How Microsoft could benefit from purchasing both Crytek & Capcom

With the recent information that both Capcom & Crytek are having financial issues, Pure|News wrote an article about how it would benefit if Microsoft were to acquire both companies and how it could help them pushing the Xbox One further in both the west and in the Japanese market.

[Neonridr]

could you imagine if MS bought Capcom? All Monster Hunter games on Xbox platforms only? That would give them a little bit of sway in the Japanese gamers' eye methinks.

[MrGunny94]

Exactly my thoughts, and contrary to popular belief you can buy a Japanese Company!

Also remember Crytek, Cry Engine subscription could help the first party with the engine

I think there's a huge possibility for business here.

[sinspirit]

Almost every Japanese corporation can decide who buys them. When an offer is submitted the board members can vote on it. Capcom could be sold to fellow Japanese companies like Sony, Nintendo, Bandai Namco, Koei, Square Enix, Atlus, Konami, etcetera. That would be the far smarter option because of their Japanese fanbase. Not only that but it's just generally easier to negotiate with those companies that live in their region. The XBox platform can not sustain their companies size because of how reliant they are on their sales in Japan.

It is not that a company can simply walk in their and put money down and own them, and if it were like that then all the Japanese companies would have already gotten there first anyways.

People need to stop thinking, and stop hoping, that this is going to happen until it does. I really don't want to see Capcom games go even further downhill like most of Microsoft's IP's. They don't have vision.

[Gazondaily]

Purchasing Capcom may benefit MS but it would just hurt the gaming landscape in the long run. I hope it doesn't happen. (I doubt that it will anyway).

[blackbeld]

Rare remember?

If they managed to take over Capcom then it will be Rare all over again.

[Fireseed]

@blackbeld

Yeah cause Capcoms already in the habit of releasing old IPs and great games on a regular basis...

[Spotie]

@Fireseed: And we know Microsoft will fix that if they get a hold of Capcom, right?

[UltimateMaster]

Let's remind ourselves some history.
Rare; that's history.

[UltimateMaster]

I don't want any of the big 3 to buy out Capcom or Crytek.

Microsoft did an awful job with Rare. They took what was the best developers at the time (similar to what Capcom was in the PS2 era; early 7th gen) and just completely ruined it. To the point that even Japanese gamers weren't buying Xbox 360. Capcom's already f*ck up as it is.

Sony is in no way shape or form in financial health to take on this big of a risk that could flop. They have no time or resources to waste on restructuring yet another company. There would be some gain for Sony since lot of Capcom's franchises were born on PlayStation console like Devil May Cry and Resident Evil and the PS fans would buy those games; if Capcom didn't already ruined them.

Nintendo would have them making 3DS games; a major step back from the home console games we we're receiving. They could make the investment if they want to, they have the money for it.

It would just force us; the consumer; to buy a platform for their games and given Capcom's image, nobody would waste money to buy a platform they don't already own on a game that could be as disappointing as the last one was.

As far as Crytek goes; I have no idea what's gonna happen. As much as their games look good; game play wise; it's a bit stale.

[Eonjay]

Expect for the fact that Capcom isn't for sale. They are merely allowing for a takeover by another company. Which is most definitely different from being bought, which mean the buying takes on all liabilities and assets including IPs. So who, would be interested in becoming the primary stakeholder at Capcom? And who would Capcom agree to?

The Only sound move would be another 3rd party like Bandai. Because any major first party would cause them to lose sales on other platforms; being as though they are for sale...

[gaffyh]

No chance with Capcom, Crytek is at least plausible. Though do you really want the MS, the company that destroys developers souls to buy anyone? E.g. Ensemble, Rare, Bungie etc.

[BattleAxe]

I Microsoft were to have the games listed bellow as exclusives, I think they would be able to rival Sony's first party lineup of games:

- Crysis
- Warface
- Homefront
- Street Fighter
- Resident Evil
- Devil May Cry
- Lost Planet
- Dead Rising
- Monster Hunter

[4Sh0w]

Well 1st Crytek has denied rumors of poor financials, until I see concrete proof its just another rumor.

