Microsoft buys Activision Blizzard for $70bn

Sput Vas Normandy said:
E3 2015, Shenmue 3 announcement, mah boy.

(Okaay, maybe FFVII remake helped too)


((We should make a new topic of this!))
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Absolutely we should make a new topic and definitely that E3 2015 is the obvious and frankly best answer so instead I went with the non-Shenmue answer. Can't forget The Last Guardian was also reintroduced at that press conference as well. That 2015 one was legendary but taking off my Shenmue tinted glasses for a second something about Final Fantasy being on Xbox back in 2008 was utterly insane at the time. I'll never forget the gasps and just dead silence.
 
Other consoles getting new games is on a different level than a Mega Corp buying more stuff. The old stuff you were talking about had something to do with gaming. Micrsoft buying publishers is just a stupid move that thrives the kill the gaming in the way we know it. I am not the biggest MS fan but i also would object if Sony starts buying stuff.We do need a world dominiated buy Sony or Micrsoft. Such a world is boring. All games would look and play the same. Because these mega corps are running by greedy people that just want cash. So they just greenlight games used to sell well. Innovation dies a silent dead this way.

I really do not like the new gaming world and it could be time to focus more on indy games. They do not look as good as the mainstream stuff bu at least they still have a soul.
 
Anything to knock Sony off their high horse sounds good to me. I still don’t really care for Microsoft in general but it seems at least they’ve been more chummy with Nintendo lately and willing to make deals, so maybe more good can come from this.
 
BloodyHeartland said:
Anything to knock Sony off their high horse sounds good to me. I still don’t really care for Microsoft in general but it seems at least they’ve been more chummy with Nintendo lately and willing to make deals, so maybe more good can come from this.
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They are going to knock out Sony compeletly and maybe I am missing a point but I can see anything good in the fact that MS is going to be only high vendor of games for older gamers. Nintendo gets the children and Microsoft the rest. Sounds not like a improvement over the status quo to me. A monpol is always bad.
 
Well, imo we are in that "sweet period" when the one that wants to own the monopole its giving you everything. If Sony dissappears Microsoft wont have anyone to contest them and they can be a motherfuckers if they want. Will they? Idk, maybe. But Sony owned a lot of power the last gen and didnt do anything good either (more expensive games, dlcs, delays, broken games releases) so we are choosing the less evil and praying they will not fuck our ass when they owned us.

The (good) difference between MS and Sony imo its that Sony wanted to monopolyze only consoles, when MS has PC market too. And you cant fuck with PC market when you have Steam and even Epic. So thats a "save account" for us the players. They dont want you to buy their console, they want you to pay their suscription. If you play in an xbox, pc, cellphone, they dont care. Just buy their fucking suscription. So thats a positive point for MS instead of Sony's monopoly*


* When I say monopoly I'm talking more about "predominance"
 
Great article here

In short, Microsoft is going to kick off an acquisition race and games are going to be dumbed down by cooperations who don't give a damn about quality and just want to generate revenue by jumping on what they think is the next market trend. Mobile and games focused of microtransactions and NFTs are the next thing.

You've already seen the likes of eFootball butchering a well made game in a pathetic and failed attempt to switch to this new focus on revenue and not quality.

I've already commented a year or two ago here how I've played significantly less games since the Xbox 360/PS3 era. We have great games now but there is no middle ground games any more and frequent franchises, like most of Ubisofts franchises (Tom Clancy especially), has a noticeable lack of quality.

Sony are doing great but those games are too far and in between. Sometimes I just want a great co-op Splinter Cell experience, Marvel Ultimate Alliance, a tactical shooter, a decent arcade racing game etc. PS5 is collecting dust at the moment because I have little to play.
 
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There is nothing postive on Microsoft predomonice. They just want the money of their consumer no matter if the play or do not play. The whole subscription service is just to get money of the people. For people that love modern gaming and have almost plenty of time that might be great but for people that just play once in the while subscription services are just a burden. It is not like that I have to pay enough subscription services for real life already (rent, health insurances, taxes) Getting charged for gaming even without consuming stuff is not really cool. I can understand it is cool for a 50 year old something CEO because it generates money no matter if the people are playing or not. But from point of view of customer it is not that cool . And you do have any control of your content. You cannot play the games whenver you want because the owner of the content could remove the content anytime.
 
