I mean, there’s Fortnite, which pulls in almost twice what COD does. There’s also crossfire, which has over 1 billion users.
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I wonder if MS is looking at Warner Bros. Makes a lof of sense to make it under Xbox because they have a lot of synergy with the division. Could also help that analysts have been saying stuff like Netflix for a while now
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I would love this. I don’t think MS care about the Movie part though? so with License IP’s will make it a hard sell for Xbox division to convinced MS.
I definitely would be interested in this. Under WB Games you’d get the kid friendly games, cinematic-third person games and more RPG developers too. Then you have the movie division that would allow for future Xbox movies or tv shows too. The only problem is that ABK is having troubles passing and I’m not sure if WBD would pass. That being said if it would pass it would be great for streaming and I could see Microsoft move all of WBD streaming to Microsoft’s platform to better show the benefits of the cloud.
Now if this happens hopefully Microsoft reboots the DC universe because all James Gunn is doing is picking what he likes, where as I and many others wanted a hard reboot, over sticking with the same old universe, but changing just a few things, instead of it all.
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Huh maybe this is why they were pushing the big idea of a tied in movie/game universe - “hey look it’s not some extra department in another industry, it’s an extension to the movie production”.
Either way, could be an ideal opportunity if Microsoft wants to go into media. In particular it’a an absolute goldmine of IP they could utilise. I mean they straight up own DC Comics. And the games studios would be a nice bonus - especially Netherrealm.
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Zaslav said from the start that Warner Bros. and Discovery had merged with the intention of then being bought by a big player in the technology industry. There have been numerous insider rumors about a probable merger with the Comcast group from 2024. This seems difficult to validate with regulators, and I think that Amazon would be a more credible candidate. Amazon and Warner are already in partnership to bring Warner content to Prime Video in select countries, and I can totally see Amazon being interested in a company like Warner. Regarding Microsoft, I always thought that the synergy with Warner would be perfect and would bring a lot to Microsoft. I think it would be a great acquisition, provided Microsoft wants to explore this industry. From a legal point of view, I do not see this acquisition being blocked. Warner is a totally different business than Microsoft, and the gaming division isn’t big enough to be a problem. So yeah, it would be a great acquisition to get started in film/TV (and get a huge IP), but I’m more expecting WBD to be acquired by Amazon.
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i dont think regulators gonna allow that
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Bounding into comics is extremely unreliable and are grifters. They are part of the Snyder cultists that are organizing fire James Gunn and sell DC to netflix hashtag event on Valentines day.
Plus the way WBD has recently started making 10 years deals with multiple directors and producers, poached Dreamworks head that has been there for the past 20 years, it looks like David Zaslav has abandoned the idea to sell the company.
The CMA, FTC, and EC made a fatal error by narrowing the console market to Sony and Microsoft. The gaming market is dynamic, and if the day comes when Microsoft announces they’re acquiring Nintendo, the crown jewel, then the regulator’s arguments would fall flat on their face. Nintendo games are not available on no other platform but Nintendo. Everyone was surprised by Microsoft buying Activision with the recession looming and the increased cost of borrowing dollars to do business. Nintendo might be successful today, but the future is a different story.
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Anybody that knows me knows I am a huge supporter of the Entirety of WBD. After aeeing the success of Hogwarts Legacy I am even more for it. It should be much easier to get a deal done than ABK has turned out to be. Microsoft has no movie/tv streaming service and the games portion is fairly small. Not only would it be a gain for Microsoft as a whole to Own WB, DC, HBO, Discovery, and all the other film/tv shows. Just Imagine Xbox having the rights to all of those IP for games. The next Harry Potter Game, the next Mortal Kombat, The WB Rumbleverse game, The next Batman series, and so many more. The possibilities are almost endless.
I am more excited at the potential of them getting WBD than wrapping ABK up at this point. I would gladly pay 20-30 a month for gamepass Ultimate if it included HBO, Discovery, Cartoon Network, and all of the other TV/film properties they currently own. That is a heck of a value combined with gamepass access.
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WBD still has 50+ billion dollars in debt and has been been having negative P/E ratios and negative cash flow for a while now. I don’t think they will survive as an independent company, they need to be bought and analyst expect it to happen beginning 2024.
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i like the idea but this aint happening right now maybe when nintendo is doing very bad but currently i dont think they have any incentive to sell when they r doing so good
There just is so much potential with WBD under Microsoft that it is crazy to think about, as much as the video game studios would be great, new Killer Instinct could happen. The real treasure trove is the film industry and what MS could do with things like DC and use the films as a way to revive old IPs, like a Shadowrun movie or Crimson Skies tv series. Then you have Toonami for Anime that can be added to Game Pass and as weve seen The Last of Us being a hit on HBO you just know Gears of War would be Successful or an Elder Scrolls show would be too.
