# [Foxnews.com] Microsoft buying Activision in $68.7B deal



## StAndrew

With all the drama at Activision, it was inevitable that someone would buy them out.


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## LancerVI

StAndrew said:


> With all the drama at Activision, it was inevitable that someone would buy them out.


I'm surprised they said they would keep Bobby. Probably only to make the deal. My guess is he doesn't make it a year w/MS.

Whether MS agrees with Bobby or not is immaterial. He's radioactive and has to go.


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## Slaughtahouse

^ Bobby is only there to cash out before he gets the boot. 

So... Microsoft now owns Spyro and Crash Bandicoot. Never thought I'd see the day.


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## EniGma1987

LancerVI said:


> I'm surprised they said they would keep Bobby. Probably only to make the deal. My guess is he doesn't make it a year w/MS.
> Whether MS agrees with Bobby or not is immaterial. He's radioactive and has to go.


Articles say he will stay "for the transition", which to me sounds like once the transition to XBox division is settled he is out.




Slaughtahouse said:


> So... Microsoft now owns Spyro and Crash Bandicoot. Never thought I'd see the day.


Also Tony Hawk, Warcraft, Starcraft, Candy Crush (people still play that?), Diablo, and Overwatch, as well as Major League Gaming's eSports stuff.

And of course, the yearly Call of Duty release which right now many are saying is too big a seller on playstation to go exclusive. However, I think the main thing that makes it such a hot seller there is the timed exclusive DLC. If that deal is running out or canm be canceled due to the change in ownership and Microsoft brings that timed exclusivity to XBox, then we could see the sales flip by next gen. At which point MS may have enough sales on their own platforms to make it completely exclusive and shut out Sony from the game completely.


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## Slaughtahouse

Candy Crush and COD are the big money makers and yes, of course those other games are much larger IPs. It just doesn't feel as impactful as the thought of classic Playstation 1 games... now owned by M$.

Also for some context: Firing CEO Bobby Kotick wouldn’t be cheap for Activision.


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## 1devomer

I admit, i was too dumb to think that the Activision lawsuits were a sign of US persecutors caring about corporation discrimination and harassment issues.

Now i got it why they brought the lawsuit up to the public.
I wasn't sure why people that are so wealthy and leverage such power, would be exposed so easily after all these years.

Well done US lobbying, it was a good ride until Micro$haft shared its real intent and could reach its main objective.
Even worse, Micro$haft is brought as a savior when in reality, this is another major blow into the gaming industry, add your preferred monopoly, to a ship that sunk many years ago, unfortunately.

Good job Micro$haft and good job to all the human being minds that managed to pull this out!


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## LancerVI

EniGma1987 said:


> Articles say he will stay *"for the transition"*, which to me sounds like once the transition to XBox division is settled he is out.


I completely missed that. Figures, as that's the usual par-for-the-course in these types of things.


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## Section31

Game industry was long overdue for consolidation. The finances in that industry has always been suspicious. Sony, Microsoft, Tencent, Embracer buying up studios.

There’s been rumors that Square Enix is secretly up for sale too. Wouldn’t shock me if EA bought out by Tencent lol.

That being said gaming profits are on mobile side/esport/twitch while more of the traditional games are slowly dying off in general. Ties in with the 80-90s generation getting older and clearly can’t play/invest the same amount into the hobby as we did while growing up. Mind you, we still are buying the same gaming related hardware though.


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## InfoWarrior

When you can't develop any solid exclusives for your platform....


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## Megaman_90

InfoWarrior said:


> When you can't develop any solid exclusives for your platform....


To be fair Microsoft has been pretty consumer friendly with exclusive titles for the most part and has allowed Bethesda to continue development on non-MS platforms. Exclusives need go away in general. It's a toxic way to get people on a specific platform in my opinion anyway. Sony and MS have made strides to release on other platforms....Nintendo never will.


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## littledonny

1devomer said:


> I admit, i was too dumb to think that the Activision lawsuits were a sign of US persecutors caring about corporation discrimination and harassment issues.
> 
> Now i got it why they brought the lawsuit up to the public.
> I wasn't sure why people that are so wealthy and leverage such power, would be exposed so easily after all these years.
> 
> Well done US lobbying, it was a good ride until Micro$aft shared its real intent and could reach its main objective.
> Even worse, Micro$aft is brought as a savior when in reality, this is another major blow into the gaming industry, add your preferred monopoly, to a ship that sunk many years ago, unfortunately.
> 
> Good job Micro$aft and good job to all the human being minds that managed to pull this out!


Please $tfu


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## Rei86

Section31 said:


> Game industry was long overdue for consolidation. The finances in that industry has always been suspicious. Sony, Microsoft, Tencent, Embracer buying up studios.
> 
> There’s been rumors that Square Enix is secretly up for sale too. Wouldn’t shock me if EA bought out by Tencent lol.
> 
> That being said gaming profits are on mobile side/esport/twitch while more of the traditional games are slowly dying off in general. Ties in with the 80-90s generation getting older and clearly can’t play/invest the same amount into the hobby as we did while growing up. Mind you, we still are buying the same gaming related hardware though.


Sqaure is always up for sale... to a Japanese person and Japanese company.


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## Section31

Rei86 said:


> Sqaure is always up for sale... to a Japanese person and Japanese company.


Sony is the ideal buyer but they won’t pay those prices. I see them buying kojima studios over square enix.


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## truestorybro545

Section31 said:


> Sony is the ideal buyer but they won’t pay those prices. I see them buying kojima studios over square enix.


I mean, they might have to at this point to compete...
(I am not basing this on anything other than pure speculation haha)


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## 1devomer

littledonny said:


> Please $tfu


Why?

In the last months, a consequent media push have been deployed, to share the Activision Lawsuits and company issues to the public.
Why these behaviors have not been denounced accordingly, and all of a sudden major head of the company resigned.

The headline i read on TechPowerUp, put Micro$haft as a savior and the company merge, a way to redeem Activision.

So at this point, it is pretty obvious and normal to ask, how much the lawsuits and media push have prepared the public to this buyout?
Which reinforce the already extensive monopoly and data gathering that Micro$haft is pursuing.

So in my opinion it is not a great move, and view the lawsuits as a way to clean Activision before the merge, rather than institutions enforcing employee's right.
And i bet you that the next YongYea video, and the overall utube media, will view the merge as a positive event!


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## Rei86

Section31 said:


> Sony is the ideal buyer but they won’t pay those prices. I see them buying kojima studios over square enix.


Yeah I can see Kojima being taken up by Sony.

I see people fear mongering in other places this story has been posted... I think its unwarranted. 
Think MS is gonna be out of the hardware game sooner or later since all PCs is just the Xbox at this point. This will be the best for everyone as they'll just fund these studios (OF course they are gonna expect a profit to come back) but it'll be all platforms.


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## Slaughtahouse

truestorybro545 said:


> I mean, they might have to at this point to compete...
> (I am not basing this on anything other than pure speculation haha)


Sony is still quite a way ahead in terms of sales, units sold (hardware/ software), and revenue.

This gen will be a bit different with M$ pushing GaaS. Short term, Sony needs to focus on investing in their already great studios. 

Long term, they’re likely going to have to compete with Gamepass.


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## Mergatroid

LancerVI said:


> Source Microsoft buying Activision in $68.7B deal
> 
> Holy S..........................!!!!
> 
> Wasn't expecting that!?!?!?!?!?!
> 
> EDIT: Also being reported by WCCFTech here : Activision Blizzard Has Been Acquired by Microsoft for Nearly $70 Billion


Oh no. Please GOD no.
Microsoft isn't good for anyone except Microsoft.

Now, I am going to have to give up all my Blizzard software because I don't want to be involved with anything Microsoft.
Gees, I just bought Diablo II Resurrected too.

Every time I find something I like, some a-hole company like Microsoft comes along and ruins it for everyone.

Die Microsoft, DIE!


