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Microsoft to acquire Activision Blizzard

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A bit of wider industry news today. News which completely blows my mind - Microsoft are out to acquire Activision Blizzard. Pending all the regulatory approvals they need to go through which takes times and can be denied.

This continues the very worrying trend of these mega companies amassing huge resources. Microsoft now control a ridiculous amount of publisher and developer teams, easily helping towards more lock-in with Microsoft services and products. For Microsoft, it makes sense of course, since they can continue dumping titles into Game Pass and get more subscriptions for recurring revenue.

Activision Blizzard has been in a lot of hot water lately, which is probably a big understatement. Employees and investors have repeatedly called for the removal of the current CEO, Bobby Kotick. The press release is a bit vague on what will happen with Kotick, as it mentions Kotick "will continue to serve as CEO of Activision Blizzard" and then "Once the deal closes, the Activision Blizzard business will report to Phil Spencer, CEO, Microsoft Gaming". So it somewhat makes it sound like Kotick might only be there until the deal is fully done but it's pretty vague. Probably intentionally vague due to the ongoing issues. Update: Kotick will remain, a Microsoft spokesperson confirmed via email. Update #2: They tried to clarify again later that they were speaking generally about the acquisition so it's anyone's guess what will happen with Kotick (IGN).

This will be an "all-cash transaction valued at $68.7 billion" which is so much money I can't even begin to imagine it.

Microsoft will then own the likes of Activision, Blizzard and King studios with Warcraft, Diablo, Overwatch, Call of Duty, Candy Crash and global eSports activities through Major League Gaming. The press release states this will make Microsoft "the world’s third-largest gaming company by revenue, behind Tencent and Sony".

Since Microsoft isn't quite the same as the Microsoft of old, we might end up seeing more Activision Blizzard games come to Steam and so making it even easier to run them on Linux through Steam Play Proton. Imagine having Diablo, Starcraft, Overwatch, various newer Call of Duty games and so on being a few clicks away on Steam + Linux.

What do you think to this news? The deal is expected to close in 2023.

Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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I am the owner of GamingOnLinux. After discovering Linux back in the days of Mandrake in 2003, I constantly came back to check on the progress of Linux until Ubuntu appeared on the scene and it helped me to really love it. You can reach me easily by emailing GamingOnLinux directly. Find me on Mastodon.
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115 comments
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slaapliedje Jan 20, 2022
Quoting: GuestThey will have then ZeniMax (Bethesda, id software, Arkane Studios, MachineGames) bu also Activation Blizzard.

You forgot inXile and Obsidian... pretty sure they own like 90% of the developers known for RPGs.
Boldos Jan 21, 2022
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Please don't forget that this certainly has yet another level in the background though:
Technology wars...

From the tech usage perspective, this will definitely mean more DX API and less Vulkan API, as an example...


Last edited by Boldos on 21 January 2022 at 11:47 am UTC
Boldos Jan 21, 2022
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Quoting: GuestI don't think it will change much of anything regarding API usage. It's not like Vulkan was being utilised in games coming out of Activision-Blizzard anyway.

You are correct - Activision-Blizzard were not using Vulkan.
But Bethesda *did* used it, on DOOM franchise.

So not only a Vulkan-enabled franchise was lost to DX, but Microsoft also ensured that all those other franchises will never get any other port than Windows, and will never get Vulkan in the future, ever.

(And on top of all that, think about e.g. streaming platforms: (currently) all technologically built around Linux+Vulcan. Those ports are never happening too for all these franchises...; all those platforms and their Linux-based technologies are forbidden territory now, and for the future)


Last edited by Boldos on 21 January 2022 at 4:32 pm UTC
Liam Dawe Jan 22, 2022
Note: if a comment is removed and we leave up posts where people are quoting it and we don't remove it - report the post via the button or DM me or an another editor to notify, there's no need to fill up comments linking to them or quoting them yet again.

I'll say again: there's better places to dump your politic thoughts on stuff like socialism, this isn't it.

Same goes for correction reports: use the built-in feature, no need to fill comments with it.


Last edited by Liam Dawe on 22 January 2022 at 9:19 am UTC
Pikolo Jan 22, 2022
Quoting: elmapul
Quoting: PikoloThis is sad news. Not that Activision Blizzard is a good company or anything, but Microsoft is already way too large. I hope antimonopoly regulations prevent this from going through.

your propic is familiar where is this from?

I've made my profile picture myself. I used it on my YouTube channel a few years back(not publishing videos anymore) and as my avatar in a few games and forums.
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