Microsoft seems intent on buying the gaming industry with $68.7bn purchase of troubled Activision Blizzard Microsoft has cracked open its wallet once again with an acquisition of Activision Blizzard in an all-cash transaction valued at an eye-popping $68.7bn. The company also announced its Game Pass service had passed the 25 million subscribers mark. It's a huge transaction, considerably more than the $7.5bn spanked on Zenimax ( …
They know that if Steam Deck (Linux + Proton + Steam) works and Steam on Chromebooks (ChromeOS + Proton + Steam) works, that's a huge kick in the balls for consumer Windows.
Microsoft's solution: Buy huge triple-AAARGH games corporations for billions, make them churn out Call of Duty for Windows and XBox forever.
Is consumer Windows still a thing I thought they were havning problems trying to give their spyware OS away. Or have M$ gone back to charging for Windows 11? Honestly I wouldn't know as I skived of to um fruitier relms... For the time being mind, at which pioint I will probobly just get a real Mac. but, I'm waittng to see if apple will end up droping these devices like so many a iPad, before it.
Quote: "Most gamers these days are on consoles (including one from MS)"
Nope. Was true in the past, but the number of PC gamers passed console gamers around 2017 and has been on a steady rise since then, especially during the pandemic period.
Figures vary between places (i.e. where the figures came from), and also varies by region, but overall around 65% of gamers are on PC, with around 52% on the 2 main consoles (other gamers are on mobiles, Switch etc). There is also overlap, i.e. that 65% of PC gamers, many will also have a console, so are in both groups.
Revenue is different though, the two main consoles still make more money than PC. Partly down to games generally being more expensive on consoles (although many new AAA games are often the same price on PC now), and of course many consoles users pay a subscription fee to Sony and/or MS.
In another comment section on another website, I actually had one commentard use Minecraft, LinkedIn and GitHub as examples of MS successful takeover management.
Yeah, my ribs still hurt, but I got the keyboard cleaned up.
As a long-term Playstation owner with a Mac all these MS purchases are starting to worry me some. Right now I now I'm not going to be able to play Starfield or Outer Worlds 2 on my current kit as they're MS exclusives. I can only hope they don't tie down the Fallout and Elder Scrolls franchises (maybe a timed exclusive?). It's got to the point where I've dabbled with NVIDIA GeoForce Now and am considering a Steamdeck.
Though I think MS has played a blinder with Game Pass. A great idea fairly well done. Makes me jealous, Sony really haven't got much of a clue on that front. I believe they've got something similar in the works, but I'm not too up on the details like what games and how much. And more importantly, will it be on top of PS Plus?
Sony did it's fair share of buying out games developers, and often shutting them down.
I cannot forgive them for what they did to Psygnosis; probably one of the very best groups in terms of pumping out original content on the Amiga, PC, and very important to early Playstation.
Consider why PS1 and 2 had so many titles available on them. Not so with 3 and onwards. Support for small devs has dried up because "Sony" preferred it's blockbusters; making dev kit and SDKs inaccessible. With the major risk that if a few go wrong, they were in serious trouble.
This is also why smaller dev outfits get most of my game purchases now. The PS4 is the worst value console I've ever owned in terms of hours used and titles purchased for it.
As a linux nerd, Bethesda being gobbled by MS is an end of an era for me. Doom Eternal, for all of it's shiny & fun arena combat, was marred by awful interspersed platform game sections.
MS buying activision is a match made in heaven; two immoral outfits focussed entirely on profit any any expense. Occassionally both outfits have produced quality material, but in the main, are limp lettuce merchants.
While I am only a casual gamer these days. I can see that the more we end up with just a few huge corporations owning all the gaming studios, the more it is going to restrict consumer choice. Just like you now have to subscribe to several different streaming platforms if you want to watch your favourite TV and movies, Im sure Microsoft want to use these acquisitions to get more exclusive Xbox and Windows games, which won't be released for other platforms.
The problem for Microsoft is that buying big publishers puts them in the cross-hairs of the DOJ anti-trust squad. So they need to tread carefully.