Second I think gamers like us tend to only look at this stuff for bragging rights, sure Microsoft "could" buy them but at what price and how bad is Capcom's financial situation? Sure you get some great games under your roof but you also take on a shiii ton of people and expenses, what return do they get on their investment?

btw, Rare had a change in staff and was stagnated, given Phil's new direction they should be in a position to do whatever they want.

[UltraNova]

@gaffyh

I think you are talking about Activision but to be honest MS isnt far behind in that regard, just look at Rare...

OT: The big three should steer clear for Capcom for sure especially if they are looking to sell share majority and not a complete buyout (the former could never sustain exclusivity of any form) as Enjoy above can surely agree.

As to what happens with Crytek is anyone's guess at this point, although it makes perfect sense if MS buys them considering they are PC/windows oriented and frankly their 1st party are in dire need of a good engine.

Well time will tell.

[lelo]

"How Microsoft could benefit from purchasing both Crytek & Capcom"

Microsoft are too dumb to purchase Crytek & Capcom (or too smart depending on your point of view).

For Xbox fans it would be good business to have exclusives from Crytek/Capcom, and it would sell more consoles, specially in Japan (Monster Hunter, Street Fighter, Resident Evil, etc) ... but financially it remains to be seen if it would be good business for Microsoft.

[iamnsuperman]

Financially it makes no sense. There is a reason why these two companies are in this certain predicament. Microsoft is too smart to buy the company plus the baggage that will come with such a purchase. It is far easier to buy the exclusives and key personal than buy the company outright with all the issues that come along with it (Microsoft would have to kill them anyway which would incure further costs as they would need to make them first party). Business wise it makes no sense for any of the big companies to buy these companies

[Bennibop]

I believe this would be terrible for the industry if Microsoft, Sony or Nintendo bough either Crytek or Capcom we would all end up with less games and the same franchises milked even more.

[Magicite]

Main reason why I have never liked Xbox, was the lack of JRPGS. Bring more exclusives like Tales of Vesperia, Blue Dragon and Lost Odyssey and You can make tides turn, although unlikely.

[Darrius Cole]

This article is like saying "The Xbox platform would benefit if all the Capcom & CryTek property were Xbox exclusive".

No kidding, Sherlock.

You may as well say "How Sony would benefit if they owned EA and Bethesda", or "How Nintendo would benefit if they owned Konami and Ubisoft". All these statements are correct, but it's brain-dead logic on the surface. It also lacks any knowledge or discussion of the underlying real numbers and legal work that would allow us to understand how likely and how profitable such a deal would be.

[3-4-5]

Do we want Capcom to become Rare ?

[Studio-YaMi]

GOD NO!

I would rather they become exclusive & be bought by Nintendo,Crytek I can live without,didn't like almost all of their games.

Capcom should go to a company that cares for gamers,Nintendo is a MUCH MUCH MUCH better choice than MS tbh.

[Neonridr]

especially for the Monster Hunter franchise alone. Those games on the 3DS print money for Capcom.

[medman]

Notice the flawed thinking in some gamers...they wish for Microsoft to buy these companies. Know why? Because Sony develops talent, while Microsoft can only hope to purchase it. Sad. How about hoping and wishing Microsoft starts cultivating their own talent pool for a change and bring some forward thinking games to market? That would be really refreshing.

[Loggie]

Yeah, because Sony didn't buy Naughty Dog in 2001 nor did they buy Media Molecule in 2010 either. I also hear that in 2005, Sony did not acquire Guerrilla.

[nunley33]

Gung-Ho should buy them or maybe Deep Silver, or someone who will straighten out Resident Evil and make another Mega Man game.

[jessupj]

I don't understand why Capcom never released monster hunter for the ps3, 360, xbone or ps4.

Doesn't make sense to me.

[NextLevel]

That's a quite a leap of faith. Microsoft doesn't seem that concerned with own their own AAA studios. Most of the studios work on apps, Kinect games, multimedia feature and updates. Not games. Which is why they constantly cycle the same franchises with their 1st party and use 3rd party for new IP.

[MelvinTheGreat]

Care to back up those claims by naming those studios?

[MrGunny94]

I'm not seeing how that works.

RARE - Has been given green light by Phil Spencer to do whatever they want and feel like.

