Kotick will not perish. He will simply transfer somewhere else. Remember when Riccitiello left EA? Have you heard how he fucked Unity recently? And now he will surely fuck something else? Same with kitty kotick
@MicheleKalina704 That's only because Phil Spencer has to put on a mask to win favor with customers since they're far behind their competition when it comes to profit. Give Spencer all of the Infinity Stones and he'll eventually be just as evil.
The fact that Kotick gets to take stupid amounts of money and just go home after all the inhuman shit he's done over the years makes me want to puke with rage. Duck-C*nt almost slew me.
This was the inevitable plan for all of these companies selling out, there is no creativity, they were hoping to sell big to the moron dumb enough to purchase them at their worst. It's the biggest non-story, because no new games are going to be created all we know is that companies have been shifted into a monopoly composed of franchises that don't want to produce games anymore.
To paraphrase Woolie Madden when he talked about Multiversus: It's not as exciting as it is scary, to see a company show off "all these things we own". Crossovers used to be cool and fun, now it's commonplace and severely undercut by capitalism.
Agreed, Smash and SRW was exciting because they were celebrations of their mediums, smash gaming and SRW mecha. Both were written and made with with love. Fortnite? Just a skin. A shell. Grabbing onto a brand’s fan base with the bare minimum work.
fortnite is stilacessabe and sells only skins. its notlike youneed to ovrly expencive buy it, youget what you get. thats honest still@@pootissandvichhere9135
Vince McMahon and Bobby Kotick both essentially ousted from power back to back is a weird feeling, especially knowing that neither of them are facing real consequences for their actions and will come out of this even richer. It's like when a kid does something wrong and one parent scolds them while another one congratulates them behind the other parent's back
@@23ScaduThing is, even if they're "expensive", they're still just meat. All those years of professional training don't mean much if they're still just meat. What's more, being surrounded by goons just means that you take out more bad people in a single strike. All that money invested doesn't mean shit if people can't tell what's part of the bodyguards and what's part of the client. It's all just a waste of time on their part.
@@GmodPlusWoW Not to mention there's always some slim chance that just one or two of those expensive guards will be like "Y'know what? My mom just got evicted by people like the guy we're guarding." or, "This guy ruins lives for a living. I'm not okay with that. I'm the wall between him and consequences, and all it would take is for me not to be there for a while... the right little while." And the more openly people turn against them, the harder it will be to find people willing to oppress.
Fun fact: if the people laid off by Microsoft had an average salary of $70,000, the amount of money spent on this deal could have paid all their salaries for 70 years, and still left nearly $30 billion.
I looked at this and thought "there's no way that's true", but I did the math myself and you're right. $70,000 yearly salary for 10,000 people $70,000 x 10,000 = $700,000,000 Over 70 years: $700,000,000 x 70 = 49 billion Truly an inconceivable amount of money.
No one in the history of any species has anyone ever worked enough to genuinely make 1 billion dollars period. The people that work the hardest jobs are the least paid
@@PlatinumAltariaHonestly, I agree in principle, just not the amount. I know at least a few guys who did 30 or 40 years in construction, or driving a truck, and saved that much for retirement.
The difference between a million and a billion is probably easiest to understand as a measurement of time, 1 million seconds is only 11.5 days, 1 billion seconds is 31 years and 8-ish months. If people could easily comprehend just how massive that is, it would be harder for capitalists to pick your pockets at every possible opportunity for an extra couple bucks. Also even if Bobby is legitimately leaving Microsoft-Activision-Blizzard-King, he is still a billionaire and I have no doubt that he will ever truly go away.
I use the example of if i gave you One million dollars and you had to spend 1,000$ a day it would take you THREE FUCKING YEARS to run outta money, spending 28,000$ a month. Three years to spend what some people make in a FUCKING YEAR
Surplus to requirements. Otherwise known as "we'll just put your work onto other already overworked employees, and they won't complain because they'll be too scared for their jobs."
The _"corporations exist to make money"_ defence has always baffled me. It's _so_ myopic. "You can't criticize Jeffrey Dahmer for killing people - he's a murderer! It's what they do! If he didn't kill people, he wouldn't be a very good murderer, now would he?"
Not sure why but I suddenly feel the need to see a wrestling clip that goes something like "and that is Stephanie Sterling, just mercilessly assaulting her competitor with toy willem dafoe"
For a small frame of reference to how much money that is: if someone back at first day of 100bc became immortal and received $85,000 everyday, forever at this point in 2023ad, they would have $ 65,866,075,000, which is still not enough to have done this purchase. It's a crazy amount of money.
I’ve seen so many people dismiss this as “It doesn’t affect me, I just play Blizzard games” as if they aren’t going to try and make back that $68,700,000,000 as quickly as possible using Blizzard and Activision IP.
"It doesn't affect me, I just play [one company's games]" Is insane to me because it doesn't matter when all the money they spend on that one company goes to the same bloated piles of shit that *own every damn company.*
That was $68.7 billion CASH! M$ didn’t use stock or raise debt for this transaction! This is what a 2 trillion dollar company looks like throwing its weight around. Disgusting!
On top of the 10,000 layoffs, Microsoft froze the wages of everybody they didn't lay off, in a year of >5% inflation. There are no unions at Microsoft. Meanwhile, executives saw their stock compensation bloat even more. Apparently Satya "made" something like $1B since he became CEO.
Pirating games is illegal, but only when I think about giving any amount of money to these companies while knowing what they'll do with it do I feel like a criminal.
Pirating is a myth. International Law states it as "Sharing" It's only 'Illegal' if you try to make money on your copy of any media. Otherwise you are FREE to share it out to anyone. As many times as you want.
@@maximvsdread1610copyright laws vary from country to country. digital piracy’s crime type is not considered “theft” but instead “copyright infringement” which is far different lmao
@@maximvsdread1610 morelike the myth is companies loose money on ppl pirating , i posted a thing on a reddit a few days back but when i've indulged in my younger years i've had clear examples of companies Making money from my 'try before you buy' habit ... like sega when i pirated the og ps2 copy of yakuza 1 off demonoid back in the day , thei've made somewhee around 6-800 off me preordering every yakuza entry that has came west since 3 ... which to be clear was originally fueled by the fact that i wanted more of those games to come west which up till zero was always a worry that we would stop getting them localized mind you cause it had been an ever looming threat .... but yeah pirating = good
I seem to recall that anti-trust legislation was a big deal in the US once upon a time. I wonder what became of those laws...ah well. Who needs law when there's money to be made?
Nothing happened to the laws, the governments willingness to employ them did. Clinton was the last administration that seemed to care about that kind of thing. We have to rely on the EU these days, and in my opinion they fucked up on this one. They're usually quite reliable on this stuff.
@@thema1998 Epic bought Bandcamp specifically to use it as an argument against Apple and Google over the cuts they get from purchases through their app stores and since they lost that lawsuit they're now trying to offload the company. Nothing since they bought Bandcamp has actually happened so it was practically dead anyway just from Epic ownership.
Yes, but slight correction, they are laying off a bunch of Bandcamp employees to help their own bottom line as they sell Bandcamp. Just utterly dicking over Bandcamp as hard as possible.
Repeat after me: Microsoft has never contributed to the industry. They gave us paid online, killed free dlc and local multiplayer, and even every successful first party microsoft game was one that was retroactively bought out as an exclusive.
God and I don't know if anyone else has seen the ad, but there's one going around about the acquisition playing a song that goes like "oooo it's a beautiful day". No. No it's not Microsoft
MS have already signed paperwork stating they will not get in the way of unionisation; they've done this with many other companies and stuck to it, so no reason to doubt them this time. Bobby has his three Coca-Cola jobs to go do (which is what he's been moving towards for the last 12 years anyway), and he's likely going to be picking up a fourth role there. Coca-Cola aren't going to let any of their guys go to jail for anything...
@@HeavyMetalBeliever You never know, he might get bored and hit up one of the other billionaire jackasses for a private space ride. I'd also be cool if he took a submarine ride to see the Titanic.