Buying them and continuing to support other platforms on an equal basis should keep them safe for a while. Start cutting out other platforms or giving them second rate implementations and they could see themselves in trouble with the DOJ yet again
MS never was punished for monopolistic behavior in the past; sure you can cite a few nothings that never changed their behavior other than they refined their tactics for the next crime.
MS will simply donate a lot of $ to the GOP again and buy their way out of "jail" again along with some $ for other politicians so they don't squawk as loudly. Worse case, Gates will do some targeted "charity" work in political soft spots; again.
"There's a whole world of gaming out there that isn't AAA."
If you're talking about "indie" - especially indie that doesn't have a AAA budget or connections - then Sony really need to improve ease of access to their platform: for Xbox, all you need to do is apply with suitable evidence that you have a half-way decent game in the making. For Playstation, you need a fixed IP address before you can even sign up for the indie programme.
Support indy studios on Steam, some really great stuff going on just out of sight.
My wife and I play co-op on survival games and those are almost always from indy studios, they have good support and most will listen to players with good suggestions. Indy studios have more to loose screwing up a release I tend to find they're far more cautious and don't piss off their player base by not giving a crap like the big boys do.
Or, my preference, support indy developers on Gog.com - no DRM, no need to install their client software, and they have a lot of long-tail older stuff too.
Speaking of, I booted up an old tower PC of mine the other day, and rediscovered Unreal Tournament. The original one from ‘99. I’d forgotten just how much fun it was. Sure it’s graphically primitive by modern standards (though surprisingly better than you’d think for something 22 years old…) but it’s amazingly addictive. We’ve been playing CTF and Assault game modes pretty much non-stop for the last few evenings!
Anyway.
I could not be less bothered by this. The older I get, the more disenfranchised I am of the gaming scene. Long gone are the days where you could just switch on the console and jump in to a game for a quick 5 minute blast. Now you have to sit there while the console decides whether or not to install an update, and when it does it takes forever, then you get bombarded with loads of screens about "what's new" and it's always f**king new skins or new ways to steal money out of my wallet. Your 5 minutes goes fairly quickly on witnessing bullshine.
That said, thankfully there are still smaller studios and developers who are making games that are truly unique and hark back to an earlier time when the game play and story were everything in a game. Instead of now where the consumer demands movie like games, and then pour total scorn on anyone who tried and stumbled to deliver a unique experience. I'm thinking of Cyberpunk for that one, but there's LA Noire as well.
Because of this, studios have to be bigger, have more people working for them for longer hours for (ultimately) less pay, and have to deliver a game that suits the market because a studio or it's owner won't stomach a loss. The margins are razor thin, so they have to sell in the millions otherwise it's failed. That's why we're drowning in a sea of unoriginal games like Call Of Duty and FIFA. Just rinse and repeat, and the sad thing is people are buying in to it.
Bring back my Nintendo 64, all is forgiven.
Well it has devolved into that, but the gameplay itself is still more innovative than the same old retreads you seen again and again on console and PC.
Unfortunately the pricing became a race to the bottom, and all games wanted to be "free" because people apparently don't like paying $1.99 to find out if they like a game or not.
I stopped developing games on mobile some time ago, when it became obvious which direct the market was going in.
Mobile gaming is a cess-pit of ad-delivery and/or microtransaction platforms based around psychological trickery on order to make people feel as if they will miss out if they do not keep "playing". Like SEO before it, the roost is ruled by a few big players who can buy their way to the top of the search lists, and the few decent titles out there drown in the tsunami of asset flips and re-skins, and also "my first games" hacked together by those who still foolishly believe that mobile gamedev is an easy way to make money.
Then you've got stuff like HALO Infinite where I'm in a "boss battle" - except my rockets and other weapons go straight through the enemy without affecting him. So I've given up.
I remember when you got a console because the games were better QAed.
And there's no way in hell I'd play a game on my phone and that postage stamp theatre crap. I want a reasonably comfortable controller and a monitor where I can actually see what's going on.
You do understand a thing called PC's exist. They are magical devices you don't need to pay a monthly access fee for. Plus you can upgrade them when you want with whatever vendor gear suits your fancy.
Threadripper / 3090 / Predator monitor combo lets me play Kingdom Come: Deliverance on Ultra settings at 1440 res @ 240 fps with butter smooth performance. Console...? Pah...
