Microsoft buys Activision Blizzard

[chronovore]

https://news.microsoft.com/2022/01/18/microsoft-to-acquire-activision-blizzard-to-bring-the-joy-and-community-of-gaming-to-everyone-across-every-device/

Jesus. 

[SmokyDave]

Finally I get the 4K remaster of Ballblazer that I've always wanted.

I'm assuming that's why they've picked 'em up anyway. Mad news.

[Quaker]

It's going to suck when GamePass goes from $4/month to $30/month with mostly algorithm chasing shovelware in 10 years. (See: Netflix)

I wonder how the woke outrage brigade that sub to "the best deal in gaming" feel about paying for Bobby's golden parachute potentially.

[Nintex]

Microsoft: "We have to evaluate our relationship with Activision following these allegations. It won't be the same after this" 

*2 weeks later*

Microsoft: "We gave them an offer they couldn't refuse"

SEGA: "Plz buy me daddy Microsoft "

Sony: "It's only a flesh wound!"

Nintendo: "..."

Nintendo: "Oh you guys are still here... here's a broken N64 rom, now fuck off!"

[Rahxephon91]

Wow that’s kind of I don’t know man.

[demi]

GAMEPASS STONKS UP

[Pissy F Benny]

when will call of doody come to gamepass

[tiesto]

This can't be good for Sony... getting their ass handed to them in Japan by Nintendo... MS buying up lots of large western 3rd party publishers (is Activision the biggest? Or is it EA?)...

[therealdeal]

Gamepass forever

[Tasty]

DoJ plz 

[benjipwns]

Time to come back to Steam, Bobby.

[Joe Molotov]

[who is ted danson?]

[Nintex]

The list of IPs that could potentially be owned by Xbox following Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard includes:

Blur
Caesar
Call of Duty
Candy Crush
Crash Bandicoot
Diablo
DJ Hero
Empire Earth
Gabriel Knight
Geometry Wars
Guitar Hero
Gun
Hearthstone
Heroes of the Storm
Hexen
Interstate ’76
King’s Quest
Laura Bow Mysteries
The Lost Vikings
Overwatch
Phantasmagoria
Pitfall
Police Quest
Prototype
Quest for Glory
Singularity
Skylanders
Solider of Fortune
Space Quest
Spyro the Dragon
StarCraft
Tenchu (legacy games)
TimeShift
Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater
True Crime
World of Warcraft
Zork

PGR licensing issues resolved. Thanks Phil! 

[Beezy]

Sheesh. I'm guessing it's safe to say that "the Netflix of gaming" is locked up with this one.

[Lonewulfeus]

Square next and I can die continue to play Xbox a happy man.

[benjipwns]

Can't wait for Master Chief's Candy Crush Pro Skater: Skyrim

[Joe Molotov]

Doom Slayer will return in Phantasmagoria 3: Thy Flesh Consumed, the grimdark FMV FPS that Roberta Williams fans have been waiting for.

[who is ted danson?]

I remember after the bethesda announcement there was another rumour of a "big one" coming down the line. I think we discussed it on the bore even. Do we know if this the same big deal that was rumoured a while back in hushed tones?

[Rahxephon91]

PlayStation bias aside I don’t like this. As a purely enthusiast gamer MS is pretty much taking away choice. I don’t really like these big console companies owning everything.

It also kind of seems slimey in regards to what Phil has said before.

[Svejk]

I can easily see about 50% of those studios being dissolved in a matter of a year. 

[Kurt Russell]

At this point, if Sony want to compete they're basically left with Take-Two Interactive or EA. I don't think any other options (Capcom? Konami? Sega?) even come close.

[Svejk]

At this point, if Sony want to compete they're basically left with Take-Two Interactive or EA. I don't think any other options (Capcom? Konami? Sega?) even come close.

If Sony somehow snagged Capcom, Sony wins.....  until MS buys Sony. 

[Bebpo]

Feels like Sony is fucked and going to be 3rd place console starting next gen.

Without CoD and Elder Scrolls they're toast in the west. What an insane purchase. Wonder if today will go down in game history as the day MS monopolized the console market.

[Kurt Russell]

A Sony/Valve Merger with Steam becoming the default store on Playstation would be interesting. Particularly if HL3 appears.

[Let's Cyber]

This is fucking crazy.

