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[Xplainin]

I mean, it would be a game changer.
It would rocket Microsoft so far ahead of Sony's first party studios that you would expect Sony would have to reply.
Would this lead us into the great studio buy out era so many have been predicting?
There was rumours of both Sony and Microsoft looking at Zenimax as well.
Maybe this gets re looked at.

 

[Tesseract]

the matrix

 

[CatLady]

Is Zenimax for sale?

 

[SlimeGooGoo]

.

 

[Xplainin]

Is Zenimax for sale?

There was a rumour that Sony were looking at buying them. Nothing came of it, but money talks and if it got into a studio buy out free for all, I'm sure there is a number big enough.

 

[itsjustJEFF]

I mean, it would be a game changer.
It would rocket Microsoft so far ahead of Sony's first party studios that you would expect Sony would have to reply.
Would this lead us into the great studio buy out era so many have been predicting?
There was rumours of both Sony and Microsoft looking at Zenimax as well.
Maybe this gets re looked at.

Game changer in a good way? I mean would that be good for the industry? Would it benefit? If MS wanted to they could buy up all the developers, if they wanted thought that was financially beneficial. But, they'd be investigated for a Monopoly, again. I'm sure some delusions fanboys would be more than happy if "their side" bought up all the companies and the other side left the console space. If you thought arrogant Sony during the PS3 days, or arrogant Xbox after 360 was bad... imagine what would happen.

 

[Xplainin]

I thought we were already there

Not yet. People have been talking about if both Amazon and Google start buying up studios to give their new streaming services exclusive content, then it would drive a massive buy out of studios in one hell of an inflated bubble.

 

[DrScissorsMD]

Buying the studios alone would be a good boost, but it’s picking up the IPs that would be the biggest get.

 

[captainraincoat]

I honestly don’t see ms buying them....would more than likely be a Chinese owned company that has links in with movie studios as there are a lot of those takeovers happening at the moment (tinfoil hats)

Will wait and see

Ms would be better buying something like sega which has a good foot in Japan and a shitload of unused 1st party ip

 

[Xplainin]

Well, would that be good for the industry? Would it benefit? If MS wanted to they could buy up all the developers, if they wanted thought that was financially beneficial. But, they'd be investigated for a Monopoly, again. I'm sure some delusions fanboys would be more than happy if "their side" bought up all the companies and the other side left the console space. If you thought arrogant Sony during the PS3 days, or arrogant Xbox after 360 was bad... imagine what would happen.

Microsoft and Sony only have to be concerned with what is good for their business model, not what someone thinks is good for the industry. And they will tell you, if you arnt happy that all of say Warners games are only on PC or Xbox, you can still play them, you just need to have a PC or Xbox. Same goes for PS exclusives.

 

[itsjustJEFF]

Microsoft and Sony only have to be concerned with what is good for their business model, not what someone thinks is good for the industry. And they will tell you, if you arnt happy that all of say Warners games are only on PC or Xbox, you can still play them, you just need to have a PC or Xbox. Same goes for PS exclusives.

Oh, TRUST me I know they don't care what you think or what I think. They don't care if you're loyal or not. Actually, they LOVE when they see Loyalty toward their products cuase they know they got you. They got you on the hook. They know whatever they do, you'll still buy their products and you won't ever question their moves. My point still stands, If you think a buying spree among these console makers is a good thing, you're delusional. Also, Same goes for Nintendo exclusives.

 

[Bryank75]

I feel that the whole 'rocket MS studios ahead of PlayStations first party' is a lot of hyperbole...

We still haven't seen anything very impressive from the studios XBox already has acquired.
Now, if the new Halo, Fable and other games are really amazing and they also buy WB games, I will start worrying...

I think Bethesda would fill in a lot of areas that Sony doesn't cover already, so it would be a good buy and I think if they could get for sub 3 Billion it would be a steal.

There are other options.... like a few independent but high quality studios. Paying for longterm partnerships... (Epic)

Capcom and Square are more expensive 4 Billion and 6 Billion each (respectively) but they would nail down a huge audience too. Kadokawa would be about a billion and give them a multimedia company and From soft.

