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Microsoft is Looking to Make another Bethesda Size Acquisition

Gatox

Banned
I've told you why it does matter and why people here are doing comparisons.
Insomniac already made games for Sony for a very long time. Sony bought them, nothing was lost. Same as PlayGround Games for MS. And it made a very little impact in game industry.
On the other hand Zenimax has a developers with great history behind it and which games are multiplatform and are developed for many console generations.




Same as before acquisition. And no one was pissed. LOL
tenor.gif
 

Andodalf

Banned
They're not going to buy another publisher this size. The ammount of studios they get with the Zenimax aquisition, plus the ones they already bought separately and formed, are more than enough. They're all working on games, just focus on those studios. Why buy more studios? It doesn't make any sense. To me personally is the same since they also come out on pc.

If MS want a major First Party title every month for GP they need 6-18 more teams by my count
 

phil_t98

#SonyToo
how is Sony having bought Studio Liverpool ~25 years ago when they were first getting into video games the same as MS buying Bethesda & rumored to be looking to buy other publishers after having been in the video game industry for 20 years?

what is with this obsession with trying to excuse what Microsoft is doing? it's fine if you don't care because it doesn't effect you & you aren't worried about the future of the industry with consolidation accelerating but trying to justify it as if Microsoft is the 'good guy' is ridiculous or that somehow it's all Sony's fault for 'forcing' Phil Spencer to make these purchases
No Microsoft is getting called out for doing the same thing Sony does, remember the uproar when they paid for a year of exclusivity for tomb raider? There was a shit storm on here.

then there was a thread recently of Sony approaching every third part for exclusivity and it was celebrated.

Sony buys studios so does Microsoft. Nobody excusing it it’s just the done thing
 
Again studio Liverpool were producing games for other consoles befor Sony made them exclusive, remember Saturn version of wipeout the the N64

but yeah good guy Sony eh

Btw. Sony acquired Psygnosis ( later Studio Liverpool) in 1993 and first Wipeout came in 1995 for PS1. Year later Sony allowed porting Wipeout to Saturn and N64. Do some research, will ya
 
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BabyYoda

Banned
I used to like Microsoft, what on earth was I on?! They're not as evil as Google, FB, Twitter and Apple sure, maybe something to do with not being based in the Ministry of Truth central, aka Silicon Valley, but still, they are definitely a part of the problem. I'm not sure I could ever give them a penny again. Just keep absorbing all the good companies up Big Tech like a good little Borg, resistance is futile and all that old chap.
 
No Microsoft is getting called out for doing the same thing Sony does, remember the uproar when they paid for a year of exclusivity for tomb raider? There was a shit storm on here.

Because new Tomb Raider was already in production for multiple platforms before MS stepped in.
then there was a thread recently of Sony approaching every third part for exclusivity and it was celebrated.

Sony buys studios so does Microsoft. Nobody excusing it it’s just the done thing

Looks like you DESPERATELY trying to equall Sonys previous acquisitions vs. MS acquisition of whole publisher. And you are doing it BADLY
 
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Arkam

Member
Maybe some THQ Nordic? Maybe even Deep Silver too and who ever else the parent company owns. That's a very large stable of developers with a few decent IPs. .
 

Dabaus

Banned
They've been visiting Sega too much for it to be nothing..... I expect that to be the target. it's around 4 billion now and they probably want a premium over that bringing it up to Zenimax territory.

It's a bit pointless cause games like Yakuza and Persona were birthed and became successful because of the base on PlayStation and nobody is going to move to Xbox for them.

The example I'll give is Capcom said they'd bring all the RE games to Gamcube, do exclusive remasters and new games (RE4) ..... nobody moved to Gamecube, it sold only 22 million units.

Only other one would be CDPR.. that's about 7B now too.
I agree that it is most likely Sega. 4 Billion is already a rip off for essentially yakuza, persona, and washed up sonic games and anything over 4 billion is just setting money on fire. Even if MS rebrands the xbox in japan as the "sega xbox" or whatever its not going to change anything, Japanese people arent stupid. As far as perosna and yakuza are concerned those franchises may as well be dead at that point as well. The audiance for those games isnt go to move en mass to xbox. It would a wildy stupid decision on MS's part but thats what they do.
 

phil_t98

#SonyToo
Because new Tomb Raider was already in production for multiple platforms before MS stepped in.


