|
C-SPAN Caller posted:Why did vanilla WoW have such a great track record with updates anyways A fair number of the vanilla patches were heavily focused on game mechanics tweaks and class balance rather than large scale content deployment, and they were willing to fire those tweaks and balance changes out in smaller, more rapid patches instead of bundling them together into big omnibus patches. As the game evolved, the focus moved to fewer, larger patches, usually headlined by major content updates. This was done presumably because it's easier to keep your version control in order if you're not patching all of your servers every few weeks, especially for an operation the size of WoW.
|
#
?
Jan 18, 2022 17:14
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 27, 2024 08:22 |
|
|
For those wondering if the DOJ blocks this deal (they won’t) https://twitter.com/zhugeex/status/1483438550049869830?s=21
|
|
#
?
Jan 18, 2022 17:14
|
|
|
Arsenic Lupin posted:I am waaaay out of the loop. Can somebody tell me if Microsoft is still where good game studios go to die? Under the current CEO for the last five years or so, Microsoft's been pretty hands-off with the studios they acquire. They probably bought ActiBlizz for Candy Crush and Call of Duty, I'd be surprised if Blizzard specifically is affected much - they're small potatoes in ABK.
|
|
#
?
Jan 18, 2022 17:18
|
|
|
Cythereal posted:Under the current CEO for the last five years or so, Microsoft's been pretty hands-off with the studios they acquire. They probably bought ActiBlizz for Candy Crush and Call of Duty, I'd be surprised if Blizzard specifically is affected much - they're small potatoes in ABK. This gets repeated all the time but again, it's not really true. Blizzard is stagnant and wow sucks rear end but they're not small potatoes in the overall share of the company pie. They're generally 2/3 of king's revenue. The only metric where they're tiny in comparison to the rest of the company are raw user numbers.
|
|
#
?
Jan 18, 2022 17:24
|
|
|
Candy Crush > blizzard sorry yall its just the truth and the truth hurts (USER WAS PUT ON PROBATION FOR THIS POST)
|
|
#
?
Jan 18, 2022 17:26
|
|
|
Cythereal posted:Under the current CEO for the last five years or so, Microsoft's been pretty hands-off with the studios they acquire. They probably bought ActiBlizz for Candy Crush and Call of Duty, I'd be surprised if Blizzard specifically is affected much - they're small potatoes in ABK. This is repeated constantly but it isn't true. Blizzard doesn't make as much as King or Activision but they're still an extremely significant slice of the company and to say they're "small potatoes" is entirely incorrect. As of their Q3 earnings report of 2021, King reported $652m net revenue, Activision reported $641m net revenue, and Blizzard reported $478m net revenue. https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2021-11-02-king-blizzard-push-activision-blizzard-to-q3-growth e: gently caress, beaten, but i posted numbers!!!
|
|
#
?
Jan 18, 2022 17:26
|
|
|
So some napkin math: in 2020 ABK had a market cap of $70bn and in 2022 MS bought them out for around that price which is like a 40% premium over its current value. The average takeover premium is about 30% so the current price is a bit overvalued. The move only make sense if MS is betting that ABK's net worth is depressed due to lawsuits and once everything is settled they will climb back up to its true value and beyond. Essentially the plan is they're buying the dip at no premium while also collecting a ton of valuable IP.
|
|
#
?
Jan 18, 2022 17:31
|
|
|
Gwaihir posted:This gets repeated all the time but again, it's not really true. Blizzard is stagnant and wow sucks rear end but they're not small potatoes in the overall share of the company pie. They're generally 2/3 of king's revenue. The only metric where they're tiny in comparison to the rest of the company are raw user numbers. Yeah small potatoes is not the right word, but blizz is definitely significantly lagging behind the others. 2/3 and dropping with basically nothing on the short or even medium-term horizon for releases. The more significant difference is that blizz is a flat 20-40% worse return per dollar spent compared to activision or king. Eej posted:So some napkin math: in 2020 ABK had a market cap of $70bn and in 2022 MS bought them out for around that price which is like a 40% premium over its current value. The average takeover premium is about 30% so the current price is a bit overvalued. The move only make sense if MS is betting that ABK's net worth is depressed due to lawsuits and once everything is settled they will climb back up to its true value and beyond. Essentially the plan is they're buying the dip at no premium while also collecting a ton of valuable IP. yeah the price (and imo the actual value too) is absolutely depressed under kotick and they're picking up a bunch of IPs that very much still have value to them, despite having been apparently completely abandoned under kotick. Plus king and activisions IPs can pay to keep the lights for as long as it takes to realize that potential. Herstory Begins Now fucked around with this message at 17:42 on Jan 18, 2022 |
|
#
?
