Microsoft Acquires Activision Blizzard

[Dcubed]

 

[Dcubed]

And this is why we got the PS+ price hike... Sony are very afraid of losing that PS+ revenue from the ABK acquisition.

[Hero-of-Time]

9 minutes ago, Dcubed said:

And this is why we got the PS+ price hike... Sony are very afraid of losing that PS+ revenue from the ABK acquisition.

As well they should be. The purchase of Activision will eventually have serious consequences for Sony. They can't go head to head with a company who can just throw money around as they please, especially when the courts are happy to just let this happen.

[Dcubed]

6 minutes ago, Choze said:

This is confirmed fake btw.

Actually it has been confirmed to be real...

Edited December 19, 2023 by Dcubed

[Dcubed]

Ding Dong! The Witch Is Dead!

[Ashley]

Hehe Booty. 

[Dcubed]

https://www.ign.com/articles/microsoft-lays-off-1900-staff-from-its-video-game-workforce
 

Quote

"It's been a little over three months since the Activision, Blizzard, and King teams joined Microsoft. As we move forward in 2024, the leadership of Microsoft Gaming and Activision Blizzard is committed to aligning on a strategy and an execution plan with a sustainable cost structure that will support the whole of our growing business. Together, we've set priorities, identified areas of overlap, and ensured that we're all aligned on the best opportunities for growth.

"As part of this process, we have made the painful decision to reduce the size of our gaming workforce by approximately 1900 roles out of the 22,000 people on our team. The Gaming Leadership Team and I are committed to navigating this process as thoughtfully as possible. The people who are directly impacted by these reductions have all played an important part in the success of Activision Blizzard, ZeniMax and the Xbox teams, and they should be proud of everything they've accomplished here. We are grateful for all of the creativity, passion and dedication they have brought to our games, our players and our colleagues. We will provide our full support to those who are impacted during the transition, including severance benefits informed by local employment laws. Those whose roles will be impacted will be notified, and we ask that you please treat your departing colleagues with the respect and compassion that is consistent with our values.

"Looking ahead, we'll continue to invest in areas that will grow our business and support our strategy of bringing more games to more players around the world. Although this is a difficult moment for our team, I'm as confident as ever in your ability to create and nurture the games, stories and worlds that bring players together.
"Phil."

Jesus! That didn't take long!

I'd imagine that most of the job losses will be on the publishing side of ABK (marketing, testing, localisation etc), since they're going to be the most redundant; but still.  Fucking hell!

[Julius]

32 minutes ago, Dcubed said:

https://www.ign.com/articles/microsoft-lays-off-1900-staff-from-its-video-game-workforce
 

Jesus! That didn't take long!

I'd imagine that most of the job losses will be on the publishing side of ABK (marketing, testing, localisation etc), since they're going to be the most redundant; but still.  Fucking hell!

Damn, that's a lot of people. Hopefully they all find work sooner rather than later, but sadly, this always inevitable with acquisitions, especially on this scale 

In related news, Mike Ybarra (Blizzard president) is also leaving, as is Allen Adham. 

Probably gone to go start up a company or to get that sweet NetEase backing, but damn, those are two BIG names that they haven't tied down as part of the acquisition. What a decision. 

[bob]

Damn, that's a lot of people. Hopefully they all find work sooner rather than later, but sadly, this always inevitable with acquisitions, especially on this scale 
In related news, Mike Ybarra (Blizzard president) is also leaving, as is Allen Adham. 
Probably gone to go start up a company or to get that sweet NetEase backing, but damn, those are two BIG names that they haven't tied down as part of the acquisition. What a decision. 

Maybe they were let go as part of the 1900 people?

[Hero-of-Time]

Disgusting but also expected. This right here is one of many reasons people shouldn't have been cheering for this acquisition to go through.

[drahkon]

Can't wait for the "this time it will be different" comments when Microsoft finalizes their next acquisition.

[Hero-of-Time]

Seems like they are done with physical games.

 

[Julius]

20 minutes ago, Hero-of-Time said:

Seems like they are done with physical games.

Yep, makes complete sense considering that Hellblade II got announced as digital-only the other day and when you consider that digital Series X leak. Then you throw Game Pass into the mix and consider just how much they could potentially save by cutting out physical media, use the PR spin of "we're saving the planet!" (I mean, I'm not totally against it for this reason, especially because I imagine the bulk of new Xbox physical copies of games are ending up in a landfill or are losing value immediately because of the lack of use cases), and it just makes more and more sense. 

Not a fan. I still haven't posted in the ownership thread (whoops) but options are always important in cases like this, firstly for the consumer, but secondly - and more importantly, I think - for the sake of preservation. Would be really cool if they did limited physical releases of their first-party stuff this gen, at least just for fans of that medium and for people who won a Series X with a disc drive, but I'm not holding my breath. 

Means I can wait until the end of the gen, weigh up my options for going physical with Xbox, pick up a Series X or a One X or a 360 or whatever is best for what I want to play of their legacy systems, and just not touch a new Xbox again – it sucks, but I really don't want to support this move.