Looks like you DESPERATELY trying to equall Sonys previous acquisitions vs. MS acquisition of whole publisher. And you are doing it BADLY

not trying to equal it, I have no problem Microsoft buying them, nor sony doing the same. it just seems any positive news sony fans can't handle it
 
not trying to equal it, I have no problem Microsoft buying them, nor sony doing the same. it just seems any positive news sony fans can't handle it

Buying whole publisher which is well known for multiplatform titles for decades isn't good news

I know the history I don’t need to look it up. They made them exclusive.
I knoew they were, sony bought them then after wipeout they moved them to sony computer entertainment owning them
WTF?

I've told you in previous post :

Btw. Sony acquired Psygnosis ( later Studio Liverpool) in 1993 and first Wipeout came in 1995 for PS1. Year later Sony allowed porting Wipeout to Saturn and N64. Do some research, will ya

Looks like you know shit
 
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Perrott

Gold Member
No Microsoft is getting called out for doing the same thing Sony does, remember the uproar when they paid for a year of exclusivity for tomb raider? There was a shit storm on here.

then there was a thread recently of Sony approaching every third part for exclusivity and it was celebrated.

Sony buys studios so does Microsoft. Nobody excusing it it’s just the done thing
The difference is that Tomb Raider was an IP born on PlayStation that remained a PlayStation-centric franchise even after moving to multiplatform releases. That's why the Rise of the Tomb Raider moneyhat was received with such a backlash by the gaming community.

Recent moneyhats by Sony on the other hand are based around either PlayStation-centric franchises (Final Fantasy) or new IPs not attached to any platforms just yet (Project Athia, Deathloop, Ghostwire Tokyo, Godfall).

So it is not the same.
 

phil_t98

#SonyToo
The difference is that Tomb Raider was an IP born on PlayStation that remained a PlayStation-centric franchise even after moving to multiplatform releases. That's why the Rise of the Tomb Raider moneyhat was received with such a backlash by the gaming community.

Recent moneyhats by Sony on the other hand are based around either PlayStation-centric franchises (Final Fantasy) or new IPs not attached to any platforms just yet (Project Athia, Deathloop, Ghostwire Tokyo, Godfall).

So it is not the same.

no Tomb raider was born on the Ps1 and the Saturn, when Tomb raider 2 launched Sony paid to keep it exclusive to PS
 

phil_t98

#SonyToo
Buying whole publisher which is well known for multiplatform titles for decades isn't good news



WTF?

I've told you in previous post :



Looks like you know shit

look at my post history and you will of seen I have talked about studio Liverpool in the past and had friends who worked there
 

Fredrik

Member
Maybe some THQ Nordic? Maybe even Deep Silver too and who ever else the parent company owns. That's a very large stable of developers with a few decent IPs. .
Embracer’s crazy endgame plan is probably to become bigger than MS, not be aqcuired 😝
I'm happy it's Microsoft and not Sony, Amazon or Google.
Yeah it’s clearly the lesser evil, people just need some time to realize that it won’t be enough to only have one platform in the future. Just be glad that you can play the games on PC too. It’ll be fine.

I’m just glad Nintendo isn’t out to buy everything in sight, I would hate playing previous multiplats on the weakest system on the planet.
 
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Perrott

Gold Member
no Tomb raider was born on the Ps1 and the Saturn, when Tomb raider 2 launched Sony paid to keep it exclusive to PS
Oh, didn't knew that, but still proves my point that the series has been more attached to Sony consoles than Microsoft's platforms.

And don't take me wrong, I'm not saying that it is only good when Sony does it. My point is that every console manufacturer should only moneyhat stuff that has been historically attached to their brand - which in the case of Xbox would be franchises such as Dead Rising, Ninja Gaiden, Lost Planet, Mass Effect, The Elder Scrolls (except that now they own it lol), etc - or new IPs - like Titanfall or PVZ Garden Warfare earlier last gen -, instead of games that have no history with their console, like Yakuza: Like A Dragon on the Series X for instance.
 
