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[oldergamer]

70 billion is a LOT but seems about right. Even now Actiblizzard is the biggest gaming company on planet other than Tencent maybe.
Imagine all the networking infrastructure, talent and already addicted playerbase they will be able to exploit for years.

2-3 big original IP exclusives from MS (which is only a matter of time), there will be nothing to compete.

I think COD needs to stay multiplatform to keep it selling well.

 

[Badlucktroll]

Resident Evil, Monster Hunter, Final Fantasy, Metal Gear…. Souls games…. Sony better get that shit 100% exclusive on Playstation.

 

[CobraAB]

At this point Microsoft should just buy Sony.

That would be great for gaming.

 

[Gamezone]

Remember not long ago when Microsoft was a trash company who didn't give a shit about gaming?

 

[Joshmyersbv]

PC was the best long term investment I ever made in my life.

 

[Ozriel]

One company is spending billions and billions on companies and the other isn't. There is a reason for that.

I get that COD and Blizzard are big companies, but 70 billion is madness. It's the same as when they bought Bethesda for over 7 billion. They won't see a profit on those companies for a very long time. They may never see a profit from those companies.

You don’t understand how these things work, do you?

You think Facebook has made back the $20bn they spent on WhatsApp? you think Slack has generated back the $28bn Salesforce spent buying them?

When YOU buy a house and put it on rent, do you expect to recoup the cash spent buying the house in a few years?

 

[MatrixReloaded101]

That’s crazy… wow

 

[ReBurn]

I recall some folks laughing at me the other day because I said that Xbox isn't a side business for Microsoft.

 

[splattered]

One big thing I would love to see out of this news.... Is pushing back CoD to being like an every other year franchise freeing up all those poor support studios that became enslaved to cod over the years. Let them make their own magic. Take some chances. Have fun again.

 

[Soltype]

So are we getting new Tony hawk games now?

 

[Zeroing]

Nah. You probably wouldn’t say the same thing. Because it’s increasingly obvious now that Sony is paying for what looks to be permanent exclusivity for the mainline Final Fantasy series and paying to keep stuff like Persona exclusive to PlayStation. And you haven’t said anything about that.

I haven’t been here… and I haven’t saw it on the news… only this. So forgive for being a bad Gaf and not being 24/7 going on arguing with people on the internet

 

[JLB]

WTF? Is this confirmed?

 

[Papacheeks]

The clowns are awake.

He's not wrong?

I mean word is Bobby basically sold his shared/control of the company hence cash deal. But reality is now 100% Activision/Blizzard is now MS's mess.

 

[dem]

Mainline COD games being on Gamepass will give them a nice playerbase to start with.

 

[xHunter]

Shouldnt have made Spiderman DLC exclusive on that Avengers game. Thats what you get Jimbo.

 

[HoofHearted]

 

[Yoda]

Had they waited a bit longer it’d have been cheaper lol.

 

[DaGwaphics]

You think an ownership change wouldn't lead to a change in strategy? Microsoft just spent $70 billion dollars on an acquisition. 10x the already massive acquisition that was Zenimax. They could quite easily outbid Epic for a game just so they can shove it on GamePass.

Sure. But when it comes down to it, Steam could already outbid Epic they just don't play that game because they don't have to.

 

[MonarchJT]

WTF? Is this confirmed?

yep

 

[Hendrick's]

 

[RoadHazard]

I'm not thrilled by the news, but I don't care about what plastic box wins the war of sales. None of these Activision / Blizzard games appeal to me to the same extent as Sony's IP's. Nothing of value would be lost if sequels to these Activision games appear only on Xbox. It still wouldn't be enough to make me buy an Xbox if I only owned a Playstation.

Now if they bought someone I love like Fromsoft that would be something else entirely.

If MS gets their way there won't BE a PlayStation in a few years. That's what I'm worried about, not whether COD and other games I don't care about become Xbox exclusives. Unfortunately a lot of people do care about those games, and in the end Sony can't survive on just their own first party output, no matter how good those games are. Then PlayStation is over.

 

[JLB]

Jesus, I went for a Starbucks, open Gaf and the world just changed. Dafuck lol.

 

[Von Hugh]

Can someone make a thread list of remaining companies Microsoft can still buy?

Here you go:

• Sony
• Nintendo
• Sega

 

[Warnen]

Hey, MS could always buy Sony then no worries right?

 

[rob305]

I think COD needs to stay multiplatform to keep it selling well.

Theyre not spending 70B to keep CoD multiplatform, maybe Warzone. You can still play it on the playstation...streaming it through xCloud in the browser

 

[kingpotato]

Deals like this are usually years in the making.

Activision got some bad press last year and had an underperforming Call of Duty game. Judging by their 70B valuation, I'd say they're a long way off from "on the verge of sinking".

I agree and I didn't mean the hyperbole for the entire deal.

My comment was mostly focused on Blizzard.

Yes they have a steady income, but i would be shocked if anyone said that specific developer WASN'T a sinking ship. Players panned the latest WOW expansion. Hearthstone has been losing players for a while now. All major sequels have no specific release dates or are delayed. All recent releases have been horribly broken. Loads of uncertainty. Idk, I don't see a very promising future from Blizzard despite being amazing in the past.

I'm not celebrating this negative opinion, it's been a big disappointment for me personally.

