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[Bernkastel]

BLOOBER TEAM S.A.: Wybór „short listy” doradców przy potencjalnym procesie M&A dla Bloober Team S.A.

Spis treści:1. RAPORT BIEŻĄCY2. MESSAGE (ENGLISH VERSION)3. INFORMACJE O PODMIOCIE4. PODPISY OSÓB REPREZENTUJĄCYCH SPÓŁKĘ KOMISJA NADZORU FINANSOWEGO Raport bieżący nr 27 / 2020 Data sporządzenia:...

www.bankier.pl

FINANCIAL SUPERVISION COMMISSION
			Current report No.	27	/	2020
	Date of preparation:	2020-06-08
	Abbreviated name of the issuer
	BLOOBER TEAM S.A.
	Topic
	Selection of "short list" advisors in a potential M&A process for Bloober Team S.A.
	Legal basis
	Joke. Article 17 (1) of Regulation (EEC) No 20 1 MAR - confidential information.
	Content of the report:
	Following the current ESPI report No. 20 of 5 May 2020, the management board of Bloober Team S.A. with its registered office in Krakow (hereinafter referred to as the "Issuer" or "the Company") makes public that it has made the choice of the so-called " "Short list" advisors to support the potential M&A process. Among the selected entities are 3 from the United States, 2 from Poland and one from the United Kingdom. The Issuer shall inform the Issuer immediately of the final selection of the advisor by a separate report.

SIGNATURES OF PERSONS REPRESENTING THE COMPANY
	Date	Name	Position/Function	Signature
	2020-06-08	Peter Babieno	Ceo

PS : M&A process = Merger and Acquisition Process.

 

[Daffy Duck]

They’re the ones who did Layers of Fear and Blair witch ain’t they?

That would be a good get for them, could do with a really good exclusive horror game.

 

[Jigsaah]

What am I looking at here?

 

[JimboJones]

I just remember them when they used to be Nibris and kept saying they where gonna make some awesome Wii horror game that turned out to be nothing. Have they actually released anything decent?

 

[Bernkastel]

What am I looking at here?

A report about Bloober Team getting prepared for a "Merger and Acquisition Process".

 

[Jigsaah]

A report about Bloober Team getting prepared for a "Merger and Acquisition Process".

Ah I see, thank you. I hope the Medium is good. I've said in the past I'm probably too scared to play it. Psychological horror games are much more impactful than the guts and gore ones in my opinion. At any rate, it's hard to say if they'll be a solid pick up cuz I don't know much about them

 

[jakinov]

Not very exciting. It's nice overall to see Microsoft acquiring studios though. I think Obsidian and Ninja Theory were the only good acquisitions but even they don't have the best track records. If Microsoft isn't going to acquire studios without better track-records I think they are better off forming new studios and poaching top talent. Their current alleged "laisez-faire" strategy with these studios and throwing money with them sounds risky. Especailly with developers who make games like We Happy Few and State of Decay.

 

[Bernkastel]

Not very exciting. It's nice overall to see Microsoft acquiring studios though. I think Obsidian and Ninja Theory were the only good acquisitions but even they don't have the best track records. If Microsoft isn't going to acquire studios without better track-records I think they are better off forming new studios and poaching top talent. Their current alleged "laisez-faire" strategy with these studios and throwing money with them sounds risky. Especailly with developers who make games like We Happy Few and State of Decay.

They will grow under Microsoft. Microsoft is acquiring them based on potential.

 

[Hobbygaming]

I hope the Medium ends up great and they get acquired, competition benefits us all

 

[CatLady]

They’re the ones who did Layers of Fear and Blair witch ain’t they?

That would be a good get for them, could do with a really good exclusive horror game.

They already are doing an awesome looking XsX ONLY (No cross gen) horror game, The Medium.

This is GREAT news if Xbox gets Bloober, I really like their games except Blair Witch.

 

[jakinov]

They will grow under Microsoft. Microsoft is acquiring them based on potential.

They will get more money. But if it's the same heads calling the shots we might not see better games creatively. Better graphics from more employees maybe. But maybe the "laisez-faire" attitude and not worrying about keeping the lights on will relieve the stress and increase morale, leading into better games. But as it stands right now, in my opinion, there's a lot of work to be done but I'm excited overall because they are trying.

A lot of Sony's recent(ish) acquisitions came after their developers shipped a somewhat successful game. that got good reviews and not bad sales.

 

[IntentionalPun]

Good for the studio I imagine; but isn't that claiming there are 5 entities bidding for purchase? How do we even know MS is involved let alone leading the pack?

