Microsoft may be forced to purchase epic games...(link)

Link

marketing wise, it makes perfect sense. MS's wallett is undoubtedly a world powerhouse....

Microsoft should, its about time epic games broke apart =P

Makes sense -- does Epic do any games for PS3 and Wii anyways?masterpinky2000

Makes sense -- does Epic do any games for PS3 and Wii anyways?masterpinky2000

UT3 was on PS3.

but then it would cause a massive black hole aswell in the sense where are companies going to get their middleware (UE) if that dissapears it would have an adverse effect on the market mainly due to them being owned by Microsoft it wouldnt be a great idea for the industry as a whole it would actually damage it to an extent and in some cases developement costs will rise as some companies solely rely on UE type engines.

Makes sense -- does Epic do any games for PS3 and Wii anyways?masterpinky2000

UT3.

[QUOTE="masterpinky2000"]Makes sense -- does Epic do any games for PS3 and Wii anyways?opex07

If it was the case konami/activision would buy them to expand their ip portfolio. Microsoft has no use buying epic games, and epic games won't make nearly as much money selling to microsoft as either of those two companies. Anyway, I mentioned those 2 publishers seeing how they are the only ones that would actually in reality could afford epic games, and would want to buy them.

Makes sense -- does Epic do any games for PS3 and Wii anyways?masterpinky2000

If it was the case konami/activision would buy them to expand their ip portfolio. Microsoft has no use buying epic games, and epic games won't make nearly as much money selling to microsoft as either of those two companies. Anyway, I mentioned those 2 publishers seeing how they are the only ones that would actually in reality could afford epic games, and would want to buy them.

nhh18

I'm sure MS would want full control over their second biggest title (gears).

[QUOTE="masterpinky2000"]Makes sense -- does Epic do any games for PS3 and Wii anyways?nhh18

[QUOTE="nhh18"]

[QUOTE="masterpinky2000"]Makes sense -- does Epic do any games for PS3 and Wii anyways?KittenWishes

"There are some really difficult financial situations in this industry," said Capps. "You can make a game like Shadow Complex, be a 10- to 12-man team for a year, get to be a best-selling game on [Xbox Live Arcade], and then still have money be tight."

I guess AnnoyedDragon was right..developers who go console only..have a hard time surviving... since the high cost of development and sku cost plus royalties..

Link

marketing wise, it makes perfect sense. MS's wallett is undoubtedly a world powerhouse....

[QUOTE="nhh18"]

If it was the case konami/activision would buy them to expand their ip portfolio. Microsoft has no use buying epic games, and epic games won't make nearly as much money selling to microsoft as either of those two companies. Anyway, I mentioned those 2 publishers seeing how they are the only ones that would actually in reality could afford epic games, and would want to buy them.

opex07

I'm sure MS would want full control over their second biggest title (gears).

[QUOTE="masterpinky2000"]Makes sense -- does Epic do any games for PS3 and Wii anyways?razgriz_101

UT3 was on PS3.

but then it would cause a massive black hole aswell in the sense where are companies going to get their middleware (UE) if that dissapears it would have an adverse effect on the market mainly due to them being owned by Microsoft it wouldnt be a great idea for the industry as a whole it would actually damage it to an extent and in some cases developement costs will rise as some companies solely rely on UE type engines.

I doubt MS will buy Epic games, considering they have basically sold off all of their first party games. I kinda hope EA acquires them. Two years ago I would have never said that.TommyV3456

[QUOTE="TommyV3456"]I doubt MS will buy Epic games, considering they have basically sold off all of their first party games. I kinda hope EA acquires them. Two years ago I would have never said that.nhh18

Epic makes good games, M$ should.tehsystemwarior

I doubt MS will buy Epic games, considering they have basically sold off all of their first party studios. I kinda hope EA acquires them. Two years ago I would have never said that.TommyV3456

Seem latley MS has began building up it's first party studios... This would be a awesome pick up for them. Heck I think even epic would enjoy it.

