The Risks of Big Gaming Acquisitions [Gameindustry.biz]

[Gizmo_Duck]

This is a good article and why I think sony won’t rush into buying any publishers.

Buying Activision Blizzard is the industry's biggest gamble | Opinion

The price tag is only one facet of the scale of the deal, though; Activision Blizzard is also a huge company in other respects, with roughly 10,000 employees and a large number of internal studios, several of which would be pretty decently-sized companies in their own right.

The scale and complexity of what's being attempted with this acquisition -- with the full complexity only really starting at the point where the deal itself closes -- makes it into a genuinely risky proposition. There's an obvious temptation to read it as a major competitive broadside aimed at Sony and thus to present the deal as a huge coup for Microsoft, but that obscures just how difficult the task ahead for Microsoft actually is, and the many ways in which an acquisition like this can actually fail, ultimately delivering far less value than the acquiring company was hoping for.

Why Microsoft needs to be careful:

In truth, mergers and acquisitions fail to deliver real value all the time; we need look no further than close-to-home examples, like EA's various studio acquisitions or Microsoft's own expensive buyout of Rare, for instances where acquisitions ultimately underdelivered on expectations.

Such failures can be due to a cultural mismatch, poor management of the merger, badly calibrated expectations on either side, or a host of other reasons ranging from internal politics to simple bad timing.

Microsoft is still in the process of really trying to get its first-party game studios off the ground, so it's not like there's a well-established studio system and product pipeline that Activision Blizzard's various studios can be integrated with. And Microsoft is still in a process of integrating its last major gaming acquisition, Bethesda, which remains in the "hugely promising" pile regarding its contribution to the Xbox platform and is unlikely to actually start delivering major first-party titles for quite some time.

Why Sony won't be rushing to respond:

Sony will be perturbed by this deal, but also keenly aware of the complexity of what Microsoft is undertaking and the risks involved, and thus wary of making any rushed or panicked moves in response.

Sony is a little less vulnerable to a rival buying up third-party publishers than it used to be. Microsoft buying Activision a couple of console generations ago would have been a devastating blow to PlayStation, but all Sony's work on building up its first-party exclusives now cushions that blow significantly.

 

[PS5 Pro]

This is a good article and why I think sony won’t rush into buying any publishers.

Buying Activision Blizzard is the industry's biggest gamble | Opinion

Why Microsoft needs to be careful:
Because they spent 70 billion, and who’s to say everyone won’t leave call of duty next year? All those ips might flop and they wouldn’t miss the money. But they should be mindful




Why Sony won't be rushing to respond:
They too broke to play that game so with their stock dropping a whopping 20 billion in a day, and Sony did respond, immediately, Lying to everyone about details of a deal that has nothing to do with them But hey,, they can buy companies like marketsquare or whatever they’re called. First party game sold 500k I hear Sony actually paid to create that smash hit

Poor man’s Gamepass will feature old games, I for one believe in generations so you can miss me with that bulshyt lotto

I agree

 

[The Mad Titan]

The fact that Sony replied to the acquisition at all tells a different story.


If they weren't worried about it like that they wouldn't have had a public announcement.

They were worried about Bethesda, they are worried about Activision

 

[-DMP-]

What’s really the risk to msft tho.

At worst, game streaming/game pass doesn’t take off like Netflix and the juice not being worth the squeeze for Nadala and Phil

Only acquisition I could think of, for msft, that went flat out wrong was Nokia.

Skype and rare have just been mediocre but serviceable.

playground games have been good and consistent.

343 is turning it around it seems.

I don’t really know enough about the others : yeshrug:

 

[MeachTheMonster]

Dumb ass article.

Sony stans still in #Shambles

 

[iceberg_is_on_fire]

Their first party doesn't sell enough to protect from becoming a third party publisher like Sega in the future. In short, there is only one Nintendo.

 

[iceberg_is_on_fire]

What’s really the risk to msft tho.

At worst, game streaming/game pass doesn’t take off like Netflix and the juice not being worth the squeeze for Nadala and Phil

Only acquisition I could think of, for msft, that went flat out wrong was Nokia.

Skype and rare have just been mediocre but serviceable.

playground games have been good and consistent.

343 is turning it around it seems.

I don’t really know enough about the others : yeshrug:

This article is a bunch of Juelzing, that's why. The company 25x bigger woke up and started acting like the 25x bigger company and nikkas are losing their minds.

 

[Gizmo_Duck]

me thinks microsoft just wasted 70 billion dollars

 

[High quality poster]

Their first party doesn't sell enough to protect from becoming a third party publisher like Sega in the future. In short, there is only one Nintendo.

The highest selling COD game of all time is black ops with over 30 Million copies sold.

Both Spider-Man and GOW sold over 20 million copies…

why do y’all keep saying Sony first party titles don’t sell enough?

 

[TBdaGhost]

Consolidation and subscription services are probably not good for creativity and quality in video games. Time will tell for sure.

But hey. Xbox across the belly so horray I guess.

 

[High quality poster]

Consolidation and subscription services are probably not good for creativity and quality in video games. Time will tell for sure.

But hey. Xbox across the belly so horray I guess.

Probably got the L on ya forehead too imma pray for you my guy.

 

[TBdaGhost]

Probably got the L on ya forehead too imma pray for you my guy.

Not me personally man. I was just saying how some xbots are reacting.

 

[Champion]

Wanting Sony to acquire Square, Capcom, Konami, etc Claiming acquisitions are bad for the industry

Oochie Wally Wally One Mic

 

[High quality poster]

Not me personally man. I was just saying how some xbots are reacting.

Imma pray for these nikkas.

 

[Rekkapryde]

Playstation will be fine