Phil Spencer Again Confirms Xbox Is Looking To Acquire More Studios, New Interview With Bloomberg.

[Luke_wal]

I could see MS going after privately held Japanese companies like Kojima Productions.

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Can you imagine if MS bought Konami's games division to get their IP, and then bought KojiPro to have them help shepherd Metal Gear and Silent Hill? It'd be absolutely unbelievable.

However, given the E/E10+ hole in their catalogue, I think Sega is much more likely. Sure, you get top tier strategy developers, Yakuza team, and Atlus, but you also get Sonic the Hedgehog, one of the most recognizable kid's mascots. There would be a lot of hurdles to jump through, buying the games division of a huge Japanese conglomerate, but Sega-Sammy is hurting and could probably use the money if the price was right.

 

[gremlinz1982]

Minecraft most of these games...great

make all of these studios Xbox only and I can hardly see how anyone outside of a fan of the brand can support this nonsense buying of the industry. Don't @ me with silly fanboy logic like Phil the savior is saving all these studios plz...

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Does it make sense that Sony and Nintendo buy studios and make their games exclusive and Microsoft does it and makes games available to everyone?

Yeah its weird. market consolidation is terrible. People conflate exclusive deals with this and dont get that one side of things its temporary the other side can totally change the course of certain IPs For better or worse.

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Market consolidation has been part and parcel of the industry. Studios are bought, some thrive, some are closed, some open up. The cycle repeats over and over again.
It might shock some, but we even have consolidation in the publisher space, and it is normal.

I don't mind it when companies buy smaller studios that could use the funding, or even better yet - struggling studios, but acquiring an entire publishers like Bethesda is pretty lame imo. What did Xbox fans even gain from that deal? Bethesda's games were already well funded and coming to their console regardless.

Industry consolidation is not good.

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Those games are coming day and date on Game Pass. I mean, what did PlayStation users gain when Sony acquired Insomniac? Or Xbox users when Microsoft acquired Undead Labs/Playground Games?

 

[ThereAreFourNaan]

They have like 23 first party studios right now don't they? Any more would just be gluttonous. Phil, you don't need new studios, you need your massive supply of existing studios to actually produce a couple of new games.

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23 is how Microsoft counts it, although one of those studios has only done mobile games (unclear if they will continue to do so), one of them is a suport/management group for 3rd party relationships, and 1 of them is an Age of Empires focussed management team that doesn't seem to (as of yet) actually internally develop. Mojang is another that is not exclusive to Xbox.

On the flipside, of the 19 remaining studios, some of them have multiple game pipelines. For example Obsidian has 3 (maybe 4?) games in development concurrently - Avowed, Grounded, and one other project that has not been announced. Playground Games has two teams, one for racing games, one for Fable. Etc.

People like saying XSX doesn't have first party next gen AAA exclusives at launch because XBox only bought a lot of studios lately, but they've had enough studios to at least push one game out if they were managed properly. Towards the end of last gen people were saying XBox is focusing on next gen (and to be fair, in terms of hardware they've done a very good job with the new gen) which is why there was basically only Gears5 that performed with regards to acclaim. Looks to me like the problem is studio culture, not lack of studios

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They could have delayed the PC release of Gears Tactics and they would have magically had a "new exclusive". But it's still new to console and exclusive to the Xbox ecosystem. Next month there's a Gears 5 expansion pack and The Medium.

Part of the benefit of having a ton of studios is that you can afford to push games back that need more time without ruining your lineup. The delay of Halo Infinite hurt, but as Bethesda becomes integrated into Microsoft and the past acquisitions start to come out with their new games, you'll see this sort of thing being less of a problem over time. The current weakness in their lineup is temporary.

 

[Outrun]

The Eric Bischoff of gaming

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NWA

Score one for the good guys

 

[gremlinz1982]

This whole "It will be added to Game Pass" argument is completely worthless for most people who don't have an Xbox, when you have to spend another $500 to play those games in 4K60.

