CMA Approval A 'Significant Milestone' Towards Xbox Merging With Activision Blizzard

So it could be a very Merry Activision Christmas with some games joining game pass, maybe.

Like all Xbox owners I’m looking forward to the drop of plenty more games onto Gamepass (CoD, Diablo, Crash, etc).

Longer term, it’ll be interesting to see if Microsoft can maximise the deal by resurrecting old IPs (Hexen, Tony Hawk, etc) and nurturing some new ones. I just hope they don’t squander the opportunity and we start to see the benefit in the second half of this generation and into the next. Microsoft need to manage this well - no more Redfall type nonsense as we had with Arcane.

@Kaloudz
True, hopefully this year we might a few older games and next 2024 a big dump of games.

ABK games on Game Pass would be an incredible Christmas gift

I just hope the GP price will stay at this rate, for african gamers this is the price that can got poeple to play legaly and adobt the culture of supporting their favorite games insteqd of buying fifa and COD and pirate every other game

@Feffster
Redfall is just one game. I am not sure why gamers are focusing on Redfall. HiFi Rush was shadow dropped and is a really good game. People should be talking about it more. And Starfield is meeting expectations which were sky high. I also expect Forza Motorsports will meet expectations too. So, XB exceeded with HiFi Rush, failed with Redfall, succeeded in meeting insane expectations for Starfield, and will probably meet expectations for Forza Motorsport this year. Also, released Minecraft Legends that is meeting expectations and Age of Empires IV found its way to XB. And we are seeing continued Halo Infinite MP seasonal content, Sea of Thieves is like the energizer bunny of new content, and Forza Horizon 5 got new content. As an XB gamer we have seen a lot of really good content this year. And finally, XB got Ghostwire.

Don't get me wrong, I was disappointed with Redfall. But, it is hard to knock XB when they have had a lot of really good successes this year. Not to mention a much improved XB dashboard on console.

And today, it looks 99.9% certain XB will now also have Activision-Blizzard-King in the next month. Later, in retrospect this may be seen as a very pivotal and positive year in the history of XB.

@Feffster Redfall was somewhat a Legacy product from the OLD management before MS came in. As we see from the leak about the Bethesda Road map before MS took over in 2020, Redfall was expected to release 'soon' after completion.

Rather than scrap all that work and 'believing' the Game was nearly finished, MS kept a very hands off approach having just taken over and having a LOT more staff and transition to handle - believing that Arkane were near to finish and as they didn't ask for support, maybe assumed incorrectly they were capable of delivering a 'solid' game based on their history. Not really understanding that Zenimax had 'pushed' Arkane to make a co-op game as a service and Arkane weren't 'happy' to make that type of game.

Hopefully MS will have learnt from that, but arguably, ABK are in a very different situation where they have virtually every studio working on CoD for its annual release. They likely don't have studios being forced to make a new IP game out of their comfort zone to tap into the latest trend - a strictly Single Player game developer expected to suddenly make an online Game as a Service that's 'expected' to release months after completing the deal to take-over the Studios.

Yes Redfall disappointed and only after its release did we find out that Arkane were 'pushed' into that style of game and not happy, that MS thought the game was 'nearly' ready so took the decision to remain hands off that 'late' in development - both of which combined to create that situation...

The First-Party Gamepass additions in 2023 have been pretty crazy already; without ABK:

Xbox Game Studios:

• Goldeneye
• Age of Empires II Console
• Minecraft Legends
• Age of Empire IV Console
• Forza Motorsport

Zenimax Media:

• Hi-Fi Rush
• Ghostwire Tokyo
• Redfall
• Quake II Remastered
• Starfield

Like that is an awesome and varied line-up to support a subscription service. Will be wild with ABK involved too.

Never. A. Doubt.

As bad as the CMA is, they are looking far more professional than the FTC right now. Say what you want about them, at least they don't leak confidential information from companies they create conflict with and try to blame it on them.

@Moonglow Yea I thought of Mighty Doom and FH5 Rally expansion but I was listing just the Gamepass additions. I think theres been discussion recently about how essential are various subscriptions and the need to cut some out and the idea that Rockstar is trying their hand at one. And Gamepass just stands tall above the rest as the one to have. Currently and in my opinion of course; with the output listed above!

@JayJ I kind of agree with CMA when they said Xbox only needed to offer this solution much earlier to avoid all these delays. I want the deal to go through but I do believe xbox were trying to walk over the CMA. FTC are wrong however, they just want to block so they can look powerful. That in itself is corrupt

Of course its a massive step to completing this deal as the CMA were adamant that MS could potentially prevent other Companies from competing in the Cloud Streaming sector.

