After seeing the news about hyenas being cancelled I wonder what type of games we could see from creative assembly if they had the resources to work on stuff that they want, it would be amazing to see another alien isolation from them
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True Microsoft does gain a lot already from Sega, but I think Sega still needs helps. Some of their IPs have gone MIA and would need both the financing and Game Pass audience to resurge. I also think some of their current IPs could use the help to get to the next level.
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Xbox needs:
- Develop on mobile
- Maintain good growth on PC
- Develop in Asia
- Increase GP content
Acquiring SEGA and Square Enix would allow Microsoft to achieve all of these objectives. SEGA is one of the largest content publishers for the PC. Square Enix has one of the biggest MMO games (FF14). Square Enix develops many mobile games. SEGA has just acquired Rovio. SEGA and Square Enix are the two best JRPG developers. They would help develop Xbox marketing in Japan. Both publishers have a huge back catalog and regular game releases. This would be a real argument for GP.
In my opinion, SEGA + Square Enix is the key to taking Xbox to the next level. They meet the needs mentioned by Phil Spencer, and would allow Xbox to have a wide variety of games for all players. I don’t know if it will happen, but it might be the best strategy right now.
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I doubt that they will be able to buy both but who knows, I think each one offers a ton of value for xbox, with sega they can diversify their portfolio a lot more aswell have several generations of games at your power, xbox could use it to attract people that has nostalgia for their older games aswell bring back several franchises, and then you have their mobile and pc divisions to put xbox in a higher position on those markets
While square enix has a strong position ln japan with their ips, they still offer some of the best jrpgs in the industry and I am sure most of us want them to move away from live service titles but maybe with more support they could go make more mmo games like final fantasy 14
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I don’t think Japan will allow both. It would have to be one of the 2 also SE doesn’t own Dragon Quest which will factor in. I don’t see SE happening Sega is a possibility and one that needs to be explored. The current closures and layoffs are already hitting one of Sega’s studios “Creative Assembly.” Sega recently also acquired Rovio. They might need help which might even be why they are all in on Game Pass.
This is an unprecedented situation, so it’s difficult to say what is possible or not. I think Japan should not object if it is not a hostile takeover. Now if we have to choose one, it will obviously be SEGA. But Xbox is really weak in Japan so I think acquiring these two publishers might be necessary . We already have four Western publishing branches (Xbox, Bethesda, Activision, Blizzard), bringing two Asian publishing branches would create an interesting balance. I don’t expect miracles regarding console sales in Japan, but investing there could help change Japanese gamers’ minds about Xbox. I also don’t expect games to become exclusive. There would probably be a few exclusive games, but I think most of the games from SEGA and Square Enix would continue to be released on Nintendo and Playstation consoles. I think it’s an interesting strategy. I don’t know if that will happen. There are other interesting strategies, but this one allows you to fill all the boxes for less than 10 billion.
I don’t even want two Japanese publisher acquisitions. I’ll take one and then continued investment in their growth/expansion. Two is excessive IMO.
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Yeah I’ve responded to fanboys by cheekily saying that Microsoft needs to go for SEGA + Capcom, but the reality is I think just one would be appropriate.
Most of my opinion is rooted in the idea of purchasing too much and having too large a share of Japanese console devs, but I think most people would agree that logistically there are simply too many teams to manage, a point of diminishing returns, along with some self-cannibalization with first party titles competing with each other to a needless degree.
Although I’m not a fan of the direct Netflix comparisons because I think Game Pass goes well beyond the Netflix (and Spotify) model as it allows for game purchases, DLC, and MTX (none of which exist on those platforms), I think it is fair to look at how Netflix approves and cancels products. They can’t fund an enormous amount of content and expect to turn a profit. They need to be selective and tighten the belt once in a while. We have to expect the same, here.
Also, if Xbox has 50 Dev teams and 3 were thinking of making platformers, ideally Xbox would approve them all but it’s more likely you’d see them recognize that they’ll cannibalize each other and encourage at least one of those teams to reconsider. Or at least stagger their development and releases so that they do not take attention away from each other.
I don’t know how accurate this is but it’s been theorized that the Persona games have been stealing sales and mindshare from the Final Fantasy games. If there is some truth to that it demonstrates what I’m talking about.
This is why I would rather Microsoft cover all the bases (regions, genres, team sizes, game scope from indie to AAA, and monetization from $70 single player experiences to live services to arcade games) and not have too much of one thing (WRPGs would be too prevalent if they picked up CDPR).
