Microsoft buys Activision/Blizzard for $70B

[BrawlMan]

Activision used to publish some pretty good games way back before they went all in on Call of Duty. Transformers, Spider-Man, Prototype, even Crash Bandicoot and Spyro. Heck they even published Sekiro. Now they’ve just the Call of Duty machine.

And even then, when they picked up Crash Bandicoot, the franchise was already going through rough stages. The last few games they published during late 6th generation in early to mid 7th generation were between mediocre average, or just playing bad. By the 360 era, they were throwing darts on the wall and just throwing whatever gimmick they could. I can't speak for Spyro The Dragon, but that franchise also went through similar issues. A lot of the Transformers games varied in quality though. You had some decent ones, but the only good ones were the War of Cybertron and Fall of Cybertron games. They did publish Transformers Devastation, but that was Platinum doing the development of the game. The game was originally going to be $30, but when Activision saw how much effort Platinum was putting in, they decided to attack on an extra 20 bucks.

 

[Dalisclock]

On one hand, I knowing yet more of the industry is being considered and monopolized under a few mega corps feels like we're steadily creeping closer to the cyberpunk dystopia scenario(with environmental collapse to boot). OTOH, I barely play AAA games anymore, A/B is garbage and MS can hardly do any worse at this point with it, so on a personal gaming level I'll barely notice. I think I play like 1 or 2 current AAA games per year at best at this point with the rest being older games and indies.

Not to mitigate the corporate bullshitery here, just that I've already written most of the AAA industry off as a money-grubbing, creatively sterile loss that it just feels like more of the same, just under fewer roofs.

 

[Bedinsis]

I just had an idea of what they could do, that shooter fans can say if it's good or not:

Make a crossover title, ala Smash bros.

Throw in Master Chief, the Doom Slayer, John "Soap" McTavish, Joanna Dark and "B.J." Blazkowicz (and some also-rans that I don't know of since I don't play shooters) and put them in some ridiculous scenario where they have to work together and their respective personalities bounce off of each other and react to being put in each other's home-environments. It could be The Expendables of shooters.

 

[Fallen Soldier]

And even then, when they picked up Crash Bandicoot, the franchise was already going through rough stages. The last few games they published during late 6th generation in early to mid 7th generation were between mediocre average, or just playing bad. By the 360 era, they were destroying darts on the wall and just throwing whatever gimmick they could. I can't speak for Spyro The Dragon, but that franchise also went through similar issues. A lot of the transformers games varied in quality

So Microsoft. It only owns most of the well known FPS games, but they own a good share of the 3D platformers. I see a strong irony here.

 

[Hawki]

I think just before the acquisition, the only projects that Activision were working on, were CoD, and whatever Blizzard were up to. All of their other IPs were on ice.

That's correct. I think it was for Vanguard, but at some point, every single Activision studio was working on CoD.

I just had an idea of what they could do, that shooter fans can say if it's good or not:

Make a crossover title, ala Smash bros.

Throw in Master Chief, the Doom Slayer, John "Soap" McTavish, Joanna Dark and "B.J." Blazkowicz (and some also-rans that I don't know of since I don't play shooters) and put them in some ridiculous scenario where they have to work together and their respective personalities bounce off of each other and react to being put in each other's home-environments. It could be The Expendables of shooters.

What, "Microsoft Melee?"

It seems a waste to confine it just to shooters, and besides, we already have something similar to an extent with Quake Champions, since it's also drawn in stuff from Doom and Wolfenstein. Alternatively, there's Heroes of the Storm - I've seen people suggesting that Microsoft characters could be added, but I doubt it. People were discussing the prospect of Activision/Bungie characters back in the day, it never happened.

 

[Fallen Soldier]

Man imagine if any of the CoD devs were to work on the next Halo game.

 

[Hawki]

Man imagine if any of the CoD devs were to work on the next Halo game.

*Cough*Halo 4*Cough*

Or, to make my stance clear:

scrubs Dr Cox saying NO! - YouTube

 

[Fallen Soldier]

If there is a silver lining to this acquisition, other then seeing Bobby Kotick go into retirement, and Call of Duty no longer an annualized series is the fact forgotten Activision IPs could see the light again. I would like to see a new prototype game.

 

[Dalisclock]

I would like to see a new prototype game.

