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Rumour: MS approach Valve for buyout $16b offer

THE DUCK

voted poster of the decade by bots
Dude, Sony is not going to waste their time with creating their own PC store. Why do you believe that? People were so pissed about the PSN requirement that they had to remove that from both EGS and Steam. Best case scenario is that they make their own store like Uplay, but continue to release their games on EGS and Steam at the same time. But even that is pointless, because no one will buy games directly from the PSN store on PC. It will only piss people off.

2 reasons - they don't want to pay steam 30% in perpetuity and they already advertised a year or 2 ago bring for people with experience in pc store development. Not only do I think they will launch it, they will use thier exclusives to draw in customers and other developers as well.
 

SlimySnake

Flashless at the Golden Globes
2 reasons - they don't want to pay steam 30% in perpetuity and they already advertised a year or 2 ago bring for people with experience in pc store development. Not only do I think they will launch it, they will use thier exclusives to draw in customers and other developers as well.
one call to Epic and they will find out that the 30% they are paying (10-20% if they hit 1+ million and negotiate with valve) pales in comparison to the money they would have to spend on a storefront launcher. this shit costs money too. and they make like 1-2 first party games a year.
 

Gamezone

Gold Member
2 reasons - they don't want to pay steam 30% in perpetuity and they already advertised a year or 2 ago bring for people with experience in pc store development. Not only do I think they will launch it, they will use thier exclusives to draw in customers and other developers as well.

No publisher want to pay 30% to Valve, yet they they are all there.
 

BlackTron

Gold Member
That's a pretty big stretch. They probably wouldn't change a thing for many years.

It's insane how willfully blind people can be to the massive history going back decades of what happens after being acquired by Microsoft, and of their blatantly predictable behavior that is called in advance every single time because it never changes. There is always some forum expert whose better insight than this mountain of reasons to worry amounts to "probably" lol
 

cybertailor

Neo Member
don't see how anyone could support Microsofts gaming division at this point. They have proven again and again that they just don't know how to create great diverse content considering the capital that is being fused into it. They simply have not earned the right to buy out Valve imo and can go suck a d*ck.
 

THE DUCK

voted poster of the decade by bots
It's insane how willfully blind people can be to the massive history going back decades of what happens after being acquired by Microsoft, and of their blatantly predictable behavior that is called in advance every single time because it never changes. There is always some forum expert whose better insight than this mountain of reasons to worry amounts to "probably" lol

Please explain how they massively changed the companies they have purchased in the gaming side of the business over the past 10 years. Use concrete examples, if they exist.
 

BlackTron

Gold Member
Please explain how they massively changed the companies they have purchased in the gaming side of the business over the past 10 years. Use concrete examples, if they exist.

So the difficulty mode is, within the last 10 years, and only gaming. Are we also excluding companies that were closed down as well, or no? Just getting the big list of arbitrary parameters out of the way first
 

BennyBlanco

aka IMurRIVAL69
12 pages of discussion on a topic everyone knew was fake 5 seconds after reading it

1387542589398.jpg
 

THE DUCK

voted poster of the decade by bots
So the difficulty mode is, within the last 10 years, and only gaming. Are we also excluding companies that were closed down as well, or no? Just getting the big list of arbitrary parameters out of the way first

It's a very simple question. Obviously it's too hard for you to answer. Instead you want to focus on hardware focused acquisitions thst have zero to do with xbox or the gaming division from 20 years ago? That makes perfect sense, if you want to angle the answer to fit your narrative I guess.
 

mckmas8808

Mckmaster uses MasterCard to buy Slave drives
Well if Gabe is considering retiring (he's 61), and the other shareholders want a heap of cash (the employees), you would think they would at least consider selling.
If not to MS, to anyone else in the market. Though I suspect the list of buyers is short with that kind of cash. I mean that would wipe out all Sony's cash reserves if they bought them. It's more than Nintendo has on hand.

And lets be honest. Valve wouldn't sell for a dollar under $100 Billion!
 

mckmas8808

Mckmaster uses MasterCard to buy Slave drives
First of all, I highly doubt Valve is selling anytime soon. Secondly, nobody is paying over $20 billion for a company with an estimated market cap of $9 Billion.

Yep! Hence why Valve isn't ever going to sell. That little $20 billion means nothing, when you understand the full picture.
 

