Game Companies Buying other Game Companies

[Bobnik]

If nothing else, they were in the talks for some time now, so I wouldn't call this a reaction to MS buyouts.

Still, my opinion is the exact same here as I have with MS buying publishers for imaginary amount of money - this really fucking sucks.

[Ryannumber1gamer]

17 minutes ago, Tornado said:

Microsoft buying Bethesda and Activision was a move that will probably be shitty for people who don't own Xboxes in the long run but at least you could see the immediate reason for them doing so.  This just seems like a flex for the sake of flexing; akin to Microsoft buying Rare seemingly just to say "hey we got Rare ha ha Nintendo fans" after everyone important jumped ship for Free Radical since they proceeded to do dick all with it for the following decade.

My speculation is it's more for new titles than old titles/old franchises, and to fill a gap in the exclusive line-up. Bungie is still renowned for some of the most innovative and impressive first-person shooters ever made, and has experience in that particular genre. Meanwhile, most of Sony's FPS line-up has been completely dormant for an incredibly long-time. Things like Resistance, SOCOM, and Killzone have been on hiatus or finished for ages, and their dev teams have moved on to entirely different things (IE - Insomniac on Ratchet, Spider-Man, Wolverine, Guerrilla on Horizon, etc).

Bungie apparently have been working on a new IP for awhile now, and PlayStation both have no FPS franchises in it's exclusives line-up, and now - a possibility that they're going to have an even bigger issue with that genre if COD ends up jumping ship (heavily unlikely, but). In my eyes, at least - this could be their attempt to bring an experienced and well-known studio to fulfil the current hole they have among their line-up. Given that the deal was in the works for awhile at least, it's doubtful they just bought Bungie for the sake of having it. 

Not that I particularly agree with the purchase, I have the same problems with it as I do with the Acti purchase, but I can at least understand the reasoning as to why Bungie was picked specifically.

[Jango]

Nice, Halo for PS5 let's gooooo

[Jovahexeon Jax Joranvexeon]

This won't be the last one.

[Jovahexeon Jax Joranvexeon]

Sony are gonna be on the hunt for other acquisitions to make.

[KHCast]

 

Fuck me this sucks

Also, if it’s not clear yet

 

Game executives don’t give a shit about the working floor employees. This as well as the other story that dropped earlier about the Worms devs not being told about the NFT shit being integrated into the company until today, really makes that clear 

 

[Teoskaven]

More than anything, i don't see much utility out of this: Destiny has remained just acceptable even after the scission from Activision (as in, not something everyone would be desperate in wanting to posess on their own), Bungie has almost no other IPs that they own that Sony can aquire with this, and the company has plenty of studios that have and can produce TPS and FPS games. It really feels unnecessary, especially with the amount of money involved for the transaction.

[Salamander]

2 hours ago, Teoskaven said:

 Destiny has remained just acceptable even after the scission from Activision

I learnt a new word today.  Cheers!

[Empire88]

Edit: Saw further details. Apparently in the works for awhile

But still don't like it.

[Ryannumber1gamer]

https://old.reddit.com/r/PS5/comments/soi11r/microsoft_call_of_duty_and_other_popular_ab_games/

According to a new blog post from Microsoft, talking about new App Store policies and the like, they confirmed Acti Blizz games will continue to release on both PlayStation and Nintendo consoles, past existing agreements.

[KHCast]

Guess it’s a waiting game at this point to see if that’s honored for good or just until a point, and what games outside CoD this will apply to. Still not a fan of these buyouts overall, but this is at least something to be a bit appreciative about, since Sony and Microsoft seem to be doing this 

[KHCast]

It’s not a game company being bought, but still…god. Fucking. Damnit.

 

 

 

 

[Blue Blood]

I fucking hate "Corporate logo + corporate logo" thing they all keep doing, as though this is some sort of crossover that we should all be grateful about. 

[DaBigJ]

I have never heard of Bandcamp before....but learning about what they are by looking things up, this one kinda seems weird to me.