[benjipwns]

A Sony/Valve Merger with Steam becoming the default store on Playstation would be interesting. Particularly if HL3 appears.

lmao

[Raist]

This can't be good for Sony... getting their ass handed to them in Japan by Nintendo... MS buying up lots of large western 3rd party publishers (is Activision the biggest? Or is it EA?)...

Pretty sure it's Actizzard, closely followed by Epic.

[mormapope]

Anyone that's "worried" about this news   

Wow, the videogame market isnt balanced in a capitalist society where the laws and rules of monopolization are loose and abstract? BIG CORPORATIONS BUYING BIG CORPORATIONS?!

 

[Bebpo]

Anyone that's "worried" about this news   

Wow, the videogame market isnt balanced in a capitalist society where the laws and rules of monopolization are loose and abstract? BIG CORPORATIONS BUYING BIG CORPORATIONS?!

 

Not sure how it'll be good for gamers when Sony sells its gaming department to MS.

[Svejk]

Anyone that's "worried" about this news   

Wow, the videogame market isnt balanced in a capitalist society where the laws and rules of monopolization are loose and abstract? BIG CORPORATIONS BUYING BIG CORPORATIONS?!

 

Not sure how it'll be good for gamers when Sony sells its gaming department to MS.

Personally, that'd be my queue to go solely Nintender .... or quit vidyah altogether.  I'm WAY too stubborn to give MS any of my money if at all possible.

[Pissy F Benny]

At this point, if Sony want to compete they're basically left with Take-Two Interactive or EA. I don't think any other options (Capcom? Konami? Sega?) even come close.

I highly doubt Sony have the money to make such moves, both would be in high 10's of billions too. Probably their best move is to do a deal with MS to get gamepass on the Playstation.

[mormapope]

Anyone that's "worried" about this news   

Wow, the videogame market isnt balanced in a capitalist society where the laws and rules of monopolization are loose and abstract? BIG CORPORATIONS BUYING BIG CORPORATIONS?!

 

Not sure how it'll be good for gamers when Sony sells its gaming department to MS.

This is when my brain has a disconnect. The sentiment you're expressing is based on the belief that American business and capitalism yields good results for consumers, if there's fairness and balance in which business is conducted.

I straight up do not believe or buy into that.

[Don Rumata]

At this point, if Sony want to compete they're basically left with Take-Two Interactive or EA. I don't think any other options (Capcom? Konami? Sega?) even come close.

Sony can't compete on that front, but they are profitable and can continue to be so, in their own way.
I don't think aquisitions are a feasible strategy for them, at all.
They should focus on coming up with a game pass competitor that has some sort of competitive value, they do have the games at least.

[Bebpo]

Sony doesn't have the money to buy any big publisher. They just can't compete when it comes to $$$ with big war chests like MS. They've lost Japan completely to Nintendo and pretty soon they'll lose the rest of the world to MS as MS just buys up all the games. I just don't see how Sony survives this.

I feel like if this doesn't kill Sony, in a few years MS will buy EA next to have Madden and that will be the final nail.


No one is buying Take Two. GTA is bigger than god in gaming.

[Pissy F Benny]

wasn't having all the games in one place the ultimate hope? daddy microsoft is making dreams come true, all for a low low monthly price

[benjipwns]

Sony doesn't have the money to buy any big publisher. They just can't compete when it comes to $$$ with big war chests like MS. They've lost Japan completely to Nintendo and pretty soon they'll lose the rest of the world to MS as MS just buys up all the games. I just don't see how Sony survives this.

I feel like if this doesn't kill Sony, in a few years MS will buy EA next to have Madden and that will be the final nail.


No one is buying Take Two. GTA is bigger than god in gaming.

Sony is a $250 billion asset company, Microsoft is not dramatically bigger at $300 billion despite owning the OS and Office market

[Skullfuckers Anonymous]

 

Chickens coming home to roost for arrogant Sony. PSN team must be in shambles cause PS+ will be worthless in 2023.

[Bebpo]

If anyone thinks once Sony is out of the picture MS will still offer all the games for a low low monthly price I have a bridge to sell you.

They're not spending $70 billion dollars out of the goodness of their hearts to win a console war.

[Bebpo]

Sony doesn't have the money to buy any big publisher. They just can't compete when it comes to $$$ with big war chests like MS. They've lost Japan completely to Nintendo and pretty soon they'll lose the rest of the world to MS as MS just buys up all the games. I just don't see how Sony survives this.

I feel like if this doesn't kill Sony, in a few years MS will buy EA next to have Madden and that will be the final nail.


