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

The vertical integration of gaming that MS is building is something else.

They have the IPs, they have the OS, they have the hardware (Xbox, PC), they have the datacenters, they have the cloud technology.

If Google, Facebook, Apple or Amazon dont start heavily investing on gaming Microsoft will become the ubiquitous gaming platform in a couple of years.
 
Did Xbox just win this gen. Wow. This is BIG. Cod and all Activision and blizzard games day one on gamepass. Insane news. Probably the biggest gaming move I've ever seen in 45 years of my life.
 
twilo99 said:
You can thank Sony for that. They took the exclusive thing to its highest level which forced this landscape to shape
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MOTM said:
If they could Sony would go back in time and never sign those scummy times exclusive deals that benefit absolutely nobody.

Waste of money and now they made MS angry 😂
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are people still fucking saying that it's Sony's fault that MS has now purchased two third-party publishers in 2 of the biggest acquisitions ever in video games?
 
At this point really i don't know what Sony could do to leverage again the brand against this acquisition, still the average gamer out there has no idea what's going on but once they get over the idea that the place to be to play COD and Overwatch is Xbox the balance needle will move considerably. And honestly the only thing that could make things balanced again would be only two Fifa and GTA ..... but how many are Sony's chances, I'm not saying acquire T2 or EA ... but also just to have those games as exclusive
 
AnotherDayAnotherDollar said:
I have been calling for the divestiture of SPE and using that capital to double down on gaming and NS for years. I mentioned before that once MS opens that warchest Sony would be in a delicate position. MS has opened up the warchest (and I don't think this is their last big acquisition). SPE is just something they use to be part of Hollywood, but honestly the money is better used somewhere else. Their best IP in that division is owned by someone else where they get zero from merch. They'd have potential buyers lined up. Funny thing though is until SPE sale clears and TTWO finishes the acquisition of Zynga it would be almost time for MS to be cleared to buy another one again. Sony done goofed, but they need to get a move on if they don't want to be left in the dust.
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This is easier said than done, Sony do not simply have the resources to compete with these types of buyouts, I always said this was on the cards ever since Microsoft entered the console market, they just have too much money to throw around, and this was always a question of when they did it rather then if.
 
Salty Popsicle said:
Do you guys think Microsoft has had their sights on Activision for a while now or that the sexual misconduct allegations which toppled Activision's stock value just made it too good a deal to pass up?
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Stock price is at ~$65 ... they paid close to $90 it seems.

Now, maybe without all that they would've had to pay much more but who knows
 
WoodyStare said:
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Thank you WoodyStare WoodyStare for making this and to Hawking Radiation Hawking Radiation for suggesting it. Most hilarious post of the day!
 
MonarchJT said:
At this point really i don't know what Sony could do to leverage again the brand against this acquisition, still the average gamer out there has no idea what's going on but once they get over the idea that the place to be to play COD and Overwatch is Xbox the balance needle will move considerably. And honestly the only thing that could make things balanced again would be only two Fifa and GTA ..... but how many are Sony's chances, I'm not saying acquire T2 or EA ... but also just to have those games as exclusive
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As someone pointed out earlier...FIFA would be unlikely to allow their IP to be limited to one console...and you'd only be buying a time limited license not the IP so would get fucked by FIFA the next time licensing comes up. GTA...what have Zelnick's opinions on takeover's been...I'm trying to find his voting share position ... it used to be upwards of 48% but unsure where it is now.
 
twilo99 said:
Stock price is at ~$65 ... they paid close to $90 it seems.

Now, maybe without all that they would've had to pay much more but who knows
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Stock was hovering between $95 and $100 in the days and weeks before the allegations came to light and looked poised to continue climbing. Purchasing them for ~$90/stock looks like a great deal now.
 
Kdad said:
As someone pointed out earlier...FIFA would be unlikely to allow their IP to be limited to one console...and you'd only be buying a time limited license not the IP so would get fucked by FIFA the next time licensing comes up. GTA...what have Zelnick's opinions on takeover's been...I'm trying to find his voting share position ... it used to be upwards of 48% but unsure where it is now.
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I'm sure that also buying stuff like Square Enix would change anything against COD. In west, sad as it may be, most young people only buy consoles for COD and FIFA not for final fantasy
 
Foorbits said:
Think about how EA play works. You can buy EA games individually or just subscribe and download. I think Microsoft's first iteration of Game Pass on PS5 could look very similar to that. No cloud, just first party Xbox games available for a subscription or full price.

