Xbox acquires Activision Blizzard

[Knave]

Whenever EA or whoever it was that bought Bioware, the CEO said he loved all of their games especially Jade Empire and was excited about the IP and...nothing happened. Not saying a Starcraft won't get made, just pointing out that head guys talk like this when they acquire smaller studios.

To be fair the same thing was said about the Age of Empires franchise and we've gotten AOE1 DE, AOE2 DE, AOE 3 DE, AOE 4 and they have plans for AOM Retold and a mobile game both announced last year (hoping to hear more soon since it's been near a calendar year since the announcements and they dropped the Retold trailer).

Age of Empires 2 and 4 have spawned a couple expansion packs now. And while you can say the first 3 aren't new games... they hired orchestras to recreate the music, graphics team did an amazing job completely re-skinning all the units and maps, they did work on the engine so you could zoom out further. In other words they didn't just shit out the 1997 version with minimal change. They put in a ton of work and love. They did a mini-documentary during the announcements that brought back the original studio creators at Ensemble Studios. It was high quality and a lot of love to the RTS franchise.

And it all kicked off in 2017, 20 years after the release of Age of Empires 1 in 1997.

Now obviously Age of Empires is important to Microsoft like say the first Walmart store is important to Walmart. Age of Empires was their first major, major success in games. But I could see them looking at Starcraft and Warcraft down the road.

Also a few months back I got a survey from Microsoft exclusively about Age of Empires and it was pretty long, detailed and covered every single game in the franchise from 1-4 and even Age of Empires Online.

 

[Osprey]

Warcraft: Orcs & Humans Definitive Edition, please!

We got Age of Empires I & II Definitive Editions, StarCraft: Remastered and the Command & Conquer Remastered Collection. Now, we just need upgraded versions of the first two Warcraft games to finish giving love to the golden age of RTSes.

 

[Oogie Boogie]

 

[The Crypto Guy]

View attachment 764431

Starcraft coming back to a different genre? No thanks.

 

[Seedtype]

Starcraft coming back to a different genre? No thanks.

If they do StarCraft 3 I hope they try to do some more experimenting with the formula. I feel like StarCraft 2 never got out of Brood War's shadow, IMO. Also felt like they were too concerned with balance, kinda made things stale at times. (Of course, I still think StarCraft 2 is a great game)

But a spinoff game in another genre isn't necessarily a bad thing.

But I'm all for Blizzard getting their independence back. Activision needs a exorcist, heh.

 

[Jussi]

From the Insomniac leaks: Sony Really Is Concerned About Microsoft's Xbox Strategy Following the Activision Blizzard Buyout - IGN

Sony goes on to express concern about the Call of Duty “threat” coming in 2027. In order to appease antitrust regulators, Microsoft signed a deal with Sony to keep Call of Duty on PlayStation, and according to these internal documents, that deal ends in 2027. Sony predicts a “massive” threat to its subscription service, PlayStation Plus, which amounts to $1.5 billion in annual revenue.

Interesting, I thought it was a 10 year deal. At least I recall Microsoft initially offering Sony one. If they only signed a 5 year deal, then...for why?

Also:

In the document, Sony admitted its “pillars are already dated and behind the competition”, and lamented the “elusive perfect game subscription”. The expectation of free, best-in-class video games creates an “unsustainable model”, Sony said, with subscription revenue not enough to cover investment.

 

[GreytWun]

From the Insomniac leaks: Sony Really Is Concerned About Microsoft's Xbox Strategy Following the Activision Blizzard Buyout - IGN



Interesting, I thought it was a 10 year deal. At least I recall Microsoft initially offering Sony one. If they only signed a 5 year deal, then...for why?

Also:

Sony cries about everything.

 

[Jovavic]

Microsoft is going to put game pass on everything so it doesn't really matter. Getting smoked in hardware sales will do that.

 

[Nemesis Prime]

Microsoft really wants to kill the industry for some reason

 

[The Mars Volchenkov]

Kotick is out in less than a week.

 

[RandV]

To be fair the same thing was said about the Age of Empires franchise and we've gotten AOE1 DE, AOE2 DE, AOE 3 DE, AOE 4 and they have plans for AOM Retold and a mobile game both announced last year (hoping to hear more soon since it's been near a calendar year since the announcements and they dropped the Retold trailer).

Age of Empires 2 and 4 have spawned a couple expansion packs now. And while you can say the first 3 aren't new games... they hired orchestras to recreate the music, graphics team did an amazing job completely re-skinning all the units and maps, they did work on the engine so you could zoom out further. In other words they didn't just shit out the 1997 version with minimal change. They put in a ton of work and love. They did a mini-documentary during the announcements that brought back the original studio creators at Ensemble Studios. It was high quality and a lot of love to the RTS franchise.

And it all kicked off in 2017, 20 years after the release of Age of Empires 1 in 1997.

