By using this site, you agree to our Privacy Policy and our Terms of Use. Close

Forums - Gaming Discussion - MS CEO Nadella: We Will Consider Buying Even More Game Companies In Future

Chazore said:
Soundwave said:
Sony fans are more angry because they're not used to this. If you're a XBox, Nintendo, Sega, PC gamer being told "hey you have to buy a Playstation if you want to play that third party game" is the "norm". Now that the shoe's on the other foot, they're upset.

Well they'll have to get used to what the other platforms have had for decades, especially PC, the platform that gets dicked around by all 3 consoles for years.

This has honestly been a really long time coming, because since they entered the race, they joined out of revenge and arrogance (the first price reveal was absolutely drenched in it), and that's something that needs to be kicked right out of the system.

What's the problem with joining out of revenge? Nintendo most definitely deserved the beating they got during the PS1/N64 gen for what they did to Sony and we consumers got an amazing console with amazing games out of it. I don't see the downside.

Also, the first price reveal was awesome. It was a swift uppercut to the Sega Saturn and it solidified that Sony was taking console gaming seriously. What's your problem with it?



Around the Network
zero129 said:
LivingMetal said:

That is "open" from a hardware standpoint as long as you abide by a Microsoft ecosystem.  That in itself is NOT open.  See the irony in a popular misconception?

They dont have to pay MS anything to have their stores on windows.



Meanwhile Amazon about to launch a big cloud gaming service 'Luna' at a very attractive price and offer a cable like service for other publishers to platform on. Imagine if they (Amazon) got serious and brings out the wallets and Google with Stadia. This going to get messy, fast. Microsoft released the kraken indeed.



PC isn’t an open market because of Windows, even though Steam, Origin, UPlay, GamersGate, GMG, Direct2Drive, Epic Game Store, etc etc all exist and compete against one another? That doesn’t make sense.



Bandorr said:
hinch said:
Meanwhile Amazon about to launch a big cloud gaming service 'Luna' at a very attractive price and offer a cable like service for other publishers to platform on. Imagine if they (Amazon) got serious and brings out the wallets and Google with Stadia. This going to get messy, fast. Microsoft released the kraken indeed.

Plus they already have twitch, AND amazon prime. They have video and gaming covered.  Amazon giving free subscriptions to gaming companies is powerful. Amazon gets half of their money back, the gaming company gets half - and the user gets free games.  Combine that with bits, and ads and the gaming company is making out like a bandit.

That is thousands of times more viable than Stadia.  What is Stadia combines with Twitch/Amazon?

This is true and is kinda scary. I honestly can't see them collaborating as the margins would be too thin.

But yeah one thing you cannot underestimate is Amazons selling power. It makes me wary of the future of video games. This is exactly what publishers have been wanting for decades. Cuts out the used games market and publishers have full control and sustained revenue.

Last edited by hinch - on 24 September 2020

Around the Network
FloatingWaffles said:
EricHiggin said:

I would assume most meant build upon what they already have and come up with exciting new IP. SNY mostly uses it's existing studio's to expand and make new IP. They don't just go buying new studio's every time they want to diversify their game portfolio. This is the problem some people will have. Making new games out of what already exists is one thing. Buying up multi platform games and keeping them to yourself is quite a bit different. Instead, as Nadella put's it, that's tough to do and a lot of work which could all be for nothing, so the easier and smarter thing to do, is just buy something that's already well established.

I don't think those people thought MS would go buying entire publishers and big multi franchise studios like that, potentially making them exclusive to XB. Even if they're not exclusive to XB, but hurting SNY in the long run, they won't be happy about that. For MS to brag about this, they aren't winning over any of those criticizers because they've solved one problem yet created another.

But the thing is people always compare it to what Sony has done when they aren't the same circumstances. Sony has had years for their first parties to be able to get to that level because they were able to make that investment a long time ago since Playstation is one of their biggest money makers atm, they need to make sure it succeeds. Whereas with Xbox we know for a fact this gen that Microsoft started looking at it as not as important and possibly even going on without it, as Nadella once said, and its budget was slashed heavily as a result of that which lead to them not really being able to do much until Phil finally got promoted in late 2017 and was able to convince them that Xbox was important and actually got the funding to make some real changes, which we started seeing in 2018 almost immediately. 

