Microsoft Buy Activision Blizzard Game Studio for $70 billion

General Chat Tech & Gaming
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This is a huge deal, and could bring some amazing games to Game Pass! :grinning:

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Maybe they can sort out some of the problems… Blizzard aren’t in a good place, with the ongoing strike and the toxic culture issues

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maybe they will finally balance WoW

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Hopefully but doesn’t quite seem it atm …

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Was about to post this in Xbox Series X thread!

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I thought it warranted its own - as it’s more broad gaming news imo :sweat_smile:

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I was a hearthstone and a StarCraft streamer, so I loved Blizzard but boy do they need a massive kick up the ass. All they have left is games they’ve monetised the life out of.

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Hopefully they get rid of the sexual harassment at Blizzard as a result

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Oh that’s disappointing…

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This is gonna come with a gamepass price hike surely?

This would certainly justify it. Fantastic value for money already and this makes it better. Wonder what this will mean for platform exclusivity going forward too. PlayStation users aren’t gonna be happy if cod goes Xbox exclusive, or overwatch 2.

As awesome as this is, it’s also a little concerning. If they can buy Activision, is anyone safe?

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Probably for new people, but for those already on a subscription, I doubt Microsoft will increase for existing people.

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Looks like it’s confirmed Kotick is out

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A bit weird that he links to a Verge article that says he’s staying on :sweat_smile:

The article also says (unsourced) that Blizzard’s leadership will report to Spencer. That doesn’t mean Kotick is necessarily ‘out’, it does mean his title could change. Or it couldn’t, CEOs who report upwards are far from unheard of when a company has bought out others.

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I think in the short to medium terms we wont see the larger titles become xbox exclusive.

Longer term of course they will create more xbox only titles but it would be silly to just say no to the huge playstation market for games that already have a presence on playstation like cod etc.

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Lucky I got my 3 years Gold upgrade in the bag! Was always too good to last.

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I don’t think the prices will go up yet. As far as I can see, Microsoft see this as the way they are going to beat Playstation. I think they’ll improve the offering without price rises even if that’s lossmaking for the time being.

Anyway, a lot of Blizzard’s games are monetised from the inside. Getting them onto more devices will increase revenue even if people aren’t paying for the main game.

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I do wonder what this means for the future of WOW.

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Doubly worried because I play WoW on a Mac…

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I play WOW on a Mac too.

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