Microsoft's Growing Monopoly and What it Means
I explain what the Microsoft Activision acquisition means for the industry as a whole. Covering both the short term effects we can expect along with some speculation about Microsoft's long term plan for Game Pass and how it might lead to a near Monopoly level of control. I explain how the ripple effects of this acquisition will be felt for years to come.
//Notes
//Minecraft deal
//Blizzard Activision deal
//Bethesda acquisition
https://www.theverge.com/2021/3/9/22319124/microsoft-bethesda-acquisition-complete-finalized
//8 of the top 25 most sold games since 2010 most sold games will be owned by Microsoft and most of the list are made up off really old games which is why nintendo has half the list
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_best-selling_video_games
According the Bing chat cus I dont want to do the math they will 32 dev studios
//3 to 5 years to develop a triple a game let's say on average it is 4 years to dev an AAA game
So every year they could release around 8 AAA games.
//Nintendo releases just under 4 triple a games a year
https://chat.openai.com/share/1c2feed6-02de-463d-ab22-03a3587882c0
//they were nearly pulled apart in a past court case
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_v._Microsoft_Corp.
//Microsoft ABK acquisition is the single worst thing for the longevity of gaming but the single best thing for the health of the games
https://youtu.be/AYU4q594LJ0?si=RmsMJsp9UCCKdOK8
This video has the most dick riding i have ever seen either people are this dumb or these comments are heavily moderated
//ABK ceo is getting booted early a good thing however he gets a golden parachute of stupid amounts of millions and we have to realize that he didn't even mention overwatch the only FPS game to win game of the year in his final email
https://www.cnn.com/2022/01/19/tech/microsoft-activision-bobby-kotick-payday/index.html
https://newsroom.activisionblizzard.com/p/a-new-chapter
//Theoretical Nintendo purchase if this happened who the fuck is a competitor at that point they own the game industry if anyone else comes out with a good game they would pull a Minecraft and buy it they are getting dangerously close and the fact that this has been allowed to pass (The ABK) deal is the worst direction the industry could ever take luckily nintendo will never let it happen it but during the wii u era it really could have
https://www.theverge.com/2023/9/19/23880146/phil-spencer-microsoft-xbox-acquiring-nintendo
https://youtu.be/Xw94ctoWiVA //Takes on the state of overwatch takeover from Microsoft
https://www.xbox.com/en-US/xbox-game-pass //Hundreds of games
https://www.wired.com/story/netflix-password-sharing-crackdown-working-for-now/ //Netflix
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/13/technology/microsoft-activision-antitrust-regulators.html //15 years of limit on Microsoft
Math on relative size calculations based on Market Cap
//Tencent
//Monopolies
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standard_Oil
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._Steel
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carnegie_Steel_Company
Therefore Microsoft has double the AAA output of nintendo on larger scale titles along with the majority of major recent releases they have set up and repressive hold on the gaming market we might not be able to escape
I was a minecraft player for so much of my life and now I play overwatch. It is genuinely feasible for someone to go there their whole life playing Microsoft owned titles. They could play Minecraft and Candy Crush on their mobile tablet as a tablet kid. Then get themselves and Xbox and play Minecraft and later Overwatch and Call of Duty. They could then play halo and forza have literally no need to play another game outside of those owned by microsoft. Then get a PC running Microsoft Windows and complete school and work. Then finish up their day with Ori. Then they could find an interest in planes and play Microsoft flight sim. This may sound ridiculous but this a real possibility that this could happen.
Having beginning to end coverage over an industry is the power and fuel of a monopoly