That's roughly 9.1 Bethesdas.
Microsoft has taken another Western third party off the market in the largest video game acquisition ever.
The Redmond giant has entered into an agreement to purchase Activision Blizzard in a US$68.7bn deal, the largest all gaming acquisition in history. No closing date was given for the deal, and the current Activision Blizzard board including embattled CEO Bobby Kotick will remain on board until the closing of the deal, when Microsoft CEO Phil Spencer will become the head of the company.
Activision Blizzard was rocked by scandal through most of 2021 related to conduct of senior executives at the company ranging from sexual harassment to death threats, including multi-million dollar settlements with several state and federal regulating agencies. Currently, testers at Wisconsin-based Raven Studios are striking in protest of unfair termination of employees in December.
There were no Activision Blizzard games known to be in development for Switch, and none released since the remaster of Diablo II last September.
>Heretic and Hexen
The rights to these titles are a tangled web, but Raven is generally cnsidered to be the primary holder, correct?
Nintendo isn't bidding for Japanese third parties. It'll let Sony buy them then hire all the people who leave to start their own companies. Nintendo wants the talent, not the existing IPs. It seems perfectly content funding projects, particularly for exclusivity and the rights to those games, without being financially responsible for the companies themselves.
If Sony gets scared of Microsoft and buys all the Japanese companies then Nintendo will go back to having no third party support. And that doesn't mean Nintendo will go anywhere. They could lose money every year until 2059 before they run out of money. Nintendo is in a similar position, albeit better, compared to where Wii was when it was ending. They're on top, but transitioning from one hardware to the other can be disastrous if flubbed.
Consolidation is never a good thing. Every time it happens (banking, electronics, the web, media, etc) quality and innovation go down, prices increase, ever new ways to extract money are added, controls and limits enforced, and they always view their customers with disdain. There's still alternatives but the world would have been a better place if it never happened in the first place.
Hopefully, this is the end. I don't see Sony buying Japanese studios as Japanese studios hate Sony and are jumping on the Switch train like crazy.
Consolidation is never a good thing. Every time it happens (banking, electronics, the web, media, etc) quality and innovation go down, prices increase, ever new ways to extract money are added, controls and limits enforced, and they always view their customers with disdain. There's still alternatives but the world would have been a better place if it never happened in the first place.
Hopefully, this is the end. I don't see Sony buying Japanese studios as Japanese studios hate Sony and are jumping on the Switch train like crazy.
Pro Wrestling has never been the same since WWF bought WCW. Now they're WWE and they're terrible. On top of that UFC is better because it's a real competition.
I don't think the issue is the same with MS buying Activision Blizzard. As long as Sony is still a major player, MS is motivated to produce quality products. The purchase is meant to boost the value of GamePass, and GamePass needs not just a volume of games but quality titles.
I also don't see this triggering anti-trust stuff because the games industry is still really big and competitive even with this happening. It seems more like a content consolidation for like-content. Microsoft and Activision made the same sort of games.
The other companies in the mix are Apple, Samsung, and Google but who knows what they're going to do. As I said Meta might offer to buy Playstation off of Sony, but then what is Sony going to do? There also might be some worthwhile Chinese branded platforms in the near future.
“I was looking at the IP list, I mean, let’s go!” Spencer said. “ ‘King’s Quest,’ ‘Guitar Hero,’ … I should know this but I think they got ‘HeXen.’ ”
I don't think Microsoft is buying all these franchises to make them hardware exclusive eventually. I don't think Microsoft fundamentally believes in hardware exclusivity. They do believe in Platform exclusivity. And the plan is that Xbox platform is going to be on all hardware in the future. Like Windows.
Bullshit. All the Bethesda stuff is Microsoft exclusive now, and funny how Microsoft waited to announce that till after the sale got approved by all the regulatory bodies. Phil's pulling the same trick with Activision Blizzard, saying "Oh we'll honor all existing contracts and of COURSE we'll still support PlayStation". He HAS to say that right now because if he doesn't, Microsoft could be looking at anti-trust suits. The moment this sale gets approved, watch him change his tune.You’re not necessarily wrong as I’m sure that’s the intention. Probably more procedural than anything. I have far less faith in this country’s ability and desire to regulate anything of this sort. If the Federal Trade Commission and Department of Justice actually intended to do their jobs and review any antitrust anything, Amazon never would have gotten so big, Google/Alphabet never would have gotten so big, Facebook/Meta (straight up stealing an existing company’s name) never would have gotten so big etc. etc. For every one time it blocks mergers like Staples/Office Depot, it lets 47272664 through such as Office Depot/OfficeMax like three years prior. Over 20 years ago, a court ordered Microsoft to be split into two entities. Microsoft appealed and the DOJ was like 🤷♀️
I don't think Microsoft is buying all these franchises to make them hardware exclusive eventually. I don't think Microsoft fundamentally believes in hardware exclusivity. They do believe in Platform exclusivity. And the plan is that Xbox platform is going to be on all hardware in the future. Like Windows.
Bullshit. All the Bethesda stuff is Microsoft exclusive now, and funny how Microsoft waited to announce that till after the sale got approved by all the regulatory bodies. Phil's pulling the same trick with Activision Blizzard, saying "Oh we'll honor all existing contracts and of COURSE we'll still support PlayStation". He HAS to say that right now because if he doesn't, Microsoft could be looking at anti-trust suits. The moment this sale gets approved, watch him change his tune.
I don't think Microsoft is buying all these franchises to make them hardware exclusive eventually. I don't think Microsoft fundamentally believes in hardware exclusivity. They do believe in Platform exclusivity. And the plan is that Xbox platform is going to be on all hardware in the future. Like Windows.
