MacReady13
Member
What a terrible future gaming has if this is what it's all about. And people try to tell me gaming is better with subscription services...
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Microsoft talking to major Japanese Publishers and small studios for acquisition
PhaseJump
Banned
It gives a cheap entry point to a baseline, shared library for customers, which can increase the user base and keep multiplayer games going. It helps friends pick up and play games based on word of mouth. It gives small developers a huge customer base up front, who might pick up and play something they never would have considered.
If you prefer to hoard your games and "own" them, you are still free to throw away your 70 bucks to do so for physical or digital copies.
Choices are better. What a terrible future, though. Yep.
TheThreadsThatBindUs
Member
So.... a random Twitter dude.
Why should we listen to this person again?
Why should we listen to this person again?
Barakov
Gold Member
From the same guy that said this:
Report: Sony Contacted All Major Third Parties for Exclusivity Deals, Offered More Money Than Microsoft
Report: Sony Contacted All Major Third Parties for Exclusivity Deals, Offered More Money Than Microsoft Kinda Funny’s Imran Khan said: There isn’t a major third party out there Sony failed to approach asking what kind of deals they could work out. Some had content, some had games, some had...www.neogaf.com
Hawking Radiation
Member
If Imran Khan and Jason Schrier post about something, you can say its pretty much confirmed. They are very well connected in the industry.
Not your fault the person you replying to doesn't know who Imran is and it makes sense since he's only joined this forum in April of last year
. Imran's been posting on gaming stuff for years and his posts are quoted and discussed heavily on Resetera, a place where they don't take too kindly to fake insiders unlike here on GAF.
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Drell
Member
The fact "they aren't as bad" (and i'd prefer to say they're as bad IMO) and that the others may use the same kind of practice won't make them appear any more nice to me. The fact MS is holding an indestructible monopoly over computers OS since the 90s doesn't makes me want them to get another one over the video game industry. But yes, you have a point, I don't want embracer, tencent, amazon, google, apple, meta or the prince of the emirates to get that monopoly either. In fact, I'd rather have the antitrust doing something next time MS or any other wants to buy something again.
ZoukGalaxy
Member
People are short term sighted sheep and don't realize what's happening and do not care. This is a corporate, only money counts, NOTHING ELSE.
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Gavon West
Spread's Cheeks for Intrusive Ads
If you follow history, anytime word starts to spread that Microsoft is talking to publishers or developers, not long after, they pick someone up. I wouldn't make light of it. And it's usually something pretty big. Just putting that out there.
Gavon West
Spread's Cheeks for Intrusive Ads
Remember you said this...
TheTony316
Member
Why even make this thread?
Post Up is a major Xbox fanboy with 0 insider knowledge. All he does is damage control for MS on Nxtgen720s podcast, lol.
Post Up is a major Xbox fanboy with 0 insider knowledge. All he does is damage control for MS on Nxtgen720s podcast, lol.
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Mister Wolf
Member
Soleil would be a good pickup for Microsoft.
//DEVIL//
Member
Dude Spencer just said a couple of days ago they are going for other studios. These guys spin a few words and bam! “Insider news look at me !! I am an attention whore look at me !! “
A few days ago it was an official statement that even MS CEO sounded like a retard when he said they want competition? We will bring competition or something along these lines.
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Hawking Radiation
Member
Because he's well connected in the industry?
That's if you're referring to Imran Khan.
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Sosokrates
Report me if I continue to console war
Jimbo has no power over Microsoft.Only if jim allows it.
FF:Enhanced_Reality
Member
Here-in lies the problem. In the PS3 days, the PS3 and PSP were a very, very healthy second place in Japan with Nintendo getting more sales on major Wii titles and DS/3DS titles. But the PS3 used to shift about 350,000 to 500,000 units per Yakuza title at launch week and about half that the week after. Monster Hunter on PSP used to sell gangbusters. Over 3 3 million per title on PSP from what I remember, at the height of it's popularity anyway.
But Sony has neglected it home market. The Vita died and left a lot of Japan only developers without a core platform as it was good enough there to make a business. Sony gradually stopped making less and less Japanese focused titles. They moved launch priority to the United States first and Europe second and Japan and Asia third. Their major Japanese talent in their internal studios has gone. It's really sad.
