Microsoft Might Be Forced To Purchase Epic Games!

[mrstickball]

jacks81x said:

mrstickball said:

Chairman-Mao said:
Epic games is another company (also Valve) that I think is a tad bit over-rated but if MS purchases Epic that would be a huge hit to Sony's 3rd party and a boost to MS' 1st party.

Honestly, I think its the other way around. Epic is one of the most under-rated. Not because of their games, which are good but not great in terms of frequency. However, their Unreal Engine is what makes Epic a must-have for Microsoft.

Imagine a world where Microsoft gives out Unreal Engine as part of a SDK for free to developers. Could you imagine MS aquiring new developers by giving it in turn for exclusivity or a greater cut of royalties? MS would do insane business by that, and could screw Sony over in the process.

I actually think MS will lose developers.  The reason why the Unreal Engine is so popular (other than that it's a great engine), is because Epic puts no restrictions on the developers in how they use the engine and because they only ask for 25% royalty in return, which is ridiculously generous to the devs.  Can you imagine MS asking for anything less than 75% in return?  MS has never been known for their willingness to share their proprietary tools to begin with.  And if they're going to share it, you'll know they'll charge an arm and a leg and they'll probably prohibit the devs from making multi-plat games.  A lot of the major devs will just say no thanks to that.  They'll rather look elsewhere or develop their own in-house engine if MS is going to force them to only make games for them and up the royalty cost on top of that.  

That is an odd comment, given that most devs say that the Xbox 360 SDK is one of the best ever made. Microsoft also put forth the model for digital royalty rights that were far more lucrative to developers than anyone else at the time (70/30). Since then, everyone has followed that model.

And Microsoft asks for 10% now, which is the lowest console licensing fee in the business. I couldn't imagine how happy Microsoft would be if they could get an additional 25% from developers.

Microsoft would most likely say 'If you want to use our engine, we will license it to you for a 10% royalty' and simply make UE3 360/PC compatible. That way, they ensure the game will most likely be exclusive, get some royalty out of it, and ensure the devs get a fantastic engine to work with.

I think you really underestimate Microsoft in terms of how much they are willing to work with devs.