Microsoft Has A 70% Chance Of Closing The Activision Deal, Says Citigroup

Wall Street believes Microsoft is more likely to close the Activision Blizzard deal after findings from UK's regulatory authorities.

[Jin_Sakai]

How exciting.

[Gamer_Dude]

It actually is exciting, my PC game Pass library is about to get a lot bigger!

[Jin_Sakai]

And developers are about to lose money and make filler games. Exciting alright.

[Gamer_Dude]

@Jin_Sakai Develpers already lose money and make filler games, why do you think all these companies are for sale?

[343_Guilty_Spark]

@Jin_Sakai

They already do that.

[Jin_Sakai]

“Developers already lose money and make filler games, why do you think all these companies are for sale?“

Going from $70 to a small percentage of a subscription service will only make things worse.

[ChiefofLoliPolice]

Yeah with shovelware, fillers, and one and done game.

[RedDevils]

Can't wait to see Game pass has full of Shovelware.

[XiNatsuDragnel]

What a thrill I hope this can be done and over even if I disagree with Activision being acquired by anyone tbh.

[Zeref]

Honestly even I'm getting tired of this little brother.

I can't wait till it's over

[XiNatsuDragnel]

Same big brother but geez this debate is so entertaining.

[AuraAbjure]

Yay! I like Xbox, especially with Phil Spencer as CEO of Xbox.

[The_Blue]

Wow. The guy below you said said real nasty stuff and received up votes.

[shinoff2183]

Boo hoo

[AuraAbjure]

@TheLordOfStuff I can speak just fine with a fat wang in my mouth thanks. My voice is strong.

Corporatism i.e. the free market got my nation the USA to become the #1 most powerful nation in history, so it's been working out pretty good I'd say. Your problem with corporatism is likely actually a problem with corruption, which are two separate, unrelated, entities, the latter infinitely more destructive.

[AuraAbjure]

"...are two separate, unrelated, elements*, the latter..."

[sammarshall102]

I hope MS can manage Activision well but their history worries me

[Michiel1989]

even though I don't like this deal going through from a gamer perspective, I'm still a fan of blizz and their ip's. Their games have actually been pretty good, even if they don't have the legendary status of their old games. If MS can make sure to not micromanage games from Blizz and cleanup the management side of blizz, I think they got a good shot at making at least the Blizz side of actiblizz work well

edit: excluding the games they have outsourced, those have been a shitshow, but everything created inhouse has been pretty good imo.

[senorfartcushion]

It’s not going to fail. Major businesses aren’t really allowed to fail in their endeavours anymore. Even when they do fail they right it up as a tax break or some stupid inhuman thing.

[neutralgamer1992]

It will go through and we as gamers will be glad it's over. It seems like whole gaming industry has been on hold just because of this deal. After this deal is approved we will start to see ramifications pretty quickly

I think there is a good chance UBI will be acquired next. They are really struggling but do have a lot of valuable IP's

As far as PlayStation is concerned I see them going after japanese publishers (square and Capcom)

[anast]

The industry has not been put on hold. Games have continued to release and millions of people have not stopped gaming during this process. Maybe you feel this way, but it is hardly close to actuality.

[neutralgamer1992]

I am sorry my original comment didn't reflect my point correctly. All the business side of acquisitions and mergers are on hold is what I meant to say. Also games have released yes but when a 69+ billion dollars acquisition is being investigated it's holding back smaller acquisitions

This deal will have major impact on how the industry does business going forward. Right now it may not seem like it but within next 12 months the landscape of gaming will change in a huge way.

WB games were up for sale but after the launch of recent hogwarts legacy that is no longer available. WB parent company which had themselves an acquisition/merger realized how much money they can generate

I am personally against acquisitions because whether it's Sony or Microsoft whoever buys the publishers will make those games be available on their platforms

[anast]

Do those smaller acquisitions need to happen immediately? If they are imperative then I can see your point.