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Astorian

Member
As much as that figure is wrong (I blame google and me rushing) the gap between them is still the same and so the point still stands.
It's not 'fanboyish' at all. Activision and Sony are in a very similar league but neither are in MS league.
Activision made that purchase when they were worth ~30B.
The arguement is not that they cant make big purchases it's that they cannot compete with MS in that sense, which is completely accurate.
That’s not what you were arguing earlier.
MS buying power makes Sony look like a toddler, 7.5 bil is a big deal for Sony and pocket change for MS. You'd be more likely to see MS make another purchase near that value this year than Sony to do anything close to that this entire gen. Sony lives and dies by its gaming division, if they could make these types of purchases easily they would have without a doubt.
This is a war chest argument, it would make sense if MS only makes money to spend on what the Xbox division wants but in reality that’s not how it works, and going by your words (which is assuming it’s 2012 and other Sony divisions are all losing money), Sony living and dying by its gaming division would actually mean they are much more likely to spend everything on PlayStation rather than the other way around you’re arguing.
 

phil_t98

#SonyToo
Oh, didn't knew that, but still proves my point that the series has been more attached to Sony consoles than Microsoft's platforms.

And don't take me wrong, I'm not saying that it is only good when Sony does it. My point is that every console manufacturer should only moneyhat stuff that has been historically attached to their brand - which in the case of Xbox would be franchises such as Dead Rising, Ninja Gaiden, Lost Planet, Mass Effect, The Elder Scrolls (except that now they own it lol), etc - or new IPs - like Titanfall or PVZ Garden Warfare earlier last gen -, instead of games that have no history with their console, like Yakuza: Like A Dragon on the Series X for instance.

but that's not how it works, if you want new people to your brand you get something people like. Tomb Raider for a year was a good move, it worked out well for sony to because it took it out of the release window from uncharted 4 by a year.

end of the day if Sony could money hat a franchise off Microsoft onto their console they would its business. its all about money to them and not the gamers
 
Starting to seriously think the company is Sega. They already spun out the arcade/FEC buildings to another company, now they're splitting up the console/PC side and the pachinko/gambling side. Both events happening shortly after the teases started with the hedgehog and blue controller from Xbox and Sega on Twitter.

Where there's smoke, there's fire, and I'm willing to take a ban bet that the acquisition is Sega. Leave your emotions out of it for a moment and just look at it logically, look at the evidence being presented to us and just use some critical thought. There's a lot of hints pointing this direction including the fact purchasing Sega would fit exactly around what Microsoft paid for Zenimax, and they also fit the bill as a publisher and a company entrenched in the Asian markets (as well as Europe, on the PC side).

It'll be interesting to see what other clues pop up over the next few months, though I don't expect any formal announcement until late Summer/early-mid Fall if it goes through. But yeah, I think there's a high probability Microsoft acquires Sega next.
 

wipeout364

Member
And well, to buy Ubisoft would be way more expensive than to buy Bethesda. They have a big market cap, a ton of big selling and popular IPs and dozens of development studios with over 18000 workers. Too expensive for MS, at least compared to Bethesda.
Ubisoft would be pocket change for Microsoft, I don’t think you realize how much money Microsoft has right now

Also Ubisoft fought for their independence from a hostile takeover not an acquisition there is a big difference.
 
Fuck it, we can't beat Sony by trying to make a better in house product for the customers, then we'll just buy up all the 3rd party publishers and let new gamers continually join our service for $1 and they'll have to buy our product. Right? ...right?

giphy.gif
 

phil_t98

#SonyToo
Starting to seriously think the company is Sega. They already spun out the arcade/FEC buildings to another company, now they're splitting up the console/PC side and the pachinko/gambling side. Both events happening shortly after the teases started with the hedgehog and blue controller from Xbox and Sega on Twitter.

Where there's smoke, there's fire, and I'm willing to take a ban bet that the acquisition is Sega. Leave your emotions out of it for a moment and just look at it logically, look at the evidence being presented to us and just use some critical thought. There's a lot of hints pointing this direction including the fact purchasing Sega would fit exactly around what Microsoft paid for Zenimax, and they also fit the bill as a publisher and a company entrenched in the Asian markets (as well as Europe, on the PC side).

