Microsoft acquired Activision Blizzard King for $69 Billion on 2023-10-13

[iroboto]

Sorry to continue the stock talk, but something else is going on with Microsoft's stock right now. The price was $342 December 27th 2021, $310 on January 14 and now $301 a few days after the announcement. So yes, they did lose a bit but likely not related because it has been going down for last few weeks. Sony was $127, 124, and now $111. So, while not as significant as what Microsoft has lost there is more of a direct correlation in the drops for Sony. Not sure what is going on with Microsoft's stock right now

All markets have been down since Omicron. My portfolio took a heavy dive as investors pulled out in fear of massive lockdowns again. It's largely been this crazy rollercoaster as well in combination with American politics.

it will recover once we are through with omicron and american politics stabilize, but it’ll fall again once the next variant is out there.

 

[London Geezer]

I think it says a lot of the state of the industry and the fan base that the whole MS/Activision thing has boiled down to COD. A game many on here and elsewhere have been ridiculing for years. Sad because Activision has so many IPs that are so much more interesting and could have so much potential, but of course all we hear is COD which I’m pretty sure nobody here loves, and has been going downhill for quite a while.

Hello, just the fact that CRASH could now be MS exclusive, given the fact that it was the PS1 mascot, is so much more interesting to me.

It’s almost as if Mario, through the years and several acquisitions, became exclusive to Sony/MS. It blows my mind. But hey, CAPITALISM!

 

[Shifty Geezer]

Hello, just the fact that CRASH could now be MS exclusive, given the fact that it was the PS1 mascot, is so much more interesting to me.

Yup. But we've already seen the blue hedgehog on Nintendo, so there's nothing left to shock. Only Nintendo releasing Mario on XB/PS would actually another seismic event.

 

[London Geezer]

Yup. But we've already seen the blue hedgehog on Nintendo, so there's nothing left to shock. Only Nintendo releasing Mario on XB/PS would actually another seismic event.

Well you know I’ve always said that every game should be on every platform, unfortunately that’s just not the way the industry works. Especially in todays world, asking gamers to potentially buy 3 relatively expensive and separate platforms so that they can enjoy the whole gamut of games is, in itself, completely crazy to me.

 

[iroboto]

So this is what happens when you miss suscriber numbers when you are charging your customers a price below the cost of your assets. I guess Netflix will raise prices again soon.Maybe some people see the connection.

While I don't invest in Netflix, they released a very real letter to investors that they will not likely be able to grow much further here given the competition from other services, they have no ideas on how to move forward on gaining more subscribers beyond what they can get now. The reason Netflix took off to high heights is because some investors definitely felt they could grow much faster, this pull back will be reflective of what Netflix can do in the current space. Because growth is now capped, investors may no longer be interested in sticking around. That doesn't mean Netflix can't operate a profitable business however, it's just no longer worth 600 per share which was speculation on how large they could get.

In a rare admission in its post-earnings letter to shareholders, Netflix acknowledged that competition may be “affecting marginal growth some,” though asserting the company was optimistic about its ability to expand internationally.

“It’s hard to believe that with 220-odd million subscribers, that is the ceiling,” he said, adding that about 700 million homes in the U.S. have high-quality broadband that can support Netflix.

I don't know what the actual ceiling is for game pass, but MS will continue on this path of expenditure until the subscriber add numbers start drying up. I think they've got a long way until that happens, it's still early days for this type of gaming model.

 

[ChuckeRearmed]

Actually, I believe if MS goes after another publisher like WB it should not be a big deal.
The reason for that is that I just realized - and with the console wars I completely forgot about - that home consoles market is a part of the bigger gaming market. Which is 160b market and MS + Activision 20b+ is nothing in comparison to that.

I mean Sony literally got a monopoly on anime market under the guise of it being a part of bigger cartoon market. So MS can have 100+ studios and it still won't be a big deal.