We could, if enough people would inform themselves, form some unions, and above all stop saying to themselves "There's nothing we can do, so we may as well go along with all the crap". Defeatism accomplishes only defeat. Sadly, few people seem to realize this...
corporate mergers and aquisitions are ALWAYS anti competitive... thats the entire point they are either trying to establish a monopoly or trying to establish full control over an entire production chain so either horizontal or vertical control... its the only reason to do it
Oh so you are saying that a business like games top should just go belly up and have every one lose their jobs because no one was allowed to buy the? Should we just let every single small business get utterly crushed by larger corporations by way of higher wages and better benefits? Should we let them dis out like the average nursing home these days, only to have the old land get bought up and used as airbnbs? Or worse the building sit empty for decades like the countless ones in new York city?! Also for you to call it anticompetitive no matter what shows how clueless you are! Competition by it's core definition is the practice of out shining and besting others by doing whatever it takes! Anti competitive practices are the result of the little guys not receiving enough investments or investing their money poorly. Why aren't people trying to help smaller competitors by supporting them and spreading the name of that business? Also, are you aware that Microsoft is literally the only major tech business that has allowed game developers to unionize?! You are basically telling activision blizzard female employeess should continue to put up with misogyny and low wages?! The very things that led to this buy out in the first place?! The bill Cosby frat boy photo?! You clearly think that it was OK?! That it should coninue on instead?! Are you implying that they would be better off with EA who has a track record of shutting down game studios for bullshit reasons? Or better off with Google, who failed miserably with the whole stadia push, or epic games who is pumping and wasting money on the meta verse? At the end of the day they were likely doomed to get laid off if someone didn't buy them out! Competions have to shrink at some point. Just look at the video game crash of the 80s! That was a very competetive time period! And it nearly destroyed the entire industry it self due to how many different consoles and their exclusives were out there! By the 90s, we were down to only 4 major platforms, Xbox, Nintendo, Sega and Sony! Sony and Nintendo ended up trampling over Sega, ending their long running establishment in console making. Is Sega a bad company? Is their parent company doing a bad job handling them? That is open for debate. It had been a long time since they made a highly successful sonic game as of late. Sonic frontiers was one of their last chances to get the formula right. The same way final fantasy was the last chance before square soft went under. You can't just sit here and pretend like every business is somehow immune to failing. Sears failed. Block busters failed. Atari failed. Those are three former major businesses that were massive in their prime, who then went on to die without a whimper. But sure, go ahead and say that their employees were better off losing their jobs and incomes because their executives chose to run them into the ground instead of seeking an olive branch or a severance package. Bad leadership is a valid reason to sell the business. Because no new leadership at a failing company often equals sweeping unemployment.
Yet when people point this out, sympathizers love to claim "capitalism" as if having an economic system makes it okay to screw over the little guy. As if the general welfare of a nation does not matter.
@@crapshot321 so are you saying the little guy shouldnt have a life line? Should the employees have to suffer because their business leader is mismanaging money? In that case why dont we get rid of the consumer financial protection buerue since they also l help people manage their money. If you had to choose between having someone replace a dumbass boss and going down with the company over night, you are telling me you would sacrifice being with your co workers for the sake of spiting bigger businesses. It's almost as though you think that all employees should be treated as expendable first. Edit: are you trying to call me a sympathizer of caitlizm or what? Upon rereading your comment, I cannot tell who you are trying to side with.
@@josephlh1690 I was replying to SharienGaming original post and agreeing with that. I was not replying to anything you wrote. I can't even see what, if anything you've written in this thread due to TH-cam's "wonderful" comment system. So no, I don't support corporations mistreating working people.
Why compete when it’s cheaper to buy out and destroy other companies before they can challenge you, even when you factor in the cost of buying off the politicians who are supposed to be keeping you in check?
A BBC news piece on the sale ended with ‘this is good news for gamers’. No explanation of why its good for gamers, I’m guessing because they couldn’t think of one.
That’s the worst part, the case the UK brought up was “what about game streaming” instead of “what about the fact that they’ve been making Bethesda games exclusive”.
Because that argument simply wouldn't have stood up to scrutiny. They went with the cloud market because it's a small but growing market therefore speculative concerns over it's future carry more weight. You don't have to like it, but from a legal perspective it made sense. One need only look to the FTC's shockingly weak attempts to block the acquisition to see how futile any complaints over potential console exclusivity would've been given xbox's current market position.
@@alzzer3414 except that argument failed for the FTC and the UK authorities. All Microsoft has to do is open up cloud gaming to any company that wants it. And they’re willing, because to them it isn’t as important. Why do you think they’re not talking about it as much as before? Because Microsoft realized it wasn’t going to be a huge market for a long time if at all.
@@alzzer3414 The cloud market is a small market because it's been around a while and nobody's interested. It's not growing, it's stagnant. The only future cloud gaming has is death, everyone already knows that just by looking at the mass grave of failed streaming services, the UK's objections were incredibly stupid.
@@alzzer3414 mm. The game streaming argument was literally the only halfway competent attempt to block this merger. All the others were letting Microsoft try and make promises and pretending corporations aren't inherently, legally obligated to be immoral anticonsumer fucks. The FTC was so toothless. The legal system still doesn't acknowledge the fact that corporations will always do what they're financially incentivised to do, and instead pretends that they have any morals.
The house always wins in capitalism. But but they promised they won't make exclusives!... in the next few years... it will totally work out! And capitalism breeds innovation! And meritocracy is a thing! /s
Exactly. Everyone saying "There's no way Call of Duty will ever be exclusive. That makes no sense. They'd lose money" I'll see you in 2035 when COD becomes exclusive and Microsoft sells 150 million consoles because of it.
This has been a frustrating topic, because all the Xbox/MS fanboys are actually *cheering* on this travesty. For them, it's all about their favorite toy, but this goes *so* far beyond the piddly "console wars." This is one of the world's most significant megacorporations absorbing another megacorporation. And while the C-suite will profit, the lower classes will pay the price for "consolidation" and "restructuring" and "focus."
Did you pay attention to the stuff coming out of the FTC lawsuit? Xbox is in dead last, PlayStation buying exclusives is a big threat, if Microsoft hadn't bought Zenimax then there's a very high chance that PlayStation would have bought Starfield exclusivity for themselves. The end result of PlayStation's endless exclusivity deals is that Xbox leaves the market due to low share and PlayStation ends up as a monopoly. Given the choice between the world where Xbox buys some publishers and the world where Xbox leaves the market, I choose the former. Neither are good but PlayStation doesn't need a monopoly, ever.
Attempting to put this all into perspective: Between 1967 and 1979, the vaccination campaign that eradicated smallpox cost $300 million. Adjusted for inflation from 1967, that's $2.76 billion. In 1978, the first GPS satellite was launched. The initial constellation of GPS satellites cost $12 billion. Adjusted for inflation from 1978, that's $57 billion. In 2023, a corporation bought another corporation that publishes video games for $68.7 billion. Where is all THAT money going?
I used to fall for Phil Spencer's "anti console war" lipservice until this ABK process began. His lunacy about buying Nintendo was the nail in the coffin on my respect for the guy.
You don't think every other big company in the space has discussed buying Nintendo? I bet if we got the right Sony leaks, or the right Valve leaks, or the right ABK leaks, or the right EA leaks, or the right Ubisoft leaks, and so on - we'd find them all talking about buying Nintendo. Nintendo and all of their IP would be a huge get for any capitalist vultures. Especially a little after the Wii U launch, when both the Wii U and 3DS were doing incredibly poorly. Or during the years of the N64 followed by the GameCube, neither doing that well.
@mjc0961 there is no conceivable way Sony could afford Nintendo if they could I'm sure they would buy it. It would actually make more sense for Sony to own Nintendo considering they were partners at one point.
0:23 I am offended at the announcers boglin comment, they are a mainstay of the series and I cannot stand idly by as they're being falsely accused of being a thing relegated to the past. There is too much potential, I feel we have yet to see peak boglin on the show.
che gets shot to death for educating students... Kotick just keeps getting richer while threatening to murder anyone who mentions his friend who's a rapist...
James Stephanie Sterling might not be 'the hero we deserve' but they certainly are the hero we need... Sterling is my 'reality check' for a lot of things. I don't have the brain power to remember every stupid/awful/disgusting thing all these companies do. So you're damn right I'm grateful Stephanie does, and never stops talking about it, because far too often I need a reminder that none of these stinking corporations have any genuine 'goodness' in them, and don't really deserve any love or trust. Cheers Steph, thanks for being real you bloody legend.
My favourite way to think about absurd sums of money: Median individual income in the US is between $45k/year and $55k/year. $55k/year for 60 years is $3.3million; this is more money than most US residents will earn in a lifetime, before tax, so I call it a "lifetime". $1billion is about 303 lifetimes. The $68.7billion that Microsoft spent on ABK is about 21,000 lifetimes, or the lifetime incomes of an entire medium-sized town.
Ah yes, the very important job of screaming "Make me more money!" at those just below himself in rank. No wonder the shareholders love these scuzzballs.
I wish you had touched more on how bad this is for the creative aspect of the industry. You don't need to innovate or take risks anymore, just buy up the people that do. On top of the fact that all of these great games now stuck on one particular fucking brand of hardware.
I think its important to look at this from the consumer angle aswell. That money would have been spent paying the employees to create games that we will now never get to experience, and instead is being spent to restrict our access to games that would have been pumped out regardless (but would have been available to more consoles). Truly obscene!
I find it hard to care about "the consumer angle", when ABK workers were being horrifically abused for DECADES under the now-previous leadership. What matters most here is that the staff got what they wanted,; new ownership who has pledged to let them unionise, and the confirmed departure of several key figures who oversaw all the harm. That's really ALL that matters.
What are you saying? That money would NEVER be spent on employees or making games. What in the world makes you think that? The money exists and can be spent so it would be spent on employees? They've always had this ridiculous amount of money, they've never used it to make games.
