You mean, the share value fell because of the toxic workplace and found a better deal because of it
Microsoft acquired Activision Blizzard King for $69 Billion on 2023-10-13
- Thread starter Rangers
- Start date
When the merger finishes all non subscription acitvision/blizzard games will be on it and I bet they all will be day one.
Silent_Buddha
Legend
I can only imagine that the only reason this is happening is because of the troubles at Activision-Blizzard currently. I can imagine that many employees may no longer feel comfortable working there if something drastic didn't happen and that many developers may have been looking to jump ship rendering Activision-Blizzard's future uncertain. Without this happening I can't imagine the merger getting board or stockholder approval over at Activision-Blizzard.
I'm not sure that MS possibly buying them (still needs regulatory approval) solves that issue, but it probably gives employees greater hope than if nothing had happened.
Personally I'm not sure about this. While I hope that MS can somehow turn things around at Blizzard, I'm not sure that MS wants to get really hands on. With all their acquisitions thus far they've mostly been hands off and just provide resources when requested by the studios they've acquired. Fixing Blizzard would require MS to get hands on and knee deep in attempting to reverse the rot that has set in at Blizzard. It doesn't help that many of key personnel that were instrumental in growing Blizzard are no longer associated with the company.
As to the Activision properties, it's not that great of a fit, IMO. I could see MS asking which of the 3 COD developers would like to continue working on COD and if any of them want to try their hands at a new IP. I could also see them asking if any devs from any of the COD teams would like to move to 343i, the Coalition or iD.
I guess one of the things they are looking at with this acquisition is getting a larger foothold in Mobile with King. Something else, I'm not entirely sure about. But MS have had a long standing relationship with them as seen by Candy Crush being included in every version of Windows since Windows 8.
I dunno, a reported 68 billion USD to acquire Activision-Blizzard seems questionable to me. I mean it does give a bigger avenue into China, but with Xi Jinping being relatively hostile to gaming in China, I'm not sure how much of a future there is for that.
Honestly, while I could see the pro's for MS with all of their previous acquisitions, I find myself having a hard time seeing the value in a 68 billion USD acquisition of Activision-Blizzard. Especially when you consider how much effort is going to be required by MS in order to have any hope of rooting out the rot that has set in over at Blizzard.
And that last hurts to say because for the longest time Blizzard was a shining example of how to be a large developer that still cared about the games they created and the gamer's that they created the games for. It's hurt to see them crumble over the past few years.
Regards,
SB
I'm not sure that MS possibly buying them (still needs regulatory approval) solves that issue, but it probably gives employees greater hope than if nothing had happened.
Personally I'm not sure about this. While I hope that MS can somehow turn things around at Blizzard, I'm not sure that MS wants to get really hands on. With all their acquisitions thus far they've mostly been hands off and just provide resources when requested by the studios they've acquired. Fixing Blizzard would require MS to get hands on and knee deep in attempting to reverse the rot that has set in at Blizzard. It doesn't help that many of key personnel that were instrumental in growing Blizzard are no longer associated with the company.
As to the Activision properties, it's not that great of a fit, IMO. I could see MS asking which of the 3 COD developers would like to continue working on COD and if any of them want to try their hands at a new IP. I could also see them asking if any devs from any of the COD teams would like to move to 343i, the Coalition or iD.
I guess one of the things they are looking at with this acquisition is getting a larger foothold in Mobile with King. Something else, I'm not entirely sure about. But MS have had a long standing relationship with them as seen by Candy Crush being included in every version of Windows since Windows 8.
I dunno, a reported 68 billion USD to acquire Activision-Blizzard seems questionable to me. I mean it does give a bigger avenue into China, but with Xi Jinping being relatively hostile to gaming in China, I'm not sure how much of a future there is for that.
Honestly, while I could see the pro's for MS with all of their previous acquisitions, I find myself having a hard time seeing the value in a 68 billion USD acquisition of Activision-Blizzard. Especially when you consider how much effort is going to be required by MS in order to have any hope of rooting out the rot that has set in over at Blizzard.
And that last hurts to say because for the longest time Blizzard was a shining example of how to be a large developer that still cared about the games they created and the gamer's that they created the games for. It's hurt to see them crumble over the past few years.
Regards,
SB
Silent_Buddha
Legend
Yeah, with that large of a purchase it doesn't make sense to stop making COD for PlayStation. They also may not legally be able to stop for at least a few years due to all the cross marketing and stuff between Sony and Activision-Blizzard WRT the COD franchise. There are likely some legal obligations that extend for quite some time, possibly for the entirety of the PS5 generation.
Regards,
SB
still don't see a reason to remove it from PS. These franchises require player bases. Taking away 50% of the console base is a recipe for failure.
Hopefully they won't pull a Sony. It was a bitannoying when multiplayer games got delayed content release on competing console (e.g. When destiny 1 maps where released first on playstation), and became really annoying in the era of cross play.
Silent_Buddha
Legend
I can see Blizzard IP going console exclusive to Xbox. There's no way that COD goes exclusive and MS have any hope of making back that 68 billion USD in the next 2-3 decades.
Last year they made ~6.5 billion USD in gross (not net) profit. With a large chunk of that coming from PlayStation.Regards,
SB
Turnabout is fair play? You reap what you sow? What's good for the goose is good for the gander? I can keep going.
Tommy McClain
I can see Blizzard IP going console exclusive to Xbox. There's no way that COD goes exclusive and MS have any hope of making back that 68 billion USD in the next 2-3 decades.
Regards,
SB
Yeah, COD going exclusive doesn't sound smart, but I'm sure there will be some COD content that's exclusive(timed or otherwise).
Tommy McClain
Silent_Buddha
Legend
Possibly, but we don't know whether there is a contract between Sony and Activision-Blizzard for PS5 DLC exclusivity for the next X number of COD releases. If there is, it's possible we may see MS releasing PS5 exclusive content through COD for a few years.
Regards,
SB
Depends what their numbers tell them regarding this. The cut they would make selling a copy on sony's plastic vs the money they would make from subscribers + PC + people buying xbox consoles specifically for COD. Call of Duty could be a bigger system seller than any of sonys or microsofts ip's ever were
The Purchases Microsoft , sony and trecent have been doing may ignite new independent devs houses to pop up.
The hit to their reputation would be enormous. Most console owners have playstation.
What large companies has Sony purchased? Mostly just smaller studios like Nixxes who do port jobs. Few if any of their purchases have taken well known cross platform developers and locked them to their console. Microsoft is actively buying up as many of the the largest cross platform studios it can to lock PS out of games. I hope this leads to an antitrust lawsuit.
In this new generation the break down isn't hugely in sony's favor. This announcement could end up bringing xbox closer to playstation install numbers.
They are all large companies. Not on the size of Acitivision but still large.
But they bought Valkryie Entertainment , Bluepoint , Fabrik , Firesprite , Nixxes , House Marque , EVO , all in 2021
some console owners have playstation. switch + xbox is more than playstation in the console crowd. This could be a way to enhance their userbase. Like i said, Call of Duty is absolutely a system seller in the truest sense. More than Halo or any sony ip. They'll probably release it on playstation for a few years due to marketing deals already in place. But its entirely plausible to stop after that. It could go either way. Everything from Bethesda is likely over forever on playstation. Minecraft instead they kept multiplatform. But that was also long ago when they didnt have the dirrection they have now.
Similar threads
