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[thelastword]

Let's be honest. MS has just added another 8 studios to their list from Zenimax, with it brings many IP's, some more popular than others. Some have resurged like Doom, Elder Scrolls is still huge, Fallout is still viable, though Fallout 76 hurt their reputation tremendously. Before that, MS bought several indie Studios since mid 2018 and they still have nothing to show yet for it relative to released games.

6 out of the 8 studios have IP's we know about in the console circle. The other two, Alpha Dog is involved in more or less mobile projects and Roundhouse is a newly acquired studio that only have their footprint as a support studio for many projects.....The reality is, most of the new games by Bethesda are still far away, I don't expect a new Elder Scrolls for years, even then, they still need to invest in a new engine or keep reworking their current one to avoid massive launch issues and refunds at launch. That will take lots of work, Starfield is really not on a new engine, but an overhauled one, so you can still expect many of their prior engine legacy issues to linger.

In truth 7.5B dollars is a lot of money, but it doesn't end there. To prepare these studios to launch exclusives that will benefit MS, there is further financial investment to take place, engine investments, personnel, planning and R&D that needs to take place. Lots of the current projects by these studios are remasters of current games. That will go as planned and release on competitive consoles. Starfield, Deathloop etc will all release on PS5 and yet these games are still some ways away. The question is, when will MS only games get into the conversation, it will most probably be towards the end of this gen or early next gen...Lots of the current games are tied into contractual obligations....

The other thing I expect to happen is that many of the big names from said studios will see this as a sign to cash out and exit, the top guys from Doom and Elder Scrolls, even Arkane, Mikami from Tango. So when MS is ready for these studios to start pushing exclusives, the makeup of these studios might not be the same as it is now.....Hence why it is important to build a base of top talent, that could probably overtake an IP.

The real question however is what happens now? We know that Doom Eternal Remastered, Deathloop and whatever is still in the current pipeline is still coming to PS5, yet having just spent 7.5B dollars, MS will want return on it's investments. They will also want to clean up the fat, some projects will be cancelled, some products will be sped up and they will let go of some people. Look at the number of Indie studios MS acquired, they are still not ready for a Series X launch. Exclusive games for SeriesX is a long way away and then MS will have to invest the development money for these projects, greenlight what they think is the right one and consider if these games will sell well enough on Series X and PC to recoup the costs. There is also the possibility that these studios don't get the funding and support they are used to since MS may focus on lowering the quality of the rendering and minimize the development schedule to accomodate a strict gamepass schedule.....

In truth MS had a hard time managing and producing quality out of a smaller clutch of studios, having so many now won't make it any easier....It might prove quite alot for them to manage and be profitable, but we shall see. Before that, MS acquired a big name called Rare, but they are now only a shadow of their former selves. So it's like this, another 6 studios pushing AAA, when Halo Infinite had 5 years and lots of cash, it means that cash will have to be split on many AAA studios now. Yet the reality minus the newly acquired 8 Studios is; Fable is not anywhere near a ready phase, Forza is still in it's early stages, the well hyped Initiative still has not shown us a peep.......It's either MS know what's it's doing here and feel they can manage all that talent and that they will have the financial backing to make all the projects coming out of these studios well funded, well spaced or that these projects will be given sufficient time and money to produce quality content...To me, I see lots of the old heads leaving these studios either to retire or to branch out on their own, but time will tell...

 

[EnergyStar]

They also aquired Mojang and they are doing just fine (maybe better than that) If they keep Bethesda more or less independent I think there is possibility that it wont end up like Rare.

 

[The Shift]

PS5 will get the 2 moneyhatted titles as agreed before the buyout. It will also get ESO and Fallout 76. For all other properties - Playstation gets nothing and that's on purpose as Microsoft will be looking to remove Sony from the hardware market and convert them into a 3rd party pet just as Sony did to Sega.

Good dog Sony.

 

[Ar¢tos]

The best of it is, they can finally shutdown 343 because they now have studios more suited to make Halo.

 

[Matsuchezz]

Actually Bethesda ips will be handled by 343i they will churn out doom infinite and prey infinite all being developed at the same time For all platforms. MS will throw 1.5 billion at those we all know 343i will deliver the goods.