How about you create new studios and games instead of taking them away from 75% of console gamers, Phil, how about that?

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Rare is now a multi studio team.
The Initiative is a new studio.
Playground opened a new studio to handle Fable.
InXile is expanding. Opening a new studio in New Orleans.
Worlds Edge is a new entity.
343i was a studio that they built.
The Coalition was a studio built from the ground up.
Turn 10 was a studio that they built specifically to make racing games.


All of this is often lost. As is the fact that Microsoft cannot spend most of next generation head hunting studio heads, then talent hunting to staff new studios up, figuring out what these studios will make, establishing culture and chemistry. You would waste majority of the generation 'cultivating'. For this very reason, acquisitions are a primary route for most publishers to expand their reach.

 

[| TrusT |]

Hoping the buyouts are struggling but talented studios, or studios who would do well without having to worry about budget or money.

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Yeah, exactly.

Imagine if the likes of Treasure, G.Rev, Taito, Cave etc got invested in properly so they could make what they want. All of these once talented dev studios are just rotting away.

 

[M4xim1l1ano]

This whole "It will be added to Game Pass" argument is completely worthless for most people who don't have an Xbox, when you have to spend another $500 to play those games in 4K60.

How about you create new studios and games instead of taking them away from 75% of console gamers, Phil, how about that?

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perhaps you are a bit too stuck in fanboy mentality. I can elaborate if you like.

 

[P-Bo]

So Japanese studios are off the table--who's even left to buy? Not Ubisoft?

 

[RedRum]

It's like this to me.

There's this burger. The burger are the games, modes, characters, content that make up games. Sony nibbles on this burger. A lot. MS just watched. Sony is never content and just keeps nibbling, but instead of eating, they puts this chewed up food back in the plate for the rest of the platforms to have. People are content with this. How many times have I heard, "It's only timed". However, nobody fucking likes sloppy seconds.

MS decides that they're finally hungry and cuts half this burger, but instead of eating it themselves, they share it with their buddy PC. There's rage because MS doesn't give sloppy seconds, but keep their fill. The burger is there to be eaten by anyone with enough money to take it. End of the gaming world takes ensue. Mostly in Sony's camp, but on the MS side we're somewhat apaethic to the whole thing because we're used to the doomsday senarios.

Definitely looking forward to more acquisitions. As an MS and PC consumer, it will benefit us.

 

[Fabtacular]

MS decides that they're finally hungry and cuts half this burger, but instead of eating it themselves, they share it with their buddy PC. There's rage because MS doesn't give sloppy seconds, but keep their fill.

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LOL

 

[alphacat]

It's like this to me.

There's this burger. The burger are the games, modes, characters, content that make up games. Sony nibbles on this burger. A lot. MS just watched. Sony is never content and just keeps nibbling, but instead of eating, they puts this chewed up food back in the plate for the rest of the platforms to have. People are content with this. How many times have I heard, "It's only timed". However, nobody fucking likes sloppy seconds.

MS decides that they're finally hungry and cuts half this burger, but instead of eating it themselves, they share it with their buddy PC. There's rage because MS doesn't give sloppy seconds, but keep their fill. The burger is there to be eaten by anyone with enough money to take it. End of the gaming world takes ensue. Mostly in Sony's camp, but on the MS side we're somewhat apaethic to the whole thing because we're used to the doomsday senarios.

Definitely looking forward to more acquisitions. As an MS and PC consumer, it will benefit us.

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I legit love this post lol

 

[gremlinz1982]

It's like this to me.

There's this burger. The burger are the games, modes, characters, content that make up games. Sony nibbles on this burger. A lot. MS just watched. Sony is never content and just keeps nibbling, but instead of eating, they puts this chewed up food back in the plate for the rest of the platforms to have. People are content with this. How many times have I heard, "It's only timed". However, nobody fucking likes sloppy seconds.

