Watch the prices go sky high that’s a lot of mullah to get back 
Just when you thought the state of WoW couldn’t get any worse. Big Yikes 
If I would be a WOW player, I would call this a very bad news.
It’ll be fine. Don’t be surprised if Xbox makes a console version or puts wow on PC Game Pass…lol Sony is still the market leader. MS is not going to catch up in this console generation. This isn’t going to raise prices, PS already did that. It’s the market leader that everyone follows. PS was the first to raise games to $70 and everyone else followed their example. This deal only makes Xbox a bit more even. WoW might even get a bit more funding out of Xbox than they are from Activision. Phil Spencer is a much better CEO than Bobby Kotic.
WoW
If it means ActiBlizz games on GamePass and that MS cleans up some of the HR disasters at Blizzard I’m actually all for it.
Hello Lyn,
I am glad you brought this up as I have been following this “case” since it was first announced. I am really hoping that Microsoft buying ACT will lead to positive change and better games for all of us. What frustrates me is the current CEO of ACT will stay until the end of the year and then walk away with hundreds of millions of dollars, even though there are serious allegations of employee abuse. It is sad that he will go unpunished.
I am also not a fan of the current CEO of Microsoft given several comments he has made in the past about women and his overall leadership style. I am hoping that the company culture will improve but I am not sure it will.
I do feel that the buyout price was WAY too high and I can’t really see them recouping these costs unless they come up with truly generational games titles that take our hobby to the next level. I simply can’t see ACT and their current game library/licensing/merchandising being worth that much. Sadly, I do feel that one impact will be higher prices for the gamer.
Thanks!
Rambios1967
Yeah in light of the human resource nightmares at ActiBlizz (I didn’t know about the CEO of MS) you would think they would have kicked in an extra billion to have the number NOT be 69. 
Satya Nadella? He’s Indian. It’s a different culture so he may do things differently.
Microsoft makes 20 billion dollars a Quarter and according to leaked FTC docs, Xbox makes over 15 billion per Quarter. (or 56b not sure which number it the correct one)
(Xbox profits revealed in new FTC leak)
Atvi itself makes 1.55b per quarter
(https://www.macrotrends.net/stocks/charts/ATVI/activision-blizzard/gross-profit)
I think they will be fine. 
Hello Kelryth. I appreciate the response to my post.
To follow up with the Microsoft CEO, yes he is of Indian descent and so am I. Being of a different culture, one may “do things differently” as you state. However, being disrespectful to a gender or any culture is not acceptable in my book. I have seen it in my own culture and others…it is demeaning when one is treated as if they are “beneath” another. The comment that the Microsoft CEO made a few years ago toward women was disrespectful. However, we have seen too many times in corporate America, not just Silicon Valley, how various people are treated.Sadly this behavior continues and the awful stories coming out of Activision only reinforce it. I do hope that the buyout will change the culture of Activision though I am not so sure it will.
I love seeing the numbers and data that you provided and thank you for them.
Yes, Microsoft clearly makes billions upon billions per year. Their business lines include hardware, software, services, etc. But, almost $70 billion for one game publisher is extreme even if Activision makes S1.5 billion per quarter ($6 Billion per year). Those costs need to be recouped to maximize shareholder value. This will fall onto to us…the consumer in higher prices. Xbox game pass has already undergone changes. Publishers are now talking about AAA titles costing $79 instead of $69. Call of Duty and Halo, once you pay $70 for the actual game have “Season Passes” that really add very little extra content (such as no new campaign missions" but perpetuate the income stream.
Sure, costs of have gone up and we should be paying our hard working developers, but the salaries of CEOs, Board of Directors, pointless senior upper management and their phenomenal bonuses will continue to soar.
Sure, Microsoft will make even more billions with the purchase of Activision. I truly hope that we have better and new concepts in games ; maybe some remakes of classics, but it will come at some cost. More importantly, I am hoping the beyond spreadsheets and Wall Street analysts, the developers of these games are treated and compensated fairly, and we the consumer do not end up bearing more burdens. $69 billion buys you incredible talent and all sorts of monthly income streams. Hopefully these profits are used toward the betterment of the developers, communities, and consumers and not that one extra super yacht parked in a dock that consumers precious resources. Trust me, I have seen these mega boats in Italy…wow…they are impressive, but such a waste in my humble opinion.
