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Phil Spencer: "Definitely not done" buying game studios

Swift_Star

Banned
If Microsoft were to make any large acquisitions, Sega is really the one to go after. Their back catalog and IP's are massive. There are so many dormant IP's Sega has that they don't touch, and let's not forget about their arcade catalog that has never seen the light of day on any home console.
Sega is not looking to sell and they have no reason to lol. They have a lot of business outside of gaming and they're one of the main entertainment companies in Japan. Why would they sell?
 
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Kokoloko85

Member
Sooo... Sega?

If Microsoft were to make any large acquisitions, Sega is really the one to go after. Their back catalog and IP's are massive. There are so many dormant IP's Sega has that they don't touch, and let's not forget about their arcade catalog that has never seen the light of day on any home console.

Japan doesn’t allow a company to be bought by an outside Japanese company. Its not gonna happen

Asobo will be a good choice. MS is eventually gonna buy all the western publishers lol
 

Fredrik

Member
It sucks we won't ever see Bluepoint port / remake a Gears game.

It sucks we won't see the next Elder Scrolls on PlayStation.

Aside from fanboy list wars, I don't really see how this benefits the larger gaming community outside of platform specific eco system features (like xcloud, gamepass and cross buy with PC).
As said in another thread just now. Had Microsoft managed to buy Moon Studios we could’ve got another Ori game, now when they hooked up with Private Division the IP is pretty much dead.
 

twilo99

Member
people seems to always think of xbox and microsoft as two different things when in reality they are not.. and microsoft is a one of them mega corps that can pretty much buy whatever it wants.
 

Swift_Star

Banned
people seems to always think of xbox and microsoft as two different things when in reality they are not.. and microsoft is a one of them mega corps that can pretty much buy whatever it wants.
Wanting =/= able to. They can try, doesn't mean they'll succeed. Not everyone wants to lose independence to MS. That's not how this works. Were it true, they would've bought either google or apple years ago to have a grasp at the smartphone market, but they didn't do either of those things and windows phone flopped hard, so did Zune. So, no, it's not like you think it is.
 
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Lognor

Banned
Maybe in general this stinks, but as an Xbox gamer it's got me excited! Any dev they acquire will have games on game pass day one! Sucks for ps gamers only though, no doubt
 
Wanting =/= able to. They can try, doesn't mean they'll succeed. Not everyone wants to lose independence to MS. That's not how this works. Were it true, they would've bought either google or apple years ago to have a grasp at the smartphone market, but they didn't do either of those things and windows phone flopped hard, so did Zune. So, no, it's not like you think it is.
That's true. A better way to say it would've been to say that MS can buy whoever it wants that is actually for sale.

Apple probably isn't the best example to use either though. MS could've killed Apple a long time ago, and acquired them if regulators would've allowed it. Apple only even exists today as a company because MS bailed them out so as not to appear monopolistic. Had they not done so, Apple would've went under.
 

Godot25

Banned
As long as they don't buy Tomb Raider. It's unlikely that square will sell eidos and its IPs.

As I was saying in another thread. It would not surprise me if Square would want to pull a plug on all their western business. It's clear as day that they failed in that regard and now it looks like (from lack of marketing push about GotG game) that they just want to milk everything and just dump it.

And if they will sell their western business, keeping ip makes no sense at all.

Who know if they have more then sony's 20billions budget ...
That's just little more then Microsoft's quarterly profit :)
 

PhaseJump

Banned
Japan doesn’t allow a company to be bought by an outside Japanese company. Its not gonna happen

Asobo will be a good choice. MS is eventually gonna buy all the western publishers lol

Right. OK. So, you're saying Japan is against investment from trillion dollar companies, trade in the global economy, or that Microsoft Japan doesn't exist.

b6acbeb8f2afda76350865a9ef698775.gif
 
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Kokoloko85

Member
Right. OK. So, you're saying Japan is against investment from trillion dollar companies, trade in the global economy, or that Microsoft Japan doesn't exist.

b6acbeb8f2afda76350865a9ef698775.gif

Lol I didnt make the rules. Japan Microsoft is a part of Microsoft, not a Japanese made company


Theres more out there to read
 

bitbydeath

Member
Maybe in general this stinks, but as an Xbox gamer it's got me excited! Any dev they acquire will have games on game pass day one! Sucks for ps gamers only though, no doubt
Nah, I think it’s been great for both parties. It’s spurred Sony into buying more studios too, and when they go Sony it means they get that Sony level of quality it’s well known for. Nintendo should get in on it too while they’re earning a lot from Switch.
 

