Support NeoGAF

[GermanZepp]

I mean this is huge and is going to lure a shit ton a players to Xbox. No doubt. Personally I never care for those franchises, so no sweat. It felt worse with Bethesda, I would like to play Starsfield and the next Fallout or Elder Scroll.

 

[itxaka]

Dont get lost on the money side folks. This is more deep than getting the 70Billion back in X years. The value this will provide to gamepass is incredible and probably will push it into the mainstream even more. That is the end game, to have gamepass everywhere and used by everyone, and you need big hitters for that and its exactly what they are doing. They dont care getting that money back in X yeqars by doing X games, they care into growing the user base for gamepass as its the future of the Xbox brand.

 

[Ozrimandias]

what war? the one MS just ended?

Nah, grown-up.
It's a never-ending cycle. Maybe this will be Xbox gen, who knows, maybe MS could turn the tides in sales like the Ps3 did back in the day.

 

[jshackles]

Remember when Crash Bandicoot was the PlayStation mascot? Oh how the turn tables.

 

[Hayabusabruh]

 

[CuteFaceJay]

Gamepass is about to get filled with goodies

 

[SportsFan581]

I feel like I've heard this same argument before.

That's true. LOL It could go either way.

No denying that Activision works in a different way than what is typical for a first-party operation. We'll see how it goes.

 

[Neo_game]

70billion $ WTF. That has to be one of the most expensive deal ever ? EA would have been cheaper and probably better deal. Does anyone know how would steam cost ?

 

[Hitchyhero]

That actually would be a good counter, I think. I would guess the cod audience and madden audience are largely the same. If Sony could get EA they'll still give that audience a reason to buy a ps. Because right now, there are millions of people that only play cod and madden every year. Why buy a ps now for that crowd?

I'd presume as EA play is tied with Gamepass ultimate atm, there's probably a contract to keep that in place for a while.

 

[Belthazar]

So... Microsoft really wants to kill the competition, huh? This will be really shitty for the industry and I don't think they're finished

 

[Serouj2000]

You underestimate Microsoft's ability to fuck things up...

But can they "fuck up this good" like Sega did in the 1980s?
Sorry, I couldn't resist with the Scott the Woz reference

 

[HeisenbergFX4]

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?"

We don't game like we used to

In all honesty once he left Xbox we played a ton of WOW together but since we just kind of went different directions in gaming

 

[Dr.Morris79]

When you're too incompetent to create and manage your own studios, just buy em!

They're all guilty then.

 

[Honey Bunny]

Activision is a good place to park your cash with inflation coming tbh

 

[Gamezone]

Didn't Disney pay 4 billion for Star Wars?

 

[El Pistolero]

To those who might not see the value of competition.

After skipping The Xbox for 2 gens,
I am now in the market for a Microsoft console.
Well done MS, well done.

Let's go Sony.

Go where? What competition? Could someone take our brother by the hand and explain to him that it is pretty much game over, at least in terms of competition?

 

[TintoConCasera]

Hey! They have both id and Raven now. Heretic reboot when?

 

[Closer]

I really REALLY wanna know HOW this is even possible

 

[ManaByte]

 

[Kronos9x]

Time to bring back Killzone, Resistance or another FPS.

 

[Thirty7ven]

If this isn't confirmation MS/Xbox is a trash company then I don't know what the hell do you need to know more about these cats.

 

[BattleScar]

Steam is a monopoly on PC as it is already. PC is an open marketplace. Competitors can still enter at anytime, Epic is there, Origin is there.

Do you think either Epic or EA can outbid for platform exclusivity against a Microsoft that owns Steam?

People right now are already crying at EGS for daring to exist. Just because you can have a competing platform on PC, doesn't mean it will actually be able to compete.

 

[Varteras]

true about Blizzard but getting Warcraft, Diablo, and Overwatch is huge. I'm excited to see what MS do with them. This is effectively a clean slate for them. Blizzard was never gonna turn itself around but with MS there is some hope that they can go back to making great games.

