Digital Foundry not happy with the MS trying to consolidate gaming. MS is getting bad press everywhere.

Another good video from DF

Can you give a rundown of the 42 minute video?

Pretty much MS going back to it's bullish 90's way.

Also that they hope MS will move away from having every studio making COD Games.

Try to be more precise, and include it in your OP. Threads with just a vid tend to get locked... Especially at that length.

I often do not understand why some people refuse to watch the entire video and make their own minds instead of depending on summarized highlights to do so.

I agree with you.

Often due to a lack of having 42 minutes to spare. Summaries exist for a reason.

I think the goal is to have something there that can start a conversation. Not many people have the time to watch the whole video and a quick summary is a good way to get the ball rolling. The summary should be about what was said, not what the TC thinks about what they said though it could be added as well.

These guys are nothing but cows, now salty cows

Just started watching it so far John has said he’s not a big fan of these large scale acquisitions but in this case he thinks there is a chance that Microsoft could salvage the mess at Activision/Blizzard. Both the stuff going on internally and how most all the devs there have been put on making Call of Duty. Seems like the other two guys have similar feelings. Need to watch more.

The response from the industry has been pretty mixed so far if you're not a die hard Xbot. But I'm sure MS doesn't care as people will have to get over it if they want that content. Growing new content from the ground up is too slow for Xbox so now they're gonna gatekeep as many existing key industry tentpoles as they can to try and accelerate GP

They never stopped being the company that earned them hate in the 90s - they just got better PR.

I see Dodonpachi playing in the background. These guys have great taste in gaming!

Feel that Microsoft is a company that’s open to having some games like Crash and Spyro on other platforms. Games like Call of Duty will likely become exclusive to Xbox and PC.

Given their large portfolio of games Microsoft could no longer need to have Call of Duty as a yearly release.

Microsoft has the money to allow for some freedom for these studios.

Concerned that they may consolidate the studios but hoping that they instead “grant them their own freedom” ie. have a dev like Raven Software does it’s own thing again.

Says there’s some precedent to studios having their freedom. Points to Ninja Theory and the games they are working on instead of say being put on working on Gears of War or something.

Think that there will be some price increases for Game Pass down the road and possibly sooner then some may think.

Recent events going on at Activision/Blizzard led to it being the perfect time for Microsoft to jump on a deal with it also lowering the asking price.

Second butthurt thread from OP. This week and the rest of the year is going to be tragic.😂

Once Call of Duty and Guitar Hero hit it seemed like it was the beginning of the end for creativity at Activision.

Find the image that Microsoft put out showing that they may favour Blizzard stuff more.

Want to see some of the AA games come back.

@Archangel3371 putting drastically more effort into the thread than @daredevils2k.

Microsoft so far has done a pretty good job with having some unique and not the same cookie cutter AAA games coming out.

Think Phil has a good view what games are and what gamers want in general. Has a keen eye and healthy outlook on what games can provide. Good thing he’s building there.

Ultimately though these deals are going to have to make their money back so right now they’re cautiously optimistic on some things but pessimistic on these kind of huge acquisitions, not just in gaming but in all entertainment.

Investors hold stocks. Wouldn't wanting their money back equate to selling their stocks at a net positive?

A good watch. Nothing really all that revelatory I guess. Seems mostly like the standard “wary but optimistic” sentiments I’ve seen elsewhere.

@Pedro: Oops. My bad. He said there will come a time when these deals will have to make their money back. I had investors on my brain there. 😅

This was actually a fantastic deal. Let's say sony acquired them, after putting in their life savings. Would anything have changed for activision? Gamers would be forced to suffer the semi annual cookie cutter cod games. You know sony would milk cod to the ground to get back their investment. The focus would be on quantity over everything else.

There are very few companies that would be willing to buy activision AND give them creative license freedoms. MS is one of those companies. They will be fine bringing cod back to a 2 year or even a 3 year life cycle while improving the quality of each cod game. Money isn't the main concern for MS right now, so it's possible they do this if it lines up with their strategy.

Phil Spencer, and Bobby kotick have both mentioned develop different games at activision. Even bringing back guitar hero was something they discussed.

The same can be said for blizzard. The acquisition is a huge blessing for them, and brings relief and hope to a bunch of blizzard fans. They haven't been so excited in a long time.

There are deals that are worse for gaming as a whole but to me, just looking objectively, it's a massive improvement. I'm sure even the cows would agree with me about this if they weren't getting screwed over.

@blaznwiipspman1: When/if this deal goes through Microsoft will own a good deal of FPS IP’s. It would most likely be best to take Call of Duty off the yearly treadmill. They could space all those games out fairly nicely and give them time to breath.

