If not due to internal issues, ABK would certainly not sell. So that’s why I said - unless Nintendo crashes, I don’t see them selling. I would rather believe that they retire the company. It is like saying Apple will buy Sony (granted it is more likely than MSFT buying Nintendo).
I have been advocating for a long time for that acquisitions. My main concern is that Microsoft will decide to keep RE, DMC etc. games on Playstation. Granted, Microsoft showed time and time again that they are into exclusivity, but they are too concerned about the public perception all the time (unlike Sony who can get away with anti consumer stuff all the time).
Sony can eye whatever they want, but I don’t see Microsoft allowing Sony to grab NRS at all.
Regarding WB…Well, Sony could try to do that but unless they strike the deal regarding DC, I don’t see them buying anything from WB - there is no point in buying people.
both are publicly traded, they work for the shareholders, if MS was intrested in ABK before that they could of easily bought them granted it would cost more since they only exist to maximise shareholder wealth. Same with Sony, apple could easily buy them
I don’t get the hype about exclusivity, it is literally just making it harder for people to play games, but regarless MS had 0 issues making bethesda games exclusive past contracts and most ABK stuff seems to be going the same way once its acquired. MS would definitely make all capcom franchises exclusive past pre existing contracts if they acquired them
thats it the thing, I see sony more ignore to get those deals with DC after they have got deals with marvel and in terms of MS letting Sony get NRS, I could easily see MS letting Sony get them because I don’t see MS throwing infinite money into it. Obviously Sony wouldn’t either but in terms of fighters Sony feels like they would be more egur to get a fighting game studio considering they acquire EVO so I could see them spending more than MS
I don’t but just cos I don’t want something does mean I will write it off. I wrote off any publisher than cost more than 10B before ABK and look what happened
I see no point in playing nice with a company, that is aggressively moneyhatting stuff from Xbox. Could care less about PS community, I don’t see them crying a river when some games skip Xbox
NRS is very important for MS strategically (not to mention all those Midway and other connections between Xbox, Microsoft and NRS). I don’t see MS allowing anybody to grab NRS. It also has big MK IP with high engagement value.
Sony owns only a half of EVO and arguably them owning EVO is not beneficial for FGC at all (tying fighting games to PS5, forcing developers to implement and fix response issues; make people play on old gen consoles due to shortage etc.). Sony is detrimental to FGC right now.
I am just saying my view, exclusives are anti consumer but they aren’t going anywhere
can you explain how they are very important strategically, just curious
I am not speaking from a community point of view, I am speaking from a business point of view…also my bad, I thought they fully owned evo, I was miss informed there
Fighting game studios are quite rare in general (thus Microsoft has issue with making KI) and Sony is always sniffing around them, but MK is a huge fighting game - arguably the biggest one fighting game that is accessible and popular for the general consumer market.
So by owning NRS they will not only have huge IP with high engagement value, but also will secure an active fighting game franchise. Ideally if they were to grab Capcom next - they are set as no FGC will ignore them ever again.
It being big will also bring Game Pass subscribers.
I apologize in advance but why are people so eager for a SEGA acquisition. all I knew when growing up was about Nintendo, later on I learned about Sony and Xbox. Every time I see people ask for MS to acquire SEGA I feel lost. What’s so special about SEGA? Nostalgia? Sonic??? Persona and JRPGs??? I can’t really see what value they can bring aside from a few IPs. All I know is that they were into arcade but exited once COVID hit.
They bring value, absolutely. How much value is up for debate. But there are A LOT of Sega fans in this forum so you will see endless enthusiasm for an acquisition.
Sega brings a lot to the table based on what Xbox is trying to do, so I believe they align really well with Xbox’s goals.
They have a back catalogue of over 300 games that could be added to gamepass. That catalogue is very diverse genre wise, so it would provide a lot of variation to get more people either interested in gamepass or content to play and keep them sticking around.
They have a diverse first party studios. Most of the content is content that Xbox does not have or needs to bolster (family friendly).
RGG - Open World Action Adventure
Atlus - JRPG
Sonic Studios - Family Friendly
Sega Sappura - MMO
Creative Assembly - Strategy Games, PC Focus
Sports Interactive - Sports Games
Hardlight - Family Friendly
Relic - Strategy, PC Focus
Two Point Studios - City Building Simulation
Amplitude - Tower Defense
Sega owns a lot of IP that Xbox could bring back that have great lore and worlds already established, so there is potential to really establish some of these as dominant IP in the modern day.
They have a lot of popularity in Europe and many of their studios/dev locations are in Europe, so they have a clear in road to take more marketshare in Europe. Sega also expands Xbox’s PC footprint and basically secures their place as the number 1 place for strategy games.
Whereas it’s now PS vs Xbox vs Nintendo it was always just SEGA vs Nintendo.
Nostalgia has a significant part to play, however IMO SEGA always had the better games/consoles (except for the Saturn).
For me the Dreamcast was far superior than the PS2.