@@duglikk I think the point here is that Microsoft could have used this to improve their already failing game franchise library instead of just buying games away from other customers to force them into their walled garden. They could have used that money to give allow Arkane the time to fix Redfall, or if that was impossible eat the cost of development so that they don't put out a shitty game. They could have used that money to improve the multiplayer for Halo which people have been complaining about since release. They could have used it to allow their studios to create multiple Hi-Fi Rush caliber games that could have surprised and captivated people and change the perspective of the Microsoft game library. Instead, they decided to do exactly what Epic tried to do because it took less effort.
@@originalscreenname44 Could and would is not the same however. Would implies that if the money wasn't spent on buying Activision it would be spent on games. Could is just a dream of possibilities that make a point about how things could be. The could was already excessively explained and detailed by Stephanie Sterling in the first place.
@@duglikk The point is that Microsoft has a 69 billion other options that don't make the gaming industry worse and they chose not to do it. This is especially bad for a company that has been going out of their way to pretend they're not the bad guys in the gaming industry. Granted none of that should have ever been believed since Microsoft has always proven themselves to be a solely profit-driven corporation with the only goal of monopolizing whatever area of industry they inhabit..
*Organize, Unionize, Socialize* - Socialize part is the most important because it has to do with public ownership (as well as worker ownership production wise) as opposed to Private ownership of everything into the hands of 1% of the population.
I refuse to believe you haven't heard of Drake and the 99 Dragons until the making of this video. I refuse. That game is beyond infamous. Its basically a solid chunk of stone that has been immortalized in how bad it is.
Drake and the 99 Dragons has a special place in my heart, as the only non-FPS that ever made me physically sick. And for being absolutely terrible in every way.
On the bright side Bobby Kotick in addition to all his other flaws was a known micro-mismanager. For instance ex-overwatch employees cite him as being the reason so much of the first game's post-launch development was focused on an e-sports league that none of the players cared about and for delaying Overwatch 2's development by over a year by forcing them to work on side projects he'd come up with on a whim, likely being the reason why the game was soft-cancelled. So at least the games should get better when microsoft sends in some apathetic ghoul to replace him
A perfect example of "the moment they stop competing they stop trying" is sports games. Back in the 90s/early 2000s there were 2-3 different companies making games for each sport. Once EA got the exclusive license, quality started to drop. Then, instead of opening up the license again, NASCAR gave Activision exclusive rights, and they brought on the Ride to Hell developers...
1:20 I've had issues with chronic migraines myself. The generic hyzaar I've been taking for hypertension seemed to help but it replaced them with dizziness and now I finally feel like I've started to get over the side effects only to come down with a bit of a nasty cold and the migraines are back again...
Hey I just wanna say that Super Lesbian Animal RPG does work on Steam Deck. It doesn't run perfectly, but you can absolutely play the game from start to finish on the Steam Deck.
The crash of 1983 was localized in the United States (and maybe North America as a whole) and affected only the console market, computer gaming was unaffected. Unfortunately the videogame industry, by itself, is nowhere near close to crashing. It will only crash by domino effect if more fundamental sectors of the industry do, like integrated electronics.
Disney for media, MS for games.. rip everything. The Gov use to stop this kind of stuff, it actually does have very damaging effects. But its run amuck everywhere now.
These companies have ensured the politicians which once existed to check and balance them are now wholly on their side. They must be reminded - continuously - that *we* outnumber *them,* and *we* make their economy function.
I think it's misleading to call it buying in case of the Microsoft store. As you don't pay for anything more then the promise that you will be allowed to play games. And not even the games you initially agreed on. But the promise that Microsoft will let you play games it agrees to at that moment.
That's how it works literally everywhere. You buy a license to use the product, nothing more. Even on GOG with their no-DRM stuff you only buy a license and GOG has all the rights in the world to revoke that license at any point. Furthermore, even if you buy a physical disc, all you're buying is the physical disc itself and a license to play the game.
@@leetri thats actually incorrect - once you have the installer, GOG can do whatever they want, but that shit stays with you and you can run, backup or modify that stuff as much as you please thats the whole point
And Microsoft are massive liars. Remember where they ran ads all over the place saying "Windows 10 will be the last version of Windows" because instead of selling a new version every few years they would just iterate on it with updates? That went out the window (pun intended) almost immediately and we're dealing with Windows 11 bugginess and now rumors about Windows 12 being around the corner. Any promise Microsoft makes to you is not worth believing without a written contract.
@@SharienGaming I think steam also has DRM free games that will launch with no problems through the executable file regardless if steam is open or not, with the downside that you actively need to search the games that are DRM free.
@@SharienGaming "We give you and other GOG users the personal right (known legally as a 'licence') to use GOG services and to download, access and/or stream (depending on the content) and use GOG content. This licence is for your personal use. We can stop or suspend this licence in some situations, which are explained later on." It literally says in their legally binding section of the GOG User Agreement that they have the right to revoke access to your games at any time. Also, none of what you said changes anything either way. Even if GOG didn't have that section, you still have to agree to the ToS of whoever publishes the game in order to play it (which they also mention in the User Agreement). And even if that didn't exist, you still don't own the game. If you actually owned the game, it would be legal to produce and sell copies of it. Try selling copies of your Nintendo games online and see how quickly you get a cease and desist.
To put $1 billion in perspective, let’s say you made $1 million a year. That’s a lot, right? If you made $1 million a year, it would take you ONE THOUSAND YEARS to earn a billion dollars. It’s also important to realize that to CEOs, workers aren’t people. They’re office supplies.
As someone who feels very hit and miss in regards to the wacky intros, seeing you bring the bogling in as a wrestling garrote brings a smile to my face.
15 years, Bobby Kotick gloated about how he loves to suck the joy out of making video game, as if he practically mandated toxic work environments, protect abusers and threatened the abuse if they speak up. The cruelty wasn't an oversight, cruelty was, is, has always been... the point.
As soon as this Activision acquisition started, I've been saying that Microsoft is trying to monopolize the western gaming market. It's what they tried to do when they bought exclusivity of Bioware and Bethesda titles, when they took Halo away from Mac OS (which is what it was originally being developed for), and when they bought Rare likely to spite Nintendo for humiliating them and then doing pretty much nothing with their franchises. I'll guarantee you in about another 6 months we'll see Microsoft sniffing around Ubisoft especially since Ubisoft is in a vulnerable position like Activision was when Microsoft opened the checkbook
Although I fully agree with James Stephanie about the layoffs from a moral point of view, there may actually be a matter of practical necessity in play here. Simply put, companies that are reliant on investors have to maintain an investor-friendly image. And that amounts to profit-maximizing, of which cost cutting is part. So the logic may actually be: 1. Signal that profit-maximizing is still your highest priority by announcing lay-offs. 2. Raise a large loan or even equity from investors or sharegolders 3. Effect the takeover, using (in whole or in part) the sum raised. Without step 1, the takeover may well not be effected. Not that that's any excuse for those put out of work, of course...
People defend Scrooge by saying he actually earned his wealth. But that's part of the propaganda, the idea that there's any reality where someone could earn that much money. Not to mention he's just stealing treasure from other cultures. Check out the book "How to Read Donald Duck" for more on this. I still like Ducktales tho.
Billion is such an inconceivable number that if 10000 people were laid off and they all made the median American salary it would be proportional to asking someone who spent $687 if they wanted to save 5 bucks
@@IamHat oooh sorry, i think i misunderstood something about the salary being multiplied in... well either that or the 500 million was a number steph mentioned that my brain promptly forgot either way, my bad - you are absolutely right
Here's a better comparison. A BILLION SECONDS IS 31 YEARS. NO ONE NEEDS A BILLION DOLLARS - IT'S PURE GREED AND A GRANDIOSE SENSE OF ENTITLEMENT THAT CANNOT BE SATISFIED.
It’s honestly funny that Nintendo, for all their problems and vices that perpetuate issues in this industry, only buy second party studios that they already have worked with. It’s almost like having a mentality of making consistently good games and letting that be the bedrock of your business is a feasible practice in the industry, but most studios just want to rush to the easy money. (To be clear, Nintendo is guilty of this too, but you take the positives where they lie at this point with the industry. I’m just pointing out how they run their game development used to be the norm in the industry until others realized the loopholes for charging extra in every way).
Unrelated, but i always laugh at ZMannZilla's job description being video/text editing, graphic design... *and tarot reading.* "One of theeese is not like the others..."
It's really telling that I haven't bought a game from *any* of the companies mentioned here in quite a few years. Last Bethesda game I got was Fallout 4, last Activision game was, I think [Prototype] (and I bought that one used), and I'm not sure about Microsoft, but my last MS console was the 360, so I don't think I've bought any games made by them since (though I use Windows, albeit registry edited to hell and back to turn off the in-OS advertisements, Cortana, and other intrusive corporate features).
