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

[eastmen]

We know that those existing agreement titles include currently unreleased titles though. Activision has a multi year deal with Sony around CoD content that includes future titles.

Also MS never made a statement like this with regard to the Bethesda purchase about extending existing agreements or making titles available on other platforms. They used the will support existing communities language. And said exclusives decisions would be case by case. This is very different signaling.

And I guarantee it's at least partially to get ahead of any regulatory issues with the purchase. That Sony stock drop was all about CoD potentially leaving the platform. It's big enough to matter to a competitor's ability to compete. Nothing else is.

Yes and that is the agreements that Microsoft is talking about. I think this is important in context

""To be clear, Microsoft will continue to make Call of Duty and other popular Activision Blizzard titles available on PlayStation through the term of any existing agreement with Activision"

vs
"And we have committed to Sony that we will also make them available on PlayStation beyond the existing agreement and into the future so that Sony fans can continue to enjoy the games they love"

It's all about the agreement from activision and sony. no where does it say they will make new games after the existing agreement . It's all about the agreement and existing games on the playstation. So older games wont get pulled and the new cods in the agreement will still come

But hey we all have to wait anyway so I guess we will know in a few years. This purchase is going to take into 2023 right ? The cod contract is what 3 more titles ? So we got 3-4 more years to find out

 

[Eolirin]

Yes and that is the agreements that Microsoft is talking about. I think this is important in context

""To be clear, Microsoft will continue to make Call of Duty and other popular Activision Blizzard titles available on PlayStation through the term of any existing agreement with Activision"

vs
"And we have committed to Sony that we will also make them available on PlayStation beyond the existing agreement and into the future so that Sony fans can continue to enjoy the games they love"

It's all about the agreement from activision and sony. no where does it say they will make new games after the existing agreement . It's all about the agreement and existing games on the playstation. So older games wont get pulled and the new cods in the agreement will still come

But hey we all have to wait anyway so I guess we will know in a few years. This purchase is going to take into 2023 right ? The cod contract is what 3 more titles ? So we got 3-4 more years to find out

Has MS ever removed an existing title that they've acquired the rights to from a platform it was already being sold on?

Is anyone actually concerned about that happening? What do the agreements look like for being on the store anyway? They're definitely very different than the ones for new titles Sony has for CoD.

 

[SmooTh]

Last week, Microsoft filed formal paperwork with the Federal Trade Commission to kickstart the merger review process, and has delivered an initial briefing to FTC staff, Smith said.

 

[BRiT]

The prior Zen/Beth acquisition took about 7 months to complete

It took 5 months, 2 weeks, and 2 days to complete.

 

[ChuckeRearmed]

It took 5 months, 2 weeks, and 2 days to complete.

Damn, somebody counted.

 

[Shortbread]

It took 5 months, 2 weeks, and 2 days to complete.

Yeah, I just remember them announcing acquiring Zen/Beth sometime in September 2020, and completing regulation approval sometime in March 2021.

 

[BRiT]

Damn, somebody counted.

It's been mentioned or asked so many times before any deals in January that I had to take a look. It surprised me it was under 6 months as it felt like forever.

 

[eastmen]

Has MS ever removed an existing title that they've acquired the rights to from a platform it was already being sold on?

Is anyone actually concerned about that happening? What do the agreements look like for being on the store anyway? They're definitely very different than the ones for new titles Sony has for CoD.

no idea , my hobby isn't watching digital stores for copies of games being delisted.

But no where in there does it talk about anything outside of games in the agreement.

 

[Inuhanyou]

Whether they made the decision to allow acti games on other consoles for the merger to be approved or not it doesn't matter, this is a happy day people who love consoles.

 

[eastmen]

https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2022/02/09/tech/microsoft-regulators-app-stores/index.html

Separately, Microsoft said it has committed to Sony that popular franchises it acquires from Activision Blizzard will remain available on PlayStation under Activision's existing deal with Sony, and that it has offered to extend the deal on a "multiyear basis." The existing deal with Sony runs until 2024, Smith said.

So there you go. According to Microsoft , Sony would have to approve any deal and you can bet the deal will be extremely lopsided to microsoft thus making sony decline it. Then microsoft can point to sony refusing as the reason why.

 

[orangpelupa]

Probably they'll put something like... "gamepass on playstation, and we'll give call of duty etc"

With Sony pocketing the usual 30% cut for DLC and MTX purchases. As it'll still be done thru Sony store.

 

[Dr. Nick]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1491598131276005383

Sorry if this has been double posted. How much do you want to be that when he is talking about COD and Nintendo, he is talking about it being available through the cloud?

Also, the way the everyone keeps phrasing it leaves wiggle room. I don't think anyone even thought Microsoft would pull existing games that have been released from other platforms. The question has always been about new releases from those franchises, and they still are not being clear with the way they are phrasing things. Now it does seem like with the mention of Mojang they are implying that new releases will happen it's just not clear enough.

 

[Karamazov]

Can't wait to see MS logo at the startup of next COD on PS.

 

[cheapchips]

Can't wait to see MS logo at the startup of next COD on PS.

Not just the Microsoft logo, the Xbox one.

 

[Karamazov]

"also available on gamepass"

 

[iroboto]

"also available on gamepass"

Now that; LOL.

 

[see colon]

pretty sure COD on GP is better value than COD at 79.99.
If this isn't enough to sway someone to coming to xbox, some timing exclusivity is not likely to work either.

I've said before, yearly franchises like MLB The Show, and now COD, are probably the best perceived value titles on the service. Since a new one is coming out next year anyway, buying it is kind of pointless. And the cost above what you would be paying for Live (assuming you are playing it online) is less than the cost of the game.

Skyrim sold ~30m units. Gamepass is almost there, a new big title might push them over especially if it's exclusive.

Also the numbers I found actually favor x360 (59%) for skyrim not ps, but it was early numbers.

Skyrim is also the first and only mainline console Elder Scrolls game that wasn't at least a timed Xbox exclusive. And even that had exclusive features on Xbox 360 (you could shout your shouts at your kinect to perform the shouts)

 

[mrcorbo]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1491598131276005383

Sorry if this has been double posted. How much do you want to be that when he is talking about COD and Nintendo, he is talking about it being available through the cloud?

Also, the way the everyone keeps phrasing it leaves wiggle room. I don't think anyone even thought Microsoft would pull existing games that have been released from other platforms. The question has always been about new releases from those franchises, and they still are not being clear with the way they are phrasing things. Now it does seem like with the mention of Mojang they are implying that new releases will happen it's just not clear enough.

This is why I've been questioning whether the extreme spend on these assets makes sense in the context of a legacy business model that relies on a walled garden, platform lock-in and exclusive content to drive profitability. I don't think it does make sense, from a ROI standpoint, if your total addressable market is limited to only the consumers you can reach with platforms you own or control.

 

[eastmen]

This is why I've been questioning whether the extreme spend on these assets makes sense in the context of a legacy business model that relies on a walled garden, platform lock-in and exclusive content to drive profitability. I don't think it does make sense, from a ROI standpoint, if your total addressable market is limited to only the consumers you can reach with platforms you own or control.

xcloud can be on all platforms. Think of it like spotify or netflix.

 

[ChuckeRearmed]

. I don't think it does make sense, from a ROI standpoint, if your total addressable market is limited to only the consumers you can reach with platforms you own or control.

But the goal is to control the market, not to sell some copies of the game. Nobody spends 70b expecting to get them from selling the games in retail. Most of the publishers in the world haven't seen that amount of money.