Welcoming the Incredible Teams and Legendary Franchises of Activision Blizzard to Microsoft Gaming
Games
by Phil Spencer, CEO, Microsoft Gaming •
Creators of Call of Duty, Warcraft, Candy Crush, Tony Hawk, Diablo, Overwatch, Spyro, Hearthstone, Guitar Hero, Crash Bandicoot, StarCraft and more join Team Xbox
As a team, we are on a mission to extend the joy and community of gaming to everyone on the planet. We all know that gaming is the most vibrant and dynamic form of entertainment worldwide and we’ve experienced the power of social connection and friendship that gaming makes possible.
As we pursue that mission, it is incredibly exciting to announce that Microsoft has agreed to acquire Activision Blizzard.
Over many decades, the studios and teams that make up Activision Blizzard have earned vast wellsprings of joy and respect from billions of people all over the world. We are incredibly excited to have the chance to work with the amazing, talented, dedicated people across Activision Publishing, Blizzard Entertainment, Beenox, Demonware, Digital Legends, High Moon Studios, Infinity Ward, King, Major League Gaming, Radical Entertainment, Raven Software, Sledgehammer Games, Toys for Bob, Treyarch and every team across Activision Blizzard.
Until this transaction closes, Activision Blizzard and Microsoft Gaming will continue to operate independently. Once the deal is complete, the Activision Blizzard business will report to me as CEO, Microsoft Gaming.
Upon close, we will offer as many Activision Blizzard games as we can within Xbox Game Pass and PC Game Pass, both new titles and games from Activision Blizzard’s incredible catalog. We also announced today that Game Pass now has more than 25 million subscribers. As always, we look forward to continuing to add more value and more great games to Game Pass.
The fantastic franchises across Activision Blizzard will also accelerate our plans for Cloud Gaming, allowing more people in more places around the world to participate in the Xbox community using phones, tablets, laptops and other devices you already own.
Activision Blizzard games are enjoyed on a variety of platforms and we plan to continue to support those communities moving forward.
As a company, Microsoft is committed to our journey for inclusion in every aspect of gaming, among both employees and players. We deeply value individual studio cultures. We also believe that creative success and autonomy go hand-in-hand with treating every person with dignity and respect. We hold all teams, and all leaders, to this commitment. We’re looking forward to extending our culture of proactive inclusion to the great teams across Activision Blizzard.
Around the world, there is no more exciting venue for fun and connection than video games. And there has never been a better time to play than right now. As we extend the joy and community of gaming to everyone, we look forward to welcoming all of our friends at Activision Blizzard to Microsoft Gaming.
Xbox-Chef will, dass mehr Leute World of Warcraft spielen
Im vergangenen Monat sorgte die Meldung, dass Microsoft den Publisher Activision Blizzard übernehmen wird, für großes Aufsehen in der Gaming-Branche.
Mithilfe dieses Deals hat Microsoft künftig Zugriff auf bekannte Marken wie Call of Duty und World of Warcraft. Bei denen sollen in absehbarer Zukunft die Spielerzahlen kräftig nach oben getrieben werden. Das ist zumindest das Ziel des Xbox-Chefs Phil Spencer.
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Spielerzahlen in World of Warcraft sollen steigen
Spencer äußerte sich vor kurzem in einem Interview mit dem Journalisten Stephen Totilo zur Zukunft der populärsten Spielemarken, die unter dem Banner von Activision Blizzard laufen und schon bald zur großen Microsoft-Familie gehören werden. Er wünscht sich, dass deren aktuelle Benutzerzahlen im Verlauf der nächsten fünf Jahre deutlich steigen. Bei dem Gespräch ließ er zudem durchklingen, wie das funktionieren soll.
«Ja, ich will, dass in fünf Jahren mehr Leute World of Warcraft (jetzt kaufen ) spielen, als es jetzt der Fall ist. Ich will, dass in fünf Jahren mehr Leute Call of Duty spielen; dass in fünf Jahren mehr Leute Candy Crush spielen, weil wir es zugänglicher für ein größeres Publikum gemacht haben.
«#
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Außerdem beliebt bei PC-Games-Lesern
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WoW Dragonflight: Server länger down — Handelsposten schuld?
