I think this will hurt Sony the most. Microsoft and Nintendo have made a good working relationship over the past decade, with first party Xbox games releasing on switch and multiplats often having crossplay on everything except playstation. The way I see it, Xbox and PC will greatly benefit, Nintendo will be largely unaffected, and Sony will scramble to buy more studios to compete, causing a purchase war until one of them gives in.
Honestly Sony deserves it. If they're going to sit on their ass and rely on 3rd party companies to make games for them while letting all of their legacy IPs that haven't seen new games in years remain in the cellar than they had it coming.
That's also what I've been thinking so I'm glad you pointed that out. I can see Nintendo being unaffected for the most part given they do their own thing and have such a good relationship with Microsoft. But Sony is definitely gonna take a hit if they don't act fast or find a way to maintain their audience
I see where you’re coming from Al but reading interviews that came out of the deal, it’s apparent ActiBlizz were gonna sell them selves no matter what. The first company Kotick actually went to was Facebook/Meta before Phil cut a deal with him. According to bloomberg, the employees of actiblizz are optimistic about their future under Microsoft and cite the work culture at Bethesda and Xbox Game Studios being much better than what’s currently going on under Kotick so I think the acquisition will be a net positive if just for the workers. We’re already hearing discussion about Call of Duty finally ditching the annual release cycle which would be a huge improvement to the work conditions
If Microsoft does manage to make the workplace much safer and offer more creative freedom as a result of this buyout, then yes, it'll 100% be worth it. But the fact that this happened at all is really going to drive a giant stake through the idea of console wars and only make the community more divided in the long run.
Here's another problem: If these first party publishers start buying these companies, then what's the point in bringing back old franchises or support ones that simply do ok? They have all the companies and devs they need to release products to feel a year For example: "Why do we need to make another Metroid?" says Nintendo, "We have Square Enix releasing the next Final Fantasy and Capcom the next Megaman next year, who needs another Metroid?"
Wow, I'm honestly floored with what's happening at this point. These events are honestly very... terrifying, for the game industry. If the work environment is improved, I'm definitely for that, but the whole deal itself really makes gaming harder and harder to enjoy at this point. I've seen too many good companies be utterly destroyed and shut down after being bought (Blue Sky especially), and I'm afraid of these events, I'm certainly shocked. Thank you for letting us know about it, and bringing up the issues that have been happening before and after this deal
Activision was looking to sell and honestly for me thank god it was Microsoft that bought Activision and not Google, Amazon, Meta or even worse Tencent
This is all reaching a point of total insanity where all forms of entertainment have the same mindset. Monopolize everything and hoard it. Obviously the company I worry about most when it comes to monopolizing is Nintendo for multiple reasons. At best, we can expect them to own all of these classic games and refuse to give us a way to play them outside of emulation and fighting scalpers online. And at worst their shoddy equipment, lackluster online experience, underpowered hardware and their continued use of sending out unfinished games (to sometimes sell you the rest of your experience half a year later) is going to catch up to them. They're going to start falling behind. And guess who's gonna come by with an offer if that ends up happening?
Phil Spencer already confirmed that they have no intention of making the Activision stuff exclusives and talked to Sony higher ups about adhering to agreements of keeping stuff multiplatform
Being serious These bigger companies being bought is a Monkey’s paw scenario it’ll be good to see these franchises flourish if theyre bought out but scary to think what could happen next in the long term with exclusivity
Does Nintendo REALLY care? Like their top sellers are from their umbrella. Plus they seem interested in indie companies like Wayforward. It also seems like they're making legacy franchises into AAA like Kirby Forgotten Planet or Metroid Dread. And honestly you can't play most of these games that Microsoft bought on a Nintendo platform. I think Capcom and Square are the only two I care about because of Sony lmao, but as long as Microsoft gives these companies autonomy everything should be fine (for now).
Hey Uncle Al, glad you’re uploading on this channel again. Always love to hear you talk about gaming and stuff. Loved the Kirby vid, and I’m sure I’ll love this one too. Have a great day dude :)
@@tylerneumann3460 Disney/Marvel shares Spider-Man with Sony so if they got bought out lol Playstation would be next if they wanted to XD Disney have enough money to buy Sony? The answer is yes, Disney has enough money to buy Sony.
This whole issue in the gaming world is the streaming services of today (Netflix, Hulu, Disney + etc.) You can decide on what gaming system you'll want to own based on their library of games both the multiplatform ones and console exclusives if you're lucky but it all depends on what your favorite type of games you play
I'll be frank, I see MS expanding into multplatform territory long term. They'll keep the xbox brand and strengthen that as best they can but MS stand to max out profits with multiplatform releases. That said, everyone single one of those will be gamepass day one. Without a doubt. They know most people buy only one console. Even Sony is expanding their games into PC. The future of gaming will be centered on who delivers the superior overall service.
