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[tea_and_crumpets]

All the main one's I can think of are there.

Can any gaffers think of examples where a take over/acquisition has actually improved a studio's output?

 

[hellmonkey]

Im going to go with EA hosing Maxis. SimCity was an awesome series.

 

[Shion]

I don't get the "SEGA -> Platinum Games" posts.

SEGA not only had the balls to actually fund Platinum's games, but they also gave them full creative freedom to do their thing.

How many publishers do that these days?

Bayonetta and Vanquish would never exist without SEGA.

 

[nacimento]

EA purchasing Phenomic. First they made them do C&C Browser games, then they closed them.

 

[FACE]

Uh screwing the pooch on their biggest franchise in the west by fucking up item balance to push players to a real money trading system and make more money doesn't count?

Don't forget the horrible DRM, no modding, the terrible progression system and limiting you to one potion and six skills because of controllers.

 

[RooMHM]

Microsoft is the worst thing that happened to gaming PERIOD

 

[The Power Of Snap]

Sonic team ---> Sonic team

 

[Imbarkus]

Activision never purchased Blizzard Entertainment. The two are subsidiaries of the same parent company. The closest thing you could say is that they merged.

Hmmm. Activision Blizzard bought out Blizzard from Vivendi. I stand corrected.

Editing OP to say Activision Blizzard is the worst thing that happened to Blizzard.

 

[Ridley327]

Sony is the worst thing that ever happened to Psygnosis. Where the hell is my Rollcage PS4, stupid Sony???

Warner Bros is to Midway. Now it's just Lego and DC Comics studio. Fuck that. Same with Traveller's tales with Warner Bros. I still don't understand that Warner Bros Interactive is still a thing. Didn't Fox and Universal Interactives die horribly? Hollywood should stay at Hollywood.

Fox Interactive did die as a result of shit games, but Universal was merely rolled into Vivendi-Universal Games.

However, it's worth pointing out that the reason why WBIE hasn't died is that unlike those two, they put out good-to-great games that do very well at market. That they have a lot a LEGO and DC games should clue you in on that.

 

[onilink88]

Nintendo + Monolithsoft

I've exhausted all manners of textually expressing incredulity at some of the knuckle-dragging stupidity so shamelessly paraded by some on this site. Goodness me.

 

[Platy]

In my hopinion there are few things worst than what happened to Rare after Microsoft.

They praticaly KILLED it's ips and transformed then in code monkeys for kinect =(

I want cute platformers =(

 

[Aquamarine]

EA + every studio EA ever bought.

Activision + every studio Activision ever bought.

Nintendo + Monolithsoft

Square + Enix + Eidos. I honestly can't decide which one those deals were worst for though.

I know Microsoft + Rare seems an easy answer, but lets face it, Rare turned to shit long before MS got them.

Nintendo has actually given Monolith Soft an incredible amount of autonomy. Outside of forcing their games to be released on Nintendo platforms, they let the core studio have free reign. The result? Xenoblade...one of the greatest games ever made.

Nintendo created a new branch of the studio that they're using as a support team for their EAD group (Mario, Zelda, Mario Kart, etc.) As a support studio, they've been a great help to ensure EAD finishes their projects on time.

I don't see how that translates into "the worst thing that ever happened." Monolith Soft is flourishing under Nintendo's rule.

 

[Imbarkus]

Where did the guy go who said Namco and From Software? I don't even care that its not even a publisher/owned dev relationship. I'm just like, "why?"

Also, as someone else pointed out, we could really use more [Big Publisher] is NOT the worst thing that ever happened to [Purchased Developer] ones for the bright side. Does Nintendo/MonolithSoft qualify? Was it a buyout?

 

[Aquamarine]

Where did the guy go who said Namco and From Software? I don't even care that its not even a publisher/owned dev relationship. I'm just like, "why?"

Also, as someone else pointed out, we could really use more [Big Publisher] is NOT the worst thing that ever happened to [Purchased Developer] ones for the bright side. Does Nintendo/MonolithSoft qualify? Was it a buyout?

Yes. Monolith Soft was almost entirely purchased by Nintendo. A tiny amount is owned by Monolith Soft executives, but Nintendo owns the rest.

 

[Glass Rebel]

Nintendo has actually given Monolith Soft an incredible amount of autonomy. Outside of forcing their games to be released on Nintendo platforms, they let the core studio have free reign. The result? Xenoblade...one of the greatest games ever made.