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## Mergatroid

Section31 said:


> Game industry was long overdue for consolidation. The finances in that industry has always been suspicious. Sony, Microsoft, Tencent, Embracer buying up studios.
> 
> There’s been rumors that Square Enix is secretly up for sale too. Wouldn’t shock me if EA bought out by Tencent lol.
> 
> That being said gaming profits are on mobile side/esport/twitch while more of the traditional games are slowly dying off in general. Ties in with the 80-90s generation getting older and clearly can’t play/invest the same amount into the hobby as we did while growing up. Mind you, we still are buying the same gaming related hardware though.


I am playing just as much now, and investing far more in video games as compared to what I could afford when I was young. Older people usually have more disposable income than younger people in the same tax bracket do. My house and car are paid off.

" Section31 said: 

I see people fear mongering in other places this story has been posted... I think its unwarranted.
Think MS is gonna be out of the hardware game sooner or later since all PCs is just the Xbox at this point. This will be the best for everyone as they'll just fund these studios (OF course they are gonna expect a profit to come back) but it'll be all platforms"

Microsoft has had decades to stop using hardware as a game console. The fact they started out on PC and then created a console afterwords indicated to me that they want their console system. They are no better or worse off in that regard than they have ever been.

I mean, anything can happen but I doubt MS is going to abandon the xbox any time soon.


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## truestorybro545

Slaughtahouse said:


> Sony is still quite a way ahead in terms of sales, units sold (hardware/ software), and revenue.
> 
> This gen will be a bit different with M$ pushing GaaS. Short term, Sony needs to focus on investing in their already great studios.
> 
> Long term, they’re likely going to have to compete with Gamepass.


Yep. They’ll really need to fight by renovating the heck out of PS Now into a full blown Gamepass competitor. The streaming function is absolutely not competitive against the ease of Gamepass and its downloads.


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## ZealotKi11er

I hope they bring back some of the old blizzard IP. I want a new Warcraft RTS, Starcraft 3. Get some support for Heros of the Storm.


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## Slaughtahouse

truestorybro545 said:


> Yep. They’ll really need to fight by renovating the heck out of PS Now into a full blown Gamepass competitor. The streaming function is absolutely not competitive against the ease of Gamepass and its downloads.


It'll be interesting. 

I'm not sure if they want to fire with fire but if they do... my totally speculative guess is a Take Two acquisition 

CoD vs. GTA. GO!


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## Rei86

Mergatroid said:


> I am playing just as much now, and investing far more in video games as compared to what I could afford when I was young. Older people usually have more disposable income than younger people in the same tax bracket do. My house and car are paid off.
> 
> " Section31 said:
> 
> I see people fear mongering in other places this story has been posted... I think its unwarranted.
> Think MS is gonna be out of the hardware game sooner or later since all PCs is just the Xbox at this point. This will be the best for everyone as they'll just fund these studios (OF course they are gonna expect a profit to come back) but it'll be all platforms"
> 
> Microsoft has had decades to stop using hardware as a game console. The fact they started out on PC and then created a console afterwords indicated to me that they want their console system. They are no better or worse off in that regard than they have ever been.
> 
> I mean, anything can happen but I doubt MS is going to abandon the xbox any time soon.


Windows was it when it came to gaming on the PC but dude... Consoles was the hip thing, consoles was the IT thing, IF you had the newest console of the launch year for Christmas, YOU WHERE IT!!!
PlayStation, Nintendo 64, Sega Saturn > The latest Phoenix PC with the latest and greatest Intel Chip running Voodoo... who cares, James just got a N64 with Smash Bros!!! LET'S [email protected]@@

When they tried to push the Xbox One to nothing but online, they are still going down that path but have a much better vision of what they want in the end. And TBH with you I'm ok with this. Being able to buy the game once and have it both for the xbox and my PC is alright, and with game pass this is a lot of value for people who just can't shell out 60 bucks for every new title. 

The Xbox will just be MS's version of the iPad and we'll get updates here and there, but software service is where MS has always wanted too be and the Xbox helped them realize and made it a reality to get here.


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## truestorybro545

Slaughtahouse said:


> It'll be interesting.
> 
> I'm not sure if they want to fire with fire but if they do... my totally speculative guess is a Take Two acquisition
> 
> CoD vs. GTA. GO!


I really don't want to imagine this... haha GTA Online is already an MTX nightmare...


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## Slaughtahouse

Rei86 said:


> When they tried to push the Xbox One to nothing but online, they are still going down that path but have a much better vision of what they want in the end.


That pitch was terrible and basically wrote off Xbox One as a choice for most gamers. 

A focus on TV / entertainment box, always online, kinect / voice controls, family account (can't share games). Salt in the wound? No backwards compat.



Spoiler: Youtube link











The Sony marketing strategy was completely savage 



Spoiler: Youtube link











They've learned a lot since then...


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## EastCoast

I do have to wonder if they will dismantle Battle.net? Because as a game launcher I found it better then steam. It's the only game launcher that exits out and closes once the game starts (well you have to select that option). MS has no such app and wants all their games to come from the MS store. Games from the store run slower then on steam.

Looks like the owner of Activision wants to "cash out" and get out of dodge do to all the current issues surrounding what they do in the office. IMO.
.
But holdup. Who does this hurt most? Who is MS competition in games? Hmm....SONY!!!


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## Section31

Mergatroid said:


> I am playing just as much now, and investing far more in video games as compared to what I could afford when I was young. Older people usually have more disposable income than younger people in the same tax bracket do. My house and car are paid off.
> 
> " Section31 said:
> 
> I see people fear mongering in other places this story has been posted... I think its unwarranted.
> Think MS is gonna be out of the hardware game sooner or later since all PCs is just the Xbox at this point. This will be the best for everyone as they'll just fund these studios (OF course they are gonna expect a profit to come back) but it'll be all platforms"
> 
> Microsoft has had decades to stop using hardware as a game console. The fact they started out on PC and then created a console afterwords indicated to me that they want their console system. They are no better or worse off in that regard than they have ever been.
> 
> I mean, anything can happen but I doubt MS is going to abandon the xbox any time soon.


Agree on fear mongering. I see the acquisition as good thing, Basically it hopefully can remove the people in charge of blizzard that have been slowly ruining every good game they made. Lot of its big people have left blizzard over last couple year and the quality of its games have gone down. Microsoft/Sony are some of the better owners out there, they let the studios have relative free reigns versus the heavy monetization used by Tencent, Activision and EA.

Consoles and PC Gaming will be around for long time. The new generation will continue to use it just there tastes can be somewhat different from older generation. Some games need to modernize to keep up with this group but also not lose the support of the initials supporters. Hard act to balance imo. Just normal business cycle thing and people change base on careers, family and other things that happen in real life.

I think it's all going to be multiplatform just timed like how Sony will make it exclusive PC after one year on PS5 and probably will support Xbox too.


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## Section31

ZealotKi11er said:


> I hope they bring back some of the old blizzard IP. I want a new Warcraft RTS, Starcraft 3. Get some support for Heros of the Storm.


Activision really did an number on blizzard. Ruined a lot of the IP's with effort to increase profits from the games. Also, some of the story telling changes have really ruined the whole cannon of the games for fans.


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## 1devomer

Section31 said:


> Agree on fear mongering. I see the acquisition as good thing, Basically it hopefully can remove the people in charge of blizzard that have been slowly ruining every good game they made. Lot of its big people have left blizzard over last couple year and the quality of its games have gone down. Microsoft/Sony are some of the better owners out there, they let the studios have relative free reigns versus the heavy monetization used by Tencent, Activision and EA.
> 
> Consoles and PC Gaming will be around for long time. The new generation will continue to use it just there tastes can be somewhat different from older generation. Some games need to modernize to keep up with this group but also not lose the support of the initials supporters. Hard act to balance imo. Just normal business cycle thing and people change base on careers, family and other things that happen in real life.
> 
> I think it's all going to be multiplatform just timed like how Sony will make it exclusive PC after one year on PS5 and probably will support Xbox too.