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9dragons said:
There is nothing postive on Microsoft predomonice. They just want the money of their consumer no matter if the play or do not play. The whole subscription service is just to get money of the people. For people that love modern gaming and have almost plenty of time that might be great but for people that just play once in the while subscription services are just a burden. It is not like that I have to pay enough subscription services for real life already (rent, health insurances, taxes) Getting charged for gaming even without consuming stuff is not really cool. I can understand it is cool for a 50 year old something CEO because it generates money no matter if the people are playing or not. But from point of view of customer it is not that cool . And you do have any control of your content. You cannot play the games whenver you want because the owner of the content could remove the content anytime.
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Well, that'd be the case if suscriptions'd be the only way, but you still can buy the game in the Microsoft Store and all their games are always in Steam (I dont remember any game being in MS Store and not in Steam) or woooorst case scenario, Epic.

Still, if you have an xbox, you just buy the game and thats it.

In case of Sony's last gen, you gotta buy their console, which it's fine because its normal the fact you want your games be played in your console (just like Nintendo). My problem it's when you take a series of Square Enix, Konami or Sega and makes it exclusive for a while (FFVII remake) or forever (Metal Gear Solid IV, Judgement, Persona 5) ((and I'm not even talking about PS1-PS2 era)).

And people could say "well, but now Sony is releasing their games on PC". Yeah, Idk, seems like a bit late seeing the conditions.

“FUN NOTE: Sony had been negotiating timed exclusivity on Starfield as recently as a few months ago. Going to guess either those talks are done or the price suddenly went way, way up.”

www.videogameschronicle.com

Sony was reportedly in talks to sign Starfield before Xbox’s Bethesda buyout | VGC

Microsoft has said it will honour PS5’s existing exclusivity agreements with Bethesda…
www.videogameschronicle.com www.videogameschronicle.com

This is what you gets when you play with fire. You wanted Starfield exclusive in your console when is not your studio? Well, those yanks over there doesnt think the same, lad.

Sony played with this stuff their entire existence. I wont be sad for them when a bunch of yankees buys the hell out of studios and give them to me in pc for one dollar (actually in my shitty country, they give us the gamepass for 0,2usd ((it's half price of a can of Coke)). Sorry lads, I'd feel bad for Sega, because they did it well with the Dreamcast. Nobody felt sorry for Sega in that time. I'm gonna laugh downloading Hitman 3 while I play Windjammers (and buying it on steam because its damn good to support the devs), chatting with my friend playing ME Legendary edition, while I'm ending God of War, finally released in PC. Maybe if they did it before and if they didnt make exclusive deals with third parties to favour their console, I wouldnt laugh this hard right now.
 
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Microsoft wants to earn money and rip of people even if they don't play. They sey their subscription service as the future. If they are almighty they will soon get rid of selling games for real. They tried this already with the xbox one.

Sony is not perfect but they are still better than MS. And they always will be. They are trying to change the game for profit. The want to keep the old ways which make perfectly sense. One console and physical games. You can buy play and then resell again get a bit of your money back for new games. The ms future is just about getting money. Getting money out of people even if they do not play.

Ms is just trying to change gaming for the worse. it is the perfect world a Ceo bad the bad world for gamer . Because these people they do not care about gamers. It is not about making good product any more and then sell it. It is about making one product that milks the people for many years. They want you to play the same game for many years. Then they try to sell you cosmetic items that nobody needs to even gain more profit.

The world is changing and not for the better.

I am really glad that here are indy games. They won't be effected by this business model.
 
9dragons said:
Microsoft wants to earn money and rip of people even if they don't play. They sey their subscription service as the future. If they are almighty they will soon get rid of selling games for real. They tried this already with the xbox one.

Sony is not perfect but they are still better than MS. And they always will be. They are trying to change the game for profit. The want to keep the old ways which make perfectly sense. One console and physical games. You can buy play and then resell again get a bit of your money back for new games. The ms future is just about getting money. Getting money out of people even if they do not play.

Ms is just trying to change gaming for the worse. it is the perfect world a Ceo bad the bad world for gamer . Because these people they do not care about gamers. It is not about making good product any more and then sell it. It is about making one product that milks the people for many years. They want you to play the same game for many years. Then they try to sell you cosmetic items that nobody needs to even gain more profit.

The world is changing and not for the better.

I am really glad that here are indy games. They won't be effected by this business model.
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Well you know I dont see people complaining for the ending of dvds/blue rays/blockbusters because of Netflix and so on.

One console and physical games? This is not 2008 anymore. Digital games are a mayority in consoles, and it will continue. We can discuss if thats good or bad, but that doesnt start with MS, it was with Steam, and users never said anything about it. We cant be happy for steam and at the same time complain about physical format, but the narrative "Sony=physical/MS=digital" its absolutely false when you see that most of the games and profit of Sony are for digital games.

