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[GetemMa]

I just noticed this line in the document that phil spencer wrote: https://news.xbox.com/en-us/2022/01/18/welcoming-activision-blizzard-to-microsoft-gaming/

"We also announced today that Game Pass now has more than 25 million subscribers"

So not yet reaching 30 million.

Thats 4.5 billion dollars a year in game pass subs. And it will only go up from here.

MS has fuck you money and they are not afraid to use it. I would not be shocked if WB, Ubi, or EA were next. Sony simply doesn't have this kind of financial strength. Crazy times.

 

[SlimySnake]

Alright. So here are my thoughts after digesting the news for a bit.

I like this Microsoft that is going all in on gaming. I cautiously applauded their Zenimax acquisition because it confirmed to me that they were in it for good. However, this kind of consolidation feels a bit troubling. Especially if Sony goes out and buys Ubisoft or partners with EA or Nintendo. In the end, gamers will lose.

I am a big proponent of exclusives. The last 8 years, 6 have been exclusives. These games can be riskier, more ambtious and are given time for polish. However, acquiring big publishers like this is not going to make yearly CoDs more ambitious or less buggy. They would still need to ship in November every year. They will still need to be formulaic. Who does this help really? Were Xbox owners ever NOT going to get COD games? It just locks out content on PS platforms.

I think those $70 billion would've been better spent elsewhere. For example, their first party has yet to release a single next gen only game. We are literally 2 years in. They shouldve invested a billion into doubling if not tripling every single studio. Get them more productive so they can get games out every 2 years. Hiring Crystal Dynamics is NOT the answer. They need to build their internal teams.

Acquire smaller studios like KojiPro for a couple of hundred million dollars and give them a massive budget and full creative freedom. Same goes for many other creative geniuses who are currently struggling to put games out. Build them a team. Give them $100 million. Let them make their dream game. Invest in talent, not in publishers.

You can do all of that for a fraction of $70 billion. It would give Xbox gamers MORE value because those would be games not possible without Microsoft's involvement whereas CoD was always going to be on MS systems. All they get now is CoD on Gamepass on Day one. That saves them $70 a year. $60 if you count that month's sub cost. It's good, but investing in NEW games would be a much better use of that money.

I really hope Sony doesnt overreact and go and buy Ubisoft or merge with Nintendo or EA. It would be bad for Xbox gamers, and it would provide zero value to PS fanbase. They dont even have a Gamepass sub for cheaper day one games.

Lastly, best of luck to MS. This is them flexing and while I dont quite love it, I admire it. This is them saying we are here to stay, come at me.

 

[kyussman]

At the current rate of acceleration from 7.5 billion to 70 billion, MS will next buy Nintendo for 700 billion on a Monday.

......and then China buys the US and it all becomes moot,lol.

 

[Coolwhhip]

activision and blizzard are both in the decline. cod is not what it use to be and wow barely has 2 million subs if even that and quickly declining. they do have starcraft IP which is great but honestly this is a company that already peaked.

At its peak Activision wouldnt be for sale though.

 

[Nitty_Grimes]

This is fucking mental.

 

[welshrat]

No prime?

My Wife pays for that as she works at the Uni so managed to get it half price for 10 years, so not my outgoing

 

[oldergamer]

My biggest hope is that MS recognises that the Vicarious Visions talent are absolutely wasted as a COD support team and gives them back the independence to make Spyro 4, Crash 5 and, at the very least, THPS 3+4 remakes.

No way MS leaves those IPs on the table. No way. Having Spyro and Crash be Xbox exclusives is way too juicy an opportunity to pass up.

That's a good point. however its more then a year until this deal closes. a lot can happen. I'd be happy with less COD and more original titles.

 

[ManaByte]

The Antitrust Laws

Congress passed the first antitrust law, the Sherman Act, in 1890 as a "comprehensive charter of economic liberty aimed at preserving free and unfettered competition as the rule of trade." In 1914,

www.ftc.gov

Can we use this rules to block further acquitition from xbox in the future?

