Microsoft buys Activision-Blizzard

sniper_samurai

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121150241#Comment_121150241

Let your subscription expire. Buy 3 years of Gold/Game Pass Core from CDKeys and redeem them. Buy 1 month Game Pass Ultimate. This will give you 25 months of Game Pass, plus maybe another month if MS offer you a free month for turning on auto renew after redeeming the month of Ultimate.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121150269#Comment_121150269

Thanks!

Potential-Monke

It's great value with the deal, even if it's not as good as it was a few months ago. I stacked 30 months for about €160, so I'm good until sometime in 2025. I'll have to weigh my options then, because there may be no upgrade deal at that point, and I don't use it as much as PS+, and I think that's mostly down to the controller, so maybe when Xbox release their new one I might use it more. I just prefer the PS5 to the XSX overall, so it's great to try out a game and if I like it, but not enough to buy it, I'll wait for it to come to PS+ which it usually does unless Xbox exclusive. Great to have that choice for now at least!

murpho999

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121150269#Comment_121150269

Don't think that trick works anymore, didn't MS get rid of the €1 upgrade to Ultimate?

Retr0gamer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121153873#Comment_121153873

When starfield came out but it will be back.

CatInABox

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121153873#Comment_121153873

The €1 upgrade is gone, so you need to buy a full month of Game Pass Ultimate, and the upgrade is now 3 years of gold to 2 years of Ultimate. Not as good a deal, but you can mess around with VPNs to get a cheaper region of the gold, so you can still make a significant saving.

CatInABox

ABK share trading was suspended, looks like we're in the endgame now.

CatInABox

Approved by the CMA, most likely to close today.

https://twitter.com/tomwarren/status/1712710540504510700

murpho999

Good to see this saga finally come to an end and I know some people here are against consolidation etc but I do think this deal is good for gamers and will bring more competition.

Mitch Connor

Pitty we are apparently not going to get any AB titles immediately popping up on Game Pass (Bethesda titles hit Game Pass within a few days IIRC).

I held off buying Diablo IV cause I figured it would come to Game Pass when the deal got done. And was looking forward to playing the new COD (Single Player) without having to pay for it.

sniper_samurai

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121231916#Comment_121231916

Probably a delay due to having to go through Ubisoft for the streaming rights.

murpho999

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121231943#Comment_121231943

Wouldn't say so and that does not apply to EU anyway.

I would just wait and see what happens in the next couple of weeks, as the stuff that came out form ABK this week at the Town Hall meeting was a bit bizarre and does not tie in with what Microsft people have been saying.

Mitch Connor

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121231943#Comment_121231943

Can go on GamePass without going in XCloud, so would have nothing to do with Streaming.

I wonder if it is just with the various regulatory processes they simply haven't been allowed to work on the deals/actions required for a title to appear on GamePass. Could also be some contractual issues with Sony, especially around COD, they may have a deal currently in place with AB that would prevent them from putting COD (and others, maybe) on GamePass.

Retr0gamer

All I want to know is that with Bethesda and Activision under same roof are we going to get Wolfenstein 2009 back on digital stores?

EoinMcLovin

https://twitter.com/shinobi602/status/1712813890898149504?t=fNR3kp9i--GsXFQ28arAIw&s=19

And it's done

https://twitter.com/tomwarren/status/1712815395919311232?t=cxJ1_cul5kE6_cbqI9h2hg&s=19

sniper_samurai

And in a shock to no one Bobby Kotick is gone.

https://twitter.com/jasonschreier/status/1712818483442987422?t=6EYyE9s8yXPvkrEpk6T9dQ&s=19

Penn

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121232523#Comment_121232523

I think regardless of anyone's opinion on whether the acquisition is a good or bad thing, I'm sure most of us will agree; F*ck Bobby Kotick, and f*ck the giant payout he'll receive.

murpho999

Statement from Phil Spencer. Interesting part below.

