310°

Microsoft Tried Buying One of the Largest Mobile Developers Before ABK Deal

Prior to setting its sights on Activision Blizzard, Microsoft attempted to acquire Zynga, one of the largest mobile game developers on the planet.

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gamerant.com
Jin_Sakai731d ago (Edited 731d ago )

Microsoft uses their war chest to try and buy everything possible.

lodossrage731d ago

Well, that's how they always operated.

If they can't compete, they just buy up competition or everyone around said competition. But when you look at this site, a company worth over 2 trillion dollars buying everything rather than actually innovating is ok.

babadivad731d ago

It's literally how every company ever operates when they get large enough.

Crows90731d ago

@baba

PlayStation is the biggest gaming brand next to Nintendo.....they could've bought a lot throughout the years. The decided not to until now when Xbox is going around gobbling everything up. Xbox...the company that can't manage a single studio well at all.

crazyCoconuts731d ago

@baba I like to think the most successful ones continue to innovate and improve despite being huge. Apple and Amazon are great examples imo.

SeTTriP731d ago (Edited 731d ago )

Not for the majority it's not Xbox being the minority in this instance.

We all to some degree love the hobby of gaming and people have they're favorite place to play but just alittle critical thought would show you where this road would lead and none of the avenues taken in this direction leads to anything good not for the the hobby we love and especially not for the end user.

I'm not hating on MS, but this is extreme to say the least and if this would've even tried to be attempted back in the day the media would've been in full force advocating against this deal, it reeks of stagnate greed.

Mr_cheese731d ago

@Crazy

Apple does not innovate. What they are great at is taking ideas that have potential and cleaning them up into the apple format.

Touch screens, ipads, ipod, their new AR experience. All been done before, just not in the "clean" apple manner.

343_Guilty_Spark731d ago

@Crows90

They bought a lot in their early years to compete with Sega and Nintendo.

lodossrage731d ago

@343_Guilty_Spark

Who did Sony buy that had gigantic market imprints BEFORE a purchase?

Who did Sony wait until they gained mass market share to buy?

DOMination-731d ago

" I like to think the most successful ones continue to innovate and improve despite being huge. Apple and Amazon are great examples imo."

All big companies acquire other companies. It's nothing new and is certainly not just a Microsoft thing.

126 acquisitions by Apple:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wi...

115 acquisitions by Amazon:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wi...

92 acquisitions by Sony (with a further 56 stakes)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wi...

225 acquisitions by Microsoft
https://en.wikipedia.org/wi...

If you dig deeper into the companies acquired, you'll see that most "innovations" come from those purchases rather than "in house". Take a look at Apple Vision Pro for example. 10 years in R&D but a lot of that technology (and talented specialists) had to be obtained. Even with Apple's budget, it's quite hard to just magically come up with something make something new.

The same applies in the gaming industry too. Most "innovative" games tend to come from indie developers whereas AAA titles play it safe.

Reaper22_731d ago (Edited 731d ago )

Was sony innovating when they bought Gaikai? How was that innovation? Or Is it only wrong when Microsoft does it? What's the definition of "double standard"?
What's the definition of narcissism?

amazinglover731d ago

@Crows90

"PlayStation is the biggest gaming brand next to Nintendo.....they could've bought a lot throughout the years."

Sony as whole made 36B in profit in 2022. Much of that is gaming FYI probably about 75%

MS made 55B in profit in the last quarter of 2022 alone.

Sony does not have the money to buy whoever they want the AB deal for MS is 3 months of profits for Sony its 1.5 years or 18 months.

shinoff2183731d ago

343

Did you ever know that nes Era you couldn't have your game anywhere but Nintendo if you wanted your game on there. Nintendo made you sign that. Sega bought alot away from Nintendo to but they weren't out there buying the largest publishers in gaming.

+ Show (8) more repliesLast reply 731d ago
731d ago
SeTTriP731d ago

Yep corner the market tactics are starting to become very obvious even for ppl who want to fanboy and if they can't see it we are either (a) perching to completely incompetent people or (b) your a child which kinda of circle back to (a) but unintentionally.

This is just greed on a trillion dollar level.

343_Guilty_Spark731d ago (Edited 731d ago )

So they do what 99% of corporations do and I should be mad?

SeTTriP731d ago

This isn't what every company do 99% of companies in history has never even been in a position to even do this.

MS is a p.c software giant who saw the potential money in gaming tried to compete has never been in the black (the division is basically being subsidies) and now they want to buy publishers so they can stagnate competition just so they can gatekeep in a medium they have no passion for has no intention of building or moving forward basically a cheat code.

