Microsoft to acquire Activision Blizzard

[CosmicGP]

Sony bought Insomniac and Bluepoint, Microsoft bought Bethesda and Activision. It's like responding with nuclear weapons to a water pistol.

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LOL that's a nice analogy.

also Sony kept buying these one year exclusives with what must be pocket change to MS, so it really must seem like Sonys been shooting at them with water pistols for years now and MS is finally pissed off.

As they say, "it's all Sonys fault, they started it!"

(not really)

 

[TheHunter]

they'd do that at $10 or $15. If you aren't subbing at $20 you most likely werent subbing at $15.

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$15 feels like the sweet spot.

 

[Stuggernaut]

Crazy news!! Maybe their lower the sub of WoW and I'll play it again. Outside of Diablo, not much else I play these days in Activision land. Cool for MS and Gamepass peeps though!

Someday MS will buy a game studio I actually like and make me consider an Xbox...not yet though. PC all day for MS games ;P

 

[JLP101]

The obvious plan is Microsoft is slowly slowly going to make things more exclusive to gamepass/xbox. First they will release games for Sony, then it will be timed exclusives and then after that it will be full on exclusives.

 

[Warhawk4Ever]

Again, this sort of endemic, pervasive risk avoidance is a cultural shift leading to bad things both in the gaming industry specifically, as well as across the broader financial/industrial markets at large. I'm comparing the hyper consolidation of a very large industry with other happenings in the world at large because there are core parallels stemming mostly from the over prominence of risk avoidance by those that pull the levers. It most definitely is a fair observation and comparison. The types of companies being bought up here are huge conglomerates in and of themselves. There is no precedence for this in the video game industry really. So, I'm making comparisons cross industry.

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Sure but again, comparing it to covid/climate change ignores other factors, like the most powerful members of government simply DENYING the existence or at least serious problems that both pose to all areas of society.

 

[Atom]

Nah, the market cap is pretty much their overall actual value, including the IP they own.

They may get a higher evaluation based on the appeal of their IP in an attempt to push the deal if the potential buyer sees potential for ulterior growth, but it's not going to be a "multiplying factor".

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Just to clarify, this is not true in general. An acquiring company will almost always need to pay a premium to acquire a company as not all shareholders will transact at the spot price of the equity. Moreover, the quality of the company, balance sheet leverage etc. will often figure into things, such that people usually look at stuff like enterprise value to get a better sense of a theoretical 'purchase price' of a company. Like this is probably something like a 7-10% premium, and that's with all the controversy surrounding the company. Could totally imagine a 20-30% premium for a more typical company, especially if shareholders are far less eager to sell.

 

[Cheshire_Buddha]

I'm glad Microsoft will be there to clean up Activision Blizzard's mess (well, more like sweep it under the rug while giving Bobby K. a sweet severance check to fuck off in a year), but I can't say I'm excited that Microsoft has bought up yet another third party company. Sad thing is there are people here clamoring for them to buy more.

The day Sega, Square Enix, and Capcom are bought up is the day I give up on the hobby I've loved since I was three.

 

[Muppet of a Man]

This just makes me feel extremely uneasy. If MS is willing to make this deal then there's essentially no ceiling to their ambitions and this is absolutely not the end of it. Best case scenario the whole industry gets split up between a couple of big players, worst case scenario a single megacorp gobbles up the lion's share of it.

Materially I've lost nothing in the short term because I own a Series X, but I fear we're headed for a dark future. Anybody cheerleading this, or worse, smugly gloating about it comes off as incredibly short-sighted to me. Maybe this is all the inevitable course of late-stage capitalism but that doesn't mean I have to take it with a smile.

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I resonate with this 100%. I don't own a series x or s (only a ps5), but I would not want Sony or Nintendo engaging in this behavior either (as you can clearly see in my post history on this subject matter). It is going to implode the market or at the very least further devolve and homologize content.

 

[Deleted member 22750]

Do they now own…….

?

 

[NewtonNextDoor]

All the past acquisitions felt good. It seemed the developers needed the money or more flexibility. Imagining more Bethesda games, Psychonauts, other AA games was amazing. This particular acquisition I am mixed on. Feel its not needed from gamer perspective although it makes gamepass a better deal. The positive thing is the culture change which would be great and arguably more important but cannot be confirmed just yet. Have to see how people are treated in the future.

and also:

 

[Doggg]

:p

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lol

 

[Willy]

What an insane bit of news and for an absolutely mind-boggling sum of money. A game-changing deal for sure.

 

[Tuco Benedicto Pacifico]

Just to clarify, this is not true in general. An acquiring company will almost always need to pay a premium to acquire a company

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I already addressed this.
See my subsequent reply, too.

