I can’t find any specific mention of MS using CDPR as an example of them not having a monopoly on RPG’s. CDPR were mentioned in the file MS submitted to the CMA as an example of a studio that made a hit game, but then again a lot of studios were mentioned.
"There are a wide range of studios that have produced a hit title: Sony will
also continue to have the ability to work with third-party developers. Studios
that have produced hit games include (among others): Epic Games (Fortnite);
Riot Games (League of Legends); EA (Apex Legends, Battlefield, FIFA);
BioWare (Dragon Age, Mass Effect); Konami (Metal Gear, Silent Hill); TakeTwo Interactive (2K, Grand Theft Auto, Red Dead Redemption); Ubisoft (Far
Cry, Assassin’s Creed); Sega Games (Bayonetta, Sonic the Hedgehog); Square
Enix (Final Fantasy, Life is Strange); Capcom (Resident Evil, Monster Hunter,
Street Fighter); Embracer (Borderlands, Valheim, Deus Ex, Tomb Raider);
Bandai Namco (Elden Ring, Dragon Ball Z); Deep Silver (Dead Island, Saints
Row); Warner Bros. Interactive (Harry Potter, Mortal Kombat, Batman); Koei
Tecmo (Attack on Titan, Dynasty Warriors); CD Projekt (Cyberpunk 2077);
DICE (Battlefield); Remedy Entertainment (Max Payne); and Valve
Corporation (Dota, Left 4 Dead, Counter-Strike). "
Anyway, I’m still full gas on the CDPR acquisition, especially if the ABK acquisition doesn’t pass. It would be an unmitigated disaster in my eyes if a certain other company acquired CDPR.
the fact that they pulled off an impressive game with less than 50 people means they’re ripe to scale up and work on a AAA game.
High on Life is seriously impressive in terms of visual fidelity, gaming mechanics, and story. First story-driven game in a long time that I’m glued to, otherwise I skip cutscenes and lose interest in the story.
I know by now I’m beating a dead horse, but CDPR really would be a good company to go after.
With the report that MS wants to create a studio that will help turn their Xbox IPs into movies or tv shows and just recently CDPR had Cyberpunk: Edgerunners that revived the game, CDPR has some experience in that market.
Plus everyone right now says if you want action/adventure or cinematic games you go with Playstation, but if you want RPGs you go with Xbox and if by some chance Sony was to get CDPR it would take q bite out of a market that Xbox owns, so you don’t want to give Sony a chance to take a market that MS owns.
CDPR has also talked about wanting to really grow as a company and with MS’ financial backing I can easily see their ambitions become a reality.
Then you have right now Witcher: Remake, Witcher 4, Cyberpunk 2078 and a new original game in development.
So you want to have these games sell Game Pass and RPGs really do sell Game Pass, because you play these games for literally 100s of hours, so when you need a break you have something else to play on Game Pass, then get back into your RPG.
It would be a very interesting acquisition. This studio could do great things as a first party.
I posted my review on Netflix on the other thread, I’ll copy it here for discussion:
“Precisely, this is what makes the strength of a company like Disney (or even Warner but on a much smaller scale). The value of such an acquisition lies in all the possible synergies between the two companies. Disney isn’t just a company, it’s an institution. You gain considerable power by acquiring them. If Microsoft really wants to head in that direction, buying Disney is the next best thing. Both companies have similar values and would work perfectly together. Netflix is not a good acquisition, it owns almost nothing, and will continue to burn money and lose subscribers with the multiplication of streaming platforms. Warner Bros Discovery remains a viable option as their value has become ridiculous (22 billion) and it has potential despite the current chaos. But spending more than 150 billion on Netflix would be heresy.”
CDPR would be an incredible acquisition. CDPR is one of those great studios that is making history. This studio would bring a lot to Microsoft.
I think such an acquisition, whether it’s Netflix, Disney, or Warner, would take a very long time to close, and would therefore put any other major acquisition on hold.
I dont think that ms cares only about the ips, sure disney is the obvious option if they want to be the kings of streaming but between wb and netflix is hard to say that warner is the best one
Afterall they are going to start from the beginning and that is going to be hard because hbo max was already perfect, meanwhile netflix has good techonology for streaming aswell they expanded to several places in the world and that could help xcloud a ton, you also have the amount of subscribers that they still have even without having titanic ips like marvel or dc, and lastly they could help xbox by making movies and shows of their series and sure wb can also do that, but I thing netflix is better in this area(by that I dont mean they always do it right, I still hate their resident evil)
We will need to wait and see which one ends being the best option for microsoft, personally I would prefer warner a lot more for the wb studios aswell letting xbox studios work on popular ips such as batman, looney tunes, mad max, etc
The FTC received a significant blow because congress didn’t include the American Innovation and Choice Online Act to regulate big tech. The DOJ and FTC hoped this bill would pass so they could take on big tech. It will be difficult for the FTC to win its case against Microsoft.
For the record I wasn’t saying Microsoft was going to acquire Netflix, merely linked a article, if I could choose the streamer though I would definitely go with WB so much synergy and you would get all the gaming studios also
I don’t agree with his notion that Microsoft cannot buy Netflix because it is too big. They are literally a single tech giant that does not have streaming services. Would regulators start defending Amazon, Apple and Disney against the deal?
Netflix is a essentially an only streaming service that is a pure service.
(I do find it funny how hostile people are to Netflix acquisition and want their disneys or wb)
If you’re looking to get into the entertainment industry then Netflix is the best buy you can make. Netflix gives you access to the most subscribers and best streaming platform. Also they could always integrate gamepass into Netflix and create a tier called netflix ultimate which gives you access to gamepass and netflix tv and films.
Netflix is also the leader for streaming. If Microsoft is looking at ways to expand their share in the cloud provider market, getting in on the streaming provider market is a surefiree way to do it. Right now that market is run by AWS.
The good thing about Warner is that you also get gaming, comics, amazing IPs that you can adapt in-game, great TV channels that you can advertise your products on, studios that can develop programs for cinema and television (which Netflix obviously does not have). I think it’s a much better deal to acquire Warner despite the problems than to acquire Netflix which is going to keep losing subscribers, content, and value. Especially since Warner is currently worth 22 billion (I don’t know how much the debt is) and Netflix more than 150 billion. Warner is probably a better entry into the industry, and from my point of view, much less risky than Netflix.
It’s just that Disney and Warner offer a lot more synergies and benefits than just a streaming platform. It’s a huge power-up for your business at all levels.
Disney has more subscribers than Netflix when you add up its various services. And best streaming platform? There are good programs, but also a lot of mediocre programs. But that’s subjective.
I meant the app itself because Netflix works flawlessly and others have poor ui and are wonky.
Honestly, I don’t think WB is worth it due to their $50billion debt and I feel like maintaining stuff like theme parks will be a headache especially with that industry on the decline due to pandemic.
I agree that WB of course got some S tier IPs, but don’t think it’s worth managing due to how messy WB/Discovery currently is and in entertainment DC IP is n the mud. I do agree about gaming having access to their studios is nice, but it’s not worth anywhere close to taking on that large debt. Also, have to factor in you can’t offer HBO Max globally like you can Netflix because HBO got some long term deals with many countries outside the US.
Anyways, Netflix got like 200million+ subscribers and having access to that base is powerful. Also IPs can always be for sale, just look how James Bond was recently for sale, and same can happen with other IPs