BlackTron

Gold Member
It's a very simple question. Obviously it's too hard for you to answer. Instead you want to focus on hardware focused acquisitions thst have zero to do with xbox or the gaming division from 20 years ago? That makes perfect sense, if you want to angle the answer to fit your narrative I guess.

I asked you to clarify your list of parameters to ensure that when I answer you, you can't say that I stepped on any "unqualifying" examples. Your response was to inform me of what I am thinking by saying I want to focus on hardware-focused acquisitions, something you just made up out of nowhere, and imply that it doesn't qualify as an example. The cherry on top is for the very next comment to be that I am trying to angle things to fit my narrative. Projection MFer, do you speak it?
 

THE DUCK

voted poster of the decade by bots
I asked you to clarify your list of parameters to ensure that when I answer you, you can't say that I stepped on any "unqualifying" examples. Your response was to inform me of what I am thinking by saying I want to focus on hardware-focused acquisitions, something you just made up out of nowhere, and imply that it doesn't qualify as an example. The cherry on top is for the very next comment to be that I am trying to angle things to fit my narrative. Projection MFer, do you speak it?

Yet despite my response, you still haven't answered the initial question, because you don't like the answer.
 

BlackTron

Gold Member
Yet despite my response, you still haven't answered the initial question, because you don't like the answer.

So because I would like you to confirm whether closed studios "count" in your view, before investing all my keystrokes, you are going to keep dodging that and berate me for "refusing to answer your original question"? Alright man. All I want to proceed, is a straight yes or no answer!
 
If the worst offender in buying stuff hasn't been able to buy you out why would you ever, ever sell out?
No one can predict what will happen. Gabe probably won't but his successor might just say fuck it and cash out.

I hope Gabe has some solid clause for Valve in case MS tries to make a hostile takeover.

No need. You can only really attempt hostile takeovers with public companies. (well you can do that with private companies but Gabe is the majority owner of Valve so it wouldn't work)
 
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Oppoi

Member
No one can predict what will happen. Gabe probably won't but his successor might just say fuck it and cash out.



No need. You can only really attempt hostile takeovers with public companies. (well you can do that with private companies but Gabe is the majority owner of Valve so it wouldn't work)
All I have to do is offer Gabe a spot on the next Mars expedition. Or whoever comes next a tiger or something.
 

THE DUCK

voted poster of the decade by bots
You would honestly like it if they did sell wouldn't you?

On a personal level not really. But would be very funny to watch the forum meet down for very little reason. Not much would actually change in terms of the steam store. Probably the biggest change would be on the hardware side, either ms would use the steam deck model or scrap it all together. Either way, steam deck probably gets worse since they have done an amazing job with it.

The one up side would probably be the addition of native xbox games to steam deck though.

Either way, gaming would continue, lives would go on.
 
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THE DUCK

voted poster of the decade by bots
So because I would like you to confirm whether closed studios "count" in your view, before investing all my keystrokes, you are going to keep dodging that and berate me for "refusing to answer your original question"? Alright man. All I want to proceed, is a straight yes or no answer!

Like I said, I want facts. Sure, closed studios count since they are part of gaming. What percentage of microsofts 30 studios have they closed?
 

Oppoi

Member
On a personal level not really. But would be very funny to watch the forum meet down for very little reason. Not much would actually change. Probably the biggest change would be on the hardware side, either ms would use the steam deck model or scrap it all together. Either way, steam deck probably gets worse since they have done an amazing job with it.

The one up side would probably be the addition of native xbox games to steam deck though.

Either way, gaming would continue, lives would go on.
You said it right when you said "not much would actually change"... That's just it. They're playing the long game. Over time things do change and every single studio they buy has to adapt. You would think MS buying Valve would be "funny", I thank you for saying that.
 

BlackTron

Gold Member
Like I said, I want facts. Sure, closed studios count since they are part of gaming. What percentage of microsofts 30 studios have they closed?
I'm just gonna go for the low hanging fruit from recent memory (I'm not calculating percentages and shit for you man lol)


Fact is MS's management sucks. That's what changes as soon as they acquire, which begins the erosion process of everything they own. Hell immediately after saying they don't want to change a thing, Booty brilliantly handled a topic that made half the staff look like they were plotting to leave already.

