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Anno posted:I mean they're doing that, too. There's been significant hiring at a lot of their new studios over the last couple of years, new teams being formed, a combination of new IP and resurrecting older stuff. They've also done a number of publishing deals for games like AoE4, Contraband, Towerborne, ARA: History Untold...probably some stuff I'm missing. They've put a lot of money into expanding what they have, but obviously it's always fastest to expand by buying new stuff, too. it's going to be a terrible shame when Obsidian Luck strikes again when MS decides to take a machete to costs; poor ropekid, doesn't deserve that poo poo  .
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Jul 12, 2023 01:47
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StratGoatCom posted:it's going to be a terrible shame when Obsidian Luck strikes again when MS decides to take a machete to costs; poor ropekid, doesn't deserve that poo poo They just spent literally more than any tech acquisition ever to bolster their gaming portfolio further. That they would then start hacking them down anytime soon doesn't make sense. Even 343 - a studio that probably deserves to be shuttered - still employs hundreds of people, is working on new stuff and is even hiring. I would be surprised if expansion slowed or there were further targeted cuts but I don't know what reason there is to assume that they're going to start laying off tons of game devs or whatever. It's not like we've heard of a bunch of Arkane people being let go or whatever. Anno fucked around with this message at 01:52 on Jul 12, 2023 |
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Jul 12, 2023 01:49
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StratGoatCom posted:it's going to be a terrible shame when Obsidian Luck strikes again when MS decides to take a machete to costs; poor ropekid, doesn't deserve that poo poo Hearing some things are we?
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Jul 12, 2023 01:49
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Pentiment is one of the best video games released in the last 12 months.
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Jul 12, 2023 02:07
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What baffles me most right now is seeing people talk about how Microsoft is so needy and so willing to roll the dice that we might get new entries in some long dead franchises. Like Microsoft doesn't have their own graveyard of franchises they aren't doing anything with. This does not get us any closer to a new Tony Hawk, Pitfall or Geometry Wars. Microsoft is a company that as character driven third person shooters were coming back into vogue couldn't think "oh right we own Jet Force Gemini". I'm slightly joking but come on how did you not think to effectively make JFG your equivalent to Ratchet and Clank as a shooting focused platformer?
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Jul 12, 2023 02:10
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Franchise thinking like that is dumb yeah if there's anything I'm hoping for other than saying goodbye to Big Bobby, it's hopefully freeing up some of the devs that got sent to the COD mines like Toys for Bob or something.
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Jul 12, 2023 02:12
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Yeah, realistically i'm not expecting any old franchises to come back from the dead.
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Jul 12, 2023 02:12
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It's a $70B acquisition; there is going to be a guaranteed set of mass layoffs at some point after the deal is closed. I would expect the majority of it to be in support staff but there will likely be many devs cut as well. Even if Microsoft wants to expand their in-house development, there's going to be some projects at Activision that Microsoft just isn't interested in continuing. This happens in every merger/acquisition. From the Disney-Fox acquisition: https://screenrant.com/fox-movies-disney-cancelled. Everyone already knows about the Discovery-WB cuts. Embracer has gone on an acquisition spree over several years: https://www.polygon.com/23759179/embracer-tomb-raider-lotr-restructure-studio-closures-lay-offs. And of course Microsoft's previous major gaming acquisition: https://www.gameshub.com/news/news/microsoft-bethesda-xbox-layoffs-january-2023-38612/ Even if interest rates hit 0% by next spring, Microsoft is not going to pursue every internal Xbox project AND every single Activision project. It's just not going to happen. Anno posted:They just spent literally more than any tech acquisition ever to bolster their gaming portfolio further. That they would then start hacking them down anytime soon doesn't make sense. Even 343 - a studio that probably deserves to be shuttered - still employs hundreds of people, is working on new stuff and is even hiring. 343 already had a mass layoff this year.
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Jul 12, 2023 02:25
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koolkal posted:
Not just for any sort of sweeping cost-cutting measure, though, but because they've hosed up repeatedly for like a decade now despite a massive investment and obviously aren't the people for the job and maybe Halo is now a shell of what it once was. That's why I mentioned the in that post - if 343 isn't being closed entirely - and is in fact now slowly back to hiring and still employs loads of people - I don't see how it could be argued Microsoft is imminently going to slash their games division.
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Jul 12, 2023 02:34
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It’s a massive merger. It’s going to involve layoffs. This isn’t about Microsoft’s growth strategy or whether anyone deserves the layoffs.