MS decides that they're finally hungry and cuts half this burger, but instead of eating it themselves, they share it with their buddy PC. There's rage because MS doesn't give sloppy seconds, but keep their fill. The burger is there to be eaten by anyone with enough money to take it. End of the gaming world takes ensue. Mostly in Sony's camp, but on the MS side we're somewhat apaethic to the whole thing because we're used to the doomsday senarios.

Definitely looking forward to more acquisitions. As an MS and PC consumer, it will benefit us.

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It is not viable for Microsoft to be competing for timed exclusives, not with the generation they just had. We have also been told that the asking price is disproportionately skewed against them should they try and follow such an approach.

Does the approach align with what they want to accomplish in gaming? Absolutely not. As a primary Xbox gamer, I hope they continue pursuing games day and date on Game Pass, and continue pursuing talent that can continue to propel the service to vastly greater heights.

And you are right about the doomsday scenarios. Publishers have been bought, publishers have merged, developers have been bought and shuttered. Gaming continues to grow, so too is its accessibility.

 

[Deleted member 5491]

Cheerleading one of the biggest companies in tech, that got too big for the good of everyone, to built a monopoly...
The fuck is wrong with you?

 

[Nemesis121]

This dumb MS buying Sega meme is never going to go away, is it?

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Before they entered the console market tried to buy Sega, meme will never die lol

 

[CosmicGP]

Buy! Buy! Buy!

 

[Brohan]

Timed exclusives are being compared to regurgitated food now? Some of you have completely lost it.

 

[gremlinz1982]

Cheerleading one of the biggest companies in tech, that got too big for the good of everyone, to built a monopoly...
The fuck is wrong with you?

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Tencent consolidates. How many complain?

THQ Nordic is buying teams and IP left right and center.

Square and Enix merged, both publishers. They then bought out Eidos, another publisher.

Activision and Blizzard Entertainment merged to become what it now is.

Zenimax media went on a shopping spree and got to where they are before buyout.

Take 2 Interactive, well, they bought out BMG Interactive (a publisher that had gone dormant after the release of a game called Grand Theft Auto). To their acquired teams, they are looking to add another developer for close to $1B.

Sony actually bought out a publisher, had it maintain some independence. They then absorbed it into their parent gaming company, but only when they noticed people were willing to pay vastly more than they got it for. Not long ago, they were linked with a potential Leyou purchase.

All of these publishers and platform holders, including Nintendo buy development teams to enhance their reach. Very normal in gaming business, which is what makes this furor against Microsoft, which is in third place, and looking to reshape how we consume games, strange.

Timed exclusives are being compared to regurgitated food now? Some of you have completely lost it.

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He is not wrong that absolutely no one wants to miss out on games when they launch.
He is not wrong that people are mad that Microsoft is buying studios, and possibly looking to lock their games behind PC, console and Game Pass. Essentially their platforms.

 

[nanskee]

Please not Sega, even though Sega kinda sucks

 

[Brohan]

He is not wrong that absolutely no one wants to miss out on games when they launch.
He is not wrong that people are mad that Microsoft is buying studios, and possibly looking to lock their games behind PC, console and Game Pass. Essentially their platforms.

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He is wrong though because the analogy is stupid as fuck. If you have to go with a food analogy (which is stupid to me) then Sony is that asshole in the restaurant that gets their food first because they actually paid (bribed) the cook to get their meal first and then asked the cook to let others wait for their own meals a bit longer even though it's sitting there ready to go in the kitchen.

So more like timed exclusives is like getting food that has gone lukewarm or cold. Still incredibly shitty but nothing like getting regurgitated food on your fucking plate.

 

[arsene_P5]

This whole "It will be added to Game Pass" argument is completely worthless for most people who don't have an Xbox, when you have to spend another $500 to play those games in 4K60.

How about you create new studios and games instead of taking them away from 75% of console gamers, Phil, how about that?

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You can always spend 10$ and get Gamepass to play on PC or mobile. But I see you already made your 4K60 distinction, so nobody can use this argument right? Btw Spencer is creating new teams inside those studios and they even created 2 new studios in the last years. But I know that's something you will ignore.