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Erscheint World of Warcraft bald für die Xbox?
Weitere Details nannte Phil Spencer diesbezüglich nicht.
Daher bleibt abzuwarten, was genau er und Microsoft mit «zugänglicher» tatsächlich meinen.
Eine Möglichkeit wäre die Portierung von bisher PC-exklusiven Spielen wie etwa World of Warcraft für die Xbox-Konsolen. Damit würde ein deutlich größeres Zielpublikum zur Verfügung stehen. Allerdings ist das bis dato pure Spekulation. Fakt ist, dass sich die Spielerzahlen von World of Warcraft bereits seit vielen Jahren im Sinkflug befinden und schon lange nicht mehr im zweistelligen Millionenbereich liegen.
Quelle: Twitter
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Microsoft buys publisher of Call of Duty, Diablo and World of Warcraft. Time to run for Xbox? And what will happen to the PlayStation now? — Meduza
Jeenah Moon / Getty Images
Microsoft Corporation announced the purchase of Activision Blizzard, one of the largest gaming companies in the world that publishes the popular Call of Duty, Warcraft, Diablo, StarCraft and Overwatch franchises.
The deal will amount to a record $68.7 billion for the gaming industry. Meduza talks about how this deal will change the video game market and whether it will help Xbox beat the Sony Playstation.
Activision Blizzard, one of the most expensive gaming companies in the world, has spent the last six months in a serious crisis. The company’s shares were constantly losing value and fell from an average of $90 in July to $65 in mid-January. All because of the scandal: in the summer of 2021, the state of California (the company’s headquarters are located there) filed a lawsuit alleging discrimination and harassment in the company.
Activision Blizzard management denied the allegations and hushed up the issues. From the WSJ publications, it turned out that the CEO of the company, Bobby Kotick, knew about the harassment, but covered up the accused and did not tell the board of directors about the problem.
All this caused protests from both employees and players. Amid the scandal, several dozen employees left the state, including the president of the Blizzard division, Jay Allen Brack.
In January, it became known that in total, Activision Blizzard fired 37 people for harassment and inappropriate behavior, and several dozen more employees suffered «disciplinary responsibility» (what exactly is not specified).
Work on many projects has practically ceased. The World of Warcraft team has yet to announce a major biennial update, and two of the publisher’s most anticipated games (Overwatch 2 and Diablo 4) scheduled for 2021 have been delayed until at least 2023.
Recently, there have been enough problems and scandals with other projects: the failed launch of Warcraft Reforged, the lack of support, updates and bug fixes in other games. The expected success, according to the CEO, was also not achieved by the large-scale Call of Duty: Vanguard project. Immediately after the release, the game sold 40% worse than the previous part.
However, Microsoft agreed to pay above market for Activision Blizzard for a deal worth $68.7 billion. If nothing interferes with its official registration, the company’s shareholders will receive 9$5 per security, which is 45% higher than the market value as of mid-January.
Bobby Kotick himself recognized Microsoft’s offer as «incredibly attractive».
Immediately after the announcement of the deal with Microsoft, Activision Blizzard securities rose 35% to $88 per share. For Activision Blizzard, the deal turned out to be a good way to get out of the protracted crisis. But why such spending by Microsoft?
Generational Wars
In 2000, Microsoft created a gaming division, began developing its own consoles, and entered into a race with its main competitor, Sony.
The first Xbox could not compete with the PlayStation 2, but Microsoft is preparing for the next generation. The Xbox 360 was cheaper than the PS3, and its release took place almost a year ahead of its competitor. The next round in the middle of the tenths, with the transition to PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, Sony clearly won. At the start of sales, Japanese set-top boxes turned out to be more productive and cheaper ($399 vs. $499).
Played and the difference in positioning.
Microsoft decided to turn its device into a home console for the whole family, with the ability to watch sports broadcasts and Skype calls, while Sony focused on gamers. And it continued to invest in game exclusives — the popular God of War, The Last of Us and Uncharted series received sequels. As a result, PS4 sales more than doubled those of Xbox One, nearly 110 million to 48 (from 2013 to 2020).