MS its just about get money? And Sony doesnt? And Nintendo doesnt? And Steam doesnt? I think the "we do this for fun" times of games ended in late 80s, when corporations realyzed this market was no joke.
 
It is about value and not fun. when buying a physical game then you get something for your money. you do not have to pay when do not play. Unlike subscription services or digital games. Reting a game for 70 Euro is a bit that much. It is all about renting and not about owning any more. And no Microsoft is not the only company doing that stuff but they are the forerunner for that business model. Und that's why I am not fun. In the world were Microsoft rules gaming will become way to expensive and bother some to rully enjoy it. The world is coming but I just hope we have few years left before it becomes really umcomfortable and it becomes normal to download games and jus rent them without really owning them.

it will happen and nothing is going to chance that. I am just going to enjoy the old ways as long as they are aktive.
 
9dragons said:
Microsoft wants to earn money and rip of people even if they don't play. They sey their subscription service as the future. If they are almighty they will soon get rid of selling games for real. They tried this already with the xbox one.

Sony is not perfect but they are still better than MS. And they always will be. They are trying to change the game for profit. The want to keep the old ways which make perfectly sense. One console and physical games. You can buy play and then resell again get a bit of your money back for new games. The ms future is just about getting money. Getting money out of people even if they do not play.

Ms is just trying to change gaming for the worse. it is the perfect world a Ceo bad the bad world for gamer . Because these people they do not care about gamers. It is not about making good product any more and then sell it. It is about making one product that milks the people for many years. They want you to play the same game for many years. Then they try to sell you cosmetic items that nobody needs to even gain more profit.

The world is changing and not for the better.

I am really glad that here are indy games. They won't be effected by this business model.
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I still struggle to get my head round their business model. They charge £8 per month which is the equivalent of the cost of two games a year (and that's being extremely generous, especially as most games start between £50 - £70). Of course, this price is to suck people in and steadily increase the price, but even if it was double the price, it makes little financial sense to me.

If all Microsoft Studio games are being released day one at no extra cost, people will essentially be buying the likes of Call of Duty, Forza, Halo and more all in the same year for a fraction of the cost if they were to buy them individually. The only way Microsoft is making there money back is to double down on microtransactions and making sure the majority of games they are releasing have some kind of monetisation very prevalent. I think you're seeing part of this with Halo Infinite now being an open world game with upcoming DLC etc.

Part of me thinks that Microsoft doesn't really have a long term plan in terms of how this is going to be a financial success. Almost like they're buying all these studios and will worry about profit later down the line.
 
My hope is that Sony sits down, look at what they will be missing and goes HAM on developing titles. The Order 1886 could easily be developed into a Gears killer, can't be that hard to make a good military shooter with the right studio. And for God sake, release some proper Western RPG games and an arcade racing game (what the hell happened to MotorStorm?).
 
@Nathanial Essex In long terms the breakthrough of the MS business model is invetable that's what the industry wants and so far the resistance is rather minmal. There are not enough many old fashonined gamers like myself that does not like the future.But of course Sony could slow the stuff down with makin great games that show that the old business model is still alive. Brand wise Ms is no threat Sony coud makes games as good or even better than Halo, Forza and Gears. But it is not about games. It is about the way how games are going to delivered to customers.

Gaming content is senondary. And that is the main stuff that bugs me about the MS strategy.
 
Nathanial Essex said:
I still struggle to get my head round their business model. They charge £8 per month which is the equivalent of the cost of two games a year (and that's being extremely generous, especially as most games start between £50 - £70). Of course, this price is to suck people in and steadily increase the price, but even if it was double the price, it makes little financial sense to me.

If all Microsoft Studio games are being released day one at no extra cost, people will essentially be buying the likes of Call of Duty, Forza, Halo and more all in the same year for a fraction of the cost if they were to buy them individually. The only way Microsoft is making there money back is to double down on microtransactions and making sure the majority of games they are releasing have some kind of monetisation very prevalent. I think you're seeing part of this with Halo Infinite now being an open world game with upcoming DLC etc.

Part of me thinks that Microsoft doesn't really have a long term plan in terms of how this is going to be a financial success. Almost like they're buying all these studios and will worry about profit later down the line.
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I’m willing to bet that there are just enough subscribers to make up for what sales are “lost”. Back when I had my soda stand as a kid, I sold for less than the drugstore down the street. A world of difference between my parents helping out with the initial investment, but a similar principle. Who knows whether it’s actually sustainable but I don’t think they’d have it for so long if they didn’t count on making some profit or at least gaining good will from customers.
 
