Microsoft / Sony rumored to be buying Wizards of the Coast
- Thread starter eastmen
- Start date
That is intersting. I used to play magic all the time back in middle school in the early 90s. I think its still popular . I think they own a bunch of ip that can be good for game studios to use also
Silent_Buddha
Legend
WOTC lost the rights to make Pokemon games back in 2002-3. The Pokemon Company International now has those rights.
Regards,
SB
ChuckeRearmed
Regular
I have no idea why though.
Mostly for IP , D&D along with Magic are pretty big IP and steady business. D&D itself could be a great live service game if you create the universe right for a MMO or even small co-op game going through pre made campaigns. Basicly make D&D but video game it. Magic itself has a few games that are very much gaas.
I believe after the developer wars we will enter into the IP wars. Wizards of the coast has a bunch of established IPs with their own fan bases and their own self sustaining product. If you want to create new video games and want to have them work on new games its easier to use an established IP than dormant or new ips
ChuckeRearmed
Regular
I think we are already in IP wars, Microsoft is trying to move fast but I have no doubt some other company will join fray trying to buy various IPs wherever it is possible. They are trying to grab as many IPs as possible to secure it. The problem is that they will eventually run into FTC if they purchase too much, so they will have to make a choice.
All their purchases - aside the original ones in 2017-2018, are about IPs. Bethesda, ATVI. Ideally they should grab Capcom and maybe Sega. It is hard to say who is gonna be involved in a bidding war there, but Capcom's IP are stronger. They allegedly had interest in DC IPs. And now this. There is a possible of Tomb Raider from CD, and Eidos IPs (like Deus Ex) too.
But funnily enough we don't have enough developers for all of that lol
MS has been buying developers that have strong ip. But there is going to come a time where the old guard with strong ip doesn't exist
ChuckeRearmed
Regular
Well, I think Microsoft may buy Certain Affinity. They don't have big IPs but seems to have a lot of developers and participated in multiple Xbox projects. (usually Tencet tend to grab support studios though)
BTW @eastmen. Out of 4 acquisitions that you mentioned in the past (20, 7, 8, 1), which ones won't materialize? (especially considering that ATVI was unexpected one)
The 1 happened just not for Microsoft. The 7 and 8 may still happen. They are going to buy another company outside of gaming first I think
ChuckeRearmed
Regular
oh, wait. So another one was Bungie??? So in those 7 or 8, one of them is outside of gaming?
Though I guess 20b won't happening.
It's likely a Tencent / Embracer pickup that was under 1 Billion.
ChuckeRearmed
Regular
But did they buy anything recently? Aside Turtle Rock by Tencent.
Silent_Buddha
Legend
The most recent one...
Tencent to Expand U.K. Presence With $1.25 Billion Sumo Games Deal - Variety
Sumo Games is now owned by Tencent.
Regards,
SB
D
Deleted member 11852
Guest
And this probably explains the biggest difference between the two company's acquisitions. I can't think of a Sony acquisition that was about IP because Sony tends to run with IP for whole then drop it. Sony's longest-used IP is Gran Turismo (OG PlayStation), which I guess makes sense because it's a largely a track-racing game and the name is immediately associated with that, ditto Forza. When it comes to developing characters and universes, the next two longest-standing Sony IPs are God of War (PS2-PS4) and Ratchet and Clank (PS2-PS5). Outside of those, you have to dig to find IP that lasts more than two-to-three generations. Jak & Daxter was PS2, Uncharted was PS3/PS4, The Last of Us was PS3/PS4, Infamous was PS3/PS4, Ghost of Tsushima was PS4, Little Big Planet was PS3/PS4, Killzone was PS2-PS4, Horizon Zero Dawn was PS4/PS5, Motorstorm was PS3, Resistance was PS3, Syphon Filter was OF PS/PS2/PSP.
Sony's premier teams create IP, they use the IP, then they drop it to create new IP. They are very much the opposite of Nintendo and Microsoft who keep IP around a lot of produce a lot of games from piece of IP (Mario, Halo, Gears of War etc). It could be that from Sony's perspective, paying a lot of money for IPs that are already established (and therefore probably been around a few years already) isn't worthwhile.
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Johnny Awesome
Veteran
Lol. It's hilarious that your argument is that Sony's IPs are a flash in the pan because they only last 3 generations.
Also, when you're the market leader and all the 3rd parties are guaranteed to put their 7 or 8 generation spanning franchises on your machine it frees you up to experiment.
If Sony hadn't locked up Final Fantasy for years on end and make exclusive COD marketing deals, MS wouldn't need to buy popular IPs.
Also, when you're the market leader and all the 3rd parties are guaranteed to put their 7 or 8 generation spanning franchises on your machine it frees you up to experiment.
If Sony hadn't locked up Final Fantasy for years on end and make exclusive COD marketing deals, MS wouldn't need to buy popular IPs.
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ChuckeRearmed
Regular
I wonder if Microsoft is interested in Wizards of the Coast due to them owning Heartstone game?
Or if Sony tries to buy CDPR and they have Gwent?
Some mobile push too?
What other card games remaining?
Or if Sony tries to buy CDPR and they have Gwent?
Some mobile push too?
What other card games remaining?
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Silent_Buddha
Legend
Hearthstone is a Blizzard IP. So, MS won't need to buy anyone to get it.
Also, digital collector's card games are well represented on Game Pass, so there's no real need for MS to develop one in house if they didn't want to.
From a video game standpoint there isn't much at WOTC that MS would really want, IMO. There's D&D, but that's a far more valuable IP on tabletop than it is in video game form. There's the World of Darkness IP (Vampire: The Masquerade is part of that). So if MS wanted to get those games, I wouldn't mind. But I can't see that being valuable enough to acquire from a video game standpoint. Again, much more valuable IP on the tabletop than video games (although I LOVED Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines).
There's MTG, but again, plenty of CCGs on Game Pass already and MTG is more valuable tabletop than it is in video game form.
And there's not a lot of really good software game developer teams at WOTC to make it a key acquisition WRT software engineering talent.
Regards,
SB
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ChuckeRearmed
Regular
I am not sure they are gonna be that expensive. Considering that MS wants to collect as many IPs as possible, they might want to get them.
Blizzard seems to be a natural fit to those IPs to a frightening degree.
Also that Macquerade IP reminds me of Paradox publisher, who had some trouble developing that last game.
I personally would like to try to build the Olympic Cybersport Games though and throw some money there.
iceberg187
Regular
It's been very apparent that Microsoft wants to own large parts of our childhood/adulthood through the acquisition of IP.