A world of Cooperation with both big and small working on even ground, now with this movement and purchase, the gaming world is doomed. From the perspective of Nintendo and Playstation's point of view, this must be terrifying, and the only way they can compete with Microsoft without incurring too much cost to themselves would to do the same. It's the M.A.D protocol gone wrong, as one company fires the economic Arsenal, the others are forced to do so to survive, and no one will win in the end. The big corporations, while larger, now have to compete a lot more fiercely with each other to survive (in franchise acquisition, I expect the reverse in developing games. Imagine how bad the "I'll finish it later" games will get). Smaller businesses will now be forced to walk a dangerous tightrope, of mutual cooperation amongst all parties, but not too close with any singular one, risking the chance to be bought out. But worst of all, in the long term, the average citizens will be affected the worst. Employees in Blizzard might see a change in quality for the first couple of years, but that will not last. Without competition, there is no drive which allows employees to get better standards of living, potentially even going backwards, employees will get the shaft from now on till something else takes their place (Probably robots in 30 years but that is another tangent for another time). But the consumers will have a close second place for who's the most f***ed. Without competition, these franchises are guaranteed to stagnate and worsen, losing most if not all personal touches, and becoming unoriginal and bland, making stagnant, unoriginal games. Less chances will be taken, change will be on a far more grander scale, and any system improvements will be far off in the future (think of your Cable Box for a good example of an oligopolie's lack of risk). Any new good games will most likely be owned by the major corporations, which probably will be console exclusive, with large pricetag, more than any seen before, with little improvement from the last installment. This industry is becoming more corporate and stagnant, possibly at the worst time to do so in a world of ever increasing automation, which may eventually be the biggest winners. So basically, par (heh) for the course this century. Anyways, how are you doing mr. Monkey?
Have you seen the discussion around this? If what you said wasn't enough people are defending and cheering for it. They're rejoicing in their own eventual downfall. I guess the industry trained them real well. Sad and confusing
I'm not too worried. While I understand your concerns regarding AAA titles, I think with the indie game scene having more and more eyes on it and with more people being able to publish games more easily, I don't think we have much to worry about.
There no wars in this point because that still childish warcrime like enjoying whatever other system you want or if You true gamer playing every single game in every system games not gatekeeping Sony only
Yeah, this is gonna suck. Also Sony had TONS of opportunities to by Square Enix but never took it. But since PS5 are still the rarest item on the planet, this us gonna give Clown Shoes Mcstolemycash alot more business.
This. This is how I feel about the entire situation and everytime I have said it to friends and mutuals, I am told that Im over-exaggerating or get completely ignored. I'm entirely scared what will happen to the industry once we get to this giant divide.
Nintendo hasn’t bought a studio since I think monolith soft back in the Wii era thanks to Iwata RIP. I don’t think Nintendo will do anything in response to this big Microsoft news.
I think legally this is gonna be hard to prosecute microsoft as a gaming monopoly right now since microsoft technically doesnt own majority market share. Sony and Nintendo are still heavy competetors. Of course as you said this will likely change/get worse. It just sucks that theres nothing that can be done.
Personally I'm just gonna sit back with my decades old games and watch disaster from afar. If people wanna deal with this crap from an industry and go on to praise it, there's nothing I can do to help them.
All I have is THE FEAR after this video... What will gaming even become in the long run? What will happen with certain game franchises? What the fuck even is this timeline?
More like "Okay, we re-evaluated our partnership with you, and we've reached the decision that you can no longer be trusted to operate without someone keeping you in line. So here's what's gonna happen: we're buying you bastards out, we'll give Kotick 400 mil which let's be honest, he'll probably blow a huge chunk of on lawyer fees to tell him 'go away and stay away', and we're gonna make you report directly to the boss of bosses to keep you in line."
Everything thats on the Xbox is also on PC. but on PC you have more freedom to mod the game and whatnot. soooooo, a little dumb... PC is just better in every way.
That's pretty much what's most people in the industry are thinking. A great in the short term, but there's a good chance of monopoly happing the future. I also hope the devs at Activision Blizzard don't get laid off. Many are very anxious at the moment.
I thought it was a lot when they bought minecraft for 2 billion. no 70billion is something that a company just has... And can use, to buy another company... thats just wacky.
One of the primary reasons for my ever-worsening depression is the realization that humanity is essentially doomed unless it learns to truly overcome its insatiable greed and lust for power/control. The hardest pill to swallow is that greed and hunger for power/control isn’t exclusive to a few people or a certain category of people - it is part of human nature itself. Until we learn to change our own nature, the world as we know it will never see peace and freedom for all.
Look at the comments even here. People think this is a good thing. That's where we're at. Most people into games have somehow completely succumbed to this shit.
Seems I've underestimated the severity of this situation. I was already peeved about Bayonetta 2 and 3 being a Switch exclusive, even if Nintendo helped them be made in the first place. I really don't wanna feel that way again.
5:10 Perish the thought! I would despise a world where I'd have to buy every PlayStation console going forward knowing the next Mega Man game will be exclusive to it
fun fact: xbox/activision wants to stop doing yearly CODs to slow it tf down and wanting more crash and spyro plans as for nintendo, dont they have retro studios, game freak and HAL laboratories and camelot also just to be clear, xbox and activision may need to goto court or face the legal bigwigs for this one, especially this one
I think the difference is those companies built a reputation and relationship with Nintendo/ Nintendo consoles before becoming intertwined with the company as apposed to being bought and suppendly forced to surrender all of their ip's to one platform.
I subscribed to your main channel for the shitposts, but I'm _so_ glad doing so led me here. Nice work! (Could do without the existential panic brought about by our increasingly corporate hellscape, though, not that that's your fault.)
Funny enough, people back in 2019 thought that Microsoft would buy Electronic Arts, so the ActiBlizz buyout was in some way, expected to exist. (or in the nutshell "(slighty) shocked, but not suprised")
This is a scary prospect. I hope your predictions about this are wrong, Uncle Al. A monopoly or even an Oligopoly would really hurt video games, as creativity is an incredibly important aspect in this industry. We have already seen what's happened with other industries where this happens. Whether you want to blame Capitalism or the free market, it still isnt fair to small indie/local businesses. From what everyone is saying, the Actiblizz buyout may not lead to what you are saying here, but its still a very slippery slope. I mean, Sony's shares went down thanks to the buyout. If they get slightly competitive with their buyouts, we will run the risk on a monopolized market. I'm glad you brought this up. I feel like your takes always covers things that many others would gloss over. Your kirby vids are good examples of that.