Most of their games are also on Steam anyways, and if I'm going to be putting my money anywhere towards games in a digital-only library, I'd rather it be with a company which I already have an existing relationship with as a consumer, doesn't look like it could bounce out of the industry entirely in the next decade or two if Game Pass doesn't work out, and isn't trying to swallow (embrace?) the industry's leaders in sweeping moves with the intent of monopolising things.

I'm stopping myself short of saying "get f'd, Xbox", so instead, let's bring this beauty back. 

[Dcubed]

Damn, you beat me to it.

Yeah, this is the end of Xbox’s physical presence at retail.  It’s adorably all digital from here on out.

Begs the question of just who exactly would be willing to stock such low margin hardware when there won’t be any razor blades to sell alongside the razor though…

[Julius]

1 minute ago, Dcubed said:

Begs the question of just who exactly would be willing to stock such low margin hardware when there won’t be any razor blades to sell alongside the razor though…

I wouldn't be shocked if by this time next generation - heck, maybe even from the start of the next generation - if the official Xbox Store is the only official supplier of their consoles. 

I was watching some DF clips the other day and I do think now that they're really pulling up their sleeves, I agree with John Linneman that the modern Xbox console now needs to essentially follow the Steam Deck: with Xbox consoles already decidedly not being the best way to play Xbox games (and this having been the case ever since their games started releasing on PC), the need for a dedicated console is still there for people who don't want to stream/play on their phone, tablet, etc., and wanted a dedicated device and OS suited for the most accessible way of playing their games and entering the ecosystem.

And you know what? Steam, at least in the West as far as I'm aware, are also the only official retailers of the Steam Deck, and while I don't think the aim of the Steam Deck was to expand their consumer base in a meaningful sense, in a very limited way for people who are mainly console-only (such as myself), who don't want to faff around with PC parts and don't care about playing everything at high specs, I think it has; it's by far the easiest and most accessible route into their ecosystem for the layman.

I think the comparison is apt and I think that's the way Microsoft finding themselves going. Don't want to build a PC, don't want to play on low-end devices that stream, etc.? Buy this console directly from us. Also imagine it would mean making those margins even more aggressively slim/nonexistent if needed. 

[Ike]

Man, it's sad seeing Microsoft doing what they set out to do with the Xbox One and got backlash for. They just wrapped it in a different package.

17 minutes ago, Julius said:

I'm stopping myself short of saying "get f'd, Xbox", so instead, let's bring this beauty back. 

You laugh now, but I wouldn't be surprised if Sony followed suit for the PS6. Especially if it ends up paying off for Microsoft.

[Dcubed]

3 hours ago, Hero-of-Time said:

Disgusting but also expected. This right here is one of many reasons people shouldn't have been cheering for this acquisition to go through.

ABK’s sale was always an inevitability when the scandal blew up though.  If it wasn’t going to be Microsoft, it would’ve been Amazon, Apple or another Big Tech giant/media conglomerate.

Bobby Kotick had to go, and this was the only way it was ever going to happen.

At least with Microsoft buying them, we at least have a chance of seeing the various COD studios getting broken up to work on non-COD titles again; and indeed, the acquisition was widely lauded company and industry wide for a reason.

But yeah… the sentiment does little to soften the blow of such a gutting of staff.

[Julius]

1 hour ago, Ike said:

You laugh now, but I wouldn't be surprised if Sony followed suit for the PS6. Especially if it ends up paying off for Microsoft.

Definitely not laughing about this one, I think that's just the closest equivalent to a middle finger I can send them  as you say, though, it's funny just how much of what they're doing now is similar to their approach with the Xbox One but repackaged. And with that in mind, it's definitely funny that that video - for now at least - still seems timely 

I mean, I wouldn't be too surprised if that's how things panned out. There's a decent chance that happens; heck, they came out with a digital-only version of their premier console, and have since released a new model with an attachable disc drive (which I think is the route they'll actually go next-gen). 

The thing is, even if PlayStation do that, I think they do so at the start of next gen, not in the middle of a gen. It's just poor form, at least to me, to have people pick up a premier version of your console with a disc drive and then not leave them the option to use it for newly released games the entire gen. If PlayStation did it, it would be entirely different to Xbox's approach last time out in the middle of the gen of changing course and releasing big games on PC too - killing any reason to get an Xbox for most people who play games often enough to be aware of that change - or to what they're doing now, seemingly binning off physical and going all-digital. Regardless of where you stand on these changes, I think the time and place to make them is at the start of a gen, because what you end up is a directive which might as well be telling people to point and laugh at anyone who bought into the ecosystem at the start of that gen. It gives me similar vibes to when a lot of people felt penalised for playing Persona 5 at launch when Royal came along, with no option to upgrade/purchase the new content as DLC. 

I find that PlayStation are much better at communicating these changes and, more importantly, timing these changes (talking about consoles here specifically, I have a growing list of issues with PS which I think I mention often enough to not come off as too biased).

