• 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

N

Nvzman

Member
OrtizTwelve said:
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.
Click to expand...
Sony has the talent themselves, they don't really need an acquisition lol. That was kind of MS's issue to begin with. Before Bethesda/Acti they barely had any exclusives worth giving a shit about anymore. It was just Gears/Forza because Halo shit the bed until Infinite (which is pretty good!). I'm not really a fan of MS's strategy of buying out the competition instead of building competition themselves, but Sony is not in any imminent danger, as mentioned they have some of the most talented devs in the world making multi-million dollar games (God of War, Spider-Man, Ratchet, Wolverine, Horizon, Days Gone, Uncharted, LBP, Gran Turismo, etc).
Now would this change their strategy to start incorporating some multiplayer exclusives? Perhaps yeah, I would be down for Sony to give a good shot at reviving SOCOM or making an original multiplayer title. More competition is good, and I do hope it gets some gears turning from Sony. But this isn't nearly as big of a deal as some may think. It'll be a head turner for game pass for sure, but I highly doubt most PS5 players are going to want to spend $300 minimum + $180 a year just to play CoD on Xbox when it's likely going to be on PS5 for $70 anyway.


Also, for the children spamming the LOL reaction when I'm being rational instead of fanatical: Microsoft still develops ports of Minecraft for PlayStation and Nintendo. If you think the big seller that is CoD that costs and makes many millions of dollars is going to be Xbox exclusive, you are going to be in for a shock. They are not losing out on that money, CoD money is on a whole other level compared to anything Bethesda makes. MS did not do this deal to screw over Sony, they did it to incentivize Game Pass for themselves.
 
Last edited:
BusierDonkey

BusierDonkey

Member
There are a lot of people that seem to think Actiblizz games are going to continue releasing on the PS5. When they bought Bethesda the same thing happened. A ton of people were convinced that Microsoft bought them and would continue making games for a competing platform forever.

After this deal I expect the same end result. Actiblizz games will appear on platforms that support Gamepass. The PS5 is still young and is having manufacturing shortages so Sony doesn't have the numbers they expected to at this point. This is the perfect opportunity for Microsoft to go for the throat.
 
M

MonarchJT

Banned
mckmas8808 said:
Who believes this lie? This ain't happening. Either the leaker is lying or Phil is lying. You don't pay $70 BILLION for AB to then release Diabo 4, COD, and the next Crash on a Playstation console.
Click to expand...
Whichever way it goes, it's clear as day that PlayStation users will be treated as second class citizens. As a practical example just look at what happened to Psychonauts 2 .... no optimization for PS5 while for XSX we have 120fps HDR VRR and obviously higher res. And we're talking about a game that was multi-platform even before the acquisition
 
Papacheeks

Papacheeks

Banned
meanspartan said:
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.
Click to expand...

What? The whole deal that happened is in fact because of the scandal? Their stock prices plummeted, mass walk outs across all studios, tons of higher ups have left. Board partners were literally wanting Bobby to sell his remaining stocks back and be removed from the board. The whole decline of the brand has a whole lot of do with the scandal. Mainly the actual "CASH" SALE.

Bobby wanted to cash out and not be involved with this anymore.
 
John Wick

John Wick

Member
GHG said:
What was I saying just the other day about consolidation?

The gaming landscape is going to look very different in 5 years.
Click to expand...
Basically now Amazon, Google, Apple, Sony, Nintendo and Tencent will start buying up publishers too. Sony and Nintendo will continue to make great franchises. Why waste that much money?
 
Nitty_Grimes

Nitty_Grimes

Made a crappy phPBB forum once ... once.
Expected to be finalised some time in 2023 so don’t get your panties in a twist about Activision games being on GP any time soon.
 
Last edited:
Gp1

Gp1

Member
Just for you guys to think.

How much of the employees/Bob Kotick frying in the media is "related" to this acquisition?

I mean... the time frame is perfect to kick Kotick away and devaluate ATVI.
 
SF Kosmo

SF Kosmo

Al Jazeera Special Reporter
AV said:
It is with every other Blizzard IP under its belt. Warcraft 4, Starcraft 3, Overwatch 2, Diablo 4 are now Xbox games.
Click to expand...
I am not confident in Blizzard's ability to deliver on these though. OW2 probably has the best shot.

AV said:
WoW2 or whatever is an Xbox game.
Click to expand...
I doubt we'll ever have a WoW2.

AV said:
Crash 5, Spyro 4, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater are Xbox games.
Click to expand...
Sure, but these franchises are strictly AA now.
 
GetemMa

GetemMa

Member
For context fellas, the entire Market capitalization of Sony is about 155-160 billion dollars. MS total market cap is 2.5 trillion.

Sony can't afford Take Two or even EA. They just have to accept they are a boutique electronics company like Nintendo. There's nothing wrong with that. Nintendo and Sony make fantastic games. I love my Switch. But, in the near or immediate future, not having an Xbox game pass sub will leave a massive hole in your game options, this is the MS strategy. They want to be Netflix of videogames, something everyone just has.

Again, massive, industry shifting news. I really wish I could see the Sony boardroom right now. They simply cannot respond to corporate warfare on this scale. Sony has dropped a lot of big Bombas in the last 10 years. MS just unleashed a nuke.
 
Last edited:
Toons

Toons

Member
hfyvlcA.jpg


Relevant
 
MaulerX

MaulerX

Member
IDKFA said:
My problem with that is surly this means an increase in GP prices?

