MSFT Acquiring Activision Blizzard King

DISCLAIMER
I work for Blizzard on the IT Leadership side , all thoughts are my own and do not reflect any official company policy or thoughts
/DISCLAIMER

I know we have a few active gamers here and some pretty big news broke this morning with Microsoft acquiring Activision Blizzard which really means the following are slated to move under MSFT:

Activision and all its studios like Treyarch, Ravensoft and so on.
Blizzard including VV who recently moved under us
King (Candy Crush)
Misc other things that fall under AB umbrella.

Some thing this large is going to take awhile with the closure of this deal not being targeted until the Summer of 2023.
Anyway if anyone wants to know anything I will share what I can but its been a challenging yet exciting morning.

www.cnn.com...

a reply to: opethPA

Maybe Microsoft can make a real call of duty, activision ran it to the ground big time.

a reply to: Randomname2

It'd be the first time in a long time that Microsoft improved something.

My money is on they want established gaming infrastructure for building their stake in the Metaverse.

Can't have a cyberpunk dystopia without soma, best to buy a soma factory before you need it.

originally posted by: Randomname2
a reply to: opethPA

Maybe Microsoft can make a real call of duty, activision ran it to the ground big time.

I have always been consistent on gaming posts here, it is not my place nor do I try and change anyone's opinion on anything . Additionally I am not afraid to say what I truly believe even if it doesn't back up the company stance.

I am a COD WARZONE player , hell i think I have over 6000 rounds played over the past 2 years.
From a COD perspective VG has had huge issues. VG integration has caused issues across the board on every active COD franchise. It's annoying and it's a major pain point on internal chats.

It's also not just a function of what ATVI decided as , which is the way it goes in life, because their is a ton to that equation but again not my place to change your opinion.

a reply to: opethPA

MS kills all it touches.

No surprise .
The ones listed have nothing except cult followers .
One trick ponies .
Microsoft wants the developers , not the products.

originally posted by: Gothmog
No surprise .
The ones listed have nothing except cult followers .
One trick ponies .
Microsoft wants the developers , not the products.

Could you explain that some, which IP specifically are talking about for any of the studios in question?

originally posted by: opethPA

originally posted by: Gothmog
No surprise .
The ones listed have nothing except cult followers .
One trick ponies .
Microsoft wants the developers , not the products.

Could you explain that some, which IP specifically are talking about for any of the studios in question?

Microsoft wants the developers , not the products.
They will continue SOME of the titles , yet they will be developing others through the MS name .
Microsoft , if you know their history , are not newcomers to the game .

LOL Call of Duty was the highest selling game on the Playstation platform last year. Once the ink dries, Microsoft will own it.

WoW is still the gold standard MMO.

Overwatch is still a huge moneymaker even with some drama, balancing problems and a currently fractured community.

Diablo is literally money laying on the table begging to be taken - even after the "Don't you own phones?" fiasco.

This purchase will make Microsoft the third largest game publisher, after Tencent and Sony.

There are roughly 25 million GamePass subscribers sitting ready to jump into all of the above ecosystems as soon as the Activision / Blizzard library hits the service.

I don't think MS has plans to gut, alter or even interfere much with any of these studios. IMO they're going to just sit back and let those massive CoD, WoW and Overwatch skin dollars roll in. At least for the foreseeable future.

ETA: One last touch of irony... Microsoft now owns the first Playstation mascot.

a reply to: opethPA

I uninstalled WZ after VG.

That launch was a disaster, and they ignored some simple fixes for far too long like invisible skins and weapons taking up the whole screen.

Maybe Microsoft helps them get it together, but with how much money they raked in from three COD titles over the life of WZ, there is no excuse. They rushed a product to do a Christmas cash grab then went on holiday while the broken game was out there.

originally posted by: OccamsRazor04
a reply to: opethPA

MS kills all it touches.

Eh, most of the studios they've bought were already run into the ground.

originally posted by: Gothmog

originally posted by: opethPA

originally posted by: Gothmog
No surprise .
The ones listed have nothing except cult followers .
One trick ponies .
Microsoft wants the developers , not the products.

Could you explain that some, which IP specifically are talking about for any of the studios in question?

Microsoft wants the developers , not the products.
They will continue SOME of the titles , yet they will be developing others through the MS name .
Microsoft , if you know their history , are not newcomers to the game .

We can agree to disagree on wanting the devs vs the products and I would be saying that even if I didn't work in the gaming industry. Since I do I would make that statement from an even more informed position but again, I am not ever going to try and change someone's opinion on these things.

Hopefully you can get years of good gaming from the coming adventure. =)

a reply to: opethPA

We can agree to disagree on wanting the devs vs the products and I would be saying that even if I didn't work in the gaming industry

Do you work for a company that has been bought out by MS ?
Cause , evidently , you don't know the history .

originally posted by: Gothmog
a reply to: opethPA

We can agree to disagree on wanting the devs vs the products and I would be saying that even if I didn't work in the gaming industry

Do you work for a company that has been bought out by MS ?
Cause , evidently , you don't know the history .

That is just a silly question and statement but I don't see this going anywhere productive so you are welcome to your opinion and like I said hopefully you get lots of good gaming out of this venture.

Best of luck.

Kind of shows the dumpsterfire state of gaming.

Will they still be producing games for PlayStation? Activision imo has one of the best cross play infrastructure.

originally posted by: CriticalStinker

originally posted by: OccamsRazor04
a reply to: opethPA

MS kills all it touches.

Eh, most of the studios they've bought were already run into the ground.

Not disagreeing, but MS is usually the nail in the coffin.

a reply to: OccamsRazor04

Very well could be. That company has been plagued with failed products and bad publicity in the workplace for a while now.

But it almost doesn't matter at the end of the day. The gaming industry is in its worst spot in ages.

Almost every AAA studio releases broken games now that shouldn't even be acceptable for a beta release. They're all milking paid cosmetics while neglecting functionality of the game, or added features.

You'll see them ignore glitches and bugs while they roll out new profit models.

a reply to: Randomname2

That was my first thought… but seeing the amount of money they make from rereleasing the same over and over again it wouldn’t surprise me if they just kept it the same.