I don't think MS could afford Epic. Epic makes huge amounts of cash from UE3 licensing and would likely come at a high cost. A cost that is higher than MS may be willing to pay especially if in the process MS makes UE3 xbox exclusive cutting off revenue stream from licensing the engine to developers that produce games for pc and ps3.

Epic's reaping the fruits of their stubbornness.

I'll miss them if they happen to be bought by Microsoft.

I don't think MS could afford Epic. Epic makes huge amounts of cash from UE3 licensing and would likely come at a high cost. A cost that is higher than MS may be willing to pay especially if in the process MS makes UE3 xbox exclusive cutting off revenue stream from licensing the engine to developers that produce games for pc and ps3.

jyoung312

I'm sure Ms could buy EA if they wanted it bad enough.

Worst case scenario... Activision makes a bid. Second worst case scenario... Microsoft makes a bid... Best scenario? EA! My opinion, of course.TommyV3456

Wouldn't the best scenario be that they remained independent? :D

I don't think MS could afford Epic. Epic makes huge amounts of cash from UE3 licensing and would likely come at a high cost. A cost that is higher than MS may be willing to pay especially if in the process MS makes UE3 xbox exclusive cutting off revenue stream from licensing the engine to developers that produce games for pc and ps3.

jyoung312

They're pretty much already in MS's pocket...

If they do sell to MS I hope they charge 1 Billion or more. Epic would lose money from thoes using it as a MP development tool. Though it would help crysis as a new middle ware provider.

[QUOTE="jyoung312"]

I don't think MS could afford Epic. Epic makes huge amounts of cash from UE3 licensing and would likely come at a high cost. A cost that is higher than MS may be willing to pay especially if in the process MS makes UE3 xbox exclusive cutting off revenue stream from licensing the engine to developers that produce games for pc and ps3.

Divine_Menace

I'm sure Ms could buy EA if they wanted it bad enough.

[QUOTE="TommyV3456"]Worst case scenario... Activision makes a bid. Second worst case scenario... Microsoft makes a bid... Best scenario? EA! My opinion, of course.ToScA-

Wouldn't the best scenario be that they remained independent? :D

Console companies only prove their irrelevance when they buy up developers, forcing them to remain exclusive.

[QUOTE="Divine_Menace"]

[QUOTE="jyoung312"]

I don't think MS could afford Epic. Epic makes huge amounts of cash from UE3 licensing and would likely come at a high cost. A cost that is higher than MS may be willing to pay especially if in the process MS makes UE3 xbox exclusive cutting off revenue stream from licensing the engine to developers that produce games for pc and ps3.

jyoung312

I'm sure Ms could buy EA if they wanted it bad enough.

Didn't bioware have it's own egine aswell? Imo Bioware is a far better Company than Epic and I can't see epic selling any where close to Bioware numbers.

I could see Epic going for around 400-500 million.

[QUOTE="jyoung312"][QUOTE="Divine_Menace"]

I'm sure Ms could buy EA if they wanted it bad enough.

Divine_Menace

Didn't bioware have it's own egine aswell? Imo Bioware is a far better Company than Epic and I can't see epic selling any where close to Bioware.

[QUOTE="tehsystemwarior"]Epic makes good games, M$ should.HarlockJC

RIP Ensemble

No Age of Empires 4 for me :(

why do I get the feeling that whenever a pc game developer diverges from pc, they tend to become more and more irrelevant?

[QUOTE="tehsystemwarior"]Epic makes good games, M$ should.HarlockJC

why do I get the feeling that whenever a pc game developer diverges from pc, they tend to become more and more irrelevant?

Ncsoftlover

Console companies only prove their irrelevance when they buy up developers, forcing them to remain exclusive.

