Game Companies Buying other Game Companies

[Rabbitearsblog]

1 hour ago, Jovahexeon Jax Joranvexeon said:

Oh boy. The plot thickens. 

So, FTC is dropping the case?

[Tornado]

Why would they? The FTC would have known it was a lie when they used it as justification for the already-shaky lawsuit in the first place.

[sonicclaasic]

https://www.eurogamer.net/microsoft-internal-documents-reportedly-show-it-considered-buying-sega-bungie

Quote

This little bit of what-might-have-been comes via internal Microsoft documents spotted by The Verge, beginning with an email from Xbox boss Phil Spencer to CEO Satya Nadella and Microsoft CFO Amy Hood, requesting strategy approval to approach Sega Sammy about a potential acquisition of its Sega games division.

Spencer suggested Sega's "well-balanced portfolio of games across segments with global geographic appeal" would help Microsoft "accelerate Xbox Game Pass both on and off-console", and that Sega's "beloved IP" would be particularly effective in helping Games Pass reach new audiences in Asia, "where localised content is critical to success".

This seems to be a bad Idea at that time when Microsoft considered buying Sega at the time I reckon. What do you think of this good Idea or bad Idea?

[Shiny Gems]

Man, Microsoft seriously wanted to own it all, huh? The seem interested in becoming a monopoly.

[PinkFloydMania]

I'd hate to have seen Sonic become an Xbox exclusive just because Microsoft has no idea how to effectively sell their consoles in Japan, glad that it didn't happen!

[sonicclaasic]

8 minutes ago, ShinyGems said:

Man, Microsoft seriously wanted to own it all, huh? The seem interested in becoming a monopoly.

I know It's just greed In my opinion trying to buy all these gaming companies I don't what they're thinking of.

[FlameStream]

We may never know how it will actually be, but I feel Sonic would have been better invested in if they were acquired.

[sonicclaasic]

4 minutes ago, PinkFloydMania said:

I'd hate to have seen Sonic become an Xbox exclusive just because Microsoft has no idea how to effectively sell their consoles in Japan, glad that it didn't happen!

Same here It's just outrageous because of the competitors etc. I'm glad It didn't happened as well to be honest and It won't be fair too.

[PinkFloydMania]

5 minutes ago, FlameStream said:

We may never know how it will actually be, but I feel Sonic would have been better invested in if they were acquired.

Microsoft acquired Rare, and I don't think anyone would consider their Microsoft-era output on par with what came before. Not that a franchise like Banjo-Kazooie is on the same level as Sonic the Hedgehog, but still. We could have gotten Sonic the Hedgehog: Nuts and Bolts then nothing else ever again after it flopped.

[FlameStream]

They are indeed not comparable.

[Tornado]

Uh... no shit? You mean like the rumors that dogged both companies for a solid year starting in 2020 (which coincides with the timing of these memos from start to finish) and that Sega put a response in their financial reports about when the rumors finally subsided?

 

This part isn't much of a bombshell. It's actually far more in line with Sony buying Naughty Dog and Insomniac than it is Microsoft acquiring Activision/Bethesda (or, indeed, Sony buying Bungie themselves). Microsoft has an extensive history with both companies, owned one of them before already, and came so close to buying Sega out in 2003 that Bill Gates deciding against it at the 11th hour was the only thing that kiboshed it. In fact, the buyout talks with Sega in the early 2000s and the screwy effects they had on Sega's value I've seen argued as a major reason why Sega's merger with Namco fell through (and why the original merger attempt with Sammy also collapsed).

 

 

 

 

 

 

Even the IO Interactive thing, which is a bit left field and probably would be rebuffed by the studio, is somewhat less so when viewed in the context of an outsider who saw firsthand how horrendously Squeenix mismanaged their tenure of owning it.

[Wraith]

7 hours ago, FlameStream said:

We may never know how it will actually be, but I feel Sonic would have been better invested in if they were acquired.

