Board 8 > Microsoft to acquire Activison Blizzard

(+) Yeah! (+)

Again I would be strongly willing to say that thats revenue as opposed to units sold. This is what they did when they claimed that Destiny was the highest selling New IP at launch ever despite the fact that Watch Dogs sold more copies. Nobody can prove that one way or the other, which is an effect of the lack of transparency in game sales. It would at least explain the discrepancy with the retail and analyst data though. We dont know, Activision fully control the narrative.

Regardless were a bit off track since I mainly objected to Cold War which sold significantly less than Modern Warfare and nobody really seems to disagree with that. And I also dont think that anybody will disagree that CoDs trends have been general decline with upwards spikes after Black Ops 2. Which is imo why eventually the annual model would have stopped, why waste money and workforce on an Infinite Warfare or a Vanguard when you can have an even more successful Black Ops 3 or Modern Warfare and maintain an enormously successful live service game?

Because selling 20 million copies a year and making a billion dollars from MTX is better than just making a billion from MTX. Same reason EA Sports keeps making annualized sports games and why games like WoW and FFXIV haven't gone F2P.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/1/4/1/AAE33rAAC0st.jpg

That is a lot of focus on Metaverse in the headlines

Lightning Strikes posted...

Again I would be strongly willing to say that thats revenue as opposed to units sold.

For what its worth, they do use the word units in that specific context, since theyre pretty much using it to brag about Warzone causing more people to buy Modern Warfare.

As for Cold War, all I see is indication that it sold less than Modern Warfare, not necessarily significantly less, since it still topped charts for a good while. Vanguard was the one that saw a substantial drop in sales.

wtf is a metaverse? I thought that was a facebook thing

voltch posted...

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/1/4/1/AAE33rAAC0st.jpg

That is a lot of focus on Metaverse in the headlines

Because that's how Microsoft's CEO framed it to investors.

Yeah, Microsoft's CEO was likely much more involved in this than the usual xbox deal.

Safe to assume Phil Spencer's got more autonomy acquiring indie and AA studios, but for a deal this size, it goes beyond just gaming and a lot more senior microsoft people are involved.

I don't know if the metaverse will end up being a fad, but the money being put into the content and infrastructure is at the very least real.

Apparently they're planning on getting rid of Bobby Kotick, even though they owe him $250 million to kick him out early. That's pretty nutty

Whats 250M when you just spent 70B. Kotick needs to go asap

Feels bad to pay an individual person that much money, especially him...Still surprising to see them willing to shell out that kind of cash for what I have to imagine is largely optics?

He owns 250M of stock so they have to buy it from him when buying the company...

Nah they just owe it to himhttps://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/2/5/4/AAUYpeAAC0ue.jpg

Ahh, I see.

Good article on potential impacts the buyout has going forward

https://www.vice.com/en/article/pkp3q8/the-consequences-of-microsoft-buying-activision-blizzard-are-dizzying

Phil Spencer says they intend to keep CoD multiplatform.

https://twitter.com/XboxP3/status/1484273335139651585

The first half is important there too. I've seen word going around that Sony's marketing deal with Activision (where CoD games on PS get bonus content) lasts until 2025, which would mean they have a contract that requires them to keep putting CoD games on PS until 2025.

Mac Arrowny posted...

The first half is important there too. I've seen word going around that Sony's marketing deal with Activision (where CoD games on PS get bonus content) lasts until 2025, which would mean they have a contract that requires them to keep putting CoD games on PS until 2025.

This was my expectation as well.

It's still fairly ambiguous what Xbox's plan is since you can also interpret that as Xbox keeping CoD: Warzone on Playstation and while keeping mainline CoD exclusive on Xbox.

But like I stated earlier, the acquisition is way more than about "beating Sony". Gaining access to King, a major mobile company, and a large amount of exclusive content relative to Amazon, Google, etc is the bigger reason why MS went through with acquisition imo.

The main difference between the Zenimax and Activision Blizzard scenarios is that CoD is a way bigger deal than TES. We know this, MS knows this and the FTC and DOJ sure as hell know this. MS assuring that CoD will stay multiplat will placate the FTC (allowing the deal to go through in the first place) and upholding it will generate goodwill and reassurance for future acquisitions. The last thing MS wants is for the FTC to go after them like they are with Facebook right now.

