Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Microsoft To Acquire Activision Blizzard

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • #71
    Originally posted by geearf View Post

    Then why the closure of BN under Vivendi and not before if they were not running the show?
    Your argument that Blizzard wasn't running Vivendi is that a studio that was bought and renamed Blizzard North and was treated as a separate studio from Blizzard proper... was killed under Vivendi?

    Originally posted by geearf View Post
    Blizzard never bought Sierra Online, it was Comp-U-Card International that bought it along with Davidson (I'll be honest, before double checking now, I thought Davidson had bought Sierra).
    Blizzard was effectively Davidson's arm into real video games rather than educational games, and while Comp-U-Card was involved... where are the rights now? Unless Blizzard sold them off when I wasn't paying attention they still have them which is why they did a short lived revival of the Sierra brand as an indie publishing label which bombed rather quickly.

    Comment


    • #72
      Originally posted by Luke_Wolf View Post

      Oh sweet summer child... Activision owns Raven and Infocom, and they published games for a whole ton of interesting studios, from things like Vampire The Masquerade to Star Trek, The soldier of fortune games, the later Wolfenstein games before Bethesda picked up the rights... if anyone wanted to publish a game based on a movie or TV show they went to Activision. Heavy Gear was a strong competitor to MechWarrior, etc. Not to mention that there were a ton of IP from other companies that Blizzard bought out like Sierra who had previously been one of the biggest game developers and publishers and was highly regarded.
      All I'm hearing is support for my argument, they got a bunch of good IPs, nothing else. Also don't Paradox currently hold the rights to VTMB? And I think Piranha Games hold the MechWarrior IP currently... Not sure where Star Trek is but nothing good's ever been done with that IP in the gaming scene. Microsoft already owns bethesda and therefore Wolfenstein and Doom IP, dont' remember ever hearing about heavy gear... Maybe it was some console exclusive or some shit?
      Soldier of Fortune was great though, but it's a dead IP that nothings been done with for decades because no triple A company has the balls to make a game that can live up ot the first two.

      Anyhow, point is, Microsoft got a bunch of good IP, a few buildings, and a few thousand employees that are going to eat up money while sitting with their thumbs up their butts until they get fired. Activision's literally more of a liability than an asset, if Microsoft wants to get anything out of this deal they'll have to reconstruct Activision from fucking scratch after firing almost absolutely everyone that used to work there.

      Comment


      • #73
        Originally posted by Luke_Wolf View Post

        Blizzard was effectively Davidson's arm into real video games rather than educational games, and while Comp-U-Card was involved... where are the rights now? Unless Blizzard sold them off when I wasn't paying attention they still have them which is why they did a short lived revival of the Sierra brand as an indie publishing label which bombed rather quickly.
        Sierra was under CUC, then VG, then pretty much shut down, then revived under Activision, as far as I know it's never been under Blizzard. I believe most VG games went under Activision in the merge, the Blizzard part, which really was the VG part with the grandchild's name, only kept the Blizzard games, didn't they?

        Comment


        • #74
          Originally posted by kescherPh View Post
          69 billion dollar deal to buy up a company that recently got in the news for a major sexual harassment scandal.
          Alright then
          Without the scandals and the accompanying lawsuits and drop in stock price, this buyout would've been a lot more expensive, if not impossible.

          Comment


          • #75
            Originally posted by smitty3268 View Post

            Bobby Kotick is 100% gone as soon as this deal closes, or almost immediately after. You can tell by the way everyone is so quiet about exactly what his role will be in the new company, and everyone is confirming it unofficially already....
            This is exactly right. Based on Phil Spencer's statement on the intended acquisition, he specifically mentions studio culture and holding managers accountable.

