120°

Why Did Microsoft's Acquisition of SEGA Fall Through?

Microsoft's long-rumoured plan to acquire SEGA never came to pass because Bill Gates was sceptical the company had "enough muscle" to stop Sony, according to the company's former VP of Windows Sales.

chasegarcia4242d ago

I guess Bill was more of a Mario kid. I would have bought Sega without questions.

IAMERROR4242d ago (Edited 4242d ago )

Sega has a lot of great IPs.

@amaguli

Sega themselves aren't exactly utilizing them lol

Sonic will no doubt be used, Phantasy Star online, probably. Makes me think that if they ever did they we might not have gotten Valkyria Chronicles or yakuza :/

amaguli4242d ago

But the big question is would Microsoft have had utilized those IPs, or would Sega have gotten the Rare treatment?

Knight_Crawler4242d ago

Well looking at Segas financials, the company is doing ok but it is not generating much money.

If I remember correctly the price for Sega was almost2 time the amount that MS paid for Rare...fair enough Sega has more ip's but would MS really have seen that money back.

SaiyanFury4242d ago

Thank God M$ didn't acquire SEGA. Then series' like Yakuza would never make it over here. Hell, the series might not even keep getting subsequent games anymore. Thankfully MS didn't get them. SEGA stay your own way, and for the love of all that is holy, BRING OVER YAKUZA 5 and the HD collection! :)

cyberninja4242d ago

Thank God Ms never bought Sega.

1Victor4242d ago

Personally I think he was short sighted he wanted a one hit K.O win against Sony but as in fighting games there's no one hit win in real life if bill would had purchased Sega Microsoft would have a better chance to bested both Sony and Nintendo but that's history now and there's no chance of Sega been sold now or in the next generation . Mark my words Sega will rise again for the generation after next with a new console .

Donnieboi4242d ago

Punctuation can be your friend.

1Victor4242d ago

Thanks for the comment ,next time contribute to the conversation instead of been a gamma professor with a trolling doctorate. I'm writing from my cellphone and with little time for grammatical check .

miyamoto4242d ago (Edited 4242d ago )

super glad that didn't happen.

OC_MurphysLaw4242d ago

I love reading/watching about these kind of back room deals/decisions. You never realize just how close some of these seemingly crazy buyouts/mergers come to be.

220°

Microsoft Reportedly Spends $1 Billion Annually To Get Third-Party Games On Game Pass

Uncover the spending behind Xbox's Game Pass subscription. Discover how Microsoft invests a billion dollars annually in securing third-party games for the service.

Read Full Story >>
gamersocialclub.ca
Obscure_Observer6h ago

Good.

Now that you´re releasing games and making big money from every gaming platform, you should double that amount and give us even more day one third party games!

Jin_Sakai5h ago(Edited 5h ago)

You’re delusional beyond belief. Businesses wise it doesn’t make sense and sooner or later they’ll be raising prices again to cover that billion they’re blowing every year.

purple1015h ago(Edited 5h ago)

As someone else said earlier today, they are past the growth stage, it’s been stagnent for last 3 years, they are now in the money making stage, prepare to be goosed for as many dollars as possible for the least amount of content. It may not be bad now, (actually it is) but it will be soon (even worse) this year you got hellblade and starfirld and a load of other games that could be bought in bargain bins for about $5-30 and for that you pay them monthly

To add I honestly don’t know how you put up with the barrage of Xbox negativity (which is deserved). I put it down to:

A) you are being paid
B) you may have a problem thinking clearly
C) prefer rooting for the underdog, that’s a legit thing too. English people do it by default

Profchaos40m ago(Edited 40m ago)

Yeah Aussies also love an underdog as long as that underdog isn't Xbox as they were too of the game with the 360 then lost their minds

Chevalier20m ago

3 straight years of missing Gamepass targets. Some people are just blinded by their own idiocy. Will be interesting to see if COD does anything this fall

CosmicTurtle2h ago(Edited 2h ago)

He is a troll. Designed to stoke people up on here. We know this.

