MScarpa
Member
Is this a joke? Hahahah
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Breaking: Microsoft to acquire Activision-Blizzard in near 70$ billion deal
- Thread starter Draugoth
- Start date
Is this a joke? Hahahah
supernova8
Banned
Memorabilia
Member
Over the years I personally loved Resistance, SOCOM, & Killzone but they never really caught on to the level Sony would have liked, which is evident in the fact they vacated the FPS genre to 3rd parties. I’m not saying it’s impossible for a Sony to eventually strike gold by resurrecting one of these IPs or by creating a new one in house, but the idea that you can just duplicate even half the massive success of CoD overnight is fantasy thinking. Acquisitions like ActiBlizz happen because those types of IPs define an entire genre & you don’t just re-create that easily.
captainraincoat
Banned
I’m glad that I won’t have to pay anything to discover how crap the yearly call of duty is anymore as I can pretty much try it on gamepass
Another plus is you can just stream it instead of it taking up half your hard drive
Another plus is you can just stream it instead of it taking up half your hard drive
Mibu no ookami
Member
Sony never put nearly the resources they are putting into their current crop of AAA titles into these games let alone what would be required for a big FPS.
You might as well say uncharted won't be successful because Syphon Filter didn't have that much market penetration.
Most of this does just come down the talent and budget.
MScarpa
Member
It's not even about hardware anymore. It's about the Gamepass ecosystem. That's the future. If it was up to MS they wouldn't even make a console. Just let you play anywhere from anything. I can't be the only one that sees this.
Y0ssarian
Banned
When MS bought Bethesda I saw Microsoft was the future. Only thing is, I still prefer the PS exclusives. Even with MS owning CoD, Diablo, etc
JohnnyFootball
GerAlt-Right. Ciriously.
Out of all the acquisitions, Sony acquiring Insomniac for $229 is the bargain of all bargains.
Stuart360
Member
Problem with that viewpoint is that not only has Phil pulicly confirmed more Xbox consoles in development, but Gamepass is primarily a game download and store front service. Phil has literally said Hardware sales is important to Microsoft because they need to sell hardware for Gamepass to run on it.
If Gamepass was Xcloud only, then maybe yes, but i think thats quite a ways off yet.
Streaming is the long term future, its inevitable. I think thats still 15-20 years into Microsofts long term plan though.
AnotherDayAnotherDollar
Banned
Zeroing
Banned
Would you be asking me that if it was Sony? Or Apple or Google?
SF Kosmo
Al Jazeera Special Reporter
Who wants it? Maybe Sammy for their Pachinko operation. Konami as a game dev is dead.
lastmessiah
Member
Who the hell would want to buy Konami today lol. Capcom I could understand but Konami is straight trash.
James Sawyer Ford
Member
I agree
This deal is enormously risky. In terms of scale, it's >3X the size of their second largest acquisition, Linkedin. And it is essentially all wrapped up in two IP, one of which has the vast majority of its sales on the Playstation ecosystem. Microsoft's enormous, so if this looks horrible a decade from now they won't care. But it looks like throwing good money after bad to me.
It is hard for me to imagine what kind of mental arithmetic went into this valuation once you remove Playstation from the picture and start releasing their properties on GamePass. It just seems to me like Microsoft has stupid money and no other targets to throw it at, so Activision makes big headlines... but honestly how does this fit into their strategy? The IP is limited to a handful of mega properties, whose interest has been waning, with studios that are in the midst of turnover and turmoil.
Does Microsoft really want to manage another enormous publisher? How are they ever going to get an ROI on this deal with Playstation out of the picture? GamePass without Activision was already more than compelling through the Bethesda purchase. What does Activision actually add to that other than a massive land grab for a currently hot IP but where audiences have started moving over to other titles?
This seems like an enormously risky overpay and overflex just because Microsoft can, but comes with all sorts of risk and baggage that I could see 10 years down the line looking like a mistake, much in the same way Rare was viewed but on a massively larger scale.
Like...really? $70B couldn't be better spent ACTUALLY expanding the industry? That's what's pretty sad about all this. Maybe Microsoft can right the Activision ship (I'm doubtful). But again it all boils down to it not really adding much to the industry, it's purely an addition by subtraction move similar to Bethesda but multiplied by 10x. While I'm sure it's fun for the superfans to continually gloat about these sorts of moves, does anyone stop and question what good it is actually doing in improving your hobby?
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Megatron
Member
My apologies, I thought you meant Activision. It’s the same principal though. T2 IF they went for sale Will approach all serious bidders. MS will NOT let Sony outbid them. They will just keep going And upping their bid Until Sony has to bow out.
Now the Japanese companies are a different story as their government is going to make it much easier for Sony to buy them than a foreign company. But T2 would just be about the highest bidder So that is probably Sony’s best opportunity. A Konami games division or Square Or even the oft rumored Sega.
