I mean, you don’t spend 70 billion on a market sector you’re going to deemphasize.
*70 billion this year alone.
2021: Zenimax for 7.5B
2018-19: Ninja Theory, Playground Games, Undead Labs, Compulsion Games, Obsidian Entertainment, inXile Entertainment, Double Fine Productions (all unknown amounts)
Earlier: Rare for 375M, Mojang for 2.5B
Psychonauts 2 happened because Microsoft bought Double Fine and said, “How much time/money do you need to finish your game?” And basically gave it to them.
By basically just buying existing publishers?
Microsoft has rarely innovated themselves…
Edit: I just remembered that even Windows was externally acquired, so I believe, it would be more correct to say that Microsoft has basically never innovated something themselves.
I think Windows was built in house but on top of DOS which Bill Gates bought off someone
Yeah, it started its life as “Quick And Dirty Operating System” (don’t know, why they renamed it) and even that was basically a ripoff of CP/M: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/86-DOS
I guess, you can say that they did put in own effort into developing the windowing system. I wouldn’t want to call that “innovating”, since they were late to the party, but I guess, that would be moving the goal posts here…
Now let’s all pretend that MS and Phil aren’t buying up publishers to have another monopoly full of Xbox/PC exclusives. Tbf though, I think Sony started this whole exclusives thing and really pushed hard for it. They do, however, seem to be relenting now by publishing their games to steam.
Sony buys up studios for their talent not their IP. Bungie/Destiny is the only exception. They have a strong history of empowering their developers to release better games than they did before.
Microsoft is the opposite. They buy up studios / IPs and run them into the ground.
Can’t agree more. I don’t think there’s a studio under MS that’s done better under their leadership/portfolio than they’d done prior to their acquisition. The studios created to shepherd Xbox franchises that original studios move on from generally have never matched the highs previously seen either.
I also don’t appreciate them hoovering up franchises, via acquisitions whilst failing to develop much new that’s if any note. All it does is condemn a growing back catalogue to mediocrity or have them disappear into the vault.
Sony aren’t perfect but their studios tend to produce top tier games that look and feel like they’re a tier above most, making the most of their “exclusivity”. Most (all?) their major releases are their own franchises developed in house too, and it feels like there’s a steadier turn out of new, quality IP to boot.
You don’t get it, though. Microsoft will put everything on Gamepass. Sony fanboys can suck on that!
Ignore the fact that them buying-up all these studios is objectively bad for our hobby and the industry, and that Gamepass has been touted as being objectively bad by everyone in the industry because studios receive a minuscule amount of revenue from it and that it disadvantages indie devs.
The only thing that matters here is that my metaphorical sports team beats your metaphorical sports team.
Tomato/Tomato. They get the IP and keep them exclusive. Sony shouldn’t get a pass just because their games are better.
The “exclusives-game” these companies play is bad for the consumer and Sony plays it just as hard as anyone else.
Sony makes them. Microsoft buys them. Two very different things. Quality is a separate issue, but related In that Microsoft apparently has a hundred billion dollars to spend but can’t make a great game by themselves in the last two decades. They have no taste for it. I hope they prove me wrong. I don’t want to see them become a monopoly of mediocre games that we have to subscribe for. I also don’t want to see Sony without competition.
I mean Sonys last purchase was Firewalk Studios, who was working on a game that hasnt been publically shown(however, sony was given a preview of it privately) and they havent released a game yet, so they technically bought out an IP unless you claim they already hit the reset on whatever project they kept under the sheets.
Eh no, you can’t really level the idea of buying out an ip that only exists behind closed doors.
I bet you they’ll start pulling their games from stores in 2-3 years or release new ones exclusively to their own. The games will be made as difficult to run in wine/proton as possible. Probably they’ll introduce some new graphics layer that’s windows only and since they own huge game publishers, they don’t have to worry about any other platform ever.
By publishing to PS5?