It’s quite funny.

Sonic18811h ago(Edited 1h ago)

Are you insane? You want them to double the amount when the Xbox is already struggling and losing money 🤔

Hofstaderman42m ago

Correction....XBOX is already dead.

fr0sty1h ago(Edited 1h ago)

They'll do that, after creating 4 more higher-priced tiers and making the one that currently includes everything only contain games that have been on the market for 4 years.

"Gamepass Ultra to the MAX: Now only $299 per year!"

Profchaos41m ago(Edited 41m ago)

They are trying to get a return on abk and Bethesda they won't double day one we're lucky we are still getting them now that day one has been removed from base tiers

They want to make money not give it away

+ Show (4) more repliesLast reply 20m ago
MrDead6h ago(Edited 6h ago)

I like how they twist cannibalising game sales into "invests".

No lifetime sales with MS, they'll F-up gaming the same as streaming services have done to the movie industry and it's workforce.

Fishy Fingers3h ago(Edited 3h ago)

Out of interest do you think those 3rd parties signing the deal are unhappy with the severence and have a gun to their head?

Bro probably has a PS+ sub and has library full of Epic launcher free games.

shadowT4h agoShowReplies(2)
CrimsonGuardVII2h ago

@badz148 its not, it just straight lied.

gold_drake1h ago(Edited 1h ago)

we know this, we have known this since last year.

this is not new or news.

Show all comments (25)
440°

Report: Microsoft Cutting 650 More Jobs From Gaming Division Per Phil Spencer's Letter to Employees

Phil Spencer has sent a letter out to employees informing them that 650 jobs would be cut from Microsoft's gaming division.

VenomUK8d ago (Edited 8d ago )

‘Good guy Phil’?

The truth likely is that the decision was not his to make and is possibly a direct consequence of cutting costs following the ABK deal.

DodoDojo8d ago

Would be nice if he'd mail one of those letters to himself.

RhinoGamer888d ago

Cut costs -> no bonus, stock options, raises for Phil and his leadership team.

Lightning778d ago

"Good guy Phil" is comical. You have to bleed green to see that. I'm only a matter of time until MS, that's right MS even in ages themselves from the industry.

Sad, people and even sadder and pathetic company.

fr0sty8d ago

If they keep this up, they won't even be able to go third party anymore after they stop making Xbox hardware.

+ Show (3) more repliesLast reply 8d ago
bionicstar8d ago

game devs aren't being let go.

“As part of aligning our post-acquisition team structure and managing our business, we have made the decision to eliminate approximately 650 roles across Microsoft Gaming—mostly corporate and supporting functions—to organize our business for long term success.”

darthv728d ago

getting rid of some suits... now this news isnt so bad. Too many suits makes all the wrong decisions, esp the top dogs.

Michiel19898d ago

@darth they arent suits, they are people that work in administration, customer support and that kinda stuff

ZacultronTheFirst8d ago

Probably people from much needed Marketing department.

Nacho_Z8d ago

It doesn't make it any better if they aren't devs being fired.

8d ago
+ Show (2) more repliesLast reply 8d ago
Petebloodyonion8d ago

The original story is from IGN as they are the ones who got the memo.
https://www.ign.com/article...

Still sucks!

badboyz098d ago

The day we hear that Xbox is no more is vastly approaching.

8d ago Replies(2)
Obscure_Observer8d ago

"The day we hear that Xbox is no more is vastly approaching."

Not sure Sony is doing any better with all that money lost on GaaS and all that worldwide backlash regarding the Pro.

1Victor8d ago

@obscured: “ Not sure Sony is doing any better with all that money lost on GaaS and all that worldwide backlash regarding the Pro.”
.
Welcome back we missed you said no one 🤣

.
I don’t remember Sony cutting over 1900 employees then Less than 7 months later get a leak for another 600 to be on the chopping board but hey let’s equate that to a few people not been happy about a mid gen system refresh price 🤦🏿.