Jan 18, 2022 17:33
|
|
|
Groovelord Neato posted:According to twitter if Kotick gets the boot due to an acquisition they have to pay him 300 million bucks. They can reorganize ActiBlizz and transfer all assets and personnel to other units, so Bobby can sit alone in his office as CEO of nothing.
|
|
#
?
Jan 18, 2022 17:35
|
|
|
Ofc Blizz lags behind, its clearly seen as the steady low investment income stream. That the whole business was malfunctioning from top to bottom probably made changing anything too risky from a bottom line perspective too.
|
|
#
?
Jan 18, 2022 17:35
|
|
|
Herstory Begins Now posted:Yeah small potatoes is not the right word, but blizz is definitely significantly lagging behind the others. 2/3 and dropping with basically nothing on the short or even medium-term horizon for releases. The more significant difference is that blizz is a flat 20-40% worse return per dollar spent compared to activision or king. idk, Blizzard's profit margin is not significantly lower than Activision's. The most recent quarter had both of them at 38%. King had a 46% margin though. Their user numbers have been steadily declining for years now but that hasn't really come with an associated drop in profits.
|
|
#
?
Jan 18, 2022 17:39
|
|
|
Eej posted:So some napkin math: in 2020 ABK had a market cap of $70bn and in 2022 MS bought them out for around that price which is like a 40% premium over its current value. The average takeover premium is about 30% so the current price is a bit overvalued. The move only make sense if MS is betting that ABK's net worth is depressed due to lawsuits and once everything is settled they will climb back up to its true value and beyond. Essentially the plan is they're buying the dip at no premium while also collecting a ton of valuable IP. Correlation doesn’t equal causation as always, but I think it’s a pretty solid bet that ABK net worth taking a hit is related to litigation and social factors. Never mind their output has been mediocre at best for a while now. It’s definitely a gamble my MS.
|
|
#
?
Jan 18, 2022 17:39
|
|
|
Eej posted:So some napkin math: in 2020 ABK had a market cap of $70bn and in 2022 MS bought them out for around that price which is like a 40% premium over its current value. The average takeover premium is about 30% so the current price is a bit overvalued. The move only make sense if MS is betting that ABK's net worth is depressed due to lawsuits and once everything is settled they will climb back up to its true value and beyond. Essentially the plan is they're buying the dip at no premium while also collecting a ton of valuable IP. There are probably other concerns here beyond "how soon will MS make money on this deal". This is part of Microsoft's apparent attempt to be the Disney of video games and isolate its competitors by simply buying up all of the most popular IPs; being able to permanently subsume household names like CoD into the Microsoft ecosystem and away from Sony might be worth some short term financial duress, especially since they're loving Microsoft and can handle said duress easily. Remember that MS was willing to shovel billions of dollars into the unprofitable tire fire that was the early Xbox division for over a decade before the 360 did gangbusters.
|
|
#
?
Jan 18, 2022 17:40
|
|
|
I mean they also are inheriting the Blizzard IPs which have a lot of nostalgia packed into them along with some flash in the pan mega success like Overwatch. They could very easily turn those around into something more if they play them right, aka actually make stuff with them
|
|
#
?
Jan 18, 2022 17:42
|
|
|
Gwaihir posted:idk, Blizzard's profit margin is not significantly lower than Activision's. The most recent quarter had both of them at 38%. King had a 46% margin though. Their user numbers have been steadily declining for years now but that hasn't really come with an associated drop in profits. This is the first quarter it has been close to that high afaik, though it makes sense it's been going up given the amount of better compensated senior staff who were laid off or quit and the overall efforts to reduce overhead at blizzard by basically any means and, in particular, shuttering anything that isn't overperforming. C-SPAN Caller posted:I mean they also are inheriting the Blizzard IPs which have a lot of nostalgia packed into them along with some flash in the pan mega success like Overwatch. MS clearly likes owning games that have set big sales records and they just acquired a bunch more, yeah. Herstory Begins Now fucked around with this message at 17:49 on Jan 18, 2022 |
|
#
?
Jan 18, 2022 17:46
|
|
|
Kanos posted:Blizzard has literally tried to do this in the past(which led to the Warlords of Draenor disaster), so it's something that even Blizzard themselves recognizes would be massively profitable. They've just failed to execute said plan in the past, which I would likely blame on the fact that the company seems to be allergic to producing any sort of product or content in a timely manner(presumably because significant portions of their workforce were too busy drinking at work and going on cube crawls). Allergic to producing a product but terrified that the next big game mode will pass them by or be made based on their platform in a way they can’t control (professional original StarCraft, DotA Warcraft 3, etc.) so the only thing they can actually implement is always online DRM.
|
|
#
?
