A Microsoft buyout of EA – Good or Bad?
According to an article on Gamasutra (Analysis: Why EA Isn’t An Acquisition Target (For Now)) this is not going to happen, but it raises two interesting questions.
1) Would a Microsoft buyout of EA be good for the industry?
2) Would a Microsoft buyout of EA be good for gamers?
My answer is no to both, but I will delay my opinions until some of you all wade in. I hate poisoning the well sometimes.
Ok, no comments yet so I’ll give it a shot.
1) More acquisition in the gaming industry would definitely be bad. We have way too much of it, and it is making games far too generic. Other than indies, nobody is even attempting to break the mold.
2) The only way this would be good for gamers is if the combination of Microsoft and EA was so toxic, it crippled them both. But for PC gaming, we need Microsoft to remain somewhat strong as MSFT is pretty much vital to PC gaming remaining a strong competitor to the console.
Personally, I think it’s a terrible idea that would have tremendous negative repercussions for the industry. EA is big enough already, and Microsoft certainly doesn’t need to gain any more leverage in the gaming world. An entity that large would certainly be able to reshape the industry to it’s liking, the way Microsoft has already done with personal computing.
Still, it makes you wonder if Peter Moore going to EA was just a way for Microsoft to get a guy on the inside to help them work toward this. Can one ever truly leave a company like Microsoft?
I’m a bit torn. I’m not a fan of EA, but neither do I care much for MS. Killing each other off in a mutual bit of toxicity would indeed be humorous.
That said, yes, MS provides a relatively stable platform for PC game development. Even so, I’ve had the most fun on the PC lately with indie games. Indie devs can work with spit and baling twine, and even if MS were to completely disappear tomorrow, the existing platform can be a stage for a LOT of great games.
“Can one ever truly leave a company like Microsoft?”
Hehehehe. Once assimilated, always assimilated? Perhaps. That is a very interesting theory, Mr. Sell.
A merger of EA and Microsoft would be very weird. What new areas would their merger allow them to dominate? Other than sheer size, I don’t see any appealing synergies.
EA exclusivity to the XBox? Might make the other platforms more of a haven for indie titles and originality.
Hmm good point. Madden only on the XBOX. That’s interesting, but it almost seems like such a huge loss of sales that it would be taking exclusivity in the wrong direction.
Then again… the PS would really be hurt badly by that.
It could be argued that lack of EA titles on the Dreamcast helped send it to an early grave. Sega managed to respond with some stellar alternatibe sports games, but Sony in particular is horrible at developing them, with NBA gameday being one of the genre’s laughingstocks.
Not really sure them merging is even feasible though, and microsoft should do well to remember how its acquisition of Rare has produced mostly junk not worth the purchase price.
Sigh. Rare. Perfect Dark is one of my all time favorite games – not just console games, but games overall. The ruination of Rare is a real shame.