But why? Disney has made several attempts before to break into gaming, none of which have worked out well. The best Disney games have all been licensed games by Square Enix, BioWare, Capcom, etc.
Also, Disney doesn't have the cash to buy EA, so buying EA would involve them going deeply into debt. With today's interest rates, that would be too risky.
@OfficialThunderbolt@Jinxyface it's ashamed more countries & gov't are to fiscally driven to legally prevent monopolies when they've been known to be destructive
Video games aren't in danger of becoming a monopoly, but that kind of measure seems more aimed at preventing foreigners from having too much influence.
Video games aren't in danger of becoming a monopoly,
Microsoft, a trillion dollar tech conglomerate, has just purchased multiple of the entire video game's largest publishers. It is entirely in danger of becoming a monopoly
How many games came out in 2023? How many of those do Microsoft own? How much do you think that second number changes over the next 10 years? There are so, so, so many video game companies out there that Microsoft doesn't own.
It's not about how many Microsoft owns. It's how large the ones they own are. Microsoft has essentially made long time huge third party developers/publishers part of their company now, that's corporate consolidation and should never be defended or justified in any way.
Microsoft has trillions of dollars. They have the capital, workforce, and time to build up their own studios. If the only way a trillion dollar company can "compete" in a space is to consolidate that space by applying anti consumer tactics like buying out longstanding publishers, that's stupid and a lie.
Hard disagree. Sony's in a dominant position specifically because of anti consumer tactics like exclusives. These games can take 5+ years to make, so the only way Microsoft catches up at all during this console generation is via acquisitions (of companies looking to sell, mind you). The only way their trillions of dollars (of market cap, not cash on hand) helps them anytime soon is acquisitions. And also remember that these acquisitions came up in response to Sony seeking further exclusivity of things like Starfield and Call of Duty.
And once again, there's just so much to the video game market that neither of those companies own. Video games are an international industry made up of many, many, many participants, and even Microsoft is nowhere close to having a majority of it.
The big publishers' moneymaking franchises have plateaued or declined without anything to replace them, and they're looking to sell their companies before those franchises stop making money. EA and Disney have a partnership via Star Wars that could work out toward making an acquisition or merger more affordable. Disney would probably have a hard time growing by acquiring more television or movie studios, but video games are in a different industry. Disney might see acquiring a giant like EA to be acquiring "experts" at how to actually run a video game business compared to Disney's failed past efforts.
Those are the reasons I can think of. EA was rumored to have hit up every enormous company like this to buy them out, including Apple and Amazon, so it doesn't surprise me that Disney was on that list.
But why? Disney has made several attempts before to break into gaming, none of which have worked out well. The best Disney games have all been licensed games by Square Enix, BioWare, Capcom, etc.
Also, Disney doesn't have the cash to buy EA, so buying EA would involve them going deeply into debt. With today's interest rates, that would be too risky.
That's why they're going to want to buy those studios.
They can't buy Square Enix or Capcom; Japan has laws protecting certain Japanese companies from being bought out by foreign companies.
@OfficialThunderbolt @Jinxyface it's ashamed more countries & gov't are to fiscally driven to legally prevent monopolies when they've been known to be destructive
Video games aren't in danger of becoming a monopoly, but that kind of measure seems more aimed at preventing foreigners from having too much influence.
Microsoft, a trillion dollar tech conglomerate, has just purchased multiple of the entire video game's largest publishers. It is entirely in danger of becoming a monopoly
How many games came out in 2023? How many of those do Microsoft own? How much do you think that second number changes over the next 10 years? There are so, so, so many video game companies out there that Microsoft doesn't own.
It's not about how many Microsoft owns. It's how large the ones they own are. Microsoft has essentially made long time huge third party developers/publishers part of their company now, that's corporate consolidation and should never be defended or justified in any way.
Microsoft has trillions of dollars. They have the capital, workforce, and time to build up their own studios. If the only way a trillion dollar company can "compete" in a space is to consolidate that space by applying anti consumer tactics like buying out longstanding publishers, that's stupid and a lie.
Hard disagree. Sony's in a dominant position specifically because of anti consumer tactics like exclusives. These games can take 5+ years to make, so the only way Microsoft catches up at all during this console generation is via acquisitions (of companies looking to sell, mind you). The only way their trillions of dollars (of market cap, not cash on hand) helps them anytime soon is acquisitions. And also remember that these acquisitions came up in response to Sony seeking further exclusivity of things like Starfield and Call of Duty.
And once again, there's just so much to the video game market that neither of those companies own. Video games are an international industry made up of many, many, many participants, and even Microsoft is nowhere close to having a majority of it.
I can only think of Kingdom Hearts and I assume that is square enix.
The big publishers' moneymaking franchises have plateaued or declined without anything to replace them, and they're looking to sell their companies before those franchises stop making money. EA and Disney have a partnership via Star Wars that could work out toward making an acquisition or merger more affordable. Disney would probably have a hard time growing by acquiring more television or movie studios, but video games are in a different industry. Disney might see acquiring a giant like EA to be acquiring "experts" at how to actually run a video game business compared to Disney's failed past efforts.
Those are the reasons I can think of. EA was rumored to have hit up every enormous company like this to buy them out, including Apple and Amazon, so it doesn't surprise me that Disney was on that list.
Man, I miss Disney Infinity. The toy requirement was stupid, but the building was a ton of fun