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Forums - Microsoft Discussion - Rumor: Microsoft interested in buying CrowdStar

Legend11 on 16 February 2010
heruamon said:
Legend11 said:
$200 million? $1 billion? This is the dot-com bust all over again.

Except that these companies are MAKING money!  Just because most people on this site don't like social media type games, doesn't mean that their is no market place for these products...looking at a game like Resturant City...I know ALOT of people who have been rocking that game hard for almost a year now...think about it...or look at Castle Age...I've only been in it for 1 month, but I'vespent $20...ther eare people playing poker, etc...what do you'll think are the operating and development cost for them...peanuts.


True but they would be spending $200 million for what is basically a company with 20 employees, no assets except for the sixth most popular game on Facebook, and which had an initial investment of $100 thousand dollars.  Microsoft instead could use that money to fund at least 20 such games with some of the most talented people in the industry creating them.  Considering the calibur of talent I think one or more of those games would be even more popular.  Given that do you really think CrowdStar is worth $200 million?



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heruamon on 16 February 2010
Legend11 said:
heruamon said:
Legend11 said:
$200 million? $1 billion? This is the dot-com bust all over again.

Except that these companies are MAKING money!  Just because most people on this site don't like social media type games, doesn't mean that their is no market place for these products...looking at a game like Resturant City...I know ALOT of people who have been rocking that game hard for almost a year now...think about it...or look at Castle Age...I've only been in it for 1 month, but I'vespent $20...ther eare people playing poker, etc...what do you'll think are the operating and development cost for them...peanuts.


True but they would be spending $200 million for what is basically a company with 20 employees, no assets except for the sixth most popular game on Facebook, and which had an initial investment of $100 thousand dollars.  Microsoft instead could use that money to fund at least 20 such games with some of the most talented people in the industry creating them.  Considering the calibur of talent I think one or more of those games would be even more popular.  Given that do you really think CrowdStar is worth $200 million?

I honestly can't say if this is the best use of M$'s investment dollars for acquisition, because know very little about the company in question, but from what I have seen from some of hte companies on Facebook and the like, with games like Mafia Wars and Castle Age, or something like Restaurant City, the microtransaction is very evident.  Is this company worth 5-6 AAA titles...dunno, but personally, I'd like to see 5-6 AAA title, over this move.  With that said, I'm not going to call it a stupid move without knowing the details.



"...You can't kill ideas with a sword, and you can't sink belief structures with a broadside. You defeat them by making them change..."

- From By Schism Rent Asunder

Slimebeast on 16 February 2010
heruamon said:
Slimebeast said:
heruamon said:
This news dovetails into the news coming out about the new mobile OS...apps are going to be huge, and these games are more readily ported to mobile platforms. I'm not sure on that valuation...as $200 million are about 5-6 triple-A titles, but I guess M$ is serious about getting back to at least #2 for mobile platforms...btw...Blackberry is #1 at 41.6%, followed by Apple at 25.6% and M$ at 18%...Google is way down at fifth, with like 5% or so, but with Winmo 7 news hitting the street, I think ALOT of business users are going to stick with BB or jump to this. As for consumers, I think it's going to grab a solid backing as well...we will have to wait to see what Apple does with OS 4 tho.

What do all those numbers stand for lol? They're the marketshare of what?

Platform market share, I assume.  The difference is that BB and Apple have their own hardware and software, where as M$ only had a loose confederation of hardware tied to software...it seems as if WinMo 7 will change that, with M$ being more strigent on the standards for WinMo 7 platforms.  I don't think we will see a Windows Phone, but I do think we will see some standouts. 

Yeah but what platforms? Are we talking mobile phones? Mobile Phone OS's? Mobile Phone gaming?



heruamon on 16 February 2010
Slimebeast said:
heruamon said:
Slimebeast said:
heruamon said:
This news dovetails into the news coming out about the new mobile OS...apps are going to be huge, and these games are more readily ported to mobile platforms. I'm not sure on that valuation...as $200 million are about 5-6 triple-A titles, but I guess M$ is serious about getting back to at least #2 for mobile platforms...btw...Blackberry is #1 at 41.6%, followed by Apple at 25.6% and M$ at 18%...Google is way down at fifth, with like 5% or so, but with Winmo 7 news hitting the street, I think ALOT of business users are going to stick with BB or jump to this. As for consumers, I think it's going to grab a solid backing as well...we will have to wait to see what Apple does with OS 4 tho.

What do all those numbers stand for lol? They're the marketshare of what?

Platform market share, I assume.  The difference is that BB and Apple have their own hardware and software, where as M$ only had a loose confederation of hardware tied to software...it seems as if WinMo 7 will change that, with M$ being more strigent on the standards for WinMo 7 platforms.  I don't think we will see a Windows Phone, but I do think we will see some standouts. 

Yeah but what platforms? Are we talking mobile phones? Mobile Phone OS's? Mobile Phone gaming?

It would have to be phones on the market running those OS to have any comparison, I would think.  I think these figures are also for the US alone.



"...You can't kill ideas with a sword, and you can't sink belief structures with a broadside. You defeat them by making them change..."

- From By Schism Rent Asunder

Slimebeast on 16 February 2010
heruamon said:
Slimebeast said:
heruamon said:
Slimebeast said:
heruamon said:
This news dovetails into the news coming out about the new mobile OS...apps are going to be huge, and these games are more readily ported to mobile platforms. I'm not sure on that valuation...as $200 million are about 5-6 triple-A titles, but I guess M$ is serious about getting back to at least #2 for mobile platforms...btw...Blackberry is #1 at 41.6%, followed by Apple at 25.6% and M$ at 18%...Google is way down at fifth, with like 5% or so, but with Winmo 7 news hitting the street, I think ALOT of business users are going to stick with BB or jump to this. As for consumers, I think it's going to grab a solid backing as well...we will have to wait to see what Apple does with OS 4 tho.

What do all those numbers stand for lol? They're the marketshare of what?

Platform market share, I assume.  The difference is that BB and Apple have their own hardware and software, where as M$ only had a loose confederation of hardware tied to software...it seems as if WinMo 7 will change that, with M$ being more strigent on the standards for WinMo 7 platforms.  I don't think we will see a Windows Phone, but I do think we will see some standouts. 

Yeah but what platforms? Are we talking mobile phones? Mobile Phone OS's? Mobile Phone gaming?

It would have to be phones on the market running those OS to have any comparison, I would think.  I think these figures are also for the US alone.

Yeah has to be US market because Apple can't have 25% marketshare ww.