Support NeoGAF

[Starfield]

 

[VAVA Mk2]

Don’t worry lads.

Call of Duty won’t be exclusive to Xbox.

I promise.

Lol.

LOL isn't that what they said about Starfield?

 

[WalterSobchak]

Diablo and Warcraft are the only IPs I care about in this deal. Call of Duty series sucks imo. The Zenimax deal was way bigger to me in terms of IPs I care about.
But M$ is pushing their chips to the center this gen.

 

[ResilientBanana]

This sucks balls if true. Regulators should be doing their job, this is ridiculous.

Publishers and Game Devs are a dime a dozen. There's nothing to regulate.

 

[Sophist]

Something tells me Microsoft won't have been the only ones fishing around to buy Activision with the recent tumble in their share price.

This is what i think too. Everyone is talking about Sony but Microsoft is probably more wary of Google, Apple, or Amazon.

 

[Metnut]

What a win for the Activison shareholders. Company has been in the pits and making little that anyone cared about for years, other than Call of Duty, and M$ just comes along and buys them out at a huge premium. Truly a gift.

 

[Fox Mulder]

crazy news since it’s not even Wednesday.

 

[CobraAB]

State of Play with a bunch of indies

Counter with GOOD games?

Novel concept I know.

 

[JokerMM]

70 BILLION DOLLARS
Dude, MS can literally buy sony if they want to at this point
Also, CoD skipping playstation is such a fucking bonkers timeline

 

[Black_Stride]

. Godammm 70 fucking billion.. competition is over guys.. they got candy crush developers as well. They made a smart move. This is pizza money for a trillion dollar company. They own sekirooo wtfffff.

FromSoftware owns the Sekiro IP.
They even publish the game in the east.
They only needed Activision to publish it in the west cuz they dont have a presence.
They probably could have stuck with Bandai Namco to publish but im guessing Bandai Namco wanted to own the IP and From didnt want that.

Not sure how MS is going to deal with this. These franchises are setup to thrive on multiplatform.

Same way they do with Minecraft.
Games where it makes more sense to be multiplaform they will be multiplatform.....games where they are happy to completely fuck with Sony...then make them exclusive.

 

[Kilau]

I know this is huge, bigger than Bethesda but there isn't a single game made by Activision/Blizzard that adds any value to my Gamepass subscription.

 

[Castef]

*metabolizing*

They also got Battle.net and several hundred million users... they could use it as a storefront for Game Pass. °_°

 

[rickybooby87]

Damn, AB? For 70B? Not that I personally play many games from AB at the moment, still, you can't deny that there is a large number of people that do. I don't want to be the dude who says stuff like "sOny nEeDS tO cOunTer" But at this moment, you have to assume that every 3rd party publisher is on the menu for a price, and has had talks or is in talks to be acquired.

And Microsoft is HONGRY. Sure, Sony has a lot of new IP in the works, but people still like their yearly CODS and whatnots.

Sony seriously needs to scoop up some beloved 3rd party IP before Microsoft continues their conquest and eventually shuts them out from large sections of the market.

 

[DaGwaphics]

This
This would be a literal monopoly

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.

 

[reksveks]

They might choose to do that. But, I doubt they would have to. Activision is still a small piece of the gaming industry (MS still just the 3rd largest player). With what Tenecent has been doing, I doubt there would be any limitations on anything. Gaming just isn't that regulated.

I think they are confident and think they will be sniffing about to see the lay of the land and if they can get away with it, they will

That is way too much fucking money for what you get. Could have used it to expand current studios and create new ones which could develop some good games.

Games buy COD every fucking year, they generally don't care about good games sadly.

 

[Hunnybun]

If they make the games Xbox/PC exclusive, and put them day one on Game Pass, Sony has to accept Game Pass on Playstation. Can't see them surviving otherwise.

That's what I was thinking actually. I think that's the ultimate play here.

Remember Phil's weasel words about Bethesda exclusivity? Only available on platforms "where Game Pass exists"?

I'm guessing that's the idea. They're gonna force Sony to accept GP on PlayStation.

 

[mckmas8808]

I guess it was still unfair for Sony to buy the rights for Spiderman to be in the PlayStation version of the Avengers game huh? Or for Final Fantasy 16 to be exclusive huh? I remember the days that was considered bad for gamers. Now when it comes to this.........

