Mean by what?
I think Microsoft can acquire whatever they want if they see the opportunity.
Maybe but I think theyâll avoid anything major i.e. another publisher until the ABK deal goes through
It depends on the opportunity.
Not sure if true. I havent see it discussed anywhere
After that, Call of Duty fans will get a break from annual releases, with the next mainline game coming in 2024. Treyarch is reportedly working on this title. However, leakers have claimed that Treyarch has not been told whether or not the 2024 game will also get two years in the spotlight or if this announcement was a one-time move for Activision Blizzard.
While Treyarch still has until 2024 to fully develop their game, itâs interesting that Activision isnât sold on the two-year life cycle strategy as of yet. Insider @TheGhostOfHope on Twitter spilled the beans about this news. They claim that Treyarch, who last developed Black Ops Cold War in 2020, is still awaiting an answer about how their next game will operate post-launch.
I wonder if we could get a class action suit against the board and execs of Activision for their labor practices and the effect they are having on the value and reputation of the company. Iâve got a few shares, and the only reason this hasnât had a bigger impact on the recent stock price is because of the expected acquisition. Could argue that the reason the purchase price is as low as it was is because of mismanagement
The working conditions deteriorating argument from the senators really looking irrelevant now. ABK looks like it was a horrible, hostile area that needs cleaned up badly.
Per Jason S the vote by Raven was so successful, they formed a union
IâM BAAACK BABY!!! (not that anyone cared of course : , v) and Iâm here to bring you a juicy article!
This Tuesday, we talked with antitrust experts about what it might take for Microsoftâs proposed Activision Blizzard merger to pass FTC review. Also on the agenda: the results of a unionization vote at Raven Software.
The FTC is now in charge of reviewing the deal. With a newly empowered chair in antitrust expert and Big Tech critic Lina Khan and a Democratic majority, one big question stands out: Could the U.S. government block the deal, and on what grounds? The chances of the FTC blocking the merger are low. Antitrust experts who I spoke with believe the deal is more than likely to succeed, but not without some strings attached.
- âIt is very unlikelyâ the agency will block the deal outright, antitrust expert Aurelien Portuese, who leads a competition policy group at the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation think tank, told me.
The combined businesses of Xbox and Activision Blizzard would only give Microsoft the No. 3 position in the gaming industry by global revenue, after Sony and market leader Tencent. âA blocked merger would be the best gift you can give to Sony or Tencent,â Portuese added.
âThe combination of Microsoftâs experience in software with Activisionâs creativity would seem to be a good fit in order to challenge bigger players,â Portuese said. âI think itâs going to be very hard for the FTC to argue that thereâs a fundamental dominant position that will not be challenged in the near future.â
âI think itâs going to be a detailed review, it will take a fair amount of time,â Sharma said. âMicrosoft has learned from its past and has become much better at dealing with regulators and competition authorities both in Europe and the U.S.â
Thereâs a lot more details there if you want to know more, they even talked about the possibility of the FTC making this review from aâŚânon traditional angleâ (such as data or market labor) and they still believe they acquisition will go through.
The most interesting part is that they think regulators will make COD stay multiplatform in perpetuity and I think the sameâŚwhat do you think?
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I think MS would probably be fine with COD being multiplat in perpetuity (if they HAVE to). All things considered. It is the second highest selling game franchise of all time. Its a cash machine. Let that money fund all the other projects down the trough that dont have to be multiplat.
Not to mention the obvious, they will still have it in Game Pass which is a huge win no matter what.
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They have already came out and said this will the case, so if that will be the only concession, Microsoft will bite the FTCâs hand off.
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Yep, though the same.
From an investment standpoint CoD staying multiplatform could be the better outcome for MS anyway. So why would regulators be worried about making CoD exclusive? As itâs understood, only Sony could be affected by that, and thereâs an unlimited amount of evidence against Sony with their exclusivity deals and intentions to utilize their market position to starve Xbox off content early this generation, why couldnât that stuff be investigated as well?
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I generally just take it as people waxing philosophic about the what ifs and maybes. It does seem like it would set an odd precedent.
Like, sure you can buy things, but you cant exclusively have the thing that makes it worth buying. It would be like Ford buying Pioneer and being told that they still have to let other car manufacturers have pioneer stereos.
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I think itâs the scale of COD, letâs be real nothing Sony has exclusive deals for are remotely as big as COD. If the FTC is forcing COD being multiplatform that is probably a good sign that nothing big like that would be able to be bought as an exclusive because that will look pretty bad on the FTC forcing one company who OWNS the company to release on their competitors platform but allow Sony to just buy exclusive rights to one, Iâm talking about a big game like GTA.
I myself am completely ok with COD being multiplatform and even release it on Switch while youâre at it. The main reason is because I lose nothing if it is on all platforms, it will be in game pass which is the #1 best thing about this entire deal for me and lastly we would surely get exclusive things still.
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I can see COD staying Multiplatform. It makes way too much money.
I wouldnât put it down to that exactly but more money doesnât hurt haha, there is a real possibility that it could hurt the IP too if people are that hardcore that they would never own a Xbox in their lifetime it could lower bang of the IP. They get all the marketing rights too so they can even make people think itâs only on Xbox anyway if they wanted to.
The last Modern Warfare game sold 30 million in one year, who knows what that is at now, now add all the microtransactions from the vanilla game + Warzone
Whether the FTC forces them or not, I dont think MS cares, they have no problem with keeping it multiplat
and I think people are underestimating how much MS/Xbox can leverage CoD, exclusive betaâs, 72 hour early launches with GamePass/Pre-orders on xbox, hell even just having the marketing for these titles again will be a big deal and something MS have missed out on for a very long time now
Over time that stuff adds up and a lot of casual fanbase who play pretty much nothing but CoD will gradually drift to Xbox, especially in the US
Unless of course they end up being like Mojang, plz no 
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Just having streamers and esports people being cod partners and using Xbox or Xbox controllers is big enough, just seeing the button prompts being Xbox prompts is probably even valuable, they most likely have stats how valuable having the XYBA in the Xbox colours is actual worth.
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