It'll be interesting to see what other clues pop up over the next few months, though I don't expect any formal announcement until late Summer/early-mid Fall if it goes through. But yeah, I think there's a high probability Microsoft acquires Sega next.

if its Sega it would be a good fit for Microsoft, maybe help them sell a few more consoles out that way. Sega have some amazing Ips that could be brought back to
 
Microsoft is creative with spending money. They are not creative developing new games with their existing studios. People really want to see the game industry destroyed by a company that can't even manage their existing studios.

People are cheap these days because they want "free" games and come up with that Gamepass excuse everytime, but that doesn't mean quality games.
Microsoft buying studios doesn't bring anything good to the industry. If it was about gamepass they could have made a deal with Bethesda to include their games on it without the need to buy the whole company. But this is not about that, this is about having exclusive rights to big franchises which doesn't bring anything good to the industry. I'll rather see them spending 7.5 billion on creating new stories than just buying the same old ones.
 

Perrott

Gold Member
but that's not how it works, if you want new people to your brand you get something people like. Tomb Raider for a year was a good move, it worked out well for sony to because it took it out of the release window from uncharted 4 by a year.

end of the day if Sony could money hat a franchise off Microsoft onto their console they would its business. its all about money to them and not the gamers
Not so sure about that, I mean, during the early 360 days they got ahead of the curve and locked full or timed exclusivity on some of the hottest new IPs that were about to come out such as Dead Rising, Lost Planet, Mass Effect, BioShock, etc.

I'd argue that said move did a better job at expanding the Xbox community than if Microsoft had moneyhatted Final Fantasy XIII or MGS4 for 6 months, where most of the PlayStation fanbase would've just said "aagghh, fuck those Xbox morons" and then patiently waited until the exclusivity period ran out. Another thing worth pointing out is that FFXIII and MGS4 probably wouldn't have appealed that much to the Xbox users as the fanbase wasn't very familiar with said franchises, resulting in those games bombing in sales - this is a problem that you don't have when moneyhatting a new IP.
 
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kraspkibble

Permabanned.
good. the thing is they can easily do it without making a dent in their bank account. $7b is pocket change to MS. Can't say the same about Sony...
 
look at my post history and you will of seen I have talked about studio Liverpool in the past and had friends who worked there

That's great. Well, you can ask them when Sony bought Psygnosis, when first Wipeout launched. I'll bet you'll get the same answer from them like i've said.
 
Starting to seriously think the company is Sega. They already spun out the arcade/FEC buildings to another company, now they're splitting up the console/PC side and the pachinko/gambling side. Both events happening shortly after the teases started with the hedgehog and blue controller from Xbox and Sega on Twitter.
Billion and trillion dollar companies don't tease sales on twitter with cute pictures of colored controllers.

There'd be an SEC investigation knocking on their door the day after a sale. As much as it romanticizes the process, it is not just unlikely but impossible. You don't get to be a billion/trillion dollar company by playing cute with acquisitions and/or mergers.
 
I'd prefer this to be WB if true. Then invest a ton in the DC licensed games. A really good Wonder Woman game on GamePass would be huge, maybe, for bringing in new players?

Sega would be funny, but less exciting to me personally as Japanese games generally do nothing for me any more.

Sony only fans would be salty, but if you're a multi platform gamer and you have both companies doing really well it's happy days.

I do feel like one more big move from Microsoft would push them over the top. Announcing Bethesda GamePass exclusivity when they finally can will be huge too.
 
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Astorian

Member
Starting to seriously think the company is Sega. They already spun out the arcade/FEC buildings to another company, now they're splitting up the console/PC side and the pachinko/gambling side. Both events happening shortly after the teases started with the hedgehog and blue controller from Xbox and Sega on Twitter.

Where there's smoke, there's fire, and I'm willing to take a ban bet that the acquisition is Sega. Leave your emotions out of it for a moment and just look at it logically, look at the evidence being presented to us and just use some critical thought. There's a lot of hints pointing this direction including the fact purchasing Sega would fit exactly around what Microsoft paid for Zenimax, and they also fit the bill as a publisher and a company entrenched in the Asian markets (as well as Europe, on the PC side).

