Microsoft to acquire Activision in $67b deal

[eDave]

Microsoft is acquiring Activision, the troubled publisher of Call of Duty, World of Warcraft, and Diablo. The deal will value Activision at $68.7 billion, far in excess of the $26 billion Microsoft paid to acquire LinkedIn in 2016. It’s Microsoft’s biggest push into gaming, and the company says it will be the “third-largest gaming company by revenue, behind Tencent and Sony” once the deal closes.

Microsoft plans to add many of Activision’s games to Xbox Game Pass once the deal closes. With the acquisition of Activision, Microsoft will soon publish franchises like Warcraft, Diablo, Overwatch, Call of Duty, and Candy Crush. “Upon close, we will offer as many Activision Blizzard games as we can within Xbox Game Pass and PC Game Pass, both new titles and games from Activision Blizzard’s incredible catalog,” says Microsoft’s CEO of gaming Phil Spencer.

https://www.theverge.com/2022/1/18/2...duty-overwatch

[htismaqe]

Get ready for some big name franchises to go exclusive to Xbox, if only for a limited time.

Microsoft has already shown that they are willing to at least publicly test the waters - hinting recently that they were thinking about making big name titles like Elder Scrolls platform exclusives.

[BigBeauford]

Shitty time to be a gamer. Glad I got to grow up with gaming and see the golden years. My kids will only know about GAAS and monopolies.

[htismaqe]

Originally Posted by BigBeauford

Shitty time to be a gamer. Glad I got to grow up with gaming and see the golden years. My kids will only know about GAAS and monopolies.

Don't forget micro transactions and NFT.

[BigBeauford]

Originally Posted by htismaqe

Don't forget micro transactions and NFT.

The only case I can make for NFTs is the ability to buy sell and trade digital copies of games.

[arrowheadnation]

Sony should buy Rockstar now as a rebuttal.

[rydogg58]

Originally Posted by BigBeauford

Shitty time to be a gamer. Glad I got to grow up with gaming and see the golden years. My kids will only know about GAAS and monopolies.

I'm not familiar with GAAS, what does that mean? I haven't really done any hardcore gaming in nearly 10 years, so I don't know why Microsoft taking over for Diablo and Warcraft can be a bad thing.

I played Everquest in the beginning when it was Verant, and then Sony took over. It was good enough to keep me playing for the next dozen years. I would think having the financial backing of Microsoft would be good for the continuation of some of these franchises.

[ModSocks]

Oh ****ing gross. This is terrible news.

[ModSocks]

Originally Posted by arrowheadnation

Sony should buy Rockstar now as a rebuttal.

You shut your whore mouth, don't touch my Rockstar.

[BigBeauford]

Originally Posted by rydogg58

I'm not familiar with GAAS, what does that mean? I haven't really done any hardcore gaming in nearly 10 years, so I don't know why Microsoft taking over for Diablo and Warcraft can be a bad thing.

I played Everquest in the beginning when it was Verant, and then Sony took over. It was good enough to keep me playing for the next dozen years. I would think having the financial backing of Microsoft would be good for the continuation of some of these franchises.

Games as a Service. Usually games that are free or low entry of requirement to start playing, and their existence is based around practices of continually grabbing money from its players based on microtransactions in exchange for "new content". Many of these games will be worthless 5-10 years from now.

[Jerm]

Originally Posted by arrowheadnation

Sony should buy Rockstar now as a rebuttal.

Rockstar is owned by Take Two and Sony ain’t buying them lol…they don’t have the $$$, they can’t compete with MS when it comes to this.

[htismaqe]

Originally Posted by rydogg58

I'm not familiar with GAAS, what does that mean? I haven't really done any hardcore gaming in nearly 10 years, so I don't know why Microsoft taking over for Diablo and Warcraft can be a bad thing.

I played Everquest in the beginning when it was Verant, and then Sony took over. It was good enough to keep me playing for the next dozen years. I would think having the financial backing of Microsoft would be good for the continuation of some of these franchises.

Warcraft is already pretty much only on PC so it's not a big deal. It's more about Activision's games than it is Blizzards - many of them are cross platform.

I'm no corporate big wig but I would think I'd want my games being sold on every possible platform known to man. However, Microsoft appears to want to use these as exclusives to push sales of Gamepass and possibly Xbox systems themselves. When they said they were willing to make ES6 (the eventual successor to Skyrim) an Xbox exclusive, they made it clear they're willing to cut off their nose to spite their face.

As for GaaS, he's talking about streaming. Think of it like Netflix (in fact, Netflix is launching a GaaS right now). Games as a Service.

[BigBeauford]

Let me just say this though: Gamepass (from Microsoft) is bar none the sickest deal ever in the history of gaming. Absolutely nothing comes close to the value proposition of what it offers. They have effectively become the Netflix of gaming. The bad side of this hasn't occurred yet, namely what happens when Microsoft goes the way of Netflix by incentivizing studios to output quantity over quality. We aren't there yet, but few years down the line, this conversation will come up whwn independents and intermediate companies can't match this kind of deal, and get absorbed into Gamepass or dissolve.

[BigBeauford]

Originally Posted by htismaqe

Warcraft is already pretty much only on PC so it's not a big deal. It's more about Activision's games than it is Blizzards - many of them are cross platform.

I'm no corporate big wig but I would think I'd want my games being sold on every possible platform known to man. However, Microsoft appears to want to use these as exclusives to push sales of Gamepass and possibly Xbox systems themselves. When they said they were willing to make ES6 (the eventual successor to Skyrim) an Xbox exclusive, they made it clear they're willing to cut off their nose to spite their face.

As for GaaS, he's talking about streaming. Think of it like Netflix (in fact, Netflix is launching a GaaS right now). Games as a Service.

Close, but GaaS games are more like the following:

Fornite
Halo Infinite
Rocket League

Ect...

[htismaqe]

Originally Posted by BigBeauford

Let me just say this though: Gamepass (from Microsoft) is bar none the sickest deal ever in the history of gaming. Absolutely nothing comes close to the value proposition of what it offers. They have effectively become the Netflix of gaming. The bad side of this hasn't occurred yet, namely what happens when Microsoft goes the way of Netflix by incentivizing studios to output quantity over quality. We aren't there yet, but few years down the line, this conversation will come up whwn independents and intermediate companies can't match this kind of deal, and get absorbed into Gamepass or dissolve.

AAA games cost piles of money to develop and usually require high-end hardware to run. While I think we'll still see plenty of AAA games on Netflix and Stadia, the bulk of the games will be simpler and lower quality, kind of like mobile gaming platforms today.

The AAA games will still be the major selling point (and the focus of advertising) but it's the smaller cheap games that will form the bulk of the catalog.

It's a pretty weird time to be a gamer. We have more powerful gaming systems than ever, with the capability to create REALLY immersive experiences yet the gaming landscape seems to be moving towards commoditization, where games have replaced reading the newspaper as something to occupy your eyes while you're drinking your morning coffee.