In 2018, Microsoft came up with an answer. The corporation decided to invest in content production.
The «All in One» slogan hints at the positioning of the console
Game Pass
Since 2017, Microsoft’s gaming division has been developing the Xbox Game Pass service, a subscription that allows you to play different games without purchasing them separately.
Initially, the subscription provided access to a small number of not the newest games and only on the Xbox. But the very next year, Microsoft went further, expanded the library and began to open access to new games immediately after their release. Then a separate tariff for players on PC (personal computers) appeared, which expanded the audience of the service.
But the most important step of the company was the purchase of several game publishers at once. Before the deal with Activision Blizzard, Microsoft’s largest gaming investment was the purchase of the parent company of video game publisher Bethesda, known for the The Elder Scrolls and Fallout series of games. Today, the corporation also controls the studios id Software (Doom, Quake), Arkane (Dishonored, Prey, Deathloop), MachineGames (Wolfenstein), Tango Gameworks (The Evil Within and Ghostwire Tokyo).
In developing Game Pass, Microsoft not only buys studios, but also invests in third-party projects. On the first day after the release, through a subscription, for example, you can play the long-awaited project of the Ukrainian studio GSC S.
T.A.L.K.E.R. 2.
In fact, the company becomes the new Netflix in the world of video games. On the day of the announcement of the deal between Microsoft and Activision Blizzard, it became known that the Game Pass audience had grown to 25 million subscribers.
Activision Blizzard games will definitely appear in the Game Pass, a separate question is whether owners of Sony consoles will suffer. Today, the audience for various parts of Call of Duty is largely made up of PlayStation owners. New parts of the series regularly make it into the top ten most popular games on the PlayStation for the year. And in 2020, Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War took first place, becoming the most downloaded game of the year.
When asked if the franchise will become an Xbox exclusive in the future, Microsoft is evasive so far: «Today, Activision Blizzard games exist on a variety of platforms, and we plan to continue to support these communities in the future.» At the same time, Bloomberg sources believe that some of the company’s products can still turn into exclusives.
This has already happened with the upcoming game Starfield, which is being developed by Bethesda, which is part of Microsoft. Considering the company’s focus on cross-platform, which means the ability to synchronize the passage of their games both on the console and, for example, on a personal computer, this can be a decisive factor when choosing a console for many players.
Although Sony remains the leader in sales of current versions of consoles (at the end of 2021, the company sold five million more SonyPlaystation 5 than Microsoft its Xbox Series), it is still difficult to call the transition to a new generation massive. Due to the pandemic and the resulting shortage of chips, buyers around the world have experienced problems with the supply of electronics. Both consoles came out over a year ago, but buying them all this time was not so easy. This means that the gap can still be made up if Microsoft finds something to interest potential buyers.
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Metaverses (again)
The deal with Activision Blizzard should strengthen the company’s position in the mobile games market. Among the assets of the acquired company is a strong mobile division that is working on Candy Crush and the upcoming release of Diablo Immortal.
And large groups of players united by one platform are an excellent starting point for the development of the metaverses. Bobby Kotick, CEO of Activision Blizzard, also mentions this in an interview after the announcement of the deal.
At the end of 2021, Microsoft has already announced the creation of its metaverse, a project for remote collaboration Mesh for Teams. Now they will have the infrastructure of popular games, such as World of Warcraft. The MMORPG genre is probably the closest in experience to what is now called the metaverses.
Many players, united by one platform, communicate with each other through their virtual avatars every day.
Now Sony has to figure out how to respond to the competitor’s step. The company is unlikely to be able to buy independent studios remaining on the market (for example, Ubisoft), after all, Microsoft’s budgets are much larger. But there is another way. In 2021, Sony has invested in several small companies at once. Perhaps the company will be able to get new high-profile releases that can conquer the market from small newcomers.
There is still time — the deal between Microsoft and Activision Blizzard will not end until mid-2023. And only if it is allowed by antitrust regulators. After all the acquisitions of game studios, Microsoft may have questions. But both parties and their lawyers are positive about the chances of a successful closing of the deal. After all, even despite the purchase of Activision Blizzard, Microsoft’s gaming business will still be inferior to Sony.
