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A huge purchase is imminent within 1 month from now

wvnative

Member
NcczMWA.jpg


He couldn't even pay the one day shipping.. Jesus christ!

Do we really think Phil uses a Discover card?
 
Funny how a rumor about Microsoft can cause so much chaos with people, people hate Microsoft but keep Microsoft in their minds and mouth. Funny how that works.

They're aquiring publishers left and right if these rumours are too.

Doesn't matter if you hate them. You can't ignore this
 
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lh032

I cry about Xbox and hate PlayStation.
Looking back at the initial tweet. "4 companies own everything". Sounds a bit exaggerated if you ask me.

(not in any particular order)
1. Sony
2. Microsoft
3. Tencent
4. Nintendo?

I don't really see Sony and Nintendo as owning everything. Microsoft sure as hell is trying. Sony's growth is more organic. Does Nintendo buy...anything? So that leaves Tencent...and they just lost 190 billion in value due to China Laws.

My money is on Microsoft...maybe Tencent making this huge purchase.
yea i feel that way too, the way they phrase its like Sony will be competing with Microsoft or something ...


...............UNLESS SONY IS PLANNING A SECRET ACQUISITION!!!??
Funny Face Reaction GIF by TikTok
 

Hezekiah

Banned
Firesprite is 250+, yes. But you are comparing Ninja Theory with one of the biggest (albeit recent) PlayStation Studios. It is now the 5th biggest PlayStation Studios, I think. Sony also has a bunch of studios that are very small, e.g., Pixelopus (25+), London Studios (56), Media Molecule (57), HouseMarque (78).

Zenimax alone has 2,300+ employees. PlayStation Studios has a total of 2,700+ employees.

I think this cost comparison translates perfectly, as both divisions are direct competitors, working in an extremely similar fashion and often have studios in same locations.

I do not see how Xbox's operating expenditures could be less than at least $30 billion. That's a bare minimum. Even in that case, they'd be losing $15 billion every year.
Interesting. PlayStation's annual revenue last year was $25.03bn aswell.
 
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You don't actually give a fuck lmao. If you did you'd be taking the issue to twitter and not here.
Plenty of breakdowns right here. People should be careful when they are talking about a particular fanbase being embarrassing. Glass houses and all that.

On the topic there is nothing wrong with being excited about your favorite company getting more support. More support means more games and most of us here are game fans.
 

VN1X

Banned
Imagine if Sony and MS finally team up to take on #1: Nintendo.

Although I reckon they'd need a third party for that (along the lines of Epic Games) to really stand a chance imo.
 

Corndog

Banned
For the record, I am very sceptical that MS can get the return on investment on their $8.1 billion acquisition by having all of their biggest titles exclusive. I'm not saying they won’t be exclusive, beyond contractual commitments it seems obvious that they will be, but I am saying that ceteris paribus the numbers don’t add up.

What could they do to make it work? Well significant cost costing will be a start, maybe the next fallout being more Fallout 76 than Fallout 4, micro transactions, loot boxes, etc.

Time will tell.
Don’t worry. It’s not your job.
 


Honestly I'm getting annoyed of microsoft buying studios when they have not shown any evidence to prove that they're taking advantage of the added talent in any meaningful ways.

I mean ninja theory is taking nearly a decade to release hellblade 2.. and then they showed mostly cgi trailers at e3.. I mean come on.

All while insomniac is gonna have 3 and a half games (miles is a half, not full) games out the door by 2025 for the gen.


Halo Infinite is releasing this year, Forza Horizon 5 is releasing this year. Psychonauts 2 released this year. Double Fine has confirmed in detail that Microsoft acquiring them allowed them to make the game even better. There were no boss fights before Microsoft. They were able to be a whole lot more ambitious with the game than originally intended. InXile said the exact same with Wasteland 3.

Gears tactics released early last year for PC, late last year for Xbox. Coalition delivered Hivebusters DLC. Microsoft bought Bethesda not just for their incredible value add and proposition to Xbox and game pass, but also the practical fact that they have a number of high caliber titles already in full fledged development that will bolster Xbox and Game Pass.

Everything from Bethesda's catalogue has been added to Game Pass. It's an insane value even before all the newest games drop. Doom Eternal dropped last year, Deathloop just released for PS5, Ghostwire: Tokyo is releasing next year for PS5, each of those games come to Xbox and are day ones in Game Pass past the one year exclusive agreement.

