My read on this: a lot of the key talent at Blizzard has left or been let go - if Activision stuck it out another year you would see their stock dip lower on bad news around Overwatch 2/Diablo 4/WoW. This is a great way for the shareholders to cash out before that happens and leave Microsoft to deal with it.
Microsoft to Acquire Activision Blizzard
191–200 of 1001 posts
Re: Microsoft to Acquire Activision Blizzard
#192The most important question I have is: will they replace Bobby Kotick? EDIT: "Bobby Kotick will continue to serve as CEO of Activision Blizzard. [...] he and his team will maintain their focus on driving efforts to further strengthen the company’s culture." Shame on you, Microsoft.
I would _guess_ that ousting a CEO AND acquiring the core company at the same time are expensive propositions - I'd also guess that MSFT fully plans to address the leadership issue there (Kotick) but going to give him a year to age out of the newly acquired company and take his golden parachute elsewhere.
Smaller M&A where it's easier to swap the leader (like a startup - which most of us are used to) is MUCH easier/cheaper/faster than swapping out an established CEO of a public company.
They'll do it because he's a liability and they want to make a statement to the new company - but it'll be slow.
Re: Microsoft to Acquire Activision Blizzard
#193All cash deal. Yup. Inflation is going to eat all of your cash pile Microsoft so you better spend it fast.
But my thinking is that they should've acquired Valve which controls digital PC gaming distribution not big gaming studios like Zenimax and Activision Blizzard.
Re: Microsoft to Acquire Activision Blizzard
#194Blizzard defined my childhood with diablo 2, starcraft, and warcraft 3, wow. But even the sequels (SC2, D3) and remakes (D2:R) never recaptured that magic.
Is the blizzard IP actually worth that much these days?
Re: Microsoft to Acquire Activision Blizzard
#195Earlier quoted context omitted.
I share your dismay. Even if you're someone who doesn't care about the issues that have come to light over the past year, the blatant mismanagement (dare I say running into the ground) of the once golden Blizzard portfolio has been painful as a long-time Starcraft 2 fan. For a moment, I was truly hopeful that we might see some reinvigoration for blundered projects like the Warcraft III reforged. Perhaps even some hop…
Everything under Blizzard's portfolio feels like it has been left to rot. The only thing they seem to put effort into is their Pay-To-Win card game, Hearthstone. Unfortunately even under new management I don't see Starcraft getting much love, the focus is now on cross-platform games and RTS games are PC only (which is a small niche compared to the overall market).
Wait, did they start putting effort into Hearthstone? I stopped playing a couple of years ago. To me, the bellwether is whether the game still locks up for a second right before a match starts as it synchronously produces a megabyte of logs or something.
The game never really felt that great after Ben Brode left. Battlegrounds was pretty OK though.
Re: Microsoft to Acquire Activision Blizzard
#196No acquisition of this size should ever be allowed. This is way too much consolidation. Microsoft is buying their way to becoming the #2 or #3 gaming company in the world. They should have to innovate and compete their way to the #2 or #3 gaming company in the world.
Who is going to be able to compete with Xbox Game Pass?
Re: Microsoft to Acquire Activision Blizzard
#197I wish Apple can also acquire some game studios to produce games on MacOS...
Re: Microsoft to Acquire Activision Blizzard
#198The most important question I have is: will they replace Bobby Kotick? EDIT: "Bobby Kotick will continue to serve as CEO of Activision Blizzard. [...] he and his team will maintain their focus on driving efforts to further strengthen the company’s culture." Shame on you, Microsoft.
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Re: Microsoft to Acquire Activision Blizzard
#199> Upon close, we will offer as many Activision Blizzard games as we can within Xbox Game Pass and PC Game Pass, both new titles and games from Activision Blizzard’s incredible catalog. [Xbox PR] > The acquisition also bolsters Microsoft’s Game Pass portfolio with plans to launch Activision Blizzard games into Game Pass [MS PR] In case anyone still doubts that Microsoft is all-in on Game Pass.
If they want to be all-in on game pass, then they should actually go all in. As somebody who just got game pass, I feel kinda cheated for what I get; All the games offered there are the “f2p” versions, even MS first party titles like Halo only offer the “default” versions to play “for free” when paying a monthly subscription. It’s like those free versions Epic hands out; They are playable, but they usually lack any a…
What is Halo missing? MCC and infinite have all the relevant content, unless you wanted a dress-up game instead of an FPS.
Re: Microsoft to Acquire Activision Blizzard
#200Earlier quoted context omitted.
Microsoft owns CoD, Doom, Quake, Minecraft, Fallout, Elder Scrolls, and soon Warcraft, Starcraft, and Overwatch. They're becoming the Disney of gaming, which is scary, but hey, Microsoft gonna Microsoft.
>>> Disney of Gaming Yes. I mean the sub-headline is XboxGamePass is now 25M+ subscribers. Logical next step isn't even games: it's convergence. Curious we don't see similar consolidation in the Japanese market: Square Enix, Konami, Capcom, Tecmo, Bandai Namco, From. Even Nintendo. All seem attractive targets, no?
Maybe it is just my ignorance, but that type of consolidation seems rare in any market in Japan, not just gaming.