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[GigaBowser]

Because it seems every major tech company is rushing to help craft what the Metaverse will be, and for some part of that strategy involves gobbling up content creators of all kinds.

I thought they discussed it pretty well in this podcast (sadly no transcript) :

Microsoft and the Metaverse (Published 2022)

Why are so many major companies investing in this new digital world — and what is it, anyway?

www.nytimes.com

The metaverse is bullshit fake news.

Microsoft, Activision, and everyone else need to cool it with the 'metaverse'

If you don't know what it means, don't say it.

www.windowscentral.com

 

[Nobody_Important]

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

Because they fucking are.

 

[Captain Toad]

Because they fucking are.

Lol, no they're not.

 

[Nobody_Important]

Lol, no they're not.

Yeah microsoft just spent 70 billion for one of the largest companies in the business that owns one of the most profitable franchises in the history of gaming. Surely all of the smaller and much more affordable studios are completely safe from Sony and Microsoft!

 

[CamHostage]

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.

It's also a console manufacturer (or, perhaps more importantly, a gaming service provider,) acquiring a publisher. We've had plenty of studio acquisitions over the years, as well as the occasional publisher-to-publisher merger, but rolling whole publishers into a mega-publisher like this is different and starts to define a future for the games business that can't be passed off as "business as usual". I don't know that there will be flurries of company acquisitions, (even if Nintendo could use the additional offices, it doesn't feel like Nintendo's play for them to buy up big players even if they could, especially if it were to keep some aspects of business going on alternate platforms like MS is doing so far with Bethesda and Activision.) And it is maybe a worthy counterpoint that, if Disney is the get-big-fast model in the entertainment business for what MS may be building for itself, there's not yet been the same consolidation of major distributors in film or television in response to Disney buying the Fox brands. However, every publisher is taking note of this action to consider how it might affect their future interests and options.

 

[jigglet]

Everyone is up for sale at the right price..

Except SquareEnix. Shame is a big part of Japanese culture. Don't make me bust out my expert knowledge.

 

[The Alien]

Probably has something to do with, I dunno, maybe the dozens of acquisitions that have been occurring over the last 24 months.

Gaming acquisitions in the past year | Crunchbase

Acquisition search results

www.crunchbase.com

 

[Vognerful]

Guys you can do whatever you want but don't touch Supergiants.

 

[Robb]

Why not. I mean sure, not everyone is looking to sell, but we don’t know who is or isn’t. I for one never expected Bethesda or ActivisionBlizzard to be bought.

Going by that it doesn’t seem unreasonable to me that there are a lot more studios/publishers who would be willing to sell out there.

 

[EDMIX]

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.

Cause Activision was bought in the first place lol


I'm sorry man, but when Zenimax and Activision get bought by a first party, its clear anything can happen and to pretend as if any of the guesses being made is impossible is now pretty silly.

Anything can happen after those deals. Imagine trying to tell us this, yet MS just bought Activision, I'd argue before this deal you could have made the same argument and clearly would be wrong =)

 

[01011001]

EA will be bought next. the question is who will buy it? Microsoft? Tencent?

Ubisoft is harder to get because the Guillemot family really doesn't want to lose control over it

 

[GigaBowser]

EA will be bought next. the question is who will buy it? Microsoft? Tencent?

Ubisoft is harder to get because the Guillemot family really doesn't want to lose control over it

I seriously doubt that. EA was just trying to buy out Activison. Clearly they want to expand.

 

[remember_spinal]

$117 billion worth of games industry acquisitions took place in 2021

A new global report has highlighted 2021 as a major turning point for video games, with $117 billion worth of industry deals taking place.

www.gameshub.com

 

[Fare thee well]

Idk why. I'm just happy MS didn't merge with EA or Ubisoft... though, I wouldn't mind them yoinking some of their IPs away, esp rainbow six and Star Wars titles

 

[IllegalLemon]

Spoiler: This is going to be a long one

Hey you guys, you can't just bust into the building of any publisher and hold the executives and founders at gunpoint, demanding that they sign a paper and sell to you. Bethesda were in dire straits back before Microsoft acquired them and put themselves up for grabs with many big guns out there entering a bidding war for Bethesda's head, with Microsoft eventually gaining the upper hand and getting to them first. Same happened with Activision in this situation. They were the subject of sexual misconduct allegations and mishandling, ran by a ceo who never took strides in addressing those issues and who eventually had a taste of that same poison, with people harassing him online(& rightfully so). So what better way to get away from those problems, than putting your company up for sale for the highest bidder, then sailing off into the sunset with hundreds of millions in severance checks after the deal is complete, while forgetting everything that happened and leaving someone else to handle the mess you've made.

