Have you heard any more

[rayzorblue]

Just wondering if anyone had heard about Microsoft trying to buy Capcom, i know this rumour has been floating around for a while but it never seems to go away and what with Microsoft making a habit of buying things that make others good (they are like the Chelsea of the Electronics world) its beginning to worry me a little.

[Harrison]

Microsoft are not the only one's to do this though. Look at the number of development houses Sony bought when the original PSOne was released. The big difference there was that the developers they bought then went on to actually deliver some great games, such as Pygnosis with Wipeout, F1 etc... And they are still going as Studio Liverpool, all be it down sized.

Microsoft on the other hand haven't seems to so far pull in the correct developers to create games worthy of the purchase. Look at the dire output from Rare as a good example of this.

I've not heard anything further regarding Capcom. I would be surprised if they would accept a buyout from M$, but you never know. It depends how much M$ are prepared to pay, as everyone has their price.

[AlexJ]

Microsoft are not the only one's to do this though. Look at the number of development houses Sony bought when the original PSOne was released. The big difference there was that the developers they bought then went on to actually deliver some great games, such as Pygnosis with Wipeout, F1 etc... And they are still going as Studio Liverpool, all be it down sized.

Microsoft on the other hand haven't seems to so far pull in the correct developers to create games worthy of the purchase. Look at the dire output from Rare as a good example of this.

I've not heard anything further regarding Capcom. I would be surprised if they would accept a buyout from M$, but you never know. It depends how much M$ are prepared to pay, as everyone has their price.

Sony aquired a load of developers for the PSX when it was released: Millennium Interactive (now Sony Cambridge), Naughty Dog, Polyphony Digital - it helps to have developers making games that are exclusive to your platform. After the number of people who bought an XBox simply because their PS2 didn't have Halo on it, MS are now going along the same lines with their Microsoft Game Studios - it wouldn't suprise me if Capcom were part of that plan.

[Harrison]

It would a real shame if M$ did get hold of Capcom though as they have always released some great titles on a variety of systems including those from Sega, Sony and Nintendo. The SNES versions of their games were always the best in the 90's for example.

The problem is the M$ are very much like EA and just buy up companies for specific rights, not on the whole because of the talent at the development companies.

BTW, did everyone notice at the time that most of the companies Sony bought up were ex Amiga developers. That has to prove some sort of point. :)

[AlexJ]

Discussion regarding developers article can now be found at http://forum.classicamiga.com/showthread.php?t=197

[rayzorblue]

What does that mean man?

[Harrison]

What does that mean man?

AlexJ's last post you mean? He came up with the idea to write an article for the main site looking at each of the most popular games developers and giving a quick rundown of what they released on the Amiga and where they are now. The full discussion on that idea has now been moved into the staff members area to tidy up this topic.