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On January 19 2022 03:12 [Phantom] wrote:
This has interesting implications.
First of all battle.net is dead. We will see the games in the Microsoft store.
We may see WoW in game pass.
We will see more Blizzard franchises in console.
That being said, I think this is actually bad news for StarCraft.
Microsoft already has Age of Empires as their flagship RTS. And it has a very powerful name, more than StarCraft I'd say. Even though StarCraft 2 did better than the recent AoE GAMES.
I don't think Microsoft will focus much on RTS. They will focus more on COD, World of Warcraft, Overwatch and Diablo.
StarCraft is too similar to Halo for them to work on both as a FPS like StarCraft Ghost. And like I said I doubt they will make another RTS when they have AoE, or even the possibility of Warcrafts 4.
So long StarCraft and thanks for all the memories.
All in all though, this is great for Blizzard. Wish I had bought stock.
I don't think this is quite the right way to look at it. Gears of War is (very) similar to Halo, but that didn't stop them for continuing those!
Blizz is still a huge and mostly independent studio. Sure, there will obviously be some goal changes, but a lot of the things you mentioned were already set in stone. Do you know how many people work on StarCraft at Blizzard right now? I can count them on one hand!
I am curious to see where Overwatch 2 fits in though. I'm also curious to see how they'll tie stuff into Game Pass! Good thing I've got 2.5 years of that already purchased :>
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Pandemona
Charlie Sheens House51490 Posts
I am happy if they fix blizzard and keep the ESport scene going, but im not sure what that is like from Microsoft's end. It can't get any worse for us Blizzard fans right now anyway right....WoW is not so fun and StarCraft they abandoned so maybe we might see something different in the future.
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It can't be worse for starcraft can it? So Maybe Microsoft will decide to do something with it.
As long as they don't do something extremely suspect like shutting down SC2 to promote AOE4.
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We should be cautious, but it's hard not to be cautiously optimistic. The current state just wasn't sustainable.
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On January 19 2022 03:23 donek99 wrote:Show nested quote +On January 19 2022 03:18 Swisslink wrote:
And I highly doubt that they kill Bnet. Maybe not kill but make it part of their own system and let people pay for it. That would be worse than the status quo.
Yeah I doubt it.
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On January 18 2022 23:03 tigera6 wrote:
On second thought, now I dont know how willing MS is to put 1mil prize money per year for SC2 tournament. From AoE2 tournament, I dont think they were spending that much for those, although constant balance patch were applied.
StarCraft Brood War will most likely be ignored/left to its own devices, which is better than fucking it up somehow. As for StarCraft 2, it will be interesting to see how the game fares without being injected with life support from Blizzard every year. Still pisses me off that Afreeca is told to pay exorbitant fees for BW while the SC2 scene gets showered with money just to keep it alive. Maybe with AoE2DE and AoE4 competitive scenes being actively supported by Microsoft, they will decide that investing further in SC2 is not in their best interest. I expect it will suck for SC2 fans but it's also inevitable IMO. SC2 can live on the same way BW does.
On January 19 2022 01:04 Charoisaur wrote:Show nested quote +On January 19 2022 00:47 jpg06051992 wrote:
Obviously this is encouraging news for the future of the game, but I still don't understand why HoTS has a completely flat competitive and ranked scene yet gets regular balance patches AND hero reworks while the SC2 community sits here wondering why we can't even get an annual balance patch to keep the game balanced and fresh?
Hoping someone at Microsoft takes the helm and at least offers SOMETHING to the SC2 community, the game still has an active tournament base so I just don't see the reason why a small team couldn't come in and make some minor adjustments.
Obviously what I would want is for Protoss GW units to be buffed, to bring the races basic units into a bit more parity with the modern metagame, Protoss GW units have suffered tremendously due to rampant power creep, especially against Zerg.
What I think should happen is that we should get some safer, easier to implement changes.
- Removal of Adaptive Talons entirely, no need for such a powerful space control unit to be so nimble.
- Make 2 Corrosive Biles required to destroy force fields. Sentries weren't removed from the game, so why put in abilities that all but do that?
- Either transfuse needs to be looked at, or Queens need HP adjustments or changes to light or armored. There was a time when Queens weren't OP, I think that time has passed, at least a little bit.
- Probably time for either a Stalker scaling buff so that they aren't so useless past the early/mid game, or some type of stat changes to the Adept which while marketed as a core unit has become kind of a glorified Reaper. Maybe a +1 range increase or a raw damage increase, modern pro Zergs have become exceptionally efficient vs. Adepts and the unit looks comically weak when responded to correctly.
I think any of these changes would shift PvZ back to a good place, all of them definitely aren't needed. The Bile nerf alone would allow FF to make a stronger statement in the match up which would be HUGE for balance. This is the sc2 community in a nutshell - posting their bullshit balance suggestions under completely unrelated topics
Accurate.
