Microsoft to purchase Activision Blizzard for $68.9 billions

[Snarf Zagyg]

Mmm. Diablo.

Maybe we now have a hope of new Diablo, without the shadow of that corporate culture hanging over purchases.

Yes, but unfortunately it's Microsoft, who is probably making the purchase to make it an exclusive. And ... well, that means I'm not going to be playing it.

 

[Stalker0]

What a weird sum. What's another 1.1 million give or take?

So they paid seven times Activision's yearly revenue. When do they expect to make a profit from this purchase?

Um…year 8?

 

[Stalker0]

I don’t give a crap about activision but blizzard was the shining light of video game makers for a long time, and it’s brutal to see them fall so far.

maybe Microsoft can do some damage control, but ultimately i think the talent has moved on

 

[Umbran]

Yes, but unfortunately it's Microsoft, who is probably making the purchase to make it an exclusive. And ... well, that means I'm not going to be playing it.

I didn't play it on consoles anyway. Keyboard and mouse for me, thanks.

 

[AtomicPope]

I'm curious to see if Microsoft can put out the dumpster fires. There are so many problems. They could Thanos 50% of the staff from top to bottom *snap, and there's no guarantee that it would be enough. The managers, executives, workers, even the freelance they hired have caused major problems. Whether they're bad to each other, attacking the fans, empty promises, pandering, or ruining the legacy of their games, they found a way to make everyone an enemy.

Good luck Microsoft!

 

[MGibster]

"... to grab a videogame heavyweight that has been roiled by claims of workplace misconduct."

So at work, we often cite cases of workplace misconduct that has made the news as a kind of case study in how not to do things. I've been bringing up Activision-Blizzard for the last few months.

 

[Yora]

Um…year 8?

If they manage to run the company by keeping the number of sales steady while not having any costs, sure.

 

[Zardnaar]

Yes, but unfortunately it's Microsoft, who is probably making the purchase to make it an exclusive. And ... well, that means I'm not going to be playing it.

I've had both consoles last 3 generations. Game pass kicks PlayStations butt.

 

[GreyLord]

Before the deal, the quarter year revenues of gaming portions of the companies were, roughly
1. Tencent $8B
2. Sony $4B
3. Apple $3.5B
4. MS $3B

So this deal knocks MS between 3.5 & 4 Billion dollars in quartal revenue of gaming content. Which is less than half of Tencent’s.

And in total revenue, that is a fraction of what Tencent pulls from other areas…

I thought Sony had 22 Billion in it's gaming division and Nintendo had around 15-16 Billion. Microsoft previously had around 13 Billion.

Tencent was rated top (but they are a rather odd gaming conglomerate, with mobile gaming as their focus, and then spread across multiple companies as owning parts of them) of the list in any case.

At least that's what I've read in other locations.

 

[GreyLord]

You're probably right.

Which also sucks, both because I think Activision has just hired a bunch of people (because of all the people that jumped ship), and also because I love love love Diablo, and I'm a playstation person, not an XBox dude.

Well, Playstation fans have been decrying Xbox for a while now, and parading around that they have all these exclusives that Xbox doesn't.

I guess Xbox finally got tired of Playstation fans saying stuff like that (despite the fact that I actually LOVE Forza a LOT more than GT, and Halo more than much of what PS has, and Gears of War more than Uncharted).

However, when Microsoft has exclusives, I don't think all of them will be "exclusive" the way Sony made their exclusives in some cases. PC gamers will also be able to play most/all of those "exclusives" which puts it way better in my eyes.

What is even better is if you have a Windows machine (Well, Win10 and later) you can play Xbox games via your PC!

I have all of the above (PC gaming, Xbox, Playstation) so, overall, it's not that big an impact if one has an exclusive and another doesn't, but I find it funny how many Playstation fans are sad about Xbox maybe getting exclusives.

The only thing I'm hoping is that Microsoft changes Blizzard from Blizzards push to have everything online all the time. I get tired of having to ensure SC 2 hooks up at least once a month, or that the new Diablo 2R has to also hook up once a month when I only play SP. There's no reason for someone who plays SP to have to hook up again after intial installations (IMO).

Also, hopefully change Diablo 4 so it can be played offline (at least on Consoles if nothing else) rather than being an MMORPG lite (like an MMO, but without as much stuff). That right there is almost enough to make it so I don't buy Diablo 4. I remember what happened with Diablo 3 when it came out (constant time outs, etc) and the problems with it being always online. Add to that with the more recent Diablo 2R ques just to get to play the SP portion of the game (sometimes people would wait hours, longest I waited thus far was 30 minutes...but still...FAR to long just so you can play the game because it wants to verify it) and I get a BAD feeling about the troubles Diablo 4 will have when it is released if it is going to basically be an always online game.