Halo MP microtransactions are a recent proof, that Micro$haft is not better than EA or others.

Not sure why one would elevate Micro$haft to another level, when it has been shown recently, that Micro$hatf is not better than the others at handling games monetization schemes!!!


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## Section31

1devomer said:


> Halo MP microtransactions are a recent proof, that Micro$haft is not better than EA or others.
> 
> Not sure why one would elevate Micro$haft to another level, when it has been shown recently, that Micro$hatf is not better than the others at handling games monetization schemes!!!


It could be worse so microtransactions/dlc are the least evil. Whole industry has adopted this model to some extent.

At this point, i am really only after couple games. Someone to make an actual Simcity 4 Sucessor (all the other indies/etc are missing something), Command and Conquer RTS (ideally by Petroglyph Games), SSX (not the SSX 2012 on PS4), and keeping an eye on next Mass Effect. Only have upcoming Homeworld ordered for PC game.


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## Imglidinhere

LancerVI said:


> Source Microsoft buying Activision in $68.7B deal
> 
> Holy S..........................!!!!
> 
> Wasn't expecting that!?!?!?!?!?!
> 
> EDIT: Also being reported by WCCFTech here : Activision Blizzard Has Been Acquired by Microsoft for Nearly $70 Billion


Uh... Battletech-StarCraft crossover when?

Seriously. Lemme rip an Ultralisk in half with an Atlas thanks.


----------



## Rei86

Slaughtahouse said:


> That pitch was terrible and basically wrote off Xbox One as a choice for most gamers.
> 
> A focus on TV / entertainment box, always online, kinect / voice controls, family account (can't share games). Salt in the wound? No backwards compat.
> 
> 
> 
> Spoiler: Youtube link
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The Sony marketing strategy was completely savage
> 
> 
> 
> Spoiler: Youtube link
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> They've learned a lot since then...


Yup.
Sony ate that Humble Pie that was the PS3.
While Microsoft's ego got overly inflated with the 360.

Gotta say you gotta give kudo's to the Xbox team for undoing all the crap that they did during Don Mattrick's lead.


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## LancerVI

Imglidinhere said:


> Uh... Battletech-StarCraft crossover when?
> 
> Seriously. Lemme rip an Ultralisk in half with an Atlas thanks.


I wish Microsoft would do more with their FASA license, if they still have it.

MechCommander 1 & 2 remakes and MechCommander 3 when???? God I loved those games!!


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## UltraMega

1devomer said:


> I admit, i was too dumb to think that the Activision lawsuits were a sign of US persecutors caring about corporation discrimination and harassment issues.
> 
> Now i got it why they brought the lawsuit up to the public.
> I wasn't sure why people that are so wealthy and leverage such power, would be exposed so easily after all these years.
> 
> Well done US lobbying, it was a good ride until Micro$haft shared its real intent and could reach its main objective.
> Even worse, Micro$haft is brought as a savior when in reality, this is another major blow into the gaming industry, add your preferred monopoly, to a ship that sunk many years ago, unfortunately.
> 
> Good job Micro$haft and good job to all the human being minds that managed to pull this out!


Stop taking those crazy pills.


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## Section31

EastCoast said:


> I do have to wonder if they will dismantle Battle.net? Because as a game launcher I found it better then steam. It's the only game launcher that exits out and closes once the game starts (well you have to select that option). MS has no such app and wants all their games to come from the MS store. Games from the store run slower then on steam.
> 
> Looks like the owner of Activision wants to "cash out" and get out of dodge do to all the current issues surrounding what they do in the office. IMO.
> .
> But holdup. Who does this hurt most? Who is MS competition in games? Hmm....SONY!!!


Sony mo is totally different. They only buy studios they have lot of prior relationship with. Look at there recent purchases lol - all 2nd party studio

Hence why them buying kojima is possible though i don't see it happening after the disaster at Pachinko company Konami and the mess they had with Sony Japan Studio (epic delays behind the Last Guardian).

My guess is Microsoft tried to buy From Software or probably Sega Sammy (they own atlas - persona guys) for the Japanese market.


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## Rei86

I forgot but someone did come to From Software and like I said, Not Japanese, not a Japanese company.


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## Section31

LancerVI said:


> I wish Microsoft would do more with their FASA license, if they still have it.
> 
> MechCommander 1 & 2 remakes and MechCommander 3 when???? God I loved those games!!


It's the same arguement with many of the titles i liked when i grew up. They aren't popular enough (or got run into the ground) that it will be awhile before they come back. It probably won't be in the form you like either.


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## Section31

Rei86 said:


> I forgot but someone did come to From Software and like I said, Not Japanese, not a Japanese company.


Microsoft probably also tried to buy Insominac Game i am sure (when they made an game for xbox) but due to there long working relationship with Sony (these guys have access to the main Sony teams), they probably weren't interested. In the end, Sony bought Insominac Games.

It's unfortunate that sony clone shooters to COD, etc never caught on. I quite liked Killzone 2 Multiplayer (more than its single player) and Resistance 1/2 Multiplayer (espically the co-op option) was among my favourite. Only fps multiplayer i actually spent time playing. The other one was Destiny 1 but that was stupid at times, sometimes i was there just to complete daily challenges for rep so i just screwed around at times.


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## Section31

The old video game chatter in the 2006-2010 era was hilarious thinking about it. Xbox and PS fanboys arguing about sales figure,etc.


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## paulerxx1

Mergatroid said:


> Oh no. Please GOD no.
> Microsoft isn't good for anyone except Microsoft.
> 
> Now, I am going to have to give up all my Blizzard software because I don't want to be involved with anything Microsoft.
> Gees, I just bought Diablo II Resurrected too.
> 
> Every time I find something I like, some a-hole company like Microsoft comes along and ruins it for everyone.
> 
> Die Microsoft, DIE!


Get help man.


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## EastCoast

Sony could file a compliant claiming that the buyout is anti-competitive, monopoly situation. 
If it does go through it won't happen until 2023.


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## UltraMega

EastCoast said:


> Sony could file a compliant claiming that the buyout is anti-competitive, monopoly situation.
> If it does go through it won't happen until 2023.


I'm sure Microsoft is extremely vigilant on making sure any acquisitions they go after are fully legit. They learned the hard way.


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## Piers

Makes sense - just hope they can sort the reported workplace toxicity out. Will be interesting to see if MS adds the new IP to its Game Pass.


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## lilchronic

Metaverse!


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## 1devomer

EastCoast said:


> Sony could file a compliant claiming that the buyout is anti-competitive, monopoly situation.
> If it does go through it won't happen until 2023.


Micro$haft already lobbied the US institutions, otherwise it wouldn't announce the deal as already done.
Most likely it will go thought, some wealthy will not be happy, some adjustment will be made, to get the pill to go down.

I don't see any US institutions willing to fight with Micro$haft, Nvidia is already a though fight for regulators.
Fighting a company that is worth 4 times Nvidia, is an impossible task for the current US regulatory system!

Edit:
My divination skills never fail to impress me, a few hours later.


1devomer said:


> And i bet you that the next YongYea video, and the overall utube media, will view the merge as a positive event!


Here is the newly released Yongyea video, pandering Micro$haft, digital goods as the Gamepass and how Micro$haft will resolve the Activision company harassment issues.
Seems i was spot on, as usual!


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## UltraMega

1devomer said:


> Micro$haft already lobbied the US institutions, otherwise it wouldn't announce the deal as already done.
> Most likely it will go thought, some wealthy will not be happy, some adjustment will be made, to get the pill to go down.
> 
> I don't see any US institutions willing to fight with Micro$haft, Nvidia is already a though fight for regulators.
> Fighting a company that is worth 4 times Nvidia, is an impossible task for the current US regulatory system!


