It’s a domino effect. During the OG Xbox having Team Ninja helped them with Ninja Gaiden and the DOA games which had good numbers in Japan the same was true during the 360 especially with exclusives like Blue Dragon and Lost Odyssey. I think Sega can give them enough visibility the rest will be up to their business strategies like the multiple store fronts for example.
Personally, I think Sonic would have become a household name under Xbox. The Phantasy Star franchise is also something I think Sega has fumbled. Sega once went toe to toe with Nintendo and rivaled them in pretty much every genre, they had an answer for every Nintendo IP. I do feel some of those IPs could be lit again and that would help Xbox if the IPs were under them.
Another game like DokeV would be good if Xbox had the marketing globally.
I do feel Sonic would really propel Xbox in terms of brand recognition worldwide, however I’m not sure Sonic is as popular in Asia as it is in US/Europe. I remember reading studies before about how Sonic wasn’t really that popular in Asia anymore but I have no idea.
Regarding your other points I think I was just having a negative day yesterday, however your right if they can get a few dominos to fall like they did in the X360 days they might be able to build up some momentum again. A Blue Dragon/ Lost Odyssey sequel would be good, however I’m not sure how that would work with Akira’s unfortunate passing.
Taking a look at the top selling games:
I think Square would probably be the safer acquisition over Sega to draw in the Asian market, despite my personal preference for Sega
I think the solution in Japan is the same as in Europe or worldwide: Buy Valve and make PC their main market. PC gaming is growing strongly in Japan and mobile gaming is still very important. I think they need to invest in this direction.
Considering the user base, they will get much more profit from Steam than from the Xbox Marketplace (100% on their games and 30% on third party games). With the move to multiplatform, they will also get 70% on the releases of their games on PS and Nintendo. Which will already significantly increase their profits in Japan and throughout the world.
Steam has a huge user base and still has a strong community of players on their games, I’m thinking of CS2 and Dota2 which are some of the most played games on Steam. I think this is what Microsoft is looking for. They will be able to put GP on Steam to increase the number of subscriptions on PC, develop a mobile games market on Steam which will allow them to exist on this market because Steam is popular, and of course continue to produce hardware with Steam Deck.
Buying Square Enix and/or SEGA would be interesting to sell more games in Japan and develop their mobile market. Producing more Japanese games could potentially bring Japanese players to GP and allow them to try Western games at the same time. Microsoft could also take advantage of SEGA and Square Enix’s marketing to become a little more popular in Asia and more important in the industry thanks to their huge catalog of games.
For me this is the best solution. Buy Valve, Square Enix and/or SEGA. Become multiplatform. Stop production of Xbox consoles for more open hardware like Steam Deck or Steam Machine. Develop a mobile gaming marketplace on Steam and put GP to the platform. With this strategy, their profits would increase significantly and Microsoft Gaming would probably become the #1 publisher in the industry.
A Japanese publisher would still be interesting for the diversity of games published. Square Enix is pretty good on mobile and has had good results with FF14. This could be interesting for Microsoft Gaming’s player base. Additionally, Square Enix and SEGA have a huge catalog of games that Microsoft could add to GP in addition to annual releases. This would add more value to the GP and could bring new players to the service. More games published means more profits each year, especially since these are games that sell quite well on Steam. These are also “easier” acquisitions for Microsoft, compared to Western publishers (EA, Take Two, Epic, Ubisoft, Warner, etc.). Of course it’s not obligatory, Microsoft could become #1 by only making acquisitions in the West, but I still think it would be smart to get a Japanese publisher. From a marketing point of view, this would also be a good thing. The publisher could promote the GP or Steam Deck in showcases or on stands (TGS). Valve would bring a significant increase in profits with the store, but unfortunately very few to no annual game releases. Although I hope that a Valve acquisition allows the development of games like HL3, TF3, Dota3, Portal3 and Left 4 Dead 3.
It would definitely add more diversity to their first party offerings and add value to GamePass for gamers which enjoy these types of games.
This said Sony doesn’t even offer that many Japanese studios and they are a Japanese publisher! It’s only really Team Asobi as Polyphony are a racing studio just like Turn10.
I still think if they can secure third party support just like Sony has it’s not necessarily as important.
Now this I can get behind!! It’s so frustrating that Valve are sat on a literal gold mine and not doing anything with it!
The creativity and talent is still there, they even created a very short experience called “Aperture Desk Job” for the Steam Deck which is fantastic!
By acquiring Valve you would be securing third party support rather than first party exclusives, that said the few exclusives they do have (including Counter Strike) are amazing.
Valve is not happening, no regulator would allow it, and neither would Microsoft waste their time trying. Besides Xbox already has a PC store front and their Xbox console brand is just as strong if not more so than Steam for now at least.
If the Xbox store was the one on PC it would give Steam a run for its money. The Xbox store would bring along with it all the console account, the libraries from OG Xbox to series X. It’s jst a matter of it being done correctly. I think finding a way to merge the PC and Xbox store as one would be the key.
After ABK I would never say no but I think Gabe would actually be the bigger hurdle.
That I’m not so certain of.
Steam has 120 million monthly active users (MAU) with 62 million of those being daily users.
Xbox will have more MAU than that across their games which includes PC, Mobile, Switch and PS but I doubt their consoles on their own attract as many MAU or DAU.
I just saw that Microsoft estimated Valve’s revenue in 2021 at 6.5 billion. It’s really huge! To compare, it’s the same revenue as EA in 2021, except that Valve’s profit should logically be significantly better. According to Bloomberg, Valve would be valued at $7.7 billion in 2022. Microsoft absolutely must make this acquisition. They have to make an offer that Gabe can’t refuse.
Although slim there is actually a small chance Valve could happen as they are valued under $10-15 Billion.
The main issues would be Gabe and regulation.
People thought ABK would never happen but it did.
Valve is not a Apple or Amazon which usually hover around the 2 Trillion mark, even Sony is at the 108 Billion mark.
Except that we know that the acquisition of Valve was considered by Phil Spencer in 2020 and that he obtained authorization from the board of directors if the opportunity arose
