If MS Really wants to win this generation...

B

blakjedi

Veteran
I was reading over at Teamxbox http://news.teamxbox.com/xbox/7829/Microsoft-Seeking-Acquisitions/ and they say Bill is serious about buying SOMEBODY in the next few months...

But if MS wanted to absolutely win the next generation...I mean utterly, there is only one choice of company to buy...

Most people think Square because of FF... NOPE Think bigger than Japan

Other people think Konami because of MGS.. NOPE Think bigger than a sub genre

Some say Rockstar... Nope think bigger than a single franchise..

Some people say Ubisoft but think bigger than a well-rounded catalog...

IF MS is serious they would buy a company that would give them something that no other dveleoper on earth could give them... Give up?


Its EA - To own the rights to the NFL for the next software generation and get control of all that IP especially Madden.... You have essentially taken control of the NA market for the next 5 years... Americans must have their football and without Football and the north american market Sony doesnt have a chance

Whaddya think?
 
cybamerc said:
EA is too expensive.
Click to expand...

I was thinking the same thing... but EA holds the keys to the kingdom for the next five years...

whats few billion for a generations dominance :devilish:

LOL

Of course I dont think they WOULD do it.. but that is AFAIC the only trump card this generation.. now if EA didnt own teh rights to the NFL all the other purchases would rate higher
 
Microsoft could afford EA many times over if it wanted to finance such a deal. However, EA's exclusive license of the NFL property is probably on a condition that the brand is not kept confined to just one platform. The NFL wants to see exposure on the PC and on the major consoles.
 
"blakjedi":

> I was thinking the same thing... but EA holds the keys to the kingdom
> for the next five years...

Sure... but even 5 generations of console profits wouldn't cover the costs.

> whats few billion for a generations dominance :devilish:

EA's market cap alone is more than 10 times as high.

> Of course I dont think they WOULD do it.. but that is AFAIC the only
> trump card this generation..

Nah. SE would guarantee success in Japan, a market Xbox currently has virtually no presense in. With good software, proper marketing and lots of blank checks written out to developers and publishers I think M$ has a good chance of success in the West. Keep in mind that M$ will have at least a one year exclusivity window on the next-gen Madden and other EA titles due to the early release of Xbox 2.
 
Lazy8s said:
Microsoft could afford EA many times over if it wanted to finance such a deal. However, EA's exclusive license of the NFL property is probably on a condition that the brand is not kept confined to just one platform. The NFL wants to see exposure on the PC and on the major consoles.
Click to expand...

Maybe... has anyone seen the actual terms of the EA/NFL agreement?
 
I doubt EA would sell for anything Microsoft would be willing to pay. If that rumor about Nintendo asking 25B dollars is true (which I doubt but anyways), I can easily see EA asking for a lot more than that. And, a lot more than that is too much even for MS.
 
marconelly! said:
I doubt EA would sell for anything Microsoft would be willing to pay. If that rumor about Nintendo asking 25B dollars is true (which I doubt but anyways), I can easily see EA asking for a lot more than that. And, a lot more than that is too much even for MS.
Click to expand...
Come now, they might buckle if Microsoft were offering 3-4 times their value, so after financing a $60-80 billion acquision and then coming under fire for monopoly practices and all the other problems swallowing a company that large would cause...?

Yes, I'm positive it would happen! What could possibly go wrong?
 
I agree, MS might have a lot of cash available, but they´re not crazy, how much time would they need to recoup such an enormous investment?? If Nintendo wanted 25B, I can see EA asking for $60B....so no, just no.
 
Nintendo's market cap at the time was $25 billion. Nintendo would've asked for more if they were interested in selling. Of course, M$ doesn't need 100% of the stock but my point is that if you want to take over a company you rarely pay list price so to speak.
 
EA could never ask for anything close to even $60 billion, and they could be controlled for far less anyway.
 
EA? Well, yeah, it'd be a coup. But it would not be worth it. EA gains most of their worth by porting to every known viable gaming platform in the Milky Way galaxy. Going exclusive to X2 would more than halve their profitability. Blah, too big a mess to even sum up.

Microsoft is much more likely to buy out companies that (A) will be bought out willingly and without major defections and (B) don't have any publishing staff that they would have to pay for up front but then fire immediately (MS already has publishing down). That's why companies like EA and Ubi are on the improbable list. Companies like Epic and Bioware, however, are more fitting.

I would also suggest Pandemic and Bunkasha. Possibly Factor 5, From Software or Valve. Silicon Knights as an outside possibility. There actually aren't that many options IMO.
 
Lazy8s said:
EA could never ask for anything close to even $60 billion, and they could be controlled for far less anyway.
Click to expand...
The question is, why would EA bother? I'm not sure how their stock is split up, so I assume Microsoft COULD make a hostile takeover of it--but it would be seen as hostile and cause problems on its own. Meanwhile, why would EA sell "control for cheap" instead of saying "if you want control, you buy us out--and oh, for multiple times our net worth because otherwise we'll be perfectly content to make many more billions."

Just how much of a stink did the Peoplesoft acquisition make (who were more than twice as small compared to Oracle as EA is to Microsoft), which eventually ended in Oracle more than twice their market capitalization to close the deal?

Why is it that when a company is big, anything notably smaller seems cheap, easy, and foolproof to acquire? If it was, don't you think we'd be seeing a lot MORE of it?
 
I do agree, if you want to win a console war, you need is EA making it's games exclsuive to your console. Madden along would gaurentee lots of sales.
 
They can get other companys for most likely cheaper

Konami should be very cheap

Square should be cheap

rockstar


all would help alot and cost alot less to buy
 
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