hemo memo
Gold Member
Force? If that happens it will benefit both.
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Microsoft Expresses Interest in Acquiring Warner Game Unit
- Thread starter haxan7
- Start date
Force? If that happens it will benefit both.
Bernkastel
Ask me about my fanboy energy!
We heard of MS buying EA and PUBG, and we know how they went.
eastwood333
Banned
Rocksteady is one of the most elite studios in the world. WB Montreal is a major AAA studio now. Monolith is a good
studio.
hemo memo
Gold Member
Then Activision or any publisher but EA.
eastwood333
Banned
I say force, because Sony wouldn't allow Gamepass on PS5 otherwise. Gamepass on PS5 makes Sony zero money and cost them game sells.
Bryank75
Banned
Just a bit confusing since there is a LOTR game being made by Amazon and Leyou
Sega and several others too...
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eastwood333
Banned
I never heard MS buying PUBG from any credible sources. So because MS didn't buy EA(for good reason), mean MS will not ever buy something like WB gaming division? MS baught Minecraft for 3 billion.
eastwood333
Banned
Were those only rumors or like this situation where a reputable source states MS is in the mix?
Bitmap Frogs
Mr. Community
Leyou owns Warframe no?
itsjustJEFF
Member
I hope it doesn't happen, but it's whatever, it does suck to have games that were once available to everyone become exclusive. I just find it funny how the outrage of this happening seems to depend on which side is buying it up.
Bernkastel
Ask me about my fanboy energy!
Microsoft does not to like buying publishers. They would rather buy a small dev and then absorb the talents. Why would they want Monolith when they have Obsidian, InXile and Playground Games?
Bryank75
Banned
No idea, just what I read in passing... some random reddit post that gained traction or Brad Sams or something.
eastwood333
Banned
WB Gaming Division is a different matter. You're getting 3/4 elite,diverse AAA studios. This is not a rumor. MS is indeed in talks according to the source. The publishing side would be broken down. The studios themselves would be untouched.
And as I said prior, MS would acquire licensing deals just like Sony did with Spiderman,which went on to sell over 10 million copies on a single platform.
There are a lot of reason this deal would make sense for MS.
Bernkastel
Ask me about my fanboy energy!
eastwood333
Banned
I don't know, why would any Major platform want to expand and improve after getting their launch ate this gen? Sounds like a naive question. Sony still has the upper hand in terms of 1st party. InXile is no Rocksteady. InXile is a small team that makes isometric games currently.
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Bitmap Frogs
Mr. Community
That IP has a massive brand recognition.
CatLady
Selfishly plays on Xbox Purr-ies X
I would imagine they do. They bought Turbine Games which had acquired the rights from the Tolkein family when were making LotRO. Turbine is now WB Boston..
eastwood333
Banned
Didn't know that. WB also owns Avalanche Studios(not the Just Cause dev)
Bernkastel
Ask me about my fanboy energy!
They said the same thing for Sega and PUBG.
Why wont they ? NetEase just got Ryosuke Yoshida for their new studio. Its more economical to acquire the talents then the studios. You have not seen how much InXile and other new XGS studios have been hiring recently.
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VincentMatts
Member
MS has gamepass now. They have a service to fill up with 1st party games so people subscribe and stay subscribed. Buying studios allow for that. The more you have, the faster GP fills up.
eastwood333
Banned
Yup and this would help MS achieve that goal of having a big game release every 2-3 months
Mhmmm 2077
Member
That's the best possible scenario tbh.
LarknThe4th
Member
Honestly imagine the statement that MS could make with buying them dev houses and letting them make original IP designed to compete directly with PS studios, it would make Gamepass a force in the industry(which is the endgame of Xbox anyway)
eastwood333
Banned
I disagree again. You have elite studios that are already in tact with their own culture with world class talent ready to start making game immediately. Building studios from the ground up(The Initiative) takes forever.
InXile hired a former GOW combat designer and a few other hires. That's a good sign. But if u have the chance to acquire Rocksteady, WB Montreal, Monolith, NetherRealm etc...along with getting licensing deals for Batman or even a future Superman etc... people will flock to Xbox and its ecosystem. Those are system sellers.
As it stand, Sony still has a great upper hand in 1st party. It would also be a big win for Gamepass and Xbox ecosystem vs tech giants like Amazon and Google. Means none of those will ever grace Amazon, Apple,Google, Facebook platforms.
