There is also a lot missing from Warner, Rick and Morty, Blade Runner, Matrix, DUNE, Mad Max…
Let’s not forget that The Coalition made a Matrix demo, that Dune is a Microsoft Flight Simulator DLC and that Barbie has a partnership with XBOX. Microsoft do a lot of partnerships with Warner.
https://screenrant.com/xbox-phil-spencer-dune-star-wars-lotr/
I mean, of the two, Id rather have WB, but primarily because of the game studios, I just don’t see MS getting into the media game.
Yet Microsoft have a Halo series at Paramount +, they have a Fallout series at Amazon Prime, a Minecraft movie at Warner, a Gears of War movie at Netflix and they have a Grounded series but we don’t know the platform it’s obvious that Microsoft wants to develop in transmedia but they don’t have their own Studios.
They licensed them out. If you can’t tell the difference between licensing opportunities and running the whole thing yourself, I don’t know what to tell you.
And before you make the claim that WB would run independently, well they aren’t exactly a well oiled machine, so that isn’t really a win.
Go back and look at that Disney selling article. They are expecting 800 million in losses on Disney plus. The company with the most robust media IP library on the planet.
I’m never saying never again… that said, given all the losses studios are seeing across the board and the ongoing justified union actions make the industry tumultuous as hell… I don’t see many new heavy-hitters looking to enter the space 
As much as I’d love the WB IP and WB Games, I don’t see MS picking up the whole enchilada, given all its issues, though a play for a licensing deal and WB Games would be lovely (and possible)… which, I’ve long argued could be a great cash injection for WBD and obviously beneficial for MS.
I don’t see that either though, and I’m sticking to my original prediction. As much as the FTC and the DoJ want to bandy about their new “guidelines”, they mean little in front of legislators or the judges that have clearly shown a disdain for the roguish behavior Khan’s FTC has employed.
Yeah, certainly not arguing that it is impossible. Anything can happen. It’s just really hard to see happening.
I’ll take my Sega and be content with that.
I don’t really see movies/film as a ‘you must own the means of production’ industry like gaming is. It’s perfectly reasonable (standard) to contract your production to an external company.
As will I, as I’m sticking to my original list/prediction 
As much as I’d love some of the individual studios, if Sega was the last they could ever pick up for some reason, that would be my pick.
I don’t see MS going after either of them for many, many different reasons
I don’t see MS making a huge acquisition again in general anytime soon, at most I’d expect a SEGA sized publisher acquisition maybe before the end of 2025
Weren’t there a rumours about MS buying Netflix? So MS buying Disney or WB isn’t impossible. But I don’t think an acquisition like that has to do much with Xbox. They could acquire more gaming companies beside that acquisition (if happened).
Warner bros is releasing MK1 soon and the harry potter game was a top chart game. Plus from the documents of the court we learned WB was an acquisition they were looking at. WB capability to go a big portion to gaming is possible.
They owned atari and their big revenue bringer is gaming for wb. Heck, they owned midway which was created by Matt Booty.
Yeah dont see MS joining the TV, movie…etc space.
Never say never lol cuz we don’t know anything
When it comes to Marvel properties developed by The Coalition, it has to be The Punisher. Hands down. Rated AO.
I’ll be honest, I sort of don’t understand this Disney or WB talk. The best I can understand it is from the angle of how Microsoft purchased LinkedIn and were interested in TikTok. That they wanted to diversify their business with one big purchase.
Otherwise I don’t see a good reason for them to purchase Disney or WB as it pertains to their existing businesses. The gigantic Activision purchase had to do with one of their established businesses, Xbox.
The other thing is that Microsoft is not an entertainment company. With Xbox they’re finally learning how to become a creative company (there have been many creative elements within Microsoft that have been behind many great endeavours, but it’s not in the company’s DNA).
I suppose the same could be said about Sony (a mainly electronics company) and the fact that they run Sony Pictures.
I also find it interesting that these companies are bleeding cash. I don’t understand why Disney is opting to sell instead of fixing their problems.
Even with LinkedIn, and with any of the limited integration acquisitions, it was being run well.
Even with ABK, while it’s not exactly being run well today, Spencer and his team at least know gaming well and have had working relationships with ABK for a long time. Heck, Blizzard is being run by someone originally from the Xbox division.
WB is not in a good state currently. And there’s not a leadership team within Microsoft that has a background in successfully running movie and TV production. It’s hard to imagine them taking a risk on it.
Do we honestly think Ms would pay tens of billions to acquire currently unstable companies, simply to obtain IP? I’d hope they not do that.
Not just to gain IP, that’s just the part that directly benefits us. Generally though, the fact that a company has problems may be what makes an acquisition a viable prospect - like Activision whose stockvalue had been damaged by all of the controversy surrounding the company. If a company is doing great and already has a lot of potential growth, well, they don’t necessarily have a lot of reason to sell.
The question is whether Microsoft or anyone else thinks they can solve the issues the company has. With WBD - ehhh, it’s kind of tricky given Microsoft’s inexperience in the field. But it is an interesting prospect - and it was somewhat gratifying to hear Kotick considered similar for Activision.
I mean yeah it’s not just IP, the IP is the only part we’re concerned about. Thing is, they need to pay billions, maybe go through another long period of hiatus while fighting in courts and waiting for approvals, during which they won’t go after much else, in order to maybe after all is said and done if nothing goes wrong obtain a company which at the moment they have no experience with. I don’t know it’s a lot of negatives in my eyes, definitely more negatives than positives.
Even though I’m not a huge fan of sega I hope they go for 10 segas than 1 wb.
edit: I forgot to add, IP is currently the last problem microsoft has now. Way I see it is it’s hard to find a good studio to make a decent game. If they want superhero games they could just license them from whoever couldn’t they? And this is all speculation on our part if I’m not mistaken, ms could not even be considering getting anything of the aforementioned.
I don’t think War et has South Park I’m pretty sure that is a Paramount IP.
Side note if you haven’t played the two South Park games (stick if truth & fractured but whole) you should they are amazing games.
I see two strong reasons:
Transmedia: If you look at some of the most successful IP it’s because it’s everywhere! Games, Mobile, TV, Films & Books. There’s a synergy there of having the talent in house to expand your IP into different media. For example The Last of US TV show on HBO was actually produced by Sony Pictures Television, Sony Productions and Naughty Dog. Microsoft doesn’t have that ability so relies on contracting that out which is often hit or miss.
Secondly out of all the big tech companies Microsoft is essentially the only one without a Movie/TV presence. Apple has Apple TV, Amazon has Prime and Google has YouTube and GoogleTV. In order to continue competing with the giants it’s probably best not to get shoved out of certain markets, if anything it’s quite telling that they are the outlier (why did all the others see an opportunity but not MS?).
With regard to your other point a Movie/TV company very much could relate to their established business (Xbox). Following on from my point on transmedia imagine if Xbox started making games on Star Wars, Harry Potter, Marvel etc. The games could stay in GamePass forever as MS would own the license, currently Phil has stressed that he doesn’t like making games on lincesed property as it expires! In addition the Film/TV company could start making content based on CoD, Gears, Crash Bandicoot, Spyro, Elder Scrolls, Fallout etc!