Whats scariest about it all to me is people are cheering it on. You can see it even in this comments section, which I would have thought would be more cynical but no. All hail daddy Microsoft
For me I'm okay with them acquiring Activision Blizzard if it means finally cleaning up that horrible company, keeping everybody safe, and just doing what they can to make that work environment break to be in again. The very fact that the very next day after saying that they were acquiring this deal was that Bobby was getting kicked out, was a breath of fresh air. Hopefully others that were affected by this will point the others out, and those people will get kicked out too. The other thing I noticed was that they were talking with others and saying that the games that are already out on other consoles are going to still be sold, they'll work with them in the future to keep it happening, and even talking to Toys for Bob to get them off that Call of duty salt mine is great. I do hope that other IPS are given revivals. Hexin, banjo, Spyro even. Pitfall Harry I haven't seen in years since the PlayStation 2. I do hope that they get the revival they deserve. I know this is all down to money, and I know this is all down to Monopoly stakes, hopefully something can be worked out, the way I see it, is that if this needed to happen, at least it's under somebody who at least fights for pro consumer and worker rights at the same time.
Near $"nice" billion, but who's counting. But in regards to the great divide, the day after this announcement, the US government basically said "oh damn, not only could this possibly affect California and the EEOC's lawsuits with Activision Blizzard, but this could become a serious problem later on." and decided they need to review and overhaul their anti-monopoly laws.
8 months later Nintendo finally bought SRD which were the guys who actually coded the games Nintendo designed for 40 years, and also Next Level Games, which makes sense, then they bought Dynamo Pictures and rebranded them to Nintendo Pictures. Not bad, just securing the base of anything
Considering Microsoft ported a bunch of their games on Switch (Cuphead, Ori etc.) I wouldn’t be surprised if Blizzard’s games gets the same treatment plus I think these games will still be on PC considering most run on Microsoft Windows. So when you really think about it this buyout really only screws over Sony and PlayStation which I find hilarious.
Man, it sucks that Blizzard has been acting like a total piece of shit recently. I Just got into Diablo and Overwatch, and now everytime I play them, I can't help but remember that I'm supporting their companies, which is EXACTLY what I don't want to do.
I never got into blizzard or activation, but I do feel the same way about a couple games, mostly because of their politics. Really bugs me that some games just have a flag in one scene and stuff like that. Its just not necessary to have politics in most videogames. But anyway, I feel you in that way, it really sucks. I just want to play the freaken videogame but I cant support it in good conscience.
@@Yipper64 I think one of the primary reasons that gaming companies “shoehorn” in politics like that is because “”””””anti-SJWs”””””” and right-wing (or “””””””””””””slightly-right-of-center-wing”””””””””””) reactionaries throw such hilarious fits online whenever they do it. For many fake developers, it’s exactly what they want - to piss off the conservatives and “”””””””””””alt-right bigots”””””””””””””. So as long as people keep raging and ranting and whining over the virtue signaling and unnecessary leftist stuff in games, they will continue to do it, especially while dudes on the other spectrum applaud and cheer them for it.
@@ThereAreThoseWhoCallMeTim well thats a really freaking stupid take. They do it because its a cult, and cults are designed to spread themselves. Pretty obvious.
@@ThereAreThoseWhoCallMeTim the leftist cult, obviously. It is a cult, but I have a feeling since you may be part of that cult, you dont realize this and never will.
I think this particular acquisition is a good thing just because Microsoft is very likely to get Activision into shape Yes, a future as you described would not be good at all, but if we just isolate this particular incident then I don't think it's a bad thing assuming it doesn't begin a trend.
You put the whole thing into an understandable perspective way better than any twitter thread. Will say I think it's worth mentioning that at the VERY least, just about everything Microsoft in particular puts out will still be available on PC, meanwhile Sony and Nintendo would tout exclusivity like nothing else.
There is a European company that has gone around buying out a ton of double A companies from every genre. Most people don't know about it and I can't remember the name of it but the news of so many double A companies being bought out was not headline news. If I remember correctly the company has bought like every genre of game and a news channel that covered it mentioned that it allows them to put out games at a steady rate. As for the buyout I am hoping it helps Activision Blizzard improve its work environment. I do have to agree it is a bit concerning that so many companies are being bought out and now there are super companies. However, I believe there is a good chance there is the chance for Indie games to help push back poor quality triple A games.
Owning all consoles aside I'm so glad I have a PC at least Xbox and Sony are trying to give combined support to PC and Nintendo are bringing not officially licensed products like monster hunter to PC just wish Nintendo could fully get on the PC bandwagon especially with a broadened switch online + or like a Nintendo game pass with pc because to be honest that would cut down on the emulation heck why buy all these "collectors items" when I can go to a preservation site that hasn't been struck by a cease and desist order and get the data and a program that can run it. They'res even indie developer markets for these emulation devices and computer pros turning such things like the steam deck into such things. Under one brand may be a bad thing but for the tech savvy in the gaming market under one console or device is something they have wanted for a long time
I feel like nintendo's lack of PC content is due to the way nintendo tends to have some kind of gimmick with each new console, so you cant get the same experience on PC. Yeah I know half way through the console's life developers inevitably stop really using the gimmick as it loses its novelty, but the fact is its still there. I get you can emulate these games for a similar experience, but I just think its a little different for nintendo than the other companies. then again, at this point all they'd need is proper support on windows computers for their controllers, but thats a whole other (albeit related) issue because of how Microsoft owns windows and Xbox.