Overwatch was overrated anyway and "overwatch 2" even worse cuz its not even an actual sequel really it's just 1.5, you did yourself a favor by quitting that trash game.
I agree, every time Microsoft does a video game studio acquisition the bought studio starts to have it's workers' enthusiasm drop sharply - Lion Head Studios / Bethesda anyone ? But on the positive side Microsoft may filter out the perverts in Activision.
This happened with Tango games founder same guy that made the Resident evil series, as soon as Bethesda was acquired he left. At the time most simply said and thought he had retired, but recently he came out said he was ready to work and make games again. He couldn't say anything due to signing an agreement he wouldnt work in the industry for some span of time after leaving. I also recall reading that $1.5 billion of $3.5 billion price tag to acquire bungie was allocated to employees of bungie as an incentive for staying post PlayStation acquisition. I'm not businessman, so I don't know how well that works, or if it did its job of retaining the workforce.
@mutalix with takeovers for staff retention it's usually in the form of company share options with restrictions on when you can sell them etc I joined a tiny tech company in the mid 90s that had been bought up by a big company so I missed out on the share options after the takeover and surprise, I was lied to about the job and it was really dressed up to be something it was not; the place got so bad after the takeover than even the people with share options started leaving; I wonder if I was recruited and the hiring managers were just increasing their developer head count so they could get rid of me if there were any lay offs after the take over was completed -that wasn't the case but it was a hellish place to work and I got out just before it went under. Some ex-video game developers in that UK company from the 8-bit era there was..
Monopoly is never good. The fact that MS owns this many companies now will kick people in the ass, if not now soon. Gladly, I don't play ActiBliz or Bugthesda games so I will probably just watch the drama and laugh. Still, buyout like this will cut jobs, it is inevitable as division will be restructured. So overall, one good point is that Kotick is leaving? Not sure how much it will change at ActiBliz, honestly. Overall I see it all as a negative, but time will tell.
Kotick could have paid those 10,000 people out of his own wealth and NOT EVEN NOTICED. The salaries of 10,000 people is a barely noticeable percantage of 60 billion.
The only way a company will ever keep a "promise" is if it's literally part of the contract to buy the other company and that violating that promise will mean they immediately have to sell it/spin it off into a new company. Literally the only way that will ever happen. And even then, they'll probably still break their "promise" and try to still hang onto the other company anyway. Well, at least Kotick is gone. Finally.
I haven't bought an XBOX since the 360 and I only bought the 360 because it was cheaper than the PS3 at the time. That 360 was the first and last XBOX I've owned (unless you count my gaming PC which is also technically an XBOX).
Microsoft - "Where's our publisher?" Regulatory Agencies - "You've already had it." Microsoft - "We've had one yes, but what about a SECOND publisher?"
Some of the biggest cheerleaders of this move are StarCraft fans. Because everyone, including steph, forgets it exists but Microsoft actually has mentioned plans for it.
MS being given a bill for back taxes is some smidge of karma. Now to just fine them enough they have to sell off the many many many MANY MANY *MANY* properties they own
The truly frustrating thing about the conversation surrounding this acquisition is that some people are content to just shrug and go "Well, it got rid of Bobby Kotick, so it's a net positive." And like, yeah, on its face, getting rid of Kotick is a good thing. But the corporate culture that allowed him to exist and even encouraged his behavior is still there. The door is wide open for somebody just like Bobby, or perhaps even worse, to walk right through.
@@chinering23 why do you think I put "woman" in quotations? Also Jim has never started he was a woman. And also, that has nothing to do with my point, Jim's videos have been exactly the same quality before and after.
God I love you, Steph. Also 15:55 "Not because I haven't been playing it but because I'm a dirty cow" fuckin killed me. You just slid that in and that recked me.
I'm hoping that Bobby Kotick being out (Though obviously he should've been out and in jail long ago...) will improve the working conditions for AB employees. But I too very much expect things will worsen because historically consolidation only makes things worse. But there is good news: The FTC is looking like they will reopen the case and keep reopening it for as long as it takes. So it may not be completely over.
I suspect we're looking at foxes guarding a hen house there, but who knows. It may in fact be a very small dog with occasional chicken-guarding capability.
11:19 This kicks ass, excellent work Z. Mann Zilla! Steph, I think you've always done an excellent job of providing the proper framing for the actions of corporations and their toadies, and this is another banger. Never let us forget how these scumsuckers treat the people they have power over.
Immediately, when I heard the news, I knew this was still a loss to the industry, and the art of videogames. His half-billion payout just tells everyone in his social strata that exploiting and abusing plebs like us and his employees lets you come out on top. Besides the corporate consolidation.
Bobby Kotick may be gone but there will always be another devil to take his place and never forget this is still a rotten to the core company.
I've said the same thing every time a major Fox News host has taken a dive... And I was right every time.
Kotick will not perish. He will simply transfer somewhere else.
Remember when Riccitiello left EA? Have you heard how he fucked Unity recently? And now he will surely fuck something else? Same with kitty kotick
@MicheleKalina704 That's only because Phil Spencer has to put on a mask to win favor with customers since they're far behind their competition when it comes to profit. Give Spencer all of the Infinity Stones and he'll eventually be just as evil.
@MicheleKalina704No he's far worse
still glad the employees won't have to deal with him anymore, really whoever replaces will pretty much guaranteed to be an improvement.
The fact that Kotick gets to take stupid amounts of money and just go home after all the inhuman shit he's done over the years makes me want to puke with rage.
Duck-C*nt almost slew me.
I hope at least his love life stays bad :( Never stop meming him as the devil
He won't even notice it in his yacht storage or bank account but it's such a waste of money.
SKELETON WARRIORS!
His very existence is a searing indictment against our civilization.
This was the inevitable plan for all of these companies selling out, there is no creativity, they were hoping to sell big to the moron dumb enough to purchase them at their worst. It's the biggest non-story, because no new games are going to be created all we know is that companies have been shifted into a monopoly composed of franchises that don't want to produce games anymore.
To paraphrase Woolie Madden when he talked about Multiversus: It's not as exciting as it is scary, to see a company show off "all these things we own". Crossovers used to be cool and fun, now it's commonplace and severely undercut by capitalism.
I actually think that was Woolie talking about Space Jam 2, which is from the exact same company and displays the exact same issue.
Agreed, Smash and SRW was exciting because they were celebrations of their mediums, smash gaming and SRW mecha. Both were written and made with with love. Fortnite? Just a skin. A shell. Grabbing onto a brand’s fan base with the bare minimum work.
Which video? Source?
@@darvinzoinks9336 th-cam.com/video/-DE2O2yOOmQ/w-d-xo.html starting at 13:30
fortnite is stilacessabe and sells only skins. its notlike youneed to ovrly expencive buy it, youget what you get. thats honest still@@pootissandvichhere9135
Vince McMahon and Bobby Kotick both essentially ousted from power back to back is a weird feeling, especially knowing that neither of them are facing real consequences for their actions and will come out of this even richer. It's like when a kid does something wrong and one parent scolds them while another one congratulates them behind the other parent's back
It yet again falls to the people to carry out the real punishment. And all it takes is to know where the enemy is.
@@GmodPlusWoW Sadly the answer is "surrounded by expensive private security at all times".
@@23ScaduThing is, even if they're "expensive", they're still just meat. All those years of professional training don't mean much if they're still just meat.
What's more, being surrounded by goons just means that you take out more bad people in a single strike. All that money invested doesn't mean shit if people can't tell what's part of the bodyguards and what's part of the client. It's all just a waste of time on their part.
@@GmodPlusWoW Not to mention there's always some slim chance that just one or two of those expensive guards will be like "Y'know what? My mom just got evicted by people like the guy we're guarding." or, "This guy ruins lives for a living. I'm not okay with that. I'm the wall between him and consequences, and all it would take is for me not to be there for a while... the right little while." And the more openly people turn against them, the harder it will be to find people willing to oppress.
And now Pete Hines too.
The fact that THIS had to happen to get Kotick out of there is a testament to how fucked everything is.
what's worse is, he's going in january. So he get's his christmas bonus, but doesn't have to answer for poor results at the end of the year.
Truly a pyrrhic victory........ the cost of getting rid of that monster was too much......
It's actually the other way around, Microsoft sweeping in *saved* Kotick
@@UnfortunatelyTheHunger If you mean that golden parachute he's getting... I think he'd be getting that regardless of what happened.
Unfortunately Kotick will be almost immediately hired to be the CEO of another company he has no business being at
Fun fact: if the people laid off by Microsoft had an average salary of $70,000, the amount of money spent on this deal could have paid all their salaries for 70 years, and still left nearly $30 billion.
I looked at this and thought "there's no way that's true", but I did the math myself and you're right.
$70,000 yearly salary for 10,000 people
$70,000 x 10,000 = $700,000,000
Over 70 years:
$700,000,000 x 70 = 49 billion
Truly an inconceivable amount of money.
But sadly, that would mean something long-term and appeasing investors has become all about maximizing profits immediately and repeatedly.
