MS to buy Bioware?

[Jeremy]

Why does everyone bring up Japan when talking about the Xbox's poor sales? MS doesn't need to give a shit about Japan, they're doing fine as they are by focusing on the U.S. Sure, I'd love it if they would reach out to the Japanese market. We'd probably see more diverse games on the system as a result. But I simply don't think it'll happen.

[Shin Johnpv]

Originally posted by negitoro


Is it such a bad idea for MS to buy SquareEnix ? Just half a thread ago, people say that MS nurtures their developers. So what's with the negativity ? Just because they'll stop developing for PS2 ? Or that Sony will be hit ? Perhaps a hit is exactly what Sony needs. It would even out the market and give them some genuine competition. The industry would improve as a result.

because they dont always nuture for every Game developer theyve nutured there are tons of other software companies theyve destroyed

If the Xbox 2 ends up being a flop and MS pulls out of the market it chances are most of the Game developers they bought are going to be gutted and sold off in pieces

just like they did to Softimage when they thought they could control the High end 3d animation market it



Its one thing for smaller dev houses to be bought, thats cool

but the large houses like SquareEnix, Capcom, Konami, Tecmo etc need to stay how they are and i dont want to see ANYONE buy them

[Diff-chan]

negitoro, have you ever even played Baldur's Gate? They are indeed games that can succeed in the console market. Just because they don't have characters with big eyes and stilted, broken translations from Japanese doesn't mean that they can't be geared towards console'ers. Their storylines are great, the writing is awesome, the play mechanics are strong, and they are the type of nonlinear adventure that console gamers would love to waste their life away on. Sure they aren't Japanese RPGs, but they are easily among the best RPGs released in the past few years. And if there's one thing console nerds love, its good RPGs.

And have you ever heard of Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance? Granted Bioware didn't make it, and it wasn't much of a BG at all, but it was hugely successful on the consoles.

And Bioware also made MDK2. Keep that in mind before you undermine Bioware's ability to make "console games".

[negitoro]

DiffusionX - Yes I have played Baldur's Gate. In fact I LOVE them. And I do like Bioware as a company since I am an RPG fan. I am NOT bashing Bioware in anycase.

I am merely stating I consider their titles to be far more PC-oriented. Does it have what it takes to break into the console market ? I find it questionable whether a game like Baldur's Gate translates well to a pad, for instance.

In any case, look at the first "PC-style" RPG on the console : Morrowind. Was it good ? Surely it was a great RPG. But the fact remains, it didn't sell as well as the great console RPGs - the following remains hardcore and it's used copies are perhaps the most numerous of any at the local EB.

Thus, the point in contention is whether Bioware is worth how many hundreds of millions MSFT is overpaying for them. Their games while great and bolstering a floundering genre on the console, will most likely have questionable system selling power.

Regardless, it is my view that MSFT shouldn't throw around large sums of money unless they're sure the developer furthers their plans. Certainly KOTOR could've been bought with a money hat instead.

Jeremy - No one can do well when isolated from a large market, especially one so rich in gaming as Japan. You cannot argue the fact that Xbox would greatly benefit from added support from Japan because it is an undeniable fact that a majority of the biggest titles or franchises for every system originate from Japan.

Xbox has done a very admirable job of pumping it's library with minimal Japanese support. It actually has given me more faith in American developers than I've felt in many years. But library diversity and quality is almost proportional to the amount of support you get from the biggest and best developers.

Already, the Xbox library is starting to fall stagnant : a plethora of shooters, sports and racers but with most of the more colorful titles originating from Japan .... DOAXBV, JSRF, GunValk, PDO, Crimson Sea...

[Diff-chan]

Originally posted by negitoro
DiffusionX - Yes I have played Baldur's Gate. In fact I LOVE them. And I do like Bioware as a company since I am an RPG fan. I am NOT bashing Bioware in anycase.

I am merely stating I consider their titles to be far more PC-oriented. Does it have what it takes to break into the console market ? I find it questionable whether a game like Baldur's Gate translates well to a pad, for instance.

