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Microsoft to acquire ZeniMax Media and Bethesda Softworks for $7.5B

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Re: Microsoft to acquire ZeniMax Media and Bethesda Softworks for $7.5B

#461

Post by teddyh »

cpach wrote: post #343
ehnto wrote: post #295

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I also quite like a lot of the blockbuster games as well as the indie games. An indie dev will never release a game like Red Dead 2, for one example. I definitely play more indie games, but I would rather the blockbuster market be healthy too.

I feel the same about the movie business. Indie films can be awesome, but some kinds of movies are hard to do without a large budget.

Pyramids are hard to build without a super-feudal economy and society. But we got rid of that, losing the practical ability to make pyramids in the process, because we value other things like democracy higher.

Re: Microsoft to acquire ZeniMax Media and Bethesda Softworks for $7.5B

#462

Post by SahAssar »

ssalazar wrote: post #457
SahAssar wrote: post #373

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Looking outside of the gaming space their recent acquisitions seem to have gone fine, no? For example Github seems to go well, Linkedin was always pretty shit and unethical, so I'm not sure it's any better or worse. Citus seems to still be going well and still offers on-prem or enterprise versions on other clouds than Azure. Xamarin is more open-sourced since Microsoft took over. IMO, (and if you told me I'd say this…

Skype is a very loud example of a poorly handled acquisition by Microsoft. The client has been turned into a real fan-spinner and it seems like they sacrificed a great standalone service for something that pushes consumer and business users towards tight integration with Microsoft's platform. 2020 could have been a banner year for Skype; instead Zoom is now shorthand for any video meeting whatsoever.

Yes, Skype was handled incredibly bad. I don't think MS knew what they bought and both the client and the platform turned from being the kleenex of voip to similar to seeing a yahoo email nowadays.

I think MS'es ways have changed since then though, looking at acquisitions since 2013 to 2015-ish they seem to have been handled better IMO.

Re: Microsoft to acquire ZeniMax Media and Bethesda Softworks for $7.5B

#463

Post by msikora »

pascah7 wrote: post #216
Cthulhu_ wrote: post #153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You could make the argument that because of Steam having such reach / monopoly on the PC gaming market, Steam (and by extension Valve) is effectively the publisher of games like that, and a very large one at that. There's GoG that mostly focuses on vintage games, and Epic that spends tons of money to get (timed?) exclusives on indie games + free handouts, but I'm not sure how well it's working for them to get market…

GoG does have a bunch of new games though. And IIRC they are owned by CD Project Red who are doing some big games now :)

Both CD Projekt Red and GOG are actually just subdivisions of CD Projekt.

Re: Microsoft to acquire ZeniMax Media and Bethesda Softworks for $7.5B

#464

Post by klmadfejno »

francis_t_catte wrote: post #22

Soon we'll just have Microsoft, Epic, and a conglomeration of EA, Activision, and Ubisoft after Bobby Kotick forces them all to merge. Facebook will bungle up any chance they have of capturing the gaming market after writing a cryptic paragraph about their legal right to request blood samples from all Oculous users in the TOS. Valve will quietly exit software development altogether, and pivot to building custom vanit…

The barrier between what indie studios and big studios can produce is increasingly shrinking. I'd say the market has never been healthier. The sheer amount of content is still constrained by some linear function of man hours but there's enough crowdsourcing business models like kickstarter and early access releases that even small shops can afford to show a cool concept and get funded for its completion.

Re: Microsoft to acquire ZeniMax Media and Bethesda Softworks for $7.5B

#465

Post by WorldMaker »

pascah7 wrote: post #216
Cthulhu_ wrote: post #153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You could make the argument that because of Steam having such reach / monopoly on the PC gaming market, Steam (and by extension Valve) is effectively the publisher of games like that, and a very large one at that. There's GoG that mostly focuses on vintage games, and Epic that spends tons of money to get (timed?) exclusives on indie games + free handouts, but I'm not sure how well it's working for them to get market…

GoG does have a bunch of new games though. And IIRC they are owned by CD Project Red who are doing some big games now :)

Yeah GOG hasn't "focused" on vintage games for at least half a decade now (and the switch from GoG and the original acronym to branding wise it's just GOG and its own "word" these days) and while back compat remains a core strength (though one as much exported at this point as most Publishers have paid attention to what GOG was doing and released many of the same games with the same tricks [ScummVM, DOSBOX, etc] on Steam and other platforms) has kept up with Steam (and Epic) on every major AAA release and a large swath of Indies so long as the publisher will allow a DRM Free release. Plus of course CD Projekt Red's own AAA releases (Witcher series, Cyberpunk) as obviously they want DRM Free publishing where available.