Wow. Wtf.
No one in the history of any species has anyone ever worked enough to genuinely make 1 billion dollars period. The people that work the hardest jobs are the least paid
Being a millionaire should be a crime.
@@PlatinumAltaria agreed
I grew up a dairy farmer. Can confirm.
@@KevinKolpackDamn, a milk man. That commands respect, milk is life
@@PlatinumAltariaHonestly, I agree in principle, just not the amount. I know at least a few guys who did 30 or 40 years in construction, or driving a truck, and saved that much for retirement.
The difference between a million and a billion is probably easiest to understand as a measurement of time, 1 million seconds is only 11.5 days, 1 billion seconds is 31 years and 8-ish months. If people could easily comprehend just how massive that is, it would be harder for capitalists to pick your pockets at every possible opportunity for an extra couple bucks. Also even if Bobby is legitimately leaving Microsoft-Activision-Blizzard-King, he is still a billionaire and I have no doubt that he will ever truly go away.
I use the example of if i gave you One million dollars and you had to spend 1,000$ a day it would take you THREE FUCKING YEARS to run outta money, spending 28,000$ a month. Three years to spend what some people make in a FUCKING YEAR
I kills me that Microsoft laid off employees at the same time they were buying Activision
Ah, yes. Surplus to requirements, it appears.
Iirc during that same layoff they had higher ups on an all expenses paid trip to a private concert by sting.
Ah yes, of course they did.
...
_Of course they did..._ 😒
Surplus to requirements. Otherwise known as "we'll just put your work onto other already overworked employees, and they won't complain because they'll be too scared for their jobs."
It’s like you guys were born yesterday. Guess where all your precious toys come from?
Governments should be breaking up these corporations, not letting them eat eachother to grow ever larger.
too bad the legal act on that got defanged :(
"Well yes but hear me out
Money"
Politicians probably
Yeah whatever happened to trust busting?
Sadly this is the Guilded Age 2.0. I highly doubt much will change unless that so called revolution everyone keeps bringing up actually happens
The _"corporations exist to make money"_ defence has always baffled me. It's _so_ myopic.
"You can't criticize Jeffrey Dahmer for killing people - he's a murderer! It's what they do! If he didn't kill people, he wouldn't be a very good murderer, now would he?"
Not sure why but I suddenly feel the need to see a wrestling clip that goes something like "and that is Stephanie Sterling, just mercilessly assaulting her competitor with toy willem dafoe"
I suspect that Toy Dafoe would extend the merciless assaulting to Sterling as well - and that Sterling would love it.
I think that's on the patrion only 😊
For a small frame of reference to how much money that is: if someone back at first day of 100bc became immortal and received $85,000 everyday, forever at this point in 2023ad, they would have
$ 65,866,075,000, which is still not enough to have done this purchase. It's a crazy amount of money.
He did the math (so did I)
I’ve seen so many people dismiss this as “It doesn’t affect me, I just play Blizzard games” as if they aren’t going to try and make back that $68,700,000,000 as quickly as possible using Blizzard and Activision IP.
Yeah. Like Overwatch 2 isn't extremely disliked due to monetization already. Gonna be worse.
But they will also say "boy cots only hurt the workers" you mean the workers who were already laid off?
"It doesn't affect me, I just play [one company's games]"
Is insane to me because it doesn't matter when all the money they spend on that one company goes to the same bloated piles of shit that *own every damn company.*
They might make a Diablo game that's just a cashgrab.
@@DannyboyO1 Can't wait for Overwatch 3, exclusive to Gamepass.
That was $68.7 billion CASH! M$ didn’t use stock or raise debt for this transaction! This is what a 2 trillion dollar company looks like throwing its weight around. Disgusting!
Remember this every time you hear one of these scumbags complaining about """the economy""".
It’s almost like money is an absurd concept that no one should pay attention to.
It's so hard to get your head around that amount of money existing in the hands of one gigantic corporation.
On top of the 10,000 layoffs, Microsoft froze the wages of everybody they didn't lay off, in a year of >5% inflation. There are no unions at Microsoft. Meanwhile, executives saw their stock compensation bloat even more. Apparently Satya "made" something like $1B since he became CEO.
Pirating games is illegal, but only when I think about giving any amount of money to these companies while knowing what they'll do with it do I feel like a criminal.
Pirating is a myth. International Law states it as "Sharing" It's only 'Illegal' if you try to make money on your copy of any media. Otherwise you are FREE to share it out to anyone. As many times as you want.
@@maximvsdread1610copyright laws vary from country to country. digital piracy’s crime type is not considered “theft” but instead “copyright infringement” which is far different lmao
I love pirating. If MS published any games I gave a toss about I'd happily indulge
@@maximvsdread1610 morelike the myth is companies loose money on ppl pirating , i posted a thing on a reddit a few days back but when i've indulged in my younger years i've had clear examples of companies Making money from my 'try before you buy' habit ... like sega when i pirated the og ps2 copy of yakuza 1 off demonoid back in the day , thei've made somewhee around 6-800 off me preordering every yakuza entry that has came west since 3 ... which to be clear was originally fueled by the fact that i wanted more of those games to come west which up till zero was always a worry that we would stop getting them localized mind you cause it had been an ever looming threat ....
but yeah pirating = good
@@Pendarr State of decay is pretty good. Age of Empires has a pretty good legacy too. Those are the only ones I can think of. Cuz I hav'em ...lol...
I seem to recall that anti-trust legislation was a big deal in the US once upon a time. I wonder what became of those laws...ah well. Who needs law when there's money to be made?
they let them expire unfortunately . . . much like the assault weapons ban
I seem to recall Microsoft being part of one of the US's largest anti-trust suits until Facebook came around.
Welcome to corporate America. Oh well...corporate world really
I watched multiple movies as a kid about anti-trust laws and battling corruption only to grow up into this
Nothing happened to the laws, the governments willingness to employ them did. Clinton was the last administration that seemed to care about that kind of thing. We have to rely on the EU these days, and in my opinion they fucked up on this one. They're usually quite reliable on this stuff.
Didn't Epic buy Bandcamp just for a lawsuit and now that the lawsuit failed, they are selling Bandcamp?
Yuuuuuup.
Pretty much
Wait a minute! *That's* why they bought Bandcamp!? 👀
@@thema1998 Epic bought Bandcamp specifically to use it as an argument against Apple and Google over the cuts they get from purchases through their app stores and since they lost that lawsuit they're now trying to offload the company. Nothing since they bought Bandcamp has actually happened so it was practically dead anyway just from Epic ownership.
Yes, but slight correction, they are laying off a bunch of Bandcamp employees to help their own bottom line as they sell Bandcamp. Just utterly dicking over Bandcamp as hard as possible.
The game industry may not change but Steph's wrestling is always a good pick-me-up
isn't it nice that whenever a company is cutting redundant posts it's never in the high mid to upper echelons that redundant ppl are?
Repeat after me: Microsoft has never contributed to the industry. They gave us paid online, killed free dlc and local multiplayer, and even every successful first party microsoft game was one that was retroactively bought out as an exclusive.
God and I don't know if anyone else has seen the ad, but there's one going around about the acquisition playing a song that goes like "oooo it's a beautiful day". No. No it's not Microsoft
Best time line Bobby Kotick goes to jail for life and Activision blizzard becomes a worker cooperative, but we sadly don't live in that world.
But we can.
"It's time the fatcats had a heart attack"
MS have already signed paperwork stating they will not get in the way of unionisation; they've done this with many other companies and stuck to it, so no reason to doubt them this time.
Bobby has his three Coca-Cola jobs to go do (which is what he's been moving towards for the last 12 years anyway), and he's likely going to be picking up a fourth role there. Coca-Cola aren't going to let any of their guys go to jail for anything...
I had a fantasy of Bobby Kotick getting launched into space, but that's probably never happening.
@@HeavyMetalBeliever You never know, he might get bored and hit up one of the other billionaire jackasses for a private space ride.
I'd also be cool if he took a submarine ride to see the Titanic.
We could, if enough people would inform themselves, form some unions, and above all stop saying to themselves "There's nothing we can do, so we may as well go along with all the crap". Defeatism accomplishes only defeat.
Sadly, few people seem to realize this...
corporate mergers and aquisitions are ALWAYS anti competitive... thats the entire point
they are either trying to establish a monopoly or trying to establish full control over an entire production chain
so either horizontal or vertical control... its the only reason to do it
Oh so you are saying that a business like games top should just go belly up and have every one lose their jobs because no one was allowed to buy the? Should we just let every single small business get utterly crushed by larger corporations by way of higher wages and better benefits? Should we let them dis out like the average nursing home these days, only to have the old land get bought up and used as airbnbs? Or worse the building sit empty for decades like the countless ones in new York city?! Also for you to call it anticompetitive no matter what shows how clueless you are! Competition by it's core definition is the practice of out shining and besting others by doing whatever it takes! Anti competitive practices are the result of the little guys not receiving enough investments or investing their money poorly. Why aren't people trying to help smaller competitors by supporting them and spreading the name of that business? Also, are you aware that Microsoft is literally the only major tech business that has allowed game developers to unionize?! You are basically telling activision blizzard female employeess should continue to put up with misogyny and low wages?! The very things that led to this buy out in the first place?! The bill Cosby frat boy photo?! You clearly think that it was OK?! That it should coninue on instead?! Are you implying that they would be better off with EA who has a track record of shutting down game studios for bullshit reasons? Or better off with Google, who failed miserably with the whole stadia push, or epic games who is pumping and wasting money on the meta verse? At the end of the day they were likely doomed to get laid off if someone didn't buy them out!
