Microsoft's acquisition of Activison Blizzard

AshHunter216

Banned
8 Jan 2023
4,556
7,628
Question for the thread: how many successful franchises has Microsoft created, not acquired?
Forza. As far as I know, everything else already existed or was in development before they were bought. We'll have to wait and see if any of the new studios they bought can put out successful new ips under their new umbrella.

Edit: Seems like Flight Sim as well.
 
Last edited:
  • they're_right_you_know
Reactions: Deleted member 417

Heisenberg007

Veteran
21 Jun 2022
1,255
2,567
Question for the thread: how many successful franchises has Microsoft created, not acquired?
3e9.jpg
 
OP
OP
Darth Vader

Darth Vader

I find your lack of faith disturbing
Founder
20 Jun 2022
7,365
10,933
I think I should have worded it to "Xbox", but fair answers. Through my research, from their beloved franchises (I'm ignoring all bethesda stuff of couse) they created Forza, State of Decay, and Sea of Thieves. I could be forgetting a few, but Gears, Halo, Flight Sim, Age of Empires, amongst others, were all acquired.
 

Doncortez77

Veteran
8 Jan 2023
688
1,730
I think I should have worded it to "Xbox", but fair answers. Through my research, from their beloved franchises (I'm ignoring all bethesda stuff of couse) they created Forza, State of Decay, and Sea of Thieves. I could be forgetting a few, but Gears, Halo, Flight Sim, Age of Empires, amongst others, were all acquired.
Would state of Decay technically count because that game was created due to a partnership with Undead labs and was acquired by Microsoft in 2018 after the 1st one was already released back in 2013?
 

Sircaw

Pro Flounder
Moderating
20 Jun 2022
6,924
12,163
This is going back a long time ago, but I remember flight sim and a game called Rampage being on PC, this was back in 1988 or so.

I always thought it was a Microsft game but i don't think it is, anyways loved playing it way back in the day.

 

Swift_Star

Veteran
2 Jul 2022
4,137
6,038
Well, if anything, I can be glad for MS making Naughty Dog create Uncharted to compete with (and eventually obliterate) Gears of Wars since it was created to be its direct competitor.
And, actually, it was Uncharted that made Sony realize how important prestige exclusives are to their strategy. bizarre that MS didn't realize this at the time.
 
Last edited:

Dr Bass

The doctor is in
Founder
20 Jun 2022
2,040
3,449
I don’t know what is richer, the talk the last few pages about how Xbox has fans that are delusional, whales, committed to the brand, etc, as if you can’t find the exact same types of people in the Sony or Nintendo camps…

Or that the talk is between massive Sony warriors, many of which are permanently banned from various communities for the exact type of behavior and delusional takes you’re making fun of seeing on twitter. When I saw this place being advertised on GAF I thought maybe it was a cool new community with less rules. It’s become blatantly obvious it’s a circle jerk for Sony warriors after other places have had enough of their trash.

Please delete my account.
Yeah, as a Nintendo fan first and foremost, I saw the writing on the wall at GAF ages ago in terms of how it was being directed. It's clear that they more heavily moderate Sony fans while letting crazy people who are MS fans run amok. It seems to upset you we don't do that here.

This place ain't stopping and it will continue to welcome level headed fans of all platforms.
 
24 Jun 2022
3,956
6,899
AoE isn't their either. they bought it. AoE 2 came even on PS2, was published by Konami.

Forza is pretty successful for cars game.

I guess it is, though I'd be interested to know the average sales of say the NFS games from 2008 - 2015. Because I keep thinking those sales and those of the Forza (Motorsport & Horizon) games would be somewhat close.

Forza's not on GT's level when it comes to sales; every mainline game outside of 6 has averaged ~ 11 million. Not every actual one sold 11 million; Sport for example was last logged at 8 million, GT5 sold 11.95 million and I think either GT2 or GT3 sold ~ 15 million.

I did some estimates in a GAF thread yesterday (which was closed very quickly 🤔) because someone tried saying Forza Horizon 5 outsold GT6, Sport, and GT7. If my estimates were right, GT7 would've reached at least 5.4 million by the end of 2022. FH5 sold an equivalent of 1.12 million Premium Edition copies before its official release. It apparently did around $55 million in revenue on Steam its first month, but that would've been a mix of people buying the game, buying MTX content, and maybe buying the Premium Edition or Premium Edition content since it should've still been available.

FH5 hasn't charted anywhere outside of its debut month from what I can tell, whereas GT7's regularly popped up in sales charts in multiple countries throughout 2022 and even this year well past its release month. I doubt digital purchases for FH5 are any higher than the rate they are for GT7; in fact they are most likely lower now since the game has been in Game Pass long enough for anyone who didn't buy it to just play it through the service.

FWIW the Forza Horizon games are more popular and better-selling than the Motorsport games. Not by huge magnitudes, but they are the more popular of the two.

This is going back a long time ago, but I remember flight sim and a game called Rampage being on PC, this was back in 1988 or so.

I always thought it was a Microsft game but i don't think it is, anyways loved playing it way back in the day.


Nah, Midway's arcade division made Rampage. They probably didn't handle the PC port though, especially back in that time.

Never got to play the PC version but I think they had a remake/sequel on PS1 & N64. Think it was called Rampage World Tour. It has been forever if I ever actually did play it. Might've rented it from Blockbuster.
 

Zzero

Major Tom
9 Jan 2023
3,980
2,321
That’s not the point. The point is the hypocrisy. Suddenly it’s ok to post and reference a gamergater because he favors the deal when he was a banned source?
I don't think he's a banned source. I don't post on that site but Hoeg used to reference it in a way where it was obvious that he posted there.

Question for the thread: how many successful franchises has Microsoft created, not acquired?
Forza, SoT, Minesweeper

But here's a question for you. Microsoft went out and hired on or commissioned stuff like Age of Empires, Halo, Gears, Flight Sim, etc. Its published some of those for more than twenty years now. Why are you not giving credit for those when they've spent their whole public existence as MS franchises. Thats the way they operate and for fans the resulting output is the same.
 
Last edited: