Microsoft - Could Acquire EA or Valve

henriquejr said:

Steam is lovely piece of software when compared to Windows Store.

Click to expand...

Ugh. Hate them both. And Origin.

Wisdom said:

Ugh. Hate them both. And Origin.

Click to expand...

So do you use GoG Galaxy?

Microsoft failed as pusher of retarded phone designs onto PC:
- Windows store that wants to be Apple store on iOS or Google store on Android
- Xbox rubbish that if blocked disallows use of several functions like nifty screen capture
- Copypasted junk Metro UI from WindowsPhone OS which is "so good" it's now dead

So now, since PC audience shown a middlefinger to inferiority because owner of an airplane won't use it to drive over unasphalted roads, now there's a rumor Microsoft wants to snatch a working digital store.
uPlay is out of question, that one is already under siege by Vivendi's attempts, battle.net and RSC can't be bought, Galaxy is "young" and not big enough… Which leaves only Steam or Origin as possible options.

Noone should believe Microsoft is interested in games development. If they did, they wouldn't shut down Ensemble Studios for example. Or another example, we'd play Freelancer 2 ages ago instead of Star Citizen being a thing due to lack of genre entries.
No. Microsoft wants a popular digital store. And their win10 integrated rubbish is far from being popular.

Thus I believe in these rumors. But I wish Microsoft doesn't buy neither EA nor Valve. Evil those might be, but these companies are not only about digital stores and in this case it's lesser evil if they remain out of Microsoft.

@joxer;

You may well be right about Microsoft, given their history, its the smart bet.

I know, Microsoft is evil. From a games perspective I still give them credit for making Mech Commander 2 and some of its source code freely available. A rare move. And unfortunately it seems this has been >10 years ago… huh.

I couldn't care less for what happens to EA and their products.
They currently represents (together with others) the pinnacle of what I despise in the videogames industry, I don't think things could be any worse in this front… so an acquisition, even if from M$, could actually have good implications

On the other hand I care for Valve.
Even with some questionable behaviors, Valve and STEAM did good things for PC gaming. and certainly hope they stay a private, indipendent, company.

http://www.pcgamer.com/microsoft-purchases-cloud-gaming-platform-playfab/

Microsoft purchases cloud gaming platform PlayFab

It's used in games including Killing Floor 2, Battletech, and Pathfinder Adventures.

Click to expand...

I wonder how this will impact battletech.

I don't want Microsoft buying Valve, no way, no how. I can see Microsoft forcing steam and game companies in general to both promote windows 10, and to drop support for any games that support any windows versions other than windows 10, and whatever new crappy versions that Microsoft releases next.

I can see it now in an official announcement - "Steam has dropped support for windows 7, 8 and will now only support windows 10. In addition, future games released on steam will also follow this policy. Welcome to Games on Microsoft and the New Steam, The Gamer's Choice!"

Hell no!

And as far as EA is concerned, I'm indifferent…maybe Microsoft will do some good changes if they took over EA, hell, it can't get much worse! That is my attitude towards EA at this point.

I hope Microsoft buys EA and then makes a sequel to Legacy of the Ancients

I don't give a single fig what happens to origin or electronic arts, but stay the heck away from valve. Oh, and whatever they consume, I hope it constipates them eternally.

crpgnut said:

I hope Microsoft buys EA and then makes a sequel to Legacy of the Ancients

Click to expand...

Dream on.
The only thing that'd happen if Microsoft buys EA is revival of Pet Society servers.

Arkadia7 said:

(...) And as far as EA is concerned, I'm indifferent…maybe Microsoft will do some good changes if they took over EA, hell, it can't get much worse(...)

Click to expand...

Oh, it can get worse. Sure, it can.

henriquejr said:

Oh, it can get worse. Sure, it can.

Click to expand...

Yea, I guess you are right, and it could at that, heh. Maybe we will see what new bottom of the barrel EA/Microsoft will touch next! It can be a betting game of how far down in the sludge they can go.

If they bought Valve, I think they'd hit some trouble with antitrust laws, particularly in the EU.

Just imagine if MS consumed valve and forced everyone onto win 10 MS store to play any of their steam games ever again.
EA could be an improvement but I couldn't care less as I'll never touch their games anyhow.

Microsoft has launched some of its previously exclusively locked Windows Enterprise Software like SQL Server on Linux.
The Ballmer/Gates company is no more and is not that exclusively tied to Windows now. To apply old 10-15 years clichés on MS is fun but really out of target nowadays.

I do not understand those rumors though, buying Steam or EA are 2 hugely different propositions. On one hand you buy a huge portfolio of historical and rooted IP and Studios on the other hand you buy a digital store with tens of millions locked customers and a few internal games.

At this level of investment it is strange than the hesitation is between those 2 so widely different opportunities. That is generally the kind of discussion you have months before the actual proposal, like what do we do to develop our Game branch? This or that.
It is strange than it comes like:
So guys what do we do next week? A Huge Gaming Studio or a Huge Gaming Shop?

On top of that, Gabe is a former Microsoft employee from the Gates/Balmer period and I doubt he is that fond of this.

The only reason I'd see this happening is if Microsoft had completely bought into virtual reality (or "mixed reality" as MS prefers), and not just for gaming although owning a company like EA would be a huge leg up. I honestly believe it is the tech of the near future and tech companies like Microsoft are going to make a gazillion dollars on it. Home theater systems will be replaced with VR setups. TVs will soon be a thing of the past.

Oculus/Vive are bulky, janky toys compared to what's coming soon to a living room near you.

On that note, monitor the VR race closely and when a clear leader begins to pull ahead-- buy the shit out of that stock. It will be like 1980's Apple.

Horrible if Valve is bought. Steam is working like a dream now. When MS gets to touch something like it...

ChaosTheory said:

The only reason I'd see this happening is if Microsoft had completely bought into virtual reality (or "mixed reality" as MS prefers), and not just for gaming although owning a company like EA would be a huge leg up. I honestly believe it is the tech of the near future and tech companies like Microsoft are going to make a gazillion dollars on it. Home theater systems will be replaced with VR setups. TVs will soon be a thing of the past.

Oculus/Vive are bulky, janky toys compared to what's coming soon to a living room near you.

On that note, monitor the VR race closely and when a clear leader begins to pull ahead-- buy the shit out of that stock. It will be like 1980's Apple.

Click to expand...

Microsoft closed down half their video games studios in 2015. They were bigger than EA before that. They were working on VR tech too (see Hololens) and EA does nothing with VR, the CEO doesn't care about it.

If Microsoft is looking to "buy" EA, it's to get the IPs and close down the studios.

Also, no VR are going to replace the TV in any near future, it's way too expensive, you have to buy an headset for each people watching the same thing while you only need one TV for everyone.