Now obviously Age of Empires is important to Microsoft like say the first Walmart store is important to Walmart. Age of Empires was their first major, major success in games. But I could see them looking at Starcraft and Warcraft down the road.

Also a few months back I got a survey from Microsoft exclusively about Age of Empires and it was pretty long, detailed and covered every single game in the franchise from 1-4 and even Age of Empires Online.

Older post but I see this now and I'm getting triggered!!!

Really though, as good a job as Microsoft did with AoE IV they really in pursuit of that E-Sports market they really ****ed over those of us focused on single player with the omission of a very simple feature that was in every prior game: the pause button.

It's not just pausing the game but being able to still issue orders while you do so. In say Starcraft it's fine without as it's designed for more rapid fire strategy, but there's a lot more going on in an AoE/M game that that it really expands the strategy being able to stop and think, rather than being under a constant pressure of balancing micro/macro play. Now of course this is completely useless in multiplayer, and I can only assume that the reason they continue to omit this original feature is they're callously disregarding those like me in favour of pushing people into online mode.

It makes AoEIV unplayable for me and it's bullshit. I've now bought and refunded the game twice on Steam for lack of this feature, and checking the forum there you always have people asking about it but it's always been silence from anyone at MS.

 

[flyersnorth]

From the Insomniac leaks: Sony Really Is Concerned About Microsoft's Xbox Strategy Following the Activision Blizzard Buyout - IGN



Interesting, I thought it was a 10 year deal. At least I recall Microsoft initially offering Sony one. If they only signed a 5 year deal, then...for why?

Also:

In some respects, Microsoft is just precipitating the end of hardware. It happened with music. It happened with TV shows. And it happened with movies. They've all migrated to streaming.

I went to Sunrise Records over the holidays, and realized I have no way of playing any single media available in there - CDs, DVDs, vinyl.

The same will happen with gaming - it just takes longer because of the increase in required bandwidth. Sony will move more and more towards that model too because it's where it is headed.

The one issue that still needs to be resolved is this one -

"I talked to all the publishers, and they unanimously do not like Game Pass because it is value destructive," Ryan said during his testimony. Just before that, Ryan claimed Game Pass is unprofitable for Microsoft. "The Game Pass business model appears to have some challenges, and Microsoft appears to be losing a lot of money on it," Ryan said.​

The same way Spotify has been bad for many (most?) artists in devaluing their music, how will it affect game developers?

I think Spotify has been good for top artists who get 100s of millions of streams (especially because they also have multiple avenues of revenue generation), and indie / obscure artists who can now reach audiences they otherwise could not. It's the midrange artists - those that aren't popular enough to make a living off streaming revenue, don't have wide-ranging tours or merch, and may have benefited financially more under the previous physical media model.

Is it the same with TV shows and movies? I don't know.

For games, how will that shake out?

 

[Jussi]

In some respects, Microsoft is just precipitating the end of hardware. It happened with music. It happened with TV shows. And it happened with movies. They've all migrated to streaming.

I went to Sunrise Records over the holidays, and realized I have no way of playing any single media available in there - CDs, DVDs, vinyl.

The same will happen with gaming - it just takes longer because of the increase in required bandwidth. Sony will move more and more towards that model too because it's where it is headed.

The one issue that still needs to be resolved is this one -

"I talked to all the publishers, and they unanimously do not like Game Pass because it is value destructive," Ryan said during his testimony. Just before that, Ryan claimed Game Pass is unprofitable for Microsoft. "The Game Pass business model appears to have some challenges, and Microsoft appears to be losing a lot of money on it," Ryan said.​

The same way Spotify has been bad for many (most?) artists in devaluing their music, how will it affect game developers?

I think Spotify has been good for top artists who get 100s of millions of streams (especially because they also have multiple avenues of revenue generation), and indie / obscure artists who can now reach audiences they otherwise could not. It's the midrange artists - those that aren't popular enough to make a living off streaming revenue, don't have wide-ranging tours or merch, and may have benefited financially more under the previous physical media model.

Is it the same with TV shows and movies? I don't know.

For games, how will that shake out?

I can honestly see Microsoft movie to different tiers in Game Pass releases. For example Day One (possibly reserved for their own games), Day 10, Day 15, Day 20 and Day 30, Maybe even Day 60. They can pay to 3rd party studios according to which tier they want their games on. It would allow more time for sales for the 3rd party games and reduce expenses for Microsoft.

 

[flyersnorth]

I can honestly see Microsoft movie to different tiers in Game Pass releases. For example Day One (possibly reserved for their own games), Day 10, Day 15, Day 20 and Day 30, Maybe even Day 60. They can pay to 3rd party studios according to which tier they want their games on. It would allow more time for sales for the 3rd party games and reduce expenses for Microsoft.

If you look at the Amazon model, their "unlimited ebooks" subscription does not include the biggest sellers and top name authors. That always made more sense to me in terms of preserving value.