343 - Is pretty much doing a Halo mass marketing & games campaign

BlackTusk - Gears

Insomniac - Working on Sunset exclusive

Crytek - Assumed to be working on Ryse 2, regarding recent rumors.. but u know financial issues.

Capcom - Rumored exclusive

Platinum - Scalebound

And many more like Froza Horizon 2 and Turn 10 working on the next Forza title..

So yeah it seems people been busy..

[NextLevel]

@ GunzBlazing09

You just proved my point.

RARE - 1st party
343 - 1st party
BlackTusk - 1st party
Insomniac - 3rd party
Crytek - 3rd party
Capcom - 3rd party
Platinum - 3rd party

Look at where the new IPs are coming from.....

[christocolus]

@nextlevel..

“Microsoft doesn't seem that concerned with own their own AAA studios. Most of the studios work on apps, Kinect games, multimedia feature and updates. Not games.”

Lol. Did you actually think about that statement before putting it into words?You actually have no point, that statement actually shows you have no idea what you are talking about.

Rare
Lionhead
Lift
Twisted pixel
Press play
And the new guys
Platform next
Lxp

They are all working on new unannounced ip. rare is said to be working on more than one new title and 343 is rounding up work on halo mcc and with a staff strength of over 250 do you really think they'll all be working on halo 5 after that? They have other stuff too.They keep making the same things? How is it wrong to keep investing in your best selling ips while funding new ips Doesn't sony and nintendo do same? MS seems to have quite a good mix of exclusives from 1st, 2nd & 3rd party partnerships.how is that bad? Scalebound,ori, quantumbreak,project spark,phantum dust, d4 etc. All owned by ms.

Also give me a list of these apps and kinect games which all ms studios are making? Also state the studios developing these apps,updates and media?

[NextLevel]

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/w...

Connected Experiences – Responsible for cloud service on Xbox, servers and online features
Xbox Entertainment Studios – Various interactive television projects
Lift London – Multiple AAA Cloud Based gaming projects (4+)
Soho Productions – Kinect Sesame Street TV, Upload Studios
Microsoft Studios – Sentient Team Working with internal and external teams and sharing new technologies
Microsoft Studios – Skype Xbox Engineering Team Bringing Skype communication software to Xbox platforms through Xbox Live
Microsoft Studios – Technology and Incubation Group Advancing new products and technologies
Microsoft Studios – Xbox Core Platform team API and SDK development
Microsoft Studios – Deep Tech Team Working with developers to build applications on Microsoft platforms
Microsoft Studios – Los Angeles –Responsible for creating TV series on Xbox Live – Quantum Break TV series, Halo TV series

and that doesn't even include alot of the Kinect studios.

[christocolus]

@nextlevel

Dude,I asked for the names of MS game studios currently developing only apps, media etc and all you did was give me a list populated with “microsoft game studios” all through. Where is 343, rare, blacktusk, turn 10, lxp etc in that list?what apps and kinect games are they working on?

Secondly,you do know that microsoft as a company is first and foremost a software company and did it occur to you that the arm of mgs developing those apps&os updates could actually be their tech/os team or even the new tv division(which is till under xbox)?sony and nintendo have those tech teams too you know. If they were game development teams they would have a name like all other actual microsoft 1st party game development studios.I.e lift, BT, 343,lxp, platform next, press play etc.

[TheFanboySlayer]

@Christocolus

click the link and you'll see everything lol

[christocolus]

Did you even read the article you provided me with?it still doesn't prove you right but going by the first paragraph

“Microsoft Studios contains 27 studios worldwide, 20 for game development (343 Industries, Rare, Lionhead, Turn 10, Twisted Pixel, and Black Tusk, which comprises multiple teams working on multiple titles concurrently) and 7 for entertainment technology advancement and publishing making them the largest first party for a console manufacturer”

Did you see that? 7 out of 27 are entertainment and tech.

Also all the studios you listed above are not game development studios. If you read the article you would see they were labelled under non game studios but I've got it all for you to read below.

