Microsoft buys Activision-Blizzard

gibgodsman

I am more than happy with this, anyone complaining about Microsoft making the games exclusive, won't happen, they don't pull that sort of stuff with acquired developers, look at Bethesda for instance, no games will be exclusive

johnny_ultimate

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118511762#Comment_118511762

They absolutely pull that sort of stuff with acquired developers:

"Bethesda and Xbox executives have stressed again that Starfield is an Xbox exclusive, and will not be coming to any PlayStation console in the future."

https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/bethesda-forced-to-clarify-that-starfield-isnt-ever-coming-to-ps5/

Exclamation Marc

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118511672#Comment_118511672

Huh? Psychonauts 2 is on PlayStation.

The Raging Bile Duct

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118511762#Comment_118511762

Eh, Phil Spencer said that all future Bethesda games, aside from Ghostwire Tokyo which was already set as a timed console exclusive for PS5, will be exclusive to platforms where Gamepass exists.

The Raging Bile Duct

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118511672#Comment_118511672

Both Psychonaut games are on the Playstation.

Exclamation Marc

As is the vr game in the middle!

Retr0gamer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118511900#Comment_118511900

I even googled it to make sure and now I check and seems I'm wrong. I need to go to bed earlier.

EoinMcLovin

https://twitter.com/valiantfury_/status/1484479918989881350?t=dVR37nlXPZ2w9f-nPIfcMw&s=19

https://i.imgur.com/EXzVLQp.png

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118511762#Comment_118511762

😂👍

The Raging Bile Duct

Redfall is about the only one that would interest me on that list at the moment.

Bloody hell, six studios devoted to COD. What a waste.

awec

On the subject of COD, I'm surprised it's still so popular. The only one I've really bothered with in recent years was the Modern Warfare reboot. I feel saturated by COD at this stage, like they've tried absolutely everything and there's nothing new they can do. We've had the ones set in the past, we've had ones in the present and we've had the futuristic ones.

Homelander

I don't get why they even push them so insanely aggressively. I mean FIFA or NFL or whatever, sure, as teams change very regularly and if you're into that, last year's version would be well behind.

COD though, like Modern Warfare was terrific, but 11 months later Black Ops is being shoved down our throats, not solely from a marketing POV, but literally from within the Modern Warfare game client itself!

11 months after that, and this time the thoroughly unremarkable Vanguard is being aggressively pushed into our face.

They should look at focusing on Warzone if they want to milk something dry while pushing out new individual titles every 24-36 months. They're pushing them out so frequently and aggressively now I think they're damaging the brand.

I wouldn't mind AS much if the games were incredible but Black Ops and Vanguard were solid and obvious downgrades from the games that came before.

I regret buying Black Ops (friends twisted my arm). Such a senseless purchase, it's decent but nowhere near as good as Modern Warfare, which I honestly doubt will be bested for another few years.

johnny_ultimate

There's an interesting analysis of it here from Jeff Grubb, about why the creator of what's still the biggest franchise on the planet might have been desperate to sell: https://venturebeat.com/2022/01/19/activision-blizzard-wanted-to-sell-so-it-approached-microsoft/

One of the features of capitalism is of course the need for perpetual growth, and Activision-Blizzard seems to have hit a wall in that regard especially with a 'free' option now available. And even Call of Duty - seemingly immune to any kind of major market dip - will stagnate when 'alright' games are dished out every single year without pause.

I'm sure the whole, y'know, sexual harassment scandal was somewhat of a motivator as well.

Grumpypants

I wonder will the next move be someone from outside of the core gaming companies.

Amazon and Google dipped their toes into development and found out how hard it really is. But both have streaming services with Stadia and Luna that could do with a big set of new titles. They also have big interest in streaming games with Twich and YouTube.

Apple have been circling mobile for a while with Apple arcade, Netflix has also started Netflix games.

Facebook of course has oculus rift and were rumoured to be looking at Activision too. They also have Facebook gaming and the up coming metaverse.

Apple & Facebook are already well established in Ireland. With the new tax incentives too it might be a good time to set up development here.

Potential-Monke

Christ, I may give up gaming on the day I've to sign into Facebook to use a Playstation... It'll never get there, hopefully...

