PotentHerbs said:
That's a short sighted way of looking at consolidation. An acquisition like this will impact the industry forever, for better or worse, at the very least gaming will look like the entertainment industry, where everything is fragmented even for PC. It can very well lead to Microsoft doubling the price of XBLG/GamePass or having their gaming division operate similar to Microsoft 365. The latter is especially possible with the direction Microsoft is going in terms of subscription services. |
I doubt it is as simple. It is basically impossible at this point to gain a monopoly or even close in gaming.
In movies for instance you need a team to make a somewhat good movie and more importantly: it will be very difficult to distribute it in a way that you get a lot of viewers and money.
In gaming though you have lots of indies. It has never been easier to create a game - even as a single person. More importantly: it never has been easier to get your game to the consumer and their money in return. On PC you have Steam, GOG, itch.io, EGS. And always the option to simply sell it on your own website. Mobile is more difficult, as Google and Apple hold a firm grip on their respective ecosystem, but that doesn't seem to hinder game releases. And even on console more and more indies are able to publish. If some company in some sort of wonder acquires every game studio in the world today, then tomorrow a thousand new ones will exist.
The most important and expensive part of this acquisition probably was King, but if MS would've only bought King from Activision, nobody on this forum would care. Although that probably makes the most money.