 

[Rusty Shackelford]

Here's what MS are doing. They have proudly said they are going to reach the 3 billion gamers across the planet. To do so, you can't be tied to just a console. Microsoft are basically a third party developer with their own console. The Xbox is just another avenue to play their games. Their logic, if we're going to have a console, it may as well be the most powerful to play the best console versions of those games. Yes, Sony will more than likely sell more consoles, but MS has a much broader customer base. No, they aren't in the console race. There is no race with one horse in it competing. With GamePass and XCloud, the Playstation brand may very possibly be in trouble come the end of the next generation if they don't have something that even comes close the GamePass. Microsoft cares if they sell consoles, but the Xbox brand itself won't suffer if they don't sell as many as Sony. Even if/when Sony sells 100 million PS5s, that's small potatoes compared to Microsoft's customers. This fanboy shit is silly and it seems Sony is asleep at the wheel.

 

[replicant-]

Far too much fear mongering.

 

[Rusty Shackelford]

The best of it is, they can finally shutdown 343 because they now have studios more suited to make Halo.

Imagine Halo Infinite with the id logo on boot up.

 

[DunDunDunpachi]

Yeah no yeah no. They're packing the warehouse with IPs to trickle out via Game Pass / streaming subs.

 

[CeeJay]

The real question however is what happens now?

Lot's of concern trolling i guess...

 

[Ar¢tos]

Imagine Halo Infinite with the id logo on boot up.

Doom on the X1X is already 4k and looks better than the last showing of Halo Infinite, so I would rather see ID logo than 343i.

 

[KingT731]

Here's what MS are doing. They have proudly said they are going to reach the 3 billion gamers across the planet. To do so, you can't be tied to just a console. Microsoft are basically a third party developer with their own console. The Xbox is just another avenue to play their games. Their logic, if we're going to have a console, it may as well be the most powerful to play the best console versions of those games. Yes, Sony will more than likely sell more consoles, but MS has a much broader customer base. No, they aren't in the console race. There is no race with one horse in it competing. With GamePass and XCloud, the Playstation brand may very possibly be in trouble come the end of the next generation if they don't have something that even comes close the GamePass. Microsoft cares if they sell consoles, but the Xbox brand itself won't suffer if they don't sell as many as Sony. Even if/when Sony sells 100 million PS5s, that's small potatoes compared to Microsoft's customers. This fanboy shit is silly and it seems Sony is asleep at the wheel.

Things like this sound good in theory but we will be waiting to see how these "outside gaming" partnerships work out(see: xcloud on Samsung phones etc)

 

[Coulomb_Barrier]

Here's what MS are doing. They have proudly said they are going to reach the 3 billion gamers across the planet. To do so, you can't be tied to just a console. Microsoft are basically a third party developer with their own console. The Xbox is just another avenue to play their games. Their logic, if we're going to have a console, it may as well be the most powerful to play the best console versions of those games. Yes, Sony will more than likely sell more consoles, but MS has a much broader customer base. No, they aren't in the console race. There is no race with one horse in it competing. With GamePass and XCloud, the Playstation brand may very possibly be in trouble come the end of the next generation if they don't have something that even comes close the GamePass. Microsoft cares if they sell consoles, but the Xbox brand itself won't suffer if they don't sell as many as Sony. Even if/when Sony sells 100 million PS5s, that's small potatoes compared to Microsoft's customers. This fanboy shit is silly and it seems Sony is asleep at the wheel.

The problem with your roadmap of MS dominance, which reads a bit like fantasy, is the other big publishers, Sony, Nintendo, Google, even Apple are not just going to roll over and let MS tickle their prostrate while they take all of the money that's on the table.

All of these companies will want to be the beneficiary of the gaming/streaming/cloud money pie. Now before you say 'but MS has $150 bn in reserves' how did that help MS in the smartphone market? Or the search engine user data gold/advertising market with Bing? Both are irrelevences.

Now I'm not saying MS will be irrelevsnce. I'm saying it's going to be extremely hard for them, from their current position, to dominate gaming because of all the other companies out there.

 

[Rusty Shackelford]

The problem with your roadmap of MS dominance, which reads a bit like fantasy, is the other big publishers, Sony, Nintendo, Google, even Apple are not just going to roll over and let MS tickle their prostrate while they take all of the money that's on the table.

All of these companies will want to be the beneficiary of the gaming/streaming/cloud money pie. Now before you say 'but MS has $150 bn in reserves' how did that help MS in the smartphone market? Or the search engine user data gold/advertising market with Bing? Both are irrelevences.

Now I'm not saying MS will be irrelevsnce. I'm saying it's going to be extremely hard for them, from their current position, to dominate gaming because of all the other companies out there.