It’s almost as if Mario, through the years and several acquisitions, became exclusive to Sony/MS. It blows my mind. But hey, CAPITALISM!

Except Nintendo regularly produces Mario games while Sony did not try to invest into it (preferred Knack)

Well you know I’ve always said that every game should be on every platform, unfortunately that’s just not the way the industry works. Especially in todays world, asking gamers to potentially buy 3 relatively expensive and separate platforms so that they can enjoy the whole gamut of games is, in itself, completely crazy to me.

Owning Playstation and just getting all the games there (like with PS4 or PS2) is just easier right?

 

[London Geezer]

Except Nintendo regularly produces Mario games while Sony did not try to invest into it (preferred Knack)

It was an EXAMPLE!!!!! We’ve seen it happen with Sonic, in different circumstances. Point is, it’s more interesting than bloody COD.

 

[ChuckeRearmed]

It was an EXAMPLE!!!!! We’ve seen it happen with Sonic, in different circumstances. Point is, it’s more interesting than bloody COD.

But COD sells, while Crash...

 

[London Geezer]

But COD sells, while Crash...

I’m lost for words. You do you, buster!

 

[arandomguy]

Yup, I recognize this, but if COD isn't released annually does the gaming industry revenue as a whole shrink? Or do players invest their money into other games?

If the latter, nothing is lost to the industry, if the former, than they need to keep making them annually. I'm fairly positive you won't lose industry revenue given the number of shooter substitutes, so the rest of the industry would benefit with CoD not being there annually. This plays better into a first party strategy since you want players to divest where they put their cash and try new experiences, instead of pumping out the same one over and over, this is what stifles innovation and leads to homogeneity.

I doubt single game has that type of impact.

But something I think many "older" gamers might be not be aware of or detached from is how "newer" gamers aren't actually against frequent releases or microtransctions. They actually want a constant stream of content for what their familiar with (so the same game), which is driving the service model for games. They want a frequent pace of releases as opposed to basically playing a "stale" game for longer period of time or something completely different.

Well you know I’ve always said that every game should be on every platform, unfortunately that’s just not the way the industry works. Especially in todays world, asking gamers to potentially buy 3 relatively expensive and separate platforms so that they can enjoy the whole gamut of games is, in itself, completely crazy to me.

But most gamers won't care. People posting online in these types of discussions are already outliers in the spectrum of the customer base. The regular gamer doesn't feel like they need to play every single game or every exclusive to every platform. Even most "hardcore" gamers probably don't care.

Just taking an example, Uncharted 4 for instance was revealed to have 37m players when the PS4 had reached 115m sales. That means 2/3rd of PS4's users (likely way more depending on how you view the data) did not even play the PS4's most popular exclusive.

We can also go into a discussion of how expensive it is really in terms of how actually willing (even if they don't want to) gamers are to spend (especially the very "dedicated" ones that have to play everything). A 3 platform outlay over 7 years is not really an insurmountable cost as part of a hobby these days relative to what else people pay for hobbies/entertainment (just looking it up I've seen figures that show the average person in the US spends almost $2k on a summer vacation per year, that means that saved vacation in 2020/21 would more than pay for 3 platforms).

 

[eastmen]

While I don't invest in Netflix, they released a very real letter to investors that they will not likely be able to grow much further here given the competition from other services, they have no ideas on how to move forward on gaining more subscribers beyond what they can get now. The reason Netflix took off to high heights is because some investors definitely felt they could grow much faster, this pull back will be reflective of what Netflix can do in the current space. Because growth is now capped, investors may no longer be interested in sticking around. That doesn't mean Netflix can't operate a profitable business however, it's just no longer worth 600 per share which was speculation on how large they could get.





I don't know what the actual ceiling is for game pass, but MS will continue on this path of expenditure until the subscriber add numbers start drying up. I think they've got a long way until that happens, it's still early days for this type of gaming model.