Man, that would be interesting considering recent events. Though maybe it would be a reboot?

 

[Fallen Soldier]

Man, that would be interesting considering recent events. Though maybe it would be a reboot?

It would have to be. Or maybe a remake of the first two games.

 

[Dalisclock]

It would have to be. Or maybe a remake of the first two games.

I didn't play the 2nd. Wasn't the 2nd just kinda the first again with a different dude but now he's out for REVENGE or am I totally off base here?

 

[Fallen Soldier]

I didn't play the 2nd. Wasn't the 2nd just kinda the first again with a different dude but now he's out for REVENGE or am I totally off base here?

You are on point. I honestly think making Mercer the bad guy was a dumb idea.

 

[Drathnoxis]

Heck, I hope Atari and Sega get back into the console game to give us even more choices.

I thought Atari was making crypto currency these days.

 

[Bedinsis]

It seems a waste to confine it just to shooters, and besides, we already have something similar to an extent with Quake Champions, since it's also drawn in stuff from Doom and Wolfenstein. Alternatively, there's Heroes of the Storm - I've seen people suggesting that Microsoft characters could be added, but I doubt it. People were discussing the prospect of Activision/Bungie characters back in the day, it never happened.

I confined myself to shooters since it dawned on me that Microsoft nowadays has at least three legitimate iconic shooter franchises under their control, and workshopped from there.

If there is a silver lining to this acquisition, other then seeing Bobby Kotick go into retirement, and Call of Duty no longer an annualized series is the fact forgotten Activision IPs could see the light again. I would like to see a new prototype game.

What? Call of Duty won't be an annualized series? Where did you get this from?

 

[laggyteabag]

So apparently Microsoft have confirmed that Call of Duty wont be an Xbox Exclusive title, at least for the time being.

I wonder if this is because of the "contractual obligations" that Sony brought up, or if Microsoft are legitimately interested in keeping the series multi-platform.

To note though, as far as I am aware, they only mentioned Call of Duty. All of Activision/Blizzard's other IPs are still up in the air.

Definitely curious.

 

[laggyteabag]

Another thing that I have just thought up, is whether or not World of Warcraft will be rolled into Game Pass in any capacity.

If it is, I wonder if this would just cover "ownership" of the expansions, or if game time would be included at all - possibly in Game Pass Ultimate.

 

[Gordon_4]

Another thing that I have just thought up, is whether or not World of Warcraft will be rolled into Game Pass in any capacity.

If it is, I wonder if this would just cover "ownership" of the expansions, or if game time would be included at all - possibly in Game Pass Ultimate.

If they do that, and the price is competitive and gives me all the other stuff Game Pass does, I can see myself swapping over to that method rather than a direct WoW subscription.

Of course that assumes many things.

 

[Bob_McMillan]

So apparently Microsoft have confirmed that Call of Duty wont be an Xbox Exclusive title, at least for the time being.

I wonder if this is because of the "contractual obligations" that Sony brought up, or if Microsoft are legitimately interested in keeping the series multi-platform.

Isn't the business model for consoles that the consoles themselves barely profit or even lose, but the high profit margins for the games make up for it? Considering the volume of people who buy the CoD games, it could make more sense to not make the franchise an exclusive. Especially when they're having such a hard time manufacturing consoles these days. Oh, and also Warzone is free to play anyway. Seems ridiculous to make a F2P game exclusive.

That said, when a new console generation comes around, I can totally see them making CoD exclusive, at least for launch.

 

[laggyteabag]

If there is a silver lining to this acquisition, other then seeing Bobby Kotick go into retirement, and Call of Duty no longer an annualized series is the fact forgotten Activision IPs could see the light again. I would like to see a new prototype game.

What? Call of Duty won't be an annualized series? Where did you get this from?

This appears to be a report by Jason Schreier

 

[bluegate]

Another thing that I have just thought up, is whether or not World of Warcraft will be rolled into Game Pass in any capacity.

If it is, I wonder if this would just cover "ownership" of the expansions, or if game time would be included at all - possibly in Game Pass Ultimate.

Game Pass Ultimate is $180 a year, World of Warcraft is between $156-$180 a year.

Adding WoW to Ultimate would only lose them money, but I guess they could boast about how many Game Pass subscriptions they "sold".

Like how they used to boast about their Live engagement, which counted people playing solitair on Windows.