In arguably the most bizarre rumour we’ve read since Shenmue III and Final Fantasy VII were being touted as potential announcements at E3 2015, there’s bonkers talk of Microsoft lining up an acquisition of Electronic Arts – the publisher of FIFA and Madden. The actual basis for the speculation is shaky: it’s mentioned off-the-cuff as part of a Polygon editorial, citing “a reliable source close” to the Redmond company. The actual article is about Xbox's "problematic" first-party portfolio; the purported acquisition isn't even part of the story's headline.
EA’s valued at some $35 billion, which Microsoft could obviously afford, but it’d be a significant investment even for a company of that size. Assuming that the platform holder then made the majority of the publisher’s output exclusive, it’d practically cut the firm’s worth in half. Of course, our understanding is that franchises like FIFA are legally required to launch on all viable formats anyway, so that’s worth keeping in mind.
We suppose that the Windows maker did keep its promise regarding the multiformat nature of Minecraft, but this whole story seems bizarre to us. The article also bands about potential acquisitions of Valve and Korean outfit PUBG Corp, which seem less crazy but still insane. What would Microsoft even do with Valve? Merge Steam with the Windows 10 Store? C’mon now! According to a SuperDataResearch analyst, announcements will be coming “very, very shortly”. Well, we’re waiting.gif.
[source polygon.com]
Comments 42
Can't wait for EA and Microsoft to laugh this off and for Polygon to pretend like it still has credibility in the aftermath.
Could the world cope with two axis of evil merging?
Everyone knows MS have poor first party, so it seems that their answer to it is to just throw money at everything. Besides even if they were serious about EA or Valve their might be antitrust issues at play.
And if they were serious then they will have to leave the console business for good and launch all their product on multiplatforms. Besides MS struggle to keep 5 studios open at one time so what makes them think they can keep double that?
Firstly, I’d be shocked if this ever happened. Secondly, go ahead & buy them. I don’t play any EA games anyways.
Pahahah! Why would MS put themselves in a EVEN WORSE position with a company that is already under fire?
Fake news Polygon.
@get2sammyb Probably a slow news day for them. Very slow.
It's a crazy thing. Maybe too crazy for the game industry. It would take a lot of microlootboxtranaction money for this to pay off if it actually happened.
It does seem unlikely, but honestly, I can't say it wouldn't make sense. They have similar philosophies when it comes to the gaming market. If MS was going to get out of making console hardware, they could do worse than acquiring EA.
@NoxAeturnus The only way it makes sense is if Microsoft become a third-party publisher. I imagine the sports and Star Wars contracts stipulate multiformat releases anyway.
It makes no sense.
@get2sammyb they should at least in Japan
Well they might as well they own rare and messed them up at least with ea they can not do much harm and EA games are no good bugging mess anyway and do not mess up steam
Both EA and MS like to kill studios, they deserve each other.
And just like MS, Valve doesn't care about single-player games.
But seriously Microsoft, just leave the console market already, we need another company to be part of the big three. MS is toast.
@get2sammyb That's pretty much what I was getting at. If they stop making consoles, they could go 3rd party, go after Steam on PC with a better XBox store and drop some multiplat releases on consoles for everyone else. But yeah, I agree, overall this rumor is so unlikely as to be nonsensical.
@PS_Nation moment of silence for Sega
Sports.
@get2sammyb "and for Polygon to pretend like it still has credibility in the aftermath."
https://tenor.com/view/ohhh-burn-diss-ohh-gif-4969108
Edit: I don't know how to embed gifs
TV.
I could see Microsoft buying BioWare or something from EA, but I doubt they would try to purchase EA as a whole. I agree that Fifa, Disney, NFL, NHL and whoever else want their games wherever their customers are.
Making FIFA and all the sport games exclusive will destroy so much value of the licenses. And with the soccer contracts going up i dont see the price of the licenses go down.
@get2sammyb "Polygon"
"credibility"
Can those words both be used in a sentence?
@PS_Nation seems that another company could be joining the big 3 anyway with Google supposedly wanting to make a console, interesting to see what they would bring...just hope its not to force even more play store games onto our tvs
I could see them buying PUBGs studio
While probably a baseless rumour there is actually some credence to the theory even if I don't believe it. As a whole, ignoring xbox as a brand, their strategy had been as a software supplier rather than hardware manufacturer. Office is now multi platform and they have started to exit a lot of the hardware market, xbox and surface notwithstanding. Their gaming output is now multi platform for xbox and PC. Valve makes sense because they could tie it to Windows. Even EA makes sense because of their dedication to games as a service. They can also leverage their cloud tech. So while a rumour and almost certainly made up, it isn't as crazy as it sounds. I think we are moving away from xbox the hardware brand it was.
