What will happen with Xbox, if EU also blocks the acquisition of Activision Blizzard?

[Killer_Sakoman]

Everything will has its limits. I can’t imagine that investors and shareholders are happy with Xbox division. Some of the people on the board will certainly raise their concerns about Xbox dragging Microsoft’s performance down.

I would like to agree with you, but Xbox is not effecting investors at all as long as they are seeing higher stocks and higher dividend.
Investors never vared for 22 years. Why would they care now when they are making even more money?

 

[Eternal_Wings]

They'll go for Certain Affinity (negotiate a deal with current owner to sell), Avalanche (same), Crystal Dynamics (same), and IO Interactive (same). And MAYBE a Japanese developer/studio, but if not then they will try partnering with one (get Arc System Works to do an anime-styled Killer Instinct for example).

Realistically those are the only four studios I could see them getting so should this ABK deal 100% fall through, and it's already like 95% of the way there. Alongside that if they do get Crystal Dynamics I think they'd also try getting a license or purchase the rights to Tomb Raider and Hitman from Embracer, since the teams responsible for those would be moving from them to Microsoft.

Also notice the four studios I mentioned already have ongoing game development relationships with Microsoft. CA on Halo, CD on Perfect Dark reboot, IO Interactive supposedly working on a dragon-themed exclusive for them ATM, and Avalanche working on Contraband. That's why I said if they wanted a Japanese developer, it'd be more likely they do a partnership for an exclusive, rather than buying them outright (Arc Systems Work for example would probably create conflict with Bandai-Namco if purchased since they developed Dragon Ball FighterZ and there'll very likely be a sequel to that in the future).

I don’t think Arc Systems would sell to Xbox. They are very dependent on PlayStation. Most of their big franchises like Guilty Gear have their main audience on PlayStation since PS1.

 

[Bryank75]

I think they will consult their lawyers and get word from them, what they COULD go for..... they will target the biggest things they can get away with.

I don't think it will be any large or medium sized publishers.

So I would agree with @thicc_girls_are_teh_best , those types of studios, that have well established IP's, that they think can draw people in.
I don't think it will work though and I think eventually the studios will fall apart under them. Many of them were already struggling.

 

[Cool hand luke]

I would like to agree with you, but Xbox is not effecting investors at all as long as they are seeing higher stocks and higher dividend.
Investors never vared for 22 years. Why would they care now when they are making even more money?

Xbox makes 0 profit. Investors would be even wealthier if MS allocated the budget to other divisions with a positive ROI.

 

[Killer_Sakoman]

Xbox makes 0 profit. Investors would be even wealthier if MS allocated the budget to other divisions with a positive ROI.

As long as they make money, they won't be confident enough to nring concerns. They will always feel that it isn't broken, don't fix it.

 

[Swift_Star]

I don’t think investors will allow MS to make any gaming related acquisitions so soon after this fiasco. It costed them too much already.

 

[peter42O]

Why can't they just make some games with who they have already rather than "go back to just acquiring studios"? Again, where does this mindset come from?

I think rooting for MS to keep buying up studios is a really, really, bad thing at this point. They need to make use of the resources they already have.

To be perfectly blunt, I think they need 50 studios and if they have multiple teams, even better. First, Game Pass requires games and content on a consistent basis. Second, not every studio is going to be perfect so having more than less is a great thing. Third, games take longer than ever to make and will probably only get longer in some cases. Fourth, going back to when they had only 5 studios pre-E3 2018, yeah, I want them to have a shit ton of studios. Fifth, there may end up being a few that get shut down eventually or some shit so again, the more the better.

 

[Deleted member 417]

FPS games don't translate so easily to VR as you seem to think.

Translate as in playability or in the resources it takes to turn a non-vr fps to VR?

