Microsoft to Acquire Game Studio Activision Blizzard for $68.7 Billion

[djgamble]

I believe, that gaming on an Apple TV failed to take off in any appreciable way. I don't think its due to processor horsepower (or lack there of) but rather misjudging the market.

Apple Games is still going and Apple don't look like canning the Apple TV. Success comes in many different forms.

IMO the main barrier to entry into the console market is that Microsoft and Sony (Nintendo's kinda different) shovel billions into marketing and buying up game devs. They make biiig losses (billions) in order to penetrate the market and then hope to make it all back on subscriptions.

To me it's a mug's game that can only have so many players. I welcome Apple's approach of selling an 'Apple TV' rather than a console. If they can turn enough of a profit to make it worth their while without blowing the kinda money that M$ and Sony do on market penetration then I think they could go alright!

And yes... gaming is a side feature. IMO that's okay.

 

[Salvor Hardin]

I would expect GamePass to get more expensive, though.

It’s pretty clear that their entire plan has always been a big price hike and making it streaming only sooner or later while having no options to actually purchase their games. GamePass is just their original always on DRM vision of Xbox One where they would have had complete market control.

 

[dukebound85]

Well goodbye Mac support

who cares. Separate devices for separate purposes

with gamepass I can stream my games on the mac anyways

 

[dukebound85]

It’s pretty clear that their entire plan has always been a big price hike and making it streaming only sooner or later while having no options to actually purchase their games. GamePass is just their original always on DRM vision of Xbox One where they would have had complete market control.

I doubt that will happen

did you see the backtracking they did previously when they attempted to raise prices?

 

[maflynn]

what is the best title to play?

For RPG depth, Fallout New Vegas, for Huge open world, awesome storyline and long playtime - Fallout 4. Fallout 3 is another very good game but I think it falls between New Vegas and FO4

 

[SFjohn]

That $70 billion that Microsoft spent to acquire Activision Blizzard is going to have to be repaid to Microsoft with interest, by it‘s customers. Expect to pay more for your Xbox subscriptions in the near future, and perhaps other services as well.

 

[Pezimak]

Now watch Apple turn around and buy Nintendo for $127B

Actually Nintendo is worth LESS then what MS just spent buying Activision!

 

[demodave]

Microsoft today announced that it will purchase the game studio Activision Blizzard, the maker of hit games such as Call of Duty, Candy Crush, World of Warcraft, and more, for almost $70 billion. Microsoft says this purchase will help it "bring the joy and community of gaming to everyone, across every device."

Article Link: Microsoft to Acquire Game Studio Activision Blizzard for $68.7 Billion

$70 billion purchase, $3 billion franchise …

math math math

23 year IRR. Looks like a losing deal to me, but am neither an accountant nor a gamer.

 

[darkslide29]

No.1 rule of building a monopoly:

Downplay the size of your business by telling regulators, the media and public that you are small, and that there are bigger fish than you. 😆🤣



Microsoft did exactly that in the press release by saying this:

”When the transaction closes, Microsoft will become the world’s third-largest gaming company by revenue, behind Tencent and Sony.”

I laughed out loud when I read this sentence in their press release. Tricky and clever to get that fact out there. Otherwise, who brags about being third?

 

[diamond.g]

Actually Nintendo is worth LESS then what MS just spent buying Activision!

Nintendo may be worth less but shareholders don’t have to sell for what Nintendo is worth (unless Apple does a hostile takeover).

 

[Ethosik]

Ah, yeah writing to "unchanging" hardware is an advantage, that not even going to MacOS would match (sadly?). Though from my understanding GoW was a very well done port so it is possible to get it right.

It is not running well for me on a couple of PCs.

 

[urbanlung]

Come on apple, buy epic.

 

[TheFluffyDuck]

I've noticed a quality dip every time something major happens at Blizzard.

Jokes aside, it looks like they are buying them for the technology and platform delivery tech. So they are going to go the way of Epic and Valve, and just be a software gaming technology company. In 10 years a wait for a blizzard-developed game will be like the wait for half-life 3.

What will probably happen is they will milk their cash cow (world of warcraft) as much as possible, outsource their IP to unknown Chinese mobile developers, slap a Blizzard/activision/microsoft label on the front, and call it a day. Yeah, it will be called Star Craft 4, but it will be insanely forgettable.

RIP Blizzard.

 

[Think creative]

I vastly, vastly prefer the PS5 controller. But once I upgrade to an M1 mac, I'll do the xbox cloud service to play through a few single player games I guess. The next Elder Scrolls for instance.

 

[Kazgarth]

Now watch Apple turn around and buy Nintendo for $127B

Nintendo's Market cap is ~$55 Billion, which is pennies for a company the size of Apple.

 

[TVreporter]

Game over Apple…unless your glasses are truly something revolutionary, then any hopes of Apple taking gaming seriously are buried with this mind boggling deal.

 

[heifetz7]

Actually Nintendo is worth LESS then what MS just spent buying Activision!

Pretty sure Nintendo and the Japanese govt will never let MS, or another US company buy Nintendo, even though it is a public company.

 

[amartinez1660]

Apple keeps missing the boat. There will be no game dev houses left to buy and M1 Max Macbook Pro gamers will be playing nothing but phone games forever. Can anyone seriously compare Apple Arcade to Game Pass and not laugh their ass off?

I didn’t know if to give it a like or laugh (in the good sense), because I did laugh my ass off…

That said, does Microsoft do their job at making their games cross platform? Blizzard in the old days used to support macOS a lot, then not so much, and now with MS at the top who knows… I mention this because at least for me on the macOS work/business applications side there’s nothing from Microsoft that I use that’s missing.

 

[svish]

Many more games would now be available on Game Pass. Wonderful!

 

[ButterF1ngers]

I feel like the courts should step in and intervene with these acquisitions. It’s incredibly healthy to have platform competition and Microsoft is taking this too far in my opinion.

 

[Pezimak]

Pretty sure Nintendo and the Japanese govt will never let MS, or another US company buy Nintendo, even though it is a public company.

If enough money is offered to share holders Nintendo wouldn't be able to stop it. Doubt it would ever happen though but I think some companies have been bought under such circumstances?
But I think Nintendo is quite safe.

I always wonder what the legal implications are if a government steps in. I presume they have he power to stop such things.

 

[Whathappened]

Apple keeps missing the boat. There will be no game dev houses left to buy and M1 Max Macbook Pro gamers will be playing nothing but phone games forever. Can anyone seriously compare Apple Arcade to Game Pass and not laugh their ass off?

There are many customers not interested at all in AAA gaming and Apple is doing fine and only morons will buy high end MacBooks or macs for gaming.

 

[Whathappened]

I feel like the courts should step in and intervene with these acquisitions. It’s incredibly healthy to have platform competition and Microsoft is taking this too far in my opinion.

As always, capitalism needs to be regulated because it only benefits very, very few people.

 

[flottenheimer]

I wonder what would happen, had Apple done this — followed by porting as many Activision/Blizzard titles as possible (new and historical) to native Apple Silicon code and releasing all of it exclusively on Apple Arcade.

 

[Pezimak]

That $70 billion that Microsoft spent to acquire Activision Blizzard is going to have to be repaid to Microsoft with interest, by it‘s customers. Expect to pay more for your Xbox subscriptions in the near future, and perhaps other services as well.

No it won't, this is money Microsoft had sat in the bank, it's the same as Apple using some of its 200 billion plus it has lying around spare cash to buy someone.
They don't need to get the money back instantly, they are in it for the long term. They won't be raising prices for some time. They want the subscription base to grow instead. The investment will be returned over the long term.