Microsoft-Activision-Blizzard Discussion Thread (Part 1)

[Callangoso]

I wonder what will happen to BlizzCon. Will Blizzard games be shown on Xbox E3 or only on BlizzCon?

[Djbirdman26 (Davis)]

@etta

Once the deal goes through, can they for the love of all that is holy send a couple engineers to just boost the resolution of Modern Warfare Remastered from 900P to 4K… it’s a damn travesty to look at.

I want my Chernobyl resolution to be crisp and clear.

Should be a couple minutes of work, it makes no sense Raven updated the game back then for the PS4 Pro but not Xbox One X.

No send the engineers up to condense the game file and teach them how to properly do updates so one the game isn’t massive and two updates aren’t re-downloading the game. Main reason I don’t play call off duty and warzone.

[AllianceOfficer]

@Callangoso

I wonder what will happen to BlizzCon. Will Blizzard games be shown on Xbox E3 or only on BlizzCon?

I’d anticipate they’ll keep it going. It’s big for eSports.

[Jeans]

Yeah, and it’s not just a reactionary video, Destin has really good points.

I didn’t know Spiderman uses technology from Sunset Overdrive.

[Jeans]

Did you guys watch the DF direct video ?

DF Direct Special: Microsoft Buys Activision/Blizzard - Initial Reaction! Speculation! More!

I know they didn’t have much time to think about it, but it was a weird one. It’s like they had nothing to say other than “consolidation is bad, we shouldn’t celebrate it”. It felt amateurish and kind of premature, even though we have precedents in this case with Bethesda and other acquisitions.

Like come on, these studios being liberated from Kotick’s grasp is exciting ! All these dormant IPs which can now be revived ? Why not talk about that instead of being overly negative and pessimistic ?

I like these guys but I feel like they are stuck in the past here, having flashbacks of MS from the 90’. They don’t want things to change, move around, evolve. And they are dealing with techs all day…

[Twinblade]

@Joe_Sinister1

…s a sight to behold. People are dead set on pushing this “Good guy, Sony underdog narrative” like they never did underhanded shit to push Sega out of the market and wasn’t actively trying to do the same shit to Xbox. I enjoy my console and all that but i never saw Microsoft as some benevolent force, i would go as far as saying through the early years of xbox and 360 i liked the brand in spite of Microsoft rather than because of it. They just happen to now be making moves that benefit me as a consumer and are actually backing the xbox division like they should have from the start. Not even going to get into the guy who had a nervous breakdown on Youtube over this and compared Spencer to Hitler. I will never understand what it is about Sony that makes them like this, it’s actually cult like.

Portraying the second biggest gaming company, the dominating console manufacturer and a billion dollar company as the innocent underdog will never stop being funny and sad at the same time to me. It’s up there with the earth is flat arguments or discussions.

[GamepadX]

@Djbirdman26

No send the engineers up to condense the game file and teach them how to properly do updates so one the game isn’t massive and two updates aren’t re-downloading the game. Main reason I don’t play call off duty and warzone.

Call of Duty branded 2TB Storage Expansion Cards

[etta]

@GamepadX

Call of Duty branded 2TB Storage Expansion Cards

Should come with each game.

[KakkaKarrotKake]

@AtticusFincher

Why put up a fight when you can just purchase the competitor?

This scrappy competitor built from hard work and a dream framing for giant corporations needs to die in a fire. They’re not Rocky Balboa, they’re multi-billion dollar corporations. Purchasing stuff IS how they put up a fight and it’s been that way forever. Infinity Ward and Naughty Dog weren’t pulled out of Activision and Sony’s birth canal. They were bought and had ridiculous amounts of cash thrown their way to hire the best talent in the industry. It’s the same for every studio.

People are either being very disingenuous or are completely ignorant on Sony’s history, straight up buying exclusives has literally been Sony’s strategy since the ps1 days, it took until the late ps3/ps4 era for anyone to give a shit about Sony’s first party, so this idea of poor old Sony being some creative gods relying on nothing but god given talent is a joke

Hell, Tomb Raider’s exclusivity on ps1 might be the first high profile use of it in gaming, could be wrong on that but its definitely where Sony started their strategy

“B-b-b-but they arent buying companies, thats different”, yeah because they cant afford them, nothing more

Sony have been the big bully for a long time but now the kid they pushed around too much decided to start lifting weights over the summer, came back and ended up being a lot bigger than the bully

[AllianceOfficer]

@Jeans

It felt amateurish and kind of premature, even though we have precedents in this case with Bethesda and other acquisitions.

