What was your favorite game company acquisition of this gen?

Easily Insomniac.

They made 3 AAAA games in 3 years.

Microsoft is kicking themselves they coulda gotten 2 launch titles for x-series x and denied sony 2 launch titles on ps5 if they bought insomniac instead of all this other crap. It was a huge fail for microsoft to pass up on them after sunset overdrive. They underestimated insomniacs power level.

I think Obsidian might be the most interesting to me. Ninja Theory is pretty interesting as well. Playground while a nice one to get was pretty much a Microsoft developer already so it wasn’t really too surprising.

WTF? Favorite game company acquisition?

This is a......weird thread, lol.

I don't care.

Truthfully, it's too early to tell, as we really haven't seen what these studios are going to do under this new ownership.

Obsidian appears to be benefiting from a larger budget provided by MS. I'm not 100% certain of how they operate, but based on their release schedule, I would guess they have three teams working on projects, with one AAA team and two smaller teams. Based on what they're working on now, it would appear that they now have two AAA teams and one smaller team, so that could be seen as a plus depending on what comes of it.

Double-Fine is also a studio that should benefit from a larger production budget, but they haven't released a AAA title since Brutal Legend over 10 years ago, and we don't know how the team's going to adapt to newer design philosophies returning to that space (I'm specifically thinking of Warren Specter and his vicious defense of Epic Mickey, here).

Sony acquiring Insomanic almost felt inconsequential, as they've essentially been a first party Sony studio since the PS1.

TLDR version of this: I don't think we have enough data to really form an opinion, yet. We'll probably have a better idea sometime mid-next gen.

EA getting Respawn.

Any company not acquired by EA.

Sony finally putting a ring on Insomniac was the biggest acquisition by far.

What a strange question.

I'm always in favor of studios remaining independent.

I am just glad nobody acquired Fromsoft.

Sony acquiring Insomniac, not because of who got what, but how it played out.

https://youtu.be/JD-ss0NFwV8

Starting a minute in, MS is Nicholas Cage, Insomniac is the girl, Sony is the biker. Pretty much sums up what happened there.

I don't think companies like Double Fine would be around much longer if it wasn't for MS picking them up.

There are always exceptions.

I am looking forward to Psychonauts 2, but after Double Fine's inability to properly manage a crowd funding campaigns I'm not sure they should even still be getting second chances.

Doesn't matter who owns them, they will still fail to clearly define their projects and let dates slip and go over budget.

Eh maybe Obsidian getting bigger budget now? otherwise I dont think why would I be happy about say Insomniac being bought by sony for example, like what does the consumer gain?

None

Good thread.

Based on my experience - Insomniac is my favorite -

1. Insomniac Games - 5 Ratchet & Clank games , Resistance 1-3 , Spider-Man
2. Ninja Theory - Heavenly Sword , Enslaved , DmC , Hellblade
3. Respawn - Titanfall 2 , Fallen Order

I don't have any experience with any of the other studios , not even Obsidian

I really like my movie games. Funnily enough , I like Ninja Theory a lot more than Lems could ever pretend to. But the issue is ... Sony has Insomniac , Guerrilla , Santa Monica , Naughty Dog , and Sucker Punch ... and I like them more or a lot more. And I'm only planning to get one console. Maybe I'll play it on PC later. Or not.

Too many to list and not going to cover them all from the one's I like.

Is SW running out of thread ideas already?

???

This is an odd thread topic.

Praising keeping games off other platforms?

Seek help.

Like Hippo said, still need to see how many of these pan out.

And generally, acquiring healthy studios for the sake of making their games exclusive isn't something I celebrate lol. I know it's not always that clear cut, sometimes a good dev needs a life line.

Anyways, not straight up acquisitions, but was glad Nintendo bankrolled Platinum for Bayo 2 and TW101. Also glad Sony did the same for SFV. All three are some of my favorites this gen, and may not have happened otherwise.

Also looking forward to what Gen Design (former Team Ico) develops under Epics publishing.

Although I'm glad for Microsoft's many acquisitions recently, particularly Double Fine and Obsidian, nothing can top Sony buying Insomiac. Spiderman was simply one of the best games I've ever played and if you can buy a studio that can produce that kind of games, you're golden.

I mean, if a company wants to be independent, then I have no problem with that. It's not like MS forced these people to join them lol. I'm fully supportive of Platinum trying to be independent. I hope some good comes out of it. I know that some people are thinking about this as just an exclusivity thing.. but let's look at Insomniac. They tried doing their own thing. They made a game called Fuse. This was supposed to be their big game with EA, and it became a huge flop. They did Sunset Overdrive, which turned out to be ok, but it didn't sell well as far as I know. With Sony, they have the resources to work on Ratchet, but they also got the opportunity to do Spider-Man, and I think they are doing VR as well. They can work with other Sony developers to help with their games.

I agree with these. Obsidian and Ninja Theory are two underrated developers that now have the financial backing of freaking Microsoft. Pretty excited to see what they can do with those kind of resources.

@SolidGame_basic:

For sure man, it's all just business. Of course nobody is being forced lol.

People are looking at the exclusivity side because that's typically the goal/result.

But yeah, like I said, it's not always so clear cut. Can be a matter of funding, a matter of IP, etc.

It can be a good thing though, like an overlooked or troubled developer finally getting consistent funding. For example, Psychonauts 2 wasn't going to have boss fights because they didn't have the budget, but now it will due to MS cash.

Something like Insomniac is less exciting. They were already making big games mostly with Sony anyway.

Holy shit, just a quick look at the OP shows how some of you console plebs are brainwashed completely... O_o

MS bought a lot of 3rd rate studios. so my vote goes with INS due to the awesome game they made ( Spider-Man for the PS4) that lems never got to play :(

None. Consolidation is bad for a free and competitive market.

Can't think of any beyond maybe Campo Santo by Valve and that was 2018.

Usually when they get chomped it the game design changes, the prices and business practices change all for the worst.

Could not agree more with these statements.

Praising a "company acquisition" is like praising someone for finding out they are about to die a slow death. We should be mourning these companies.

The only company that seemed to pull a reverse-acquisition is Bungie, I guess? So good for them. Would love to see an Oni reboot from them, but that likely won't happen :(