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

Okay so the back catalog is exceptionally impressive, but... Why?

Great deal for Activision/Blizzard right?

Walk away from the dumpster fire that is Blizzard, but it seems insane for MS to buy a ship that is on the verge of sinking. I'm sure the financials are in order because of subscriptions and mobile games, etc. But this is a real mind fuck.
 
Xaero Gravity said:
I'm sure Diablo IV on PS5 is still happening. They'll own Activision, but they'll still have contractual obligations. Anything after said obligations have been met though is anyone's guess.

I'm thinking we'll for sure see COD 2022, maybe even 2023, remain multiplatform along with Warzone still being supported. But anything after that I feel is less likely.
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I applaud your optimism, i'm actually very sceptical since we're far from release. Also the general amount of IP's lost is a HUGE blow to Sony in the long run. Call of Duty alone, Jesus Christ. How are Sony ever going to compete with this? They should seriously consider teaming up with Nintendo at this point or something like that
 
HeisenbergFX4 said:
Kind of funny while Mike was still with Xbox they tried to back to money truck up to Act and get COD at least as a timed exclusive but the asking price was way too much so now he goes there and this happens

Fried Rice Cooking GIF by Nigel Ng (Uncle Roger)
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Aren't you friends with Mike though? Ask him ...

Also, Rod Ferguson also getting pulled back into Microsoft after leaving to head up Diablo IV.

"Dang Japan won't let us buy any studios over there... What are we gonna do with all this money then?"
 
It's funny how the same people who cry foul when Sony pays for a timed exclusive celebrate when MS buys up the whole gaming market. But that's console warring I guess!
 
tusharngf said:
King makes 1 billion dollars from candy crush alone every year.
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People think Activision cost 60-70 Billion, but Activision, Blizzard and King were a part of this deal. There's so much value here.
Gamepass and every Microtransaction that every game has to offer is worth every penny. Not to mention, Microsoft paid cash.
 
BadBurger said:
Companies do not purchase others on this level with the intention of making their money back within a planned timeframe. It adds more value to their holdings, it brings in new investors, and it instantly (at least in the short terms) increases their own revenues without adding a terrible burden in regards to operating expenses (or in some cases any burden at all).

It's like when Disney purchased Lucas Arts for $4bn and a bunch of clueless fanboys went wild. What they didn't realize was Lucas Arts holdings were worth more than $4bn in itself. They could now use all of these new properties to add to their licensing lines. It bolstered Disney's ability to attract audiences to their theme parks and cruise ships. They were now able to use Lucas Arts's studios and animation and special effects talents. Etc. Etc. It turned out to be an absolute steal. The fanboys focused on little-minded things, like how much it costs to make and market a movie and how many such movies Disney would have to make to earn back their $4bn investment. "Oh it will take them nine $1bn movies to earn back $4bn!". Etc. When those idiots didn't even realized that through a variety of new revenue streams and investor attractions, Disney probably earned that $4bn back with a year or so.

It's kind of the same thing here. Microsoft isn't looking to earn money from this over X amount of years. Merely buying them increases their value and will insure new revenue. New revenue further increases their value. Etc.
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Then why now and not 10 years ago or something?
Surely there are significant risks involved with spending this kind of money on an acquisition. I'm not convinced this will be seen as having been the best move for MS to make in the future.
 
I don't really play any Acti/Blizz games but certainly will try out some stuff once it hits GamePass. If I were MS, I'd be in no hurry to make COD exclusive because of all the sales you'll get on PS and having it on GP will be a pretty strong lure for Xbox.
 
I'm not thrilled by the news, but I don't care about what plastic box wins the war of sales. None of these Activision / Blizzard games appeal to me to the same extent as Sony's IP's. Nothing of value would be lost if sequels to these Activision games appear only on Xbox. It still wouldn't be enough to make me buy an Xbox if I only owned a Playstation.

Now if they bought someone I love like Fromsoft that would be something else entirely.
 
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CobraAB said:
Maybe it will convince PS fans that there are actually better games out there?
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they don't want to play better games, they want to play where their squad is.

My 14yo son doesn't play Fortnite because its good, he plays it because all his friends are there having a good time shit talking and bullying each other.
 
Holy shit that's crazy - btw I was kinda ok with the Bethesda thing but this seems crazy to me. Like that's pretty fucked if they make COD exclusive to xbox
 
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At this point nothing will surprise me, it's already starting to become hard for Sony tbh, now imagine they will get also EA Take 2 and Ubisoft, i don't support this kind of monopole but it is what it is, and Sony will have to respond to this. I don't care about COD personally but just this franchise alone being Xbox Exclusive and Day One gamepass is super huge. Bruh this is becoming too ugly, curious how it's gonna follow...


28ef88a24222d21271c25b91f333ee6420220118145456.jpg
 
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Fuck me,the biggest shock I've gotten from this thread so far is that people spend money on Candy Crush,lol......why?....I used to fuck about with that game sometimes and got to around level 3000 I think....it never occured to me to drop any money on it,that would be insane!
 
Hunnybun said:
You don't think Ms would want that? I've thought for a long time that it could happen, and this is exactly the sort of thing to make it happen.

