Make your bets: how long until Microsoft destroys ABK?

[Swift_Star]

As we all know, MS has finally acquired ABK, in a desperate attempt to remain relevant in the console space and “compete” by further pursuing their monopolization wet dreams.
As seen multiple times, every single company MS acquires turns bad and, eventually, dies.
Rare has gone to trash, Bethesda is an all time low with the disasters redfall and starfield.
So, I ask of you, fellow iconerers, how long until ABK dies by MS’s hands?

 

[Vertigo]

They need the Activision studios to replenish the husk that is Xbox Game Studios. Depends if Activision still operates outside of Xbox.

It’ll be instant following a massive exodus of developers who want to avoid being bankrupted by gamepass.

1 year. Activision dead without Bobby and Phil in charge

 

[Swift_Star]

They need the Activision studios to replenish the husk that is Xbox Game Studios. Depends if Activision still operates outside of Xbox.

It’ll be instant following a massive exodus of developers who want to avoid being bankrupted by gamepass.

1 year. Activision dead without Bobby and Phil in charge

I also believe it'll be under 2 years to we see the negative effects. MS doesn't miss when it comes to do badly.

 

[Shmunter]

All the talent was waiting for the payout. Soon they walk to create new things.

 

[Sloane_Ranger]

2 to 3 years, initial 6 months willl look like this IMO

1) Exodus by those not happy with the change (probably already starting)
2) MS restructures studios and does minimal layoffs, this is also used to help PR control the exodus of those unhappy early Q1 2024
3) We hear about those that are left beginning new studios Q2 2024
4) COD goes FTP after continued loss of playerbase mid 2024
5) MS announcement of revitalization of older franchises during E3 time period next year - Tony Hawk and or New version of Warcraft more likely since it is in line with the MS GaaS model.

 

[KnittedKnight]

Depends on how long Bobby Kotick stays around. Whatever you think of the man, he made COD the COD. His management during the high and lows is nothing short of superb, whatever you may think of him.

As long as he doesn't replace Phil "Daddy's Boy" Spencer, it should happen as naturally as water flowing through rocks. If the two big heavy weights at MS are Philochio and Toddy Howard you can safely bet all your savings on the fact that for every step forward they take they'll manage to take two steps back as well.

All digital sku's will literally kill about 5-6% of their revenue, and that's just on the console side alone once the Series X physical edition goes bye bye with the refresh. Top that off with less PS buy in for Activision IP's going forward...

MS can keep bleeding... they got nothing better to do with that money, like say, raising employee' salaries, funding and building universities nationwide etc. Too busy scamming the IRS and the American tax payer for $28 Billion, while dreaming and scheming about tech domination across the board.

This gen is more or less done for, with the Series consoles in sales decline despite being at the prime of a consoles sales lifecycle. Nothing is going to turn that around, specially with COD still releasing on PS for the time being.

What is going to be interesting is the PS6 generation and how well Sony positions itself for a COD-less future during the interim. A cloud/hybrid console from MS just screams to me like a flop - but you bet they'll try to force the cloud future at all costs - you could say it's in their DNA. Even when Sony will perhaps be at their most vulnerable, that's, at a new generation launch, and the PS6, where the hardware has to justify itself... even then, MS is still planning stupid shit.

 

[Gods&Monsters]

Blizzard is already destroying itself. Once Bobby leaves and the employees take unions they will ask for a break and skip a year. Playstation won't advertise COD anymore. It's over.

 

[Abdizur]

You guys really need to stop with this nonsense.
It's a bad look.

 

[Swift_Star]

Depends on how long Bobby Kotick stays around. Whatever you think of the man, he made COD the COD. His management during the high and lows is nothing short of superb, whatever you may think of him.

As long as he doesn't replace Phil "Daddy's Boy" Spencer, it should happen as naturally as water flowing through rocks. If the two big heavy weights at MS are Philochio and Toddy Howard you can safely bet all your savings on the fact that for every step forward they take they'll manage to take two back as well.

All digital sku's will literally kill about 5-6% of their revenue, and that's just on the console side alone once the Series X physical edition goes bye bye with the refresh. Top that off with less PS buy in for Activision IP's going forward...

