Microsoft is apparently considering acquiring IO Interactive.

https://www.resetera.com/threads/microsoft-studios-ot3-i-thought-they-were-supposed-to-be-sold-off-by-now.75600/page-198

Klobrille is a legitimate source of information as he first leaked Microsoft was going to acquire Playground Games and also the Obsidian acquisition with the Letter of Intent was sent to Microsoft from Obsidian.

Would be a good pickup for Microsoft.

Damn, MS aint playing around. They going H.A.M next gen

wow that is a pretty talented studio

Hope it happens and bears good fruit.

That'd definitely be a good buy.

Didn't they just buy themselves out from under EA about a year ago? Why would they join Microsoft now? Lems just stop.

Will they have actual money to make the games if Microsoft is buying everything?

No it was Square Enix

Have they ever done a game that was not Hitman? I would like to see what else they could do with a decent budget. They do put out games at a pretty good 2 to 3 year pace which is very attractive to MS.

Heard the last game is good but sales are bad, so would not surprise me at all to be announced at E3.

@Syn_Valence: Because they are struggling for money, and likely want to use the Episodic model, which makes more sense with Game Pass than paying an individual company.

@daniel_su123: I heard they did not want to do the episoic version. Square Enix forced it on them and was super stingy on the budget.

Mmm would be a good acquisition but what about CD Projekt RED. That would do tons of damage to the opposition.

Game pass will be filled to the rim with Microsoft's A and AA shovelware.

Oooh and get GOG, merge it with windows store while they are at it too. for the other competition that we don't discus much. Gabe Newell will surely bring out Half Life 3 for steam. Valve gonna start pumping games out again lol.

So the only game they got is hitman it seems like? Which is already on there platform.

Seems like a waste.

I literally just called this the other day. Every indie dev that comes out with underperforming products has the shadow of MS looming over them now.

Another dev that has not made great game in the last decade. Good call!

score-of-8-means-the-game-is-great-be-told-noobs

Would you like your crow now

OR

Would you like it later?

I'll just leave it here for you to decide, enjoy :)

RIP IO

I'm wondering if Crytek will be next because at one point in time MS intended to acquire Crytek but didn't because they thought Crysis would compete with Halo.

If that means we get a real sequel to Crysis1/Warhead, yes please.

Hitman Season 3 as Xbox exclusive would be game over man, game over...

Likely be given cash to expand to do 2 studios, and could be some neat Stealth game maybe set in space or something.

As a stealth fanatic, if this was true and exclusive to Scarlett, it's a guaranteed buy from me.

Funny, with each new Xbox pick up, its 1 more game all the PS4 fanboys will spite and pretend like they never liked....It's getting kind of pathetic. First Ninja Theory yall touted them like a badge of honor and now think they are shit. The Initiative has key players who made all your favorite PS4 exclusives, but don't care about them anymore. So many loved Obsidian, everyone loves them for FONV, but now everyone disowning them like they make crap RPGs. So doesn't come as shock that these haters would pretend like Hitman isn't incredible, and won't be shocked if yall start hating on it now even if just a rumor.

Microsoft is basically EA 2.

But em up, bleed them IP's, gut em. Move on.

@i_p_daily: Damn dude. You totally rekt him there. Brutalized. Victimized. Conquered.

Freedom Fighters 2, yes please. Give Hitman some rest.

If the rumor is not true I hope THQ would acquire them.

@Archangel3371: Poor guy is bleeding on the inside from that magalithic reckt.

You mean old MS under Steve Balmer.

New MS under Satya Nadella is different.

Xbox is under it's own Umbrella now led by Phil Spencer. That means the Gaming division can do things their own way. One of the things MS has been promising devs they buy is that they'll maintain creative freedom while also having the financial backing and technical support of MS 1st Party.

Things are starting to look great for Xbox's future.

God this would piss me off if hitman was exclusive to xbox

@pc_rocks: I don't know what MS has to gain with Crytec.

@saltslasher: agreed. PS fan boys are VERY salty.

@daniel_su123: Somebody at Microsoft's board of directors convinced Netflix business model, hence allowing Microsoft's huge $$$$$ cache to be used.

Microsoft copies (assimilates) business models e.g.

1. CP/M for MS DOS clone business.

2. Word Perfect for MS Word.

3. Lotus 123 for MS Excel.

4. Nintendo business model for Xbox.

5. Google advertising with Android biz model for Windows 10.

Hope the folks who were complaining about MS not focusing on games are happy now.

Phil Spencer' Xbox team managed to grab client side Windows development from Windows division. Recently, Xbox team has successfully obtained control over Windows' Microsoft Store app development.

https://www.windowscentral.com/phil-spencer-promises-fix-windows-store-games-commits-powerful-hardware

The vision with clone 3DO business model is already exist with Windows PC gaming clone business model.

Lol, I doubt it makes a difference... they'll just move on to the next thing. Most likely "they aren't even exclusives, because they're on PC blah blah".

Can Henry please admit that he is a noob now ?

I must admit it was fun lol.

I think he's too busy being consoled by Catherine of Valois :P

Personally, I don't ever expect Crytek to ever push what made Crysis/Warhead so damn good on PC ever again. Granted, if MS ever buyout Crytek, I really don't mind getting Crysis 4, I was totally okay with Crysis 3, it still was demanding on PC (and still is) and I even though Crysis 2/3 didn't live up to it's predecessor, if MS can actually give us Crysis 4, I'm down with that. (I just wanna bleed out my 1080Ti lol)

Highly doubt MS will fund a Crysis game that shines on PC. No, I'm not talking about graphics but the gameplay. At best we will get another Crysis 2 or Ryse sequel.

What did MS gained by acquiring Undead Labs?

In case of Crytek though, they will be getting a complete game engine that is one of the best out there or 'the best' in terms of graphics capability. It only lacks good tools to compete in the indie/mobile/mid-tier market which Epic has a hold on, nothing a good budget can't fix. I mean it was former Crytek guys that created UE4 and Id Tech 6 and just like most publishers MS could then consolidate all gaming tech under one umbrella instead of having each studio work in silos with the tech they use. It directly ties into MS acquisition of most game related tech mentality.

Also they will be getting IPs like Crysis, Ryse, Timesplitters and GaaS game Hunt.

@EG101: i wouldn't be so fast to claim that. Do not buy promises or products based upon promises. Wait for the result. As it is now, things are kinda pointing to him being correct; they have to prove otherwise.

I feel like it's only a matter of time that Sony starts buying up studios as well leading to a studio buying "arms race"

Well actually THQ Nordic owns Timesplitters now since they bought it from Crytek.

@ahmedkhan1994: that would be horrible for so many reasons.

@X_CAPCOM_X: I know but we as gamers pretty much asked for it after shitting on Microsoft nonstop this entire gen. Now they want revenge.

Sony doesnt need to.

They have been mopping the floor with MS with exclusives, both true exclusives and console.

MS didnt have a choice.

Sony does.

It would be smarter for Sony to wait and see what these studios produce before going that route.

They are in a position of strength now, trying to outspend a company that is worth more than 10x your value isnt a smart move.

Why buy developers that are already putting games on your system. If you already have an xbox console this move really doesnt change anything for you.