Jan 18, 2022 17:46
|
|
|
i hate this news. I hate that bobby kotick will continue to oversee and do nothing about harassment in his company for at least the next year and a half if not longer. i hate that this will go through without a block, i hate that this was done purely for money and opportunity and a stock bump, i hate that employees who already are fighting for their rights now have to dread whether they'll even keep their jobs after the merger goes through, i hate acquisitions in general, and i hate that the whole thing feels like a reward for activision rather than a punishment. gently caress capitalism and gently caress everyone involved with this. :/
|
|
#
?
Jan 18, 2022 17:53
|
|
|
Herstory Begins Now posted:This is the first quarter it has been close to that high afaik, though it makes sense it's been going up given the amount of better compensated senior staff who were laid off or quit and the overall efforts to reduce overhead at blizzard by basically any means and, in particular, shuttering anything that isn't overperforming. nah it fluctuates quarter to quarter, but 36% seems to be about the norm. It was 36% overall for 2020 (vs 47% for activision and 40% for king). They've even beaten king sometimes, both in revenue and profit, even candy crush needs to spend money on suckering in new users sometimes. We just think blizzard has always been low man on the totem pole because they're so loving bad at putting things out and letting their massive IPs languish.
|
|
#
?
Jan 18, 2022 17:56
|
|
|
The 7th Guest posted:gently caress capitalism and gently caress everyone involved with this. :/
|
|
#
?
Jan 18, 2022 17:57
|
|
|
Gwaihir posted:nah it fluctuates quarter to quarter, but 36% seems to be about the norm. It was 36% overall for 2020 (vs 47% for activision and 40% for king). They've even beaten king sometimes, both in revenue and profit, even candy crush needs to spend money on suckering in new users sometimes. 36 is 23% less than 47, though yeah I didn't remember king being that close to them Yeah they haven't always been at the bottom in revenue. It's also almost certain that if they ever actually released something (last game release was 2016) they would have an absolutely massive payday, particularly with how they've since learned to squeeze huge amounts of additional revenue out of simultaneous mobile companion games/apps. Wow classic was definitely the closest they've gotten to that new game money in ages. imo blizzard actually functioning and releasing games even somewhat regularly and on schedule would have them worth substantially more. The timing of the sale also hits when there is a fair amount in the development pipeline, if microsoft can somehow right the ship
|
|
#
?
Jan 18, 2022 18:12
|
|
|
The 7th Guest posted:gently caress capitalism and gently caress everyone involved with this. :/
|
|
#
?
Jan 18, 2022 18:18
|
|
|
The 7th Guest posted:i hate this news. I hate that bobby kotick will continue to oversee and do nothing about harassment in his company for at least the next year and a half if not longer. i hate that this will go through without a block, i hate that this was done purely for money and opportunity and a stock bump, i hate that employees who already are fighting for their rights now have to dread whether they'll even keep their jobs after the merger goes through, i hate acquisitions in general, and i hate that the whole thing feels like a reward for activision rather than a punishment. This is realistically the most likely way to get rid of Bobby though
|
|
#
?
Jan 18, 2022 18:21
|
|
|
Herstory Begins Now posted:
yeah, the POTENTIAL is there with actual good management, for sure. It's just been totally uncapitalized on for 6? ++ years now.
|
|
#
?
Jan 18, 2022 18:25
|
|
|
Eej posted:This is realistically the most likely way to get rid of Bobby though okay hear me out: what if, instead, microsoft did not shower bobby kotick and his friends with cash? i think that might also be effective
|
|
#
?
Jan 18, 2022 18:26
|
|
|
The 300 million parachute equals 0,44% of the 68 billion they pay for the company. They are just going to push him out the door on day 1 and don't really care about it.
|
|
#
?
Jan 18, 2022 18:28
|
|
|
He also just might step down afterwards having secured his windfall through the sale itself. Like this quote doesn’t sound like he’s stick around. https://twitter.com/KYWeise/status/1483468917494333442
|
|
#
?
Jan 18, 2022 18:31
|
|
|
Dr. Fishopolis posted:okay hear me out: Well we'd have months maybe years more of this thread spinning around in circles while Bobby Kotick and friends refuse to get rid of him I guess?
|
|
#
?
Jan 18, 2022 18:33
|
|
|
Arsenic Lupin posted:I am waaaay out of the loop. Can somebody tell me if Microsoft is still where good game studios go to die? Nah, overall it seems like they're a lot better on that front since they switched up to Satya Nadella/Phil Spencer as CEO and head of gaming respectively in 2014. That said, they've made a lot of big acquisitions in the last few years and it hasn't really been long enough to see how that plays out for those studios in the long term.
|
|
#
?