MS can keep bleeding... they got nothing better to do with that money, like say, raising employee' salaries, funding and building universities nationwide etc. And while at it, scam the IRS for $28 Billion.

This gen is more or less done for, with the Series consoles in sales decline despite being at the prime of a consoles sales lifecycle. Nothing is going to turn that around, specially with COD still releasing on PS for the time being.

What is going to be interesting is the PS6 generation and how well Sony positions itself for a COD future during the interim.

Kotick is leaving by Dec, 2023. The man is leaving soon.

 

[Swift_Star]

You guys really need to stop with this nonsense.
It's a bad look.

Does anyone knows who I am irl? No, so who cares if it's a "bad look". At least here I can say what I think about this and not get harassed by Xbox fanboys or Era moderators. I'm not stopping just because you don't like it, lol.

 

[Zzero]

Voted 8 to 10 but that might be rosy cheeks. Bobby will be gone after the year and though we might all make fun of him, or even dislike him, for "creating a culture of harassment" or whatever, he's done an amazing job of calling his shots and investing in winners. Even the recent years where his bets haven't paid off in the console space have kind of masked the fact that he has done amazingly well at mobile and (in spite of gamers' outcry) at PC with Blizzard titles. Will his replacements be able to make correct bets like he has? I doubt it, he didn't luck into being in charge of the world's largest third party games company, he purchased it for 1 dollar (aka assumed a ton of debt) in an era when game companies weren't worth shit and then took it to and kept it at number one for decades. That said, Activision has already chased out most of its creatives so it won't have the immediate "bye bye, person we purchased you for" that some of the others have had.

 

[Abdizur]

Does anyone knows who I am irl? No, so who cares if it's a "bad look". At least here I can say what I think about this and not get harassed by Xbox fanboys or Era moderators. I'm not stopping just because you don't like it, lol.

Microsoft didn't destroy Minecraft and they didn't destroy Bethesda.
COD will do fine. If you don't like something, just don't support it. Which means don't buy their games.
The fact is that Microsoft is trying to buy their way to the top. It's the sad reality. Now let's see if Sony wants to do something big too.... or if they think their GaaS games are enough to counter 2 publisher acquisitions from their direct rival (who wants to spend them out of business).

 

[Swift_Star]

Microsoft didn't destroy Minecraft and they didn't destroy Bethesda.
COD will do fine. If you don't like something, just don't support it. Which means don't buy their games.
The fact is that Microsoft is trying to buy their way to the top. It's the sad reality. Now let's see if Sony wants to do something big too.... or if they think their GaaS games are enough to counter 2 publisher acquisitions from their direct rival (who wants to spend them out of business).

The new Minecraft games released after MS acquired the IP has flopped, only the OG is going well because they didn't interfered with it.
Everything else has gone to shit. Most Bethesda games have flopped, hi-fi included.
Even Forza Motorsport is doing badly.
There isn't a single IP Microsoft haven't destroyed after the acquisition.

 

[KnittedKnight]

Microsoft destroyed its most iconic IP, and several other IP's of theirs are on life support. They certainly didn't kill Bethesda, cause Bethesda has been doing a fine job at that themselves, and MS's money hasn't changed that dynamic, at least thus far.

Outside of Minecraft, there is very few if any IP's that you can point towards that have somehow being revitalized and grown under MS's management. Even Forza, their critic darling, is hurting. Not to mention Minecraft ain't growing, and prob reached peak some years ago, with the latest release receiving a mid reception.

To expect stagnation and mediocrity is the most safe bet around. That is not to say they won't squeeze a genuinely quality title from time to time - it's a game of probabilities with the amount of studios they have now. Overall however, since nothing has structurally changed from a managerial and cultural stand-point, expecting mediocrity is the educated opinion. Anything to the contrary is actually loony talk, until proven otherwise over a significant sample size.

 

[Satoru]

Microsoft didn't destroy Minecraft and they didn't destroy Bethesda.
COD will do fine. If you don't like something, just don't support it. Which means don't buy their games.
The fact is that Microsoft is trying to buy their way to the top. It's the sad reality. Now let's see if Sony wants to do something big too.... or if they think their GaaS games are enough to counter 2 publisher acquisitions from their direct rival (who wants to spend them out of business).