 

[Gravemind]

Not very exciting. It's nice overall to see Microsoft acquiring studios though. I think Obsidian and Ninja Theory were the only good acquisitions but even they don't have the best track records. If Microsoft isn't going to acquire studios without better track-records I think they are better off forming new studios and poaching top talent. Their current alleged "laisez-faire" strategy with these studios and throwing money with them sounds risky. Especailly with developers who make games like We Happy Few and State of Decay.

You mean like they've been doing with The Initiative? Theyve also created a number of other first party studios.

Bloober is a good acquisition, if that's what they're planning on doing. Layers of Fear and Blair Witch were very solid games. If The Medium succeeds, then imo theres more than enough to be excited about this acquisition.

Microsoft could really use a psychological horror team, and Bloober fits the bill pretty nicely.

 

[Bernkastel]

They will get more money. But if it's the same heads calling the shots we might not see better games creatively. Better graphics from more employees maybe. But maybe the "laisez-faire" attitude and not worrying about keeping the lights on will relieve the stress and increase morale, leading into better games. But as it stands right now, in my opinion, there's a lot of work to be done but I'm excited overall because they are trying.

A lot of Sony's recent(ish) acquisitions came after their developers shipped a somewhat successful game. that got good reviews and not bad sales.

You mean Insomniac ? Sony's past acquisitions were like current Microsoft acquisitions. Naughty Dog, Bend, Sucker Punch and Guerilla Games grew to what they are today after they got acquired.

 

[CatLady]

They will get more money. But if it's the same heads calling the shots we might not see better games creatively. Better graphics from more employees maybe. But maybe the "laisez-faire" attitude and not worrying about keeping the lights on will relieve the stress and increase morale, leading into better games. But as it stands right now, in my opinion, there's a lot of work to be done but I'm excited overall because they are trying.

A lot of Sony's recent(ish) acquisitions came after their developers shipped a somewhat successful game. that got good reviews and not bad sales.

Thank you for your concern

 

[jakinov]

You mean like they've been doing with The Initiative? Theyve also created a number of other first party studios.

Bloober is a good acquisition, if that's what they're planning on doing. Layers of Fear and Blair Witch were very solid games. If The Medium succeeds, then imo theres more than enough to be excited about this acquisition.

Microsoft could really use a psychological horror team, and Bloober fits the bill pretty nicely.

Well technically no. I mean instead of buying Bloober team and whatever going forward, they should build new studios. It's like your mom telling you that you should buy more water when you've been buying coke multiple times and then you bring up that you bought water once a long time ago.

If you subjectively like those games sure. You probably could have played them regardless of the acquisition. It's not very exciting for Microsoft benefit IMO big-picture.

 

[Bernkastel]

Well technically no. I mean instead of buying Bloober team and whatever going forward, they should build new studios. It's like your mom telling you that you should buy more water when you've been buying coke multiple times and then you bring up that you bought water once a long time ago.

If you subjectively like those games sure. You probably could have played them regardless of the acquisition. It's not very exciting for Microsoft benefit IMO big-picture.

Turn 10, 343i, Coalition and Initiative were created by Microsoft.

 

[Bryank75]

Good idea to have teams in Eastern Europe... lower cost, great talent and a different flavor of games. Wonder who is bidding apart from MS....

 

[jakinov]

Turn 10, 343i, Coalition and Initiative were created by Microsoft.

I never said they weren't. You two misunderstood what I was saying. I'm saying they should create more studios instead of buying random ones. What they did in the past is not relevant unless you want to argue that they don't need to create more because they already created all those (and that's enough).

You mean Insomniac ? Sony's past acquisitions were like current Microsoft acquisitions. Naughty Dog, Bend, Sucker Punch and Guerilla Games grew to what they are today after they got acquired.

Insomniac was one of them which was acquired after the massive success of Spider-man (and also likely because of Microsoft and other factors). And I was thinking of the ones during the PS3 days because that's when Sony really needed to acquire studios when they didn't get a bunch of 3rd party exclusives for free anymore and because I don't know a whole a lot about the history of gaming happening when I was in elementary school (e.g. PS1-PS2 days). Sucker Punch was acquired by them after the Infamous series. Media Molecule after LittleBigPlanet. But my point is their decisions for acquisitions happened after something good happened i.e. games releasing for them that sold decently well, reviewed well, and were arguably rising stars opposed to before games came out to a bunch of companies with arguably not super stellar track records.

 

[Vawn]

Why do they bother with all these small fry, indie studios. Xbox needs good AAA games. Is it just for GamePass?

 

[Joho79]

Why do they bother with all these small fry, indie studios. Xbox needs good AAA games. Is it just for GamePass filler?

Is shitpost in MS related threads your favorite thing in the world?

 

[mejin]

Why do they bother with all these small fry, indie studios. Xbox needs good AAA games. Is it just for GamePass?

to serve gamepass. Nothing more.

