#AcquisitionSeason
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They are so inconsistent and can’t/don’t work on their own IP. Plenty of better studios out there when MS are starting to get criticized how many they are picking up (they will need to be more picky).
Except they wont. Who the hell cares about media and fanboy narratives about how many studios xbox is buying. The only time any regulatory issue would be raised is if they buy more publishers, they can buy as many individual studios as they want.
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Never liked this argument. It almost leans into “publisher or bust” territory. Nothing wrong with acquiring talent especially in Japan where they woefully need it
By who? Nobody rational will care about them buying small studios like this. Also MS won’t care about this “criticism” in the first place. For some even a single studio is too much for Xbox to own.
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Does it though? I think a studio should demonstrate it can make its own thing first, it doesn’t have to be a massive critical or commercial success but atleast show promise.
For example Ninja Theory had 20 people and was able to demonstrate a fantastic game/vision.
I meant this in the context of there being better choices on the market. Why take risks on studios like PG when it’s going to fill up your portfolio with potentially sub-par studios which could prevent further acquisitions down the line.
Agree. This is absolutely a sign of Japanese purchases to come.
a few reasons
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they closed their western branch and haven’t even got other companies like nintendo, square enix or namco to publish them in the west which could of been a way to outsource stuff like translation to them showing they likely don’t want much to do with the west.
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Besides 1 online MMO game which was cancelled level 5 has never released games on xbox meaning xbox/Microsoft doesn’t even have a connection which could be reason to get them (if anyone had reason to pick them up it would probably be nintendo since level 5 and nintendo have historically been tied since the DS days)
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level 5 is a publisher and while I could be wrong I feel like if MS wanted to acquire a publisher in Japan they would go bigger and with someone they have an actual relationship with like Capcom, SEGA, Square Enix or hell even Koei Tecmo who were strongly tied to MS in the OG xbox and 360 days
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Level 5 is a privately owned company meaning if they don’t want to sell its 100% down to them and due to the no relationship with MS I wouldn’t write that possibilty off at all
Platinum makes a lot of sense to me, even if I don’t like them.
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I don’t know, I am not going to say platinum makes no sense but I think people are over estemating how much sense they make, keep in mind they are only now trying to patch things up with MS
Microsoft opened Xbox Wire Japan for the first time in 20 years. A Japanese acquisition is all but certain now the question now is who? I bet Sega + Platinum possibly Capcom if Microsoft pays a serious premium since they are doing financially well compared to the other two.
To me, they can’t have something like that while the ActiBli acquisition is not done.
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The idea behind acquiring Platinum goes back to what MS did a few years ago - buying studios that were stretched too thin because they had to constantly keep taking contracts. Give them the resources to both grow and to focus on fewer things and they’ll succeed.
I agree, Platinum has had a fair amount of misses in recent years, but I think with some funding and some technical assistance they can do great things as part of XGS.
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They can start negotiations while the Acti deal wraps up which will probably be done by the end of the year.
For Platinum they can get them at any time. The FTC won’t care about some small developer.
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‘All but certain’ is definitely a reach
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It depends, if its an acquisition soon I would guess its a studio over a publisher because of activision but I do truly believe they were talking to someone before the activision thing played out…I think its a bit up in the air but if I had to place my money if its a publisher, Capcom makes the most sense (maybe square too but more leaning to capcom), you could argue SEGA having that strategic alliance with Microsoft when it came to Azure as they had to pay for that. Also just my opinion but I think MS would target other companies over SEGA
this goes for any purchase under…I don’t remember if its 100 million or 300 million dollars but its one of the 2. Purchases cheaper than that don’t get investigated by them
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This is considering all the previous statements Xbox and Phil Spencer have made about Japan particularly about expanding their first party in that region. I would be very surprised if Xbox didn’t acquire a Japanese studio in the next two years.
Who told you they are buying tomorrow? They are preparing…
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if we assume they were talking to someone before the activision thing happened, it could actually be reason to believe if they do buy another publisher its from Japan though. I doubt we will hear about it for a while (likely when the activision thing is closed) assuming it is a publisher but it is something worth keeping in mind. It could just be studios though like mistwalker or platinum
Xbox Wire in Japan = Japanese studio/publisher acquisition “soon”? That’s some yoga level stretching.
Edit: Maybe everything isn’t driven by acquisitions, but rather that Xbox sees an opportunity to expand its presence in a growing market and do a solid for its fans in Japan?
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we are just speculation, I think it increases the chance of it happening but yeah its far from confimation