It's an opportunity to turn themselves around but the issue is more or less the talent and people in charge. The people who made those franchises aren't there anymore with maybe a couple exceptions like I believe the art director. The results of that are telling.

Overwatch 2, which honestly shouldn't even exist, lost its director who was a huge driving force of the first game and it has been in development hell. The Warcraft team has lost so many people and you can see how that has affected the game. Three of its last four expansions were garbage. I know. I played them religiously. Final Fantasy 14 actually overtook World of Warcraft as THE MMORPG on the market. Something no one honestly believed would ever happen. Heroes of the Storm never caught on like DOTA or League of Legends and it ended up largely abandoned. Hearthstone became a microtransaction mess. Starcraft has one foot in the grave despite an ongoing tournament scene and rumor has it that a sequel was repeatedly rejected. This caused a large portion of the Starcraft team to leave Blizzard to either make new companies or join them later. Diablo had its issues but it's probably the only franchise that is "healthy" among them. I'm not even going to get into their remasters which have had issues to say the least.

What is fucking perplexing to me is that the man who is ultimately responsible for the mess Activision Blizzard is in and also responsible for the state of Blizzard's ailing franchises is getting to keep his position. While he will be under Spencer and thus subject to being told to stop being a cunt, that all depends on if Microsoft cares or if they see him as a man who makes money and let him continue to do his thing. I don't think those franchises will ever be what they were. There is a small chance new leadership could take them back but I find it more likely they'll either stay the course or become something else. "Something else" could be a good thing but it certainly won't be what made people love them to begin with. Those days are gone.

My only real hope is that the games are "good" again so I can at least have an excuse to go back to the worlds I enjoyed.

 

[intheinbetween]

MS is doing exactly what their only option is.....and that is to buy up everything in order to complete. The question is when will the FTC say something about this potential monopolizing that MS is clearly trying to do lol.

Q. How many game publishers and game studios are out there currently?
Hundreds?

Q. How many gaming platforms are out there?
PC, Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft

Q. Do any of those gaming platforms rely mostly on Bethesda or Activision-Blizzard?
Not at all

MS is far from a monopoly accusation, I'm sure they are not concerned at all about that, and hey they have some history on monoply litigations, they know if this would raise any flag otherwise they wouldn't have even acquired Bethesda

 

[Ziglax]

At this point Microsoft should just buy Sony.

 

[Loope]

MS has not beaten Sony in 21 years. Maybe the moment is now finally!

Beat at what? They don't have to beat them at anything, just need to make their business work and make money.

 

[PSYGN]

Don't like the thought of buying your way to the top.

 

[Makoto-Yuki]

At this point Microsoft should just buy Sony.

put them out their misery.

 

[ComputerBlue]

Only Activision-published game I've bought in the last two generations is Sekiro

So what? What is your point, let me guess, it doesn't really affect you then? Not to pick on you in particular, but how many people are going to come into this thread saying the same thing. Why are people not seeing the bigger picture in this. It's not about you not playing those games, I hardly fuck with Activision/blizzard games myself, that doesn't mean this is not harmful to gamers in general. I've got a PlayStation, I've got an Xbox, I preordered the Steam Deck, the only current platform I don't have is a Switch. I'm more or less set regardless of what gets released where, but this is a bad thing for gaming, period.

 

[ToTTenTranz]

Now imagine if Microsoft Xbox bought AMD and Nvidia

RIP Sony and Nintendo ( cant make chip anymore)

Thats how you kill the competition

Nvidia's enterprise value is >4x higher than Sony's, and about 25% of Microsoft's.
AMD's enterprise value is a bit bigger than Sony's too.


I don't think it would make much sense to buy $1Trillion worth of companies to kill a competition worth $200 Billion. Even if the global trade commissions were keen on letting that pass (they wouldn't, looks at Nvidia and ARM) and Microsoft had that kind of cash (it doesn't).