[neutralgamer1992]

Don't be surprised if on the day this Activision acquisition goes through is the same day there are other acquisitions announced by other companies

These regulators can't approve this acquisition for 69 billion and then deny another acquisition for 10 billion

I have said this since the day this was announced all these gamers who are celebrating this acquisition how would they feel if PlayStation bought Capcom and square enix and all those games would never end up on Xbox

It seems like nobody wants to look at it with long-term point of view and everyone is so focused on playing console fanboy. Within the next 12 to 18 months square enix Capcom Sega will not be independent publishers

[MIDGETonSTILTS17]

Aaaaand the beginning of the end…. Begins

[thesoftware730]

The end of what? these merger articles?

The beginning of what? More games that I don't have to pay $70 a pop for unless I want to add to my collection?

The beginning of gamers on here start acting like consumers and actual gamers, rather than fanboys who care more about billion-dollar companies' bottom lines more than their own pockets.

[MIDGETonSTILTS17]

I do not want Game Pass. I do not want to subscribe, or have a new subscription impact the cost of my previous Live sub (and Game Pass did double that price).

[343_Guilty_Spark]

@MIDGETonSTILTS17

You already subscribe. PS+ and $70 a pop. Gamepass is $180 per year.

[Lightning77]

You don't have to. You can get something like Redfall for 70$ or get it on gamepass. Nobody is forcing you to do anything.

That's why you and others don't like gamepass because ppl have options. While the other platforms there aren't any options like that.

[MIDGETonSTILTS17]

Reread the part where I say “… or have a new subscription impact the cost of my previous Live sub (and Game Pass did double that price).”

[anast]

Everyone knew it would eventually close. Regulators and governments just wanted a piece of the pie during this process. These are public companies.

Journalists treat the general public like they are stupid...I suppose they are right, but I would think journalists would want to reverse this trend according to the BS journalistic integrity stuff they learned from somewhere.

[cammers1995]

They're a monopoly. Thought that was illegal.

[MadLad]

Explain how they are a monopoly.

[gangsta_red]

They never do.

How long have they've been moaning about this and still not one of them understands the definition of monopoly. All one has to do is play the board game to know what it means.

[ApocalypseShadow]

They couldn't control the industry by beating Sony in fair competition with the original Xbox and superior hardware. The main reason Microsoft entered was to control the living room because they thought Sony's PlayStation would interfere with their computer market.

They then tried to beat Sony and control the market by launching hardware first and dropped the ball knowing they were selling a broken system that needed a 3 year warranty and a brown box. They had the medias on their side with kickbacks and swag bags, advertising dollars, etc. With lies being spread about Sony's console.

Next, when that didn't work, they tried to control how we played games from buying, trading and lending games, say which companies can actually sell used games, always online, watch you with a camera for advertising, etc. They dropped the ball again and Sony dropped the mic.

When that didn't work, they now want to buy up all the top franchises that sell better on PlayStation. If you can't beat Sony, buy up third party publishers and franchises that make Sony successful overall financially.

But it's not like they didn't have 20 years to beat Sony fairly and make games, billions of dollars on hand to make high quality games and studios, enough money to spend an unheard of 7.5 billion buying Zenimax Bethesda and most Western studios who make RPGs after they bought many smaller studios, then try to buy Activision for 69 billion to acquire COD and many more Western studios to lock in permanent exclusivity on more games that sell more on PlayStation. That's all they do. They bought Halo to lock it up, they bought Gears to lock it up from going elsewhere, now are buying up many franchises with a long history of being multiplatform.

Locking up the third party content is moving in the direction of trying to monopolize the industry in a supposed effort to save us from Apple, Amazon, Google and Tencent. When the last company mentioned actually has multiplatform releases. But the real reason is to beat Sony buy buying everything up with a system that seems lately to allow large corporations to buy up even more than companies need. Consolidation that will lead to less choice and higher prices. Guaranteed.