MonarchJT

Banned
Japan doesn’t allow a company to be bought by an outside Japanese company. Its not gonna happen

Asobo will be a good choice. MS is eventually gonna buy all the western publishers lol
isn't true ...Japan have harder regulators but it is perfectly possible to buy Japanese companies especially if the company actually wants to be bought
 
If Kojima wanted to sell Sony would buy him already. Same FOR Microsoft and Asobo

thats why i said eventually. just like insomniac eventually became part of sony. they continuously said they wanted to remain independent but it was always going to happen in the end. i think they will do another game before it finally happens.
 

Swift_Star

Banned
As I was saying in another thread. It would not surprise me if Square would want to pull a plug on all their western business. It's clear as day that they failed in that regard and now it looks like (from lack of marketing push about GotG game) that they just want to milk everything and just dump it.

And if they will sell their western business, keeping ip makes no sense at all.


That's just little more then Microsoft's quarterly profit :)
How have they failed if all three games sold like hot cakes? That's not true at all.
Lack of marketing in GotG? What? Lmao, the game was featured extensively in Sony and Microsoft shows. The game is everywhere. You're really not making any sense. I know you're all dreaming about Microsoft owning everything, but I'm sorry, that's not happening.
 
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Kokoloko85

Member
isn't true ...Japan have harder regulators but it is perfectly possible to buy Japanese companies especially if the company actually wants to be bought

If they want to be bought and the government makes it very hard to be bought unless they dont care.
They prefer there own companies to buy it
 

Lupin25

Member
You talk like Sony isn’t 1st place and don’t have multiple elite studios already. They don’t need any more.

Game pass doesn’t have PS exclusives, PS doesn’t have Xbox exclusives. That’s all it comes down to, is which you prefer. It doesn’t suck for absolutely any modern gamer out there on any platform.
 

Mr Rawnch

Neo Member
It's great and all that they are buying studios to improve their gaming line-up, but just for once, I would like them to actually build a studio and not just buy them.

Sony has created many popular IPs by themselves, and other that might not have been as popular but great nonetheless.

God of War
Horizon
Killzone
Warhawk
The Last of Us
WipeOut
Ratchet and Clank
Shadow of the Colossus
Heavenly Sword
LittleBigPlanet
inFamous

I could go on for a long time...

I guess success come from creating great IPs, not buying the studios. Many Playstation games have been made by independent studios before they were bought out by Sony.

The same goes for Nintendo. They have created so many great IPs and they are so popular that they are stuck with them. However, they keep creating some few new ones like Splatoon, ARMS, etc. Recent Nintendo games have been made in partnerships from 3rd party, so they don't need to buy the studios. (They do need to by Mercury System though).

Microsoft is just looking at already established IPs and buying the studio who makes them instead of creating IPs themselves. They have Halo and Forza, but other IPs, were already established like Minecraft and now all of Bethesda catalogue.

It's like they want to be in the gaming business but don't want to put the effort in creating new games so they just buy them.

Psygnosis, the creators of Wipeout started as a third-party developer. The Wipeout franchise started on Saturn and PS1.

Heavenly Sword was in development before they agreed to a publishing deal with Sony.

The Warhawk was developed on PS1 and was re-released on PS3 to showcase the Sixaxis

It could be said (for any platform) that first-party development is mostly homogenized with little differences. Microsoft is known for selling software, hardware, and peripherals, so it would make sense that they would simply acquire studios to make games for their platforms. You have to understand that Sony got a huge leg up when they were ahead in the design game of the PS1 with virtually no competition. Sitting on top of the hill basically meant that they had de facto third-party support and indie devs begging for a chance to be part of their first-party studios. The PS2 was a massive success and the only way a sane company could compete -- is with deep pockets. Microsoft has taken opportunities to help with third-party hardware development, game software development, and publishing.

MS would take a stab at first-party development/publishing with games like:

Project Gotham Racing
Gears of War
Rally Sport Challenge
Fable
Jade Empire
Shenmue 2
Halo
Fever Series
Amped series
Crimson Skies
NBA Inside Drive
Bloodwake

The list goes on. It's not like they haven't taken a stab at making first-party games. Hell, some of these games required expensive licensing for car manufactures and sports. MS took a dip at helping the Dreamcast to successful, albeit, short-lived launch. To say that they haven't put any effort or major contributions is flat out false. They understand that some gamers are flat-out stubborn. Some people refuse to look past flying their console colors, and that's exactly how Nintendo was able to stay afloat selling handhelds for the last 20+ years.

Bottom line: Companies are going to do what they can do to survive.
 

Lognor

Banned
Nah, I think it’s been great for both parties. It’s spurred Sony into buying more studios too, and when they go Sony it means they get that Sony level of quality it’s well known for. Nintendo should get in on it too while they’re earning a lot from Switch.
Sony hasn't really done much at all. Bluepoint? That's very small and they have exactly zero ips. Sony still hasn't responded to Microsoft's acquisition of Bethesda. Xbox owners are eating
 

CatLady

Selfishly plays on Xbox Purr-ies X
Personally, I don't really want to see Xbox buying any more big publishers, especially Sega since they have nothing that interests me.