Let's for now ignore the shaky source of the rumour and consider if this is that crazy an idea.
Xbox isn't selling anything like the PS4 this gen, so they have positioned their brand not only as a gaming platform on PC as well as console, with cross buy between the two but also a subscription service and I think that's the key to where they're headed. EA already have a similar setup on their console making it rather easy to merge them into one and can you even begin to imagine the potential of Steam being incorporated into the Xbox brand. They've made lots of noise about cross platform gaming recently (Rocket League is between Xbox and Switch) and even suggested that some of their games may appear on other platforms and with Minecraft this is already the case.
Most people I've seen online are looking at this as if Microsoft are looking to keep these games exclusive to the Xbox consoles. However I can see them positioning themselves as a Netflix style gaming platform across multiple devices, yes including PlayStation, PC and any future Xbox that's released and in that scenario such a deal for these companies would make perfect sense.
Yeah....seems its just analyst speak, ms have this amount to spend(a sizeable "war chest" as the analyst puts it) and ea are worth this much, pure speculation by someone that gets paid to do exactly that
@carlos82 Wow that post has got me thinking, that actually all makes sense and I can see MS positioning themselves that way. Great comment bro.
On the one hand this kinda makes sense. It would be an instant win for Microsoft in the console war. One of the biggest games in Europe - a weak territory for Microsoft - is FIFA, and so if they could own that, then how many casual gamers would go Xbox over PlayStation?
But on the other hand it seems like a very expensive way to win a console war that doesn't really matter. How long is it going to take them to make back the money they spend on EA? Is it even worth it?
Doesn't seem like a good business strategy if the plan is to sort out Microsoft's exclusive problem. If they're going to publish on all platforms then maybe. Even still it sounds expensive.
Doesn't sound like something Microsoft would do. If the rumour had said Disney, that would be something I would believe.
Pretty sure this rumour came up a few years ago too. Dont see it happening. It doesnt really make a whole lot of sense.
to be fair MS could be eyeing up EA, doesn't mean anything will actually happen it just means they are thinking about it
They match together i.e they are both Evil companies that are only out to rip-off Gamers with DRM and Microtransactions etc etc.
What you also have to remember is that EA stock has dropped lately so its a 'better' value proposition. What you also have t remember is that MS are NOT just Xbox either so that doesn't mean that the EA games would be exclusive to Xbox/PC. You have to ask though, what has Mojang done since MS bought it - mostly just Minecraft updates isn't it and that 'Cobalt' game...
The other companies that are 'rumoured' are Valve and PUBG too. It does make sense for MS to buy out EA or some big Publisher. Whether that's a good deal for gamers though is debatable. As long as a lot of games are still released for Playstation, I don't see what the issue is myself BUT I wouldn't be surprised if MS kept some titles for themselves and their Xbox/PC audience.
If anything, I can see them buying PUBG though...
Its NO secret that MS need studio's. Compared to the number of studio's under Sony, they are lacking and so it makes sense that, if they have the money, they should be looking at building up their gaming studio's. EA would probably make the most sense to look at - an American company with numerous other studios. MS has $72bn equity and $90bn in revenue whilst EA have $7.8bn in assets, total equity of $4bn and revenue of around $5bn so $35bn would be more than a fair price and MS could easily afford that. MS's assets are worth $241bn so if they added $8bn from purchasing EA, their equity would obviously be halved but it would also make them a major player in the 'gaming' software market. For a 'software' company, their 'gaming' software is nowhere near the size it needs to be.
There have been a few studios that were looking for buyers/investors - most notably IO Interactive that I thought MS may well have acquired - maybe they would have if it included the Hitman License...
I'd buy an Xbox if Microsoft bought EA and then shut them down.
