• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

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

R

Rurhanograthul02

Banned
Great News!! Seem most forgot (or haven't had the opportunity to) when World Of Warcraft Dominated gaming culture and was the envy of all gaming CEO's the world over
for raking in untold of amounts of cash for a solid decade.
 
intbal

intbal

Member
JLB said:
The vertical integration of gaming that MS is building is something else.

They have the IPs, they have the OS, they have the hardware (Xbox, PC), they have the datacenters, they have the cloud technology.

If Google, Facebook, Apple or Amazon dont start heavily investing on gaming Microsoft will become the ubiquitous gaming platform in a couple of years.
Click to expand...

Microsoft already told everyone what they were planning two years ago. I'm sure those other tech giants have been preparing for war. It's only gamers that laughed at the plan.

From the article:
Phil Spencer, Microsoft's head of gaming, said he now considered Amazon and Google as his top rivals because of their cloud-computing infrastructure.
Cloud gaming tackles some common frustrations experienced by players but introduces some issues of its own.
But Mr Spencer said his "traditional" rivals Nintendo and Sony were out of step with the future of gaming.
"When you talk about Nintendo and Sony, we have a tonne of respect for them, but we see Amazon and Google as the main competitors going forward," he told Protocol, a new technology news website.
Click to expand...
 
A

AnotherDayAnotherDollar

Banned
Mozza said:
This is easier said than done, Sony do not simply have the resources to compete with these types of buyouts, I always said this was on the cards ever since Microsoft entered the console market, they just have too much money to throw around, and this was always a question of when they did it rather then if.
Click to expand...

I don't disagree, but the more Sony waits the worse it'll get for them. Consolidation here will not stop. Microsoft will not stop.
 
SkylineRKR

SkylineRKR

Member
Sony cannot compete with this, but they have an extensive portfolio that sells guaranteed. At worst they'll become a Nintendo that thrives on their own games. Its not that far yet though.

Perhaps Sony can buy a publisher like Square. But another giant like Activision is out of reach.
 
ComputerBlue

ComputerBlue

Member
Ogbert said:
Trying to be positive, I’m hoping it will remove the insane release schedule that Activision has CoD on. They don’t need to pump out yearly iterations anymore. They can choose the developer that’s best placed to work on it and say ‘you’ve got three years, put together a fully fleshed out Zombies game’.
Click to expand...

But they already have 3 different studios working on each game separately, with a 3 year dev cycle and several support studios helping.

It's possible but I don't know. Look at Andromeda, people shit on that game but it had a bigger budget than ME trilogy, and had a longer dev cycle than those games. What it didn't have was the original talent.
 
MrTentakel

MrTentakel

Member
They should fire the head of marketing!
Wrong: We buy Bethesda for 9 bn$
Correct: We bought Bethesda and Obsidian will make the next Fallout.

Wrong: We buy Activision Blizzard for 90 bn$
Correct: We bought Activision and aehm oehm aehm we will use all resources to support Machine Games for Wolfenstein - The new Duty
 
Mozza

Mozza

Member
AnotherDayAnotherDollar said:
I don't disagree, but the more Sony waits the worse it'll get for them. Consolidation here will not stop. Microsoft will not stop.
Click to expand...
Tough situation for them I agree, and perhaps this was one of the reasons Nintendo dropped out of the core market, they saw this coming a long time ago, a huge company with pretty much endless supplies of cash.
 
RiccochetJ

RiccochetJ

Gold Member
Virtual Legality has chimed in. I'm still listening to it (it's 45 mins long), but I really like his channel and he did some great coverage when MS bought Zenimax. He's going over all the next steps from a legal standpoint and the roadblocks they may run into from both the US and EU regulatory boards for approval.

 
Last edited:
Mattyp

Mattyp

Gold Member
Of all news wake up to this morning this was not it, fucking hell lol. This is only going to get worse for Sony, if they’re willing to spend this they’re not going to stop.

Rip the competition.
 
Last edited:
Salty Popsicle

Salty Popsicle

Banned
Ogbert said:
For the time being.

Just demonstrates how little individuality there is in senior management. They’re all yes men (pronouns he/him).
Click to expand...
I'd be a yes man too if it meant a six or seven figure salary, best benefits and healthcare in the world, and an amazing office.
 
kyliethicc

kyliethicc

Member
vltEUI5.jpg
 
Roronoa Zoro

Roronoa Zoro

Gold Member
SkylineRKR said:
Sony cannot compete with this, but they have an extensive portfolio that sells guaranteed. At worst they'll become a Nintendo that thrives on their own games. Its not that far yet though.

Perhaps Sony can buy a publisher like Square. But another giant like Activision is out of reach.
Click to expand...
They've got the most profitable gaming division right now by a wide margin and have 30 billion on hand. They also can borrow additional money if they wish.

Take 2 is about a third the size of actiblizzard. If Sony wants to survive they gotta lock down GTA and Red Dead
 
R

reksveks

Member
Roronoa Zoro said:
They've got the most profitable gaming division right now by a wide margin and have 30 billion on hand. They also can borrow additional money if they wish.

Take 2 is about a third the size of actiblizzard. If Sony wants to survive they gotta lock down GTA and Red Dead
Click to expand...
There is a slight asymmetry here in play.

Microsoft purchases a publisher and cuts off one platform, PlayStation consoles
Sony purchases a publisher, do they cut off one or two? Xbox and PC?
 
