The rumour mill is spinning rather quickly lately, with rumours about Microsoft apparently looking at buying Valve, EA and others.
Polygon cites a "reliable source" for this information:
Some of the names being thrown around as possible acquisitions by Microsoft are, frankly, astounding, even unthinkable. But the fact that they are doing the rounds is instructive. The most recent one we heard (from a reliable source close to Microsoft) was, in fact, Electronic Arts. We also heard a whisper about Valve and about Korean outfit PUBG Corp., which Microsoft last year signed to a timed exclusive for its hit survival shooter, PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds.
Considering Valve has a majority grip on the PC gaming market, constant growth and quite likely more money than they know what to do with, it would obviously be a target for Microsoft. However, to me, those are also all reasons why it just wouldn't happen. On top of that, Valve is privately owned and I doubt Gabe Newell will suddenly give it all over to Microsoft.
Let's not forget how Valve has also been paying people to improve Linux gaming. Valve has people working on SDL, Mesa, SteamOS (multiple updates this year already), Virtual Reality and plenty more towards making Linux a more attractive gaming platform. There's also this recent interview with Timothee Besset from our friends at BoilingSteam which gives a little glimpse into the work Valve is doing behind the scenes for Linux gaming too. It also seems from that, the Linux port of Street Fighter V is not actually dead. It seems they have a habit of announcing things too early!
Obviously if Microsoft somehow convinced Gabe and co to sell up, Linux gaming would change significantly, but I'm telling you now—it just won't happen.
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
Quoting: Cyba.CowboyQuoting: BlackBloodRumHow many people would stop using Linux once Microsoft removes Steam from it?
I don't think there's too many people that use Linux-based operating systems because of gaming... With the exception of Steam Machines and SteamOS users, people will just switch to other stores - GOG.com being the most obvious example, but there are a couple of others out there and some developers will sell to customers directly (i.e. via their own websites).
In other words, I'm pretty sure few - if any - people would stop using Linux-based operating systems, in the unlikely event Microsoft were to buy Valve Software...
Exactly my thoughts... there are other options for gaming like PS4 and Nintendo switch, gaming is a hobby anyway. Terrible samba support on Windows is the first reason why I couldn't use it full-time and there are many more, so I don't think that it would affect Linux marketshare a lot if any at all since hardcore gamers use Windows already, and people who use linux use it for a reason beyond gaming.
Quoting: TheRiddickI replied with this to someone already but I can dream can't I? I love TES. Not to mention MS has a $$ reason to hate Linux...Bethesda really doesn't. As Linux gains market share companies will move. That being said I am aware they're not fond of us.Quoting: ElectricPrismYou can't build a house in 1 day by spending extra money.
I dunno I think in China you could build a house in 1 day, they have been building stuff overnight or in 1 day for a long time because their labour force is that fast to mobilise! In the US/western World, not so much, we are slow and weighted down with bureaucracy!
Quoting: ElectricPrismYou can't solve world hunger with money.
Unprecedented construction of vertical gardens would probably go a long way however!
Quoting: ElectricPrismYou can't fix the driver and tool-chain game development problems on Linux with money
More full time workers on these projects would probably go a long way again.
Anyway, just saying, money can solve allot more problems then people think. If your a powerful corporation that is, the issue is you must consider if the losses are worth it for the money spent!
Quoting: ScooptaIf MS bought Bethesda I'd be so sad. I'm still waiting for my Linux port of Skyrim.
Bethesda are even more anti Linux then Microsoft!
In general it would have been a bad deal to tie your extremely profitable corporation to another corporation known for their reverse Midas touch regarding anything other than their flagship product and making less money off entire games on their equivalent of Steam than you make off digital hats.[/rant]
Last edited by evergreen on 31 January 2018 at 10:32 am UTC
Cyba.Cowboy Jan 31, 2018
Quoting: GuestQuoting: Cyba.Cowboygaming is the primary business of Valve Software, and will likely be for the foreseeable future.There was me thinking selling hats is their biggest earner
:D
Well they did sell a lot of hats, so you never know... ;)
Quoting: fractalIf MS paid $2.5B to buy basically a one trick pony company (I admit, a very profitable pony) in 2015, I can't imagine how much would they have to pay GAYBEN for Valve IP and their store when Valve had a net worth of $3.0B in 2012 and he alone went from $1.5B net worth in 2012 to $5.5B in 2018 according to Forbes.
In general it would have been a bad deal to tie your extremely profitable corporation to another corporation known for their reverse Midas touch regarding anything other than their flagship product and making less money off entire games on their equivalent of Steam than you make off digital hats.[/rant]
I hope one day we can see the option for Valve to buy M$. How cool that would be (would it be?)? If the pace of earning compared to spending is faster for Valve than M$ then at some point in time it could happen ( : Its difficult to even imagine the consequences.
Anyway - I also do not believe this gossip. If it comes from M$ itself, means they are really doing worse and worse in all terms.
Quoting: evergreenThe future of pc-gaming is not decided from MS, FB, Intel, AMD, Steam... It's all in NVIDIA's hands: they have GRID, best graphic cards, best cloud gaming technology. If they decide to produce CUDA-PC/Laptops, to use Vulkan libraries and mount all on a linux distro, the others are DEAD in 1 year! Fuchsia... lol!!!...you sound like a real freedom loving person XD.
appetrosyan Jan 31, 2018
MS need to make a shift away from Win32 to UWP, and since it's quite frankly as difficult as porting to Linux, they need to have compelling exclusives. EA is probably their best bet, as they've already worked with UWP games (such as PvZ). EA, being a huge company, would benefit from exclusive access to the backend source code (since they can produce better optimised games).
ZeniMax, probably not as likely, but still possible. And it would also explain quite a few things: like the reluctance to publish on competing platforms. Vulkan and OpenGL development is kind of hard to explain, but it will hardly cause any problems down the line.
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