Gamepass has adds on. So it's not just X amount of subscribers paying X amount of money per month. There are also people deciding to buy games to keep , dlc , microtransactions and so on and so forth.

For more growth Netflix should add in new features. One of my favorite things on dvd were directors commentary and that is missing from all these platforms. They could make money by charging for that stuff

 

[eastmen]

Actually, I believe if MS goes after another publisher like WB it should not be a big deal.
The reason for that is that I just realized - and with the console wars I completely forgot about - that home consoles market is a part of the bigger gaming market. Which is 160b market and MS + Activision 20b+ is nothing in comparison to that.

I mean Sony literally got a monopoly on anime market under the guise of it being a part of bigger cartoon market. So MS can have 100+ studios and it still won't be a big deal.


Except Nintendo regularly produces Mario games while Sony did not try to invest into it (preferred Knack)


Owning Playstation and just getting all the games there (like with PS4 or PS2) is just easier right?

Right now it's all about their size in the market. They are claiming that this purchase makes them number 3. If buying WB games keeps them in the 3 spot then I don't see them having an issue . That goes with any studios small enough not to bring them past sony or trencent. I also think one thing that will help them when buying American companies is that Sony is Japanese's and Tencent is chinese.

But COD sells, while Crash...

COD will always get a much larger pocket book than Crash. But I think it's important to build up titles aimed at younger kids that trancend ages like Mario or like I hear ratchet is. I'd love to see Crash come back along with ms rebooting their own properties like banjo and kameo and viva pinata .
I have a lot of family who get switches to play mario and yoshi and all the more kid friendly titles but then buy themselves some of the more adult games.

 

[ChuckeRearmed]

For more growth Netflix should add in new features. One of my favorite things on dvd were directors commentary and that is missing from all these platforms. They could make money by charging for that stuff

I believe that's why they are aiming at gaming - for growth. I wonder with whom they are gonna partner or if they will follow Apple's model.

 

[eastmen]

I believe that's why they are aiming at gaming - for growth. I wonder with whom they are gonna partner or if they will follow Apple's model.

I don't think that will bring them enough growth. There will be more attractive places to go for gaming content at this point. We actually just canceled our netflix subsription and I was a member from the disc days

 

[ChuckeRearmed]

I don't think that will bring them enough growth. There will be more attractive places to go for gaming content at this point. We actually just canceled our netflix subsription and I was a member from the disc days

Who knows? But it really feels that unless new market emerges - like Africa - there won't be growth but more competition over retaining the existing base.

I personally wonder why MS Gaming - being a separate division implies. I mean, does MS have any other division like this?

 

[eastmen]

Who knows? But it really feels that unless new market emerges - like Africa - there won't be growth but more competition over retaining the existing base.

I personally wonder why MS Gaming - being a separate division implies. I mean, does MS have any other division like this?

Maybe for netflix they limit the amount of devices you can have an account attached too. Almost everyone I know shares their account with others.

As for MS gaming , I think its a way to give it better autonomy and less pressure from investors ?

 

[ChuckeRearmed]

As for MS gaming , I think its a way to give it better autonomy and less pressure from investors ?

The thing is that they did not have separate division for Azure do they? It is just feels odd making it semi independent. I wonder if it is their way to create consumer part of Microsoft? Rather than business one (like Azure, Office, Windows)

 

[Dr. Nick]

In a year Microsoft will be the Disney of FPS. They don't own all of your favorite first person shooters from your youthful years. They just own most of them.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1484479918989881350

 

[ChuckeRearmed]

In a year Microsoft will be the Disney of FPS. They don't own all of your favorite first person shooters from your youthful years. They just own most of them.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1484479918989881350

I think MS should grab Warner Bros too with gaming DC IPs (akin Spider-man deal)

 

[PSman1700]

I think MS should grab Warner Bros too with gaming DC IPs (akin Spider-man deal)

Maybe, personally i strongly dislike that kind of games but they sell hotcakes.