Picking up a few Japan studios like Platinum, level 5, rabbit and bear, tri ace etc.
Would be much easier than a publisher. Microsoft already has a partnership with sega.
All those studios have the potential to make something special if they were given a budget.
That partnership going beyond providing infrastructure is people’s wishes though, so it is not a meaningful partnership in terms of securing content until something changes.
I think their stuff will be multiplat from now. Sega also has to be willing to sell.
Platinum has expressed its desire already, both level 5 and tri ace are in financial trouble and have been hamstrung by budgets on their last few games.
I do hope they go for some individual studios next. Let’s get some acquisitions we dont worry about going through for a bit 
I think Microsoft is mainly looking to acquire significant IP and an already existing catalog of games (especially if it is to develop Japanese content). The studios you cite may be talented (except Tri-Ace) don’t have significant IP (Platinum owns The Wonderful 101 and is working on Project GG, which makes it more interesting). For this type of studios, I think that partnerships with XGP will be necessary before a possible acquisition.
Indeed, there are still very good independent studios that have very good IP. I doubt a SEGA or Capcom acquisition would take as long as an ABK acquisition, but I understand the frustration this caused. I think it will still be necessary to acquire one or more Japanese publishers to sufficiently develop Japanese content on the platform (which is quite difficult with independent studios, because few of them have the IPs on which they work), but I’m totally excited about acquiring some big independent studios before that.
I think we (and perhaps MS) put too much emphasis on IP at this point. They should be looking at games like High on Life and HI Fi Rush as examples of what talented studios can do and at a much lower cost than buying some major IP.
That said, I don’t want to underestimate the importance of IP but I think between Bethesda and (eventually) Activision they already have a treasure trove of established major IP.
It is Sega all the way for me.
BTW, I see failure written all over Sega’s super game initiative, and depending on how much they are budgeting on those games they might need a bail out lol.
I think they should buy Gameloft from Vivendi
I think there’s a balance to be found. Major IP will push growth while innovative smaller games like hi-fi rush are the things that keep people subscribed and generates attention
After they acquired 7 studios in 2018-19, there sole two targets have been major publishers, but they also reportedly signed up a ton of publishing deals with independent developers. Certain Affinity doing a Monster Hunter Style game, IOI with a dragon game of sorts, Stoic, Avalanche etc.
I suspect they don’t want to grow their headcount too much at this point and their main acquisition targets will be for strategic growth. Mobile studios, maybe Japanese studios (Platinum) if they feel they need to have a stronger base in Japan etc. But they’ll let Asobo, CA, IOI, Avalanche etc. just be partners and not subsidiaries.
Yeah, in terms of single studios, their most likely targets are Japanese or other East Asian studios.
I agree, but I think they will work with XGP first before a potential acquisition. Regarding Japan, Xbox is starting from zero (or almost), so I think it really needs a catalog of existing games and games in development to take a good rhythm. Developing a game takes a long time. An independent studio will probably spend years before releasing their FP game (Inxile, Ninja Theory, Double Fine, Undead Labs…), while a publisher will continue to provide regular content (Bethesda). And, from a marketing point of view, owning SEGA or Capcom should still give them a little boost in Asia (without doing miracles). So yes, I think we have to continue to work with small studios, allow them to be creative, and acquire them when they are talented and the relationship is going well. But I also think Xbox will grow mostly by acquiring IP from publishers and major development studios. Microsoft needs to find the right balance, and I think (and hope) they do with XGP (Int./Night, Stoic, Asobo, Certain Affinity…).
I think it’s SEGA for a lot of people on this forum. Which pretty much reflects the history and relationship between Microsoft and SEGA. SEGA is already in the hearts of most Xbox gamers, so let’s cross our fingers that it happens.
It’s bad ? I haven’t seen any gameplay videos, I don’t know what the game looks like, but it’s sad for Creative Assembly who seem to have put a lot of heart into it. It is not easy to achieve this type of GAAS game. Besides, I saw that Epic was already going to shut down Rumbleverse. If that’s actually the case, I’m hoping Microsoft gets closer to Iron Galaxy for Killer Instinct 2.
I think they are done acquiring smallish studios. They learned they have to grow them and because of that they need a lot of time to make games. Additionally, usually they dont have that big of an IP and mostly rely on the talent that could leave anytime.
Big publishers already have a pipelines, established culture and plenty of teams working on many established IPs, and attract plenty of people. I don’t see Microsoft going back.
Crazy Taxi and (I believe) Jet Set Radio are rumored to be ‘super games’. Would normally be awesome but evidently they are service games
Crazy Taxi I think can be justified as a service game. But Jet Set Radio, nah dude. Nobody wants that
I don’t see how they give such a basic game loop something that keeps people coming back, lol. Maybe it’ll be the CRAZY taxi version of a BR. People competing to pick up customers.
Ahh it’s easy ya know…… maybe you have them race who can get to the Pizza Hut fastest…… and you micro-transaction the shit out of your taxi drivatar…. And maybe have loot boxes up the wazzu to pimp your taxi…. Yeah that all sounds horrible lol
You need a healthy mix of both. Hate bringing up PlayStation because not trying to start something. However, we have to look at how they have a healthy mix of established IPs and new IPs. Microsoft needs to take more chances on creating new IPs because you don’t get TLOU or Horizon type of IPs without doing that