Microsoft buys Activision Blizzard

[rusty_shackleford]

and if the Japanese company culture remained the same, most Japanese developer will not let themselves be bought by a foreign/gaijin company, they'd continue to support their own, Nintendo and Sony.

Sony is a globohomo company, it's nothing like nintendo.

 

[Urthor]

I give this a 0% chance of making it past antitrust.

I'm not even going to pay attention to this gig. NVIDIA buying ARM was the last big deal like this, and this seems like an even more clear cut case of antitrust.

There's no point speculating about what Microsoft will do, it's going to be an 18 month antitrust review followed by a denial.

Short Activision.

 

[RobotSquirrel]

This acquisition means nothing, a garbage company buying another garbage company that has produced utter shit.

well I mean it does mean something. Look at what it did to Lionhead, expect disgruntled talent to be more likely to walk.
If anyone was already sick of corporate attitudes they're about to get a billion times worse. I can't wait till they start haemorrhaging what little talent they have left.

 

[Urthor]

Interestingly, the single game Activision seems to have contributed to in the last 3 years that isn't from Blizzard or a Call of Duty, is Sekiro Shadows Die Twice.

Fun trivia.

 

[perfectslumbers]

If anyone was already sick of corporate attitudes they're about to get a billion times worse. I can't wait till they start haemorrhaging what little talent they have left.

If anything it should be the opposite with Kotick being booted. Blizzard employees are probably thankful.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

Interestingly, the single game Activision seems to have contributed to in the last 3 years that isn't from Blizzard or a Call of Duty, is Sekiro Shadows Die Twice.

Fun trivia.

have you ever heard of a game called candy crush?

 

[rusty_shackleford]

I give this a 0% chance of making it past antitrust.

I'm not even going to pay attention to this gig. NVIDIA buying ARM was the last big deal like this, and this seems like an even more clear cut case of antitrust.

There's no point speculating about what Microsoft will do, it's going to be an 18 month antitrust review followed by a denial.

Short Activision.

only heckin racists who want NAZI KOTICK to stay in power would deny this merger

 

[Lizard]

The problem I see is gaypass/subs overtaking every other store by such a large margin that now Microsoft is the customer. Which will affect the development of indie and small studios, because instead of thinking of how to make a game for their customer/audience they are making one for Microsoft.
Oh, did you hear?
-The execs over at gaymepass like the game characters to meet these racial/sexuality quotas
-they like this specific trend in game design
-they don't like games where you conquer or exert your will over another kingdom
-they want all blacks the be portrayed as genius scientist doctor hackers
-you need these accessibility options
-you need easy/story mode
-you need non-combat options
-your player base must be strictly policed
-so on and so forth.
Then maybe they will accept your game! Maybe you will even get some free advertising in the main carousel!
They don't even need to explicitly come out and say it, the implication is enough.

I think this is probably already happening with who Microsoft/Sony lets release games for their consoles, and gives front page/free ad space to. It's not a coincidence that all the major "indie" pubs are lock step in pushing the agenda, there seems to be a "in good graces" clique in the indie scene. Certain devs are certainly already self-censoring since Sony's censorship/guidelines started. Steam isn't perfect, but it is open enough that some games can exist that otherwise would have to be heavily changed to appease Microsoft/Sony.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

The problem I see is gaypass/subs overtaking every other store by such a large margin that now Microsoft is the customer. Which will affect the development of indie and small studios, because instead of thinking of how to make a game for their customer/audience they are making one for Microsoft.
Oh, did you hear?
-The execs over at gaymepass like the game characters to meet these racial/sexuality quotas
-they like this specific trend in game design
-they don't like games where you conquer or exert your will over another kingdom
-they want all blacks the be portrayed as genius scientist doctor hackers
-you need these accessibility options
-you need easy/story mode
-you need non-combat options
-your player base must be strictly policed
-so on and so forth.
Then maybe they will accept your game! Maybe you will even get some free advertising in the main carousel!
They don't even need to explicitly come out and say it, the implication is enough.