WB was also being sold by AT&T for more than 20 billion almost 18 months ago, and were Microsoft's prime acquisition target, before AT&T backed away from the sale and took it down, later handing the publisher to Discovery Inc who are now in the process of merging with WBIE in a merger that is worth upwards of 40 billion dollars. You can't just demand from companies who ain't willing to sell, to bow to your demands.

The Japanese or any Asian company for that matter, have an immense pride in themselves and would rather stay how they are when their business is healthy, than sell to any American company plus, Japanese law regarding M&A's works drastically different compared to American law on such matters. It's a lot more difficult for an American company to acquire a Japanese one due to how differently the Japanese system works.

Now, I know that anything can sell given the right price, but you can't just force an acquisition on someone. TakeTwo makes a living nickel & diming players for the biggest profit and Ubisoft's founder has been fending off acquisition offers left and right, including hostile ones(Vivendi) for years, that should tell people they're not willing to sell, regardless what gaming journos want people to believe. Same goes for a plethora of Japanese publishers, such as Square Enix, Sega, Capcom, Koei Tecmo, Bandai Namco, Kadokawa, Konami and many others, they're doing fine and I'm pretty sure it's much easier for Sony than Microsoft to acquire one of those (even though they won't) because they're Japanese. Will that stop Microsoft? I don't think so, they'll probably attempt to go after someone else, like Deep Silver for instance who are headquartered somewhere in Europe, and if they don't want to be sold, Microsoft can't just coerce them into bowing to them. You can't always have everything you want, and even Microsoft's trillions won't always convince devs to give up their freedom, in order to join another megaconglomerate. I'll paraphrase what I said above, by saying that, you can have all the money in the world, but that doesn't give you the right to use your wealth and status to bully other companies into joining you, if they're not up for sale, they simply don't want to sell and you have to respect that.

 

[BaneIsPain]

People love to play

 

[Kerotan]

Because they've bought Bethesda, about 10 independent studios some of which preferred playstation over xbox and now Activision. Most viewed Activision as too big to buy and yet here were are. Every other publisher like EA and T2 are game now. Fuck MS.

 

[Banjo64]

Everyone is up for sale at the right price..

Nintendo weren’t.

 

[kyussman]

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.

Unless it's Ubisoft......nothing of value would be lost at this point,lol.

 

[Negotiator101]

Everyone's for sale for the right price, don't ever think otherwise.

 

[TwiztidElf]

The point I haven't seen raised is that Japanese companies are apparently notoriously difficult to acquire due to Japanese trade laws.
So I watch Max (much respect), and he says Sony should look towards Capcom and SquareEnix. Maybe as Sony is a Japanese company (kind of), it would be easier for them?
Point is, despite some Japanese big companies that own big IPs, they can't just be 'snapped up' so to speak.

 

[ManaByte]

People love to play

People really don't know what that word means.

Microsoft (AFTER the deal closes) will be #3 after Sony and Tencent. No one who keeps screaming "MONOPOLY" can explain how the #3 company with just 12% of the overall gaming market is a MONOPOLY.

 

[Ass of Can Whooping]

People really don't know what that word means.

Microsoft (AFTER the deal closes) will be #3 after Sony and Tencent. No one who keeps screaming "MONOPOLY" can explain how the #3 company with just 12% of the overall gaming market is a MONOPOLY.

You're being naive if you don't think consolidations like this lead to monopolies

 

[BaneIsPain]

People really don't know what that word means.

Microsoft (AFTER the deal closes) will be #3 after Sony and Tencent. No one who keeps screaming "MONOPOLY" can explain how the #3 company with just 12% of the overall gaming market is a MONOPOLY.

I don't mean Microsoft specifically but in generals. Fanboys love to see domination which is normal especially in gaming.

 

[Kokoloko85]

They’re still smaller than Sony or Tencent. So how is #3 a monopoly. Or do you not know what the word really means?

If there smaller than Sony and Tencent how did they afford 70billion and have way more money than Sony?
Because Xbox is MS and they using MS money which is bigger than number “1” and “2”.

Xbox division doesnt say o no, we dont have that kind of money because we’re in 4th place, they say hey we have MS money, it doesnt matter how little our game division makes, we will never go under and can spend what we want.

 

[Kokoloko85]

Because companies like MS, Amazon, Google can afford to buy these gaming companies easily. Even if they do nothing with them and make no true profit from them they can afford it easily

 

[Badlucktroll]

People are fantasizing that Sony is going to scoop up Capcom, Konami, From, Square ENIX, and Take-Two. I do have a feeling that Kadokawa and Square-Enix will be under Sony this year. Just watch.

