Microsoft buys Activision Blizzard

[IDtenT]

What are the chances of Sony following suit with Japanese companies? Their just lost future CoDs after losing future Bethesda games. Acquiring Square Enix would for example give them all their popular JRPG IPs plus few viable Eidos IPs like Tomb Raider.

Interchangeable lens cameras (specifically professional mirrorless ones) is the only market segment Sony is seeing real market leadership and growth. That's an increasingly shrinking market and camera behemoths Canon and Nikon are close on their heels. Sony doesn't have the capital to buy anyone.

 

[Mise]

After all these years, it was actually Microsoft that ended up killing the Lich King??

On a more serious note: Meh. What is really frightening is the monopolization done by Tencent and Microsoft(Embracer doesn't count since I can bet someone from these two will end up buying it in the next year or two). I don't really trust both of them, so it's a gloomy day for gaming. But then again most of these studios are known for their poppamole games, so not much of innovative and really interesting games we actually lost.

PS: Why is it that all members of the XBOX gaming group have their biological/natural pronouns? What is the point to include it if everyone has their natural/biological pronouns lol? Just catering to the 0.1%, that no one is even part of their group? I don't get it really.

 

[IDtenT]

Who is going to buy Steam? M$ or Dizney?

Amazon. Seriously.

Amazon is slowly releasing their own storefront. Currently only free games that come with Prime subscription is in it, but that will change.

 

[Atlantico]

So long Bobby. Your time has passed.

Microsoft is the new Disney.

Hot take: it's fine, honestly. Corporate business bought up by another corporate business, at worst a sidegrade.

HeroMarine yes Bobby is gone as soon as the deal is done.



Also: Diablo Immortal is going to be cancelled. Doesn't fit into Microsoft's strategy and good grief it needs to be.

 

[Daemongar]

Like playing Baldur's Gate 2? Well, you posted something not very nice on a message board. We are removing your Windows Gaming rights. Now, since that is bound to the TPM of your computer, don't try creating another account. Also, all installations of software will be completed through the Microsoft Store, you no longer need (or will be able to) install your own software. Good luck getting a warez or unmolested version of VTmB on there.

There are no big budget games in 202X, which worth the hassle. So what if you lose the right to play Halo 12 or World of Warcraft 3? These games are like junk food, you eat them then forget about them. The fine meals are the indie games or AA games, which are not under the Microsoft umbrella. And you can still own those.

I'd counter that there is a push at MS towards the Apple model of application management and installation. Apps and games will only be available through the MS Store ie: Microsoft already has a Steam platform and will get their cut and input on those indie and AA games.

 

[IDtenT]

I also think Phil Spencer is on trajectory for the CEO position, with how much capital they're willing to allocate towards him.

 

[Churrasco]

Didn't know a sinking ship was this expensive, isnt King and call of duty the only things of value there?

 

[Infinitron]

 

[ADL]

Microsoft is now the Sauron of the video games industry. One company to rule them all.

Just wait until Microsoft buys Embracer who already bought everyone else.

 

[IHaveHugeNick]

From what I heard Gates instead of money offered to take them to loli island but they were already doing that on regular basis anyway so it didn't catch.

 

[Delterius]

Nintendo is simply the last hold out of japanese imperialism. They shall be grinded into dust when the next round of anti nippon trade wars come up.

 

[oddech_wymarlych_swiatow]

So... is Playstation 5 the last Playstation?

 

[IDtenT]

Microsoft is now the Sauron of the video games industry. One company to rule them all.

Just wait until Microsoft buys Embracer who already bought everyone else.

Do they want European Jank?

 

[Azalin]

Not liking this,monopolies are never good and this wil be as good to a monopoly as it gets

 

[Major_Blackhart]

Nintendo is simply the last holdout of Japanese imperialism. The corporation shall be ground into dust when the next round of anti-Nippon trade wars arise.

Corrections made.

 

[Cyberarmy]

Diablo Immortal 2. Exclusively for Microsoft Lumia. Or Surface 2

 

[FreshCorpse]

This is the future, whether we like it or not. Nobody cares about owning a game anymore, just like nobody cares about owning movies, hence the rise of streaming services. And there are really no games which really worth owning, apart from a few indies. The old games which are worth owning are in our shelves/GOG libraries anyway, so I say let them bring the game pass services.

