Good Morning Friends. One of the negative effects of posting as early as I do each morning and only writing a single post each day… is that occasionally I miss some big story and end up digesting it a day later. In some aspects this is a good thing, because often times as the day goes on more details are released. This was absolutely the case for the news that broke yesterday moments after hitting the publish button that Microsoft would be acquiring Activision/Blizzard/King in an almost $70 billion dollar deal. There is so much to unpack in this once you get over the initial shock of hearing it. Quite frankly I was shocked when I heard that Microsoft had acquired Zenimax in September of 2020, but this really is a whole new level of surprise.
After the cards fell to the table yesterday, I have to say my current reaction still matches my initial reaction. I have a lot of hope about this merger. On one hand the last thing we need are more mega corporations controlling the media that we consume. On the other hand however, so far Microsoft has been a really good steward of the properties that they have acquired. I look at those initial studios that were consumed beginning in 2018, and I see a bunch of thriving studios with seemingly happy employees. I’ve been following Undead Labs for quite some time and they continue to tinker away on State of Decay 2, releasing free content updates while working on the third game and generally seem to be having a good time of it. Double Fine studios just released Psychonauts 2, and by most accounts it is the best release in that series and one of the better games to come out of that studio period.
However you cannot talk about Activision and Blizzard without talking about the horrible state of the company over the last few years. Essentially there are two problems that I have a very hard time separating. The first obviously is the cavalcade of abuse and toxic behavior that has been sheltered within that company and its subsidiaries that goes all the way to the top. I’ve written about this several times, but effectively 2021 was the year when I just didn’t play Blizzard games because I didn’t feel right about supporting that company in any way. That however is a double edged sword, because if you don’t play the games and buy the products the great employees who are struggling to make the company a better place suffer.
While I am not actively playing any Blizzard games, I still have a lot of friends that work there and as a result I try to amplify messages that I see floating around my timeline and even add my own in from time to time. I cannot see how Microsoft acquiring ActiBlizz is not a net positive for the employees. It was heartwarming seeing random people who work for different branches of Microsoft or studios that they have acquired welcoming the Blizz employees into the family. These were not coming from slick marketing accounts, but instead some random outspoken dev at this company or that company offering resources. My favorite one of these threads was from the Lead of the Accessibility program inviting them the newcomers to join in the conversation about gaming and disability.
I don’t think there is any way that Microsoft will not clean house at Activision Blizzard, and while the initial statements indicated that Bobby Kotick would be remaining on as the CEO, as the day went on it came out that this would be only until the merger was complete. The thing about this merger is that Microsoft is now responsible for the mess that Activision Blizzard made. There is no way that they go into that without having a game-plan on how to improve the situation, and quite honestly in the original announcement there is a paragraph that is very telling. Most specifically that last sentence in the image above is corporate speak for putting everyone on notice that things would be changing. I hope that the end result is a better environment for my friends still at Blizzard, and with it more creative freedoms to take games in directions other than trying to wring value out of a dwindling player base.
The other issue that Blizzard has is that the games themselves are trending in the wrong direction. It has been awhile since I have seen brilliance come out of that studio. There is part of me that desperately wants to believe that in part this lack greatness has been brought on by the awful working conditions and corporate meddling pushing the games towards more “mobile mechanics”. I can’t say that with any certainty, but I can hope. My hope is that Microsoft acquisition will create some breathing room and allow the studio to invest more in quality assurance and support staff and improve the general feel of the environments. I want to care about these games again, and I want to see them turn around and be as fun as they used to be.
This acquisition more than anything I believe is about the intellectual property that these studios hold. Microsoft lost the last generation for a bunch of reasons, but in part because they focused on chasing the non-gamer audience and moved away from exclusives. While I fully expect anything that is currently out and available for the Sony PlayStation will continue to be supported, this merger does put in jeopardy anything new. Starfield for example from Bethesda has already been announced to be coming to Xbox and PC exclusively, and I would not be shocked if the next big Blizzard project after this is complete will release in a similar manner. I am a PC gamer primarily so this console war never really impacted me directly, and additionally recently I have joined team Xbox and picked up a Series X to compliment my PS5. I am in this lucky position to not need to care about exclusivity boundaries, but I know there are folks this will actively harm and that is frustrating.