Nintendo created a new branch of the studio that they're using as a support team for their EAD group (Mario, Zelda, Mario Kart, etc.) As a support studio, they've been a great help to ensure EAD finishes their projects on time.

I don't see how that translates into "the worst thing that ever happened." Monolith Soft is flourishing under Nintendo's rule.

For some people on GAF this is a fate worse than death. You were replying to one of them.

 

[onilink88]

Also, as someone else pointed out, we could really use more [Big Publisher] is NOT the worst thing that ever happened to [Purchased Developer] ones for the bright side. Does Nintendo/MonolithSoft qualify? Was it a buyout?

Absolutely, it does. The short of it is that Nintendo had originally purchased 80% of Scamco's shares (which was already enough for controlling interest in the company) in 2007 and bought another 16% some time in 2011. The remaining 4%, as Aquamarine has mentioned, belongs to various Monolith execs.

This is the current share ownership, according to the corporate profile page of their site:
Nintendo Co., Ltd.: 2,320 shares
Sugiura Hirohide : 30 shares
Tetsuya Takahashi: 30 shares
Yasuyuki Honne: 20 shares

I don't understand how anyone in their right mind could have mentioned Monolithsoft as one of the bad buyouts. They're practically given carte blanche, with which they produced Xenoblade, one of the best RPGs ever made, and are behind X, which is the successor to the former, and currently Nintendo's most attractive title.

 

[fastford58]

EA and Activision are cancers on the gaming industry. They exist solely to take over existing structures and suck all of the nutrients out of them in order to grow themselves bigger and bigger.

Fucking malignant tumours.

 

[Romars202129]

That's correct, SEGA were terrible at marketing their console action games, but then you have to ask yourself would any of these games ever been made if it wasn't for SEGA or what changes to the content and gameplay another publisher might have demanded.

Similar thing with Nintendo, it's good that any publisher is willing to take risks with Platinum. Imo their games are too niche / too £10 bargain bin material for most so called "fans" that most of their games are doomed to mediocre sales at best.

Well, I'd like to think without Sega the next company down the line might have picked them up, and that company might have been willling to put their balls on the line and spend some money to promote the product. For instance, Square was shopping around, proof being they bought Eidos. And I would have been open to any changes they had to make to sell. I just needed that gameplay.
I mean, if they had to write a story about Nathan drake fighting nazi Zombies online to make it in this industry today, I really would have been okay with it just as long as I got my wicked weaves.

Would you be ok with them changing the game in order to achieve said sales figures? Sega was a dream publisher for PG , they let them do their shit no questions asked.

So is Metal gear rising's poor sales were also due to bad marketing from Konami and a fail Metal Gear brand ? PGs games are great but everyone knows they arent sellers , unless EA jumps in and dudebros it up they aint gonna sell.

Why do you need a reply from me about this if you know Konami exists? That's the greatest proof ever that Sega was bad for Platinum.
I mean, Konami made sure people actually heard about their game before release, they went straight into a sequel right after. None of the ports were pure garbage[so far]. Already more love than Bayo recieved in her entire life from Sega.
It's one thing to say you believe Platinum was always doomed for obscurity, and another to say Sega did right by them, don't you think? I mean, I remember when I first heard about Bayo, do you? For me, it was reviews.
Face it, Sega still runs things like it's the sixth gen, or even fifth gen, and it shows in the fact that the only series they now own that even leaves one blip in terms of mindshare is Sonic.
Sega's business tactics are freakin archaic, and it shows.

 

[Imbarkus]

You guys Sega didn't buy Platinum, and that's the best I can cover here. I can't imagine how I could possibly cover the good/bad of every developer/publisher association.

Sega/Atlus is in the yet to be seen column.

I'll try and keep the OP updated as these things shake out. Maybe we can use it to track whether it is really a good idea to sell your dev studio to some [Big Publisher].

 

[Silurus]

Got to be Microsoft and Rare.

 

[infinityBCRT]

Microsoft ---> Bungie

If you were a fan of the Myth games. Arguably stunted their growth anyway, I mean look at destiny.

Edit: I guess they weren't purchased so I fail. But still, fuck you MS I want my Myth back!

The thing is that Bungie was given their independence and now all they are doing is making what essentially could've been a Halo MMO. It boggles my mind that they wanted to be independent due to the Halo grind and came back with something very similar to what they were doing under MS.

 

[Jarmel]

There are three winners.

