Aside from Nintendo, the one that’ll break hearts is From Software.
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Yes and no.
What I mean by that with Sony switching to more of a Games as a service type game company for PlayStation I see great potential for Xbox, if you can get several single player/cinematic games like having Xbox’s own God of War or The Last of Us.
Yet I see that option being more for people buying a Xbox, now if you want to grow your Xbox market and people who already own a Xbox, but don’t have a subscription to Game Pass, you need a publisher.
Now as for making Game Pass get crazy numbers Microsoft needs Take Two. RockStar’s games would do great for boosting Game Pass.
I understand people will say the FTC wouldn’t approve of this, but you have to understand at some point in America there will be a different administration and as we’ve seen in the past Republicans are more supportive of acquisitions like this.
I’m not even saying Biden won’t get reelected, but there will be time when there is new leadership and when that happens I can see them approving of Take Two being bought.
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If they are gonna buy a publisher, it won’t big ones and that they will focus on Asian ones like Sega, Nexon etc., or PC or mobile related(Paradox, Niactic etc.). They will also focus on individual studios that make sense like CD, Eidos, Asobo, Certain Affinity. They can also buy more in Eastern Europe due to cheaper labor like Polish studios(People Can Fly, 11bit), or others like Bohemia Interactive, 4A(from embracer), Crytek(technically Germany lol) and even the Stalker devs(GSC gameworld).
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Personally I want to see xbox going for square just for the reactions
I believe SE or Sega will happen. I think Sega brings way more to the table, but SE would be a very aggressive move with so much online drama. It would make drama from the FFXIII multi-plat announcement seem tame by comparison.
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I agree. If acquired SEGA would bring:
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Sonic which has recently a far more recognizable character with kids thanks to the movies so it could be smart to associate it with Xbox.
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Strong content for those who like Japanese games with Persona, Phantasy Star, SMT, Sakura Wars…etc.
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A really strong candidate to overcame Final Fantasy as the biggest JRPG (if Square keeps botching its potential) with Persona. and a top tier JRPG studio with Atlus.
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Practically the control of the RTS genre with creative assembly, relic entertainment, amplitude studios, two point studios and Sports interactive. The way these studios milk their games with tons of DLC would work with the PC Gamepass model.
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YAKUZA BABY!!!
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Another big mobile push with Robio and Angry Bird.
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A HUGE amount of back catalogue to fuel the gamepass machine.
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Imagine the reaction if final fantasy 9 remake was launched on xbox, I think there is several ips from square that could make a return, also that they will be able to make bigger live service titles like final fantasy xiv instead of foamstars or babylon fall
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Bayonetta back on Xbox would be glorious.
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Do people think there are any Japanese publishers that they would make their titles console exclusive to Xbox?
Capcom gets over half of it’s revenue from PC, so I think they’d be an option to go exclusive without negatively impacting the business too much.
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A Youtuber I follow has a good point. If I was Embracer, I would hold off the sale until Microsoft gets involved. Not because I would choose them to sell my studios, rather have a strong bidding war with other companies. Get more out of them.
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I think we have known for a while that Square has one of the larger mobile presences, the difference is this also includes Kingdom Hearts and Dragon Quest which Square do not technically own.
Microsoft have always been reluctant to work on IP that they don’t outright own, whereas I believe Sega own all their IP which might be the difference here.
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I think at this point they should reasonably be in the clear, Activision should close within a couple weeks. I’d imagine any negotiation or bidding war would take longer than that.
This is true, but Microsoft does have a licensed project in the works with Disney through acquisition (Indiana Jones) and the DQ IP holders have been with the company for decades and stuck through an acquisition already. It wouldn’t be impossible to make deals to maintain these.
Plus, worst case scenario even if they do lose those they still have a mountain of other IP’s and a great set of internal teams that were behind them. Dragon Quest XI in particular was very highly rated.
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It’s interesting to see how the conversation has evolved regarding Xbox Game Studios’ acquisitions. Back when they owned just 4 studios, each new addition was a major talking point. But now, with them owning powerhouses like Activision, discussing every new acquisition seems almost moot in comparison.
I can’t see Microsoft Gaming acquire anything related to console gaming for a while, they might go after more tech oriented gaming purchases though.
They have said in fact during the circus of this acquisition that they intend to acquire more game studios on multiple occasions.
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Indiana Jones isn’t Bethesda pillar franchise though, you can’t compare it to Square Enix top selling franchises like DQ and KH. Those highly rated ips ain’t worth 4b+.
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Because now ABK is almost part of Xbox, I think it’s safe to assume that Xbox will “resume pending acquisition”.
I’m going to say that for now, there is some really obvious candidates for various reasons :
- Eidos Montreal and Crystal Dynamics because both companies are in danger and with IPs like Deus Ex / Thief and Tomb Raider, they really fit in the RPG / Immersive Sim that Xbox is looking to have an almost monopoly. Both are deeply involved in three developments in Xbox ecosystem : Fable, Perfect Dark, South of Midnight. I’m sure we’ll hear about them becoming Xbox studios in the few years to come.
- Asobo, as always, for me it’s a question of when, not if. They’re too valuable as support studio as well as making great action / narrative / cinematographic games, and of course : Flight Simulator wizard. They have they’re precious in house tools, are tech masters and work in close relationship with Turn 10.
- Sega : We talk about them daily I think. They’re pretty much “second party” with all they’re doing to be the “Japan partner” of Xbox. Big history between the two companies and it makes too much sense to bought them in the long run. Might take few years, but the deep relationship will at least make Xbox protect Sega to being bought by someone else or let them sink if they have a bad time. If Xbox buy them, they’ll stay a multiplatform publisher, but all of their games will be Gamepass and maybe new IPs will be exclusive.
- I really think that there’s a world where Square Enix collapse and Xbox make a move to buy them, even if I hate this company.
- Stoic Games after Towerborne : more old Black Isle developers at home.
- I don’t think Xbox should, but maybe they’re thinking to bought Gearbox, history of support Halo and they can make some decent shooter… but just decent.
- People Can Fly have some potential and are working with Xbox already. Why not ?
- Certain Affinity will surely be the second name to show up when you boot up the next Halo. So, well, isn’t it obvious ?
Bonus :
Grounding Inc. White Owl. JP Games. Itagaki Games. Mistwalker. Rabbit and Bear Studios.
Are all the J. companies I’ll see working with Xbox in the near future.
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I am fully expecting mobile devs to be the primary focus. Especially now that Microsoft’s M&A team can use King’s know-how to realistically assess the acquisition target’s value.
Ive brought it up before but Machine Zone Inc makes a ton of sense to me. Huge mobile publisher, not publicly traded. Based in the US.
Technically Microsoft hasn’t bought another studio in almost 2 years. I think it’s time for a few more.
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