Precedents would be all previous entertainment content acquisitions, of which there’s a ton outside of gaming.

[Callangoso]

@Jeans

It’s like they had nothing to say other than “consolidation is bad, we shouldn’t celebrate it”.

This is like the default answer when talking about Activision/Blizzard and you don’t know what to say.

[Twinblade]

@KakkaKarrotKake

“B-b-b-but they arent buying companies, thats different”, yeah because they cant afford them, nothing more

Sony anime strategy shows how ruthless the company is and if they could outbid MS for Activision they would’ve.

[Jeans]

@AllianceOfficer

Precedents would be all previous entertainment content acquisitions, of which there’s a ton outside of gaming.

Yeah, they talked about Disney. I don’t feel like it’s a good example, but we’ll see. MS has learned its lesson with regards to acquistions and managing studios.

[clashfan]

@Jeans

Yeah, they talked about Disney. I don’t feel like it’s a good example, but we’ll see. MS has learned its lesson with regards to acquistions and managing studios.

Disney is an interesting example. Marvel and Pixar have done well under Disney. Pixar employs more people now than they ever had. The Fox merger allows for Disney+ to be a competitor to Netflix. With changes there is always opportunities.

[Biggzy (Hassan)]

@Twinblade

Sony anime strategy shows how ruthless the company is and if they could outbid MS for Activision they would’ve.

More like if Sony could they would bury Xbox out of existence since they definitely see Microsoft as direct competition and a threat to their existence.

[Jeans]

@clashfan

Disney is an interesting example. Marvel and Pixar have done well under Disney. Pixar employs more people now than they ever had. The Fox merger allows for Disney+ to be a competitor to Netflix. With changes there is always opportunities.

Yeah, true. DF guys weren’t that positive about Disney though. I can get the feeling that they are trying to milk all their franchises with mixed results sometimes, like Star Wars or Marvel, but that’s like every business.

That’s a matter of tastes in the end. DF guys don’t seem to enjoy Call of Duty games, John don’t like subscriptions services as he likes to “own his games”, so of course they are wary. I was hoping they would be better informed.

[Proven]

@Jeans

…Did you guys watch the DF direct video ?

I know they didn’t have much time to think about it, but it was a weird one. It’s like they had nothing to say other than “consolidation is bad, we shouldn’t celebrate it”. It felt amateurish and kind of premature, even though we have precedents in this case with Bethesda and other acquisitions. Like come on, these studios being liberated from Kotick’s grasp is exciting ! All these dormant IPs which can now be revived ? Why not talk about that instead of being overly negative and pessimistic ? I like these guys but I feel like they are stuck in the past here, having flashbacks of MS from the 90’. They don’t want things to change, move around, evolve. And they are dealing with techs all day…

“Consoldiation is bad” is such a surface level take that requires almost no thought. Every acquistion requires nuance. There’s no objective ruling on what is bad or not.

[Proven]

You’d be hard pressed to create many valid reasons on how Microsoft acquiring a publisher that is in turmoil and churning out uninspired products instead of a diverse set of games is “bad” but a bunch of people in the media will just say “consolidation is bad” without understanding what that even means.

[clashfan]

@Jeans

That’s a matter of taste in the end. DF guys don’t seem to enjoy Call of Duty games, John don’t like subscriptions services as he like to “own his games”, so of course they are wary. I was hoping they would be better informed.

I rarely agree with Jez but the gaming press really comes off as elitist. For any industry to grow there has to be multiple entry points for a consumer. Imagine if the only way for you to enjoy movies was to go to the theater. It was that way for decades. Then the movie industry almost died. Home video and VOD saved them. It revived people’s passion for movies.

[Biggzy (Hassan)]

@Proven

You’d be hard pressed to create many valid reasons on how Microsoft acquiring a publisher that is in turmoil and churning out uninspired products instead of a diverse set of games is “bad” but a bunch of people in the media will just say “consolidation is bad” without understanding what that even means.

Or that despite the competition in the space, pretty much all the AAA publishers are basically making the same decisions and/or the same type of games, so you could argue what’s the difference.