So I can see MS going either way on this and it's not even a uncertainty the acquisition can go through. The markets are pricing around a 30% chance that the FTC or DOJ will block it.

Ashethan posted...

They're doing it with Bethesda, so I'm not sure why they wouldn't with Activision/Blizzard. It's kind of their M.O. now. Pretty big blow to Sony, but I know it still hasn't moved me to buying an Xbox Series. (Then again, I don't play activision/blizzard games anyway so this move wouldn't move me either way.)

i'll be accepting apologies now

squexa posted...

It's still fairly ambiguous what Xbox's plan is since you can also interpret that as Xbox keeping CoD: Warzone on Playstation and while keeping mainline CoD exclusive on Xbox.

But like I stated earlier, the acquisition is way more than about "beating Sony". Gaining access to King, a major mobile company, and a large amount of exclusive content relative to Amazon, Google, etc is the bigger reason why MS went through with acquisition imo.

The main difference between the Zenimax and Activision Blizzard scenarios is that CoD is a way bigger deal than TES. We know this, MS knows this and the FTC and DOJ sure as hell know this. MS assuring that CoD will stay multiplat will placate the FTC (allowing the deal to go through in the first place) and upholding it will generate goodwill and reassurance for future acquisitions. The last thing MS wants is for the FTC to go after them like they are with Facebook right now.

So I can see MS going either way on this depending on how they think the FTC will react and it's not even a certainty the acquisition can go through in the first place. The markets are pricing around a 30% chance that the FTC or DOJ will block it.

He is clearly stating that he wants Gamepass on PS5 where they can have Call Of Duty. It has always been the intent of Microsoft to get them to allow gamepass onto their consoles.

Nothing worse than Xbox fanboys on social media right now.

Nothing worse than fanboys on the internet, period.

Until this afternoon, it was Sony fanboys trying to insist nobody actually plays CoD/it doesn't sell well.

SwiftyDC posted...

Nothing worse than Xbox fanboys on social media right now.

Surely you jest, lol

SwiftyDC posted...

Nothing worse than Xbox fanboys on social media right now.

Bobby Kotick

Racist CoD fanboys saying they'll quit playing because Satya Nadella is Indian definitely have the others beat.

Corrik7 posted...

He is clearly stating that he wants Gamepass on PS5 where they can have Call Of Duty. It has always been the intent of Microsoft to get them to allow gamepass onto their consoles.

His wording is ambiguous on purpose

squexa posted...

His wording is ambiguous on purpose

It's actually clear if you take it with context of his past statements of wanting gamepass on ps and Nintendo consoles imo.

It's his desire because his desire is to have gamepass on them. I think he even uses the same wording. That of course makes the ball in sonys court regarding it.

I can't find the interview I was looking for.

Gamepass on PS5 sounds bad for Microsoft, why would they want that? I always assumed that Gamepass was a loss leader to encourage people to buy Xbox but maybe I'm wrong?

skullbone posted...

Gamepass on PS5 sounds bad for Microsoft, why would they want that? I always assumed that Gamepass was a loss leader to encourage people to buy Xbox but maybe I'm wrong?

Spencer says it isn't a loss leader.

The end goal for Microsoft is to have gamepass available to the masses. It is why they are flooding into the PC market and into phones with gamepass. The idea is to get their gamepass on all the other consoles or just bypass them anyways via going straight to tvs and freezing them out anyways.

skullbone posted...

Gamepass on PS5 sounds bad for Microsoft, why would they want that? I always assumed that Gamepass was a loss leader to encourage people to buy Xbox but maybe I'm wrong?

They're absolutely aiming to have Gamepass on as many platforms as possible. They came out and said a few months ago that they've never really made good profit off of the consoles themselves.

EDIT: Apparently two years ago they straight up said Game Pass on other consoles was a long term goal, just that they didn't know how likely it was soon. I could definitely see moves like this being made to entice that.

