Microsoft Acquired Hellblade Creator Ninja Theory For Just $117 Million

Damn, that sounds so low… maybe it’s because outside Hellblade they don’t really own any relevant established IP?

I think that's reasonable for a small team and no huge IP's to their name.

Technically they were not in a great situation at the time, so it makes sense. Also, this is exactly the type of investments MS should be doing, acquiring and funding smaller talented teams, growing them into something bigger, AAA ready. Instead of buying and consolidating giants (and monopolizing market using capital brute force).

Happy Story for Ninja Theory too. After Sony took their engine after having developed Heavenly Sword for them, it looked like they were in no man's land development wise. Enslaved and DMC were good, but they were always just one poor game/mishit from going bankrupt. Good end result for everyone all round.

@Tharsman This exactly. Sony own the rights to Heavenly Sword, Capcom own DMC and I think Bandai own the Enslaved licence too.

One couldn't even afford a Declan Rice with that amount. 😂

They've had a great output as well, truly worth the money. 1 absolute banger in the form of Bleeding Edge or whatever in 5 years

For a game that’s so restricted and packed with boring puzzles I’m surprised it wasn’t lower

Monopolising, @Cikajovazmaj? So how exactly is a company that sits in third place with just 16% of the market share, able to be a monopoly? Even after the ABK acquisition, Xbox will still be a distant third. Xbox will still be sat on 16% unless, and until, people switch to the platform.

Truthfully, if you look at the figures, with Xbox sat on 30% of the market, and Sony sat on 70% (out of the two 'high-end' consoles) which one of those two is close/closer to being a monopoly?

@themightyant It's barmy when you consider MS paid $100 million just for their year of timed exclusivity for Tomb Raider. Phil finally said the other day what I've thought all along. Which is that they really aren't interested in expenses, they're interested in assets. Which really, when the deals look this, who could blame them?

@Cikajovazmaj
By owning Activision/Blizzard they will be nowhere near a Monopoly. If Sony wants to let go of some of their exclusives day 1 like Spider-Man 2 then I would feel bad for poor old Sony

@ZuneTattooGuy @Fiendish-Beaver there is a significant difference between approaches though. Sony is mostly paying for timed or full platform exclusivity to INDEPENDENT studios. All consolidation was on a smaller scale compared to MS. While that influences the current state, it does not directly dictate future position. The same developers can take their next project elsewhere (Kojima) if that is a better fit. Sony does not own the market itself.
MS approach is to directly acquire and own all big and active market participants. That is a definition of monopoly.

@Cikajovazmaj
So did their acquisition of Zenimax Studios dent the PS4 or PS5's sales at all?

@Cikajovazmaj
Also a monopoly by definition means that one company has all the power and leaves no room for competition in the respective field. Sony with or without Bethesda and Activision will be just fine.

@ZuneTattooGuy
Oxford Dictionary (English is not my primary language): "the exclusive possession or control of the supply of or trade in a commodity or service."

Additionally, I couldn't care less about Sony. What I do care about is the price of the gaming hobby I have (be that through a license purchase or service subscription). Whenever any corporation sets itself up to own future "supply", it usually spells a price hike for me and dips in quality/innovation.

@Cikajovazmaj xbox raised their prices almost two years after Sony though.

Sony needs a bigger competitor, which Microsoft could/should be.

@Cikajovazmaj
Microsoft is trying to structure themselves as the Netflix of Gaming. Which I think is very consumer friendly. Sony is dead set on marching forward with $70+ games, they are the Blockbuster of Gaming. It will eventually bite them in the ass

@Friendly
Microsoft wasn't aggressive enough last generation until the end of it, I think they are doing the right steps to become an affordable powerhouse of gaming. They should have maybe not launched the Series S and X right away and waited until a few more big games were ready but I get why they felt the need to release alongside the PS5

@Moonglow
69 billion is 34.5% of 200 billion

@Cikajovazmaj describing something that isn't a monopoly then sharing the definition of a monopoly doesn't change that your description doesn't match it. Might want to wait until the 3rd place brand can even become the market leader before you even consider talking about monopoly dangers. Sony is a much higher monopoly risk right now, and even they aren't close yet.

