Activision Blizzard Sued By California Over ‘Frat Boy’ Culture

[synistar]

All I'm expecting is BK to ride out on a golden parachute while every Blizz game suddenly needs a monthly sub to play online. is only playable in the Microsoft Store filled with ads for Microsoft's PC Game Pass everywhere

ftfy. But I haven't had the Bliz launcher on my computer since the HK controversy.

[Anoat]

Everything is going to game pass eventually I’m sure

[Celeras]

I would react to this news negatively but honestly can't see how it could be any worse than Activision, so meh.

[Xno Kappa]

[Ker]

Some good info.

[Prothescar]

Blizzard games, potentially CoD and shit as well, on game pass? Alright!

[Anoat]

Sony after Microsoft buys Blizzard

[Ker]

Activision Blizzard is terrible as a company but all of those major companies buying big to smaller studios isn't great for consumers in the long run. Gaming being dominated by massive consortium and two or three game services like game pass and Spartacus(Sony rumored service) is the worst possible future for consumers.

[Obsidian]

Funny how that argument never comes up when anyone talks about Steam.

[Cantih]

Because Valve doesn't lock developers into steam with exclusivity?
Because Valve doesn't buy up studios and fuck them up? (Evolve/B4B seems to show that Turtle Rock's fuck ups are on their own.)

[Krandor]

Valve has taken the forefront on super scummy shit like paid mods and the lootbox/cosmetics marketplace for CSGO (what every other company is probably hoping to get out of the NFT craze), but they do way more good then bad for the PC gaming population.

[Lucavi]

Funny how that argument never comes up when anyone talks about Steam.

Because steam doesn't have a monthly subscription service in order for you to play games. Because Steam doesn't buy studios for exclusivity.

Microsoft already does this, and while its a good deal now, that's only because it has to be, because you have other options. Where do you go if you want to consume Marvel content? You either buy them individually (if you can), or you sub to Disney+. I can easily see the future of gaming (not-so-distant either) head that way if Sony starts gobbling up what's left of the studios, especially Japanese studios.

Its also not good having everything under one or two megacorps. What smaller companies will create a new shooter if they're also owned by the same guys who make CoD, the biggest on the market. They can't hope to compete with Cod's revenue, so will they even get funding from their new bosses? Stagnation can absolutely happen if the boys at the top don't see a "purpose" to your game when its going to compete with their own existing juggernaut.

[Ker]

For what is worth A lot Japanese studios titles for adult market are leaving stream to GOG or other streaming services.

https://www.gog.com/partner/jast

Celebrate release of The Song of Saya Director's Cut, Dead End Aegis, Full Metal Daemon Muramasa and other great titles from JAST with discounts up to 50% off. Promotion is valid until January 21st, 2pm UTC.
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Gen Urobuchi(Fate/Zero, Madoka Magica) is writer of Saya and from what I’ve read they put back all gore and sex scenes.

[Corrderio]

Yeah Steam seems to have some weird policies with anime VNs from what I've heard

[Lucavi]

They say they'll accept them until someone complains about lewd things on twitter and then they ban it from steam, without altering their overall policy. Lots of services are doing the exact same thing, so yeah, its a messy area to try to release your games in.

[Zealot]

What's this about lewd games now

Sent from my SM-N981U using Tapatalk

[Mayareira]

Its also not good having everything under one or two megacorps. What smaller companies will create a new shooter if they're also owned by the same guys who make CoD, the biggest on the market. They can't hope to compete with Cod's revenue, so will they even get funding from their new bosses? Stagnation can absolutely happen if the boys at the top don't see a "purpose" to your game when its going to compete with their own existing juggernaut.

This. A monopoly/duopoly in gaming industry would simply mean that gamers will be buying games/subscriptions via the methods imposed by said corps, playing the whatever content said corps focus. Smaller firms will either have to play by their rules or go home.

Tech firms have been hoarding cash for a long time now and they can and will simply toy with the market if they are allowed to.

I really hope this Activision deal falls through. Let them fight for market share through quality and hardwork, not splashing cash.

[Ker]

I really hope this Activision deal falls through. Let them fight for market share through quality and hardwork, not splashing cash.

it’s still not a monopoly unless they go after EA next. Microsoft will get a lot of indirect power over what other companies can decide and imo that is a to big price to ask to just have more games for gamepass.

Either way Let see if Sony can overcome this with a big Studio purchase or they are completely screwed for next console generation.

[Odesseiron]

it’s still not a monopoly unless they go after EA next. Microsoft will get a lot of indirect power over what other companies can decide and imo that is a to big price to ask to just have more games for gamepass.

Either way Let see if Sony can overcome this with a big Studio purchase or they are completely screwed for next console generation.

Sony has a lot of money, but not the kind of capital that MS has to throw around. They couldn't buy Tencent or several others even if they wanted to. I believe Tencent is almost 1.5 times the market value of Sony. Not to mention a Chinese company being bought out by a Japanese one? CCP might have a problem with that. Microsoft could buy Sony out with their pocket change.

Sony acquiring Sucker Punch for a paltry $200 million was the steal of a lifetime. They aren't going to find many more like that, esp. after MS is throwing this kind of money around. Everyone will just hold out until they get a better offer from them.

Even if MS did buy EA, I'm sure there would need to be exceptions to every sports game. That's the whole reason The Show is now on Xbox. There's only so much you can do before it becomes diminishing returns. Not to mention they have so many projects going on now it'll be that much tougher to manage. I'm a huge gamer and none of this news excites me at all. I know it'll take years to bear fruit with all of these studios and MS is clearly playing the long game, but none of these studios since being under MS have yielded anything to really write home about.

[Lucavi]

How many subscription services are people going to be hooked on within 5 years at this rate, I wonder. We've seen it with TV, where everything is carved up and sold to you via exclusive subscription. Its huge, massive money.

The only "mega-purchase" I want to see at this point is Sony eating Konami, just so we can finally get some of that delicious IP back into the world. I hope every one else stays separate. Mergers aren't that good for the consumer at all, no matter how much someone may be thinking that their Xbox gamer pass is hella sweet because all these games for a monthly fee.

When half of those great games no longer exist because the brass declares that half of them cannibalize profits from their biggest sellers and remove them or stop making new ones, we'll see how much "choice" the consumer has.