 

[Data Ghost]

Do you think it will be possible to access X Cloud via a PS5 browser and still play Xbox exclusive games such as COD/Warzone?

 

[Gamezone]

Microsoft wanted Mike Ybarra back so badly that they just bought the entire company.

 

[Airbus Jr]

I wonder if theres regulations that can take place to prevent this ?

( If Xbox decided to monopoly the gaming industry and take away every third party publishers from playstation or nintendo)

 

[SpongebobSquaredance]

whoa

 

[kingpotato]

Here you go:

• Sony
• Nintendo
• Sega

Might want to take that last one off the list.... Next Wednesday we might hear a bit more.

 

[Deerock71]

WTF. Is this actually happening?!

 

[vj27]

Here come the 'But MS will surely put Overwatch 2, COD, and Diablo 4 on PS5 right?'

Granted they probably will put COD on PlayStation. I’d bet money on that. We’ve seen how marketing rights lead to succes

Okay so the back catalog is exceptionally impressive, but... Why?

Great deal for Activision/Blizzard right?

Walk away from the dumpster fire that is Blizzard, but it seems insane for MS to buy a ship that is on the verge of sinking. I'm sure the financials are in order because of subscriptions and mobile games, etc. But this is a real mind fuck.

bro, despite all the disgusting shit at Activision I highly doubt you believe, or anyone else believes, that one of the most successful gaming companies is a sinking ship…

 

[StreetsofBeige]

What happened to all the armchair accountants saying the Xbox division cant buy things in the billions because Xbox is supposedly an unprofitable division? Never mind Bethesda at $7B, this is Activision at $70B.

Told you guys parent level financials rule the roost over divisional silos.

 

[Dr.Morris79]

Can someone make a thread list of remaining companies Microsoft can still buy?

Just ring me when they buy this one

 

[OptimistPrime]

This is absolutely horrible news to wake up to. Even if they decide to put games on other platforms, we're going to see a lot of franchises turn into the end game of mediocre games as services since that's the direction Phil Spencer has put Xbox.

Yeah, would be a shame if Activision games suddenly sold out and went all corporate on us, instead of being that rich authentic indie-fare that they are today.

 

[rapid32.5]

Hold on to your butts, GP is going to get more expensive.

It is free according to PS only users, can't get more expensive.

 

[HoofHearted]

that was fucking unexpected but why?

 

[Sub_Level]

Resident Evil, Monster Hunter, Final Fantasy, Metal Gear…. Souls games…. Sony better get that shit 100% exclusive on Playstation.

They just barely bought Nixxes specifically to port Playstation games to Windows lol

 

[Iced Arcade]

Jesus Activision even owns marjor league gaming

 

[reksveks]

 

[Nvzman]

Anyone who thinks this struck a huge blow to Sony is misunderstanding the acquisition. MS made it very clear that CoD will likely remain multi-platform, so the only thing Sony is losing really is marketing rights. This won't really affect players too much, which is a good thing imo. A franchise like CoD being segregated to one console would be a pretty shitty move.

 

[theclaw135]

I can't make money bin jokes about this.

 

[Chukhopops]

Shouldnt have made Spiderman DLC exclusive on that Avengers game. Thats what you get Jimbo.

Sony: pays for exclusivity on a CoD zombie map
MS: buys the franchise, the devs, the publisher, all the other franchises and Candy Crush

 

[chromhound]

i bet they did this just to cockblock Sony lol

 

[kingpotato]

Microsoft at the developer buffet.

Microsoft at the publisher buffet.

 

[RoyalLaFlame]

Sony did not have COD as a exclusive? Only Exclusive content? I mean it will be a big blow for sure. But its not the end of the world, Sony is slowly becoming NIntendo with their games selling super well, their issue is they dont have a game currently that they can make yearly money on like a shooter. But thats changing soon.

They have a lot in the pipeline. ANd the fact Sony owns evo solidifies they own the fighting scene.

No, I don't mean they had it as an exclusive, just the content. That brings a lot of sales to their platform.


PS will become like Nintendo, but not going to reach Nintendo level of adoption. I hope I'm wrong though.

 

[SlimySnake]

Resident Evil, Monster Hunter, Final Fantasy, Metal Gear…. Souls games…. Sony better get that shit 100% exclusive on Playstation.

They cant outbid MS.

The last time it happened, MS bought Zenimax.

 

[JackSparr0w]

Hm, so what now for Sony and Valve?
I feel like it's M$'s space now, with just a couple of multi-billion dollar "mom and pop" shops in AAA Gaming.
Also, what is the goal? It this to keep Apple or Facebook from buying in to gaming?

Valve is buddies with MS. You can expect activision blizzard games back on steam.

 

[JLB]

I hope they stay multiplat.
Update: Thankfully,

Welcoming the Incredible Teams and Legendary Franchises of Activision Blizzard to Microsoft Gaming - Xbox Wire

Creators of Call of Duty, Warcraft, Candy Crush, Tony Hawk, Diablo, Overwatch, Spyro, Hearthstone, Guitar Hero, Crash Bandicoot, StarCraft and more join Team Xbox As a team, we are on a mission to extend the joy and community of gaming to everyone on the planet. We all know that gaming is the...

news.xbox.com

Update 2: I remember now.

Yeah, multiplat as long as those platforms have Gamepass. Lets not pretend that MS pays 70 fucking billion dollar to not move subs.