“Non Game Development

Microsoft Studios – Sentient Team Working with internal and external teams and sharing new technologies[35]
Microsoft Studios – Skype Xbox Engineering Team Bringing Skype communication software to Xbox platforms through Xbox Live[36]
Microsoft Studios – Games Testing Organization Responsible for games and entertainment testing[37]
Microsoft Studios – Technology and Incubation Group Advancing new products and technologies[38]
Microsoft Studios – Xbox Core Platform team API and SDK development[39]
Microsoft Studios – Deep Tech Team Working with developers to build applications on Microsoft platforms.[40]
Microsoft Studios – Los Angeles –Responsible for creating TV series on Xbox Live – Quantum Break TV series, Halo TV series”

Hope you understand that now and also when you look at studios like these

Microsoft Studios – Games Testing Organization Responsible for games and entertainment testing[37]
Microsoft Studios – Technology and Incubation Group Advancing new products and technologies[38]
Microsoft Studios – Xbox Core Platform team API and SDK development, I start wondering do you mean Sony and nintendo do not have studios or teams in charge of api and sdk development,
Game testing and tech incubation? Cos those teams are definitly required.

@fanboyslayer

Yeah I did read it but did you? I'm guessing you didn't take time to read the article.

[JBSleek]

That would be huge for MS. Will they do it? Likely not which is strange because the amount of cash reserves they have is massive.

If Satya Nadella is serious about Xbox then MS should no doubt buy Capcom. MS has shown in the past they have no problem making big time acquisitions.

That being said I don't think a gaming company will buy Capcom. If they are bought I think it will be from investors not gaming related, which would be nice due to the games being on as many platforms as possible.

[MrGunny94]

Cry Engine would also help the Windows Phone department with the engine. I think it's a huge deal buying Crytek just because of the Cry Engine, getting it passed along the developers and also selling as a subscription service would allow MS to get a huge monopoly from Game Engines. (Since Crytek does not know how to do it)

Regarding Capcom, it either gets bought or it will end up like THQ where each IP is on auction.

According to the latest information of course.. I'm not inside of the company

[JBSleek]

Very true. Crytek would be a huge pick up as well. Imagine being a developer for Xbox One and having free access to Cry Engine 3.

MS is a software company. They should be the leading company in APIs and software related things.

[sinspirit]

CryEngine isn't a successful product as a $10 a month service on Steam. Really cheap for a big game engine program...

Being owned by Microsoft doesn't change anything.. How could Microsoft make it sell better, other than paying so much advertising that they lose money on it? If they tried to restrict CryEngine to MS platforms that wouldn't help it either. There is no such thing as a monopoly on game engines. You have no control of the industry with a game engine.

Crytek so far has no idea how to push good ideas forward. They've put some good ideas on the table with Crysis 1 and FarCry 1, but with Crysis 2,3 and Ryse they decided to go with average storyline, average gameplay, and resume to polish the visuals as much as they can for consoles. The Crysis sequels had downgrades from the first one and made PC gamers disappointed, FarCry wasn't really good until Ubisoft developed it.

[KTF26]

Crytek ... congratulation MS
Capcom ... please No
I don't want to see next DMC Xbox exclusive

[Silly gameAr]

Cute.

[XXXL]

Gears of Evil. MS can have it. Capcom sucks

[shinrock]

Could you all imagine Powerstone,techromancer,rival schools,all in next gen glory?!

[MrGunny94]

CAPCOM sucks because the head of the company ever since last generation.

The publisher is like it is due to them and their policys about milking everything with forced development time without delays.

[Kane22]

i guess no one cares for the law in japan. Microsoft cant purchase capcom

[MrGunny94]

You can buy companies in Japan.

http://www.iflr.com/Article...

[NovusTerminus]

I think capcom will likely merge with another company...

Or Kadokawa will buy them like From Software.

[Darkstares]

Can you provide some proof of that, not that I don't believe you.

This would surely change the landscape and I bet a lot of unhappy people would be popping up on the forums. I'm not so sure Microsoft would be interested unless the price was right.

[JBSleek]

Where did you hear that from? That's not true.

In the financial world American companies have gobbled many of Japanese companies and firms.

For example when Google acquired SCHAFT from Japan to help with robotics.

[sinspirit]

Japanese businesses tend to have policies where board members can vote on a buyout from whomever offers. Going with an American company working on an American platform that isn't popular in Japan would mean worse profits for their future. Meaning they would likely go with the big Japanese companies as it makes entirely more sense. Nintendo, Sony, Square Enix, Koei, Namco Bandai, Atlus, Konami, etcetera, are potential buyers. Far better suited companies than Microsoft. If they are bought by Microsoft it isn't well thought out whatsoever.

