Microsoft is buying Activison-Blizzard

[Edge-]

No high tier cs program in thr country has graduation percentages on level with what is being pushed for in tech companies unless of course you are implying being an Asian or white male makes you unqualified. The people we are talking about aren't coming up with algos they are doing grunt work. The few system level changes that have been being made have been lambasted like covenants.

So...no responses to anything and just a bunch more made up bullshit without sources or citation.

[Utrrabbit]

I wonder what Microsoft's aim is at here. Blizzard's productivity has dropped off the face of the earth over the last decade. Hearthstone is Blizzard's only game that is still making them money. All of their other projects are either stuck in development hell (D4, OW2, Diablo Immortal, whatever the incubation unit is working on) or is in actual maintenance mode (D3, Starcraft 2, HotS, OW1). Blizzard as a game studio has completely broken down and I doubt Microsoft will fix that. I'm guessing Microsoft is either after what Activision has, and/or the Blizzard IPs so they can license the IPs to competent studios.

What?

WoW is literally still their #1 highest earner. Heathstone does not even come close. What are you smoking?

[GreenJesus]

Glances at FFXIV, which works fine with controllers with actionbars that are more bloated than any WoW class right now. Though I'll give you it's not a 1:1 comparison since WoW is a lot more of a reactive game compared to XIV's more deliberate gameplay.

In order to port to console they had to make the GCD 2.5 seconds due to latency issues. However, FF14 originally was launched to be compatible with PS3, and consoles are much stronger than PS3 was. Although, with my EW Dragoon rotation, I'm pressing so many abilities off the GCD it's actually insane. Sometimes weaving 2 abilities between each GCD. WoW's rotations actually make more sense on a controller than FF14, because there are fewer keybinds in your main rotation. FF14 might have like 15-20 buttons you press to do DPS. In WoW you might have 10-12 and then a ton of utility/defensives.

[ati87]

In order to port to console they had to make the GCD 2.5 seconds due to latency issues. However, FF14 originally was launched to be compatible with PS3, and consoles are much stronger than PS3 was. Although, with my EW Dragoon rotation, I'm pressing so many abilities off the GCD it's actually insane. Sometimes weaving 2 abilities between each GCD. WoW's rotations actually make more sense on a controller than FF14, because there are fewer keybinds in your main rotation. FF14 might have like 15-20 buttons you press to do DPS. In WoW you might have 10-12 and then a ton of utility/defensives.

If Blizzard wanted WoW on consoles they would have done it by now because it's a entire new player pool they can attract after all.
However I wouldn't be surprised if Activision/Blizzard looked into this but came to the conclusion that porting the game would be a bit to difficult because WoW was build with PC in mind (the coding) and that they would need a team that's much larger then what it is today.

But maybe with the Microsoft purchase Blizzard might get the funding it needs to achieve these kind of projects since it's in Microsoft own intrest to see more active subscribers. Maybe if Blizzard is able to reduce certain cost (server cost are often really high and being part of Microsoft might reduce this) it might be feasible to add WOW to gamepass.

[GreenJesus]

If Blizzard wanted WoW on consoles they would have done it by now because it's a entire new player pool they can attract after all.
However I wouldn't be surprised if Activision/Blizzard looked into this but came to the conclusion that porting the game would be a bit to difficult because WoW was build with PC in mind (the coding) and that they would need a team that's much larger then what it is today.

But maybe with the Microsoft purchase Blizzard might get the funding it needs to achieve these kind of projects since it's in Microsoft own intrest to see more active subscribers. Maybe if Blizzard is able to reduce certain cost (server cost are often really high and being part of Microsoft might reduce this) it might be feasible to add WOW to gamepass.

Would they have to segregate the communities? I would 100% reject anyone from my groups playing on console because they wouldn't have the addon support or ability to mouse turn or easily target 20 player raid frames as a healer. It also wouldn't be fair to queue up in arena against PC players if you are on xbox.

[Edge-]

Would they have to segregate the communities? I would 100% reject anyone from my groups playing on console because they wouldn't have the addon support or ability to mouse turn or easily target 20 player raid frames as a healer. It also wouldn't be fair to queue up in arena against PC players if you are on xbox.

I mean, none of these issues are new. There are a number of MMO's that are out on PC/console, some with cross-platform play and some with not. The only thing stopping Blizzard from porting WoW to consoles, realistically, is adapting the control scheme and UI for gamepad.

They wouldn't need to alter the GCD or anything else to do it, either. FFXIV is unique in its longer GCD and there are a number of MMO's on console without GCD's like that or with the more "standard" 1-1.5s cooldown.