 

[vinnygambini]

What I'm actually interested to see is if the consolidation craze from the western world will have some sort of ripple effect in Japan as well.

Nintendo ain't going to do nothing but what will other Japanese publishers do with the likes of Capcom, Sega Sammy, Marvelous, Gung-ho, etc. They seem too small in comparison. I feel another consolidation wave is coming in Japan as it happened in the early 2000's with Koei, Square, Enix, Bandai, Namcon, etc.

 

[noinspiration]

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By my quick drunken math you could get everything except Take Two and EA for about the same price as Activision

 

[AnotherDayAnotherDollar]

This is why MS is probably going to buy Take 2/Rockstar as well soon enough.

If Tencent or Google or whoever want to step on this turf, they're going to be coming in at a big disadvantage.

If MS can carve seal off a big chunk of the top pubs now, it puts them into a commanding position.

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Whoever wants to make a serious play for TTWO and EA has ~12-18 months without having to worry about a bidding war with Microsoft.

 

[Muppet of a Man]

Sure but again, comparing it to covid/climate change ignores other factors, like the most powerful members of government simply DENYING the existence or at least serious problems that both pose to all areas of society.

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To me, most of those government actors are just proxies for industries that have something to lose with action on climate change especially (fossil fuel industry and other fossil fuel dependent industries). Industry and government are a revolving door of the same rich and powerful selfish/short-sighted/overly-risk-averse bad actors and con men.

 

[TheHunter]

MS is gonna grab Take 2.

GTA alone is worth the price.

 

[noinspiration]

Bioware, DICE, etc. EA is more than just sports.

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If nothing else, FIFA/NFL/etc. could force their games multiplatform the way MLB did with The Show.

 

[Vinc]

Part of Microsoft's modern strategy to keep federal regulators away is by making its various divisions more self sustaining, reducing the amount of people they fire when they acquire companies and thus reducing one of the obvious, immediate side effects of corporate mergers. They've done it with LinkedIn and Bethesda and they'll almost certainly do it with Activision-Blizzard. The money lost keeping them relatively separate is worth it as part of that strategy.

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That's interesting and makes sense, I was getting the same feeling from the Bethesda merger... But I have to wonder how long that strategy lasts. Eventually, you'd imagine they'll restructure and trim down those departments.

 

[TheDoctor]

Do we have a list of all the notable mobile games or IPs that MS will own after the acquisition ? (don't know much about mobile games outside of Fallout Shelter)

- Fallout Shelter (+ Fallout Shelter Online in Asia)
- Candy Crush
- COD Mobile
- the upcoming Age of Empires mobile game in China (Return to Empire)
- DOOM Mighty (seems it hasn't released yet)

What else ?

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Hearthstone
Farm Heroes
Pet Rescue
Bubble Witch

Fallout Shelter really isn't that big of a mobile game. The big five would be:

1. Candy Crush (Saga/Soda Saga/Friends Saga/Jelly Saga)
2. Call of Duty Mobile
3. Hearthstone
4. Minecraft
5. Farm Heroes

Candy Crush and Call of Duty Mobile are billion dollar franchises on mobile.

 

[MisterHero]

Nintendo should buy Take Two/R*/GTA for the lulz

 

[Jave]

Hey guys, today was a super busy day at work and I finally got some time off. Did I miss anything noteworthy-

Oh.

 

[linkboy]

Metal Jesus brings up a good point about Sierra's old library that I hadn't thought about. Activision acquired the rights to a lot of those games with the Vivendi merger, so once this goes through, Microsoft will own Sierra's classic library




I'd love to see Microsoft do more with these classic games then Activision would, especially since a lot of the people who worked at Sierra still live in the area.

 

[JungleHeart]

LOL that's a nice analogy.

also Sony kept buying these one year exclusives with what must be pocket change to MS, so it really must seem like Sonys been shooting at them with water pistols for years now and MS is finally pissed off.

As they say, "it's all Sonys fault, they started it!"

(not really)

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I think it's really nobody's fault. They are game companies, this is what they'll do and I bet after the Activision Blizzard acquisition, Sony will bag home another company down the line. What company that will be is anyone's guess at this point.

But I like the analogy too haha, water pistols to nukes. :P

 

[rusty chrome]

Sony is anti-consumer though right? First 7.5 billion for Bethesda, now 70 billion for Activision? Two publishers that were known for being multiplatform and didn't need to be acquired for any reason at all besides greed and platform exclusivity. What major publisher have Sony and Nintendo acquired? I wanna see the fanboys still try to push the fake Sony is "evil" narrative after this. At this point, Microsoft just wants anything they could buy just because they have the money to do it. Really sad times, and I say that as someone who owns every console and a PC. It's hard not to be disgusted by this.