Of course those are only the "hidden changes" and politics that take place internally and ruin things from the inside out. Your initial contention was that they wouldn't change anything externally visible about Steam -but I think the idea that MS will maintain Steam and Xbox/Gamepass app as completely independent from each other is naive and cute on a level approaching Bambi. But we can't support that theory with history, because they've never bought a company only to fuck the software before, like Skype. Oh well.
 

THE DUCK

voted poster of the decade by bots
I'm just gonna go for the low hanging fruit from recent memory (I'm not calculating percentages and shit for you man lol)


Fact is MS's management sucks. That's what changes as soon as they acquire, which begins the erosion process of everything they own. Hell immediately after saying they don't want to change a thing, Booty brilliantly handled a topic that made half the staff look like they were plotting to leave already.

Of course those are only the "hidden changes" and politics that take place internally and ruin things from the inside out. Your initial contention was that they wouldn't change anything externally visible about Steam -but I think the idea that MS will maintain Steam and Xbox/Gamepass app as completely independent from each other is naive and cute on a level approaching Bambi. But we can't support that theory with history, because they've never bought a company only to fuck the software before, like Skype. Oh well.

So basically you have no hard facts? Interesting. You mention Skype as a fail, but don't mention any of the sofware that does work well, like Teams, or Office. These are highly successful products, but they don't even exist in your reality. MS can do no right, only wrong.
I mean, I won't completely disagree, MS does mishandle things, mess things up, make mistakes sometimes. However, the idea that they walk in and instantly wreck everything that was good about a company is a patently false narrative driven by forum fanatics. Bambi, LOL.

You will say they need to make changes, then when they do, it's just they can't decide on anything, and it's mismanagment. Honestly, there's lots to pick at but MS could release the worlds best console for $99 with the best games at $20 and you would still say they suck.
The truth is always more in the middle.
 

Oppoi

Member
So basically you have no hard facts? Interesting. You mention Skype as a fail, but don't mention any of the sofware that does work well, like Teams, or Office. These are highly successful products, but they don't even exist in your reality. MS can do no right, only wrong.
I mean, I won't completely disagree, MS does mishandle things, mess things up, make mistakes sometimes. However, the idea that they walk in and instantly wreck everything that was good about a company is a patently false narrative driven by forum fanatics. Bambi, LOL.

You will say they need to make changes, then when they do, it's just they can't decide on anything, and it's mismanagment. Honestly, there's lots to pick at but MS could release the worlds best console for $99 with the best games at $20 and you would still say they suck.
The truth is always more in the middle.
Go to bed baby, Phil's calling...
 

BlackTron

Gold Member
So basically you have no hard facts? Interesting. You mention Skype as a fail, but don't mention any of the sofware that does work well, like Teams, or Office. These are highly successful products, but they don't even exist in your reality. MS can do no right, only wrong.
I mean, I won't completely disagree, MS does mishandle things, mess things up, make mistakes sometimes. However, the idea that they walk in and instantly wreck everything that was good about a company is a patently false narrative driven by forum fanatics. Bambi, LOL.

You will say they need to make changes, then when they do, it's just they can't decide on anything, and it's mismanagment. Honestly, there's lots to pick at but MS could release the worlds best console for $99 with the best games at $20 and you would still say they suck.
The truth is always more in the middle.

If you want "facts" in the form of "what percentage of acquired studios have been shut down", I'm not starting a statistics fetch quest. For one thing stats are meaningless because they can be spun to say anything anyway. Like imagine saying MS "doesn't change anything" and then using the "fact" that "only" 15% of their studios disappeared to "support" this notion. Because 15 sounds like a low number out of 100. Seriously, who gives a shit coming up with that anyway? It proves nothing and is a pointless exercise for everyone involved. (I pulled these numbers out of my ass)

I posted a video of an actual Microsoft executive interacting with actual staff in a real studio. Your response? "So you have no proof of changes". Your idea of proof is stats bullshit. Your idea of real life put right in front of you is that it doesn't exist.

I'm impressed you didn't have to drag Windows and Office into the conversation to prove they can do anything right. Only Office, nice. It's also nice that you think Teams is a successful product because people like it and not because their company told them to use it.

The truth is usually more in the middle. In MS's case it's skewed heavily towards a massive pile of shit. Of course by spewing shit everywhere some of it sticks once in a while, but the company culture is generally conducive to failure.

Edit: Wanted to respond to your point that they could make the best games for $20 and best console for $99 and I'd still say they suck. In other words, you are saying that I am biased. FYI I don't have a PS5, had an X but sold it just before the wheels completely flew off Xbox late last year. Still using a used el cheapo Series S and PS4 Pro as my TV boxes but PC and Switch are my main platforms.