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On January 19 2022 02:56 ssg wrote:Show nested quote +On January 19 2022 02:14 Ben... wrote:Gross. I'm curious if this will pass FTC scrutiny. Microsoft has a long history of going into business sectors and trying to create monopolies. This is yet another attempt at that. They're essentially doing what Disney did with movie/show streaming by using their sheer size to swallow up competition and become the biggest with nobody else able to stop them. Not to mention this could allow Kotick and all those around him to get off scot-free from all of the horrible things they enabled. If anything, they'll just get golden parachutes and quietly leave a month or two after the takeover is complete. I think with Nintendo, TakeTwo, and Sony and others like Riot and Epic, being so large that this will go through. Of course just a guess.
This deal is worth more than all of Nintendo (who are worth ~$60 billion). It dwarfs the entire value of Riot, Take Two and Epic Games (~$20 billion, ~$18 billion, and ~$30 billion respectively).
Microsoft is in an entire different league than any of the companies listed. They're worth in the trillions and can spend amounts of money nobody else can match. Their market cap is an order of magnitude (more than 10x) larger than Sony, for example. They could quite literally buy most of the games industry in cash, which is what they've slowly been doing over the last few years. None of Microsoft's competitors can come even remotely close to making a purchase like this.
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Canada8989 Posts
On January 19 2022 03:41 Jealous wrote:Show nested quote +On January 18 2022 23:03 tigera6 wrote:
On second thought, now I dont know how willing MS is to put 1mil prize money per year for SC2 tournament. From AoE2 tournament, I dont think they were spending that much for those, although constant balance patch were applied. StarCraft Brood War will most likely be ignored/left to its own devices, which is better than fucking it up somehow. As for StarCraft 2, it will be interesting to see how the game fares without being injected with life support from Blizzard every year. Still pisses me off that Afreeca is told to pay exorbitant fees for BW while the SC2 scene gets showered with money just to keep it alive. Maybe with AoE2DE and AoE4 competitive scenes being actively supported by Microsoft, they will decide that investing further in SC2 is not in their best interest. I expect it will suck for SC2 fans but it's also inevitable IMO. SC2 can live on the same way BW does.
Let's not forget that we are talking about one of the biggest financial transaction in history, that it will not be close until 2023 and that the integration of Activision-Blizzard into Microsoft will probably take years. It's doubtfull an actual coherent reflexion on the impact of supporting the Starcraft esport scene on the Age of Empire esport scene will ever actually take place in reality.
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On January 19 2022 03:54 Ben... wrote:Show nested quote +On January 19 2022 02:56 ssg wrote:On January 19 2022 02:14 Ben... wrote:Gross. I'm curious if this will pass FTC scrutiny. Microsoft has a long history of going into business sectors and trying to create monopolies. This is yet another attempt at that. They're essentially doing what Disney did with movie/show streaming by using their sheer size to swallow up competition and become the biggest with nobody else able to stop them. Not to mention this could allow Kotick and all those around him to get off scot-free from all of the horrible things they enabled. If anything, they'll just get golden parachutes and quietly leave a month or two after the takeover is complete. I think with Nintendo, TakeTwo, and Sony and others like Riot and Epic, being so large that this will go through. Of course just a guess. This deal is worth more than all of Nintendo (who are worth ~$60 billion). It dwarfs the entire value of Riot, Take Two and Epic Games (~$20 billion, ~$18 billion, and ~$30 billion respectively). Microsoft is in an entire different league than any of the companies listed. They're worth in the trillions and can spend amounts of money nobody else can match. Their market cap is an order of magnitude (more than 10x) larger than Sony, for example. They could quite literally buy most of the games industry in cash, which is what they've slowly been doing over the last few years. None of Microsoft's competitors can come even remotely close to making a purchase like this.
This is part of why the Feds will be taking a close look at the details of this transaction, it has some of the superficial markings of a proper anti-trust litigation target.
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Czech Republic12129 Posts
On January 19 2022 02:14 Ben... wrote:Gross. I'm curious if this will pass FTC scrutiny. Microsoft has a long history of going into business sectors and trying to create monopolies. This is yet another attempt at that. They're essentially doing what Disney did with movie/show streaming by using their sheer size to swallow up competition and become the biggest with nobody else able to stop them. Not to mention this could allow Kotick and all those around him to get off scot-free from all of the horrible things they enabled. If anything, they'll just get golden parachutes and quietly leave a month or two after the takeover is complete.
I love your optimism xD
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My first reaction take is that this is all about taking CoD away from Sony (Playstation has been having DLC first deal for a long time now and CoD league is on playstation), bringing more games to Game Pass(seems to be msoft's big initiative lately) and stepping into mobile space with King as Microsoft is practically non-existent there right now.
