Microsoft acquired Activision Blizzard King for $69 Billion on 2023-10-13
- Thread starter Rangers
- Start date
We are at a point where even sega and nokia signed a deal for the dreamcast and the ngage, but not sony.
It will never happen, but technically the only platform where the next cod can not ship is ps5, for sony's decision.
I mean if you are in MS's shoes you either have sony sign the contract and you get a bunch of revenue from the ps5 copy or they don't sign the contract and you get cod as close as an exclusive as possible.
I think they would be fine with it either way.
Microsoft is no 'safer' to work for than Activision.
MS has consistently been rated one of the best companies at which to work.
<Edit> in Forbes most recent list. MS ranks 8th, Google 11th, Sony was 40th. Atvi did not crack the top 50. The list was made by surveying employees if they would recommend their workplace to others.
Last edited:
/cloudfront-us-east-2.images.arcpublishing.com/reuters/ER7QDSDIGFLPBFVAMRE27SVYRM.jpg)
UK's CMA open to new Microsoft-Activision probe after u-turn
Britain's competition regulator said on Wednesday a restructured deal between Microsoft and Activision Blizzard could satisfy its concerns, subject to a new investigation, marking a climbdown in its opposition to the biggest gaming deal in history.
www.reuters.com
Last edited:
Johnny Awesome
Veteran
CMA's just trying to not lose face before they cave.
They will get some minor concession and claim victory and that was all they wanted all along.
Liking their job is not the same thing as determining job security. I have no doubt plenty of Activision devs greatly dislike all being piled onto make Call of Duty games, but it absolutely is a safe and well paying job to have. And Microsoft is not going to do anything to change this situation, either. The whole reason they are buying Activision is because they do make a ton of money on regular Call of Duty releases and whatnot.
No-one was talking about job security. It was the improvements in working conditions and "T&Cs of employment" that is why ABK employees will be in favour of this deal. I don't know why you thought it was about 'Job security'?
Were they citing another source? Because Forbes isn't really a news organization, they just let columnists write opinions.
Just as I figured would happen, thanks to the MS Activision deal it will likely lead to more consolidation with regard to the game industry.
Take-Two, Electronic Arts, Roblox, Ubisoft could be targets after Activision deal
Take-Two, Electronic Arts, Roblox, Ubisoft could be targets after Activision deal
But why would any of that really change? They're still gonna be under the exact same management, direction and structure.
And the comment I originally responded to was indeed talking about job security, which is where this came from.
Silent_Buddha
Legend
You should re-read my comment. It wasn't about job security, if it was I wouldn't have mentioned the MS acquisition announcement as stopping a mass exodus of developer talent from ABK. Developers were stating their intentions to leave ABK for other employers due to all that was happening at ABK (fear of losing their jobs wasn't even a consideration). That stopped almost immediately after the announcement of the acquisition because working conditions for MS employees as well as management policies are considered to be considerably better than what exists at ABK.
Regards,
SB
Last edited:
Kotick is not staying.
They really opened pandora's box with this purchase. The market is going to be defined by the one who has the most money to buy the biggest studios.
Silent_Buddha
Legend
People are acting like what has happened with the ABK merger is something new. MS and Sony and Nintendo have been able to do this for the entire history of their respective corporations.
Large acquisitions like this happen all the time. This just happens to be the largest in modern video game history.
Has the food industry imploded? Are vehicles so much worse now than they were 100 years ago when there were far more car manufacturers? Has one car manufacturer acquired all other smaller car manufacturers? Is there only one remaining dominant tech corporation because they've acquired all of the others?
Before people continue to freak out, remember the one key thing. An acquisition generally requires someone wanting or needing (for example, shareholders forcing the sale of a company) to be acquired in order for an acquisition to happen. While hostile takeovers are possible, they are exceedingly rare and difficult to pull off.
And, generally speaking, a video game company or publisher is usually only going to want to be sold if that company or publisher thinks that there is a high likelihood that they may cease operations or their ability to compete in the market will so seriously decline that the value of their company would be significantly lower in the next few years.
IE - Internally those companies believe that either the end of their company is near or that there is a great risk that they'll be facing bankruptcy if even one title in development fails to perform well in the market.
So, if you're going to start panicking about the sky falling down, first go and determine which publishers/developers are in imminent danger of failing or going bankrupt and those are the companies that are most likely to be acquired. If the developer or publisher is doing fine, then it's incredibly unlikely that they'll want to be acquired by another company.
Regards,
SB
Large acquisitions like this happen all the time. This just happens to be the largest in modern video game history.
Has the food industry imploded? Are vehicles so much worse now than they were 100 years ago when there were far more car manufacturers? Has one car manufacturer acquired all other smaller car manufacturers? Is there only one remaining dominant tech corporation because they've acquired all of the others?
Before people continue to freak out, remember the one key thing. An acquisition generally requires someone wanting or needing (for example, shareholders forcing the sale of a company) to be acquired in order for an acquisition to happen. While hostile takeovers are possible, they are exceedingly rare and difficult to pull off.
And, generally speaking, a video game company or publisher is usually only going to want to be sold if that company or publisher thinks that there is a high likelihood that they may cease operations or their ability to compete in the market will so seriously decline that the value of their company would be significantly lower in the next few years.
IE - Internally those companies believe that either the end of their company is near or that there is a great risk that they'll be facing bankruptcy if even one title in development fails to perform well in the market.
So, if you're going to start panicking about the sky falling down, first go and determine which publishers/developers are in imminent danger of failing or going bankrupt and those are the companies that are most likely to be acquired. If the developer or publisher is doing fine, then it's incredibly unlikely that they'll want to be acquired by another company.
Regards,
SB
Silent_Buddha
Legend
I'd be exceedingly surprised if MS allows the behavior that was tolerated at ABK to continue under MS ownership. Anyone that remains and has a history of harassment and abuse of employees will likely either be let go or retained under probation with continued employment contingent on good behavior.
You don't get a reputation as a good workplace by current and former employees if you have a consistently toxic environment. To be clear, all companies have cases of harassment and abuse, it's how prevalent it is, how tolerated (or even encouraged) it is and how the company's HR responds to complaints that forms the basis of employee satisfaction.
And it's undeniable that people working for MS are far more likely to be happy with their employment environment and conditions than what existed at ABK or even the vast majority of tech companies period.
Regards,
SB
The ABK staff will get a standard 2-3 year transition period and then MS will bring in their own people to keep the shop running. That is how it typically is with purchases. Bobby will be gone quickly because its an easy pr win and an easy way to show that MS is different than ABK's scandal plagued elite
Similar threads
