Microsoft captured an Activision!

 It's detail were added to it's Pokedex

Okay so I'm going to take a little break from my regularly scheduled blog series to ask the obvious question I think we're all wondering: What the hell just happened? I mean seriously; Activision just folded it's cards under Microsoft for a little shy of $70 billion? (Well actually it's quite a lot shy, $1.3 billion shy to be exact, but you get what I mean.) What does this mean, how does this shape the gameplan of this industry and how many consolidations are going to go through before we start ringing the 'monopoly' alarm? I mean it's always been clear that Microsoft has the kind of 'buy your house just to burn it down' kind of money, but they've never exercised it in the video game landscape like this before. It's as though someone just diverted the annual budget meant for 2022's pharmaceutical research and funnelled it into this buy. Oh wait, I just thought of something- if this has been bubbling up in the background for all this time then how does that frame the recent troubles Activision is going through? There's just so many questions to go over and nowhere near enough answers to stop us chewing our fingers to nubs in anticipation; so let's get started with some educated speculation just as we are so eager to do on this funny little thing we call the Internet.

Firstly, what does this mean for the landscape? Well I think it's pretty clear that lines are being drawn in the sand opposite Sony for these 'console wars' that everyone is always going on about. Previously it's always seemed like Sony has had the upperhand whilst Microsoft has been slowly building up it's own bevy of exclusives, but this is certainly a big move to tip the balance. Before Sony only just conceded and started allowing it's exclusives on the PC, (albeit, one at a time) so I no longer really have a horse in this race; but it's still fascinating to watch how these companies seem to be bringing in studios of differing specialties not so much to compete but to coincide with their bitter competition. Sony covets the great AAA single player developers, whilst Activision is an online-centric publisher through and through, kind of making it seem like Xbox is saying "We've got competitive multiplayer all to our selves; you can have the high quality singleplayer award winners." As though that's a balance which is going to hold.

Lord can imagine the utter shock that all those Call of Duty fans are going to be in when they roll up later this year to the Modern Warfare 2 launch (or re-launch, depending on how you look at it) eager to get that new release on their PS5 only to be slapped across the face with a cold fish. More and more it's becoming far too complicated to be a console gamer anymore, with these petty politics and exclusivity lines ramping up the inconvenience for everyone. And yeah, maybe Microsoft will allow the next couple of Call of Duty's to be cross platform, considering PS5 development is probably already started on them and the contracts have been written up, but you have to be crazy if you think Xbox is going to foot the bill for a big-selling Playstation game forever. That's a rug destined to be pulled and the chaos it will cause once it does is going to be amusing, if nothing else.

As for whether or not this brings Microsoft dangerously close to a gaming monopoly; I think we're certainly getting there. With Obsidian, Bethesda and Activision now dancing to the beat of Microsoft's drum, it feels like we're only a couple of years away from the Ubisoft acquisition, maybe Square Enix, or heck, why not Nintendo themselves seeing as how this asking price crosses their entire evaluation- it seems the only companies out of their reach are the huge mobile developers now. The gaming world shrank considerably with this news and I'm starting to wonder if it's even possible for a AAA studio not to be swallowed up by the big two in the future. And is this even going to healthy in the long run? How are all of these companies being managed under Microsoft's umbrella going to thrive when having to fight for attention and support against now giants subsidiaries also in the stable? Somehow, someway; this feels like a ticking time bomb of a business practice.

But moving away from the bigger picture for a moment; what does this mean for Activision and everything currently under them? I wonder if Battle.net, quite the annoying extra little launcher (although one with a lot of history to it) will become redundant now that Microsoft is in the picture? Or at the very least those Battle.net games not yet on the Microsoft store might see their impending ports soon. Microsoft could see it's stores and severs met with such profitable and promising franchises like Star Craft, Warcraft, Diablo and Overwa- okay, I can't say that last one with a straight face. We all know that Overwatch in 2022 exists purely as fuel for talented 3D modellers to debase over on Rule 34. That series is so dead that the upcoming Overwatch E-sports season is going to be played on an unfinished build of Overwatch 2, just to try and generate some remote interest from those who've forgotten the series completely. But sure... if Microsoft wants they can make Master Chief stickers for that game. (I can't wait.)

There's also the elephant dangling in the room here; and that's how Bobby Kotick and his whole scandal fits into this? Suddenly that ominous Phil Spencer email about 'evaluating their relationship with Activision' rings with a lot more power, even if it was sent internally. (No one expects internal emails not to get leaked nowadays anyway; it still feels like a polite threat.) If Bobby's mismanagement alone really did put $68 billion in potential jeopardy, it's an absolute wonder how the guy wasn't forcibly ejected from the company through cinderblock out the window! I'm serious; that's the sort of money that Shareholders start hiring actual hitmen over, how the heck is that guy still in the fold? And what does it mean for Microsoft's credibility that they went ahead and shook hands with Activision even with Bobby's stink still on it? I mean sure, Xbox are probably going to immediately push him out on his ass, but it just seems like a strange order of events.

What about something that won't change? How about the ingrained money hungry leeching hooks shoved into every orifice of this franchise to bite out at anyone curious enough to poke a limb in? Real industry experts claim that before every Activision game had to be a guaranteed billion dollar generator, which is what limited small scale innovation in the games they put out; they seem to think that now is going to change under Xbox and perhaps they are right, although I suspect it will be in a minute manner. Maybe Activision will publish an indie here and there for the free publicity, but I don't think for a second that Activision are going to suddenly tone down their pan-handling just because they have a big studio keeping them afloat. Guess what: Activision weren't exactly paupers before their $70 billion cash injection; how do you possibly think their way of nickel and diming (successfully) is going to shift in this new reality? Because I suspect the absolute bare minimum. 

Of course, all this is still in the announcement phase and theoretically anything can happen before the papers get signed. You know, if you happen to have a spare $69 billion lying around to come snipe this deal. (I actually don't know how such a deal would go down or if that's even possible; but man would it be funny if Elon Musk decided he wanted to go into game-making suddenly!) But even in the 'best case' scenario where everything goes through, Activision immediately starts welcoming smaller internal projects and Microsoft- i dunno- vows never to abuse their bubbling monopoly or something; Bobby Kotick is still looking at a comfortable ride out of his own office window thanks to the Golden parachute worth 293 million that he's got tucked away. Meaning that there is a point where you are so much of an arse that you can no longer experience failure in anyway. Karmic justice is a joke, free will is a myth; we're all pawns, controlled by something greater. Memes. The DNA of the soul.