Thank you!
Rambios1967
I mean he may have different business priorities/philosophies than an American businessman due to cultural differences. 
idk
It’s my understanding that MS is getting a lot more than 69 billion, in assets alone. There are also a few spectacular IPs that they now own. Here is a list from Forbes by Paul Tassi but I think he missed some. for example the Civilization: Call to Power series.
I am so amused that Xbox now owns Crash Bandicoot…lol
I’m not a fan of Microsoft buying game companies. All they want is the IP rights, so they can put everything on Xbox. They wont make the games as exclusives, like many fear. In truth, they lose to much $$$ if they do that. That company only cares about the bottom line ($$$). The franchises will be milked for every dollar, with poor choices of what games are made using the IP’s and many a game studio will close for not being profitable enough. Speaking from experience…
I’m not going to lie I love this. For the past 5ish years Activision/Blizzard quality control hasn’t been up to snuff. Microsoft is a stickler for a good product that carries its name. This is going to be good for all the Blizzard properties.
Pity they didn’t pay attention to all the failed os’s like win 3, ME ,Vista, win 8 win 11 to name but a few
Im just hoping the take away the WoW sub. Then maybe I can come back to enjoy the game without needing to spend 30 a month for my wife and I to be casuals.
I have Win11 and… it actually is fine. They sort of cleaner up some stuff in 10. Main thing for me is it runs well. I’m not saying it is mind blowing or anything but it boots/shutsdown fast and my apps launch quick and run well. All I care about in the end lol
What are your issues with 11?
I recently updated to Win 11 as well. I must say I do like how it seems to be working. Although there were some aspects of Win 10 menu setup that I much preferred, I can live with the changes in Win 11.
So far I’ve not had to reinstall my video card drivers like I had to every time there was a Win 10 update. So that’s a plus.
When 11 first came out I decided to duel boot it with my Windows 10 pro ,it like most of M$ os’s was not very polished and many features were missing like most of the keyboard shortcuts and was actually a lot slower than the Win 10 setup. That is even running an i9 processor which has more threads than win 10 can cope with and is not running at full spread under 10. Win 11 has improved with various service packs and I may have to look at it again but as with all m$ new releases it should be marked as beta and not a final release as too many features take years to be implemented.
Unconfirmed reports show Windows 11 users at 400 million after two years, a hundred million less than Windows 10 at the same mark. This month marks two years since the release version of Windows 11 has been on the market
The internal Microsoft data was cited by Windows Central (Microsoft hasn’t published total numbers publically like it did before), but is broadly in line with trends from public sources. For example, Statcounter shows Windows 10 still running on more than 70% of Windows-powered devices as of September, with Windows 11 reaching just under 24 percent. Again, comparing the same data to Windows 10’s two-year mark, it was installed on almost 38 percent of PCs.
That said, the outlook isn’t as poor as that 100 million user gap might suggest. Windows 10 was coming off the broadly unpopular Windows 8 and its famously unwelcome user interface shift, with the former seen as a needed course correction. Even the most Windows fan will admit that 11 is less necessary as an upgrade. Windows 11 also has some extra hardware requirements that have locked out a considerable number of older machines, and we’re currently coming out of a historic PC sales slump.
If you want to be more encouraging, Microsoft is being a bit less manipulative than it was during the previous transitionary period. According to the unconfirmed report, Microsoft expects Windows 11 to pass the 500 million mark next year.
Still, with the free upgrade path now closed and an AI-infused Windows 12 rumored for a 2024 debut, Microsoft would surely like to see those numbers go up. Maybe it should work on getting some of those familiar interface tweaks back into Windows 11 in the meantime — after all, it worked before.
Long read from 2021 judge for yourself though how little has really changed
Long-time Windows users will know that a prospective Windows 12, like Windows 11 before it, would be a departure from Microsoft’s stated intention to make Windows 10 “the last version of Windows” and simply add new features to it forever. With Windows 11 possibly set for only three years as the company’s flagship. we seem to be back on the road of periodic full-version bumps again.