AnnoyedDragon

R.I.P Epic games :(

I bet if this happens they will either get closed or just be stuck making games for natal.

not going to happen Epic makes more money by staying independent for now this gen atleast. i would go after Crytek

[QUOTE="tehsystemwarior"]Epic makes good games, M$ should.HarlockJC

M$ dictated that ensemble make the halo mmo, they were a fantastic PC based Rts dev for years (age of empires/mythology) and instead of letting them make more pc rts games like they are good at they switched them to an halo mmo (more milked halo.) and then made them throw away all their hard work half way through to make a halo rts game...halo wars. They found out they were getting the AXE 2-3 months before the game was released... I can only assume this was horrible for Morale and was just flat out wrong. Halo Wars turned out to get a 6.5 here on GS when all other Ensemble pc games were AAA titles.

Example #2 : FASA : makers of Shadowrun, A popular pen and paper rpg game based on the near future where cyborg parts, hackers, street punks and other cool jobs roles joing teams to do missions and alley with factions. (there is much more to it then that though) They had made 2 previous Shadow Run games on the SNES and Genesis, both of which were rpgs (both different too, which was wierd no multiplat there) and their last game M$ made them make a run of the mill multipalyer only shooter instead of an incredible single player rpg ... this multiplayer only fps had one saving grace in that was it was the only cross platform game that allowed console and pc to play against each other. But ms being greedy made it so you needed a live account on PC to play cross platform...boo!!!! It bombed! But before that happened 2-3 months prior M$ let them know that they would be no more once the game was finished. You can image their reaction, not to metion any patches had to be done by people that didn't make the game.

Fasa alo made the famous MEch warriror franchise. ACes was another company killed by ms as well as whoever made Asherons call and Freelancer. MS kills first party studios without even a flich, They would rather them die then send them out for the competition to gobble up . The worst thing about it is these devs were killed not because they were doing bad ,but to quote shane kim at M$: "We felt that these studios didn't fit in line with our goal for the future. We are focusing in on the Casual market with the xbox360 and these developers don't fit in with that strategy." In other words , "they are mainly pc devs and make hardcore games screw them!" yeah...

So in conclusion do you people really want epic to be absorbed by the behemoth evil empire know as microsoft? I sure don't. And I am positeive epic doesn't either. 75% of their revenue is from Licensing their engien cross platform, not from their in house games.

[QUOTE="AnnoyedDragon"]

Console companies only prove their irrelevance when they buy up developers, forcing them to remain exclusive.

nhh18

Epic games is only having trouble remaining independent because they are limiting their games to one platform, they can resolve their problems by going cross platform; which is what their engine is built for. The appeal of cross platform development is greater than exclusivity, hence why Microsoft may have to buy them out to keep them a 360 company.

Hence my comment.

[QUOTE="masterpinky2000"]Makes sense -- does Epic do any games for PS3 and Wii anyways?razgriz_101

UT3 was on PS3.

but then it would cause a massive black hole aswell in the sense where are companies going to get their middleware (UE) if that dissapears it would have an adverse effect on the market mainly due to them being owned by Microsoft it wouldnt be a great idea for the industry as a whole it would actually damage it to an extent and in some cases developement costs will rise as some companies solely rely on UE type engines.

i think that would be great. whenever devlopers use their own engine's they seem to put more thought into their games.

[QUOTE="Ncsoftlover"]

why do I get the feeling that whenever a pc game developer diverges from pc, they tend to become more and more irrelevant?

nhh18

Joke post?

Epic have their signature on one of the greatest franchises ever (excluding its latest game), Unreal Tournament.

[QUOTE="nhh18"]

[QUOTE="AnnoyedDragon"]

Console companies only prove their irrelevance when they buy up developers, forcing them to remain exclusive.

AnnoyedDragon

Epic games is only having trouble remaining independent because they are limiting their games to one platform, they can resolve their problems by going cross platform; which is what their engine is built for. The appeal of cross platform development is greater than exclusivity, hence why Microsoft may have to buy them out to keep them a 360 company.

Hence my comment.