MS thinks gaming is a addictive hoddy that they can squeeze you with for profit and it shows.they don't even care about the quality of the product, they just thought games sold themselves lmao.

Now they're finding out that gaming is more then just a controller with a character to control.

DarXyde730d ago

Actually, yes.

Your perspective is so warped. By your logic, "it's okay if Microsoft does this bad thing because everyone else does this bad thing?"

Are you out of your mind? The principled perspective is: "ANY corporation doing this needs a kick in the pants and should be slapped down."

The people wanting PlayStation to buy Square Enix or Sega are also out of their minds. Publisher purchasing is shit, full stop. And I would say Microsoft's approach is far more nefarious—I'd like you to think about this for a moment: Call of Duty on its own is a $30+ BILLION dollar franchise. What does ABK need from Microsoft? They are extremely profitable and are quite content with recycling assets and keeping production costs low. Then, as the execs come under fire, an acquisition is announced? Kottick wouldn't give up running this whale of a company unless for self preservation. The execs are now in a position to ride off into the sunset to avoid accountability for the absolute shit storm their corporate culture and executive participation has caused... And Microsoft is willing to help them escape accountability for business. Call it what you'd like, but in plain candid terms, it's fucking evil. I'm not at all saying Sony or Nintendo are angels. They do plenty of things that warrant ire. But this? Nah, this hits different. This is just foul. If it came to light that Sony or Nintendo did something similar, immediately—and without question— I would drop those companies and their products.

Yes, you should be mad. You should be even more bothered by the circumstances around the acquisition. It's genuinely depressing to see people willing to look past that fact because they don't want to pay full price for ABK games.

+ Show (1) more replyLast reply 730d ago
XiNatsuDragnel731d ago

Microsoft just eats everything up to be number 1.

OptimusDK731d ago

Well they are no 3 so this only means more competition and pushes Sony to do better

Crows90731d ago

You mean less competition. They're not competing...they're just paying for exclusivity rights.

jwillj2k4731d ago

This isn’t product competition Phil Snakester already told you Microsoft’s motto. “Making a good game does not mean more sales” (not that they’ve made anything good but the point still stands). They are buying up all 3rd party to turn them into 1st party.

Just like the rich father in Willy Wonka Xbox is the bratty child that wants all the golden eggs no matter the cost but is now being exposed as a rotten egg and we all saw where those go, down the toilet.

InUrFoxHole731d ago

@Crows90
Look up why xbox purchased zenni max... they did it because Sony forced their hand. Every company does it. Some companies have more $ to do it.

amazinglover731d ago

Actually they are like number 4 or 5 and the AB purchase might put them at number 4 solidly. This is just using gaming revenue and not the company as a whole because that would make MS number 1 by a margin to large for any of these companies to overcome. That said I still don't like the idea of exclusivity for any console would love to see Gears on PS and GOW on Xbox so everyone can enjoy these games regardless of console choice.

1 and 2 may be swapped they really are neck and neck

1) NetEase
2) Tencent
3) Sony
4) MS
5) Nintendo but not by a large margin behind number 4

+ Show (1) more replyLast reply 731d ago
rlow1731d ago

You sound desperately hungry.

XiNatsuDragnel731d ago

Technically I eat a lot ( off topic) lol. But who knows man, Microsoft just has all for one strategy.

rlow1731d ago

Especially after playing videogames, I always get hungry. Must be all that mental stimulation.

343_Guilty_Spark731d ago (Edited 731d ago )

They arent number 1 so what are you talking about?

343_Guilty_Spark731d ago

You disagree because you believe they are number 1?

Lol 😂

ironmonkey731d ago

Yep and even that is still the weakest link. Richest company but wins third place for the last 10+ years haha.

4Sh0w731d ago (Edited 731d ago )

Oh man that one was below the belt. I absolutely love, love Sunset Overdrive.

As far as the rest of your statement it's just a shallow attempt to move the goal posts. Bethesda also had a long special relationship with Xbox so?...but again it doesn't matter exclusives mean one or more of the platforms isn't getting the game, end of story. If I don't see you with the pitchfork EVERYTIME that happens then I'm not gonna take you seriously when you *conviently b!+ch only when it's your preferred platform that's excluded.

4Sh0w731d ago

"Microsoft just eats everything up to be number 1"

-Uhm, yeah like all companies do and actually their not #1 so even by your standard they haven't ate enough.

"You mean less competition. They're not competing...they're just paying for exclusivity rights."

