this post was submitted on 29 Jun 2023
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M$ is a 2.5 trilion dollar company that can't manage game studios because it's not one of their core competencies. They prop up their failed xbox gaming division with enterprise sales and cloud computing. I honestly don't think M$ even cares about xbox as a console; it's just a vehicle for cloud gaming, subscriptions, and a way to ensure developers also develop for PC/Windows.
M$ is looking long term. They can afford to bleed money for another 5 to 10 years, as long as they buy brands/studios with influence; they'll try to condition the next generation of kids to accept subscriptions and live-service games. It's the worst of worlds; a regular gaming company would be forced to innovate, restructure, or sell itself--xbox can just fail and instead of improving internally, they have unlimited non-xbox money to spend.
I also think xbox, even failing, is just a marketing vehicle for M$. They want to influence kids and teens into associating M$ with cool things. They've failed to produce any games (yet) to compete with Sony this generation, so their last ditch effort is to just buy a studio with mindshare. You'll never hear a straight answer as to how much money xbox is losing, because they probably hide it behind some cloud/services or marketing account.
There is one way I'd be okay with M$ buying Activision Blizzard: they need to spin off the xbox brand into it's own company and let it stand on its own. Then, we'll see if the company is really viable as its own entity or if its just a money-losing strategic brand for M$.
It baffles the mind most comments I see from people all over is that they would love for M$ to take over ActiBlizzKing. Because of your arguments, and more, which are on point, I think this is a really bad idea.
You've nailed it.
But I do love how you start with the big problem: Microsoft has not bought studio and enhanced them as studios or companies. Look at what Rare has become.
I don't trust Microsoft owning companies, but I don't think them buying Activision would be a good thing for anyone but Microsoft. Ultimately Microsoft is only interested in Microsoft and the people supporting the merger to get Activision on Game Pass will turn around and whine when they increase the price after the merger is clear. Everyone on that side is self serving as fuck.
Back in the day, it was reported Microsoft had paid game stores like GameStop to put the Sega Dreamcast in the back of the store, so I wouldn’t be surprised
That makes no sense. Microsoft was a Sega partner during the Dreamcast era and didn't enter the console market until after Sega had quit.
It would make sense - Microsoft used the Xbox to push DirectX over OpenGL, and that is how stores were laid out at the time. It's just been enough years I can't verify whether it was a rumor or actually happened
That still makes no sense since the Dreamcast supported DirectX and not OpenGL.