There is almost no similarity between Microsoft acquiring gaming companies and Nvidia trying to buy ARM. Gaming is pure entertainment. ARM is real hardware that is widely used in all kinds of devices.


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## kyle3108

ZealotKi11er said:


> I hope they bring back some of the old blizzard IP. I want a new Warcraft RTS, Starcraft 3. Get some support for Heros of the Storm.


 As an avid player of HOTS pre2.0 this does sound nice. However, lets not forget what got activision to this point. 
Blizzard= Go woke go broke (banning pro player who didnt even "speak" out against china, if i remember correctly) Then Blizzard essentially telling the user base to F off. Then the mass deactivation of acct that followed. Whole reddit pages devoted to "F blizzard" with tens of thousands of screenshots of cancelled accts. All for Taiwan.
Activision= CoD dying series. (frat boy culture) go woke go broke.

Im starting to think this **** is planned so bigger companies come in and pick them up cheap.


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## UltraMega

On a pure gaming perspective, it will be pretty dope to get all these games on game pass. I haven't played a COD game in forever, mostly because I don't care about the multiplayer but also because they are all so similar and they never go on sale for a good price even years after their release. It will be pretty cool to be able to play through all the single player campaigns on game pass. I'd imagine they will also bring the Crash Bandicoot games to game pass which I will definitely play.


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## ZealotKi11er

kyle3108 said:


> As an avid player of HOTS pre2.0 this does sound nice. However, lets not forget what got activision to this point.
> Blizzard= Go woke go broke (banning pro player who didnt even "speak" out against china, if i remember correctly) Then Blizzard essentially telling the user base to F off. Then the mass deactivation of acct that followed. Whole reddit pages devoted to "F blizzard" with tens of thousands of screenshots of cancelled accts. All for Taiwan.
> Activision= CoD dying series. (frat boy culture) go woke go broke.
> 
> Im starting to think this **** is planned so bigger companies come in and pick them up cheap.


I have been playing HoTS since beta. I really like it. Always wanted a Warcraft 4 game with its engine. Image all the custom maps and stuff with a good editor. 

I think a lot of stupid company directions will change with MS at the helm. HoTS is the only MOBA MS has and will help them against Dota 2/LoL if they put some development. I personally cant handle Dota 2 and LoL toxicity and longer games.


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## Piers

UltraMega said:


> There is almost no similarity between Microsoft acquiring gaming companies and Nvidia trying to buy ARM. Gaming is pure entertainment. ARM is real hardware that is widely used in all kinds of devices.


It seems like the ARM deal is going to fail - the UK Government has already cited national security concerns, with two intelligence agencies going public regarding the same concerns. Then there's the legal case in the US.


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## ZealotKi11er

Piers said:


> It seems like the ARM deal is going to fail - the UK Government has already cited national security concerns, with two intelligence agencies going public regarding the same concerns. Then there's the legal case in the US.


Considering the new about Nvidias CPU development in Israel, I think they are not slowly just going to do it like everyone else.


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## Imglidinhere

LancerVI said:


> I wish Microsoft would do more with their FASA license, if they still have it.
> 
> MechCommander 1 & 2 remakes and MechCommander 3 when???? God I loved those games!!


 They still have it. Mechwarrior 5 is a thing if you aren't opposed to modding. It's the skyrim of mechwarrior titles. Not the most elegant way to leave the game, but it could be worse I suppose.


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## geriatricpollywog

A group of programmers used to frequent a coffee shop in my home town. They once told me about how they pitched an idea for a card based game to Blizzard (before they were Activision) and how Blizzard stole the idea and made a game with it. My impression of Blizzard is that they’ve always had a toxic culture and probably always will. That said, I loved Warcraft II, Diablo II, and WoW.


----------



## ZealotKi11er

geriatricpollywog said:


> A group of programmers used to frequent a coffee shop in my home town. They once told me about how they pitched an idea for a card based game to Blizzard (before they were Activision) and how Blizzard stole the idea and made a game with it. My impression of Blizzard is that they’ve always had a toxic culture and probably always will. That said, I loved Warcraft II, Diablo II, and WoW.


Been trying to get back into Wow but its just too old now. I have the time because of COVID which is heaven for MMOs. That sense of discovery is lost because people that still play it, have been playing for a long time.


----------



## geriatricpollywog

ZealotKi11er said:


> Been trying to get back into Wow but its just too old now. I have the time because of COVID which is heaven for MMOs. That sense of discovery is lost because people that still play it, have been playing for a long time.


Now that you mention it, I kind of want to get back into it. I played WotLK from beginning to end and was the top mage on the Fogotten Coast server but my guild leader would always talk down on DPS players. Eventually I got fed up and left. A couple months later I wanted to play but my account was hacked and Blizzard said tough luck.

I definitely have the time for it since I work 8 hours and only see my GF once a week.


----------



## Piers

ZealotKi11er said:


> Considering the new about Nvidias CPU development in Israel, I think they are not slowly just going to do it like everyone else.


What do you mean? Sorry, but I don't understand the point you're making. 

Intel also develops products in Israel - the vast majority of the Haswell and Skylake microarchitectures were developed in Israel.


----------



## LancerVI

Imglidinhere said:


> They still have it. Mechwarrior 5 is a thing if you aren't opposed to modding. It's the skyrim of mechwarrior titles. Not the most elegant way to leave the game, but it could be worse I suppose.


I'm aware. Just would love to see more the of Battletech Universe via some classics like Mech Commander. It's free. I suggest anyone who hasn't played MechCommander, play it. What a fantastic game that was/is!


----------



## littledonny

1devomer said:


> So in my opinion it is not a great move, and view the lawsuits as a way to clean Activision before the merge, rather than institutions enforcing employee's right.


This makes no sense whatsoever. These lawsuits will continue. The people who filed them aren't shills in some conspiracy. Get real.


----------



## dansi

Thank the MS gods i have gamepass PC for 'dirt cheap'.

Remember that sony wants to charge you $80 per game title.

Their story focused SP ip are overrated anyway, just a generation fad. Playing GoW on PC, game felt like a drag with so many interruptions to gameplay, so as to show you yet another cutscene. Sure they made the cutscenes more seamless than ever, but it is still a frickin' cutscenes with poor writings and overplayed acting.


----------



## Malinkadink

Megaman_90 said:


> To be fair Microsoft has been pretty consumer friendly with exclusive titles for the most part and has allowed Bethesda to continue development on non-MS platforms. Exclusives need go away in general. It's a toxic way to get people on a specific platform in my opinion anyway. Sony and MS have made strides to release on other platforms....Nintendo never will.


Bethesda's next biggest title Starfield isn't coming to Playstation, so I'd have to say no. Exclusives are annoying and causes me to buy inferior closed box PCs just to play them. Thankfully it appears to be shifting slightly away from that model, but Nintendo will remain the holdout as they make much larger $ per console since they're always packing inferior specifications.

In any case i bought ATVI last month and cashed out big today 

I'm kind of worried with how big subscription services are getting however, I can see a time where gamepass is the ONLY way to play games. You will own nothing, and be happy.


----------



## kyle3108

Section31 said:


> The old video game chatter in the 2006-2010 era was hilarious thinking about it. Xbox and PS fanboys arguing about sales figure,etc.


Hahaha ya those days!, I remember skipping almost two weeks of high school when the 360 launched. Honestly, What ended it was the RROD that was prominent on the launch batches 3 of us got it from about 10-12 of our group. (


----------



## EastCoast

Ms tweeted they would not make cod xbox and pc exclusive. And I don't believe a word of it. Lol


----------



## Section31

kyle3108 said:


> Hahaha ya those days!, I remember skipping almost two weeks of high school when the 360 launched. Honestly, What ended it was the RROD that was prominent on the launch batches 3 of us got it from about 10-12 of our group. (


Gaming was cheap too. You could finish games in two weeks or less then trade into eb games at good resale value. Or could do 3 5-10buck games trade in for hot title. Even worked for consoles too.