-Oh you mean like how Sony does to get exclusives outside of their 1st party studios or buying studios like Insomniac? Oh and "less competion", "They're not competing." -lol, uhm I beg the differ, Starfield is now exclusive, more to come like IJ game, etc, theyve quickly ballooned from 6 studios to 23 studios, just since 2017 & they ain't done, where most companies would be just trying to recover from writing big checks Microsoft didnt even blink, a 70billion check.
https://www.eurogamer.net/x... that definitely sounds like they are competing to me.

shinoff2183731d ago

Insomniac tried making an xbox game. Yall didn't buy it.

Lets be honest insomniac like most of sonys bought studios were damn near 1st party already. Unlike bethesada to Microsoft

FinalFantasyFanatic731d ago

It's another Disney, I don't want another Disney.

+ Show (4) more repliesLast reply 731d ago
OptimusDK731d ago

It just shows what MS says ABK is also about mobile.

SullysCigar731d ago

So why not just buy King? Why buy Activision Blizzard too, and fight so hard over COD?

If it was all about mobile, they'd have signed to say any future COD games will be on PlayStation, but they refused to do that, so it doesn't show any such thing.

rlow1731d ago

Because it’s up to Activision on wether King get spun off and sold.

As for your last comment, they did. They offered them a ten year contract and according to Jim Ryan’s email, he literally says they’ll keep COD on PlayStation.

SullysCigar731d ago

^ Yeah, except, @rlow1, that's not what I said. I said "any future COD games", as in not with a time limit. Microsoft would only agree with caveats, showing they place value on COD and not just mobile games. The Jim Ryan misquote was just his expectations and is WAY out of date regarding the current situation.

As for "because it's up to Activision", it's up to anyone making an offer to put their terms forward and have them agreed or declined. This isn't an eBay listing. Microsoft could have proposed a deal for King alone and paid far less, but they didn't, because they also want COD.

My point? The fact that they once tried to buy Zinga doesn't 'prove' they're purchasing ABK just because of mobile - they want COD, because - as we now know - they want to "put PlayStation out of business" according to the email from Matt Booty.

343_Guilty_Spark731d ago (Edited 731d ago )

You can’t just buy part of a company. You seem to lack a fundamental understanding on how businesses work

SullysCigar731d ago

^ LMAO @ 343! Oh really? So you can't just sell an IP? Microsoft couldn't just sell the Xbox division? I think it's you who doesn't understand, my friend, but this comes as zero surprise.

A parent company can sell as a whole, or be broken up for individual sale of component parts. Look, we all have different life experiences. I don't want to poke fun at people who have taken a different route from myself, but if you haven't got a clue, just stay quiet, or put the research in before you comment.

lodossrage731d ago (Edited 731d ago )

@343_Guilty_Spark

Yes you can buy part of a company.

Why do you think Embracer Group now have Crystal Dynamics? Square Enix sold it off

You're the one that doesn't know what they're talking about here.

Sephiroushin731d ago

@343guilty
"You can’t just buy part of a company. You seem to lack a fundamental understanding on how businesses work ...."

this level of r is massive, especially after the arcticle speaking about MS going after zynga...
you know, the parent company of zynga is take2interactive *smh*
you people spit w/e comes to your mind smh again

+ Show (3) more repliesLast reply 731d ago
The3faces731d ago

You were down voted because it fits the anti MS narrative on this site lol. But in fact MS said all along the ABK deal was primarily about mobile and this article proves that. Take Two acquired Zynga and no one cared but God forbid if MS does it

Crows90731d ago

Because MS is a platform holder in direct competition against Nintendo and Sony. That's why...it's not rocket science.

NotoriousWhiz731d ago (Edited 731d ago )

I'm not a fan of the acquisition but I also don't think any company should be acquiring massive publishers (regardless of whether or not they are a platform holder, so this includes companies like tencent). It only takes a couple of years to go from not having a console to having one and making all those subsidiaries work exclusively for that new console. I also don't think there is precedent for regulators to say: "Sorry tencent but we won't allow you to release a console." So they can slowly gather their developers and then drop a console with tons of exclusives once they have enough to where they think they can earn a good profit.

gold_drake731d ago

doesnt surprise me.
this is how they operate.

giovonni731d ago

You mean how they all operate. This is how business works. We literally See it every day. Banks, entertainment studios, and tech companies.

Reaper22_731d ago

It's only visible when microsoft does it. They seem to come down with a bit of amnesia when sony does it...lol

anast731d ago

Of course they did. The are going all mobile and streaming.

Show all comments (54)
610°

Microsoft planning “major” Xbox layoffs next week

The cuts are expected to be announced next week.