 

[Deleted member 417]

To be perfectly blunt, I think they need 50 studios and if they have multiple teams, even better. First, Game Pass requires games and content on a consistent basis. Second, not every studio is going to be perfect so having more than less is a great thing. Third, games take longer than ever to make and will probably only get longer in some cases. Fourth, going back to when they had only 5 studios pre-E3 2018, yeah, I want them to have a shit ton of studios. Fifth, there may end up being a few that get shut down eventually or some shit so again, the more the better.

Nintendo and Sony have fewer studios than MS and still consistently churn out quality titles.

50 studios creating content for GP is great, until you need 100 studios. The problem with subscriptions services is human psychology; we always want more, faster, quicker and never has that been more true for our species than the past 20 years. Then to differentiate good and bad quality, the creators (MS, Netflix, Disney) have to create crap quality content on purpose, so that we can tell the difference between good and bad.

A real life example of this is hangovers. You feel fine Friday day at work and notice nothing unusual about how you feel physically and mentally. Then if you get rat arsed on Friday, you awaken Saturday feeling like shite. Come Sunday you feel better than you've felt in ages, though not any different than you did on Friday daytime. The brain recognises the change from bad on Saturday to normal on Sunday and believes that you feel amazing, and much better than you did on Friday compared to Sunday.

MS need to make Saturday hangover games, lest the service become stale, regardless of quantity of content.

 

[Nhomnhom]

Translate as in playability or in the resources it takes to turn a non-vr fps to VR?

As in you'll need to adapt the entire game and make it work around VR, more so than with most non-FPS games.

It would be way easier to adapt something like modern God of War to VR than it is to adapt Doom.

They'll go for Certain Affinity (negotiate a deal with current owner to sell), Avalanche (same), Crystal Dynamics (same), and IO Interactive (same). And MAYBE a Japanese developer/studio, but if not then they will try partnering with one (get Arc System Works to do an anime-styled Killer Instinct for example).

Realistically those are the only four studios I could see them getting so should this ABK deal 100% fall through, and it's already like 95% of the way there. Alongside that if they do get Crystal Dynamics I think they'd also try getting a license or purchase the rights to Tomb Raider and Hitman from Embracer, since the teams responsible for those would be moving from them to Microsoft.

Also notice the four studios I mentioned already have ongoing game development relationships with Microsoft. CA on Halo, CD on Perfect Dark reboot, IO Interactive supposedly working on a dragon-themed exclusive for them ATM, and Avalanche working on Contraband. That's why I said if they wanted a Japanese developer, it'd be more likely they do a partnership for an exclusive, rather than buying them outright (Arc Systems Work for example would probably create conflict with Bandai-Namco if purchased since they developed Dragon Ball FighterZ and there'll very likely be a sequel to that in the future).

4A Games, Techland, Remedy, there are other studios to go after besides big publishers.

I think they'll go after some big mobile dev since they plan on launch their own app store for Android and iOS next year.

 

[Deleted member 417]

As in you'll need to adapt the entire game and make it work around VR, more so than with most non-FPS games.

I don't doubt that there's a lot of work involved and I haven't played skyrim VR to test how well slapping vr on a flatscreen game works.

It's why a vr update+'4k' remake would be a good route to take. Morrowind and oblivion remasters/remakes would sell a ton, with or without VR. Adding VR would give MS devs a training ground for VR games. Then, moving forward, all franchises could be VR+flat from the get go.

Microsoft would have a jump-start in the VR world, putting them in a good position for the future.

 

[Nhomnhom]

I don't doubt that there's a lot of work involved and I haven't played skyrim VR to test how well slapping vr on a flatscreen game works.

It's why a vr update+'4k' remake would be a good route to take. Morrowind and oblivion remasters/remakes would sell a ton, with or without VR. Adding VR would give MS devs a training ground for VR games. Then, moving forward, all franchises could be VR+flat from the get go.

Microsoft would have a jump-start in the VR world, putting them in a good position for the future.

Of all devs MS seems to be the least interested in VR and that has affected Bethesda as well. Flight Simulator and Forza are better fits for VR than any other of their games.