The new way of doing is 30days amazon return. Paid 10bucks in shipping to rent single player games


----------



## UltraMega

Section31 said:


> Gaming was cheap too. You could finish games in two weeks or less then trade into eb games at good resale value. Or could do 3 5-10buck games trade in for hot title. Even worked for consoles too.
> 
> The new way of doing is 30days amazon return. Paid 10bucks in shipping to rent single player games


Game pass is dirt cheap. Honestly if something like it had existed when I was a kid, I would have played a lot more games.


----------



## 1devomer

Malinkadink said:


> Bethesda's next biggest title Starfield isn't coming to Playstation, so I'd have to say no. Exclusives are annoying and causes me to buy inferior closed box PCs just to play them. Thankfully it appears to be shifting slightly away from that model, but Nintendo will remain the holdout as they make much larger $ per console since they're always packing inferior specifications.
> 
> In any case i bought ATVI last month and cashed out big today
> 
> I'm kind of worried with how big subscription services are getting however, I can see a time where gamepass is the ONLY way to play games. You will own nothing, and be happy.


Well, there is still enough time for us, to pack all the old games and emulators on a truck load of enterprise SSD, and leave the gaming industry in the hand of the newer generations.
Not much we can do, this decline has been there for almost 20 year now, so owning anything anymore is not a big deal for us old knowledgeable users.
It will not be an issue neither for wealthy people, the one who will be impacted are the one that can't afford a gaming rig, a console, a subscription and play F2P on their mobile.
The newer generations are the one that will pay the price, even if too young currently to understand, as we paid the price of the current sinking ship that is the gaming industry.
We started by claiming it was art, now it has become one of the biggest worldwide kids casinos.

I simply hope to live long enough, to outlive Gabe.
And hope to be still alive, to be able to leverage to the fall of Steam once Gabe die, before dying myself.
It would be a good ending, of the gaming era i lived in, the Steam era!


Edit:
It seems that the US government decided to review and update its own antitrust guidelines, the same day as Micro$haft announced the merger. 🙃


----------



## Rei86

Section31 said:


> Gaming was cheap too. You could finish games in two weeks or less then trade into eb games at good resale value. Or could do 3 5-10buck games trade in for hot title. Even worked for consoles too.
> 
> The new way of doing is 30days amazon return. Paid 10bucks in shipping to rent single player games


I dunno the cheapest gaming time for me was when I played WoW... Because that's all I did. Eat sleep and play wow... Hell I was playing WoTLK on a GTX 260 Core 216 EVGA model... It was only once I stopped playing I started to invest more money into my PC for thos few years till I realized how stupid it was...


----------



## Section31

UltraMega said:


> Game pass is dirt cheap. Honestly if something like it had existed when I was a kid, I would have played a lot more games.


It is. However i haven’t signed up because i don’t game much at all. I wish i had the time to game but thats life, other priorities take present.


----------



## Slaughtahouse

Section31 said:


> It is. However i haven’t signed up because i don’t game much at all. I wish i had the time to game but thats life, other priorities take present.


It's even better value for adults... I don't have a sub either but if time is limited, just pay the subscription. Access to any game you want. Even if you only have an hour or two a week. It's better to pay the sub then to outright buy games.


----------



## EniGma1987

EastCoast said:


> Sony could file a compliant claiming that the buyout is anti-competitive, monopoly situation.
> If it does go through it won't happen until 2023.


This purchase isn't even remotely close to a monopoly situation. There are hundreds of game studios out there and there is still major competition with EA, Epic, Ubisoft, Take-Two, and Tencent. It would only be a monopoly if Microsoft bought nearly all of those publishing companies and their respective development studios, and even then an argument can still be made that there are still hundreds of smaller studios that bring out big time games when they go viral so there would still be competition.


----------



## Section31

Slaughtahouse said:


> It's even better value for adults... I don't have a sub either but if time is limited, just pay the subscription. Access to any game you want. Even if you only have an hour or two a week. It's better to pay the sub then to outright buy games.


See how it continues but i actually prefer youtube games for there stories now. Most of my games i like to play are dead genres or dead franchises which hasn’t seen anything viable in many years. So i endup don’t buying a lot of games either lol. Everytime i look at latest games (endup by indie dev) few catch my eye or its bloody epic store exclusive so i boycott it.

If i really had time would get titles like ff7 remake (once whole game complete) and finish up on persona games (super time consuming). I got console titles that are time consuming like gran turismo and horizon zero dawn forbidden west. Pc wise im only after next mass effect (next pc rebuild), gal civ 4 (when not on epic store) and d4 if my friend get it (can do lan event in my place). I am also guilty of supporting the button mashing dynasty warrior games. So mostly niche titles, ones that take awhile going to come to gamepass lol.

I also have an ps plus subscription that effectively sits there gathering dust too lol.


----------



## 1devomer

Slaughtahouse said:


> It's even better value for adults... I don't have a sub either but if time is limited, just pay the subscription. Access to any game you want. Even if you only have an hour or two a week. It's better to pay the sub then to outright buy games.


Yep, who cares about others, if it suits me at this point in time, fuc$k the others right.
The repercussion of this merger in the future is bull$hit, no one cares about how things, that one has no control over, will evolve!



EniGma1987 said:


> This purchase isn't even remotely close to a monopoly situation. There are hundreds of game studios out there and there is still major competition with EA, Epic, Ubisoft, Take-Two, and Tencent. It would only be a monopoly if Microsoft bought nearly all of those publishing companies and their respective development studios, and even then an argument can still be made that there are still hundreds of smaller studios that bring out big time games when they go viral so there would still be competition.


Do you know you are speaking about Mico$haft, the 2nd biggest corporation on this planet??!

With this acquisition, it becomes the number 3 of gaming, with a financial capital that none of other competitors have.
Moreover, none of these other competitors have the infrastructure and cloud capacity to face Micro$haft gamepass.
Lastly, having huge portion of gaming user data collection is not great either, selling users data is more lucrative than the gamepass itself.
It is hard to be positive, when an already big corporation buy a big chunk of the market, and is willing to buy more!
The history actually shown it was, is, will not be a good thing for the future development in the fields.




Nevertheless, for knowledgeable users that read this thread on OCN, here is the FCT press conference about the merger guidelines review.
One can send its feeling about the matter to the FTC, not it will change much, since lobbying in the US is endemic.
Still, it is a good way to share your feeling with the institutions.
I'm not hoping much from the EU side, and i already gave up on the US side, obviously.
There is more than 90% chances that the deal goes through at the end.

Lastly, one can enjoy AngryJoe pandering Micro$haft as usual, as Yongyea and the overall media did.
For someone that is against digital goods, pandering the gamepass is a good joke.

Sad times for the gaming, gaming media field, i though the Activision lawsuit were the start of something better, i have been lay and deceived again!


----------



## Section31

1devomer said:


> Yep, who care about others, if it suits me at this point in time, fuc$k the others right.
> The repercussion of this merger in the future is bull$hit, no one care about how things, that one has no control over, will evolve!
> 
> 
> 
> Do you know you are speaking about Mico$haft, the 2nd biggest corporation on this planet??!
> 
> With this acquisition, it becomes the number 3 of gaming, with a capital that none of other competitors have.
> Moreover, none of these other competitors have the infrastructure and cloud capacity to face Micro$haft gamepass.
> Lastly, having huge portion of gaming user data collection is not great either, selling users data is more lucrative than the gamepass.
> It is hard to be positive, when an already big corporation buy a big chunk of the market, and is willing to buy more!
> The history actually shown it was, is, will not be a good thing for the future development in the fields.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Nevertheless, for knowledgeable users that read this thread and still exist on OCN, here is the FCT press conference about the merger guidelines review.
> One can send its feeling about the matter to the FTC, not it will change much, since lobbying in the US is endemic.
> Still, it is a good way to share your feeling with the institutions.
> I'm not hoping much from the EU side, and i already gave up on the US side, obviously.
> The is more than 90% chances that the deal goes through at the end.
> 
> Lastly, one can enjoy AngryJoe pandering Micro$haft as usual, as Yongyea and the overall media did.
> For someone that is against digital goods, pandering the gamepass is a good joke.
> 
> Sad times for the gaming, gaming media field, i though the Activision lawsuit were the start of something better, i have been lay and deceived again!


