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

Has this been posted?

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reksveks said:


Bit weird to put it out there
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I wouldn't read into that as future titles coming to PlayStation more like they won't be taking war zone away and supporting it with updates. If you think the latter you'll be disappointed not to mention he has to say these things till the deal closes.
 
clarky said:
Nothing speak again.

I have a strong desire for another blow job of the Mrs, It ain't happening any time soon
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Yeah, I mean, put another way...Phil has to speak in reassuring tones and remain vague right up until the ink dries next year. A deal like this requires plenty of hoop jumping, not because it presents any actual threat of monopoly but rather because that's just how the palm greasing game is played in DC when you want a deal to go thru without much drama.
 
reksveks said:


Bit weird to put it out there
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Not at all. People are so fixated on Xbox versus Playstation that they are completely overlooking the fact that Blizzard and King are each at least equally important to the business strategy going forwards, and that its entirely possible that they took on Activision and CoD as part of the package MAINLY because it was a means to secure the assets that they really wanted.
 
Clear said:
Not at all. People are so fixated on Xbox versus Playstation that they are completely overlooking the fact that Blizzard and King are each at least equally important to the business strategy going forwards, and that its entirely possible that they took on Activision and CoD as part of the package MAINLY because it was a means to secure the assets that they really wanted.
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This is true. Xbox is far more interested in this merger to prepare for a future "Metaverse war" than using it as a cudgel in the comparatively small fry "console war".
 
HeisenbergFX4 said:
Honestly doesn't matter to me I always play COD on Xbox anyhow
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Yup yup. I expect we'll see Warzone or something similar on PS5/6 in perpetuity to cash in on MTX. But annual/bi-annual releases will likely go exclusive to Xbox post 2024. His exact language in that statement was very carefully worded and seems pretty clear. Now, if Sony bends the knee and allows Game Pass on PS then that could change. A year ago I said I didn't think Sony would ever allow it but the possibility of losing CoD is a different beast...
 


I bet Kaz or Jimbo were like "Phil, let's talk COD" and it boiled down to Phil saying "In the future we can let COD on PlayStation via Game Pass (likely cloud app)" and Sony just ain't gonna buy it. That's MS's desire. That's what Phil said during Bethesda "Platforms where Game Pass exists"
 
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Memorabilia said:
Yup yup. I expect we'll see Warzone or something similar on PS5/6 in perpetuity to cash in on MTX. But annual/bi-annual releases will likely go exclusive to Xbox post 2024. His exact language in that statement was very carefully worded and seems pretty clear. Now, if Sony bends the knee and allows Game Pass on PS then that could change. A year ago I said I didn't think Sony would ever allow it but the possibility of losing CoD is a different beast...
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Even if Warzone only stays on PS can you imagine grinding weapons just via Warzone? And maybe that is what he means we shall see in about 2 years or so

Frustrated Clint Eastwood GIF
 
reksveks said:


Bit weird to put it out there
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If this was a crystal clear statement, there would be no reason to not say "we intend to honor existing agreements and keep Call of Duty Playstation."

See how the intention applies to both existing contracts and keeping Call of Duty on PS. But that's not how its worded.

They intend to do one thing and WANT/DESIRE to do the other. I see this as MS playing hardball and have presented PS/Sony with the idea that future iterations of COD come with Gamepass. Current iterations and contracted iterations won't come with that caveat, neither will supporting existing games like Warzone. But future ones will come with Gamepass. That's their desire.
 
reksveks said:


Bit weird to put it out there
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Speech 100

Had good calls this week with leaders at Sony. I confirmed our intent to honor all existing agreements upon acquisition of Activision Blizzard and our desire to keep Call of Duty on PlayStation. Sony is an important part of our industry, and we value our relationship.
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Funny. Especially "important part of our industry" sounded like we don't want anything to happen to them :messenger_tears_of_joy:
 
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Right back at ya Sony.

Sony said they are hoping MS honours contracts. Ok fair point.

MS is now saying they want to keep COD on GP???? Whether Sony likes the terms or not, too bad if that is the future offer. The offer is there to keep it going in some form.
 
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darrylgorn said:
This is while he's playing the protagonist.

