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Microsoft to Acquire Activision Blizzard

news.microsoft.com

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Re: Microsoft to Acquire Activision Blizzard

#741

Post by kgersen »

jprd wrote: post #728

== MS acquires formerly preeminent corporation for 30% discount == MS announced today that it was acquiring Activision Blizzard Inc. (ATVI). This news comes on the heels of a year filled with government lawsuits, internal leaks, low morale and poor performance. Many analysts have commented that years of failing to invest in their IP and a string of poorly-received sequels have diluted customer and stockholder faith.…

I don't see any discount. They're bying at $95 per share. Look at YTD and 5Y prices.

The 30% prior isn't the price they're bying at.

Re: Microsoft to Acquire Activision Blizzard

#743

Post by wanda »

u2077 wrote: post #352
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.

This is what I’m worried about. With them owning both the games and the OS that they are played on, we could be forced into a subscription. Paying to own may be a thing of the past.

Fortunately, all the good video games have already been made.

Re: Microsoft to Acquire Activision Blizzard

#744

Post by will4274 »

rusk wrote: post #511
JAlexoid wrote: post #450

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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)

I’ve heard that thanks to patents and stuff they already makes loads of money out of mobile as it is!

Less so than they used to. These were mostly 90s patents and a lot of them expired in the past five years.

Re: Microsoft to Acquire Activision Blizzard

#745

Post by AJ007 »

cma wrote: post #568
JAlexoid wrote: post #450

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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)

> There is a stable duopoly, where Microsoft can reap the benefits of competition between the two, without wasting any resources. The huge competition where both charge 30% of gross sales, far higher than even the federal corporate tax rate, which is only charged on the net.

Hard to see that lasting more than another 2-3 years.

Re: Microsoft to Acquire Activision Blizzard

#746

Post by andrewxdiamond »

blooalien wrote: post #740

Gotta love that headline including the phrase "to bring the joy and community of gaming to everyone, across every device"… I'ma have to cry "bullshit" on that "every device" part. They mean "every device Microsoft can control" or "every device Microsoft approves of".

I don’t this is as likely as many people in these comments seems to. MS will still profit hand-over-fist on games sold on the Switch and the PS5. Many people even buy the same title multiple times across platforms happily!

They have no reason to pull out of those markets.

Re: Microsoft to Acquire Activision Blizzard

#747

Post by zitterbewegung »

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.

Activision-Blizzard was the worst performing gaming companies during COVID so it stands to reason that this would be the best gaming developer considering how well Bungie did as an acquisition for Halo and the acquisition of mojang.

There is so much IP that is tied up with Activision-Blizzard that it seems like a good deal.

Re: Microsoft to Acquire Activision Blizzard

#748

Post by RC_ITR »

kevin_thibedeau wrote: post #727
mdasen wrote: post #687

Earlier quoted context omitted.

AOL/TimeWarner was a failure because because it valued AOL at $200B and TimeWarner at $164B. AOL was just way over-valued. It wasn't really an integration failure so much as paying too much for something. If Time Warner had bought AOL for $2B, it would have been fine. The problem is that they merged valuing AOL at 100x that when it wasn't worth it and later sold for $4.4B to Verizon. Likewise, Yahoo/Verizon bought a…

AOL bought TW not the other way around.

Sure, but Time Warner shareholders accepted AOL equity at an over-valued price. THAT's the fleece - Time Warner kept being a company despite AOL's failure, but the ownership shifted dramatically toward former owners of AOL.

Also worth noting on the AOL/Time Warner comparisons everyone is making: Everyone knew dial-up was on the way out in 2000, they just assumed AOL would 'figure it out' because they were the current market leader. Not clear to me (other than maybe metaverse, controversially) what MSFT's looming problem they need to 'figure out' is.

Re: Microsoft to Acquire Activision Blizzard

#749

Post by pdpi »

anaganisk wrote: post #435
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.

Guess this was what Steve Balmer meant when he said, DEVELOPERS DEVELOPERS DEVELOPERS DEVELOPERS.

For how bizarre that moment was, he was 100% correct. Developers are the lifeblood of a hardware platform like this.

Re: Microsoft to Acquire Activision Blizzard

#750

Post by schmorptron »

tonmoy wrote: post #349
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 would think women employees would be harassed less under Microsoft

Hopefully, that'd probably the best outcome in this whole thing.
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