Sega in particular is such a small price tag that it wouldnt take that long to reach the amount they would have spent on Game Pass deals. That and outside of the renegotiated Yakuza games, much of the sega games are short lived. The Persona games were all 1 year deals. Plus obviously the back catalog.
I really wish people would do a small modicum of research into the economics of the situation. Anyone writing off Sega (again, Xbox literally told you all they were a priority - it’s a matter of public record at this point) because some content is already on GP doesn’t seem to understand the basics of ROI - the revenue from all their multiplat content immediately generates a return and Xbox is no longer shelling out money for GP. There’s far more elements than that, and like you said the back catalog is massive and would do wonders for the nostalgia crowd (imagine a proper DC collection in GP), so the “business sense” of it has already proven itself… even before you add in the fact that Sega is already in priority consideration for the org.
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It might make business sense, but only if leveraging the catalogue (SEGA and/or SE) to bolster Xbox exclusive offer (obviously with its own times and honoring every contract lile they did for other acquisitions), in my post I was wondering about the theory that MS should/would not make the content exclusive like they did for Bethesda and presumably will with non-COD ABK stuff, I wouldn’t understand the reasoning other than a minor/moderate revenue/profit increase.
They just acquired Rovio and Microsoft has repeatedly argued (again in court) that they’re wanting to break up the Google/Apple duopoly, so my point clearly stands. Doubled with the revenue gained from Swith and PS5 for existing titles and the inevitable IP that will need to remain multi (Sonic, for example) is far more than a minor/moderate profit increase.
Never mind the willful ignoring of the fact that Sega is on the top of the target-list for Xbox - again this fact isn’t debatable - and it sometimes feels like some of you don’t actually want to have a discussion and just want to gaslight and talk over others 
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Ok, but that won’t bolster Xbox as a platform significantly, if any. We’ll see, honeslty this year I want to see MS speaking about Xbox after two years of theories and discussions about grand plans for mobile.
I wasn’t “gaslighting”, I don’t even know what it means. 
What are you even talking about? Phil Spencer has repeatedly thrown water on this ludicrous third-party-without-hardware nonsense and we literally just had the evidence of newer plans leaked during the FTC trial. Seems I got my answer.
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They’ve never stopped talking about Xbox but I’ve got bad news for you if you think Mobile isn’t going to become a big priority for them going forward
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It seems to me you are a bit too defensive, I was only speculating about the Sega and/or theory, nothing confirmed nor set in stone.
Yeah, I know they want the big bucks from the Apple/Google mobile craze, but I don’t care much about that gaming segment and I was speculating about SEGA/SE which make most of their money within pc/console space.
Either ppl don’t pay attention or they are blinded by some console war using Sega as weapon. @Knottian every point you made is the factual point MS has brought up themselves. I’m pretty sure in there internal papers, that they mentioned Sega would stay multiplat, especially because of it’s Japanese origins and making it available for their established gaming market. Also not every acquisition is a like, Bethesda is SP Xbox exclusive.
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I follow general industry news and if I remember, SEGA was listed as an acquisition target among other companies, but those were old documents, so who knows now? Also the japanese argument is the one I don’t understand: the fact they are (very) weak in Asia should be the reason they wouldn’t be forced to keep things everywhere outside ongoing stuff, like they did for Bethesda.
The mobile market is changing, and new laws are going to enforce open market. The Xbox mobile store will launch, but just like PC, Xbox will probably still launch games on Apple/Google app stores, just like Steam. But also have their own and make the higher cut. With the mobile chips getting stronger, and phones costing $1200-$1500, they will have capability to play previous gen games. Xbox could launch all XB1-360-XOG games on the mobile store. Then streamable like current gen games. And that’s not including the mobile only games.
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I will just say don’t sleep on Sega and their IPs. I know many written off Capcom 6-10 years ago, and now they’re one of the hottest publishers. I think the same thing can happen with Sega especially with them creating games on their old IPs. I don’t think they’ll match Capcom success, but I think Sega’s value is only going to increase.
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Look at the bottom page, Value Drivers. Sega games will be used to drive Gamepass subs, but still sold to established markets. Also it will guaranteed hit games will launch Day an date instead of being skipped. They are not going to anger a very japan rooted fanbase. I’m pretty sure their F-Analyst did the numbers and don’t see the risk reward in favour. Also this is a global and historic play in gaming.
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I remember the doc, but that’s forever ago, I think it would be already done now. Maybe they scaled down the size of the deal and got the missing games with GP attached, which indeed happened in the meantime (Yakuza and Persona). That’s also before the exclusivity play of Bethesda, officially communicated in march 2021 if I remember.
It is more financially beneficial for Microsoft to acquire these publishers than to pay for GP deals. In addition, SEGA and Square Enix have a huge back catalog to bring to the GP, which is not insignificant for a subscription service. There are a lot of Square Enix games that could finally be ported to Xbox and find a new audience thanks to GP. They have stated that they want to focus on the quality of their games, so I think that’s encouraging and Microsoft could help with that. Regarding SEGA, they would also have a lot to gain, but they are already perfect for Xbox. Like a Dragon 8 got 90%. It’s awesome. I love SEGA. I would love them to be part of the family. Acquiring SEGA and Square Enix is consistent with Xbox’s strategy: Gamepass, PC, Mobile Games, Asian Games. This would be a big win for Xbox and a great way to expand smartly.
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I’ll always be on the SEGA train!
If Microsoft were to acquire them it would guarantee Microsoft has the the biggest IP catalogue out of any game publisher which is a accomplishment in itself.
Not to mention:
- The biggest mascot character outside of Nintendo.
- One of the best TBS & RTS studios.
- One of the best JRPG’s.
- One of the best Japanese action adventure IP.
- One of the best Hack n Slash IP.
- A fantastic puzzle IP.
- A fantastic fighter IP/Studio.
- Various family friendly games.
- Various mobile games
- Film/TV presence.
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I’d be happy just for Saturn games.
Shining Force 3. Panzer Dragoon Saga. Sonic R.
Gimme!
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I’ll say what I’ve been saying for a long time. Further publisher acquisitions should be multiplat. Period.
Everybody’s happy.
- Gamers still get to play their favorite games on their preferred platform(s)
- Microsoft gets an immediate boost of in-house properties and titles to bolster both Game Pass and their content roadmap
- These games benefit from having the most exposure, thus potentially driving up sales and helping fund other projects (or allocated to other portions of Microsoft as needed)
Personally, I feel like SEGA or Square make the most sense for Xbox at this point. Especially since both have a solid presence on console, PC, and mobile.
The biggest issue with Square is their lack of major IP ownership. Their biggest IP they own at this point are: Final Fantasy, NieR, Life is Strange, Just Cause, and Outriders. You could maybe throw Octopath up there as a recent success. Maybe I’m forgetting an IP or two, but outside of a bunch of backlog titles that Square seems to be doing nothing with, they come off slightly less attractive than SEGA/ATLUS.
Just my two cents though. I’d personally be fine with MS just pursuing teams rather than publishers, but I do think it would benefit MS a lot in the long term to acquire a publisher in Japan or South Korea.
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I know it is being discussed about Square Enix and Sega, but I personally don’t think SE is as great as they were in the past, so I’d replace them with Capcom.
A Sega and Capcom acquisition could be really special.
I think there is a lot more that can still be done with Monster Hunter and believe it or not Lost Planet has great GAAS potential if it was to come back. Plus I really want a new Dino Crisis.
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capcom aint selling my guy
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