But that's the thing you can get those gimmicks on PC if citra had webcam functionality and if we could get some of the close screen gimmicks like with phantom hourglass it would be better and we can at least get these gimmicks for switch and wii u gyro because switch controllers are Bluetooth and for whatever reason Nintendo makes it harder for them to connect to non switch things but they are usable heck the PS5 controller you just need a USB c to c cable and a port to connect and the series x controllers work with Bluetooth and for the Wii gimmicks since Wii remotes are so friggin expensive right now they'res those 3rd party amazon controllers and a dolphin brand USB sensor bar to play Wii motion games on the dolphin for PC plus if you have a raphnet adapter or a Bluetooth controller you can play guitar or clone hero on emulator Nintendo's gimmicks aren't as hard to transfer to the PC as others would think
@@tylerneumann3460 its possible the reason why its so difficult isnt something nintendo is doing, but rather something microsoft is making more difficult.
Even if they did buyout a company they can still sell their games on other consoles because if they didn’t, let’s face it that’d just be bad for business, sure they could lock their games behind owing a specific console brand but that would be so unlikely I just wouldn’t worry about it
honestly i think you may be right, this is the beginning of something awful. do you remember when PVZ was bought by EA and got completely fucked over by micro transactions and something similar to a battle pass? things like this make me pessimistic, cause something similars probably going to happen to games i like playing.
This acquisition is scary since in the future, no matter what they say, they're going to put most of these Companies games exclusively on their Console/PC.
@@falendemo546 considering the state of Konami at the moment, I could easily see Sony buy it out to ‘clean up’ the controversy, like Xbox wasn’t to do with activision/blizzard
I remember the news. My first thought was on... Why? second thought was what's going to happen to Elder scrolls 6 and Fallout 5. my third thought was well crap now I have access to games I'm not all that interested in.
Atlas? Do you mean Atlus? Because Nintendo would have to buy Sega too, which honestly might be an inevitability unless they can make a good Sonic game again soon and arcade machines start to see a revival. Sega couldn't survive on just a new SMT or Persona every 5-10 years. Arcades might actually start to come back a little if driven by Nintendo's minds using Sega's arcade tech. I'd rather see Nintendo secure Konami, Capcom or Namco though.
Activision is like the guy who doesn't have his life together, and Microsoft is the girl who's all "I can fix him."
Al, I just want you to know your videos have always made me laugh. Thank you.
This dude could voice any character. He is so entertaining.
I think this will hurt Sony the most. Microsoft and Nintendo have made a good working relationship over the past decade, with first party Xbox games releasing on switch and multiplats often having crossplay on everything except playstation. The way I see it, Xbox and PC will greatly benefit, Nintendo will be largely unaffected, and Sony will scramble to buy more studios to compete, causing a purchase war until one of them gives in.
Honestly Sony deserves it. If they're going to sit on their ass and rely on 3rd party companies to make games for them while letting all of their legacy IPs that haven't seen new games in years remain in the cellar than they had it coming.
Sony has sat on its legacy IP’s since the PS3, this is their wake up call.
That's also what I've been thinking so I'm glad you pointed that out. I can see Nintendo being unaffected for the most part given they do their own thing and have such a good relationship with Microsoft. But Sony is definitely gonna take a hit if they don't act fast or find a way to maintain their audience
I see where you’re coming from Al but reading interviews that came out of the deal, it’s apparent ActiBlizz were gonna sell them selves no matter what. The first company Kotick actually went to was Facebook/Meta before Phil cut a deal with him. According to bloomberg, the employees of actiblizz are optimistic about their future under Microsoft and cite the work culture at Bethesda and Xbox Game Studios being much better than what’s currently going on under Kotick so I think the acquisition will be a net positive if just for the workers. We’re already hearing discussion about Call of Duty finally ditching the annual release cycle which would be a huge improvement to the work conditions
Yikes
If Microsoft does manage to make the workplace much safer and offer more creative freedom as a result of this buyout, then yes, it'll 100% be worth it. But the fact that this happened at all is really going to drive a giant stake through the idea of console wars and only make the community more divided in the long run.
Here's another problem:
If these first party publishers start buying these companies, then what's the point in bringing back old franchises or support ones that simply do ok? They have all the companies and devs they need to release products to feel a year
For example:
"Why do we need to make another Metroid?" says Nintendo, "We have Square Enix releasing the next Final Fantasy and Capcom the next Megaman next year, who needs another Metroid?"
and I'm still here waiting for another F-Zero...
More games owned by Microsoft means more games to PC so I'm fine with that
My laptop is bad so im going to cry in a corner
SuperWiiBros08 --- well most of Activision Blizzard games we're on PC anyway, maybe by PC you mean "not on the ActiBlizz's gaming service"?
I seriously hope you aren't actually this short sighted
Wow, I'm honestly floored with what's happening at this point. These events are honestly very... terrifying, for the game industry. If the work environment is improved, I'm definitely for that, but the whole deal itself really makes gaming harder and harder to enjoy at this point. I've seen too many good companies be utterly destroyed and shut down after being bought (Blue Sky especially), and I'm afraid of these events, I'm certainly shocked. Thank you for letting us know about it, and bringing up the issues that have been happening before and after this deal
No don't question it, this can only be a good thing. Phil Spencer said so! :)
Activision was looking to sell and honestly for me thank god it was Microsoft that bought Activision and not Google, Amazon, Meta or even worse Tencent
Considering the state of Banjo Kazooie, expect no more Crash or Spryo games again.