            "As a company, Microsoft is committed to our journey for inclusion in every aspect of gaming, among both employees and players. We deeply value individual studio cultures. We also believe that creative success and autonomy go hand-in-hand with treating every person with dignity and respect. We hold all teams, and all leaders, to this commitment. We’re looking forward to extending our culture of proactive inclusion to the great teams across Activision Blizzard."
            Source:
            https://news.xbox.com/en-us/2022/01/18/welcoming-activision-blizzard-to-microsoft-gaming/

            That is definitely a "tell me you're booting the creeps, without saying you're booting out the creeps" type of statement. Kotick will come out fine financially (if not a full golden parachute), but he will certainly be gone.

            Comment


            • #76
              Originally posted by nranger View Post
              This is exactly right. Based on Phil Spencer's statement on the intended acquisition, he specifically mentions studio culture and holding managers accountable.

              "As a company, Microsoft is committed to our journey for inclusion in every aspect of gaming, among both employees and players. We deeply value individual studio cultures. We also believe that creative success and autonomy go hand-in-hand with treating every person with dignity and respect. We hold all teams, and all leaders, to this commitment. We’re looking forward to extending our culture of proactive inclusion to the great teams across Activision Blizzard."
              Source:
              https://news.xbox.com/en-us/2022/01/18/welcoming-activision-blizzard-to-microsoft-gaming/

              That is definitely a "tell me you're booting the creeps, without saying you're booting out the creeps" type of statement. Kotick will come out fine financially (if not a full golden parachute), but he will certainly be gone.
              Microsoft likes being able to fire over half the staff in the first year of acquired companies. Having creeps to get rid of makes that process a lot simpler.

              So no matter what was going on being acquired by Microsoft equals lots firing unless you can break your company back away in under 12 months.

              The realty here Microsoft is unlikely to stop the firing once they have removed all the creeps as well. Microsoft acquirement process is quite brutal.

              Comment


              • #77
                Originally posted by mSparks View Post
                Linux VR Xplane 11 beats pretty much everything visually. The MSFS implementation is reportedly dire.

                Fun fact I learnt while watching the stats for that. Last year occulus sold more quest 2 headsets at around the same price each than Microsoft sold xbox consoles. And they weren't even the biggest selling VR headset (that went to reverb G2).
                I've never tried VR. I'm just now to the point to where I'm a generation behind VR -- I just got all the stuff to hack together a TrackIR system -- a TrackIR Pro clip, a generic Wii controller, and this AA battery wall-plug thingy to power the controller. I've yet to set it up (all my flight sim stuff is put away until I finish remodeling the house and build a gaming desk).

                Comment


                • #78
                  Originally posted by skeevy420 View Post

                  I've never tried VR. I'm just now to the point to where I'm a generation behind VR -- I just got all the stuff to hack together a TrackIR system -- a TrackIR Pro clip, a generic Wii controller, and this AA battery wall-plug thingy to power the controller. I've yet to set it up (all my flight sim stuff is put away until I finish remodeling the house and build a gaming desk).
                  For the longest time I tried to use screenshots and descriptions to explain what VR is like.

                  Then I discovered the only way to really explain it is to link to videos of people trying VR

                  The missus freaks out on the slide#shardview* Jukin Media Verified *Find this video and others like it by visiting https://www.jukinmedia.com/licensing/view/...

                  Comment


                  • #79
                    I suspect that Bobby won't have a say within month, and that microsoft will buy him out of the contract.

                    Anyway, good for the game studios, Microsoft is a platform owner, they have a high interest in sustained brands and binding players in a different way than Activision had to. Due to the game pass - they literally do not care what you play as long as you pay the fee. They do not have the same need to put time killers in there just to keep you on one game.

                    That said, the concentration in the gaming market toward Microsoft is alarming. That will be hard to counter by Sony. Started last year with Zenimax and Berthesta, now Activision, probably not getting CoD timely on the PS is a huge hit, since that's a buying incentive for players.

                    Will be interesting to see if that actually shifts the console market a bit towards Microsoft, I certainly expect that.

                    Comment


                    • #80
                      Found an interesting commentary about the potential of this acquisition (or lack of it).

                      Comment

                      Working...
                      X