Video Game Industry Consolidation

[MeoTwister5]

Microsoft buys Activision Blizzard for nearly 70 Billion USD.

This is going to change gaming as we know it.

[Dark Wing]

Oh Yay...More monopolies...

[JagdPanther]

This is craziness. I mean, I get why, but... yikes.

FTC review will be interesting. SONY is not going to take this well.

[Tactics]

Microsoft really betting it on Metaverse, I see.

No way they're making such moves without awareness of Act-Blizz stock value and benefit to have them as their Meta entertainment content providers.

[Marina2]

Does this mean I can hope to get Diablo franchise on Steam......?

[Kanon]

Call of Duty was always at the top of charts, losing that license is going to hurt a lot for Sony. The other top seller every year is Fifa, so if I were Sony, I'd buy EA as a counter move. Assuming they even can. I'd stop bringing my exclusives to PC too.

Anyway, aside from console war, this is just really bad news because it will hurt competition and we may enter an era of mediocrity. People rejoicing because "Microsoft won!" are missing the big picture. In fact, the deal still needs to be examined in Europe before it can go through because of this. But hey, they said nothing when Sony acquired Crunchyroll and more or less gained full monopoly of anime so Microsoft is probably in the clear.

[Diluc]

If this mean making Blizzard Better then thats great

[serenade_beta]

*looks up from Switch*
...Huh, cool.
*goes back to playing Smash Bros*

[MeoTwister5]

I doubt MS will make big-ticket games like CoD XBOX/PC exclusive. The Playstation market has always been much, much bogger than XBOX, and making them exclusive will hurt them in the long run ESPECIALLY if Sony makes moves to keep it's relative dominance in check.

Plus both MS and Sony have been making some moves away from total exclusivity. The only one still hard headed about this is Nintendo.

[Kanon]

Originally Posted by MeoTwister5

I doubt MS will make big-ticket games like CoD XBOX/PC exclusive. The Playstation market has always been much, much bogger than XBOX, and making them exclusive will hurt them in the long run ESPECIALLY if Sony makes moves to keep it's relative dominance in check.

Plus both MS and Sony have been making some moves away from total exclusivity. The only one still hard headed about this is Nintendo.

I don't know. CoD is big enough to become a system seller if it turns into an exclusive, so that would be a move that makes sense. I think it depends on whether they want to "wage war" or not.

Nintendo has been an outlier since the Wii. By now I think the other two don't give a shit about them, and vice versa. They have their own, admittedly huge, market which doesn't overlap with the others.

[Tactics]

I still believe this decision is driven by Metaverse rather than console.

Unlike Meta (Facebook) and Nvidia that already covers "You can play games too";
Microsoft AFAIK did not have something like that yet and what's the easiest way to do so other than absorbing large game company with popular franchise?

There's no need for Microsoft to wage 'war', honestly, by this they already telling to every competitor of Meta market they're one step ahead, one step closer to became "Disney" of digital world.

[videoman190]

Activision Blizzard is already in trouble with the WSJ expose about Bobby Kotick. Also the protests and walkouts. There need to be some changes once the Mircosoft buyout is complete. Like cleaning their mess. Also give some diversity to the other IPs other than Call of Duty.

Don't forget they also own classic IP from the Atari 2700. They are the first 3rd party developers and one of the oldest.
Like Pitfall and River Raid

[Tuor]

I'm assuming you mean the Atari 2600, not the Atari 2700. :P

And Microsoft has a pretty strong corporate culture these days. I expect that they'll straighten out A-B's management... those who are left when the dust settles, anyway.

[Tactics]

With current CEO I have no doubt Microsoft will straighten the management as AFAIK he is attentive to such matters.

I'd say don't expect Act-Blizz got all they need for games past several management tweak.
Microsoft got long history of leaving the game studio on their own feet. Some continue to see outside world (Minecraft), some left behind in attic (Rise of Nations).
So diversity to IP wouldn't be Microsoft decision but Acti-Blizz in how they decided to do stuff now they're part of Microsoft; even so, I can imagine Microsoft make it clear about the reason of their purchase, maybe like, "Do what you wanted but Call of Duty better be ready by next time we made presentation about gaming".