I think I have a right to speak for myself instead of have you stuffing words in my mouth every post, so I'll just say that if Xbox had the best games and the best console, I'd say they are great. They wouldn't even have to be $20 and 99. It's almost as if my opinion is a reaction to the way things actually are, and not some hypothetical way I wish they were or expect them to be.
 
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Such a lame take.
I guess you didn't know people with money don't like to bleed money.
Its not a lame take when people say how they will die but forget they could of died 3 times by now and it still didnt phase them, while continuously buying other studios. If same happened to SONY they would of folded at the first roadblock like SEGA did. People keep forgetting xbox for them is a play thing to push their other services. One year of Windows subscription model or purchases finances the next 3 generations of xbox lol. 72% of world population use a PC, what you on abot bleeding money.
 
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THE DUCK

voted poster of the decade by bots
If you want "facts" in the form of "what percentage of acquired studios have been shut down", I'm not starting a statistics fetch quest. For one thing stats are meaningless because they can be spun to say anything anyway. Like imagine saying MS "doesn't change anything" and then using the "fact" that "only" 15% of their studios disappeared to "support" this notion. Because 15 sounds like a low number out of 100. Seriously, who gives a shit coming up with that anyway? It proves nothing and is a pointless exercise for everyone involved. (I pulled these numbers out of my ass)

I posted a video of an actual Microsoft executive interacting with actual staff in a real studio. Your response? "So you have no proof of changes". Your idea of proof is stats bullshit. Your idea of real life put right in front of you is that it doesn't exist.

I'm impressed you didn't have to drag Windows and Office into the conversation to prove they can do anything right. Only Office, nice. It's also nice that you think Teams is a successful product because people like it and not because their company told them to use it.

The truth is usually more in the middle. In MS's case it's skewed heavily towards a massive pile of shit. Of course by spewing shit everywhere some of it sticks once in a while, but the company culture is generally conducive to failure.

Edit: Wanted to respond to your point that they could make the best games for $20 and best console for $99 and I'd still say they suck. In other words, you are saying that I am biased. FYI I don't have a PS5, had an X but sold it just before the wheels completely flew off Xbox late last year. Still using a used el cheapo Series S and PS4 Pro as my TV boxes but PC and Switch are my main platforms.

I think I have a right to speak for myself instead of have you stuffing words in my mouth every post, so I'll just say that if Xbox had the best games and the best console, I'd say they are great. They wouldn't even have to be $20 and 99. It's almost as if my opinion is a reaction to the way things actually are, and not some hypothetical way I wish they were or expect them to be.

So you don't wan't to argue numbers because it doesn't support your position?
Instead you would rather deal in anecodatal evidence (your video) instead of hard numbers?

I never said Teams was successful becuase people were forced to use it, I said it was a good product, because it is.
I love the fact that you refuse to support your position because "it proves nothing", super conveinient.
Truth in the middle to you is as close to 1% as your position as possible, is irrational.

I don't care what you own, it's clear you have it out for MS, some sort of personal mission. PC and switch are your go to, owning an xbox doesn't make you somehow unbiased, as people constantly point out to me when I say I am multiplatform. I spend most of my time these days on the PS5 and steam deck. But the second I say anything good about MS I'm somehow biased. So lets use that both ways I guess.

You sure do have the right to speak for yourself, and every word that comes out of you sounds like a bitter fanboy, just out to hate MS. No reason, just they poison everything. Talk to you about what MS changes with for real, you say numbers don't matter. Doesn't matter that for the most part, they have left alone the studios they purchased. And you say that MS is skewed towards a massive pile of shit, and that the culture is conductive to failure. So don't blame me for casting you with a brush that predicts what you would do, it's based on what you have said.

What is I was to tell you that they are in fact, one of the most succesful companies in the world? #4 most profitable in the world last year. It's the number 2 company in the world by net worth. Their market cap is bigger than Intel, Comcast, Disney, Cisco, Oracle, Samsung and Walmart and Nvidia combined. These things don't happen by accident. They clearly aren't conductive to failure as a whole. Shocking, right, but you can't even see it through your decision that they suck. I don't own MS stock, I have no large vested interest in thier success or failure (other than my game library). I know they aren't perfect, and have made mistakes. But at least I can see that they aren't incompetent at every level through the whole organization.
 

