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Microsoft / Activision Deal Approval Watch |OT| (MS/ABK close)

Do you believe the deal will be approved?


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    886
  • Poll closed .
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Hendrick's

If only my penis was as big as my GamerScore!
No one cares about your boss taking away your stapler.
m5oG4d6.gif
 
This very much sounds like a threat.
This sounds to me like they're saying "if we don't get Activision, we will just make an exclusivity deal in 2025"
Nope, not a threat. Just adding to the pressure campaign being put on Sony to sign the 10 year deal is all. I mean, there is nothing really stopping them from trying to make an offer towards ATVI to get CoD independently, but should this deal not go through, there are gonna be far larger things they have to deal with - getting CoD exclusively won't even be on Brad Smith's radar at that point.

So, hyperthetically and of course massive hyperthetical because it would be insane to do it. But say, after all this, if the deal didn't go through and there was so much bullshit activision pissed off, microsoft pissed off...

...if Microsoft made an actual full exclusivity deal with Activision on call of duty they could do it from 2025 onwards?

Would everyone be OK with that? Seems like people were happy for MS to buy timed exclusivity deals.

So, Activision could accept a deal with MS where all future cods are exclusive to xbox and PC for 2 years from launch for like the next 10 to 15 years.

That seems crazy dangerous if that's possible.
Hypothetically speaking, if MS were to do something like this, Sony will pony up enough cash to make a defensive exclusivity deal with a favorable partner; GTA6 console exclusive for a year or 2. Shit like that. But again - ya'll reading far too much into this: CoD ain't going exclusive regardless of the outcome of this deal.

Notice how the Nintendo announcement didn't specifically name the Switch? The 2024 COD will launch on the Switch successor on the same day as the XSX and PS5 versions and be a native version, not cloud.
This would be news to the teams within ATVI currently working on CoD 2024 - they dont even have dev kits for the Switch let alone the Switch successor (know this for a fact).
 
So basically, the usual Activision could put it on these platforms but they haven't and Microsoft have signed a deal to promise these platforms the games...but that's bad.

And the rest of it is what could happen in 10 to 15 years?
But no immediate concerns then?
As for immediate, Activision isnt just cod. Obviously it's the biggest franchise and the one that should get talked about the most but there are other game and franchises. Will they continue to come to all platforms? I would doubt that. It's an old cliche but actions speak louder than words. Think it is pretty obvious what MS end game here is after watching what they are doing with Bethesda and how the cod offer was originally only 3 years...

Regardless I think you are missing the bigger picture here. None of these short term "benefits" are really benefits. This can all be done with or without MS. They are just doing this to try and show they want a "play anywhere" approach.
 

DrFigs

Member
As for immediate, Activision isnt just cod. Obviously it's the biggest franchise and the one that should get talked about the most but there are other game and franchises. Will they continue to come to all platforms? I would doubt that. It's an old cliche but actions speak louder than words. Think it is pretty obvious what MS end game here is after watching what they are doing with Bethesda and how the cod offer was originally only 3 years...

Regardless I think you are missing the bigger picture here. None of these short term "benefits" are really benefits. This can all be done with or without MS. They are just doing this to try and show they want a "play anywhere" approach.
Well really COD is the only game that can be argued to be essential to playstation. I mean Crash Bandicoot, Tony Hawk. whatever MS can have those.
 

adamsapple

Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
Again, only the tone changed. It isn't like he did a 180. He certainly did not.

No he didn't do a 180, I said the same thing that much of the article is the same. Yet, he still acknowledged that he didn't do a good job explaining his point in the article. Call it bowing down to the twitter mob or anything else, if he or gi.biz thought the article didn't merit it, it wouldn't go through any modification.
 
Well really COD is the only game that can be argued to be essential to playstation. I mean Crash Bandicoot, Tony Hawk. whatever MS can have those.
Sure but going back to the original point, I don't see how that is benefiting games. It benefits MS and Xbox gamers yea, not others.

And obviously subjective, but I personally would be more pissed missing out on those franchises than cod.
 

PaintTinJr

Member
So, hyperthetically and of course massive hyperthetical because it would be insane to do it. But say, after all this, if the deal didn't go through and there was so much bullshit activision pissed off, microsoft pissed off...

...if Microsoft made an actual full exclusivity deal with Activision on call of duty they could do it from 2025 onwards?

Would everyone be OK with that? Seems like people were happy for MS to buy timed exclusivity deals.

So, Activision could accept a deal with MS where all future cods are exclusive to xbox and PC for 2 years from launch for like the next 10 to 15 years.