No one is buying Take Two. GTA is bigger than god in gaming.

Sony is a $250 billion asset company, Microsoft is not dramatically bigger at $300 billion despite owning the OS and Office market

Sony is a lot more conservative. They're never going to spend the big bucks like this.

If Sony decides to acquire a publisher, it'd be more like Capcom. But even then that mostly effects the JP world of having Monster Hunter exclusive to PS which could give them some initial footing in regaining market share in Japan. In the west having RE and SF exclusive to PS isn't going to be a big deal and won't even counter the loss of Bethesda, not to mention Activision/Blizzard.


If Sony was dumb (which they often are), it'd be more like Square Enix or Konami. Which would both be really stupid since most SE is on PS anyhow and Konami doesn't make shit anymore.

[Don Rumata]

I don't get the apocalypse talk, Jesus....
Sony is doing more than fine, unless they completely lose their mind and keep following the direction of the market (like the move to services instead of 60$ packages) they'll be fine.
Tencent also takes in more cash than MS in gaming, are you in a panic for that, too?

MS buying Zenimax was potentially a positive thing, even with Activision blizzard we could see a fixing of their brands in need of a straightening up.
I don't see it as a bad thing.
They bought Activision, not some little team that worked indipendently and it's going to lose that.

[Skullfuckers Anonymous]

It makes 100% sense for Sony to buy Konami and become a PAAS company. At the same time they can rebrand PlayStation and keep the same initials to build the great home pachinko machine the world has ever known.

[Don Rumata]

Sony doesn't have the money to buy any big publisher. They just can't compete when it comes to $$$ with big war chests like MS. They've lost Japan completely to Nintendo and pretty soon they'll lose the rest of the world to MS as MS just buys up all the games. I just don't see how Sony survives this.

I feel like if this doesn't kill Sony, in a few years MS will buy EA next to have Madden and that will be the final nail.


No one is buying Take Two. GTA is bigger than god in gaming.

Sony is a $250 billion asset company, Microsoft is not dramatically bigger at $300 billion despite owning the OS and Office market

Sony is a lot more conservative. They're never going to spend the big bucks like this.

If Sony decides to acquire a publisher, it'd be more like Capcom. But even then that mostly effects the JP world of having Monster Hunter exclusive to PS which could give them some initial footing in regaining market share in Japan. In the west having RE and SF exclusive to PS isn't going to be a big deal and won't even counter the loss of Bethesda, not to mention Activision/Blizzard.


If Sony was dumb (which they often are), it'd be more like Square Enix or Konami. Which would both be really stupid since most SE is on PS anyhow and Konami doesn't make shit anymore.

I feel like you're stuck to 10 years ago.
Sony is an American company, they have moved their center in the us and intentionally killed off most of their JP studios.
They likely don't care about the Japanese market much.

[Himu]

Crazy purchase

[Raist]

At this point, if Sony want to compete they're basically left with Take-Two Interactive or EA. I don't think any other options (Capcom? Konami? Sega?) even come close.

I highly doubt Sony have the money to make such moves, both would be in high 10's of billions too. Probably their best move is to do a deal with MS to get gamepass on the Playstation.

By all metrics they're more or less worth half of MS, so...

[Nintex]

SOYNY 

  XBOX 

[tiesto]

Really the only thing I can see Sony doing is continuing to buy exclusivity for big franchises. I could see GTA6 being Sony exclusive for at least a little while for instance (and also the biggest Japanese games like RE, FF, MH, SF). But like others have said I don't see Sony buying up any third parties aside from the ones historically aligned with them (i.e. continuing to buy companies like Insomniac/ND/Blue Point), and especially not Japanese companies.

[Don Rumata]

At this point, if Sony want to compete they're basically left with Take-Two Interactive or EA. I don't think any other options (Capcom? Konami? Sega?) even come close.

I highly doubt Sony have the money to make such moves, both would be in high 10's of billions too. Probably their best move is to do a deal with MS to get gamepass on the Playstation.

By all metrics they're more or less worth half of MS, so...

What do you mean? for example their market cap is vastly different.

[Don Rumata]

Really the only thing I can see Sony doing is continuing to buy exclusivity for big franchises. I could see GTA6 being Sony exclusive for at least a little while for instance (and also the biggest Japanese games like RE, FF, MH, SF). But like others have said I don't see Sony buying up any third parties aside from the ones historically aligned with them (i.e. continuing to buy companies like Insomniac/ND/Blue Point), and especially not Japanese companies.

