Why doesn't Microsoft just create new studios instead of buying them?

[Box]

I'm genuinely curious about this. I know acquiring other studios allows them access to those IPs, but wouldn't it be much better to open up new studios and create original IPs? It's the developers who make the game, and many of these older studios no longer have the original people that made them great (look at Rare).

Again, just curious as to what everyone's thoughts are.

 

[FatKaz]

Because that would require competent leadership to be successfull.

 

[Gediminas]

I'm genuinely curious about this. I know acquiring other studios allows them access to those IPs, but wouldn't it be much better to open up new studios and create original IPs? It's the developers who make the game, and many of these older studios no longer have the original people that made them great (look at Rare).

Again, just curious as to what everyone's thoughts are.

wouldn't help monopolized the market and influence it to the direction they want - own everything, milk customers with inferior products. that's only goal they have.

so, by buying Pubs, they limit their ''enemies'' library. creating studios and creating their own games is not. so what is a point?

 

[flaccidsnake]

This is probably Xbox's biggest problem. They assemble studios to endlessly churn out sequels, and they buy huge known quantities like Minecraft. The main exception is Ninja Theory, which is more like the Sony approach.

Ironically Sony will probably wind up buying a few new teams founded by the exodus at Bethesda, Blizzard, etc.

 

[Yurinka]

They tried it with The Initiative and the second PlayGround studio to make Fable, but it takes a lot of time to create a studio and their first game.

 

[Gamernyc78]

They have tried but all they do is mismanage. They may believe acquiring already established studios will allow them to succeed but eventually they change and mismanage those. Also for them taking away prominent devs and ips from the competition is a win as at least they don't have to deal with the competition.

 

[Nhomnhom]

Because they can't, the best they can do are things like 343i, The Coalition and The Initiative (none of them even capable of creating a new IP).

If there is one thing MS has demonstrated since they entered the console business is that they have no patience at all for their business to grow slowly, that's is why they are constantly pivoting, trying a new angle or coming up with some sort of shortcut instead of just focusing on creating quality games and products.

MS is just as unsuited to running a games division as they would be for running a movie or music division.

 

[historia]

Evil cannot create anything new, they can only corrupt and ruin what good forces have invented or made

 

[ethomaz]

Because that will not look good if they kill them (like killing themselves? makes no sense).
While MS speciality is to buy and kill external companies.

 

[Loy310]

They are not content creators and they are not an entertainment company. MS is a tech company that buys to grow and expand.

 

[Vertigo]

All the goodwill they earned with original Xbox was pissed away halfway thru the 360 generation.

The original Xbox had a fantastic lineup of original absolutely fucking banger games like Halo and PGR, incredible third party exclusives like KOTOR, Jet Set Radio Future, and Rallisport Challenge. And the best versions of all multi platform games when that kind of stuff was actually noticeable.

Halfway thru the 360 generation they lost everything that built their brand, Bungie, Epic, Bizarre Creations, EA bought BioWare and DICE…. Gone. They valued the IPs more than the game makers. They still do

Longer story short…. Over the years Microsoft’s games division has shown to be incapable of holding onto talent or being able to foster game development to where most software is actually fucking vaporware despite all the fake trailers. They’ve have to outsource their games to Crystal Dynamics while just having spent 100 billion on studio acquisitions in the last decade.

I see no reason for this to change. As far as I’m concerned Bethesda and ABK are meant to replace the previous slate of “do nothing” studios. They are not additions. They’re replacements for everything else that’s flopped.

And as a company as a whole… they are evil incarnate. I don’t mind that they buy, consume and destroy everything they touch. Go ahead. I want to see them destroyed.

 

[lupumSolitarius]

Risk and reward. the capital investment, and more importantly, the time investment of building new studios makes it riskier and less rewarding than acquiring established and successful studios.

 

[Kokoloko]

Its not easy but they could invest a few billion on making some decent studios.

But……MS DNA is to buy and steal, always has been. And its not only gaming fans that say this, its started way before

 

[Swift_Star]

Buying stablished IPs and publishers is cheaper and more efficient than creating them.
This is true for every single industry and it's why M&A is so prevalent.
It's also why free market and competition are farces. they don't exist and are all rethorical.

 

[Danja]

The Initiative

 

[thicc_girls_are_teh_best]

Because that would require competent leadership to be successfull.

This. They already tried before, and have shown just how inept they are. The Initiative has been a rather resounding failure all things considered. 343i was created from the ground-up, and is now basically a husk of what it used to be. Both Turn 10 and The Coalition have stagnated, and the former seems to have done little in growth with their newest upcoming release (and at least compared to the 2022 footage of the game they showed, seems the current build has had a big downgrade).

It's a big reason why they want to buy 3P publishers and do limited integration with them; they can't put them under XGS with Matt Booty and expect them to survive. But all that said, studio mismanagement of internal teams and platform directives over the years does not (or should not) validate a strategy to buy your way to the top through acquiring hefty chunks of the market.

 

[flaccidsnake]

Game publishers creating studios is like music publishers creating bands. That's not how you get good art. That's why 343 has been such a shitshow.

A good publisher finds up and coming fresh artists and gives them a bigger platform. That's generally what Sony has done, and it's the correct approach.

 

[Jim Ryan]

Evil cannot create anything new, they can only corrupt and ruin what good forces have invented or made

This sounds like poetry!

 

[historia]

This sounds like poetry!

It's actually copypasta from Amazon LOTR trailer on Youtube.

 

[Vertigo]

Game publishers creating studios is like music publishers creating bands. That's not how you get good art. That's why 343 has been such a shitshow.

A good publisher finds up and coming fresh artists and gives them a bigger platform. That's generally what Sony has done, and it's the correct approach.

Agreed. Sony has done a better job over the years at cultivating talent and game studios. I didn’t think much of their internal studios outside of GT and Team ICo until PS4 era but now the pedigree of their brand sells a game. That’s a trust hard earned with consumers.

In that same amount of time MS lost all the talent it was lucky enough to have build its brand and somehow manage to spend millions on do nothing studios that have yet to release software or when they do it’s a massive flop.

So when it comes down to corporate cheerleading and acting like there isn’t a difference. Oh there definitely is… Xbox can’t make games. LOLs