Microsoft to Rare
EA to Bioware
Activision to Infinity Ward

 

[Evil Monkey DTT]

Mostly EA buying and ruining companies into the ground. The big 2 for me that still exist are twisted pixel (seriously, what happened, I loved those guys and then their next game was racist and stupid) and rare.

 

[FunkyPajamas]

Eidos Interactive: Looking Glass Studios.

Though Eidos is no more and was merged/absorbed into Square Enix, so I guess there's nobody to blame anymore. ):

 

[Interfectum]

EA to [Most Purchased Developers]

 

[Imbarkus]

Eidos Interactive: Looking Glass Studios.

Though Eidos is no more and was merged/absorbed into Square Enix, so I guess there's nobody to blame anymore. ):

Hmmm. Not sure how to edit the SquareEnix--Eidos--Core chain to include another Eidos victim fork.

Please elucidate on how Eidos was the worst thing for Looking Glass?

 

[Muppet of a Man]

EA is the worst thing to have happened to ____

More truth has never been told...

 

[Prince Vultan]

Nintendo has actually given Monolith Soft an incredible amount of autonomy. Outside of forcing their games to be released on Nintendo platforms, they let the core studio have free reign. The result? Xenoblade...one of the greatest games ever made.

Nintendo created a new branch of the studio that they're using as a support team for their EAD group (Mario, Zelda, Mario Kart, etc.) As a support studio, they've been a great help to ensure EAD finishes their projects on time.

I don't see how that translates into "the worst thing that ever happened." Monolith Soft is flourishing under Nintendo's rule.

The game quality isn't the issue, it's how Nintendo have handled Monolith's first party developed titles that's pissed me off.

Disaster was my favourite game on Wii, and Nintendo sent it to die, even refusing it release in the US, the biggest market on the planet, when it was a title that actually had some Western stylings about it that might just have been enough for it to do decent business. Guess we'll never know though.

Then of course Xenoblade, which Nintendo seemed to have to be "forced" to release outside Japan in any way, and even then they barely even acknowledged it existed.

Nintendo have yet to prove they can be trusted to support Monolith's releases basically. I'd be worried about what'll happen to X when it comes out even if the Wii U wasn't a flop to be honest. Would love to be proven wrong here though.

 

[Imbarkus]

The game quality isn't the issue, it's how Nintendo have handled Monolith's first party developed titles that's pissed me off.

Disaster was my favourite game on Wii, and Nintendo sent it to die, even refusing it release in the US, the biggest market on the planet, when it was a title that actually had some Western stylings about it that might just have been enough for it to do decent business. Guess we'll never know though.

Then of course Xenoblade, which Nintendo seemed to have to be "forced" to release outside Japan in any way, and even then they barely even acknowledged it existed.

Nintendo have yet to prove they can be trusted to support Monolith's releases basically. I'd be worried about what'll happen to X when it comes out even if the Wii U wasn't a flop to be honest. Would love to be proven wrong here though.

Hmmm this is compelling. Might move them to the yet to be seen area. I imported Disaster buy have yet to play it.

 

[FunkyPajamas]

Please elucidate on how Eidos was the worst thing for Looking Glass?

To be honest, it wasn't just a single factor, and while Eidos had the final word, the company (Looking Glass) was already in trouble when Eidos decided to acquire it. I'm still bitter about it and tend to blame Eidos without really having any data to back it up.

So, feel free to ignore my post. Apologies for that.

Source, in case you want to read about it: http://www.ttlg.com/articles/lgsclosing.asp (By James Sterrett, TTLG’s media watchdog)

 

[Jazz-ism]

konami is the worst thing to happen to hudson soft


capcom is the worst thing to happen to capcom

 

[Leflus]

Microsoft and Rare is the biggest one for me. I'm not one of those who puts the blame entirely on Microsoft, but Rare has undoubtably been horribly managed over the past decade.

They used to develop racing games, platformers, fighting games and shooters. A lot of them were great, and a few of them are considered to be among the very best games for the SNES and N64.
Now they're stuck developing family games for the kinect.

Who knows what they'll be up to on the Xbox One after they've released KS Rivals, but there's no denying that the past five years has been dreadful for fans of Rare's older games.

Other personal choices:
MS and Ensemble
Activision and Bizarre Creations

 

[Mr. F]

Disney -> LucasArts

(Even if it wasn't their game studio itself that made the acquisition, should still count)

 

[onilink88]

Nintendo have yet to prove they can be trusted to support Monolith's releases basically. I'd be worried about what'll happen to X when it comes out even if the Wii U wasn't a flop to be honest. Would love to be proven wrong here though.