Bullshit. All the Bethesda stuff is Microsoft exclusive now, and funny how Microsoft waited to announce that till after the sale got approved by all the regulatory bodies. Phil's pulling the same trick with Activision Blizzard, saying "Oh we'll honor all existing contracts and of COURSE we'll still support PlayStation". He HAS to say that right now because if he doesn't, Microsoft could be looking at anti-trust suits. The moment this sale gets approved, watch him change his tune.
You're not thinking four dimensionaly. And you're thinking conventionally.
We may get to a point where Microsoft starts shipping their games around to other platforms AS a software platform of its own, but we are very; very; very; very; VERY far away from that day, and their history so far shows that any pretense they give to it being any closer is smoke and mirrors.
We may get to a point where Microsoft starts shipping their games around to other platforms AS a software platform of its own, but we are very; very; very; very; VERY far away from that day, and their history so far shows that any pretense they give to it being any closer is smoke and mirrors.
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/xbox-game-pass/id1374542474
no
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p1yGIiJiGuY
I remember a time in 1999 when I spent 1 and a half hours downloading a maybe 4 minute Pokémon stadium video off IGN. There was a time when streaming video wasn't a thing because it just didn't work. Then that stuff got better.
Interesting discussion. Who knows what the long term will bring, but it seems clear Microsoft will buy up more third parties in the next few years. My prediction for the next acquisition is WB Games. If I were Phil Spencer I would be thinking of getting the next GTA as an XBox exclusive.
Beyond that, though, Sony just flat out doesn't have those kind of resources to make a big bid for one of the big Japanese powerhouses like Square Enix; Capcom; or Sega, especially with Microsoft driving up the price by overbidding on the likes of Bethesda and Activision Blizzard. There's a reason all their acquisitions last year were modest investments in small studios they had a great working history with. The best they could hope for would be a Squaresoft/Enix-style merger with Square Enix, and I don't see THAT mobile-obsessed entity abandoning the most lucrative dedicated gaming handheld market in Japan. Do you?
I've been saying for years that I could see Sony scooping up Square Enix. It's such an obvious partnership, and they've been moving towards it for years. Sony doesn't have the money to outright buy them, so I could see there being some sort of merger (much like the one that created Square Enix to begin with). I could also see Capcom hooking up with someone. I don't see Sega or Namco Bandai (or is it Bandai Namco these days?) going anywhere. They have their roots in too deep with other things.What changed in the last four days?
Interesting discussion. Who knows what the long term will bring, but it seems clear Microsoft will buy up more third parties in the next few years. My prediction for the next acquisition is WB Games. If I were Phil Spencer I would be thinking of getting the next GTA as an XBox exclusive.Depends on who’s better at predicting the future. Microsoft thinks it’s services and the cloud. Sony thinks it’s still in dedicated hardware.
Beyond that, though, Sony just flat out doesn't have those kind of resources to make a big bid for one of the big Japanese powerhouses like Square Enix; Capcom; or Sega, especially with Microsoft driving up the price by overbidding on the likes of Bethesda and Activision Blizzard. There's a reason all their acquisitions last year were modest investments in small studios they had a great working history with. The best they could hope for would be a Squaresoft/Enix-style merger with Square Enix, and I don't see THAT mobile-obsessed entity abandoning the most lucrative dedicated gaming handheld market in Japan. Do you?I've been saying for years that I could see Sony scooping up Square Enix. It's such an obvious partnership, and they've been moving towards it for years. Sony doesn't have the money to outright buy them, so I could see there being some sort of merger (much like the one that created Square Enix to begin with). I could also see Capcom hooking up with someone. I don't see Sega or Namco Bandai (or is it Bandai Namco these days?) going anywhere. They have their roots in too deep with other things.What changed in the last four days?
I could see it happening due to all the exclusivity deals Sony's been making with Square Enix of late. It might very well have been in the plans for some time, but we were still nowhere near it getting to that point.I wouldn’t take that as anything more than Square Enix likes money, and if Sony is willing to pony up a lot of it to make console exclusivity worth its while, it will gladly take that money.
WB Games may be available. However, what does WB Games have that Microsoft wants? NetherRealm Studios and Rocksteady Studios probably have the most value, but I don’t know if either are on Microsoft’s radar. The main issue with buying WB Games is that it doesn’t come with the Warner Bros. IP that Microsoft would want except maybe Mortal Kombat.
Ideally someone buys Konami. We can all agree. They used to be one of my favorite third parties, but whoever inherited/retirement funded Konami needs to replaced. I'd like Sony to buy Konami and put Kojima on the board. I would say have him become the CEO, but he already has his own company. Konami is worth about 6 billion. Which, compared to other game companies is small. There are a few over-valued tech companies in the space now.
As much as I like Metal Gear, I'd rather see an epic Goemon game. A rebooted version of Silent Hills would be nice.
Ideally someone buys Konami. We can all agree. They used to be one of my favorite third parties, but whoever inherited/retirement funded Konami needs to replaced. I'd like Sony to buy Konami and put Kojima on the board. I would say have him become the CEO, but he already has his own company. Konami is worth about 6 billion. Which, compared to other game companies is small. There are a few over-valued tech companies in the space now.
As much as I like Metal Gear, I'd rather see an epic Goemon game. A rebooted version of Silent Hills would be nice.
Konami is the least likely to be bought since most of their money comes from non-videogame related industries in Japan. Unless Sony really wants to own a bunch of health centers, spending over 6 billion to buy them is no where near what they gaming IP's are worth. Especially when Konami already gutted most of their own game studio's and drove away all the top talent, it's not worth much as a gaming company since they cant develop much either.