Microsoft wins FTC fight to buy Activision Blizzard
"In a ruling submitted today, Judge Corley said the following:
Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision has been described as the largest in tech history. It deserves scrutiny. That scrutiny has paid off: Microsoft has committed in writing, in public, and in court to keep Call of Duty on PlayStation for 10 years on parity with Xbox. It made an agreement with Nintendo to bring Call of Duty to Switch. And it entered several agreements to for the first time bring Activision’s content to several cloud gaming services. This Court’s responsibility in this case is narrow. It is to decide if, notwithstanding these current circumstances, the merger should be halted—perhaps even terminated—pending resolution of the FTC administrative action. For the reasons explained, the Court finds the FTC has not shown a likelihood it will prevail on its claim this particular vertical merger in this specific industry may substantially lessen competition. To the contrary, the record evidence points to more consumer access to Call of Duty and other Activision content. The motion for a preliminary injunction is therefore DENIED. "
Oh great, more consolidation and monopoly building.
'Tis the era of Indy Games, my friend. Abandon the Graphically amazing games that cannot be built upon passion due to have dev teams of 10,000 strong. Instead, embrace the smaller titles developed by less than 10 people whom cry with joy at the prospect of showering you with entertainment and art.
You're saying this 3 weeks before BG3 drops lol
This is the best year for big studios in a loooong time
What is bg3?
Butt guzzler 9
Baldur's Gate 3
The sequel to BG2
Eh, not really, as far as I see.
Just don't buy it or wait a couple years to grab it at good discount. Or if you're feeling extra feisty, take the high seas.
I've already purchased BG3, and Larian is one of very few companies I will pre-order anything from solely due to my desire to contribute to them making more games.
The genuine love they demonstrated during D:OS 1/2 has me sold on their development style as basically "the old Blizzard" and until that changes, I will donate to kickstarters, preorder games, whole 9 yards. Making the D:OS Enhanced editions free, separate installs, with the amount of additions and quality they added, was just next-level for a game company.
Their community engagement and response during the BG3 Early Access only cemented this belief for me.
The more companies we get like Larian working on different genres, the better the gaming industry would be.
I was talking more about the big studio releases in general. I also recommend keeping an eye on the studio if you love them that much, it's not uncommon for core devs responsible for making a studio great in the first place quitting and leaving behind an empty shell.
Or worse, they find a more profitable franchise and turns your favorite one into a side project. Looking at you, From.
I think you should watch any Panel From Hell about BG3 and see firsthand just how unfounded these fears are with Larian.
Also I don't really get the distaste for From? They just made Elden Ring, arguably one of the greatest games of all time. Their AC game is gonna be lit AF.
I don't hate From, I just don't care for souls-like and so I've been starved for AC games for years. Hopefully the mechanics from souls won't seep into AC.
Ah that's fair.
What are some good venues to discover indie games? I've been checking YT channels like Wanderbots and Splattercatgaming and the only subreddit I still go back to is GameDeals but I'm sure there's a lot of places to get to know about new and old indies of specific genres