[JBSleek]

@Sinspirit

Well that would be logical if the Xbox One didn't sell across the world. Yes Xbox doesn't sell well in Japan but they do across other regions so I don't think that would be as issue.

Also if you are bought out why wouldn't you want to be bought out with a company with software on 90% of computers and cash reserves that are ridiculous. From those companies listed you are saying a company wouldn't want to be bought by MS?

Also the whole not going with an American company is weird because Capcom really has no say in the matter and technically on acquisition they would no longer be a Japanese
company.

Now once again that being said they are likely not going to be bought by a gaming company anyway just imagining.

[sinspirit]

@JBSleek

Their XBox division hasn't made profit in years and has lost billions and billions.

Just because you are owned by a company so rich doesn't mean you get paid more. They still make their revenue from the sales their games produce. Going with Microsoft means potential millions and millions of Japanese sales gone, on top of the millions of sales missed on competitor consoles in America and Europe, which means the company would lose a lot of budget, lose employees, make less products, possibly make worse products, etcetera.

If it were so great to be owned by Microsoft then Bungie wouldn't have left and would have signed for exclusivity. But, they know Microsoft, Microsoft forced deadlines on them on the franchise that they created, and they didn't want to ditch PC. Halo 2 didn't come out on PC until 3 years after it launched on the first XBox, and they only launched it on PC to try and get more sales for Vista, which was extremely buggy and had worse performance than XP and pissed off gamers because of that. After this Halo was never on PC, other than poor spin-offs like the Halo RTS that they made to try and push Windows 8 sales.. Everything is trying to push their platform because they are obsessed with market dominance. It's ridiculous.

You read nothing of my comment? They have a say in who buys them until they go bankrupt, then they have to sell with whatever options they have. They have months of time before bankruptcy to get offers and make deals.

Why would you think they would be bought by a non-gaming company?

The only American company I can see buying Capcom would be Activision. They are extremely wealthy, own Blizzard, which has a huge following in Asia, Korea, Japan, etcetera. and are multiplatform.

[Darkstares]

@sinspirit,

Microsoft has profited from the Xbox since 2008

2008:

http://news.softpedia.com/n...

2009:

http://www.gamespot.com/art...

2010:

http://www.engadget.com/201...

Also why are you talking about Bungie when the same thing occurred with Insomniac and Sony? So don't sit there and try and isolate this issues only occurring to Microsoft. These game developers want to have the freedom to create and own their own IP's, that is why they often leave.

[mrpsychoticstalker]

They are going to buy it .

A great ggeneration it's on its way.

Let's go Microsoft.

[rocketpanda]

Like they done with Rare, which is a what studio now? Hardly remembered, reduced to producing kinect games. Even if it were to happen I wouldn't expect the talent to stay onboard, the same when Rare got bought out. All the talent jumped ship.

[DougLord]

Oh my god that would be sweet. Crytech 100% optimized for DX12 and Cloud AI and Physix.

[tinezedw]

If they do this companies would lose even more money than they are losing now by only developing for one platform and in turn Microsoft by owning them.but if it were to happen and Microsoft developed monster hunter for example I'd definitely buy a xbox one.

[majiebeast]

Crytek isn't even worth a purchase its a bloated company of 800 people, with 0 valuable IP's(besides Timesplitters) and an engine that's a nice show horse, but barely gets licensed compared to UE4.

All the publishers will wait for Crytek to fall apart and pick up some of the pieces.

[OC_MurphysLaw]

Crytek to me offers the biggest upside. With MS's help they could really help Crytek on their tools documentation and engine support. Licensing the engine would be a good off shoot business for them.

[gantarat]

imagine Street Fighter Kinect

Hadoken ! Shoryuken !

[Edsword]

I don't believe this will happen. Crytek develops game engines first and games second, it doesn't really make sense for MS because if they buy Crytek, there are plenty of other options for game devs engine wise. If the Crytek engine is so great, why is it that all MS devs are not using it? Capcom would be better off it bought by Nintendo. Seriously, being bought by MS would destroy the publisher dev/publisher in JP. Us neither of these moves make sense financially for MS. MS has investors to think about, buying fledging companies for a division that is not currently doing as well as expected certainly isn't a good move.

