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The_Liquid_Laser said:

The best selling games tend to be developed in house.  A similar route to this is for a console maker to purchase (fully or a portion of) a company that they already have a close relationship with.  That is basically what Sony did with Naughty Dog and what Nintendo did with Next Level Games.  Either way the console maker can support the developers and let them grow in size and skill gradually.  That is how to get the best selling first party games.

However, if a company is rich and impatient, like Microsoft, then they can just acquire large studios outright.  Has Microsoft ever made a development team better?  I don't think they have a good track record with this.  They have some very valuable IP now, but I kind of expect these franchises to get slowly ran into the ground.  I don't expect them to get better.  However, they will get some really great sales for several years until their time has come.  That is something.

I don't see Microsoft's acquisition strategy to be too amazing in the long run.  However, I do think Gamepass is a really solid strategy.  If they can get a wide adoption of Gamepass, then it may not matter a whole lot if their games kind of suck in 2030.  If they can get enough people used to a subscription model, then it may be hard for them to go back to purchasing games.  These acquisitions are really just a means to get people to try Gamepass.

Disagree with bolded. 

Turn 10: Home grown studio. Always released quality titles with maybe 1 being meh (FM5)

Bungie: Say what you want but Bungie was at their peak with Halo. Each game was always improving and adding new features.

Playground: Never has released a bad game and each one is better than the last.

Rare: Had some rough patches for sure, but Sea of Thieves is easily their most popular game they have made and it only happened because MS has support them completely. 

Mojang: Minecraft has only improved since the acquisition and spinoff titles have shown to be successful with a new one around the corner.

Double Fine: Psychonauts 2 would have less polish and content if MS didn't acquire them. Their words, not mine. It's one of their best games easily. 

Undead Labs: State of Decay 2 is much better than at release and they continue to release content for the game. The real test will be the 3rd game. 

The Coalition: I wouldn't say they have improved but they were never bad to begin with. Gears 4 and 5 are not classics like the original trilogy, but certainly still good games and always stayed true to Gears. 

343I: This is the only studio I would say has not improved or stayed consistent. Ups and downs throughout and that continues now. 

Of course we have seen the downfall of studios being mishandled ie Lionhead, but MS has literally admitted to it and said they want to be better. The notion MS ruins everything they touch is fabricated. As of now, we still don't know how the most recent acquisitions will perform because we haven't seen them release a game under MS.  What we can see the growth in studio size for all their recent acquisitions so that means MS is giving them what they need to successed. 

Last edited by smroadkill15 - on 24 August 2022