 

[jakinov]

Pros

• They get a multi-year license to a bunch of major IP.
  • Being able to create say a Wonder Woman game
• They will own more studios in major regions around the world
  • They have compulsion games in the Montreal but they haven't proven themselves but Montreal is a development hot spot where they can attract talent from all the other Montreal studios and possibly people from Toronto as it's close.
  • Rocksteady is in London which is a major city they can also attract a lot of talent within and around
  • Monolith is in Washington where Microsoft already has a bunch of studios but they are all primarily focused on specific franchises. This studio can attract all the people who don't want to develop the same games.
  • Then there's the California studios which is always good to have because California attracts talented developers gaming or not.
  • Boston and New York are great too.
• They get to own Gauntlet IP which can be revived as a great party game
• Mortal Kombat and Netherealm is great and they can maybe even be given a chance at Killer instinct

Cons

• It's a fuckton of money.
• The studios aren't that good, I think the strategy of creating new ones and poaching top talent is a lot better than the laissez faire one they claim to have.

Also, if Microsoft does do it. Sony doesn't need to respond. Sony has so much brand loyalty, and talent already that they don't really need to do anything while Microsoft tries to grow with a bunch of studios with mostly not so great track-records. Sony is also willing to throw big bucks for timed,/perpetuity exclusives games and DLC.

 

[cyber_ninja]

It can be a game changer or it can be a disaster if they mismanage them like they mismanaged several other studios before. Regardless of this hypothetical purchase Ms ain't rocketing past Sony's first party anytime soon: Sony has been cranking out Goty contenders constantly for many years while MS had a very few of hits here and there.

 

[cdthree]

I hope Microsoft would continue to sell WB games on all platforms and expand their reach. Buy another major publisher like Zenimax and combine them and let them be completely autonomous. Microsoft needs a third party game development and publishing unit selling on every hardware under the sun, from PC, Google, Nintendo, and Sony. Most probably thru Gamepass, or physical media for companies that won't allow Gamepass. I mean they can't see that after owning Minecraft? Continue to buy indie studios to publish exclusive content for the Xbox hardware. It would help eliminate the boom and bust cycle from generational cycles.

 

[Vawn]

It would rocket Microsoft so far ahead of Sony's first party

Lol.

 

[Hendrick's]

It would start a cold war, where studios are like missile silos.

 

[Kerotan]

Imagine they paid billions and the next few WB games are turds or cancelled.

Imo MS would be better off spending their billions making more studios from scratch.

 

[SplunkyMunkey]

Small studios are fine to purchase for both companies like bluepoint games for instance. Of they both go after big ones and there ips then theres gonna be problems! One would want that game on there system etc etc knowing they cant because its exclusive on the other. Basically theres gonna be a massive outcry

 

[Swift Hunta]

It’s a great business decision for the game pass side of things if the developers still wanna or can make WB properties. But I think everyone is gonna get a piece of that pie.

 

[MrMephistoX]

Would the DC and WB Licenses come with it? Rocksteady is a great studio but what would they be without Batman?

 

[Pallas]

Would be interesting to see what Microsoft would do with the MK IP, in many ways it’s similar in marketing capabilities as Minecraft is, with a long storied history. Lots of potential and creativity within and outside of gaming.

It also gives them several more studios to make Gamepass stuff. Microsoft wants more first party stuff on Gamepass, abd this is one way to accomplish that.

 

[Shmunter]

Build your own ya charlatans

 

[fersnake]

can you have an IP owned by WB without getting this adquisition? like Sony with spiderman, i know sony owns spiderman but can sony just buy the batman ip an make a game?

 

[Mister Wolf]

We get DC games more often.

 

[Little Chicken]

There wouldn't be a difference, fanboys will continue to play Xbox games on their Intel Core i9 10900K RTX 2080 Ti monster PCs like they always have

 

[Hawke502]

Nothing is going to happen anytime soon, i bet, i think these are just rumours to generate interest.

