Breaking: Microsoft to acquire Activision-Blizzard in near 70$ billion deal

Holy fuck. This is just insane. Microsoft is slowly monopolizing gaming and this cannot be a good thing. Sure I'm salty as a PS fan but this...im at a loss for words.
 
GHG said:
If Sony are smart they stay far away from the subscription business and anything Xbox are getting heavily involved in. It's not an arena they can compete in now that the knifes are out (aka money).

They need to double down on a business model built around their IP, very much like what Nintendo have done for the last decade.
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I think you might be right. Renting cloud estate from MS to practically compete with them in their own game doesn't sound like the best idea. There might be a very lucrative, future "niche" in the traditional buy-an-exclusives-box-market. 100% serious about this.
 
Fucking hope not, because it will never end.

Microsoft has never been good for gaming, they've done some all right things but overall they've helped ruin it with a lot of anti consumer bs.
 
QGCzU6t.gif
 
Umbasaborne said:
I agree, i fully believe that every major bethesda game going forward will be xbox exclusive, but they would be fools to make call of duty exclusive! Idk, maybe im totally off base and they will though. This doesnt hit right, bethesda was okay in my eyes, that company was struggling, so the purchase made sense, but this…fuck, this is too far
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It all would just depend on the numbers I guess. The thing about Bethesda was financially it seemed very compatible with how first-party studios are typically built, with modestly sized teams that work on projects for multiple years before release. This is definitely different, in the sense that Activision is built on the idea of utilizing huge amounts of talent to pump out content quickly for maximum return. We'll see how it all works out.
 
kruis said:
Sony market cap: 154 billion dollars
MS market cap: 2.3 trillion dollars

I don't think Sony could afford Take Two, but perhaps Ubisoft (market cap 6.5 billion) or Square Enix (5.6 billion). But even if those companies are up for sale, MS could easily put in a higher bid. Sony cant compete financially up with the second biggest company on the planet.
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They can't buy stuff endlessly regardless of how much money they have, as every big acquisition strengthens claims of anti-competitive and monopolistic behaviour.

The reality is that no matter how well politically connected MS are in the US, and hence able to smooth the way for them in terms of regulation, the games market is international and should a bloc like the EU consider it bad practice... their disapproval matters in a big way.

Very interesting deal this, going to be fun seeing how it pans out because $70b is a hellacious amount of money. I mean seriously, they just proposed spending half of Sony's market cap to buy an element for their XBox software division! That's crazy if you think about it.
 
dem said:
Not sure how MS is going to deal with this. These franchises are setup to thrive on multiplatform.
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Microsoft made this move for the money. Warzone will make Xbox a shit ton of money, and considering that all future Activision/Blizzard games will be headed to Game Pass day one... yea. And should Microsoft at some stage later decide to make a specific COD project exclusive to Xbox, they can get away with doing exactly that, even on a timed basis, but it makes sense to use this purchase as a means of ensuring Xbox is bringing in a shit ton of money at all times.

Bethesda is the one you keep exclusive, this is the one you use to pad your bank account and eat from all those Playstation sales. Game Pass will benefit all the more from it. Microsoft now has its finger on the very pulse of the gaming casual market, because while I haven't bought a COD game in forever and don't really expect this move to change that, it's loved by the casual market out there, it just fucking sells. Microsoft now also owns the MW engine and World of Warcraft, which is exciting.

A next gen World of Warcraft, or a next gen MMO out of Activision Blizzard would be no joke financially speaking.
 
Umbasaborne said:
Sony the time is now!!!! No more fucking around, consolidation is the name of the game. Its time to buy square enix, and sega. I cant believe this, this basically leaves square, ea, and ubisoft as the only other three big third party publishers in the game.
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There is nothing Sony can do to combat this. They can't get into an arms race with MS.

Sony's path here is inevitable. They either get bought up by Google, Apple, whoever or they eventually let Game Pass on PlayStation and their first party output goes multiplatform.

This purchase today is literally industry changing, the board has been reset.
 
Call of Duty is huge even if it's seeing some troubled times. It's still a huge name and will continue to be a big deal. I'm really curious to see if Microsoft will continue to have multiple studios work on the franchise or if they will finally allow them to do something else.

But the Blizzard part? Not so much. Microsoft basically bought IP with that one and it's IP that have taken big hits over the last few years. That company is a husk of what it used to be. Most of the talent that made it what it was has already left.
 
DaGwaphics said:
Honestly. Buying Valve would probably be one of the best investments they could make. It already makes money and would allow them to make GP a steam feature. Valve guy seems passionate about his company though, probably not selling, LOL.
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Valve is also private so unless Gabe wants to sell it ain't happening.
 
It took me a lot to switch over to Xbox this gen as I do love PS first party games. But knowing I'm going to get all EA, bathesda, MS studios and Activision Blizz games on gamepass whilst PS gets none (other than EA).... Does make the switch better. I knew this was going to be a good gen for xbox.
 
RoyalLaFlame said:
I know that MS did this to increase Gamepass value, and it will work, but I think Sony should start thinking what the fuck are they doing. Either they catch up or next gen they will pretty much be the third choice. They have quality games (besides the Marvel trash they keep trying to shove down our throats trying to ride the Marvel universe position), but now, it's not enough. Nintendo has the advantage of being Nintendo, but Playstation... man, what the fuck are you doing? While you're raising prices on your games, your competition is increasing their subscription service with more quality games.