On the other hand, Xbox has a decade of experience making piss-poor marketing and manufacturing decisions for their consoles. Remember when they released the One X, which pretty much no third-party developer could or should have been targeting and optimising their games for, just to have a dick measuring contest? Xbox's answer to losing last gen was pretty much "well, my dad earns more money than your dad" thrown at an entire console.

I half expect them to bottle the messaging on this, too. 

1 hour ago, Dcubed said:

At least with Microsoft buying them, we at least have a chance of seeing the various COD studios getting broken up to work on non-COD titles again

While there's a chance, and I'd love to see that, I'm not too sure how great those chances are.

Since they started their acquisitions spree Xbox have seemed incredibly hands-off (to a point I really question their ability to curate things - heck, you have Obsidian making a first-person fantasy RPG, and then you go buy Bethesda and Skyrim? I'm getting Days Gone flashbacks) and have just left their purchases to fend for themselves. I know that's probably not the case, and I'm sure there's some level of shared tech or effort, but they haven't made any waves whatsoever with any of their acquisitions up to this point, and so breaking their new shiny toy up just seems off the table to me based on how they've managed things so far. 

But we'll see. I hope so, because man, games seriously lack that splash of colour in the AAA space outside of Nintendo these days. 

Edited January 25, 2024 by Julius

[Ike]

1 hour ago, Julius said:

And you know what? Steam, at least in the West as far as I'm aware, are also the only official retailers of the Steam Deck

I saw The Game Collection sell them, but they didn't have the OLED model listed.

[Julius]

6 minutes ago, Ike said:

I saw The Game Collection sell them, but they didn't have the OLED model listed.

Hmm, looking around it seems like they're the only ones with a proper storefront and at a slight mark-up (also on Amazon by a third party), so I don't think that's a case of them being an official retailer for them, but rather just buying and then reselling from Steam? Them not having the OLED model to me suggests that that might be the case. 

So to clarify, I guess I mean available first/whatever/"this is the only place to officially buy your Xbox". Maybe I'm wrong but I don't remember the Steam Deck being available anywhere but Steam when it came to pre-orders and leading up to launch. 

The Steam Deck is also super niche and manufactured on a smaller scale than Xbox consoles, so maybe they strike up exclusive retails deals with certain stores, similar to what they've done with All Access?

But I honestly think the approach of "only available here" works better for them. No-one is going out and buying a console on a whim anymore 

[Hero-of-Time]

11 hours ago, Dcubed said:

ABK’s sale was always an inevitability when the scandal blew up though.  If it wasn’t going to be Microsoft, it would’ve been Amazon, Apple or another Big Tech giant/media conglomerate.

Honestly, I would have taken any of those other options over Microsoft.

11 hours ago, Dcubed said:

At least with Microsoft buying them, we at least have a chance of seeing the various COD studios getting broken up to work on non-COD titles again; and indeed, the acquisition was widely lauded company and industry wide for a reason.

As Julius said, there's no guarantee this will even happen. CoD is a huge money maker and keeping that gravy train going will require a lot of people to keep working on the IP. Yeah, they now have things like Crash and Spyro under their belt but will such games even get made? Just look at Rare and the IPs MS have had at their disposal for years but done nothing with.

I'm pretty glad I bailed on their ecosystem during the Xbox One generation. The deals they've made and the direction they are heading don't appeal to me at all.

[drahkon]

30 minutes ago, Hero-of-Time said:

CoD is a huge money maker and keeping that gravy train going will require a lot of people to keep working on the IP

 

30 minutes ago, Hero-of-Time said:

Yeah, they now have things like Crash and Spyro under their belt but will such games even get made?

 

Great start

[Hero-of-Time]

Absolutely brutal. 

Yay for consolidation, right? 

When it comes to layoffs, the gaming sector is in a right mess at the moment and I imagine it will only get worse, especially with AI becoming a bigger component in creating games. It seems there are very few Western developers that will offer a safe and secure job at the moment.

[Sheikah]

ABK’s sale was always an inevitability when the scandal blew up though.  If it wasn’t going to be Microsoft, it would’ve been Amazon, Apple or another Big Tech giant/media conglomerate.
Bobby Kotick had to go, and this was the only way it was ever going to happen.
At least with Microsoft buying them, we at least have a chance of seeing the various COD studios getting broken up to work on non-COD titles again; and indeed, the acquisition was widely lauded company and industry wide for a reason.
But yeah… the sentiment does little to soften the blow of such a gutting of staff.

Microsoft buying them will lead to (and already has led to) games being walled off from specific console owners. They're the worst American company that could have bought them, out of those who would/could realistically have done it.

If Google or Amazon had bought them they'd almost certainly carry on releasing ABK games on all consoles as per usual, seeing as they don't have their own home consoles.

[Sheikah]

Absolutely brutal. 
Yay for consolidation, right? 
When it comes to layoffs, the gaming sector is in a right mess at the moment and I imagine it will only get worse, especially with AI becoming a bigger component in creating games. It seems there are very few Western developers that will offer a safe and secure job at the moment.

The worst thing is when Spencer comes out saying the firings are "painful". Complete tosh, he is probably getting a nice bonus after the firings for making the company more profitable.