Gamer’s user data is really useless. Its like the data for twitter/tiktok users. Really do i need to know you play x game/watch x video how many times or say meaningless stuff. Unless your looking for way to behind the scenes do some sort of mind control or social credit society scoring system. That or you are some individual holding very important job and have important information lol.


----------



## 1devomer

Section31 said:


> Gamer’s user data is really useless. Its like the data for twitter/tiktok users. Really do i need to know you play x game/watch x video how many times or say meaningless stuff. Unless your looking for way to behind the scenes do some sort of mind control or social credit society scoring system. That or you are some individual holding very important job and have important information lol.


In these days and age, you are product, care to ask yourself why FB, Twitter, TicToc being free?
Would you lend me some space on your hard drive for my vacations pictures, and store my friends message for free, available at any time??
Would you repeat that for some billions of users, everything for free?

Human being are animals, the human being behavior can be manipulated and can be influenced quite easily, depending on its own level of education.
Corporations have entire teams dedicated to mine the user data, to extract the overall human being behavior on a subject.
If you know the habit of 1 billion of people, it is far easier to modify their habit, than if you would know nothing about them.

That's how psychology, statistics, digital infrastructure are able to shape what you think, what you see, what you read, what you feel.
Otherwise, intellectuals would not complain about the rampant user data collection.
Especially among kids and young teenagers, leading to the GRPD or Cambridge Analytica scandals.

Micro$haft already own a substantial chunk of the data that is being sold or traded to others companies.
I don't see why we should provide even more data to Micro$haft, given its already dominant position in the field.


----------



## Questors

The beginning of the end of Blizzard was Activision. The death is complete with the buying out by Microsoft. The name Blizzard may still be used, but it isn't now and certainly won't be actually Blizzard ever again.


----------



## Section31

1devomer said:


> In these days and age, you are product, care to ask yourself why FB, Twitter, TicToc being free?
> Would you lend me some space on your hard drive for my vacations pictures, and store my friends message for free, available at any time??
> Would you repeat that for some billions of users, everything for free?
> 
> Human being are animals, the human being behavior can be manipulated and can be influenced quite easily, depending on its own level of education.
> Corporations have entire teams dedicated to mine the user data, to extract the overall human being behavior on a subject.
> If you know the habit of 1 billion of people, it is far easier to modify their habit, than if you would know nothing about them.
> 
> That's how psychology, statistics, digital infrastructure are able to shape what you think, what you see, what you read, what you feel.
> Otherwise, intellectuals would not complain about the rampant user data collection.
> Especially among kids and young teenagers, leading to the GRPD or Cambridge Analytica scandals.
> 
> Micro$haft already own a substantial chunk of the data that is being sold or traded to others companies.
> I don't see why we should provide even more data to Micro$haft, given its already dominant position in the field.


You should go live off the grid if your concerned. Some people do that now.


----------



## 1devomer

Section31 said:


> You should go live off the grid if your concerned. Some people do that now.


I'm already living off grid, i have no other social media account, aside here on OCN.

I'm an intellectual, i'm pushing myself over to share a knowledgeable view, being happy if even one single person grasp the concepts and become more educated!
And believe me, being there is not a pleasant stay, the forum is the former shell of itself, where corporate account share misinformation without any repercussion.
Knowledgeable members left the forum long time ago and OCN now feels like Reddit, where the 4 corporate account left, echo themselves into the threads.

And i would not recommend this forum either, there are better places than OCN where to have a civil and useful conversation.
Even if it is useless, i can at least say that i tried, better trying to push a good concept forward, instead of doing nothing.


As far the gaming goes, i finished Divine Divinity the other day, after 80 hours of gameplay, and i was looking for starting Aracnum.
I do not support the latest titles and do my best to incite people to check old games, that they can have something to comapre with!


----------



## Rei86

Questors said:


> The beginning of the end of Blizzard was Activision. The death is complete with the buying out by Microsoft. The name Blizzard may still be used, but it isn't now and certainly won't be actually Blizzard ever again.


From all the stuff that came out, Blizzard's been a bad boy since Vivendi ownership.
As for quality, I gave up when the lead for designing raids and dungeon was a marine biologiest that had zero clue on how to tune a raid


----------



## Section31

Rei86 said:


> From all the stuff that came out, Blizzard's been a bad boy since Vivendi ownership.


Vivendi wasn't that bad. As long as you made money (and gave them back money to help support there heavy debt load), they were relatively hands off. Vivendi was just too large with its focus mainly on other areas of its business (tv studio and music empire and water utility in europe).

The Bobby Kotick issue was real though even then. He was pure profit driven even then. Nickel and diming us and insulting gamers with his comments. The guy however was an shrewd business person i will give him that much. He was much more forward thinking compared to his EA/Take Two counterpart. Shrinking the amount of AAA titles and closing studios versus expanding the amount of titles in production.

Blizzard was living off the massive profits from WOW and that really covered up lot of the issue within the company.


----------



## Section31

1devomer said:


> I'm already living off grid, i have no other social media account, aside here on OCN.
> 
> I'm an intellectual, i'm pushing myself over to share a knowledgeable view, being happy if even one single person grasp the concepts and become more educated!
> And believe me, being there is not a pleasant stay, the forum is the former shell of itself, where corporate account share misinformation without any repercussion.
> Knowledgeable members left the forum long time ago and OCN now feels like Reddit, where the 4 corporate account left, echo themselves into the threads.
> 
> And i would not recommend this forum either, there are better places than OCN where to have a civil and useful conversation.
> Even if it is useless, i can at least say that i tried, better trying to push a good concept forward, instead of doing nothing.
> 
> 
> As far the gaming goes, i finished Divine Divinity the other day, after 80 hours of gameplay, and i was looking for starting Aracnum.
> I do not support the latest titles and do my best to incite people to check old games, that they can have something to comapre with!


In agreement on OCN being shell of itself. Yeah, older you get, unless your into the new updated genre or pure fps/multiplayer shooter, i still play some of the older games. However, the older games aren't what the newer gamers are looking for. We just got to hold onto higher criteria for getting games. There really hasn't been any ground breaking stuff that is must play.

I miss the fun playstyles you could play in older games The devs never advertised alternative way to play and when you found out it was fun. Playing around with the bosses/ai was fun. Running 10Hour Session (over multiple days) against AI Skirmish in RTS/4X were fun too. You left them with limited planets/cities/bases and sat there watching defenses/unit take out everything they make.


----------



## Rei86

Section31 said:


> Vivendi wasn't that bad. As long as you made money (and gave them back money to help support there heavy debt load), they were relatively hands off. Vivendi was just too large with its focus mainly on other areas of its business (tv studio and music empire and water utility in europe).
> 
> The Bobby Kotick issue was real though even then. He was pure profit driven even then. Nickel and diming us and insulting gamers with his comments. The guy however was an shrewd business person i will give him that much. He was much more forward thinking compared to his EA/Take Two counterpart. Shrinking the amount of AAA titles and closing studios versus expanding the amount of titles in production.
> 
> Blizzard was living off the massive profits from WOW and that really covered up lot of the issue within the company.


I'm talking about the Cosby room and the sexual harassment's going on in the background, not the products that they where shipping.


----------



## Section31

Rei86 said:


> I'm talking about the Cosby room and the sexual harassment's going on in the background, not the products that they where shipping.


That's corporate culture turning an blind eye as long as you are making money. Different era and that stuff eventually catches up. Most also retire and disappear from the public space before this stuff comes out. 

