Microsoft to acquire Activision Blizzard

[Koopa con Carne]

Microsoft to acquire Activision Blizzard for $68.7 billion

Satya Nadella says the deal “will play a key role in the development of metaverse platforms.”

www.theverge.com

As for official statements from Microsoft that make any sort of tangents or allusions to, well, those things that transpired at Actiblizzard, Phil Spencer said the following:

As a company, Microsoft is committed to our journey for inclusion in every aspect of gaming, among both employees and players. We deeply value individual studio cultures. We also believe that creative success and autonomy go hand-in-hand with treating every person with dignity and respect. We hold all teams, and all leaders, to this commitment. We're looking forward to extending our culture of proactive inclusion to the great teams across Activision Blizzard.

 

[Ray Trace]

is bobby kotick and any of the shitheads who perpetrated abuse culture in the company punished yet

 

[Koopa con Carne]

Kotick's slated to lose his position.

From the article:

[...] the company says Bobby Kotick will continue to serve as CEO of Activision Blizzard for now.

then it says:

It looks like Kotick won't remain once the deal is fully closed and after the transition period to Microsoft, though.

 

[supermariofan]

So many endless possibilities that could come out of this deal like:

Will the scandals come to an end?

Will CoD no longer be released on a yearly basis?

Will Guitar Hero be brought back in a PROPER way? Fuck GH Live.

Will there be less reliant on microtransactions?

 

[Cayde]

Can they sell Crash Bandicoot to someone else? I really don't want Cash Banooca to be Xbox exclusive.

 

[Thomas the Tank Engine]

I doubt we'll actually see any more Crash Bandicoot games for a long while considering how much Crash 4 underperformed compared to Activision's expectations.

And even if we do, we already have confirmation that Microsoft still plans to release some Activision games on multiple platforms and I feel like Crash would be one of those ones that does end up multiplatform.

 

[Cayde]

Crash 4 underperformed? I thought it did well.

 

[Thomas the Tank Engine]

We know it sold less than N Sane Trilogy and Toys for Bob was reassigned as a CoD support studio (although MS has said that they have interest in having Toys for Bob revive IPs that they own so you know obviously the MS acquisition can change things here)

Of course, at the same time Crash 4 didn't have the benefit of Sony's marketing campaign since it wasn't a timed PlayStation exclusive + it did cost $60 originally vs $40 for the N Sane Trilogy.

 

[LeftyGreenMario]

Can we contextualize "underperform" here? Like it could be same vein as Super Mario Run "underperforming"; they could both be commercially profitable, very profitable, but that they weren't like blockbusting hits that nickel and dime customers. I thought it did a respectable job, but wasn't like a money sucker like COD.

 

[Thomas the Tank Engine]

I mean yeah that is what I'm talking about when I say underperforming. It's why I wasn't saying the game flopped you know?

 

[Toka Hebizuka]

Activision put all of their development studios on Call of Duty, I doubt they have any interest in making more Crash games.

Personally I'm more concerned about the safety of their employees. Reminder Bobby Kotick spent years helping to cover for abuse in the company.

 

[Wendy O. Koopa]

It is now 2024 and Microsoft has now bought Activision Blizzard. As you may or may not know I am a Spyro fan. At first I was a bit anxious, because I didn't know if Activision Microsoft was going to ditch Spyro in favor of more popular franchises, but it looks really hopeful because head of XBox Gaming Phil Spencer himself grew up with Spyro and Crash and plans to make some more games with those franchises instead of the endless loop of making game after game after game of Call Of Duty. So-yeah. It's looking more hopeful for more Spyro and Crash games now that Microsoft has Activision. However, they could always mess those franchises up, but still, it's better than nothing. So I guess we'll see what happens. But I for one am excited about the potential of more Spyro and Crash games in the future. It looks like it'll likely happen, and to any other Spyro or Crash fans on here, don't be scared. I think it's going to turn out all right. I mean, even if there aren't any Crash games for a while, Spyro has been doing well lately, so yeah, not worried.

 

[MegaBowser64]

I'm glad Microsoft could expand their gaming operations, Microsoft Studios already makes some awesome games, I'm excited to see what they'll do with Activision Blizzard. Still questioning exactly how CoD is supposed to be ported to the Switch 2 though

 

[Wendy O. Koopa]

I'm glad Microsoft could expand their gaming operations, Microsoft Studios already makes some awesome games, I'm excited to see what they'll do with Activision Blizzard. Still questioning exactly how CoD is supposed to be ported to the Switch 2 though

Yeah, it's going to be kind of weird having COD on a Nintendo console for once. Definitely a first.

 

[LeftyGreenMario]

I'm personally very pessimistic about this.

 

[Teedgee]

any company getting acquired by microsoft is basically a death sentence the way i see it

 

[Wendy O. Koopa]

any company getting acquired by microsoft is basically a death sentence the way i see it

Yeah I know what you mean, given what they did to Rare but hopefully it'll turn out better than I think it's going to. I mean I was really nervous about this to begin with, but you never know. At least we'll likely get more Spyro games. I'll be at least happy with that. Doesn't matter if they're good or not; I can enjoy literally any game. But I hope they are good because I don't want other fans who want some good quality games to come out to be disappointed.