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Microsoft Enters Into Agreement To Acquire Activision Blizzard For US$68.7bn

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Shaymin:
That's roughly 9.1 Bethesdas.http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/news/59412/microsoft-enters-into-agreement-to-acquire-activision-blizzard-for-us687bnMicrosoft 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.

Luigi Dude:
Even though I'm no fan of Activision, this is terrible news for the industry.  At this point I wouldn't be surprised if Microsoft buys EA and Ubisoft next.

They're making sure next time they pull the "no more used games and always online BS", that gamers wont have much a choice.  Anyone that thinks Microsoft has changed is delusional.  The fact they're willing to spend 70 billion to buy one of the Top 3 biggest third party publishers shows that play time is over.  All the smaller studio buyouts these last several years was already worrying, but the Bethesda buyout was a major red flag.  Well this news just confirms it's a matter of time before Microsoft owns a majority of the gaming industry.

Hopefully they'll start getting busted for anti-trust violations, but considering how much of traditional media companies like Disney have been able to buy up in their fields, I wouldn't count on it.  :-\

Ian Sane:
This isn't encouraging but not really surprising.  If you look in other fields like book publishing, music labels or movie studios the industry ultimately settles down to a handful of major companies that own almost everything.  So for it to eventually occur with videogames was probably inevitable.  Nintendo is actually kind of an oddity in that they're still just a videogame company and aren't owned by a larger holding company and haven't become one themselves.

The whole situation makes you wonder if the future is actually that third party support as a concept effectively doesn't exist.  The publishers could effectively be owned by the companies that make the consoles and each console's library is all exclusives.

UncleBob:
I don't think that's where we're headed at all.

I think as far as AAA-budgeted titles go, yeah, I can see that - major big-budget games being funded and published by one of the big three as a console-exclusive.

But damn, we have so many great and amazing "indie" titles.  Outside of first-party Nintendo games, just about all I play now are indie titles.  And sure, you'll have the occasional indie studio snatched up by Microsoft/Sony, but for every one that is, five more will release games and maybe one of those will actually be good.

The future of gaming has never looked brighter to me and the acquisition of Activision hasn't changed anything.  Heck, last Activision game I bought was Skylanders anyway. 🤣

ThePerm:
By Publisher

Microsoft
Halo, Fable, Forza, Age of Empires, Gears of War, Mech Warrior

Activision
Call of Duty, Crash Bandicoot, Spyro, Tony Hawk Franchise,


Blizzard
Warcraft, Starcraft, Overwatch, Diablo

Bethesda
Fallout, Elder Scrolls, Dishonored

King
Candy Crush, Farm Heroes

Id
Doom, Quake, Wolfenstein, Commander Keen, Heretic and Hexen, Prey

Mojang
Minecraft

Rare
Banjo Kazooie, Conker's Bad Fur Day, Perfect Dark, Viva Piniata, Grabbed By the Ghoulies, Killer Instinct

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
By Genre

Shooters
Doom, Halo, Wolfenstein, Call of Duty, Perfect Dark, Quake, Overwatch

Strategy Games
Age of Empires, Warcraft, StarCraft

Fantasy/ Role Playing
Warcraft, Elder Scrolls, Fable, Diablo, Minecraft

Platformers
Crash Bandicoot, Spyro, Banjo Kazooie, Pitfall, Conker

Crafts
Starcraft, Warcraft, Minecraft

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