Look, I wish Bethesda would still be independent. But some of those independent studios like inXile struggled and then it's objectively better when Microsoft buys them, because they support more plattforms than others.

Lets do a run down. If some of the games are on other plattforms it's in ().

• Microsoft: Xbox, PC, xCloud (Switch, PS)
• Sony: PS (PC)
• Nintendo: Switch (Nvidia in japan)
• Google: Stadia.

 

[gremlinz1982]

He is wrong though because the analogy is stupid as fuck. If you have to go with a food analogy (which is stupid to me) then Sony is that asshole in the restaurant that gets their food first because they actually paid the cook to get their meal first and then asked the cook to let others wait for their own meals a bit longer even though it's sitting there ready to go in the kitchen.

So more like timed exclusives is like getting food that has gone lukewarm or cold. Still incredibly shitty but nothing like getting regurgitated food on your fucking plate.

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Meh. 6 and half a dozen of the other.

In any case, I have never been against acquisitions, and it is really hitting that they are a better platform investment than timed exclusives.

 

[Adrifi]

It's almost as if they have produced nothing but sub par AAA games outside of the studios they have acquired. Their own grown talent is not very good. Gears is mediocre and a waste of the talent at the Developer, the best Forza game is not the team that started it or by a company they didn't own until recently, and Halo is going through Dev hell

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By what metric is Horizon 4 better than Forza 7? Because it's like saying oranges are better than apples, it's totally up to personal preference as they are completely different things.

 

[Scottoest]

It's like this to me.

There's this burger. The burger are the games, modes, characters, content that make up games. Sony nibbles on this burger. A lot. MS just watched. Sony is never content and just keeps nibbling, but instead of eating, they puts this chewed up food back in the plate for the rest of the platforms to have. People are content with this. How many times have I heard, "It's only timed". However, nobody fucking likes sloppy seconds.

MS decides that they're finally hungry and cuts half this burger, but instead of eating it themselves, they share it with their buddy PC. There's rage because MS doesn't give sloppy seconds, but keep their fill. The burger is there to be eaten by anyone with enough money to take it. End of the gaming world takes ensue. Mostly in Sony's camp, but on the MS side we're somewhat apaethic to the whole thing because we're used to the doomsday senarios.

Definitely looking forward to more acquisitions. As an MS and PC consumer, it will benefit us.

Click to shrink...

Wait, so Microsoft owns half a hamburger, but also gave half their hamburger to their friend... but someone wih enough money can also come and TAKE the burger?

Is Microsoft the type who Instagrams pictures of their hamburger? Why is Sony only nibbling? Do they not like hamburgers? Is it a bad hamburger? What is on the hamburger? If it were up to me, I definitely wouldn't eat a pre-chewed hamburger. Sounds like a good way to get sick.

So if I'm understanding you - and I think I am - Microsoft's next acquisition will be Burger King, while Sony will nibble on the Happy Meal burger that comes with the exclusive Spider-man toy?

 

[Fabtacular]

This thread has become a disaster in the best way.

 

[arsene_P5]

It's almost as if they have produced nothing but sub par AAA games outside of the studios they have acquired. Their own grown talent is not very good. Gears is mediocre and a waste of the talent at the Developer, the best Forza game is not the team that started it or by a company they didn't own until recently, and Halo is going through Dev hell

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Sure Jan. Gears 5 isn't mediocre according to the metacritics score and imo Gear 4-5 are better games than Gears 1-3, which I replayed recently. They didn't age well, especially those conversations.

 

[Deleted member 5491]

Tencent consolidates. How many complain?

THQ Nordic is buying teams and IP left right and center.

Square and Enix merged, both publishers. They then bought out Eidos, another publisher.

Activision and Blizzard Entertainment merged to become what it now is.

Zenimax media went on a shopping spree and got to where they are before buyout.

Take 2 Interactive, well, they bought out BMG Interactive (a publisher that had gone dormant after the release of a game called Grand Theft Auto). To their acquired teams, they are looking to add another developer for close to $1B.