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Vawn
Banned
They're still for everybody. Everybody can buy whatever consoles they want. I actually miss the days where every console I owned had almost a fully unique and exclusive library.
Still, let's hold off. How many companies are there left where we haven't heard rumors that Microsoft would purchase them? They're almost always false.
Mochilador
Member
A Harry Potter third person shooter. You can use magic to create cover.
SleepDoctor
Banned
Not sure how plausible this is but MK vs SF and Batman vs Spiderman is pretty interesting imho.
TheCrimsnFuckr
Member
I mean, buying those studios and have a say 5 year hold of the licenses for various WB properties (especially those with games in the works) would be pretty good. I doubt that a lot of those games would be exclusive to Xbox (Lego and a few others would definitely be multi-platform) but having those WB games day one on Game Pass (Batman, Harry Potter RPG, all Lego games) would be a huge get for MS and I can see them being willing to buy the studios.
Additionally, even though they won't get many IPs (Fear and Mortal Kombat being it pretty much off the top of my head), they will get an additional 10 studios with 5 of them being studios capable of making AAA games (although, TT games pretty much only makes Lego, so they are limited).
I still feel like they aren't that good of a fit for Xbox Games Studios though, but I am not one familiar with their inner workings
Additionally, even though they won't get many IPs (Fear and Mortal Kombat being it pretty much off the top of my head), they will get an additional 10 studios with 5 of them being studios capable of making AAA games (although, TT games pretty much only makes Lego, so they are limited).
I still feel like they aren't that good of a fit for Xbox Games Studios though, but I am not one familiar with their inner workings
Mortal Kombat Vs Killer Instinct finally
But honestly I'm not much of a Mortal Kombat fan, love the lore, characters and story which I watch on YouTube. But I just hate MK gameplay.
My dream scenario is for Capcom to buy Netherealm but that won't happen. It would be the best of both world, MK retaining its presentation, story but refine the gameplay and animation.
But honestly I'm not much of a Mortal Kombat fan, love the lore, characters and story which I watch on YouTube. But I just hate MK gameplay.
My dream scenario is for Capcom to buy Netherealm but that won't happen. It would be the best of both world, MK retaining its presentation, story but refine the gameplay and animation.
hyperbertha
Member
Owning the warner bros gaming unit doesn't mean owing the IP's they've been working with. Batman, harry potter etc will still release on sony systems. The best MS can do is make new ip with the studios.
eastwood333
Banned
No. The logical step would be for MS to acquire the rights to Batman, Superman or whatever. Just like Sony did with Spiderman.
The new WB Montreal Batman and Rocksteady Suicide Squad games would remain multiplat of course since they're already deep into development.
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eastwood333
Banned
I think MS's play would be to get Gamepass on PS5. For example, if MS wants Gamepass on PS5, then make that the only way to play those games on PS5, otherwise you'll have to get an Xbox or play on PC. Would Sony allow Gamepass on PS5 in order to get the next Batman etc on their platform?
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00_Zer0
Member
I enjoy PC gaming the most and while own all consoles this gen I only subscribe to 2 services. The first is Nintendo online because it's cheap, and my son uses online for Minecraft and Splatoon, and the second is XBox Live/Gamepass. This works out the best for me as I am only interested in single player experiences on my PS4 Pro. You can't beat the value of XBox Live Gold/Gamepass. I enjoy the benefits of Gamepass on PC as well.
I think all the WB studios would be in safer hands at Microsoft than with EA or Activision. These studios would add so much more value to Gamepass which already has great value. It would be quite over the top after acquiring these WB studios.
As for Mortal Kombat and any DC property, I look for those games to be multiplatform and cross play enabled, but there will be a focus from Microsoft to have all these games available to GamePass subscribers on day one of their release.
I know it won't happen but I would love to see some kind of mash up fighter of MK vs. KI. One possible worry would be that since Mortal Kombat is more popular than Killer Instinct that perhaps Microsoft may put it on the back burner altogether in favor of the Mortal Kombat series.
I think all the WB studios would be in safer hands at Microsoft than with EA or Activision. These studios would add so much more value to Gamepass which already has great value. It would be quite over the top after acquiring these WB studios.