[Tornado]

https://embracer.com/release/embracer-group-enters-into-an-agreement-to-acquire-eidos-crystal-dynamics-and-square-enix-montreal-amongst-other-assets/

 

I can't wait for the next Deus Ex game to be directed by Randy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Also, holy shit. That's such a fucking firesale price for the majority of the company (and the parts of the company that actually make money) that it has to be because Squeenix is going to sell itself to Sony or something and wanted to trim the company down.

[Teoskaven]

NFT hot takes aside, i don't mind this selling, though i agree that for a bunch of studios and 50+ IPs, 300 million is kinda pocket money; i wonder if it's because their value has decreased over the years and this is the best price that could be offered.
Still, considering how Square never really gave the impression to know what to do with the package aside from a few selected exceptions, if we're lucky enough the franchises might be in better hands considering how THQ Nordic has handled re-releases and remakes. Gex getting the N.Sane/Reignited Trilogy treatment from the team that's handling the Destroy All Humans remakes could work out for example, but even simple things like re-releases of the classic Thief trilogy that include the TFixes/Sneaky Upgrade builds the PC versions can currently use would be interesting, similar to what they did to Sphinx and the Cursed Mummy.
I just hope Gearbox and Deep Silver stay the fuck away from this as much as possible instead.

[Tornado]

So Microsoft was going to do anyway probably guarantees the FTC is going to be forced to back off:

https://thehill.com/opinion/technology/3762122-for-once-the-ftc-is-considering-a-merger-that-helps-the-workers/

Quote

Sony, which currently has the largest share of the video game console market, has been one of the few vocal opponents of the merger. It is a stark contrast of interests: If the merger is approved and the labor deal with Microsoft is effectuated, Activision Blizzard workers across the United States fighting sexual harassment and other poor working conditions stand to finally have a voice on the job and a chance to shape working conditions throughout the industry, and gamers will have allies inside a corporation with real protections for speaking out in consumers’ interests. If the merger is disapproved, the power relations within the gaming industry for labor stay the same, Sony protects its very profitable position as the industry leader, and consumers will have to wait and see if subscription services mature into a viable gaming option.

 

This is an extremely targeted (and, frankly, nasty) PR thump at Sony from a powerful lobbying group that Biden has always fashioned himself as championing and I suspect desperately would like to get on his side again after the railroad strike thing last week. I cannot imagine the head of the FTC wants to risk career suicide over this; so in the US at least I'm guessing it's going to be as good as signed now.

[Tornado]

Wow, I guess not. Chick running the FTC really wants to chase windmills I guess.

[Ryannumber1gamer]

Frankly had a feeling that the whole debacle that went on with Microsoft going back on their word with ZeniMax/Bethesda, and making their games exclusive, despite assurances they wouldn't be would end up coming back to bite them on the ass when this whole acquisition hinged on them not making Acti stuff exclusive.

[Tornado]

32 minutes ago, Ryannumber1Santa said:

Frankly had a feeling that the whole debacle that went on with Microsoft going back on their word with ZeniMax/Bethesda, and making their games exclusive, despite assurances they wouldn't be

That's what the FTC is using as grounds for the lawsuit. Doesn't seem to actually be what Microsoft told the EU in the regulatory discussions on the matter and it's certainly not what Spencer kept saying publicly; at least based on what was publicly released.

[Ryannumber1gamer]

1 minute ago, Tornado said:

That's what the FTC is using as grounds for the lawsuit. Doesn't seem to actually be what Microsoft told the EU in the regulatory discussions on the matter and it's certainly not what Spencer kept saying publicly; at least based on what was publicly released.

I'm not sure what was said legally back then, but I do at least recall that around the time of the acquisition, Xbox was going around stating that they wouldn't be making Bethesda exclusive, and the big name games releasing for other consoles would continue to do so, only to immediately go back on it as soon as the acquisition was said and done, and announce all of the forthcoming big-name games, barring the ones they had legal obligations to release (IE - Deathloop and Ghostwire on PlayStation) would be exclusive. 

