Microsoft to Acquire Activision Blizzard

Well. That is huge.

Luckily I do not care about Blizzard but with recent Microsoft moves I have started to care about the MS catalog...
 
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Good news if all those games come to game pass, plus no more bullshit bnet launcher or whatever is called.
 
Microsoft has been surprisingly consumer friendly during the era of the current CEO. That policy could change quickly however…
 
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porcozaur said:
Good news if all those games come to game pass, plus no more bullshit bnet launcher or whatever is called.
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While it would be excellent to have the Blizzard games also on MS Game Pass, I take this possible acquisition with a grain of salt.

Everything is OK and alright and consumer-friendly until it isn't.
 
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Too much cash sitting around. What to buy... what to buy..?
 
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Microsoft Corp. MSFT, +1.77% said Tuesday it has reached an agreement to acquire Activision Blizzard Inc. ATVI, +1.90% in an all-cash deal valued at $68.7 billion that will be the biggest ever by the software giant. Microsoft will pay $95 per Activision share to create the world's third-biggest gaming company measured by revenue, behind Tencent and Sony. The deal includes franchises "Warcraft," "Diablo," "Overwatch," "Call of Duty" and "Candy Crush," in addition to global eSports activities through Major League Gaming, the companies said in a joint statement. The deal is expected to close in fiscal 2023. Activision will continue to be led by CEO Bobby Kotick and his management team, who have come under criticism for their handling of misconduct by some of the company's employees. "Gaming is the most dynamic and exciting category in entertainment across all platforms today and will play a key role in the development of metaverse platforms," said Satya Nadella, chairman and CEO of Microsoft. Microsoft shares fell 1.8% premarket on the news. Activision shares were halted for the news, but had gained 37.6% before the halt was announced. Last week, Take-Two Interactive Inc. TTWO, -1.45% announced its acquisition of Zynga Inc. ZNGA, -1.10% in a $12.7 billion cash-and-stock deal.
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That's a 50% premium on what it's been trading at recently.
 
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Big fish eat each other.

I'm actually glad that I don't like any of ActiBlizzard's games.

How much will Kotick earn of this ? His amount of money must be HUGE, too. (Company heads usually hold something among the biggest shares of their own compabnies ...)
Maybe even ActiBlizzard was sold because he is so greedy ?
 
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The days of good Activision games are far over, I'd say their hey-day was likely the eight bit era. I'll have to hold on to those memories because the future likely isn't going to be very bright for them, now. /mourn.
 
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It's amazing when you think about how many IPs Activision/Blizzard have been sleeping on. Since it's not profitable enough to do anything. Microsoft certainly doesn't look like they take the same approach. First with Id/Bethesda/Arkane and now with these. They really boomed their portfolio.

But one thing I was shocked by was that even with this purchase, MS's gaming division is still smaller in revenue to Sony. And number 1 is Tencent, as gaming publishers. That's impresssive on Sony's part. They really have a strong IP line-up.
 
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largh said:
Microsoft has been surprisingly consumer friendly during the era of the current CEO.
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I disagree. It's only been a few years when this CEO tried to enforce UWP apps/games which, if successful and many other restrictions aside, would have eradicated modding from the PC gaming landscape and turned Windows into a walled garden just like the Apple and Google stores.

But history is repeating itself here. Steam was devilish DRM until they enabled publishers to pull off those 90% flash sales. Then Steam all of a sudden turned into gamers' best buddy because games were cheap.
Same with Microsoft now. They became the good guys in the last couple of years because of the Xbox GamePass.

It remains to be seen whether this is really a good thing for consumers in the long run. As a PC gamer, I am cautiously pessimistic due to Microsoft's troubled history with regard to respecting the PC as a gaming platform besides the Xbox.
 
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I wanna know what will happen to the games we eventually already have bought from Blizzard. I suppose, beyond the PC Game Pass, they will be in the customer's library of owned games, as if bought from MS Store itself.
 
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Redglyph said:
I'm surprised there is still anyone left at Blizzard making it worth buying, they've been in quite a sacking spree lately.
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That, and the quality of their game IPs has been on a downward trajectory for some time. WoW is still huge, but how much longer can that last?
 
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largh said:
Microsoft has been surprisingly consumer friendly during the era of the current CEO. That policy could change quickly however…
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It always can, but I agree that Microsoft is and has been more or less a best case scenario for a massive gaming company compared to its EA/Activision/etc peers.
 
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First I thought that Microsoft will have to deliver good games and good changes, and that it can be quite burdening to be too big company, if they can manage that, but then I realized they have to buy more - no only because because of their gaming pass, but also because it is maybe quite safe to invest now into digital companies because of covid.

And I didn't know Microsoft was against modding - I actually do believe that modding is the reason for longevity - DLCs is one reason, but nothing can compare to players numbers of creativity and the possibility of customization. I would play a lot of more games if I could customize them to my liking, but I'm not saying it is all saving, because there are bad examples of like everything in gaming.
 
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