Microsoft Tries to Buy Activision Blizzard

[MartyG]

Apple - I think if they had any interest in gaming they'd have made their play many years ago. To Apple I think the console gaming market is like watching children fight for scraps.

I think that's probably a good view of things - with the AB aquisition MS now have plenty to cope with under the Microsoft Game Studios roof without adding more to it.

Apple seem quite happy in their own gaming market place on mobile which the big three have only really dipped their toe into - given the history between Sony and Nintendo, I can't see them ever wanting to make a partnership out of it again. I can't see why Nintendo would ever want to do that - Nintendo is always going to Nintendo.

[Neon Ignition]

That's it, a lot has been placed on the importance of COD which is definitely a crown jewel in their first party line up now but Game Pass requires MS to massively expand not just the number of games released on it but also the diversity. They have an abundance of staff and studios now but the typical focus of these studios under their previous owners was very much in line with delivering more of the same.

I'd crack High Moon, Raven and Toys for Bob straight out of the COD stable to begin with. Hell, Treyarch could probably do with a break though that seems less likely.

[wakka]

Gaming is simply not in Apple's DNA whatsoever. Jobs famously had no interest in games and didn't think much of them, and I think that is still imprinted on the business.

They're big in mobile games, obviously, but more by accident than design - and the Arcade subscription service is, like most of their subscription services, a product developed out of a need to find new ways of wringing money from existing customers than out of any particular inspiration or invention. Its quality, I think, reflects that (it's merely 'OK').

[hudson]

MYST was originally an Apple game.

[Neon Ignition]

Yep, a hard drive in gaming would be a big shift for Apple and the company makes ungodly amounts of money for being one of the dullest, safest players in the market. It's like they're fearful of anything that could be perceived as a failure for the brand and so traditional gaming would be a costly and high risk nut to try and crack. MS's moves are massive but I don't doubt for one second that if the Xbox division didn't already exist that MS wouldn't be looking to create it.

[wakka]

MYST was originally an Apple game.

Yeah, there have been some popular Mac games over the years. Myst, like you say, and Bungie were originally a Mac developer, with Marathon. Then there was the Apple Pippin made with Bandai, their games console.

These were mostly released in the 90s in Apple's doldrum years when they were casting around for an identity, before Jobs returned and created the iMac with Ive in '98 and made them relevant again (and, notably, stopped supporting games development in any significant way).

I think it's telling that the iPhone, for example, never shipped with a built-in game. That was unusual in 2007, when Nokia had Snake and Blackberry had Brickbreaker, and so on.

Yep, a hard drive in gaming would be a big shift for Apple and the company makes ungodly amounts of money for being one of the dullest, safest players in the market. It's like they're fearful of anything that could be perceived as a failure for the brand and so traditional gaming would be a costly and high risk nut to try and crack. MS's moves are massive but I don't doubt for one second that if the Xbox division didn't already exist that MS wouldn't be looking to create it.

Yeah, I agree. The games industry is insanely hard to get into and be successful in, even for behemoth mega players (see: Stadia). I just don't think there is much Apple could contribute. There is no clear problem for them to solve, like there was with smartphones in the 2000s.

They are boring in many ways, and for the most part they only seem to release products where they feel they can excel against the existing competition (their subscription services being a notable departure from this). I don't think there is any room for them to do that in gaming.

[fishbowlhead]

I honestly think MS could of build a small colony on the moon for $70b.

[Golgo]

I honestly think MS could of build a small colony on the moon for $70b.

Alternatively, they could almost fund two British Track and Trace apps for that.

[fishbowlhead]

Rough estimates by Musk (a few years ag) are between 100b & 10t depending on various factors. So you could probably build a small colony on Mars for 70b.

https://www.inverse.com/article/5845...4100%20billion.

[Cassius_Smoke]

Current estimate of a Saturn V in todays money is $1.1b. So they could launch 70 moon missions.

[Cassius_Smoke]

Whos next? Place your bets now! I'm going for Take Two.

EA: $38B
Take Two: $18B
Nexon: $15B
Bandai Namco: $15B
Embracer: $10.8B
Netmarble $7B
Ubisoft: $7B
Konami: $6B
Square Enix: $5.6B
Capcom: $4.9B
Sega: $3.6B

[Neon Ignition]

Sony and SquareEnix feel like a fit and build on how much MS still seems to not be dealing with non-Western market appeal
Sony and Capcom feel like an easy fit too

Konami are a waste of time as it's been gutted so severely that you get IP and that's all. They're all dead franchises at this point

Sega isn't worth it to anyone, Ubisoft aggressively fought off one takeover attempt so won't entertain another. Unless it's MS I think everyone else is too rich for Sony's tastes.

Honestly, if there's a road to it then Sony should consider what locking down Resident Evil, Devil May Cry and Street Fighter could mean for them

[nonny]

Whos next? Place your bets now! I'm going for Take Two.

EA: $38B
Take Two: $18B
Nexon: $15B
Bandai Namco: $15B
Embracer: $10.8B
Netmarble $7B
Ubisoft: $7B
Konami: $6B
Square Enix: $5.6B
Capcom: $4.9B
Sega: $3.6B

Wouldn't Warner Bros be on there as well?

[Asura]

Wouldn't Warner Bros be on there as well?

IIRC, Warner Bros is a weird brand in terms of value proposition. It has to do with how they were once part of AOL, and could've been Google and modern-day Disney but that didn't pan out.

[Neon Ignition]

I think WB was unable to sell its gaming division so seems to be doubling down on it now. I presume because they could sell Mortal Kombat and the studios but because all the IP is tied to Warners itself the value was hard to justify