It's not about MS dominating. This was more to get people to understand that this isn't about an imaginary console war. It's about getting people to play games. If Sony stays the course they're on for the next several years, even Google will leave them in the dust. MS originally got into this business because Sony, Nintendo, and Sega were eating most of the gaming pie and it was killing the PC space, so they wanted in the living room with the Xbox.

 

[MrFunSocks]

Good to see you could finally stop crying long enough to write another hilarious Sony fanfic entry in your diary. Chin up big guy, you’ve still got a few timed exclusives coming your way. I was getting worried that we might see a Reeeeeeee style suicide “talk me off the ledge” thread from you soon.

 

[martino]

let's sum up :
there nothing really interesting in this acquisition
the little there is ; ms will screw it up or , if talent don't stop videos games, they will leave to work somewhere they can work with Sony

trust me dude

more than seven years...Now your hot takes are just funny.

 

[Birdo]

Daily reminder that Microsoft gave Rare complete free rein. They ruined themselves.

 

[Sleepwalker]

ITT:

- Microsoft bad, can't manage studios
- People change jobs

 

[MDSLKTR]

The best of it is, they can finally shutdown 343 because they now have studios more suited to make Halo.

Not only that but enough to make quality spin offs, Halo RPG, Halo TPS, Halo Revengeance etc.

 

[Silent Viper]

The best of it is, they can finally shutdown 343 because they now have studios more suited to make Halo.

No one wants to work on Halo except 343, which are already forced to work on that overrated franchise. I say Kill Halo as Xbox got Doom now.

Make 343 support studio for Starfield or something lol

 

[Handy Fake]

I do worry that it's started an acquistion war for the big name studios that'll wall off the games from each console.
I suppose it was inevitable though.

 

[INC]

My biggest fear is MS dont really have much interest in VR, and Bethesda started to support VR.

Perhaps I'm wrong and ms is just the money man, and will let these studio just carry on, since they're just the publishers now

 

[AV]

To prepare these studios to launch exclusives that will benefit MS... Lots of the current projects by these studios are remasters of current games.

Have I missed something? I can't name one of those studios that are confirmed to be working on a remaster of something.

 

[Aguero9320]

So. Many. Words

I remember the good old days when a Craig meme was all that was needed to mock Xbox. How times have changed.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

The real question however is what happens now?

Easy.

MS will decide what Bethesda games to release on other platforms. And if they don't release on PS5, too bad.

 

[jshackles]

Have I missed something? I can't name one of those studios that are confirmed to be working on a remaster of something.

I guess they meant "working on next gen patches of existing games"? I know that both Doom Eternal and The Elder Scrolls Online are slated to get one.

Perhaps since OP is so totally lost in the Sony delusion they just expect they'll be paying for remasters of these games instead. Like Stockholm syndrome.

 

[Calverz]

Theres no need to be upset

 

[Clear]

Do people not get that all these acquisitions will get one or two chances to prove themselves as viable entities before they start facing consolidation and/or closure? MS own the brands and the IP's, so they are free to play musical chairs with staff and sites as they will. The more companies under the umbrella, the greater the need for coordination at the corporate level, meaning inevitably someone is going to get shafted by decisions that were not their own.

This is just how corporate acquisitions work, the impetus is always to maximize profit and performance and the most common pathway to this is eliminating inefficiencies in the production pipeline. When you buy a bunch of formerly independent, autonomous entities there's inevitably going to be a lot of redundancy through role duplication.

That this is going to happen is a certainty, the only question is its precise form and timeline.

 

[N30RYU]

PS5 will get the 2 moneyhatted titles as agreed before the buyout. It will also get ESO and Fallout 76. For all other properties - Playstation gets nothing and that's on purpose as Microsoft will be looking to remove Sony from the hardware market and convert them into a 3rd party pet just as Sony did to Sega.

Good dog Sony.

If MS doesn't end with 50.000.000 gamepass subscribers by the end of this nextgen... MS could possibly end up killing that dog called microsoft games division that doesn't stop eating their windows money and don't produce any incomes.

