ChuckeRearmed
Regular
20ish is certainly not the japanese company. But I see no problems for MS to buying anything that is not Nintendo, Sony, Toshiba, Toyota etc.
Microsoft rumored to be buying...... [2020-04, 2020-07, 2020-11]
- Thread starter Nesh
- Start date
-
- Tags
- microsoft xbox xbox game pass
- Status
Sega, Capcom and Square Enix are the most obvious targets for a large purchase and none of those seem on the table, and they're all big enough, old enough and culturally relevant enough that they could run afoul of protections against foreign acquisitions. I could see a Konami IP purchase, but the Bloober collaboration seems to make that less, not more likely, at least if it's ultimately successful.
Silent_Buddha
Legend
EA. I'll just throw that out there. Impossible or improbable you say? Well, I mention this due to 2 factors indicating that EA isn't as confident in their financial footing as one might think.
The market cap numbers also work out. EA's market cap I believe is around 10 billion USD. 20 billion USD to convince share holders to sell doesn't seem completely out of the question.
I don't see any of the Japanese publishers being worth that much. And the other large western publishers don't really have much reason to be sold. Activision-Blizzard has COD. Blizzard even if it were to be sold separately is no longer worth 20 billion USD, IMO. Take Two has GTA. UBIsoft has the Guillemot family that really REALLY wants to retain control of the company.
So, out of any publishing house that might be worth 20 billion USD, I'd say that EA is the most likely.
Regards,
SB
- Their recent move to listing their titles on Steam again. They wouldn't have done this unless there was pressing financial reasons.
- They have the lowest PC revenue of all the major publishers, and their move to limit sales of their titles to basically the Origin marketplace is a large reason for this.
- Moving back to Steam is admitting they made a mistake, but more importantly that they need the additional revenue to bolster their financials.
- Similarly, partnering with MS to have EA Play on GamePass.
- Another move to try to bring in much needed revenue
The market cap numbers also work out. EA's market cap I believe is around 10 billion USD. 20 billion USD to convince share holders to sell doesn't seem completely out of the question.
I don't see any of the Japanese publishers being worth that much. And the other large western publishers don't really have much reason to be sold. Activision-Blizzard has COD. Blizzard even if it were to be sold separately is no longer worth 20 billion USD, IMO. Take Two has GTA. UBIsoft has the Guillemot family that really REALLY wants to retain control of the company.
So, out of any publishing house that might be worth 20 billion USD, I'd say that EA is the most likely.
Regards,
SB
The problem with WB is that most of the teams are tied up in DC properties. So unless MS is willing to buy WB game and DC comics I don't see it being that popular.
Although it be interesting if MS had whole stable of DC to pull from for game characters and the like. Owning DC means they could just make Injustice exclusive. They'd have what Mortal Kombat , Injustice and Killer Instinct that they could release ?
Mortal Kombat, Killer Instinct, MK x KI all exclusive
Injustice multi plat, GP day one, cross platform excluding PS (unless they change their requirements), some kind of exclusive character or timed exclusive.
This would still be a good situation if only to get KI back.
Or take Injustice of the table if licencing is too messy to deal with
Silent_Buddha
Legend
Interestingly enough, WRT Killer Instinct, from what Phil Spencer said on the Co-optional podcast, MS is still looking into doing something with the KI property. They're constantly looking at developers to see if they would be a good fit for making another KI game, but so far they haven't found a good fit.
Regards,
SB
cheapchips
Veteran
EA's market cap is $40.6bn isn't it?
cheapchips
Veteran
ChuckeRearmed
Regular
I don't believe in possibility of EA. Aside having the most powerful IP that is FIFA license (not even owned), they are just too invested in MTX and casinos or whatever. Will create bad publicity for MS.
And no, they won't trigger protections against the foreign acquisitions. The protections are made mainly against purchasing industries (like auto or energy) and China. Japanese government wanted to attract blue chips companies since long time ago (probably as a deterrent to chinese corps).
