Microsoft cuts jobs at Activision Blizzard, with their President and co-founder departing. A Blizzard game in development for six years gets cancelled. Jason Schreier predicts trends for the gaming industry in 2024, including cybersecurity, unionization, consolidation, and Saudi Arabia's growing interest in the market.
Read more
AI Summary
AI Chapters
Episode notes
auto_awesome
Podcast summary created with Snipd AI
Quick takeaways
Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard positions them as the third largest gaming company in the world and emphasizes the growth potential in mobile gaming.
The cancellation of Blizzard's 'Odyssey' game raises concerns about the lack of room for creativity in favor of established franchises.
Deep dives
Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard
Microsoft completed the acquisition of video game developer Activision Blizzard for $69 billion, making it the largest single acquisition in Microsoft's history. The deal positioned Microsoft as the third largest gaming company by revenue in the world and emphasized the growth potential in mobile gaming. However, last week, Microsoft announced layoffs of 1900 employees, predominantly from Activision Blizzard, leading to confusion and uncertainty among the staff.
Blizzard Entertainment's cancellation of 'Odyssey'
Blizzard Entertainment, a subsidiary of Activision Blizzard, announced the cancellation of 'Odyssey,' a highly anticipated game that had been in development for six years. The cancellation raised concerns among employees about the company's focus on creativity and autonomy, as Blizzard historically prioritized their big franchises like Diablo, Warcraft, and Overwatch. The cancellation of 'Odyssey' highlighted the potential lack of room for creativity in favor of established billion-dollar franchises.
Unionization efforts and industry consolidation
The video game industry is witnessing a growing labor movement, and there are predictions that unionization efforts may gain momentum in the coming years. Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard promised a neutrality agreement with labor unions, in contrast to Activision Blizzard's history of opposing unionization. Additionally, industry experts anticipate further consolidation as mid-sized companies like Ubisoft or EA may potentially be acquired by larger tech giants such as Amazon or Google. Saudi Arabia is also showing interest in entering the video game market as part of their efforts to diversify their economy and improve their global reputation.
Microsoft recently cut 1,900 jobs from its gaming division and among the layoffs were many at the recently acquired video game developer Activision Blizzard. Blizzard Entertainment’s President Mike Ybarra and co-founder Allen Adham are both departing. The tech giant also announced the cancellation of a Blizzard game, called “Odyssey,” that was already six years in development. Today, Microsoft reported its quarterly earnings. Revenue is up.
Jason Schreier, the creator of Bloomberg’s Game On newsletter, joins the Big Take to give us the latest on Microsoft’s moves and makes some predictions about larger trends for the gaming industry to watch for in 2024.