Microsoft Buys Activision!

So, after enduring a near decade of non-stop mockery from the online gaming sphere over their lack of exclusives, Microsoft appears to have finally found a solution to the problem. That solution? Own everything the fuck else!

In one of the biggest acquisitions in gaming since… the last acquisition by Microsoft, the house that Bill Gates built has just purchased Activision Blizzard for 73 billion dollars. For comparison, that’s roughly the same amount of money that Disney used to buy Fox. So yeah, this is a pretty big move.

I did not see this one coming. Buying Bethesda was something we were all expecting, especially given how close the two companies were, but this? Nobody expected this. I had heard rumblings of a potential Sega buyout; I wouldn’t have guessed Microsoft would buyout Activision’s beleaguered ass.

Although with all the shit going on around Activision Blizzard, maybe now was a good time to make such a power play. After the various lawsuits and allegations made against the gaming giant, Activision’s public reputation could not be any lower. I’m pretty sure EA is more liked than Activision at this point, and that’s saying something.

Point is, Activision Blizzard is at their weakest and what a better time for the buzzards of Microsoft to come a pecking. And before anyone chimes in with the whole “Microsoft can finally clean house and get all the bad actors out” speal, I’m hesitant to go that far.

First, Bobby Kotick is going to remain CEO of Activision for the foreseeable future. Don’t get mad at this, he was the one who helped pen the deal to begin with, they’re keeping him around to make sure it goes through smoothly. This is a business; they’re interested in money not feeble likes on Twitter from people pretending to fight social injustice.

And let’s be honest, with the lawsuits still on going, Microsoft probably don’t want to make any moves on this front until the dust has settled enough that they can get a clear target. Hell, given the severity of the allegations many of those involved will either step down of they’re own accord anyway, meaning Microsoft won’t have to get their hands dirty.

But let’s shelve all that, what does this mean for the larger gaming landscape. Well for starters, Microsoft just got their hands on a boatload of new IP’s. Call of Duty, Pro Skater, Warcraft, Star Craft, Overwatch, Crash Bandicoot and Spyro the Dragon are now all officially a part of the Microsoft family and will likely see new releases on the new Xbox consoles, as well as Game Pass.

And Game Pass is precisely why this went down. Game Pass is the core of Microsoft’s gaming strategy and it need to have a steady release of games in order to stay relevant. 3rd parties and indies will support it, but I doubt many publishers are comfortable giving away big games for free, not a lot of profit to be made in that. Its why major 3rd party releases don’t remain on Game Pass for very long.

Microsoft needs to buy as many gaming franchises as they possibly can. Because if they own these games, they can keep them on Game Pass and reap the righteous windfall thereby. That’s why this, and the Bethesda buyout, happened in the first place, and you should expect more buyouts like this in the future.

And before anyone worries about Microsoft becoming a monopoly, don’t. Even after this acquisition, Microsoft will still only be third in terms of profitability behind Tencent and Sony. That’s not even counting Nintendo making bank on Switch. Microsoft have been a distant third for a while, all this does is help them close the gap. They’re nowhere near close to a monopoly.

They’ve even mentioned that Activision Blizzard games will still come to other consoles, at least for now. I would imagine that games already announced and in development will still release on other platforms, but once the deal goes through proper, sorry Sony fans, you may have to say goodbye to Crash Bandicoot.

And I can’t help but feel lucky that I made the switch to Xbox when I did. I still plan on making a post explaining why in greater detail, but one of the key reasons is that I don’t think Sony have a long term plan here.

Sony maybe number one right now in gaming, but in terms of other businesses they aren’t doing nearly as well. They’re videogame and movie division is the only thing keeping the company relevant at this point, and the latter is mainly due to Spider-Man, an IP they don’t even fully own.

There is a rumour that Sony is planning on making their own answer to Game Pass, which is good as competition is needed in a healthy market, but I don’t think Sony has the revenue to buy major companies like Microsoft can. Case in point, while Microsoft was buying Bethesda, Sony were buying BluePoint Studios. You know BluePoint right? The guys that remake everything rather than make anything new. Not exactly a comparable acquisition there.

I’d almost feel bad for Sony if they hadn’t burned me on the increasing homogenisation of their exclusives. I’m interested in seeing they’re answer to Game Pass, but I don’t know if they can really compete at this rate. Releasing PlayStation 1 and 2 games may help, but nostalgia can only get you so far.

As of this moment we don’t know the long-term implications of this move, but it is a massive shake up. Activision are one of the longest surviving third party studios in gaming. These guys have been around since the Atari age for gods’ sake, so to see them being bought out like this is a huge deal. I wish it was under better circumstances, but then again said circumstances probably led to the buyout in the first place.

The real question is, who’s next? We know it won’t end here, so who is the next company Activision will gobble up. Ubisoft? Warner Bros? Sega? I have no clue. All I will say is that if this is Microsoft’s gameplan, they mean fucking business. Really starting to think getting that Series S was the smartest move I could have made.