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Microsoft/Activision Blizzard Acquisition - Information Thread, update: The Deal Has Closed

Bacon

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JPDunks4

JPDunks4

Posted
Posted
13 minutes ago, stepee said:

Finally, we will see Resistance and Killzone return in 2025.

 

I was going to say, the only reason Sony might be shitting their pants, is if Microsoft were assholes, pulling CoD off Playstation does leave a big hole in their lineup.  CoD is a yearly release that everyone relied on.  What does Sony have for FPS's if Microsoft kept CoD exclusive going forward?  Apex, Battlefield?  

 

Sony's 1st Party has been stellar..... at making 3rd person action adventure rpg lite style games.  They have not made a good competitive FPS multiplayer game in a long time.  Losing CoD would be brutal.

 

Sony also made some 3rd party publishing deals I believe with new studios to do multiplayer games, so they should hope those land as well.  Believe a bunch of the devs were ex CoD guys.

 

Microsoft on the other hand would now have Halo, CoD, Overwatch, Doom, Wolfenstein, and Quake. 

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Derek

Derek

Posted
Posted
22 minutes ago, crispy4000 said:

 

Nintendo would be wise to give a fuck if they don't want to end up in a Wii U situation again with a Switch successor.

The Switch sold on the back of its form factor, indie appeal, and a genuine killer app (BoTW).  With the Deck entering the picture, Nintendo's historical disadvantages come back to the fore.

I haven't followed much tech in the last few years, so they probably do, but do/will the average Joe's even know about the Steam Deck, to make it a threat to Nintendo and their Switch? I feel it will have massive appeal to PC gamers, but may take awhile for the rest of general public to realize that it's something special. I just can't see millions of pre-teens asking for a Steam Deck, for Christmas, quite yet.

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Kal-El814

Kal-El814

Posted
Posted
16 minutes ago, crispy4000 said:

Nintendo would be wise to give a fuck if they don't want to end up in a Wii U situation again with a Switch successor.

The Switch sold on the back of its form factor, indie appeal, and a genuine killer app (BoTW).  With the Deck entering the picture, Nintendo's historical disadvantages come back to the fore.

 

Nintendo has only really cared about making Nintendo adapters since the GameCube days and other than the stumble that was the Wii U this has worked out remarkably well for them. I’m not saying that literally nobody will not get a Switch or Switch 2 because they bought a Steam Deck instead, they’re just wildly different markets.

 

Roblox Corp is worth almost as much as Nintendo. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe and Animal Crossing sold 10M more copies than BotW. They’re in the same space, they just don’t care, and they shouldn’t. 

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stepee

stepee

Posted
Posted
18 minutes ago, crispy4000 said:

 

Nintendo would be wise to give a fuck if they don't want to end up in a Wii U situation again with a Switch successor.

The Switch sold on the back of its form factor, indie appeal, and a genuine killer app (BoTW).  With the Deck entering the picture, Nintendo's historical disadvantages come back to the fore.

 

I feel like for this to work you have to erase basically the entire history of handheld video game systems and Nintendo’s absolute dominance throughout all of it despite many many would be challengers to the throne that had a lot more mainstream appeal than Steam Deck.

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Commissar SFLUFAN

Commissar SFLUFAN

Posted
Posted

I really like what Phil Savage -- the PC Gamer UK EIC -- had to say about this:

 

Quote

A lot of people are contextualising this action in terms of what it means for Microsoft's perpetual console battle with Sony. But I'm not sure Microsoft is really even thinking about PlayStation at this point. Nothing about its strategy feels like it's designed around two mini-PCs battling to live under your TV. Xbox, the device, is important to it, sure, but not as much as Xbox, the ecosystem, encompassing Game Pass and a growing army of publishers and developers to become a centrepiece of gaming across many devices.

 

Microsoft is continuing its transition into gaming's Disney, and I think more broadly its biggest competitor is less Sony specifically, but the other top publicly traded gaming corporations generally. Tencent continues to expand and acquire—with major stakes in many Western publishers. It outright owns Riot, which sees itself as the new Blizzard. How do you compete with that? Buy the old Blizzard.

 

 

n8imLJuChYmzM9945qNefN-1200-80.jpeg

How Microsoft acquiring Activision will affect PC gaming | PC Gamer

WWW.PCGAMER.COM
PC Gamer reacts to Microsoft's latest, biggest purchase.

 

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skillzdadirecta

skillzdadirecta

Posted
Posted
2 minutes ago, Commissar SFLUFAN said:

I really like what Phil Savage -- the PC Gamer UK EIC -- had to say about this:

 

 

 

n8imLJuChYmzM9945qNefN-1200-80.jpeg

How Microsoft acquiring Activision will affect PC gaming | PC Gamer

WWW.PCGAMER.COM
PC Gamer reacts to Microsoft's latest, biggest purchase.

