Microsoft buying Bethesda and Zenimax for $7.5bn

Well blimey. Didn't see that one coming. I have absolutely no idea of what the outcome might be. Bold, certainly; good... not so sure. Time will tell.

Thanks to Freddo for the "my glass of water just went over my screen" moment.

"Poor Bethesda ! I knew him, Horatio !"

I'm someone very excited by this, as I was with BS buying up Obsidian and inXile. I think MS has done a pretty decent job of being hands-off with its game studios, even while giving them full support and all resources to pursue whatever game ideas they want. So with MS's money behind them, I see awesome potential for future games from Obsidian, inXile, and now Bethesda.

The idea I'm most excited about and i'm sure my thoughts echo elsewhere on the web, is that the now Fallout IP held by Bethesda could now be accessible by Obsidian so there could be a greater chance for a Fallout New Vegas II type game. Now I certainly wasn't a fan of Outerworlds, but there can still be hope a game like New Vegas can be made again.

Microsoft seem to handle their studios better these days than they used to, so I'm not too worried. As a Playstation gamer, my main worry is that future games will not be released for Playstation. But it seems like they will, so it's all good. And if not, I just return to being a PC gamer, so no big deal anyway.

Bethesda deserved to die after what they did with F76. With Microsoft having a track record of killing most good products they buy, I think it is a given. I'll be very happy if I am wrong.

Poor Yorick ! I knew him, Horatio !
(Replace "Yorick" with "Bethesda" ...)

It might work, lets hope Microsoft has higher standards than Bethesda.

What you say about this? Sony gets screwed imho, if this keeps going. Could be just a troll tho. Last Duel?

https://massivelyop.com/2022/01/18/microsoft-is-acquiring-activision-blizzard/

I wonder what Sony's counter? F2P, new business model?

Hmm. If that's true, it has various interesting implications, not least for the board's recently stated confidence in their CEO. But that's a big "if": I think I'll wait and see who else reports it.

Its all over internet, its going down. Deal closure is next year.

I cant stop thinking, there gotta be next President or Governor in this.

Seems I wasn't paying attention!

If this does happen, especially so soon after the Zenimax acquisition, I'm not entirely sure it leaves the gaming market in an entirely healthy state. Okay, "competition" is a bit of a moot point as people tend to go for franchises rather than competing products, but it feels a bit like a repeat of MS buying out their competitors in the 1990s.

I just read the Eurogamer article so I'm now a bit more up to speed with it. I suppose it's not surprising at all that Microsoft is highlighting the Activision-Blizzard controversies and saying they will be addressing that: I mean it's newsworthy and it's what people want to hear, but it also provides a counterbalance to concerns that MS will have too much influence in the videogames market. Is that concern valid? Is MS' claim that it will clean things up? I wouldn't like trying to answer either of those things, but "interesting times" and all that.

Who knows how its gonna play out. That is why I said next President or Governor is on the move. Holy crap Eurogamer has 700 comments.

Larian should put BG3 EA on Game Pass. Couldnt be any better time.

I still think there's an outside chance US regulators will block on lost competitiveness grounds.

??

If game industry wants competitiviness, go with pay per hour business model, its equally as cheap or expensive to play indie or big publishers games. But even then those who have money to push into marketting, wins and gets most players. Game industry has never been fair/competitive industry. Cyberpunk was pretty good example how ugly it can get, they just hyped and hyped and now they are enjoying their sales.

None of this matters. It is up to the FTC here in the US, and similar regulators in the EU, to allow or block corporate buyouts and takeovers. And yesterday I saw a story in financial news that US regulators have some serious concerns about this deal. That does not mean it won't go through. In fact, the odds are very strongly in favor of an ultimate green light. But regulators can also demand some changes before they green light the deal.

World without corp buyouts and takeovers is massive change. Doubt its gonna happen. Politicans usually piss in their pants even for slightest changes. History just keep repeating itself.

I dont think this Microsoft thing is nothing political, just business. Of course someone might rise to power via this.

I think my main concern is that MS seems to be slipping back into bad habits having cleaned up its act somewhat in the post-Ballmer years. I'm all for regulators stepping in at least in theory, but also mindful of their intervention with e.g. IBM in the 1970s where they took an arguably not ideal situation and turned it into a terrible one; which ironically gave Microsoft traction to become the monster it is, as Gates knew how to play the system (not so much talent but in the right place at the right time and already known for pushing his luck; also having a lawyer for a father and a mother who was very friendly with IBM execs helped too...) And even more ironic that IBM had no clue how to exploit the very thing whose outcome they'd apparently contrived to their own advantage in a classic case of "be careful what you wish for".

Edit: not "brought about themselves", obvs., but they seriously dropped the ball after it could've ultimately worked out in their favour.

Sony buys Bungie for 3.6bn. This could turn something fun indeed, well its sure now. I wonder when its Larian's time? Or are they with Stadia/Google.

https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2022-01-31-sony-buying-bungie-for-usd3-6bn

Larian's independent; I don't see them jumping at the chance to be at the behest of a publisher again, not after the Divinity 2 fiasco. Of course that depends on ownership etc, which is a subject that makes my eyes glaze over even speaking as someone who worked in the City of London (or maybe especially because of that) but AFAIK they're not at risk of a take-over, voluntary or otherwise.

As for Sony & Bungie, not really surprised. A bit more surprised that they haven't said "all your games are belong to PS5" but I guess we'll see how that pans out.