 

[Dr. Kitty Muffins]

I think buying Warner Brothers Studios makes sense for Sony, too.

 

[Stiflers Mom]

I only see the MK ip there.

The rest seems very uninteresting. Am I missing something here?

 

[Barakov]

IF they don't make a deal with Sega and have Monolith make Condemned 3 so we can have a bear 2.0 situation then MS fucked up.

 

[Megatron]

Warner Bros isn’t for sale. Just their games division. MS would get some great older games for gamepass and some great current studios. But very little in terms of IP. They wouldn’t own Batman or Harry Potter. They might get Mortal Kombat and not a lot else.

 

[Krappadizzle]

I'd rather MS get em' over Sony. Unless Sony puts their shit on PC. Then I don't give a shit who owns them.

 

[Knitted Knight]

can you have an IP owned by WB without getting this adquisition? like Sony with spiderman, i know sony owns spiderman but can sony just buy the batman ip an make a game?

A Batman game not made by Rocksteady feels dirty. And Yes, I know about WB Montreal (just not as good srry).

 

[Mokus]

What do you mean by "Warner"? The Warner Bros. conglomerate wich probably worth hundreds of billions of dollars? Or the only Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment (Warner Bros. gaming division)?

 

[Hawke502]

can you have an IP owned by WB without getting this adquisition? like Sony with spiderman, i know sony owns spiderman but can sony just buy the batman ip an make a game?

Sony doesnt own spider man. They have the rights to the movies. The game was made out of a deal between Disney and Sony.

 

[VulcanRaven]

The rumor doesn't say that are not buying Warner. Only their gaming division.

 

[Birdo]

 

[Bernkastel]

They will only buy parts of their gaming division that they need. They wont get any of the non gaming IPs like DC though. They need NetherRealm the most.

 

[sublimit]

For me nothing since i never cared for any WB games.

 

[OptimistPrime]

They will only buy parts of their gaming division that they need. They wont get any of the non gaming IPs like DC though. They need NetherRealm the most.

It doesn't make sense that they would sell Rocksteady without the ability to make Batman games. AT&T owns DC Comics, and arguably Arkham games are the best use of the Batman IP (in terms of market success) since the Nolan films. Splitting those things apart to sell makes no sense.

It would be like tearing down your beautiful new house and selling the material for scrap and then selling the lot with a hole in the ground. You will get way less money that way. Rocksteady has proven they can make a profitable DC comics game, take that away and the risk for a buyer goes up, and then the price will come down.

If AT&T goes through with selling these studios, they will definitely come with some licensing for the related properties.

 

[Bernkastel]

It doesn't make sense that they would sell Rocksteady without the ability to make Batman games. AT&T owns DC Comics, and arguably Arkham games are the best use of the Batman IP (in terms of market success) since the Nolan films. Splitting those things apart to sell makes no sense.

It would be like tearing down your beautiful new house and selling the material for scrap and then selling the lot with a hole in the ground. You will get way less money that way. Rocksteady has proven they can make a profitable DC comics game, take that away and the risk for a buyer goes up, and then the price will come down.

If AT&T goes through with selling these studios, they will definitely come with some licensing for the related properties.

But NetherRealm with the MK IP makes sense. Microsoft has been looking for a KI studio for a while. They wont do Injustice anymore though. But AT&T wants to sell their gaming business, if not Microsoft someone else will buy Rocksteady.

 

[Eliciel]

Basically nothing new. We hopefully get more, better games.

 

[eastwood333]

Massive get for MS and the Xbox brand, xbox gamers rejoice. Most will probably be Xbox/PC exclusive. End of the world for sony fans. Will have to play on Xbox/PC

 

[OptimistPrime]

But NetherRealm with the MK IP makes sense. Microsoft has been looking for a KI studio for a while. They wont do Injustice anymore though. But AT&T wants to sell their gaming business, if not Microsoft someone else will buy Rocksteady.

My point is that if AT&T sells Rocksteady to anyone, it would be throwing away money by not including a license to make a Batman game in the sale.

