Two Interactive Chairman & CEO Strauss Zelnick has been speaking to CNBC about a number of topics including the company’s plans to buy Zynga. The interviewer also remarks on the launch of The Grand Theft Auto Trilogy: Definitive edition which was plagued with multiple bugs and terrible frame rates. “With regards to the GTA trilogy, that was actually not a new title. That was a remaster of pre-existing titles,” said Strauss, as if that’s an excuse. “We did have a glitch in the beginning, that glitch was resolved. And the title of has done just great for the company. So we’re very excited.” A glitch that caused the game to have a Metacritic rating of 49%. A glitch that caused Rockstar to pull it from sale. A glitch that made us score the previously highly rated games just 6/10. And a glitch that spawned a grovelling apology from the studio. Firstly, we want to sincerely apologize to everyone who has encountered issues playing these games. The Grand Theft Auto series — and the games that make up this iconic trilogy — are as special to us as we know they are to fans around the world. The updated versions of these classic games did not launch in a state that meets our own standards of quality, or the standards our fans have come to expect. Just a glitch… Since launch the game has been patched, that most recent coming out in December taking the game to version 1.03. The patch notes were rather large for a glitch, you can read them here. Strauss Zelnick is not the first CEO to make flippant comments, it’s emerged that Activision Blizzard boss Bobby Kotick has blamed developers for the delays to Overwatch 2 despite personally meeting them, shaking their hands and saying “There are no expectations for a date, just make it great.” Source: CNBC
GTA Trilogy has received a few patches since its dismal launch, but it remains below par as Rockstar works to resurrect it. Take-Two and Rockstar overlord Strauss Zelnick is fairly satisfied with the game, though, as he told investors that it’s “done just great” and while it had a “glitch in the beginning” that’s been “resolved”.
Here’s what he said as part of an interview with CNBC, following the stock market’s negative reaction to its $12.7 billion acquisition of Zynga: “With regards to the GTA Trilogy, that was actually not a new title, was a remaster of pre-existing titles. We did have a glitch in the beginning, that glitch was resolved. And the title has done just great for the company.”
Microsoft’s $68.7 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard doesn’t give the maker of Xbox and the home of Halo control of everything significant in...
Microsoft have gone and done it again, announcing the intended acquisition of Activision Blizzard in a move that will have a potentially huge impact on the future of the games industry. What does this really mean though? Will Call of Duty now be an Xbox exclusive? The Deal of the Century? First things first, the deal itself is huge. Microsoft and Activision Blizzard’s respective boards have agreed to a sale worth a whopping $68.7 billion. That’s just stupid money. That’s the kind of money that we used to only really see with the fundamentals of everyday life, when mobile phone companies merge or separate, when energy companies combine, when car manufacturers or pharmaceuticals unite. That thinking is old hat now. The tech and entertainment companies are coming and they want to own… stuff. Just all the stuff, please. Yeah, more stuff. Who doesn’t love having loads and loads of stuff? Disney certainly likes having stuff, having picked up Marvel on the cheap and turned its properties into a never-ending stream of films and TV shows, then snagged Star Wars for a now laughably small $4 billion, and eventually setting its sights on beefing up its new streaming service by acquiring media rival 21st Century Fox for $71.3 billion in 2018. In the realms of video games, we have widespread investment from Chinese conglomerates, we have Embracer Group buying up everything in sight, and Sony and Microsoft both seeking to expand their first party studios. $68.7 billion might feel like a huge sum for Activision Blizzard, but it’s actually a good deal for Microsoft. ABK has exploded in value over the past decade, making it a part of the S&P 500 index which charts the 500 biggest companies in the US. This time last year, Activision Blizzard’s market cap was about to hit an all-time high of $80 billion on 12th February 2021, though typically hovering around $70 billion for the first half of the year. It hasn’t stayed that way, though. Something happened around the middle of 2021 that saw the company’s valuation slide from that $70 billion mark to under $50 billion. Part of that is purely financial – delays to game releases from Blizzard amongst them – but another part is the scandal that has surrounded the company like someone filled Bobby Kotick’s pockets with rotten eggs. How can Microsoft make this money back? Simply put, they don’t need to. Activision’s 2020 revenue was $8 billion, but their operating income was $2.7 billion. At that rate, it would take 25 years to make the money back… but that’s really beside the point for Microsoft. This is about key, strategic content that gives them a further competitive advantage in a growing market. Oh, and Microsoft had $120 billion in the bank in 2020 and an operating income of $70 billion in 2021. They have plenty left over… Will he stay or will he go? Microsoft’s willingness to acquire Activision Blizzard means that they’re prepared to take on the job of cleaning up its reputation. For the time being, the company will continue to be run as normal by CEO Bobby Kotick and his team as they navigate lawsuits, striking workers and unionisation efforts. They have to carry on business as usual until the deal is approved. While the company has taken steps, ousting over 40 individuals in recent months for transgression, declaring a zero tolerance policy, and promising to make contracted workers full time, there’s still more work to be done. Kotick himself is a part of the problem, having previously drawn criticism for cutting the company’s workforce despite record profits in 2018, and also having allegedly been aware of allegations and done nothing to address them. The wording of the deal’s announcement states that Kotick will carry on, though certainly leaves the door open for him to leave as soon as the purchase is approved and completed or after a transition period. His position and reputation don’t feel tenable as a part of Microsoft and reports suggest that he is to leave after any deal is concluded. I’m sure some will be hoping the door hits him on the arse on the way out. Will everything go Xbox exclusive? Maybe? We just don’t know at this point, with Phil Spencer’s only comments so far being that he hopes to bring as much of Activision’s back catalogue into Xbox Game Pass as soon as possible. However, we can look at the company’s track record here. For one