Hopefully not sega. The last thing I'd want is Microsoft in charge of Yakuza and Persona. They'd just end ruining them like every other franchise they own.
Microsoft is talking to japanese publishers about acquisitions. Let's guess the next big Xbox acquisition.
- Thread starter Sleepy Brown
- Start date
I don’t know, how about actually developing some games instead? Nothing exciting transferring ownership of existing ip. Literally nothing gets added, just pieces removed from the playfield reducing competition and ultimately decreasing quality and increasing prices.
of of the most stupid hot takes i haven seen on years,of course its from you
this is the epitome of how miserable and dangerous is the xbox fandom for this hobby,this lowlifes only talk about adquistions,
Ive been thinking about what Microsofts real goals are, like really what they want. Factoring in the mismanagement, the billion dollar deficitcs, the never making a profit or recovering funds spent, all of it. It occurred to me their singular goal is to destroy the games industry. Thats it. There can be no other explanation.
I believe they end goal is to become the sole party in the game industry no matter how much money they have to burn for that.
It is a strategy that MS already used in others markets.
After that they count only the profit and forget how much money they used to reach that state.
Just to put in perspective... a very very successful company in game business will profit around $2 billion per year... so if they are that very successful they will take around 35 years to recover the Activision Blizzard deal... that is why they choose to forget past.
I'm just gonna re-post what I put on GAF a few moments ago; Sleepy Brown threads don't deserve original posts from me 
----------------
Look, all companies are always "in talks" with other publishers and developers, but if I'm being frank, MS are the last ones right now who need to be stirring the pot for yet another major acquisition. In the span of only four years, they've already acquired 30 or so studios across a string of independent smaller studios, one major publisher, and soon the industry's BIGGEST publisher.
To the point, they have enough studios, manpower, tech and IP resources to "feed the beast" that is GamePass, if that's what this was actually about. I'm taking Satya and Phil by their word, but that might not account for much. And let's also keep it 100%; we have not even began to see what the results of being under Microsoft mean for Ninja Theory (outside of Bleeding Edge, not the best example), Obsidian (I guess Grounded and Pentiment might count? Not exactly the most exhilarating games there though), etc. Let alone Bethesda. We barely have any output from these acquisitions of games we either would not have gotten otherwise, or show a very clear jump in quality versus what they were putting out beforehand.
And now you have to throw ABK into the mix. It's going to take at least five years of consistent results for ME to have any genuine faith in Microsoft's strategy with their acquisitions, so for ME I don't honestly want to hear anything about them looking for yet more big publishers or developers to buy (especially Japanese ones, because at that point they're just screwing around with Sony and Nintendo's stability with 3P publishers. I mean, buying Zenimax and ABK kind of does that as well, but I digress). I think the past four years have been good for MS's growth mode in terms of gaming, but it's time to settle down, and start getting to the meat & potatoes. Start getting that content out, and make it world-class.
If the results are looking good enough, maybe by 2027, if they're still interested in going after another big gaming publisher like, say, Sega, I won't have an internal repulsion against the idea, because at that point MS will have (hopefully) shown they could do with 30+ teams in five years, what they couldn't do with most of their FIVE original teams in 20 years. And that would be a massive W; if they came out at that point and said "hey, we're looking to acquire Sega", I think most gamers across the board would be okay with it, because the results from prior acquisitions are doing the talking for them by that point.
Now if they went on some wild bent and said they're buying Square-Enix or Capcom or something like that by 2027/2028 or whatever, my point would mostly still stand and it'd be Sony I'd be questioning, for not locking talent like that down beforehand if you knew there was a chance other platform holders were eyeing them. When you're too slow, you lose out, it's that simple. I do think Sony are considering these options themselves, though, so it shouldn't play out that way. Hell, these rumors could be about Sony in talks with Japanese publishers or developers and not Microsoft, which would make more sense because MS are still trying to get the ABK acquisition cleared so why split their focus acquisitions-wise with entertaining other big publishers/developers to buy? At that point groups like the FTC and CMA are going to see MS as extremely greedy, and complicate the process of them acquiring ABK.