I much rather they buy just a few more studios like Asobo, and either the SE's western division or really just Crystal Dynamics and Eidos Montreal. If those 3 studios joined XGS they'd have pretty much every studio I really like. I'd never have to play anything besides Xbox 1st party except AssCreed and the occasional quality Indie on Game Pass.

OTOH if Apple, Amazon and/or Google ever start buying up studios/publishers, I would want Microsoft and Sony to go on big time buying sprees.
 

Lognor

Banned
The post
Why would they? They don't need to. Fanboys are so weird.
The post i responded to said that Sony was spurred into further acquisitions due to Microsoft's purchases. I don't know if that's true, but if it is, when's Sony going to respond?
 

bitbydeath

Member
Sony hasn't really done much at all. Bluepoint? That's very small and they have exactly zero ips. Sony still hasn't responded to Microsoft's acquisition of Bethesda. Xbox owners are eating
This year they put stakes in Epic and Kadokawa (From’s parent) and purchased 4 studios. 5 if we count Fabrik.

What do you mean by respond to the Zenimax acquisition? And why would they need too?
 
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MonarchJT

Banned
If they want to be bought and the government makes it very hard to be bought unless they dont care.
They prefer there own companies to buy it
the govern it would have great difficulty in blocking the purchase and sale of two consensus companies. Unless the acquisition puts the national market at risk (a kind of antitrust) but I don't see how this can happen even buying 1 whole publisher. The process would then be long but if you want to buy a Japanese company it is very feasible .... we are talking about video game companies
 
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Kokoloko85

Member
the govern it would have great difficulty in blocking the purchase and sale of two consensus companies. Unless the acquisition puts the national market at risk (a kind of antitrust) but I don't see how this can happen even buying 1 whole publisher. The process would then be long but if you want to buy a Japanese company it is very feasible .... we are talking about video game companies
Its long and they would probably sell to another Japanese company before they let MS buy it
 

Godot25

Banned
How have they failed if all three games sold like hot cakes? That's not true at all.
Lack of marketing in GotG? What? Lmao, the game was featured extensively in Sony and Microsoft shows. The game is everywhere. You're really not making any sense. I know you're all dreaming about Microsoft owning everything, but I'm sorry, that's not happening.
Hitman was huge commercial fail, so they let studio and IP go.
They always complained that Tomb Raider games did not meet sales expectations.
Deus Ex MD sold so poorly, that they canceled a sequel.
Avengers bombed so hard they did not recoup the cost of development.
Outriders devs did not recieved any bonus money.

In what world is western side of Square successful? Jesus, they are lending their own developers to Microsoft for a quick buck. That should tell you all.
 

Mr Rawnch

Neo Member
The other overlooked issue is that bigger gaming devs often purchase other smaller gaming devs. Imagine if Sony, MS, and Nintendo were able to acquire most of the acquisitions EA and Activision pissed away. Leeching software giants make it difficult for 1st party developers to thrive. I remember when EA was openly trying to bully Sega out of making sports titles. They've been getting away with this behavior with brands from the likes of NFL to Porsche.

I understand that it may look petty on the surface for hardware platforms to acquire studios. However, they stand a better chance of thriving than simply being stripped and dissolved of their resources.
 
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Godot25

Banned
thats why i said eventually. just like insomniac eventually became part of sony. they continuously said they wanted to remain independent but it was always going to happen in the end. i think they will do another game before it finally happens.
Yeah. But difference is that Insomniac made Spiderman games that sold 16+ million copies so for Sony it made sense even if they needed to overpay.

But for Kojima? Last time I checked Death Stranding didn't set world on fire... There were also a rumor that Kojima went to Sony with his next game pitch and Sony refused. Then he came after Harrison at Stadia and he refused him and that's why he is now making game for Xbox. That's the rumor at least
 

Mr Rawnch

Neo Member
Yeah. But difference is that Insomniac made Spiderman games that sold 16+ million copies so for Sony it made sense even if they needed to overpay.
That's just common sense. Especially with Disney biting at the chomp to get back all of the other Marvel IPs. Imagine what Sony is going to have to pony up to make that Wolverine game. The Insomniac games are one of the few bright spots considering some of the movie stinkers they released.
 

Buggy Loop

Member
Wouldn't be shocked if they pick up the Edios studios/IP's from square

Yeah, Square and Eidos is a so-so relationship from what I heard. Final Fantasy made by Eidos Montreal, cancelled when SE’s president changed, while FF7 and FF15 were in development hell, is part of many reasons why it’s a bit soured. Working on movie franchises too when the team had the respectable Thief and Deus Ex franchises… is ooofff.
 
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