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Ever since they were rightfully roasted over DRM and Kinect in the Xbox One, it seems like Microsoft has been on a tear through the industry, buying up just about everything they can. Right now, it feels like every noteworthy developer has been or is in the process of being purchased by Microsoft. First it was studios like Obsidian Entertainment, then it waspublishers like Bethesda, and now the tech giant is swallowing up one of the other giants of gaming:Activision-Blizzard.This level of consolidation can only be bad for gamers in the long run, but there are a few possible positives to be had here; not many, but some nonetheless.
Bad: Far Too Much Control
Let’s start with the bad. Once this acquisition closes, Microsoft will effectively be in control of most of the AAA gaming space. They’ll have most of the major, traditionally multiplatform series: they’ll have control over most of the popular FPS games, and they’ll have most of the premier single-player game makers under their umbrella. Basically, what this purchase (combined with all the prior ones) will do is give Microsoft an immense degree of control.
Should the company choose to do so, they could decide to make series likeOverwatchand Call of Duty exclusive to Xbox and PC Game Pass. As one might imagine, such a move could easily pull both players and remaining third-party developers away from Sony and the PlayStation. They could also put an immediate halt to the development of cross-platform multiplayer too. Why bother with it when all the games are yours, right? They could fix MTX prices across all their digital stores too, leaving players with no alternatives.
Good: More Games For Less Money
All that said though, there’s at least some good to be had here. It’s not enough to outweigh any of the potential abuses listed above, but it’s at least something. Assuming the price ofGame Passdoesn’t get ratcheted up, users should be able to enjoy more major games for more cheaply. With the “base” price increasing to about seventy dollars for a major AAA release, the fifteen dollars Microsoft charges for Game Pass will seem like an even better deal once the likes of Call of Duty are integrated into it. A year of Game Pass equates to about around 180 dollars, or about three new games. If Microsoft can take one of those three purchases and fold it into Game Pass, well players would feel stupid if they weren’t signed-up, right? This all comes at the cost of actually owning one’s games, but it’s hard to argue with that kind of math.
Good: New Life for Dormant IPs
Over the past several years, Activision’s focus has seemingly narrowed to just Call of Duty. The publisher has put out other games of course, but the lion’s share of investment and marketing has increasingly gone to their premier shooter series. As such, many of their smaller series likeGeometry Wars, Prototype and True Crime have gone dormant. Should Microsoft succeed in their purchase, they’ll have access to these in addition to the major ones like Starcraft, Call of Duty and Overwatch. Microsoft wants the largest possible variety of games on Game Pass, so perhaps fans will see some of these forgotten series come back to life.
Good: Fewer Passwords to Forget
With so many developers and publishers under the Microsoft banner, gamers will (hopefully) have fewer accounts to keep track of. One of the many obnoxious things about playing games in the online age is that one needs to have an account for everything. Minecraft, Fallout, The Elder Scrolls,Call of Duty…all of these games either require heavily incentivize having an account registered with their maker or publisher. That means more passwords to forget and more barriers between players and content. All of these companies being owned Microsoft creates an opportunity to get rid of a lot these extra accounts, leaving players with only their Microsoft account to deal with. Again, it’s not a great trade-off, but at least the experience will be a little more convenient.
Is all of this enough to make Microsoft’s now-titanic status worth it? No, not really. Whatever benefits gamers may get out of this deal will only feel like benefits so long as Microsoft doesn’t abuse their power. Competition is what usually prevents such abuses, so it’s only natural that Microsoft will become bolder as their competition weakens. This purchase isn’t necessarily the end of gaming as we know it, but the likes ofSony,EA and even Nintendo are going to have to step up their efforts if they don’t want Microsoft to eventually become capable of bending the industry to their will. If they can’t do that, then even cheap access to games won’t feel like much of a benefit at all.