In two years he will be going heel for sure.
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What's the most popular and most played Call of Duty game in the world? Call of Duty Warzone. And when he says his desire to keep Call of Duty on PlayStation, what exactly does that mean? He satisfies this simply by not shutting down existing COD game servers, by continuing to support games the same way they support them on Xbox, and possibly by offering to give Sony the very next game in the COD franchise, which Sony likely has marketing rights on already.

Microsoft will have the power to dictate terms on how Call of Duty stays on Playstation. "Our personally owned gaming IP can't be on platforms where Game Pass doesn't exist. It's a sticking point for us." If Sony says no? That's the end of it. No Call of Duty, just existing games.

That's how Phil's remark stays true. He has just given the option of Game Pass on Playstation. This means that if Sony agrees to Game Pass on Playstation, they will eventually also get Starfield, Elder Scrolls 6 etc, everything so long as they agree to having Game Pass on Playstation. Microsoft corporate will have the legal authority to insist that they are giving Sony an option of how their IP can appear on Playstation platforms. Sony has Netflix on their platform, Disney Plus, HBO Max, and so much more. Microsoft for their IP will insist on the same.
 
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spons said:
More hollow statements by Phil. Did anyone from Microsoft ever confirm the exclusivity of Bethesda titles?
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Not hollow, but rather purposefully vague and encouraging so as to help make sure this deal sails through without delay or drama on Capitol Hill. It's a game one has to play when dealing with clueless bureaucrats. 🤷‍♂️

And yes, Xbox verified Bethesda exclusivity. IIRC it was Jason Ronald who confirmed a few months back when there was ongoing speculation about Starfield et al.
 
I can now 100% guarantee Xbox Game Pass with first party games only, is definitely going to Playstation consoles. Which means Playstation will eventually get Starfield, Elder Scrolls 6, Avowed etc. And it means Microsoft is about to make a shit ton of money from multi-platform sales, micro-transactions, many millions more game pass subscribers as a result of being on Playstation, + continued warzone success, blizzard games when those get properly going..

And... they'll get even more content because who the hell would ever want to skip xbox if Game Pass has so many subscribers???
 
Sosokrates said:
I have a feeling wolverine is going to be a more gritty and personal experience, think the bathroom scene in splinter cell conviction. I also dont think it will be open world either, which is a good thing imo.
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True. We need a bit more story focused linear games. Everything doesn't need to be open world fetch quests.
 
Memorabilia said:
CoD sales numbers absolutely dwarf everything out there including Uncharted. Although I understand the analogy, it's not relevant and "putting resources behind a product" in no way guarantees anywhere close to CoD success. A far better analogue would be looking at Battlefield which does fine and for a brief period of time looked as if it might challenge CoD but, alas, they fell back to earth. Point being, even if Sony were able to put equal FPS talent and resources towards a CoD competitor, that's a far cry from any guarantee of sales/success.

If the talented crew at DICE can't compete with nearly endless EA resources what makes you actually believe Sony can somehow recreate CoD lightning in a bottle? I just don't see it and I think you're essentially underplaying the sheer dominance of CoD out of Playstation loyalty.

Chances are the best Sony can expect would be to modestly improve on the success of a Killzone Shadowfall (which had plenty of development resources and was quite fun, I might add).
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As I said, Sony could do half of what COD does or even a quarter and their ROI would dwarf what Microsoft just paid for them.

They don't have to match COD.

And there are never guarantees, but there is a big difference between 1st party and 3rd party when it comes to quality these days. Look at Ghost of Tsushima and Spider-Man vs AC and Batman.

DICE has been going downhill for years. So has COD. That's kind of the point. They have remained as successful as they are largely due to a lack of competition in the space. Sony hasn't tried to compete there at all. 343/Microsoft have been downhill as well. Bungie flopped with Destiny.

Killzone never had the aesthetic for mass appeal. A AAA FPS SOCOM would do the trick.
 
darrylgorn said:
This is while he's playing the protagonist.

In two years he will be going heel for sure.
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He might wait even longer. Sure he's going to release cod on playstation until 2023 anyway and the next cod won't be revealed until summer of 2024 anyway.

Plus if he's plans to buy more publishers in the next 5 years he doesn't want to look like the massive cunt he is buying up 3rd party publishers.

The only positive is he's preventing other cunts who couldn't give a shit about gamers buying them but still.
 