 

[Men_in_Boxes]

MS is America.

Sony is that Japanese admiral who said "I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant and fill him with a terrible resolve."

Microsoft is not *ucking around next gen.

 

[cormack12]

I guess this ties in with the rumours about a Polish studio acquisition. Looks like a decent buy. Being first party will give them the chance to expand without holding the risk and get more opportunities with bigger IPs.

Until Horizon, GG was just a first party studio that put out mainly mediocre FPS titles (with the exception of KZ2).

I guess the biggest question mark are the timescales to get that first AAA out.

 

[Vawn]

MS is America.

Sony is that Japanese admiral who said "I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant and fill him with a terrible resolve."

Microsoft is not *ucking around next gen.

Yup. I'm sure Sony and their unknown first-party studios would tremble in fear if Xbox landed that powerhouse studio Bloober Team.

That totally doesn't fit their previous stigma of quantity over quality. /s

And I am sure they're also super scared of this "giant" they've beaten up on for the last 20 straight years. Because NOW it's going to wake up.

 

[Men_in_Boxes]

Yup. I'm sure Sony and their unknown first-party studios would tremble in fear if Xbox landed that powerhouse studio Bloober Team.

That totally doesn't fit their previous stigma of quantity over quality. /s

It's not any one move. It's the collection of moves they've executed on over the last two years. They are a monsters in the console space now. They weren't before.

 

[M1chl]

Why do they bother with all these small fry, indie studios. Xbox needs good AAA games. Is it just for GamePass?

Boy, have you seen Observer?

to serve gamepass. Nothing more.

Then they are doing it wrong, because I willingly payed for LoF 2.

 

[Ass of Can Whooping]

It's not any one move. It's the collection of moves they've executed on over the last two years. They are a monsters in the console space now. They weren't before.

If Microsoft is a monster than Sony is a cosmic god

 

[Men_in_Boxes]

If Microsoft is a monster than Sony is a cosmic god

Nah. I think MS is primed to surpass Sony next gen in terms of mindshare/marketshare. They might not sell quite as many consoles but Microsoft's games will dwarf Sony's in market penetration.

 

[ToadMan]

Jesus. What a come down ...

A couple of weeks ago people thought MS were gonna buy Sega - or do a deal to produce a japan focused Xsex.

And here we are, now MS can only manage to buy bloober lol.

What’s their next target purchase?

I predict at the big July reveal MS announce they hired Gilson B Pontes as Xbox technical director rofl

 

[Ass of Can Whooping]

Nah. I think MS is primed to surpass Sony next gen in terms of mindshare/marketshare. They might not sell quite as many consoles but Microsoft's games will dwarf Sony's in market penetration.

How can you possibily think this with the social media numbers Sonys getting right now?

Not too mention they've also made next to no effort in fixing their presence outside of English speaking countries

 

[Xaero Gravity]

Nah. I think MS is primed to surpass Sony next gen in terms of mindshare/marketshare. They might not sell quite as many consoles but Microsoft's games will dwarf Sony's in market penetration.

I don't know man, I'm excited to see what these studios put out, but that's not a bet I would take.

 

[Men_in_Boxes]

How can you possibily think this with the social media numbers Sonys getting right now?

Not too mention they've also made next to no effort in fixing their presence outside of English speaking countries

Because Microsoft SHOULDN'T have high social media numbers right now.

They've made moves the last two years in preparation for this November and beyond. Their metrics aren't supposed to compete with Sony at the moment.

I actually can't fathom how more people here, the people who know about policies and aquisitions, aren't more impressed with MS.

 

[Ass of Can Whooping]

Because Microsoft SHOULDN'T have high social media numbers right now.

They've made moves the last two years in preparation for this November and beyond. Their metrics aren't supposed to compete with Sony at the moment.

I actually can't fathom how more people here, the people who know about policies and aquisitions, aren't more impressed with MS.

I am impressed with the strides Microsoft have taken

That isn't going to help them beat Sony though. Playstation is a worldwide brand. Xbox isn't. I can't fathom how you think that's going to somehow change in one generation.

 

[Varteras]

Why do they bother with all these small fry, indie studios. Xbox needs good AAA games. Is it just for GamePass?

Could be different reasons. Perhaps they like the idea of many smaller studios they can eventually build up. They're relatively cheap, low risk acquisitions that serve to bolster their portfolio with many simultaneous games. It may be that these are mostly the kind of studios willing to sign on with them at this point. Who knows.

It's not any one move. It's the collection of moves they've executed on over the last two years. They are a monsters in the console space now. They weren't before.

Nah. I think MS is primed to surpass Sony next gen in terms of mindshare/marketshare. They might not sell quite as many consoles but Microsoft's games will dwarf Sony's in market penetration.

