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Microsoft to Acquire Activision Blizzard

news.microsoft.com

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Re: Microsoft to Acquire Activision Blizzard

#651

Post by devmunchies »

curiousllama wrote: post #315

It's wild how Microsoft has been able to vertically integrate gaming. They now own the distribution (Xbox Cloud Gaming, Xbox Game Pass), the games (Call of Duty, WoW, Starcraft + what they owned before), the OS (Windows, Xbox), the hardware (Xbox, many PCs), and the back end compute (Azure). The only thing they're missing, the network bandwidth, is mostly a commodity anyway. That's a heck of a moat.

another strategy piece is linkedin for competitive analysis. They are able to see industry data for where all the top talent is working and when they are on the market.

Re: Microsoft to Acquire Activision Blizzard

#652

Post by lowbloodsugar »

ho_schi wrote: post #519

Competition oversight? Probably dead since Regan? After they stopped controlling AT&T the UNIX-Wars happened, impcompatiblity, lawsuits, closed-source has become a normal thing and proprietary software locked users in and competitors out. What platform will Microsoft support? Likely not: * Linux * BSD * MacOS * Nintendo * Sony Does anyone miss id Software? Native ports on Linux, incredible source-code and impressive…

I will miss Starcraft on macos, but I guess I already gave that up with my M1 purchase. Couldn't give two shits about any of their other games.

Re: Microsoft to Acquire Activision Blizzard

#653

Post by [deleted] »

curiousllama wrote: post #315

It's wild how Microsoft has been able to vertically integrate gaming. They now own the distribution (Xbox Cloud Gaming, Xbox Game Pass), the games (Call of Duty, WoW, Starcraft + what they owned before), the OS (Windows, Xbox), the hardware (Xbox, many PCs), and the back end compute (Azure). The only thing they're missing, the network bandwidth, is mostly a commodity anyway. That's a heck of a moat.

[deleted]

Re: Microsoft to Acquire Activision Blizzard

#654

Post by AdmiralAsshat »

benlumen wrote: post #595
Server6 wrote: post #588

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sony spent 20+ years building up and planning their 1st party studios. Microsoft could do that too, but it would take 20 more years. They don't have the time for that and acquisition is really their only option. I don't like it either, but that's the reality of it.

It's not like Microsoft couldn't have done that from the start. They were the software company, after all, so they probably should have done. They're both over 20 years into the game, now.

Didn't it come out recently that they tried to buy Sega 20 years ago, when they were just getting into the business with the XBOX?

EDIT: They tried to buy Nintendo, too: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25672443

Re: Microsoft to Acquire Activision Blizzard

#655

Post by xhrpost »

I have to wonder how much investing in some of today's tech behemoths comes down to viewing them more as a holding company / investment firm and less about their original core products. Microsoft has lost tons of desktop share over the last decade, this should have been a death signal for them but instead amazing acquisitions like Mojang, GitHub, ActBliz have pushed them to an amazing market cap. Similar with FB loosing use as a social media platform but staying in business with Instagram/WeChat etc.

Re: Microsoft to Acquire Activision Blizzard

#656

Post by phatfish »

smileybarry wrote: post #414
jpablo wrote: post #402

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isn't that basically the same Nintendo and Sony? Save for the cloud platform.

Sony practically owns their cloud platform too, with their Gaikai purchase a decade ago[1] and PS Now being "PS3/PS4s in the cloud". [1] https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2012-07-03-sony-acqui...

I assumed Sony were migrating to or already using Azure at this point.

https://news.microsoft.com/2019/05/16/sony-and-microsoft-to-...

At the time Microsoft where not throwing so much money at games development an IP ownership. I wonder how Sony feel about this now.

Re: Microsoft to Acquire Activision Blizzard

#657

Post by muttantt »

curiousllama wrote: post #315

It's wild how Microsoft has been able to vertically integrate gaming. They now own the distribution (Xbox Cloud Gaming, Xbox Game Pass), the games (Call of Duty, WoW, Starcraft + what they owned before), the OS (Windows, Xbox), the hardware (Xbox, many PCs), and the back end compute (Azure). The only thing they're missing, the network bandwidth, is mostly a commodity anyway. That's a heck of a moat.

Give it a few months, and they will acquire Subspace.

Re: Microsoft to Acquire Activision Blizzard

#658

Post by viktorcode »

Tempest1981 wrote: post #648

> This acquisition will accelerate the growth in Microsoft’s gaming business across mobile, PC, console and cloud and will provide building blocks for the metaverse. Just like that -- they're in the metaverse!

Can't wait until metaverse will fail to lure gamers. The hype is on par with NFTs, in both vitality and lack of substance.

Re: Microsoft to Acquire Activision Blizzard

#659

Post by bduerst »

JAlexoid wrote: post #450
kungito wrote: post #365

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They are still missing a mobile platform and that's why I believe they will retry within the next few years

I don't think they will. There's no point. There is a stable duopoly, where Microsoft can reap the benefits of competition between the two, without wasting any resources. May not be best for consumer - really great for business. (especially, if courts hold that Apple/Google cannot outright ban apps from their stores)

Yeah, there's already a quality- and cost-leader for the mobile market. MS would need to push their business office lock-in, but both they and Blackberry tried that. Without the consumer market it's not viable.

Re: Microsoft to Acquire Activision Blizzard

#660

Post by gogopuppygogo »

xhrpost wrote: post #655

I have to wonder how much investing in some of today's tech behemoths comes down to viewing them more as a holding company / investment firm and less about their original core products. Microsoft has lost tons of desktop share over the last decade, this should have been a death signal for them but instead amazing acquisitions like Mojang, GitHub, ActBliz have pushed them to an amazing market cap. Similar with FB loos…

Losing market share on the desktop is by design to shrug off regulators while they flex into new growing markets. Their cloud has been a boon to their bottom line extending their reach into government/corporate clients while Xbox has kept Sony from dominating the living room/home.

Diversification is good for any large entity not just an investment firm.

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