Poll of the Day > Microsoft Buys Activision Blizzard

(+) Yeah! (+)

https://news.microsoft.com/features/microsoft-to-acquire-activision-blizzard-to-bring-the-joy-and-community-of-gaming-to-everyone-across-every-device/

Microsoft is just taking in all the crippled game publishers now

Interested to see if they actually make meaningful improvements

Absolutely fucking nuts.

That's a huge purchase

Wow. Hopefully this is good news

Blightzkrieg posted...

Interested to see if they actually make meaningful improvements

You're new to this planet, aren't you?

papercup posted...

Wow. Hopefully this is good news

Seems like there won't be Crash and Spyro games on Playstation anymore :(

Blightzkrieg posted...

Interested to see if they actually make meaningful improvements

papercup posted...

Wow. Hopefully this is good news

Nothing will meaningfully change for the consumers or the employees.
Only potential silver lining is if Microsoft fires Bobby Kotick, because fuck that piece of shit and why would MS want to keep paying him so much?

In any case, MS buys a company I've already sworn off from buying any games from ever again, so whatever.

streamofthesky posted...

Nothing will meaningfully change for the consumers or the employees.
Only potential silver lining is if Microsoft fires Bobby Kotick, because fuck that piece of shit and why would MS want to keep paying him so much?

In any case, MS buys a company I've already sworn off from buying any games from ever again, so whatever.

Well with ms buying Bethesda and announcing elder scrolls 6 isnt going to Sony, withholding a franchise like cod which manages to somehow be a top seller every year.

lol they won't even commit to firing Kotick

What a fucking joke

I had just assumed that was guaranteed at this point. It's crazy the degree to which rich assholes can fuck up and face zero consequences.

Oh well, time to see Ads for Windows 11 in WoW

World of Windows MMO coming?

And no more cross platforms for Overwatch/CoD games?

I like how everyone is just crossing their fingers hoping Kotick gets canned. Alas, the world is cruel.

pionear posted...

And no more cross platforms for Overwatch/CoD games?

Sony always blocks that stuff, MS is fine with cross platform play.

Microsoft wants to bridge mobile and traditional gaming, whether they fail or succeed, we'll see.

Blightzkrieg posted...

lol they won't even commit to firing Kotick

What a fucking joke

I had just assumed that was guaranteed at this point. It's crazy the degree to which rich assholes can fuck up and face zero consequences.

The ActiBlizz board toyed with the idea amid the revelation that he was part of the whole company-wide rapefest thing, but ultimately decided that he made them all so much money that they were better off keeping him than avoiding the bad PR. Presumably, MS will go through the same process. Shareholders like Kotick, so he shall continue to be come even billionairier.

eating4fun posted...

Microsoft wants to bridge mobile and traditional gaming, whether they fail or succeed, we'll see.

MS has always led the charge in making gaming worse.
So this union w/ A-B is honestly a perfect marriage made in hell.

If only there was somebody out there who could match the business genius of Bobby "releasecodeveryyear" Kotick

Nichtcrawler X posted...

Sony always blocks that stuff, MS is fine with cross platform play.

Depends on the generation. Sony was very against it when the PS4 was dominating. They were more in favour when the PS3 was lagging compared to the Wii and 360. Sony's got a habit of getting cocky when things are going well for them (which, to be fair, is true of most companies).

Blightzkrieg posted...

If only there was somebody out there who could match the business genius of Bobby "releasecodeveryyear" Kotick

I genuinely don't understand what he does that makes him so appealing that they're willing to throw hundreds of millions of dollars at him every year. ActiBlizz isn't exactly innovating.

Wtf?

Wait... How many billions of dollars is this going to cost? I know activision is having a hard time this last year but holy fuck they were a mega publisher and just acquiring world of warcraft alone should be very expensive.

BlackScythe0 posted...

Wait... How many billions of dollars is this going to cost? I know activision is having a hard time this last year but holy fuck they were a mega publisher and just acquiring world of warcraft alone should be very expensive.

70 billions

streamofthesky posted...

MS has always led the charge in making gaming worse.

for the past several years they've been leading the charge to make it better

cross play, gamepass, letting their developers do what they want with a blank check, ect.

https://twitter.com/WSJ/status/1483494849944997889?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Etweet

LETS GO

Starcraft 3 when?
Warcraft 4 when?

BlackScythe0 posted...

https://twitter.com/WSJ/status/1483494849944997889?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Etweet

LETS GO

fucking please

I've hated few people in my life more than Kotick.

