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Microsoft to Acquire Activision Blizzard

news.microsoft.com

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Re: Microsoft to Acquire Activision Blizzard

#261

Post by panick21_ »

atlasunshrugged wrote: post #34

I wonder if this will trigger any antitrust lawsuits. I know Microsoft isn't that of the 90's but it seems like the political situation is ripe for politicians to go after "big tech" and this is a pretty major acquisition that will help Xbox be the dominant player in terms of content.

Anti-Trust is not magic, its no longer a tool politicans can wield like a club against things they don't like. The courts have a definition and you actually have to prove abuse for those law-suits to do anything. Doing so if you can do it at all takes decades.

Unless politicians make major changes to the anti-trust law its unlikely to be effective. And doing so would require major action in congress.

The president could use non anti-trust actions as well of course. But rather unlikely.

Re: Microsoft to Acquire Activision Blizzard

#262

Post by duckmysick »

I always wondered, what are the exact steps between announcing to acquire and actually acquiring.

Especially this:

> Microsoft will acquire Activision Blizzard for $95.00 per share, in an all-cash transaction valued at $68.7 billion, inclusive of Activision Blizzard’s net cash. When the transaction closes, Microsoft will become the world’s third-largest gaming company by revenue, behind Tencent and Sony.

What exactly happens between now and "when the transaction closes"? How long does it take? Is there anything that would make it not close?

Re: Microsoft to Acquire Activision Blizzard

#264

Post by atlasunshrugged »

giorgioz wrote: post #237
atlasunshrugged wrote: post #34

I wonder if this will trigger any antitrust lawsuits. I know Microsoft isn't that of the 90's but it seems like the political situation is ripe for politicians to go after "big tech" and this is a pretty major acquisition that will help Xbox be the dominant player in terms of content.

ahah very appropriate comment given your nickname mention of Atlas Shrugged!

Ironically, I made that some years after a serious libertarian phase and the "Un" is supposed to be the operative part of that as while I am a big fan of individuality, hard work, and limited (albeit ideally very effective) government I very much appreciate now the importance of other parts of society and that life is far more complex than many libertarians (and even myself still) would like it to be and requires a lot of nuance

Re: Microsoft to Acquire Activision Blizzard

#265

Post by trey-jones »

ethbr0 wrote: post #217
intended wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would hope so, I dont see activision blizzard being a great acquistion.

Hopefully they fire most of the management, retain what technical talent they decide, and effectively reboot the entire company.

The IP is the real value here, so this seems likely.

Re: Microsoft to Acquire Activision Blizzard

#267

Post by _ph_ »

I wonder what this means for the classic IPs of Blizzard, like WarCraft, StarCraft and Diablo. Especially StarCraft could use an update - I would immediately buy a SC III for the Mac. Unfortunately, there was no update since SC II was ported to Metal some years ago.

Re: Microsoft to Acquire Activision Blizzard

#268

Post by sarsway »

boringg wrote: post #112
bitwize wrote: post #47

Earlier 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.

They do own those legacy games but sadly Starcraft is not going to be re-born anytime soon - maybe warcraft IV but we will see. What will happen to Bobby Kotick now?

Well Microsoft just released Age of Empires 4, which turned out surprisingly well, best RTS since Starcraft 2. I'd say chances we're going to see anything SC3 or WC4 related only went up by this. Maybe there will even be a WoW2 finally.

About time other studios get a chance to work with Blizzards IPs, they did well creating all those beautiful universes, but they struggle so much making just one new game every few years.

Re: Microsoft to Acquire Activision Blizzard

#269

Post by atlasunshrugged »

panick21_ wrote: post #261
atlasunshrugged wrote: post #34

I wonder if this will trigger any antitrust lawsuits. I know Microsoft isn't that of the 90's but it seems like the political situation is ripe for politicians to go after "big tech" and this is a pretty major acquisition that will help Xbox be the dominant player in terms of content.

Anti-Trust is not magic, its no longer a tool politicans can wield like a club against things they don't like. The courts have a definition and you actually have to prove abuse for those law-suits to do anything. Doing so if you can do it at all takes decades. Unless politicians make major changes to the anti-trust law its unlikely to be effective. And doing so would require major action in congress. The president co…

Sure, but sometimes the threat of doing something and having an acquisition mired in a lawsuit or the Prez using the bully pulpit against your co can be a serious deterrent from engaging in an acquisition as well.

Re: Microsoft to Acquire Activision Blizzard

#270

Post by curiousllama »

Someone1234 wrote: post #85
nobodyofnote wrote: post #33

Earlier 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).

I'm not so sure. Microsoft recently revived their Age of Empires franchise, and has has been pretty good about supporting it as an e-sport (sponsoring tournaments & streamers, reliably re-balancing, releasing updated versions, etc.). I wouldn't be surprised if they took a long term view for the much-larger-RTS Starcraft, especially given its size relative to AoE.
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