If I were you I'd be careful in allowing yourself to indulge in this mindset. It's largely the same rhetoric that Xbox fans have been trumpeting since the launch of Xbox 360. Microsoft has been in the console space for almost 20 years now and they have yet to "take the throne" if you will. The closest they ever came was Xbox 360 and that took a near perfect storm of Sony dropping the ball just for them to eventually end up last place in console sales. Still very successful mind you but last place nonetheless. They followed that up with a massive ball dropping of their own and we've all seen the result of that this gen. Let's not forget that Microsoft had a lot of studios to start this generation with as well as third parties making exclusive games. Touting spending $1 billion for exclusives. https://www.gamesindustry.biz/artic...as-USD1-billion-for-exclusive-xbox-one-titles

Do yourself a favor and simply enjoy whatever games Microsoft brings you without worry of how they perform. Because the history of this industry has shown that it has rarely been kind to them. They can't win even if their competitors screw up and when they themselves screw up it costs them an entire generation of hardship. You're better off just being content with where they are and don't wrap yourself up in some idea that they're going to suddenly stand on top because they bought a handful of studios of various calibers over the last couple years.

 

[Leyasu]

Why do they bother with all these small fry, indie studios. Xbox needs good AAA games. Is it just for GamePass?

Look at your tag!

 

[Max_Po]

It's not any one move. It's the collection of moves they've executed on over the last two years. They are a monsters in the console space now. They weren't before.

 

[Men_in_Boxes]

I am impressed with the strides Microsoft have taken

That isn't going to help them beat Sony though. Playstation is a worldwide brand. Xbox isn't. I can't fathom how you think that's going to somehow change in one generation.

Like I said, I don't necessarily mean MS will sell more consoles (though they will certainly do much better), I just think in 2027, we're going to line up the five best selling MS vs Sony exclusives and all five will be MS games.

Sony simply can't compete with Microsoft's cross platform strategy.

Oh and if a $299 Lockhart exists, I think MS can outsell Sony in terms of console sales.

 

[Armorian]

Good idea to have teams in Eastern Europe... lower cost, great talent and a different flavor of games. Wonder who is bidding apart from MS....

Everything is correct except it's central europe not eastern

 

[Xaero Gravity]

Look at your tag!

Bitch is on borrowed time

 

[Captain Hero]

Bernkastel welcome back ..

I’m really excited for the medium and I think MS already finished the deal .. my guess

 

[Ass of Can Whooping]

Like I said, I don't necessarily mean MS will sell more consoles (though they will certainly do much better), I just think in 2027, we're going to line up the five best selling MS vs Sony exclusives and all five will be MS games.

Sony simply can't compete with Microsoft's cross platform strategy.

Oh and if a $299 Lockhart exists, I think MS can outsell Sony in terms of console sales.

So, you're saying they'll have more mindshare/marketshare than Sony in terms of exclusive games because they'll be on PC/Xbox whereas Sony's will just be on PS5? That's your argument?

 

[N0S]

Would be a good get. Bloober is a talented studio. I like their games but they could use more budget.

 

[Danny Dudekisser]

It's actually an interesting idea - it'd lend MS expertise in a genre that they really have nothing in. Good team, in any case.

 

[Men_in_Boxes]

So, you're saying they'll have more mindshare/marketshare than Sony in terms of exclusive games because they'll be on PC/Xbox whereas Sony's will just be on PS5? That's your argument?

Yup. It's clearly where the industry is headed.

 

[Ass of Can Whooping]

Yup. It's clearly where the industry is headed.

The strength of the IPs are much more important than how many platforms they're on

 

[N0S]

I am impressed with the strides Microsoft have taken

That isn't going to help them beat Sony though. Playstation is a worldwide brand. Xbox isn't. I can't fathom how you think that's going to somehow change in one generation.

Xbox Studios have been around for 20 years now. Playstation Studios just got announced

 

[Men_in_Boxes]

The strength of the IPs are much more important than how many platforms they're on

I think both are important but install base is very undervalued here. Halo Infinite is going to be bananas big this year. I don't think Sony is going to have a game that even remotely competes with that. I think people are sleeping on Microsoft big time.

I guess we'll see.

 

[SleepDoctor]

This can be a very good acquisition. Im looking forward to this game because of its Silent Hill inspiration.

Really hope they knock it out of the park. Would also love to see a new Evil Within.

 

[Ass of Can Whooping]

I think both are important but install base is very undervalued here. Halo Infinite is going to be bananas big this year. I don't think Sony is going to have a game that even remotely competes with that. I think people are sleeping on Microsoft big time.

I guess we'll see.

Spiderman lol

And no I don't put much stock in install base.