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Jul 12, 2023 02:39
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Vegetable posted:It’s a massive merger. It’s going to involve layoffs. This isn’t about Microsoft’s growth strategy or whether anyone deserves the layoffs. That I agree is a possibility, though I can't find much about a lot of Zenimax people being let go after that completed, and I'm sure ABK will also continue to largely operate themselves (presumably sans-Kotick).
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Jul 12, 2023 02:50
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Anno posted:That I agree is a possibility, though I can't find much about a lot of Zenimax people being let go after that completed, and I'm sure ABK will also continue to largely operate themselves (presumably sans-Kotick). Ooh yeah Kotick is for sure out, during the court case he was asked about this, and wasn’t shy about the 400 million dollar paycheck would receive if this deal goes through and that it would mean his departure from the company. Phil Spenser is the new CEO of ABK.
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Jul 12, 2023 02:52
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Anno posted:That I agree is a possibility, though I can't find much about a lot of Zenimax people being let go after that completed, and I'm sure ABK will also continue to largely operate themselves (presumably sans-Kotick). Don't have numbers, but Zenimax had some layoffs this year as well
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Jul 12, 2023 02:53
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Vegetable posted:It’s a massive merger. It’s going to involve layoffs. This isn’t about Microsoft’s growth strategy or whether anyone deserves the layoffs. I mean, the merger strategy is relevant because they're throwing cash at the console market issue and hoping it will stick; what happens when it inevitably does not stick because MS's strategy here is a goddamn mess?
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Jul 12, 2023 02:54
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StratGoatCom posted:I mean, the merger strategy is relevant because they're throwing cash at the console market issue and hoping it will stick; what happens when it inevitably does not stick because MS's strategy here is a goddamn mess? Didn't they specifically say (either during the FTC hearing or maybe just the documents submitted for it) that they don't expect this to move the console market needle very much? They're in this more for King than CoD, and more for expanding their PC presence than consoles, because that's their way forward. They aren't going to sell more consoles than Sony or Nintendo anytime soon if ever.
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Jul 12, 2023 03:04
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Anno posted:Didn't they specifically say (either during the FTC hearing or maybe just the documents submitted for it) that they don't expect this to move the console market needle very much? They're in this more for King than CoD, and more for expanding their PC presence than consoles, because that's their way forward. They aren't going to sell more consoles than Sony or Nintendo anytime soon if ever. It’s this, they are 3rd place in the market, and that was one of their key points. Most of the titles that acti/blizzard release, have nothing to do with consoles, especially not PlayStation, it just happens though that one single game of theirs, is on PlayStation, and it is the biggest AAA game released every single year for multiple console generations now.
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Jul 12, 2023 03:17
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I said come in! posted:It’s this, they are 3rd place in the market, and that was one of their key points. Most of the titles that acti/blizzard release, have nothing to do with consoles, especially not PlayStation, it just happens though that one single game of theirs, is on PlayStation, and it is the biggest AAA game released every single year for multiple console generations now. They absolutely want CoD. It's insane that people assume these FTC filings in any way reflect Microsoft's actual thinking. They're literally propaganda. For an adversarial process. With only one purpose. You guys would be terrible negotiators.
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Jul 12, 2023 03:30
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Vegetable posted:If that were the case they would have agreed to spin off CoD into its own studio, which was a mitigation measure floated by the UK regulator. The more fun option they're supposedly thinking is spinning Game Pass off as a company in its own right in the UK, then Game Pass in the UK doesn't have Activision games. This comes from Michael Pachter though so is almost certainly not what they're going to do.
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Jul 12, 2023 03:34
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Vegetable posted:If that were the case they would have agreed to spin off CoD into its own studio, which was a mitigation measure floated by the UK regulator. I mean of course they want it. This obviously helps their console business. But the deal isn't about securing CoD and Diablo to somehow become the best selling console as much as it is about broadening their gaming offerings generally and finally securing a non-Minecraft mobile business. Even the FTCs models they used to argue that this deal should be rejected didn't anticipate the console market itself changing drastically even if Microsoft made CoD exclusive. Many of the documents aren’t even things Microsoft submitted to help its case, they’re old internal emails and poo poo that obviously aren’t “propaganda”. Anno fucked around with this message at 04:03 on Jul 12, 2023 |
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Jul 12, 2023 03:59
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Anno posted:I mean of course they want it. This obviously helps their console business. But the deal isn't about securing CoD and Diablo to somehow become the best selling console as much as it is about broadening their gaming offerings generally and finally securing a non-Minecraft mobile business. Even the FTCs models they used to argue that this deal should be rejected didn't anticipate the console market itself changing drastically even if Microsoft made CoD exclusive. Many of the documents aren’t even things Microsoft submitted to help its case, they’re old internal emails and poo poo that obviously aren’t “propaganda”.