I think this is probably already happening with who Microsoft/Sony lets release games for their consoles, and gives front page/free ad space to. It's not a coincidence that all the major "indie" pubs are lock step in pushing the agenda, there seems to be a "in good graces" clique in the indie scene. Certain devs are certainly already self-censoring since Sony's censorship/guidelines started. Steam isn't perfect, but it is open enough that some games can exist that otherwise would have to be heavily changed to appease Microsoft/Sony.

devs were having zero issue doing all of this on their own without microsoft helping them

 

[markec]

 

[BLOBERT]

The problem I see is gaypass/subs overtaking every other store by such a large margin that now Microsoft is the customer. Which will affect the development of indie and small studios, because instead of thinking of how to make a game for their customer/audience they are making one for Microsoft.
Oh, did you hear?
-The execs over at gaymepass like the game characters to meet these racial/sexuality quotas
-they like this specific trend in game design
-they don't like games where you conquer or exert your will over another kingdom
-they want all blacks the be portrayed as genius scientist doctor hackers
-you need these accessibility options
-you need easy/story mode
-you need non-combat options
-your player base must be strictly policed
-so on and so forth.
Then maybe they will accept your game! Maybe you will even get some free advertising in the main carousel!
They don't even need to explicitly come out and say it, the implication is enough.

I think this is probably already happening with who Microsoft/Sony lets release games for their consoles, and gives front page/free ad space to. It's not a coincidence that all the major "indie" pubs are lock step in pushing the agenda, there seems to be a "in good graces" clique in the indie scene. Certain devs are certainly already self-censoring since Sony's censorship/guidelines started. Steam isn't perfect, but it is open enough that some games can exist that otherwise would have to be heavily changed to appease Microsoft/Sony.

BRO I GUESS JUST LET MAINSTREAM GAMING GO GLBOHOMO

ILL FIND SHIT I LIKE ON MY OWN OR ILL PLAY MY MY ENDLESSS STEAM BACKLOG OF SHIT THANKS TO GABEN PBUH

 

[Zarniwoop]

MS just buying everything is worrysome.

Literally what MS has been doing since the dawn of time (or since the dawn of Microsoft at least). They did it before it was cool.

 

[Van-d-all]

For all the brands and studios Microsoft an AB own, thankfully I don't care much (except maybe Arkane), however, with such a huge piece of the gaming cake in their hands I just hope they won't become another PC exclusive hog like fucking epic bribing studios to release unfinished games limited to their store.

 

[Hellraiser]

Have the kwan anti-monopoly laws been stripped so much over the decades that the FTC can't stop the merger? Honestly MS will get too fucking big with this.

 

[J_C]

Easy wins for Microsoft: actually fix Warcraft Refunded, Warcraft 4, bring back Crash/Spyro again, spend a tiny amount of money to fund smaller studios/indies "reviving" dormant franchises.

Then comes the waves of press praising them, obvious shills posting about how Microshit are good guys now and gaymepass is such a great deal especially in a covid/post covid world. Microsoft has been trying to redo their image in gaming for a while now, every time there is something negative that gamers are loudly complaining about Spencer is the first to comment on it and have press writing about him.

Things will seem good for the mainstream consumers at first, then they will just keep getting worse and worse as they move over to fat trimming.

heckin microsoft gonna save gaming

Women positions:

Experience development
HR
Chief of Staff (basically glorified HR)
Gaming communication
Legal
Gaming Business Development
Gaming Ecosystem Organization

Man positions:
CEO of MS Gaming
Xbox Product Services
Gaming Marketing
Gaming Cloud
Head of Xbox Game Studios
Gaming Finance

So women does the work which has nothing to do with software and hardware development, and men are responsible for the actual work (except the marketing guy). I'm OK with that.

 

[Grauken]

Have the kwan anti-monopoly laws been stripped so much over the decades that the FTC can't stop the merger? Honestly MS will get too fucking big with this.