 

[b-dubs]

All the past acquisitions felt good. It seemed the developers needed the money or more flexibility. Imagining more Bethesda games, Psychonauts, other AA games was amazing. This particular acquisition I am mixed on. Feel its not needed from gamer perspective although it makes gamepass a better deal. The positive thing is the culture change which would be great and arguably more important but cannot be confirmed just yet. Have to see how people are treated in the future.

and also:

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So, this particular deal never happens if Acti-Blizz was competently run. All the issues are the only reason we're here right now, Microsoft saw an opportunity and the Acti-Blizz board saw a solution to all their problems. It was a perfect storm, if not for the issues Acti-Blizz would have laughed any offer away.

Microsoft pretty much has to clean house over there, they're inheriting the mess and while they'll be given a grace period by all if they do nothing it will become their issue.

 

[Warhawk4Ever]

To me, most of those government actors are just proxies for industries that have something to lose with action on climate change especially (fossil fuel industry and other fossil fuel dependent industries). Industry and government are a revolving door of the same rich and powerful selfish/short-sighted/overly-risk-averse bad actors and con men.

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I don't deny that but when we have a large group of folks in atleast the US congress and statehouses that simply deny it's reality and are against funding to fix it on an ideological and religious level, businesses simply fund these folks because it's easy. Are there some who take the money and do these companies bidding regardless of their own personal views? Ofcourse. But IMO, it's mostly the former.

 

[TheHunter]

So, this particular deal never happens if Acti-Blizz was competently run. All the issues are the only reason we're here right now, Microsoft saw an opportunity and the Acti-Blizz board saw a solution to all their problems. It was a perfect storm, if not for the issues Acti-Blizz would have laughed any offer away.

Microsoft pretty much has to clean house over there, they're inheriting the mess and while they'll be given a grace period by all if they do nothing it will become their issue.

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All the chatter and know somethings I've heard have said this is 100% going to be the case.

Doubly so since these issues have been hurting production.

 

[NewtonNextDoor]

So, this particular deal never happens if Acti-Blizz was competently run. All the issues are the only reason we're here right now, Microsoft saw an opportunity and the Acti-Blizz board saw a solution to all their problems. It was a perfect storm, if not for the issues Acti-Blizz would have laughed any offer away.

Microsoft pretty much has to clean house over there, they're inheriting the mess and while they'll be given a grace period by all if they do nothing it will become their issue.

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Yeah. True. It is a major responsibility and a burden. Hope they can do folks justice.

 

[THEVOID]

Sony is anti-consumer though right? First 7.5 billion for Bethesda, now 70 billion for Activision? Two publishers that were known for being multiplatform and didn't need to be acquired for any reason at all besides greed and platform exclusivity. What major publisher have Sony and Nintendo acquired? I wanna see the fanboys still try to push the fake Sony is "evil" narrative after this. At this point, Microsoft just wants anything they could buy just because they have the money to do it. Really sad times, and I say that as someone who owns every console and a PC. It's hard not to be disgusted by this.

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If Sony was in MS position they'd do the same. Don't kid yourself. Why did Sony do all the marketing deals that held off content from others? It's business.

 

[b-dubs]

All the chatter and know somethings I've heard have said this is 100% going to be the case.

Doubly so since these issues have been hurting production.

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Honestly, you don't really need any chatter to know that. They have no choice in the matter. If they don't improve things then it becomes their issue instead of Bobby Kotick's and they'll have to deal with the bad press and the lawsuits and the employee discontent and the falling stock price and all the rest.

 

[Barius]

If nothing else, FIFA/NFL/etc. could force their games multiplatform the way MLB did with The Show.

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More than likely all the sports games would stay multiplat but I was just saying EA is more than sports games, I don't want them to get purchased or anything.

 

[RoninZ]

Sony has to respond with a big company get. Like go for a company like Square, Sega, Namco or Capcom. MS has like 2 big companies.

That being said. Good on MS. Them owning Act-Blizz gives them the opportunity to fix their shitting company culture because it most certainly needs a shake up

 

[StrappingYoungLance]

There are a few positives I hope to see out of this merger that I'm otherwise kind of uncomfortable with just because of how big a move it is.

1. The culture at Activision/Blizzard becomes much better (I know this is kind of rocky given that MS isn't without its own troubles)
2. We perhaps see some of those studios that were put on CoD or partnered with Blizzard get to do something else (this may not be realistic?)
3. A Singularity rerelease 👀👀

 

[Mister_X]

MS is certainly going to get Gamepass on PlayStation one way or another

 

[b-dubs]

Sony has to respond with a big company get. Like go for a company like Square, Sega, Namco or Capcom. MS has like 2 big companies.

