Xbox Isn't Done With New Acquisitions, Job Listing Suggests

Of course there will be plenty more acquisitions in the future, but I'm skeptical that Microsoft will engage in any major acquisitions until the Activision-Blizzard deal is finalized... which leads me to believe Ubisoft is being acquired by Sony or Tencent, or possibly Apple if the rumours about their upcoming gaming division are to be believed.

We need more of a Japanese presence within the Xbox ecosystem. Something akin to what they accomplished with Mistwalker during the 360 era. I hope they can secure some exclusivity of some kind with Namco, Sega or Square. Although, of the three, Sega seems the most viable. (Namco and Nintendo have been cozy for awhile, and Square is infatuated with Sony.) Resurrect the Shining and Phantasy Star series and bring new, modern versions to Xbox!

I’m honestly sick of hearing about acquisitions. Give us games. Don’t get me wrong, Game Pass is amazing and has a lot of awesome gems on there - but we need first party games now. Forza was great; Halo Infinite was awesome but has no content to keep players engaged; and that’s about it. I understand getting acquisitions will provide options to create more games, but I feel like they will have trouble managing these studios, because it’s already wonky as it is.

I'm fine with Microsoft buying any American/European developers

Can't see MS doing any more deals until the Activision-Blizzard deal crosses the line.
But still nice to see they are looking for the future.

I really want Xbox to have a studio dedicated to smaller games from their IP catalogue. They can be experimental and short, that’s not a problem, to test the waters. Plus it fills in the gaps between big releases. For example; a small Banjo or Conker game, or something Viva Pinata related. Something akin to Dead Rising Case Zero. Because yea at the moment it’s pretty dry on the first party front (not that I need more games right now. Still drowning).

Im just hoping for some exclusives or games that utilize the series x, from all these acquisitions, not just more back catalogue games added to the service.

For everyone saying Sega, it is not going to happen. Sega are too close to Nintendo more than anyone else, and Nintendo are bigger in Japan than any other gaming platform. That means that from sales, revenue and tax the Japanese government wouldn't want to see the biggest publisher who has a big appeal to the audience of the best selling platform to go an American company.

I'm certain they would squash that deal immediately. Not to mention Sammy Holdings will have to want to sell Sega in which they have more going on than just games. Such as their arcade business and Sega game resorts, gambling halls and now, movies with Sonic. Sega recently have spoken of cloud gaming via their arcades and also suggests their other gaming ventures, they will likely end up with their own cloud gaming platform.

In addition to all of that they are very secure financially. According to financial reports they make, in revenue a third of what GamePass does in the same quarter each year at present.

And finally, for people who think it isn't true, the Japanese Foreign Investment legislation restricts foreign entities from acquiring or gaining more than a 49% partnership share in a Japanese business.

In short, Microsoft will not acquire Sega.

Keep hearing calls for buying Japan publishers. Would any of them go for it, or atleast they would stay multiplatform as you could potentially lose 90+% of the playerbase

@GADG3Tx87 if your last statement is true (which I'm happy if it is) then could you explain how Bethesda acquired tango games?

@UltimateOtaku91
That I don't know. What I do know is the legislation used to be less restrictive until 2021 when the Japanese government further strengthened the legislation to further prevent foreign influence.
Perhaps prior there were ways in which it could be circumvented. Maybe there even still is.

Either way it is extremely unlikely to happen with Sega's other ventures. Considering their arcades, hotels, gambling and now movies Microsoft couldn't manage all of that and Sammy couldn't keep it because it wouldn't work without the Intellectual Property being, their little blue hedgehog.

Considering how much money gambling and pachinko alone make in tax for Japan Microsoft would have a very hard time acquiring anything there at all without a minor corporate presence.

Besides, Nintendo wouldn't be too happy about it.

Edit. Here's a little something I read that sort of backs up what I mean. Except the final paragraph is completely wrong.
https://www.tweaktown.com/news/71786/no-microsoft-isnt-buying-sega-and-has-reason-to-sell/amp.html

And here is an article regarding the Japanese Foreign Investment legislation.
https://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=dc6b7f73-0da0-4f3c-8b73-f021f82c652c

This worries me. With the way they've handed their own self made studios like 343, I don't really have faith in their ability to run these giant companies they're trying to acquire.

I don't think Microsoft will engage in any kind of acquisitions until Act-Blizz deal is closed. They wouldn't risk such a huge deal at this point.

X💚B❤️O💚X
❤️💚Microsoft❤️💚

@GADG3Tx87 the tweantown article looks ridiculous in retrospect.
"The reality is Microsoft doesn't care all that much about Xbox." and "Microsoft isn't going to pay out big for gaming acquisitions any time soon." standing out the most

as for the lexology article it clearly says "The business-related restrictions are imposed on, among others, investments in any business related to:
national security;
public infrastructure;
public safety ;
protected domestic industry" and
" In fact, since liberalisation of ForeignDirectInvestments in 1980, there has been only one case where the ministries have actually issued a suspension order."

Japan won't stop the sale of Sega when they have allowed ¥39.7 trillion investements in other companies.
pachinko sales and taxes will continue under any owner (btw Sega has ONLY 400million pachinko sales) and Microsoft will most likely divest pachinko.
Microsoft by the way already has a big corporate presence in Japan (2000 employees when Sega has 3200 globally)
https://www.segasammy.co.jp/english/ir/library/pdf/settlement/2022/20220210_presentation_e_final.pdf

Sammy Holdings already belongs 28% to foreign investors
https://www.segasammy.co.jp/english/ir/stock/share_sample/

by the way Sammy's revenue decreased 24% in 2021 and their earnings decreased 76%, so they are not as financially secure as you make them up to be
https://www.segasammy.co.jp/english/ir/individual/operating-results/index.html#latest-results

and they are not the biggest publisher in Japan, they actuallly sell more overseas than they do in Japan. they are the 5th publisher https://www.statista.com/statistics/689649/japan-leading-video-gaming-software-companies-by-revenue/

I get that you don't want MS to buy Sega, but what you say are mostly inaccurate. Sammy Holdings is basically a 4 billion company, Microsotft can easily buy them through the stock market and Sammy Holdings have to answer to the shareholders like any public compnay

@UltimateOtaku91 the last part is not true. Kioxia's is majority-owned by Bain Capital, Sharp by Taiwan's Foxconn, Sony's 60% belongs to foreign investors. that's just a few I found qith a quick search, he just doesn't want MS to buy Sega 😅

and by the way the JP ministry of finance publishes a list of companies it requires prior notifications for foreign investment and gaming companies don't require one. that's fopr weapon, space etc companies only

https://www.mof.go.jp/english/policy/international_policy/fdi/20211102.html
https://www.mof.go.jp/english/policy/international_policy/fdi/kanrenshiryou01_20200424.pdf
https://medium.com/tokyo-fintech/mof-classifies-japans-companies-by-national-security-concerns-c4c124349143

As much as I would love to see Atlus games on Xbox, I look at the track record of studio management and think SEGA may be better off not being purchased by MS.

Maybe hire someone like Shuhei Yoshida that told Santa Monica that its early build of God of War was garbage and that ended up being on of the best, if not the best game of last generation?

With 30 studios, under awesome management, there's absolutely no need for more.

They can get Ubisoft, but if Ubisoft is still as good as Ubisoft atm, under xbox, it really doesn't do anything for me. Same for AB. We need improvement for Blizzard and Activision.

@RevGaming he told From Software that Demon's souls was naff too.

@NeutronBomb and didn't even need it.

The "rumours" surrounding Ubisoft are about non-gaming sharks circling it as it treads water.