Just look at Disney for your answer

 

[Tacgnol]

For all the brands and studios Microsoft an AB own, thankfully I don't care much (except maybe Arkane), however, with such a huge piece of the gaming cake in their hands I just hope they won't become another PC exclusive hog like fucking epic bribing studios to release unfinished games limited to their store.

M$ still has good relations with Valve and Newell for now (probably helps Newell is an ex-M$ executive himself). They forced several devs to release on steam after either taking them over or giving them sponsorship deals.

Will probably change in the future when they start doing the same shit with gamepass, but for the moment they are actually countering epic's bullshit in many cases.

 

[Wunderbar]

I don't think Gabe likes MS, him being an ex-M$ is actually a detriment to their relations. He knows how MS are operating and doing business, and that's why he's pushing Steam machines / SteamOS / Steam deck.

 

[Tacgnol]

I don't think Gabe likes MS, him being an ex-M$ is actually a detriment to their relations. He knows how MS are operating and doing business, and that's why he's pushing Steam machines / SteamOS / Steam deck.

That isn't what Epic thinks. In the leaked apple court documents they state that M$ and Valve have a very friendly relationship and Newell and Spencer have frequent meetings.

I see the SteamOS stuff as more just Valve hedging their bets against the M$ ecosystem becoming more closed in the future.

 

[Alphons]

Excited for Arcanum 2:

• Todd and Fargo doing the trailer reveal at E3
• Main story written by Emil Pagliarulo
• Side quests designed by WoW troons
• World designed by Obsidian
• CoD gameplay
• Balanced by Joshua Eric Sawyer

Coming in 2024 !!!

 

[lukaszek]

does it mean that tony hawk will be coming to steam?

 

[:Flash:]

I give this a 0% chance of making it past antitrust.

I'm not even going to pay attention to this gig. NVIDIA buying ARM was the last big deal like this, and this seems like an even more clear cut case of antitrust.

There's no point speculating about what Microsoft will do, it's going to be an 18 month antitrust review followed by a denial.

Short Activision.

When was the last time antitrust blocked anything? In the 90s? Having Megacoroporations is seen as geopolitically relevant nowadays. It's better to have the international megacorporation in your own country than in a competing one.
All they have to do is say "you don't want gaming to be owned by the Japanese and the Chinese, do you?", and they'll get an extra billion in subsidies as a support for this merger.

 

[:Flash:]

MS just buying everything is worrysome.

Literally what MS has been doing since the dawn of time (or since the dawn of Microsoft at least). They did it before it was cool.

Obligatory:

 

[Urthor]

I give this a 0% chance of making it past antitrust.

I'm not even going to pay attention to this gig. NVIDIA buying ARM was the last big deal like this, and this seems like an even more clear cut case of antitrust.

There's no point speculating about what Microsoft will do, it's going to be an 18 month antitrust review followed by a denial.

Short Activision.

When was the last time antitrust blocked anything? In the 90s? Having Megacoroporations is seen as geopolitically relevant nowadays. It's better to have the international megacorporation in your own country than in a competing one.
All they have to do is say "you don't want gaming to be owned by the Japanese and the Chinese, do you?", and they'll get an extra billion in subsidies as a support for this merger.

NVIDIA ARM is being blocked. That's my read on the direction of antitrust.

 

[DeepOcean]

My problem with Gamepass is that it changes pricing power from the developer to Microsoft that can do what the fuck it wants. Nowadays any game that wants to be on steam is in there and can charge as much as the developers want for it. With gamepass, Microsoft controls developer revenues directly what gives them alot of leverage.

Now imagine that all those people that buy games and dont get past the first act, now, dont need to impulse buy games on steam anymore? You know, the guy that bought a game and didnt finish Act 1 paid the same as the guy that played 1000 hs, I doubt Microsoft would keep things working like thist as it doesnt benefit their interests that is keeping people playing and they wont pay for an indie dev the equivalent of a full sale for a guy that played 30 mins of it.