Microsoft to Acquire Game Studio Activision Blizzard for $68.7 Billion

[maflynn]

THIS is what Apple should be doing instead of looking to broadcast MLB! Spend some real money on gaming! Just a couple of big titles with native clients would make a huge difference.

The profit margins are tiny compared to other sectors. I don't think it makes sense for them to spend billions upon billions for gaming on the mac. People mention apple should buy a AAA publisher - what's available now? The market has moved on from mac gaming

 

[Manzanito]

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?

Apple has no interest in serious gaming. Never have, most likely never will. Apple arcade is quite a different thing.

 

[maflynn]

Remember all those times I said Apple should buy a dev/publisher (Like Acti-Blizzard/Ubisoft)? Pepperidge Farms remembers....

Yep, I just responded to someone about that, I think its too late, Who's left and what type of return on their investment. Gaming isn't a huge market for the Mac. At this point they'd end up over paying for the likes of EA

 

[tedwill]

They will gladly sell games to Playstation users. MSFT is all about subscriptions not platforms now. You can host Linux servers in Azure running Apache now. It's not about Xbox vs Playstation, it's about getting another $10 a month from everyone.

 

[Horselover Fat]

Microsoft knows the gaming industry. They are dominating it. Look at the world-class games that are included in this deal. Apple really needs to catch up and get serious.

I see this one impediment: Successful AAA gaming machines need to be affordable to an audience of a certain size. Apple computers are not and will remain to be so.

 

[chetzar]

Better hope Mac's get Windows 11 Bootcamp support sooner than later so Mac users can continue to play real games.

 

[maflynn]

They will gladly sell games to Playstation users. MSFT is all about subscriptions not platforms now.

Nope,
Just look at the new games coming out of Bethesda - PC/Xbox only. MS is all about subscriptions and they don't offer a sub for playstation players.

 

[Howard2k]

When MS bought Besthesda. I switched from Playstation to Xbox for that very reason

I'm still sticking with Playstation but ended up getting an Xbox this generation too.

 

[44267547]

One word - Fallout

No argument there. Pretty amazing title and massively popular.

 

[Salvor Hardin]

I love their doublespeak of buying up a major multi-platform developer to “bring the joy and community of gaming to everyone, across every device”.

 

[laptech]

Such an article is relevant to the Apple community because there is a lot of mac owners who are gamers but have to use other gaming devices because Apple will not support games on their computer platform, only mobile. Blizzard are on the ropes because of all the problems they have been having lately and now is the perfect time to get them on the cheap. Activision Blizzard is one of the worlds top gaming companies and aquiring it would be a feather in anyones cap. Apple could easily afford to purchase the company but in not doing so justs puts another nail in the Apple gaming coffin because this was a perfect oppertunity for Apple to show their intentions with regards to gaming on their machines.

 

[Kazgarth]

What's left for PlayStation at this stage?

 

[4743913]

Make no mistake that lawsuits will be inbound, the woes of activision-blizzard are not over.

microsoft shrugs

 

[alanvitek]

To me, this is a very bittersweet moment. Like others have said, Blizzard used to make really great games that were Mac compatible. But Blizzard also isn't nearly the company they used to be.

That being said, Microsoft's acquisition of Mojang has been incredible for the Minecraft brand. Few games have Minecraft's continued success. And Minecraft Dungeons is another excellent addition to it (the AR/VR Minecraft app was not so good though).

So I have some hope that maybe Microsoft can restore some glory to the Blizzard brand. Maybe we'll see renewed interest in the Mac from them since they are all about multi-device cross play.

 

[JosephAW]

Never owned an Activision console. Had an Atari

 

[maflynn]

What's left for PlayStation at this stage?

Prior to MS's buying spree, they had a solid core of AAA publishers. What they lack is a subscription that actually worked

 

[akashagrawal]

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?

"Phone games" aren't the problem, IMO. Anything that can run on Nintendo switch can technically fly on M1. Sure, it won't compete with Xbox Series X in terms of graphical fidelity, but that didn't stop Legend of Zelda Botw from sweeping every game reviewer off their feet, and being the best game I've every played.

That said, I do agree with your premise. Big studios bring a lot of talent that can really boost up the catalog. Indie games that can compete on story, narration and presentation don't happen every day, and often don't compete with the scope of AAA games. It's hard to think of a small indie studio developing GTAV with just their savings.

It's the difference between waiting for a magical, revolutionary indie game getting developed for your platform every few years, or committing resources to studios that can make it happen or already have a massive catalog you can just port over.

Sony IMO still has arguably better studios in their portfolio, but Microsoft finally appears to have started climbing back up. It's a long way up, though. Apple, fwiw, is still on start line, trying to apparently play a different game (pun totally intended). When "gamers" discuss stuff, Apple isn't it.

 

[TracerAnalog]

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."

The seismic purchase for Microsoft will see several of Activision's games move to Xbox Game Pass, Microsoft's gaming subscription service.
Microsoft's Xbox Game Pass is available on the iPhone and iPad through Safari, but not the App Store. While Apple does allow all-in-one gaming subscriptions services to be on the platform, every game offered on the service must be submitted individually for approval through the App Store review process.

Apple's equivalent games subscription service to Xbox Game Pass is Apple Arcade. Launched in 2019, Apple Arcade has continued to add new games to its catalog for users to play across the iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple TV. The purchase of Activision and the addition of more hit games to Xbox Game Pass may put more pressure on Apple to bolster ‌Apple Arcade‌'s offerings.

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

It’s not the first time MSFT buys a game studio… they have mismanaged more than one franchise in the past. Let’s hope they do better this time! And yeah, why Apple doesn’t just simply buy EA and Epic instead of fighting over app stores is beyond me. (That’s fan fiction folks ?)

 

[reyesmac]

The next seismic shift in gaming is VR. Now microsoft has even more properties they can turn into VR themeparks. So ultimately whenever Apple gets around to perfecting their VR experience, Microsoft can come around with a lesser one but with so much IP to lure people that they'll pretty much dominate that space too. With Apple just showing them how a more expensive headset would make the experience look like, which they will copy too.

The only way something like this doesn't end up happening is if that generation of helmet is compatible with any companies VR servers. Sort of how web video was standardized so that all portable devices could take advantage of it The helmet being the only key you need to access the content from any source. But that would mean a non Apple headset maker could access Apple VR. I doubt Apple would want that to go both ways so Microsoft is going to be the dominant player in any new tech because it can leverage its IP to get more people in their camp.

 

[4743913]

Never owned an Activision console. Had an Atari

but the best games for the atari 2600 were always activision games.

 

[SRTM]

No Diablo 4 for Ps5?

 

[rgeneral]

What if Apple Acquired Sony?

 

[Howard2k]

No Diablo 4 for Ps5?

I would assume Diablo 4 would be coming, it's well into development. Diablo 5 - maybe not.

 

[bilbo--baggins]

Apple didn't learn it's lesson when Microsoft bought Bungie after demoing Halo first on the Mac. Watching Apple's incompetence in the gaming market is like watching one of those coin operated machines that has a claw that always drops the prize.

 

[gnipgnop]

Yep, I just responded to someone about that, I think its too late, Who's left and what type of return on their investment. Gaming isn't a huge market for the Mac. At this point they'd end up over paying for the likes of EA

FYI: mobile gaming revenue is larger than PC and console gaming revenue combined.