Well now thats a good opinion on their state, and it makes me see sega and capcom with other perspective, they arent in a bad spot which could end with an acquisition so I dont expect them being the next ones just as square
The former BioWare devs would be a great pickup as well
I agree. It would be nice to see Bethesda build another team or studio like they did with Roundhouse with the former Deep Silver Volition devs.
Think things beginning to hit the fan, studio closures or layoffs and stupid decisions like this unity nonsense. the surprise is going to be how the market corrects itself. This will be a good chance for Microsoft to maybe acquire an engine developer like Crytek maybe even Unity and help with a fix for indie developers.
Buy Metacritic, change their media weighting, include all media reviews, not just the select few. Lump outlets that submit multiple scores into a single weighted average. Integrate metacritic with the the windows store. Profit 
Alternatively buy it and close it 
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Never going to happen. That will be looking for trouble. Best thing they can do is make their own review site say a GamePass one and promote it as industry standard. Metacritic in my opinion is only popular because of consoles and isn’t popular with casuals. As GamePass and subscription services grows Metacritic’s relevance will fall.
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Back to acquisitions in light of all that is happening with the Unity fiasco. I think it would be in Xbox’s interest to consider buying up a Game engine developer like Crytek or maybe even Unity. No one knows when Epic may decide to do something silly especially with their stunt with Apple and Google.
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I dont know if xbox wants to go for unity after abk because they will need to fix a lot of stuff but who knows
Maybe xbox could use it to attract more indies, crytek is good but isnt that easy to use
The challenge of integrating ABK will be real. This is a good point. Could be another reason to just purchase some good efficient independent studios that need some cash and tech but not much change otherwise.
I am staring at Asobo, IOI, Supergiant, People Can Fly, Team Cherry, and Hazelight Studios.
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Agreed. However, I do think Xbox would want to offer something here. Cry engine might be tough to work with but it’s quite matured and with Microsoft’s investment it could be something really viable just look at what Turn 10 said about rebuilding their Forza tech. The engine will now be able to make changes on the fly a problem the SlipSpace engine encountered. It’s true that going after Unity after ABK might not be something Xbox wants however this is just how the ABK thing started with criticism after criticism that led to the value falling and Xbox sweeping in. There is a chance Epic games might even sweep in and that would be really bad.
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Epic buying Unity would definitely have monopoly alarm bells ringing, so it wouldn’t happen.
These are the two big engines on the market and most people couldn’t tell you who else is licensing their game engines, so zero chance that happens.
If regulators are doing all they can to stop ABK from getting bought, I doubt they’d say this should be approved.
Even CDPR isn’t using their own engine anymore and is now using Unreal, so making Epic Games even having a bigger hold on the video game market won’t fly.
While I think cryengine could become a powerful engine it will take a long time until developers consider it a option like unity or unreal, although epic owns most of the market unity has a good position with indies and mobile titles and it could be an advantage for idxbox and azure
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The Nintendo Direct drives home the idea that SEGA needs to be acquired by Xbox. At this stage, even Sony or Nintendo would be decent options too.
Sonic Team’s recent comments on Sonic, which aren’t exactly wrong but I’d argue unnecessary and demonstrates a lack of vision for the character, when contrasted to the output of Mario titles from Nintendo demonstrates a chasm in thinking that demonstrates why Mario is incredibly massive and Sonic is only made relevant through his fans and content created from other companies other than SEGA (comics, movies, TV shows).
I know MS is hands off but reframing SEGA as a first party studio again and giving them the responsibility to create system sellers, GP sub drivers, and an increased pressure in exploring its IP could be enough to cause a shift.
The lack of a Sonic Mania 2 (or a Christian Whitehead + Headcanon Sonic 4 Remake) is one thing but looking at Nintendo it looks like SEGA is missing every opportunity here.
Mario vs Donkey Kong is in some respects a DK remake. Why isn’t Sega remaking Sonic Spinball (with 3D visuals it could look awesome)? Luigi getting his own game is like Tails getting his own… Why aren’t we seeing that? Peach getting her own is like a ton of other side characters getting their own games, why aren’t we seeing those?
F-Zero 99 was something that I was hoping would happen to the Outrun series. I always thought that Outrun would be perfect for Battle Royale game, where instead of a branching progression, racers are funneled down to new areas until there’s one final track (think of reversing the map). MTX in the form of cars, drift effects, emotes as you pass the competition… It’s like printing money.
SEGA as a 3rd party needs every release to be a home run, or a triple at least. But as a first party they can afford it hit bunts, or even strike out.
And look at Nintendo’s titles and see that they’re creating software that likely feature 12 to 18 month development times. Maybe 24. With team sizes that likely dwarf in comparison to most AAA games. We’re talking about reasonable dev costs.
A Sonic 4 remake on Sonic Mania engine would have a reduced dev time in comparison to SM. Probably 12 months with a relatively small team. A return of 1 million units sold would seem likely. A first party SEGA would make that happen.
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I would just like to see them give the SONIC IP the same kind of treatment they gave ORI. A triple A budget with a talented team that can fashion a solid story around the characters and the universe. SONIC PRIME for example is pretty good but the Sonic games have pretty much forgettable stories. Perhaps have someone like Tim Schaefer oversee or give tips cos Psychonauts 1 and 2 were spectacular.
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Thank you very much for the insight you bring about the Japanese market 
Thoughts? I feel like it’s probably nothing, BUT the possibilities are exciting haha.
https://twitter.com/flintdawg8208/status/1702877459421511719?t=mIaVFhdMcTguO9uRwoDujQ&s=19
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I would say it’s nothing as his words are something like 25 studios
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A nothing burger. Any acquisition over 100 million has to notify the FTC. Everything Xbox does has the eyes of regulators.
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Just an easy round off.
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Don’t forget about Microsoft Casual Games