Stop Buying Game Studios

[@GAGtheReflex]

Buying Monolith was one of the best moves Nintendo ever made, not only for Xenoblade but also because they've contributed to almost every big release Nintendo has had on the switch from Zelda to Splatoon in some way. If only they did that for AlLPHADREAM, now you got me crying man.

[@WinspearUltima]

Yes and I’m glad a franchise like xenoblade exists and I love the series as whole. But I do feel alpha dream should have been brought

[@blinxman4956]

Just because you buy a bunch of talented studios doesn't guarantee the quality of their games - Dunkey.

[@wiredmania2653]

Just because you made a bunch of Sony timed exclusives doesn't guarantee the quality of their games.

[@shadow759]

10:42 So..Basically Sega will just be the same. Lol but for real great video dude! very good points on why this whole thing is just a mess. Loved the humor in this.

[@sonic1shadow1silver]

They have also the Persona Series and Total War

[@cv7368]

What's worrying about this trend more than others like microtransactions, is that some people are excited and encouraging acquisitions Not knowing this only benefits the largest companies and hurts everyone else

[@nintyfan1991]

Make it worse, with reports of Disney, who already has a monopoly in film and TV (Marvel, 20th Century Fox, Lucasfilm... though to be fair, George Lucas wanted to get the pressure Star Wars has left him off his back), is talking about getting more into games. Yikes!

[@austinreed7343]

They bought a stake in Epic.

[@SweetTodd]

Can't believe Phil Spencer has become the Bob Igor of gaming

[@Bacondude77]

I would think Microsoft’s business plan is going to back fire in some way like how it did with Marvel and Star Wars.

[@SweetTodd]

@@Bacondude77 Yea We gonna end up with Call of Duty: Nuts and Bolts 💀

[@megaman37456]

@@Bacondude77 Well you'd be wrong, M$ is making bank with their games.

[@austinreed7343]

@@megaman37456 To be fair, the acquisitions by Disney were profitable at first... then they rested on their laurels with garbage like Solo or Quantumania and reaped the results. They did try to make some better stuff but the damage had been done, and it even bled down into their core products.

[@Bacondude77]

@@megaman37456 How will I be wrong? Instead of one sided bias towards Microsoft tell me exactly how this is not going to back fire on Phil in some way. This is the same shit that happened with Disney they had amazing years of the MCU and Star Wars then poor marketing and business Practices screwed everything up. Hell they haven’t even been able to take back the crown of being the best console for 11 fucking years. Instead of looking at interviews and how Microsoft treat their customers you would rather ride in blind. They literally said that they lost the console wars and they are attempting to switch from Console gaming to Cloud gaming this shit just sounds like it would backfire in Microsoft’s face in some way.

[@Zordyn]

It just warms my heart to see people standing up for the billion dollar corporation

[@Zordyn]

but fr great video

[@CassandraPantaristi]

You mean stand up against?

[@Zordyn]

@@CassandraPantaristi I meant the studios being bought

[@CassandraPantaristi]

@@Zordyn Why do you want more studios to be bought?

[@Zordyn]

@@CassandraPantaristi That's not what I said?

[@SpaceKingScot]

I agree that it's largely fanboy bullshit. But I also liked that you highlighted that some studios need to be helped sometimes. It'd be hard to imagine the switch without monolith soft, for instance. Given their input on zelda and splatoon and carryihg nintendos main jrpg series. But like you said, those types of business plays are to the benefit of the studios and employees making the games themselves. Not to the fuckers in the business suits who want games to stoke the fires with for no good reason. Phil spencer and his cult of xbox fanboys have completely missed this key point of value I feel. There's a way to do this tastefully, to expand without crushing the rest of the market. Xbox buying SEGA? FUCK NO. Nintendo buying capcom? Eat shit and die. Sony and Square enix? Go to hell. But hey? If platinum games would be better off today in its struggling position under Square enix or nintendo, that's to the benefit of the studio and not necessarily just purely for the fucking money, theh id say thats probably ok. It'd keep people working, and as far as im concerned, that's the most important part in all of that.