It'll be interesting to see what other clues pop up over the next few months, though I don't expect any formal announcement until late Summer/early-mid Fall if it goes through. But yeah, I think there's a high probability Microsoft acquires Sega next.
Sega’s Biggest IP is Sonic and even that barely does anything now, I’m not sure about that being Bethesda level, if you’re going for a Japanese publisher then why not go for big fish like SE and Capcom that could actually would make a difference owning them?

Also, aren’t they a publicly traded company? They have to disclose it if something is happening.
 
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Andodalf

Banned
Sega’s Biggest IP is Sonic and even that barely does anything now, I’m not sure about that being Bethesda level, if you’re going for a Japanese publisher then why not go for big fish like SE and Capcom that could actually would make a difference owning them?

Also, aren’t they a publicly traded company? They have to disclose it if something is happening.

Persona and Fire emblem have as many smash fighters as Mario so they must be huge IP!
/s




Looking to Ubi, the only way they agree to be bought by MS is if they feel a hostile takeover by someone else is inevitable, which I kinda doubt at this point, I think they're safeish.
 

Fredrik

Member
Starting to seriously think the company is Sega. They already spun out the arcade/FEC buildings to another company, now they're splitting up the console/PC side and the pachinko/gambling side. Both events happening shortly after the teases started with the hedgehog and blue controller from Xbox and Sega on Twitter.

Where there's smoke, there's fire, and I'm willing to take a ban bet that the acquisition is Sega. Leave your emotions out of it for a moment and just look at it logically, look at the evidence being presented to us and just use some critical thought. There's a lot of hints pointing this direction including the fact purchasing Sega would fit exactly around what Microsoft paid for Zenimax, and they also fit the bill as a publisher and a company entrenched in the Asian markets (as well as Europe, on the PC side).

It'll be interesting to see what other clues pop up over the next few months, though I don't expect any formal announcement until late Summer/early-mid Fall if it goes through. But yeah, I think there's a high probability Microsoft acquires Sega next.
But what’s left now? Unless I misunderstood everything Genda just snatched the video game part. I don’t see MS investing in pachinko machines.
 

phil_t98

#SonyToo
That's great. Well, you can ask them when Sony bought Psygnosis, when first Wipeout launched. I'll bet you'll get the same answer from them like i've said.
I know allll about it, Sony publishing bought it, then in 2000 it came Sony computer entertainments division, that’s when they had to not publish games themselves
 

Banjo64

cumsessed
Plus one for SEGA. Microsoft get an actual mainstream mascot in the form of Sonic, with the second Sonic movie in production. Football Manager is huge in Europe, Total War would also be a fine addition. Yakuza and Persona would be great too and they’d also get the historic IPs. MS and SEGA have historically been very tight as well. If MS are going to acquire any major Asian dev/publisher, I can only see SEGA making sense.
 
It’s gonna be funny as hell when Sony buys a publisher and everyone starts complaining the same people hyping Microsoft.

Fun fact Sony has more cash on hand then tencent. You have to be an idiot to think they aren’t making moves behind the scenes

People are also gonna be embarrassed soon thinking Microsoft can just keep spending tons on a single division that can’t even break em profit for years
You mean when the same people bitching about Microsoft doing it praise sony for it...
 
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Leyasu

Banned
Sega? I don't see it. Besides, everyone has been going on for years on how difficult it is for a western company to purchase a Japanese one. Not that I think that they know what they are talking about.

I don't think ubi or EA either.

I am thinking one last big splurge on Take 2 or a smaller one in WB if they are for sale
 
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kuncol02

Banned
Sega’s Biggest IP is Sonic and even that barely does anything now, I’m not sure about that being Bethesda level, if you’re going for a Japanese publisher then why not go for big fish like SE and Capcom that could actually would make a difference owning them?
Biggest Sega IPs are Total War, Persona and Football Manager
But what’s left now? Unless I misunderstood everything Genda just snatched the video game part. I don’t see MS investing in pachinko machines.
AFAIK They sold arcade division (one that MS is definetelly not interested).
 
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