 

[thelastword]

Here's what MS are doing. They have proudly said they are going to reach the 3 billion gamers across the planet. To do so, you can't be tied to just a console. Microsoft are basically a third party developer with their own console. The Xbox is just another avenue to play their games. Their logic, if we're going to have a console, it may as well be the most powerful to play the best console versions of those games. Yes, Sony will more than likely sell more consoles, but MS has a much broader customer base. No, they aren't in the console race. There is no race with one horse in it competing. With GamePass and XCloud, the Playstation brand may very possibly be in trouble come the end of the next generation if they don't have something that even comes close the GamePass. Microsoft cares if they sell consoles, but the Xbox brand itself won't suffer if they don't sell as many as Sony. Even if/when Sony sells 100 million PS5s, that's small potatoes compared to Microsoft's customers. This fanboy shit is silly and it seems Sony is asleep at the wheel.

This is not even really the points raised in the OP....If we were to believe your pitch. MS would have already dominated the industry with the likes of Mojang, Roblox, Rare etc...The first XBOX was the first step for living room dominance by MS. Now it's all about game-platform dominance through services, all games on any device and of course Xcloud, because they intend to put gamepass on any and all devices.....Yes yes, certainly so because Sony, Apple, Google, Nintendo, Amazon, Epic, 2K will just sit down and welcome MS games on their platform and they would forsee no hindrances to their own revenue pool with this. The Apple vs Epic battle does not bare any semblance of consideration and thought in your scenario, clearly...

In truth, there is pipe-reality and the real world, before gamepass as a service has to be viable, MS needs to have the content to push gamers there....If the content's quality is diminished because it has to be made to stream to gamepass, then that's a whole demographic not interested in this service. Some people are still stuck on discs, you tell them you sub only to what's available for this month, you cant continue playing your title months later if it's no longer on the service, you have to buy it now...,,Other companies won't twiddle their thumb if there is money to make through such a platform, yet it makes sense that a few companies will have an online game delivery service and there will be competition in the same way as you see on consoles....The delivery service with the bets games and more appealing content will win in the end. That is still Sony as far as I'm concerned, because they have the talent to produce great games in all genres. They will have open world games to go against Elder Scrolls, they will have games to go against Fallout when that becomes exclusive.....


For the forseeable future, I see this purchase as more studios acquired to boost gamepass, but also expect the quality of these games to diminish because they are now targetting the gamepass platform. The reverence we had on some of these titles will diminish, the clout and value they had will be reduced since they are now on gamepass day 1 for little to no money....

 

[12Dannu123]

The problem with your roadmap of MS dominance, which reads a bit like fantasy, is the other big publishers, Sony, Nintendo, Google, even Apple are not just going to roll over and let MS tickle their prostrate while they take all of the money that's on the table.

All of these companies will want to be the beneficiary of the gaming/streaming/cloud money pie. Now before you say 'but MS has $150 bn in reserves' how did that help MS in the smartphone market? Or the search engine user data gold/advertising market with Bing? Both are irrelevences.

Now I'm not saying MS will be irrelevsnce. I'm saying it's going to be extremely hard for them, from their current position, to dominate gaming because of all the other companies out there.

Apple, Google and Amazon are Microsoft's only competitors that they are worried about. Sony and Nintendo can't afford an acquisition war of publishers.

But people are right that if Sony is to stay focused on themselves while Microsoft is buying publishers, then Sony will be left in the dust.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

Do people not get that all these acquisitions will get one or two chances to prove themselves as viable entities before they start facing consolidation and/or closure? MS own the brands and the IP's, so they are free to play musical chairs with staff and sites as they will. The more companies under the umbrella, the greater the need for coordination at the corporate level, meaning inevitably someone is going to get shafted by decisions that were not their own.

This is just how corporate acquisitions work, the impetus is always to maximize profit and performance and the most common pathway to this is eliminating inefficiencies in the production pipeline. When you buy a bunch of formerly independent, autonomous entities there's inevitably going to be a lot of redundancy through role duplication.

That this is going to happen is a certainty, the only question is its precise form and timeline.

Exactly.

I don't think OP complained about Sony gassing Evolution, Zipper and Liverpool (the old Psygnosis). And many of their games were good like their arcadey racers and Wipeout. Yet, he's already concern trolling about MS/Bethesda after two days.

Give him credit. He's changed his writing style in hopes of sounding sophisticated.

If this was earlier this year, he'd be whipping out list wars and snarky fan trolling. Like many, he really changed his writing style (and frequency of posts) since the Mark Cerny March show. That was a big turning point on GAF. This forum changed permanently.

 

[KiNeMz]

On estimation They have to sell over 150 million units to come close to break even. Or 70 million 12 month subs to gamepass alone to break even.