Imagine Take-Two selling Rockstar, with the catch that they would not be allowed to create any open-world games. Open-world is the Rockstar bread and butter, so there's a risk the buyer would be taking in such a sale. The risk is that the talent of Rockstar transcends the open-world genre in terms of market performance of whatever game they end up making.

Now imagine the same sale, without such a limitation. Rockstar would sell for a much higher price in that case, because the buyer could use that company to make the products that it is known to excel at.

Selling Rocksteady without a Batman license would foolishly gut Rocksteady of its proven business value. Coupled with the fact that AT&T will obviouly want to either license a Batman game or make their own, it's just obvious they would sell those things together. AT&T would be foolish to split them apart.

 

[eastwood333]

They will only buy parts of their gaming division that they need. They wont get any of the non gaming IPs like DC though. They need NetherRealm the most.

I think Rocksteady or even WB Montreal would be better gets for MS if MS were to attain the Batman/Superman licenses. MS already has a great fighting franchise in KI and can just hire Iron Galaxy to do a KI 2.

Rocksteady is the kind of elite studio you can't pass up if available.

 

[Jon Neu]

Would be interesting to see what Microsoft would do with the MK IP, in many ways it’s similar in marketing capabilities as Minecraft is, with a long storied history. Lots of potential and creativity within and outside of gaming.

It also gives them several more studios to make Gamepass stuff. Microsoft wants more first party stuff on Gamepass, abd this is one way to accomplish that.

A Killer Instinct vs Mortal Kombat would be awesome.

And if Sony has Spiderman, MS should make their own superhero game with Batman or Spawn.

 

[Bernkastel]

My point is that if AT&T sells Rocksteady to anyone, it would be throwing away money by not including a license to make a Batman game in the sale.

Imagine Take-Two selling Rockstar, with the catch that they would not be allowed to create any open-world games. Open-world is the Rockstar bread and butter, so there's a risk the buyer would be taking in such a sale. The risk is that the talent of Rockstar transcends the open-world genre in terms of market performance of whatever game they end up making.

Now imagine the same sale, without such a limitation. Rockstar would sell for a much higher price in that case, because the buyer could use that company to make the products that it is known to excel at.

Selling Rocksteady without a Batman license would foolishly gut Rocksteady of its proven business value. Coupled with the fact that AT&T will obviouly want to either license a Batman game or make their own, it's just obvious they would sell those things together. AT&T would be foolish to split them apart.

Rocksteady can do something new. It depend on what the buyer wants. Your Take-Two comparison is weird. That would be like AT&T selling Rocsteady with a contract to not make action-adventure games. AT&T will sell their whole gaming division, that much is known.

And if Sony has Spiderman, MS should make their own superhero game with Batman or Spawn.

Sony owns Spiderman, AT&T owns Batman.

 

[TheContact]

AT&T owns Batman.

Guess that explains why he still needs this:

 

[OptimistPrime]

Rocksteady can do something new. It depend on what the buyer wants. Your Take-Two comparison is weird. That would be like AT&T selling Rocsteady with a contract to not make action-adventure games.

You don't have to broaden it so much to make it weird.

AT&T: "Have I got a deal for you! The world's greatest Batman game making studio! Batman hit after Batman hit since 2009!"
Buyer: "Wow, that sounds great! Can't wait to make money on Batman games!"
AT&T: "Well... they won't be able to do that anymore... but think of the talent!"
Buyer: "So you're selling me a studio that makes Batman games... but they can't make Batman games?"
AT&T: "Exactly!"

 

[Bernkastel]

You don't have to broaden it so much to make it weird.

AT&T: "Have I got a deal for you! The world's greatest Batman game making studio! Batman hit after Batman hit since 2009!"
Buyer: "Wow, that sounds great! Can't wait to make money on Batman games!"
AT&T: "Well... they won't be able to do that anymore... but think of the talent!"
Buyer: "So you're selling me a studio that makes Batman games... but they can't make Batman games?"
AT&T: "Exactly!"

Rocksteady can make a new action adventure game if allowed. Its not like they converted some Batman fandom into a gaming studio.