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Forums - Microsoft Discussion - Rumor: Microsoft Acquiring Playground Games and other Unknown Studios

Azzanation said:
LipeJJ said:

Great move if this is true. MS needs to have studios like this one if they want to be competitive next gen. I'm curious to see what they bring to the table.

May i ask what difference does it make compared to previous years? Playground were always close with MS, being owned or independent will offer nothing new to what we are already getting. Its just more expenses for MS and more pressure for the Devs if owned. The smarter move is to just own the IPs and hire devs to make your games in my opinion.

If this is true, i hope MS budget them very well because Playground games dont exactly set the world on fire with sale records with there games.

The difference is MS wouldn't have to worry about another big publisher coming in, offering PG a huge contract to work on games for them instead. They're a proven studio, who consistently put out quality games. Even if you own the IP they've been working on, it's not that easy to just find a replacement for all those people working on it if they decide to take their business elsewhere.



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Angelus said:
Azzanation said:

May i ask what difference does it make compared to previous years? Playground were always close with MS, being owned or independent will offer nothing new to what we are already getting. Its just more expenses for MS and more pressure for the Devs if owned. The smarter move is to just own the IPs and hire devs to make your games in my opinion.

If this is true, i hope MS budget them very well because Playground games dont exactly set the world on fire with sale records with there games.

The difference is MS wouldn't have to worry about another big publisher coming in, offering PG a huge contract to work on games for them instead. They're a proven studio, who consistently put out quality games. Even if you own the IP they've been working on, it's not that easy to just find a replacement for all those people working on it if they decide to take their business elsewhere.

I see your point however owning studios eat up the devisions budget and adds to the expenses. This means Playground will have to profit. MS have to now pay for all those enployees yearly. More studios doesnt always mean more money, it can lead to more games however if they dont make profit on there games they can go into the risk of closing or being sold out.

On the good side, they can be guaranteed exclusive games (which i dont care about exclusives) and MS can most likely fund more dollars directly to the studio to make bigger and better projects.

As it stands right now, Playground werent going anywhere and the freedom they have to make games is probably why there games are so good. I trust MS with there decision however to me, owning the IPs and hiring devs just seems more business smart if you view it from a buisness standpoint.

I do see Turn 10 and Playground Games partnership with each as one of the best duos in the industry. Maybe thats why this is comsidered by MS.

If true lets see how it pans out.



they have 2 studios and new studio in Santa Monica, MS might not be playing around next gen. Now just make one Japan game studio, pls. lol



Surprised they didn't already own them/



Azzanation said:
Angelus said:

The difference is MS wouldn't have to worry about another big publisher coming in, offering PG a huge contract to work on games for them instead. They're a proven studio, who consistently put out quality games. Even if you own the IP they've been working on, it's not that easy to just find a replacement for all those people working on it if they decide to take their business elsewhere.

I see your point however owning studios eat up the devisions budget and adds to the expenses. This means Playground will have to profit. MS have to now pay for all those enployees yearly. More studios doesnt always mean more money, it can lead to more games however if they dont make profit on there games they can go into the risk of closing or being sold out.

On the good side, they can be guaranteed exclusive games (which i dont care about exclusives) and MS can most likely fund more dollars directly to the studio to make bigger and better projects.

As it stands right now, Playground werent going anywhere and the freedom they have to make games is probably why there games are so good. I trust MS with there decision however to me, owning the IPs and hiring devs just seems more business smart if you view it from a buisness standpoint.

I do see Turn 10 and Playground Games partnership with each as one of the best duos in the industry. Maybe thats why this is comsidered by MS.

If true lets see how it pans out.

I mean, back in the day, Bioware wasn't "going anywhere" either. MS had a good thing going with them, getting great console exclusive games, and then EA stepped in and bought them. I understand that owning a studio is a lot more costly than contracting them, but if you're just outsourcing all the time you're also at the mercy of the market. "I have X IP that needs a game developed….which studios would be suited for this project? How many of those are available? What other projects do they have on the table to choose from? What sort of time frame can we work out? Etc."



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The fact that a MS person has become a director isn't a rumour thats a fact according to companies house website... (very easy to lookup these details these days).

So yeah its definitely true that a director on the board is a MS person, so that means at least a stake in the company.



Making an indie game : Dead of Day!

I agree. Look at Sony they have bought all those studios and it has paid off big time. By buying good studios like Playground they know for sure that they will still have good exclusives in the future



If this is true that is a good purchase especially with them rumored to working on Fable.




Similar situation to Quantic Dreams being bought by Sony... they don't need to buy what is already theirs in practical way.
Unless MS wants to massively invest on it, there is not much point in buying them.



duduspace11 "Well, since we are estimating costs, Pokemon Red/Blue did cost Nintendo about $50m to make back in 1996"

http://gamrconnect.vgchartz.com/post.php?id=8808363

Mr Puggsly: "Hehe, I said good profit. You said big profit. Frankly, not losing money is what I meant by good. Don't get hung up on semantics"

http://gamrconnect.vgchartz.com/post.php?id=9008994

Azzanation: "PS5 wouldn't sold out at launch without scalpers."

makes sense.

some just hate cant resist to hate, because Microsoft. its an obvious good move.