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Microsoft completes $69B deal to buy Activision Blizzard

theguardian.com

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Re: Microsoft completes $69B deal to buy Activision Blizzard

#61

Post by AlexandrB »

jnovek wrote: post #34
eigenket wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mostly its because Activision/Blizzard is such an obviously shitty terrible company that any deal that sees cool IPs taken out of their hands is seen as a positive thing.

Came here to say this. Activision has been such a poor steward of Blizzard's properties that I find them largely unplayable. It may be unlikely that Microsoft will course correct away from data-drive, engagement-focus mtx games, but I know Activision never will.

Rumor is that Bobby is stepping down once the acquisition closes, which is a good start.

Re: Microsoft completes $69B deal to buy Activision Blizzard

#62

Post by AlexandrB »

c0pium wrote: post #47
hx8 wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm more concerned that I won't have access to the games because I don't play on Xbox or Windows.

So you campaigned against Sony buying Bungie too, right?

I thought it was terrible news. But Bungie is so much smaller than ActiBlizz - they have one active franchise in one genre and maybe another one starting soon in roughly the same genre. Meanwhile ActiBlizz has something like a dozen popular franchises.

It's like the difference between Comcast buying a small, local ISP vs. Comcast buying Verizon in terms of scale and number of people impacted.

Re: Microsoft completes $69B deal to buy Activision Blizzard

#63

Post by izzydata »

AlexandrB wrote: post #60
TheRealDunkirk wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've argued about this deal on Twitter at length, and the prevailing sentiment of those who favor this acquisition comes down to one thing, and one thing only: getting more AAA games "for free" on Gamepass. Discovering why these people call this an "increase in competition" will be an exercise for future generations of intelligence researchers.

Can't wait for the wailing and gnashing of teeth when the free ride ends and Microsoft starts turning the screws on their (now captive) audience.

I give it a few years before GamePass is as much a month as a full price game and the only way to make it a good deal is to convince yourself they you were going to buy at least one full priced game a month anyway.

Re: Microsoft completes $69B deal to buy Activision Blizzard

#64

Post by birdyrooster »

njovin wrote: post #54
eigenket wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mostly its because Activision/Blizzard is such an obviously shitty terrible company that any deal that sees cool IPs taken out of their hands is seen as a positive thing.

Which games has MS shown good stewardship of? Halo is a shell of what it once was and has snubbed the players with false promises in recent iterations (couch co-op used to be a staple of Halo but they reneged on their promise to include it with the latest). AFAIK they haven't had any good exclusive IP for Xbox in a while. They've had a few dynamite hits (ex. Sunset Overdrive) but haven't followed up on any that I'm a…

Forza is pretty good

Re: Microsoft completes $69B deal to buy Activision Blizzard

#65

Post by hx8 »

c0pium wrote: post #47
hx8 wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm more concerned that I won't have access to the games because I don't play on Xbox or Windows.

So you campaigned against Sony buying Bungie too, right?

I've been campaigning against this consolidation since EA bought Westwood in '98.

Re: Microsoft completes $69B deal to buy Activision Blizzard

#66

Post by thfuran »

nine_k wrote: post #32
thfuran wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>If there are 100 roughly comparable companies, a merger happens, and 99 remain, the competition decreased, but the landscape is still competitive. But still less competitive than it was. So why allow a company like Microsoft to make the field less competitive when it could afford to compete instead of buying its competitors? I think a company even half as large or profitable as Microsoft should have to present a pre…

What if a company goes out of business, and fewer remain? Should it be even allowed to close? :) Mergers are different because they create fewer giants in the place where more smaller companies used to be. In extreme cases, it may have seriously bad consequences for broader public, and this is a reason to prevent a merger, or even split a monopoly. But this should be a rather extraordinary event.

Why isn't a company with a revenue roughly the same as the country of Belgium merging with a competitor a rather extraordinary event?

Re: Microsoft completes $69B deal to buy Activision Blizzard

#67

Post by deafpolygon »

dmonitor wrote: post #56
jokoon wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

it should

mainstream gaming is closer to crack addict culture than anything else once you start exploring gamedev, FGC, or retro gaming cultures, you find more interesting people that care about game mechanics. your average call of duty player would put up with the verification can system if it meant they keep getting their gaming fix.

kpop culture is closer to "crack addict culture" than mainstream gaming.

Re: Microsoft completes $69B deal to buy Activision Blizzard

#69

Post by r00fus »

manuelabeledo wrote: post #31
nerdjon wrote: post #28

We likely won't see any real effects of this until the next generation of consoles, but I think in 3-4 years it is going to be very interesting to see what happens with gaming. Putting Nintendo aside since they really don't compete, they are kinda just in their own "Nintendo" space and that isn't a bad thing. But Sony having some real competition is a good thing. Sony has a bad tendency of anti-consumer tendencies in…

> But Sony having some real competition is a good thing. Sony has a bad tendency of anti-consumer tendencies in their gaming space when they are the leader and they get cocky. They did it with the PS3 and they are repeating some of that with the PS5 generation. I'm curious about which "anti-consumer practices" Sony is responsible for, that Microsoft isn't. So far it seems to me that Sony did acquire some gaming studi…

This one was pretty bad:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sony_BMG_copy_protection_rootk...

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