However, that said, I really hope this isn't true. Microsoft have bought enough of the market and every Japanese publisher has a core IP that's immeasurably important to gaming as a whole. Konami and core IP, whether they're active or not, that is well loved by the industry. Capcom have huge IP. SEGA have great IP. Namco have great IP. Square have great IP. Tecmo Koei are really growing into a bigger force.
Honestly they should just buy Platinum. They're incredibly overrated and clearly miss their relationship with XBOX. I don't think that would hurt Nintendo or Sony too much, but the publishing rights to Bayonetta would be a big question mark. I'm sure Microsoft would pay for them.
When it was the odd studio Microsoft were acquiring to create a first party team like Sony had, it was pretty interesting and fun. Now they've bought Bethesda, ABK and they're on the lookout for other huge companies, it just doesn't make sense anymore and it isn't fun anymore. I'll be happy when they call it a day now.
Swift_Star
Banned
I will. MS will not buy any relevant Japanese company.
They’re not buying
Sega
Capcom
Sqex
Konami
Do you have any source to back they’re buying any of those or is purely wishful thinking? If you have any source, please do share.
Can they buy some no name studio? Yes they can. The big ones? Not gonna happen.
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PhaseJump
Banned
It's all wishful thinking. Who is arguing otherwise?
We all have absolutely no idea who they will or will not buy, and your angle on any studio being "relevant" or not regarding it is totally lost on me.
I've already read your chronic shit posting on that other bullshitera site when you were banned here. You're clearly biased, and from a console warrior clown planet.
TheInfamousKira
Reseterror Resettler
intheinbetween
Member
lfmao and this is published on a wednesday 
Little Chicken
Member
I want Microsoft to buy someone like FROM or SE just to see the reactions 
SmurfMustard
Member
That is absolutely not the name of that forum. They would never be that honest. Ain't that right Shifty_Star?
FeldMonster
Member
This doesn't even make sense. You think a Japanese company acquired by Microsoft will be forced to survive financially based on its Japanese sales alone?
Clearly you don't work in any sort of medium to large business.
Punished Miku
Gold Member
mitch1971
Member
It is a Wednesday I guess
fallingdove
Member
It erodes price realization, forces MTX, limits creativity in lieu of copy pasta, reduces the scope of video games, new IPs become even less frequent, subscribers have to endlessly pay into a system to retain any of the games they like, said games disappear due to contract or player count criteria, massive shared libraries of shit indie titles…
Not to mention it forces a future of subscription only gaming (companies go where the money is so “you can still buy $70 games” means very little if games are designed for subscription first).
Choices are better. What a terrible future though. Yep.
PhaseJump
Banned
fallingdove
Member
The future is also dog shit and you get to step in it for $14.99/month.
I would love to know examples of limited creativity and lack of new IP because of subscriptions.
fallingdove
Member
The lion share of indie titles lack creativity. The big budget games on GamePass are mostly sequels to established franchises.
If you scale GamePass (which Microsoft will have to do in order to make money) game visibility will shrink, forcing developers to double down on trending game gimmicks and or brand awareness (i.e sequelitis). We see the same thing with every other streaming service, we’ve seen it on the Apple App Store, we’ve seen it with GaaS in general.
Quantity is the name of the subscription streaming game, not quality.
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MacReady13
Member
So i'm throwing away money owning stuff, am I?
thicc_girls_are_teh_best
Gold Member
Wouldn't personally take a dev putting a game on GamePass as a potential sign they're up for being acquired, especially when some of these games are years old so it's obvious they're using GamePass as an end-of-life revenue stream for the title.
But if we're talking about realistic options in Japan, and ones that fit the pattern of MS's other gaming acquisitions, the studios you listed are solid picks. They've all seen better days, are down on their luck one way or another, so they could use a big daddy money bailout.
You mean to tell me Sony didn't want the co-marketing/funding money to be wasted on a game meant to see increased sales revenue, by having another platform leech off their investment giving the game away for "free" in a cheap subscription service? Color me surprised!
Yeah I've already been seriously considering making a move to Linux in the near future, the only thing I've worried about is app compatibility. I don't want to fuss around with things like WINE and take a performance hit just to use my go-to apps, but seeing as how WINE has improved a ton over the past 10 years, and now the improvements gaming-wise thanks to Valve's efforts, Linux is looking like an actual legitimate main OS platform.
