During the last hours A rumor began to spread that Microsoft intended to buy Valve and thereby take control of Steam. And given the dimensions of what it evokes, it is essential for me to repeat with emphasis that we are talking about a rumor, not confirmed information (be it official or unofficial), and that it must therefore be taken with a special reserve, since there are no facts about his origin almost no information and also raises many doubts.

The origin of this rumor is found on the Twitter account of Dior (unrelated to the legendary fashion, accessories, perfume and cosmetics brand), an account that is a little less than a year old and specializes in Counter-Strike (although it also mentions investments in its bio), and which has according to what he says in this tweet, the information that states it Microsoft would consider a purchase worth $16,000 million, which would also be delivered in cash, with no equity stake. The amount also seems a bit low considering the value of the purchase target.

There are quite a few of them reasons that invite us to distrust this rumorand starting with missing references about a leaker that was not known until now due to previous revelations, to the legal complications that Microsoft could face when trying to carry out an operation of this type, especially after a long and complicated process. which he had to face in order to finally dominate the Activision Blizzard King.

Now, at this point, we need to make an important nuance. As my colleague Isidro pointed out in considering the situation that Microsoft would be left in after the acquisition of ABK, he focused on the difficulties that Redmond would face in reacquiring the studio, which increases after the closure of several studios for the Xbox part. these past few weeks. But we must not forget that Valve’s activities as a studio are very limiteda small piece of the pie compared to its big business, Steam.

With approx. $80 billion CCE, Microsoft prepares $16 billion bid for Valve

No inventory, all cash pic.twitter.com/VCZq6HkFmO

— Dior (@xDiorCS) May 22, 2024

Microsoft faced problems due to the concentration of studios (ergo, video game production) and later due to the risks of a dominant position in the cloud gaming market. However, The valve has no special weight in any field, to which Microsoft could argue that the acquisition of Valve would not change anything in what concerns the regulators the most. Whether they will adopt this approach is another matter, but it would certainly be one of the main benefits for Microsoft.

Except, It sounds pretty strange that Gave Newell could be seriously considering selling Valve, and by extension Steam, on Microsoft, as his connection to both brands is more than well known. Now, it is true that the video game market is going through a very difficult time and there is no indication that this will change in the short term. So if Newell thinks he’s already earned his retirement or wants to pursue other pursuits, this might be his golden opportunity. And while the idea of ​​Microsoft taking control of Steam might sound pretty disturbing to us, if we were in Newell’s shoes, we’d probably set it straight.

So basically, we have enough reason to think that it won’t be confirmed, and that even if it does, the regulators won’t allow the operation to be completed. However, If there was a rumor that Microsoft was going to buy Activision Blizzard on January 17th, 2022, we’d probably take that with a big grain of salt, too.. And so, and although we are inclined to say no, history has taught us that anything is possible, and that everything must therefore be reckoned with.