There were a series of rumours where people said they had heard Microsoft was acquiring multiple companies. It started out as 3, then it became 5, then eventually 7 just before the event. Those 3 companies were among the names going around. Of course, they announced… nothing. Then 7 months later bought ABK instead.
There was almost certainly a lot of telephone-game going on. Grubb for example “heard” some of these things but in reality it was probably just all of the other journalists in his network asking him if he’d heard these rumours. When you start hearing things like that coming from multiple places it can lead to fake things being kind of bootstrapped into perceived credibility.
I know some of this points have been said already but an acquisition of cdpr could bring a lot to xbox
-CDPR may have interest in being bought now that Techland is with tencent, they could became a strong competitor in Poland, who knows if they will create a Fantasy RPG that could rival The Witcher
CD Projekt Red has experience in the transmedia sector with an Asian focus.
They are working on multiple games such as Cyberpunk, The Witcher remake, The Witcher 4 and a new IP, they already stopped focusing on one game per generation
-They own the IPs of The Witcher and Cyberpunk which have a ton of value, they are also designing a new IP
Making a AAA game takes time, look at Obsidian Avowed taking +5 years to develop or Starfield, having several developers working on them could decrease the wait
It would be the endgame, imagine obsidian being able to make a new kotor or double fine working on monkey island again, I am sure bethesda will be happy to continue working on indiana jones and who know what else could come from this acquisition
The truth is that I would really like them to buy Disney but there are several things that could affect Microsoft and Xbox in the long run, for starters they would have to pay all their debts in addition to maintaining various things like their parks, Disney Plus will need a lot of content and I think that Microsoft already has enough dealing with gamepass, I fear that Xbox will not continue to receive the same support from Microsoft or worse is that they would have to close some studios in the future because Disney will need much more investment over the years, that is why I prefer them to stay away from that industry since it is a complete disaster right now
The Disney catalog is so huge, I think that any Xbox studio would be able to develop a major game based on this universe, and that would also concern future Xbox studios. I can absolutely imagine studios like Eidos, Crystal Dynamics, People Can Fly, Crytek, Asobo, Certain Affinity, IOI, Gearbox developing these types of games. There would be a lot of potential with this merger, even if it does not directly concern video games.
Yes, I agree with you. Investing in this industry would necessarily reduce Microsoft’s future investment in video games. This is the negative point of this acquisition. The most logical thing would be to continue to invest in gaming, which is the most profitable entertainment industry.
There are few studios that can compete with CDPR. It is not a studio that will supply the GP with a large catalog or regular releases, but each of their releases is an event that marks the industry. To me CDPR is the European Rockstar, and it would be a huge win for Xbox if they joined the family.
I still think SEGA + Square Enix would be the best way to complete publisher acquisitions for Xbox. It perfectly matches Xbox’s needs for PC, Mobile, Asia and GP. This is a golden opportunity for Xbox to achieve its goals and become an industry leader.
Regulatory changes occur overtime. Hard to rule anything out. Even something like Take Two if it’s during the right political and regulatory environment.
If you have to choose a final publisher, SEGA should be the priority. Then, Xbox can complete its acquisitions with studios. I wish Microsoft would get Gearbox, Eidos and Crystal from Embracer. I also think that Nordisk Games would bring interesting studios to the Xbox family. There are also partner studios like IOI, Crytek, People Can Fly, Asobo, Certain Affinity, Rebellion, Remedy, Don’t Nod, Iron Galaxy… Buy some Japanese studios like Platinum Games. Finally, CDPR could be the icing on the cake. A great team to forge the future of Xbox.
I hope that shoe drops in the next week. Hoping MS was in talks over the past year and all they need to do is sign the agreement the moment the ABK deal is done and announce it the same day.
I can’t help but think that this whole ABK ordeal restricted MS’s ability for M&A in all aspects of their business, most especially gaming.
Maybe to avoid the attention of these regulatory bodies they’re just going to pick up a bunch of studios. I’m more than fine with that. Support studios, reinforcing existing partnerships, and saving financially struggling teams like Telltale Games would be fantastic news for all parties including gamers.
