Xbox Acquisition |OT7| Come on down for your chance to win on “Who will Xbox buy next?!”

Sorry, i just thought given Paradox Interactive close relationship with Xbox i that it would be worthwhile to talk about here.

Ah, like “they’re off the table now”. Makes sense.

This is actually an interesting point because in the past Game Pass growth was a primary factor in decision making, but I’m not sure if that’s the case anymore. Maybe they’re just looking at it from a purely revenue standpoint.

But if they’re looking to drive Game Pass subscriptions, I think they saw that Activision and Call of Duty did well for them and maybe other well-known games and IPs are what they’re really looking for.

While I prefer SEGA, I think Capcom fits the bill here. A game like Monster Hunter on GP could attract a lot of people. Capcom has been churning out a lot of highly sought after content.

I mean that could be a lot of things from a publisher to increase their interlectial properity which can get mobile games to a mobile game publisher to both. Realistically if its a mobile publisher it will be playrix or Niantic going off those leaks from the FTC court case. But if we are talking about interletical properity it doesnt change anything…and if its both it could lead to a lot of companies granted EA, T2, Ubisoft and maybe SEGA (they have rovio but outside of them they feel significantly smaller…but they have also been considered multiple times so maybe) feel like the stand outs

Ubisoft look good for a buyout. Love to see their games all on GamePass

The thing with ubisoft is their stock is tanking and if assassins creed shadows doesn’t save them nothing is going to considering Japanese assassins creed is their most requested game of all time…but ubisoft is also incredibly bloated so it would be a lot of work to cut the fat cos realistically Ubisoft should maybe have 15 studios max not somethings like 50. I honestly think the next publisher/publishers to fall have to be ubisoft or/and WB games though. Both feel like they have been biding their time for a couples of years now

Both Ubisoft and Warner Bros Game Division will probably be up for grabs in the future.

However am inclined to believe that Xbox will not acquire Ubisoft because of their deal with the EU in regards to cloud rights and such. Otherwise it could be seen as a violation and i think that’s somethign they want to avoid at all costs.

So the question should be if Xbox should “lead a hand” and acquire something from Warner Bros.

That’s my two cents, cause any other publisher right now feels very unlikely, unless its smaller in scale or just studios themselves.

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The deal wasn’t with the EU, it was with the CMA who Labor has recently restructored and the FTC is no longer an issue under Trumps goverment considering how pro America he is, that he wants to increase effeniency so he probably won’t be happy seeing the FTC chasing gaming acquisitions and Lina is gone. It really depends on the new structed CMA and if their still insane.

I really don’t know if Microsoft will continue making notable acquisitions though, they are definitnely going multiplat though which will likely change their acquisition stratagy if they plan to continue buying focusing more on big franchises and mobile. If they do keep buying the most likely acquisitions though feel like their between 8. EA, T2, Ubisoft, Paradox Interactive, SEGA, WB, Niantic & Playrix Games ignoring any potential external factors like stock drops. EA & T2 Both have strong multiplatform and mobile presences with strong areas for growth there (namely their sports games heading to mobile. Ubisoft is similar but with a massive stock drop but with potential legal issues to to ABK cloud rights, Paradox is massive on PC so easy expansion into that market and has been considered before + feels like they could be expanded to mobile, WB games will likely get sold and depending on the deal could be great for multiplatform games, SEGA isn’t that likely anymore IMO but they have a long history of being considered so wouldn’t write them off either & both Niantic & Playrix are the best mobile acquisitions according to those leaks

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Oh… Forgot that info.

Also, the whole multiplat strat i feel like its more of a double edge sword but won’t discuss it here for the sake of what the thread is actually about. However i don’t doubt that Xbox is aiming for big franchises but i feel like its unwise to do so.

In my mind the best best to do make partnerships with these publishers and make sure they follow with Xbox’s strategy. Sega seems fully on board in that aspect with Square seemingly in toe as well as EA and many Indie Publishers like No More Robots and Thunderfull.

If we are to talk about any given studio, Rebellion Games would be the most interesting acquisition for teo reason: Their gaming portfolio in Sniper Elite and their own unique ip in the form of Judge Dred. Am suprised no one has knows this particular fact about them for years.

I think studio acquisitions are more of a question mark than publisher acquisitions now TBH outside of mobile since Microsoft is clearly moving multiplat and we don’t know if certain stratagies like game pass will remain or if they will change e.g. Microsoft nagoiating a version of game pass on playstation likely with only their 1st party giving an oppitunity to alter their stratagies like day 1 releases. I would say the only ones that feel notable are ones they work directly with or ones that have notable IP but rebellion isn’t a bad buy but also doesn’t feel like a notable one either.

Hm, i feel like Xbox is shooting themselves in the foot if they deliver gamepass to playstation when they already have something equivilent to it already. My two cents.

But lets ignore the multiplat stuff for now, there are threads for those in the forums, so lets focus more on the acquisition angle:

My reasoning against publisher acquisition is mostly cause its already been way too much hassle for all sides of the equation when it came to activision/blizzard, so i think they would like to avoid any of that sort for a while now. So my safest bet would be on studio acquisition as there is less hurdles to be crossed then compared to publishers of any kind.

Henceforth why i think Rebellion would be an easy get, they have a great deal and partnership already and they have worked numerous times in the past, so its a very likely studio to acquire. The same could be said for the likes of the Thunder Lotus as they have a great relationship with Xbox.