[@Slavolko]

Nintendo would be good in terms of supporting PlatinumGames, but I'd worry about them making their games Nintendo-exclusive, like Bayonetta.

[@JacktheLightningRipper]

With the recent news about Namco confirming they have their own team to collaborate with Nintendo, this became relevant again.

[@aquelgamermexicano]

When it comes to the market argument, i always tend to have a chicken and egg dilemma, "Is it because of the different market that some games are on certain platforms, or is it because some games are on certain platforms that we have different markets?" We love to say Xbox is for shooters, yet appearently that was one of Sony's most profitable deals, and Bayonetta, an originally Xbox and PS IP, managed to get a home at Nintendo. And on Xbox case, Sega had a welcoming audience with PSO2 If anything by that logic, FF7 should have never worked since the market for Sony wasn't as defined as Nintendo's audience which had 6 of those games. I just think the assumption that a certain game only works on a certain console doesn't really have enough ground and when a game fails, is lack of marketing. Octopath on Sony wasn't nearly as advertised as when it was on Xbox and Nintendo. Now in terms of the monopoly argument, i agree that it is a present issue, but i think people are looking at it backwards, buying a third party studio doesn't make a monopoly IMO, because that's still leading into the exclusivity argument more than anything. MS buying Activision doesn't stop the industry from making more companies dedicated to the market, because Activision was making at the end of the day, in a blunt matter, software, something all companies have. By that logic every company is a monopoly already because you can only get specific games out of them, but, and this is why i label the discourse as fanboy talk, people love to say that there's appearently a "correct" way to acquire companies. The argument about how it was fair for Sony to buy Insomniac doesn't really hold much of a ground because that's simply justifying a purchase through personal bias IMO. Like i said, Sony's multiple contracts and forcing devs to not make games on other consoles is just as bad of a practice as buying the whole thing at this point, because you're still limiting the distribution. And i do say it's the same, given how this practice has helped them since the PS2, as in, for over 20 years. Especially now that people are saying "Okay, Xbox could do that, so it's only fair for Sony and Nintendo to do their move", when that only shows the hipocrisy of some people. When Disney bought Fox, that was a case of monopoly because they didn't just buy a production company, they bought an entire media outlet, now everything Fox did or does, even if released on other platforms beforehand, Disney would have ownership of them, and that's where i mean from looking at it backwards. Unless they actually achieved the acquisition of one of the big three like they want with Nintendo, Xbox buying companies isn't what makes them a monopoly, but rather with how they're pushing the brand everywhere. They're the only company with games on ALL platforms. Ori can be on Nintendo and Psychonauts on PS, that's still a W for Xbox, combined with their plans on pushing for having GamePass on TV apps, and all forms of distribution, not just console, THAT is where it becomes a monopoly, because everything goes back to ONE place. And i think that is more concerning than who owns what. Sorry for the long ass comment, if anything i think you made an excellent script for this video because you bring alot of points that are worth talking about LOL

[@Onotosho]

Remember when console wars was about the games instead of game studios

[@Dejimon11]

I’m genuinely surprised that you didn’t bring up Embracer and Epic buying up studios and either shutting it down and firing a bunch of people later

[@austinreed7343]

Embracer are a good example of Not So Well Intentioned Extremists; they claim to want to do it for preservation, but then you see for example what they did to Volition and Saints Row and it becomes doubtful. (Not as evil as Piko)

[@_remblanc]

@@austinreed7343 It genuinely feels like they are trying to do a THQ speedrun with their disastrous acquisitioning. Screw them for axing the new Deus Ex game btw

[@austinreed7343]

@@_remblanc Though at least they greenlight new games for the IP they buy, unlike Piko.

[@supersayin900]

All consolidation will do for the games industry is just make it worse for deva who have to work for these companies and the consumer who gets an inferior product to what it could have been. Also I just want Microsoft to stop lmao

[@BatCorkill]

This is fueled by the game pass model. To have exclusive content and also not have to pay endless licensing fees to keep the library full and just rack in non stop monthly subscription money.

[@austinreed7343]

Then why don’t they dig into their old IP?