One top of the bulk acquisition of IP, I think this is also about adding value to Xbox Game Pass. It is already a phenomenal deal, but the fact that big games are releasing to the service on day one means that a lot of folks will be lured into the Xbox ecosystem and its “Netflix for Games” business model. Quite frankly right now Microsoft has the best business strategy going forward in that it meets the gamers where they are currently. If you want high quality 4k gaming then you have the Series X, and if your budget is still in 1080p realms there is the Series S. If you are a PC Gamer then the Game Pass still brings to the table all of the big Microsoft titles and a good number of third parties each month for you to download and play. If all you have is a mobile phone then you have XCloud which does a phenomenal job of streaming back these games in that form factor. I’ve played quite a bit of XCloud laying in bed knowing that my save games are going to be available later on both my XSX console and my gaming PC Upstairs.
What makes Game Pass so damned good for the players though is the availability of titles and the freedom of exploration. For example last night I downloaded and spent most of the night playing New Super Lucky’s Tale, which is a game that had been on my radar but never really made it to purchase territory. It is a delightful game and I would highly recommend it, and quite frankly I am probably going to write an entire post about it. However without Game Pass it is highly likely that I never would have played it. There are so many titles already in my short time with my XSX that I have sampled and found that I really enjoyed. I also played Archvale last night which is a delightful throw back that imagines a blend of Legend of Zelda and a Twin-stick Shooter. I’ve already talked at length about The Gunk, which again I never would have played were it not available on Game Pass.
I saw comments from folks off and on throughout the day about what this is going to mean for the blending of properties. Many folks commented about Master Chief showing up in Heroes of the Storm, but I just happened to choose my friend Shirin to screenshot. The thing is… I am so freaking on board with this nonsense. I want to see all of the characters from all of these now Microsoft owned properties blending together in interesting ways. I love game crossovers and I would love to see even characters like Banzo and Kazooie showing up in Heroes of the Storm or Blizzard themed Minecraft packs. There is so much room for stepping out of the lines and creating truly bizarre and interesting connections between the games.
As far as predictions for the future go. I think one of two things is going to happen with World of Warcraft, either we close this game and create a new more console friendly sequel or the original gets retooled to be controller friendly. Microsoft has shown that they are pretty committed to the multi-platform nature of their ecosystem and as a result I am not sure how many “PC Only” titles will continue to exist. I also think that we are going to see a dusting off of properties that were considered “not profitable” by Activision like Starcraft and see modern development that is similarly platform agnostic. I would love to see my beloved Diablo 3 reach a point where there is parity between the console and PC releases and the two can play together freely. That however is probably a pipe dream, but I fully expect that to be the case with Diablo 4.
Honestly more than anything I have this glimmer of hope that maybe this is going to improve the situation at Blizzard. I would love to be able to play Diablo 3 again with my friends in our ritual of starting new characters each season. I miss that camaraderie and there really has not been a game that we have found that captures the feeling in quite the same way. I would love to see World of Warcraft in a state where I am happy to play it again as well. I think maybe that is a bridge too far because honestly I am not on board with the direction the story has gone there, but it would still be nice to see that as an option. I know friend who work for Microsoft and they are happy, and I have seen that the early acquisitions have seemingly thrived under their yoke. I am not sure what the end result of this is going to be and it is almost certain that Kotick will have a golden parachute… but I do have faith that he will be gone and it will be a good thing.
While I think Kotick (and several others) should get nothing, that’s not how the system works. And better that they be gone with a golden parachute than still hanging around stinking up the cabin. Meanwhile, I hope that best for the hard-working folks lower down on the totem pole bringing actual value to their companies.