That's excluding all opex and Capex costs.

 

[thelastword]

Exactly.

I don't think OP complained about Sony gassing Evolution, Zipper and Liverpool (the old Psygnosis). And many of their games were good like their arcadey racers and Wipeout. Yet, he's already concern trolling about MS/Bethesda after two days.

Give him credit. He's changed his writing style in hopes of sounding sophisticated.

If this was earlier this year, he'd be whipping out list wars and snarky fan trolling. Like many, he really changed his writing style (and frequency of posts) since the Mark Cerny March show. That was a big turning point on GAF. This forum changed permanently.

Oh yes, I never complained about Evo, never. Yet business is business. If Evo, Zipper and Liverpool could not manage their business properly and give a good return on investment, then reality is harsh.....I loved these studios, but you can't just keep studios up for shits and giggles....You will realize this soon when MS trims the fat, because they might have lots of redundant staff members, lots of studios working on similar genres. Studios that have been given many chances and just not being profitable for them.....7.5B is one lump sum, where the money really drains is in keeping these studios staffed and making money.....MS struggled with mostly indie studios, to expect they will thrive with multiple AAA studios where the stakes are higher is quite optimistic tbh...

 

[Clear]

Exactly.

I don't think OP complained about Sony gassing Evolution, Zipper and Liverpool (the old Psygnosis). And many of their games were good like their arcadey racers and Wipeout. Yet, he's already concern trolling about MS/Bethesda after two days.

Give him credit. He's changed his writing style in hopes of sounding sophisticated.

If this was earlier this year, he'd be whipping out list wars and snarky fan trolling. Like many, he really changed his writing style (and frequency of posts) since the Mark Cerny March show. That was a big turning point on GAF. This forum changed permanently.

Its why I'm broadly against these sort of large-scale acquisitions, it doesn't matter whatsoever to me who does it because the rules of the corporate game are always the same. It works out well for some, but for others its just a stay of execution.

The bottom line is that regardless of which side of the console fence you're sitting on, you shouldn't wish misfortune on anyone. But the sad truth is that for many companies that get absorbed into larger conglomerates, in the end they are going to suffer at the hands of corporate strategists.

One of the most sobering realities can be observed by looking at what are generally considered to be big franchises and see how many of them are no longer with the teams that created them in the first place.

 

[Stuart360]

Thelastword + 'War and Peace' length essay = Microsoft doomed.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

Its why I'm broadly against these sort of large-scale acquisitions, it doesn't matter whatsoever to me who does it because the rules of the corporate game are always the same. It works out well for some, but for others its just a stay of execution.

The bottom line is that regardless of which side of the console fence you're sitting on, you shouldn't wish misfortune on anyone. But the sad truth is that for many companies that get absorbed into larger conglomerates, in the end they are going to suffer at the hands of corporate strategists.

One of the most sobering realities can be observed by looking at what are generally considered to be big franchises and see how many of them are no longer with the teams that created them in the first place.

Yup. That's the corporate game.

Too bad, since they have their ecosystems to protect. If third parties made games for all systems (even Switch and mobile ports) all the better. But money talks so you get dopey timed deals and buy outs.

Third party devs are no different than potato chip makers. You'd think it's better for them to ship all their chips to whichever stores want it, but deals get done and some flavours are only at some stores as special promos.

Just imagine how stupid VCRs, DVD players and music players would be if the hardware maker got exclusive content so only MGM movies on one player and EMI songs on certain phones or MP3 players.

 

[AphexTwunt]

Seems you're trying very hard to convince yourself and others that the outcome will be negative...

FUD as far as the eye can see.

I'm pretty certain even you don't believe that essay of garbage.

 

[Bernkastel]

Thats a lot of effort put into concern trolling.

 

[Hudo]

I kinda want to see what a Halo could be if done jointly by id Software and Machine Games with oversight from Joseph Staten.

 

[Vawn]

Xbox fans are going to be disappointed when they realize this will be just like Mojang. PS5 will still get the big Bethesda games.

 

[wolffy71]

The best of it is, they can finally shutdown 343 because they now have studios more suited to make Halo.

For real. Get rid of 343 already or overhaul the team completely at least

 

[wolffy71]

People sony isnt getting those games lol. They didnt buy them for nothing. Only the two already negotiated. Why isnt halo or gears or forza on sony? Same thing

 

[LisaMariaMartin]

All that text just to say you want to buy some xbox exclusives

 

[Eternal21]

Sony has nothing to worry about, unless Microsoft somehow manages to buy Naughty Dog.