It is always weird when folks like whomever in the video makes comments like that. They purchased a profitable company. There is no loss because the asset generates income. It feels like some people are equating these acquisitions to that of purchasing a car.

My understanding is that it is a cash purchase, so there is a greater return on this purchase than just having sitting cash. Depending on the accounting, the purchase of this can be offset over numerous years for tax benefits. So, they don't need to make back 69 billion in a rush. There is most likely more accounting that is used purchases like these to further reduce taxes that is needed to be paid. These acquisitions are not a small venture like purchasing a mom & pop business like some people are acting like.

@Pedro: Yeah I believe that it was an all cash purchase.

MS couldn't care less.

"MS is getting bad press everywhere."

Not really, just looking at the reactions from YouTube channels it's more like "oh shit" and not "man, it's a dark day for gamers everywhere".

YongYea seems to think this will help increase the quality of Activision-Blizzard games with a hands-off approach of studio autonomy and reduced pressure to turn the company into a gaming mill, but hands-on enough to remedy some of the misconduct issues brought to light. If he seems angry about anything it's Bobby Kotick will escape his due reckoning with his golden parachutes and possibly why he might have personally saw the acquisition opportunity as a means of an easy out to being held accountable for the company.

Rich of ReviewTechUSA seems to think this is going to up Microsoft's game in a big way and if anything be a wake up call to Sony to up their services and I hope they do. He will make subsequent video saying his one fear (much like this article) is the direction of gaming around services but (this is me) neither MS or Sony seem keen on locking content behind services like Nintendo does with their BC with Switch online. Honestly I personally am not worried as they probably stand to profit more from people who want to buy their games and not use the services.

AngryJoe thinks this will help Activision-Blizzard more than it will hurt it by cleaning the company up from its most toxic elements and seems excited by the addition of content and value this adds to Game Pass. He also thinks this too will encourage Sony to step up their game which would be nice.

Boogie likes Bobby Kotick will get set packing and though he does have concerns thinks that this could be a good thing if Blizzard is allowed rhe autonomy to return to their former selves.

This video though, if this is what people ringing alarm bells about this acquisition are going to sound like then we can chalk up the offending nature of the acquisition to "it's only okay when Sony does it, Xbox isn't allowed to have nice things 'cause they suck". But this isn't a mixed or alarmed reaction this is just die hard Sony fanatics crying like a toddler throwing a tantrum when their not constantly dazzled with constant reaffirmation that Sony is winning and that they're what all game makers are prioritizing when it comes to releasing their games.

TC in full damage control mode. His head must be about to pop. Microsoft slapping Sony left and right like the little bitch it is.

Gaming media giving MS bad press? That's unheard of! How will they cope?

These cow "I'm going to make myself look dumb as f@#k" threads are comedy gold 🤣

@Archangel3371: I think we’ll see a tiered approach. Say Gamepass at 10 bucks will include the current catalogue, 3rd party releases and indies and Gamepass Ultimate will include all that plus day 1 1st party games, xcloud, PC and Live for 20 bucks.

Then again, anybody buying Xbox all access now will have a guaranteed price freeze for 2 years.

I hope a decent CoD with a lengthy (but not boring) SP campaign comes out of this. The last game I bought was a joke length wise, looked pretty nice though.

Best thing to come from this

I didn’t even bother to read SW after the acquisition because i imagine cows are in complete disarray

I don't think it's sunk in yet.

exclusives are shit, buying a dev n paying for exclusivity is the same shit, just different asshole

lol :P

So far every media site has been praising this acquisition, which is good.

You don't buy a publisher who makes the top selling video game every single year so you can stop them from making the top selling game every single year. Anyone who thinks that COD isn't going to keep being released yearly is living in fantasy land.

2:00 in:

"So I'm in two minds on this one. While I'm not a big fan of acquisitions in the industry, because of consolidation...

But in this case, this is one of those exceptions, where I'm kind of like... Maybe something good can come of this, because Activision has become a bit of a cess pool in recent years".

4:10 in:

"For the PC this can actually mean positive things, because PC players haven't been happy with what Blizzard have been putting out over the last couple of years"

Two minutes in and they paint a bit of a different picture to that which you paint? :-S

You're cherry picking. Personally I have little sympathy for the exclusive obsessed cows who celebrate every time Sony buys an exclusivity deal with-holding a game or an entire ip (cough Spider-Man) from ALL other gamers.

@gym_lion: Where exactly are you guys getting this from, that they won't be making cod every year?