Microsoft is also planning thousands of job cuts that will impact other parts of it businesses

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theverge.com
11h agoReplies(1)
11h agoReplies(1)
Obscure_Observer11h ago

MFs has been beating their chests over great quarterly results and big profits to shareholders while firing people by the thousands just like Sony.

I wonder if at the top of those rumored layoffs they´ll also cancel upcoming or unannounced games while shutting down more studios as well.

11h ago
pwnmaster300011h ago

Always got to throw shade at Sony smh.
Yes we get it,
MS good Sony bad
MS bad Sony is also bad lmao

11h ago
Obscure_Observer10h ago

F* them both!

Just for the record, I don´t care about your victim complex crap either. Find someone else who cares.

blacktiger9h ago

He was talking about both. Why you getting offended when he's using both names

pwnmaster30009h ago(Edited 9h ago)

@Blacktiger

Im not offended , that’s just his formula lol
He can’t help help himself, he needs to bring Sony down when the topic involves MS.
Whether is good news for MS or bad, it some how leads to Sony doing bad lmao.
It’s actually hilarious.

InUrFoxHole4h ago

He's not wrong but im tracking what youre saying. In this case is should just be MS bad. Thats a lot of people fired

+ Show (4) more repliesLast reply 4h ago
Tacoboto10h ago

"just like Sony"

Gosh you're insufferable, not everything needs to be both-sides'd. Sony's had layoffs, but nothing like what Microsoft has been doing and is continuing to do.

CrimsonWing6910h ago(Edited 10h ago)

I mean, no offense, but this is why you’re not some corporate business person running a major corporation. Big profits don’t mean jobs are safe. Do you understand why things like this happen:

Cutting jobs to maintain or increase profitability, especially in underperforming divisions like parts of Xbox like other gaming divisions.

Corporate restructuring and relocating resources for strategic stability in ever changing markets and consumer behaviors.

Investor expectations and optimizing operations to maintain investor confidence. Whatever boosts stock prices and improves future margins.

And there’s many other factors at play. It’s never as simple as business doing well, everyone’s safe. That’s just you not understanding at all how corporations work and have been working since the beginning. This isn’t something that’s specific to Xbox, you can bet your ass Sony and Nintendo do this and if it’s not clear by now, game development is not a stable job nor has it ever been for many. A lot of developers are contractors and guess what happens when a project is done?

Ganif9h ago

Nintendo said they have no plans for layoffs, and you can't seriously claim that the scale of Sony's layoffs most of which involved Bungie which is self managed as even close to the same scale as what Microsoft has done since they purchased Zenimax. And that significantly less layoffs would have happened if those publishers had stayed independent. Keep in mind that much of these layoffs have been due to redundancies specifically related to these buyouts.

CrimsonWing698h ago(Edited 8h ago)

@Ganif

Nintendo:

https://gamerant.com/ninten...

Sony:

https://gamerant.com/playst...

https://techxplore.com/news...

I don’t think it’s realistic to treat Sony’s layoffs as somehow outside the norm for the industry right now. Even if Bungie is self-managed, Sony’s cuts went far beyond that like Naughty Dog, Insomniac, London Studio being shut down completely, and multiple teams across the globe took hits. These weren’t just minor adjustments.

Nintendo, I had to look up and you’re right. They seem to be an outlier, but rest assured at some point it happens. And even then there’s been layoffs, albeit a smaller amount and contractors.

Would fewer layoffs have happened if studios from acquisitions stayed independent? Maybe. But even independents have been hit hard and look at what’s happened with Embracer’s fallout, or smaller devs like Digic, Roll7, or Volition. This isn’t just a “Microsoft problem” or strictly tied to acquisitions; it’s a broader correction happening across the whole industry, and unfortunately, layoffs are a big part of that process right now.

Ganif8h ago

From your article:

"According to reports, Nintendo of America restructured its testing operations, leading to layoffs of about 120 contractors, part of a strategy for global integration.

Nintendo of America, publisher of iconic franchises like Mario and Zelda, is shifting some contractors to full-time roles for better development integration."

Contractors are not employees, and even if you want to count them as that, it's 120 people vs around 7500 since Microsoft purchased Zenimax.

In an era of game industry layoffs, Nintendo is hiring more people
https://automaton-media.com...

Nintendo Announces 10 Percent Pay Raise For Devs Despite Lower Profits
https://kotaku.com/nintendo...

Nintendo CEO’s refusal to layoff staff goes viral following industry-wide cuts
"Satoru Iwata took pay cuts to ensure staff didn’t have to be let go"
https://www.nme.com/news/ga...