Sony actually bought out a publisher, had it maintain some independence. They then absorbed it into their parent gaming company, but only when they noticed people were willing to pay vastly more than they got it for. Not long ago, they were linked with a potential Leyou purchase.

All of these publishers and platform holders, including Nintendo buy development teams to enhance their reach. Very normal in gaming business, which is what makes this furor against Microsoft, which is in third place, and looking to reshape how we consume games, strange.

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What makes you think that I and others like these mergers and buyouts?
Especially from companies that are ties in with autocrats, or think it's okay to make an AMA on 8chan.

And even then, isn't this a merger once in how many years, it is one of the biggest companies out there buying out studios left and right year after year, to make
them exclusive to their ecosystem, to their platforms. Not a 3rd Party that can and will offer their products to as many people as possible, that buys ONLY studios at the brink of their existence. And even then, I will and would never applaud this, because it leads to less variety, to less creativity and less choice for the customer and makes everything more dependent from big companies.

So no, Microsoft can gladly piss off with trying to consolidate the industry, as anyone else who tries this and cheers this.

 

[Brohan]

Meh. 6 and half a dozen of the other.

In any case, I have never been against acquisitions, and it is really hitting that they are a better platform investment than timed exclusives.

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I have never liked acquisitions but at least they were never at such a large scale that it was legit worrying and shitty to a large amount of gamers and worrying to the industry in general.

Buying an entire publisher (a very large one at that) and then anouncing that you have no plans of stopping is beyond disgusting and I have no idea why it's getting cheered on.

I really think the mods have been sleeping on this. All the cheering and posts asking Phil to buy specific studio's that are well known and beloved by all (like from software) is nothing short of extreme console warring to me. And for some reason the mods just let it slide. It's just poking the beehive and creating utter chaos and strife.

I also find every post that somehow try to explain away acquisitions as being better than timed exclusives to be very dishonest. No food is not better than cold food no matter how much you hate cold food.


I think that this is all i'm going to say on this matter and will be actively avoiding threads like this because I feel like I'm actually losing my mind in here.

 

[arsene_P5]

Rare is now a multi studio team.
The Initiative is a new studio.
Playground opened a new studio to handle Fable.
InXile is expanding. Opening a new studio in New Orleans.
Worlds Edge is a new entity.
343i was a studio that they built.
The Coalition was a studio built from the ground up.
Turn 10 was a studio that they built specifically to make racing games.


All of this is often lost. As is the fact that Microsoft cannot spend most of next generation head hunting studio heads, then talent hunting to staff new studios up, figuring out what these studios will make, establishing culture and chemistry. You would waste majority of the generation 'cultivating'. For this very reason, acquisitions are a primary route for most publishers to expand their reach.

Click to shrink...

You know what's funny? If they would name the new teams in the same building differently, then the narrative would be different. Just with a simple name change xD

Nope, I am not suggesting they should do this and change the Fable team name, for example. After all some of those studios already have a pedigree and their name speaks for quality. Most notable of the new studios Bethesda and Playground. But it's a funny though and goes to show how silly the narrative is that Xbox just buys and can't build.

 

[ohlawd]

This thread has become a disaster in the best way.

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I get giddy every time a thread like this pops up. makes for some funny reading

 

[AntiMacro]

This whole "It will be added to Game Pass" argument is completely worthless for most people who don't have an Xbox, when you have to spend another $500 to play those games in 4K60.

How about you create new studios and games instead of taking them away from 75% of console gamers, Phil, how about that?

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Shit yeah, do what Sony does and build your own studios instead of buying them... I mean how else do you get great studios like Bend, Guerrilla Games, Insomniac, Media Molecule, Naughty Dog, or Sucker Punch?

 

[Scottoest]

War chest was always real evidently. It's just that we didn't know it took two decades to open.

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The "war chest" has always been conceptually bunk to me. They don't have a pot of gold designed for going to "war" with their competitors.

Microsoft could AFFORD to buy Sony and Nintendo outright tomorrow with just their cash on hand, assuming both of those companies assented to being acquired. Microsoft is valued at 15 times what Sony is.