As for Mortal Kombat and any DC property, I look for those games to be multiplatform and cross play enabled, but there will be a focus from Microsoft to have all these games available to GamePass subscribers on day one of their release.
I know it won't happen but I would love to see some kind of mash up fighter of MK vs. KI. One possible worry would be that since Mortal Kombat is more popular than Killer Instinct that perhaps Microsoft may put it on the back burner altogether in favor of the Mortal Kombat series.
hyperbertha
Member
I'm just saying based on the headline and the info we have so far, I don't think that conclusion can be made. Can they acquire the rights? Yes. But it would require far larger sums of money than just acquiring the studios and WB's willingness to limit their IPs to MS.
Daffy Duck
Member
Oh boy...if they bought those studios....wow.
REE Machine
Banned
If MS gets those ip's consider them as good as dead in the water, EA style.
Iced Arcade
Member
That would be insane.
In one swift swoop batman, lotr, mk, Rocksteady etc would all suddenly become terrible. Keyboard pieces and rage will fill the air.
In one swift swoop batman, lotr, mk, Rocksteady etc would all suddenly become terrible. Keyboard pieces and rage will fill the air.
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eastwood333
Banned
I'm sure licensing rights would be heavily tied to a potential acquisition of WB Gaming Division. Not just for MS, but EA, Activision,etc as well. I think the main draw to acquiring these studios would be to continue making Batman etc...
lastmessiah
Member
Wow what? I don't have any interest in these IPs or games with licensed properties so I guess I don't see what the big deal is. Is anyone really dying for another Harry Potter video game?
Daffy Duck
Member
It’s not just the access to the IP’s, it’s the talent on tap at the studios they would acquire, that’s a lot of top tier talent (assuming they would stick around after the acquisition).
lastmessiah
Member
What have they worked on that demonstrates top tier talent?
00_Zer0
Member
I look for whoever buys all these WB studios to publish whatever completed/nearly completed games there are and have a guanteed license of the DC Universe/Lego/Harry Potter/LotR for 5-10 years. Game studios like NetherRealm and the Midway Arcade properties, the new owner would own the ips of those studios outright and wouldn't have to get licensing from WB. Only a guess of course, but it seems reasonable that no buyer would go ahead with a deal without a certain guarantee about the WB/DC licensed properties.
Andodalf
Banned
Uhhhhhh yes? That could be massive
OptimistPrime
Member
This would be a great move if they did this. NetherRealm, Monolith and Rocksteady would be really awesome first party studios to have. TT and other studios are very capable and at the very least could create small projects or be used to assist other studio projects.
Another huge win for this which I haven't seen a lot of people mention is that presumably the full back-catalog would be added to GamePass. That's a lot of great games from the last couple of decades.
My bet is that the exclusive IPs would come with this deal, at least for a period of time. It adds lots of value to these studios, and if WB/AT&T are wanting to extract value from their IP they would either sell the rights or open up new studios (which wouldn't make much sense given that they are selling the studios to begin with). Selling them together seems like the best option, and they probably don't care if the IPs make it to PlayStation or not, as long as they get their money out of it.
But if the deal excluded the IPs, it would likely be cheaper and still be a great talent addition for Microsoft.
Another huge win for this which I haven't seen a lot of people mention is that presumably the full back-catalog would be added to GamePass. That's a lot of great games from the last couple of decades.
My bet is that the exclusive IPs would come with this deal, at least for a period of time. It adds lots of value to these studios, and if WB/AT&T are wanting to extract value from their IP they would either sell the rights or open up new studios (which wouldn't make much sense given that they are selling the studios to begin with). Selling them together seems like the best option, and they probably don't care if the IPs make it to PlayStation or not, as long as they get their money out of it.
But if the deal excluded the IPs, it would likely be cheaper and still be a great talent addition for Microsoft.
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Daffy Duck
Member
I dunno I think they made a small Batman game series and that niche fighting game, Mortal something....cant remember what it’s called. That’s just from those two.
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FacelessSamurai
..but cry so much I wish I had some
According to what we’ve heard from Phil on interviews recently, why they could buy it, the Xbox division itself doesn’t have this kind of budget, so I could see MS as a whole buying it but it’d most likely keep their big franchises multiplatform although having it all come day 1 on Gamepass and xCloud would be a power move imo.
Do it MS!
Do it MS!
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