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This Week in Games - What A Twist




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John Thacker



Joined: 28 Oct 2013
Posts: 1006
PostPosted: Fri Jan 21, 2022 4:53 pm Reply with quote
The Kotick news is absolutely related to the takeover, of course. More broadly, forces mitigating against bad behavior certainly encourage centralization and corporate takeovers. Take the good with the bad.

Buyouts have been with us in the game industry for a long time (EA buying Origin and many others, Vivendi buying Sierra On-Line, Activision buying many others before now.) It's the natural response to any kind of failure or rough spot in an industry that depends strongly on hits to sell.

Perhaps the current market is even more that way; in the movies certainly mid budget films are harder to sell so maybe that is the case. But the industry has always been full of startups, which is also part of what keeps it from being unionized.
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NG_Chloe



Joined: 29 Jul 2021
Posts: 140
PostPosted: Fri Jan 21, 2022 5:32 pm Reply with quote
I honestly feel more optimistic about this merger, as I end up most things

They can fix the work culture at Activision and Blizzard

The can cut down on CoD releases in favor of bringing back more franchises and focusing on more quality in terms of CoD

Along with that they can bring back Crash Bandicoot again, again, and Toys4Bob for Crash 5. Honestly that's the idea I'm most excited for over everything else. I loved Crash 4 and it was a shame Activision relegated Toys4Bob to work on CoD related stuff, wasting their amazing talents
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Tanteikingdomkey



Joined: 03 Sep 2008
Posts: 2345
PostPosted: Fri Jan 21, 2022 11:53 pm Reply with quote
I am honestly disappointed in this article... you had the perfect opportunity to use an image of bobby in his actual likeness complete with devil horns and black eyes and yet you didn't do so https://wccftech.com/activision-blizzard-fires-more-gives-ceo-200m/

I can only see this merger in particular as a net positive for the poor devs at activision and blizzard
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gridsleep





PostPosted: Sat Jan 22, 2022 1:18 am Reply with quote
"Awfulness lately"? How about awfulness for decades? All the triple-lay companies. Just Scrooge with no hope nor hint of redemption.
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enurtsol



Joined: 01 May 2007
Posts: 14744
PostPosted: Sat Jan 22, 2022 6:30 am Reply with quote
Remember when Spyro and Crash Bandicoot were PS1 mascots?



A few extra details that have come up: Activision canvassed other tech behemoths first, including Facebook/Meta, but didn't receive any offers:



For context, $68.7 billion is just below the $71 billion Disney paid to buy Fox. Think about that - Activision is worth almost as much as Fox! Shocked

Microsoft is paying $95 a share - that's roughly 45% above Activision’s stock price before the announcement of the buyout. However, $95 a share is still only slightly more than the trading price before the Activision scandal broke. So if not for the scandal, MS would have had to pay a lot more. So the scandal afforded MS a big discount

Sony and Microsoft making good with Call of Duty, but say goodbye to future COD-Sony timed-content deals. Now let's see if Sony also makes good with Final Fantasy (there could be a deal to be made between COD and Final Fantasy)

But we all know it's first and foremost about Game Pass (now up to 25 million subscribers) - and it helps that Game Pass is always open for more content of all kinds, so Xbox CEO Spencer is excited about reviving Activision's dormant IPs regardless how many copies they sell



Even still, PC Gamer: Microsoft doesn't see Game Pass as a replacement for game purchasing - Spencer emphasized the importance of choice

MS does have a lot of Activision mess to clean up, but a change of management can save a troubled business. Plus remember, Microsoft is regarded nowadays as one of the top reputable global companies, so they've earned a lot of trust capital to turn around Activision's work culture



Lastly, let's leave this as a possibility - go Battle Royale Brawl Melee! Laughing




Murder, She wrote:

Well, maybe I should take a quick peek on Twitter before I hit the snooze button for a few more hours.


