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Microsoft is rumoured to be looking to buy Valve, EA and others

By - | Views: 47,866

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.
Tags: Editorial
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I am the owner of GamingOnLinux. After discovering Linux back in the days of Mandrake in 2003, I constantly came back to check on the progress of Linux until Ubuntu appeared on the scene and it helped me to really love it. You can reach me easily by emailing GamingOnLinux directly. Find me on Mastodon.
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107 comments
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Purple Library Guy Feb 11, 2018
Quoting: Whitewolfe80
Quoting: slaapliedje
Quoting: KuduzkehpanWhat if Valve buys microsoft first, then open sources it and removes found unsafe codes :D yea welcome to GNU/windows. maybe then we replace kernel and upstart bla bla bla. dx12 with Vulkan. Yea LoL for the night.

Ha, Then it is discovered that it has been BSD with a shell on it since Windows 8, because they copied Apple?

Just as likely...

Well that would be history repeating itself given that Apple gave ms the GUI and the mouse interface while MS was being courted by apple way back in the late 70's
Not that Apple invented any of those things themselves.


Last edited by Purple Library Guy on 11 February 2018 at 3:53 pm UTC
Whitewolfe80 Feb 11, 2018
Quoting: Purple Library Guy
Quoting: Whitewolfe80
Quoting: slaapliedje
Quoting: KuduzkehpanWhat if Valve buys microsoft first, then open sources it and removes found unsafe codes :D yea welcome to GNU/windows. maybe then we replace kernel and upstart bla bla bla. dx12 with Vulkan. Yea LoL for the night.

Ha, Then it is discovered that it has been BSD with a shell on it since Windows 8, because they copied Apple?

Just as likely...

Well that would be history repeating itself given that Apple gave ms the GUI and the mouse interface while MS was being courted by apple way back in the late 70's
Not that Apple invented any of those things themselves.

No they stole them from xerox i saw pirates of silcon valley
omer666 Feb 11, 2018
Quoting: Whitewolfe80
Quoting: Purple Library Guy
Quoting: Whitewolfe80
Quoting: slaapliedje
Quoting: KuduzkehpanWhat if Valve buys microsoft first, then open sources it and removes found unsafe codes :D yea welcome to GNU/windows. maybe then we replace kernel and upstart bla bla bla. dx12 with Vulkan. Yea LoL for the night.

Ha, Then it is discovered that it has been BSD with a shell on it since Windows 8, because they copied Apple?

Just as likely...

Well that would be history repeating itself given that Apple gave ms the GUI and the mouse interface while MS was being courted by apple way back in the late 70's
Not that Apple invented any of those things themselves.

No they stole them from xerox i saw pirates of silcon valley
To be fair, everyone at that time was experimenting with everyone's ideas, that's not as if they were the only ones doing this. Also, that's not as if Xerox was going anywhere close to personal computing with its concept. Companies sell solutions, not ideas.
Whitewolfe80 Feb 13, 2018
Quoting: omer666
Quoting: Whitewolfe80
Quoting: Purple Library Guy
Quoting: Whitewolfe80
Quoting: slaapliedje
Quoting: KuduzkehpanWhat if Valve buys microsoft first, then open sources it and removes found unsafe codes :D yea welcome to GNU/windows. maybe then we replace kernel and upstart bla bla bla. dx12 with Vulkan. Yea LoL for the night.

Ha, Then it is discovered that it has been BSD with a shell on it since Windows 8, because they copied Apple?

Just as likely...

Well that would be history repeating itself given that Apple gave ms the GUI and the mouse interface while MS was being courted by apple way back in the late 70's
Not that Apple invented any of those things themselves.

No they stole them from xerox i saw pirates of silcon valley
To be fair, everyone at that time was experimenting with everyone's ideas, that's not as if they were the only ones doing this. Also, that's not as if Xerox was going anywhere close to personal computing with its concept. Companies sell solutions, not ideas.