 

[Leyasu]

The problem with your roadmap of MS dominance, which reads a bit like fantasy, is the other big publishers, Sony, Nintendo, Google, even Apple are not just going to roll over and let MS tickle their prostrate while they take all of the money that's on the table.

All of these companies will want to be the beneficiary of the gaming/streaming/cloud money pie. Now before you say 'but MS has $150 bn in reserves' how did that help MS in the smartphone market? Or the search engine user data gold/advertising market with Bing? Both are irrelevences.

Now I'm not saying MS will be irrelevsnce. I'm saying it's going to be extremely hard for them, from their current position, to dominate gaming because of all the other companies out there.

Thé difference between all of those companies is Microsoft have already begun their assault, whilst the others have not.

You can be sure that they will be watching the others to see if they start trying to get publicly owned companies and then joining the fray if they feel that it is necessary.

The other thing everyone is not seeing is the leg up that they now have. To start buying studios/publishers in advance of launching your own subscription service has just gotten very expensive for someone that wants to compete with Microsoft in having a service that is almost all 1st party.

It is the bigger picture that people should be thinking about and discussing.

 

[Gavon West]

Let's be honest. MS has just added another 8 studios to their list from Zenimax, with it brings many IP's, some more popular than others. Some have resurged like Doom, Elder Scrolls is still huge, Fallout is still viable, though Fallout 76 hurt their reputation tremendously. Before that, MS bought several indie Studios since mid 2018 and they still have nothing to show yet for it relative to released games.

6 out of the 8 studios have IP's we know about in the console circle. The other two, Alpha Dog is involved in more or less mobile projects and Roundhouse is a newly acquired studio that only have their footprint as a support studio for many projects.....The reality is, most of the new games by Bethesda are still far away, I don't expect a new Elder Scrolls for years, even then, they still need to invest in a new engine or keep reworking their current one to avoid massive launch issues and refunds at launch. That will take lots of work, Starfield is really not on a new engine, but an overhauled one, so you can still expect many of their prior engine legacy issues to linger.

In truth 7.5B dollars is a lot of money, but it doesn't end there. To prepare these studios to launch exclusives that will benefit MS, there is further financial investment to take place, engine investments, personnel, planning and R&D that needs to take place. Lots of the current projects by these studios are remasters of current games. That will go as planned and release on competitive consoles. Starfield, Deathloop etc will all release on PS5 and yet these games are still some ways away. The question is, when will MS only games get into the conversation, it will most probably be towards the end of this gen or early next gen...Lots of the current games are tied into contractual obligations....

The other thing I expect to happen is that many of the big names from said studios will see this as a sign to cash out and exit, the top guys from Doom and Elder Scrolls, even Arkane, Mikami from Tango. So when MS is ready for these studios to start pushing exclusives, the makeup of these studios might not be the same as it is now.....Hence why it is important to build a base of top talent, that could probably overtake an IP.

The real question however is what happens now? We know that Doom Eternal Remastered, Deathloop and whatever is still in the current pipeline is still coming to PS5, yet having just spent 7.5B dollars, MS will want return on it's investments. They will also want to clean up the fat, some projects will be cancelled, some products will be sped up and they will let go of some people. Look at the number of Indie studios MS acquired, they are still not ready for a Series X launch. Exclusive games for SeriesX is a long way away and then MS will have to invest the development money for these projects, greenlight what they think is the right one and consider if these games will sell well enough on Series X and PC to recoup the costs. There is also the possibility that these studios don't get the funding and support they are used to since MS may focus on lowering the quality of the rendering and minimize the development schedule to accomodate a strict gamepass schedule.....

In truth MS had a hard time managing and producing quality out of a smaller clutch of studios, having so many now won't make it any easier....It might prove quite alot for them to manage and be profitable, but we shall see. Before that, MS acquired a big name called Rare, but they are now only a shadow of their former selves. So it's like this, another 6 studios pushing AAA, when Halo Infinite had 5 years and lots of cash, it means that cash will have to be split on many AAA studios now. Yet the reality minus the newly acquired 8 Studios is; Fable is not anywhere near a ready phase, Forza is still in it's early stages, the well hyped Initiative still has not shown us a peep.......It's either MS know what's it's doing here and feel they can manage all that talent and that they will have the financial backing to make all the projects coming out of these studios well funded, well spaced or that these projects will be given sufficient time and money to produce quality content...To me, I see lots of the old heads leaving these studios either to retire or to branch out on their own, but time will tell...

