Microsoft's Activision deal reportedly gains support from European developer federation

The European Games Developer Federation has reportedly weighed in on Microsoft's proposed Activision Blizzard deal, saying it "welcomes" the European Commission's investigation but "supports" the acquisition.

[Sonic1881]

This deal will get done eventually but why does it feel like the first part of the statement sounds like they expect MS to not have any exclusives at all? I get that’s not their point, but the wording isn’t great.

[Christopher]

Because they're kind of like us gamers, which is what most developers are, people who want their games to be played by as many people as possible. It's not like your regular developers really like the idea of holing games off in specific ecosystems. Even Naughty Dog, Guerilla Games, and the like want their games to be enjoyed by as many as possible, they just also understand the constraints of "Business."

And they aren't saying they want to take games from MS or the like, they just want all games to go to as many gamers as possible.

[Lore]

Anyone Microsoft has lobbied with and/or paid off in some way is of course going to be “in support.”

[Knushwood Butt]

'gains support'

So they didn't support from the outset?

[Asplundh]

Lol you guys kill me. Something happens that you don't like and then there's a conspiracy behind it. The majority of the public are fine with the deal, guess Microsoft must of paid them off too.

[AmUnRa]

Noppe, they are oke with the deal if MS puts the games from Activision Blizzard on ALL platforms including the PS5.

[ModsDoBetter]

It’s hilarious really.
“AnOtHeR pAiD aRtIcLe By MiCrOsOfT”
“mIcRoSoFt PaId ThEm OfF”

You’re either a gamer or you’re a fanboy. Sadly this site is crawling with the latter.

[Lore]

Do your research, there’s evidence of Microsoft (along with Amazon, Google and many more) providing financial support to certain “non-profits” that weigh in on such matters in support of deals like this going through. Don’t have the source but Hoeg (the attorney) sited it in one of his videos covering this topic a few months ago

[C-H-E-F]

Very interesting it's been how long 2 years?? now you have support? LOL, obviously dropped a bag or have some pics of em with little James smh.

[tay8701]

On the fence if this goes through. Think it will, but not without concessions by MS. Sony will likely strike back with capcom and square when this finally goes through.

[Kekewei]

I hope not, especially not SE. SE is not worth throwing money at in this state. Keeping FF exclusive deals will be enough.

[tay8701]

If I were Sony I would try and buy a couple if their best studios and the FF ip. I'd leave the rest to square

[RedDevils]

Yeah, like SE would sell for your benefit. If you gonna buy, you gonna buy the whole thing, or else they would be just a shell.

[tay8701]

@redevils you do realize square themselves have said that they will be selling stakes in the studios. Sony might be able to buy, or at thr very least aquire large stakes in some if it's studios. I'd love it if Sony could pry thr final fantasy ip from them, but even if they can't they will likely continue to get thr exclusive on them

[blackblades]

Lol they are worth it, Sony would give them a better budget for most of there games as well put them in check and teach them a thing or 2. Anyways these are just stupid rumors people burnt into there brains.

[porkChop]

Sony can't afford to go around buying publishers. They've already spent $18 billion between their divisions on acquisitions. That's how they bought Bungie. Sony can't just magically pull billions more out of their pocket. Their wallet isn't that deep.

Square Enix also already made it next to impossible to be bought out by selling shares in individual teams to multiple investors. No one is buying them.

Edit:

@Lex
That's their worth as a whole. That's not the money they actually have to spend. Capcom is worth $6B, but you always pay more to acquire. It would likely take $7.5B to $8.5B. That's not happening.

[Lexreborn2]

Sony is worth 106 billion, capcom and square are both respectfully worth 6 billion a piece. They could afford to buy them out.

[tay8701]

@porkchop. No they have spent 18 billion, they have spent 8 billion. They still have 10 billion alloted for aquisitions that hasn't been spent yet

[Lexreborn2]

Considering deals are brokered with options you don’t always have to spend the exact 7.5 or 8.5 billion nor do you have to do it in one sitting.

If capcom and Square wanted it enough they could easily settle for 5 with options. Sony has 10-15 billion to spend on acquisitions so yeah… they still very well could buy both.

They could as much buy 1 then the other after while the ink dries. Are you guys really thinking they don’t have ways to budget acquisitions year over year to stay in profit? I forget you guys are running multi billion dollar corporations on the side and just get how contracts and agreements fluctuate and work. I’ll stay in my lane

[Lifexline]

Why do people think Sony has money like that to buy huge publishers like that. They might buy square Enix but no one cares about square Enix they are a shell of their former self’s.

Capcom would be huge though but I would be surprised if they actually sell thems lives they are one of the few multi platform publishers that does really well but if Sony can get them that would be huge for them I just don’t see capcom selling they are doing too well for that.

[MadLad]

Square is not looking to sell to Sony. Sony no longer cares about the Japanese market, and they have already lost the chance to grab Deus Ex, Tomb Raider, Hitman, etc;

Square makes more than enough with FF14 alone. They're going to downsize, if anything, and concentrate on their main titles. The release of a new Dragon Quest game is basically a holiday in Japan. That's far from who they cater to anymore. Nintendo beat them out.