Competions have to shrink at some point. Just look at the video game crash of the 80s! That was a very competetive time period! And it nearly destroyed the entire industry it self due to how many different consoles and their exclusives were out there! By the 90s, we were down to only 4 major platforms, Xbox, Nintendo, Sega and Sony! Sony and Nintendo ended up trampling over Sega, ending their long running establishment in console making. Is Sega a bad company? Is their parent company doing a bad job handling them? That is open for debate. It had been a long time since they made a highly successful sonic game as of late. Sonic frontiers was one of their last chances to get the formula right. The same way final fantasy was the last chance before square soft went under. You can't just sit here and pretend like every business is somehow immune to failing. Sears failed. Block busters failed. Atari failed. Those are three former major businesses that were massive in their prime, who then went on to die without a whimper. But sure, go ahead and say that their employees were better off losing their jobs and incomes because their executives chose to run them into the ground instead of seeking an olive branch or a severance package. Bad leadership is a valid reason to sell the business. Because no new leadership at a failing company often equals sweeping unemployment.
Yet when people point this out, sympathizers love to claim "capitalism" as if having an economic system makes it okay to screw over the little guy. As if the general welfare of a nation does not matter.
@@crapshot321 so are you saying the little guy shouldnt have a life line? Should the employees have to suffer because their business leader is mismanaging money? In that case why dont we get rid of the consumer financial protection buerue since they also l help people manage their money. If you had to choose between having someone replace a dumbass boss and going down with the company over night, you are telling me you would sacrifice being with your co workers for the sake of spiting bigger businesses. It's almost as though you think that all employees should be treated as expendable first.
Edit: are you trying to call me a sympathizer of caitlizm or what? Upon rereading your comment, I cannot tell who you are trying to side with.
@@josephlh1690 I was replying to SharienGaming original post and agreeing with that. I was not replying to anything you wrote. I can't even see what, if anything you've written in this thread due to TH-cam's "wonderful" comment system. So no, I don't support corporations mistreating working people.
Why compete when it’s cheaper to buy out and destroy other companies before they can challenge you, even when you factor in the cost of buying off the politicians who are supposed to be keeping you in check?
A BBC news piece on the sale ended with ‘this is good news for gamers’. No explanation of why its good for gamers, I’m guessing because they couldn’t think of one.
Microsoft has always owned ABK.
We have always been at war with Eastasia.
this is good news for gamers.
@@VecTron5Is that a reference to the book everyone says they’ve read but hasn’t? War is peace. Freedom is slavery.
@@aaronogden9900 I have a glass-encased piece of coral on my knickknacks shelf as a testament to the fact I have read that book.
That’s the worst part, the case the UK brought up was “what about game streaming” instead of “what about the fact that they’ve been making Bethesda games exclusive”.
Because that argument simply wouldn't have stood up to scrutiny.
They went with the cloud market because it's a small but growing market therefore speculative concerns over it's future carry more weight.
You don't have to like it, but from a legal perspective it made sense.
One need only look to the FTC's shockingly weak attempts to block the acquisition to see how futile any complaints over potential console exclusivity would've been given xbox's current market position.
@@alzzer3414 except that argument failed for the FTC and the UK authorities. All Microsoft has to do is open up cloud gaming to any company that wants it. And they’re willing, because to them it isn’t as important.
Why do you think they’re not talking about it as much as before? Because Microsoft realized it wasn’t going to be a huge market for a long time if at all.
@@alzzer3414 The cloud market is a small market because it's been around a while and nobody's interested. It's not growing, it's stagnant. The only future cloud gaming has is death, everyone already knows that just by looking at the mass grave of failed streaming services, the UK's objections were incredibly stupid.
@@alzzer3414 mm. The game streaming argument was literally the only halfway competent attempt to block this merger. All the others were letting Microsoft try and make promises and pretending corporations aren't inherently, legally obligated to be immoral anticonsumer fucks. The FTC was so toothless. The legal system still doesn't acknowledge the fact that corporations will always do what they're financially incentivised to do, and instead pretends that they have any morals.
The house always wins in capitalism.
But but they promised they won't make exclusives!... in the next few years... it will totally work out! And capitalism breeds innovation! And meritocracy is a thing! /s
Exactly. Everyone saying "There's no way Call of Duty will ever be exclusive. That makes no sense. They'd lose money" I'll see you in 2035 when COD becomes exclusive and Microsoft sells 150 million consoles because of it.
A Boglin beat down. Fantastic indeed
The crossover we didn't know we needed !
This has been a frustrating topic, because all the Xbox/MS fanboys are actually *cheering* on this travesty. For them, it's all about their favorite toy, but this goes *so* far beyond the piddly "console wars." This is one of the world's most significant megacorporations absorbing another megacorporation. And while the C-suite will profit, the lower classes will pay the price for "consolidation" and "restructuring" and "focus."
Did you pay attention to the stuff coming out of the FTC lawsuit? Xbox is in dead last, PlayStation buying exclusives is a big threat, if Microsoft hadn't bought Zenimax then there's a very high chance that PlayStation would have bought Starfield exclusivity for themselves. The end result of PlayStation's endless exclusivity deals is that Xbox leaves the market due to low share and PlayStation ends up as a monopoly.
Given the choice between the world where Xbox buys some publishers and the world where Xbox leaves the market, I choose the former. Neither are good but PlayStation doesn't need a monopoly, ever.
Those folks need a basic historical crash course on monopolies and the Gilded Age.
We’ll see how much their cheering when the lack of competition leads to $80 becoming the new standard.
@@stingerjohnny995180? Such a generous estimate.
Attempting to put this all into perspective:
Between 1967 and 1979, the vaccination campaign that eradicated smallpox cost $300 million. Adjusted for inflation from 1967, that's $2.76 billion.
In 1978, the first GPS satellite was launched. The initial constellation of GPS satellites cost $12 billion. Adjusted for inflation from 1978, that's $57 billion.
In 2023, a corporation bought another corporation that publishes video games for $68.7 billion.
Where is all THAT money going?
I used to fall for Phil Spencer's "anti console war" lipservice until this ABK process began. His lunacy about buying Nintendo was the nail in the coffin on my respect for the guy.
You don't think every other big company in the space has discussed buying Nintendo? I bet if we got the right Sony leaks, or the right Valve leaks, or the right ABK leaks, or the right EA leaks, or the right Ubisoft leaks, and so on - we'd find them all talking about buying Nintendo. Nintendo and all of their IP would be a huge get for any capitalist vultures.
Especially a little after the Wii U launch, when both the Wii U and 3DS were doing incredibly poorly. Or during the years of the N64 followed by the GameCube, neither doing that well.
@mjc0961 there is no conceivable way Sony could afford Nintendo if they could I'm sure they would buy it. It would actually make more sense for Sony to own Nintendo considering they were partners at one point.
0:23 I am offended at the announcers boglin comment, they are a mainstay of the series and I cannot stand idly by as they're being falsely accused of being a thing relegated to the past. There is too much potential, I feel we have yet to see peak boglin on the show.
Congratulations on Kotick for winning, good things do happen to bad people
che gets shot to death for educating students...
Kotick just keeps getting richer while threatening to murder anyone who mentions his friend who's a rapist...
@MicheleKalina704good people don't end up immensely wealthy, though
James Stephanie Sterling might not be 'the hero we deserve' but they certainly are the hero we need... Sterling is my 'reality check' for a lot of things. I don't have the brain power to remember every stupid/awful/disgusting thing all these companies do. So you're damn right I'm grateful Stephanie does, and never stops talking about it, because far too often I need a reminder that none of these stinking corporations have any genuine 'goodness' in them, and don't really deserve any love or trust. Cheers Steph, thanks for being real you bloody legend.
100%
🙌
My favourite way to think about absurd sums of money:
Median individual income in the US is between $45k/year and $55k/year.
$55k/year for 60 years is $3.3million; this is more money than most US residents will earn in a lifetime, before tax, so I call it a "lifetime".
$1billion is about 303 lifetimes.
The $68.7billion that Microsoft spent on ABK is about 21,000 lifetimes, or the lifetime incomes of an entire medium-sized town.
The crowd cheering "Boglin! Boglin" is everything
The CEO describes vision, handles major executives, etc.