Plus it wouldn't be the first time with certain "big" rumors started as if they involved Microsoft when they turned out to be pre-emptive pieces to distract from the fact they actually involved Sony. This has happened before, it could be happening again.
----------------
Look, all companies are always "in talks" with other publishers and developers, but if I'm being frank, MS are the last ones right now who need to be stirring the pot for yet another major acquisition. In the span of only four years, they've already acquired 30 or so studios across a string of independent smaller studios, one major publisher, and soon the industry's BIGGEST publisher.
To the point, they have enough studios, manpower, tech and IP resources to "feed the beast" that is GamePass, if that's what this was actually about. I'm taking Satya and Phil by their word, but that might not account for much. And let's also keep it 100%; we have not even began to see what the results of being under Microsoft mean for Ninja Theory (outside of Bleeding Edge, not the best example), Obsidian (I guess Grounded and Pentiment might count? Not exactly the most exhilarating games there though), etc. Let alone Bethesda. We barely have any output from these acquisitions of games we either would not have gotten otherwise, or show a very clear jump in quality versus what they were putting out beforehand.
And now you have to throw ABK into the mix. It's going to take at least five years of consistent results for ME to have any genuine faith in Microsoft's strategy with their acquisitions, so for ME I don't honestly want to hear anything about them looking for yet more big publishers or developers to buy (especially Japanese ones, because at that point they're just screwing around with Sony and Nintendo's stability with 3P publishers. I mean, buying Zenimax and ABK kind of does that as well, but I digress). I think the past four years have been good for MS's growth mode in terms of gaming, but it's time to settle down, and start getting to the meat & potatoes. Start getting that content out, and make it world-class.
If the results are looking good enough, maybe by 2027, if they're still interested in going after another big gaming publisher like, say, Sega, I won't have an internal repulsion against the idea, because at that point MS will have (hopefully) shown they could do with 30+ teams in five years, what they couldn't do with most of their FIVE original teams in 20 years. And that would be a massive W; if they came out at that point and said "hey, we're looking to acquire Sega", I think most gamers across the board would be okay with it, because the results from prior acquisitions are doing the talking for them by that point.
Now if they went on some wild bent and said they're buying Square-Enix or Capcom or something like that by 2027/2028 or whatever, my point would mostly still stand and it'd be Sony I'd be questioning, for not locking talent like that down beforehand if you knew there was a chance other platform holders were eyeing them. When you're too slow, you lose out, it's that simple. I do think Sony are considering these options themselves, though, so it shouldn't play out that way. Hell, these rumors could be about Sony in talks with Japanese publishers or developers and not Microsoft, which would make more sense because MS are still trying to get the ABK acquisition cleared so why split their focus acquisitions-wise with entertaining other big publishers/developers to buy? At that point groups like the FTC and CMA are going to see MS as extremely greedy, and complicate the process of them acquiring ABK.
Plus it wouldn't be the first time with certain "big" rumors started as if they involved Microsoft when they turned out to be pre-emptive pieces to distract from the fact they actually involved Sony. This has happened before, it could be happening again.
You are getting all to much affected by this empty words of all the Xbox fanatics.
I said back then to people and now again: MS will never get a Japanese publisher, not now or in 100 years.
You all act up like Square Enix, Sega, Capcom are broke. They don't need any help. All of them are healthy on their own. The only publisher I am seeing bought is Square Enix by Sony. But that's solidified by another reasons and past events so far.
Don't ignore facts and let stupid Xbots deceive you. Grubb is fraud, he says every year this kinda bs rumors.
I said back then to people and now again: MS will never get a Japanese publisher, not now or in 100 years.
You all act up like Square Enix, Sega, Capcom are broke. They don't need any help. All of them are healthy on their own. The only publisher I am seeing bought is Square Enix by Sony. But that's solidified by another reasons and past events so far.
Don't ignore facts and let stupid Xbots deceive you. Grubb is fraud, he says every year this kinda bs rumors.
He said the sames rumors every year in faith to eventually one of them become true and Xbox fans congratulate him and forget all others missed bullshit from him.