[XiNatsuDragnel]

If this does through bad time In gaming imo

[Jin_Sakai]

CoD won’t remain king forever. Fortnite and Apex Legends put a dent in the franchise. It’s only a matter of time before the next big thing comes out. Let’s just hope it’s not from Activision.

[porkChop]

I mean if you think about the last 25 years in gaming it was Tony Hawk, then Guitar Hero, and then COD. All 3 from Activision. Though I doubt they'd be able to do it again. They've basically built an empire solely around COD. To restart and do that all over again for something new? I don't see that happening.

[blackblades]

Maybe but it is still selling and being on top of the charts. Thinking about it kids these days are on are apex and fortnite but still play CoD just little. I would say the younger player probably would push CoD out but on the other hand I still dont think it will disappear like how sport will never disappear.

[Orchard]

In what world have Fortnite and Apex put a dent in COD?

Let’s see here, MW2:

- top selling game of 2022
- best selling COD game
- #1 played game on PSN and Xbox Live
- Biggest launch ever in PlayStation Store

It’s bigger than ever.

[Stanjara]

OMG!

[onisama]

like i said MS agreement is strong legally...sony themselves is doing lot of bad practices but because they have large fanbase so its fine....like what? well turning 3rd party games to exclusivity (FF-STV-project eve) turning 3rd party IPs to exclusives (spiderman) buying exlcusive contents (COD-Hogward legacy to name few) paying studios to not put games on gamepass (this is disgusting) charging indie dev to make their games appear on top ...and overcharging for games with crossplay
sony is playing dirty with the small money they have and MS is fighting fire with fire...their is no saint only fanboys and their preferred plastic box to worship

[Vx_]

as long as Multi-Platform games stay as they are, then I don't really care who gets the end cash. Mincreat is a good example of this model.

[badz149]

it's not a good example though. Minecraft was bought BEFORE Gamepass was even a thing. their strategies have changed a lot now and their focus is obviously Gamepass. to think that they will not take away COD from PS just because an old acquisition like Minecraft stays multiplat is ignorant.

They don't even release the PS5 version (or next-gen updates) for Psychonaut 2, scrapped the planned PS version for Starfield and ES6 and no Bethesda's game will ever be on PS again - now THAT's a good example!

[Asplundh]

COD may very well stay multiplaform and maybe others, but not all these games will stay multiplaform.

[UltimateRacer]

Don’t let this distract you from the fact that MS just announced 10,000 people will be laid off from multiple sectors including in gaming with Bethesda games studios, even though when MS was initially asked about it they said it was just a rumour. Scummy company that no true gamer should be supporting nor should anyone be supporting a $70billion dollar deal that will cost even more people their jobs in the long run.

[blacktiger]

Lobbying?

[Phoenix76]

This whole acquisition deal will, in the long term be bad for gamers. Look at the list of ip's that MS "could" own if the deal goes through.
Blur
Caesar
Call of Duty
Candy Crush
Crash Bandicoot
Diablo
DJ Hero
Empire Earth
Gabriel Knight
Geometry Wars
Guitar Hero
Gun
Hearthstone
Heroes of the Storm
Hexen
Interstate ’76
King’s Quest
Laura Bow Mysteries
The Lost Vikings
Overwatch
Phantasmagoria
Pitfall
Police Quest
Prototype
Quest for Glory
Singularity
Skylanders
Solider of Fortune
Space Quest
Spyro the Dragon
StarCraft
Tenchu (legacy games)
TimeShift
Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater
True Crime
World of Warcraft
Zork

And here's a list of in house studios
Blizzard Entertainment
King.com Limited
Major League Gaming Corp.
Activision Blizzard Studios
Activision Blizzard Consumer Products Group
Beenox
Demonware
Digital Legends Entertainment
High Moon Studios
Infinity Ward
Raven Software
Sledgehammer Games
Solid State
Toys for Bob
Treyarch

Now consider how much of an impact this will have on the industry and more importantly to us, the consumer. All of the above will be locked behind MS's paywall. This isn't like the Minecraft deal where it was 1 studio, 1 ip, 1 game. MS would/will eventually lock other competitors out.

[UltimateRacer]

Exactly, this deal will destroy the industry because your going to have more companies coming in and buying out the big 3rd party studios and locking those IPs down. imagine if Apple came in and bought EA and some other big publishers then decided to release those games only on Apple products etc, a complete disaster that would be.

[Petebloodyonion]

And what would be your alternative?
Remember Activision/Blizzard wants to be bought.

[wiz7191]

@Phoenix Lose hundreds millions by locking COD behind a paywall ?? You really believe Microsoft is that incompetent lol if COD leaves a SONY console best believe it’s Sonys fault. COD is currently locked behind a paywall you have to spend $60 for it , it’s not a free game. I think it’s more of the fact if the deals goes through and COD goes to gamepass , that’ll be really bad for Sony and they are terrified of that. Every Activision title ever released could be put on gamepass and that’ll be great for actual Xbox owners , but horrible for Sony again. It has nothing to do with destroying the industry , it’ll just give Microsoft a crazy leg up on Sony.

[343_Guilty_Spark]

Beautiful