That's always been the main thing said for ages now, no matter what, is "where are the games". Even now, after everything Xbox has done, you still see people saying "but the games still aren't here", and at this point it just feels disingenuous and mostly like fanboy shit because that means there was literally no winning situation for Microsoft with some of these people. We've seen the games, we know they are coming, just because they aren't here at this very second doesn't change that, and ignoring the circumstances as to why they aren't here yet is a convenience argument. Xbox basically had 3 options:

1) Create EVERY new studio they would have from the ground up and expand their current ones, which would take even LONGER for the games to develop and come out as a result, and these people would just still keep complaining about the same thing regardless for years about how "there's still no games tho", despite knowing that it's because they made every new studio completely like they apparently asked for? 

2) Acquire some new studios that already have a culture and development cycle that can now do a lot better with more funding and security, decreasing the amount of waiting it will take for games to release while also expanding their first party much quicker, which is the same thing these people have been asking for but suddenly that's not the way they want it when it was REALISTICALLY the only way it could be done in a reasonable amount of time, the same thing they were previously complaining about how long it was taking?

3) Rush out games sooner in order to fill a barren lineup that would have released at lower quality as a result, then these people would just use the lower quality to fuel their console war shit while STILL trying to say there are no games. 

Tell me what choice Microsoft could have made here that wouldn't have had these people (mostly fanboys) ultimately complaining about the same thing; ie wHERe aRe tHE gAmES. And i've seen "but they should have done these things years ago so the games would be ready by now" plenty of times which also makes no sense, as I mentioned they literally COULDN'T do anything to change these things until recently. 

It's just like when these random armchair devs on forums who have never worked on a piece of hardware kept trying to dictate what the Switch could run third party wise, and the goalposts just kept moving and destroying everything they said to the point where all they can say now is "lol well the games look like shit tho" in the corner passive aggressively because they don't like looking dumb. That's what "well still no games rn tho" has become for Xbox because now that Microsoft is making moves that these people didn't expect they ever would be, it's the only thing they can resort to saying to try to downplay it all, especially when plenty of games actually have released already too. 

In terms of acquisitions it's no different from how you see the passive aggressive angry comments of "lol when you can't make it yourself just buy it", "gotta buy stuff to keep away from other platforms", etc as if it's some good dig at Microsoft when it literally just shows how clueless they are. It's like these people are pretending Microsoft walked into their offices, pointed a gun to their heads and performed a hostile takeover. Every single company Microsoft has acquired has agreed to be acquired, and i'm pretty sure I would trust these companies to know more about what the pros and cons of being acquired are for themselves compared to random forum posters who will never work there or in the industry whatsoever. 

So to sum it all up in a much more condensed manner, MS was screwed one way or another. Either they took the time to create new studio's and IP and deal with the nagging until they hopefully got to an acceptable first party position, or they buy up some established third party studio's to solve the problem here and now.

Well it's their decision, and they made it, but they were screwed one way or another. They were going to get the negativity thrown their way regardless, they just chose what would solve the immediate problem. Being upset or irritated that some people still aren't happy is useless. There was no getting around it.

MS hasn't done a good job focusing on first party overall. They started out with the right idea in terms of exclusives with OG XB, but quickly decided it wasn't something to focus too much on going forward. Now they're paying the price. That's how life works. The balance is maintained one way or another. MS didn't focus enough on exclusives over the gens, so now they're going to have to deal with the negativity until they fix it. There is no magic wand to instantly solve the problem at this point.

It's also important to note, the haters are going to hate. Plain and simple. These people can never be pleased, so just ignore them. The rest are basically offering constructive criticism and there's nothing wrong with that. You can either choose to solve that problem asap, or explain to them they are wrong based on the companies chosen direction, otherwise you're going to keep hearing the same criticisms.

Just because MS and ZeniMax came to a business agreement, doesn't mean it's automatically good for all gamers. It's certainly good for both companies, but whether that pans out to be for the good of all remains to be seen. Plenty of times money wins if it means screwing over some if not all customers. Maybe this will be the case, perhaps not. Time will tell. Everything needs time.



Spike0503 said:

What's the problem with joining out of revenge? Nintendo most definitely deserved the beating they got during the PS1/N64 gen for what they did to Sony and we consumers got an amazing console with amazing games out of it. I don't see the downside.

Also, the first price reveal was awesome. It was a swift uppercut to the Sega Saturn and it solidified that Sony was taking console gaming seriously. What's your problem with it?