And as for Sony you're comparing less than 1000 total jobs to an estimated7500

Has the industry faced layoffs, yes, but that still doesn't account for the mass layoffs due to redundancies that was easily predictable, or that fact that at least 1/3 of Microsoft's layoffs and studio closures happened before the industry downturn.

thorstein7h ago(Edited 7h ago)

Take the L, Crimson.

People hate Nintendo, but Ganif proved why they deserve support.

+ Show (1) more replyLast reply 7h ago
-Foxtrot10h ago

It's like banging your head off a wall, he just can't help himself.

Microsoft can do no wrong, Sony sucks at everything and Nintendo is bigged up because it's less hassle than trying to defend Microsoft all the time

What's going to happen when Microsoft finally turn completely third party, then what?

anast9h ago

I enjoy Obscure. Obscure does good work.

crazyCoconuts9h ago

Did you know that the first n4g was designed to be a perfect human world? Where none suffered, where everyone would be happy. It was a disaster. No one would accept the program.

Tacoboto8h ago

I wouldn't be surprised at this point if anast and osbcure were both alts for the Admin.

We know how Obscure especially drums up additional comments and clicks with his spam-worthy remarks that somehow never get moderated

+ Show (1) more replyLast reply 8h ago
Profchaos6h ago

Thats business present a strong front to your shareholders while your company burns around you.

Keep shareholders happy at all costs andnif not happy keep them numb to the reality of you organisation

+ Show (4) more repliesLast reply 4h ago
10h ago
Show all comments (75)
130°

Sony Faces Class Action in the Netherlands Over Allegedly Inflated PlayStation Store Prices

Mass Damage & Consumer Foundation in the Netherlands has filed a class action against Sony for inflating PlayStation Store prices.

dveio9h ago(Edited 9h ago)

My personal opinion:

Manufacturers and publishers have indeed inflated the industry.

From $700 million development costs for games like Call of Duty, to digital (store) prices for games and DLCs, online multiplayer fees on consoles (why can you play Helldivers 2 online for free on PC but not consoles?) or still preventing sell/lend digitally purchased games.

Sometime in the future, this bubble will collapse.

They should know better, but they just can't help themselves and suck even the last penny out of our wallets.

BeHunted7h ago

Because Sony knows people will be forced to pay those prices for single player and multiplayer games, not everyone prefers PC gaming. Sony also has a monopoly on PlayStation digital games. In 2019, they stopped allowing retailers and game key sellers to sell PlayStation digital games, making them available only through the official PlayStation Store

anast9h ago

The Dutch gov. wants a piece of the pie.

Eonjay9h ago

They should be suing the individual publishers increasing the prices to $80 instead of suing the store. There are plenty of publishers still selling game for like $50 with much success (like E33). But this proves that the publishers are the ones setting the prices.... so again nothing changes because they aren't even going after the main offender. How is suing Sony going to make Microsoft not charge $80 for the next COD? Sony being the number one store in the market doesn't mean that publisher have to charge us an arm and a leg. Again the industry is laughing at us because consumers never get real representation. Just these fake platitudes that are meaningless.

BeHunted7h ago

"How is suing Sony going to make Microsoft not charge $80 for the next COD"

Because Microsoft doesn't have a monopoly, I can purchase Call of Duty at a huge discount from CDKeys or other gaming retailers. The only way to purchase digital PlayStation games is through the PlayStation Store.

djl34856h ago

Weird, I swore GoW, Stellar Blade, Horizon Zero Dawn, TLoU, etc. were on the steam store....uh.....

BeHunted2h ago(Edited 2h ago)

@djI3485

I'm talking about PlayStation games that you can only purchase on PlayStation. I can purchase Steam and Epic games from 3rd party retailers and key stores.

"Sony to stop selling full-game download codes at retailers"

https://www.videogamer.com/...

Killer2020UK7h ago

About time. There is zero fair reason why digitally distributed products that you cannot recoup any value when you want to dispose of them, should be priced higher than that of physical copies that entail all of the costs and the benefits of owning.

Show all comments (11)
70°

Nintendo Switch 2 review. Is it enough of an upgrade?

Two weeks in, Nintendo Switch 2 feels faster, smoother, and sturdier. But is it enough of an upgrade?

Read Full Story >>
clouddosage.com
anast9h ago

It doesn't matter. Nintendo plays by different rules. They are still reskinning games from the 80s.

Goodguy017h ago(Edited 7h ago)

Not at the moment for most. Good investment for huge Nintendo fans though. You can also expect much more greed from nintendo this gen as well as their confidence really grew from switch 1.
I mean dear God, botw at $70 and totk at $80 fow switch 2 editions. Old games lmao.