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lastmessiah
Member
I do. MS isn't buying Blizzard to just watch it stagnate. This is common sense. The possibilities just expanded tenfold from this acquisition.
Ebidramon
Banned
Konami own Metal Gear - the best gaming franchise in history.
Every other game, no matter how amazing, is garbage compared to Metal Gear.
James Sawyer Ford
Member
Yes, I am sure Microsoft has the means and expertise of being proper stewards of Blizzard IP that Activision just somehow didn't get. Rare is a good case history in that stewardship of IP.
While I HOPE that is the case, I am not convinced there is a strong argument to support that this is what will actually happen over time.
Megatron
Member
Ah yes. they should just push the compete button, since that worked so well for them between 2013 and 2020. Definitely don’t try something new to bring value to your platform. Just keep doing the same thing that has failed for years.
Hendrick's
If only my penis was as big as my GamerScore!
MScarpa
Member
And that's ok. We are the minority. The majority are the casuals, fifa, madden, cod, Skyrim, etc.
lastmessiah
Member
Rare has a remarkable success with Sea of Thieves and now they have Everwild in development. If you're not convinced, I guess all you can do is wait and see.
MScarpa
Member
Yes I'd be asking the exact same question. I never once thought this would be an issue till i started seeing people bring it up.
OmegaSupreme
advanced basic bitch
How many years did that take? Rare was languishing for years under ms. It's a reasonable doubt.
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MScarpa
Member
Streaming is the future. You bet on futures. It's why MS wants you to stream from your TV, your tablet, phone, pc. Etc. It's about gamepass and the subs. No hardware. But hey maybe im wrong.
James Sawyer Ford
Member
That wasn't my argument, regardless of how you feel about those two properties.
Rare has an enormous amount of underutilized IP and has stagnated for decades sitting on it. I personally would prefer they bring those back INSTEAD of focusing on stuff like SoT, and experimental projects like Everwild that are in development hell.
StreetsofBeige
Gold Member
Yup.
When a company acquires brands off another company, the company doesnt go into it thinking.... "I'm just gonna sit here and milk it as it trends down"
Their goal is to take the reins and boost it. Even if that means involving still supporting PS in some way to keep it going. It's not like MS cut off support of Minecraft and Bethesda games off PS.
BusierDonkey
Member
Spend $70B over the next 20 years trying to build up new studios and franchises that may or may not be successful or spend $70B today and get it all wrapped in a bow?
Work smarter, not harder.
Besides it's not like Sony never bought a studio or platform exclusivity, they just don't have as much money to spend.
OmegaSupreme
advanced basic bitch
Is it? It's not the same as streaming movies. Latency is a constant problem. Downloads are the current and future. You need hardware for that.
You are right thats the end goal 10 years down the line. Stream gamepass to your toaster if you want to. Doesnt matter what hardware you own you will still end up paying ms for the games.
Well considering sony already has 70% market share. Google they gave up on gaming. Apple isn't interested in traditional gaming. They want things on phones tablets or insane margin hardware.
Zeroing
Banned
If you don’t see any issue on corporations buying big 3rd party publishers to devalue the competition and limit the options you - the gamer, have to play those games on, then I have no idea how to explain it to you!
Rick Dangerous
Member
Another mega deal. This is frightening. I hate Monopoly and this is one on the horizon , even more when they are private and worldwide.
Pay to win, with the money coming from another Monopoly (basically Office).
Pay to win, with the money coming from another Monopoly (basically Office).
lastmessiah
Member
They didn't limit the options though, they actually expanded them.
OmegaSupreme
advanced basic bitch
In what way?
clarky
Gold Member
Agreed.
They have what like at least 32 studios now (typing that just feels insane lol) If they get their ducks in a row and every game dev is on a 4 year dev cycle (pulled that from my ass) that still a new AAA game on game pass every 6-7 weeks. Not including global publishing, indie's and third party stuff . Thats fucking mental.
Zeroing
Banned
How so? Let me know your line of thought?
Stuart360
Member
So would i but i guess James you missed it when Rare came out publicly a few years ago and said they wont be working on any of their past franchises in the future.
To get some of those old Rare games they would have to be farmed out.
lastmessiah
Member
They will now be available to play on tablets, smartphones, laptops, etc. You could never stream Diablo or WoW to an iPhone. You couldn't play Starcraft on a tablet. Now you will be able to.
OmegaSupreme
advanced basic bitch
Why on earth would you want to? How many people are streaming these types of games?
lastmessiah
Member
It's an option, that's all I'm saying. Someone said that they are removing options, but they are doing the opposite.
OmegaSupreme
advanced basic bitch
An option that so few people will use compared to who would have bought it physically on playstation. They are taking this franchise out of more players hands then they are putting in.
lastmessiah
Member
Hmm, I don't agree and I think time will prove I'm right.
anthraticus
Banned
Don't really give a shit...only play old or indie games anyway.
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