PS5 is pretty safe either way.
In the long term i'm curious how Sony (Playstation specifically) sees themselves in the space, as a software publisher/developer, providing games for platforms running agnostically? Or still as hardware producers?
Honestly with things like Xcloud and services like Netflix and Gamepass becoming more and more the norm (especially after 5G makes them more ubiquitous) is there a space for them and their boxed console in the mass market? They already have to use Microsoft's Azure servers, no? If Mobile gaming is already the dominant market, that will only increase once streaming Uncharted on your phone (or TV directly) will become viable and easy to do.

[Bebpo]

PS5 is locked in at this point in marketshare mindset.
The Bethesda sale damage and this damage won't even start for a few years. Starfield being the first major game Playstation loses.

But it will definitely effect PS6 generation when MS is known as the box with CoD and Oblivion/Fallout.

[who is ted danson?]

I remember after the bethesda announcement there was another rumour of a "big one" coming down the line. I think we discussed it on the bore even. Do we know if this the same big deal that was rumoured a while back in hushed tones?

Found it. Starts here

[benjipwns]

Microsoft purchase of Activision Blizzard won't clean up gamer culture overnight: 5 essential reads about sexual harassment and discrimination in gaming and tech

Eric Smalley, The Conversation, Amanda Cote, Banu Ozkazanc-Pan, Francine Berman, Giovanni Luca Ciampaglia, Lindsey Darvin

January 18, 2022 2.28pm EST

Microsoft announced on Jan. 18, 2022, its intention to purchase video game giant Activision Blizzard. The company, publisher of top-selling video games Call of Duty, World of Warcraft and Candy Crush, has been the subject of a series of sexual discrimination and harassment complaints. A day before Microsoft’s announcement, Activision Blizzard announced that it has fired “nearly 40 employees” since July following an investigation into hundreds of reports from employees of misconduct.

California sued Activision Blizzard in July 2021, alleging a “pervasive ‘frat boy’ culture” at the company and discrimination against women in pay and promotion. The suit prompted a walkout by company employees who demanded that the company address the problem.

The turmoil is an echo of the infamous Gamergate episode of 2014 that featured an organized online campaign of harassment against female gamers, game developers and gaming journalists. The allegations are also of a piece with a decadeslong history of gender discrimination in the technology field.

It’s unclear whether or how quickly Microsoft will address Activision Blizzard’s discriminatory culture. Regardless of what happens within the company, the problem of sexual harassment in gamer culture involves the industry as a whole, as well as players and fans.

We’ve been covering sexual harassment and gender discrimination in gaming – and technology generally – and picked five articles from our archive to help you understand the news.

1. Gaming culture is toxic – but community norms can change it

2. It’s not just players – fans are part of the problem

3. Collegiate esports leagues don’t reflect the population of video game players

4. Lessons from the tech field: Diversity and equity require women with power

5. The myth of meritocracy is an impediment to equality

Editor’s note: This story is a roundup of articles from The Conversation’s archives. This is an updated version of an article originally published on July 30, 2021. It has been updated to include Microsoft’s intention to purchase Activision Blizzard.

[Nintex]

It's almost time for the 10th anniversary GamerGate remaster 

[Sho Nuff]

Come on guys, when has a multi billion dollar acquisition not been in your favor

[benjipwns]

How Phil Spencer and Activision Blizzard are the Thomas Jefferson and Louisiana Purchase of Gaming

My latest on Substack

[Rahxephon91]

Well I guess the good thing is I'm getting too old to even care and play more then a few games a year.

I just don't see anything good about this or have any interest in what MS is doing with gaming.

[mormapope]

On a scale 1-10, the reactions from this videogame news is a solid 9/10. This is probably on par with Sega exiting the console industry regarding how big this is.

[bork]

PS5 is locked in at this point in marketshare mindset.
The Bethesda sale damage and this damage won't even start for a few years. Starfield being the first major game Playstation loses.

But it will definitely effect PS6 generation when MS is known as the box with CoD and Oblivion/Fallout.

I think the question is whether or not these games won't be on other platforms.  We still get Minecraft on everything despite Microsoft owning it.

[Boredfrom]

This can't be good for Sony... getting their ass handed to them in Japan by Nintendo... MS buying up lots of large western 3rd party publishers (is Activision the biggest? Or is it EA?)...

Rare says hi!

[bork]

All of this is leading to Yum! Brands buying up them all.

And then everything is TACO BELL.