It wouldn’t be but I assume any company like take two or square trying to acquire more companies are playing the long game
They should merge with EA.
EA + Take 2 = Biggest sport Editor on the market They would have a racing car division with CodeMasters Ea got some Mobile studio in the last years that could be put into Zynga They would have Rockstar that is a massive income with big revenues And the could put some of the EA & Take two studios in a “single player” division ( for Bioshok, ME and so) And a Multiplayers division (For the Battlefield and co)
They would be a massive editor that are actually in all the type of games, on Mobile, Console, PC. With a catalogue of franchise that would be crazy. And strong financial.
Rebellion is a very diverse company.
They do not only have a videogame development team but they also have a comics/books and film/tv division.
And they also have the rights to some comic ips such as AD 2000 (Judge Dredd,etc)
My intention here is not to make robust comparisons to the competition, that discourse is well suited to its own separate thread, but an article I just read touched on the appeal of the new PS Plus tiers lies in its celebration of PS history and its nostalgia factor.
With PS and Nintendo going back to the 80s and 90s there is a nostalgia factor that MS can’t compete with because they entered the industry during the 6th generation of consoles. Not only is nostalgia incredibly powerful but having a complete retro library is an incredible draw. Experienced gamers relive their childhood and new gamers are able to explore the history of the console they love.
So I’m going to add to the chorus here: I think purchasing SEGA, who was a hardware maker with a first party that even predates PlayStation, is a smart buy. Capcom fits the bill as well because they have been making software throughout the same period of time, but I think the kid friendly angle gives SEGA a huge edge.
I think we can all agree that MS’s first party efforts have been eclipse by the competition in every generation. Their purchases of Zenimax and Activision ensure that this isn’t the case going forward. But I think it would be wise to make a purchase that fixes things retroactively and the acquisition of a console gaming institution like SEGA happens.
It fulfills a dimension of these subscription services that I think is important. We all knew that Disney had an advantage over Netflix with an incredible back catalogue. It allowed them to catch up pretty quickly.
Plus, so much of is kid friendly. Which is something that SEGA offers an abundance of.
Zenimax and Activision aren’t just heavily western style games with a rich PC history but so much of their content is made for teens to adults. I look at some of the highest performing games from Roblox, to Minecraft, to Fortnite, to even Five Nights at Freddy’s…and I’m realizing if you really want to make money you make your product kid friendly.
Those 2 pillars of nostalgic history and kid-friendly content makes SEGA even more important than I thought a couple years ago. Since then Sonic has become far more relevant as an IP.
We mention a lot of great developers from Asobo to Supermassive to Neatherealm to Remedy and I love them all, but none of them would get parents to subscribe to Gamepass to keep their kids happy. I am beyond convinced that Gamepass needs its kid-friendly mascot that’s internationally recognized.
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For whom? There is a couple of generations that was born after 2000s, who never played PS1 or even PS2 or sometimes even PS3. Not to mention the whole generation that played mainly mobile games…
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“Its not as good, and that is why its so great” is certainly a take.
This is pretty off topic, but this is the last thing Ill say. Sony did a good job of walking the tight rope. They were never going to be willing to match Game Pass so they game up with something that is just appealing enough to create the illusion that they created a competitor. When really what they did is just expand the PS+ collection and break it out into a different tier. If you are a new customer who didn’t have a PS4 that is a pretty appealing offer. If you had a PS4 and played the biggest games it isn’t.
The classic game selection is exceedingly weak initially so its really hard to make an argument for the top tier unless you REALLY want to stream PS3 games.
Banjo, Crash, Spyro (even Psychonauts) etc. hit all these nostalgia points, no?
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Rebellion is a curious company, which exactly fits on the standard acquisition type Xbox has done outside ABK.
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Nah, SEGA is on a different level.
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True I was unfortunately born before the 2000’s but I almost entirely skipped PS1 as I was happy with my Saturn and Dreamcast (SEGA kid 
). I eventually owned one but not for long before I got rid.
I didn’t own a PS2 either as I had the Xbox and the exclusives didn’t interest me enough. I would borrow it to play the odd game and then I would return it.