Which is a very winded way of saying “I want this and it’s your problem, do or you’re fired”
Ah yes, the very important job of screaming "Make me more money!" at those just below himself in rank. No wonder the shareholders love these scuzzballs.
There are so many games out there we haven't even heard of.
"We would never make Activisions games exclusive to Xbox" they say as the make Bethesda games exclusive despite promising the same thing
I wish you had touched more on how bad this is for the creative aspect of the industry. You don't need to innovate or take risks anymore, just buy up the people that do. On top of the fact that all of these great games now stuck on one particular fucking brand of hardware.
I think its important to look at this from the consumer angle aswell.
That money would have been spent paying the employees to create games that we will now never get to experience, and instead is being spent to restrict our access to games that would have been pumped out regardless (but would have been available to more consoles).
Truly obscene!
I find it hard to care about "the consumer angle", when ABK workers were being horrifically abused for DECADES under the now-previous leadership.
What matters most here is that the staff got what they wanted,; new ownership who has pledged to let them unionise, and the confirmed departure of several key figures who oversaw all the harm. That's really ALL that matters.
What are you saying?
That money would NEVER be spent on employees or making games. What in the world makes you think that?
The money exists and can be spent so it would be spent on employees? They've always had this ridiculous amount of money, they've never used it to make games.
@@duglikk I think the point here is that Microsoft could have used this to improve their already failing game franchise library instead of just buying games away from other customers to force them into their walled garden. They could have used that money to give allow Arkane the time to fix Redfall, or if that was impossible eat the cost of development so that they don't put out a shitty game. They could have used that money to improve the multiplayer for Halo which people have been complaining about since release. They could have used it to allow their studios to create multiple Hi-Fi Rush caliber games that could have surprised and captivated people and change the perspective of the Microsoft game library. Instead, they decided to do exactly what Epic tried to do because it took less effort.
@@originalscreenname44 Could and would is not the same however.
Would implies that if the money wasn't spent on buying Activision it would be spent on games.
Could is just a dream of possibilities that make a point about how things could be.
The could was already excessively explained and detailed by Stephanie Sterling in the first place.
@@duglikk The point is that Microsoft has a 69 billion other options that don't make the gaming industry worse and they chose not to do it. This is especially bad for a company that has been going out of their way to pretend they're not the bad guys in the gaming industry. Granted none of that should have ever been believed since Microsoft has always proven themselves to be a solely profit-driven corporation with the only goal of monopolizing whatever area of industry they inhabit..
*Organize, Unionize, Socialize*
- Socialize part is the most important because it has to do with public ownership (as well as worker ownership production wise) as opposed to Private ownership of everything into the hands of 1% of the population.
I refuse to believe you haven't heard of Drake and the 99 Dragons until the making of this video. I refuse. That game is beyond infamous. Its basically a solid chunk of stone that has been immortalized in how bad it is.
Drake and the 99 Dragons has a special place in my heart, as the only non-FPS that ever made me physically sick. And for being absolutely terrible in every way.
Ah Indeed! Even I remember my First “X Play” review of that Game :)
I don't know who that was, but that wasn't Bobby Kotick. Bobby Kotick has horns on his head. Silly Sterling!
I need a full version of that Duck Tales cover.
On the bright side Bobby Kotick in addition to all his other flaws was a known micro-mismanager. For instance ex-overwatch employees cite him as being the reason so much of the first game's post-launch development was focused on an e-sports league that none of the players cared about and for delaying Overwatch 2's development by over a year by forcing them to work on side projects he'd come up with on a whim, likely being the reason why the game was soft-cancelled. So at least the games should get better when microsoft sends in some apathetic ghoul to replace him
A perfect example of "the moment they stop competing they stop trying" is sports games. Back in the 90s/early 2000s there were 2-3 different companies making games for each sport. Once EA got the exclusive license, quality started to drop. Then, instead of opening up the license again, NASCAR gave Activision exclusive rights, and they brought on the Ride to Hell developers...
That's the most coherent "Drake of the 99 Dragons" gameplay I've ever seen
1:20 I've had issues with chronic migraines myself. The generic hyzaar I've been taking for hypertension seemed to help but it replaced them with dizziness and now I finally feel like I've started to get over the side effects only to come down with a bit of a nasty cold and the migraines are back again...
I've been really glad to see Z.Mann Zilla on editing, I absolutely loved the Sesamerot. Also, I need to go watch that match against Kidd Bandit now
Thank you so much!
Hey I just wanna say that Super Lesbian Animal RPG does work on Steam Deck. It doesn't run perfectly, but you can absolutely play the game from start to finish on the Steam Deck.
Another step towards the inevitable repeat of 1983. Monopoly is detrimental.
The crash of 1983 was localized in the United States (and maybe North America as a whole) and affected only the console market, computer gaming was unaffected.
Unfortunately the videogame industry, by itself, is nowhere near close to crashing. It will only crash by domino effect if more fundamental sectors of the industry do, like integrated electronics.
Didnt we used to have things called trust busting laws? Aaaah late stage capitalism.
THE BOGLIN XD loved the guy's excitement
I love it when they censor the C word with "SKELETON WARRIOR"
Disney for media, MS for games.. rip everything. The Gov use to stop this kind of stuff, it actually does have very damaging effects. But its run amuck everywhere now.
These companies have ensured the politicians which once existed to check and balance them are now wholly on their side. They must be reminded - continuously - that *we* outnumber *them,* and *we* make their economy function.
...you almost got me, you almost got me with that edit at 11:18
It will never not bring joy to know that on top of being a great content creator, Steph has also a side hustle of being a badass heel in the ring
Just wanna say, absolute cheers for the care you show towards your viewers.
I think it's misleading to call it buying in case of the Microsoft store.
As you don't pay for anything more then the promise that you will be allowed to play games.
And not even the games you initially agreed on.
But the promise that Microsoft will let you play games it agrees to at that moment.
That's how it works literally everywhere. You buy a license to use the product, nothing more. Even on GOG with their no-DRM stuff you only buy a license and GOG has all the rights in the world to revoke that license at any point. Furthermore, even if you buy a physical disc, all you're buying is the physical disc itself and a license to play the game.
@@leetri thats actually incorrect - once you have the installer, GOG can do whatever they want, but that shit stays with you and you can run, backup or modify that stuff as much as you please
thats the whole point
And Microsoft are massive liars. Remember where they ran ads all over the place saying "Windows 10 will be the last version of Windows" because instead of selling a new version every few years they would just iterate on it with updates? That went out the window (pun intended) almost immediately and we're dealing with Windows 11 bugginess and now rumors about Windows 12 being around the corner. Any promise Microsoft makes to you is not worth believing without a written contract.
@@SharienGaming I think steam also has DRM free games that will launch with no problems through the executable file regardless if steam is open or not, with the downside that you actively need to search the games that are DRM free.
@@SharienGaming "We give you and other GOG users the personal right (known legally as a 'licence') to use GOG services and to download, access and/or stream (depending on the content) and use GOG content. This licence is for your personal use. We can stop or suspend this licence in some situations, which are explained later on."
It literally says in their legally binding section of the GOG User Agreement that they have the right to revoke access to your games at any time.
Also, none of what you said changes anything either way. Even if GOG didn't have that section, you still have to agree to the ToS of whoever publishes the game in order to play it (which they also mention in the User Agreement). And even if that didn't exist, you still don't own the game.
If you actually owned the game, it would be legal to produce and sell copies of it. Try selling copies of your Nintendo games online and see how quickly you get a cease and desist.
“Oh shit what is that!?” “It’s a BOGLIN! And they’re awesome!”
To put $1 billion in perspective, let’s say you made $1 million a year. That’s a lot, right? If you made $1 million a year, it would take you ONE THOUSAND YEARS to earn a billion dollars.
It’s also important to realize that to CEOs, workers aren’t people. They’re office supplies.
12:00 Hey, that's Mike Luckovich! He's a Pulitzer Prize winning cartoonist for my home city's newspaper!
As someone who feels very hit and miss in regards to the wacky intros, seeing you bring the bogling in as a wrestling garrote brings a smile to my face.
15 years, Bobby Kotick gloated about how he loves to suck the joy out of making video game, as if he practically mandated toxic work environments, protect abusers and threatened the abuse if they speak up.
The cruelty wasn't an oversight, cruelty was, is, has always been... the point.
As soon as this Activision acquisition started, I've been saying that Microsoft is trying to monopolize the western gaming market. It's what they tried to do when they bought exclusivity of Bioware and Bethesda titles, when they took Halo away from Mac OS (which is what it was originally being developed for), and when they bought Rare likely to spite Nintendo for humiliating them and then doing pretty much nothing with their franchises. I'll guarantee you in about another 6 months we'll see Microsoft sniffing around Ubisoft especially since Ubisoft is in a vulnerable position like Activision was when Microsoft opened the checkbook
Although I fully agree with James Stephanie about the layoffs from a moral point of view, there may actually be a matter of practical necessity in play here. Simply put, companies that are reliant on investors have to maintain an investor-friendly image. And that amounts to profit-maximizing, of which cost cutting is part. So the logic may actually be:
1. Signal that profit-maximizing is still your highest priority by announcing lay-offs.
2. Raise a large loan or even equity from investors or sharegolders
3. Effect the takeover, using (in whole or in part) the sum raised.
Without step 1, the takeover may well not be effected. Not that that's any excuse for those put out of work, of course...