They have been notoriously hands-off with the production side of things so far. Not much would have changed with the final product of something like, say, Sonic Frontiers, but the game's reach would have shrunk dramatically if they decided to go exclusive. A hit Microsoft is probably willing to take to grow their brand, but it'll leave the side of the fanbase paranoid about sales numbers and relevancy feeling cold.

 

[azoo]

The report seems to mention that they'd stay releasing things multiplatform. Which makes it seem like a relief until you get to the next question: why even do it then? At best Microsoft could funnel money into Sega, but bigger budgets doesn't ensure good things happening. And at worst they could gut the company to pieces and get their western studios to make botched attempts at whatever two or so IPs they'd use from the remains. Not saying it'd be that bad if they snatched them up, but hrm. The worry persists.

I would've been more accepting of Sega being swept up by MS in the later 90s / early 2000s when they were in a more deeply-rooted partnership, and all this talk made logical sense. But those days are long over. MS looking into it this late, plus all the doomspeak Phil Spencer's been making lately, just tells me he's in crisis mode and is throwing their company's gargantuan weight around. Trying to fix all the mistakes they made in lacking a brand identity way after the damage had already been done. Should've thought about this sooner!

Spoiler

Also I know the MS/Sega discussions from the 2000s are met with "but look what they did to Rare!", but Rare did that to themselves. That company was a hot mess barren of good ideas. It didn't have to be like that, they just kinda sucked. But I digress. All I'm saying is MS's later management has fumbled much worse on their acquisitions. Maybe they wouldn't have bothered if they adopted Sega's at the start. Idiots, all of 'em.

 

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

If Microsoft would’ve left Sonic multiplatform, then fuck me this would’ve been awesome!

I thought it wasn’t such a good idea mainly on them making Sonic exclusive, much the same way it would be if Nintendo bought Sega and made Sonic exclusive.

[Tornado]

If The Verge as an outlet was capable of feeling shame, it would be mighty embarrassing of them to have covered the entire case to this point as if the FTC was eviscerating Microsoft's lawyers throughout the entire week only to have to post an article today noting that the judge was confused why the FTC even brought the case to trial if most of their arguments were not in fact the things that the EU/CMA was worried about and their case instead frequently relied on things Sony told them about how the market worked (for Sony).

 

 

In particular:

Quote

Judge Corley: What do you say though to Mr. Ryan who said that Star-whatever [Starfield] there was nothing anti-competitive about Microsoft making that exclusive. Under what you just said to me, that is anti-competitive

FTC: I don’t know the basis for why Mr. Ryan was less upset about that one than Call of Duty

Judge Corley: Because he does the same thing

Quote

This closing argument didn’t mention much about the harm to consumers, though, with Judge Corley even pointing that out at one point in the hearing: “It’s not the harm to Sony we care about — it’s the harm to consumers.” Judge Corley also wanted to know whether we’d even be here if Microsoft had an agreement with Sony for Call of Duty. “I think we would still have had an investigation,” answered the FTC lawyer.

 

Like, god damn.

 

What the fuck case was The Verge reporting on if in this one the judge was asking shit like this point blank and the FTC lawyers basically couldn't give her answers half the time without referring to stuff Jim Ryan said?

 

 

 

 

 

It also seems like Microsoft plans on moving forward with this regardless of the outcome with the CMA (seemingly paying fines while fighting UK's regulatory authority over things that happen outside of their borders? Ignoring the CMA entirely and calculating that it won't bite them? Walling off Activision from the UK?); which is possibly why the FTC rushed this attempt to get a preliminary injunction despite them having such a badly prepared case.

