GamerNode: News - Rumor: Microsoft thinking of acquiring Epic Games?

Rumor: Microsoft thinking of acquiring Epic Games?

Category: Industry, Posted: 02/18/2008 at 04:44PM EST by Billy Wang, Contributor

epicgameslogo This news story may be a bit of a stretch, but here we go anyways. This article on WRAL.com notes of a rumor in the latest issue of GamePro magazine that Microsoft is thinking of acquiring Epic Games for $1 billion USD. While the report is based on a single editor's report, there have been some interesting developments lately that may give this rumor some possibility.

First, Epic Games developed the highly successful Xbox 360 game Gears of War with Microsoft. You don't need to be a scientist to know that if a gaming partnership worked out well and made a lot of money, then it'll be no-brainer to continue to work together. Also Epic Games has Unreal Tournament 3 coming out for Xbox 360 in a few months too.

Not only does Epic Games have a big presence in the gaming department, they also have its robust Unreal Engine, which is used in a large number of games. The latest iteration of the engine, Unreal Engine 3, has been used in several current games and has crossed a variety of platforms since becoming a PC mainstay.

Second, since Epic Games is planning to focus on consoles, an acquisition by a major console manufacturer wouldn't be a bad choice. I imagine that both companies will continue to partly focus on PC gaming development, since both maintain a pretty big influences in that genre.

Lastly, Microsoft has been offering a few bids for big-named companies, such as Yahoo! so the company may be itching to get into the big market acquisition game.

The Game Developers Conference begins today, so we'll see if any announcements creep up, so stay tuned with GamerNode.

(12)

Posted by jedipoodoo547 on 02/18/2008 at 04:56PM

As long as the games are epic (pun intended), then i Microsoft can acquire whom ever they want

Posted by jambo on 02/18/2008 at 05:08PM

It might actually be a good thing, cause Microsoft would do a far better job of advertising UT3 than Midway. Hell, a blind 2-legged donkey with an alcohol problem could do a better job of advertising than Midway!

Posted by Alex6969 on 02/18/2008 at 05:18PM

For real.

Posted by Corvall on 02/18/2008 at 06:25PM

I dunno. $1,000,000,000 is a lot of cash to put into a division that has recently required some massive investment, and is barely turning a profit. It might be pushed as a major move in 'winning' the console war, but I'd think shareholders would be pretty skeptical about it.

Posted by Sersoft.corp on 02/18/2008 at 06:32PM

Microsoft should save some cash to buy apple.

Posted by bluseychris on 02/18/2008 at 07:40PM

It's 12 0s, not nine, it's a million million

Posted by ninjalegend on 02/18/2008 at 07:47PM

Noooooooo! The unreal 3 engine ( and any in the future Cliff B. and co. put out ) is a huge resource in gaming. To reject use of that engine to other companies developing for, say the PS3, would hurt the quality of some 3rd party stuff that the wonderful engine is a perfect fit for. Dirty pool. But like EA will tell you, there is no "fair" in business.

Posted by rtanger on 02/18/2008 at 10:29PM

Or they can laugh all the way to the bank as they farm the engine to their very competitors...

Posted by YukoAsho on 02/18/2008 at 10:33PM

Considering the "source" is GamePro, the same toilet paper who made crap up about Gears of War 2, I say take this with a family-sized drum of salt.

Posted by intooblivion on 02/19/2008 at 12:53AM

They're going to focus on consoles? I swear to god if the next unreal comes out for console only I will seriously kill somebody...

Posted by Raven on 02/19/2008 at 08:52AM

I've played games from Epic since back in the MSDOS days on PC... I'd be pretty disappointed if they were bought out, even as a Microsoft fan.

Posted by Corvall on 02/19/2008 at 02:05PM

bluseychris "It's 12 0s, not nine, it's a million million"

That would be a trillion, and not even Microsoft is that rich.