Strongly disagree: 10 years ago people were saying that every game would be a mobile game and while mobile games grew well for a time those pesky "core gamers" still exist and still buy proper games. 3 years later the same hype machine was saying that everything would be streamed but streaming doesn't work (for latency reasons) for the huge fraction of game genres. 3 years after that the idea was the individual games would be subscription services lasting forever - this was the plan for Anthem (and for Halo Infinite) but the cracks are already starting to show: these games aren't as successful as planned.

These are all just short-lived boardroom memes. Game Pass is a better idea than most of these previous ones and will be a big thing but the suggestion that it will utterly displace the existing way is a fantasy. They're just making the common mistake of assuming that the future will displace the past completely but that only happens for a very small number of innovations.

The Kindle exists but people still read normal books. That's just how it will be with Game Pass.

 

[†††]

Not liking this,monopolies are never good and this wil be as good to a monopoly as it gets

I wonder what happened with anti-trust lawsuits. Microsoft and other companies were the subject of many in the 90s and early 00s, but now it's like "bah, who cares?". Allowed to acquire and expand without oversight.

Embrace, extend, extinguish.

 

[Cyberarmy]

Raven + Arcane + Double Fine = some ye olde school goodness? No?

Spoiler

Let me dream a bit motherfuckers...

 

[Hobknobling]

Not liking this,monopolies are never good and this wil be as good to a monopoly as it gets

I wonder what happened with anti-trust lawsuits. Microsoft and other companies were the subject of many in the 90s and early 00s, but now it's like "bah, who cares?". Allowed to acquire and expand without oversight.

Embrace, extend, extinguish.

Massive lobbying by tech giants. Also, there is no evidence that this has happened, but social media companies are so powerful that if some politician tried to push tighter anti-trust legislation, big tech could easily shadowban the entire campaign.

I also wager that Americans might be afraid of China and are resorting to "national champions" line of thinking (mistake). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_champions

 

[PorkaMorka]

No. It's not positive. I'm guessing playing any game under the MS umbrella will require a game pass and XBox or Windows 11. Microsoft doesn't strangle acquisitions because they have time on their side. Unlike EA, they don't need to turn a quick profit. They can lose money. Shareholders do not buy shares of "Xbox" they buy shares of MS.

Don't like the purple haired raping your favorite IP? Well, so what. Every game can be shit as you won't be paying for individual games, you'll be paying month-to-month for all games on site or the "RPG Games" pass, which includes golden oldies for Retro Gamerz. There will eventually be a self appointed group at MS to clean up problematic content in older games, which will be done regardless of if you give a shit or not. They won't care: you can't impact their business model.

This sounds plausible.

But will it have a positive or negative effect on indie games?

Will it push people away from big name studios and spark more interest in indie games or will it make it too difficult for indie games get on a platform that people care about?

 

[mondblut]

Can't wait for every game to be designed by algorithms

That will be massive improvement over their current state.

Nevah forgive, nevah forget.

 

[TheImplodingVoice]

What are the chances of Sony following suit with Japanese companies? Their just lost future CoDs after losing future Bethesda games. Acquiring Square Enix would for example give them all their popular JRPG IPs plus few viable Eidos IPs like Tomb Raider.

Interchangeable lens cameras (specifically professional mirrorless ones) is the only market segment Sony is seeing real market leadership and growth. That's an increasingly shrinking market and camera behemoths Canon and Nikon are close on their heels. Sony doesn't have the capital to buy anyone.

On the other hand I think PlayStation will do just fine. No one buys Xbox outside of North America and a bit in the UK.

 

[fizzelopeguss]

They want everything on gamepass.

 

[TheImplodingVoice]

Microsoft probably thought : "How do we beat PlayStation? 3rd party games sell more on PlayStation, more exclusives etc. How about we buy everyone who makes games on PlayStation. If we can't beat them, then we'll just buy everyone who makes games for their system. Sony can't beat us if there is no one to make games for them."

Also from PlayStation's side, the guy that runs PlayStation doesn't seem like the brightest either