"Vivendi might be getting more serious about offloading Activision-Blizzard.
"Reuters reports the French conglomerate has been in talks with a number of video game (and mass media) companies about a potential sale of the industry's top seller.
"That makes for a good headline – and I have no doubt about Reuters' report, but as the industry works itself into a frenzy trying to guess whether Microsoft, Time Warner, or Tencent will be the new home of Call of Duty and Diablo, too many people are failing to scratch the surface," writes Chris Morris of Gamasutra.
Blizzard writes: "After careful consideration over the last year, we at Blizzard have made the decision not to hold BlizzCon in 2024. This decision was not made lightly as BlizzCon remains a very special event for all of us, and we know many of you look forward to it. While we’re approaching this year differently and as we have explored different event formats in the past, rest assured that we are just as excited as ever to bring BlizzCon back in future years."
How about you not hold Blizzcon anymore period. You fucking POS company. I really hope Blizzard would just die.
As part of its plans to cut 1,900 jobs, Microsoft has reportedly shut down operations at Bethesda France, letting go roughly 15 people
They can form a company if they want, they are just as jobless as if "Microsoft had left them as 3rd party".
"MIcrosoft leaves Bethesda do what they know how to do best" ... close! Oh the irony ....
(Citation from a week old article)
I think Microsoft and other game publishers are letting people go because they think ai will replace them. Doesn’t matter how much profit they make. They were always going to be let go.
Bethesda France was made up of roughly 15 people... they couldn't of being doing much
Bethesda France mainly did publishing and marketing within the region
that's a shame for you to say that, i'm sure Elite loves hearing what you just said.
Bethesda France focused on publishing and marketing in the region. And 15 people lost their jobs as part of the closure.
I wonder if this is part of Microsoft's strategy to abandoned physical media or possibly gamepass advertising makes their roles redundant you don't need to market a game as hard when the majority of players get the game as part of a sub which already promoted upcoming games
It's France too, there's a high likelihood only 1-2 people on the team even had an Xbox.
Tbh Microsoft I think Bethesda being 3rd party same with Activision would probably more competitive than thus scenario imo
I think it would have been better for all parties really especially gamers
The recently purchased Activision French offices might take over all the licensing and marketing for Microsoft in France from now on.
Microsoft has 'let Blizzard be Blizzard' following the acquisition of the veteran developer according to World of Warcraft's executive producer.
Diablo 4 storefront being a cash grabbing shitshow does unironically attest to that, kudos.
Microsoft needs to be guiding Blizzard to be what it USED to be, not allowing it to continue to be the greedy bastardization of itself that it has become.
Okay i will be interested if they become old Blizzard but might as well be dead.
They will never be old blizzard. Most of all the OG's left from developers to those on the top (even some decision making folks left).
Shame most of the people that made Blizzard what they were, have already left a while ago.
I was about to say this. How can they be blizzard when they're no longer blizzard from yesteryear?
Exactly. Blizzard hasn’t been Blizzard for a long time.
Oh how the mighty have fallen.
Were you expecting Microsoft to hire everyone that had left Blizzard long before they purchased the company...
Microsoft has let the Blizzard company they purchased continue to be the Blizzard company they purchased.
Wow, PassNextquestion,
You fully understand what that saying means, unlike some people on here who just have to say negative garbage talk.
When someone says, "Just let *blank* be *blank*, "they are just letting them operate how they operate.
It's pretty much how Sony "let Bungie be Bungie."
This comment section is full of outright haters, but you have to "let N4G be N4G"
I don't think people commenting are necessarily blaming MS for anything here, this is just collective longing for what Blizzard/Vivendi was before Activision's meddling.
very good read. i am wondering who will spent the money. i will be shocked if no one spends the money...
yea if ms buys this they will have a good start next gen
I can't think of any company in a great position to buy these guys.
The ONLY worthwhile IP that activision has is call of duty, but it's on the way down--hence the sell off. prototype, blur, singularity, guitar hero, tony hawk are all underperforming and worthless. Spiderman, Transformers, James Bond, Nascar, and Disney titles are licensed from other owners and would never be exclusive to microsoft if they bought activision. WoW is going downhill too in terms of subscribers but that is in another division.
I don't think any of the big 3 should purchase Activision basically because of this
"Activision's profitability would plummet as a Microsoft division, since there's no real chance the company would make games for the PlayStation or Nintendo platforms. "
it's just too much to control