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Jul 12, 2023 05:18
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Pirate Jet posted:lmao that out of all the studios Microsoft has acquired, the only one that has been able to put out a polished and well-received game afterwards is Double Fine Also Moon Studios and Ori.
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Jul 12, 2023 05:26
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I want the deal to fail but mostly because if it doesn't it'll just encourage both platforms to continue their acquisition spree. At least shutting this one down would send a message. That said, losing Kotick would be a net positive for Activision and is the only circumstance in which I'd ever consider playing any of their games again.
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Jul 12, 2023 07:29
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stev posted:At least shutting this one down would send a message. I disagree. The dominos have been falling, something like this was always going to happen. If not this merger, there would be another like it down the road. It's absolutely dog rear end for labor, which sucks, but if we're hellbent on late stage video monopoly party I'd rather we just get it over with so I can live in a retro game cave in perpetuity.
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Jul 12, 2023 07:31
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Canine Blues Arooo posted:Also Moon Studios and Ori. microsoft doesn't own moon studios, they just had a publishing deal for the two ori games. they're not publishing any further games by moon studios, they reportedly had a major falling out relating to issues with moon's terrible internal culture and working conditions that were reported last year
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Jul 12, 2023 08:49
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Hasn’t Activision explicitly said they want to get out of business entirely and this is why they want to be acquired? Doesn’t seem like a great buy for MS. What properties does Activision even have besides CoD? Blizzard is the most valuable part of the company and they’re barely keeping it together For all the discourse about Japanese game publishers going back to pachinko machines it feels like Activison and EA are very close to doing the same thing
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Jul 12, 2023 10:03
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icantfindaname posted:Hasn’t Activision explicitly said they want to get out of business entirely and this is why they want to be acquired? Doesn’t seem like a great buy for MS. What properties does Activision even have besides CoD? Blizzard is the most valuable part of the company and they’re barely keeping it together It’s cool to see people who have no idea what they are talking about lol. Games forum ftw.
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Jul 12, 2023 12:02
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Vegetable posted:The FTC argued that Microsoft might make CoD an Xbox exclusive or water down the PlayStation version of the game. They said that the merger was likely to create a monopoly in multiple markets, including the console market. This is literally the crux of their case. I don't fully agree with the FTC's case but serious lol that "honest hardworkin' Microsoft" is the hill you're dying on. And their argument just got roasted because they couldn’t show anything to back that up. IIRC no other major regulatory body really had significant concerns about the console market, even the CMA dropped theirs. The only thing I think Microsoft is being honest about here is that they’re way more interested in King than CoD (though obviously they very much want both). Anno fucked around with this message at 12:33 on Jul 12, 2023 |
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Jul 12, 2023 12:22
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icantfindaname posted:Hasn’t Activision explicitly said they want to get out of business entirely and this is why they want to be acquired? Yeah I read that they wanted to take some time to work on them selves and take up glass blowing.
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Jul 12, 2023 12:30
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MarcusSA posted:Yeah I read that they wanted to take some time to work on them selves and take up glass blowing. Well they got plenty experience blowing.
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Jul 12, 2023 12:33
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icantfindaname posted:Hasn’t Activision explicitly said they want to get out of business entirely and this is why they want to be acquired? Doesn’t seem like a great buy for MS. What properties does Activision even have besides CoD? Blizzard is the most valuable part of the company and they’re barely keeping it together Their public financials don't seem to push fine grained absolute numbers per business unit or product, but King grew revenue by more than Blizzard in 2022 while Activision had a decrease in revenue. In-game net bookings attributed to Blizzard are substantially from Diablo Immortal, which is developed and operated by NetEase. King has more than twice the monthly actives as Blizzard. https://investor.activision.com/static-files/01d1f04d-1c00-4a17-8743-4e6a20e17335 This is almost certainly more about mobile than it is about console games.