The questions are always 1) does an acquisition make business sense for Microsoft, and 2) does the division in question have the support of the executive and Board to invest that kind of money.

For the Xbox division, the answer to that critical second question was "no" for many years. Under Nadella's Microsoft, and Spencer's Xbox, the answer now appears to be an emphatic "yes". Thus you have this period of MASSIVE investment in the Xbox division, whether it's buying over 15 new studios in a couple of years, losing money in their aggressive Game Pass growth strategy, or incurring large losses on console hardware again.

 

[Arex]

I kinda hope Google or Amazon buys From Soft or Capcom or Sega just to see the cries that we'll get from both Sony and MS fans. Acquisition of multiplatform 3rd party studios -> single platform studios is always bad imo.

 

[sacrament]

The "war chest" has always been conceptually bunk to me. They don't have a pot of gold designed for going to "war" with their competitors.

Microsoft could AFFORD to buy Sony and Nintendo outright tomorrow with just their cash on hand, assuming both of those companies assented to being acquired. Microsoft is valued at 15 times what Sony is.

The questions are always 1) does an acquisition make business sense for Microsoft, and 2) does the division in question have the support of the executive and Board to invest that kind of money.

For the Xbox division, the answer to that critical second question was "no" for many years. Under Nadella's Microsoft, and Spencer's Xbox, the answer now appears to be an emphatic "yes". Thus you have this period of MASSIVE investment in the Xbox division, whether it's buying over 15 new studios in a couple of years, losing money in their aggressive Game Pass growth strategy, or incurring large losses on console hardware again.

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It could be said that MS missed other acquisitions ready in previous generations which they now regret... BioWare, Respawn, etc. I know there is some alarm with Zenimax, etc but there is a bit of catch up happening here as well compared to the potential acquisitions they had a swing for.

 

[arsene_P5]

I kinda hope Google or Amazon buys From Soft or Capcom or Sega just to see the cries that we'll get from both Sony and MS fans. Acquisition of multiplatform 3rd party studios -> single platform studios is always bad imo.

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I disagree with this, because acquisition aren't always bad. The studio head of inXile literally wanted to quit, because always traveling the world to find a publisher so the studio can continue, was bad.

So you rather want studios to close or be bought by Take Advertisment Two? Sorry, some of the third party publishers are nightmares and supporting all plattforms doesn't outweigh the disadvantages of the greed of those publishers. My last point would be that Amazon and Google are worse than the other first party companies, because they don't have a big history or a good first party stable. They also only support their cloud plattform. To be fair Amazon does PC aswell, but this was before Luna was announced.

 

[RedRum]

People can make fun of my 1 am post I made on this little ass mobile phone, but I'm glad there's some people that get what I meant. Food analogies aside, I always challenge others against MS's acquisitions to tell me why it's okay that timed exclusives is business as usual, but buying a publisher is off the table even when that publisher is offering themselves to be bought. Acquisitions happen in every sector of business. It's nothing new, and it certainly isn't going to cause an apocalypse.

Sony has dipped what I believe to be beyond the norms of timed exclusivity. It has dipped into games, modes, characters, and content. Some of these are for annual games which won't be played anyway once the exclusivity ends and gamers left out still have to pay full price for these games. Now with CoD, they're testing the boundaries of Pay to Win by adding in extra, permanent content that aids play. It's not just cosmetic, but QoL mechanics exclusive to one platform. People may think timed exclusivity is no big deal to buying a publisher, and if this was a onesie or twosie, probably not. However, Sony is showing no signs of slowing down with their Playstation Advantage. Which is fine. Most gamers have gotten so used to this being the norm that it's business as usual, however when exclusivity comes back to bite in a big way then now the alarm needs to be raised. I disagree. MS isn't the first for large acquisitions, and they certainly won't be the last.