Starfield releases next year
Redfall releases next year

Who knows what else Xbox has waiting that hasn't yet been announced or confirmed for next year? All signs so far point to none of these studios being significantly hindered in any aspect of having what they need to build the games that they're all working on. Bethesda, for example, is still actively producing content across a range of platforms and different IP. They'll soon mostly move towards exclusive Xbox console and PC development for many new titles, but all signs suggest Microsoft is managing all the added talent just fine.
 

Corndog

Banned
Did I not just say they're going to be exclusive in the post you quoted? 🤷‍♂️

I’m not remotely worried about their ROI, why are you making a fairly interesting business discussion about feelings?

You can play fantasy M&A if you wish, but in the real world Phil Spencer has to get his strategy for Xbox endorsed by Satya and the board. If he wants to make an acquisition he needs to make a business case. You can bet your ass that ROI is front and centre in that conversation.

In the next few years (say 3) if Xbox isn’t hitting performance targets then Spencer will be fired and replaced. This is how it works. Don Mattrick was once a rising star.

And as you ask I own about $8k ish of MSFT.
Index fund?
 

SaucyJack

Member
It isn’t a strawman if it actually happened, genius.

Indeed. But it is a strawman when you just make shit up to provoke an argument. Which is what you actually did.

There is an alternate interpretation - which is that you are actually so dumb that you genuinely thought that you learned that Sony is dominating Japan from this forum.
 

Jaysen

Banned
Indeed. But it is a strawman when you just make shit up to provoke an argument. Which is what you actually did.

There is an alternate interpretation - which is that you are actually so dumb that you genuinely thought that you learned that Sony is dominating Japan from this forum.
You still don’t know what a strawman is. Just like the purple people.
 

Fredrik

Member
I just get annoyed at these rumours, I can never guess what it is and whatever it is there is never anything good coming out of it. I have all consoles plus a PC and want to choose for myself where to play the games.

1. Nintendo buying anything is a nightmare scenario, they’re great at making games but I’m no fan of their weak ass hardware.

2. Sony is much better, great hardware and I love the controller, but waiting three years for PC versions sucks incredibly hard.

3. Microsoft is the least problematic, Gamepass release on PC and Xbox day 1, but they’re incredibly behind on controller features now, no haptic, no touch, not even gyro.
 
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Bryank75

Banned
Looking back at the initial tweet. "4 companies own everything". Sounds a bit exaggerated if you ask me.

(not in any particular order)
1. Sony
2. Microsoft
3. Tencent
4. Nintendo?

I don't really see Sony and Nintendo as owning everything. Microsoft sure as hell is trying. Sony's growth is more organic. Does Nintendo buy...anything? So that leaves Tencent...and they just lost 190 billion in value due to China Laws.

My money is on Microsoft...maybe Tencent making this huge purchase.

Only a matter of time till the regulator turns their attention to that type of behavior.... especially since you as an Xbox fan can see and admit it here. Which I applaud.
 

Jaysen

Banned
Content for the metaverse is the reason that I see Microsoft expanding more so than normal.



I don't think people are asking for this in their console controllers. I do think we will get a controller revision with haptic in it.
Haptics would be nice but please leave the touchpad and trigger nonsense out of any controller revision.
 

yurinka

Member
All while insomniac is gonna have 3 and a half games (miles is a half, not full) games out the door by 2025 for the gen.
You may consider it as half game, and same goes with Spider-Man remaster or Ratchet, but for them count as a full game/project.

But in addition to Spider-Man 2 and Wolverine from now until 2025 I'm pretty sure Insomniac will release something else, pretty likely a PSVR2 friendly game and/or an expanded Sunset Overdrive remake different enough from the original one to change its name and justify it to skip any exclusivity MS stuff that may prevent a PS release.

Basically the Spider-Man 1 team is doing Spider-Man 2, the Morales team is doing Wolverine. But they also made Ritft Apart, Spider-Man remaster and VR/AR games and have been hiring a lot. So maybe they grew enough to handle 3 or 4 games being developed at the same time in order to continue their trend of releasing some game almost every year, and for 2022 maybe they release a PSVR2 launch window game.


There has been talk of some sort of partnership

Maybe a deal to continue porting to Swich more MS published games and/or to release Game Pass for Switch allowing to you to play the MS/Zenimax Switch games released until now + to include there xCloud.
 
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Hezekiah

Banned
Who knows what else Xbox has waiting that hasn't yet been announced or confirmed for next year? All signs so far point to none of these studios being significantly hindered in any aspect of having what they need to build the games that they're all working on. Bethesda, for example, is still actively producing content across a range of platforms and different IP. They'll soon mostly move towards exclusive Xbox console and PC development for many new titles, but all signs suggest Microsoft is managing all the added talent just fine.
Based on some CGI trailers and tweets? Nothing wrong with optimism, but not sure the evidence exists to conclude that.
 