The CMA had established that MS wouldn't affect the Competition in the hardware based gaming sector as they had no intention to stop CoD coming to Playstation, and actually were looking to bring it to more 'Hardware'.

The issue seemed to be that the CMA think that the ONLY streaming service CoD 'could' be on would be Xbox - therefore would prevent Sony from offering CoD on their streaming service IF they decided to enter that market - games they could offer on their hardware but NOT on their streaming service.

They were 'concerned' that if Apple or Google also wanted to start a streaming service, MS would 'block' them from CoD, therefore potentially make it much more difficult to establish their OWN service and attract customers.

Therefore Ubisoft is now in control so that MS can't just allow the companies that 'benefit' themselves (say only companies who use Azure for example) and instead of Sony, Google or Apple having to go to MS to negotiate, they can go to an independent Company knowing that they will get the 'same' treatment as everyone else should, not be told 'No' because its directly competing with Xbox Cloud or be expected to pay 'more' than a Microsoft partnered company may get.

Its independently monitored so that the CMA themselves don't have to try and 'police' MS to ensure they remained 'impartial' and not favouring themselves or their 'partners'. Making sure that if anyone wants to start up a streaming service, that they too can offer CoD regardless. Its not like MS can tell Ubisoft to double the Price if Sony, Google etc ask or refuse to allow them streaming access.

Is it too much to hope for that the Guitar Hero IP is resurrected?

@NeoRatt - I’m not suggesting it hasn’t been a good year for Xbox, but MS themselves as good as admitted Redfall was a cluster-***k. It may have already been in development but it was delayed and then released on Microsoft’s watch - they are ultimately responsible for the content their studios release, so that is down to their management that when it arrived it was unfinished (and remains to this day unfinished with no clear messaging about when it will be). All I’m saying in relation to the ABK merger is that they have an opportunity and shouldn’t squander it (I’m a Series X owner so hope it goes from strength to strength).

@LoquaciousB It’s definitely something that suddenly becomes a lot more feasible with Microsoft’s backing. Same goes for something like Skylanders too, I’d imagine. I’m hoping they start with some more straight-forward revivals though, like Tony Hawks and Spyro.

I really want to see Microsoft resurrect some of the Sierra IP.

I'd love to see a return of "Quest" games.

Leisure Suit Larry can probably stay dead (product of a very different time), and I'm not exactly sure how if Police Quest would be well-received this day and age, but Space Quest, King's Quest, Quest for Glory, etc. would be fantastic!

There is also Adventures of Willy Beamish, Betrayal and Krondor, and Rise of the Dragon.

Great. So when can we expect Activision Blizzard games to be added to Game Pass?

I realize certain titles are contractually obligated to remain off Game Pass for a period of time, but there is a backlog of original Xbox, Xbox 360, Xbox One, and even some pre-Xbox games from Activision Blizzard that should be available to put on the service as soon as possible.

(Side-remark: Every single original Xbox and Xbox 360 game that falls under Microsoft's IP or one of their subsidiaries' IP should be backwards-compatible.)

@NeoRatt I honestly don't get all the hate for Redfall. Yes, it has some bugs but no more than many other big games in the past. It was a legacy game from the XOne brought forward for the X/S. If you remember that then the game only mildly disappoints in key areas.

After the initial patches, I found it quite fun and even played thru a second time on hard mode. The constant attempt to make it a co-op game was the most annoying part for me. There were other little nitpicks I didn't cae for but overall I found the game enjoyable to play. I think how it was sold and the hype was what sank it TBH. The promises were vague and lacking.

@Pikachuuuu Yup, you can actually make a case for the CMA, while the FTC has been blatantly acting corruptly.

@Moby
Agreed. Redfall is 56 on Metacritic. There are a lot of games way worse then Redfall that are well abouve 56 on Metacritic. I think the game isn't great, but it isn't as low as 56 either. More like 70-75 in my books.

@Moonglow I respect your opinion and agree with most of it, I guess what I was trying to say was that MS should have not misread the CMA, and assumed them small fry. I'm assuming there I know, but I feel they seriously did underestimate them, hence why they held off from offering this solution. To some extent CMA thought they were doing their job, after all the theory of harm for console gaming was dropped entirely.

It doesn't matter now I suppose, the main thing is it looks like it'll go through =D

Toys For Bob needs to make remastered Banjo games. After that make a brand new entry

Is it too much to hope for that Royal Games IP the main portal to King, will be revived with all old and new games?