@themcnoisy that's my one great comment for the year done 😁
I must say I've largely ignored the Xbox throughout this generation but the wonder that is the X and that game pass for £8 a month are making it a very attractive proposition
@YummyHappyPills if this did happen it's more than likely the FA and Disney would go elsewhere for their licences
EA might be making FIFA games but remember they still have to licence all the official stuff, the players, teams and stadiums for example from the FA so while FIFA could go exclusive to XB if this happened the FA would just go some place else because they wouldn't want to miss out on the millions they would make with the other systems and FIFA would become like PES is with made up teams and locations
in fact PES could become the official licence holders if this happened
as for Star Wars well the EA rights end in a few years anyway so Disney would probably just go to a company like Activision or Bandai Namco or Square Enix and have them produce the games instead
I know this is likely false, but in the alternate reality where this is true, I can't really think of an EA game I'd miss (as I don't ever plan to own an Xbox or gaming PC). Dead Space maybe, but that series seems to be dead now and it got worse with each installment anyway, by removing what made it great in the first place into a generic story driven game. Maybe the SIMs too, for my wife anyway, not me. What else is there? Is Mirror's Edge any good? I don't like sports games, and have no interest in games like Battlefront and the like.
This would be where i exit video games as a hobby. Its bad enough Disney is buying Fox. These kind of acquisitions are horrible for an industry. If this happens im done with gaming. But it wont.
Well, from my perspective, buying EA would do absolutely nothing to improve Microsoft's first-party portfolio.
@carlos82 I don't always comment. But when I do, it's to congratulate contributions like yours! 😉
In all seriousness, though: as crazy as the idea is MS buying EA initially seems, it does make some crazy sense, as you said. It's obvious M&S is already heading towards Xbox as a brand/library across multiple devices and away from a focus on hardware per se. The hardware is just the means to access your games, at the quality level you're willing to pay for.
I find the idea of at least being able to play three generations of games on the current Xbox pretty awesome, and I can't see MS abandoning this whenever their next system comes out. I expect them to make sure that all future Xbox systems are able to run the existing library that's running right now on the Xbox One (X).
I surely hope Sony will follow suit with the PS5 and make sure the whole PS4 library I acquired runs on it. If not, I'll get me a PS5 cheap at some point and go Xbox for the multiplats.
So yeah, in light of Xbox going more in the library/service direction, this would make sense. Sorry for the wall of text.
I wouldn't like this because it probably spells the end for PlayStation (no way you spend over $30 billion for a company to not make games acquired in that deal exclusive, that is bad business). But, I don't think the suggestion that it could happen is that outlandish when you consider the cash reserve MS has.
While I'm not a fan of seeing companies like MS and EA merge, and I'd hate equally if Sony felt compelled to respond by maybe trying to get Ubisoft or Capcom or something, it is true to an extent that MS has had an 'exclusive problem' this gen but I don't think it's as bad or as irreversible as people claim and EA isn't needed to solve the problem. What I'd rather see is a smart acquisition like PUBG Corp - which would benefit greatly from MS funding - or a marriage with Playground Games which has a similar relationship with MS that Sucker Punch did with Sony before the latter made a purchase. The other option would be swinging a deal with EA to maybe nab Bioware and make that outfit great again. One thing I'll give MS, and I know it's taboo to speak positive about that company at all on here, but I've always thought it deserves more credit as a publisher than it gets. Not everything is a hit but MS has experimented with different styles of games in the past and some of the best work from Bioware, Bungie and Epic was all done in tandem with MS as a partner. MS also has franchises already under its banner that with the proper marketing and right studio behind them could be big sellers.
Oh, and since it still gets brought up, what happened with Rare wasn't MS' fault. It did the best it could with a studio that had lost key talent by the time the sale went down.
I would usually think this is crazy but for some reason can see it happening...
@Gamer83 "(no way you spend over $30 billion for a company to not make games acquired in that deal exclusive, that is bad business)."
I have to disagree on that one; you're thinking like a gamer here, not a board of directors or shareholders. Cutting out 70 million potential customers (and that's just the PS4) only to be able to say "Look, those games are exclusive now!", that's bad business.
Exclusivity doesn't mean anything to shareholders, profit does. No matter how many people would jump ship to Xbox if EA games were to become exclusive, it would never make up for the loss of the income over at Sony/Nintendo. If Microsoft were to purchase EA, they'd most likely keep FIFA, Madden, Battlefield and Need for Speed multiplatform, market them as "Best on Xbox" and have EA put out a handful of exclusive (new) IP's each year.
But I have to agree with some of the other commenters in here: it's even more likely that Microsoft is positioning itself as a service company. Just look at Xbox Live, Xbox Game Pass, the Windows Store, et cetera. Merging Xbox Game Pass and EA Access, putting it on the Xbox One and PC, now that is an interesting proposal.
@sonicmeerkat “ "Polygon"
"credibility"..Can those words both be used in a sentence?”
Of course they can. Just need to add “lack” between the two words.
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