Plus it has way less overhead than Windows on average, meaning more usable RAM, better CPU & GPU performance (drivers do still play a big role though), etc. If W11 turns out to have some crappy BS or sneaky data-collecting/harvesting to make money off my info with advertisers, or becomes big on bloat, I'm gonna look into a Linux distro.
You people are so shallow about it at this point. More fake narratives, everything is about how it can hurt Sony instead of, y'know, actually benefit Xbox.
And yes I said Xbox, not GamePass. GamePass is starting to look like a scapegoat boogeyman in the equation. If a business model requires rampant consolidation of independent 3P publishers that ends up actively harming other platform holder competitors and even other service providers, then that business model is not sustainable. I'm just gonna put that out there.
DaGwaphics
Member
While I'm sure that more purchases will be coming, I doubt Square would be something they would even think is worth buying. They aren't just throwing money around any which place, they have been choosing to pickup publishers and developers that Xbox players are traditionally interested in. I don't think Square fits that bill, tbh. Should they pickup something in Japan, big or small, I'm sure it will be a dev that has had reasonable success on the Xbox platform, or at the very least is making the type of games that are a good fit for the platform.
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Swift_Star
Banned
At least you admit you’re just wishing for it.It's all wishful thinking. Who is arguing otherwise?
We all have absolutely no idea who they will or will not buy, and your angle on any studio being "relevant" or not regarding it is totally lost on me.
I've already read your chronic shit posting on that other bullshitera site when you were banned here. You're clearly biased, and from a console warrior clown planet.
still not gonna happen.
Now back off with the insults. I’m not offending you. Learn how to have a proper conversation.
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thicc_girls_are_teh_best
Gold Member
Let's be 100% honest: if you're a real fan of JRPGs, and only game on Xbox...then you're not a real fan of JRPGs
. It's like me saying I love simulation racers so Nintendo should go acquire a sim racer maker. Uh, no...I would just go buy a PlayStation, Xbox, or PC and play the games over there, where they already are. JRPG fans have known for years, decades even, which platforms butter their toast for that genre: PlayStation and Nintendo. Microsoft doesn't need to suddenly go snap up JRPG devs/pubs to provide content for hypothetical fans who already have other platforms for the very game genre you're talking about.
Microsoft doesn't have to consolidate big chunks of the industry to grow their studios and IP. They've already had developers, they've already had working relationships with multiple 3P developers and publishers. If they had better management of earlier acquisitions like Bungie and Rare, they could've had a lot of gaps covered up by now. Maybe if they focused more on honing up the 2018 acquisitions instead of jumping into Zenimax and now jumping again into ABK, we could've seen some of those big 2020 reveals like Avowed & Hellblade II by now, even during the COVID lockdowns. Keep in mind, Hellblade and Horizon Zero Dawn released in the same year, and yet the latter (which was already a bigger & more ambitious game) has had its sequel available for months while the latter's sequel is still MIA, and likely will not measure up to HFW in several areas anyway, despite releasing well later.
You also realize that the money MS spends on the acquisitions doesn't include funding, right? That's extra. Which means they're spending $70 billion for ABK, PLUS whatever other money for salaries, 401Ks, medical & dental insurance, vacation packages, and labor/time for any and all new games from ALL of those teams.
MS were able to get ample Japanese support with the OG Xbox and 360 without consolidating publishers and locking them down in such a way to constrict other platform holders or use those publishers and their content as potential bargaining chips in future business deals with platform holders. They also managed to get that support without basically parading a pathway for OTHER massive conglomerates to have an easy-as-pie time to consolidate other major parts of the industry, so should they want to start buying out other big publishers, simply by pointing to MS & ABK and telling regulators "See? You let that pass. So let us through, too! We wanna "compete", too!!".
Some of you are being so small-minded about this, not aware of the ramifications cheerleading these acquisitions can have to the fabric of what helps define this industry. Gaming as a whole does not have a failure in the traditional business model where subscription services are a necessity for stability and growth. This idea that sub services are the "future" is trying to solve a problem in the industry that does not exist for the industry. Consolidating to grow a gaming service with content does not suddenly enable a new means of content funding, distribution, development or marketing that doesn't ALREADY exist in the industry in some way or another.
