Microsoft’s 75 billion USD acquisition of Activision Blizzard has sent shivers down the gaming industry’s spine. Industry experts claim that the deal will have a ripple effect on the industry. Gaming has become a massive industry that attracts massive audiences globally, which dwarfs other mass-medias. These audiences are the spine of the gaming industry.
Microsoft’s CEO claimed that this new deal was the company’s first step towards the metaverse, considered the internet’s next evolutionary step. But, some analysts have claimed that this move would boost the industry’s size.
Initially, gambling companies have at the forefront of the gaming industry. Top operators like bet way offer their users a wide range of games. These platforms have already helped grow the gaming industry. However, recent developments have made gaming the new big-tech frontier. Tech companies are now looking to take their influence in the gaming industry to the next level.
The Metaverse
Satya Nadella, Microsoft’s CEO, claimed that many tech companies believe that the metaverse represents the next big iteration of the internet. These companies view video games as one of the paths toward more immersive online worlds.
Industry experts claim that tech companies have powerful incentives to take a step further in developing full gaming operations. The big tech companies know that gaming is a growth area and ties into their metaverse aspirations.
Tech developments have helped expand the games’ virtual worlds into venues where players can purchase or watch movies. All things done in the real world can be done inside games. Should these perceptions hold up, gaming could become a critical focus for technology businesses that need to stay significant in the digital lifestyles of billions of users worldwide.
Skepticism in the Market
There was a spasm in the stock market after Microsoft announced the deal suggesting that many investors agreed that something significant was happening. The share prices of other top-rated game publishers jumped because of speculation that they would sign massive deals to become bigger. On the other hand, Sony tumbled 13% because of worries that the brand might have been outflanked.
However, the market shock faded within a short time. Sony’s shares recovered some of the lost ground within 24 hours.
Some industry watchers claim that Microsoft’s deal intensifies the competitive battle between PlayStation and Xbox. Consequently, they believe that the major impact of this deal would be to reboot the console war rather than to switch away from console wars to a general war on multiple platforms.
Bobby Kotick, Activision’s CEO, suggested that the emergence of platforms and new distribution forms had made it challenging for companies as big as Activision to keep up with the tech requirements of the current gaming market.
Some top tech companies already have significant stakes in the gaming industry. For instance, Apple and Google mobile app stores are the main shop fronts for the gaming market. On the other hand, Google’s YouTube and Amazon’s Twitch offer massive audiences a platform to view video games. Most people who wager on gaming competitions on Betway follow the proceedings on these platforms. Facebook’s Oculus headsets have helped it maintain a bigger share of the virtual reality market.
Activision initially approached Facebook’s Meta Platforms to see if a deal would interest them. Therefore, some observers have claimed that Microsoft’s move was a pre-emptive strike to wrestle the lead away from Facebook’s Meta in building the metaverse’s initial iterations.
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