Wow, now this has to be one of the biggest crypto/meta/gaming buys in memory. Whether it will go through is another story. But it was bound to happen, after Facebook/Meta’s direct move into the metaverse and crypto.
Microsoft already has a huge portfolio of game titles, their own studio, and of course the XBox ecosystem. Picking off one of the giants is a huge win.
Wow, the big boys are racing towards dominance of a trillion dollar industry sector. Impressive stuff.
Activision Blizzard was so embroiled in scandal recently that I am not surprised that happened.
Oh? How’s this related to the Metaverse? I read that this is more like Microsoft trying to be the netflix equivalent for gaming?
Microsoft were really late getting into the gaming sphere. Heard they owned Bethesda and was shocked to find this list when I checked.
Had no idea they had Obsidian, iD Software and the MInecraft guys! Now if only someone did something about EA Games 
A good question. Whilst we all wallow in a possible utopia of the future where all things are democratic, decentralized and “cool”, the powers that currently own Web2 and our private data don’t like it one bit that their trillion dollar industries could disappear overnight. So they look into those elements that are not currently, and may never be, truly decentralized, and buy them out. There are really only two global gaming creators, for PC or mobile access Metamask seems to dominate the local browser market, and whether they maintain monopoly of an entire sector, or just the parts of it that are dominant today, will continue to be high on the agenda of the boards of these behemoths.
Here’s the devil’s point of view:
It’s that same consolidation that’s lead to the gradual decline of the AAA game design studios. It gives a massive opportunity for new entrants because of the kind of mismanagement that happens when corporate philosophies don’t align. Happens all the time in the gaming industry. This is partly the reason why it’s the golden age of Indie creators. Tons of great, popular & critically acclaimed ones coming out year on year by teams as small as 1-3 people at times.
As for Blizzard, they used to be have massive good will among the gaming community, when they were smaller. Their founders strongly believed in making good games for gamers. All started going downhill after the merger with Activision. Shortly after which the founders left and they started gaining the ire of their once passionate fan base.
While Microsoft and FB have made brands work really well after including it in their ecosystems, there’s also a chance it could fail. The gaming industry is a huge beast. Could also easily fall into a state of mismanagement.
Atleast they won’t be like EA Games. I don’t think any gaming entity can be that bad. Not only are they the pioneers of microtransactions & the epitome of corporate greed but they basically ended up buying out rival gaming studios and cannibalizing them in earlier years. Like Westwood Studios & many others over the years. They killed off good gaming franchises. If the gaming industry were bigger back then I suspect these guys would’ve been sued for anti-competitive practices.
From an acquisition perspective, it’s about the Metaverse because MS’s CEO said so, Activision’s CEO said so, and head of MS’s gaming division said so when recently discussing the deal on a call with company heads and investors. That’s how they’re selling it. Whether it actually works (or is profitable, in MS’s eyes), is another question, like you said. Whether that’s their true motive, I’m not 100% sold on that.
“Metaverse” as a term, is being overused in my opinion, but I think in MS’s case, there was a specific, legal reason - antitrust and monopoly objections when it comes to the actual acquisition of AB. Claiming the acquisition as a metaverse play puts in on the same grounds as Facebook/Meta’s recent new focus for the future, which might help as the deal is being reviewed by the government.
But if we’re being realistic, the companies most likely to be successful in adoption of their own metaverse (whatever that means to them and to you) will be the big boys and girls - tech focused behemoths who already have gaming experience under their belts, already have an audience that could be/are the early adopters of a metaverse with AR/VR, and who have the infrastructure to roll out something as massive as I think metaverses can be.
And as I’ve said before, gaming with lead the way.
The Mojang acquisition was a $2 bn purchase price if my memory serves me right. One of their largest buys at that point in the time. And that list you shared is ridiculous. I think this puts MS at owning something like 25 gaming studios.
As for the AB deal, I didn’t realize it will turn out, if approved, to be the largest tech acquisition in history!
What startled me about the list was the recency in the acquisitions. 6 x 2018 + 1 x 2019. Then, whoosh! 8 x 2021.That’s insane.
Which actually lends more to your argument of the whole Metaverse marketing shtick. If I read right I think it was Libra’s (FB’s crypto) that scared the bejeezus out of the powers that be. If FB is seen as the more threatening entity this could be used a valid argument by Microsoft to claim a level playing field.
This exactly!
Libra/Diem was definitely too early too quick by a centralized company coming under plenty of scrutiny already.
Speak of the devil. Bye bye Diem?
Activision Blizzard has a lot of potential. With Microsoft’s investment it is expected that it will grow many folds now.
It was already a multi billion dollar company. Something like $8bn in revenue in 2020. I think it was maintaining that through 2021. S&P500 traded company.
And it has some major titles under it’s umbrella. It’s a heavy weight for sure.