Last edited:
DragonNCM

DragonNCM

Member
DigitalScrap said:
I think the reason people constantly say that is because Sony "fans" (warriors) love to scream about how great exclusives are as long as they are Sony exclusives. As soon as anything looks to be going exclusive elsewhere, they cry and scream constantly.

That said, exclusives have not been a "Sony" thing - it just happened that Sony has had a LOT of great exclusives. I think this is why so many seem to think that Sony has led the charge for exclusives. I definitely think that in the past, Sony has leveraged exclusives with more success than anyone else, but it's odd when people "blame Sony" when another company makes a move.

I guess there are simply irrational emotional people on "both sides", so we get those sorts of takes.
Click to expand...
Sony got grate start with first PS, crushed Sega in one generation got all Japanese developers jumping on their console & build a lot of reputation with western developers & western gamers.
Problem is they didn't want to invest their money in R&D for their new console's eco system.
Even after MS made damn fiasco with xbox one they just laughed doing nothing, well they poked to much sleeping giant now beast is on loose.
 
LOLCats

LOLCats

Banned
You know apple has 60billion cash on hand. I bet they could buy playstation for 500billion. All they need is 10% down and a good mortgage rate
 
Last edited:
CatLady

CatLady

Selfishly plays on Xbox Purr-ies X
R6Rider said:
Singularity 2 at least has a chance now right?

Ill Be Back Jim Carrey GIF
Click to expand...
Now that's something I can actually get really excited about this Acquisition.

Singularity is the only game I can think of that I'm missing on Xbox BC. Make it BC or give me a remaster and Singularity 2 would be AWESOME!
 
T

tommolb

Member
You have to wonder where this 'consolidation' will end up; Three console manufacturers, each owning all the studios (between them) and each with totally separate game libraries. The end of multi-platform releases is the end goal?
 
fart town usa

fart town usa

Gold Member
Mattyp said:
Of all news wake up to this morning this was not it, fucking hell lol. This is only going to get worse for Sony, if they’re willing to spend this they’re not going to stop.

Rip the competition.
Click to expand...
Yea, first thing I saw too this AM.

I legit was like, "Huh, April Fools?" but that I quickly remembered that it's January, ha.
 
Roronoa Zoro

Roronoa Zoro

Gold Member
reksveks said:
There is a slight asymmetry here in play.

Microsoft purchases a publisher and cuts off one platform, PlayStation consoles
Sony purchases a publisher, do they cut off one or two? Xbox and PC?
Click to expand...
Well COD sell majority on PS same with Bethesda titles for the entire gen leading up to their purchase. So Sony would be sacrificing far fewer console sales with an acquisition of a major IP since they hold the console that is by far the most popular especially outside the US and would presumably become even more popular with an exclusive like that
 
Alebrije

Alebrije

Member
Microsoft is a software company....their hardware division is now just an add on...

So they will want thier software in all platforms including Sony and Nintendo....

The vidogame industry is so big that even with a 20% of it a company could be fine....so Nintendo and Sony will be fine

Microsoft could get EA and Ubisof also and make all its games exclusives but there are enought developers to keep the market flooded with games on all platforms.
 
Last edited:
eNT1TY

eNT1TY

Member
It's a good deal. They bought at worst some really bad PR that they can make go away for less than a billlion publicly lambasting the entire situation by making a spectacle out of a corporate shake up. They can oust Kotick and compel out of him (through very pulblic admonitionof course) a vague yet not legally incriminating mea culpa of sorrts press statement (for a staggering severance package of course using up a lion's share of that billion), they can publicly champion a full internal investigation of the grievances by the "ole boys club" with an all female investigation committee working closely (or not really but in any rudimentary capacity that lends the optics of co-operation) with the California state department handling the lawsuit. Double down on Inclusivity™ on social media via frequent updates of their new corporate structure, new equitable hiring practices outline, increased "zero tolerance for bigotry and harasment among all employees policy" (which is not unlike their old zero tolerance policy but with more finger wag).
 
X

Xellos

Member
Crazy amount of money. I guess this is all to support Game Pass and push towards a subscription-based future? Can't imagine spending $70B to sell Xbox consoles and $70 game purchases.
 
E

elcapitano

Member
Yeah Sony gonna need to buy like two of Take Two, Square, EA or Ubisoft if they want to compete long term.

Sonys current higher quality won't matter if they do not release a comparable quantity of titles.

Short term Sony are fine and still in a very strong position but don't react to this and they'll be left in the dust.

Microsoft can easily leverage this to take cover marketshare in the next few years and then make all titles exclusive to weed Sony out.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Microsoft has Closed the Activision Blizzard King Deal
22 23 24 25 26
1K
77K
MasterCornholio replied
  • Locked
FTC accuses Microsoft of misrepresenting its Activision Blizzard plans after layoffs
News
12
1K
ChuckeRearmed replied
Microsoft now says the CMA was ‘tough and fair’ over Activision Blizzard deal
Opinion Business Game Dev
17
2K
DaGwaphics replied
[Forbes]There’s Little Doubt Microsoft Will Try To Buy ‘Palworld’ And Pocketpair At This Point
News Rumor Hype 2 3 4
162
11K
kiphalfton replied
Bobby Kotick is leaving Activision Blizzard on December 29th
2 3 4
183
11K
HeisenbergFX4 replied
Top Bottom