Like EA Games.

Edit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o0W91FrTlYk

I hope Microsoft doesn't buy Remedy. They're the pride of Finnish gaming and should stay independent. I do hope they continue doing business with Microsoft and Sami Järvi (Sam Lake) just told in an interview that they're happy working with Microsoft. In fact he said when they offered the idea of Quantum Break to Microsoft, MS wanted to make the game even bigger Remedy had planned. That was because at that time MS still considered X1 entertainment device.

Where are you getting this idea from? They will be buying companies they have a high chance of being profitable not buying companies that arent. No company wants to invest in a brand that isnt going to turn a profit. The companies i listed are talented and work well with MS/Xbox.

Epic games & Capcom wouldnt work... you can probably scratch those off the list.

REMEDEY & moonstudioes, I could see that.

Well, it would be like MS to give up trying to build their own studios and franchises and just buy established ones instead. You can forget Capcom, some of the others might be possible, but expanding first party is not something they seem to be interested in.

Really not sure what you mean by 'now they have room under the Xbox banner.' They had plenty of room already, they were well behind Sony and Nintendo and now they are not even close. Looks like they are focusing on more PC stuff and are happy to churn out the same few franchises.

Which Capcom game would be succeful in the west expect maybe SFV ? I don't really see why MS should buy Capcom. To try saving the Xbox brand in Japan with games like MH ? Lol it would more likely kill MH than help Xone.

Which Capcom game would be succeful in the west expect maybe SFV/DR ? I don't really see why MS should buy Capcom. To try saving the Xbox brand in Japan with games like MH ? Lol it would more likely kill MH in the process than help Xone.

Nintendo and Sony have better reasons to buy Capcom than MS.

Getting taken over by MS, hell no.

Any company with a good working relationship with Sony at this current moment would be a FOOL to be bought out by Microsoft. Sony was on top of the console market during the PS1 and PS2 days. They bounced back from the PS3 with the PS4. The PS4's success is bigger than most anyone could have anticipated. And if you are a fairly successful third party developer who have been catering to the multi-platform market, allowing yourself to be bought out by a first party console maker would be asinine. Especially with Microsoft when we've have already witnessed the reality of studios that have come and gone under Microsoft's banner in relatively short period of time.

Besides just fantasizing which third party developers Microsoft will buy out to undercut the competition in a false hope that poises the Xbox One over the PS4, just face the reality that the PS4 is a successful gaming console of offerings that have catered to the gaming audience far and wide. This thread would NOT have been started if the Xbox One wasn't in such a unpredictable state of content support to maintain some semblance of a competitive edge over the content offerings of the PS4.

While it did occur to me that this could be restructuring in preperation to add new studios to their roster, until they actually DO, or at least announce their intention to do so, things could kind of go 50/50 here. Sure, they might be preparing to beef up their first party efforts... or they could just be making the decision to de-emphasize first-party studios in favor of second-party and third-party titles instead. They'd still get the benefits of working with those studios- 'Me Pay You, You Make Game, Me Sell Game'- but still leave both sides with an 'out' if for whatever reason they can't get together on a particular project, or the studio simply wants to keep their options open to pursue other platforms in the future. Microsoft meanwhile would have an element of flexibility, as they'll mostly own studios who will release guaranteed money-makers, and can pick-and-choose 'riskier' propositions from second and third party offerings.

Don't get me wrong, first-party ownership has its benefits as well. Microsoft wouldn't have to worry about competing with other publishers to coax a particular developer to work with them, any IPs developed would pretty much automatically belong to Microsoft, etc. Kind of wondering if Microsoft still deems it worth whatever goals they're currently pursuing though.

But all right, let's say Microsoft's plan is fortifying their first party studio roster. Playground actually seems like a bit of a shoe-in given they've been working with a Microsoft IP for so long, Microsoft really should put a ring on it if they have any intention on making Forza Horizon or further spin-offs a regular thing. Same goes to Iron Galaxy to an extent, though that might hinge on either Microsoft wanting more fighting titles after Killer Instinct, or Iron Galaxy showing they can deliver something aside from Killer Instinct.

The others kind of start to descend the ladder of probability for me, though; they have great working relationships with Remedy, but that in and of itself is no guarantee. Just look at Insomniac Games, who made Resistence, Ratchet and Clank, Spyro, all of which were exclusive to various Playstation consoles, and indeed, they spent literally fifteen years only making titles for Playstation platforms before starting to branch off to multiplats, and eventually of course Sunset Overdrive.

Moon Studio and Undead Labs are still a bit untested; while Microsoft might look to scoop them up early and take a chance they'll pay off in the long run, they might contract them to do some more second-party work beforehand, to show that they can consistently deliver what Microsoft is looking for.

Epic Games... yeeeeah that's much further in the 'probably not' column for me. Even excluding the CEO's recent statement on Microsoft's PC initiative (though admittedly he did backpedal,) Epic Games chose to sell the Gears of War IP to Microsoft outright rather than stick around to keep working on it. Even if they weren't just put on Gears of War again, they might not be interested in establishing such strong (and in this case much more lasting) ties with Microsoft.

Capcom seems like a major hail mary call, man. o.O More of a 'Wouldn't It Be NICE, Though?' than anything else. Especially given while Capcom and Microsoft partnering MIGHT boost MS' profile in Japan... there's more than an equal chance of it just wiping out any relevance Capcom still has in the Japanese market, basically making it a Japanese studio that only sells to a western audience. =P And Capcom is proooobably aware of that.