Xbox acquires Activision Blizzard

[Dolemite]

Holy. Shit.

Click to read more...

 

[JimmyApples]

Holy f***. Everyone thought Bethesda was big

 

[Dolemite]

Holy f***. Everyone thought Bethesda was big

This changes everything in gaming.

 

[Beau Knows]

We're getting closer and closer to a few corporations (or just one?) owning all the major studios.

 

[JimmyApples]

This changes everything in gaming.

“And, of course, the newest Call of Duty will launch exclusively on Xbox, and be available #DayOne on Xbox Game Pass”

 

[syz]

So when's the anti-trust review? Awful news if it goes through.

$70 billion btw.

 

[JimmyApples]

So when's the anti-trust review? Awful news if it goes through.

$70 billion btw.

I believe Microsoft purchased Bethesda in September 2020, and the deal went through in March 2021. So ~6 months is a good educated guess.

 

[syz]

I believe Microsoft purchased Bethesda in September 2020, and the deal went through in March 2021. So ~6 months is a good educated guess.

Way more parts involved with this compared to even Bethesda. I'm seeing reports of mid-2023 earliest right now but not from anybody Schreier level.

 

[KeithIsActuallyBad]

Yuck. Who’s next, Rockstar?

 

[JeffreyLFC]

We're getting closer and closer to a few corporations (or just one?) owning all the major studios.

Netflix of video gaming

 

[JeffreyLFC]

Steam should be worried...

 

[GreytWun]

Bad news for Sony. They will either have to join Gamepass or stop with the exclusives.

 

[No Fun Shogun]

A $70 billion price tag is just proof that tech giants are playing with pretend money. That's utterly insane.

But this is a seismic shift of the gaming market. They hold the rights to biggest bro gaming franchise on the market with Call of Duty now and making that an Xbox exclusive would probably be worth a solid ten million plus consoles or more in a given generation all by itself. And that's not even accounting for anything done with the Starcraft, Warcraft, and other IPs that they hold under their belt with A-B alongside everything Bethesda related.

 

[Dolemite]

“And, of course, the newest Call of Duty will launch exclusively on Xbox, and be available #DayOne on Xbox Game Pass”

…after years and years of Sony exclusivity.

 

[pistolpete11]

I got CoD fatigue and don't really play it anymore, but I do not like this trend of exclusives because I might care about the next one. Hopefully Microsoft and Sony learn to play nice.

 

[Dolemite]

A $70 billion price tag is just proof that tech giants are playing with pretend money. That's utterly insane.

But this is a seismic shift of the gaming market. They hold the rights to biggest bro gaming franchise on the market with Call of Duty now and making that an Xbox exclusive would probably be worth a solid ten million plus consoles or more in a given generation all by itself. And that's not even accounting for anything done with the Starcraft, Warcraft, and other IPs that they hold under their belt with A-B alongside everything Bethesda related.

Plus they would have direct access to the Operating system teams to help them develop a better anti cheat.

 

[Dolemite]

Netflix of video gaming

Thats the perfect way to describe Game Pass.

 

[Osprey]

The crazy thing is that, even after the acquisition, Microsoft will still be a smaller gaming company by revenue than Sony. It'll make them only the 3rd largest, whereas Sony is 2nd and Tencent (the Chinese conglomerate) is 1st.

Also, everyone is ignoring the big prize here: Candy Crush.

 

[chicagoskycam]

I felt like COD was dying a slow death until Warzone. What they need from Activision also is some brand new content. A COD exclusive on Xbox only seems insane and I doubt they would cut off that revenue train but you might see much earlier access for Xbox and just like Netflix with it's most recent price hike, Gamepass will start to cost more and more.

Also, thread title should be MSFT acquires Blizzard because this is not just about games on Xbox.

 

[JimmyApples]

Bad news for Sony. They will either have to join Gamepass or stop with the exclusives.

I believe Sony is launching a rival service (PS Now is terrible), but it’s going to be hard to compete with Xbox Gamepass. They’ll have to start offering up their exclusives on day one, and then find a way to match Activision/Bethesda acquisitions, and then prepare to dish out for AAA third party day ones such as The Show, Outriders and Rainbox Six. And at the same time, Xbox averaging a AAA every quarter moving forward, and that was before the acquisition.

And you know Sony isn’t going to be nearly as consumer-friendly with their approach. To start and build a subscription base, Xbox offers $1 for 3 months that can be used to convert your entire Gold membership into an Ultimate subscription.

 

[GreytWun]

The crazy thing is that, even after the acquisition, Microsoft will still be a smaller gaming company by revenue than Sony. It'll make them only the 3rd largest, whereas Sony is 2nd and Tencent (the Chinese conglomerate) is 1st.

Also, everyone is ignoring the big prize here: Candy Crush.

And microtransactions from COD

 

[Morbo]

Seismic. all I can do is hope it betters the games I like out of that list.

 

[Warden of the North]

So when's the anti-trust review? Awful news if it goes through.

$70 billion btw.

If Disney can buy everything it wants I can't see how this is any different

 

[Warden of the North]

Here's to hoping they revive StarCraft: Ghost. Stealth action StarCraft? Yes please

Or anything StarCraft, for that matter. Or Warcraft that isn't an MMO

 

[Turin]

We're getting closer and closer to a few corporations (or just one?) owning all the major studios.

Same pattern everywhere