Are Company Acquisitions Good for Gamers?

Alex S. from Link Cable Gaming writes: "(The) rash of corporate acquisitions has fundamentally shaken up the gaming landscape, making already large companies even more powerful and with more influence on the industry as a whole. But while the news of giant corporate acquisitions is sure to make headlines – are these good for gamers?"

[Knightofelemia]

Depends who the studio is and what kind of stunts they pull like EA they shut some studios down and run other studios into the ground. And rush out half baked games that get a shitty reviews like Anthem and ME Andromeda and games littered with lootboxes. Sony buys a studio that studio has free roam to work on new franchises while working on older franchises I am glad Sony bought up Insomniac. Now if its Microsoft with the Zenimax purchase it is still to early to figure out what they will do with those studios. But I notice with Microsoft some studios are locked to certain franchises like 343 is always with Halo and The Coalition is locked to the Gears franchise. That's not bad but being locked to a certain franchise isn't pushing that studio to produce a new franchise you need to find balance. Activision is like EA to some degree lootboxes, closing down studios, but they also don't always rush their games out to the point where they are a piece of unplayable piece of shit. Activision is doing great with Blizzard compared to EA with Bioware they're the complete opposite.

How it benefits us as a gamer again depends who and what stunts they pull. With Sony it benefits great every game Sony pushed out they sell well do great in the reviews. Sure there might be the odd dud game but the great titles out shine the duds Sony has put out. There are franchises fans of Sony want to bring back like SOCOM, Jak and Daxter, Blasto, Parappa the Rappa. Fans of Microsoft who are die hard Rare fans want to see some of their old titles get a new breath of fresh air like a new Banjo Kazooie game, Conker game, I myself want Jetforce Gemini, fans also want Microsoft to bring back the old Blast Corps from the N64. So that benefits the gamers both ways introduces a newer younger crowd to the older franchise and brings back memories of the older gamers who played these games on the older consoles. As for EA I just hate them but remastering an old franchise like ME is good. But if Miranda's ass being in a shot while clothed is getting edited it benefit gamers in two ways people avoid it. Because they are a purist who could careless about Miranda's ass and want to play the game the same way they played it on PS3 and Xb360. And it also introduces like I said a younger newer crowd to the ME franchise.

So again buying up a new studio depends on who the studio is and what dumbass move they make with that studio. It is either good like Sony and Insomniac or like EA shut down the studio strip out what you can before you close that studio down. Or run the studio face first into the ground to the point where the original staff leave like what happened to Bioware.

[sourOG]

Some contracts are better than others. These acquisitions are popping off way to easy without friction like it’s a minimal risk maximum funding contract. An offer so good they can’t refuse. I could be wrong but that’s what it seems like to me.

[Nerdmaster]

I don't remember a single time when a company that was bought started producing better games. Almost all times it's the opposite - their games' quality drops sharply.
So for us gamers, I don't think there are any advantages.

[Atom666]

Naughty Dog, Zipper, Bungie, Guerilla, Sucker Punch, Irrational (2k Boston), DMA Designs (Rockstar).

[Magog]

Literally never.

[annoyedgamer]

Acquisitions are almost never good in any industry. It leads to monopolies while maintaining the illusion of choice. Don't believe me? Go to your local supermarket and read the labels of the brands you see. Almost all fall under a few megacorps.

[DivineHand125]

Acquisitions benefit the industry on a whole when it is small talented developers being taken in. This gives them access to more funding and resources to make their second game even more amazing.

It is really bad if large multiplatform development studios are being taken in because not only will there revenue be less but they will be under pressure to produce a profit while having access to a lower install base. Not to mention disappointing their fans. If it is a case where they are having difficulties turning a profit then it is ok if a larger more profitable publisher acquires them.

[Atom666]

Those two scenarios aren't mutually exclusive though.

A small team could certainly feel the pressure to produce a profit post-aquisition, and (assuming you're hinting at exclusivity), going in house will certainly disappoint some fans of their prior, independent work.

But big studios and publishers are obviously full of talented people too. They could benefit from the deeper pockets and resources, and they come loaded with leadership that knows how to run a big studio.

Size and scale don't really matter imo. You need talented people who can benefit from the funding an acquisition brings. As long as that's accomplished, gamers shouldn't worry.

If the talent starts to leave and the teams begin to lose what made them valuable in the first place, then it's disappointing.

But there's never a guarantee that your favorite independent studio will survive to the next game. Independent studios fail too. Often, it's because of financial stresses.