Not a fan of market consolidation. It’s bad for the consumer at the end of the day.
But if I were to look for a silver lining: 1 More quality Gamepass content and 2 Maybe MS can save Blizzard from itself.
I look forward to 5-10 years from now when the people who were kids now start pointing to this acquisition as the negative “turning point” for Blizzard because they liked Overwatch 2.
omg it can’t POSSIBLY get worse for Overwatch… can it? ABK execs have treated that product worse than breast milk stored in the company fridge.
Now releasing Overwatch 3, exclusively on GamePass! New features (…Actually no new features because we cancelled them all after discontinuing Overwatch 2)!
Overwatch 3 is just removing one of the supports to make it 4v4
I don’t think the kids are that dumb
Maybe they can make WoW expansions free with a subscription now, or make it all part of Xbox Game Pass?
WoW being included with a GamePass sub (similar to Fallout 76 or ESO) would be great, but don’t expect any expansions to be included.
All I want is the Xbox adaptation so I can do the grinding/leveling from the couch and only go to the PC for raids. I think with my current lifestyle (work work work, family family family), that’s the only way I could realistically play again.
I wonder if MS is more interested in the Activision side. MW/King etc. I think blizzard is just a baggage addon at this point.
Activision has a ton of old unused IP’s under their name. Could be a treasure trove if handled correctly.
But have no doubt, Blizzard is part of the prize. It’s just a matter if MS can turn the current “climate” around somehow.
Im of the boat that believes innorder to boost gamepass subscription numbers for shareholders, WoW subs will eventually merge into gamepass
I doubt it.
WoW is too old and there’s more profit in keeping the subscriptions separate. You might get a couple more expansions though. Whatever is in the works currently.
More likely they’ll be trying to bank on D4 and Overwatch to start with. Then, maybe, move on to something else.
Either way they’ll try to milk whatever newest franchises are out for as much as they can before doing anything. But current WoW isn’t likely to be a flagship for anything.
Its less about immedoate profit and more about pumping up gamepass numbers under one umbrella for investors to see a large number increase. Its part of the reason why Xbox Live Gold has been rebranded into Gamepass Core. Microsoft supposedly is under their sub projection (despite having about 40M subs) and trying to pump the numbers as much as possible.
Overwatch makes no sense given its a feee game. Unless your implying gamepass pays for the battlepass, as the game moving to gamepass would be a detriment on console as it does not require gamepass core to play (as its free)
I am uncertain as to the cost/benefit projections for doing that.
Yes, they get to bump subscriptions a bit. But the game would effectively go f2p in the process. And anyone that already pays for both, will not add to any numbers.
I don’t know the current player count for WoW. Only MS can estimate as to it’s potential benefit.
My money is on them just migrating everything to their storefronts to begin with and then waiting to see what effect it’ll have.
I’m with you and I don’t think the other person really gets just how expensive a WoW subscription is. It will never be integrated into Gamepass, it makes far too much money on its own.
It’s possible they might bundle up all the expansions and make the entire thing “free” with gamepass. They’re all bought and payed for as it is.
It’d make it seem attractive and it costs MS $0. And they get to keep the monetization model that’s already in place.
Having their cake and eating it too.
The only ones eating the check, so to speak, would be everyone that already purchased all the dlc.
It seems like a appropriate mega-corp thing to do.
As somebody who has spent years and years working for ABK and Xbox, my prediction is this integration will be hardest for King.
How so? I remember King being a primary target of the acquisition
AB and Xbox are both North American corporate culture companies, for better or worse. King is very much a Swedish company, and spends a lot of time on the softer side of management.
King was already struggling fitting into AB culture. That work-24/7, Drive for Success™️, I-read-six-books-week-and-get-up-at-4-am-to-exercise culture will now be driven up to 11.
To be fair to Microsoft… Mojang has seemingly been doing gret as another Swedish company under their roof. This might actually be a reprieve from Activision Blizzard management?
100% Xbox is better lead than AB and Phil Spencer is an awesome person and an awesome leader. So in that respect there might be more time for King post-acquisition. But let’s wait and see
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Microsoft has finalized its $68.7 billion deal to acquire Activision Blizzard, the publisher of Call of Duty, World of Warcraft, and Diablo.
The acquisition required 20 months of battles with regulators in the UK and US, but Microsoft has closed its Activision Blizzard deal after defeating the Federal Trade Commission in a US federal court and restructuring the deal to appease the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) in the UK.
“As one team, we’ll learn, innovate, and continue to deliver on our promise to bring the joy and community of gaming to more people.
“Today we start the work to bring beloved Activision, Blizzard, and King franchises to Game Pass and other platforms,” says Spencer.
Activision Blizzard made it clear earlier this week that Modern Warfare 3 and Diablo IV won’t be coming to Xbox Game Pass this year, though.
After the FTC then failed to secure a preliminary injunction to block Microsoft from finalizing its Activision Blizzard acquisition, the CMA and Microsoft instantly agreed to pause their legal battles for a remedy in the UK and eventually negotiated an agreement over cloud gaming rights.
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MS knows that everyone is gonna have their own Sub service just like how Netflix spawned all the Hulus and Disney+s., and it’s already started with EA and Ubisoft. To stay relevant they need to own the content, not just rent.
To keep GP relevant they need to cater to all types of gamers. You need RPGs, shooters, indies, classics, strategys, casuals, sims etc. “Something for everyone”.
I’ma be honest, I’ll consider this a win if Phil does actually get Raven on Hexen 3 like he kinda hinted at. Let’s get Warcraft 4 or Prototype 3, some new Tony Hawk. There are a lot of dead IPs that can use a comeback that isn’t just a remaster. Maybe they can go back and fix Warcraft 3 and make an Xbox port so that I can lay back on my couch and play that like I have done with AoE2.
If they decide to keep things business as usual it’s gonna suck.