U should never do that
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maximilianjenus



Joined: 29 Apr 2013
Posts: 2855
PostPosted: Sat Jan 22, 2022 10:14 am Reply with quote
afaik, Kim kaphwan isnour of this gamez even as dlc, the same leak that got even khronen right ( full teams too ) talks about dlc and Kim is not here.

no mention of Italian politics? that one drowned even the Activision news in a lot of places.
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Silver Kirin



Joined: 09 Aug 2018
Posts: 1099
PostPosted: Sat Jan 22, 2022 11:23 am Reply with quote
Microsoft's acquisition catch me off guard, I thought that they owning Bethesda would be enough. Leaving the recent controversies associated with Activision aside, MS acquisition makes, I think the Xbox brand is still trying to recover from the disastrous Xbox One launch, they've done a good job but looking at the hardware sales they're behind Sony and Nintendo. Microsoft is obviously going all out against Sony, and while they confirmed that games like Call of Duty are still going to come to PlayStation I don't think it'll last for long, Nintendo is not going to be affected since they have a completely different strategy compared to MS and Sony in that the majority of their sales come from First-Party games, though ironically the Switch did receive some games from both Bethesda and Activision-Bilzzard like Doom, Overwatch and Crash, that support did not last long.
I can see Sony thinking about acquiring some developers but I don't think they could buy some the most mentioned ones like Square-Enix (FF as an exclusive series would be beneficial for them but other games like Dragon Quest would have problems especially in Japan were Sony is losing the market), Konami (despite all they are doing better than before with simple games like Momotaro Dentetsu), SEGA (they have too many sub-divisions). Sony would rather buy small developers but maybe they'll surpirse us in the future.
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Silver Kirin



Joined: 09 Aug 2018
Posts: 1099
PostPosted: Sat Jan 22, 2022 11:29 am Reply with quote
enurtsol wrote:
Remember when Spyro and Crash Bandicoot were PS1 mascots?

The truth is that I still find it hard to believe that there are people who still thought it was weird that Crash N-Sane Trilogy came to the Switch a few years ago, many were saying it was it the first time Crash appeared on a Nintendo console, which is wrong since Crash games started appearing on Nintendo consoles since the GameCube era, same for Spyro.
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Olliff



Joined: 28 Feb 2008
Posts: 550
PostPosted: Sat Jan 22, 2022 11:39 am Reply with quote
Microsoft is not new to these types of acquisitions. They already own the most popular video game in existence, other major studios, and are established with their own first party franchises as well. I think part of the surprise is generated by how historically respected and consistently successful Blizzard and to a lesser extent Activision was in the past. I think the recent scandals gave a discount that made the deal even more attractive to Microsoft. I also think it fits better with Microsoft than Facebook/Meta that the Activision/Blizzard executive implied was at a time a more attractive possibility.
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enurtsol



Joined: 01 May 2007
Posts: 14744
PostPosted: Sun Jan 23, 2022 4:30 am Reply with quote
Silver Kirin wrote:
enurtsol wrote:

Remember when Spyro and Crash Bandicoot were PS1 mascots?

The truth is that I still find it hard to believe that there are people who still thought it was weird that Crash N-Sane Trilogy came to the Switch a few years ago, many were saying it was it the first time Crash appeared on a Nintendo console, which is wrong since Crash games started appearing on Nintendo consoles since the GameCube era, same for Spyro.


In fact, after multiple successful entries on the PS1, Universal Interactive (who owned those 2 IPs, before they joined Activision) brought in different development studios and offered multi-console releases for Spyro and Crash. That's when Spyro and Crash started to appear, not only on PS2, but also on Nintendo and Xbox consoles

Crash even received a critically-acclaimed new game in 2020 with Crash Bandicoot 4, developed by Toys for Bob. Unfortunately last year, Activision announced that Toys for Bob would shift to working on the Call of Duty franchise, so it looked like Crash and Spyro would once again slip into limbo. Now there's a chance Microsoft would move COD away off its yearly schedule and return Toys For Bob to working on Crash and Spyro again

BTW, before Universal brought in different development studios, ya guys also remember the original developers for Crash and Spyro? Sony's most well-known studios: Naughty Dog and Insomniac Games
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Bvick00