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Jul 12, 2023 15:17
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Microsoft wants an Xbox App Store on iOS, they've explicitly said this when talking about the deal to business media. But it's easier to get the public on-side when they present it as new toys for Game Pass subscribers to the games media. It's really been some brilliant PR work for fans of companies completely changing tone and story depending on who they're talking to.
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Jul 12, 2023 15:45
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icantfindaname posted:Hasn’t Activision explicitly said they want to get out of business entirely and this is why they want to be acquired? Doesn’t seem like a great buy for MS. What properties does Activision even have besides CoD? Blizzard is the most valuable part of the company and they’re barely keeping it together Do you mean Bobby Kotick want's to get out? I haven't heard anything about Activision no longer wanting to stop making games. Only Konami has been that dumb, and that didn't work out that well for them, their gambling side of things started to tank after 2020, hence why they are back to video games.
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Jul 12, 2023 16:32
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njsykora posted:Microsoft wants an Xbox App Store on iOS, they've explicitly said this when talking about the deal to business media. But it's easier to get the public on-side when they present it as new toys for Game Pass subscribers to the games media. It's really been some brilliant PR work for fans of companies completely changing tone and story depending on who they're talking to. Company wants to sell their products on more platforms and give other companies less of a cut while doing so, news at 11
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Jul 12, 2023 16:35
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I said come in! posted:Do you mean Bobby Kotick want's to get out? I haven't heard anything about Activision no longer wanting to stop making games. Only Konami has been that dumb, and that didn't work out that well for them, their gambling side of things started to tank after 2020, hence why they are back to video games. Yeah, I was exaggerating, but I think I read something about them focusing less on console games as opposed to mobile, plus Kotick wanting to retire
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Jul 12, 2023 16:39
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icantfindaname posted:Yeah, I was exaggerating, but I think I read something about them focusing less on console games as opposed to mobile, plus Kotick wanting to retire and from that you derived "activision, the corporation, wants to stop making video games because it's sleepy, and that's why it wants to be bought out" do you have any other predictions about large world events or corporate acquisitions? i'm curious about your vision of the future
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Jul 12, 2023 16:45
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I think you might have read a little too into Diablo Immortal because there's no indication that the CoD machine is stopping, and Activision has such a fruitful non video game portfolio such as...the Warcraft movie? Overwatch trailers?
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Jul 12, 2023 16:48
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mycot posted:I think you might have read a little too into Diablo Immortal because there's no indication that the CoD machine is stopping, and Activision has such a fruitful non video game portfolio such as...the Warcraft movie? Overwatch trailers? Activision has a decrease in revenue attributed to a decrease in performance of CoD, if you would actually click through and read the financials your talking about. Though modern warfare 2 was a bulwark, so the franchise isn't dead or anything. Page 47
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Jul 12, 2023 16:55
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How big is COD Mobile going still? I think that's been one of the big hits for them especially in places like India.
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Jul 12, 2023 16:59
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leper khan posted:Activision has a decrease in revenue attributed to a decrease in performance of CoD, if you would actually click through and read the financials your talking about. They're also fragile because their scope has taken COD beyond the range where annualization is viable, and one or two bad CODs could be very damaging with how underdiversified they are; as there's no real way they can descope cod... well, their long term prospects lead toward inevitable disaster, so no surprise they took the deal. They know they've painted themselves into a corner and racing the inevitability of a bad COD versus rediversifying is expensive and uncertain in both effect and ability to execute in time. With how dysfunctional Ubi is, expect them to look for a merger or buyout sooner or later as well. StratGoatCom fucked around with this message at 17:58 on Jul 12, 2023 |
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Jul 12, 2023 17:53
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StratGoatCom posted:They're also fragile because their scope has taken COD beyond the range where annualization is viable, and one or two bad CODs could be very damaging with how underdiversified they are; as there's no real way they can descope cod... well, their long term prospects lead toward inevitable disaster, so no surprise they took the deal. They know they've painted themselves into a corner and racing the inevitability of a bad COD versus rediversifying is expensive and uncertain in both effect and ability to execute in time. is any of this based on anything? because honestly cod is like pokemon where the games are generally samey and rushed out the door and everyone complains about them but they also they consistently sell between 20 and 30 million copies every single year no matter what. the studios are worked as hard as possible as fast as possible with as little money as possible and they still put out a mostly working product. it sucks rear end for everyone involved except the shareholders but i don't see why you think that plan is due for some imminent collapse.
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Jul 12, 2023 18:07
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