PS3 was the first PS console I properly owned and I hated it… the exclusives were fantastic but the 360 was so much better IMO. I regretted owning it from the day I got it (sold for a profit though). Also PC gaming at the time was leagues beyond either console (unlike now)!
Crash is probably the biggest mascot there but it doesn’t come anywhere close to Sonic.
Sonic is probably the closest mascot to Mario/Pokémon in the industry.
I personally have some nostalgia for Banjo as a relative worked on it but other than it’s a forgotten IP IMO. I would also argue that Rayman or Megaman have more nostalgia then some of these.
Agreed, on rebellion, there games and ips seem to fit well in gamepass and with some still getting new updates with a bunch of content, Giving them a bigger budget I would love to see what they could do
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I’m not sure this is the appropriate place to put this or not, but on social media there has been reports about an Apple console and if this ends up being true, I wonder if this will encourage MS to finalize a few other companies.
I could see MS wanting to acquire Certain Infinity, Skybox Labs, Behavior Interactive, IO Interactive, just to name a few, that MS wants to lock down. Because MS won’t want to see Apple come in and buy them, to make games for their game system.
Apple game console concept poised to inch Nintendo Switch out of contention - Yanko Design
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The title of the article is so grandiose lol
Apple game console concept poised to inch Nintendo Switch out of contention
I am pretty sure that if Apple were to go into gaming they certainly wouldn’t go after Certain Affinity or Behavior Interactive 
What has Behavior Interactive produced recently even?
Microsoft’s aim is 100% getting big IP on their platform, because Satya wants to tweet something cool.
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Just dropped Arma on early access for Xbox 
But yeah this would be crazy apple to attempt anything other then an apple tv that has a okay dedicated controller for some of there app store games is redicilous It would costs billions on billions to jump into this type of market would be ludicrous. Even Google got cold feet and bailed once they saw what Xbox and tencent is willing to spend
I agree I’m not a fan of how the title is worded. The reason I brought up the studios I brought up is because they helped work on Halo and as for Behavior Interactive they helped on Fallout 3 & 4, so I don’t think Bethesda would want to lose out on them.
What if Techland is a tryout studio:
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Not saying it can’t be improved of course, but it’s worth noting that Microsoft themselves was producing games in the 90’s (and earlier!), Bethesda produced games in the 90s, Rare produced games in the 90’s (both directly and through their ownership of id software), and Activision-Blizzard’s acquisition adds another huge wave of back catalogue opportunities.
Activision was the original multiplatform publisher, Sierra Online was another long time classic publisher (especially on PC), Blizzard is responsible for some all time classic franchises, Vivendi / Universal interactive being merged into Activision Blizzard is why the Spyro and Crash bandicoot franchises are owned by that company, and so on.
We already got Rare Replay, which was phenomenal, but there is room for a lot more than that. There are a stack of games that Microsoft already does, or soon will own the rights to, many of which are sold or available in some format but generally not on Xbox.
Even without acquiring anyone new, they could absolutely push for a kind of “Legacy Project” that seeks to put as many classic games from the 80s, 90’s and 00’s that they will soon have the rights to (or partial rights) up for sale and convert them to Xbox if possible.
Some of the slam dunk conversions should be stuff like Sierra adventure games (King’s Quest, Phantasmagoria et al) which function fine with simulated mouse movements on an analogue stick. Some games will be more complex or not practical to convert to xbox, but those should still be on PC gamepass - some are sold on GOG and sometimes Steam, but no other platform.
The other thing they can do sans acquisitions is change the interface to give a better sense of navigating eras of gaming, with visualized timelines and such. You should be able to explore the legacy of the company on your console, with some historical context for each game given when you select it in a little trailer/mini-doc for each one.
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I could see it, I do feel after the prolonged Dead Island 2/Dying Light 2 development they are better off having a tryout project anyway.
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As others have said IF Apple come into the market I very much doubt they would be interested in small studios like the ones you mentioned, instead they will be going after publishers like TakeTwo, EA, Ubisoft etc.
Apple have a bigger cash reserve than Microsoft and they would definitely make their games exclusive to their platform and only theirs (not PC).
Microsoft are fair to be worried about Apple and Amazon, they really could bugger the gaming landscape up!
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