Yeah where is his Switch Pro he talked about?
I am done with Jeff Fraud Grubb.
Greg Miller is the one who is more credible.
P
peter42O
Guest
Yeah, it's a serious post. Grubb is like 85%+ accurate. I want insiders who are accurate and know what they're talking about. Why would anyone want insiders who don't know shit or barely have a 20% accuracy record? I think majority don't like him because he predicted Kojima working with Microsoft and Sony fans went nuts as proven over a year ago on resetera and gaf.
Not according to threads on resetera and gaf who bashed him over a year ago. Yet he turned out to be more accurate than any PlayStation insider. Hell, are there any PlayStation insiders that are even close to being credible? lol. Moriarty is probably the best but he barely mentions shit anymore.
He's not perfect. No insider is. But he's definitely one of the most accurate which is what I care about the most when it comes to "insiders".
Haha. Nope. Grubb is accurate which is all I care about.
This is an Xbox acquisition thread. Why would I talk about other stuff in this thread?
Why do people keep acting like this means it's somehow illegal to sell to a foreign investor?
Japan requires approval by the finance ministry in those cases, that's it.
Doesn't make the purchases illegal.
It's an insular society, that's the bigger hurdle.
These rumors still smell of BS.
i can't believe you are not taking @Sleepy Brown's word as gospel, what next, you're going to tell me Uri Geller was a fraud?
Get the hell out of here.
The picture above might be the wrong type of spooning.
Get the hell out of here.
The picture above might be the wrong type of spooning.
Yeah, but I think MS need way more than a year in honesty. They've already had an uphill battle with most gamers accepting these acquisitions (with resentment growing as time goes on, the longer it takes for results from the current/earlier acquisitions to manifest in meaningful ways), and now they're having an uphill battle with regulators.
Regulators are absolutely going to give MS the side-eye if they try making any other notable publisher or even developer acquisitions within the span of a few years. They're also going to want more info from Microsoft, such as revenue and *profit* figures, GamePass subscription numbers (apparently MS didn't want to provide this to the CMA which is partly why they moved the investigation to Phase 2), GamePass revenue numbers (something that would tell a much clearer story than subscriber counts; actually I think THIS is what the CMA could've asked for and well I kinda suspect why MS would decline
) etc.MS's going to be forced to be way more transparent with investigative regulators going forward, especially if they move too quickly, so I think for their sake they're best off waiting a few years and just doing their best to make what they have so far, work as best as possible.
Publisher-wise the only real exception is probably Sega.
TBF, Sega spun out their arcade manufacturing and location management to 3P companies. They've also made a few other changes to their structure in relation to Sammy.
MS have shown they don't care too much about what other stuff a publisher's involved in; if they just make them a subsidiary that would be the furthest MS would feel comfortable doing while still "owning" a publisher like Sega. Plus if there's the (quite likely IMO) possibility of Sony acquiring Square-Enix, well SE are involved in a lot of non-gaming stuff too but the synergetic benefits are clearly there. Same could be the case if MS bought Sega.
I'm not even saying I want MS to buy Sega. However it's just the fact that out of all the Japanese publishers, Sega's the only one MS could realistically go for. After all, Sega's technically always been a Japanese/American company at heart, since its founding by David Rosen (a Japanese and Hawaiian company merged to form Sega). The others, like Capcom, Square-Enix, Konami etc. are not only way far left-field for MS but don't have anywhere near the history with MS that Sega does.
Even so, MS shouldn't even be entertaining looking into buying ANY other publishers for at least five years. They need to get their house in order and it's larger than ever now with all the teams they've acquired.
I've never wanted Apple to buy a game publisher so bad
. Everything you just described with MS buying EA only shows a benefit to MS's bottom line and a change to the content delivery model. But the gamer in me, doesn't care for any of that. Not a single mention of bringing back Road Rash or Haunting Starring Poultryguy, just like how I've seen no one else mention about possibly getting some WoW adventure games like that cancelled (and pretty good-looking) one from 1996 that never got released (Activision had the publishing rights IIRC). Sure, Phil's made a throwaway reference to bringing back Guitar Hero, but that's the safe pick. I haven't seen him, Satya, or most people in general talking about ABK, or Zenimax, or potential other MS acquisitions, talk about them from the POV that should actually matter: what games can we get that we otherwise wouldn't have been able to get? What are the quality improvements we should expect these games now? Can these studios ascend to the next level under Microsoft's leadership?