I'm also calling bullshit for raging at people who have no issue with this acquisition and the "cheering" coming from them. This generation, companies are looking to squeeze every fucking dime out of you, but finally MS is going the way of putting their costumers first despite whatever gains and losses they make. That's something to cheer about. Sorry, that's just the nature of the beast. These games might now be exclusive to the MS camp, but at least they're giving people a choice where to play those games, especially to the platform with the biggest number of users. The value is there and I'm going to enjoy it for as long as it lasts by taking advantage of the great hardware, Gamepass, and the abso-fucking-lutely cheap gaming I'm going to be doing this generation with the amount of first party offerings that will be released going forward.

 

[Sausage_Poison]

MS going all in with their gaming division. No way Sony is competing with that.
Well, it is what it is.

 

[pswii60]

MS going all in with their gaming division. No way Sony is competing with that.
Well, it is what it is.

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Sony has been going all in with their gaming division since 1994. Hence why they're in the position they enjoy today.

Xbox - as Phil has said - has had way too many periods of significant underinvestment. The consistency has never been there. Definitely feels like things have shifted away from that finally in the last couple of years.

Basically between 2007 when the RROD bill hit (and they lost the "three Bs") to 2017 when Phil got promoted, Xbox had been running on a shoestring compared to the investment seen by Sony. Hence the "TV TV TV" stuff in 2013 - that wasn't Mattrick's idea - that was coming from the board. They didn't believe in gaming so the Xbox team tried (and quickly failed) to diversify Xbox in to a general entertainment brand. Thank goodness all that is behind us.

 

[LilScooby77]

They must be close to their goal. 30+ teams is overkill.

 

[arsene_P5]

They must be close to their goal. 30+ teams is overkill.

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I don't think this is about numbers and more about diversity. For instance Spencer mentioned that GP doesn't have many games for children iirc.

 

[Pryme]

It's almost as if they have produced nothing but sub par AAA games outside of the studios they have acquired. Their own grown talent is not very good. Gears is mediocre and a waste of the talent at the Developer, the best Forza game is not the team that started it or by a company they didn't own until recently, and Halo is going through Dev hell

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'subpar'? Not according to Metacritic.
Gears 4 and 5 are rated as 'very good'. No AAA Halo game has an MC rating less than 84.
Aside from Forza 5, all mainline Forza games this gen have been the best rated 'Sim' racers.

Console warring is a weird thing

 

[Alexandros]

They must be close to their goal. 30+ teams is overkill.

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We'd have to know what their goal is to speculate on that. If they want a huge AAA game every couple of months then they still need more studios.

 

[Eeyore]

RedRum genuinely you thinking that Microsoft puts anything but its bottom line first makes me sad. No gaming company puts its customers first. Yeah relatively Microsoft plays the PR game better than Sony and Nintendo. Still doesn't deserve your loyalty.

You've been brainwashed by some dopamine rush like you've gotten one over because you're paying 15 dollars a month to get access to games you don't own. Yeah Gamepass is a great deal. But that's it.

I don't have an issue with people liking things I don't. I have an issue with people gleefully rubbing their hands together while people's jobs are in balance and being okay with it because of console wars. It's just not cool, no matter who does it. These are people's lives not pawns.

Then there's the justifications that it still allows choice for people. It takes away choices from some. In fact two of the biggest platforms.

It's interesting when Codemasters got bought there wasn't cheering. Almost as if this has little to do with anything but console wars.

I don't know what's going on in your life, and I'm the last person to judge as my life is a goddamn mess but I'd really urge you to reconsider this shit. This tribalism is getting so bad in every corner of our lives. Gaming should be fun, not sure why so much of the more hard core hobbyists are so concerned with winning console wars. It's disheartening. None of this helps you. It just hurts others.

 

[Chossen]

As a Pc user (including xbox and gamepass) I cannot understand people cheering and dreaming with Microsoft buying more studios and taking away the possibility to play third party games to people on other plattforms, it's really really weird.

And temporary exclusivities are a bad thing too

 

[Bede-x]

Cheerleading one of the biggest companies in tech, that got too big for the good of everyone, to built a monopoly...
The fuck is wrong with you?

