Microsoft buying EA? Or Others?

[minteK917]

Could happen, this would actually be a good day. Somehow EA manages to be more crooked then microsoft and microsoft pretty much own an entire market with no real competition (OS) and still doesent manage to be as scummy as EA.

Not a big fan of Microsoft, but they seems to have way more respect for studios then EA or Activision does for example. Under microsoft companies like Bungies did fine, under activision they are doing cash grab garbage? When bioware wasent garbage... Jade empire, Mass Effect where published by Microsoft. I can hardly recall any Microsoft published game that was garbage due the publishing practices? All the classic age of empires. GFW was pretty much their only terrible idea and they eventually scrapped it.

I think it has more to do with them being console sellers, kinda like Sony or nintendo. Finding fault in their publishing is hard because they really dont seems to strangle their studios for extra money outside of providing them exclusive games. I mean for example bioware and dice again, im 100% certain Mass Effect andromeda or Star wars battlefront would never have been what it was if the publisher was Microsoft or Sony. But it would be exclusive to their consoles. But at this point you gotta see whats better, a good exclusive game or the garbage multi platform we got instead?

Hell you cant even say multiplatform publisher like EA are better at PC games/ports, their PC games hardly ever work right until 1-2 patches? Microsoft published very little PC port, but theirs worked from the start lol.

If i was a studio that put my creativity above earning every single possible penny but possibly killing my business medium term. Id either go CD project route or id try to get under the wings of Microsoft, Sony or Nintendo as the lesser evil before i go anywhere near multiplatform publisher.

[unholytestament]

I don't know if it could happen, but I don't see how Microsoft buying EA could make anything worse.

Valve though... I really don't like the idea of the company that has a stranglehold on proprietary operating systems also being in control of the largest video game digital distribution platform.

[Zeta333]

Actually they would keep everything multiplat. The sports ones are just the obvious ones since the licensing deals force them to be multiplat.

Once again, obviously not a business major. You don't spend $40 bil on a company to cut off a significant part of their revenue and make them not worth $40 bil anymore.

Over the last 2 years EA has sold over 30 mil games on the PS4 that are NOT sports games. You take away that, their company is worth significantly less.

But it's not happening either way. MS investors are not going to allow their company to spend 5%+ of their net capitol on a video game company. They have literally cut funding to Xbox as we can see by the current 1st party lineup, something they have wanted to do since the original Xbox.

There are plenty of companies that would benifit from increased renvue by going to more than playstation but they dont, becuase sony throws money at them. If MS owns EA they dont have to throw money at them to have console exclusives. Sure there will be loss of revenue for ea but it will mean increased sales for MS equipment, weather its OS or xbox sales. They wouldnt buy ea or steam and just keep running them the same way they were run before purchased. And if they are looking to plunk down this kind of money they arnt doing it to turn them around and make the same amount as they were before being acquired, They will intergrate and play them to boost MS hardware and software sales as that is thier entire goal and target.

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Could happen, this would actually be a good day. Somehow EA manages to be more crooked then microsoft and microsoft pretty much own an entire market with no real competition (OS) and still doesent manage to be as scummy as EA.

Not a big fan of Microsoft, but they seems to have way more respect for studios then EA or Activision does for example. Under microsoft companies like Bungies did fine, under activision they are doing cash grab garbage? When bioware wasent garbage... Jade empire, Mass Effect where published by Microsoft. I can hardly recall any Microsoft published game that was garbage due the publishing practices? All the classic age of empires. GFW was pretty much their only terrible idea and they eventually scrapped it.

I think it has more to do with them being console sellers, kinda like Sony or nintendo. Finding fault in their publishing is hard because they really dont seems to strangle their studios for extra money outside of providing them exclusive games. I mean for example bioware and dice again, im 100% certain Mass Effect andromeda or Star wars battlefront would never have been what it was if the publisher was Microsoft or Sony. But it would be exclusive to their consoles. But at this point you gotta see whats better, a good exclusive game or the garbage multi platform we got instead?

Hell you cant even say multiplatform publisher like EA are better at PC games/ports, their PC games hardly ever work right until 1-2 patches? Microsoft published very little PC port, but theirs worked from the start lol.

If i was a studio that put my creativity above earning every single possible penny but possibly killing my business medium term. Id either go CD project route or id try to get under the wings of Microsoft, Sony or Nintendo as the lesser evil before i go anywhere near multiplatform publisher.

Bungie did amazing under microsoft, it wasnt untill they bought themselves out that they went to shit, as soon as they were free thier quality and vision went down the toliet.

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I don't know if it could happen, but I don't see how Microsoft buying EA could make anything worse.

Valve though... I really don't like the idea of the company that has a stranglehold on proprietary operating systems also being in control of the largest video game digital distribution platform.

imagine steam expanding to incorporate xbox live and intergrate with the console and the OS more closely. Windows could scrap its games platform, merge xbox live with steam, and make it much less clunky. Many people dont remember but steam was a steaming turd that we tolerated for several years.

[Edge-]

imagine steam expanding to incorporate xbox live and intergrate with the console and the OS more closely. Windows could scrap its games platform, merge xbox live with steam, and make it much less clunky. Many people dont remember but steam was a steaming turd that we tolerated for several years.

Yeah, back when there were literally no other storefronts to look to and Valve was literally figuring shit out in the dark.

We're more than a decade later and with tons of successful digital storefronts, if your storefront is shit nowadays there's no excuse but incompetence, especially if you're a major company.