"We've fired Bobby Kotick, and replaced him with newcomer to the industry Robby Nodick, please buy our stocks"

BlackScythe0 posted...

https://twitter.com/WSJ/status/1483494849944997889?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Etweet

LETS GO

I suspect this was the plan. Kotick gets his golden parachute, Microsoft gets to pick new leadership and claim to be starting fresh. Business as usual.

eating4fun posted...

Microsoft wants to bridge mobile and traditional gaming, whether they fail or succeed, we'll see.

Didn't Epic already do that with Fornite?

SilentSeph posted...

Seems like there won't be Crash and Spyro games on Playstation anymore :(

Unless they sell both licenses.

At least I wish they would sell them back to Sony, Insomniac would do them both justice. Plus I would imagine most Crash and Spyro fans are PlayStation owners so the sales for both might tank.

Also maybe MS can fix Blizzards latest problems with female workers?

Incredibly on brand for Microsoft, wait until a company is right past the height of their game before paying way too much money for it, then letting it do nothing until it's doomed to obscurity

Blizzard was the king in the 90's. They have been mostly garbage since Warcraft III.

Blightzkrieg posted...

lol they won't even commit to firing Kotick

What a f***ing joke

if anything, i bet they give him a hefty compensation for leaving.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/7/6/2/AAQwHjAAC0my.jpg

I wonder when one company will own everything and how many people won't mind.

BEERandWEED posted...

I wonder when one company will own everything and how many people won't mind.

Microsoft already went through one antitrust lawsuit.

SeahorseCpt89 posted...

Unless they sell both licenses.

i would assume that a large key role in the acquisition is that they get all of activision blizzards ips

selling them off would be less than ideal if they wanted to actually get bought

Revelation34 posted...

Microsoft already went through one antitrust lawsuit.

in 2001. because of internet explorer being included in windows.

which it still is, btw.

meanwhile, sony is currently going through one right now on grounds of overcharging people for digital purchases on playstation, and nintendo went through one in 1992

antitrust lawsuits don't really mean anything because it only ever usually amounts to just some fines or they have to make public something they did/are doing

Nothing is illegal if you can afford the fine.

streamofthesky posted...

MS has always led the charge in making gaming worse.
So this union w/ A-B is honestly a perfect marriage made in hell.

So what you're saying is, the next step is unification with EA?

https://www.playstationlifestyle.net/2022/01/19/report-bobby-kotick-tried-selling-activision-blizzard-to-facebook/

This deal could have been much worse

MetalGarurumon posted...

i would assume that a large key role in the acquisition is that they get all of activision blizzards ips

selling them off would be less than ideal if they wanted to actually get bought

I could see them selling off any that they don't expect to make much from, or that aren't likely to perform very well as exclusives.

ParanoidObsessive posted...

So what you're saying is, the next step is unification with EA?

EA is actually doing pretty well for themselves considering they haven't been wracked with harassment allegations like Activision and Ubisoft

yet....

adjl posted...

I could see them selling off any that they don't expect to make much from, or that aren't likely to perform very well as exclusives.

They have been sitting on Banjo for how many years now?

adjl posted...

I could see them selling off any that they don't expect to make much from, or that aren't likely to perform very well as exclusives.

i meant activision

no way in hell does microsoft sell their ips

hell, the only reason they let bungie leave was if bungie gave them the ip to halo

Zareth posted...

EA is actually doing pretty well for themselves considering they haven't been wracked with harassment allegations like Activision and Ubisoft

yet....

When will Microsoft and EA merge?

Blightzkrieg posted...

They have been sitting on Banjo for how many years now?

True. Arguably, that was because they expected to be able to do more with it, failed to do so, and now it doesn't have enough value for anyone to be really interested in buying it (even Playtonic probably wouldn't be able to do much with, given that Yooka-Laylee kind of dashed people's hopes in that regard). I could believe that the most profitable use for that IP now is to sit on it, occasionally re-release the games, and to sell it to Nintendo for Smash.

MetalGarurumon posted...

i meant activision

no way in hell does microsoft sell their ips

hell, the only reason they let bungie leave was if bungie gave them the ip to halo

Halo's an IP that they've been actively profiting from for the entire time they've been in the console market, though. Of course they want to hang on to that. Crash and Spyro are not, and there's a fair chance that they'll profit more from those IP's by selling them to Sony than by making them exclusive and hoping they can convince long-time fans to jump ship and buy an Xbox instead of a PS, given that most don't consider them system-sellers.

Of course, they could also keep them and just make the games multiplat, since that's probably going to be more profitable than any exclusivity plan would be (again, they're not really system-sellers, so that generally won't cost them system sales).

All of these mergers suck and hurt the industry

It alienates

If MS really wanted to do something with the Spyro and Crash IPs, they'd rescue Toys For Bob from the CoD hell they got sent to.