This is all reaching a point of total insanity where all forms of entertainment have the same mindset. Monopolize everything and hoard it. Obviously the company I worry about most when it comes to monopolizing is Nintendo for multiple reasons.
At best, we can expect them to own all of these classic games and refuse to give us a way to play them outside of emulation and fighting scalpers online. And at worst their shoddy equipment, lackluster online experience, underpowered hardware and their continued use of sending out unfinished games (to sometimes sell you the rest of your experience half a year later) is going to catch up to them. They're going to start falling behind.
And guess who's gonna come by with an offer if that ends up happening?
Phil Spencer already confirmed that they have no intention of making the Activision stuff exclusives and talked to Sony higher ups about adhering to agreements of keeping stuff multiplatform
Glad to see another follower of the Church of Phil Spencer in the comments
The battle of literally everyone vs. Bobby Kotick has only just begun.
Valve: You can't have poor employee relations if there are barely any employees at all
Being serious These bigger companies being bought is a Monkey’s paw scenario it’ll be good to see these franchises flourish if theyre bought out but scary to think what could happen next in the long term with exclusivity
Does Nintendo REALLY care? Like their top sellers are from their umbrella. Plus they seem interested in indie companies like Wayforward. It also seems like they're making legacy franchises into AAA like Kirby Forgotten Planet or Metroid Dread. And honestly you can't play most of these games that Microsoft bought on a Nintendo platform. I think Capcom and Square are the only two I care about because of Sony lmao, but as long as Microsoft gives these companies autonomy everything should be fine (for now).
Hey Uncle Al, glad you’re uploading on this channel again. Always love to hear you talk about gaming and stuff. Loved the Kirby vid, and I’m sure I’ll love this one too. Have a great day dude :)
First it’s Actiblizz,then the World
Disney would be proud lol
Microsoft snuffs out Sony buys them for worthless stock then Disney buys Microsoft
@@tylerneumann3460 Disney/Marvel shares Spider-Man with Sony so if they got bought out lol Playstation would be next if they wanted to XD Disney have enough money to buy Sony? The answer is yes, Disney has enough money to buy Sony.
This is truly one of the darkest days in all of video games. The Age of Gamers...is over.
But for real, this isn't something I'm looking forward to.
This whole issue in the gaming world is the streaming services of today (Netflix, Hulu, Disney + etc.)
You can decide on what gaming system you'll want to own based on their library of games both the multiplatform ones and console exclusives if you're lucky but it all depends on what your favorite type of games you play
I'll be frank, I see MS expanding into multplatform territory long term. They'll keep the xbox brand and strengthen that as best they can but MS stand to max out profits with multiplatform releases. That said, everyone single one of those will be gamepass day one. Without a doubt. They know most people buy only one console. Even Sony is expanding their games into PC. The future of gaming will be centered on who delivers the superior overall service.
Accurate. It's time for more people to embrace PC gaming
A world of Cooperation with both big and small working on even ground, now with this movement and purchase, the gaming world is doomed. From the perspective of Nintendo and Playstation's point of view, this must be terrifying, and the only way they can compete with Microsoft without incurring too much cost to themselves would to do the same. It's the M.A.D protocol gone wrong, as one company fires the economic Arsenal, the others are forced to do so to survive, and no one will win in the end. The big corporations, while larger, now have to compete a lot more fiercely with each other to survive (in franchise acquisition, I expect the reverse in developing games. Imagine how bad the "I'll finish it later" games will get). Smaller businesses will now be forced to walk a dangerous tightrope, of mutual cooperation amongst all parties, but not too close with any singular one, risking the chance to be bought out. But worst of all, in the long term, the average citizens will be affected the worst. Employees in Blizzard might see a change in quality for the first couple of years, but that will not last. Without competition, there is no drive which allows employees to get better standards of living, potentially even going backwards, employees will get the shaft from now on till something else takes their place (Probably robots in 30 years but that is another tangent for another time). But the consumers will have a close second place for who's the most f***ed. Without competition, these franchises are guaranteed to stagnate and worsen, losing most if not all personal touches, and becoming unoriginal and bland, making stagnant, unoriginal games. Less chances will be taken, change will be on a far more grander scale, and any system improvements will be far off in the future (think of your Cable Box for a good example of an oligopolie's lack of risk). Any new good games will most likely be owned by the major corporations, which probably will be console exclusive, with large pricetag, more than any seen before, with little improvement from the last installment. This industry is becoming more corporate and stagnant, possibly at the worst time to do so in a world of ever increasing automation, which may eventually be the biggest winners. So basically, par (heh) for the course this century. Anyways, how are you doing mr. Monkey?
Have you seen the discussion around this? If what you said wasn't enough people are defending and cheering for it. They're rejoicing in their own eventual downfall. I guess the industry trained them real well. Sad and confusing
I'm not too worried. While I understand your concerns regarding AAA titles, I think with the indie game scene having more and more eyes on it and with more people being able to publish games more easily, I don't think we have much to worry about.
Yeah I think Microsoft is inherently good too. I'm so happy they exist.
“What are you proposing, uncle Al?”
“…Console Wars… 2.”
There no wars in this point because that still childish warcrime like enjoying whatever other system you want or if You true gamer playing every single game in every system games not gatekeeping Sony only
Yeah, this is gonna suck. Also Sony had TONS of opportunities to by Square Enix but never took it.