 

[nosseman]

Sony has sold around 15 million PS5 - that is 7,5 billion dollars in sales (and most of that goes to manufacturers like AMD - at most 1 billion in profit).

MS just paid 70 billion dollars for Activision Blizzard.

Let that sink in.

Content is king!

 

[ManaByte]

I really REALLY wanna know HOW this is even possible

 

[Hendrick's]

I don't understand why Microsoft would restrict COD and other games to be Xbox only. They can easily have it on both platforms and rake in the money.

Sure, If Sony puts Game Pass on PS. Phil has made this clear.

 

[Andrew Evenstar]

Massive news. Incredible. Hard, almost impossible for Sony to match that. Buy Konami Sony, revive Castlevania, DDR, Silent Hill, MGS and Suikoden.

I'm neutral here. I don't play cod or wow. Monumental acquirement in the gaming universe.

 

[Xaero Gravity]

How are Sony ever going to compete with this?

Buying Epic and getting Fortnite

 

[ksdixon]

Now can we get rid of Jim Ryan?

 

[Airbus Jr]

If Xbox still allow these games coming to playstation and nintendo then good news

If not then well..i guess sony must bring back their own shooter game to replace cod....

 

[Data Ghost]

Someone mentioned SEGA again a few pages back. Is that a thing that's also happening or is it still a rumour?

 

[Kokoloko85]

They only have themselves to blame for that.

Nintendo IP didnt save them before, with Switch yes but previously it wasn't just success

 

[jshackles]

Microsoft's ultimate goal with Game Pass was always "one new AAA title every month". This will help them get there much faster.

But since even with this acquisition they probably won't meet that lofty target, I expect they're not quite done with acquiring companies.

 

[Loope]

And Bethesda wasn't really a good buy. They basically spent 7 billion on Skyrim.

These seem like panic buys. Sony won't be worried about this because they have a history of releasing good games.

Only Skyrim uh?

 

[SF Kosmo]

They could have bought EA for that kinda money...
and it would have won them the whole damn war.

Probably not though, EA's price tag would have been more than double. But for sure they overpaid for Activision considering their current crisis state.

 

[MonarchJT]

Doubt COD will be exclusive but def early access for Xbox probably at least 2 weeks before anyone else

yeah like starfield ...70b man Ms want gamers go into their ecosystem not that they stay on Sony side

 

[Topher]

Jim Ryan can mark "re-evaluate relationship with Activision" off his to do list.

 

[SportsFan581]

Do you think either Epic or EA can outbid for platform exclusivity against a Microsoft that owns Steam?

People right now are already crying at EGS for daring to exist. Just because you can have a competing platform on PC, doesn't mean it will actually be able to compete.

But Epic is getting exclusives now. Steam isn't going to grow in influence because of an ownership change, at least not overnight. Steam is the looming juggernaut already. MS probably wouldn't even change anything there, other than flipping the switch to move GP PC to the Steam launcher. The shear number of users they would have access to with a move like that.

 

[Lucifers Beard]

If this isn't confirmation MS/Xbox is a trash company then I don't know what the hell do you need to know more about these cats.

Why does buying a company make them trash? Serious question.

This brings these games to way more devices if they come to Game Pass. Phones, tablets, basically anything with a working web browser.

 

[Husky]

Hey! They have both id and Raven now. Heretic reboot when?

Many Raven devs involved in Heretic and Hexen formed their own studio called Human Head Studios. They're now known as Roundhouse Studios, owned by Bethesda, owned by...

 

[VulcanRaven]

Not a good thing for the industry. Luckily I don't play Activision games much so this doesn't really affect me. Same with Bethesta.

 

[Iced Arcade]

Sony would be smart and really focus on the Japanese style market, Snatch up Square and really put some real focus on VR

 

[SenjutsuSage]

I'm glad someone else was thinking this too

Know why this is a safer buy than you all think? To the investment world, Bethesda was a non event because it was a private company. This is technically Microsoft's first big move where they are buying a publisher that's publicly traded. This is going to slide with zero controversy. Bethesda technically didn't count.