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How Call Of Duty Could Improve If Microsoft Deal Goes Through, According To Activision Boss

havoc00

Member
Microsoft is in the process of acquiring Activision Blizzard and all of its studios and franchises, including Call of Duty. If the deal gets done, Activision president Rob Kostich believes the Call of Duty franchise stands to benefit by virtue of being able to leverage Microsoft's vast resources.

"Being able to tap into Microsoft's technology and suite of tools would benefit our teams to create even greater, more immersive experiences for our players," Kostich told Games Beat. "Ultimately, it's about bringing our development team's creative visions to life in this hyper competitive environment."

Kostich went on to say that being acquired by Microsoft is an "extraordinary opportunity" for Activision Blizzard. He wouldn't discuss the buyout much further, however, saying, "We still need to allow the regulatory process to run its course."

"As we've said previously, this deal is good for the industry and will bring more games to more players," Kostich explained.

 

supernova8

Banned
"Being able to tap into Microsoft's technology and suite of tools would benefit our teams to create even greater, more immersive experiences for our players," Kostich told Games Beat. "Ultimately, it's about bringing our development team's creative visions to life in this hyper competitive environment."
I'm wondering specifically what "technology and suite of tools" he's referring to. Activision-Blizzard is a successful company with massive development resources and enough money to pay for whatever technology it thinks it needs. Hard to tell what more they really need.

Plus it's not like Microsoft/Xbox is 100% on the mark in terms of pumping out games like clockwork, unlike ActiBliz which is pretty consistent. The only thing Xbox can give them is money, which I don't think would result in better games than what they're producing right now anyway.

If they could solve problems with money alone then we wouldn't have dodgy launches like Sea of Thieves (lack of content at launch) Halo Infinite (missing lots of features and delayed to shit), Redfall (say no more, even the diehards cannot defend it), and Starfield (comparatively solid launch but it does seem a bit eh in terms of space exploration versus what they explicitly and implicitly promised).

(Almost as if they didn't need to be acquired by anyone and should've just stayed independent but hey it is what it is).
 
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Killjoy-NL

Member
"More games to more gamers"

Just like GamePass....

Weren't there plans to turn COD into a Warzone-like GaaS game?
I don't see COD doing anything much differently under MS.
 

Represent.

Represent(ative) of bad opinions
I wish I could tell whoever is in charge of decision making that this guys lying through his teeth

Or at MINIMUM, that’s not true at all.

MS is going to milk these games like no tomorrow. Mobile. Switch. Your new TV. And you can drink the cloud and dlss kool aid all you like, but it will effect the game on other platforms
 

FeralEcho

Member
Those "vast resources" sure worked well for the other IP's MS bought...lol
Call of Duty is dead to me anyway, I'm glad it'll all be available on gamepass so i can play all the good ones there.
 

BlueLyria

Member
The community hates new maps lol, and the aesthetics ship has sailed the packs sell and are a money maker.
It does not feel good buying a game that has the same content as an older one.

And yeah, the more outlandish packs are the ones selling rn, but back on Mw2019, it had mostly fitting packs (except for late season 5 / 6, where we got shit like the halloween packs), Cold War also had a more liberal approach but that was from the get go, Mw 2 was supposed to keep the more realistic approach, instead we have some of the weirdest fucking skins. Honestly they suck. Hard. And it was the one cod I hoped the skins wouldn't carry forward. MW2's approach has burned me from MW3 (Besides that it's being made by Sledgehammer, and Vanguard burned me on them).

God I hope Treyarch cod is good, because it's gonna be another year without cod for me.
 

supernova8

Banned
The infamous tools...

I always felt call of duty was being held back by the lack of tools
Plenty of ... tools... on both sides, won't name names though

Sarcastic Well Done GIF by CBC
 
(Almost as if they didn't need to be acquired by anyone and should've just stayed independent but hey it is what it is).

They have been acquired before. Vivendi owned them. They tried to sell Activision at a ridiculous price, and no one bought. Instead, they “allowed” Activision to borrow a lot of money to buy its independence from Vivendi.

Vivendi is a French conglomerate and in my opinion has not been managed very well. If I remember correctly, Activision, as a company, is currently worth about $93 billion and Vicendi is worth about $9 billion. At the time, I think they sold Activision to cover losses in their music division.

They tried selling Activision way back when World of Warcraft and CoD were at peak popularity. No one wanted to buy because they wanted so much money, but Bobby Kotick worked a deal to go independent. Activision had to borrow so much money that some shareholders actually sued because the debt temporarily devalued their stock.
 

Ozriel

M$FT
I wish I could tell whoever is in charge of decision making that this guys lying through his teeth

Or at MINIMUM, that’s not true at all.

MS is going to milk these games like no tomorrow. Mobile. Switch. Your new TV. And you can drink the cloud and dlss kool aid all you like, but it will effect the game on other platforms

Imagine posting this when you know COD has been on mobile for years, and when you know Activision was already planning to bring COD to Switch 2

You people crack me up
 

King Dazzar

Member
Hmm, maybe. Possibly access to other resource if needed. I could see having access to other engines might be exciting for them. But I've always thought the results they already get are usually pretty impressive, just often lacking polish, no doubt due to aggressive release time lines. I've not really noticed a cross studio team feel from MS, but maybe its going on but we just dont see it. It always appears pretty autonomous to me.
 

Represent.

Represent(ative) of bad opinions
Imagine posting this when you know COD has been on mobile for years, and when you know Activision was already planning to bring COD to Switch 2

You people crack me up
That only solidifies what Im saying. 3 going on 4 years into the gen and the new COD's are still cross gen trash. With no end in sight. The next COD will be on PS4 again. The ambition is gone. MS buying it, with their stupid "play everything, everywhere" approach you seem to love will only stifle ambition further.

Imagine actually believing the PR fluff Kostich vomits out.
 
Microsoft won’t change a thing about Call of Duty. The game is so hugely successful that they would be fucking crazy to touch it and just let it carry on as is.
 

Ozriel

M$FT
That only solidifies what Im saying. 3 going on 4 years into the gen and the new COD's are still cross gen trash. With no end in sight. The next COD will be on PS4 again. The ambition is gone.

weird how of your top 5 games of the gen so far, all but one are cross gen

USKQN2g.jpg


But suddenly cross gen becomes ‘trash’ when its an Activision shooter.

MS buying it, with their stupid "play everything, everywhere" approach you seem to love will only stifle ambition further.

The same Microsoft that’s moved all AAA first party games to Xbox Series only?


Imagine actually believing the PR fluff Kostich vomits out.

All I did in my initial response to you was point out that COD has long since been on Mobile, and internal Activision docs show they were already on course to support the next gen Switch.
 

ReBurn

Gold Member
I wish I could tell whoever is in charge of decision making that this guys lying through his teeth

Or at MINIMUM, that’s not true at all.

MS is going to milk these games like no tomorrow. Mobile. Switch. Your new TV. And you can drink the cloud and dlss kool aid all you like, but it will effect the game on other platforms
Isn't Activision already milking them like there's no tomorrow? They have, like, every studio they own working on cranking out COD to everything all the time. Hard to see how MS could squeeze anything else out of it.
 
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NickFire

Member
I mean it is an extraordinary opportunity to cash out for AB. But short of that this feels like gaslighting. They already have some top IP's with COD churning out a new top selling game every year. There aren't many rungs on the ladder they can still climb at the moment. And the new parent company doesn't have a great recent track record for nurturing existing games.
 

adamsapple

Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
How come obsidian and inxile didn't share quest design ideas and design choices with Bethesda for Starfield then?

If Starfield had begun development after the acquisition then perhaps.

But now that they're under the same roof, imagine a Starfield: New Vegas helmed by Obsidian.
 
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