Click to shrink...

Is anyone really cheerleading them to build a monopoly in gaming? The truth is that even with the purchase of Zenimax, how many really believe they'll beat Sony this generation? Try making a thread to see what people think..

And that's the state of the industry, where even buying a massive publisher like Zenimax, won't get many to believe they're gonna beat Sony's enormous stronghold in many territories. It might lead to a little more competition, but most people likely still can't imagine Microsoft winning, let alone becoming a monopoly in gaming.

 

[arsene_P5]

It's interesting when Codemasters got bought there wasn't cheering. Almost as if this has little to do with anything but console wars

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It could have something to do with advertisment in games. Just a idea and if you read those threads many are fearing T2 will bring back MTX in a huge anti consumer (P2W) way. T2 crossed a line with the advertisement in a game and can fuck off imo.

 

[Arex]

I disagree with this, because acquisition aren't always bad. The studio head of inXile literally wanted to quit, because always traveling the world to find a publisher so the studio can continue, was bad.

So you rather want studios to close or be bought by Take Advertisment Two? Sorry, some of the third party publishers are nightmares and supporting all plattforms doesn't outweigh the disadvantages of the greed of those publishers. My last point would be that Amazon and Google are worse than the other first party companies, because they don't have a big history or a good first party stable. They also only support their cloud plattform. To be fair Amazon does PC aswell, but this was before Luna was announced.

Click to shrink...

Well I suppose I was a bit unclear on my statement there.

I'm talking more about fans who are clamouring and cheering on MS or Sony to buy healthy companies like From or Sega or Capcom or SquareEnix just because. I mean in the end it's up to them if they want to be acquired by MS / Sony or whoever else or course. But it's really not something to cheer or hope about.

There are of course circumstances where getting acquired by first party is a good thing. imo Codemasters joining Take Two is still better than Codemasters getting bought by Sony / MS, and of course them going exclusive to Sony / MS is ultimately still better than them going bankrupt.

In the end for me, getting few more ads is better than losing access to the games on some platforms :P

 

[Scruffy8642]

I'd like to see them prove they can effectively manage so many studios first before they go into getting more. This is unknown territory, literally 2.5x as many as Sony who still manages to have a fairly consistent release schedule. The thought of what you could produce at 35 is overwhelming to me as a consumer when I think about how many games I can buy and get through per year lol.

There's just been so many recent acquisitions before any of them have had time to bear fruit that we don't actually know what these studios under MS' guidance looks like yet. Because if most of them aren't top notch, they'd be better off not distributing focus even further. That's my concern anyway.

 

[Eeyore]

It could have something to do with advertisment in games. Just a idea and if you read those threads many are fearing T2 will bring back MTX in a huge anti consumer (P2W) way. T2 crossed a line with the advertisement in a game and can fuck off imo.

Click to shrink...

I would bank on it. It's not like Sony or Microsoft are averse to MTX though.

 

[lunanto]

Xbox buys SEGA and pays for Sonic Adventure 3.

You read it here first.

 

[Deleted member 5491]

Is anyone really cheerleading them to build a monopoly in gaming? The truth is that even with the purchase of Zenimax, how many really believe they'll beat Sony this generation? Try making a thread to see what people think..

And that's the state of the industry, where even buying a massive publisher like Zenimax, won't get many to believe they're gonna beat Sony's enormous stronghold in many territories. It might lead to a little more competition, but most people likely still can't imagine Microsoft winning, let alone becoming a monopoly in gaming.

Click to shrink...

"Winning" X or "beating" Y is such a console warrior term for a log time, that doesn't have any value to businesses.
Sure, they wanna make more than others, but only to make more money. And it's about long term and what these aquisitions lead to. Do you really think other companies just sith there an eat glue and wait what happens?
And in a capitalistic sytsm the endgoal is to have and own everything. And if (in this case) Microsoft controls enough, they can flex their muscles and say what happens in the industry.

Nothin happens in a vacuum