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No they don't. Sony is doing fine. They have a completely different strategy. Microsoft is going all in on GamePass and as a result they need as much stuff on there as possible. That means either paying various publishers all kinds of money to get the games or to make enough games on their own. Sony is going the traditional route, not entirely unlike Nintendo. They'll be fine, they don't need to go buy anyone. They could start a few more studios to help make up for the sort of games they're losing, but other than that they're fine.

Besides, the only reason this deal even happened was Acti-Blizz's issues. It was a perfect storm, all the publishers you're talking about are doing fine.

 

[mentok15]

:p

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Well whatever you think of this situation, at least we
we get great memes!

 

[ZeoVGM]

If MS really does buy EA. I just don't see how Sony could compete. They might have amazing first party titles but without the dudebro market of COD,Madden or Fifa they wont be able to keep up. Its like a situation similar to the Dreamcast when EA stopped supporting them.

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There is literally zero chance that any of the EA sports games would leave PlayStation.

NFL would not allow Madden to be exclusive to Xbox.

Also, don't label games you don't care about as "dudebro." That's some old school gatekeeping nonsense.

 

[noinspiration]

More than likely all the sports games would stay multiplat but I was just saying EA is more than sports games, I don't want them to get purchased or anything.

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I think we're saying the same thing. Even if Microsoft bought EA, I would imagine the license-granting bodies would be able to prevent their games from being restricted to Xbox.

 

[ZeoVGM]

Sony has to respond with a big company get.

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No, they don't.

 

[FarSight XR-20]

Hearthstone
Farm Heroes
Pet Rescue
Bubble Witch

Fallout Shelter really isn't that big of a mobile game. The big five would be:

1. Candy Crush (Saga/Soda Saga/Friends Saga/Jelly Saga)
2. Call of Duty Mobile
3. Hearthstone
4. Minecraft
5. Farm Heroes

Candy Crush and Call of Duty Mobile are billion dollar franchises on mobile.

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Thanks for the answer.

Fallout Shelter isn't the biggest for sure but passed 180 million players although (not counting Asia which has their own improved version with Fallout Shelter Online)

 

[b-dubs]

There are a few positives I hope to see out of this merger that I'm otherwise kind of uncomfortable with just because of how big a move it is.

1. The culture at Activision/Blizzard becomes much better (I know this is kind of rocky given that MS isn't without its own troubles)
2. We perhaps see some of those studios that were put on CoD or partnered with Blizzard get to do something else (this may not be realistic?)
3. A Singularity rerelease 👀👀

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So, Acti-Blizz needed yearly CoD releases and bi-yearly World of Warcraft expansions to keep profitable. Microsoft won't have that problem, so I can imagine the release schedules start freeing up a bit and they also start putting out other games again.

 

[IDontBeatGames]

Get a load of this bullshit

 

[kmfdmpig]

I can't believe Konami is valued at more than Square Enix or Capcom. That's insane to me.

 

[etta]

I wonder what will happen to Call of Duty pricing, will it go back down to $60 US like the rest of Microsoft studios titles?

Also, with that $70 billion they just spent on Activision, they could buy Take Two, Ubisoft, and EA combined, I wonder what's stopping them… maybe that's just too many games for Game Pass.

 

[Diablos]

No they don't. Sony is doing fine. They have a completely different strategy. Microsoft is going all in on GamePass and as a result they need as much stuff on there as possible. That means either paying various publishers all kinds of money to get the games or to make enough games on their own. Sony is going the traditional route, not entirely unlike Nintendo. They'll be fine, they don't need to go buy anyone. They could start a few more studios to help make up for the sort of games they're losing, but other than that they're fine.

Besides, the only reason this deal even happened was Acti-Blizz's issues. It was a perfect storm, all the publishers you're talking about are doing fine.

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i mostly agree… but if MS bought square enix or capcom for example, then sony really starts to lose a healthy variety of games

MS made two huge acquisitions with Bethesda and now AB. So all they really need to do now to really twist the knife is buy off smaller companies like sega etc. That's the worrying part imo… losing 10 mil call of dudebros from PSN isn't a huge deal

 

[Wet Jimmy]

Needs to be replaced with an Xbox series controller.

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Doin' my best, boss....

 

[TheHunter]

I can't believe Konami is valued at more than Square Enix or Capcom. That's insane to me.

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Pachinko sells.

 

[RM8]

At the very least, this has to mean Sony will never dominate the way it did last gen. So I guess you could say having 2 strong contenders is healthier than having only one? :x Just trying my best to see the pros.