I have my doubts that this will actually stop the acquisition, but I imagine it'll probably hold back the timeline even further to what Microsoft wanted, and considering Activision's sheer scale in terms of third-parties, I just had a feeling that the whole situation that went on with ZeniMax/Bethesda was going to end up being called into question for Spenser and Microsoft's claims that Activision's titles would be kept multiplatform. 

Ideally, hopefully what will come from this at least is actual legal agreements that Activision's titles aren't made exclusive, rather than just being a gigantic waste of time for everyone involved.

[Jovahexeon Jax Joranvexeon]

Christ. This almost feels like a war declaration. 

[Tornado]

1 hour ago, Ryannumber1Santa said:

I'm not sure what was said legally back then, but I do at least recall that around the time of the acquisition, Xbox was going around stating that they wouldn't be making Bethesda exclusive, and the big name games releasing for other consoles would continue to do so, only to immediately go back on it as soon as the acquisition was said and done, and announce all of the forthcoming big-name games, barring the ones they had legal obligations to release (IE - Deathloop and Ghostwire on PlayStation) would be exclusive. 

If Microsoft told the EU in any strongly-written language that Zenimax games would perpetually be on all platforms for the long haul, it doesn't matter if the FTC gets embarassed in court again because the EU will stomp the Activision deal flat (and, in that case, good). The two documents I've seen, one of which repeats almost verbatim Spencer's "case by case" description of future Bethesda games and the other of which suggests Microsoft will only block IPs that don't have history on Playstation consoles from appearing on them (meaning Starfield being stopped probably holds much less meaning than if Microsoft blocks the next Elder Scrolls or Doom game). The specific test Microsoft gave in the later responses to the EU the second time around talked about only doing so if Microsoft would gain less money by making it multiplatform than by making it exclusive (and since Starfield was supposedly being a target for Sony moneyhatting, Microsoft could likely reasonably claim innocence there).

 

If Microsoft didn't do that, which the publicly released records of Microsoft's responses to the EU's queries when the Zenimax deal was pending (as well as the EU's cautious but not openly hostile response to the Activision deal; which is not a given compared to how they approached nVidia buying ARM) suggests (but doesn't prove, I know) to be the case, Kahn is essentially wasting millions of dollars of taxpayer money and months of the legal system's time to push an agenda that the FTC is "Hard on Big Tech­™" while potentially embarrassing the administration that put her in charge using specious regulatory justification while directly enriching the big tech company in the same industry that has held onto overwhelming market dominance for 23-ish of the past 27 years and has spent the past few years vertically integrating itself into the same industry as well as adjacent industries.

 

 

 

 

In either case the FTC will probably lose (hard to see American courts siding with FTC following the Disney/Fox merger; which basically sailed through except for being stripped of the stuff Disney wanted to get rid of anyway), but it matters a lot to whether the deal isn't stopped outside of the US; and Microsoft will have 70 billion dollars in its pocket to do something else with. Probably something involving actively fucking with Sony now that the latter has decided to burn every bridge with every platform holder in order to retain the overwhelming market dominance they have enjoyed for 23-ish of the past 27 years.

[KHCast]

The fact I’m seeing politicians like Warren involved here is legit wild. The industry is definitely going to be feeling the negative impacts of these decisions, tho whether it’s now or later I’m not entirely sure on. Either way, this is just another thing the game industry probably shouldn’t be dealing with on top of all the other shit it’s currently dealing with (gambling laws cracking down on them, companies burning themselves with nft and crypto shit, abuse allegations, controversial price hikes, etc) Like…I really can’t see the game industry not dying within the next 10-20 years if they keep going down this path.
 

Like what sucks here especially is (from what I can gather) whether this goes through or not, Bobby Kotick will still probably be ceo, or have some powerful role in the company. I’m exhausted man 

[Jovahexeon Jax Joranvexeon]

Oh boy. The plot thickens.