You were saying?

• Hi-Fi Rush: a great game ruined by gamepass and lack of marketing. Studio head and founder left because of MS' bullshit
• Starfield: 7/10 game, losing loads of players on Steam, user reviews (the ones were you actually have to pay for the game) are worse than Fallout 76
• Minecraft: Under Microsoft, every single Minecraft "expansion / spin-off" has been garbage: Minecraft: Story Mode, Minecraft Earth, Minecraft Dungeons, and the most recent release, Minecraft Legends.

 

[nongkris]

COD and Candy Crush are too big to fail. So Microsoft will be just fine if they leave them alone like they do Minecraft. So the A and the K will be safe. I could see layoffs at Blizzard happening if overwatch or diablo continues to be lackluster engagement wise.

 

[Petekilla]

Microsoft didn't destroy Minecraft and they didn't destroy Bethesda.
COD will do fine. If you don't like something, just don't support it. Which means don't buy their games.
The fact is that Microsoft is trying to buy their way to the top. It's the sad reality. Now let's see if Sony wants to do something big too.... or if they think their GaaS games are enough to counter 2 publisher acquisitions from their direct rival (who wants to spend them out of business).

Microsoft has only owned Bethesda for 2 years. All of the games that Bethesda has released recently, started development before the acquisition. Also most of the Minecraft expansions since MS acquired them have been “mid” and Mojang has been very slow at updates. Minecraft Ray Tracing took forever.

 

[Swift_Star]

COD and Candy Crush are too big to fail. So Microsoft will be just fine if they leave them alone like they do Minecraft. So the A and the K will be safe. I could see layoffs at Blizzard happening if overwatch or diablo continues to be lackluster engagement wise.

Diablo was also too big to fail at 3's time and look at what happened.

 

[KnittedKnight]

Kotick is leaving by Dec, 2023. The man is leaving soon.

Good. Kotick is savage and wise exec, the type of exec that actually knows how to get shit done and compete. I wouldn't want him scheming to top PlayStation with the current idiots heading SIE. Much better for eternal schemers like Spencer, thinking always of the perfect master plan....

 

[Abdizur]

You were saying?

• Hi-Fi Rush: a great game ruined by gamepass and lack of marketing. Studio head and founder left because of MS' bullshit

That's like saying Sony PlayStation and their lack of marketing ruined Gravity Rush. Both games are just niche games. Nothing got ruined. And Mikami didn't leave Tango because of "MS Bullshit".

• Starfield: 7/10 game, losing loads of players on Steam, user reviews (the ones were you actually have to pay for the game) are worse than Fallout 76

Starfield is a 83 metascore game. And it's not a game Microsoft did a lot of work for. It's actually Microsoft who allowed it to launch a year later. Without MS Starfield would have been another Cyberpunk in 2022.

• Minecraft: Under Microsoft, every single Minecraft "expansion / spin-off" has been garbage: Minecraft: Story Mode, Minecraft Earth, Minecraft Dungeons, and the most recent release, Minecraft Legends.

That's just Minecraft. Mediocre expansions. It's like saying Destiny expansions have been garbage since Sony took over. In reality.... that's just Destiny and Bungie being Destiny and Bungie.

The new Minecraft games released after MS acquired the IP has flopped, only the OG is going well because they didn't interfered with it.
Everything else has gone to shit. Most Bethesda games have flopped, hi-fi included.
Even Forza Motorsport is doing badly.
There isn't a single IP Microsoft haven't destroyed after the acquisition.

Minecraft, since Microsoft acquired them, is bigger than ever before. Forza Motorsport was always just a high or mid 80s game if we're being honest. The king Forza game is Horizon. Microsoft didn't "destroy" anything. The Minecraft and Forza IPs are doing fine.
Halo and Gears are struggling though. But this is what happens when you lose the dev studio behind it. They tried to only buy the IPs and they failed. Not they are buying whole publishers. IPs and the studios.