I don't like this subscription business in everything, but I think this will eventually become the future. Jim, just fucking move.
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Then why has Nintendo been fine? Sony is fine. They have the games that have 20 Million views on. They make Billions from their films now. The biggest blow will be call of duty by far. But modern warfare 2 is still on track for PS5. Nothing about those titles currently changes until this deal is complete. So next couple COD releases and Blizzard releases will be on Sony.

After the deal is complete though, I hope Sony concentrates for on their own games. As I think thats the way they are heading.
 
MonarchJT said:
let's say in this way the only thing that move nowdays gamers more than COD is FIFA all the others are second class citizens
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yeah but you can't only have those games. it often is also important to have the middling ones, just for the variaty and to cover more bases
 
Do you spend $70b if you're not planning on making Call of Duty exclusive? Probably not.

Pretty alpha move. Sony puts games on Microsoft Windows, Windows responds by taking Call of Duty and Blizzard. Seems legit.
 
mckmas8808 said:
MS won't make this money back. But that's not also the goal. Trust, they ARE NOT going to profit off of this $70 billion deal.
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I mean ... if you buy a $50 billion asset for $70, you're spending $20. Your stock in MS and Activision goes up in value at the time it's announced. You still hold the Activision asset and haven't really lost that $50 billion. Then your IP eventually goes up in value unless you shit the bed. Plus all profits from Activision normally. Big companies can just keep getting bigger. I doubt it even really effects them.
 
JokerMM said:
wait..will this mean blizzard games will come to steam?!!!!!!
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quite likely.

can't see them keeping battle.net going. all activision/blizzard titles will probably moved over to the MS Store and it's up to them if they want to put them out on Steam. with MS's history it seems they will put them on Steam though.

you will probably be able to buy Diablo 4 and Overwatch 2 on Steam. Shit....world of warcraft might be on steam too!
 
Bboy AJ said:
Amazing. Microsoft is saving gaming. These games won't be Xbox exclusive. They'll put it on gamepass and you can play it anywhere. Sony just needs to allow gamepass on PlayStation and everyone can play.

If these games aren't on PlayStation, that's on Sony, not Microsoft.
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MS could probably even sidestep that for a lot of people by getting their shit up and running on the major SmartTV platforms. I dunno if Roku can sync with an Xbox controller but if they figure that shit out, people won't need a PlayStation at all.
Max_Po said:
70 Billion...

The ARM deal was 40...


OVER PAID
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Waaaaay overpaid. This is win-at-all-costs shit for MS. Activision-Blizzard is a company in steep decline, and the IP stable is worth a lot but not 70 Billion.
 
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70 billion? With a b?

Does the math work out? This can't be about consoles, right? Not when there's this much money flying about.

avin
 
I wonder how much of the industry Microsoft will be allowed to buy before they trick some antitrust law. I mean, with Activision onboard, I don't know if Playstation can even compete on USA, COD is still huge, now Sony might have to compete with Xbox + "free" COD on Gamepass against paid COD in their platform or worst, without access to COD at all going forward.

The good news is that without COD, Sony will have the incentive to produce a true competitor to fill the space, but truly, I fear a future where Microsoft bought their way to success and all we have is gamepass and no real competition.
 
Remember when some people here were using Take Two's $19 billion something purchase of Zynga as evidence that Microsoft can't spend that kind of money on a big acquisition?
 
Claus Grimhildyr said:
Crash and Spyro don't need to be AAA titles. They can be simple, easy to produce A to AA titles And make a ton of money off that alone while also bringing in variety to the release line up.

Overwatch is not that great of a get. Its a dead game. Diablo thougH? That is massive. Same with Warcraft. StarCraft is still the pre-eminent RTS in many gamers minds and was a cultural phenomenon across numerous countries. A new StarCraft could help push MS in a number of Asian Markets.

Its also important to note that Microsoft of today is not the Microsoft of 10 years ago. STill it all comes down to how they manage their companies and if they can actually produce some quality games. So far they have had a few great releases (Gears Tactics, Flight Sim, Forza Horizon 4 Stand Alone Expansion Pack) and a few trash ones (Halo Infinite, Gunk).
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They still have not produced anything that makes airwaves. ANd mismanaged 343, rare among other projects.
 
Phil went full LEEEEEEEROY JEEEEENKINS

Btw:
do we have a full IP and Studio list from Activision Blizzard?
How many Studios in total will Microsoft Gaming have?
 
Bboy AJ said:
Amazing. Microsoft is saving gaming. These games won't be Xbox exclusive. They'll put it on gamepass and you can play it anywhere. Sony just needs to allow gamepass on PlayStation and everyone can play.

If these games aren't on PlayStation, that's on Sony, not Microsoft.
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I remember when people said this about Elder Scrolls, Warzone will be multiplat, COD Titles will 100% be on Xbox/PC
 
Hmm would it be fair to say that half of the posters here are about to drastically change the way they look at everything Bethesda blizzard has made lately?

Confused Steven Universe GIF
 
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GHG said:
If Sony are smart they stay far away from the subscription business and anything Xbox are getting heavily involved in. It's not an arena they can compete in now that the knifes are out (aka money).

They need to double down on a business model built around their IP, very much like what Nintendo have done for the last decade.
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I totally agree, they simply can't compete. My biggest problem is how they raised prices just because while MS is increasing the value of their subscription service.

Sony is being fucked and are too slow at responding. Not exactly saying they should respond with buying studios, nothing like that, but start creating new IPs, expand your studios even more or create some, create games that cover all genres. Basically, become another powerhouse of gaming like Xbox is becoming. But no. They get temporary exclusives, indies, and raise their prices, while going all in on the Marvel universe (you can see they are really looking into it to become the Marvel gaming machine).

They're incredibly slow.
 
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