I'd much rather Microsoft just, you know, not make a shitty fucking store. It's not too much to ask, is it? Comparisons to Steam from a decade ago are pointless, nobody is competing with Steam from a decade ago. They're competing with Steam and every other digital storefront today.

[DesoPL]

If this will happend, it will be the end of gaming industry.

[Mellomania]

This would make me laugh though

[unholytestament]

Many people dont remember but steam was a steaming turd that we tolerated for several years.

It's easy to forget when that was so long ago and completely irrelevant to anything happening today.

[Zeta333]

If this will happend, it will be the end of gaming industry.

yeh no it wont.

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Yeah, back when there were literally no other storefronts to look to and Valve was literally figuring shit out in the dark.

We're more than a decade later and with tons of successful digital storefronts, if your storefront is shit nowadays there's no excuse but incompetence, especially if you're a major company.

I'd much rather Microsoft just, you know, not make a shitty fucking store. It's not too much to ask, is it? Comparisons to Steam from a decade ago are pointless, nobody is competing with Steam from a decade ago. They're competing with Steam and every other digital storefront today.

While thier storefront isnt on steams level i havnt seen any glaring issues with MS, though if they purchased valve they would most likely just roll thiers into steam. Make steam come on every windows machine.

[segara82]

EA is currently in possession of a lot of IPs it is not even using, who could be re-made/launched/envisioned to make some nice XBOX exclusives. Or money in general.
Not to mention a money-printing license that EA has, for a better lack of word, misappropriated: Star Wars.
Battlefront II has sold only 9 million copies, below the low estimate of 10. For comparison Battlefront 1 managed to sell 13 million and did not get legislation involved.

[Zeta333]

I did not read this.

Is it any suprise that valve would consider selling? They have made it more than apparant they dont give a fuck about developing games anymore. They just find every way to nickel and dime people. CSGO was barebones upgrade to CSS and they did that to push it as a monitization platform for skins. The public has been asking for a end to the half life story and these fucks just taunt the loyal fanbase. Gabe sees dollars, not a franchise.

[Zeta333]

That's your opinion. If you ask me, it can all be the case of "making things that are worth making" instead of just "making for sake of making". But sure, why would one expect from company that makes games to make more proper games?

But they havnt made more proper games. They have milked ones they made in early or mid 2000s. Ignore thier star IP and focus on monitizing everything. They stopped being a developer long long ago.

[segara82]

Just checked, HL 2 Ep 2 came out in October 2007, more then 10 years ago. So far no peep about Episode 3 or HL 3 for a decade. We saw more from Duke Nukem than HL. Let's face it, it's dead.

[Zeta333]

Just checked, HL 2 Ep 2 came out in October 2007, more then 2 years ago. So far no peep about Episode 3 or HL 3 for a decade. We saw more from Duke Nukem than HL. Let's face it, it's dead.

and thats my proof they dont give a fuck about thier IP's.

[Jtbrig7390]

I think that is the point. You don't make something until you are sure you are going to make something great.

Not in valves case, Valve has gotten rid of the majority of there game development team. There isn't something hidden being made we don't know about (like HL3). Half Life and all other Valve IP's are dead unless they do like they did recent with the small portal game.

Unless Valve can keep milking money from it with little development (Look at TF2,CSGO and DOTA) they will not make it. That is why we don't have a Half Life 3, LFD3 or Portal 3. There is no money to be made there and there game development team is small to non-existent.

From a business standpoint its a smart move, Why make games that can flop when your digital store just rolls in money.

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While thier storefront isnt on steams level i havnt seen any glaring issues with MS

It has one major glaring issue, Its as bad as google plays store. Its shit and filled with garbage and the UI is god awful.

[Zeta333]

Not in valves case, Valve has gotten rid of the majority of there game development team. There isn't something hidden being made we don't know about (like HL3). Half Life and all other Valve IP's are dead unless they do like they did recent with the small portal game.

Unless Valve can keep milking money from it with little development (Look at TF2,CSGO and DOTA) they will not make it. That is why we don't have a Half Life 3, LFD3 or Portal 3. There is no money to be made there and there game development team is small to non-existent.

From a business standpoint its a smart move, Why make games that can flop when your digital store just rolls in money.

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It has one major glaring issue, Its as bad as google plays store. Its shit and filled with garbage and the UI is god awful.

Yeh cus steam isnt filled with trash and using a basic ass ui.

[Planetdune]

I wouldn't mind MS buying EA.. especially as MS has PC gamers more at heart than EA does.. we might actually see EA titles being released on Steam again.. MS has a pretty good track record of releasing their games on Steam.

[ManiaCCC]

If it would mean that IPs like Dungeon Keeper could have some use, I am all for it. I don't think Microsoft is saint company, but in general, I feel they would manage all these IPs better.And I really want EA to rot in the hell.

[Jtbrig7390]

Yeh cus steam isnt filled with trash and using a basic ass ui.

One thing being shitty doesn't change the other from being shitty as well. Also steams basic ass UI is leagues better than the window store's.

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I wouldn't mind MS buying EA.. especially as MS has PC gamers more at heart than EA does.. we might actually see EA titles being released on Steam again.. MS has a pretty good track record of releasing their games on Steam.

No chance in hell those games would come to steam, MS would just blend in the windows store and origin.

[Lotus Victoria]

Making sports games exclusive to your console would be a good strategy in the exclusive market of consoles

[Linri]

ea... lol, they went downhill... it amazes me how little they care anymore
first they nix ea games like ssx, skate, and need for speed underground series, and then they pull that bs with the star wars stuff...

if ms does acquire ea i hope they begin making a wider variety of games outside of fifa, and madden