It's still the same corporate mo, resign to save your own face and the company face. Company then does pr moves to appear like they do anything to appease the crowd. 

I think he's sellling because not just because of that but he probably see and period of downturn/consolidation coming. Cash out with his massive gains and then retirement.


----------



## 1devomer

Section31 said:


> In agreement on OCN being shell of itself. Yeah, older you get, unless your into the new updated genre or pure fps/multiplayer shooter, i still play some of the older games. However, the older games aren't what the newer gamers are looking for. We just got to hold onto higher criteria for getting games. There really hasn't been any ground breaking stuff that is must play.
> 
> I miss the fun playstyles you could play in older games The devs never advertised alternative way to play and when you found out it was fun. Playing around with the bosses/ai was fun. Running 10Hour Session (over multiple days) against AI Skirmish in RTS/4X were fun too. You left them with limited planets/cities/bases and sat there watching defenses/unit take out everything they make.


Well, game developers, game designers, visual, graphical artists, are not mostly young people in their mid 20's.
Some of the best games have been developed by people between 30 and 60 years old, which show that the age in gaming field does not matter.
One can build a game that is enjoyable by kids and adults, a bit like the way the very old (now) Disney's masterpiece were made!

I'm into newer stuff, i play test things, otherwise i couldn't provide an objective view.
As far as i'm getting old, i can still put up a good fight against 15 years old avid fps players.

Tho, if i download Apex, at its beginning, start to play and notice that bullets do whatever they want.
I start by questioning myself, until i reach an old game where i can still compete decently.
Long story short, i tried Apex some time later, after the bloom and AI aim assist have been patched, i can now do well, as in any other game.

And i agree, the real issue, is that in the last years we didn't get any _"Skyrim"_, we got Anthem, BF2042, GR Breakpoint, CP2077, etc.
This is why the industry is in its current state, and i do not believe that lending IP to Micro$haft, will bring back the same kind of people, that made the old Disney's, Skyrim and the old BF series possible!

Something well-made, remains valuable, usually, for a very long period of time!


----------



## Malinkadink

Microsoft has been mostly hands off for acquired studios, letting them make the game they want to make. They wanted to make halo infinite a launch title for the new consoles but after the negative press wisely let 343 work on it another year and it paid off. Funnily enough Halo 2 was going to be released much earlier as well and would have been an awful sequel to the original but thankfully it too got the extra time it needed to get working right. 

The only reason MS allows this is because Xbox is maybe 10% of their business, compared to everything else it is peanuts. Someone there making the wise decision to let the artists work and not interfere unless they really have to. That kind of action will generally produce better games so it's seen as a positive by the audience. Sony on the other hand gets 30% of their revenue from Playstation so they're more heavy handed with what gets green lit etc.


----------



## Rei86

Section31 said:


> That's corporate culture turning an blind eye as long as you are making money. Different era and that stuff eventually catches up. Most also retire and disappear from the public space before this stuff comes out.
> It's still the same corporate mo, resign to save your own face and the company face. Company then does pr moves to appear like they do anything to appease the crowd.
> I think he's sellling because not just because of that but he probably see and period of downturn/consolidation coming. Cash out with his massive gains and then retirement.


Yes but that was still during Vivendi ownership period. 

As for Bobby, he's been the heart of Activision for over two decades I think, after all the crap that happened with Blizzard and knowing that they knew but decided to do nothing. Than the biggest shareholder calling out why are we paying this dude more than ANY CEO that you know. So he's ready to get out. 
Not only that I'm sure its the shareholder who are pushing for this.



Malinkadink said:


> Microsoft has been mostly hands off for acquired studios, letting them make the game they want to make. They wanted to make halo infinite a launch title for the new consoles but after the negative press wisely let 343 work on it another year and it paid off. Funnily enough Halo 2 was going to be released much earlier as well and would have been an awful sequel to the original but thankfully it too got the extra time it needed to get working right.
> 
> The only reason MS allows this is because Xbox is maybe 10% of their business, compared to everything else it is peanuts. Someone there making the wise decision to let the artists work and not interfere unless they really have to. That kind of action will generally produce better games so it's seen as a positive by the audience. Sony on the other hand gets 30% of their revenue from Playstation so they're more heavy handed with what gets green lit etc.


You mean the MS of right now.
The MS of five or so years ago was ok buying up studios and once they fail at their 1st IP, they would gut them to the ground.


----------



## Section31

Rei86 said:


> Yes but that was still during Vivendi ownership period.
> 
> As for Bobby, he's been the heart of Activision for over two decades I think, after all the crap that happened with Blizzard and knowing that they knew but decided to do nothing. Than the biggest shareholder calling out why are we paying this dude more than ANY CEO that you know. So he's ready to get out.
> Not only that I'm sure its the shareholder who are pushing for this.
> 
> 
> 
> You mean the MS of right now.
> The MS of five or so years ago was ok buying up studios and once they fail at their 1st IP, they would gut them to the ground.


Well i figured Bobby Kotick would be gone at one point. Most gamers wanted Bobby Kotick gone for other reasons prior to this. People dislike him more than EA ruining franchises for his nickel and diming. Activision was one of the major forces behind DLC and cut content in game that ended up as DLC and started us on the road towards Loot boxes and Microtransactions instead. Never figured it would be this way.

He also did an number on many studios too (Guitar Hero, High Moon Studios,etc) and forced teams that should be making new IP into making COD games. Ex-Visceral Games team (original Dead Space team) as example. Also Bungie Destiny turned into microtransactions game though that was an problematic game by itself (great concept but lot of development issues and original story elements got lost). Even the original COD designers, ended up going back to EA and produced the popular F2P Shooter Apex among things.

It's been well documented how he was budget cutting Blizzard and there staff benefits through his proxies that were placed inside Blizzard etc. However, I really doubt whoever microsoft assigns to take over can undo the damage he has done to blizzard nor will we ever see the old blizzard return.


----------



## 1devomer

Malinkadink said:


> Microsoft has been mostly hands off for acquired studios, letting them make the game they want to make. They wanted to make halo infinite a launch title for the new consoles but after the negative press wisely let 343 work on it another year and it paid off. Funnily enough Halo 2 was going to be released much earlier as well and would have been an awful sequel to the original but thankfully it too got the extra time it needed to get working right.
> 
> The only reason MS allows this is because Xbox is maybe 10% of their business, compared to everything else it is peanuts. Someone there making the wise decision to let the artists work and not interfere unless they really have to. That kind of action will generally produce better games so it's seen as a positive by the audience. Sony on the other hand gets 30% of their revenue from Playstation so they're more heavy handed with what gets green lit etc.


To be honest, i'm not sure why one would praise 343 for delaying the game.

The developers and managers are paid to produce a game, they are skilled enough to have a direct view on the matter.
An external views should not be needed, to point out that the game need a delay.
If one does, it shows some level of incompetence or shadiness in the development process.
Does someone need to come at your workplace, to check if your job require some adjustments?!


I did not buy the campaign, i heard a lot of good things about.
But when i look at the gameplay, even coming from a positive view, i cannot repel the emptiness feeling, when looking at the open world design.
Furthermore, the microtransaction implemented in the multiplayer are too heavy and aggressive.
I sunk 30h in the multiplayer, and as far i like it and i feel it very addictive, the monetization side aggressively overwhelm the rest.
One clearly feel that the MP have been built with the monetization in mind, instead of putting more forward competitiveness and fun.

So i'm not sure, once again, that lending more IP to Micro$haft is a good idea.
In the last 25 years, these kinds of company consolidation didn't bring more overall stability, in the gaming industry.
And i don't see any positive clue, that this trend will change in the next 25 years.
Which once again shows, that regulation and standards are often a better long therm choice, instead of letting the market go wild by itself.