DaGwaphics
Member
You do realize that Ninja Theory is a small studio that admitted that they needed to work on a smaller, quicker to release project after Hellblade (I'm assuming they didn't have the funds). Thus, they started working on Bleeding Edge before MS even acquired them and needed to finish that project. LOL That small studio released a game in 2020 and Spencer refereed to Hellblade 2 as "very early in development" in Dec, 19. Going back and acting as if they started work on this at the same time that Gorilla did HFW is ridiculous.
These odd tangents about the recent studios acquired by MS are some of the most pointless and poorly thought out arguments on the board. The smaller studios had all either just released or were in the process of releasing existing games. While Bethesda is still running under the same management it was previously and has released two games (that just happened to be moneyhatted by Sony already).
Gavon West
Spread's Cheeks for Intrusive Ads
Okay bro.
PhaseJump
Banned
Unless you are a thief that doesn't pay for your toy collection; Yes.
adamsapple
Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
Most of the creativity in gaming that isn't the same third person or first person shooter is coming from the indies, not sure where you're coming from.
Things must be slow over there for the stalwarts to reappear
You must of missed the video game crash in the 80's lol i was there. So traditional business model has failed before. Also being down to 2 home console makers is not exactly healthy.Let's be 100% honest: if you're a real fan of JRPGs, and only game on Xbox...then you're not a real fan of JRPGs
Uh, no...I would just go buy a PlayStation, Xbox, or PC and play the games over there, where they already are. JRPG fans have known for years, decades even, which platforms butter their toast for that genre: PlayStation and Nintendo. Microsoft doesn't need to suddenly go snap up JRPG devs/pubs to provide content for hypothetical fans who already have other platforms for the very game genre you're talking about.
Microsoft doesn't have to consolidate big chunks of the industry to grow their studios and IP. They've already had developers, they've already had working relationships with multiple 3P developers and publishers. If they had better management of earlier acquisitions like Bungie and Rare, they could've had a lot of gaps covered up by now. Maybe if they focused more on honing up the 2018 acquisitions instead of jumping into Zenimax and now jumping again into ABK, we could've seen some of those big 2020 reveals like Avowed & Hellblade II by now, even during the COVID lockdowns. Keep in mind, Hellblade and Horizon Zero Dawn released in the same year, and yet the latter (which was already a bigger & more ambitious game) has had its sequel available for months while the latter's sequel is still MIA, and likely will not measure up to HFW in several areas anyway, despite releasing well later.
You also realize that the money MS spends on the acquisitions doesn't include funding, right? That's extra. Which means they're spending $70 billion for ABK, PLUS whatever other money for salaries, 401Ks, medical & dental insurance, vacation packages, and labor/time for any and all new games from ALL of those teams.
MS were able to get ample Japanese support with the OG Xbox and 360 without consolidating publishers and locking them down in such a way to constrict other platform holders or use those publishers and their content as potential bargaining chips in future business deals with platform holders. They also managed to get that support without basically parading a pathway for OTHER massive conglomerates to have an easy-as-pie time to consolidate other major parts of the industry, so should they want to start buying out other big publishers, simply by pointing to MS & ABK and telling regulators "See? You let that pass. So let us through, too! We wanna "compete", too!!".
Some of you are being so small-minded about this, not aware of the ramifications cheerleading these acquisitions can have to the fabric of what helps define this industry. Gaming as a whole does not have a failure in the traditional business model where subscription services are a necessity for stability and growth. This idea that sub services are the "future" is trying to solve a problem in the industry that does not exist for the industry. Consolidating to grow a gaming service with content does not suddenly enable a new means of content funding, distribution, development or marketing that doesn't ALREADY exist in the industry in some way or another.
The Shock and Awe of the first couple of pages in this thread should be a warning about doubting Microsoft.
https://www.neogaf.com/threads/brea...ion-blizzard-in-near-70-billion-deal.1627887/
owandeseis
Member
Yup, creativity is at it's finest at Sony now that they are charging 70$ per game, it really doesn't look like they are following the copy pasta and 0 risk strategy. Can't wait for the remaster of the remake of the remaster of TLOU
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