 

[DaBigJ]

Hahaha

 

This sucks man

[Tornado]

And the CMA basically forfeited the appeal Microsoft was chasing immediately after the FTC verdict was handed down, instead deciding to seek remediation efforts with Microsoft over the merger. That more or less confirms that the absurd 3 month trial delay CMA wanted was just stalling for time on the FTC's behalf (which had already blown up in their face) as the FTC tried to rush out an injunction against the merger (presumably in the hopes that one of the two would just pull out of it); and now that the FTC ate shit in court the CMA are willing to negotiate with Microsoft again.

 

 

And/or that they took the rumors of Microsoft just ignoring the CMA and carving Activision out of the UK market entirely after buying them seriously enough to try to extract concessions out of them like the EU got instead.

[Tornado]

 

 

Great job Sony next time don't expect try to use the FTC to fight your battles for you. 

 

 

 

[DaBigJ]

It's over.

Crash Bandicoot, Spyro the Dragon, Call of Duty, all of that and more now belong to Microsoft. Truly the start of a new era.

On a relevant note: Bobby will step down after 2023

 

[Tornado]

https://www.theverge.com/2023/12/20/24009129/microsoft-gaming-xbox-phil-spencer-bobby-kotick-activision-leadership-changes

Now the industry can heal.

[Tornado]

You know as much as Kotick absolutely needed to go for turning a blind eye towards shitty working conditions so long as whatever was being made turned a profit, it's more than a little amusing to see people lining up to blame every instance of a bad thing happening at ActiBlizz on him specifically; as if he was the most hands-on corporate executive since Miyamoto would show up at Rare and feed them a bunch of horrible ideas for a game they were already nearly finished making.

 

One particular one that I've seen catch some traction was someone who worked on Overwatch cosigning a sentiment that Blizzard was scapegoated by Kotick to deflect away from scandals that happened under his watch while conveniently leaving out the part that said scandals occurred primarily at Blizzard. 

[Ryannumber1gamer]

10 hours ago, Tornado said:

You know as much as Kotick absolutely needed to go for turning a blind eye towards shitty working conditions so long as whatever was being made turned a profit, it's more than a little amusing to see people lining up to blame every instance of a bad thing happening at ActiBlizz on him specifically; as if he was the most hands-on corporate executive since Miyamoto would show up at Rare and feed them a bunch of horrible ideas for a game they were already nearly finished making.

 

One particular one that I've seen catch some traction was someone who worked on Overwatch cosigning a sentiment that Blizzard was scapegoated by Kotick to deflect away from scandals that happened under his watch while conveniently leaving out the part that said scandals occurred primarily at Blizzard. 

It’s a tricky situation, because a lot of game scandals (thats specifically only about the game itself) could be pinned on Bobby and has been for years, but the other scandals like the sexual harassment scandals is all on Blizzard and how shit their work culture is.

For the former, Kotick is the reason why Overwatch had been in such a state and got hit with a few scandals over the years. A lot of the stuff in regards to the handling of Overwatch 1’s sunsetting, Overwatch 2’s monetisation, and especially the absolute disaster that was the PvE component was largely Kotick constantly sticking his nose into the team’s affairs and demanding them to work on various things that he would later demand be cancelled, or ultimately didn’t pan out into anything important.

That said, it definitely should not be used to deflect from the sexual harassment scandals and so on that very much did happen at Blizzard, as that was all on Bizzard’s shit culture and the general frat house atmosphere they had fostered, and people trying to scapegoat Bobby for it is absolutely ridiculous, Blizzard should still be held to account for the shittiness they fostered and created. 

But it should at least be clarified that in regards to a large chunk of the game specific controversies that’s exclusively just how the game was handled, or what content was cancelled, Bobby indeed was a big contributor due to the way he mismanaged and misled the development team on bad projects and features. Although that probably makes the situation more annoying as people would rather lump sum blame Bobby for everything, rather than have the nuance to determine what was Bobby’s garbage tier mismanagement, and what was Blizzard and it’s upper mangagement legitimately just being a shitty company. I sincerely hope people aren’t silly enough to let Blizzard off the hook just because they now aim to blame Bobby for everything.