Huge independent US mobile publisher thats privately held. Hardly anyone will recognize the name so it likely wouldnt get much pushback in the gaming community. They are the ones behind:
Game of War
Mobile Strike
World War Rising
I could also see Rovio being a target that they could acquire and amp up their mobile store with Angry Birds content.
Perhaps at the end of the year if it concerns the acquisition of independent studios and partners.
I can’t wait for the next acquisitions to be announced, regardless of who the next publisher will be (if there is one), it will be another big step for Xbox, and we will be engaging in exciting new discussions with the community. We will finally see if Microsoft will expand into Asia or if it will continue to acquire major studios in the West. The after ABK is going to be very interesting and will clearly show us what Xbox will be like in the years to come.
SEGA 4 EVER !
It’s always a pleasure to read the discussions concerning SEGA. I see differing opinions, but my opinion is that SEGA is an excellent publisher as it is today, and we absolutely must not change that. On the other hand, you can improve it and take it to a whole new level, with some strategic acquisitions to diversify the content and bring some IPs back to life. Here are a few ideas that I find interesting:
SEGA 2023 :
RGG (Like a Dragon / Judgment / Monkey Ball)
Amplitude (Endless Saga / Humankind)
Atlus (Persona / SMT / Etrian Odyssey)
Creative Assembly (Total War / X-COM Like / Condemned Reboot)
It’s just an idea, but I think SEGA has the potential to grow and offer very interesting and varied content. SEGA is already an excellent publisher today, so with the necessary means (Microsoft) and some additions (acquisitions), I think it could clearly become a major publisher in the industry again. There is a very big potential here.
I think that’s a pretty safe bet for large publishers, if any are on the docket (Paradox has definitely become cozier and cozier with Xbox over the last three years), but if there are any non-pub acquisition targets, or in discussions, I think we could see them sooner.
I don’t think any happen this year but if XO23 is a thing then somebody smaller. Int/Night makes a lot of sense to me and the story choices genre is somewhere that XGS lacks in.
I think I want to see Platinum as well. Let them loose to create what they’re good at, doesn’t need to be an online co-op or GaaS. I want to see more unique experiences like Hi-Fi Rush.
Biggest factor in their price would be the fact that they don’t actually own any of the IP they have created - other than I think Wonderful 101. As a result they should be relatively inexpensive.
Fantastic post & I fully agree Sega is a perfect fit.
Lots of SEGA IP lends itself to Mobile/Cloud almost to well, such as
Sonic
Football Manger
ChuChu Rocket
House if the Dead
Puyo Puyo
Turn based
Etc
The concern I have that I don’t see talked about is employee retention (the whole Japan won’t want to work for a US company type deal but more a takeover in general). Like what just happened at Tango.
You wouldn’t want all those devs leaving in droves. You could pay more to retain them longer (like Sony & Bungie), give total freedom and minimal interference.
Nope. I dont expect any rush or flood of acquisitions when ABK closes. Its not like it is stopping anyone else from doing M&A activities (outside of Microsoft).
I doubt it would or will happen, but a perfect combo would be MS buying Sega & Koei Tecmo, then putting KT under Sega. As we’ve seen recently KT was/is having problems and that is why they worked with EA to bring out their new IP Wild Hearts.