70bn for the initial sale, but all of these extra staff Microsoft just acquired need to be paid, a load of new offices need to be operated (utility bills, coffee machines etc), basically there a shit ton of extra costs on top of just buying all these studios.

I thought they kept Minecraft multiplatform because it would be easier to recoup the costs as the game is hugely popular on all platforms? Serious question.
Click to expand...


Just remember they paid with cash.

This is money that was sitting in the bank somewhere collecting interest. Putting that same money into this means that it will bring them more money (Subscribers, sales, micro transactions etc...) than it would have just sitting there.

They absolutely don't have to cater to anyone to make their money. Minecraft was already multi-platform so they kept it that way. Same with Bethesda. New titles on the other hand...
 
SteelCurtain 59

SteelCurtain 59

Member
My main question is this quote from the announcement
"Activision Blizzard games are enjoyed on a variety of platforms and we plan to continue to support those communities moving forward."

That sounds like they're planning on a lot of multiplatform games, but at the same time they'd be losing so much money by not using those franchises as incentive for people to get into the Xbox ecosystem or buy Game Pass. So I'm not sure if this is just the kind of vague wording they used on Bethesda, or if they're actually planning on making something like COD multiplat still. As a franchise it's far bigger than even something like Elder Scrolls 6, so I could at least somewhat understand the argument to keeping it multiplat. But either way the back catalog and future Activision/Blizzard games coming to Game Pass is the real excitement about this deal. And fingers crossed this means they decide to make more Tony Hawk games or at least a 3+4 remake




RoyalLaFlame said:
Doesn't mean much. Have Halo wars games become system sellers? Do they actually sell that much? Or are they just niche games for the average Halo fan? Starcraft was born as a RTS franchise, loved by many. I'm not saying it will happen, but that's what I would do. Let Starcraft come back from the dead and let it shine as the ultimate Sci-fi RTS franchise from Xbox.
Click to expand...

I think at most we'd see a crossover between the games, and they'll probably continue to make both, but yeah Starcraft will be the one getting the most focus from Microsoft going forward I'd have to imagine
 
AV

AV

We ain't outta here in ten minutes, we won't need no rocket to fly through space
SF Kosmo said:
I am not confident in Blizzard's ability to deliver on these though. OW2 probably has the best shot.

I doubt we'll ever have a WoW2.
Click to expand...

You might have doubted that Microsoft would buy Actiblizz for 70 billion dollars, but here we are.

They haven't bought Actiblizz to let them continue rotting. Things are about to get shaken up and that will include a redistribution of workforce - Blizzard aren't just going to stay the same company with the same lack of talent and vision. Those IPs are incredibly valuable in the right hands. I'm not saying they can pull any of it off, but if they do, it's colossal.
 
Sub_Level

Sub_Level

wants to fuck an Asian grill.
fart town usa said:
For sure, just curious what it will do in terms of console sales. Will Sony people jump ship? Will they stick with Sony but also buy an XBOX console? Will these games be on PC (likely).

Peak living is having all the consoles but just not affordable for everyone. Interesting times for sure.
Click to expand...

It'll have a sales impact, but we're talking years from now. All PS5s are still selling out right as they hit store shelves (if indeed they hit shelves at all). Modern Warfare is still coming out on PS5 this year and will likely be one of the best selling PS5 games. And of course Sony is still manufacturing PS4 because its still selling well, especially in lower income markets.

MS knows all this too, that this is a long term investment.
 
thicc_girls_are_teh_best

thicc_girls_are_teh_best

Member
BusierDonkey said:
There are a lot of people that seem to think Actiblizz games are going to continue releasing on the PS5. When they bought Bethesda the same thing happened. A ton of people were convinced that Microsoft bought them and would continue making games for a competing platform forever.

After this deal I expect the same end result. Actiblizz games will appear on platforms that support Gamepass. The PS5 is still young and is having manufacturing shortages so Sony doesn't have the numbers they expected to at this point. This is the perfect opportunity for Microsoft to go for the throat.
Click to expand...
Well, I think any major MP/GaaS-focused games already out on PS will continue to get support there, the way ES Online and FO '76 do currently. And any games currently on PS getting extra content will continue to get additional DLC content, same as Bethesda. I also think that any deals currently signed in terms of timed exclusivity or marketing rights with Sony will probably remain, at least for this year's releases.

After that, though? Yeah, I definitely expect all future releases to be exclusive to the Xbox platforms and PC, and GamePass of course. Damn that warchest got opened the fucc up.
 
SoraNoKuni

SoraNoKuni

Member
Jesus christ that's like playing monopoly at the endgame when that one nerd has all the locations.

Sony will be fine I am sure but they have to answer somehow, IDGAF about what MS has bought, I don't play those games at all. But their mainstream appeal is huge and it puts great pressure on Sony.
 
SoggyBiscuit

SoggyBiscuit

Banned
Rivet said:
Remember Activision $70 billion price is only 350 times what Sony paid for Insomniac, so no reason to panic. No big deal.
Click to expand...
I know you're trolling but it's a bit different when you consider the considerable amount of IP and prestige/heritage some of the titles have that MS have acquired here.
 
Fredrik

Fredrik

Member
This is crazy. Absolutely crazy. Like how did this happen? When did this happen?? Didn’t they just bash them like days ago??
🤯
 
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
76K
MasterCornholio replied
  • Locked
FTC accuses Microsoft of misrepresenting its Activision Blizzard plans after layoffs
News
12
988
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