 

[Wraith Phantom]

You can tell the suits at MS really stepped in the gaming division. This attempt of buying up the market to control distribution of games is very corporate.

Good thing for regulators. These guys legit want to sabotage a whole market. To be number 1. Take out consoles consumers & dev market. Good thing for regulators.

Gamepass is so good. All these billions. Why don't they just do gamepass deal with this money? If they really believed in GP.

Go on pay out 500mill for a Ubisoft game to be GP day and date exclusive.

Obviuously lacking in content. Now that monopoly move to buy everything is cancelled.They have to move at slower/lower pace. Do everything small scale. Problem is For 20years they have been running from just making good games. I get it Sony always slapping you up. It's sucks but be Nintendo and live with it. But brah. You do everything else to win the market buy make games. What are you doing. Just actually make & supply games. Instead of plotting and scheming for control of the market.

 

[peter42O]

Nintendo and Sony have fewer studios than MS and still consistently churn out quality titles.

50 studios creating content for GP is great, until you need 100 studios. The problem with subscriptions services is human psychology; we always want more, faster, quicker and never has that been more true for our species than the past 20 years. Then to differentiate good and bad quality, the creators (MS, Netflix, Disney) have to create crap quality content on purpose, so that we can tell the difference between good and bad.

Nintendo's and Sony's business model isn't subscription based.

I agree with always wanting more. Thus far, Microsoft's quality has been good to great to excellent. They just need to be much more consistent.

 

[Cool hand luke]

Nintendo's and Sony's business model isn't subscription based.

I agree with always wanting more. Thus far, Microsoft's quality has been good to great to excellent. They just need to be much more consistent.

Microsoft can just build 25 more studios if they're serious about subscription based gaming. No need to take away existing franchises or IPs from other consoles.

Anyway, it's a moot point. Xbox as a hardware platform died in April 2023.

 

[peter42O]

4A Games, Techland, Remedy, there are other studios to go after besides big publishers.

4A Games is owned by Embracer Group. I would love Techland. Remedy has a multi game publishing deal with Epic so I don't see them selling at all. And if they did, Sony is the better fit for them.

 

[FIREK2029]

Nothing. The deal is fucked and CMA will just block them again if they try to buy another publisher especially any big ones with lots of IPs like Ubisoft and EA.

Xbox is living on borrowed time. If I was MS I'd be firing Phil Spencer now and closing down the console division to focus on GamePass and being a 3rd party publisher. If they wanna buy smaller studios after they become a 3rd party publisher I think that would be fine but I believe the publisher acquisition wars are over. MS has poisoned the well not only for themselves but for Sony or any other big company looking to buy publishers in the future.

 

[Killer_Sakoman]

Nothing. The deal is fucked and CMA will just block them again if they try to buy another publisher especially any big ones with lots of IPs like Ubisoft and EA.

Xbox is living on borrowed time. If I was MS I'd be firing Phil Spencer now and closing down the console division to focus on GamePass and being a 3rd party publisher. If they wanna buy smaller studios after they become a 3rd party publisher I think that would be fine but I believe the publisher acquisition wars are over. MS has poisoned the well not only for themselves but for Sony or any other big company looking to buy publishers in the future.

The problem is that they can't focus on Gamepass or become a 3rd party publisher because their main problem is that they can't make fucking games. The only things they have so far are the consoles and controllers .

 

[Eternal_Wings]

MS has poisoned the well not only for themselves but for Sony or any other big company looking to buy publishers in the future.

I think this depends where the publisher is based Sony is targeting. If it’s a pub from Japan (most likely if Sony would go after a publisher) like Square Enix or Capcom, CMA, FTC and EU could do nothing about it. Zenimax and ABK getting reviewed because they have many developer studios around the world. Square Enix or Capcom for example are only in Japan based. Offices for distribution in west for example for localisation don’t count. Sony will likely at least buy one of this two to counter Zenimax. But certainly not now, if any case then after ABK has cooled down. I would expect November or early 2024.

 

[Airbus]