No Steve jobs legit stole the mouse and gui from xerox which Bill gates then stole off apple and unveiled it in Japan for IBM while being on stage with Steve jobs in the states and according to witnesses Steve jobs said we are better and bill gates laughed and said you dont get it it doesn't matter i was first. The biggest irony is it was Bill gates got jobs fired he was also the share holder of apple that hired him back. Also feel free to check Bill gates was a major share holder of apple until they bought him out.
slaapliedje Feb 14, 2018
Quoting: Whitewolfe80
Quoting: omer666
Quoting: Whitewolfe80
Quoting: Purple Library Guy
Quoting: Whitewolfe80
Quoting: slaapliedje
Quoting: KuduzkehpanWhat if Valve buys microsoft first, then open sources it and removes found unsafe codes :D yea welcome to GNU/windows. maybe then we replace kernel and upstart bla bla bla. dx12 with Vulkan. Yea LoL for the night.

Ha, Then it is discovered that it has been BSD with a shell on it since Windows 8, because they copied Apple?

Just as likely...

Well that would be history repeating itself given that Apple gave ms the GUI and the mouse interface while MS was being courted by apple way back in the late 70's
Not that Apple invented any of those things themselves.

No they stole them from xerox i saw pirates of silcon valley
To be fair, everyone at that time was experimenting with everyone's ideas, that's not as if they were the only ones doing this. Also, that's not as if Xerox was going anywhere close to personal computing with its concept. Companies sell solutions, not ideas.

No Steve jobs legit stole the mouse and gui from xerox which Bill gates then stole off apple and unveiled it in Japan for IBM while being on stage with Steve jobs in the states and according to witnesses Steve jobs said we are better and bill gates laughed and said you dont get it it doesn't matter i was first. The biggest irony is it was Bill gates got jobs fired he was also the share holder of apple that hired him back. Also feel free to check Bill gates was a major share holder of apple until they bought him out.

This is why Apple lived where Commodore and Atari died. Microsoft gave a juicy infusion of cash during the monopoly trials. If it had just happened a few years earlier we could have seen Atari or Commodore get that, though honestly I don't think that would have changed the landscape much. Either Nokia would have finally gotten a clue and had picked Symbian or Maemo, or Atari could have come up with the smart phone. They did have one of the first tablet computers as a prototype.
slaapliedje Feb 22, 2018
Quoting: GuestEA purchased by Microsoft would be a fitting fate.

I sadly still have some nostalgic feelings toward Electronic Arts. Back when they had a ECA as their logo. Great games like Lords of Conquest, Racing Destruction Set, Starflight, etc. That was before they became a sports game publisher and all the other crazy money making schemes.

Not sure if Origin is as shit as G4WL though, is it?
stretch611 Feb 23, 2018
Quoting: slaapliedje
Quoting: GuestEA purchased by Microsoft would be a fitting fate.

I sadly still have some nostalgic feelings toward Electronic Arts. Back when they had a ECA as their logo. Great games like Lords of Conquest, Racing Destruction Set, Starflight, etc. That was before they became a sports game publisher and all the other crazy money making schemes.

Not sure if Origin is as shit as G4WL though, is it?

I remember those days too... EA used to be a distributor of independent games when the industry was very young. Archon, Populous, M.U.L.E., Pinball Construction Set, plus the titles you mentioned. I still remember they used to package floppy disks (5 1/4" at the time) in a sleeve similar to record albums (I'm also old). This was back in the 80's during the time of Atari's and the Commodore 64, before "IBM compatible" became a thing and made it out of the office into people's homes.

I miss some things about those days, and I miss EA of old. Now I wonder (with glee if the rumour becomes true) which (EA or Microsoft) would get the worse part of the deal in any buyout. This type of deal would not impact linux, its not like either company would support us in any case.

But lets face it, the EA of old is long dead... the SecuRom controversy, forcing solo players to play online (SimCity anyone?) turning off authentication servers so no one can play old games, buying exclusive sports rights so no one else can compete with the crap they spew out, and killing good IP by buying it and letting it die... Westwood, Origin, and the old Dungeon Keeper game that they turned into a crappy Free2Play/Pay2Win phone game. YES, the EA of old is dead. May they merge and hopefully both die a little sooner.
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