But since PS5 are still the rarest item on the planet, this us gonna give Clown Shoes Mcstolemycash alot more business.
This. This is how I feel about the entire situation and everytime I have said it to friends and mutuals, I am told that Im over-exaggerating or get completely ignored.
I'm entirely scared what will happen to the industry once we get to this giant divide.
0:17 "Okay so I forgot to mention dying yes DYING!!!"
Nintendo hasn’t bought a studio since I think monolith soft back in the Wii era thanks to Iwata RIP. I don’t think Nintendo will do anything in response to this big Microsoft news.
“Console Wars: The Rise Of Microsoft”
That's if Disney doesn't buy them both out lol
No console war just BUY EVERY DEVICE YOU MORON it doesn't matter which system is better than others just play games like a TRUE GAMER
BBoy --- lmao they rised back in the early 2000's, when Original Xbox beat up Gamecube in sales.
I think legally this is gonna be hard to prosecute microsoft as a gaming monopoly right now since microsoft technically doesnt own majority market share. Sony and Nintendo are still heavy competetors. Of course as you said this will likely change/get worse. It just sucks that theres nothing that can be done.
Personally I'm just gonna sit back with my decades old games and watch disaster from afar. If people wanna deal with this crap from an industry and go on to praise it, there's nothing I can do to help them.
All I have is THE FEAR after this video...
What will gaming even become in the long run? What will happen with certain game franchises? What the fuck even is this timeline?
Look at these comments and you'll find people defending and praising it. I swear to all hell I'm a year or two from dropping this hobby entirely.
I swear...if Microsoft doesn't buy other third-party studios, Sony (or an even worst-case scenario, Nintendo) will out of fear.
That Thumbnail goes hard btw
Remember: It’s all about perspective
Al needs to be a professional comedian
I love these videos of you just talking about normal things cuz you have such a goofy voice while still sounding serious. Always gets a laugh outta me
Microsoft: man you Activision guys really are evil
Also Microsoft: i’Ll TaKe YoUr EnTiRe StOcK
More like "Okay, we re-evaluated our partnership with you, and we've reached the decision that you can no longer be trusted to operate without someone keeping you in line. So here's what's gonna happen: we're buying you bastards out, we'll give Kotick 400 mil which let's be honest, he'll probably blow a huge chunk of on lawyer fees to tell him 'go away and stay away', and we're gonna make you report directly to the boss of bosses to keep you in line."
They already had Bethesda. I still don't believe that Master Chief, Doom Slayer, and Bastion are all boarding together.
I cannot believe Microsoft can make the Angiosperms cut the cheese.
And people called me stupid for buying an Xbox.
Halo is the only reason to play Xbox lol
Everything thats on the Xbox is also on PC. but on PC you have more freedom to mod the game and whatnot.
soooooo, a little dumb... PC is just better in every way.
@@Yipper64 Oh God the master race!? We are not worthy lol Just kidding nerd XD
This is literally video game company imperialism.
And people are cheering it on
I didn't pay much attention to the acquisition, but man did you open my eyes. Thanks Al.
That's pretty much what's most people in the industry are thinking. A great in the short term, but there's a good chance of monopoly happing the future. I also hope the devs at Activision Blizzard don't get laid off. Many are very anxious at the moment.
I thought it was a lot when they bought minecraft for 2 billion.
no 70billion is something that a company just has... And can use, to buy another company...
thats just wacky.
One of the primary reasons for my ever-worsening depression is the realization that humanity is essentially doomed unless it learns to truly overcome its insatiable greed and lust for power/control. The hardest pill to swallow is that greed and hunger for power/control isn’t exclusive to a few people or a certain category of people - it is part of human nature itself. Until we learn to change our own nature, the world as we know it will never see peace and freedom for all.
Look at the comments even here. People think this is a good thing. That's where we're at. Most people into games have somehow completely succumbed to this shit.
Nope. Too hard. I would rather let the world die than CHANGE MY ENTIRE BIOLOGICAL FUCKING PERSONALITY.
Didn't realize till now they bought candy crush too.
I know this is off topic from the video but can I just say I fucking love the way you edit your videos lmao
What's the song that plays from 3 minutes on?
The grass is farting oxygen.
Seems I've underestimated the severity of this situation. I was already peeved about Bayonetta 2 and 3 being a Switch exclusive, even if Nintendo helped them be made in the first place. I really don't wanna feel that way again.
I like how the one time a monopoly has a positive effect everyone loses their shit
Ah you're right nobody should be upset now. Great idea
I wouldn't be surprised if this kind of business practices end up causing another video game crash where no one bothers with video games anymore
It's never been better to be a PC gamer.
5:10 Perish the thought! I would despise a world where I'd have to buy every PlayStation console going forward knowing the next Mega Man game will be exclusive to it
I'm surprised the government hasn't prevented this monopoly
fun fact: xbox/activision wants to stop doing yearly CODs to slow it tf down and wanting more crash and spyro plans
as for nintendo, dont they have retro studios, game freak and HAL laboratories and camelot
also just to be clear, xbox and activision may need to goto court or face the legal bigwigs for this one, especially this one
I think the difference is those companies built a reputation and relationship with Nintendo/ Nintendo consoles before becoming intertwined with the company as apposed to being bought and suppendly forced to surrender all of their ip's to one platform.
Uncle Al I'm still trying to acquire the PS5 😭😭😭
I subscribed to your main channel for the shitposts, but I'm _so_ glad doing so led me here. Nice work!