[Kanon]

Originally Posted by Tactics

I still believe this decision is driven by Metaverse rather than console.

Unlike Meta (Facebook) and Nvidia that already covers "You can play games too";
Microsoft AFAIK did not have something like that yet and what's the easiest way to do so other than absorbing large game company with popular franchise?

There's no need for Microsoft to wage 'war', honestly, by this they already telling to every competitor of Meta market they're one step ahead, one step closer to became "Disney" of digital world.

I doubt this has anything to with Metaverse. They're just taking the biggest game franchise on consoles and they're going to make it their own to attract more people on Xbox, Gamepass, and all that. There's pretty much no way CoD won't turn into an exclusive. They have no reason not to do it.

Elder Scrolls all over again.

[MeoTwister5]

The CEOs of the gaming divisions of MS and Sony have already talked to each and have guaranteed to make sure current multiplatform games like CoD don't turn exclusive.

[Tactics]

Originally Posted by Kanon

I doubt this has anything to with Metaverse.

If you exclude metaverse from list of reason, it won't answer the question of "Why now?"
Realistically Microsoft always got the money; no need to wait until Blizzard work ethics got more exposure to lower the price.
Xbox and PS game recent distribution also showing that both sides already on silent agreement of duopoly with Nintendo being the handheld neighbor.

The only news that sensible to grab MS attention to cause such purchase is Meta (Facebook) and Nvidia metaverse roadmap already got gaming in mind, which MS didn't have in their own presentation. When you think about it further, it suddenly make sense as not only idea of virtual COD come to table, but also possibilities of selling Warcraft characters and item skin when the day comes, just like what portrayed in Ready Player One film. That's a lot of money to look forward considering Blizzard loyal players already prove themselves in midst of decline, executed at the right time too--add a sprinkle of exclusivity to that, it answered.

... Turned out after the purchase done MS made talk that mentioned metaverse a lot. I'm looking forward to see how Sony deal with it.

[Kanon]

Originally Posted by MeoTwister5

The CEOs of the gaming divisions of MS and Sony have already talked to each and have guaranteed to make sure current multiplatform games like CoD don't turn exclusive.

That's what Microsoft is saying so the deal goes through. They've done it before, they'll do it again. The best case scenario I envision is CoD becoming a timed exclusive.

[JagdPanther]

Originally Posted by MeoTwister5

The CEOs of the gaming divisions of MS and Sony have already talked to each and have guaranteed to make sure current multiplatform games like CoD don't turn exclusive.

"Guaranteed" based on what? A handshake?

[MeoTwister5]

Well...

https://www.theverge.com/2022/1/20/2...ty-playstation

Had good calls this week with leaders at Sony. I confirmed our intent to honor all existing agreements upon acquisition of Activision Blizzard and our desire to keep Call of Duty on PlayStation. Sony is an important part of our industry, and we value our relationship.

— Phil Spencer (@XboxP3) January 20, 2022
That statement leaves some wiggle room that Call of Duty could still become an Xbox exclusive franchise. Microsoft has shown a willingness to turn its acquisitions into exclusives: it’s planning to release Bethesda Softworks’ upcoming game Starfield only on Xbox and PC, and Spencer has hinted that will be the case for The Elder Scrolls VI as well. That approach would make sense, especially as a way to help beef up its Game Pass subscription service.

But it seems that might not be what Spencer wants to do with Call of Duty. It wouldn’t be the first time he’s been willing to keep Microsoft-owned franchises multiplatform; Minecraft, for example, remains available on many different platforms years after it acquired Mojang. And Microsoft has even released a new Minecraft game, Minecraft Dungeons, on PlayStation, Xbox, Nintendo Switch, and PC.

Now of course that's not a guarantee in any sense, but considering how big CoD is, I still feel like they have much more to lose making this series an exclusive. Remember that consoles are almost always sold at a loss so it's not like they're earning anything from selling them. CoD is the other huge cash cow for Activision aside from WoW, and with how big the Playstation market is, they'll be losing a LOT.