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Microsoft are going to announce The Acquisition of SEGA next Wednesday (Believe!)

They bought Skype for 8.5 Billion and basically ran it into the ground. They bought Nokia for 7 and pretty much abandoned it. Its not whether they "want" to lose or not, its whether its going to make money, and if it can survive them running it, usually horribly.

They bought Skype and it's now the backbone of Microsoft Teams--any money they make off of it at this point is gravy, as it's been rolled up and improved upon in the Microsoft Office suite.

Nokia was bought for patents, plain and simple.

Neither of these acquisitions, nor what happened to them, suggest malfeasance or incompetence on the part of Microsoft.

Also, we're spinning our wheels on Microsoft, meanwhile EA is preparing the pit for BioWare's corpse to join the rest of the companies it absorbed and put down.
 
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BRZBlue

Member
They bought Skype and it's now the backbone of Microsoft Teams--any money they make off of it at this point is gravy, as it's been rolled up and improved upon in the Microsoft Office suite.

I work for an extremely large food vending company that's part of an even larger company. We use teams as basically a glorified dropbox. Wanna guess what we use for remote meetings? Hint: It ain't Teams.
 
For all of the supposed MS mistakes, they seem to be doing really well financially. Keep in mind that they make multiple acquisitions every year, some blockbusters and some that barely picque any interest. For the most part, they seem to do really well with them.

Mixer was a recent acquisition that turned out terribly though. I'm surprised that it didn't better because the quality and tech behind Mixer was better than Twitch. I guess it goes to show how hard it is to break into established areas.
 
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MastaKiiLA

Member
I work for an extremely large food vending company that's part of an even larger company. We use teams as basically a glorified dropbox. Wanna guess what we use for remote meetings? Hint: It ain't Teams.
I groan when a customer or partner asks me to use Skype for communications. Literally anything else is better: FB Messenger, Hangouts/Meet, Zoom, or even Bluejeans. I even use Slack's shitty online calls before I touch Skype. A poison on my laptop, that I only keep installed because some people still insist on using it. Slack for messaging my team, FB Messenger and Line app for my friends, and Meet for team calls. Skype is an absolute turd, and only became so after MS took over. I'll never touch Teams, unless forced to by work.
 

jshackles

Gentlemen, we can rebuild it. We have the capability to make the world's first enhanced store. Steam will be that store. Better than it was before.
52b06f1b6bb3f7c8609b44ca
 

BRZBlue

Member
I groan when a customer or partner asks me to use Skype for communications. Literally anything else is better: FB Messenger, Hangouts/Meet, Zoom, or even Bluejeans. I even use Slack's shitty online calls before I touch Skype. A poison on my laptop, that I only keep installed because some people still insist on using it. Slack for messaging my team, FB Messenger and Line app for my friends, and Meet for team calls. Skype is an absolute turd, and only became so after MS took over. I'll never touch Teams, unless forced to by work.

Yeah, its pretty much only Zoom at this point for us.
 

splattered

Member
This thread should be closed down ASAP so a brand new one can be opened tomorrow when Sega announces the acquisition/partnership with Microsoft during their own timeslot :p The Japanese public will take the news better coming from Sega themselves vs Microsoft announcing it.
 

Kimahri

Banned
I work for an extremely large food vending company that's part of an even larger company. We use teams as basically a glorified dropbox. Wanna guess what we use for remote meetings? Hint: It ain't Teams.

Good for you? Everyone is using teams here all of a sudden, both in public and private sector.
 

Nikana

Go Go Neo Rangers!
They bought Skype and it's now the backbone of Microsoft Teams--any money they make off of it at this point is gravy, as it's been rolled up and improved upon in the Microsoft Office suite.

Nokia was bought for patents, plain and simple.

Neither of these acquisitions, nor what happened to them, suggest malfeasance or incompetence on the part of Microsoft.

Also, we're spinning our wheels on Microsoft, meanwhile EA is preparing the pit for BioWare's corpse to join the rest of the companies it absorbed and put down.
Nokia was bought for more than patents.
 
I work for an extremely large food vending company that's part of an even larger company. We use teams as basically a glorified dropbox. Wanna guess what we use for remote meetings? Hint: It ain't Teams.

You’re still paying for Microsoft software which is all Microsoft cares about.
 

Kazza

Member
Is there a good Sega franchise with decent PC ports? (genuine question)

Bayonetta and Vanquished both got great ports, as did Binary Domain. The Sonic games (All Stars Racing, Generations) all play much better than their console counterparts. As others have said, the Yakuza ports are great too.
 

Fat Frog

I advertised for Google Stadia
Bayonetta and Vanquished both got great ports, as did Binary Domain. The Sonic games (All Stars Racing, Generations) all play much better than their console counterparts. As others have said, the Yakuza ports are great too.
Take care, All Stars racing is a bad off line port but All Stars racing Transformed is the ultimate port. (Better than the console versions and the best game in the genre).

Valkyria Chronicles ports, Persona 4 Golden are pretty good too.

Sega has been a little disapointing on PS3 with sub 720, blur, unstable 30fps but most PC ports are quite enjoyable.
 

MrFunSocks

Banned
I groan when a customer or partner asks me to use Skype for communications. Literally anything else is better: FB Messenger, Hangouts/Meet, Zoom, or even Bluejeans. I even use Slack's shitty online calls before I touch Skype. A poison on my laptop, that I only keep installed because some people still insist on using it. Slack for messaging my team, FB Messenger and Line app for my friends, and Meet for team calls. Skype is an absolute turd, and only became so after MS took over. I'll never touch Teams, unless forced to by work.
Your loss then, Teams is amazing.
 