In any case, look at the first "PC-style" RPG on the console : Morrowind. Was it good ? Surely it was a great RPG. But the fact remains, it didn't sell as well as the great console RPGs - the following remains hardcore and it's used copies are perhaps the most numerous of any at the local EB.

Thus, the point in contention is whether Bioware is worth how many hundreds of millions MSFT is overpaying for them. Their games while great and bolstering a floundering genre on the console, will most likely have questionable system selling power.

Fair enough. However, I will say that Morrowind was not a "PC-style RPG on Xbox", it was a "PC RPG ported to Xbox". And, well, history can tell you well enough that PC ports to consoles are usually pants. Morrowind's port was decent enough, but it was a PC game.

It will be interesting to see what comes from KOTOR, I do believe that game was designed by Bioware for the Xbox first - in other words, its a console game. Bioware can, very very very easily, make a game designed for a console. And it can be spectacular.

But there is one flaw in your logic. You are talking like Bioware needs to break into the console market. They don't need to, they already have. See MDK2 - it was a console game and it was spectacular. If that game wasn't on Dreamcast (and the PS2 port wasn't so shitty), it would've been a massive hit.

In short, my final hypothesis is that Microsoft purchasing Bioware would be a great thing for Microsoft, and its a far better bet than Rare.

[negitoro]

DiffusionX - I agree with you that Bioware is a better pickup than Rare. I also agree with you that Bioware is capable of making spectacular games.

As a gamer I personally am highly antipcipating KOTOR.I think it should be a good RPG at the very least... the fact it was designed with Xbox in mind is certainly comforting to know.

BUT...

I do disagree with your comments on MDK2. It's a great game for sure. But I do believe it's one of those great games that seems to remain unplayed... one of those games which recieve critical acclaim only to only reach a limited audience. And for that, I don't believe that Bioware will become a system seller... that MSFT will have a hard, hard time down the road justifying their acquisition.

I would've preferred them, say, to save that billion dollars spent on Rare and Bioware and instead divert that money to buying Sega, for instance. To buy up some franchises that make the public and gamers alike sit up and take notice. To start stealing market share from Sony.

Let's be frank : no one is going to give up their PS2 and buy an Xbox for the right to play KOTOR. The mainstream public (i.e. the bulk of the money) won't know the difference and won't really care. You buy GTA, people scream "Holy Shit!"... you buy up KOTOR, people go "Huh ? Knights of the what ?"

So in the end, my counter view to yours is that as a library builder and to gain some exclusive content : this is a a good move. But as a move in over business and brand building, I believe that it's too stiff a price to pay for that library bolstering.

In the end, this argument is all just conjecture. The only way we can determine really, what ends up happening is waiting for everything to play out. As a gamer and Xbox owner, of course, I'm hoping for the best... I just wish they'd be more aggressive in their purchases...

[AaronChance]

Sega is a system seller? What alternate reality are you from? O_o

Truth is some people are buying an xbox just for KOTOR, even though it is also coming out on PC, so while Bioware isn't a huge system seller they can obviously sell an xbox or two without even a true exclusive. If the game was locked to the xbox, I bet the sales numbers would jump noticably. There's a lot of SW fans out there.

[Drewbacca]

I think Rare is a better buy, business wise, than Bioware. I'm not talking game quality, etc. I'm talking as a good aquisition to hurt your competitor. They took some wind out of Nintendos sales with that purchase, and games that would've been released right now are not even coming out for the system!

That's a good way to throw around some money, while lacking the big hit a purchase of Take Two or SquareEnix would make to the Sony market.

[morcheebix]

I went to bioware at the start of febuary and they had xbox mugs all over the place if that helps bring anymore vadality to the rumor... I also got to check out KOTR and it looks great.

[Jeremy]

Bioware's a much better buy for MS than Rare. Bioware= low cost for buyout and a high potential to make that money back, and then some. Rare= high cost for buyout, lower chance of making that money back.