Players have always been at the center of everything we do. And as we grow, we’ll continue to keep players at the heart of it all. We’ll continue to listen to your feedback, build a community where you can be yourself, where developers can do their best work, and continue to make really fun games. As promised, we will also continue to make more games available in more places – and that begins now by enabling cloud streaming providers and players to stream Activision Blizzard games in the European Economic Area, a commitment made to the European Commission. Today we start the work to bring beloved Activision, Blizzard, and King franchises to Game Pass and other platforms. We’ll share more about when you can expect to play in the coming months. We know you’re excited – and we are too.

https://news.xbox.com/en-us/2023/10/13/xbox-activision-blizzard/

johnny_ultimate

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121232569#Comment_121232569

Simultaneously one of the best and one of the worst things about this deal.

PixelPlayer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121232569#Comment_121232569

Be careful what you wish for. I in no way condone Kotick but if you take a Venn diagram of a typical wanker ceo you will find elements that are not just useful but also essential to the running of a successful company. Finding one that has these essential skills but who does not also lean towards a tendancy to take advantage of employees or also have psychopathic, sexual harrasser etc qualities unfortunately is not just hard to do but probably impossible.

They could get someone in who is full on woke who would be loved by employees or all makes and manners. But they'd be producing absolute junk.

murpho999

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121232942#Comment_121232942

Seriously, not all CEOs have to be like that. Not in this day and age.

Retr0gamer

There's been studies done that top CEO's are most likely to be have sociopathic or psychopathic tendencies but that they often make terrible CEO's as well. A lot of them are just mouthpieces that stand in front of the shareholders while the real workers make the decisions and advise them to sign off on them.

Penn

Leaving aside Kotick's behaviour and whether or not CEOs need to be sexual harrassers to be good at their job or not, but ActiBlizz have been producing a lot of junk for many years, and a big part of that is Kotick pushing for annualisation and aggressive monetisation. They've taken so many internal teams off whatever games/franchises they were on to just be COD support teams. In the image posted up the thread of franchises now under Xbox Game Studios, the last Crash Bandicoot game is a weird 4v4 multiplayer game with battlepasses (and the Crash Team Racing remake also had a battlepass introduced), Tony Hawk's has been dormant for years save for a remaster of the original games, but is unlikely to return. Overwatch went from an aggressive but tolerable lootbox system to really awful battlepass and microtransactions. And then you have the mobile games like Candy Crush which rely on whales to make so much money. A lot of the COD games have also been received poorly and are only successful because they've been COD games and there's an in-built fanbase for them. You also have stuff like Diablo Immortals too.

The saving grace of MS buying them is that hopefully some of those support studios will be able to bring back some franchises Activision have the rights to but have laid dormant, and that the push for monetisation won't be quite so aggressive that it allows the games to actually be worth spending money on in the first place.

Kotick made money for Activision. In that regard, he was undoubtedly successful as CEO. But the idea that if not for him, a woke CEO would have made junk games instead... the games have largely been junk. But he's also just a piece of sh*t human.

PixelPlayer

Sorry I feel bad for suggesting Kotick has desirable qualities. The guy is from an era long gone.

Is there anything other than games that Xbox gain from the deal. Battle.net for example? Xbox have also said publicly that this deal is all about mobile. What does ABK have to offer in that regard (and surely its not just about Candy Crush).

DeSelby83

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121233464#Comment_121233464

Apparently Candy Crush has made over $20 Billion.

Mitch Connor

They want to make a mobile store front I believe, abd king will be absolutely key to that

sniper_samurai

Looks like the whole deal is off.🤣/s

https://twitter.com/HardDriveMag/status/1712845398774022577

SuperBowserWorld

I am completely underwhelmed by this. COD, crash, diablo ... for bazillions. I guess they can keep selling this stuff eternally or until WW3 at least.

Zzz

TheRona

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121234032#Comment_121234032

Ok, thanks for letting us know, I guess?

SuperBowserWorld

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121234720#Comment_121234720

You're welcome. Just had to get it off my chest. 😁 I feel better now.