Jan 18, 2022 18:54
|
|
|
MikeJF posted:Nah, overall it seems like they're a lot better on that front since they switched up to Satya Nadella/Phil Spencer as CEO and head of gaming respectively in 2014. That said, they've made a lot of big acquisitions in the last few years and it hasn't really been long enough to see how that plays out for those studios in the long term.
|
|
#
?
Jan 18, 2022 18:58
|
|
|
All we know is they've expanded staff since We Happy Few and are working on a new narrative third person game that won't have the roguelike elements of We Happy Few.
|
|
#
?
Jan 18, 2022 18:59
|
|
|
Dr. Fishopolis posted:okay hear me out: The sad reality is that unless kotick is caught on camera doing something like murdering someone, there's no outcome in which he doesn't get showed with cash. At least in this scenario once he leaves he can't hurt the employees there anymore.
|
|
#
?
Jan 18, 2022 19:06
|
|
Srice posted:The sad reality is that unless kotick is caught on camera doing something like murdering someone, there's no outcome in which he doesn't get showed with cash. At least in this scenario once he leaves he can't hurt the employees there anymore. He literally admitted to threatening to murder an aide over a decade ago and didn’t get shitcanned on the spot when that came out.
|
|
|
#
?
Jan 18, 2022 19:08
|
|
|
Double Bill posted:They can reorganize ActiBlizz and transfer all assets and personnel to other units, so Bobby can sit alone in his office as CEO of nothing. Not a chance. This would poison the well for any future acquisitions - every other CEO will look at that and think "Huh, why deal with MS when they did that to Kotick? I'll go sell the company to Sony instead." lagidnam posted:The 300 million parachute equals 0,44% of the 68 billion they pay for the company. They are just going to push him out the door on day 1 and don't really care about it. I'd be surprised if Kotick is still at AB in any sort of active capacity by the time this deal closes. He has to be fully aware of just how toxic he is today, PR-wise, and MS absolutely does not like negative press. I expect that negotiations have already begun, if not concluded, about how he's going to exit. The minutiae may still need to be sorted out, but the chances of Kotick sticking around in any capacity are almost nil. Edmund Lava posted:For those wondering if the DOJ blocks this deal (they won’t) They won't and they shouldn't. As much as MS is trying to consolidate the industry, they still don't hold anywhere near the power of Facebook/Google/Amazon in their respective spaces. I'd agree that this is likely bad for gaming and gamers, but this is not an industry without competition.
|
|
#
?
Jan 18, 2022 19:22
|
|
|
Regalingualius posted:He literally admitted to threatening to murder an aide over a decade ago and didn’t get shitcanned on the spot when that came out. Yeah exactly. He'd have to be caught carrying out murder to its conclusion to see any consequences at all.
|
|
#
?
Jan 18, 2022 19:23
|
|
|
Oh, didn't you hear? (USER WAS PUT ON PROBATION FOR THIS POST)
|
|
#
?
Jan 18, 2022 19:25
|
|
|
I do not see a reason to care that the filthy rich person is somewhat more filthier in his richness after this
|
|
#
?
Jan 18, 2022 19:39
|
|
|
https://twitter.com/charlieINTEL/status/1483497462736293889
|
|
#
?
Jan 18, 2022 19:48
|
|
|
Harrow posted:Okay, two things.  (USER WAS PUT ON PROBATION FOR THIS POST)
|
|
#
?
Jan 18, 2022 19:54
|
|
|
Doc Neutral posted:A potential for WoW 2 perhaps seeing as they'll now have an experienced MMO team? Also the name Xbox series x has to be one of the absolute dumbest names out there. It's all to bring back Asheron's Call!
|
|
#
?
Jan 18, 2022 20:00
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 27, 2024 08:22 |
|
|
Something I've been thinking about, it's obvious that Activision has some serious structural issues regardless workplace harassment, just going by what we've heard out of Blizzard. But what's the workplace situation at their Call of Duty studios? Infinity Ward, Sledgehammer Games, and Treyarch don't pay nearly as much lip service to equality initiatives or denouncing sexism. And I think we can safely assume that those studios are much less concerned about building a diverse workforce (or purging racist teens from multiplayer), as they've been squarely pandering to an audience of white males for a decade now. Three years ago if you were to ask me which of Activision's studios would have widespread issues with sexual harassment, Blizzard would be at the bottom of my list. The lack of similar claims coming from the CoD studios just seems unsettling throughout this whole saga, but maybe I missed some news. Does anyone feel the same way?
|
|
#
?
Jan 18, 2022 20:02
|
|