This forum has been kind of dead so I just threw something together, you are Microsoft and can spend $100 on companies to acquire from this tier list. Which ones do you pick up and why
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I will start I guess, I would pick up the following if I was incharge of Microsoft/Xbox:
Capcom-$30-$30
SEGA-$20-$50
SQUARE ENIX-$20-$70
KOEI TECMO-$10-$80
ARC WORK SYSTEMS-$5-$85
IOI INTERACTIVE-$5-$90
LEVEL 5-$5-$95
SQUANCH GAMES-$1-$96
BLOOBER TEAM-$1-$97
REBELLION STUDIOS-$1-$98
FACE PUNCH GAMES-$1-$99
MERCURYSTEAM-$1-$100
Valve - Capcom - SEGA
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Sony - $75/$75
And done. No reason to acquire anyone else because by acquiring Sony, you basically get the bigger brand name, all the favoritism and already look dominant by selling 75m consoles plus the 30m or so that Microsoft Xbox Series X/S has sold. Combine them for next generation as the X-Station or PlayBox and off they go.
I’ll throw in an extra dollar for Nintendo. For real though I’d go with:
Valve - $50 (Huge steal with Steam and the massive appeal of Counter-Strike)
EA - $40 (Massive IPs + A sports game division)
Kadokawa - $10 (Don’t know what they’d do with the rest of it but getting FromSoftware is worth it here)
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You might as well spend the rest though, even if its on a collection studios to bring back dead sony IP or to help speed up production of sony games
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Valve $50 - default PC store, loads of revenue and profit, 2 strong live service games, you become the biggest gaming company.
T2/EA $40 - either works, strong ever green titles like GTA and the yearly sports titles means constant revenue and huge boost for gamepass to go alongside another yearly giant COD.
Larian $5 - high quality, GOTY competitor with their releases,.
Bloober $1- portfolio gap filler, getting into their groove with horror, does well sales wise.
Facepunch $1- good studio with strong IP.
Bohemia $1 - good IPs with arma and dayz, has potential to become a hit maker.
Ember labs $1- could possibly work on existing kid friendly IP from Xbox.
Jackbox games $1- good speed of releases, can work well on game pass.
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I will go with a value add stradegy with gamepass as my top priority.
SEGA -20
EMBRACER- 40
Koei Tecmo- 50
CDPR- 60
FOCUS-65
ASOBO-70
LARIAN- 75
SUPERGIANT- 80
PEOPLE CAN FLY -85
CRYTEK- 90
HAZELIGHT-95
SQUANCH GAMES-96
MERCURY STEAM-97
PLAYFUL-98
CERTAIN AFFINITY-99
EMBER LAB-100
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I could see this as a way to appease regulators for more studio acquisitions in the future. And get away with having all games from Activision and Blizzard go into game pass since there has to be a reason why they aren’t in game pass already. https://x.com/destinlegarie/status/1919481808661643741?s=46
It’s clear they want to appease regulators for future acquisitions, but the reality is that multiplatform is simply the best solution for them. They’ll never compete on console sales, but they can become the largest video game publisher in the world. They need to find a way to maintain growth while losing hardware and store revenue. The best way to do that is with another big acquisition.
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I agree. Xbox as a competitive console with permanent exclusives may be dead but as a publisher Xbox is going to be one of the largest publishers in the world. And things clear up any publisher is on the table aside from Valve, Nintendo, and PlayStation.
I could see Microsoft pick up publishers like Sega, Capcom, Take Two, or Square Enix one day
Take Two for the money and SEGA for the love.
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According to ChatGPT I have come to the conclusion that there is a 40% chance that Microsoft will buy Take Two Interactive + Zynga
https://x.com/bdsams/status/1920158278769582086?s=46 https://www.reuters.com/legal/microsoft-wins-ftc-appeal-challenging-69-bln-activision-blizzard-deal-2025-05-07/
Hopefully in the near future we will get some more studio acquisition not that the ABK is finally behind us
I wouldn’t give that percentage too much credit.
ChatGPT will skim the internet based on publicly known information and these types of decisions are always based on private information.
I personally think all the big 3 (EA, Take-Two and Epic) are all off the table, at least for the next 5-10 years.
I could see it being a contributing factor but I don’t see any way this was the primary or even one of the major reasons behind the decision as if it was one of the main reasons it would of made much more sense to do it back when the ABK deal was in the air back when the CMA blocked rather than when it was more or less a done deal.
I would throw EA and a few mobile publishers on that list too (netmarble, playrix, COM2US, DENA ect.) Along side maybe some stuff from Ubisoft. But I think the bigger question is will microsoft continue to buy stuff in gaming at all. If they do I think the most likely buys are Take Two, Square Enix and Mobile publishers now but at least in the next 3-5 or so years I think it has been very close to a 50/50 situation and in all honesty with them raising the price of everything I’m leaning on their buying spree being done in terms of major publishers at least (though I could easily see them picking up a few studios) granted I still think it feels like a coin flip.
In 5-10 years, the policy will likely have changed, and acquisitions may become more complicated. If Microsoft wants to make another major acquisition, this is the best time to approve it. The results are good. The new strategy is working wonderfully. They’re likely going to have their best year ever. They have all the arguments to convince shareholders. All that’s missing is an acquisition opportunity.
I would prefer that they not buy anyone else. At least not anything major. While the shift in strategy makes purchases less detrimental in regards to concerns about “taking things away”, it also doesnt really server a purpose now outside of making MS more money. Which I do not care about in any way, shape, or form.
I used to clamor for Sega. But now that acquisitons aren’t really a means to bolster a exlusive lineup (which I am completely fine with), and sega is doing well on its own (not to mention supports GP well anyway), I dont see the need.
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Yeah the only value is game pass and even then I don’t care much about that any more as I think Microsoft commitment with game pass has went down and will only continue to decrease as times gone on, and even if I am wrong Microsoft has owned ABK for almost 2 years now and barely any of Activisions back log is on game pass. I feel very gipped by that as I was sold a lie. I don’t have reason to believe it would be any different now if they bought someone else, like if they bought SEGA why should I believe the ATLUS back catalogue will drop into game pass or if they buy Capcom why should I beleive the old Resident Evil games will land there or same with Square Enix and Final Fantasy.
This becomes doubly true if they buy another huge publisher like Take Two or EA where that issue becomes prominate but also the worry that it will further change game pass. Like if they buy T2 its hard to imagine current microsoft dropping GTA 6 or even something like Red Dead Redemption 3 or Bully 2 into game pass day 1 considering the pull Rockstar games has. I could see pre ABK acquisition microsoft taking that risk but current Microsoft…it just doesn’t feel likely unless they changed game pass fundimentally with new tiers.
I think microsoft buying more remains at a 50/50 but the hype around xbox acquisitions (or xbox in terms of the console or even the ecosystem in general if we are being honest) is dead or barely on life support if we are being nice, this is also made worse by the fact we haven’t seen may massive changes in the cloud space meaning odds are people were likely too pre mature with that sectors growth as it feels like it will take another 10 years minimum for that to become main stream as for most people it doesn’t even feel feasable
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