SEGA should be a priority, but Square Enix could be a good complement. If you want a huge drama, they should buy Capcom, but Square Enix is also a good acquisition for drama. But it’s likely that the games will continue to be released on Playstation (see FTC documents for SEGA), so it wouldn’t really matter.
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I would think that at some point the value proposition would just be so great with gamepass that it could flip console sales.
I hope Xbox goes for some independent studios next, maybe salvage Crystal Dynamics and some other studios from Embracer, I’m worried about the Tomb Raider franchise 
A Capcom button 
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They filled paperwork stating that they are going to acquire more studios well after they announced thier intent to aquire ABK, also with the juicy leaks we got last week there’s telling signs that Microsoft isn’t going to stop with the acquisition for a while, plus with Phil delaying starfield and RedFall leaving Gamepass with huge viod and apologizing to the company saying this unacceptable I bet right after ABK closes we will get more acquisition .
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I’ll throw a name out there i haven’t heard before: Frogwares.
If you’ve never played their games, They’re really interesting and there’s not much out their like them. I’d love to see what they could do with a bigger budget and better tech support. Kinda Compulsion esque in that sense.
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Another one people don’t really talk about is Owlcats, who made Pathfinder and Warhammer CRPG’s, never played their games but people in the WRPG community seem to regard them in a tier similar to Larian. With the success of BG3 in the PC space, Microsoft could get an underrated gem with this studio( their own Larian). Make it happen Phil, would be good for the PC initiative they are pushing.
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They’re very good , but major issue seems to be budget and optimized games . However, there is major potential with them
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Yeah, but with Microsoft money they can be very special, reminds me of Divinity era Larian.
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WOTR showed how good they are because it’s obvious it needed more funds to reach top level . I agree that with Microsoft funding the potential is endless with them
People often regard Wrath of the Righteous as one of the best CRPG’s of modern times, up there with Pillars of Eternity, Divinity, and BG3. The only big complaint about wrath of the Righteous is that it released notoriously bug ridden, and poorly optimized, two things that can be fixed by money and manpower. Owlcats is the perfect example of a studio that stands to gain massively from a bigger budget and additional manpower. In the CRPG community, Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous is considered a masterpiece.
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The only problem I see with them is they are Russian, but if Microsoft is willing to take that risk then that could be a step into the Russian game market.
Gaming is really about to explode in Russia and having a foot in the door could help sell many Xbox consoles, but like I said it would be a risk, which I don’t think that Microsoft wants to get into, right now.
I think they moved the studio to Cyprus and considered themselves International than Russian(for good reason of course). They have staff from Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine but they are trying to expand in other European countries I think. They are also considered to more Liberal minded I heard, an antithesis to Putin. Many other tech companies are fleeing Russia though, they see the writing in the wall.
Anyway, Microsoft should invest big in Central/Eastern Europe(for gaming), because that is the next goldmine for talented developers and it’s not as expensive as let’s say England to hire talent there.
If you think about it there is nothing that could stop xbox from buying capcom, they own all their ips and they dont have business in other markets like sega and square, they want to grow on pc and their live service titles could do well with gamepass, still I think their is a higher chance that xbox will go for the other 2 but capcom would be a huge deal for their portfolio, I just wonder if nintendo would have any problem with that because they have worked a lot with capcom lately especially with the monster hunter franchise
Owlcat seems to have their head in the right place but Microsoft is extremely unlikely to purchase any Russian company or company with a large fraction of their workforce located in Russia.
Owlcat is one of several Russian companies that vaguely report they are “Cyprus based” with “international teams” but this is a thin legal fiction to help avoid sanctions and international banking issues, almost all of their staff are in Russia.
Anybody at Microsoft doing bizdev is going to categorise something like this as too risky post-2022, but even prior to that it was fairly unlikely.
It’s too bad that Capcom doesn’t have much mobile presence, kinda feel like that takes them off the board.
If I was Xbox, I would absolutely buy a mobile only publisher next, because theres no chance anyones blocking that. People couldnt come up with any argument against it. They basically dont even care to review a mobile only purchase.
Take the easy wins that are ahead imo.
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Well after seeing the acquisition lists aswell the statement from phil and his team is clear that they are not focused on mobile games only
What are the biggest mobile only publishers you believe are good targets?
Garena, Machine Zone Inc, Cygames, NCSoft (they are just dipping into console now), and Netmarble are a few that would make a lot of sense.
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I’m selfish, so I hope whoever they acquire benefits them across console, PC, and mobile lol.
Need to get Sega to turn the yakuza cabaret mini game into a mobile game, haha
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