After they get their foot in the door then it could adapt and eventually be merged into the main Game Pass sub.

Remember, Microsoft floated the idea of individually submitting streamed games to the App Store in order to follow Apple's terms of service be on iOS. They have shown they are willing to bend what Game Pass is a bit to get a foothold into a platform.
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Appreciate it. Yea, you and others have mentioned EA Play, I honestly wasn't aware of that until this thread. I'm just not up to speed on game service subscriptions. Never really took the time to see what they offer.
 
JLB said:
The vertical integration of gaming that MS is building is something else.

They have the IPs, they have the OS, they have the hardware (Xbox, PC), they have the datacenters, they have the cloud technology.

If Google, Facebook, Apple or Amazon dont start heavily investing on gaming Microsoft will become the ubiquitous gaming platform in a couple of years.
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This.
 
fart town usa said:
Appreciate it. I'm really showing how dumb I am with modern things. I swear, I used to be up to speed on these things but something happened a few years back and now I'm just like 10 years behind everyone, ha.
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No, to be fair it's anyone's guess. They could just do a cloud based streaming app or have a 24 hour mandatory log in.
 
buenoblue said:
Wow. This is BIG. Cod and all Activision and blizzard games day one on gamepass. Insane news. Probably the biggest gaming move I've ever seen in 45 years of my life.
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Yeah this beats everything during my time as a gamer as well. I can't see what could possibly top this. Maybe someone buying Valve and turn out owning Steam, that would be the Godzilla move.
 
buenoblue said:
Did Xbox just win this gen. Wow. This is BIG. Cod and all Activision and blizzard games day one on gamepass. Insane news. Probably the biggest gaming move I've ever seen in 45 years of my life.
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Yup.

Gamers are winners. It's not like MS is going to cut the cord on COD on other platforms. And gamers can still buy their COD for $70 as usual. And like Bethesda games, Activision games will at some point get them on GP to increase the library.

Looks like a win win to me.

Triple win if you are an Activision shareholder as the stock just spiked +25%.

Only people who seem sour are ones who dont even work for MS or Activision and have been analyzing the $70B price all day as if they are trying to do breakeven analysis and net present value math for no reason. I wonder if they did the same analysis when Stanley and Black & Decker merged.
 
This is good news. I am more of a Sony guy but I also have GP and the more MS gets, the less you have to buy. I prefer their ecosystem and GP. Its wonderful that I don't have to buy Activision games soon as well.
 
Microsoft is that rich kid who got beaten up in school (generations with "You don't have games. You're the weakest console"), grew up and is now your boss.

What did you expect?
 
Ogbert said:
I've just realised.

We might get a good CoD Zombies game.
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Why though? I don't see this changing much if the talent isn't there. How many devs from that era are still around? You can throw as much money as you want at a game but if the team behind it sucks then so will the game. If this were true than Microsoft could be making the best games with their unlimited funds, but they don't.
 
Salty Popsicle said:
Stock was hovering between $95 and $100 in the days and weeks before the allegations came to light and looked poised to continue climbing. Purchasing them for ~$90/stock looks like a great deal now.
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At first I thoght they locked it at current share price, which would've been insane I guess..
 
ComputerBlue said:
Why though? I don't see this changing much if the talent isn't there. How many devs from that era are still around? You can throw as much money as you want at a game but if the team behind it sucks then so will the game. If this were true than Microsoft could be making the best games with their unlimited funds, but they don't.
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Trying to be positive, I'm hoping it will remove the insane release schedule that Activision has CoD on. They don't need to pump out yearly iterations anymore. They can choose the developer that's best placed to work on it and say 'you've got three years, put together a fully fleshed out Zombies game'.
 
Yeah I'm happy cause I have gamepass on pc. My only concern is this aquisition and the Bethesda one is alot of money. This has to be made back and offset one way or another. Like all subscriptions gamepass price will go up. I could see it being 19.99 a month in a few years. Plus Microsoft's track record with company's they've bought over the years is not great tbh. Guess we will see how it all turns out. This puts alot of pressure on Phill and xboxs shoulders to be a run away sucsess.

One more thought. If they could afford 70 billion for Activision why havent they just ploughed billions into making there own games and studios?
 
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