[@BatCorkill]

@@austinreed7343 while I love my old dos and windows 95 games my kids won't touch them. You put those out and they will appear as shovelware to them and make it more of a chore to go past them in the interface. The people like me who would play them aren't foolish enough to fall for a subscription model so there isn't any audience for it.

[@TheIkranRider]

You're right! This acquisition curse needs to end; it's as bad if not worse than a pandemic! Maybe make a Part 2 on companies outside of gaming that own games, like WB owning Mortal Kombat; I know it saved it from Midway's bankruptcy, but the series has been suffering especially with MK1!

[@austinreed7343]

Disney might be buying Epic.

[@amirgarcia547]

Microsoft: I’ll buy a thousand studios before I let this company die!

[@XtremeBG]

you are doing very adequate, on point videos. I like them. Continue doing them and don't stop. I subsribed to you and look forward for more analysis videos from you on the different situations in gaming industry.

[@LostImpact1917]

I think it would've been kind of a funny nod to Rare's tumultuous history under Microsoft if, during that meme bit with Jack Horner, you had him throw away the Rare logo instead of Bloober Team's. I still love the gag though! 🤣

[@erickmaverick3128]

Microsoft is getting too damn greedy. Have they even made a game from all those studios they've acquired? To this day, I'm still pissed that they refuse to do anything with RARE outside Sea of Thieves.

[@Dungeon00X]

So, how did Microsoft Game Studios buying Bethesda effect the games released by those studios?

[@BehindTheMustche]

Nintendo really doesn’t need to participate in acquiring other developers. Their legacy content does well enough to keep their projects going. When they acquire other studios their main goal is to increase productivity of their major ip, not just get iconic IP. They already have that

[@SwagEverlasting]

Here’s the thing. We have one set of videos discussing there are not enough console exclusives then there’s this discussion. What are the practical expectations here in a business context?

[@iiOmarSP]

Its amazing to know that Microsoft is willing to spend that much on buyouts, but none on anything they owned before those buyouts, or to create a brand new IPs on their platform. That Activision Blizzard buyout served nobody anything good, and its pretty much just wanting to flex how much money they have over their competitor

[@binshakbooga9238]

They do make new ip's. And outside of Mojang and rare, they had like 3 studios back in 2017. One of which is a studio who only makes Forza lol. I do get the criticism of not wanting them to buy everything they have though.

[@austinreed7343]

@@binshakbooga9238And to be fair a lot of those new IPs are garbage.

[@austinreed7343]

@@binshakbooga9238 But they did have a lot of IP from dead studios rattling about.

[@twilighttoast01]

I do hope this trends dies back down in the coming years, but I do still feel so much pain for Nintendo just letting Alphadream go down like that. They’ve always been very hands off with that kind of thing, but I feel like it’s genuinely damaged so many studios they’ve worked with that are behind some of their most iconic games (I think something similar happened with Skip recently actually). I’m hopeful that the NextLevel buyout is a sign that they aren’t gonna let that happen as much anymore

[@austinreed7343]

At least it's not as bad as Sega letting down Shiny. At least they managed to buy out Puyo Puyo from Compile...

[@lostguardian4637]

Im not worried at all, a new round of studios will come up and take tgeir ppace, a whole new cycke will begin, and there'll will be a whole new round of Bethesdas, Activisions and Blizzards.

[@austinreed7343]