Tomi

Member
Valve dont be fools
Microsoft doesnt care about people, they care only about money
M$crosoft - destroyer of companies!
 

Drell

Member
This would and should get absolutely dumpstered by antitrust lawsuits.
This should, yes absolutely, but I'm very skeptical about the "would" part after seeing EU doing nothing, ftc having no weight and CMA bravely fighting alone before capitulating. Of course I'm talking about the ABK acquision episode.
 
Eh it's not like they make any more games than MS does. It's just a storefront at this point.
The fact that its a storefront is the exact problem. Microsoft buying Steam would give them a defacto monopoly of video games on Windows and tbh other operating systems too.
 

BlackTron

Gold Member
So you don't wan't to argue numbers because it doesn't support your position?
Instead you would rather deal in anecodatal evidence (your video) instead of hard numbers?

No, I leaned away from the type of hard numbers you asked for because you were leading down the path of bullshit stats reporting. What is the point of asking to calculate what percentage of studios MS closed down if not to say "See?? This percent is a low number!" Sure if MS decided to close down say, Bethesda, that could account for 1%, and that 1 would look so small and be a "win". "99% of the studios that were around yesterday are still open! MS changes hardly anything!" This is School of Phil nonsense. It's like how he retreats to his precious "hard numbers" of MAU or engagement. You can come up with that tripe for yourself, I'm not a BS generating service.

I never said Teams was successful becuase people were forced to use it, I said it was a good product, because it is.
I love the fact that you refuse to support your position because "it proves nothing", super conveinient.

I support my position with things I think support it. If I came out with the kind of Phil-style stat-spinning you call "support", decent people would call me an idiot.

Truth in the middle to you is as close to 1% as your position as possible, is irrational.

I don't care what you own, it's clear you have it out for MS, some sort of personal mission. PC and switch are your go to, owning an xbox doesn't make you somehow unbiased, as people constantly point out to me when I say I am multiplatform. I spend most of my time these days on the PS5 and steam deck. But the second I say anything good about MS I'm somehow biased. So lets use that both ways I guess.

I have good things to say about MS too. For example, I liked Halo Infinite multiplayer and still play it a few times a week. In fact I was lured into Series X because I wanted to play this game when PC parts were scarce and my 1060 couldn't keep up with it. Not my fault they completely botched the generation since I bought in. Shit I had a X, a S and 4 controllers. My body was ready for a great gen, and I HOPED for it, and I was ready to forget about last gen. Turns out, they never moved on from being the same brand they were during Xbox One. Now you are going to tell me it's not MS's fault for failing, it's my fault I spent too much money on Xbox shit because I'm "biased". Nice lol

You sure do have the right to speak for yourself, and every word that comes out of you sounds like a bitter fanboy, just out to hate MS. No reason, just they poison everything. Talk to you about what MS changes with for real, you say numbers don't matter. Doesn't matter that for the most part, they have left alone the studios they purchased.
And you say that MS is skewed towards a massive pile of shit, and that the culture is conductive to failure. So don't blame me for casting you with a brush that predicts what you would do, it's based on what you have said.

What is I was to tell you that they are in fact, one of the most succesful companies in the world? #4 most profitable in the world last year. It's the number 2 company in the world by net worth. Their market cap is bigger than Intel, Comcast, Disney, Cisco, Oracle, Samsung and Walmart and Nvidia combined. These things don't happen by accident. They clearly aren't conductive to failure as a whole. Shocking, right, but you can't even see it through your decision that they suck. I don't own MS stock, I have no large vested interest in thier success or failure (other than my game library). I know they aren't perfect, and have made mistakes. But at least I can see that they aren't incompetent at every level through the whole organization.

Of course they aren't profitable for no reason, they are due to unscrupulous business practices decades ago which locked them in as the primary supplier of operating systems. From this nigh unassailable position they are invincible and have tried to enter many other markets only to burn through money (because their management sucks). Any other business, without the huge coffers of money and infusions of government contracts, would go under. But MS execs like Phil get to play pretend business while their company pays for their ego.

I thought you wanted me to keep this conversation specifically about gaming studios in the past 10 years so that I couldn't bring up their massive number of blunders in other areas so I think it is funny that when you want to support them you need to discuss the performance of the whole company without keeping it in the scope of Xbox.
 
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