[Gaidax]

Sure, he gets to jump out with his platinum parachute rather than be fired in disgrace, which he deserves. But hey, he delivered a ton of value for ATVI shareholders and really, does anything else matter at the end of the day?

I need to look around to see how the Better AKB group and ATVI folks are taking this, but even knowing that Kotick and his ilk would never see actual consequences, this still pisses me way the fuck off.

What else CEO is supposed to do?

It's not popularity contest there - he delivered outstanding results that led to this insane deal and huge payout. Him not being a nice and fluffy has nothing to do with his job description.

One can argue about him as a person, but as far as work done goes - he delivered beyond expectations.

[Yunru]

ZeniMax Media took quite a while to take over and they had to go past the The European Commission. So i dont think that transver of company will be instant.
https://www.theverge.com/2021/3/8/22...-approval-deal


There is also a chance of anti-trust law hitting them.
https://www.ftc.gov/tips-advice/comp...antitrust-laws


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o...s_by_Microsoft
68,700,000,000 is quite a lot, when you look at its history.

Microsoft does have its history with it:
https://www.justice.gov/atr/complain...microsoft-corp

[Gaidax]

*snip*

In the end the deal will happen, but it will take good 2-3 years.

[Mysterymask]

There is also a chance of anti-trust law hitting them.
https://www.ftc.gov/tips-advice/comp...antitrust-laws
]

In reality the government barely enforces anti trust laws unless it's politically adventageious to do so

And given half of Congress barely knows what a video game is they'll just continue yelling at Facebook but not actually doing anything about Facebook

[SavoirFaire]

I’m still more “bothered”, if that is the right word, by the Bethesda acquisition as I play those games. I haven’t touched a Blizzard game in quite some time.

[Hawg]

What?

WoW is literally still their #1 highest earner. Heathstone does not even come close. What are you smoking?

Last time I looked it was:

1) Call of Duty
2) Candy Crush
3) WoW
4) Overwatch

Not sure how much those have changed, but COD was brining in 4 times what WoW was bringing in.

[Mysterymask]

Last time I looked it was:

1) Call of Duty
2) Candy Crush
3) WoW
4) Overwatch

Not sure how much those have changed, but COD was brining in 4 times what WoW was bringing in.

Shhhh MMO Champion doesn't work if they realize they aren't the majority

[Edge-]

Last time I looked it was:

1) Call of Duty
2) Candy Crush
3) WoW
4) Overwatch

Not sure how much those have changed, but COD was brining in 4 times what WoW was bringing in.

Pretty sure they're talking about Blizzard proper, not the broader company (hence the quote they were responding to only referencing Blizzard games). Which they're likely still correct on, even with the dropoff. We don't really have shit for information to make an informed guess on, but I think it's pretty safe to say that as with its presence in the news and esports scene, OW revenue has dropped off considerably.

But more broadly yeah, CoD is a disgusting juggernaut of a franchise that's generated something like $27B in lifetime revenue. It's fuckin offensive.

[Lahis]

If Blizzard wanted WoW on consoles they would have done it by now because it's a entire new player pool they can attract after all.
However I wouldn't be surprised if Activision/Blizzard looked into this but came to the conclusion that porting the game would be a bit to difficult because WoW was build with PC in mind (the coding) and that they would need a team that's much larger then what it is today.

But maybe with the Microsoft purchase Blizzard might get the funding it needs to achieve these kind of projects since it's in Microsoft own intrest to see more active subscribers. Maybe if Blizzard is able to reduce certain cost (server cost are often really high and being part of Microsoft might reduce this) it might be feasible to add WOW to gamepass.

Porting to PS3 and XB360 would have been pain. However current console architecture is almost identical to PC. Hell, Xbox OS is based on Windows and uses all the same APIs.

[MoanaLisa]

https://twitter.com/devolore/status/1483435560349802498

Looks like no employees were told this was happening, good guy Activision.

Telling their employees what's up is an invitation for insider trading. That's why these things are kept a secret.

[ldev]

Telling their employees what's up is an invitation for insider trading. That's why these things are kept a secret.

Yea, wtf, children have no idea how real world works.

[Mojo03]

They should now buy Bungie.

I’m sick of their god awful business practices.

And they should be with Microsoft anyway, making Halo spin-offs or something.

[nocturnus]

WoW is simply incompatible with Consoles.

Non sense. FFXIV has had cross platform play since release and it's basically the same game in an anime theme.

[T-34]

Last time I looked it was:

1) Call of Duty
2) Candy Crush
3) WoW
4) Overwatch

Not sure how much those have changed, but COD was brining in 4 times what WoW was bringing in.

Activision-Blizzard has never given out financial data on how much a particular game earns.
The only financial information ActiBlizz gives is how much Activision, Blizzard and King earn in total each.