A ton of revelations about the takeover of Activision-Blizzard by Microsoft: the business news of the week

2023-06-25 13:41:14

Business news A ton of revelations about the takeover of Activision-Blizzard by Microsoft: the business news of the week

Published on 06/25/2023 at 15:41

This week in the video game business news, heavy and crunchy with a ton of revelations concerning the takeover of Activision-Blizzard, but also on consumption habits in independent video games. And not only!

Summary

New consoles, new Game Pass, accusations… new details in the case of the takeover of Activision-Blizzard by MicrosoftA study on the consumption habits of independent video gamesAt a glance in the business news of the weekOur other business articles of the week

New consoles, new Game Pass, accusations… new details in the case of the takeover of Activision-Blizzard by Microsoft

Decidedly, the soap opera does not stop any more. If you’ve followed the news a bit, then you know that in addition to the British CMA, another organization has just gotten in the way of the takeover of Activision-Blizzard by Microsoft: neither more nor less than the American FTCwhich feared that the American giant would complete the acquisition when the United Kingdom had given the green light.

Blocking the redemption, the Federal Trade Commission yesterday began a hearing with Microsoft, which reveals a lot of information. Here is a selection:

Sarah Bond, vice president of Xbox, said that‘Activision-Blizzard (and more precisely its CEO Bobby Kotick) had asked Microsoft for preferential treatment, demanding a bigger revenue share, before threatening to pull Call of Duty from Xbox platforms if they disagree. In this way, a split agreement was reached at 80%/20%, against the norm which was 70/30. “We felt it was vital to acquire their content,” said Sarah Bond. A new formula for the Xbox Game Pass would be under study, offering only access to Cloud Gaming. This would nevertheless have “higher operational costs”. A rather unfortunate email for Sony was unveiled in court : PlayStation CEO Jim Ryan writes that he was not initially concerned about the takeover of the publisher. Two days after the takeover was announced, he said “it’s not going to be an Xbox exclusive at all” and that “Microsoft is thinking bigger than that.” As IGN saw while reviewing court documents, the start of the next generation of consoles is expected in 2028, eight after the launch of the PS5 and Xbox Series. About the new consoles, Jim Ryan also reportedly said he wouldn’t reveal PS6 plans to Activision-Blizzard if the firm was acquired, and therefore overseen, by Microsoft, says Axios. Axios also relays the information that the FTC would accuse Microsoft’s agreements with Nintendo or Nvidia (to bring Call of Duty and other Activision games to affected platforms over the next ten years) to be filled with “loopholes and speculative commitments”.Microsoft’s defendants in court put Xbox in a weak position with particularly stark words: “Xbox has lost the console wars, and its rivals are well positioned to continue to dominate, including leveraging exclusive content. Xbox has consistently ranked third among consoles behind PlayStation and Nintendo.”IGN revealed that the Indiana Jones video game, published by ZenixMax (Bethesda), was originally a cross-platform game before Microsoft bought the publisher and made it an Xbox exclusive. Same story for Starfield, according to the FTC. The FTC also said the actions were “strong evidence” that Microsoft’s promises of cross-platform release of Call of Duty games were unreliable. “Actions speak louder than words,” said the Federal Trade Commission, pointing to the takeover of ZeniMax by Microsoft and the exclusive development of the publisher’s projects. Axios also states that Xbox Games Studios boss Matt Booty was auditioned to talk about Microsoft’s exclusivity strategy. The FTC then cited emails where the man concerned wrote that there was “no way” that Microsoft was bringing its licenses to rival consoles. These emails were allegedly written between 2019 and 2021. In his defense, Booty says he was angry at Nvidia’s decision on Microsoft games on GeForce Now at the time, but the strategy has since changed.

A study on independent video game consumption habits

For Humble Games, a group of analysts conducted a study to better dissect independent video games: to do this, researchers interviewed around 5,000 players aged 18 to 45, in six different countries.

According to analysts, three player profiles have been identified:

Regular indie game buyers (who buy more than 5 indie games per year) Light indie game buyers (between one and five indie games per year) Traditional game buyers (no indie games purchased)

Of the 5,000 people, about 2,000 were regular and light shoppers. Traditional gamers would then play the video game twelve hours a week on average, while light and regular gamers would play 18 hours a week. However, the surprise is that regular indie gamers would buy and play more AAA games than gamers in the other two categories.

By the way, how to qualify a game “independent”? The question has been asked and the three categories of players agree that the first criterion is the price, ideally between 15 and 25 dollars. Beyond 25 dollars, players really expect more content.

As for the very characterization of an “indie game”, players expect a unique, experimental, innovative, memorable and passion-filled experience.

21% of light buyers and 29% of regulars buy indie video games as soon as they are released, and 30% of all buyers prefer to wait a few months after release to heat up the credit card. 10% of buyers would pre-order their indie games. The majority, however, prefers to wait for periods of promotion.

Another juicy detail: the three categories of players prefer paid independent video games to free-to-play independent video games.

Another point of the study should also hold your attention: 31% of independent game players would discover the titles via YouTube, 15% via Steam and 13% through their friends or family. When they want to find out more, gameplay videos would be the first search made (54%), followed by simple gameplay images (28%) and trailers (27%).

Finally, the gameplay videos would be the first factor of incentive for the purchase (for 30% of people questioned).

Also be aware that gamers tend to prioritize single-player indie games with an emphasis on story and narrative, gameplay and thrills, or amount of content. In the rather AA or AAA video game, on the other hand, it is the multiplayer and the graphics that would be of more concern.

Finally, independent video game players appreciate new franchises, unique gameplay and original artistic directions, allowing them to express personal feelings. They would also prefer single player to multiplayer and if there is multiplayer, co-op would take precedence over competitive. Finally, the third person camera would also be preferred.

Interesting !

Briefly in the business news of the week

Ina Gelbert, head of Xbox France, has just announced her departure, giving way to Cédric Mimouni, Gaming Category Lead Western Europe. A brand new studio, Red Over Interactive, has just been set up by several veterans (DayZ, Conan Exiles, Crysis 2, Ryse). It’s led by Fred Richardson (from Funcom) and its goal is to revitalize the survival video game. Lumikai plans to distribute $50 million for video game developers in India, with a focus on new franchises, tools and technology, mixed reality and AI. The Twitch platform recorded 1.76 billion hours of viewing during the month of May. Zelda Tears of the Kingdom has 37 million. Capcom has announced that it has sold almost 500 million video games since its debut 40 years ago. Microsoft has announced that it will wait until there is a sufficient audience for virtual and augmented reality before concretely exploring this medium. Ghostwire Tokyo has registered five million players.