@themightyant
Also if you care about the cost of your gaming hobby you would should encourage and love Gamepass over Sony's approach

@Friendly agreed. And number 2 (Nintendo) has done remarkably well, using a creativity and partnership strategy. Indeed, there is a large group of independent studios considered "Nintendo companies" that are choosing to only develop for their platforms, due to the support and conditions Nintendo provides.
Some of Nintendo's acquisitions were saving such perspective developers from bankruptcy. Therefore, it can obviously be done without "spending Sony out of business."

It simply is not the definition of a monopoly, @Cikajovazmaj.

This is the definition of monopoly, as taken directly from Google:

What is Monopoly. Definition: A market structure characterized by a single seller, selling a unique product in the market. In a monopoly market, the seller faces no competition, as he is the sole seller of goods with no close substitute.

So, once you understand that, you can see that a company that has 70% of gamers playing on their platform (Sony) is far closer to monopolising the industry than Xbox who have just 30% of gamers playing on their platform.

In literal terms, for a company to be a monopoly, they would have to be the only one offering a particular service. So, if we were just to look at Sony and Xbox, it would need one of them to drop out of the market for the other to then be a monopoly.

As it stands, if you take all 3 consoles, Xbox is sat on just 16% of the market share. Therefore it follows that Xbox is the most likely to fold as they are quite literally struggling up against both Sony and Nintendo. That is why Microsoft are looking to buy ABK; they need the content that ABK brings in order to bolster the portfolio of Xbox. They need to bring people into the Xbox ecosystem. They need people to buy Xbox consoles, and subscribe to Game Pass, in order to grow their market share, and try and redress their current abysmal standing in the market. Were the ABK deal to fail, then Xbox is staring at a very bleak future because they need those new Xbox owners and subscribers now. Waiting two or three years for them to bring out their AAA games will just see them lose further ground to the both Sony and Nintendo, and then the quality of the games will matter even less. As Spencer said, even if Starfield is an 11/10, people aren't going to stop playing on the PlayStation, and switch to the Xbox. The truly important one is Sony, as they offer a console comparable to Xbox. Sony are able to get third-party exclusive after third-party exclusive because they have such a big market share. Xbox has been unable to secure a single one because their market share is so low.

So, if any company is closer to being a monopoly, it is Sony. If any company is more likely to foreclose the other, it is Sony. If any company is more likely to cease trading, it is Xbox. People need to understand the market conditions better, and Xbox's place in it. With that in mind, it will be easier for people to understand why Microsoft are seeking to buy ABK. It is quite literally essential to Xbox, and a case of console survival...

@Cikajovazmaj
You are just blind to raw numbers and facts. Microsoft's acquisitions have been very large but it is not hurting Sony in anyway. Even with the Activision/Blizzard deal they don't plan on taking the two biggest games off of Sony's systems, Call of Duty and Overwatch. They haven't really said they are taking anything away from Sony.

@themightyant
I hear you I just bought Diablo IV and it is not part of Gamepass (yet). So I too have Ultimate and buy several games that are not part of it. However I hope Microsoft can grow the library of what's offered in Gamepass to a crazy level and even if they charged $25 or 30 a month I would be happy as long as it was a nice expansive library of current, past, and indie released

@Kaloudz
I hate how much flack DmC got when it was still a very good Devil May Cry game, but God of War reboot got a ton of praise when it was very far removed from the original series.

It seems like a bargain. However, I have no doubt it made a small handful of people very rich. Most people do not require Marcus Persson money to live like a king.

@Kaloudz Ninja Theory's DMC was the only DMC I never bothered completing. I could only take a few hours. I hated everything about it. Literally everything about the game was off. Terrible game.

Apologies to everybody who got triggered by my comments, it was not my intention. I was just stating my opinion and did not want to sound like a troll.

Anyway, I wanted to leave another comment, as I think DMC is actually a great game and I totally did not get all the hate at the time of release. I felt like it was a great coming-out party for Ninja Theory solidifying their "devs of future" status, but not everybody agreed.