Sony need to wake up. They're not going to be making the same sort of money from PlayStation from now on. It could be a case of either lose a huge chunk of their playerbase, or accept smaller margins via GP on their system. Which is worse?
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It depends on how truthful Spencer is being when he says that MS is looking beyond consoles. If they truly feel that consoles are a tiny part of the market, I don't see them worrying about PS customers in the grand scheme of things. They have a third of that market already and could likely move to 50% or better with moves like this. Putting GP on PS might net them less $$ at the end of the day than their current console operation (which would be dead in the water if everything on Xbox was on offer on PS). I can definitely see CoD staying on PS at $70 though.
 
VAVA Mk2 said:
Epic would be my guess. Everyone uses their dev tools.
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Yes, for multiple reasons:
  • Unreal Engine must have been making a ton of money and will make more because is key not only for the gaming industry, but now also for cinema and tv shows and beyond
  • They have talented dev teams and games that make a ton of money like Fortnite, Rocket League, Fall Guys or Harmonix
  • Even if its market share must be small, they have the main PC store that competes against Steam, which would help them to enter the PC market.
Or well, now that I'm thinking maybe they could buy Valve. Nice IPs and games, the main PC store, premium VR knowledge and competitor, PC handheld.
 
kingpotato said:
Okay so the back catalog is exceptionally impressive, but... Why?

Great deal for Activision/Blizzard right?

Walk away from the dumpster fire that is Blizzard, but it seems insane for MS to buy a ship that is on the verge of sinking. I'm sure the financials are in order because of subscriptions and mobile games, etc. But this is a real mind fuck.
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Deals like this are usually years in the making.

Activision got some bad press last year and had an underperforming Call of Duty game. Judging by their 70B valuation, I'd say they're a long way off from "on the verge of sinking".
 
HOLY SHIT. Just saw this now. I was in the Off Topic thread all morning and someone posted an Activision Stock thread, so I checked out Yahoo Finance as my portfolio was sucking today.

Worst part is I had Activision stock 10+ years ago when it was at like $12. And I sold for break even.
 
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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Where do you propose they find the money to do all of this. Offering a competing subscription service is meaningless if Microsoft can casually spend tens of billions of dollars to buy up all the potential content.
 
Prepare to see GamePass become a tiered service like Nintendo Online, just the opposite.
Higher-tier subs get everything day one, plus online play and digital freebies and discounts. Lower tier gets all the indies, and the big games 6-12 months down the line when nobody cares anymore.
 
JokerMM said:
I'm not sure sony IPs even remotely hold the same wieght as nintendo's Tho, spiderman and marvel shit could keep the boat floating
But this will undoubtedly major MAJOR blow for them
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Objectively in terms of how this acquisition impacts Sony its mostly about CoD with the rest of the stuff being somewhat secondary. Now here's the thing: I'm not entirely sure whether Xbox can support the current business model for CoD.

I mean, think about the consequences of them taking on a proper truly annualized multi-plat franchise for themselves first, before thinking about what it means for Sony. You're going to put this up on GamePass, every holiday season? What effect is that going to have on every other FPS franchise on the service? Is it going to be worth it for anyone else to launch a similar title around the same time?

See, the thing that gets me is that while the fans are jubilant about their side winning or losing in the "console war", you need to stop and consider how exactly this change is going to manifest in the real world - what does it mean for players? The reality is that nothing is really changing that much, Xbox would've gotten CoD anyway, and no doubt they aren't going to change up their exorbitant monetization methods via MTX and season packs because especially if they are launching day and date on GP, that's really the only monetization stream that matters.

Similarly on a production front pretty much every Activision studio is required to build CoD at this sort of release cadence, so unless they switch this stuff up drastically essentially that treasure-trove of historic IP is going to remain fallow.

As I've written before, this is a truly fascinating development... and its going to take a serious amount of thought to try and parse out all the pro's and con's, what the business plan is likely to be going forwards and what the response of the rest of the market is going to be.
 
Son_of_Zardoz said:
I don't really play any Acti/Blizz games but certainly will try out some stuff once it hits GamePass. If I were MS, I'd be in no hurry to make COD exclusive because of all the sales you'll get on PS and having it on GP will be a pretty strong lure for Xbox.
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they could do that. would be smart at least in the short term.

buy an xbox and sub to gamepass and get all the cod games. or buy a PS5 and cough up the $70 for cod :messenger_tears_of_joy:

of course it's up to MS. they own it. they are well within their rights to not sell another COD game on Playstation.
 
TastyPastry said:
sony better think of a way to strike back. seriously as a ps5 owner, the value microsoft is going to offer with gamepass is going to become ridiculous. sony can't just do nothing and ask for 80$ per game if you can also pay 10$ for gamepass and play a new AAA game from bethesda, mgs or acti/blizz every month.
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Activision games will no longer be $70!!!!!
 
NeoIkaruGAF said:
Prepare to see GamePass become a tiered service like Nintendo Online, just the opposite.
Higher-tier subs get everything day one, plus online play and digital freebies and discounts. Lower tier gets all the indies, and the big games 6-12 months down the line when nobody cares anymore.
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If they can actually grow the sub count to Netflix levels then they can put this off.

This alone could add 10+ million subs or more.
 
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DaGwaphics said:
TProbably this. They won't want to do anything to damage the asset they just bought. You really have to get maximum return to make the Activision/Blizzard model work. Still would be a master stroke for Xbox though if these games are on GP, plus these games will no longer be marketed by PS. All those things add up.
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I feel like I've heard this same argument before.
back to the future GIF
 
Wow. I'm a huge Xbox fan, but I'm not sure how I feel about this. People forget what gaming was like when Nintendo ran the table for most of the world in the late 80's.
 
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