Xbox Buys Activision. Sony Buys Bungie. Where is Nintendo in this buying craze?

[Heatman]

On 3/19/2022 at 9:10 AM, Boblee said:

If they don't make such Activision-Blizzard games their Xbox exclusive, then I don't see why they had to purchase the company in the first place. 

Yeah, I believe so too. It's part of their gameplay plan. They would have done it immediately but had a contract they needed to respect. 

[Boblee]

14 hours ago, Heatman said:

Yeah, I believe so too. It's part of their gameplay plan. They would have done it immediately but had a contract they needed to respect. 

Yeah exactly, the money that was on the line with the pre existing contract is something they can wave easily. 

[Heatman]

On 3/20/2022 at 11:52 PM, Boblee said:

Yeah exactly, the money that was on the line with the pre existing contract is something they can wave easily. 

They were always going to respect that pre existing contract, otherwise they are ready to pay heavily for its termination. 

[Yaramaki]

On 3/19/2022 at 9:10 AM, Boblee said:

If they don't make such Activision-Blizzard games their Xbox exclusive, then I don't see why they had to purchase the company in the first place. 

call of duty isen't going to be a xbox exclusive anytime soon, maybe something from blizzard or a smaller game will be exclusive but not call of duty, microsoft would lose a huge slice of the playstation pie and i doubt they want that. Probably something similair to what they did with minecraft seems the more likely option i think.

[The Blackangel]

6 hours ago, Heatman said:

They were always going to respect that pre existing contract, otherwise they are ready to pay heavily for its termination. 

If they were to break that contract they would have 2 options to do so, neither being particularly attractive.

1) They would have to buy out the contract from Sony, which would cost them more than it's worth.

2) They would be at the wrong end of an extremely expensive lawsuit for breach of contract.

The fact that the contract was in place before they bought the company is irrelevant. When they bought Activision/Blizzard they bought not only the company, but everything that comes with it. The games, the sexual harassment issues, and the previous contract with game developers. Among many other things. So their smartest move is to let the contract lapse, and decide from there whether it's a good move for them to reinstate a new deal, or keep the games to themselves. For those who prefer Xbox, and Xbox loyalists, this is no big deal. But for gamers who in general prefer a different platform, multi-platform gamers, or loyalists to a different platform, this could be an issue. And being that they spent damn near $70 billion just to acquire Activision/Blizzard, they can't afford either of those 2 options without facing possible bankruptcy. It's often sad to see a major corporation facing chapter 11. Or even worse, chapter 7.

Edited March 22, 2022 by The Blackangel

[Boblee]

16 hours ago, The Blackangel said:

If they were to break that contract they would have 2 options to do so, neither being particularly attractive.

1) They would have to buy out the contract from Sony, which would cost them more than it's worth.

2) They would be at the wrong end of an extremely expensive lawsuit for breach of contract.

The fact that the contract was in place before they bought the company is irrelevant. When they bought Activision/Blizzard they bought not only the company, but everything that comes with it. The games, the sexual harassment issues, and the previous contract with game developers. Among many other things. So their smartest move is to let the contract lapse, and decide from there whether it's a good move for them to reinstate a new deal, or keep the games to themselves. For those who prefer Xbox, and Xbox loyalists, this is no big deal. But for gamers who in general prefer a different platform, multi-platform gamers, or loyalists to a different platform, this could be an issue. And being that they spent damn near $70 billion just to acquire Activision/Blizzard, they can't afford either of those 2 options without facing possible bankruptcy. It's often sad to see a major corporation facing chapter 11. Or even worse, chapter 7.

Any kind of lawsuit will drag them down so hard and it's the very last thing they would want to impose on themselves for what? Just like what Capcom have been dealing with for years with the lawsuit of copyright infringements which is totally different from what Microsoft would face if they breach the contract but no lawsuit is good for any company's image. 

[Heatman]

On 3/22/2022 at 9:03 AM, Yaramaki said:

call of duty isen't going to be a xbox exclusive anytime soon, maybe something from blizzard or a smaller game will be exclusive but not call of duty, microsoft would lose a huge slice of the playstation pie and i doubt they want that. Probably something similair to what they did with minecraft seems the more likely option i think.

It's after the duration of their current contract that we can see for sure what angle they are going to take for the Call of Duty franchise. 

[Justin11]

I don't want the series to go full-time into Xbox exclusive and being unplayable in other platforms. 

[Scorpion]

Nintendo’s silence on acquisitions is concerning. They need to explore partnerships to stay competitive. Let’s hope they make strategic moves soon!