In very near term it means nothing as this deal won't be closed until 2023, I'm guessing sometime July 2023 or so, so a boost to OW2/D4 or any type of reinvigoration for SC2 is not in the cards.
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On January 19 2022 04:08 deacon.frost wrote:Show nested quote +On January 19 2022 02:14 Ben... wrote:Gross. I'm curious if this will pass FTC scrutiny. Microsoft has a long history of going into business sectors and trying to create monopolies. This is yet another attempt at that. They're essentially doing what Disney did with movie/show streaming by using their sheer size to swallow up competition and become the biggest with nobody else able to stop them. Not to mention this could allow Kotick and all those around him to get off scot-free from all of the horrible things they enabled. If anything, they'll just get golden parachutes and quietly leave a month or two after the takeover is complete. I love your optimism xD
I'm not optimistic at all that this will be stopped. The only reason I think the FTC might look at this is that they've been making noise about policing these types of consolidations in light of everything that's happened with Facebook the last few years.
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I mean, for us blizzard players, it can't be any worse. So anything that happens won't be harmful anyway. I do hope they get more interns for sc2 balance and maybe more for HOTS updates.
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Czech Republic12129 Posts
On January 19 2022 04:17 Ben... wrote:Show nested quote +On January 19 2022 04:08 deacon.frost wrote:On January 19 2022 02:14 Ben... wrote:Gross. I'm curious if this will pass FTC scrutiny. Microsoft has a long history of going into business sectors and trying to create monopolies. This is yet another attempt at that. They're essentially doing what Disney did with movie/show streaming by using their sheer size to swallow up competition and become the biggest with nobody else able to stop them. Not to mention this could allow Kotick and all those around him to get off scot-free from all of the horrible things they enabled. If anything, they'll just get golden parachutes and quietly leave a month or two after the takeover is complete. I love your optimism xD I'm not optimistic at all that this will be stopped. The only reason I think the FTC might look at this is that they've been making noise about policing these types of consolidations in light of everything that's happened with Facebook the last few years.
FTC allowed worse mergers than this, so I am not expecting anything from them.
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All we can hope is that MS can pump a little life blood into Blizzard games. With their support of AoE2 makes me happy for SC:R, maybe there will be 2v2 match making and a clan system. For SC2 all we really need is Esports to be supported and a balance patch to end all balance patches. Hopefully this means well for Diablo Resurrected, WC3R and future titles
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What rubs me the wrong way: Talking about this metaverse BS.
To me it means that Microsoft plans to fully digitize market segments. No more physical copies of games, no more consoles, no more hardware. You get a "Terminal" to consume your subscribtions on and even that might just be a rental.
A person is completely reduced to a consumer, owning nothing, defined by selection of subscription.
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The acquisition itself seems really positive. I hated the idea of supporting the current Activision/Blizzard, so Microsoft buying them is great.
I think Microsoft is way more likely to want to do something in the RTS space with Starcraft IP than Activision was.
To me, the biggest problem is that all the Blizzard RTS devs have left the company, right?
Even if they want to make SC3, who will make it? They don't have RTS devs!
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On January 19 2022 04:46 equin0xx wrote:
The acquisition itself seems really positive. I hated the idea of supporting the current Activision/Blizzard, so Microsoft buying them is great.
I think Microsoft is way more likely to want to do something in the RTS space with Starcraft IP than Activision was.
To me, the biggest problem is that all the Blizzard RTS devs have left the company, right?
Even if they want to make SC3, who will make it? They don't have RTS devs!
Blizzard may not have had any, but Microsoft sure do...
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On January 19 2022 05:03 Jealous wrote:Show nested quote +On January 19 2022 04:46 equin0xx wrote:
The acquisition itself seems really positive. I hated the idea of supporting the current Activision/Blizzard, so Microsoft buying them is great.
I think Microsoft is way more likely to want to do something in the RTS space with Starcraft IP than Activision was.
To me, the biggest problem is that all the Blizzard RTS devs have left the company, right?
Even if they want to make SC3, who will make it? They don't have RTS devs! Blizzard may not have had any, but Microsoft sure do...
I thought they didn't since they contracted Halo Wars 2 out to Creative Assembly and AOE4 to Relic?
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On January 19 2022 03:23 donek99 wrote:Show nested quote +On January 19 2022 03:18 Swisslink wrote:
And I highly doubt that they kill Bnet. Maybe not kill but make it part of their own system and let people pay for it. That would be worse than the status quo.
that's not how Gamepass works
you can buy games in MS Store just as on Steam/Origin/Battle.net etc.
ActiBlizz games will (most likely) be integrated into MS Store - f2p will stay f2p, for things you paid and own will have their license moved to MS Store and you won't have to pay again
new players will however get option to try games via gamepass without straigh up buying it
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EPT