I used to game on PCs, until Steam took over. They decided to patch Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus to the point that previously compatible GPUs could no longer run the game, and the cost of a new GPU was less than the cost of a console with bundled with Forza Horizon 4. I'm not a keen enough gamer to be willing to part with the kind of cash needed to keep a gaming PC current.
Plus with Microsoft Rewards points Game Pass Ultimate essentially becomes free, right now I can play the latest Xbox games like FH5, Halo Infinite or Back 4 Blood without paying a penny.
You stopped gaming on PCs because a developer completely unrelated to Steam released a patch for one of their games which you then chose to install? And buying a new GPU would have been cheaper than a console, therefore consoles are better? I've heard some weird arguments over the years in the various PC vs. console vs. other console wars, but this one is really pretty special.
1. Steam (at the time, don't know if this has changed) do not allow you to opt out of updates, nor could the game be installed any other way
2. The Xbox One bundle that I bought at the time was around £60 cheaper than the lowest supported GPU that would have run the game and given me any degree of future proofing
3. I didn't say consoles were better, I explained why they were better FOR ME. If you are a hardcore gamer then yes, the ability to customise and upgrade you get from a PC is essential.
You understand there these things called GPUs....
Well mayby you don't... Anyway the generaly either just simply DO NOT exist, or when they do, they are so comiclly overpriced for what they are. the fact that there are some morons out there that still think VR will be a thing, at this point is the epiphany of cute. Hardly a wonder why people would rather have a Xbox Series X, for what is litteraly half the price of any recent nVidia offering.
Cesspool meet Sewer. From the reports about Acitvision they are a company to avoid. Also, I am not sure what the Rejects of Redmond are thinking with this one. They are saddling themselves with a company of ill-repute when picking over the carcass after bankruptcy with not saddle them with as much.
Anyone want to guess how many millions Bobby Kotick and friends will be paid off to walk away from that wretched hive of scum and villainy?
This will produce yet more steady "improvements" which require any hapless game player to have a Microsoft Account, subscribe to whatever bullshit "Microsoft XBox Zune Gaming Bar Interface (TM)" foists on all unlucky users and so on. Essentially, a long term play to ensure subscribers, no matter how they are generated. If in the meantime the games as developed and sold make a profit, that's good, and promote Windows, that's better, but it's the continual subscription fees that Microsoft are after.
Did Activision Blizzard have any Linux support pending? This will quietly disappear soon enough...
I look forward to the next expansion for WoW. Where players will have to journey to the once fair isle of Redmond and free it from the demonic evil that now blights the isle.
Once there, players will have to fight their way to the centre of the isle and descend into the pit of DLL Hell for the final raid. There they will have to defeat hordes of daemon DLLs and the daemon gatekeeper Bill to throw open the very gates of DLL Hell.
Before they can face the Lord of DLL Hell the Arch Daemon BSOD and banish him from the Isle of Redmond for ever.
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You underestimate the amount of people willingly paying for DLC, microtransactions, loot boxes, NFTs (coming soon), and all the rest of the evil stuff Activision uses their games as vehicles to push. Activision's 2020 profit was $5.8bn, it will pay for itself in less than a decade.
Brings us the MineWorld of DiabloCraft Sweeper-as-a-Service for only $9.99 per person per month for eternity!
An MSN account is required, as is a permanent broadband connection directly into your brain for the delivery of personalized ads & mandatory updates to ensure proper brainwashing.
Now hold still while the nice NeuroSurgeon installs this tiny little DirectNeuralInterface. Don't worry about the chainsaw noises, this won't hurt the doctor at all...
*Screen goes black to reduce the amounts of projectile vomiting*
Thank you for subscribing. We at Microsoft appreciate your business. And now for your first interactive advertisement, here comes Clippy!
"Hi! I'm Clippy, the newest Sales & Marketing spokesclip at Microsoft. It looks like you're trying to claw out your brand new DNI. That's a violation of the Terms of Service you agreed to. The following electrocution is just our way of encouraging a pleasing user experience. You're welcome!"