Yeah people need to understand that Microsoft has straight up stopped playing the console war game and is now focused on just getting their service out through every platform possible with as many irresistible IPs as possible packed into that service. This acquisition serves the latter piece of that goal.

It's kind of fascinating to watch since Sony in recent years has been taking the exact opposite approach by continuing to work at a siloed ecosystem powered by exclusive games. Some of their very recent moves seem to be moving away from that, but we'll see!

Corrik7 posted...

It's actually clear if you take it with context of his past statements of wanting gamepass on ps and Nintendo consoles imo.

It's his desire because his desire is to have gamepass on them. I think he even uses the same wording. That of course makes the ball in sonys court regarding it.

I can't find the interview I was looking for.

He certainly wants it but that doesn't mean he's implying here that CoD will be gone from PS5 unless Sony accepts Game Pass. Like I said, the situation is more than just console wars and right now, MS is more focused on placating the FTC and DOJ and ensuring that the deal can even pass in the first place. Biden and Lina Khan have been on a crusade to break up big tech since they took office so MS will be treading carefully here and keeping CoD multiplatform could be one of the concessions MS makes to get the deal passed.

Xiahou Shake posted...

Yeah people need to understand that Microsoft has straight up stopped playing the console war game and is now focused on just getting their service out through every platform possible with as many irresistible IPs as possible packed into that service. This acquisition serves the latter piece of that goal.

It's kind of fascinating to watch since Sony in recent years has been taking the exact opposite approach by continuing to work at a siloed ecosystem powered by exclusive games. Some of their very recent moves seem to be moving away from that, but we'll see!

Microsoft: we're not putting Bethesda games on PlayStation anymore

Sony: we're now putting our games on PC

Yeah, they're definitely taking opposite approaches recently

Mac Arrowny posted...

Microsoft: we're not putting Bethesda games on PlayStation anymore

Sony: we're now putting our games on PC

Yeah, they're definitely taking opposite approaches recently

Yes, that's one of the "very recent moves" he mentioned.

And even then, they had to be convinced to do it by the developers.

squexa posted...

He certainly wants it but that doesn't mean he's implying here that CoD will be gone from PS5 unless Sony accepts Game Pass. Like I said, the situation is more than just console wars and right now, MS is more focused on placating the FTC and DOJ and ensuring that the deal can even pass in the first place. Biden and Lina Khan have been on a crusade to break up big tech since they took office so MS will be treading carefully here and keeping CoD multiplatform could be one of the concessions MS makes to get the deal passed.

They have nothing to worry about from the FTC.

Even with this acquisition it only makes them the third biggest in the industry behind Sony and Tencent. It's literally nothing to worry about at the end of the day.

Corrik7 posted...

They have nothing to worry about from the FTC.

Even with this acquisition it only makes them the third biggest in the industry behind Sony and Tencent. It's literally nothing to worry about at the end of the day.

Yeah its similar to when TMobile bought Sprint. People were saying it should have been blocked, but at the end of the day, its still smaller than AT&T and Verizon.

You should go all in on AVTI if you are entirely confident the FTC would look the other way, since the stock is trading at a 15% discount right now.

Activision was going to be bought by either Meta, Amazon, or Tencent if Microsoft didn't take them. Tencent getting them would have been ridiculous. They are the market leader already.

Yeah, Activision doesn't have many possible buyers.

The FTC is literally dragging Meta to court right now to unwind its Instagram and WhatsApp acquisitions, so no way would Meta be making any new acquisitions this big now. Amazon's also been singled out by the FTC. In fact, Microsoft's the big tech company that's been least scrutinized by the FTC, which gives them the unique advantage in making this deal, but they'll also want to keep staying on the FTC's good side.

skullbone posted...

Gamepass on PS5 sounds bad for Microsoft, why would they want that? I always assumed that Gamepass was a loss leader to encourage people to buy Xbox but maybe I'm wrong?

you have it the opposite way round

Game pass is the big money

PrinceOfKoopas posted...

Logical next step is for Sony to end up buying Epic Games somehow.

Or Bungie.

https://twitter.com/Nibellion/status/1491453570029395980?t=tNV6uiejytYjbniTUxNYnQ&s=19
will be accepting apologies for the rest of the year