Microsoft acquired Activision Blizzard King for $69 Billion on 2023-10-13
- Thread starter Rangers
- Start date
I'm confused. What windows have anything to do with cloud gaming?
Amazon's Luna and Nvidia's GFN uses Windows virtual machines and if Microsoft acquired means to produce content, the other cloud gaming providers would likely face intimidation when it comes to licensing ...
I hope it stops. But I fear MS might use the billions in cash to acquire a larger number of smaller in comparison yet very important large studios, bypassing thus the scrutiny that huge acquisitions go through to be green lid
Not counting Japanese game publishers for other reasons but the only other possible viable options left for Microsoft are Ubisoft, Embracer Group, or buying off the gaming divisions/rights of either Warner Bros. Discovery or Disney ...
There's effectively no one stopping them from doing so ...
I’m just curious what happens to Activision if these deal doesn’t go through. They were seeking a buyout, presumably for reasons and not just for lols. If they fell into financial ruin would they be allowed to sell, or would the IP still be considered too critical for a Microsoft or Sony to purchase?
wait till they parted out I guess.
There's not any reason other than the shareholders wanting to cash out. If Activision couldn't make a profit anymore then the value proposition of their IPs goes down dramatically as well with other potential buyers so I assume that their sale would go unopposed by regulators ...
snc
Veteran
For 70 bilion they can buy Take2, Ubisoft, Electronic Arts and Cd Project...
they can't.
Part of the issue of the ruling is that CMA is basically saying that MS is now an unstoppable force in the cloud market. Thus they can freely block MS as soon as 'cloud' is mentioned, for any of their products really, not just games.
I suspect this is a major concern for MS going forward, they're going to have to fight it, or at this point in time going forward, every other company will leverage regulators to ensure that new markets like cloud never gain enough traction to take hold.
It's a pretty wild thing.
snc
Veteran
I mean theoreticaly
But why do the shareholders want to cash out? Why did Activision approach Microsoft for a buyout? If Activision is doing great and has the biggest games, wouldn't they want to continue their success? Usually shareholders only want to sell if growth stops and they predict a trend in the other direction.
Growth is going to be harder from now on and the tech sector in general is over inflated in terms of value. Shareholders can still very much make profit for sometime via dividends but they think they can make more by selling their shares. There's really not much to it when shareholders voted to approve the transaction ...
I don't know how Phil thinks about it now (yes, there are some 2nd party games coming, don't know if MS owns the IP), they used to reject a lot of things because they wanted to own the IP no matter if it was 1st or 2nd party.
Take Two and Electronic Arts are probably not options for the same reason as Activision. Microsoft can try to test the boundaries with regulators as much as possible with other smaller publishers but I don't think they'll let Microsoft buy out all of the smaller publishers since they only get more hawkish with every acquisition ...
Microsoft could easily get away with buying out both Ubisoft and CD Projekt or some other combination thereof but they likely won't have much luck after that fact ...
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