People forget that MS selling their games on PlayStation is still good for MS. Activision was profitable, those profits will now go to MS.

If and when they choose to restructure the game sales, no skin off their nose in the meantime.
 
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Shmunter said:
People forget that MS selling their games on PlayStation is still good for MS. Activision was profitable, those profits will now go to MS.

If and when they chose to restructure the game sales, no skin off their nose in the meantime.
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Sure and God of war selling on the series consoles is good for Sony lol. Killing the Xbox hardware and being at Sony's mercy is dumb. There is zero reason to own a series console if you can get everything for 1 price at Sony. Then in 2 years Sony doubles the cut of any subscription service and bye bye gamepass. Sony buys up the studios from Microsoft for pennies on the dollar. Gamepass on Playstation only helps Sony. Who makes money at 9.99 gamepass on Playstation. Sony with the 3.33 cut or Microsoft at 6.66 paying all those studios lol?
 
quest said:
Sure and God of war selling on the series consoles is good for Sony lol. Killing the Xbox hardware and being at Sony's mercy is dumb. There is zero reason to own a series console if you can get everything for 1 price at Sony. Then in 2 years Sony doubles the cut of any subscription service and bye bye gamepass. Sony buys up the studios from Microsoft for pennies on the dollar. Gamepass on Playstation only helps Sony. Who makes money at 9.99 gamepass on Playstation. Sony with the 3.33 cut or Microsoft at 6.66 paying all those studios lol?
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Where did I say gamepass? I'm talking Activision.

I agree with you, putting gamepass on ps would make Xbox redundant if you can get all those games plus all Sony games on PlayStation, so it won't happen. Unless MS is going full service and that's all that matters, seems a stretch in itself.
 
quest said:
Sure and God of war selling on the series consoles is good for Sony lol. Killing the Xbox hardware and being at Sony's mercy is dumb. There is zero reason to own a series console if you can get everything for 1 price at Sony. Then in 2 years Sony doubles the cut of any subscription service and bye bye gamepass. Sony buys up the studios from Microsoft for pennies on the dollar. Gamepass on Playstation only helps Sony. Who makes money at 9.99 gamepass on Playstation. Sony with the 3.33 cut or Microsoft at 6.66 paying all those studios lol?
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It depends on how it's structured, if it's first party only with native downloads then sure that is amazing for Sony, but I see no reason for Microsoft to do that. I would imagine the more likely scenario for what "Game Pass on Playstation" would look like is streaming only, and possibly include 3rd party games as well (but that part is less likely). They're not going to port their first party games onto Playstation (would be a ton of time, effort, and money), unless they were able to make them only accessible with an active Game Pass subscription (i.e. unable to buy them on the PS store). Which I doubt Sony would allow for obvious reasons. A streaming only option is probably the only way that Microsoft still wins, but Sony doesn't lose catastrophically. You can still play the games on Playstation, but it's a lower quality experience, and you can only play Xbox games while invested in their ecosystem (either own an Xbox/PC or an active Game Pass subscription).

I don't know if I think Game Pass comes to Playstation, but with the threat of Call of Duty being exclusive, that would be an absurd amount of money Sony would lose, so they may be willing to negotiate to make it worth Xbox's while to keep Activision-Blizzard games on Playstation, whether that's Game Pass on Playstation, lowering Sony's cut on Activision-Blizzard games sold on the PS Store, or maybe even some form of contract that obligates Sony to port some of their heavy hitters to PC and then put them on PC Game Pass. Microsoft has all the leverage here and I expect them to take full advantage of it, just depends on how willing to negotiate Sony is, and what specifically Microsoft will ask for, or if Microsoft is going to be "Game Pass on Playstation on our terms, or no COD, no exceptions"
 
Kerotan said:
He might wait even longer. Sure he's going to release cod on playstation until 2023 anyway and the next cod won't be revealed until summer of 2024 anyway.

Plus if he's plans to buy more publishers in the next 5 years he doesn't want to look like the massive cunt he is buying up 3rd party publishers.

The only positive is he's preventing other cunts who couldn't give a shit about gamers buying them but still.
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I'm sure he's considering how it would affect the bottom line and they will be getting revenue from sales revenue even the games are multiplatform.
 
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