Another way MS could look at this is whats COD worth VS the rest of ABK. They could just sell off COD, IW and treyarch, and have everything else. I know CODs a big earner but, whos to say that will be the case in ten years. It could fall from grace by its own design before then or something bigger newer and better comes along. I would imagine all this has probably motivated sony to push for their own flagship shooter, later down the line. They certainly have the talent to pull a COD rival these days with bungie around. and they will have that as an exclusive. So there's always that too. how will COD fair against these factors in a few years is any bodies guess, and given the recent massacre of live service games, maybe we are going to see some shift in gamers habits...who knows? and what of IW and treyarch...how much more enthusiasm do they have for making nothing but COD...being the COD studio. the creative fatigue must be soul destroying! Maybe some of them saw a glimmer a hope in the idea of a creating some passion projects under MS umbrella alongside COD. Maybe they leave post acquisition led divestment and do their own things.
If its about COD and its assets, including the devs....Well lets be honest...that bottled lighting was west and Zempalla, who moved on to form respawn and make titanfall, and apex legends. COD is still at its core the same formula they put together all those years ago. The remaining staff have done a great job of keeping the wheels oiled but lets be honest, at this point its the brand strength that sustains it and that same formula. Its coke/pepsi. Except this is a game...which means somebody can come along and do it better. In some cases it already has... those games were just not as popular or died or in the case of halo infinite just didn't work out, due to poor project management. Not to play down the talent at IW and treyarch but they aint jordan and pippen. they left the franchise years ago...the franchise just keeps selling the jersey every year.
So maybe they would be better off not burdened with COD and all its strings attached. I think the idea of an FPS set in starcraft's universe or an action RPG series set in WoW would make great spin offs for exclusive content. not to mention starcraft and WoW xbox editions on gamepass (they could introduce a new tier to include games that have monthly subs) Make halo great again. plus they got Doom and quake. they could just as easily reboot quake wars as a battlefield/battlefront/ground war sized game..... They would still get ravenstoft...who they could then reuinte with their old IP currently owned by bethesda, the hexen and heretic series..make some cool souls style-FP-RPG. Sony will no doubt be working on a COD rival in the coming years and MS need to do the same, especially after infinite failed.
Im not downplaying the relevence or value of COD but in this instance the juice clearly aint worth the squeeze. Divest COD, IW and treyarch. They can maintain warzone between them. let it be somebody else problem. I still think its worth keeping the activision part just for the rest of ip, same with blizzard. and I guess king is good for whatever they want do in the mobile space. Collectively I think there is more value in a bunch of well known IP than just COD. cut it loose and get the deal done. and maximise the value of what you do aquire by making new exclusives with them...new banjo..could even do a wacky crossover game with conker...maybe a new pitfall game somewhere down the road and Ive already mentioned the game ideas and different game styles they could do in the WoW and starcraft universes. And let us not forget they still have 23+ studios. personally I love obsidians output right now. bethesda and all its teams make more intersting stuff to me than COD. Xbox does not need COD as an exclusive and MS do NOT need COD as revenue. They need to invest in their studios and get their shit in order. Close this deal minus COD and just get in the game. any acquisitions after this should just be devs. Maybe buy bioware from EA,or a few studios from tencent etc. stuff like that. Mind you we aint gonna see anything this big again. unless apple/google buys nintendo or sony or something overtly crazy like that.
question is...what would be the new price for ABK without COD, to MS? does ABK even want to be split up? are they willing to do so to make this go through? I think they should..... If I was in MS shoes all the other IPs would still be worth purchasing ABK but at a reduced price, without COD. I guess Ill still be buying those 100 buck editions every year at my friends insistence every year...because I dont want to be the only one with no fancy new battle pass weapons. at least not at launch
So Who is allowed to buy COD and is willing to go with all the strings attached (you have to put it everywhere, every year, it has to run the same on everything )...Cant be amazon or google for the same reason as MS in the cloud space I guess....Cant be sony for the same reason as MS in the console space only more so because they are the leading console as far as sales... Nintendo have zero interest in COD, but I guess they would not be allowed anyway.... Can T2 afford it? that leaves tencent or embracer? or maybe some other billionaire investor group. SO IW and and treyarch end up being COD factories forever. everybody still gets COD...happy ending?
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