I can give you that Xenoblade's handling wasn't exactly graceful, but Disaster's? You're talking about an extremely niche (not to mention poor) game that wouldn't have fared well even if you were to release it in the world's largest market. You have reason to be worried about X. But not because of Nintendo's handling of it, not even because the Wii U's in a shithole, but because of the declining overseas market that evinces hostility towards JRPGs, and (to a much lesser extent) the gaming media that refuses to give it the time of the day. There was no need to worry about X not being released outside of Japan, because unlike Xenoblade, X's budget would be much, much bigger by virtue of being developed on a modern HD system, so there's no way they would have let the game be a Japanese exclusive. So far, they've given it premium slots in their presentations: in the January ND, it was the last game shown, eclipsing even Zelda; in the E3 one, it was naturally (only) overshadowed by the likes of Smash.

Even if you considered the way they handled Disaster and Xenoblade to be lacking, there's no way in hell the buyout should be put alongside the likes of EA buying___ or Konami buying Hudson.

 

[Ricky 7]

The game quality isn't the issue, it's how Nintendo have handled Monolith's first party developed titles that's pissed me off.

Disaster was my favourite game on Wii, and Nintendo sent it to die, even refusing it release in the US, the biggest market on the planet, when it was a title that actually had some Western stylings about it that might just have been enough for it to do decent business. Guess we'll never know though.

Then of course Xenoblade, which Nintendo seemed to have to be "forced" to release outside Japan in any way, and even then they barely even acknowledged it existed.

Nintendo have yet to prove they can be trusted to support Monolith's releases basically. I'd be worried about what'll happen to X when it comes out even if the Wii U wasn't a flop to be honest. Would love to be proven wrong here though.

NoE promoted Xenoblade, they even had TV ads for it and a collectors edition. They weren't forced to release it. Namco didn't even bother releasing Xenosaga 1 in Europe so as far as I'm concerned European Monolith Soft fans have it good now that Nintendo own them. Monolith Soft are also now bigger then ever and have expanded with a new Kyoto office.

 

[Imbarkus]

I can't agree with that conclusion about Disaster. It's the same tripe Reggie was spewing about Fatal Frame 4, while meanwhile they nearly brought about their own software market crash allowing hundreds of crapware minigame collection titles to be licensed and released. I'm convinced half the reason the WiiU sold poorly is that the Wii brand itself was already tarnished.

Anyway, the relationship still seems to be a bit in question, ala Sega/Atlus or Sega/Platinum.

 

[vagabondarts]

My personal picks,

EA-->bioware and pandemic

Used to love their games

 

[Endo Punk]

Sony is the worst thing to ever happen to Eat Sleep Play. They deserved better support.

I was really hoping that studio would be Sony's "core gameplay" focus studio since they have so many devs that approach games from a cinematic perspective. I can go back to Twisted Metal every month of every year. Amazing replay value.

 

[MogCakes]

Where did the guy go who said Namco and From Software? I don't even care that its not even a publisher/owned dev relationship. I'm just like, "why?"

Also, as someone else pointed out, we could really use more [Big Publisher] is NOT the worst thing that ever happened to [Purchased Developer] ones for the bright side. Does Nintendo/MonolithSoft qualify? Was it a buyout?

That was me. I've been a massive FromSoftware fan since the first Armored Core and seeing Namco get their greedy mitts on From just because of Dark Souls is infuriating. Even more so that they kicked western Armored Core fans in the teeth with their complete lack of support for V post-release. We didn't even get most of the patches because of their laziness. Then all of the worrying rumors we get about Dark Souls II and that interview where Namco said they were marketing the title like a AAA game. And to add to that, paid DLC was something you would never have seen in a FromSoft title before their partnership with Namco Bandai. So far From's managed to make the DLC worth buying (Artorias) or superficial (ACV/Verdict Day avatars and weapon packs that are already available in-game), but it's the start of a trend and I don't like it one bit - they were one of (if not the) last bastions of the 'we're going to release this game with 100% complete content' mentality, and now that's been marred.

