Microsoft rumored to be buying...... [2020-04, 2020-07, 2020-11]

I think the difference between gaming and movies is that a lot of people never complete the games unlike TV series. So basically we might not see the same "churn" effect in game streaming as people might want to play the games from time to time, unlike the movies or TV series where you complete them and then forget.

Of course there will be those who will subscribe and then unsubscribe, but I do think that it won't reach HBO Max & GoT level for example

 

Isn't it the same ? If you have someone who plays a game for a month and then takes a month off and decides they don't want to go back to that game and nothing else interests them wouldn't they just leave the service ?

 

I believe that gaming is slightly different. Gaming is more diverse and provides shorter sessions so it rarely happens that you don't play at least something once per month. And people - aside COD & co. - play diverse types of games unlike for example movies where people usually have strong preferences. I think that shorter sessions in gaming contribute to that, so you might try racing game despite not liking them - "just one race", or play arcade despite not liking them etc.

Shorter sessions do not require big time investment in comparison to movies and TV series.

 

I'm not convinced either way. I think you can make the argument for both.

I'm leaning toward thinking that content is king and keeping people interested will be important to keeping them subscribed.

Therefore MS needs a medium-major Japanese publisher (SE or Sega) and a few smaller studios as well. 23 studios is a good start, but they likely need about 36+ to keep GamePass rocking.

 

But of course. Diversity of content is important to cover bigger range of "subscribers". Nintendo nails the content almost every time, but N always feels like they are one step from bankruptcy

Also MS roughly have around 30+ teams as studios have more than one team usually.

 

I know MS has more than 30 teams, that's why I said studios. I think they need 50 teams.

 

Thats a no from asobo any time soon


GamesIndustry on Twitter: "Microsoft Flight Simulator developer Asobo Studio opened its capital to Sagard NewGen https://t.co/0lWjG05PEi" / Twitter

 

Kinda unexpected

 

If things were in-flight with Microsoft its not the sort of thing you do before hand.

That doesn't rule things out completely in the future. For the hypothetical future, it means if MS were to acquire them then some other parties would receive their share of the payout.

 

I had no idea this wasn't already a wholly-owned internal Microsoft team.

 

They already own the IP & may own the tech used to make the game(no idea). Might be a where they just hire the staff & may not want the whole studio. You don't necessarily need to buy the whole studio. Especially if they have other projects that don't lend itself to Game Pass.

Tommy McClain

 

Asobo's other big title is A Plauge Tale, which is already on Game Pass, and they've got a team dedicated to HoloLens development. The rest of the company seems to do freelance support work, the sort of thing you do to stay afloat as an independent studio, but that you can just redirect your staff over from if you no longer need to worry about keeping the lights on.

I can't see why MS wouldn't want them, honestly, but Asobo might not be interested in an acquisition.

 

Good points.

Reminds me that I need to finish A Plague's Tale. Creepily good.

Tommy McClain

 

Very speculative I know,

But I wonder if they will announce another big acquisition on Monday? The timing of the Xbox live gold price increase on Friday and the earnings call on Tuesday leaves a very nice announcement sized hole on Monday. Saying we entered into an agreement to acquire company X, and by the way game pass has 20+ m subs now, we will provide more information at our earnings call tomorrow is a good strategy PR wise for both end users and investors.


Would be a good pr tactic for the gold price increase too, put out the bad news Friday then blast it away with a splash on Monday


nothing will happen probably, but I want to get my prediction down just in case

 

I don't think they have anything setup for Monday.

 

Moved discussion of Xbox Gold to https://forum.beyond3d.com/threads/...to-play-mp-no-price-changes-2021-01-22.62246/

 

Moved discussion of MS Fiscal Year 2021 Q2 to https://forum.beyond3d.com/threads/microsoft-financials-2021-q2.62252/

 

How long did it take for MS to push forward the Bethesda's deal?

 

In what sense? If you mean from first discussions between microsoft and bethesda to signing the deal then it was several months. In an interview Phil has said something along the lines 'when the opportunity to have discussions with zenimax opened up over the summer' or something to that affect. Lets say 'over the summer' means june/july/august, so 2-4 months total.

One thing to note is that there were some rumours about microsoft buying bethesda in 2018, when according to 'sources' they were considering buying literally every publisher, so pinch of salt and all that. So they might have just picked up talks that stalled in 2018, but I think thats unlikely.


To get to the point of signing an agreement to acquire a company like what bethesda and microsoft have signed doesnt require *that* much work, once the broad strokes of the deal are agreed, ie price, what your getting etc, an agreement wouldnt take long to come to. The nitty gritty work gets started after the agreement is signed.

 

Because I discussed with a person on Reddit and he told that it probably took 3 years to reach the deal which for me feels like too long, however I have no idea hoe long usually such deals are being prepared.