Microsoft buys Activision/Blizzard for $70B

Gordon_4

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Doesn’t surprise me in the least. Sometimes I wish Steam would just make a full fledged operating system so we could ditch Microsoft completely. Hell, that’s pretty much how Gaben started it all is because he got fed up with their BS when he worked for them.

I’ll also add it’s unlikely to happen but I’d like to see this deal blocked like Nvidia’s acquisition of ARM. Let Activision just call apart and have job placement into better companies for the good ones that had to suffer their bs. Microsoft doesn’t deserve to simply keep getting to buy their way to success in this industry at the expense of others.
Technically they do make an operating system, SteamOS, version 3.0 (running on a different base Linux version than the previous two) of which runs the SteamDeck. So maybe you’ll get lucky and you’ll get a distro of it that you can use for a PC build.
 

hanselthecaretaker

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People really like to bash Microsoft huh
It’s not like Sony and Nintendo can go unscathed by any means either, but on the whole Microsoft has done more to cause consternation and skin writhing in the industry by far. I liked the original Xbox but imo the brand has been on a downhill trajectory ever since. It even started with questionable tactics.

Halo was supposed to be an RTS for PC and Mac until (surprised surprise) Microsoft bought Bungie, eliminating the Mac version and delaying the PC version for years.

Halo spearheaded the plague of aim assist on consoles, leading to its over reliance as a “game mechanic” instead of developers simply designing smoothly functional aiming mechanics in the first place.

Xbox 360 was rushed to market to beat Sony, and resulted in the worst hardware issues of a modern console and a billion dollar warranty replacement program in an attempt to save face.

Xbox 360 ushered in Xbox Live leading to the now-standard pay to play online requirements across the board for console gaming.

Xbox One tried to force online only/Kinect/service-oriented gaming on consumers which ended up a disaster.

Xbox Series X relies on Game Pass and now with the industry-record purchase of another company will further solidify the subscription model of gaming, which will mostly likely end up another mainstay like pay to play online before it.

All of Microsoft’s consoles have required overpriced proprietary add-on’s instead of allowing consumer choice. Ironically the opposite of their Windows platform.

Microsoft has a sordid history of canceling games and closing studios; likely more than Sony and Nintendo combined.


It’s funny how they make it sound like buying up a huge chunk of the gaming industry will now be a good thing for “everyone”, yet it seems like they themselves are the only ones that think so.








The audacity of that last one! Maybe they should be looking more closely in the mirror.
 
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It’s not like Sony and Nintendo can go unscathed by any means either, but on the whole Microsoft has done more to cause consternation and skin writhing in the industry by far. I liked the original Xbox but imo the brand has been on a downhill trajectory ever since. It even started with questionable tactics.

Halo was supposed to be an RTS for PC and Mac until (surprised surprise) Microsoft bought Bungie, eliminating the Mac version and delaying the PC version for years.

Halo spearheaded the plague of aim assist on consoles, leading to its over reliance as a “game mechanic” instead of developers simply designing smoothly functional aiming mechanics in the first place.

Xbox 360 was rushed to market to beat Sony, and resulted in the worst hardware issues of a modern console and a billion dollar warranty replacement program in an attempt to save face.

Xbox 360 ushered in Xbox Live leading to the now-standard pay to play online requirements across the board for console gaming.

Xbox One tried to force online only/Kinect/service-oriented gaming on consumers which ended up a disaster.

Xbox Series X relies on Game Pass and now with the industry-record purchase of another company will further solidify the subscription model of gaming, which will mostly likely end up another mainstay like pay to play online before it.

All of Microsoft’s consoles have required overpriced proprietary add-on’s instead of allowing consumer choice. Ironically the opposite of their Windows platform.

Microsoft has a sordid history of canceling games and closing studios; likely more than Sony and Nintendo combined.


It’s funny how they make it sound like buying up a huge chunk of the gaming industry will now be a good thing for “everyone”, yet it seems like they themselves are the only ones that think so.








The audacity of that last one! Maybe they should be looking more closely in the mirror.
That's why I don't exactly trust Microsoft. If I ever decide to get a Xbox One S or X used, or Series X down the line. I'm only getting it for the backwards compatibility and that's it.
 