That seems crazy dangerous if that's possible.
I wouldn't mind. It would cost Microsoft the cost of potentially killing CoD to do that - $20b?, $30?, $69b? - and I doubt Microsoft's shareholders would be happy with that type of money to lease it. Especially when Activision could and maybe would then make another game with all that money for ... PlayStation
 

Topher

Identifies as young
No he didn't do a 180, I said the same thing that much of the article is the same. Yet, he still acknowledged that he didn't do a good job explaining his point in the article. Call it bowing down to the twitter mob or anything else, if he or gi.biz thought the article didn't merit it, it wouldn't go through any modification.

Sounds to me like he is just trying to appease the masses on twitter who simply did not like what was said. Should have stuck to his guns.
 

Pelta88

Member

I understand your point but to a degree, D A R K D A R K isn't wrong. If Microsoft isn't stopped at this juncture, what's to stop them picking up EA next? And having both COD and BF day 1 exclusive on Game pass?

I've said it numerous times before, ATVI deserve better than Kotick and Lulu. A workplace so toxic it leads to suicide is a stain on our industry. So any deal which removes the horse shit at the exec level is a good thing. The problem is, Microsoft has gone on record stating that buying a publisher their way of competing. You've seen the numbers and stats right? if not, let me summarize just a few points of the reality XBOX is facing.

GP - 10% of Revenue.
Cloud gaming - Dismissed and unused by their own metrics
EU console instal base - 4 Million
XBOX Studios - Can't compete with PS also TLOU beyond our capabilities
Japan - Non-existent
Globally - 30% of New PS5 customers didn't own a PS console previously

What does COD do to improve this situation? If purchasing publishers is their method of competing, EA is next. Then Rockstar, or vice versa.
 
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adamsapple

Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
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NonPhixion

Member
Damnnnnn, Lulu out here tweeting like her stocks are still only worth the $77.xx /per she paid last year.
 
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mansoor1980

Gold Member
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FoxMcChief

Gold Member

HoofHearted

Member
I was thinking yesterday into why Cod and Minecraft aren't exclusive, its not just the fact that they have been very spread around devices, but even in CMA survey it shows that Call of Duty wouldn't move a massive base into another console, its appeal is mostly on casual games who will not be convinced to require to spend +300$ to play new games in another console, while games like Starfield and Redfall are about more hardcore consumers who will desire it even at higher costs.
You're referring to the CMA survey with a whopping ~4% response rate?
 

splattered

Member
The deal is done. Or sony accept 10 years of cod or they will be left with nothing after 2024.

Big move for MS. Biggest fps franchise ever and with Diablo Sony just have bioware and cdpr wrpgs now.
Playstation still has Diablo, that isn't changing. I have a feeling Microsoft will continue publishing several of these franchises on Playstation moving forward even though people don't want to believe it at the moment. Not go full on 3rd party but still maintain stuff that makes financial sense like Minecraft, COD, FO76 etc
 

DenchDeckard

Moderated wildly
People won't like it but yes i'd be okay with that. Its a completley different thing.
wow, i would think that would be more detrimental to sony than this current deal.
When the merger happens, could MS require an Xbox account in order to play CoD on PS5?
that would suck.
Playstation still has Diablo, that isn't changing. I have a feeling Microsoft will continue publishing several of these franchises on Playstation moving forward even though people don't want to believe it at the moment. Not go full on 3rd party but still maintain stuff that makes financial sense like Minecraft, COD, FO76 etc
yup, i think loads of franchises will still come to ps5 and phil/xbox will use it as "see we are good"
Everyone furiously deleting their "fuck China" posts and tweets.

Video Games No GIF by HyperX
Chinese Virus GIF by INTO ACTION
 

POKEYCLYDE

Member
So what's next in the world of the acquisition:




I feel like the Nvidia and Nintendo deals are real world examples Microsoft can point to and say that we have boilerplate contracts for any cloud or platform holder that wants access to Call of Duty.

Probably won't be enough. But no one really knows, we'll find out in April most likely.
 

Heisenberg007

Gold Journalism
As there is no more news at the moment, a hypothetical question for those who are in favor of this acquisition:

Suppose this acquisition gets approved, and MS acquires ABK. Sony doesn't accept the deal, and then it is up to Microsoft to either make COD available on PS or not. Then Sony announces they are acquiring Take-Two so they can "compete."

Would the supporters of this acquisition also support the Sony / Take-Two acquisition, even if it means potentially making all their games (including GTA, Madden, and Red Dead) exclusive to PlayStation?
 

Kilau

Member
As there is no more news at the moment, a hypothetical question for those who are in favor of this acquisition:

Suppose this acquisition gets approved, and MS acquires ABK. Sony doesn't accept the deal, and then it is up to Microsoft to either make COD available on PS or not. Then Sony announces they are acquiring Take-Two so they can "compete."

Would the supporters of this acquisition also support the Sony / Take-Two acquisition, even if it means potentially making all their games (including GTA, Madden, and Red Dead) exclusive to PlayStation?
I’d wonder how Take-Two got Madden.

Any big sports license would stay multi anyway, look at The Show.
 
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