 

MS hasn't been competing directly with Sony for awhile now. They're trying to become gaming's Netflix.  You're gonna start seeing Xbox/gamepass apps built into TV'S soon.

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johnny

johnny

Posted
Posted

I think Sony needs to keep doing their own thing. Come out with your version of gamepass (actually make it good!!), probably beef up the amount of good exclusives you have whether it's first party or paying a third party, and focus on VR. I kinda see Sony going the route of Nintendo with more mature games. 

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stepee

stepee

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I’m not sure how this in particular will be for the gaming landscape as a whole, I don’t think it’s going to tip the scales by itself in a major enough way to be devastating to the industry, so in this case I’m happy for the developers and IP’s that will now hopefully be released from COD hell.

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Guest

Guest

Posted
Posted
15 minutes ago, Commissar SFLUFAN said:

I really like what Phil Savage -- the PC Gamer UK EIC -- had to say about this:

 

 

 

n8imLJuChYmzM9945qNefN-1200-80.jpeg

How Microsoft acquiring Activision will affect PC gaming | PC Gamer

WWW.PCGAMER.COM
PC Gamer reacts to Microsoft's latest, biggest purchase.

 


Gaming Disney is exactly what came to mind when I saw the news. IP dominance via acquisition. It is a great strategy of you have the means and the leadership to capitalize. MS obviously has the cash, and the leadership in Phil seems to be capable.

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stepee

stepee

Posted
Posted
  • Blur
  • Caesar
  • Call of Duty
  • Candy Crush
  • Crash Bandicoot
  • Diablo
  • DJ Hero
  • Empire Earth
  • Gabriel Knight
  • Geometry Wars
  • Guitar Hero
  • Gun
  • Hearthstone
  • Heroes of the Storm
  • Hexen
  • Interstate ’76
  • King’s Quest
  • Laura Bow Mysteries
  • The Lost Vikings
  • Overwatch
  • Phantasmagoria
  • Pitfall
  • Police Quest
  • Prototype
  • Quest for Glory
  • Singularity
  • Skylanders
  • Solider of Fortune
  • Space Quest
  • Spyro the Dragon
  • StarCraft
  • Tenchu (legacy games)
  • TimeShift
  • Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater
  • True Crime
  • World of Warcraft
  • Zork

 

I’ll take new Spyro, Crash,  Tenchu, Kings Quest, Phantasmagoria, Gun, Protoype, and Pitfall out of those.

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Paperclyp

Paperclyp

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I frankly think Sony trying to do a game pass equivalent is a fool's errand at this point. They're too far behind and will never have the firepower to put up a service that will compete with it. 

 

I don't know how viable it is for them to stay in the hardware market long term after this. And I don't say that to imply that they're doomed, I just don't know. Maybe it's perfectly fine that they put out a machine and their own software and they get by just fine. Perhaps a mini version of game pass can be part of that, but as a service to exist on its own to compliment their machine only - there's no way they can try to develop something into anything that will actually compete with the sheer volume MS has at its disposal. 

 

I've been about this bullshit before, but I think in 10 years it's distinctly possible we're sitting here like...you know game pass was actually a big mistake and a net negative for fans of games. Each one of these acquisitions makes me more and more uneasy. 

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The def star

The def star

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, Commissar SFLUFAN said:

I really like what Phil Savage -- the PC Gamer UK EIC -- had to say about this:

 

 

 

n8imLJuChYmzM9945qNefN-1200-80.jpeg

How Microsoft acquiring Activision will affect PC gaming | PC Gamer

WWW.PCGAMER.COM
PC Gamer reacts to Microsoft's latest, biggest purchase.

 

 

@Commissar SFLUFAN I believe we talked about this on one of the D1Pcast many MANY moons ago. MS doesn't care about the console business. They want to be the subscription you pay for regardless if you play on console, PC and now cloud. With the recent purchases of Zenimax and now ActiBlizzard it's kind of hard not to see that. They have enough studios that they will constantly be churning games for their service that people will pay for and won't have to rely on closing deals with other publishers to put their games on the service. Heck for the average gamer this will be the Call of Duty pass :lol:

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Commissar SFLUFAN

Commissar SFLUFAN

Posted
Posted
9 minutes ago, The def star said:

 

@Commissar SFLUFAN I believe we talked about this on one of the D1Pcast many MANY moons ago. MS doesn't care about the console business. They want to be the subscription you pay for regardless if you play on console, PC and now cloud. With the recent purchases of Zenimax and now ActiBlizzard it's kind of hard not to see that. They have enough studios that they will constantly be churning games for their service that people will pay for and won't have to rely on closing deals with other publishers to put their games on the service. Heck for the average gamer this will be the Call of Duty pass :lol:

 

Absolutely what we said back then rings true EVEN MORE true now.