[ger2396]

I can see Microsoft buying crytek for the tech. As for capcom, I'm not to sure. Who knows, maybe capcom sell its ips separately. I can Nintendo buying monster hunter.

[gantarat]

First - Capcom sell "shares/stocks" not "ip" (they just removed the protection on their stock in case major shareholder would want out one day.)

Second - Other Company can't buy * insert name ip* if *insert name company * not bankrupt or don't want sell

Third - company sell "shares/stocks" doesn't mean company bankrupt

[ger2396]

All I said was maybe. Besides, didn't epic sell the gears of war ip to Microsoft?

[Destiny1080]

ms can have Capcom, id much rather sony buy sega,

[UKzZBULLET]

This would be a big win for Microsoft

[CawMasterX]

It would be a great move on their part. They would prevent ppl from losing their jobs and they can look further into the potential of the engine. With the right minds, the CryEngine can finally thrive along with those who are accustomed into using it. Capcom would be a huge acquisition too, imagine if they were able to secure Street Fighter as an exclusive. Idk if that's possible but it would certainly shift the fan base towards MS.

[Caffo01]

I couldn't care less about crytek but i would be pissed if SF goes MS exclusive..

[Apex13]

I hope they won't buy. Look what MS did to a great company like Rare.

Developers are better selling to over developers so there is that shared business mind.

[cyclindk]

Crycom

[Qrphe]

You've got to be diluted to think any of the big three is willing to buy any other key software developer. Crytek is not even a sole game developer and Capcom is a huge liability on its own.

[Predaking77]

And this folks is another episode of the never ending search for the golden goose that will change the Xbox brand fate.

Let's keep hoping and dreaming and stay tuned for the next episode.

[y7jzdgy]

Anything is possible but I doubt that this will happen because MS has been trying to stay away from acquisitions like this.

[Whitey2k]

How microsoft benefit with crytek and how sony can benefit from capcom

[shmeedy24685]

I think Microsoft would place themselves in a better position if they purchased either or both companies. It's worth considering at least.

[GodGinrai]

I agree.

Crytek have vast experience with graphics tech,DX and Xbox one hardware. This can also be leveraged for further developing dev tools and even the next xbox...and as we all know, Crytek know how to REALLY push hardware to its limits. They also own free radical which is the home of timesplitters...A VERY smart purchase for MS, If they do it. I can totally see this one happening. It benefits both XB1 and their pledge to do more PC games in the future.

As for capcom....

Well there is all those ip and the company is highly respected in japans gaming community...two things MS need in this particular region. That elusive monster hunter series could give them some serious traction in japan. And the Xbox is such a...I hate to sound cliche, but "connected"/ net centric device, that it could be the killer app they are looking for over there to sell Xboxs...Should such a game happen on Xbox. of course MS would have to integrate the business side of capcom (execs etc.) into the japanese Xbox division, while being hands off with capcom devs (they would have to separate the two)..let them make the games they feel. Whats important is that capcom remain capcom, no matter who buys them.

MS have the funds to pull it off...but do they have the balls? They have an exclusive game from platinum ..but buying capcom would be quite the double threat. Sounds crazy but I think it would be a good strategic move on their part.

[0P-Tigrex]

Why does Microsoft "have to" buy Capcom and Crytek?

[GodGinrai]

They dont "have" to. But they DO have the money..and it would be a good move for them.

[0P-Tigrex]

Tell me. How would it be a "good move"?

[98xpresent]

Salessss

[0P-Tigrex]

You mean a monopolistic practice?? lol No thank you. If people think MS should buy CAPCOM and CRYTEK just to boost sales then people have no current faith in their system.

[GodGinrai]

Read my post above your first post. Of course it wont be good for gamers on non MS platforms. that will apply to any of the big three if they buy capcom.

But, from a company perspective...If I was president of, one of the big three (In this case MS, who is most likely to bite the bullet and buy), I would be be eyeing up capcom right now...and I would not be thinking about gamers being able to access capcom games on rival platforms...I would be thinking about getting them on my platform, alone if I can help it...whoever buys that 51% stake will be thinking along the same lines.