Section31 said:


> Well i figured Bobby Kotick would be gone at one point. Most gamers wanted Bobby Kotick gone for other reasons prior to this. People dislike him more than EA ruining franchises for his nickel and diming. Activision was one of the major forces behind DLC and cut content in game that ended up as DLC and started us on the road towards Loot boxes and Microtransactions instead. Never figured it would be this way.
> 
> He also did an number on many studios too (Guitar Hero, High Moon Studios,etc) and forced teams that should be making new IP into making COD games. Ex-Visceral Games team (original Dead Space team) as example. Also Bungie Destiny turned into microtransactions game though that was an problematic game by itself (great concept but lot of development issues and original story elements got lost). Even the original COD designers, ended up going back to EA and produced the popular F2P Shooter Apex among things.
> 
> It's been well documented how he was budget cutting Blizzard and there staff benefits through his proxies that were placed inside Blizzard etc. However, I really doubt whoever microsoft assigns to take over can undo the damage he has done to blizzard nor will we ever see the old blizzard return.


Part of the issue is not related to the Activision CEO past and present misconduct, the others majors studio did not do much better either.
Part of the issues, is about slandering on purpose your company, to be able to make a deal, that will shield yourself for further repercussions.
Which is not great, if you ask me, from a public image perspective, but it is neither great for your investors that didn't know better, neither for law enforcement institutions.


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## Section31

1devomer said:


> To be honest, i'm not sure why one would praise 343 for delaying the game.
> 
> The developers and managers are paid to produce a game, they are skilled enough to have a direct view on the matter.
> An external views should not be needed, to point out that the game need a delay.
> If one does, it shows some level of incompetence or shadiness in the development process.
> Does someone need to come at your workplace, to check if your job require some adjustments?!
> 
> 
> I did not buy the campaign, i heard a lot of good things about.
> But when i look at the gameplay, even coming from a positive view, i cannot repel the emptiness feeling, when looking at the open world design.
> Furthermore, the microtransaction implemented in the multiplayer are too heavy and aggressive.
> I sunk 30h in the multiplayer, and as far i like it and i feel it very addictive, the monetization side aggressively overwhelm the rest.
> One clearly feel that the MP have been built with the monetization in mind, instead of putting more forward competitiveness and fun.
> 
> So i'm not sure, once again, that lending more IP to Micro$haft is a good idea.
> In the last 25 years, these kinds of company consolidation didn't bring more overall stability, in the gaming industry.
> And i don't see any positive clue, that this trend will change in the next 25 years.
> Which once again shows, that regulation and standards are often a better long therm choice, instead of letting the market go wild by itself.
> 
> 
> 
> Part of the issue is not related to the Activision CEO past and present misconduct, the others majors studio did not do much better either.
> Part of the issues, is about slandering on purpose your company, to be able to make a deal, that will shield yourself for further repercussions.
> Which is not great, if you ask me, from a public image perspective, but it is neither great for your investors that didn't know better, neither for law enforcement institutions.


Corporate ethics has always been not clean. It takes ugly politics game to get there and stay there (remember hp female ceo who spied on competition within the board and one point broadcom ceo with brothel/drug dealing basement ). Even apple, google are starting to get heat for way it run its corporate office. There lot of dirty stuff within these corporations that they shield from public eye.

Most of the big ceos are ruthless and even for good ones, power corrupts. I don’t really pay attention to it too much since nothing we can do.

Its getting harder and harder to avoid the big businesses in general. All you can do is vote with your wallet and try to minimize reliance on products from big corporate entities lol.


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## 1devomer

Section31 said:


> Corporate ethics has always been not clean. It takes ugly politics game to get there and stay there (remember hp female ceo who spied on competition within the board and one point broadcom ceo with drug basement ). Even apple, google are starting to get heat for way it run its corporate office. There lot of dirty stuff within these corporations that they shield from public eye.
> 
> Most of the big ceos are ruthless and even for good ones, power corrupts. I don’t really pay attention to it too much since nothing we can do.


I agree, there is not much we can do.
But the law, institutions and standards can, even if i'm not holding many hopes neither.
That the reason why they even exist.

Not being able to do something, doesn't change the fact that we are sliding further and further in the wrong direction.
And soon or later, it may or may not blow in our face, in a particularly bad way.


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## Section31

1devomer said:


> I agree, there is not much we can do.
> But the law, institutions and standards can, even if i'm not holding many hopes neither.
> That the reason why they even exist.
> 
> Not being able to do something, doesn't change the fact that we are sliding further and further in the wrong direction.
> And soon or later, it may or may not blow in our face, in a particularly bad way.


Ever consider just moving away from the city to the farmland and live an simply sustainable life off the ground and have an simpler life without many electronics (essential only like green power) and other creature comforts in life.

Then don’t have to worry about these things blowing up in our faces since your largely uneffected ( remember to build an bomb shelter in the process).


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## 1devomer

Section31 said:


> Ever consider just moving away from the city to the farmland and live an simply sustainable life off the ground and have an simpler life without many electronics (essential only like green power) and other creature comforts in life.
> 
> Then don’t have to worry about these things blowing up in our faces since your largely uneffected ( remember to build an bomb shelter in the process).


Do you think that living in a remote place, from a simple life, is a simple task?
And i don't think i have enough money, to even be able to buy a small piece of land, even in a remote and lost place.

Not sure, it has anything to do with the topic, by the way.

Edit:


Malinkadink said:


> If you're in france maybe not, in America? in Russia? Easy, tons of land = can buy acres for cheap.
> 
> 
> 
> Microsoft spending money to have games run on Linux when they provide Windows? Yeah.. never gonna happen. I don't think Microsoft plans to do anything with most Blizzard IPs, Diablo 4 will still come, Overwatch 2, next WoW expansion, the usual hearthstone content etc. I don't suspect any starcraft content this decade unfortunately unless its not an RTS. AOE4 did just OK, and that's probably not enough to push a new RTS, genre has become quite the niche compared to the 90s and early 00s


Same question, do you think it is easy to live in a remote land, from a simple life?


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## Kaltenbrunner

So will MS spend money to make these games run on Linux ??

I still play SC2 sometimes, I hope they don't wreck the series.


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## Malinkadink

1devomer said:


> Do you think that living in a remote place, from a simple life, is a simple task?
> And i don't think i have enough money, to even be able to buy a small piece of land, even in a remote and lost place.
> 
> Not sure, it has anything to do with the topic, by the way.


If you're in france maybe not, in America? in Russia? Easy, tons of land = can buy acres for cheap.



Kaltenbrunner said:


> So will MS spend money to make these games run on Linux ??
> 
> I still play SC2 sometimes, I hope they don't wreck the series.


Microsoft spending money to have games run on Linux when they provide Windows? Yeah.. never gonna happen. I don't think Microsoft plans to do anything with most Blizzard IPs, Diablo 4 will still come, Overwatch 2, next WoW expansion, the usual hearthstone content etc. I don't suspect any starcraft content this decade unfortunately unless its not an RTS. AOE4 did just OK, and that's probably not enough to push a new RTS, genre has become quite the niche compared to the 90s and early 00s


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## 1devomer

Another video from Yongyea pandering to Micros$haft.

In this piece, he said that even if Sony stock tank, it's fine because it has old studios and IP's.
Moreover, Micro$haft is only starting to buy things, so it's still fine, even if much more wealthy than Sony.

He also downplays the fact that games will be exclusives, saying that it is more important that the Activision CEO quit, than having lock on future exclusives.

He panders the as usual the game pass, saying that the deal has only minor drawback, and he hopes that Micro$haft will be the good guys.


Yongyea is my way to go to seek what the company marketing teams want to push to the public, through the Influencers mean.
And this time again, YongYea pandering companies, show how little care is due to share sensible topics to the public.


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## Revv23

I usually hate these deals because I'm worried the new owner will screw up the games I know and love...(Like when EA bought westwood) But activision has been doing this on their own for the last few years. 

I don't think a single one of their IPs are in a better state than they were a few years ago - mostly worse. I feel like 90% of their staff works on battle passes and e-shop and 10% goes to making good games.


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