The problem with DC is that they have comics, movies and other stuff that MS doesn't want to deal with. I do wonder if it is possible to split IPs into gaming and media rights like with Spider-man.
Capcom - not on the table anymore, Sega - I would argue and regarding Square I believe it will be bought by someone within the next 2 years.
And no, they won't trigger protections against the foreign acquisitions. The protections are made mainly against purchasing industries (like auto or energy) and China. Japanese government wanted to attract blue chips companies since long time ago (probably as a deterrent to chinese corps).
Fighting games are pretty niche in terms of development expertise. The fact they've not been able to find someone is proof of that.
Sony is grabbing a big section of the market, so even without Injustice (or still multiplat), NetherRealm would be good for xbox.
ChuckeRearmed
Regular
It is obvious that an EA acquisition will not happen.
As for the $8b, $7b acquisitions
I wouldn't say Capcom is out of the table.
I think Capcom, Square Enix, Koei Tecmo, maybe Bandai Namco gaming division are the only ones in that price range. All Japanese companies. Ubisoft should be much more expensive, they're adamant on not selling.
As for the $8b, $7b acquisitions
I wouldn't say Capcom is out of the table.
I think Capcom, Square Enix, Koei Tecmo, maybe Bandai Namco gaming division are the only ones in that price range. All Japanese companies. Ubisoft should be much more expensive, they're adamant on not selling.
ChuckeRearmed
Regular
I still don't think that Capcom is on the table. They have Monster Hunter with Nintendo at minimum. Now, though, we don't know what is happening between Nintendo and MS...
I believe Square Enix is on the table because they behave like Bethesda before Bethesda started falling apart. Bamco won't sell its gaming division, Koei Tecmo is also not just game developer.
If it were 5bn I would certainly believe in Sega. But if the bidding war is happening then it is a different situation.
They have a franchise that's Nintendo-tied to a degree, and while that might further complify things, I don't see why it would seal it off.
I forgot about Konami Holdings Co., they could be in that price range. But it's not the least worth it, it's mostly pachinko, cards, anime, arcade, and some gaming IPs that aren't really that popular.
Bandai Namco (least feasible) , Koei Tecmo (but much less so than the others, I believe), Sega-Sammy have large non-gaming businesses that Microsoft would not want. If I recall Sega-Sammy more clearly separated their gaming and non-gaming divisions recently, which could maybe facilitate things in such an event.
Silent_Buddha
Legend
Oh hell, I must have gotten that mixed up with other publishers when I was looking this morning. HUGE oops on that one. Thanks for the correction guys. I was even using that site (ycharts) to look them up. Auuugh. Need to be more diligent in this stuff.
Regards,
SB
ChuckeRearmed
Regular
Something is certainly happening with Sega. The question is what exactly.
Sega has a long term plan for growing their gaming division that includes significant investment in a way that doesn't look like gearing up for an acquisition. I'm not sure they'd be restructuring around a very specific and clearly laid out 5 year+ growth strategy while also pursuing a near term buyout. I could see them selling if that plan fails though.
And Square Enix has massively successful mobile and MMO divisions. They're not in any sort of trouble in the near term. FFXIV and Dragon Quest X are producing strong revenue and also are very high margin. Their mobile heavy nature is also a bit of a hit against them in terms of an acquisition, mobile doesn't really fit into MS's strategy that much, but it's over half their revenue, and about half their profits.
And Square Enix has massively successful mobile and MMO divisions. They're not in any sort of trouble in the near term. FFXIV and Dragon Quest X are producing strong revenue and also are very high margin. Their mobile heavy nature is also a bit of a hit against them in terms of an acquisition, mobile doesn't really fit into MS's strategy that much, but it's over half their revenue, and about half their profits.
Last edited:
ChuckeRearmed
Regular
I don't think MS is averse to MMOs or mobile gaming. Like at all. With Bethesda they got 2 MMOs and even a mobile studio. They also tried some mobile games too (though the flopped). There is a lot of money can be made on mobile.
- Status