Varik

Can see Amazon going for it with streaming or with Sony as a partner, as Sony have all the patents they bought up with Gaikai and after Onlive went bust.

No point in thinking about Google, they would be a disaster if they bought anyone as they give up so quickly on so many things.

Don't think there's any hope for apple outside of a more curated push on mobile.

Mal-Adjusted

Apple are probably still having night terrors over how the Pippin turned out.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118514694#Comment_118514694

You'd have to wonder what Jobs' view on it would have been.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118511883#Comment_118511883

The irony being that Xbox now have exclusives on Playstation

Will be interesting to see if it will have an Xbox Studios load screen

ERG89

I've been reading Facebook, Amazon, Google & Apple are going to go big into investing in gaming for nearly half of my life now but they never have. Not sure what Microsoft are doing in gaming is any different than what Disney have done to film/tv. Its not illegal or creating a total monopoly but hopefully it won't end up resulting in a lot of bland, mediocre content like Disney are producing.

Microsoft bought Activision & Bethesda because it makes sense for them to, they have hardware and a subscription service to sell. They were on the backfoot going in to last gen even before the disasterous Xbox One reveal.

I don't look at them as doing gaming a favour by "keeping out" big corporations who honestly aren't any worse than gaming companies are reported to be anyway.

CastorTroy

Hope they make more use of the IP they will own and release more games than Embracer Group, who seemed to acquire a lot but do very little or keep very quiet.

Mr Crispy

New Hexen, please.

Mitch Connor

Psychonauts 2 on Playstation is PS4 version.

On Xbox there is a next gen version optimized version.

https://www.well-played.com.au/psychonauts-2s-console-performance-and-resolutions-revealed-with-series-x-taking-the-lead/

riclad

It's like Fifa or call of duty millions of people around the world buy the game and the dlc extra maps etc on all consoles Microsoft releases all Minecraft content on pc Xbox and ps4 what will happen is Cod content will be released early on Xbox console betas will come out first on Xbox if you are a big Xbox fan you might find it easier to buy an Xbox if the deal goes thru there, l be alot more Xbox games franchises released on mobile devices since Activision employs alot of mobile Dev, programmers sony allows cross play but devs have to pay extra to release a Cross platform game on Sony ps4, ps5 the reason they are weird about it is they think someone who only plays on Sony consoles is more likely to buy dlc skins etc from the Sony store than someone who owns a ps4, but plays with friends on Xbox in Cross play mode

DeSelby83

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118529033#Comment_118529033

And breath....

seraphimvc

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118511762#Comment_118511762

Yes, I am saying exactly this.

The exclusivity talk has been around for so long: the usual Sony or Xbox or Nintendo 's first party studios releasing exclusively - not news and nothing will change. We are actually seeing more companies doing all platforms (especially pushing for PC release) recent years because of good reasons and perhaps the simplest and biggest reason of all - profit.

The funniest thing (I honestly still cant accept this lmao) is that mobile gaming is the biggest money right now, and then followed by pc/console. Having exclusive on ONE pc/console platform is literally meaning that they are willing to accept the loss of profit (moniesss) from other platforms. And from all that, mobile gaming is the king so ya exclusive on a console truly imo a rather low priority topic.

If i were MS - the priority is to clean up the sh!t of these acquired studios and projects - and what to do on those dormant IPs etc. I don't think they have the time or they could afford to go into exclusivity right away (i.e. to lose money). Indeed the term 'first party studios' is rather funny now when you look at these newly acquired studios under MS.

There is a possibility that MS might go mad to push for their game pass subscription and announce all games are exclusive to Xbox - but then again, that move comes with super high risk (to lose money). They are not going to get some random big boost of Xbox owners in Japan for example at least.

As a (main) PC gamer - i think we are fine no matter what happens ha.

Imagine still believing that Microsoft are not making Bethesda games Game Pass Console exclusives...

Mr Crispy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118529858#Comment_118529858

I mean, they really couldn't have made it any clearer.

EltonJohn69

Microsoft destroyed Netscape. Microsoft will destroy anyone or anything that gets in their way.

SkillUp's view on things.

https://youtu.be/w9ZlCiwqYg0