 

[IllegalLemon]

If there smaller than Sony and Tencent how did they afford 70billion and have way more money than Sony?
Because Xbox is MS and they using MS money which is bigger than number “1” and “2”.

Xbox division doesnt say o no, we dont have that kind of money because we’re in 4th place, they say hey we have MS money, it doesnt matter how little our game division makes, we will never go under and can spend what we want.

We're talking about the revenues of their gaming division, which are calculated separately from their OS,Networking & Cloud ones. Currently, they are the third largest gaming division by revenue, surpassed by Sony & Tencent.

 

[Clear]

I highly doubt that 12 months ago MS thought that acquiring ABK was a realistic proposition, even though they could always afford it. So you can never say never, but objectively I highly doubt MS can support much more than they've taken on, at least in the short term. This sort of rapid expansion is inherently unstable because it requires so much coordination in terms of production and publishing, and given that gaming itself is hardly the most stable and predictable market on a product level...

 

[JohnnyFootball]

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.

 

[Kokoloko85]

We're talking about the revenues of their gaming division, which are calculated separately from their OS,Networking & Cloud ones. Currently, they are the third largest gaming division by revenue, surpassed by Sony & Tencent.

If we’re talking revenue it doest matter if they are 1st or 10th. They have the most money and can do what they want, including buy the competition

 

[PhaseJump]

If not Microsoft buying companies, it would be a more disruptive alternative. Imagine Amazon owning more studios and technology. Imagine Google or Apple actually dragging the industry into exclusives for Stadia or Arcade. It is uncertainty.

I don't trust Sony since they took a huge shit on customers back when PSN was new, root kits in their media, spyware in their client, Vita adopters getting fucked and needing expensive storage, spyware/console to access the digital games, no support for back compat. Pc porting is turning it around for me though, they are getting better. PS5 is too ugly to consider.

Microsoft is the lesser evil here. They have the resources to maintain the multiplatform status quo. All they need is Japanese support, which would easily come from Bandai Namco being given a platform of their own to push, Sega Sammy being paid absurd cash for the blue hedgehog merchandising. Even Falcom, an old RPG house like Square and Enix, finally being given resources to expand and grow in a similar way.

 

[TheGodfather07]

This is just the start. I expect things to level out a little bit and Sony end up with square enix and kadokawa over the next few years. There's a chance of capcom too. Microsoft could get another western publisher in a few years too. EA would be lame. Ubisoft would be good with the ip they have.

 

[John Wick]

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.

All companies have a price. If the right buyer and offer come in they will sell.
Nintendo would be hard to buy because it's probably protected by the Japanese government and the shareholders don't want to sell to an American company.
Ubisoft won because Vivendi were worse. Who would want them as owners?

 

[John Wick]

If not Microsoft buying companies, it would be a more disruptive alternative. Imagine Amazon owning more studios and technology. Imagine Google or Apple actually dragging the industry into exclusives for Stadia or Arcade. It is uncertainty.

I don't trust Sony since they took a huge shit on customers back when PSN was new, root kits in their media, spyware in their client, Vita adopters getting fucked and needing expensive storage, spyware/console to access the digital games, no support for back compat. Pc porting is turning it around for me though, they are getting better. PS5 is too ugly to consider.

Microsoft is the lesser evil here. They have the resources to maintain the multiplatform status quo. All they need is Japanese support, which would easily come from Bandai Namco being given a platform of their own to push, Sega Sammy being paid absurd cash for the blue hedgehog merchandising. Even Falcom, an old RPG house like Square and Enix, finally being given resources to expand and grow in a similar way.

Yes that's correct. MS is our friend, everyone else is evil and in it for the money. Sounds exactly like Phil. As if MS is any better than any other corporation lmfao. MS just don't want the other mega corps giving them headache and competition in the gaming sector.

 

[PhaseJump]

Yes that's correct. MS is our friend, everyone else is evil and in it for the money. Sounds exactly like Phil. As if MS is any better than any other corporation lmfao. MS just don't want the other mega corps giving them headache and competition in the gaming sector.

I said lesser evil, not friend. Microsoft has precedent behind it that is favorable to consumers, studios in need of resources, and support putting their games on other platforms. Tencent, Google, Apple, or Amazon are the big unknown alternative. It's the devil we know.

 

[yurinka]

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

Probably because Kotick is 59 years old and wants to retire soon, plus an acquisition would help in terms of PR to get rid of the controversy while helping the ABK investors (as Kotick, who is confirmed to continue as CEO) to earn a ton of money.

