All your favorite 3rd parties go bankrupt and now they are being bought out by Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo, to be made exclusive developers to their consoles. To which of the Big 3 do you think each 3rd party matches up well with?

This is a hypothetical situation, not a prediction or anything of that sort. We're talking about the whole publisher here, not just individual studios (except indies) or individual IP. If there are two publishers owned by the same company (e.g. 2K and Rockstar, Sega and Atlus), they are allowed to go to seperate owners. If there is a publisher owned by a bigger company, like Warner Bros, it can still go to a 1st party. Just use whatever publishers you want to use.

Here's my list (bare-bones, keepin' it simple):

Sony - Atlus, Bandai Namco, Square Enix, Rockstar Games, Activision

Microsoft - EA, Bethesda, 2K Games, Ubisoft

Nintendo - Sega, Capcom, Koei Tecmo

Sony: Square Enix, Take Two, Ubisoft, Koei Tecmo, Konami

Microsoft: EA, Activision, Bethesda, Warner Bros

Nintendo: Sega, Bandai Namco, Level 5, Capcom

For the most part, I would agree with you except that Atlus is owned by Sega so wherever Sega goes, Atlus goes. Also I think Nintendo would pick up Level-5, they don't want to lose Yokai Watch. Bandai-Namco is also one I think Nintendo would try to get but could see Sony getting them. Platinum Games also has a pretty solid relationship with Nintendo so I could see Nintendo picking them up.

Sony would probably pick up Kojima's new studio or form a new studio around him. I could also see them getting Tecmo-Koei instead of Nintendo.

I agree on Microsoft, maybe pick up a Japanese studio just to give a little incentive for Japanese gamers to buy an Xbox, not sure who though.

Overall Sony would get a mix of Western & Japanese studios, Microsoft primarily Western and Nintendo primarily Japanese.

Edit: didn't notice the part of studios able to split up, in that case ya Atlus could go to Sony but Nintendo also has a solid relationship with them so I could see it going either way.

Sony - Atlus, Bandai Namco, Square Enix, Rockstar Games, Activision, EA, Bethesda, 2K Games, Ubisoft, Sega, Capcom, Koei Tecmo, epic

Microsoft -

Nintendo -

The problem of doing this list by separating the company not the franchise is that many franchises of different genres are owned by the same company, and not always they all do a perfect match to the publisher.Anyways, here is my list:

Sony - Square Enix, Rockstar Games, Activision, Warner Bros, Blizzard, Tri Ace
Microsoft - EA, Bethesda, 2K Games, Ubisoft,Remedy Entertainment.
Nintendo - Sega, Capcom, Koei Tecmo, Atlus, Konami(assuming it resumed the console and handlheld games development), Level 5, Platinum Games, Bandai Namco, Spike Chunsoft.

I can see Sony getting Ubisoft because PlayStation has a strong presence in Europe...... I think.

I think I agree with most of what people say for Nintendo like Level 5, Sega, Platinum. And EA for Microsoft.

Ka-pi96 said: Microsoft - Everyone That way all their games can still release on PC and wouldn't have to be exclusive

That's not what I was originally thinking but works for me.

More or less agree with this

sony cannot affoard activision


MS: EA, Activision, Ubisoft, Rockstar and Bethesda
Sony: 2k, Warner, Square, Konami, Capcom

all to Sony