[gangsta_red]

@apocalypseshadow

That was some awesome fan fiction there, now try again and explain how they ARE a monopoly.

[badz149]

WINDOWS

[MadLad]

@badz

When you go to the grocery store, you're putting the money into the pockets of just a small few giant companies through their subsidiaries.
When you go to watch a movie/TV show, you're watching content from a very, very small amount of companies. There's also between a 40 - 50% chance they are affiliated with Disney in some way.

If you went to go and buy a videogame, even with this acquisition, the likelihood of finding "Microsoft Game Studios" on the opening splash screen still wouldn't be even a 1 in 5 chance.

So, again, can someone actually explain to me how this acquisition would make Microsoft Game Studios a monopoly in the games industry - the argument Sony tried to make against them and the courts shot down.

[rippermcrip]

This was never about a monopoly. It is about anti-competitive behavior, which this certainly is. But those are different things.

[giovonni]

That’s cause it’s not a monopoly. It’s really disheartening that no matter how many times it’s explained down to the definition people still feel this is a monopoly. Microsoft even with this acquisition doesn’t even meet the prerequisites of a monopoly… however Sony is close, they have 45% of the console market ,( they are also using their position to stifle competition (just in case you forgot using their money to buy exclusivity, and incentivizing company’s to create, run, and or suppress gaming content with competition) that is characteristics of a monopoly and Sony is closer to it then Microsoft even with this Activision merger. Yet, even with these facts people will still disagree and scream to the high heavens saying the opposite.

[Thundercat77]

Is going to be interesting to see Xbox at last place on the market even when they acquired Activision. I wonder what the excuse is going to be then.

[thesoftware730]

Last place in what regards? Consoles sold is not their only metric anymore, that is a Sony and Nintendo thing now. Is it not clear by now, that GP is what MS is banking on, that is why it's on everything that allows it, not just XBOX.

MS has moved on to, AS MUCH SUBS AS POSSIBLE.

Sony already admitted that PS + is behind GP as far as subs go. Were they lying?

[Aloymetal]

''Consoles sold is not their only metric anymore, that is a Sony and Nintendo thing now.''
It's not ''a thing'' for MS/Xbox anymore because they realized long ago they can't really compete with Sony and Ninty. After the hard spanking xbox received from PS4 last gen their only option left is gamepass.
Phil is trying to change the shape of the turd not just polish it.

[shinoff2183]

Ps plus is literally like 6 to 7 months old after the revamp.

[RedDevils]

Are you trying to say, this will be their last Xbox since they only care about GP? Interesting....

[Aloymetal]

And I got a front seat ticket for that show, the excuses will be hilarious. Imagine spending zillions just to secure a third place on everything. No market leader, no best in hardware/software sales and still the most irrelevant platform with gamers around the globe. A major accomplishment. Can't wait for this deal to go thru.

[thesoftware730]

I fully agree with the 'Spanking you speak of", that is the thing, they stopped being "Insane", doing the same thing over and over, and expecting different results.

The thing is Nintendo is not really that different in that regard, they realized they were not a company to compete with Super duper spec'ed systems, they tried with the Gamecube and it sold terribly, so they had to find a different approach. They eventually landed on the Switch, in a space not dominated by anyone. MS is attempting something similar.

They can not beat Sony's World Wide brand name, Sony was responsible for taking games "Mainstream" and making them cool, for MS to even be able to challenge that with the 360 was a feat in itself. MS then tried to take gaming to a place where gaming was not the focus, T.V, T.V, T.V.

Fast forward and they realized they cannot win against Sony with the traditional console unit sales metric, they will never gain any real ground in Japan, which in itself is a huge handicap as that accounts for good sales, and definitely, they miss out on some well-renowned games that are Eastern centric.

So what do you do? play to your strengths, Software, Cloud infrastructure, Digital models, a huge already established ecosystem, and now buy content...not "grow it organically" because your model is now in place, you need content. MS is trying to create its own lane, Netflix of gaming.