 

[Zeroing]

“one ring to rule them all… “

 

[ParaSeoul]

Has it even been confirmed COD isn't playstation anymore?

 

[Lanrutcon]

WoW and Diablo DLC for ES VI when?

 

[Amin_Parker]

Congratulations to Microsoft. This is huge news and I am very happy to be witnessing it. This will truly spark competition between Nintendo and Microsoft. Microsoft first-party Studios is now becoming stronger than ever. I can't wait to see how Fierce the competition between Nintendo and Microsoft will be in the years to come. Congratulations to Microsoft and Activision on getting this done.

 

[oldergamer]

Is Kotick out ?

if this is true, one could hope.

 

[01011001]

Sega have nothing that move gamers like COD Overwatch StarCraft and Warcraft let's be honest here

Sonic? Sonic is very popular especially now with the movie franchise

 

[Haggard]

on one hand

"monopoly bad"

on the other hand.... one PC to rule them all.
Go MS!
Now buy Sony Interactive Entertainment and Nintendo and put everything on PC.

 

[nosseman]

Are they even worth 70 billion? this price seems odd to me. Also a pretty odd buy out target.

For MS - Sure!!

The content is insane - Wow, Cod, Diablo, Starcraft, Candy Crush Saga etc etc.

MS also pays with stock. MS stock goes up because subscriptions are up - MS buy company - subscriptions goes up - stock goes up - MS buys company.

Its free money!!

 

[SF Kosmo]

Don't be a fucking cunt, I have a PC and a Series X. This is shit for the industry. You'll see soon enough.

Not like Activision-Blizzard was "good" for the industry. They're a shit company, gobbling up studios and throwing them at a completely unsustainable annualized schedule to diminishing returns. They were in a tailspin. Outside of Blizzard EVERYTHING has been moved to CoD, and even then they can't get the games out in decent shape because the annual schedule is not a thing that works anymore.

I don't know if MS can or will fix this, mind you, but let's not shed big tears for the loss, either.

 

[Plantoid]

Microsoft now owns World of Warcraft. I am speechless.

Wow 2 announced

 

[Vestal]

What's Activision Blizzards roadmap over the next few years?

OW2
Diablo 4
COD 9000
WoW Xpac

Hopefully Phil pushes Blizzard to reinvest in the Warcraft IP by either expanding their offerings as far as games or allowing other studios within MS to leverage the IP for new types of games. Same goes for Starcraft.

 

[ManaByte]

Has it even been confirmed COD isn't playstation anymore?

 

[Shubh_C63]

Are they even worth 70 billion? this price seems odd to me. Also a pretty odd buy out target.

70 billion is a LOT but seems about right. Even now Actiblizzard is the biggest gaming company on planet other than Tencent maybe.
Imagine all the networking infrastructure, talent and already addicted playerbase they will be able to exploit for years.

2-3 big original IP exclusives from MS (which is only a matter of time), there will be nothing to compete.

 

[Jennings]

With Microsoft's stance on VR, deals like this seem like a blow to the future of VR.

 

[8BiTw0LF]

Sony needs to buy Take Two, Konami, Capcom, or Square Enix.

All of them - or just EA.

 

[ResilientBanana]

If it was Sony, how many people here would be crying RN?

This is hella bad for the industry as a whole.

In this forum? It would be shoved up every Xbox fan's ass.

 

[Bogeyman]

Call of Duty, Halo, Overwatch, Doom, Wolfenstein, Gears - you like shooters? We got a console for you.

What FPS games will Sony have at the end of this? Just Apex and Battlefield? Fuck.

Serious though. It’s a bit overkill this. Personally I thought MS would have been better served making a couple of smaller acquisitions; Playtonic, SEGA and Bungie and then calling it a day.

I haven't played any shooters in probably 10yrs+, so I'm talking out of my ass here now. But how difficult would it be for Sony to come up with a shooter that rivals COD's quality of their own?

Whenever I see games like COD, I just keep thinking there's zero innovation in those games. To me personally, it looks like a shooter as run-off-the-mill as it'll ever get.

Now don't get me wrong, I can imagine loads of people enjoying a decent shooter, but I wonder - is COD so big because its so much better than anything else out there? Or is it big because people know it, are already familiar with it, and know they'll get a decent shooter whenever they buy the latest version?
A bit like McDonald's. Its not the best food out there, its not particularly hard to make Burgers as good, or better than McDonald's. But its tried and tested, and people will probably still tend to go there rather than to the no-name burger shop next door because of.. habit and convenience, I guess.