But their positions will get closer, which means that competition should intensify.
The situation in the market, when all resources are concentrated in the hands of a small group of competing giants, scares some players as well. The same Blizzard, before merging with Activision, was a completely different company in which developers could experiment more often without being subjected to pressure from management. After the merger in 2008, the company was repeatedly criticized for focusing only on those projects that bring more profit.
However, Microsoft’s policy regarding purchased studios is still quite liberal. They are allowed to create small projects, the platform relies on diversity, and not on a large number of players and high earnings. Sometimes a company, on the contrary, invests in fairly old games. For example, it holds eSports tournaments based on the game Age of Empires 2.
If the deal is not approved, Microsoft will pay Activision Blizzard $3 billion.
But so far the sides are positive. Activision Blizzard is confident that the sale of the company will allow it to engage in projects that previously lacked resources. Microsoft welcomes new players with a broadcast of the Blizzard game on the official Twitch channel. And Sony shares have already reacted with a 10% drop. It seems that the balance of power in the market will soon change.
Konstantin Valyakin
Microsoft will buy the developer of Warcraft and Call of Duty for $68.7 billion — RBC Dawson / Bloomberg
Microsoft announces $68.7 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard, developer of iconic games Warcraft, Diablo and Call of Duty. $9 per share of Activision Blizzard to be paid5, which is almost one and a half times higher than the closing level of the previous trading ($65.39). After the deal was announced, Activision Blizzard’s premarket price rose by about a third.
The deal is expected to close in 2023 and once closed, Microsoft will become the third largest gaming company in the world by revenue after Tencent and Sony.
Under the terms of the deal, Microsoft will acquire the rights to iconic gaming franchises (other than those already mentioned, including Starcraft, Overwatch, Candy Crush), as well as the rights to host esports competitions through Major League Gaming. The deal notes that its games will subsequently be added to the Game Pass subscription service (available to Xbox and PC owners), which will provide it with one of the most attractive and diverse lines of gaming content. At the same time, Microsoft expects to strengthen its position in the segment of mobile games.
adv.rbc.ru
“We are investing heavily in world-class content, gaming community development, and the cloud to usher in a new era where players and game creators come first and games are safe, inclusive, and accessible to all,” said about the company’s plans, the head of Microsoft Satya Nadella.
adv.rbc.ru
Microsoft’s main competitor in the gaming market is the Japanese corporation Sony.
According to statistics from the consulting company Ampere Analysis for the third quarter of 2021, Sony sold 12.8 million PlayStation 5 consoles, while Microsoft sold only 6.7 million Xbox Series X / S — half that. Nintendo’s Switch consoles remain the absolute leader by a significant margin — 89.7 million
Sony’s gaming and online services revenue for the first quarter of fiscal year 2021 (ended June 30, 2021) was ¥615.8 billion ($5.36 billion). Microsoft’s Fiscal Year 4Q 2021 report (calendar ended June 30, 2021) does not provide exact figures for gaming revenue, but only notes that it increased by $357 million driven by growth in Xbox hardware sales, partially offset by lower demand for content and services. companies.
Activision Blizzard in its report on the results of the second quarter of 2021 (ended on June 30, 2021) reported revenue of $ 2.3 billion (an increase compared to the same period last year was 16%). Of these, $568 million came from product sales, $1.7 billion from user in-game spending, subscriptions, and other segments.
The purchase of Blizzard first of all strengthens the position of the corporation in the confrontation with Sony in the console market, Yaroslav Meshalkin, director of strategic communications at the esports holding ESforce, said in a conversation with RBC. Sony’s key advantage — the number of exclusives — is greatly weakened in the new conditions. “Microsoft clearly sees great prospects in the gaming direction, monetization of the gaming audience and synergy with its other solutions, such as cloud services,” Meshalkin said. — As for Activision Blizzard, I believe that it is good for her. In recent years, the company’s policy regarding many products has caused dissatisfaction among gamers. In fact, many series have been abandoned to their fate, and, for example, the esports potential of Overwatch, StarCraft 2, Hearthstone and Heroes of the Storm is almost lost. In fact, the company was left with only the incredibly successful Call of Duty franchise, which set records for sales and monetization.