Definition of ANTITRUST

of, relating to, or being legislation against or opposition to trusts or combinations; specifically : consisting of laws to protect trade and commerce from unlawful restraints and monopolies or unfair business practices… See the full definition

www.merriam-webster.com

MS would only be the #3 game publisher after this.

If you want an anti-trust case, you'd have to take down Tencent and Sony first.

 

[Hendrick's]

WOW sub included in Gamepass for PC as a prediction.

They didn't do it with ESO.

 

[Represent.]

Sony needs to buy Rockstar lol

seriously though.

i hate this mega corporation battle. feels sleezy. ah well

 

[AV]

King is worth something as its own business but it doesn't really add much value to MS's business, which is the idea here. Call of Duty is still the #1 game in the world, and it makes money, but it's also down like 45% from last year. This isn't a very diverse portfolio.

It is with every other Blizzard IP under its belt. Warcraft 4, Starcraft 3, Overwatch 2, Diablo 4 are now Xbox games. WoW2 or whatever is an Xbox game. Crash 5, Spyro 4, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater are Xbox games.

Roll every WoW sub into Game Pass and the 25 million subs reported today instantly grows at least 10%.

The potential to either soar or crash and burn is astronomical. Activision weren't doing the above IPs any favours at all.

 

[BusierDonkey]

I'm gonna need a bigger photoshop...

 

[MaulerX]

 

[b6a6es]

PlayStation is a Sony division. If I’m not mistaken, Japanese law makes it very hard for a Japanese company to purchase by non Japanese corporations.

Maybe that’s why Microsoft still haven’t bought Sega…

Playstation Has been a Japanese company/division prior to 2016 moving of HQ to California, forming Sony interactive entertainment, a western company


And yes …. Sony has sold their western divisions before like Sony online entertainment, and Sony Pictures at one point even……

 

[Son_of_Zardoz]

This move reveals Sony’s biggest flaw…

They should have continued to invest in their MP franchises like Warhawk, Socom, Killzone, etc.

They have the single player games covered but they depended too much on third parties for there multiplayer games.

This is a great point. I was way late to the Warhawk party and holy shit if Sony brought it and those other two franchises back I'd buy a PS5 as soon as they did (if I could find one somewhere).

 

[Bragr]

Microsoft must have been extremely happy with Phil Spencer, Xbox Series X/S, and Game Pass, they just went balls deep. They went for the jugular, people are gonna buy Xbox's from now, the number of people who are gonna not even consider Playstation at this point is big.

This is insane on so many levels, they fucking own World of Warcraft and Call of Duty.

Imagine World of Warcraft on Game Pass. Jesus.

 

[meanspartan]

He's not wrong?

I mean word is Bobby basically sold his shared/control of the company hence cash deal. But reality is now 100% Activision/Blizzard is now MS's mess.

People are so naive with this take. It's hardly a "mess", it's an extremely valuable corp with hugely valuable IP. The recent scandals are an afterthought only a niche of gamers give a shit about.

 

[Raphael]

The games will pay for the purchase in a few years while MS gets the added benefit of trying to convert battle.net, warzone and candy crash users into GP subsribers. Probably will make them log in through an Xbox app.
And while they have them there - Hey kid while not try out this free gp trail? Its basically free games. Go on i know you want it.

 

[mckmas8808]

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

No they can't LOL! Some of you guys are getting a little weird about this. MS would have to shell out over $200 Billion to buy Sony.

 

[Mr.Bond]

>CoD
Same game since 2007, last ones are especially awful apparently
>WoW
Hasn't been good for a decade
>Overwatch
Pretty much dead and 0 hype for "2"
>Diablo
Nothing will be ever as good as 2 anyway
>Tony Hawk
Maybe a remake or two, but don't expect anything new
>Spyro
Dead
>Crash
4 was okay I guess.

So it's nothing then, no reason to buy a zombie company.

I love how a random guy in a basement knows more about high level acquisitions than multimillion dollar corporations.