I mean the Activision acqusition wasn’t a hassel due to them being a publisher, it was just the perfect negative storm since the FTC was ran by a big company bad brain lit, the CMA was deserpate to validate their existence & it was the biggest technology acquisition in human history so it was easy to try and look good by trying to block regardless of actual standing meanwhile the historically most agressive regulator didn’t have many issues, under the current administration the ABK deal likely would of got passed within the 1st year at latest and the CMA would of gaved due to internation pressure, not to mention the fact Microsoft is heading more multiplat which even if you want to put it to one side it is hard to do when it so significantly changes so much even in the regulation proccess since they are no longer really completing with PS so they would be judge more as an indepentent publisher and less like a platform holder which takes a way a lot of the monopoly arguments outside of cloud

Most of the studios you named are western and developing games here and, in the west, has been so expensive. Phil Spencer has said they are still open to acquisitions so I imagine they will acquire more; however, I think it will be most definitely in Asia. The games that have been coming from Asia have been able to boast of being profitable after selling over a million and I think that cheapness is something Xbox would love to have not to mention games over their now just seem to be oozing of the entertainment and visuals one expects.

The thing us people have been saying Microsoft will buy an Asian studio for ages and its never happened. The closest we got was microsoft considering buying Square for a little but and their on and off consideration of buying SEGA. On top of that they also closed down their only asian studio tango. Actions speak louder than words to me, so I am more so judging off what i think their stratagy is and their history of Acquisitions

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Outside of potentially SEGA I don’t see Xbox ever going after a Asian studio/publisher again (unless it’s part of another acquisition e.g. Tango).

I think some European studios from places like Poland and Ukraine would be more likely.

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Yeah i could see that, wages in east europe aren’t very high so they are cheap to fund. I could actually see microsoft potentially approaching platinum is ninja gaiden 4 is a success too though but unless an oppitunity presents itself i dont see microsoft actively scouting out Japanese studios or publisher with the potential exception of SEGA. Their stratagy and history just point to it not being likely…and even than SEGA feels like of the less likely things i can see microsoft buying of now. They are carried by microsofts on and off relationship there

If we are taking about Japan though, i could see an opportunity for level 5. They were on microsofts massive list and seem to be struggling. I don’t think it will happen but I could easily see the opportunity presenting itself

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Didn’t Phil explicitly call out Asia when he most recently said they weren’t done?

He said geographic diversity and did call out them wanting to do more dealings in China but as far as I can tell nothings on Asia as a whole or even Japan

If you’re referring to the Bloomberg 2024 interview I personally think they were three separate statements which got merged and misquoted by the gaming media.

“Deals that add ‘geographic diversity’, including in Asia, might be worthwhile”.

"Buying another mobile company would add to titles Microsoft picked up in its $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard last year*.

“We definitely want to be in the market, and when we can find teams and technology and capability that add to what we’re trying to do in gaming at Microsoft, absolutely we will keep our heads up”.

Deals (e.g. Ninja Gaiden) are very different from acquisitions. I personally just don’t see Asian acquisitions on the table except for Sega (maybe Square at a push).

I think a mobile publisher (which he did explicitly mention), for example Playrix is far more likely (especially considering they generate more revenue than King).

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Not an Asian studio but a small publisher. I don’t see them going for a studio other than to deals there. Yes, they closed Tango which again might have worked within a Japanese publisher that could manage it from over there. The fact that they considered Sega and even had it all up to Satya to approve speaks volumes. I’m sure if ABK didn’t appear they might have succeeded with Sega. In my opinion they would probably go for a struggling publisher one that they have worked with well in the past. During the OG Xbox days to the 360 they worked with a Korean developer by the name of Phantagram interactive. Phantagram was acquired by Blueside and they have worked on all the KUF (Kingdom under fire) games on Xbox as well as Ninety-nine knights. To me a publisher like this would be a good get to bring back the KUF series especially with games like Vampire Survivors booming.

I think Konami also has a chance under very specific circumstances aka if buy Sammy SEGA and want to off load the Sammy end I could see them making a trade for Konami’s gaming division. I think CAPCOM is probably more likely than Square being honest but I also don’t think Capcom is too intrested in selling. But yeah mobile publishers (namely Niantic and Playrix who were microsofts top mobile publisher targets) makes the most sense. I think if they do buy another notable publisher mobile will be a big factor which does put Take Two with Zynga (another publisher Microsoft was looking at) in the line light, though their are others, namely EA with pop cap, Sling shot, Track Twenty, MAXIS ect. + easy mobile expansion with EA Sports & Ubisoft with Ketchapp, 1492 Studio & Green Panda Games ect. …maybe also Paradox as while they are primarily PC game developers I feel like they would also be fairly simple to translate over to mobile, but they are sort of iffy. But I do think Mobile will be one of if not the most important factor in their acqusitions going forward

I am not saying it won’t happen, I just don’t think they care about Asia as much as they let on, their are probably multiple factors they have over wanting a Japanese or Asian publisher though if it did happen SEGA is probably the most likely just due to the fact they have been considered 2 or 3 times within the last few years but that was before this massive stratagy shift so stuff could of easily changed, this being said while SEGA definitely isn’t as strong in certain metrics they also aren’t weak. They own Rovio who is a modestly sized mobile studio and both two point studios and sports interactive which could easily be translated over to mobile and I feel like a lot of their IPs could translate fairly well to mobile.

But even then out of the likely acquisitions I could see SEGA is lower on the list. I would say Ubisoft feels most likely followed by Niantic then Playrix then probably a close call between EA & T2 (I would give EA the slight edge right now due to their stock drop but their interchangeable followed by a close one between paradox & SEGA, I would probably give the edge to paradox but its once again close, and the least likely of the ones I see as “likely” being WB games.

though if we are talking more niche Asian publishers I think level 5 is probably most likely simply because an oppitunity to present itself feels decently likely seeing how they aren’t doing amazingly and they were on Microsofts massive list but they also don’t feel too likely, it is just one of those things that could happen

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