8d ago
1Victor8d ago

@obscured: “
They also casually forget that Sony have been laying off thousands of people too”
Yeeesh I got a better help discount code for you

BehindTheRows8d ago

Uh, thr Pro "backlash" is hardly something that's going to tank their business. Unless you've been living under a rock, there's no question that Xbox is in the gutter.

Quit pivoting to Sony because you don't like the subject matter. Their game division isn't in the toilet.

DodoDojo8d ago

Well Sony isn't selling more copies of their games on a rival system yet so they must be doing alright.

8d ago
Mr_cheese7d ago

@obscure

Saves some straws for the rest of us will you

+ Show (5) more repliesLast reply 7d ago
343_Guilty_Spark7d ago

Vastly approaching is a weird phrase… vastly is typically used to convey the degree of some size or length or time.

Vastly approaching makes no sense.

You mean rapidly approaching.

MrDead8d ago

A combined $80 billion spent on consolidating a massive part of the industry, thousands fired all to line the pockets of the already wealthy and turn the gaming industry into a rental service.

FU MS.

crazyCoconuts8d ago

MS is a publicly traded company. If you have a 401K you yourself might own MS stocks.
I'm definitely not a MS fan, but CEOs need to keep returns high to keep their jobs if nothing else. They don't get to transfer the salaries to their accounts.
I blame MS for failed strategies, poor execution, lack of vision, etc.
These layoffs are just the result of those things.

MrDead8d ago

That's the weakest excuse for a giant monopoly I've ever seen... also companies like MS are more likely to damage people's 401k through monopolistic practices.

Obscure_Observer8d ago

"FU MS."

I love how you act all enraged and bully when it´s MS firing people.

"It´s all about the workers" at least they´re Sony´s employees, right? If they´re Sony they can go f* themselves right? It´s all justified and the blame lies elsewhere on some widespread industry problem, right? Right?

We been seeing some of Sony recent bs moves and you know what´s coming, right?

I´m expecting you to disappear the same way you do every time Sony layoff hundreds of people or get a whole studio shut down.

You´ll do anything to avoid and hold them accountable. But that's OK. You´are not biased, right?

1Victor8d ago

@obscured: “ "It´s all about the workers" at least they´re Sony´s employees, right? If they´re Sony they can go f* themselves right? It´s all justified and the blame lies elsewhere on some widespread industry problem, right? Right?”

.
Well Sony didn’t overreached and spend over 80 BILLION$ to acquire mayor 3rd party game developers and one MAYOR publisher the owner of the BIGGEST FPS just hoping to keeping it exclusive to their system and now having to fire thousands of employees to valance their books one more quarter.
Now Microsoft is beginning and going to kiss Sony dark ring and publish their “first party games “ on PlayStation. Regardless of who it is it’s wrong to do an acquisition and then fire people.
I applaud Microsoft for at least giving them a severance package and assistance getting a new job 👍👍.

MrDead8d ago

Chill out kid... also why bring up Sony, have they just spent 80 billion to consolidate a massive part of the industry to the detriment of thousands of workers?

MS lines their pockets whilst firing thousands, such a shame you support this.

Chevalier8d ago

Gee someone here said Xbox would NEVER release 1st party games on Playstation or competing platforms again?! Never tired to see you eat crow again.

8d ago
OlderGamer177d ago

But but Sony bad...thats the normal damagecontroll from O_O. Dude its time to sing another song, this one is sounding like a broken record......

+ Show (2) more repliesLast reply 7d ago
LG_Fox_Brazil8d ago

Not sure about the rest of the world, but here in Brazil we have a say that goes like this:

'May the last one to leave please turn off the lights'

What the heck is MS even doing right now?

Show all comments (74)
70°

Yakuza Wars Is Not What You Think; It's a Mobile Game With a Gangster Theme

Yakuza Wars, registered by SEGA in August, is not an action RPG or open-world game, but a mobile strategy game revealed on social media.

Redgrave10d ago

Imagine making anything but a CHAO Garden mobile game