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Microsoft to acquire Activision Blizzard
- Thread starter Kawngi
- Start date
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I can vouch for this, I know some past and present Microsoft employees and they do take proper work environment/culture seriously.
So, again, the problem isn't that it would be a monopoly it's who would have dominant market share. That's kind of exactly the point I was making.
I get my dates messed up. And that didn't hurt Sony at all. Their 1st party is strong as fuck.
Gross. I truly hope some good comes out of this for the sake of the employees, but this seems to indicate the publicly MS isn't going to take any kind of stand if/when more news releases over the next year.
Outside of ethical issues…because I'm aware and have been thinking about them all day…
BUT as a gamer dad this actually benefit me a lot.
My kid has been a Sony fan since he started playing games but as my favorite franchises have become Xbox exclusive, I've been a bit torn. We can really only afford two consoles in this house: one for me and one for the kid, but with him insisting we only play on PlayStation so we can play together and use group chat (most cross platform game chats don't work well for us). It's been fine but with Stalker and Elder Scrolls and Fallout being on Xbox I realized there could be a time when the two of us can't play together OR I have to let those franchises good.
Today my kid was like "how about we just skip the PS5 and get two Xboxes" and selfishly I've been grinning all day.
BUT as a gamer dad this actually benefit me a lot.
My kid has been a Sony fan since he started playing games but as my favorite franchises have become Xbox exclusive, I've been a bit torn. We can really only afford two consoles in this house: one for me and one for the kid, but with him insisting we only play on PlayStation so we can play together and use group chat (most cross platform game chats don't work well for us). It's been fine but with Stalker and Elder Scrolls and Fallout being on Xbox I realized there could be a time when the two of us can't play together OR I have to let those franchises good.
Today my kid was like "how about we just skip the PS5 and get two Xboxes" and selfishly I've been grinning all day.
It's all smoke and mirrors man, trust me. Don't fall for it because it's strictly business right now to keep things professional. They pushed Bill Gates out for what he did so Bobby doesn't have long.
I mean they do have some big franchises but overall Activision Blizzard was netting ~$2B in net profit annually. Even at a growth factor of 10% it would take a long time for this acquisition to payoff.
Well that'll kinda come down to taste but a lot of the games I like are or became multiplatform, even if a lot of that is honestly just indies
Not necessarily. I mean, Nintendo makes a lot of big games but that hasn't necessarily prompted the other 2 to follow suit in their direction, aside from a few experiments here and there, for example. Plus, for multiplatform games, you're also competing against other 3rd party games, many of which aim for the same sort of market, like Battlefield, Halo, Fortnite, etc. They're more so complacent because they've become too huge and established, which I think would happen irregardless of exclusivity or not
Wait for the next Steam Sale. It's only ~400€ around that time :D
They could always buy Bungie to make up for losing COD
lol
I work nights and woke up in the middle of sleep to see it so I was basically this.
"Microsoft just bought Activision. What?"
Wouldn't matter. That affects Nintendo more than MS. For all intents and purposes their biggest franchises are looked upon as Sony exclusives anyway.
It's already here, will only grow as broadband/5G penetration continues
As a blizzard fan I'm happy because this acquisition increases the chance that they clean house with Blizz's management. As a game pass subscriber I'm happy for obvious reasons. As someone who plays videogames ... well, Microsoft-acquired studios have been killing it. The working conditions are good, the pay is good, the games are good, devs seem to be happy. I guess consolidation in a general sense could be considered "bad" but with this specific publisher I'm not really seeing many negatives.
Add me to the "What." pile. I did a double take when I read about it a few hours earlier.
Well, wait and see how it goes, but I'm concerned about the future of the employees.
Well, wait and see how it goes, but I'm concerned about the future of the employees.
For now, Sony is far from being hurt. Microsoft shifted from being a weak competitor to a strong one, but as far as we can't tell it's not really affecting Sony's bottom line.
Funny, I remember a time when MS was laughed at for just being a dudebro shooter platform.
Well I tried it once when I had a free trial to Ultimate and everything was choppy, laggy, and looked like ass.
I'm calling BS on this.
Fortune 500 companies have a vested interest in safe work culture. And it may not even be for the reasons you'd imagine.
Bottom line is they want to avoid lawsuits and bad PR at all costs. Over the past years those who haven't already have been putting up guardrails to avoid a company work culture as found in ABK. Be that in the form of mandatory annual workplace harassment training, expanded internal HR departments with broadening services, etc.
So in the end big companies are cracking down on litigious work culture environments. They're doing it for the wrong reasons (their own bottom line), but they are doing it regardless.
I'm part of this culture and am not fooled that it's "family looking out for everyone in the office", but either way there has been an appreciable change in work culture safety over the past decade regardless of motivations from the top.
Are people upset that Sony might get less revenue in the future or that Microsoft might one day be in the position Sony is in right now where they become the leader in revenue? Neither case points to a monopoly.
I could see it happening but you're right, they already have all their best IP exclusive for a hell of a lot cheaper than it would be the have the entire company.
Yeah I work an 11 AM - 11 PM with breaks in between. Got up at 10 AM to this news.
Pretty much. Could prompt MS to also respond by buying someone else just to show they will respond to any buy out retaliation, lol. This is not a great situation for Sony any way you slice it.
Great. Awesome. But, it's okay, because game pass & good guy Phil😑🥴
Activision Blizzard has an EBITDA of ~3.5bn, so this deal places the valuation at 20x EBITDA. Or about 26x net profit. Wonder how this compares to other gaming acquisitions, though I guess there hasn't been anything of this size. The value is close to their market cap in early 2021, so probably a very good get for MS without having to pay premium on top considering Activision's profitability is on the rise.
They should be fine. Sony is investing HEAVILY into 1st party. If you own that system you are in good shape even if they don't believe in a day 1 subscription model.
Time to keep Nintendo alive $$$ like they did with Apple to avoid a Monopoly lawsuit...
Thats now how it works, man. Again, why is it a bad thing to have options? I shouldn't have to be tied to a specific ecosystem to enjoy specific content
Its all anti-consumer
Yeah I can't process this.
it should mean better things for the staff, it couldn't really get much worse
it should mean better things for the staff, it couldn't really get much worse
Sitting here praising that vile asshole for being an absolute dick publicly does not sit well with me. I don't care what they do later right now. I'll believe the rest when I see it.
They only make that image better.
But even I don't like there games.
This isn't good for the industry. Too big isn't good.
And ms can do this because they have so much money. 70 bil is like a fart for them. If they can only use the money money make from xbox it isn't as much.
Sony needs to step up big time.
The best thing that can come from this is if Phil bushes SBMM. That's all I want.
oh and stop the yearly releases…but most importantly BUSH SBMM..
oh and stop the yearly releases…but most importantly BUSH SBMM..
The only way Sony could match this is by buying Nintendo or EA.
It's about absolutely nothing, he was making a joke, I think he released something today.
He announced the announcement of a game. A bunch of nothing.
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