 

[dotnotbot]

I'm buying all the Sony equipment and games I can afford as well as 10 years of PS Plus subscription as we speak. They need our support now, guys. Let's not abandon greatest company in the gaming history, don't let them die.

 

[NeonGhost]

Make zombies great again

 

[abacab driver]

::SlowClap::

 

[lucius]

Might as well I don’t see that company improving without new leadership with Microsoft owning it I have more faith in the company to get back to making good games and then I wouldn’t feel gross supporting them again.

 

[Rival]

I remember when it seemed like Disney paid a crazy amount for Star Wars.

 

[TrueLegend]

For Microsoft, it was tuesday.

 

[Airbus Jr]

Definition of ANTITRUST

of, relating to, or being legislation against or opposition to trusts or combinations; specifically : consisting of laws to protect trade and commerce from unlawful restraints and monopolies or unfair business practices… See the full definition

www.merriam-webster.com

MS would only be the #3 game publisher after this.

If you want an anti-trust case, you'd have to take down Tencent and Sony first.

Sony for what? Spiderman?

 

[Deerock71]

Just imagine the catalogue drop on GP. EA and Bethesda was nothing.

But Ubisoft's service, just to be CRYSTAL CLEAR, is coming to Xbox, but NOT Game Pass. Put THAT in your pipe and smoke it!








/s

 

[oldergamer]

Thats 4.5 billion dollars a year in game pass subs. And it will only go up from here.

MS has fuck you money and they are not afraid to use it. I would not be shocked if WB, Ubi, or EA were next. Sony simply doesn't have this kind of financial strength. Crazy times.

I still think WB can happen. They are a small amount of studios and are having development trouble right now on the Harry potter game. its going to miss the window on the 20th anniversary

EA is too big, Ubi fended off a hostile takeover, so they aren't likely looking for anyone to buy them.

 

[SlimySnake]

At the current rate of acceleration from 7.5 billion to 70 billion, MS will next buy Nintendo for 700 billion on a Monday.

Nah, Nintendo's market cap is $60 billion. Only $10 more than Activision who got bought out for $70. They couldve bought Nintendo for $100 billion. They just chose not to because Nintendo probably wasnt selling.

 

[ManaByte]

Sony for what? Spiderman?

Thank you for confirming you have no idea what you're crying about.

 

[Fbh]

It's going to be really interesting to see how this plays out.

It's clearly a big deal but how big of a deal is it? This is something I'm looking forward to watch play out.

For instance, how many people are like me who generally don't really care. The Bethesda purchase and Activision purchase don't affect me at all cause I never really bought their games to begin with, not since the PS3 at least and even then it was like 2-3 titles.

Clearly it's going to get people to stick with MS but just how many people? Wild times ahead of us fellow Gaffers, strap in and enjoy the ride!

People like us are in the minority. Just look at game sales, the average Playstation/Xbox user mainly buys stuff like COD, Fifa, NBA, Assassins Creed, etc.

The only platform holder that has truly managed to build their entire business around their exclusives is Nintendo.

 

[Ezquimacore]

I find it interesting how Nintendo is the only one not affected by all these acquisitions because they are not getting those games anyways. Seems like their "we do our own shit" plan was a good idea. People can expect the COD 2023 to be exclusive to MS platforms and to gamepass.

 

[Doom85]

It is with every other Blizzard IP under its belt. Warcraft 4, Starcraft 3, Overwatch 2, Diablo 4 are now Xbox games. WoW2 or whatever is an Xbox game. Crash 5, Spyro 4, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater are Xbox games.

Roll every WoW sub into Game Pass and the 25 million subs reported today instantly grows at least 10%.

The potential to either soar or crash and burn is astronomical. Activision weren't doing the above IPs any favours at all.

Overwatch 2 was already announced to already be on PlayStation systems as well. Pretty sure that will stay the same just as it did for Psychonauts 2.

