Microsoft deal: Activision initiated the purchase, not the other way around
Did Activision Blizzard want their own sale?
Microsoft is expected to acquire Activision for nearly $70 billion in the coming year. Since Xbox boss Phil Spencer keeps talking about wanting to win new studios for his team, Microsoft seemed at first glance like the initiator of the deal, who was just waiting for a good time. According to a report by GamesBeat However, things are different: Activision actively wanted to sell the company and Microsoft offered to do so.
Why does a successful publisher push his sales?
Activision Blizzard is one of the largest publishers in the world and owns one of the most valuable game brands with Call of Duty, which lands high in sales charts year after year. But even if sales continue to be good, the future for the publisher would not have looked rosy without the takeover for several reasons.
Bad image: Toxic working atmosphere, sexual assault, no equality – these are the headlines that Activision and Blizzard have been writing for several months. Even if the legal fees due to employee complaints can only elicit a weary smile from the company, it is the image damage that could put its paw in the coffers in the long run. There are repeated calls to boycott the publisher on social media, and the talents of the gaming industry often give the unattractive employer a wide berth.
You can read more about the lawsuit against Activision-Blizzard here:
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Weakening brands: The fact that even the actually strong Activision franchises are no longer doing so well also has something to do with the games themselves. Call of Duty delivers a similar product in a new guise every year, and Activision doesn’t seem to have any big ideas or ambitions for their other brands. Crash Bandicoot can be cited as a positive exception at this point, and Tony Hawk got at least one remake.
Blizzard doesn’t look much better. World of Warcraft people run away, and with Warcraft 3: Reforged longtime fans were put off. And otherwise? Nothing has been heard from Starcraft, Hearthstone now has a number of competitors on an equal footing and Overwatch 2 is still a long time coming. Diablo 4 is certainly a promising project, but Blizzard has long since gambled away the trust that the community once had.
No future vision: According to the report, Activision Blizzard lacks a plan for the future. Increasingly expensive to produce, AAA games need to reinvent themselves. in one Interview mit GamesBeat Kotick states that his company lacks expertise and employees in the areas of AI, machine learning, data analysis, cloud technology and cybersecurity. Aspects that may soon be adopted by Microsoft.
Bobby Kotick himself admits that things aren’t going too well at Activision at the moment.
Is the Microsoft deal the ripcord? So it looks like Activision-Blizzard is doing worse than many thought. A plane about to crash whose occupants are rescued by a large parachute with an Xbox logo on it. It will be exciting to see how the individual studios and franchises fare under the new umbrella.
Activision’s sister company Blizzard also has major problems, which were examined in more detail by Gamestar colleagues:
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Will the Blizzard shock finally change anything?
More articles about the takeover:
This is how the takeover continues
The deal isn’t over yet. Until everything is official, Microsoft has to overcome a number of hurdles that could prevent the takeover from taking place. Ultimately, however, the chances of a termination are rather low.
The question naturally arises as to what will happen to Activision boss Bobby Kotick once the ink on the contract is dry. He is said to have to leave as his role will become Phil Spencer’s responsibility. In any case, it wouldn’t be good PR for Microsoft to keep a man like Kotick in its ranks. The longtime boss of Activision will probably have his farewell gilded.
We know that buying Activision Blizzard is a hotly debated topic. We ask you to always have respectful and constructive discussions with one another.
Reference-www.gamepro.de