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If you guys have time to read this, it really shows what Sega was planning to do as they knew the hardware business wasn’t likely to make it through, it reminds me of what Xbox achieved over the last few years.
May 2000 saw Isao Okawa replace Shoichiro Irimajiri as president of Sega (Irimajiri taking a lesser role, before leaving the company at the end of January 2001[2]). Hayao Nakayama, who had also been in the chair during Sega’s rise to fame was also out the door, and Okawa (who had invested heavily in Sega - having loaned the firm $500 million USD in 1999) lacked the faith of these two men. Even as early as 1999, Okawa was claiming the Dreamcast would be Sega’s last console[3], and his vision of a third-party online-centric software developer was soon shared by many of the big Sega names in America, including Peter Moore, Charles Bellfield and former Sega grandee David Rosen (who had reportedly held this position for seven years - after the decline of the Mega Drive[4]).
In the last few months of 2000 Sega began issuing statements about their desire to work on non-Sega platforms, at this stage being hand-held PDAs, mobiles, Bandai’s WonderSwan and the Game Boy Advance[5]. There were also plans to license a “DC chip” - Dreamcast technology which could then be used in set-top boxes or DVD players, though none of these projects ever materialised[5]. Acclaim Entertainment also let slip details of PlayStation 2 ports of Crazy Taxi, 18 Wheeler: American Pro Trucker and Zombie Revenge [5] two of which they would end up publishing for the platform.
At a November 2000 press conference, Bellfield continued to deny the rumours, suggesting that while the current console would be unlikely to be shipping as-is in two years time, Sega were “developing the technology, not discontinuing it”[8]. Sega of America suggested that “Dreamcast” was a brand that could appear on other devices, but not rival platforms, comparing the system to cable television - “you don’t pay for the box, you pay for the service”[8].
It is widely considered that Sega were unable to compete with Sony’s PlayStation 2 and Microsoft’s new Xbox console when it came to marketing[9]. The Xbox advertising campaign eclipsed anything Sega could put together, and was cited as a reason not to continue. However, it is known many in Sega were sympathetic to Microsoft’s cause - Bernie Stolar for example (now in charge of Mattel), advocated a deal which saw Microsoft buying Sega and working on a joint platform. Others were wary that the big names of Electronic Arts and Square Enix, third-party leaders in the US and Japan, respectively, were still not on board the Dreamcast project, and others such as Eidos and Infogrames had already severed ties with the system.
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They do not have negative cash flow anymore and that debt is down is 45 Billion now.
“To pay down debt, any company needs cash — ideally, from operations. But the near-term trends suggested Warner Bros. Discovery’s business was getting worse, not better. The company announced free cash flow for the third quarter was negative $192 million, compared to $705 million a year earlier. Cash from operating activities was $1.5 billion for the first nine months of 2022, down from $1.9 billion a year earlier.”
I think the article is pretty telling about the financial future of the company.
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Amazon is licking their lips.
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Not so bad if it results in a kind of premium subscription “Prime Max” with content from Prime, MGM and Warner Discovery. There is also a great opportunity for the distribution of digital comics all over the world. I think the benefits of WBD align pretty well with Amazon’s business lines.
It could be a great opportunity for Microsoft to enter an industry it doesn’t know, but there would be a lot more work to do and risk to take.
Personally, I prefer that Microsoft remains 100% focused on video games and continues to invest heavily in this sector. I think Asia is the next step, and it’s not a small step. Acquiring a SEGA or a Capcom (see both) could do them good.
By being more moderate, SEGA would already be a formidable acquisition to which you could try to add studios such as: Media Vision, Arc System, Platinum Games, CC2, NIS, Spike Chunsoft, Artplay… in order to have a catalog of very solid and varied Japanese content for a moderate investment.
So yes, I think WBD would be an incredible opportunity for Microsoft but with significant risks. I prefer to leave that to Amazon (which already has some experience) and that Microsoft continues to invest in video games. In terms of acquisition, I expect a wave of independent studios (mainly Western) after ABK, then a focus on Asia from 2024 with the acquisition of a publisher (SEGA or Capcom) and why not then a few Japanese studios (or a second Japanese publisher, but that’s less likely) to complete the catalog.
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Looks like Squanch Games is looking to hire for their next game
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High on Life 2?
High on Life was a mega indie hit for them.
Also if i’m Xbox? i would look to buy them if possible. High on Life has crazy potential.
While on the subject of smaller indie dev, maybe get Team Cherry to. It would solve the needing another Dev to make another ORI Game while getting one of the best Indie game IP of all time in Hollow Knight.
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