Yes although by many accounts they already are the largest publisher in the industry, atleast in terms of number of studios and number of employees.
They might even be the biggest in terms of the amount of IP’s (post ABK) too!
The only factor that they aren’t (which is the most important one) is revenue and profit.
If their consoles were selling like they did back in the 360 days I think they would be there too!
I think alot of this work they are doing about breaking down walled ecosystems is to appease regulators ahead of their next big acquisition.
I imagine within the next 24 months, before the next gen Xbox, we’ll see something happen to build out 1P with more Asian game creators. And it will probably have a lot of mobile and PC users.
Maybe but I think it’s also their big step to Xbox everywhere. If through this opening of their platform they are able to develop an OS that works on every device then they would be able to license it out like windows as the DeFacto gaming OS for games just like windows , android and IOS.
You’re being the voice of reason and this is incredibly realistic but I do have to say… without pushing hard on marketing, how can we expect this strategy to have any success?
For game releases, this is going to be an incredible year for the Xbox. In a year where the competition is struggling. When it comes to Game Pass this is going to be an incredible year because we’re going to be seeing a whole bunch of Activision titles hit the service. Every single COD game including the brand new ones for $1X a month.
In terms of marketing and messaging, the only thing they’ve actually done this year is hurt their reputation a bit with the idea (founded or not) that they’re going completely 3rd party.
Maybe things will take a 180° after “E3”, but quietly releasing Hellblade 2 and perhaps thinking that it’s a dud because it didn’t get a lot of attention worries me.
It’s good to hear from them directly that the studios might finally be getting a break from the misery that I’m sure they’ve ensured the past year, wondering who’s next to go/close down.
This said I dont hold any trust in what they say and I’ll still cross my fingers that CD & Eidos either get their freedom or Xbox acquire them at some point, however unlikely as this is.
It’s also weird that they mentioned that this was about getting rid of their studios with negative cashflow when their previous financial reports suggested it was mostly Saber & Gearbox bringing in the money. I do wonder if they know what they’re doing at all and in another year or so they will be doing this all over again.
I believe Ubisoft is bigger than Xbox (employees and studios), but yes I was talking about revenue. It seems to me that they have said that their goal is to surpass Tencent and become the #1 publisher. So I think they will continue acquisitions in this direction. Besides, I think they were hiring for future acquisitions, right?
That’s probably the idea, but I think it’s also necessary for the future of Microsoft Gaming. I hope this will really appease the regulators. Unfortunately, I don’t expect them to authorize the acquisition of EA or even Take Two, but publishers like Square Enix or SEGA seem possible to me. Valve might also be possible under certain conditions. Warner is on the table but I don’t think Microsoft is interested in the film and television industry. I would love to see Ubisoft join the family, but I think it’s way too big and not profitable enough for Microsoft. It would be hell to manage and there would be thousands of layoffs. In my opinion, the next publisher acquired by Microsoft will necessarily be Square Enix, SEGA or Valve. Or they take one last gamble and try to acquire Take Two or EA, but that would be extremely risky, so I don’t really believe in it.
Thank you for the info. It’s surprising but I still expect Embracer to continue to collapse in the coming months and sell other studios. Their management is chaotic, they will probably not survive.
CD is probably a safe bet for Embracer due to Amazon/Xbox funding. Eidos doesn’t seem as safe to me, but maybe they’ve got some deals we don’t know about.
Yeah I think you’re right, it’s very close though.
Prior to the 1,900 layoffs Microsoft were at 22,000 so that would put them at 20,100 employees.
The last official figure I can see from Ubisoft is 20,730 however they are one of the few gaming companies not to have had layoffs in 24 and unfortunately I expect them to be hit hard following Skull & Bones & Prince of Persia not performing very well.
Ubisoft do have studios split over 49 locations so they do technically still have more studios than Microsoft (which is crazy).
I also think the big 3 (EA, T2 & Epic) are unlikely.
However out of Sega, Square and Valve I’d definitely say the two former would be the most likely.
Valve would probably be the most exciting though in terms of what it could do for the platform, followed by Sega for the IP.
Unless they buy multiple Japanese publishers with notable Japanese IP and make all their games exclusive (which I don’t think they would do) I don’t think it will move the needle at all.
For example if they acquired Sega and made Persona exclusive do you think Xbox’s would start selling in Japan? I think Final Fantasy would just become more popular instead and those that want to play Persona would do so on PC.
Same with Square, there’s no way they would make FF exclusive if they acquired them so there would still be no incentive to buy Xbox.
I agree the marketing would be important but would it be significant enough to change people’s spending habits?
In other words would Japanese customers stop supporting the two Japanese manufacturers (Sony & Nintendo) that they’ve supported and invested in for years just because there is a Xbox logo at the end of their favourite game?
I feel like Xbox needs something more significant.
They don’t need multiple publishers just one to show they’re serious and that will release a game or 2 for them in Japan. They’re doing Ok there if they can get to sell 3 times more what they do that will be more than enough in my opinion. The exclusive thing is tricky perhaps do the marketing for some games in Asia. At the end of the day it isn’t about outselling the other but rather giving visibility to Xbox.
True, although it would probably be one of the slowest ways to attract an audience there IMO.
Especially if the games do remain multiplatform as I suspect the other systems will just keep growing their marketshare while Xbox shrinks.
This in turn would result in less third party support for Xbox (in Asia) making it non-viable for the new audiences anyway.
There’s also other factors such as what your family/friends play (who could be much older and therefore have a preference for the current leaders).
I agree, however they currently have no visibility at all and I personally just don’t see how a single acquistion of any of the current Japanese publishers (outside of Nintendo & Sony) would change that.
If any acquisition could change the tide it would be Nintendo which I just don’t ever see happening.
I think not all would be multiplatform. Xbox could say that Dragon Quest, Kingdom Hearts and FF will remain multiplatform to pleasent regulators with the posibility of FF being time exclusive. Non legacy Ips could be exclusives(for some time) or case by case.