I could care less what these acquisitions are doing for the company's bottom line, or how turning the game into a service is somehow meant to be a benefit (or could potentially mangle it completely, i.e Halo Infinite). Even you are basically mentioning games that were going to come out anyway if ABK, EA etc. remained multiplat. The only difference being that money's now going to MS instead of the 3P publisher, because they technically won't exist as a 3P publisher anymore.
If we're strictly talking smaller studios, the most likely you've mentioned would be Creative Assembly, People Can Fly, and Neon Giant. Asobo isn't as likely since they have their own funding source and are well-off in that regard; Techland is similar AFAIK.
But even with these smaller studios, MS should probably space out those acquisitions over at least a two-year period. They really need to get their current studios in order and get some real results coming out consistently.
EXACTLY!! What is the point in buying up multiple teams but having little in the way of actual content from them (yet), it comes off like patent trolling to me. If Satya Nadella actually understands the words coming from his own mouth, then the "competition" we want to see involves releasing some actual games from the acquisitions you've already made.
Let's see how Ninja Theory, Obsidian (and no, Grounded and Pentiment don't count), inXile, Compulsion, Bethesda, Double Fine etc. step up their quality and produce some industry-leading AA and AAA games. And now you gotta add ABK to that mix. Let's see what new games along those lines these studios can make that they wouldn't have been able to make without you buying them.
If the results are looking strong, after a few years, maybe then going after another big publisher would go down better with the vast majority of gamers (y'know, your customers). But that's a minimum five years for me, and one thing MS has shown over the years is they don't have the most patience out there (unless it comes to enabling 343i's mediocrity; they've only just now decided to do something about it).
You are not getting it...
Nobody said it's illegal, it has to do with the mentality of the Japanese. All this talk about everyone has price is pure bs, at least in Japan it is not the case. Are you really that naive to think Microsoft never approached the Japanese publishers to buy them, since the they entered gaming?
There were reports in the past MS tried to buy publisher like Capcom, Sega and Square Enix but got rejected. It's not a fantasy, this mentality thing in Japan is real. We all know Microsoft has money, but that's not important for Japanese gaming companies. If I would be wrong, then MS would have gobbled up all Japanese big players long ago. And like I wrote before, the laws got stricter in 2019 and 2021 for foreigners. It will never happen that this shady company will ever get one Japanese big player. But you all can keep believing frauds like Grubb and closing your eyes from the reality. Every year the same and pointless discussion about MS and Japan.^^
What exactly am I not getting?
I said "It's an insular society, that's the bigger hurdle."
I'm simply addressing the BS that somehow Japanese law is what will stop a foreign investment in a gaming company. All that happened was they increased the number of companies that require approval.
You used that tweet to claim "your dreams are hopeless" when this is RIGHT in the tweet chain:
NOT prohibited
The dreams aren't dead.. your logic is flawed either way.. just because MS may have tried and failed in the past, doesn't mean they can't succeed now.
Companies don't just sit around waiting to be sold.. the timing has to be right for the people who own shares, so an attempt 5 years ago that failed could succeed today. Beyond that MS may be more willing to offer big bucks.
Like I said, I think the rumors are BS anyways.. and there are hurdles to buying a Japanese company.
But nothing in your tweet you posted has anything to do with the "dream being dead."
In fact your reply has NOTHING to do with your original post.
What you aren't getting is that copium and feelings overpower facts when it comes to Sony.
There's copium in both directions lol
I think there's only a small chance MS could ever get a Japanese publisher to sell.
Small dev? More likely.
The Japanese government approval process? No clue.. I've never seen any evidence in either direction how hard that is. Is anyone aware of any blocked purchases? I haven't seen anything like that, just the law being repeated everywhere.
But the internet in general acts way too black and white about things.
Last edited:
