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Why are so many acting like every gaming company is up for grabs after the Activision deal?

GigaBowser

The bear of bad news
A lot of the commentary regarding the Activision deal is ridiculous.

Just because Activation was looking to be purchased doesn't mean every gaming company is suddenly on sale.

These companies are not going to get bought up unless they want to sell. Activision was actively LOOKING for a buyer.

Nobody is going to waste their time and money trying to pull some hostile takeover like Vivendi did with Ubisoft for those years and failed.
 
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SegaShack

Member
A lot of the commentary regarding the Activision deal is ridiculous.

Just because Activation was looking to be purchased doesn't mean every gaming company is suddenly on sale.

These companies are not going to get bought up unless they want to sell. Activision was actively LOOKING for a buyer.

Nobody is going to waste their time and money trying to pull some hostile takeover like Vivendi did with Ubisoft for those years and failed.
The more buyouts that happen, the more competition will do so to make the playing field level.

This has been going on for years but Activision is easily the biggest.

Not like it's all going to happen at once. It's a gradual thing.
 
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Because Executives like money, and nothing gets an executive more money than an M&A raising the value of their stock options.

The rest comes down to shareholder appetite. If they feel they can get a nice big payout, they'll be for it.
 

GigaBowser

The bear of bad news
It's been a trend recently. Not just Activision or MS. There's some studio acquisition announced nearly every month if you look at the entire industry.
The VAST majority gaming companies be it indie or large AAA don't wan't to be taken over to maintain financial and creative liberties over their business and never will.

There are outliers and always have been. This isn't a new "trend".
 
The VAST majority gaming companies be it indie or large AAA don't wan't to be taken over to maintain financial and creative liberties over their business and never will.

There are outliers and always have been. This isn't a new "trend".
Counterpoint: yes it is. It's not new, but has been increasing recently.
 

SegaShack

Member
What are you talking about here?
Just in general. Whether it's entertainment industry, defense industry, etc, you have periods of acquisitions that end up favoring the top dogs who can afford to compete.

Just look at Disney buying Marvel, Fox, and Star Wars. It's now nearly impossible to compete with them for film/tv.

Look at cable companies who have been merging/buying out smaller companies for decades. Now you pretty much only have a handful of companies.
 
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Fbh

Member
Because a week ago I'd have called any rumor stating MS (or Sony, or Nintendo) was about to buy Activision bullshit, and yet here we are. And this is after they got Bethesda not too long ago.

Of course not every company wants to be sold and not every company is up for grabs. But unless you somehow have insider information from all major gaming companies, then for the sake of discussion it's safe to assume any of them could eventually enter a similar deal.
 

Naked Lunch

Member
Sounds like MS beat Amazon and Apple to the punch to get Activision.
The Internet is really going to implode when a big gaming co gets bought out by said Amazon or Apple.
 

dem

Member
Sounds like MS beat Amazon and Apple to the punch to get Activision.
The Internet is really going to implode when a big gaming co gets bought out by said Amazon or Apple.

I realllllly doubt Apple was interested in Call of Duty. It doesn't go with the brand at all.

Nintendo, maybe.
 

GigaBowser

The bear of bad news
Everyone is up for sale at the right price..
Absolute rubbish.

Most companies are interested in preserving their corporate culture and maintaining complete financial and creative control over their business.

See Ubisoft/Vivideni or when MS got laughed out of the building when they put a bid on Nintendo as well known examples.
 
AAA Game development is getting more and more risky and these companies don't know what to do. That's part of the reason Activision also sold.

With Ubisoft suffering with delays left right and centre it's only a matter of time before they decide it's no longer worth it. Give these companies enough money to get out of this shithole and they'll take it.
 

SegaShack

Member
Yea thats kinda my point. Amazon or Apple is going to buy one of the popular gaming companies eventually.
I'm sure they will too and it will definitely suck.

Heck MS even has a terrible track record with their acquisitions so far. They bought up so many companies around 2014 that haven't even put out a game.

Rare is the biggest loss though, they were completely mismanaged. Now they make popular games again but they totally wasted the great talent in that company.
 

SegaShack

Member
AAA Game development is getting more and more risky and these companies don't know what to do. That's part of the reason Activision also sold.

With Ubisoft suffering with delays left right and centre it's only a matter of time before they decide it's no longer worth it. Give these companies enough money to get out of this shithole and they'll take it.
I can't imagine why these companies still insist on making titles that cost 200 million dollars.

They should be filling the digital storefronts with tons of games with low-moderate budgets,

Everyone trying to make a game as successful as 2007 CoD or Assassins Creed is quite a gamble.
 

RoadHazard

Gold Member
How do you know others don't want to cash out or get more security under a large owner? There's also such a thing as a hostile takeover (although that wouldn't be very good PR).
 
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Javthusiast

Banned
season 5 GIF by SpongeBob SquarePants
 
I can't imagine why these companies still insist on making titles that cost 200 million dollars.

They should be filling the digital storefronts with tons of games with low-moderate budgets,

Everyone trying to make a game as successful as 2007 CoD or Assassins Creed is quite a gamble.

Growth. That's really all it comes down to. They don't want the growth to stop so they'll keep chucking more and more money into the system until it breaks.
 

GigaBowser

The bear of bad news
AAA Game development is getting more and more risky and these companies don't know what to do. That's part of the reason Activision also sold.

With Ubisoft suffering with delays left right and centre it's only a matter of time before they decide it's no longer worth it. Give these companies enough money to get out of this shithole and they'll take it.
Ubisoft fought and won to keep their company afloat.

Companies like Take Two, EA, From, Square, Capcom ect. have been around forever and are making money hand over fist. If you think they're going to sell out now just because Activision was looking for a buyer I have a bridge to sell you.
 
Ubisoft fought and won to keep their company afloat.

Companies like Take Two, EA, From, Square, Capcom ect. have been around forever and are making money hand over fist. If you think they're going to sell out now just because Activision was looking for a buyer I have a bridge to sell you.
Squaresoft already merged once. I'm sure they'll avoid it as long as they can. Avengers didn't help, but they're doing fine. FROM has already been bought by the way.
 
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AmuroChan

Member
Ubisoft fought and won to keep their company afloat.

Companies like Take Two, EA, From, Square, Capcom ect. have been around forever and are making money hand over fist. If you think they're going to sell out now just because Activision was looking for a buyer I have a bridge to sell you.

From Soft already sold out. They were acquired by Kadokawa Corp in 2014.
 

GigaBowser

The bear of bad news
Simply because if Activision can be purchased...then there is no "too big to purchase" like previously assumed.

Doesn't take a genius to put that together.
They wanted to be purchased. It has nothing to do with size.

There are indie devs out there who you'd never be able to buy.
 
Ubisoft fought and won to keep their company afloat.

Companies like Take Two, EA, From, Square, Capcom ect. have been around forever and are making money hand over fist. If you think they're going to sell out now just because Activision was looking for a buyer I have a bridge to sell you.

Activision wasn't actively looking for a buyer. Microsoft came to them first. Activision was the biggest and most profitable out of all of them a nd they still went ahead and sold. Why? Because they're well aware of how fucked the AAA industry is.

You're kudding yourself if you believe the likes of Ubisoft and the rest aren't in the same boat.
 
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GigaBowser

The bear of bad news
Activision wasn't actively looking for a buyer. Microsoft came to them first. Activision was the biggest and most profitable out of all of them a nd they still went ahead and sold. Why? Because they're well aware of how fucked the AAA industry is.

You're kudding yourself if you believe the likes of Ubisoft and the rest aren't in the same boat.
Yes they were. EA was even up for consideration a potential buyer but they went with MS.
 
Yes they were. EA was even up for consideration a potential buyer but they went with MS.

No they weren't. Microsoft set the whole thing in motion. When someone comes to you with sn aquisition offer you naturaly go to find other potential buyers. The only ones with any amount of inerest were facebook and EA (which would have been a merger not an aquisition), but that's all it was. Interest.
 
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GigaBowser

The bear of bad news

Azelover

Titanic was called the Ship of Dreams, and it was. It really was.
A lot of the commentary regarding the Activision deal is ridiculous.

Just because Activation was looking to be purchased doesn't mean every gaming company is suddenly on sale.

These companies are not going to get bought up unless they want to sell. Activision was actively LOOKING for a buyer.

Nobody is going to waste their time and money trying to pull some hostile takeover like Vivendi did with Ubisoft for those years and failed.
Thank you :messenger_heart:
 
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