Fat Frog

I advertised for Google Stadia
Sega would be a huge waste for MS
Microsoft won't buy Sega anyway.
It wouldn't be the smartest choice for Japan but definitely a gold mine as a game library. Microsoft could handle emulation for hundreds of titles from Arcade debut to 2020 titles when the 2000 employees of Sega could produce tons of new experiences with Microsoft's Money.

I don't say I wish it, but clearly, when a company claims being the Netflix of video games, a legendary Publisher like Sega is Mandatory and even the perfect choice with tons of great games in almost every genre...
 
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StreetsofBeige

Gold Member
No, they don't. The shareholders are gonna look at something like this with no ROI and basically kick execs to the curb. People act like MS can do whatever it wants with no repercussions, when the shareholders are the ones that MS has to answer to. The same shareholders who have wanted the Xbox Division sold off for over a decade for being a loss leader and eating into MS profits. If MS doesn't make a profit, or can't spin things into making a profit with this venture, expect to see MS and the Xbox division under new management.

They can take a short term loss on GamePass if it ends up making money in the long term. If it doesn't, or if GamePass gets cannibalized by the different publishers making it unsustainable, then expect things to turn very quickly.
Says who? If MS is spending tons on studios, launching a new console and subsidizing GP it's obvious they arent going anywhere.

If anything, execs will get bonuses. MS profit is at an all time high of $40 billion per year and the stock price is near all time highs too.

Taking your advice of ditching poor ROI products, it sure didn't seem Sony cared their TV division has been an awful performer (lost $10 billion over 10 years at one time). And it's still around like nothing happened.
 

CygnusX187

Neo Member
Then you're missing out, because Teams has been pretty bulletproof as far as presentations and collaboration goes.
LMFAO. I work for a large company that is pretty entrenched is the MS ecosystem. With that being said, I fucking hate Microsoft and despise their business practices. Teams has had issues every week for the past month causing nothing but headaches for me. Microsoft can eat shit.
 

wolffy71

Banned
Microsoft won't buy Sega anyway.
It wouldn't be the smartest choice for Japan but definitely a gold mine as a game library. Microsoft could handle emulation for hundreds of titles from Arcade debut to 2020 titles when the 2000 employees of Sega could produce tons of new experiences with Microsoft's Money.

I don't say I wish it, but clearly, when a company claims being the Netflix of video games, a legendary Publisher like Sega is Mandatory and even the perfect choice with tons of great games in almost every genre...
In what market is sega a gold mine tho? its certainly got a bunch of fans but do those fans by xboxs if MS buys Sega? Doubtful. It would just be some people angry that they cant play their fav Sega games anymore. Now if Sony or Nintendo were to buy it, it might make more sense.

It would be like be like The Lifetime Channel acquiring the rights to the UFC. It just doesnt fit their customer base imo. And the argument that Sega is needle mover for console sales is false imo. I could maybe see it moving subs but what price does MS pay for something that only moves subs in Asia?
 

DaGwaphics

Member
In what market is sega a gold mine tho? its certainly got a bunch of fans but do those fans by xboxs if MS buys Sega? Doubtful. It would just be some people angry that they cant play their fav Sega games anymore. Now if Sony or Nintendo were to buy it, it might make more sense.

It would be like be like The Lifetime Channel acquiring the rights to the UFC. It just doesnt fit their customer base imo. And the argument that Sega is needle mover for console sales is false imo. I could maybe see it moving subs but what price does MS pay for something that only moves subs in Asia?

I think you put too much focus on the brands. People don't really care what brand is on the box (channel in your example), they care about the programs. UFC fans would absolutely watch on Lifetime, because they want to watch the UFC. The Asian market doesn't like Xbox because the content on the box doesn't suit them best, if the content they wanted to play was on the box opinions would quickly shift.

Are you telling me that people wouldn't be interested in BotW or GoT if those games were on Xbox, I don't think that is true. Content is king, always has been.
 

wolffy71

Banned
I think you put too much focus on the brands. People don't really care what brand is on the box (channel in your example), they care about the programs. UFC fans would absolutely watch on Lifetime, because they want to watch the UFC. The Asian market doesn't like Xbox because the content on the box doesn't suit them best, if the content they wanted to play was on the box opinions would quickly shift.

Are you telling me that people wouldn't be interested in BotW or GoT if those games were on Xbox, I don't think that is true. Content is king, always has been.

You're right about the asian market not liking xbox and thats my point. Asia does like sega games but is that really enough to move the subs it would take to make it worthwhile for a purchase? Maybe im just underestimating the draw of sega.
 

DaGwaphics

Member
You're right about the asian market not liking xbox and thats my point. Asia does like sega games but is that really enough to move the subs it would take to make it worthwhile for a purchase? Maybe im just underestimating the draw of sega.

I have no idea what kind of draw Sega has left, I assume it might have the most power with older gamers that were around for the Genesis/MegaDrive years.

MS would be stuck in distant 3rd regardless, but I'm sure they could improve numbers with more region specific content. As an American gamer, I don't necessarily care about the global standing. I'm just greedy and want more content in GP + I'm a big fan of a lot of the old Sega IPs. This imaginary deal would have been perfect for me, but maybe not anyone else. LOL
 
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Kazza

Member
If they buy Sega & can get Creative Assembly to make Alien Isolation 2, yes please.

I would prefer it if that team worked on other "Isolation" games. A Terminator Isolation would be great. Half the game could be set in the first movie trying to evade Arnie in 80s LA, and the second half could be avoiding the T-1000 in 90s LA (lets just forget the rest of the films, shall we?).

Jurassic Isolation evading dinosaurs would be great too.
 
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