass lineup.
Now, for publishers that have less released on Xbox, they might have a smaller initial impact, but ports/remasters could be trickled between release periods
I don’t see an issue either way honestly. Whether you’re talking an immediate drop of CAPCOM titles or a decent launch drop followed by a trickle of SEGA/ATLUS titles.
Just not sure which pipeline Microsoft would find more attractive.
ya part of me hopes xbox just asked embracer to buy crystal and eidos and then promises to buy them for double or something from abreacer once abk is done
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With the luxury of time, they can always “try before you buy”, i.e. publish a game from an independent company, then decide to buy them during production if it’s going well (or after it’s launched).
MS was in a big hurry to bolster it’s studio count in 2018, but not so much now.
Capcom would really be a banger acquisition for Game Pass, regardless of exclusivity or not.
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I see no reason why MS wouldn’t have gotten that deal instead of Embracer other than that Square only had offered it on the table during the ABK thing where MS weren’t able to pursue it. Crystal Dynamics alone probably weren’t attractive to MS, but if they were offered the whole thing with the IPs and Eidos on top, I really don’t think MS would’ve wanted to miss it, especially because of the IPs.
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I think because all those companies usually have multiple teams and eventually its going to be a regual steady stream of releases. I think that starts in 2023. Hell I think its starting now with grounded and pentiment. next year we already have at least 3 1st part. im sure theres a 4th quarter game we dont know about yet. maybe its contriband. Double fine I believe said they were going to work on multiple things. most studios are and just between xbox game studios and bethesd theres a lot of first party comming. then when abk closes jeez. even if nothing from abk went exclusive its still all gamepass day one. then you have day one gamepass deals like plague tale and wu long etc. If it wasnt for god of war as someone who owns alll console and has always owned all of them im seeing less and less reason for ME that a playstation is needed. xbox is about to have the floodgates open. diablo and hollow knight 2 on gamepass day one next year. nothing sony can put out tops that for me first party wise next year
it was wishful thinking for those hoping somehow this was going to save Sony and stop Xbox buying studios they love.
I’m not entirely sure on this one tbh. It would entirely depend on what other deals Xbox is trying to work on that time.
I get people love Square West and that CD is a (hopefully) strong partner for Microsoft, but on the acquisition front I think MS would still pick another publisher over them.
The biggest IP in that transaction was what, Tomb Raider? That’s cool, but most of the rest are cult hits that many of us love, but may not necessarily move subs. Especially when Square is still holding onto Outriders, Just Cause, and Life is Strange.
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Another publisher is not $300m…
The fact that Embracer was able to get them for so cheap would suggest that most other publishers were not interested whatsoever and if interest was that low from everyone else, there’s good reason to believe that also extends to MS
MS is caught up in the ABK deal and they almost certainly won’t buy anyone until it’s gone through so there will always be that excuse or reasoning for why they didn’t buy Square West but I think there’s more to it
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This isn’t including the debt that Embracer is taking on either. And this isn’t just about straight up cost, but opportunity cost too.
This isn’t also factoring in MS is trying to build their own mobile platform too, which I doubt Square West would’ve helped out with much.
I’m still of the opinion people here romanticized Square West like crazy and that’s where most of the disappointment is coming from.
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I agree. Microsoft could have bought them before ABK, yet they went with Bungie negotiations and partnership with CD.
I think that Capcom is the most realistic possibility right. Maybe Bamco also but I prefer Capcom 
And my stances on other japanese publishers are that
- Sega won’t happen because Microsoft went with a strategic alliance. Why would you do that if you could have just acquired the company?
- Square Enix will follow Kadokawa’s footsteps and the shares of its studios will be acquired by various companies (like it happened with From Software).
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I think Square West would have been cool to have and I was saying it myself over a year ago that Tomb Raider would have been awesome for Xbox, an iconic series and protagonist
But I feel some people are overblowing their worth, like you said, there’s a lot of debt on top of that 300m and sure, other publishers will be a lot more expensive like Capcom or Sega
But those pubs can pump games out much faster, have insane IP libraries and target many times more people than just Tomb Raider or Deus Ex, not to mention help with PC/mobile expansion
I don’t see Bamco happening because I believe they are involved with a bunch of stuff outside of gaming so im not sure MS would be interested
Capcom would be an amazing purchase, the only thing really stopping it is how well they are doing right now but I don’t think that’s a deal breaker, it simply means that cost goes up, just please don’t let the saudi’s get them
The Sega partnership I don’t think is a deal breaker either, it’s more or less just a cloud deal and a lot can change in just a couple of years! Sometimes money isn’t enough but for most companies it absolutely is and if the price is right, most of these companies will sell and luckily for MS, they have plenty of that, especially when they know these other companies like Tencent and the Saudi’s are looking to make a move
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The Saudis getting them means they will just stay multiplat. I ain’t too bothered tbh.
The problem is that even Capcom has stuff like this.
Bamco has a lot of industry ties in Japan - across all the industries arguably. Capcom has less of that (as they rely on their own IPs). But in the end I think Capcom is the better option.
The thing is that they are doing well, however from their reports they are basically relying on the success of their titles but they have no reliable recurring revenue stream. They don’t have any mobile presence either.
True. Also one thing that people overlook with Tencent or Saudi is that - aside being a third party - the publishers won’t need to take the moneybags from Sony anymore and it is easier for Microsoft to deal with bigger entities due to being a huge corporation.
If Microsoft buys a Japanese publisher I don’t think they will fold them directly into XGS but instead keep them as a separate arm under XGS like Bethesda, by doing that it doesn’t matter if they have non gaming assets or products because they would continue operate as they always have been just with a larger owner.
This is true. I think a lot of Japanese publishers have other assets that can simply serve as additional revenue under Microsoft, but I also imagine there would still be concern for Microsoft owning assets they don’t necessarily understand as a business. If something isn’t working in the non-gaming wing of a publisher they don’t really have a strong position to correct it. Still, worst case they always have the option to sell off non-gaming assets in an acquisition.
Except asobo, those wizards will be realising a new game next year or 2024, meanwhile studios that has been with xbox for YEARS such as rare still has problems realising everwild
How many games could you bring back from the original xbox? My favorite would be marvel vs capcom 2, also powerstone but that was in dreamcast
Just having dragons dogma 2 realising on gamepass day one would be a banger
