At least according to the Wall Street Journel...

www.wsj.com/amp/articles/microsoft-to-buy-activision-blizzard-games-11642512435

Microsoft Corp. agreed to buy Activision Blizzard Inc. in an all-cash deal valued at about $75 billion, using its largest acquisition by far to grab a videogame heavyweight that has been roiled by claims of workplace misconduct.

The deal, if completed, would sharply expand Microsoft’s already sizable videogame operation, adding a stable of popular game franchises including Call of Duty, World of Warcraft and Candy Crush to Microsoft’s Xbox console business and its own games like Minecraft and Doom. Microsoft said the transaction would make it the world’s third-largest gaming company by revenue, behind China’s Tencent Holdings Ltd. and Japan’s Sony Group Corp.

The deal is valued at $68.7 billion after adjusting for Activision’s net cash, Microsoft said.

An acquisition also would mark the latest and biggest move by Microsoft Chief Executive Satya Nadella to reshape Microsoft through a string of deals that have helped make the world’s second-highest-valued company a powerhouse in business computing and a rising giant in videogames.

The deal entails significant complications, too. Shares in Activision had been down nearly 30% since California regulators filed a lawsuit against the company in July alleging sexual harassment and gender pay disparity among the company’s roughly 10,000 employees.

Activision shares surged nearly 38% in premarket trading Tuesday after The Wall Street Journal reported it was close to a deal with Microsoft, whose shares fell 1.6%.

So this is pretty big news. I also assume once this goes through, Call of Duty will most likely be X-Box exclusive going forward.

Hopefully any potential Crash Bandicoot or Spyro the Dragon games, will continue to be released on the Switch (and future Nintendo consoles). Then again, considering the last Banjo-Kazooie game came out almost fifteen years ago, I wouldn't be surprised if Microsoft never puts out new Crash and Spyro games either.

Is it the worst news though? Activision is a company that has not really had an original hit in years and just keeps releasing the old games over and over again and focuses instead of yearly updates of games and microtransactions. No one wants to work for them so they are not getting new talent in, and talent is leaving fleeing a sinking ship.

There is no future that sees them as an independent company for much longer. Microsoft will at least keep them in business and lord knows they need new management badly.

Also didn't they Infinity Ward then fire the founders who made Call of Duty anyway?

I mean they just put out a new Crash Bandicoot game and there are rumors of a new Spyro game (that'll hopefully come to the Switch). Honestly, I would hate to see either series continuing to lay dormant, as I like both series.

Jan 18, 2022 19:17:11 GMT Lony said:

I mean they just put out a new Crash Bandicoot game and there are rumors of a new Spyro game (that'll hopefully come to the Switch). Honestly, I would hate to see either series continuing to lay dormant, as I like both series.

Hopefully MS cares more about $ overall rather than trying to make those exclusives. Love both but wouldn't go to Xbox for them.

I thought this happened already.

MS been buying up studios lately so probably thinking of that, maybe Bethesda.

Happened this morning. Blizzard is now Microsoft.

Jan 18, 2022 19:06:56 GMT c said:

Is it the worst news though? Activision is a company that has not really had an original hit in years and just keeps releasing the old games over and over again and focuses instead of yearly updates of games and microtransactions. No one wants to work for them so they are not getting new talent in, and talent is leaving fleeing a sinking ship.

There is no future that sees them as an independent company for much longer. Microsoft will at least keep them in business and lord knows they need new management badly.

Also didn't they Infinity Ward then fire the founders who made Call of Duty anyway?

They have some IPs that are attractive if in the right hands. I am with the consensus here that TOYS for BOB are my favorite studio of theirs with Spyro and Crash IPs being a big deal for my personal taste. 

I think MS would be foolish to limit Call of Duty and Overwatch 2 from being on PS5, there's too much money lost there. However, throwing exclusive DLC/content on their side and maybe even giving one of these Activision Blizzard games the Day 1 Game Pass treatment would be such a big deal for MS. 

Blizzard is a toxic environment and a lot of the shit that went down Microsoft will have to address right away when the deal is official in 2023. Kotick leaving is the no brainer but there's a lot of good will that has to be earned again for some people to buy any of these games. 

Yeah no reason to do full exclusives as that is just reducing sales. Even timed exclusives. Optimizing to make the XBox version the best version however is totally on the table.

Jan 18, 2022 20:20:08 GMT @ness said:

Jan 18, 2022 19:17:11 GMT Lony said:

I mean they just put out a new Crash Bandicoot game and there are rumors of a new Spyro game (that'll hopefully come to the Switch). Honestly, I would hate to see either series continuing to lay dormant, as I like both series.

Hopefully MS cares more about $ overall rather than trying to make those exclusives. Love both but wouldn't go to Xbox for them.

Exactly.

I'm not gonna go out and buy an X-Box, I'm more than OK with my Switch and PS4. I like both franchises, however, I'm not going to go out of my way to get them, if any future games aren't released on the Switch.

Jan 19, 2022 4:50:48 GMT Lony said:

Jan 18, 2022 20:20:08 GMT @ness said:

Hopefully MS cares more about $ overall rather than trying to make those exclusives. Love both but wouldn't go to Xbox for them.

Exactly.

I'm not gonna go out and buy an X-Box, I'm more than OK with my Switch and PS4. I like both franchises, however, I'm not going to go out of my way to get them, if any future games aren't released on the Switch.