Jigsaah

Gold Member
Only a matter of time till the regulator turns their attention to that type of behavior.... especially since you as an Xbox fan can see and admit it here. Which I applaud.
I honestly don't approve of all the purchases Microsoft is making. I think they are spreading themselves too thin and ultimately the quality of their games will suffer as a result. I wouldn't call myself an Xbox Fan, per se. I'm a fan of gaming in general, primarily I play on PC because it gives me the most access at the highest quality (quality for me means FPS, RTX, Resolution and range of options). But still your point stands. At some point this will start to become like television, where like 3 or 4 companies own so many companies that there are companies that you didn't even know were owned by other companies (try reading that 5 times fast).

The unfortunate thing is that TV hasn't changed in terms of this structure...which could serve as precedent as how the gaming industry will be treated as well. Artistic vision will suffer as a result if these companies aren't careful. I believe Sony is fighting the good fight in this case.
 

silent head

Member
Halo Infinite is releasing this year, Forza Horizon 5 is releasing this year. Psychonauts 2 released this year. Double Fine has confirmed in detail that Microsoft acquiring them allowed them to make the game even better. There were no boss fights before Microsoft. They were able to be a whole lot more ambitious with the game than originally intended. InXile said the exact same with Wasteland 3.

Gears tactics released early last year for PC, late last year for Xbox. Coalition delivered Hivebusters DLC. Microsoft bought Bethesda not just for their incredible value add and proposition to Xbox and game pass, but also the practical fact that they have a number of high caliber titles already in full fledged development that will bolster Xbox and Game Pass.

Everything from Bethesda's catalogue has been added to Game Pass. It's an insane value even before all the newest games drop. Doom Eternal dropped last year, Deathloop just released for PS5, Ghostwire: Tokyo is releasing next year for PS5, each of those games come to Xbox and are day ones in Game Pass past the one year exclusive agreement.

Starfield releases next year
Redfall releases next year

Who knows what else Xbox has waiting that hasn't yet been announced or confirmed for next year? All signs so far point to none of these studios being significantly hindered in any aspect of having what they need to build the games that they're all working on. Bethesda, for example, is still actively producing content across a range of platforms and different IP. They'll soon mostly move towards exclusive Xbox console and PC development for many new titles, but all signs suggest Microsoft is managing all the added talent just fine.
 

leo-j

Member
If Microsoft buys take two. Sony should buy square Enix and epic games. Literally buy fortnite, literally buy the FF franchise. Because taking GTA and the 2k franchise to only Xbox is a major move considering those are partly the top selling 3rd party games on consoles.
 

Derktron

Banned
They're aquiring publishers left and right if these rumours are too.

Doesn't matter if you hate them. You can't ignore this
My point still stands, people can't keep Microsoft out of their mouths. Let me put it to you this way for you to understand, due to Microsoft's fuck up due to Don Matrricks when he was head of Xbox back in 2013 before Phil Spencer took over. Sony fanboys have bitched about the weakness of the system where they made fun of Microsoft for releasing a weaker console than PS4. Where games would run at a low resolution. Then a few years after Phil Spencer took over then came Xbox One X, people disregarded and claim now graphics don't mean shit. Now fast forward a few years after the One X came out Sony fanboys complained about Xbox having no games and in this case, I agree that is one thing I will agree with the fanboys. --- but they complained and complained until Phil Spencer said fuck it let me use my Credit Card and buy some studios and even though I wish they were original and made more than one studio from scratch but whatever it is what it is. ---- People here can't be surprised that the bully rich kid spends money like it's 1980s cocaine drug lord and buy the studio. Many fanboys wanted Xbox to be aggressive where here it is. Them putting their dicks out and taking whatever they can buy and shit if I had that money in business I would do the same. I'm sure Sony would do it too. Plain and simple my point still stands.

mic drop GIF by Malaea
 
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Fredrik

Member
Content for the metaverse is the reason that I see Microsoft expanding more so than normal.



I don't think people are asking for this in their console controllers. I do think we will get a controller revision with haptic in it.
Even if they make a controller with haptics I doubt it’ll be implemented as well as on PS5 since it’s not a standard feature. The Glitch levels in Ratchet & Clank is so so sooo good because of the haptics! The trigger rattle is synced to perfection with the sound. 👌
 

Heisenberg007

Gold Journalism
It certainly doesn't work like you described. Quick maths: Xbox game devs are maybe 10k people at most (likely much less). If we assume the cost is $10k per month per employee, we're at $1.2b cost for a year.
By this logic, PlayStation (with half of these employees) would have an operating expenditure of roughly $0.6 billion. What do you think the rest of the $21.5 billion operating expenses are for PlayStation?
 