Revenge in this modern era doesn't really net you much, certainly if it's done via vigilantism. In the case of how Sony went about it, they ended up doing so with arrogance, and that arrogance has stayed with them since they entered the ring. 

This end result we're seeing right now is a result of keeping up said arrogance for years.

There was a difference between Ninty and Sony, because back before Sony even entered, Nintendo ruled the games industry with an iron fist. Sony hasn't exactly ruled in the same vein that Nintendo once did, because by the time they entered, we already had both Nitny and Sega.

It was a swift uppercut indeed, but the way it was revealed came off as rather arrogant, that's the point Iw as getting at. You can still be a genius at anything, but you can also still show arrogance. Arrogance in general isn't a thing people desire, nor is it cited as objectively healthy to have.

You can still have good competition and stow away the arrogance you know?. You don't have to run a company like some shit grinning chav on the street who thinks he's gonna own the block, because lord knows that type always deserved to get curbed hard.

Last edited by Chazore - on 24 September 2020

Step right up come on in, feel the buzz in your veins, I'm like an chemical electrical right into your brain and I'm the one who killed the Radio, soon you'll all see

So pay up motherfuckers you belong to "V"

the-pi-guy said:
CptYellowPants said:

I've probably spend over 300 hours playing Skyrim. Wouldn't it be cheaper to just buy games like that instead of paying a monthly fee?  

If you are only playing Skyrim, buying the game is cheaper.  If you're buying Skyrim, Doom, Battlefield, Halo, Gears, etc.  The monthly fee is cheaper. If the service has 4 games every year that you want to play, the monthly fee becomes the cheaper option. 

But there won't be 4 exclusives per year that you"d want to play,  Especially from bethesda. So monthly fee isn't worth it. But a lot of people will just join and cancel when ever an exclusive they want releases. So I wonder how long it will take for them to make their investment back. Maybe they expect 60 to 70% of new members to remain connected monthly.



sales2099 said:
KratosLives said:
So instead of fixing their own studio and publishing better ,more varied games, they go and purchase a multiplatformed studio. Great game studios started from something small. You can actually wake up with an idea of making a great video company. They have the money and means to put together a team and studios and make great games, yet they just don' seem to. They are taking they easy route. I'd like to see if they have the gall to keep any futire elder scroll /fallout titles exclusive to xbox just to see the backlash.

God I love these misinformed posts. 

In terms of “fixing” they have adopted a hands off approach where they don’t interfere with development. Inexile explained how MS gave them money, new offices and allowed a delay of Wasteland 3 for voice acting and general polish. Psychonauts 2 also delayed into 2021 because they needed more time. Halo Infinite delayed for polish instead of MS forcing a holiday launch. Turn 10 stopped their 2 year cycle for Forza Motorsport so they can polish their engine and make a great next gen impression.

As for varied.....Ori, Gears Tactics, Minecraft Dungeons, Flight SIM, Tell Me Why, Battletoads, Wasteland 3.....all literally a different genre. All these games got good scores, Ori 2 and Flight SIM in the 90s. Sorry to say but MS doing both. They got the money to do both. Your post completely ignores what they have done with their other studios. 

Kudos to flight sim, but that's about it.  That was coming and is pc focused. Psychonaughts 2 isn't a big game, and they had years working on halo and was delayed cause of the backlash. What i'm saying is microsoft could have done a lot better. Forza was never an issue. That game is their best exclusive and has been their most consistent in quality. In my opinion halo hasn't been the same since bungie left, and gears went downhill after cliffy b left. I also wish microsoft could have secured some deal to bring splintel cell back to it's former glory.



Bandorr said:
the-pi-guy said:

It's not just exclusives. It also includes EA games and others. 

They want to push Gamepass as Netflix for games. Not really hard to see how that's appealing. 

People constantly call it the netfilx of games but they miss something important. Netflix has content exclusive to Netflix. Gamepass does not.

So will they ever cross that line?

A game pass only game. You have to subscribe to play it.

Not likely, and what you're forgetting here, is that Netflix's success was never predicated on exclusive content. The ability to purchase individual content elsewhere isn't a hinderance to a service model. The only reason exclusive content became a necessity for them, was because Netflix recognized that if the studios they were relying on for content catalogues eventually realized the massive money making potential of this business model, and decided to pull said content in favor of their own streaming services (as we're seeing everyone do now), then Netflix would find themselves essentially shut out of a market they themselves pioneered.