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Microsoft to Acquire Activision Blizzard

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Re: Microsoft to Acquire Activision Blizzard

#371

Post by wombat-man »

rkalla wrote: post #192
1_player wrote: post #2

The 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/c…

yeah, it's going to take a little time for Microsoft to worm its fingers in there and get a feel for a massive org like that. I've got a feeling Kotick is going to be out of there within a few years.

Re: Microsoft to Acquire Activision Blizzard

#372

Post by robertlagrant »

wongarsu wrote: post #207
raxxorrax wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think for gaming this is pretty negative that everything is consolidated under large developers. I also don't think that the atmosphere under Microsoft will be better than under Activision. I hope PC gaming can detach from Microsoft as soon as possible to be honest.

> I hope PC gaming can detach from Microsoft as soon as possible to be honest In what way is PC gaming attached to Microsoft? Microsoft Game Studios doesn't have a lot of market share in PC games besides Minecraft, and the industry is very diverse. Most games happen to run on Windows, but apart from DirectX they have resisted every attempt from Microsoft to use that in any way. If PC gaming is attached to anyone it's…

Microsoft are using their platform positions to sell games on Xbox and PC in one, which others can't compete with (because Xbox is a closed market), and their deep pockets to fund Xbox Pass mean it is a little combative rather than genuinely competitive.

Re: Microsoft to Acquire Activision Blizzard

#373

Post by soderfoo »

enkid wrote: post #81
madeofpalk wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think there should be more (gaming) companies, and (gaming) companies should not be owned by the platforms, so I see this as a pretty big negative for the industry and customers. Congrats to Phil on his resume bump I guess.

There actually are a ton of gaming companies right now. The indie game space seems to be much healthier and accessible than say, the indie movie business. I hardly buy AAA titles anymore because you can get so many good games for under $20 dollars made by independent studios. Of course, this is based on mostly staying on PC and Steam. I would suspect consoles are not as indie friendly, but it does seem like they have…

The group of truly indie studios is dwindling unfortunately.

Tencent and Microsoft have both spread a lot of money around. Perhaps for varying reasons, namely MS needs to make up for the lack of titles developed for the Xbox Series, and add titles to Game Pass to make it more a more attractive offering.

Re: Microsoft to Acquire Activision Blizzard

#374

Post by ethbr0 »

lvass wrote: post #116
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.

Haven't you heard? They <3 Linux now, they'll never use their position to lock people into their platforms again. They even promised they'll be good.

Can we take a moment to appreciate the irony of decrying platform lock-in when talking about the company that successfully launched a new gaming console against... Nintendo and Sony?

The world, it be complicated, yo.

Re: Microsoft to Acquire Activision Blizzard

#377

Post by sascha_sl »

4e530344963049 wrote: post #249
s3r3nity wrote: post #16

Congratulations to Phil Spencer, who started out leading an upstart team at Microsoft for a new game console called "Xbox" and is now "CEO of Microsoft Gaming" - a Microsoft Senior Leadership position. Oh, and he now leads the third biggest gaming company on the planet: > When the transaction closes, Microsoft will become the world’s third-largest gaming company by revenue, behind Tencent and Sony. It will be interes…

Does CoD become an Xbox/Windows exclusive?

Console exclusivity is no longer the driving force for revenue, that's GamePass.

Selling full versions everywhere else is good business, we saw that from both Microsoft and Sony making more PC ports - and for Xbox it is yet another driver into their subscription model.

Re: Microsoft to Acquire Activision Blizzard

#378

Post by ChildOfChaos »

parkingrift wrote: post #325
unethical_ban wrote: post #297

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Counterpoint: It's gaming. It is a space with a low barrier to (indie) entry and it is not part of some critical infrastructure. Maybe it is lamentable, but I am not sure antitrust would be my way to go for this.

It will be tough to sell $60 games when you can get the entire library of Microsoft games, plus their partner networks, for $10/month. Not to mention the potential platform abuses whereby MS can now gate their property behind Windows and Xbox. And I’m not even that creative. Surely MS will get a return on their $70,000,000,000 investment whether it’s better for the gaming economy and consumers, or not.

I get this, but this is what bothers me sometimes with these laws, because getting all these games for $10 is better for the consumer, that is why it dominates the market.

Breaking it up just means you end up with a worst product for the consumer and a higher expense.

Re: Microsoft to Acquire Activision Blizzard

#379

Post by phgn »

> Mobile is the largest segment in gaming, with nearly 95% of all players globally enjoying games on mobile. Through great teams and great technology, Microsoft and Activision Blizzard will empower players to enjoy the most-immersive franchises, like “Halo” and “Warcraft,” virtually anywhere they want.

So long for immersive PC and console games.

Re: Microsoft to Acquire Activision Blizzard

#380

Post by ekianjo »

s3r3nity wrote: post #16

Congratulations to Phil Spencer, who started out leading an upstart team at Microsoft for a new game console called "Xbox" and is now "CEO of Microsoft Gaming" - a Microsoft Senior Leadership position. Oh, and he now leads the third biggest gaming company on the planet: > When the transaction closes, Microsoft will become the world’s third-largest gaming company by revenue, behind Tencent and Sony. It will be interes…

> Congratulations to Phil Spencer, who started out leading an upstart team at Microsoft for a new game console called "Xbox" and is now "CEO of Microsoft Gaming" - a Microsoft Senior Leadership position

You forgot to mention he started with billions of dollars backing him up. It was not like a small startup or something.

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