[Gamer_Dude]

Microsoft is going to make a ton of money off this deal, a large portion of it from PlayStation, I don't think they care who the market leader is.

[Lightning77]

Most console sold doesn't mean you're making the most money. Nintendo are very traditional in hardware and software sells. Their games don't go on discount either so more money in Nintendo's pocket in the long haul. Sony has the most console sold (new gen) they made truck loads off COD last year. Sony uses COD money to fund their first party games. Obviously it isn't all of COD money they use their own also but that just tells you how Sony has most sold and made the most money made from games.

That's why Sony wants to block the merger. COD makes Sony a crap ton of money full stop and Sony doesn't want that. It's the marketing rights MS wants so they can make that money.

You can be in 3rd place with lots of money being made, player counts in games and overall engagement.

[gangsta_red]

Probably a bit higher than that in my opinion. Can't wait, will be exciting times ahead for Xbox owners, especially for GP subscribers like myself.

[Limitedtimestruggle]

I love my PlayStations...but Jim Ryan being a crybaby regarding this..it's been a embarrassing piss poor performance overall. And it's getting old.

[Lightning77]

It's his job to stop the merger. The ones higher than him wanted to stop it at all costs. Can't fault him for doing his job.

I just want to know if there will be any serious ramifications to Jim if the deal goes through. Like a change in leadership.

Most likely not but we'll see.

[badz149]

@Limitedtimesstruggle

what do you expect him to do? they can't outbid MS on this and Sony don't have $69Bil to spare for acquisition and even if they do, MS will just increase the bid to an amount Sony can't match. $69Bil is way over the market value for ActiBliz anyway, but that is just how absurd the amount of money MS has to get what they want and even get the execs at ActiBliz fighting for them against any opposing party, in this case, Sony.

then what else? Do you expect him to just bend over and be MS's lapdog? accept whatever crumbs and scraps MS is willing to drop? go down without a fight?

CoD is nothing special, it's just the brand that sells and it sells A LOT! due to the dominance of CoD, Sony has felt relief from the pressure to produce any 1st party competitor and has let them focus on what they are doing best. the marketing deals they have was to ensure relevance and brand association so gamers would think of Playstation when they think about CoD and it was working great for them and for ActiBliz too. business was booming!

now MS comes in with loads of money (the amount they would have never made with the xbox division since it's started), Sony is now the enemy and you somehow want the head of PS which is Jim Ryan to just stand down and do nothing? he's not a very likable dude and has made some very sketchy decisions, but he is doing right by his position in going against this buyout.

[jeromeface]

Well, with all the spotlight on this if it does go through they won't be able to justify anymore.

[Babadook7]

70% chance of course means 30% chance of failure. Assuming it does succeed, I wonder what is the chance of a conditional clause being added to restrict COD or other large multiplat from being leveraged against competition.

[COS]

I feel bad for the Youtubers whose click count will go down after this deal is done. LOL get it done already :)

[YourMommySpoils]

How about we get a 70% chance of some proper gaming news, rather than this daily 70% filled with Microsoft.

[MIDGETonSTILTS17]

Wasn’t it a 70% chance Suddam had WMDs, according to the CIA?

Is 70% just a BS estimate number?

[Kakashi Hatake]

Oh well, as long as the games come to Playstation won't bother me. For the ones cheerleading MS tactics here, remember the pendulum always comes back.

[Father__Merrin]

It's probably going to go through because xbox on its own is very small compared to playstation I think it's almost a given now

[ironmonkey]

take it, all the help they can get. i mean i would hate watching videos for years of games not being released.

[RedDevils]

They have more studios than Sony without AB acquisition.

[Falloutxii]

So would M$ be allowed to buy more companies after Activision deal seeing how hard it was to even get this through?

[giovonni]

Depends on market share, concessions, and market at the time of sale.

[merlox]

I say this jokingly. Let's add Sega, Konami, Ubisoft, and Square Enix to the list for Microsoft to aquire.