They pushed Minecraft on Switch(Even said take Steve for SSB) and also for PS4. Phil Spencer I think gets the idea of having his games featured on other systems and if he can get Sony two feet in the water, would be cool with cross play.

They would be stupid to not put Crash and Spyro out there on Switch & PS5, even if it's a timed exclusive for Microsoft fans.

Only be a bummer for me if there's more Crash/Spyro that doesn't appear on PS.

I assume what Windows will do is release the games on all platforms, and Game Pass them on xbox only. This encourages people to get the console for Xbox live and pay a monthly fee for these games. Xbox wins by selling a console and monthly subscriptions. They then get secondary revenue from people playing their game on competitor's products. Their fans get cheap games, they will give microsoft a set amount of cash directly for so they are happy too and people will gladly buy the games on other platforms rather than get upset they cannot play them. It also will make other companies look like assholes who do exclusives.

Windows / Microsoft Gaming has a long way to go to rebuild their rep, so I do not see them doing many exclusives.

Jan 19, 2022 15:20:00 GMT c said:

I assume what Windows will do is release the games on all platforms, and Game Pass them on xbox only. This encourages people to get the console for Xbox live and pay a monthly fee for these games. Xbox wins by selling a console and monthly subscriptions. They then get secondary revenue from people playing their game on competitor's products. Their fans get cheap games, they will give microsoft a set amount of cash directly for so they are happy too and people will gladly buy the games on other platforms rather than get upset they cannot play them. It also will make other companies look like assholes who do exclusives.

Windows / Microsoft Gaming has a long way to go to rebuild their rep, so I do not see them doing many exclusives.

I think they do console timed exclusives and maybe do a either 6 month/1 year timed exclusive on some of these games. They did that with Rise of Tomb Raider, The Medium etc.  even though they owned neither IP, they want to make it that XBOX is the place to play these games immediately when it came to their negotiations. 

SONY has always wanted to make their content PS exclusive only(Street Fighter V though that was also on PC, Demons Souls & Bloodborne which both might be rumored to go on PC, Final Fantasy XVI), XBOX has been less strict about that. 

Yeah, this is nuts. A few thoughts.

1. The Bethesda acquisition was massive, this is industry changing. The industry has numerous AAA blockbuster series and beloved IP, but few titles enter the cultural zeitgeist. MS acquired 2 more.

2. This is all about game pass. The greatest value in gaming just got even more ridiculous. Xbox Game Studios now has 30+ studios and 50+ projects in the works. Things should really be taking off starting with Starfield and explode next year. From then it'll be an exclusive from their own teams every 2 months and 3-4 AAA exclusives every year. All on Game Pass

3. I don't think MS can get away with purchasing another major publisher for a good while or public opinion will shift. Hopefully their next target is a Japanese studio, which Phil is all about.

4. This is going to be exactly like Bethesda, exclusive is the word. It makes no sense otherwise. They will honor their agreements and Warzone will stay on PS. Other than that? Only if...

5. Game Pass on Playstation. It would only work if they brought a condensed version over, selected 1st party titles, if not all. That's what they mean when they say they want to keep CoD on Playstation.

6. Please give Banjo to Toys for Bob and make another Tony Hawk. Oh! Another Geometry Wars or a 4K HDR remaster of the original. Thanks.

7. MS's catalog of old games is so deep now...you gotta think they have plans for some sort of video game preservation.

Fuck yeah CIG is back in the house. This is the time to bolster & brag about Microsoft my brother

I forgot Vicarious Visions is still with Activision, their remaster of the Crash trilogy got the ball rolling for Crash 4 to even happen. They were a Skylanders company mainly but they got a step up with their remasters of Tony Hawk's Pro Skater, Crash Trilogy and Diablo II. Makes me wonder what they're doing next.

I'm down for a Crash Bash remaster, that was Sony's answer at the time to Mario Party. Make it multiplayer and fix some of the issues the original had like difficulty and that's got a shot. Crash: Wrath of Cortex would be playable with today's current gen systems load times, the worst part of that game was the load times.

Toys for Bob gotta be working on the new Spyro installment, full faith in them after their work of the Spyro trilogy and Crash Team Racing series. 

I miss Skylanders.

Jan 21, 2022 15:38:50 GMT Blindy said:

I forgot Vicarious Visions is still with Activision, their remaster of the Crash trilogy got the ball rolling for Crash 4 to even happen. They were a Skylanders company mainly but they got a step up with their remasters of Tony Hawk's Pro Skater, Crash Trilogy and Diablo II. Makes me wonder what they're doing next.

I'm down for a Crash Bash remaster, that was Sony's answer at the time to Mario Party. Make it multiplayer and fix some of the issues the original had like difficulty and that's got a shot. Crash: Wrath of Cortex would be playable with today's current gen systems load times, the worst part of that game was the load times.

Toys for Bob gotta be working on the new Spyro installment, full faith in them after their work of the Spyro trilogy and Crash Team Racing series. 

Vicarious Visions was absorbed into Blizzard and are working on Diablo. Such a talented studio, they deserved better, but would MS want to take away resources from Diablo 4? Particularly since it's likely a 2023/2024 release. 

Never played Crash Bash. That got me thinking of a potential MS party which got me thinking multiverse which makes me want The Lost Vikings in Skyrim as creation club content.