(Could do without the existential panic brought about by our increasingly corporate hellscape, though, not that that's your fault.)
Funny enough, people back in 2019 thought that Microsoft would buy Electronic Arts, so the ActiBlizz buyout was in some way, expected to exist. (or in the nutshell "(slighty) shocked, but not suprised")
This is a scary prospect. I hope your predictions about this are wrong, Uncle Al. A monopoly or even an Oligopoly would really hurt video games, as creativity is an incredibly important aspect in this industry. We have already seen what's happened with other industries where this happens. Whether you want to blame Capitalism or the free market, it still isnt fair to small indie/local businesses.
From what everyone is saying, the Actiblizz buyout may not lead to what you are saying here, but its still a very slippery slope. I mean, Sony's shares went down thanks to the buyout. If they get slightly competitive with their buyouts, we will run the risk on a monopolized market.
I'm glad you brought this up. I feel like your takes always covers things that many others would gloss over. Your kirby vids are good examples of that.
Whats scariest about it all to me is people are cheering it on. You can see it even in this comments section, which I would have thought would be more cynical but no. All hail daddy Microsoft
For me I'm okay with them acquiring Activision Blizzard if it means finally cleaning up that horrible company, keeping everybody safe, and just doing what they can to make that work environment break to be in again. The very fact that the very next day after saying that they were acquiring this deal was that Bobby was getting kicked out, was a breath of fresh air. Hopefully others that were affected by this will point the others out, and those people will get kicked out too.
The other thing I noticed was that they were talking with others and saying that the games that are already out on other consoles are going to still be sold, they'll work with them in the future to keep it happening, and even talking to Toys for Bob to get them off that Call of duty salt mine is great. I do hope that other IPS are given revivals. Hexin, banjo, Spyro even. Pitfall Harry I haven't seen in years since the PlayStation 2. I do hope that they get the revival they deserve.
I know this is all down to money, and I know this is all down to Monopoly stakes, hopefully something can be worked out, the way I see it, is that if this needed to happen, at least it's under somebody who at least fights for pro consumer and worker rights at the same time.
Yeah I hope when we have 2 major media companies they're really going to bat for the consumer. I have faith it'll work out that way
Near $"nice" billion, but who's counting. But in regards to the great divide, the day after this announcement, the US government basically said "oh damn, not only could this possibly affect California and the EEOC's lawsuits with Activision Blizzard, but this could become a serious problem later on." and decided they need to review and overhaul their anti-monopoly laws.
8 months later Nintendo finally bought SRD which were the guys who actually coded the games Nintendo designed for 40 years, and also Next Level Games, which makes sense, then they bought Dynamo Pictures and rebranded them to Nintendo Pictures.
Not bad, just securing the base of anything
I think we all woke up from a coma, Al
Considering Microsoft ported a bunch of their games on Switch (Cuphead, Ori etc.) I wouldn’t be surprised if Blizzard’s games gets the same treatment plus I think these games will still be on PC considering most run on Microsoft Windows.
So when you really think about it this buyout really only screws over Sony and PlayStation which I find hilarious.
Susana Almeida --- and maybe also screws Apple, since most of the games will probably not be on Mac.
Man, it sucks that Blizzard has been acting like a total piece of shit recently. I Just got into Diablo and Overwatch, and now everytime I play them, I can't help but remember that I'm supporting their companies, which is EXACTLY what I don't want to do.
I never got into blizzard or activation, but I do feel the same way about a couple games, mostly because of their politics. Really bugs me that some games just have a flag in one scene and stuff like that. Its just not necessary to have politics in most videogames. But anyway, I feel you in that way, it really sucks. I just want to play the freaken videogame but I cant support it in good conscience.
@@Yipper64 I think one of the primary reasons that gaming companies “shoehorn” in politics like that is because “”””””anti-SJWs”””””” and right-wing (or “””””””””””””slightly-right-of-center-wing”””””””””””) reactionaries throw such hilarious fits online whenever they do it. For many fake developers, it’s exactly what they want - to piss off the conservatives and “”””””””””””alt-right bigots”””””””””””””. So as long as people keep raging and ranting and whining over the virtue signaling and unnecessary leftist stuff in games, they will continue to do it, especially while dudes on the other spectrum applaud and cheer them for it.
@@ThereAreThoseWhoCallMeTim well thats a really freaking stupid take. They do it because its a cult, and cults are designed to spread themselves. Pretty obvious.
@@Yipper64 What cult are you referring to?
@@ThereAreThoseWhoCallMeTim the leftist cult, obviously. It is a cult, but I have a feeling since you may be part of that cult, you dont realize this and never will.
I think this particular acquisition is a good thing just because Microsoft is very likely to get Activision into shape
Yes, a future as you described would not be good at all, but if we just isolate this particular incident then I don't think it's a bad thing assuming it doesn't begin a trend.
Surely this will be an isolated incident. I too hate history books.
5:26 eh... let's keep flying.
Guess all these properties are staying on the shelf
Dope video I love it
Tbh I feel that valve might go and buy some if this is gonna continue
I hope crash doesn't end up like banjo.
You put the whole thing into an understandable perspective way better than any twitter thread. Will say I think it's worth mentioning that at the VERY least, just about everything Microsoft in particular puts out will still be available on PC, meanwhile Sony and Nintendo would tout exclusivity like nothing else.
What’s the song that starts playing at 3:07?