Joined: 17 Jan 2022
Posts: 37
PostPosted: Sun Jan 23, 2022 9:02 pm Reply with quote
Heidi, I'm disappointed in you. Sure the Activision Blizzard aquisition by Microsoft is big news(68.7 Billion Dollars is nothing to scoff at) but no mention of went down at the Italian Senate Meeting? Our gaming ladies, Tifa Lockhart and Xiangling, made it into the big leagues for all the wrong reasons Laughing
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PabloGarciaCoutino



Joined: 13 Jan 2021
Posts: 18
PostPosted: Tue Jan 25, 2022 10:05 am Reply with quote
Regulators are probably going to stop the purchase of Activision by Microsoft because of anti-trust (no monopolies allowed) issues.
I don´t understand is why Sony was hit so hard (loss of 13% of company's total value) when gaming is just 25% of that company's revenue stream. Yes, it has grown from 8-25% in 10 years, but Sony is making movies, has a huge music market, makes the best digital cameras, and is even making EV's.
The news I´ve seen say that when Microsoft gets blocked from purchasing Activision, some other company (such as Netflix, etc.) will probably try to absorb it.
[i]Activision Blizzard stock dipped on Monday after an analyst suggested ousting CEO Bobby Kotick as part of the video game company's broader effort to respond to misconduct allegations—from unequal pay to sexual assault— brought by female employees.Nov 22, 2021[/i] (from Barrons in nov 2021) 37% lower than highest stock value.
The Activision stock lost 5-7% in late 2021. When Microsoft announced the takeover, it's stock lost 2%.
So, it´s probably not the end of Activision-take-over-news.[/b]
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CerberusTheWise



Joined: 02 Feb 2020
Posts: 25
PostPosted: Sun Jan 30, 2022 4:24 am Reply with quote
PabloGarciaCoutino wrote:
Regulators are probably going to stop the purchase of Activision by Microsoft because of anti-trust (no monopolies allowed) issues.
I don´t understand is why Sony was hit so hard (loss of 13% of company's total value) when gaming is just 25% of that company's revenue stream. Yes, it has grown from 8-25% in 10 years, but Sony is making movies, has a huge music market, makes the best digital cameras, and is even making EV's.
The news I´ve seen say that when Microsoft gets blocked from purchasing Activision, some other company (such as Netflix, etc.) will probably try to absorb it.
[i]Activision Blizzard stock dipped on Monday after an analyst suggested ousting CEO Bobby Kotick as part of the video game company's broader effort to respond to misconduct allegations—from unequal pay to sexual assault— brought by female employees.Nov 22, 2021[/i] (from Barrons in nov 2021) 37% lower than highest stock value.
The Activision stock lost 5-7% in late 2021. When Microsoft announced the takeover, it's stock lost 2%.
So, it´s probably not the end of Activision-take-over-news.[/b]


They’re not going to stop that acquisition because xbox isn’t a monopoly in the gaming market. To be considered a monopoly, you need to own at least 50% of the market. Even as big as the activision acquisition is, xbox would still only hold about 10% of the gaming market. Sony would still be ahead of them as far as current market dominance goes. There are still 15 major publishers in the US alone outside what xbox owns. Sony has been making acquisitions and third party deals and nobody was crying monopoly on them then.

Besides, this is honestly the best outcome that could’ve happened for everyone. Activision was tanking hard because of their awful work culture and business practices. They were looking for a buyer anyway, and I think everyone can agree that its better Microsoft get them instead of facebook or google, which have shut down many of their studios… everyone gets to kiss Bobby kotick goodbye, activison gets the clean slate it needs with new leadership, and now COD can actually get the time in the oven it deserves and they won’t be putting every single studio they own on to just working for only COD. All those teams and studios actually have the resources and freedom to do what they want to now, and xbox will be able to bring an even wider variety of games to xbox and pc. Activision has an obscene number of legacy IPs that xbox is very much likely to tap into. Gamepass also just got even more valuable now that its getting COD day 1 into the service along with everything else activision and blizzard.
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