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J Lo: I've got a few takes on this...

1. I refuse to call it Microsoft-Activison-Blizzard.

2. They are going to make Blizzard games exclusives to Xbox

3. I had a third point, but forgot what it it was.
MAB might be a solid acronym for the long-winded Microsoft-Activision-Blizzard. ;)
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kai2: Monopoly, The Video Game Industry Edition
Absolutely true.

More and more power concentrated into less and less hands as times goes by. What a wonderful period we are living in.
I hope one day Microsoft buys Ubi so Might&Magic will finally get kind of treatment it always deserved. For example, InXile would make remake as they did with bards tale..?
Post edited January 18, 2022 by Laggy_Log
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slurredprey: While the price may be arguably a bit too much, this is undoubtedly a good thing. Xbox is one of the more consumer-friendly AAA studios, with consistently good titles and support to smaller studios for which they publish games, whereas Activision-Blizzard is the polar opposite, lootboxes and annoying, unnecessary micro-transactions and cash-grabby annual copy-pasted games (you know which franchise I'm talking about). Not to mention the fact that their anti-employee practises with several cases of workplace harassment popping up recently.
After the agressive monetization of Minecraft, I wouldn't hold my breath they will not do the same with these behemoth aquisitions.

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tag+: And that folks, is the way S̶p̶y̶w̶a̶r̶e̶ (Oopsy!) Telemetry (TM) + your customers doing the beta tester work can produce 70B to acquire Activision-Blizzard.
I seem to recall reading somewhere, sometime that Microsoft was the biggest raw data miner, even above Google.
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Krogan32: Remember when the US government broke up Microsoft back in 2000 for becoming dominating in the computer marketplace? Yeah, they won't allow MS to buy Acti-Blizz because it will end the same way with MS becoming the dominating force in the computer games marketplace.
Remember the issues Microsoft had when because Office and Internet Explorer?

These are other times and most od these issues can be countered somehow, look at Android...
Post edited January 18, 2022 by Dark_art_
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Laggy_Log: I hope one day Microsoft buys Ubi so we will finally get kind of treatment Might&Magic always deserved. For example, InXile would make remake as they did with bards tale..?
Since you got Microsoft buying UbiSoft & Microsoft owns Arkane, maybe we can finally get Might & Magic: Dark Messiah 2?
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J Lo: 1. I refuse to call it Microsoft-Activison-Blizzard.
What about Mictiblizz? :D
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NuffCatnip: Great, Microsoft swallows yet another company, just what the world needs. /s
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Navagon: Normally I'd agree. I certainly shared that concern over Bethesda going that way; but ActiBlizz is a shitshow. As popular as it might be, that doesn't detract from what it is.
Oh, I don't care about Activision/Blizzard, never have. I just don't want a huge corporation like Microsoft to get even bigger.
I honestly hope they shoot themselves in the foot with that acquisition, they won't, but I still have hope. :P
Post edited January 18, 2022 by NuffCatnip
Unfortunately this won't increase the chances for the Age of Empires and other Microsoft games to be available on GOG.
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Laggy_Log: I hope one day Microsoft buys Ubi so we will finally get kind of treatment Might&Magic always deserved. For example, InXile would make remake as they did with bards tale..?
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MysterD: Since you got Microsoft buying UbiSoft & Microsoft owns Arkane, maybe we can finally get Might & Magic: Dark Messiah 2?
What's with this gleeful anticipations of possible sequels? Do we have an actual example of any game made by studios bought by Microsoft after acquisition that was good (not to mention DRM-free)?
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eiii: Unfortunately this won't increase the chances for the Age of Empires and other Microsoft games to be available on GOG.
I know, right? All this means to me is one destructive company I don't like gobbling up another destructive company I freaking hate, creating an even more all powerful Wizard of OZ.
Post edited January 18, 2022 by Plumb
On a semi-similar topic:

Considering that MS holds the rights for *some* older Mechwarrior titles, are the chances of winning the lottery greater than getting them on GOG?
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Navagon: That's the big concern for me. I just can't get on board with subscription game services of any kind. Even when I had Xbox Game Pass for 3 months I barely used it; and when I did it was more as if the games were demos than full products.
I think a majority of "mainstream" gamers dabble with lots of popular stuff and rarely finish games, as achievements show us. These subscriptions will succeed because they appeal a lot to those people. No more paying $60 to play the new hot thing for 4 hours before moving to the next hot thing. These are the people screaming in every comment section about the "amazing value."

As someone who mostly plays RPGs and plays them for a long time until they are finished (and who also replays a lot of older games), subscriptions taking over will surely cost me way more money and be way more inconvenient. Having to subscribe to play Fallout 5 for example, a real possibility by the time that game comes out, would cost me way more than $60 over time and also annoy the hell out of me for DRM/ownership reasons.
Looking forward to World of Warcraft being added into PC Game Pass.
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CMOT70: Looking forward to World of Warcraft being added into PC Game Pass.
How would that work? Pay for game pass and wow subscriptions?
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StingingVelvet: That really seems like too much money to me. Like ten times the Bethesda deal for a bunch of brands that are arguably fading from the spotlight and teams that are shadows of what they once were? Seems like banking a lot on CoD remaining dominant and Diablo 4 bringing people back. I'm not an analyst though, wtf do I know.

This doesn't effect me directly much, I don't even have Battle.net installed. Industry wise though it's an earthquake I suppose. They also announced GamePass has 25 million subscribers, so we're definitely headed toward the Netflix model for the gaming industry, for better or worse (worse).
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Navagon: That's the big concern for me. I just can't get on board with subscription game services of any kind. Even when I had Xbox Game Pass for 3 months I barely used it; and when I did it was more as if the games were demos than full products.

I can imagine that there'll be games that are subscription-exclusive before too long. It's a negative direction to be headed in and it's not the only negative direction the industry is heading in right now.
MS probably cares more about you being locked in endless payment. Look at how many people pay for Gym memberships, but never go to the gym. Gyms make lots of money off people never going, but have a membership.
Post edited January 18, 2022 by Syphon72
low rated
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Navagon: That's the big concern for me. I just can't get on board with subscription game services of any kind. Even when I had Xbox Game Pass for 3 months I barely used it; and when I did it was more as if the games were demos than full products.
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StingingVelvet: I think a majority of "mainstream" gamers dabble with lots of popular stuff and rarely finish games, as achievements show us. These subscriptions will succeed because they appeal a lot to those people. No more paying $60 to play the new hot thing for 4 hours before moving to the next hot thing. These are the people screaming in every comment section about the "amazing value."

As someone who mostly plays RPGs and plays them for a long time until they are finished (and who also replays a lot of older games), subscriptions taking over will surely cost me way more money and be way more inconvenient. Having to subscribe to play Fallout 5 for example, a real possibility by the time that game comes out, would cost me way more than $60 over time and also annoy the hell out of me for DRM/ownership reasons.
These are important points. I think the people running these services would be pretty happy at the fact people don't savor and finish games, and also at the fact the people who do will be sucked into paying for the service, or foregoing the games entirely. This is basically what I refer to when I say these companies give us the "choice" of "take it or leave it." I encourage people to pick "leave it." Not sure if you're aware of this project: http://projectvanburen.com . But for myself loving New Vegas while thinking 4 (and to a somewhat lesser degree, 3) is a big disappointment, I would much rather wait for this project to come out than for Fallout 5 to come out...even if by some miracle Fallout 5 was to receive a DRM-free release here on GOG (that said, if Fallout 4 and a future Fallout 5 did come here fully DRM-free, no Creation Club, I would want to buy them regardless of preferring earlier games).