Dust Devil - D-Code
Good morning my favorite Uncle 🤩
There is a European company that has gone around buying out a ton of double A companies from every genre. Most people don't know about it and I can't remember the name of it but the news of so many double A companies being bought out was not headline news. If I remember correctly the company has bought like every genre of game and a news channel that covered it mentioned that it allows them to put out games at a steady rate.
As for the buyout I am hoping it helps Activision Blizzard improve its work environment. I do have to agree it is a bit concerning that so many companies are being bought out and now there are super companies. However, I believe there is a good chance there is the chance for Indie games to help push back poor quality triple A games.
I like this video alot
Owning all consoles aside I'm so glad I have a PC at least Xbox and Sony are trying to give combined support to PC and Nintendo are bringing not officially licensed products like monster hunter to PC just wish Nintendo could fully get on the PC bandwagon especially with a broadened switch online + or like a Nintendo game pass with pc because to be honest that would cut down on the emulation heck why buy all these "collectors items" when I can go to a preservation site that hasn't been struck by a cease and desist order and get the data and a program that can run it. They'res even indie developer markets for these emulation devices and computer pros turning such things like the steam deck into such things. Under one brand may be a bad thing but for the tech savvy in the gaming market under one console or device is something they have wanted for a long time
I feel like nintendo's lack of PC content is due to the way nintendo tends to have some kind of gimmick with each new console, so you cant get the same experience on PC. Yeah I know half way through the console's life developers inevitably stop really using the gimmick as it loses its novelty, but the fact is its still there. I get you can emulate these games for a similar experience, but I just think its a little different for nintendo than the other companies.
then again, at this point all they'd need is proper support on windows computers for their controllers, but thats a whole other (albeit related) issue because of how Microsoft owns windows and Xbox.
But that's the thing you can get those gimmicks on PC if citra had webcam functionality and if we could get some of the close screen gimmicks like with phantom hourglass it would be better and we can at least get these gimmicks for switch and wii u gyro because switch controllers are Bluetooth and for whatever reason Nintendo makes it harder for them to connect to non switch things but they are usable heck the PS5 controller you just need a USB c to c cable and a port to connect and the series x controllers work with Bluetooth and for the Wii gimmicks since Wii remotes are so friggin expensive right now they'res those 3rd party amazon controllers and a dolphin brand USB sensor bar to play Wii motion games on the dolphin for PC plus if you have a raphnet adapter or a Bluetooth controller you can play guitar or clone hero on emulator Nintendo's gimmicks aren't as hard to transfer to the PC as others would think
@@tylerneumann3460 its possible the reason why its so difficult isnt something nintendo is doing, but rather something microsoft is making more difficult.
True I was just saying it's somewhat easy to emulate some Nintendo console gimmicks on pc
0:42 bru
I wanna play Mario on my ps5
You could have also mentioned that phil said that all the stiudios working on cod can now begin to work on other games now
Wait this channel will be still about monkey kong right
Don't you worry, the monkey is here to stay.
Corporations don’t know how to tell a story. Only a visionary does
Even if they did buyout a company they can still sell their games on other consoles because if they didn’t, let’s face it that’d just be bad for business, sure they could lock their games behind owing a specific console brand but that would be so unlikely I just wouldn’t worry about it
I wouldn’t even call Microsoft a monopoly because according to everyone, Disney isn’t
Scrappy is pretty cool pet name
honestly i think you may be right, this is the beginning of something awful. do you remember when PVZ was bought by EA and got completely fucked over by micro transactions and something similar to a battle pass? things like this make me pessimistic, cause something similars probably going to happen to games i like playing.
They have pretty strict antitrust laws in Japan from what I've heard so I don't think we need to be afraid of a Capcom or Square Enix buyout.
This acquisition is scary since in the future, no matter what they say, they're going to put most of these Companies games exclusively on their Console/PC.
No they would never do that! You should be like the rest of this comments section and believe everything Microsoft says at face value!
I’m a bit optimistic about this tbh.
Joe Michaelsoft has bought Uncle Al plus for 27 bananas and a nickel, he has bought my whole family too please help me
I wouldn’t be surprised if we see sony snatch up Konami or square Enix sometime in the near future
Miscallaneo --- unironically like four/five years ago I've seen a Game Reviewer saying that Sony should buyout Konami.
@@falendemo546 considering the state of Konami at the moment, I could easily see Sony buy it out to ‘clean up’ the controversy, like Xbox wasn’t to do with activision/blizzard
I think this is a good thing
Funny how Sony just bought Bungie as soon as this video launched
This is pretty scary like wtf
wut you said is what I think sorry for being a sheeple but I don't what else their to be said like we said this when they acquired beathsta
I play Yu-Gi-Oh, so honestly someone buying up Konami scares the shit out of me like nothing else
I remember the news.
My first thought was on... Why?
second thought was what's going to happen to Elder scrolls 6 and Fallout 5.
my third thought was well crap now I have access to games I'm not all that interested in.
I swear if Sony buys Capcom and I have to get a PlayStation just to play the next Mega Man game...
Ah, yes, cheery [adult swim] music is perfect for the topic of the gaming industry becoming too divided.
This is a dangerous game they're playing, and I wouldn't be surprised if Nintendo bought Atlas and Sony bought Square.
Atlas? Do you mean Atlus? Because Nintendo would have to buy Sega too, which honestly might be an inevitability unless they can make a good Sonic game again soon and arcade machines start to see a revival. Sega couldn't survive on just a new SMT or Persona every 5-10 years.
Arcades might actually start to come back a little if driven by Nintendo's minds using Sega's arcade tech.
I'd rather see Nintendo secure Konami, Capcom or Namco though.