Activision Blizzard Merger with Microsoft Points to New Opportunities?

Microsoft just bought out Activision, combining the company’s resources. This will be the world’s largest publisher. What does this mean for the gaming industry in general? It means that we’re going to see an increase in graphics and game content, giving you the players a better experience.

Is this good or bad for the industry?

Since the announcement of the Activision Blizzard merger with Microsoft, gamers and gaming industry pundits have been up in arms debating whether this is a good or bad thing for the industry. The answer, as with most things, is it depends.

On the one hand, the merger could lead to new opportunities for gamers, as the two companies pool their resources to create innovative gaming experiences. On the other hand, it could lead to a monopolization of the industry. But if you think about it, Sony has been doing this for years since the PS2 era. Even in this generation, Sony got Streetfighter 5 and Shenmue to be PS4 exclusives with hardly any outrage from the community. Not to mention the countless other deals possibly made under the table.

I hate monopolies, this is hardly one. Microsoft bought a game studio to strengthen its IPS and exclusives just like Sony and Nintendo. Gamefreak made a deal with Nintendo, where is Pokemon on PlayStation, PC and Xbox? Sony fanboys need to calm down and realize that sooner or later other companies will start doing what Sony has been doing for years.

Will gamers benefit at the end? Could Microsoft breathe new life into Call of duty the way it did to Gears of War? Or will it be more of the same as Minecraft? Only time will tell.

Activision disables PS4 Share Play in Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare

CODAWLooking forward to sharing a friendly game of the new Call of Duty Advanced Warfare using the new PS4’s share play? Sorry you cant, Activision has despite Sony’s promise that all PS4 games are share ready disabled this feature in its latest COD. The reason is that Activision is currently testing the new feature to insure that it will benefit the game and it’s fan base.

I don’t want to sound like a conspiracy theorist but obvious greed is obvious. Call of Duty is one of the top multi platform AAA title which happens to have an online mode that enables friends and stranger to play together. Need I explain more? Just in case, share play allows a person to share his game with his or her friend meaning at least one lost sale, now imagine half the PS4’s version fan base starts doing that? 50% lost sales as in previous version each and everyone who wants to play the game be it online or off line had to purchase his own copy. Gone now, many gamers will probably come up with a shared money to buy a few copies and share play them together which means lost sales.

I understand Activision wants to generate money but frankly speaking they made enough already and instead of blocking the feature, they should have just accepted the new policy and took the hit if any. The blame is also placed on Sony for promising something and delivering something else. All games are share play ready. I hope that Activision is forced into enabling a promised feature of the PS4 without effecting the players. Sony on the other hand should act as fast as possible to avoid losing face with broken promise.