@ZuneTattooGuy That sounds more like Sony with Playstation. Bullying the market with their monopoly. It's quite obvious with Sony's tactics being exposed. Not that we didn't know what was going on. Sony has paid lobbyists forcing the FTC to try and block the acquisition. Sony needs to be investigated for their practices.

@themightyant
So should Sony have to go under the same legal circus as Microsoft when they keep Final Fantasy 7 remake and 16 off Xbox? How about Spider-Man? Why should Sony be allowed to have exclusive rights to such a major character?

Starfield will come and go, and the PS5 will still outsell the Xbox Series X. So no the big Bethesda buyout will not hurt Sony this generation. Is Microsoft positioning themselves to be a juggernaut next generation and making Gamepass a even better value absolutely but Sony would do the same thing if they were worth over a trillion dollars.

I am absolutely convinced Hellblade 2 will be a big let down.

@ZuneTattooGuy because God of War never tried to humiliate its original fanbase(in game or in GDC presentation)?
https://twitter.com/headfallsoff/status/1405316689949073409

@Benjamin that depends on expectations, doesn't it? Me, I liked the first one and am expecting a similar tailored and focused single-player experience that uses all the tricks to punch above its budgeted weight. As long as it achieves that, I'm good.

@Kaloudz I hear you and respect your take! I guess I was in the series too long. I bought the first one off the shelf and am too invested in OG Dante. I thought the art direction was awful and the combat was forgettable compared to Capcom and Platinum.

While I don't agree with all these companies buying Devs out, In certain situations it 100% works and helps save some. They are a talented bunch and deserve the right to keep creating their art.

I wonder how much it'd take to get Twisted Pixel back. When they were under Microsoft they made some of the best XBLA games worth it just for the humor alone. Instead they're making random Oculus VR games. Tragic.

@shoeses Yeah they were great back then. The Maw was very sweet and ‘Splosion Man was brilliant.

@Cikajovazmaj I think expectations are quite high for it. It’s been a long time since the impressive announce trailer and it’s been slated as a heavy hitter by Xbox since then. But I suspect it will be much like the first game but prettier which doesn’t meet the hype train’s standards.

@ZuneTattooGuy I agreed with most of the things you’ve said in this comment section apart from this one. The most consumer friendly option is offer a choice. Those who want to buy and those who want to rent. There is nothing wrong with either. I use a combination of the two. The subs allow me to try games I might never have purchased but the games I want and love I buy at retail happily. Both models have proven to work and there is room for both.

@ZuneTattooGuy Just dented egos 🤣

@UltimateOtaku91 IPs.

@Fiendish-Beaver

Bro... good job on this. Now go post it on Push, so they can see some ppl can criticize and critic this deal with easy understanding.

Great deal if they produce the goods. At this point Hell Blade 2 has probably costs more than MS paid for the studio.

As always though, getting ip is one thing…retaining talent is another. I’d like to see MS do more investments in people… extend contracts, less contractors, and bonus incentives to hit targets…both for deadlines and in sales.

@Benjamin I imagine it will be like the first one just more of it and prettier. Anyone expecting God of War or any of Sony’s cinematic 3rd person action games, will be let down…I can’t imagine gameplay being anywhere near as fluid as those games have in between their cinematics.

Those wanting something to finally show off the power of the series x thought will be pleased. It’s set to be one of the best looking games this gen. Of course you can expect countless posts from PlayStation only gamers pointing out that it’s only 30fps with this many pixels…but that won’t remove much from the spectacle it’s set to be

@Fiendish-Beaver They are ignorant and just scream "monopoly" and "anti-competitive" without understanding what those terms mean. Perhaps, willfully ignorant, as they continually disregard the market data and exclusive-crazy tactics of Sony.

I completely agree, @theduckofdeath. I think that some harbour such a hatred of Microsoft they are completely blinded to what Sony are doing. Sony can do no wrong, but woe betide Microsoft if they attempt to do anything to grow the Xbox brand...