So all the companies that are based on suscriptions

Netflix, HBO, Fox (Disney)

EA and Ubisoft.

And even Nintendo in the future (slowly)

All those companies that are made to make money they're just wasting their time. All of them are losing money. Not rentable at all. Blockbuster it's the most valuable company in the world. Physical format it's still #1.

Okay I guess?
 
Sput Vas Normandy said:
So all the companies that are based on suscriptions

Netflix, HBO, Fox (Disney)

EA and Ubisoft.

And even Nintendo in the future (slowly)

All those companies that are made to make money they're just wasting their time. All of them are losing money. Not rentable at all. Blockbuster it's the most valuable company in the world. Physical format it's still #1.

Okay I guess?
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I think you're missing the point, my point at least. It's not the format that's an issue, it's the negative affect on games and gaming it's likely to cause. In my opinion, the condensing of the industry and this arms race Microsoft may just have started, is going to speed up the death of the dumbing of the industry as we know it.

Games are going to be solely focused on appealing to the masses, ongoing monetisation, NFTs, recycled formulas, low effort - high margin nonsense. As I've said before, just take a look at efootball. PES has nearly always been considered the best football game. That didn't stop Konami from building in an entirely new engine for the sole purpose of being able to integrate with the mobile version. Fucked the whole series up for a couple years at least.
 
Nathanial Essex said:
I think you're missing the point, my point at least. It's not the format that's an issue, it's the negative affect on games and gaming it's likely to cause. In my opinion, the condensing of the industry and this arms race Microsoft may just have started, is going to speed up the death of the dumbing of the industry as we know it.

Games are going to be solely focused on appealing to the masses, ongoing monetisation, NFTs, recycled formulas, low effort - high margin nonsense. As I've said before, just take a look at efootball. PES has nearly always been considered the best football game. That didn't stop Konami from building in an entirely new engine for the sole purpose of being able to integrate with the mobile version. Fucked the whole series up for a couple years at least.
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Idk why that it's MS fault and whats the adquisitions of Bethesda and Activision Blizzard has to do with it.

Focused on appealing to the masses? Well yes. That's the idea. Except From Software and some indie studio that wants to make some obscure game that only 3 guys are willing to play.

Ongoing montetisation? DLCs started a decade ago. Nowadays with the free to game plays with monetisation skins and some events we find like a "middle ground" (hell, Fornite probably its the most played game and its free). Or you have the case of Halo's online.

NFTs? Blame Ubisoft and Square Enix (and franklly I dont think its going to work). You are pointing your guns to the wrong subject.

Recycled formulas? Again, point to Ubisoft and their Assassins Creed/Far Cry/Rainbow six and to Activision Call of Duty's (which they are saying now in Microsoft that they want to stop doing it one per year).

Low effort-high margens? Well you just described EA and Fifa.

PES? Well, that's Konami's fault, who doesnt make games anymore because they earn more money with cellphones and pachinko. Convince them to do the opposite, this is bussiness, always been. Even for Yu it is at the end of the day. Go and try convince them to make games winning less money.



All this stuff are problems outside MS and gamepass. I dont seem them related. And hell, even you cant complain about any of those stuff to them. We can talk about decadency of some part of the industry with this practices (and some more) but dont blame Microsoft for that crap. And hell, you could put the temporal exclusives like a shitty part of the industry too.
 
I don’t see good games going anywhere as long as there are indie devs and underdog developers. That and Nintendo and a handful of other devs simply don’t tend to follow a lot of trends, so there will always be alternatives. I also don’t see Sony outright dying anytime soon, just would like this to make them do better than focusing on the wrong stuff and censoring games that don’t need it.
 
How can Sony get better when Ms trying to smash them to splinters with a big hammer with buying all he publishers away from them. If MS conitinues with that tactic then won't be much third party titles left that Sony could sell. Their first party line up is not strong enouth to justify the purchase of the console just for their exlusives. Mabye the could make a decent alternative to Call of Duty and the other snached franchises but it seems they do not want to that.

History repeats itself. Microsoft is doing now the same stuff Sony did with Sega in the 90s. They use their shere strength to crush their competion with business moves the competion cannot fallow without getting bankrupt. At the same time these business movements are too signicant to ingore.

In order to get support from Third party either must buy publishers for themselves or they need to make deals with the pubishers in order to keep their games on their plattform. Both stuff costs tons of Money. Money they do not necessarily have.
 
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