I could see something like you say, or something like the Amazon model as well. I guess it's kind of what it is now - the biggest games are not on GamePass unless they're 1st party.

One feature I wish they had was to play games I have purchased through the cloud (for example. BG3). Probably someday.

 

[Jussi]

If you look at the Amazon model, their "unlimited ebooks" subscription does not include the biggest sellers and top name authors. That always made more sense to me in terms of preserving value.

I could see something like you say, or something like the Amazon model as well. I guess it's kind of what it is now - the biggest games are not on GamePass unless they're 1st party.

One feature I wish they had was to play games I have purchased through the cloud (for example. BG3). Probably someday.

By the way, just to clarify, those dated Game Pass releases would be internal info, not public. So that people wouldn't wait for that release. It would be up to publishers to reveal if the game would arrive on Games Pass later that year, like having the Game Pass logo in the platform listing.

 

[Seedtype]

Microsoft cuts 1,900 jobs at Activision Blizzard and Xbox, Blizzard president Mike Ybarra leaves the company, and the studio's survival game has been cancelled

Layoffs continue to tear through the videogame industry after an already difficult year in 2023.

www.pcgamer.com

That's rough. Hope everyone is gonna be able to bounce back from this.

 

[syz]

Microsoft cuts 1,900 jobs at Activision Blizzard and Xbox, Blizzard president Mike Ybarra leaves the company, and the studio's survival game has been cancelled

Layoffs continue to tear through the videogame industry after an already difficult year in 2023.

www.pcgamer.com

That's rough. Hope everyone is gonna be able to bounce back from this.

They'll only be competing with the other 4,000'ish people in the industry who have also been laid off in the past 3 weeks. Analysts saying this could go on for a couple years.

 

[beowulf]

And it continues the rich get richer killing 1900 Activision jobs a day after Microsoft hits an evaluation of $3T with a T what a joke

Microsoft Lays Off 1,900 Activision Blizzard, Xbox Staff One Day After $3 Trillion Valuation

It's a hefty pricetag to get Call of Duty on Xbox Game Pass.

gizmodo.com

 

[Mikeaveli]

The tech industry is awful right now (I am job searching right now and it sucks). This was probably to be expected after an acquisition of this size, there are a lot of overlapping or redundant roles that are no longer needed.

 

[JimmyApples]

And it continues the rich get richer killing 1900 Activision jobs a day after Microsoft hits an evaluation of $3T with a T what a joke

Microsoft Lays Off 1,900 Activision Blizzard, Xbox Staff One Day After $3 Trillion Valuation

It's a hefty pricetag to get Call of Duty on Xbox Game Pass.

gizmodo.com

Most of the layoffs seem to be customer support roles. With Activision merging with Xbox, there's no need for as many support roles with the jobs overlapping. Sucks but it's part of business!

 

[93LEAFS]

I know Xbox users tend to live off of Gamepass for 1st party games, but pretty crazy to just full out give up on physical game releases. I wonder what it means for Sony? Is COD only digital now?

 

[Hivemind]

To the surprise of nobody, turns out Microsoft is indeed every bit as scummy as Activision.

Most of the layoffs seem to be customer support roles. With Activision merging with Xbox, there's no need for as many support roles with the jobs overlapping. Sucks but it's part of business!

It's not just customer support roles. They canceled entire games and laid off all of the developers. The folks working on Blizzard's survival game essentially a 6 year span on their resume that isn't associated with a game that actually got released, which is going to make their odds of getting hired in an already saturated labor market even harder. They can't use the success of the game as a selling point on their next job interview since Microsoft shit canned it before release.

 

[93LEAFS]

To the surprise of nobody, turns out Microsoft is indeed every bit as scummy as Activision.


It's not just customer support roles. They canceled entire games and laid off all of the developers. The folks working on Blizzard's survival game essentially a 6 year span on their resume that isn't associated with a game that actually got released, which is going to make their odds of getting hired in an already saturated labor market even harder. They can't use the success of the game as a selling point on their next job interview since Microsoft shit canned it before release.

Yeah, I don't know how it breaks down, but I know they cut people at Treyarch and Sledgehammer on the development side.

 

[Osprey]

It isn't scummy to lay off workers. You gave them jobs in the first place (which you likely weren't given any credit for) and have the right to take them back. The workers aren't entitled to them. It was a privilege for them to get as much steady employment as they got and having Microsoft/Activision/Blizzard on their resumes isn't a bad thing.

 

[GreytWun]

It isn't scummy to lay off workers. You gave them jobs in the first place (which you likely weren't given any credit for) and have the right to take them back. The workers aren't entitled to them. It was a privilege for them to get as much steady employment as they got and having Microsoft/Activision/Blizzard on their resumes isn't a bad thing.

This is how things work with the general public. MS creates thousands of jobs no one cares. They let go thousands of people and they are a terrible company. The tech sector is a mess right now and all major companies are doing layoffs.