Dabaus

Banned
For what its worth, if you know to look, some of the more reliable xbox insiders are downplaying MS making a big acquisition atm. Klobrille wrote a post on the insane asylum that is the xboxera acquisition thread saying he hasnt heard of any acquisitions in the near term and matti plays from windows central is "tired of the acquisition talk." As far as reliable xbox leaning people go id say klobrille is as good as your going to get, followed by jez and matti from windows central. Everyone else are clout chasers and literal fake news in the truest sense of the term spreaders.
 

Heisenberg007

Gold Journalism
Interesting. PlayStation's annual revenue last year was $25.03bn aswell.
Yes, and they made a profit of roughly $3.1 billion, which means that their operating expenses were $22 billion. They need $22 billion in revenue to break even. People here are arguing that Xbox, despite being twice in size now, has fewer expenses.
 

reksveks

Member
Even if they make a controller with haptics I doubt it’ll be implemented as well as on PS5 since it’s not a standard feature. The Glitch levels in Ratchet & Clank is so so sooo good because of the haptics! The trigger rattle is synced to perfection with the sound. 👌
I think it will be the same for 3rd party devs, Sony first party might do some extra work. Its the 80/20 rule.
 
Based on some CGI trailers and tweets? Nothing wrong with optimism, but not sure the evidence exists to conclude that.

Based on Psychonauts 2, a bonafide game of the year candidate.
Based on Wasteland 3, another game of the year worthy release.
Obsidian's output has been stellar since the acquisition.

Deathloop is an amazing game, another game of the year contender as well from Xbox first party studio. Yea, they literally JUST got them, but why would Microsoft change anything about what they're doing when they're giving all their studios full freedom to make what they want?

Redfall is shaping up to be a lot more ambitious than many thought, as of release date next year it will have been in development for 5 years. Game sounds super ambitious.

Look at what Playground Games is doing with Forza Horizon 5, and what they've been doing since Xbox picked them up? They've been incredible.

The evidence of what a good job they're doing is all over the place.
 

aclar00

Gold Member
It would generally make sense for MSFT to continue to make purchases of publisbers and or studios given their GamePass push. Without original in-house content, it wouldnt be sustainable.

Services increasingly rely upon in-house content as other publishers and content creators pull their content in order to create their own service. It's the reason Netflix began creating content in such large quantities. They new Disney, Paramount, NBC and other studios would eventually pull their content or given them less control over it.

I dont see this happening as easily in the game market, but who knows. I could see EA and Ubisoft having their own GamePass.

Likewise, it could be beneficial for Sony to scoop up more studios to bolster their library as well, even if they dont go the GamePass route. At the very least it could stifle MSFT'S Gamepass push.
 
Honestly I'm getting annoyed of microsoft buying studios when they have not shown any evidence to prove that they're taking advantage of the added talent in any meaningful ways.

I mean ninja theory is taking nearly a decade to release hellblade 2.. and then they showed mostly cgi trailers at e3.. I mean come on.

All while insomniac is gonna have 3 and a half games (miles is a half, not full) games out the door by 2025 for the gen.

Insomniac simply has been an outlier as far as productivity and you know it (everyone knows it).

The fact that Sony's "E3" showcase just announced 2 new Insomniac games coming in 2023/beyond and NOTHING ELSE new, speaks very loudly to how far along any thing else is from their 1st party stable.

By 2025 (even in 2023-2024), not only will Hellblade 2 and Project Mara be out by then, but damn near all the stuff we've seen CGI trailers for will be as well.
That's also when the rest of Sony's 1st party offerings will release.
 

Jerm411

Member
For what its worth, if you know to look, some of the more reliable xbox insiders are downplaying MS making a big acquisition atm. Klobrille wrote a post on the insane asylum that is the xboxera acquisition thread saying he hasnt heard of any acquisitions in the near term and matti plays from windows central is "tired of the acquisition talk." As far as reliable xbox leaning people go id say klobrille is as good as your going to get, followed by jez and matti from windows central. Everyone else are clout chasers and literal fake news in the truest sense of the term spreaders.
If Schreier and to a much lesser extent Grubb aren’t reporting it, I’m good…

Wayyyyyy too many wannabe INSIDERS~!! in the XBox community….none of them know shit.
 