Namco Bandai has demonstrated no understanding of just who actually is a fan of the Souls series as well as the kind of audience FromSoft usually targets. From has never explicitly aimed for the Elder Scrolls/Dragon Age sized markets, they have always been content to create games that their creative teams actually want to create with a niche of gamers in mind (see: Armored Core, Demon's Souls/King's Field). From everything I have read about Dark Souls II so far I get the impression Namco is attempting to pull them away from this and hurl them into the arena with 'the big boys' to compete directly. Dark Souls II doesn't fucking need a AAA marketing budget, have they not done their research on how Demons Souls got so popular? And Dark Souls certainly didn't have a AAA marketing campaign. Namco even went to the trouble of doing a video tour through FromSoft's studio and Nakajima said so himself, they don't want to chase what's popular - so why the hell is Namco giving DSII such a huge marketing push, burdening the game with inflated sales expectations?

I want From to part with that leech ASAP, my biggest fear is Namco assimilating FromSoft and dissolving Armored Core and all the other 'non-AAA' IPs save for Dark Souls and hollowing them out from the inside. Hell at this rate they'll run Dark Souls into the ground too and will milk it dry until there's naught left but the name.

I'll buy your games Namco. I'm a Tales fan, God Eater's alright, you need to get your act together with Ace Combat; but keep your filthy business practices off of From. You aren't worthy.

 

[Imbarkus]

Namco didn't buy them though, right? It's just a dev/pub relationship.

But on the topic, I guess we'll have to see what Dark Souls II looks like when it comes out. I have Treyarch in the bright side because even though the games they worked on changed, and they seemed to have to follow order a lot, they ended up the top developer at Activision, in charge of the hugely popular franchise that made gobs of money.

I'll bet the From guys would not mind such an outcome.

The guy who made an argument for removing Infinity Ward has made good points, and I could be swayed there, except, you know, game quality lately, and turnover, etc...

If Namco bought From and those kinds of outcomes started happening, they'd clearly be the worst thing that ever happened to them.

 

[MogCakes]

It is just a partnership and not a buyout, but brand association with the souls series and Armored Core has begun to shift to namco since their logo appears before From's in the opening screens of each game as well as that 'powered by' crap implying FromSoft was just the workhorse for the game and not the original creators. I saw people around the net and in real life who thought both series were under Namco's jurisdiction.

Insofar as a Treyarch/Activision kind of relationship, while financially it would keep the company successful, their strength has always been their independence and freedom to make what they want to make. Armored Core and more recently Demons Souls/Dark Souls are both franchises birthed from that mindset and it shows in the game design. I see this partnership as small hairline cracks forming in the company's modus operandi and as a long time fan it makes me uneasy.

 

[Imbarkus]

Fair enough and well-explained.

I just have to keep it off the OP because of the strict rules of the formula, you understand.

 

[Orniletter]

EA + every studio EA ever bought.

Activision + every studio Activision ever bought.

Nintendo + Monolithsoft

Square + Enix + Eidos. I honestly can't decide which one those deals were worst for though.

I know Microsoft + Rare seems an easy answer, but lets face it, Rare turned to shit long before MS got them.

They are tied to a rich sugar daddy that lets them make what they want, have become even more productive since their Bamco days and opened a second studio.

Nintendo is the best thing to happen to Monolith Soft.

 

[MogCakes]

Fair enough and well-explained.

I just have to keep it off the OP because of the strict rules of the formula, you understand.

It's all good, I just needed to vent, heh.

 

[JinjoUnchained]

Square Enix is the worst thing that ever happened to Square and Enix.

 

[B.K.]

Nintendo buying Monolithsoft.

The result? Xenoblade...one of the greatest games ever made.

Xenoblade isn't a good game. It's not even Monolithsoft's best game. It only seems good because the last generation was such a shitty generation.

 

[Grief.exe]

Isn't Respawn supposed to be an independent studio with just this single agreement for Titanfall tying them to EA (so far)?

You are correct, Respawn is largely independent from EA. They just control the actual publishing distribution of Titanfall currently.

 

[Bluemercury]

Ms + Rare, still hoping that Rare somehow will return to big N, some day . Thats why i hope MS ends up selling the xbox division...

 

[NexusCell]

Nintendo buying Monolithsoft.



Xenoblade isn't a good game. It's not even Monolithsoft's best game. It only seems good because the last generation was such a shitty generation.

Holy fucking shit are you actually serious?

 

[TomShoe]

Sony is NOT the worst thing that happened to Media Molecule.

Even though they're making Vita games, they're seriously not recognized enough for the some of the amazing work that they do.

SEGA is the worst thing that ever happened to ATLUS. They better not ruin Persona 5 or the Disgaea series.