thing, Xbox has allowed recent acquisitions to see out their various contracts and obligations, from Psychonauts 2 coming to PS4 and Deathloop being a timed PS5 exclusive. Additionally, existing game releases have also been allowed to continue on, so Minecraft is available on every platform imaginable. However, exclusive content drives attachment, and that’s why Bethesda’s Starfield will be exclusive. Looking at Activision’s portfolio, we can speculate that they’d pick and choose different approaches depending on the game and franchise. Call of Duty: Warzone is a free-to-play offshoot that needs to reach as many people as possible, but that could go hand in hand with future paid games in the franchise becoming Xbox exclusive. Similarly, Overwatch 2’s unusual release plan as a semi-expansion to Overwatch could get the blue light to come to PlayStation, as it’s building on an already released game. Diablo IV, though? Bet on that being an Xbox exclusive if the release comes after the finalised acquisition. The one thing we can definitively say is that everything will be thrown into Xbox Game Pass. Will we get the “old” Blizzard back? And what about Activision? In a word, no, but first I have to explain the question. Many fans have become disillusioned with some of the decisions that Blizzard have made over the past decade. There’s a feeling that the company has become too corporate and lost touch with its fans when announcing things like the mobile-only Diablo Immortal, the disappointing rushed release of Warcraft III: Reforged, and subsequent disbanding of the team that worked on it. There’s no putting a genie like that back in the bottle, and considering some of the rot that was revealed last year, I don’t think we want that genie back. Blizzard will still remain a part of Activision Blizzard, which will be a separate division under Xbox, but there might not be the same push to hit release targets that could help restore some of the “when it’s ready” ethos that led to them striking gold with World of Warcraft and Overwatch. Similarly, the pressure could be lifted on Activision’s Call of Duty content mill. Needing a new COD every single year means that Activision now has pretty much every one of their studios making content for this franchise. That’s a crying shame when Toys for Bob has just shown what they can do with Crash Bandicoot 4, and Vicarious Visions (now a part of Blizzard) revived Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1+2 to great acclaim. Microsoft’s acquisitions so far have been to secure a diverse portfolio, and on the Activision side of the company, that’s not currently what’s happening. Will the acquisition be approved? This is the big question, and while there is increasing scrutiny over tech companies making huge purchases like this, I can’t see it being blocked by the European Commission or the US Securities and Exchange Commission that will be looking into the impact that this will have on the games industry. In particular, they’ll be looking at the rulings they received when acquiring Bethesda. Yes, the deal is almost ten times the size and the revenue that Activision Blizzard generates is much greater, but the argument will be that this does little to nothing to harming the diversity of games on offer across the industry and across competing platforms, and that Microsoft aren’t buying an erstwhile competitor. PlayStation will likely remain the dominant platform for the foreseeable future… though if Call of Duty goes X
box exclusive, who could say what the future holds?
Microsoft Gaming head Phil Spencer is getting a lot of questions this week. The planned buyout of Activision Blizzard announced today has springboarded the idea...
The whole Kingdom Hearts series is coming to Nintendo Switch on 10th February 2022, with the huge caveat that these are a streamed ‘cloud version’ of all the games. The cloud versions of Kingdom Hearts will (obviously) only be playable with an active and stable internet connection, meaning that you will not be able to take the saga with you on the go (unless you have a good mobile internet solution). This makes a degree of sense of Kingdom Hearts 3, which was designed for and first released on the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, but makes less sense for Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 + 2.5 ReMIX or Kingdom Hearts HD 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue. The 1.5 and 2.5 ReMIX remasters first released on PlayStation 3, which the Nintendo Switch should certainly be able to match when playing at 720p. Another bone of contention will be the pricing. Square Enix is charging $40-50 for each release individually, or $90 for the Integrum Masterpiece bundle that includes all three. Despite the games being cloud-based, Square Enix is charging between $39.99 and $49.99 for each of the three releases, with a bundle pack called Integrum Masterpiece costing $89.99. Cloud gaming on Nintendo Switch has become a popular niche for developers and publishers of major AAA games. It’s allowed games like Resident Evil Village and Hitman 3 to come to the system when their demands are in excess of what the Switch is able to do (even when there are a number of ‘miracle’ ports to the plucky handheld). However, there are valid concerns that cloud-based gaming is less permanent than purchasing a game that is playable locally. What happens in a few years time when a company decides that the server upkeep isn’t worthwhile anymore? After almost countless spin-offs and remastered, Square Enix finally wrapped up the series with the release of Kingdom Hearts 3 in 2019 and the DLC that followed. In our Kingdom Hearts 3 review, Jim said “Kingdom Hearts III doesn’t go in the direction some RPG fans will no doubt have been hoping for. It’s unashamedly over the top in just about every way, from its barmy story and stunning presentation to its huge cinematic battles. There’s plenty of depth here too, though you’ll need to find your bearings first.”
Square Enix has been celebrating the 25th anniversary of the Tomb Raider series for a while now, bringing the heroine to the likes of Fortnite and even announcing a cookbook based on the franchise. However, it's collaborations such as this one that really makes the occasion feel a little special. Famous Final Fantasy artist Akihiko Yoshida has shared his take on the Rise of the Tomb Raider boxart as part of the celebrations, and it's quite simply beautiful.
When asked about his interpretation of the boxart, Yoshida spoke of wanting "to use a simple composition to express Lara about to embark on an adventure full of conviction and confidence, strength and mature beauty". As a homage to the original PS1 title, he used the colour of Lara Croft's tank top as the background colour. If you click through this link, the blog post even shares a way of downloading the boxart so you can replace your physical copy's base art with this wonderful variation.