I think a follow up on what should be done with the IP/game libraries of companies that went under, or even those that got liquidated, could be a nice idea. Not to mention stubborn zombie companies like Interplay that only seem to exist to cling to their IP to the point of shutting down fan games. It's a bit jarring seeing Activision at the start; unlike the others shown, they reaped what they sowed but at least you pointed that out later on. Another reason people like these buyouts you forgot to mention is crossovers. IMO it's cool on paper, but in the end a lot of these crossovers about acquisitions come off as cold and corporate, with jarring roster choices and deeper cuts being ignored; there is a clear lack of passion in something like Space Jam 2 (which is a feature film, but still), and I don't want that spreading into gaming. Multiversus is already eerily close to that, though it still has a lot of misguided passion in it, emphasis on it being misguided, because despite all the effort they put in, it is ultimately a Sisyphean task; the roster is still awkward and jarring despite the love put into it, and comes off as a meme game. Even that Chip n Dale movie was only a semi-corporate crossover, as other companies did get involved in a small capacity, most of the non-Disney characters were lawyer-friendly parodies. Disney, shockingly, actually has dignity with most of their crossovers; Lorcana barely (and only technically) goes beyond WDAS for example. But people want these acquisitions wanting more crossovers anyway, not knowing that these are counter-intuitive to crossovers; deep cuts no longer get any priority in the face of the acquisitions overcrowding rosters. Also, the preservationist side of things want to see these bigger companies re-releasing their older, more niche IP games, despite companies like GOG, Limited Run, etc. already existing, and big buyouts only hinder these efforts in favor of official, but lower-quality ones. Often, companies don't dig into these older games at all. Squeenix kept themselves largely divorsed from Taito and Eidos, and with Eidos, they did put their branding on them, but never included the characters in crossovers except the odd Lara Croft here and there. No wonder they sold Eidos.

[@iropyro3095]

Xbox would rather monopolize the industry than put out good games

[@gizmo366]

Nintentard be like: 50$ dólares el online switzzzz

[@RakoonCD]

Look at Disney's acquirement of Star Wars and Marvel, bad creativity has damaged all three in many ways.

[@GiancarloThomazSenoni]

7:56 Nintendo found that is is more useful to grow it internal teams/subsidiaries, rater then buy everyone/everything in the hope it could boast it portofolio and give a significant advantage over the cometition

[@guyuser81]

5:12 Me too, buddy. Me too.

[@gulpirak]

Huge companies will never stop acquiring. The only way this will stop is if the companies they want to buy stop taking the money.

[@hallnonsensical104]

Just came from your most recent video and I think a lot of the fanboy nonsense can be attributed to the overall lack of personality the big 2 (excluding the switch) modern systems have. I agree the buyouts are stupid, I just think that people are so desperate for any competition or substance that this is what they choose to focus on to fill the void. Definitely says something about the state of gaming as a whole right now. I also think that illustrates why Nintendo doesn't feel the need to get involved, they have such good consistency and exclusives that they stick out anyway in the modern landscape. Great video!

[@belyst4124]

Good video!

[@GiancarloThomazSenoni]

8:45 i heard a lot, Microsoft should buy Nintendo(they are attemping to do that, as proven by the documents Microsoft leaked last year, with Phill Spencer stating owning Nintendo will be my career denyning moment)

[@dirge7459]

Why is this another Xbox/Sony bad, Nintendo good kind of essay?. You're even talking about games on other platforms being bad on those systems, but stellar on just the Switch alone, like that's fanboy logic, no matter how hard you try to spin it the other direction. In your other video you talked about exclusives being good to sell a console, but in this vidoeo it's bad, but then it's good when Nintendo does it... (or it's good when the other two lose their exclusives to Nintendo).

[@MrGameguyC]

Agreed.

[@arocomisgamusclademork1603]

If company owns studio, franchise just seperate from studio like EA Command of Conquer and Dragon Age

[@4dFocusST]

There were more games before when studios where independent than now when they are funded by the same hand and centralized af.

[@teiombuster9654]

wait. only microsoft can't play this game?

[@juro7854]

My problem is that Microsoft buys big companies and still doesn't have any games. It's like they're only collecting them and nothing more.

[@stroyosh4670]

We will never forget alphadream

[@jhcola7511]

MS had to, for Game pass, and it's a good business. just deal with it.

[@austinreed7343]

Why not develop more games with their dormant and dead IP, like Blinx?

[@Gator159]

8:55 "acquisitions are terrible and will only make the hobby we love WORSE" speak for yourself man, I haven't loved this hobby since 2010. (Add-on a few years for the purposes of Nintendo but I'm sick of their hardware)

[@Whitesnake273]

Only acquisition I would see as nice would be if anyone ends with Konami's pachinko machine hell

[@jackfunnysmart3298]

Nintendo at this point should just buy GameFreak. Pokemon literally is exclusive to them already.

