Two Game Companies Could Soon Have New Owners
Could Arkane and Unity be sold?
Microsoft recently gave a deadline for the sale of Arkane studio. According to a new report, there are a number of bidders for the company. Find out the details. Also, could the same investors who bought EA purchase the game engine Unity? All this and the latest news. Let’s go.
Ubisoft interested in Arkane
Microsoft has said that if it could not find a buyer for Arkane Studios, it would close down the company. According to a new report, there are multiple entities interested, including Ubisoft.
Bloomberg reports there are three companies that have submitted bids to purchase Arkane. Ubisoft seems like a strange entrant into the bidding, as they recently underwent a restructuring of their own. However, both Arkane and Ubisoft are French companies, which may play into their interest. One of the other bids is suspected to be from Arkane’s current management, in a bid to make the company independent.
Arkane is the studio behind Dishonored, Deathloop and is currently working on Marvel's Blade. Workers at the studio contend that it is profitable, just “not profitable enough for Microsoft.” Also, Arkane’s union recently accused Xbox of “sabotaging” development of the Blade game by implementing a 19-month ban on hiring new staff.
Could Unity be sold to EA?
The Unity game engine is a favorite of independent developers. However, if new reports are true, it could soon be sold to the conglomerate that purchased EA.
According to a report by Reuters, Silver Lake Partners and the Saudi sovereign wealth fund are in talks to buy the company for $25 billion. "Unity has been working with an investment bank to evaluate its options following the approach,” say sources interviewed for the story. “No deal is certain, and the plan and terms may still change."
The news comes after Unity posted its strongest ever third quarter. Revenue grew 32%, thanks in part to its AI-powered advertising network. Big Walk, Endless Legend 2, and Agent 64: Spies Never Die are just a few of the games that were made in Unity which released this year.
Side Quests (more stories worth reading)
⚔️ The Elder Scrolls 6 officially has a name (Sentinel), but is still reportedly years away from being released.
🇺🇸 Halo Composer Marty O’Donnell (R-NV) lost his congressional bid, while Dragon Ball Z Composer (D-TX) won his race for Texas attorney general.
💔 One-third of video game studios that were acquired by another company since 2000 have been shut down.
🤖 The biggest site for gaming mods on the web says they will not prevent AI-generated content, but will require mandatory disclosure for those who use it.
🗓️ God of War Laufey has been delayed from February 16 to May 20, 2027.
🏎️ Those who already purchased Grand Theft Auto 6 can preload the game starting November 10. The game will be playable November 19.
🚓 A kidnapped 17-year old was rescued when they reached out for help to a player in Among Us.
🍔 Wendy’s created WendyQuest: Legend of the Four Corner Stones, a video game where players can earn rewards at the restaurant chain.
‼️ Developers are working to fix an error that made Nier: Automata take up 366 GB of hard drive space on PC.
🐊 Xbox announced a contest where one winner will get a console shaped like an alligator.
💽 Independent game storefront Itch.io deleted “terabytes” of AI-created games in an attempt to fight AI spam.
🐧 Epic says their game launcher and storefront is coming to multiple Linux distributions, including SteamOS.
🖥️ Someone created a web browser version of Katamari where you roll up items at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art.
🕵🏼♂️ A new demo for 007 First Light lets you play the first mission of the game.
📅 Path of Exile 2 discussed their upcoming 1.0 release, which is scheduled for December.
🤖 New game approval is taking longer for Steam’s storefront, most likely due to the glut of AI-created titles.
❎ The director of South of Midnight says if he were in charge of Xbox, he wouldn’t have funded his game.
📈 Round numbers: Control Resonant sold 1 million copies and the Borderlands franchise sold over 100 million games.
New Releases this week:
Check out our article on 9 New Games to Play in November.
11/9: Dreadmoor (PC)
11/10: Football Manager 27 (PlayStation, Xbox and PC)
11/10: Hope in the City (Xbox and PC)
11/10: Midwest 90: Rapid City (PC)
11/10: Shrek 2 Remastered (PlayStation, Xbox, Switch and PC)
11/10: Warhammer Survivors (PlayStation, Xbox, Switch, PC)
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