The back catalogue of games and IP’s would be huge for Xbox or more importantly GamePass.
It would also fill so many holes:
One of the best JRPG studios with Atlus.
Relic Entertainment is one of the best RTS studios around.
Arguably the largest mascot behind Mario with Sonic.
Sports Interactive would give them their sports studio (Football Manager).
Creative Assembly make fantastic turn based strategy and real time tactics games.
Amplitude are also another great strategy studio.
SEGA would also give them their recognition in Japan, it’s one of the most recognisable brands.
I get the argument but I don’t fully agree. I think their are way more important focus’s over fighting games but you make some fair points
nostalgia. From someone unbias when it comes to SEGA I can say they have plus’s but their are multiple better buys, I don’t know if I would even put SEGA in the top 5 best purchases but SEGA does have a lot of veriety…a lot of those franchises dead and stuff SEGA barely cares about considering the offical fan made stuff like the new shinmu or panza dragoon weren’t even published by SEGA apparently but still its a plus
I don’t like the back cat argument because that applies to every publisher, it is far from a plus for SEGA, escpecially when other companies can be argued to have more impressive back cats in terms of modern popularity
Not sure about specifically action but Microsoft has a lot of open world games, they are pretty good with PC with the partnership with riot now and them acquiring blizzard so that definitely isn’t a gap and MS owns a ton of the popular RTS with the blizzard acquisition and age of empires, WoW is one of the most popular MMO’s so definitely not a gap not to mention fallout 76 and elderscrolls online, the partnership with EA kind of covers sports granted they don’t have any inhouse stuff so I guess and MS owns a lot of E rated content, the issue is a lot of it is dead; with ABK they will own banjo, blinx, crash, spyro, minecraft, psychonauts, candy crush, bubble witch, arguably overwatch, forza, skylanders, Tony Hawk, guatar hero, arguably sea of theives, Commander Keen, Geometry Wars and others
I am not certain but with blizzard I think they might be already
To be fair that was Amiga vs Atari.
However in relation to this reply, if we have peep which can’t remember SEGA they definitely won’t remember those .
SEGA is a special case though no?
They were one of the largest platform holders for entire generations, in addition to defining many 30-40 year olds childhoods.
It would be similar to saying Nintendo’s entire back catalogue is coming to GamePass.
It’s not just the back catalogue itself but all of the IP’s which are so special to many of us.
SEGA would definitely sell some Xbox consoles or GP subs if they are on Xcloud!
There are of course some back catalogues with more modern popularity but none that are as big as SEGA (outside of PS & Nintendo) IMO.
It depends if they want to appeal to some of the more veteran gamers among us in addition to the kids, arguably the older generations have more disposable income too .
The issue with this is what we saw with Netflix and Disney/Marvel. That content is not their own and is a big draw to the service. If EA were to remove that content from the service they need to be prepared to cover that hole and continue to attract and keep users interested in that content.
It’s one of the reasons I don’t think that they are done acquiring family friendly content, rpgs, strategy or simulation games.
One of the other things I didn’t cover were business alignment. Sega is already marching in very much the same direction as Xbox. It’s a much easier fit business strategy wise than say someone like Take Two.
Personally my order of preference though is EA > Capcom > Take Two > Sega > Paradox >>>>> Square
I don’t think its that they don’t remember SEGA. I think any gamer who cares enough to join forums probably knows about the SEGA consoles minimum. I think its just the fact that SEGA isn’t that big of a deal anymore compared to how many decades ago
being an ex platform holder doesn’t make it special. Its the IPs that does that and most of SEGA’s franchises which were big back then are sort of dead now adays
the fact Nintendo still makes consoles and doesn’t have to rely on 3rd party games sort of proves this wrong. Nintendo IPs are actual system sellers which have infinitely more impact than SEGA, same logic would apply here if we were comparing sony to nintendo btw
it doesn’t really matter in the case of sub service since parents could pay for it for their kids and getting that many games for just $15 a month is probably very appealing to families and the older generation still have their indivual taste so their is no garentee you would lock in even a majority of their audience by acquiring SEGA, looking at the sales and the size of SEGA now a days enphises that since sonic games rarely pass 1 or 2 million sales within recent memory
as I said I guess (I see MS buying EA next regardless so whatever)
they own/are about to own all that stuff already, that is an incredibly different situation to sports LMAO
I don’t see why that matters considering if MS bought SEGA it wouldn’t be SEGA’s decision to move in a direction any more, it would be MS…same with T2, EA, Ubisoft, Capcom and so on but the publishers moving in that direction most are EA and Ubisoft since they have their own sub services. Also it being an easier fit is eh when you consider T2 has bigger plus’s (rockstar alone destroys SEGA in terms of subs it would probably bring it)
preference of what you want MS to buy? If so then I would go Capcom > Take Two > EA > Square Enix = SEGA > Embracer Group > Koei Tecmo > Ubisoft > Konami > Namco > Paradox > WB Games