Gordon_4

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It’s not like Sony and Nintendo can go unscathed by any means either, but on the whole Microsoft has done more to cause consternation and skin writhing in the industry by far. I liked the original Xbox but imo the brand has been on a downhill trajectory ever since. It even started with questionable tactics.

Halo was supposed to be an RTS for PC and Mac until (surprised surprise) Microsoft bought Bungie, eliminating the Mac version and delaying the PC version for years.

Halo spearheaded the plague of aim assist on consoles, leading to its over reliance as a “game mechanic” instead of developers simply designing smoothly functional aiming mechanics in the first place.

Xbox 360 was rushed to market to beat Sony, and resulted in the worst hardware issues of a modern console and a billion dollar warranty replacement program in an attempt to save face.

Xbox 360 ushered in Xbox Live leading to the now-standard pay to play online requirements across the board for console gaming.

Xbox One tried to force online only/Kinect/service-oriented gaming on consumers which ended up a disaster.

Xbox Series X relies on Game Pass and now with the industry-record purchase of another company will further solidify the subscription model of gaming, which will mostly likely end up another mainstay like pay to play online before it.

All of Microsoft’s consoles have required overpriced proprietary add-on’s instead of allowing consumer choice. Ironically the opposite of their Windows platform.

Microsoft has a sordid history of canceling games and closing studios; likely more than Sony and Nintendo combined.


It’s funny how they make it sound like buying up a huge chunk of the gaming industry will now be a good thing for “everyone”, yet it seems like they themselves are the only ones that think so.








The audacity of that last one! Maybe they should be looking more closely in the mirror.
FPS only exists on consoles because of Halo and its aim assist, because newsflash: FPS on consoles was shiiiiiiiiit compared to PC because analogue sticks were new technology and they were janky as fuck. I base that on playing Timesplitters, Half Life, Soldier of Fortune, GoldenEye and Perfect Dark on the PS2 and N64 respectively. Halo played better than all of them.
 
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CriticalGaming

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Sounds like he is fighting to both keep his job and lose it at the same time.
 
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hanselthecaretaker

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Haven’t heard that name for a while. Guess he’s still topside then unfortunately.
 
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wings012

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FPS only exists on consoles because of Halo and its aim assist, because newsflash: FPS on consoles was shiiiiiiiiit compared to PC because analogue sticks were new technology and they were janky as fuck. I base that on playing Timesplitters, Half Life, Soldier of Fortune, GoldenEye and Perfect Dark on the PS2 and N64 respectively. Halo played better than all of them.
Halo was pretty much the only console FPS I played for a while. I remember going to a videogame club in uni and they had a N64 up with Goldeneye. Fuck. Fuuuuuck. What the fuck were those controls? Strafing was paired with looking up and down? Turning was paired with moving forward and backwards? Utter fucking madness.

I still much prefer FPSes on the PC, but I absolutely acknowledge what Halo did to standardize console FPS controls into something much saner. Though maybe even without them it would've happened eventually but eh whatever.
 
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CriticalGaming

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Microsoft should drop this tbh. But then again acti/blizz has gone to shit so let them add another pile of shit to their toilet tank.
 
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hanselthecaretaker

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Quit playing the victim card. You are nothing close, even resembling a victim. Still not buying any of your crappy games, nor will I ever root for you or the people you put in charge that hurt others.

I will say, he’s arguably not *the worst*. They at least put out Sekiro without any monetizing bs and stuck to their word on leaving everything beyond the game title to FROM. But that’s certainly an exception.
 

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They at least put out Sekiro without any monetizing bs and stuck to their word on leaving everything beyond the game title to FROM. But that’s certainly an exception.
From Software made the game, Activision was nothing more than a means to the end for FS. They didn't put any monetization in the Crash N'sane Trilogy or Crash 4, but once again that was Vicarious Visions and Toys for Bob respectively. Activision did put later monetizations in Crash Team Racing Remake, a few weeks after release. So they can still screw off and die. Like I said before, a majority of their games ain't worth crap.
 
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Samtemdo8

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From Software made the game, Activision was nothing more than a means to the end for FS. They didn't put any monetization in the Crash N'sane Trilogy or crash or, but once again that was Vicarious Visions and Toys for Bob respectively. Activision did put later monetizations in Crash Team Racing remake, a few weeks after release. So they can still screw off and die. Like I said before, a majority of their games ain't worth crap.
And still selling millions somehow.

Angry Joe put Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 on his top 10 best games of 2022.