Re: Microsoft to acquire ZeniMax Media and Bethesda Softworks for $7.5B

#466

Post by mywittyname »

sailingparrot wrote: post #407
acruns wrote: post #344

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why would they limit there revenue to a single platform? That doesn't make sense to me. But I don't play videogames, haven't since my kids were teenagers, think Call of Duty. I have sold software to corporate, and I can say the revenue from software sales far outweigh hardware revenues.

Targeting all platforms means the Zenimax division within Microsoft will make more money. Targeting only Xbox means more Xbox will be sold, so Xbox division will make more money. It's not clear which one is a better deal for MS.

I think the multi-device strategy is a clear winner. The lifetime value of a console itself is probably not terribly high. After all, most game companies do not sell hardware at all and a few who have eventually gave up (Sega, Atari).

Plus, the PC, Switch, and iPad markets are largely orthogonal to the XB/PS ones. Content for the former probably doesn't compete with the latter, so it makes sense to sell in those markets. And lastly, could you imagine how Sony execs would feel if their best selling PS titles all came from MS studios? That would certainly put them in an awkward position to suddenly be financially dependent to some degree on MS.

Re: Microsoft to acquire ZeniMax Media and Bethesda Softworks for $7.5B

#467

Post by swyx »

dangoor wrote: post #382
NegatioN wrote: post #374

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just wanted to point out a small discrepancy here: As his bio on Twitter says, he's currently an independent AI researcher. But also sometimes consults for Oculus VR, although not actively employed there anymore. [0] It'd be very interesting to see if his return to Id might spark some changes :) [0]: https://twitter.com/ID_AA_Carmack

Carmack's Facebook Connect talk last week[1] sure made him sound very plugged into what's happening at Oculus. I was surprised, given that I, too, thought he had essentially left for AI research. [1]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sXmY26pOE-Y

yeah he sounded like he was tech lead for the project, i am surprised to learn he's "independent"

Re: Microsoft to acquire ZeniMax Media and Bethesda Softworks for $7.5B

#468

Post by andoriyu »

Osiris wrote: post #384
logicOnly wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is the inevitable trend of gaming since the 90s. Small team makes innovative and interesting game. Gets bought, makes a good sequel, then milks IP forever. It's up to you to move on.

The trend is definitely moving away from many separate games and toward "living" games. Look at how many games these days end up just doing updates/DLCs over many years rather than releasing whole new versions of the game. Look at Destiny, there was originally planned for Destiny 3, but now the plan is just to make Destiny 2 the only game for the next 10 years with constant content updates. Even now, Destiny 2 of tod…

> there was originally planned for Destiny 3

That was Activision's plan. Bungie never wanted pop new destiny titles likes CoD. D2 also designed with content being constantly added in mind - main story is super short. It's easier to sell cosmetics to fund "big" dlcs with small seasons in between. At least, compared to convincing people to buy an entire $60(70?) new game and wait for all of your friends buy it as well.

Re: Microsoft to acquire ZeniMax Media and Bethesda Softworks for $7.5B

#469

Post by macspoofing »

flipgimble wrote: post #353
tosh wrote: post #301

Carmack on the acquisition: > Great! I think Microsoft has been a good parent company for gaming IPs, and they don’t have a grudge against me, so maybe I will be able to re engage with some of my old titles. https://twitter.com/ID_AA_Carmack/status/1308069857913720832...

The fact that Zenimax corporate, and likely some unknown exec in that machine, had a long standing grudge against John Carmack made me loose so much respect for them. I may not always agree with Carmack from what I've read on twitter (he works for Facebook now) but I have the utmost respect for him, his transparency in his key note lectures, and his supremely engineering focused priorities. His leadership at id Softw…

>had a long standing grudge against John Carmack made me loose so much respect for them.

No kidding. You want to keep a guy like Carmack in the family in whatever capacity you can, because he carries such deep respect in the industry. It was a stupid thing for ZeniMax to burn that bridge.

Re: Microsoft to acquire ZeniMax Media and Bethesda Softworks for $7.5B

#470

Post by kcb »

sailingparrot wrote: post #407
acruns wrote: post #344

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why would they limit there revenue to a single platform? That doesn't make sense to me. But I don't play videogames, haven't since my kids were teenagers, think Call of Duty. I have sold software to corporate, and I can say the revenue from software sales far outweigh hardware revenues.

Targeting all platforms means the Zenimax division within Microsoft will make more money. Targeting only Xbox means more Xbox will be sold, so Xbox division will make more money. It's not clear which one is a better deal for MS.

Its not about selling Xboxs anymore. Its about Game Pass subscribers.
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