This topic is as much about business as it is about games. I am looking at from a business perspective. As a gamer..No I dont think they should buy capcom..as a business...yes.

"If people think MS should buy CAPCOM and CRYTEK just to boost sales then people have no current faith in their system."

Stop being so flippant and small minded. Its not just about sales. Its about strengthening your console business in a region that has shown much resistance for the best part of a decade, with the aid of one of japans biggest devs, exclusively (capcom)..and the aquisition of one of the industries leading middleware/graphics devs,(who just also happen to be sitting on timesplitters)can do wonders for your dev tools..and the design of your next console...

[urwifeminder]

Meh let em die then pick over the scraps like a pixel hunting vulture seems a more stable business proposition.

[Ogygian]

Great now how about:

How gamers who don't own an Xbox One will suffer from Microsoft purchasing Crytek and Capcom.

I mean theoretically yes, Microsoft could buy all AAA studios and then have a monopoly on video games. And then how good would that be for the consumer when they raise prices because they can (seeing as half of all games become Xbox exclusive).

The practice of buying out third party devs should be frowned upon by all of us who do not have the sadistic tendency of taking pleasure from the misery of gamers who bought other platforms.
Fanboyism exemplifies the worst traits in humanity.

[Lacarious]

m$ is in such a disasterous state with the xb1.... buying capcom and crytek can be a huge benefit.. however, gamers will just get f'd over since all capcom games will become m$ exclusives.... it would be similar to the tards at EA owning the NFL license.

[Pancit_Canton]

Goodluck. Microsoft gaming division are bleeding some money already.

[azure1990]

Well to put xbox fans at ease. American company can buy a Japanese company. Vice versa. But I doubt Microsoft will buy capcom and crytek.For example some company In Japan bought Jim Beam

[KontryBoy706]

Microsoft as a company doesn't even view Xbox as a viable profiting business. There's been talks for awhile about selling the Xbox division itself. If you look closely they don't even brand "Microsoft" beside "Xbox" anymore like they used to with the 360. So why would they invest further by acquiring these companies? They won't even buy studios to have exclusive games they'd rather pay out for timed exclusive content. Don't hold your breath about them buying these 2 companies.

http://www.extremetech.com/...

[Give_me_head_strong]

Microsoft is too dumb to purchase either company.

[breakpad]

i hope MS dont buy Capcom but Sony does ..All super successful IP s begun from Sony s consoles and from one point belong to them as the other didnt care for such projects or dint have the hardware ...Mon HUn, Resi, Devil MCry , onimusha , Dragons dogma (ok this was multi but had a lot bigger fanbase on PS)..it will be a same do not see again these Ips on Playstation ...And if Capcom didnt break the deal with MOnHUN 3 on PS3 back then,would be in a far better situation ... as on PS3 the fanbase was crying for the game and finally PS3 won the console competition ...with the crap Wii console sink as it deserved

[BlackWolf12]

Microsoft buying Capcom would be devastating for the games industry.

Capcom is a huge publisher with many IP's, I don't even know if industry regulators would allow it, as it would be the beginning of a monopoly on video games.

[Obamanationn]

if this happens prepare for a video game company shiit storm, 3rd party's wont exist in the next 10 years

[chuckyj1]

Too big of a purchase to buy both. Why? Because the games business is not the Main Focus of MS not even close.

If they had to pick one Capcom would be the much better buy, because of the IPs they hold Street Fighter, Resident Evil and Monster Hunter among other high profile IPs... To get a real foot-hold in Japan they really need to buy Capcom if they get the chance...

Crytek would be the cheaper buy and are in a lot more trouble financially than Capcom but bring less to the table. They would become the "Ryse" & "Crysis" company for MS.

I doubt MS will be buying either company... but, you never know..

[RobLoPR]

Even thought theres nothing i would love more than to see Capcom and Crytech to be able to continue with their project, especially in the hands of Microsoft, if both Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft all wanted to buy them... who would you think they would choose?
At least I know Capcom would rather sell to Sony or Nintendo... it would have to be that theyre not interested or that they dont have the $$$ to spare right now.