I was NOT expecting a reference to Scrooge McDuck in this episode, but fun trivia: apparently, Scrooge OWNS Duckberg and rents it to everyone there.
Our near future
9:00 Just to visualise 68.7 billion. You could give 1 million $ to 1,000 people each and still have 67,7 Billions left.
People defend Scrooge by saying he actually earned his wealth. But that's part of the propaganda, the idea that there's any reality where someone could earn that much money. Not to mention he's just stealing treasure from other cultures. Check out the book "How to Read Donald Duck" for more on this. I still like Ducktales tho.
Billion is such an inconceivable number that if 10000 people were laid off and they all made the median American salary it would be proportional to asking someone who spent $687 if they wanted to save 5 bucks
i think you are confusing billion and million - you are off by a factor of 1000 at least there
@@SharienGaming what do you mean? I thought 500 million is 0.5 billion
@@IamHat oooh sorry, i think i misunderstood something about the salary being multiplied in... well either that or the 500 million was a number steph mentioned that my brain promptly forgot
either way, my bad - you are absolutely right
@@SharienGaming no problem friend I'm always open to criticism especially math based ones
Here's a better comparison. A BILLION SECONDS IS 31 YEARS. NO ONE NEEDS A BILLION DOLLARS - IT'S PURE GREED AND A GRANDIOSE SENSE OF ENTITLEMENT THAT CANNOT BE SATISFIED.
It’s honestly funny that Nintendo, for all their problems and vices that perpetuate issues in this industry, only buy second party studios that they already have worked with. It’s almost like having a mentality of making consistently good games and letting that be the bedrock of your business is a feasible practice in the industry, but most studios just want to rush to the easy money. (To be clear, Nintendo is guilty of this too, but you take the positives where they lie at this point with the industry. I’m just pointing out how they run their game development used to be the norm in the industry until others realized the loopholes for charging extra in every way).
Unrelated, but i always laugh at ZMannZilla's job description being video/text editing, graphic design... *and tarot reading.*
"One of theeese is not like the others..."
I felt it necessary to narrow things down to three... ;)
It's really telling that I haven't bought a game from *any* of the companies mentioned here in quite a few years. Last Bethesda game I got was Fallout 4, last Activision game was, I think [Prototype] (and I bought that one used), and I'm not sure about Microsoft, but my last MS console was the 360, so I don't think I've bought any games made by them since (though I use Windows, albeit registry edited to hell and back to turn off the in-OS advertisements, Cortana, and other intrusive corporate features).
I didn't think anything could have made me regret quitting overwatch less but this did
Overwatch was overrated anyway and "overwatch 2" even worse cuz its not even an actual sequel really it's just 1.5, you did yourself a favor by quitting that trash game.
@@supergamer41 it's true and you should say it lol
gonna need a full version of the DuckSlurs theme song, thanks.
I agree, every time Microsoft does a video game studio acquisition the bought studio starts to have it's workers' enthusiasm drop sharply - Lion Head Studios / Bethesda anyone ? But on the positive side Microsoft may filter out the perverts in Activision.
I doubt it
you mis spelled promote
This happened with Tango games founder same guy that made the Resident evil series, as soon as Bethesda was acquired he left.
At the time most simply said and thought he had retired, but recently he came out said he was ready to work and make games again. He couldn't say anything due to signing an agreement he wouldnt work in the industry for some span of time after leaving.
I also recall reading that $1.5 billion of $3.5 billion price tag to acquire bungie was allocated to employees of bungie as an incentive for staying post PlayStation acquisition.
I'm not businessman, so I don't know how well that works, or if it did its job of retaining the workforce.
nope they'l;l just hide them better, Microsoft's legal team managed to defund the IRS, what do you think they'll do to a random victim of an abuser?
@mutalix with takeovers for staff retention it's usually in the form of company share options with restrictions on when you can sell them etc I joined a tiny tech company in the mid 90s that had been bought up by a big company so I missed out on the share options after the takeover and surprise, I was lied to about the job and it was really dressed up to be something it was not; the place got so bad after the takeover than even the people with share options started leaving; I wonder if I was recruited and the hiring managers were just increasing their developer head count so they could get rid of me if there were any lay offs after the take over was completed -that wasn't the case but it was a hellish place to work and I got out just before it went under. Some ex-video game developers in that UK company from the 8-bit era there was..
Is there a full video for "life is an obscenity in duckburg"? I feel like that one is radio (internet) gold.
Monopoly is never good. The fact that MS owns this many companies now will kick people in the ass, if not now soon. Gladly, I don't play ActiBliz or Bugthesda games so I will probably just watch the drama and laugh. Still, buyout like this will cut jobs, it is inevitable as division will be restructured. So overall, one good point is that Kotick is leaving? Not sure how much it will change at ActiBliz, honestly. Overall I see it all as a negative, but time will tell.
Kotick could have paid those 10,000 people out of his own wealth and NOT EVEN NOTICED. The salaries of 10,000 people is a barely noticeable percantage of 60 billion.
The only way a company will ever keep a "promise" is if it's literally part of the contract to buy the other company and that violating that promise will mean they immediately have to sell it/spin it off into a new company. Literally the only way that will ever happen.
And even then, they'll probably still break their "promise" and try to still hang onto the other company anyway.
Well, at least Kotick is gone. Finally.
I can't be the only person that hasn't touched microsoft since the 360
I haven't bought an XBOX since the 360 and I only bought the 360 because it was cheaper than the PS3 at the time. That 360 was the first and last XBOX I've owned (unless you count my gaming PC which is also technically an XBOX).
Microsoft - "Where's our publisher?"
Regulatory Agencies - "You've already had it."
Microsoft - "We've had one yes, but what about a SECOND publisher?"
Some of the biggest cheerleaders of this move are StarCraft fans. Because everyone, including steph, forgets it exists but Microsoft actually has mentioned plans for it.
Cue a _Command & Conquer 4_ tier disaster.
@@UnrealPerson I don't doubt it. It's actually a blessing that blizzard keeps StarCraft in maintenance mode
MS being given a bill for back taxes is some smidge of karma. Now to just fine them enough they have to sell off the many many many MANY MANY *MANY* properties they own
The 10,000 people laid-off should make a independent game company to have people support them
Couldn’t ask for a better episode of Jimquisition for my birthday. Thanks, Steph!
Happy birthday! :)
Happy birthday.
Happy birthday to you!
Happy birthday, friend
Happy birthday pal
The truly frustrating thing about the conversation surrounding this acquisition is that some people are content to just shrug and go "Well, it got rid of Bobby Kotick, so it's a net positive."
And like, yeah, on its face, getting rid of Kotick is a good thing. But the corporate culture that allowed him to exist and even encouraged his behavior is still there. The door is wide open for somebody just like Bobby, or perhaps even worse, to walk right through.
I haven't watched Jim for maybe 2-3 years- what on earth has happened?
Jim went crazy
The channel is Lost unsuscribe
@@isauldron4337 done
Still the same, he's just a "woman"
Channels content is still exactly the same.
@@chinering23 why do you think I put "woman" in quotations?
Also Jim has never started he was a woman.
And also, that has nothing to do with my point, Jim's videos have been exactly the same quality before and after.
God I love you, Steph.
Also 15:55 "Not because I haven't been playing it but because I'm a dirty cow" fuckin killed me. You just slid that in and that recked me.
what are odds of getting an extended anticapitalist ducktales video?
Skeleton warriors cracks me up everytime.
I'm hoping that Bobby Kotick being out (Though obviously he should've been out and in jail long ago...) will improve the working conditions for AB employees. But I too very much expect things will worsen because historically consolidation only makes things worse.
But there is good news: The FTC is looking like they will reopen the case and keep reopening it for as long as it takes. So it may not be completely over.
I suspect we're looking at foxes guarding a hen house there, but who knows. It may in fact be a very small dog with occasional chicken-guarding capability.
You jumpscared me with Bobby the second time :( You didn't warn me!
I remember Boglins.
That wrestling match must have been incredible to watch. Now I regret missing it because I don't live anywhere near the venues.
11:19 This kicks ass, excellent work Z. Mann Zilla!
Steph, I think you've always done an excellent job of providing the proper framing for the actions of corporations and their toadies, and this is another banger. Never let us forget how these scumsuckers treat the people they have power over.
Immediately, when I heard the news, I knew this was still a loss to the industry, and the art of videogames. His half-billion payout just tells everyone in his social strata that exploiting and abusing plebs like us and his employees lets you come out on top. Besides the corporate consolidation.
I would give a thumbs up if only for that Bodycount reference Stephanie. The video itself was also fire.