 

The actual Xbox console itself is probably the least important part of the entire MS ecosystem strategy.

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stepee

stepee

Posted
Posted
22 minutes ago, Paperclyp said:

I frankly think Sony trying to do a game pass equivalent is a fool's errand at this point. They're too far behind and will never have the firepower to put up a service that will compete with it. 

 

I don't know how viable it is for them to stay in the hardware market long term after this. And I don't say that to imply that they're doomed, I just don't know. Maybe it's perfectly fine that they put out a machine and their own software and they get by just fine. Perhaps a mini version of game pass can be part of that, but as a service to exist on its own to compliment their machine only - there's no way they can try to develop something into anything that will actually compete with the sheer volume MS has at its disposal. 

 

I've been about this bullshit before, but I think in 10 years it's distinctly possible we're sitting here like...you know game pass was actually a big mistake and a net negative for fans of games. Each one of these acquisitions makes me more and more uneasy. 

 

Sony just needs to lock in Sega and Square and they can be the gamepass of the East.

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SuperSpreader

SuperSpreader

Posted
Posted
3 hours ago, TwinIon said:

 

This is a mildly hopeful take. We've seen MS willing to let studios do their own thing to some degree. I don't think there's ever going back to "the old Blizzard," but if the structure of Xbox Gaming post acquisition has Blizz out from under the pressures of Activision, it could be really good.

 

The old blizzard is the rapey one. 

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crispy4000

crispy4000

Posted
Posted
2 hours ago, Derek said:

I haven't followed much tech in the last few years, so they probably do, but do/will the average Joe's even know about the Steam Deck, to make it a threat to Nintendo and their Switch? I feel it will have massive appeal to PC gamers, but may take awhile for the rest of general public to realize that it's something special. I just can't see millions of pre-teens asking for a Steam Deck, for Christmas, quite yet.

 

I wouldn't take anything for granted either way.  The Switch wasn't a guaranteed hot commodity after how much the Wii U flopped with pre-teens.

Nintendo's challenge is that they've been riding on indies overcoming their first party deficits.  Switch more or less 'solved' the 3rd party support issue they've struggled with since the N64.  The Deck has the potential to take that progress away in the next cycle, since you you can play indies there for cheaper, with more of a guarantee of backwards compatibility / future proofing, and more form factors to use your game licenses with.

 

I'd say it's the greatest outside threat to them since the PSP first came around.  Doesn't mean it will ruin them or anything, but they should be taking Valve seriously.
 

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stepee

stepee

Posted
Posted
12 minutes ago, crispy4000 said:

 

I wouldn't take anything for granted either way.  The Switch wasn't exactly a guaranteed hot commodity after how massively the Wii U flopped with pre-teens.

Nintendo's problem is that they've been riding on indies making up their first party deficits.  Switch 'solved' the 3rd party support issue they've struggled with since the N64.  The Deck has the potential to take that away in the next cycle, since you you can play indies for much cheaper there & have more options on devices to play them.

 

I'd say it's the greatest outside threat to them since the PSP first came around.  Doesn't mean it will ruin them or anything, but it's the first major challenger they've had in some while.

 

 

I think to me, it’s just that they already beat the psp easily, destroyed the vita and kicked Sony out, and now we have a challenger that is on the more expensive side, and is a pc, which historically have never really competed with dedicated gaming systems as they attract different audiences.

 

It’s almost impossible to challenge Nintendo on handhelds because for too many people the two are not interchangeable because of franchises like Animal Crossing and Pokémon. I feel you are letting Wiiu’s failure leak too much into their handheld business and where Nintendo is as a company in 2022.

 

Edit: And their most recent and biggest challenger is mobile, not psp. I’d say it still is, far far more than Deck.

 

 

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crispy4000

crispy4000

Posted
Posted
14 minutes ago, stepee said:


I think to me, it’s just that they already beat the psp easily, destroyed the vita and kicked Sony out, and now we have a challenger that is on the more expensive side, and is a pc, which historically have never really competed with dedicated gaming systems as they attract different audiences.

 

The idea of a PC in this form factor is relatively new.  I think that actually gives it more appeal than the PSP (or Vita) ever had.  The way its being packaged is also much more accessible than PC gaming has been before.  It's Valve moving into dedicated handheld territory, if anything.
 

14 minutes ago, stepee said:

It’s almost impossible to challenge Nintendo on handhelds because for too many people the two are not interchangeable because of franchises like Animal Crossing and Pokémon. I feel you are letting Wiiu’s failure leak too much into their handheld business and where Nintendo is as a company in 2022.

 

3DS didn't exactly do gangbusters out of the gate either.  When Nintendo's software is underwhelming at launch, it spells a bit more trouble for them.

I don't think Nintendo could be easily beaten, or will be.  But they are going to lose some of the pie.  How much depends on how well Valve positions the Deck against Nintendo's shortcomings.

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