Oh no... IGN: "Sony Will Let Microsoft Make First Move - Hirai sees no point in announcing first."

[Dodece]

@persistantthug

Microsoft didn't close those studios down for lack of money. They closed those studios, or relocated the staff for the simple reasons that they were either not producing quality software, or software that wasn't relevant to the overall strategy. Microsoft wanted to focus its efforts on console gaming, and flight simulators or strategy games just weren't what they needed to be pumping money into making.

Further more the truth of the matter is Electronic Arts overpaid for Bioware by a large margin, and chances are that they are regretting that now, because as it stands it is going to take many years for the investment to bare fruit if it ever will. They didn't buy the company for Mass Effect, Dragon Age, or any of the other properties that Bioware created for the console market. They bought Bioware to compete with Blizzard in the MMORPG marketplace. Electronic Arts absolutely fears the money that World of Warcraft is generating for its biggest rival. They needed a response and Bioware's Knights of the Old Republic Online seemed like a gold mine.

It was a foolish move on the part of Electronic Arts. Just about everyone said so at the time. Especially fans of the genre in question, because Bioware didn't have a fucking clue about what made a good game for the genre. Microsoft probably saw the same thing everyone other then Electronic Arts saw, because Microsoft itself had dabbled with the idea of entering the space, and had been burned repeatedly.

Bioware was trying to create a single player game with a online subscription based model, but here is the catch people don't pay subscriptions for single player scripted games. The games design got people in the door, but it wasn't able to keep them there with good reason. They ran out of things to do pretty damn fast, and then they left. In the end their new owner paid a shitload of money to make shitloads of money, but has only ended up losing hundreds of millions of dollars on the deal.

So your argument basically boils down to Microsoft closing poor performers, and not buying a overpriced company. I can say with some certainty that is a pretty lame argument. I mean if I were Microsoft I would have closed down those studios, and if I were going to blow over half a billion dollars on a acquisition. There were and are a lot more attractive possibilities.