Plus CoD was on a sales decline, Vanguard didn't perform as good as desired even if they had all their teams, WoW has their own things with FFXIV and others taking over the MMORPG lead, Blizzard development controversies with Overwatch or Diablo, key staff leaving, workers causing controversies with harassment stuff, random layoffs and other isues, etc.

So it was a key moment for an acquisition for them, since whoever bought it would have to handle the shit show circus pretty likely under a new management. It's a very specific moment where it was good for ABK to sell, in normal conditions they wouldn't be interested on selling.

Traditionally companies want to sell because they are in awful financial conditions and to sell is their only option to go bankrupt, because they are stuck and can't grow if it isn't merging with someone or selling the company to someone who can help them in other key areas where they want to grow or something like that.

EA, Take 2, Square Enix, Ubisoft, Bandai Namco, Epic, Valve, Konami, Sega or Capcom aren't in this situation so very likely they won't want to sell. And well, the Japanese government doesn't allow to sell Nintendo or Sony to foreigners.

 

[SegaShack]

Gotcha! Yeah you're right. Sony's strategy will be VERY interesting to watch considering they can't compete "money-wise" with MS when it comes to M&As. To me PSVR2 has become 500% more important to Sony and the Playstation business. It's a place that MS hasn't touched and is a clear differentiator.

I agree, very smart when a company differentiates its product from a competitor.

 

[IllegalLemon]

Probably because Kotick is 59 years old and wants to retire soon, plus an acquisition would help in terms of PR to get rid of the controversy while helping the ABK investors (as Kotick, who is confirmed to continue as CEO) to earn a ton of money.

Plus CoD was on a sales decline, Vanguard didn't perform as good as desired even if they had all their teams, WoW has their own things with FFXIV and others taking over the MMORPG lead, Blizzard development controversies with Overwatch or Diablo, key staff leaving, workers causing controversies with harassment stuff, random layoffs and other isues, etc.

So it was a key moment for an acquisition for them, since whoever bought it would have to handle the shit show circus pretty likely under a new management. It's a very specific moment where it was good for ABK to sell, in normal conditions they wouldn't be interested on selling.

Traditionally companies want to sell because they are in awful financial conditions and to sell is their only option to go bankrupt, because they are stuck and can't grow if it isn't merging with someone or selling the company to someone who can help them in other key areas where they want to grow or something like that.

EA, Take 2, Square Enix, Ubisoft, Bandai Namco, Epic, Valve, Konami, Sega or Capcom aren't in this situation so very likely they won't want to sell. And well, the Japanese government doesn't allow to sell Nintendo or Sony to foreigners.

Japanese trade law makes it insanely difficult for one of their own to be sold to anyone besides to other companies or corporations within their own country. If Microsoft could acquire one of those easily(including sega), they would've done so a million times already ,I don't think there would be anything to stop them or hold them back. Besides heavily enforced trade laws of course.

 

[oldergamer]

This move by Microsoft will spur a frenzy.

I see Sony making a big purchase 4 months from now (that usually how long these things take).

Buying EA or TakeTwo.
Then spinning out the sport games sector of the business as it’s own company. Adding the San Diego Studio. Sony remaining as a significant investor, perhaps at 51%. Either end up being named 2K or EA games, depending on which studio they end up purchasing.

With rest of the studios joining Playstation studios.

I see them buying/merging with Nintendo, not to combat Microsoft. But to combat Tencent and Meta. Making a formable opponent in Japan against all these tech giants.


This is silly. Zenimax Media and Activision Blizzard make a large portion of Playstation’s profits. All these games sell more on Playstation. Microsoft has already stated they will make portion of their content exclusively for xbox. Sony will have to fill in that gap.

This is monopolistic behavior. But no they arent a monopoly. But I doubt they would be able to purchase another major publisher.

That is uper unrealistic. Sony cant afford to buy EA or Rockstar. Why do people keep suggesting it?

Ea would sell for similar or more then activision imo.

 

[John Wick]

That is uper unrealistic. Sony cant afford to buy EA or Rockstar. Why do people keep suggesting it?

Ea would sell for similar or more then activision imo.

Why do you and others keep on writing this rubbish that Sony can't afford to buy a certain company? There are more ways than just buying out with cash. If a company badly needs or wants another company deals can be made.
This buying spree by MS will have alerted the other mega corporations. There'll be other big publishers and studios getting bought soon.
I hope Apple, Google Amazon etc all buy some just for the meltdowns...

 

[Oddvintagechap]

That is uper unrealistic. Sony cant afford to buy EA or Rockstar. Why do people keep suggesting it?

Ea would sell for similar or more then activision imo.

Wrong. Companies can use cash, take on debt, offer stock, etc.

and

Super wrong. EA is a significantly smaller company than Activision, about half.