 

[SenjutsuSage]

I also firmly believe there is a cut off point, but in the short term everything will go to Playstation that's been expected to in order to collect all the money they can get from it. Would be crazy to pass on the initial, but folks, as I said, this isn't the same Xbox and the same Microsoft from before. We are in a new gaming landscape, and Microsoft is serious about Xbox competing.

I dread what this means for when Microsoft is ready to promote a brand new console launch... the fucking advantages they will have from being able to just pull out the exclusivity trap card for maximum damage...

 

[Nitty_Grimes]

Activision back catalogue on Game Pass. Fuck me sideways.

 

[Hendrick's]

you know, maybe it’s not who will be acquired by Playstation, but who’s acquiring Playstation

At this point, that's the only way Sony competes. Hopefully it's not Tencent.

 

[LOLCats]

Absolutely nobody should be celebrating this, and I'm saying this as an Xbox fan. Fingers crossed the deal gets blocked.

Also, anybody expecting games from Activision/Blizzard to be Xbox or Gamepass exclusive are dreaming. You don't drop 70bn and cut off tens of millions of dollars in revenue.

Yes you do. In fact they just did it.

 

[BusierDonkey]

I'm buying all the Sony equipment and games I can afford as well as 10 years of PS Plus subscription as we speak. They need our support now, guys. Let's not abandon greatest company in the gaming history, don't let them die.

 

[Airbus Jr]

Thank you for confirming you have no idea what you're crying about.

Sure thing care to explain what im missing here

 

[MonarchJT]

imho next is valve ....

 

[MaulerX]

Absolutely nobody should be celebrating this, and I'm saying this as an Xbox fan. Fingers crossed the deal gets blocked.

Also, anybody expecting games from Activision/Blizzard to be Xbox or Gamepass exclusive are dreaming. You don't drop 70bn and cut off tens of millions of dollars in revenue.

You got it backwards.

You spend 70B to grow Game Pass and your ecosystem. Not to keep the status quo.

 

[splattered]

Nah, Nintendo's market cap is $60 billion. Only $10 more than Activision who got bought out for $70. They couldve bought Nintendo for $100 billion. They just chose not to because Nintendo probably wasnt selling.

Even though it may not look like it to most, I do believe Microsoft understands the need for healthy competition and wouldn't even want to buy Sony or Nintendo now. (in the past, sure but they obviously have a new perspective on things as a whole) ... I don't think this is about killing the competition, it's just about making yourself the best that you can be. Cause you can afford the level up. Haha

 

[Twinblade]

they can't afford Take Two but ok...

Take Two has been going down hill anyways, i think Sony has a better shot at acquiring kojima productions tbh.

 

[Davevil]

I'm buying all the Sony equipment and games I can afford as well as 10 years of PS Plus subscription as we speak. They need our support now, guys. Let's not abandon greatest company in the gaming history, don't let them die.

 

[Maiden Voyage]

imho next is valve ....

Dear god no please.

 

[RavenSan]

I just wish some of the console warrior bans were reversed, just for like 48 hours to see all the hot takes.

Then ban em again, but man, I am here for some salt.

On topic, I could see this leading to GamePass on Sony. They can work out whatever backroom deal they need to. MS is (in my opinion) gonna strong arm Sony. You want Call Of Duty? Let us in your garden.

 

[IDKFA]

Yes you do. In fact they just did it.

Have they come and said that all these games will be exclusive to Xbox (and GP via PC)?

If so that's even worse. How do you expect them to recoup the costs and keep shareholders happy? The only answer will be to lace these games with as many MTXs and loot boxes as possible. Anyway to squeeze money out of a smaller player base and recoup the costs.

 

[Orutisu Furio]

This is industry changing news and will set the tone for the next decade.

At this point, Sony would have to acquire Take Two or EA to compete.

 

[IAmNotFromDelaware]

This is actually sad. This is a big megaton. Unless MS buys Sony or Nintendo, we will not have a megaton of this magnitude for years. Enjoy the megaton boys. It'll be the last one for a long while.