The Activision Blizzard deal is great for Microsoft, but is it great for gaming?
OPINION: Whichever manner y'all wait at it, Microsoft's $70 billion buy of Activision Blizzard is a seismic one.
From Microsoft'due south perspective, information technology's an undoubtedly a cracking bargain. Information technology brings the likes of Overwatch, Call of Duty, and World of Warcraft under the Xbox Studios banner, and in the long-term it's going to add together a lot of fuel to the Game Laissez passer burn.
As a motility, it'southward not altogether surprising having glanced at Microsoft'due south history in the gaming industry, especially when they enquired to buy Nintendo back in 1999. Acquisition is in their DNA and you may wonder, what with their sizeable war chest, why information technology'due south taken them so long to loosen the purse strings.
Merely one time the excitement and surprise has subsided, is this bargain a proficient one for gaming? Consolidation and monopolisation accept never been good bedfellows – there have been lots of mergers that made sense at the time and fell apart later. And the more than I think well-nigh this deal, the less convinced I am almost its merits.
I haven't played an Activision Blizzard game in years – and this deal isn't probable to change that. If (when) they go on to Game Laissez passer, another Phone call of Duty is not what will brand me sign up.
Most of my gaming is done on the PlayStation and the reason why is because Sony's line-up is more diverse, and for my 2 cents, the more interesting. Halo and Forza are fun but they've become very familiar with their frequent releases.
Microsoft's lack of new, original IP and focus on existing franchises makes the Bethesda and Activision Blizzard deals a good fit, but the fear is more than Elder Scrolls, Fallout, and fifty-fifty more Call of Duty rather than new IP. At the moment Game Pass strikes a nice residuum between popular titles and discovery, but I accept a friend who uses Game Pass and since Skyrim came onto the service (a game that is at present 11 years old) they're correct back into that.
Game Pass is like comfort food, and a significant number of gamers will bask existence able to play these games on-demand. But new experiences engage customers and it remains to be seen whether Microsoft will pump its war breast into that or focus on the heavy hitters. It certainly needs to make back that $77bn somehow.
Game Pass is here to stay, but I can't come across it staying as affordable as information technology currently is. Similar the TV streaming market, there are a growing number of players afterwards a like piece of the pie, and I can only see subscriptions rise and annoyance of having to pay for several subscriptions growing.
It'd be smart if Microsoft stuck to launching these titles on other consoles – likely with some sort of timed exclusivity – equally they'll be leaving enough of coin on the table if they didn't. Subscriptions will eventually plateau, like they have with Netflix and Disney+, and what and so volition Microsoft do? And what will happen when Microsoft releases a game on disc, simply people say "I'll await for information technology to come on Game Pass"? That tin't be bang-up for the bottom line, and with subscription models in general, I can encounter the line between value, content, and pricing becoming fuzzier.
It's weird how we're ending upwardly in a like identify to when the Xbox One launched. It arrived with its internet-but ambitions and was summarily slapped down. Game Pass exudes a gaming focus where the multi-media hub of the Xbox One's approach didn't, but the Xbox Serial X is finer what the Xbox One was conceived to exist.
Gamers are tied into that internet-simply experience and all the market needed was a 'Netflix for gaming' deal to bring it to fruition. The times they are a-changin', merely it would seem that the more things, the more they stay the same, too.
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Source: https://www.trustedreviews.com/opinion/the-activision-blizzard-deal-is-great-for-microsoft-but-is-it-great-for-gaming-4196837
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