Heisenberg007

Gold Journalism
Idk, but certainly not for running first party studios.
1. First party studios isn’t just employee base salary.
2. Regardless, this pretty much proves that expenditures will be similar and scale similarly for both companies, even if you can’t account for some of the most notable expenditures.

If PlayStation is sounding $22 billion, rest assured that Xbox will have to spend more than $30-$35 billion to break even. Their current revenue of $15 billion won’t cut it.

And unless that changes, acquiring any more big studios will only further that gap. So not going to happen until their profitability and revenue situation change.
 

Bryank75

Banned
If Microsoft buys take two. Sony should buy square Enix and epic games. Literally buy fortnite, literally buy the FF franchise. Because taking GTA and the 2k franchise to only Xbox is a major move considering those are partly the top selling 3rd party games on consoles.

Well, first off they should make their own offer on TTwo, even if they don't ultimately win...at least to jack up the price and make it less feasible for others.

IMO they should have already bought Square or Capcom and I really do not understand why they are so so so unwilling to buy big premium things with their money.
Do they think Final Fantasy or Tomb Raider or Street Fighter or Monster Hunter will suddenly become worthless or something?

To me the management at Sony is super frustrating and they seem to bury their heads and pretend everything is just great, when it obviously isn't. When one of the biggest companies in the world is basically with the knives out, trying to crush them in gaming and then Kenichiro Yoshida goes to meet them smiling like an idiot trying to do some deal....

Sony should at least buy some one or two big publishers so they can bring them to the table if they have to negotiate to keep some big franchises coming to PlayStation in the future.
 

Ozriel

M$FT
I wonder if people realize that there’s no way random Twitter ‘insiders’ would know about any deal being hashed out at high levels

In the next few years (say 3) if Xbox isn’t hitting performance targets then Spencer will be fired and replaced. This is how it works. Don Mattrick was once a rising star.

And as you ask I own about $8k ish of MSFT.

Nonsense. Phil Spencer is an EVP at Microsoft and is at the highest table. If Xbox isn’t hitting their performance targets, Spencer will fire someone under him. That’s how it works.

because the man plays Destiny and replies to your asses on Twitter, you folks forget he’s just one step behind Satya in the Microsoft hierarchy.

And FYI, Don Mattrick never reached Spencer’s level at Microsoft.
 

Ozriel

M$FT
1. First party studios isn’t just employee base salary.
2. Regardless, this pretty much proves that expenditures will be similar and scale similarly for both companies, even if you can’t account for some of the most notable expenditures.

If PlayStation is sounding $22 billion, rest assured that Xbox will have to spend more than $30-$35 billion to break even. Their current revenue of $15 billion won’t cut it.

And unless that changes, acquiring any more big studios will only further that gap. So not going to happen until their profitability and revenue situation change.

I love how you could take this same ‘logic’ and use it to claim that MS would never buy Bethesda

Not everything is about short term revenue. Sometimes it’s about strategic positions. MS wanted to buy Discord for $10bn. You think Discord currently makes much money?
 
Well, first off they should make their own offer on TTwo, even if they don't ultimately win...at least to jack up the price and make it less feasible for others.

IMO they should have already bought Square or Capcom and I really do not understand why they are so so so unwilling to buy big premium things with their money.
Do they think Final Fantasy or Tomb Raider or Street Fighter or Monster Hunter will suddenly become worthless or something?

To me the management at Sony is super frustrating and they seem to bury their heads and pretend everything is just great, when it obviously isn't. When one of the biggest companies in the world is basically with the knives out, trying to crush them in gaming and then Kenichiro Yoshida goes to meet them smiling like an idiot trying to do some deal....

Sony should at least buy some one or two big publishers so they can bring them to the table if they have to negotiate to keep some big franchises coming to PlayStation in the future.
Square makes no sense, there is no danger of MS picking them up and Sony already has a great relationship with them without having to take on the over 5000 employees they have, that's twice as many as Zenimax/Bethesda. IF Sony makes anymore acquisitions it should be developers not publishers, maybe buy some dormant IP like Castlevania from Konami but publishers are too big and unless it's something like Take two where GTA would almost make the money back on it's own at some point it's too much. Xbox has all that money coming in from Windows, Office and other MS services to back it up if Phil had to depend on the money that Xbox brings in he'd be out of a job but because they are a huge company that is basically unopposed in several parts of it's business he can just spend money made from other departments. Sony doesn't have that luxury, PlayStation is where they make most of their money, if they overextend there and things don't go just right they have no other way to make up for it.

Publishers lose so much of their value when you buy them and make their games exclusive, you are never going to bring the majority of people over from the other ecosystem so unless they have a property like GTA or Fortnite it just doesn't make sense.
 
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