Stopped at Starfield coming to PS5. Already confirmed Xbox/PC/GP exclusive. Not gonna happen. In fact, aside from contract titles, I wouldnt count on anything else coming to PS unless via GPU. Which we know Sony wont do.

 

[thelastword]

If MS doesn't end with 50.000.000 gamepass subscribers by the end of this nextgen... MS could possibly end up killing that dog called microsoft games division that doesn't stop eating their windows money and don't produce any incomes.

And yet, I don't see how 50 million persons will be subbed to gamepass at $15 or even more per month if they want the quality of games on offer to increase. Sony and Nintendo will have their own sought after exclusives and highest rated games. Epic will continue to look for first dibs over steam. Steam might eventually fight back. Google will back someone soon since Stadia shows that XCloud could be in trouble or not viable anytime soon. It's funny, but out of all these services. PSNOW is the only profitable one....It's so ironic......

Apple, Google and Amazon are Microsoft's only competitors that they are worried about. Sony and Nintendo can't afford an acquisition war of publishers.

But people are right that if Sony is to stay focused on themselves while Microsoft is buying publishers, then Sony will be left in the dust.

Sony does not have to react to anything. If anything MS's announcements is a reaction to Sony's strong first party studios and maybe they had suspicion that Sony was going after Konami IP's, going after many timed exclusives and may even purchase a studio or two as well. The only thing to be mindful of is that Sony's recent or exclusive deals are going to impact PS5 now or almost immediately.....

Spiderman, Demon Souls if they buy Bluepoint, means a portinghouse for any of their older games. FF lands soon enough, Silent Hill rumors and GTA rumors are still viable. People talk about IP's but Sony has a tonne of them in all genres to go against any big publisher MS can buy, they may just need a few studios to work on them....Sony has so many IP's they can reboot..

Socom, Primal, Extermination, Warhawk, Syphon Filter, Heavenly Sword, since they already shares in Square, a purchase is quite viable where they can now double down and redo vagrant story, chrono cross, brave fencer or ergheiz and do sequels as necessary. I think they have a tonne of genres they can re-ignite. Ape Escape is certainly another...

On estimation They have to sell over 150 million units to come close to break even. Or 70 million 12 month subs to gamepass alone to break even.

That's excluding all opex and Capex costs.

And of course that's a toll order for them...People keep saying, they intend to put gamepass on all devices, cool, good ambition, but just be aware that gamepass will not be coming to PS and IOS anytime soon. People taking to gamepass and xcloud over competing stores and online services is no forgone conclusion of success...

 

[VAL0R]

Microsoft made the most important acquisition in the history of gaming. Securing 7 dev studios, legendary IP, and 2300 of the most talented staff in the industry, all for Game Pass. Microsoft promises a hands-off management style, letting the Zenimax studios make great games as they always have, with their culture and leadership intact. Now they will also have more resources available. Many of the other recently acquired dev studios have publicly confirmed that this is not lip service, but the way they are treated within Xbox Game Studios.

And thelastword paints this huge, momentous win for Xbox as a blunder of sorts. What if they cancel projects!? What if all the talent leaves!? What if all of their games are delayed until the next generation!? O no! What if you wipe away your salty fanboy tears and take the loss like a man? Your schtick is so played out and only the most diehard unreasonable Sony fanboys are going to think this is anything but a triumph for Xbox and Xbox gamers.

 

[Memorabilia]

Microsoft made the most important acquisition in the history of gaming. Securing 7 dev studios, legendary IP, and 2300 of the most talented staff in the industry, all for Game Pass. Microsoft promises a hands-off management style, letting the Zenimax studios make great games as they always have, with their culture and leadership intact. Now they will also have more resources available. Many of the other recently acquired dev studios have publicly confirmed that this is not lip service, but the way they are treated within Xbox Game Studios.

And thelastword paints this huge, momentous win for Xbox as a blunder of sorts. What if they cancel projects!? What if all the talent leaves!? What if all of their games are delayed until the next generation!? O no! What if you wipe away your salty fanboy tears and take the loss like a man? Your schtick is so played out and only the most diehard unreasonable Sony fanboys are going to think this is anything but a triumph for Xbox and Xbox gamers.

The LastWord is, ahem, “special”... you know that, yes?