Developers and publishers in Brazil were asked about Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard. Here are the answers!

In a previous post, we already covered in detail Sony’s opinion on the biggest deal in gaming history so far. In this post, we cover other companies’ opinions on Activision Blizzard and Microsoft.

The responses were gathered by Idas, member of the Resetera forum and listed as follows:

Warner Bros:

“Resources, in the form of money and time, must always be invested to develop PC and console games. However, the existence of several companies that develop and distribute games for PC and console demonstrates that the obstacles are not insurmountable. Especially for companies that offer similar products, such as electronics or software, there is no lack of access to the market, nor competition. Access to the mobile market is even easier.”

No other comments or concerns were raised, however many more WB responses were redacted.

Ubisoft:

For Ubisoft, the PC and console markets are the same. Activision Blizzard King is not believed to own unique games, as there is no such title that does not face competition. All publishers and games compete for playtime and no title stands alone in its genre.

“There is no basis to divide the market based on genre or game type. Many games serve multiple genres and gamers are not typically locked into one game type. Battlefield, PUBG, Apex, and Rainbow Six are competitors to Call of Duty, there are many games that are like Candy Crush, and The Elder Scrolls Online and Blade & Soul are competitors to World of Warcraft.”

There is still talk in Ubisoft’s responses about Ubisoft+, Classics for PS Plus, and that their own games will be available on Game Pass beyond Ubisoft+. Ubisoft believes that subscription services will play an important role in the future and that there is a lot of potential here. However, this should not be considered a separate market, as you still have the option to access your games differently. (buy-to-play, for example).

Bandai Namco:

“The PC and console markets are very similar, with the PC market being almost exclusively digital, so that delineation makes sense. Mobile is very different. Each game is unique. There are currently competitors for Call of Duty such as Battlefield, Valorant or Destiny. The same is true for WoW.”

At Bandai Namco, they don’t think these three markets should be considered the same.

Apple:

Hardly any questions are answered correctly here, those that were answered were blacked out. However, it was noted that they were aware of Microsoft and Activision Blizzard’s statements that some titles remain multiplatform. They also consider Apple Arcade to be its own digital distribution market over the last five years.

Riot Games:

Riot Games believes PC and console should be considered separate markets. Here Naughty Dog is seen as a potential competitor for AAA titles from Microsft-ABK and Sony is also listed as an option.

“Call of Duty, WoW and Candy Crush have real competitors. Battlefield, Apex, Counter Strike, Valorant or Rainbow Six for CoD; Cookie Jam and Bejeweled in conjunction with Candy Crush; and Rift, Runescape, Final Fantasy XIV or TERA in conjunction with World of Warcraft.”

Riot Games also talks about working with Microsoft and how subscription services are a good alternative for many players. It is also believed that Microsoft will stick to statements made about multiplatform.

Riot Games does not expect the acquisition to have a negative impact on the competition in the video game market.

Amazon:

Amazon claims they don’t have enough information to evaluate the impact of the acquisition in game publishing. Among many redacted answers, it is also mentioned that they have only published two games so far and Luna is only available in the United States so far.

Google:

Google mainly highlights their own projects in their answers, such as mini-games, VR, Play Pass or exclusive titles for Stadia until 2021.

Alternatives to the various games are still mentioned. For CoD, Battlefield, Counter Strike or Rainbow Six are attached by Google. Alternatives to WoW would be, in their opinion, The Elder Scrolls Online, Lost Ark or Guild Wars 2 and competitors to Candy Crush are Puzzle Quest and Bejeweled.

Furthermore, other Activision Blizzard franchises are mentioned as important, including Overwatch, Diablo, and Hearthstone, with Fallout said to be an alternative to Diablo.

Google, however, believes that there will still be enough other publishers present on the market after the acquisition.

Meta:

The only response from Meta that wasn’t redacted was the one where they tell you that they only offer games through Quest (VR) and Facebook Gaming.

So in conclusion, as you might expect, only Sony has significant objections when it comes to the deal between Microsoft and Activision Blizzard. Nevertheless, it is interesting to read how different the view and understanding of the gaming market of various developers and publishers is.

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