Anyways, that was the case, then I'd think Sony could rather easily develop a shooter of their own with similar quality. Big question then of course is, would people actually play that ("there's no COD on PS5, so I'll just play whatever else there is"), or would they still want COD specifically ("if its not on PS5, I'll buy an XBox instead")

 

[Ogbert]

This sucks balls if true. Regulators should be doing their job, this is ridiculous.

What regulators?

Like the ones stopping Amazon?

 

[LordCBH]

They might as well delete the cancel button on Gamepass cause I’m never clicking it. I wanted to play Vanguard. But now I’ll wait till it shows up on the Gamepass pc app.

 

[Bartski]

ready for a day of hysterical meltdowns on Youtube and Twitter

 

[Topher]

I just noticed Phil Spencer is now the CEO of "Microsoft Gaming". That's interesting.

 

[Mr Moose]

Sony market cap: 154 billion dollars
MS market cap: 2.3 trillion dollars

I don't think Sony could afford Take Two, but perhaps Ubisoft (market cap 6.5 billion) or Square Enix (5.6 billion). But even if those companies are up for sale, MS could easily put in a higher bid. Sony cant compete financially up with the second biggest company on the planet.

I could see Square-Enix perhaps being acquired by Sony. MicroSoft might have a harder time getting them since they're Japanese.

 

[wolffy71]

MS gamepass numbers are up to 25 million monthly users

 

[Bboy AJ]

Amazing. Microsoft is saving gaming. These games won’t be Xbox exclusive. They’ll put it on gamepass and you can play it anywhere. Sony just needs to allow gamepass on PlayStation and everyone can play.

If these games aren’t on PlayStation, that’s on Sony, not Microsoft.

 

[Umbasaborne]

I don't believe Microsoft is removing Call of Duty from Playstation. This is a move purely for the overall money that it will bring in to Xbox for the big COD franchises, but it does mean that Game Pass is officially an unstoppable juggernaut of a service.

I agree, i fully believe that every major bethesda game going forward will be xbox exclusive, but they would be fools to make call of duty exclusive! Idk, maybe im totally off base and they will though. This doesnt hit right, bethesda was okay in my eyes, that company was struggling, so the purchase made sense, but this…fuck, this is too far

 

[AGRacing]

That's what I was thinking actually. I think that's the ultimate play here.

Remember Phil's weasel words about Bethesda exclusivity? Only available on platforms "where Game Pass exists"?

I'm guessing that's the idea. They're gonna force Sony to accept GP on PlayStation.

Game Pass on Playstation. You guys have some wild imaginations.

 

[tommib]

Sony needs to buy Take Two, Konami, Capcom, or Square Enix.

Haha. They can’t afford these big studios. Only Microsoft has the pockets for these guys. Sony can afford Housemarque and Bluepoint, devs with this size. Forget about any big acquisitions at this level.

 

[Loope]

I guess it was still unfair for Sony to buy the rights for Spiderman to be in the PlayStation version of the Avengers game huh? Or for Final Fantasy 16 to be exclusive huh? I remember the days that was considered bad for gamers. Now when it comes to this.........

I still get to play them on PC, so zero fucks given.

 

[MonarchJT]

Man Xbox is trying hard to win this console war arent they

Buying Bethesda and Activision

Now playstation and nintendo gamers wont get those two anymore

Holy shit

Ms doesn't care about console hw ...
they want gamers

 

[LordCBH]

I could see Square-Enix perhaps being acquired by Sony. MicroSoft might have a harder time getting them since they're Japanese.

Square also has a great relationship with sony as well.

 

[tusharngf]

Are they even worth 70 billion? this price seems odd to me. Also a pretty odd buy out target.

Candy crush and cod both are biggest gaming franchise at this moment. Candy crush alone will earn that much money in next 10yrs.

 

[Black_Stride]

70 BILLION DOLLARS
Dude, MS can literally buy sony if they want to at this point
Also, CoD skipping playstation is such a fucking bonkers timeline

When this deal gets done.
The big three will be Tencent, Sony and Microsoft.
It would be pretty much impossible for Microsoft to buy Tencent and Sony they are both protected in their home countries.

But if you are gonna fight against Facebook...Meta you are gonna need big guns.

 

[ManaByte]

ready for a day of hysterical meltdowns on Youtube and Twitter