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I feel capcom is off the table due to recent success. On the other hand, i feel Sega or square is possible. I still feel sega is the better fit
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I feel like Sega would also be the clear choice. Not only would they provide some high end Japanese content. They would provide a lot of studios based in various talent pools through the UK and Europe. All three are large growth markets, with the UK and Europe likely being easier to further establish Xbox than in Japan.
Adding Sega also comes with that absolutely massive back catalog. Imagine Xbox being able to advertise Xbox Gamepass with over 500 games (locked in purely from first party) and probably 6-10 headline AAA releases per year. Yeah they’d have to port a lot, but oh well, easy way to fill gamepass and bring new titles frequently that stay in gamepass.
Adding the mobile portion with Rovio and some of the Sonic stuff is just a bonus.
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Yeah I don’t think they need two
I’m still of the opinion that it will be either SEGA or Square, either of those will bring regular content to the platform and a treasure trove of past titles
They already have a great relationship with SEGA so maybe they double down on that and make it official or maybe since they already have a good relationship they go with Square instead so they essentially have both going forward
Konami makes no sense, Koei doesn’t offer enough, Bandai have too many licenses and other interests and Capcom have never been doing better so I simply don’t see them feeling like wanting to sell unless they got an absurd offer but even then, I don’t think they have much in terms of mobile so maybe MS wouldn’t be interested anyway
While SEGA probably makes more sense in terms of what they offer across every area, console/PC/mobile/variety etc, Square would still be a huge asset to have
You’d have a bunch of franchises including FF that would forever be attached to the platform and having that series and everything else come Day 1 brings in an audience that you likely wouldn’t have had before
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Besides ff I dont know if the others ips from square would make an impact on xbox, the nier saga has already ended and they would still need to make deals for dragon quest and kingdom hearts
I think that they should continue making those small jrpgs games like octopath traveller and share them with nintendo
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I don’t think that DQ and KH are that troublesome as it seems. DQ is partially owned by Square if i’m not mistaken, so they do have some voice with the franchise. KH it’s a hard franchise to be made by other publisher and Disney seems quite open on how to deal with their IPs.
Maybe not like sega, but square has a quite good trove of IPs worth bringing back, Chrono Trigger, Evo is quite interesting, Parasite Eve, TWEWY. And they still hold some franchises of former Square West like Life is Strange, Just Cause.
And totally agree with the small games, there’s some really good stuff there.
Edit: correction about Dragon Quest, fully owned by Armor project as corrected by @BellaBundy, sorry for the mistake.
DQ is owned entirely by Armor Project, Hori’s own company, the Creator of the IP. Armor Project simply has an exclusive licensing agreement with Square. Though that agreement was made before Square and Enix merged, so the agreement folded over to the new entity, so an acquisition may not nullify the agreement.
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Oh, thanks for that, really good to know 
I wish we could see several ips back but we know how square treat their previous games, in some cases they need to deal with the directors like tetsuya nomura, he doesnt let anybody touch the franchises created by him(kh, twewy, ff7) the same goes with yoko taro and the drakengard franchise, heck he even said that the nier saga is already done so we shouldnt expect a new game from it
I think it would be better to make brand new ips, let people associate those with the xbox brand from the start
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Well, Microsoft can also buy SEGA and create an XGS Japan with a few studios that have a good relationship with Xbox and SEGA. I’ve listed a few that might be interesting:
- Platinum Games (Action/BTA)
- Cyberconnect2 (Action/RPG/Combat)
- Marvelous Games (RPG/Simulation)
- Artplay Inc (Metroidvania)
- Inti Creates (Castlevania/Megaman like)
- Arzest (Platform)
- Rabbit and Bear Studios (Suikoden like)
- Vanillaware (A-RPG/Tactical)
- Bokeh Game Studio (Horror)
This is an interesting option to bring more creativity to XGS and see these studios grow with Xbox.
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But has Microsoft worked with any of those studios. I think it’s more likely they would be exploring the studios in their Game Pass portfolio like Level-5, Artisan, Spike ChunSoft and Arc System Works and of course Sega.
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Well, Level-5 hates Xbox since True Fantasy Live Online was canceled. Spike ChunSoft is owned by Kadokawa. Artisan Studio is a French studio. And I think Arc System Works would prefer to continue working on manga adaptations.
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