[@gigz3930]

I find it weird that so many people cheer for this acquisitions. Havent't we learned arleady that monopolies are bad? Just look at youtube or google in general.

[@czms922]

Sega's not getting bought out anytime soon thanks to the Sonic movies and persona

[@aBeerFromHere42]

Sony should take Bungie and make them make a new Killzone. Then they would have a competitor to Call of Duty.

[@Melchirobin]

I wouldn’t mind EA being bought out by anyone. If that happens maybe some good sports game can come out for other consoles.

[@jonmcinnis1645]

@Melchirobin you do have a point and I think Sony should buy EA Games (Why? The Answer. To get the rights to the Mass Effect franchise)

[@MrHaydyn23]

Let’s prey steam doesn’t end up on Microsoft’s hit list 🙏🏽

[@redseagaming7832]

Just look at Microsoft they bought Bethesda. They released red fall I know arcane made red Paul but they've been owned by Bethesda when they were bought out by Microsoft so it's still counts.

[@oscarzxn4067]

I blame Gamepass for Xbox fanboys being obsessed with acquisitions, they just want to have as many "free" games there as possible, I feel they would be happy if the entire industry was there

[@NetBattler]

That's disgusting..

[@GurkisDev]

Just gotta say you sound like AntVenom 😅

[@JacktheLightningRipper]

Purchasing other companies is not a sport and hopefully everyone will realize that.

[@justjack8989]

OK FINE, ILL STOP.

[@Shadowgardenenigma]

buy IP not the studios

[@wiredmania2653]

Big L.

[@houragents5490]

Overuse of the muh fanboy argument 🤦‍♂️

[@emiliongo007]

Nintendo should buy capcom and konami

[@ThousandairesClub]

*I actually don't have a problem with it, especially if its a failing company that's been having issues getting it right 💁 buy em up, fix em up and let em make you money 👌 if gamers are really that pressed about it, just buy an Xbox 😂 this is clearly the beginning of a much bigger war and you don't wanna be on the losing side* 🌈

[@Bacondude77]

Dude are you one of those guys wining about Ponies and stuff. The last time a company started buying loads of companies we got the sequels or fucking Marvels. Bad writing and poor publishing doesn’t equal good games it just means that they are trying to monopolize gaming it’s just like what Disney did with Star Wars and Marvel. That’s not what Microsoft is trying to do they are leading into Cloud gaming and even dropped out of console gaming with Phil Spencer stating that they lost the console wars.

[@Dante45p]

I mean tencent is probably the least evil of the big ip holder like they funded bg3

[@austinreed7343]

Well, heard of what they did in Hong Kong?

[@princessapplestrach6327]

Yeah tencent is not much talked about in the west because they are a chinese giant (with of course ties to the party ....)

[@Dante45p]

@@princessapplestrach6327 is that any diff form American Companies with ties to the US gov? like Bobby had bush admin on the board and microsoft openly works with the US gov for face ID ect

[@princessapplestrach6327]

@@Dante45p they are an ideological enemy so yes because they can wage war by endoctrinating the kids that play their game , I am not saying other companies don't do the same but if tencent does it , it would be worse at least in the west

[@Dante45p]

@@princessapplestrach6327 thats dumb

[@diamondhamster4320]

Why? It is free market capitalism, mate.

[@Crusader1984]

no monopiles can harm free market capitalism

[@diamondhamster4320]

@@Crusader1984 Monopolies are the product of free market capitalism, mate. The richest buy the poorest to become even richer cause it is their Nobless Oblige aka God Given Right.

[@Crusader1984]

@@diamondhamster4320 no we used to have regulations that stepped in so companies could not eliminate their competition. They did this with the oil companies in the 1930s.

[@diamondhamster4320]

@@Crusader1984 Yes, and then corporations around the world lobbied very hard and also Red Scare happened and also rich people donate and support politicians and so on and so on. And in the end the modern unregulated free market capitalism was born, mate, where rich and powerful get richer and more powerful and they destroy the pathetic poor and powerless.

[@roderickwilliams67]

No crony capitalism