Why now? If Discovery + WB (or AT&T proxies, considering it owns huge stake there) will decide that (license IPs) and Sony offers their studios to do that, it can happen.
I can see this absolutely happening lol.
I think we’re veering into the off-topic again lol.
1 Like
WBI’s studios without the IP licenses are cool. They’re an extremely talented bunch. However if you want to sustain growth of your subscription service you pay whatever it takes to get those IPs.
8 Likes
It’s tough to say it would be stupid without seeing what their plan is.For instance would acquiring Monolith and having them work on Fallout really be worse than them working on LOTR? Or having TT Games work on Banjo and a Minecraft platformers with other licenses?
They bring in millions and millions of people that XBOX NEEDS. Just look at what Spiderman has done for Sony and what Wolverine will do.
The problem is that if WB won’t want to sell them (and DC has comics, movies etc.), then with MS lack of desire to deal with third party IPs, it will be MS’ own choice.
Monolith…Is that the same monolith that made F.E.A.R? Though they pivoted to third person action games just fine.
Probably multiplatform games 
I think there is at the absolute best a deal like the EA/Star Wars deal possible.
That makes this whole thing so tricky.
1 Like
The thing is that EA makes multiplatform games and don’t care about third party IPs at all. MS does. Any licensed game can leave any time - or within couple of years - but the time, developers took to develop the game won’t come back.
MS’ only solution is just buying IPs out. If they did not buy WB with licenses before, they are less likely to buy it now after the merge (because it is gonna literally almost 200b price tag).
The problem is WB Games doesn’t own the IP with the exception of Mortal Kombat.
The parent WB (who I don’t think anyone expects MS to buy) own DC. They have the licence to make Lego, Harry Potter and LotR games.
The best they could do is buy the licences, and these would expire.
How does this work with MS’ strategy?
Putting games day and date in Game Pass partially makes sense because they get to leverage them in perpetutity. The games they are now investing heavily in will be permanent additions of that library that will likely be given next gen enhancements for generations to come.
If they pay big for licences and those licences expire, it greatly limits the long term value of the investment.
I’m not saying MS would never do licenced games, but you can see why they don’t appeal to MS as much as they do to Sony, whose main aim is to sell as many copies of a game on release as they can.
1 Like
They can just take those games off the service after 5 years , just like Forza motorsport games .
1 Like
What do you mean they don’t care about third party IP?
I would go for them even without licenses. And I’m not the biggest fan of assigning every studio an old or established IP. That’s one of the things I never quite understand with Xbox.
I dont think its a problem for xbox and microsoft to handle a licensing agreement and all this is trivial. If it works for both ways who cares who owns what.
Not like xbox will have a lack of IP ownership going forward unlike the xbox one gen.
2 Likes
MS stated (I think it was Phil) that they are not interested in IPs they don’t have the control over. I am not arguing about WB studios purchase without IPs though.
The question is whether the new IPs will bring the same amount of people to your platform as all those third party IPs that Sony uses.
I absolutely understand the business case for licensing out the WB properties. But selfishly, I’m just not a fan of DC, LotR, or Harry Potter. The Matrix is cool!
I think he is right with that (see MLB). At the moment the person’s in charge of the marvel games division seem to be all over Sony, but that situation can also turn sour.
Exactly.
So does the investment then make sense?
Putting first party games right into Game Pass, and the investment/return rationale behind that, surely takes into account the fact that they stay there permanently and grow the ongoing library.
Edit: it’s not such a big deal with Forza because they will always have a new Forza to replace it with. Even then I am sure they are working behind the scenes on deals with licencees that are permanent, a system of ongoing royalties based on playtime or something like that.
If they are licenced IP then they don’t own it, by definition.
I think Dune the movie is going to be a massive hit and MS should acquire the IP videogame rights. I read the books when I was a kid so maybe I am a little biased. But I am seeing more hype surrounding this movie and excellent reviews. Maybe its just me hoping it will be a big hit. I know that I was against buying WB as a whole but I am a little more open to it now lol