Xbox Chief On Activision and Sony’s plans

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In the wake of Microsoft’s $68.7 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard, the largest acquisition in both the gaming and technology sectors to date, some clear questions have been raised about the details of the deal and the inevitable industry shifts to come.

The deal received mixed responses from the gaming press community — particularly as it comes two years after a similar-sized Disney acquisition of Fox that appears to have yielded more negatives than positives thus far.

With this deal, some hope Activision Blizzard’s dormant franchises will see a revival. Others question when the company’s Game Pass franchises will arrive, and whether the 30 or so studios Microsoft controls will start pumping out a new, reactivated, or reorganized IP address to serve as support for “Call of Duty” entries and other major perks.

Then there’s the biggest question of all – exclusivity and will “Call of Duty” be turned into a franchise for Xbox and PC-only platforms? Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer spoke with The Washington Post and answered some of these burning questions. First, make it clear that it’s not just the currently popular big franchises that are the focus of this deal:

“Hopefully we’ll be able to work with them when the deal closes to make sure we have the resources to work on the franchises that I’ve loved since my childhood, and that teams really want to have. I look forward to those conversations. I really think it’s about adding resources and increasing capacity.”

Spencer actually lists some series he’s interested in such as “King’s Quest”, “Guitar Hero” and “HeXen”. Others not mentioned but who could also see a comeback are the likes of Prototype, Spyro and Crash Bandicoot.

Then there’s the “Call of Duty” question on PlayStation platforms. The deal itself won’t close until 2023 which indicates that this year’s entry in the franchise will be rolled out as usual, as is perhaps the case in 2023. Beyond that?

“We expect Microsoft to abide by contractual agreements and continue to ensure that Activision games are cross-platform,” a Sony spokesperson told The Wall Street Journal. Spencer followed up with a tweet in which he said:

“I had good calls this week with the pioneers at Sony. You confirmed our intention to honor all existing agreements upon the acquisition of Activision Blizzard and our desire to keep Call of Duty on PlayStation. Sony is an important part of our industry, and we value our relationship.”

This is a carefully worded response, but it does indicate, for now, that there will be no immediate change. He also told the Wall Street Journal that he no longer sees Sony or Nintendo as major competitors to the Xbox — rather, it’s the big tech companies like Facebook, Amazon, Apple and Google that are big enough to really disrupt the industry.

Despite its leadership in terms of game revenue, Sony as a company is only a small part of Microsoft’s size and simply cannot compete on the acquisition front the way one of these tech giants can. Spencer says:

“Nintendo won’t do anything to hurt games in the long run because that’s the business they’re in. Sony is the same and I trust them…Valve is the same way. When we look at Microsoft’s other tech competitors: Google has Search and Chrome, Amazon has Shopping, Facebook has social sites, all of these consumer businesses are massive. The discussion we had internally, where these things are important to other tech companies relative to the number of consumers they reach, games can be that for us.”

Microsoft seems intent on being less concerned with console wars and more intent on getting Game Pass on as many platforms as possible from smart TVs and phones to tablets, laptops, and even rival consoles:

“I think we had a unique view, not about how everything runs on one device or platform. This was a real turning point for us looking at gaming as a consumer opportunity that could have a similar impact on Microsoft as some of the other high-volume consumer companies to competitors. others in technology.

So far, the early efforts of these tech giants haven’t been quite so impressive from Google’s Stadia game streaming service to Amazon’s “New World” MMORPG title. Facebook has arguably achieved the most success in this field with its Oculus Quest VR headset.

Since the Microsoft-Activision deal has several months before it is finalized, assuming there are no regulatory barriers, anything is expected to be finalized anytime soon.

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