*ZapZotZorchScorch*
"It looks like you're busy flopping around on the floor. Would you like a hand? *Applause* Very nice! I give you a 6.8 out of 10 for floppyness. Now, shall we proceed to the ads?"
*Screen fades to black as abject screams akin to a Vogon poetry reading dopplers into silence*
This vision of your gaming future brought to you by the makers of MindBleach. What Has Been Seen Can Not Be Unseen, but it can be muted to unrecognizable haze!
I have installed Forza Motorsport 7, pretty much solely so that I can set times on the Top Gear Track.
Being a Microsoft Windows 10 game, it is what Microsoft considers to be an “App”.
In my book, an “App” is what kids have on their phones, you know, tiny, trivial little things, unlike Forza 7 at 148GB, which is what might be called a full-on proper program.
Yet, being an app, Microsoft insists in installing it in my profile folder, under WindowsApps by default, instead of my nice dedicated games drive, along with every other game I have. Sure, I managed to bypass it, but it was a hassle.
I’m guessing, from here on out every Activision/Blizzard game will want to install to the profile folder as well.
People are acting like Activision Blizzard is a little indie game studio being taken over by an evil corporation. Activision Blizzard *is* an evil corporation - it went down the pan years ago.
Activision Blizzard is bad, there is no talent left because they keep firing them to keep costs down to maximise profit and at the same time have apparently fostered one of the most toxic workplaces around.
I hope they boot Kotick out the door and install one of their MS Game Studios heavy hitters, and start investing in dev talent. Look at Rare, they're doing well and still have their own voice. I hope that this turns the Blizzard studios around a bit, because they've been mediocre at best for years.
With every new game I see on the iPad that piques my interest, I go straight down to the 'in-app purchases' section. If it's got items like "10 gems", "100 gems", "a bucket of gems", "a room full of gems" etc range from £0.79 to £59 or something, I just don't download the game. I assume that it's going to have the sort of gameplay that means if you want to progress, you need to keep buying stuff.
Some games have options like 'first 10 levels free' and you can unlock for a fixed fee, or even an annual or monthly fee (if it's small), but I just think that any game that forces you to keep purchasing larger and larger items is being greedy.
Activision's long history has produced occassional hits, many turkeys, and made a lot of money irrespective of quality or morals. As such they are a great match for the culture of MS.
MS getting their hands on Bethesda, and therefore DOOM was in many respects one more story in the death of a particular style of PC gaming. Today, I find the efforts of small developers far more enticing than corporate sludge. Go and get factorio, now, if you haven't already.
Windows 95 was certainly influenced by DOOM. The stories of deathmatch on MS' internal networks are the stuff of legend. But the brutal efficiency of DOOM's code are the antithesis of everything that Windows is. Doom3's source code is fantastically readable, which is an incredible achievement for such a complex system.
Indy studios give a monkey's unlike the triple-A studios that are just interested in milking cash tired, dying franchises and microtransactions, and of course now NFTs!!
ExaPunks and Shenzhen I/O, superb programming/logic games that are fun but also keep the noodle functioning learning bassic assembler. I love the Zachronics games.
You have TuringComplete where you build and entire simulated computer starting with a single transister.
Duskers, simple 8bit graphics where you use command line to drive droids around derelict space craft, there's very little sound and it's quite unnerving to use your imagination as you never see what's lurking in the space hulks.
My wife and I play The Forest and Raft in co-op, survival games are mostly indy studios.
OK, I admit I like a little FarCry5 and Assassins Creed Syndicate, mooching around Victorian London with the skills of a ninja! So the much hated Ubisoft get some of my cash but they're old games now.
I had one which WAS Activision, but looks like none of mine are.
Around half of big games I have are first party, at least they are safe. But of the rest mainly Ubisoft, EA, Gearbox, and Bethesda
I expect future Fallouts will not be available but would they be any good anyway?
As others have said not happy with Sony shutting down a few of their studios (Motorstorm was brilliant).
For those fans ... they killed off classic PI adventure game with Tex after buying Access to focus on golf.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tex_Murphy#Hiatus_and_revival
For those who have not seen it 1st CD ROM version used 3D + FMV shots way ahead of it's time a short trailer : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MbaUReyXtC8
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