Microsoft now owning ABK could potentially be of great benefit to Atari

[JPF997]

So it's finally over, Microsoft has won and ABK has officially joined the Xbox family, I believe this is something that Atari can take advantage of, previously Activision was very reluctant to license they're games to Atari so they never  appeared in collection's like Atari 50 (and of course no Recharged version's for river raid and pitfall for that matter), this could be the perfect opportunity to strike a new licensing deal with Microsoft  for  those old Activision ip's. Atari already has a good relationship with Microsoft thanks to a multitude of factor's  (mostly indirect ties/factor's) such as being the owner of Night Dive studios  (remember the Doom 64 remake) and having stock in Anstream (the only console ecosystem so far that has allowed Anstream to be used on it besides Atari is Xbox), they should take advantage of these connections to forge even closer ties with Microsoft,  it would be foolish of Atari to not take advantage of the current situation,  getting they're hand's on those old Activision ip's in particular (either by licensing or purchasing them outright) would be a great boost to they're reputation and future prospects.

 

 

 

[Lord Mushroom]

16 minutes ago, JPF997 said:

Anstream ( the only console ecosystem so far that has allowed Anstream

I see you, like me, struggle with putting two "t"s in Antstream.

[zzip]

I'm not sure it will change anything,  might even make the situation worse.    A huge player like Microsoft is too big to worry about tiny deals like licensing the Activision 2600 catalog.   

[JPF997]

14 minutes ago, zzip said:

I'm not sure it will change anything,  might even make the situation worse.    A huge player like Microsoft is too big to worry about tiny deals like licensing the Activision 2600 catalog.   

They had no problem licensing Doom 64 to Night Dive so  that they could remake it, they could very well do something similar with Activisions ip's, sometimes being a huge player means you're more relaxed and flexible to signing small deal's ( these deal's would be of such a  small scale for Microsoft that they probably wouldn't even be a  blip on the radar of they're executive board, the Xbox division could sign new deals with Atari and no one at Microsoft HQ would know or even care about it ).

[Austin]

11 minutes ago, zzip said:

I'm not sure it will change anything,  might even make the situation worse.    A huge player like Microsoft is too big to worry about tiny deals like licensing the Activision 2600 catalog.   

On the contrary, the XBOX division has done more with its older backlog than most companies out there. I'm more likely to lean towards being optimistic in this case.

[zzip]

2 minutes ago, JPF997 said:

blip on the radar of they're executive board, the Xbox division could sign new deals with Atari and no one at Microsoft HQ would know or even care about it ).

It would still need to get reviewed by a legal team and that might cost as much as the deal is worth.   I think that's why these old properties get locked up in these mega companies and never used.    It's not worth it to create new releases, or license them out or sell them off..  So they just sit there.   Unless there's a fan inside the company that has the pull to make things happen,  there's just apathy about it.

 

Doom has far more mass appeal than anything in the Activision catalog

 

9 minutes ago, Austin said:

On the contrary, the XBOX division has done more with its older backlog than most companies out there. I'm more likely to lean towards being optimistic in this case.

More than just putting them out on Xbox live?

[JPF997]

13 minutes ago, zzip said:

 

More than just putting them out on Xbox live?

Antstream is a perfect example of them caring about old games, besides the Atari VCS  Xbox is the only console brand that allows you to use Antstream as a native app on it, Nintendo and Playstation don't allow Antstream on they're systems, then you have the backwards compatibility program that Xbox launched a few years ago which gives you the option to play hundreds of classic games from the 360 and the OG Xbox era's (not just that they even updated those old games for free, with Xbox Enhancements and FPS boost options).

[JPF997]

58 minutes ago, Lord Mushroom said:

I see you, like me, struggle with putting two "t"s in Antstream.

I'm gonna  start using the two T's in Antstream  for my new post's but I'll leave the one in the original post unchanged, thanks for the good laugh my guy 👍

[KainXavier]

I'm more worried about Microsoft trying to buy out Atari, especially if the brand takes off again under Wade's stewardship.

[+Sauron]

45 minutes ago, KainXavier said:

I'm more worried about Microsoft trying to buy out Atari, especially if the brand takes off again under Wade's stewardship.

Yes, that scenario gives me nightmares. You might as well consider Atari to be gone for good if that ever happens. That said, it would be nice if something could be worked out with MS to get licenses for the old Activision catalog. I'm just not going to hold my breath.

 

[+jeremiahjt]

I think it is much more likely that Atari can buy or license some Activision titles now that Microsoft owns Activision. Microsoft had said and done plenty of things that would fall in the realm of game preservation. I also think Microsoft is just more likely to want to do something with those old games.

[+D Train]

15 hours ago, zzip said:

It would still need to get reviewed by a legal team and that might cost as much as the deal is worth.   

all those lawyers are either in house or on retainer, so the money for all intents and purposes, is already spent.  I would see that as making a deal more likely, rather than less.

 

[+DrVenkman]

10 hours ago, D Train said:

all those lawyers are either in house or on retainer, so the money for all intents and purposes, is already spent.  I would see that as making a deal more likely, rather than less.

 

Lawyer here ... that's not how legal billing works.

[+GoldLeader]

Just so Microsoft's stock price goes up some more!  That's what I want!!   WOOHOO! 

[famicommander]

18 hours ago, KainXavier said:

I'm more worried about Microsoft trying to buy out Atari, especially if the brand takes off again under Wade's stewardship.

Atari would be well off their radar. I'd be more worried about the Saudis (who purchased SNK as well as minority stakes in many larger publishers) or Embracer Group going after Atari. Microsoft has their sights on bigger fish like SEGA, Square, Konami, Capcom, or Koei Tecmo.

[PowerDubs]

20 hours ago, KainXavier said:

I'm more worried about Microsoft trying to buy out Atari, especially if the brand takes off again under Wade's stewardship.

That is entirely the reason Wade tried his 'friendly takeover' of Atari a year ago...and when that failed- he launched a convertible bond sale that he bought most of himself.

 

Wade effectively, just not officially- owns over 50% of Atari now.

 

He was well aware that starting the company on a comeback could / would eventually make it a target for acquisition.

 

Not saying it couldn't ever happen...but it would have to be quite a substantial offer given how deep Wade is in now.

[zzip]

On 10/14/2023 at 3:28 AM, D Train said:

all those lawyers are either in house or on retainer, so the money for all intents and purposes, is already spent.  I would see that as making a deal more likely, rather than less.

 

But opportunity costs- they in-house lawyers could be working on multi-million dollar deals instead.    

[JPF997]

9 minutes ago, zzip said:

But opportunity costs- they in-house lawyers could be working on multi-million dollar deals instead.    

There's no need for lawyers in a case like this, if Microsoft and Atari both agree that it would be beneficial for both companies to license Activisions old ip's then that's it, no one else can say anything about it.

[JPF997]

On 10/14/2023 at 1:51 AM, KainXavier said:

I'm more worried about Microsoft trying to buy out Atari, especially if the brand takes off again under Wade's stewardship.

I don't think this is a likely scenario, Wade owns over 50% of Atari at this point and he's not selling the company after all the trouble he's went through to acquire it.

[JPF997]

On 10/14/2023 at 2:38 AM, Sauron said:

Yes, that scenario gives me nightmares. You might as well consider Atari to be gone for good if that ever happens. That said, it would be nice if something could be worked out with MS to get licenses for the old Activision catalog. I'm just not going to hold my breath.

 

 

On 10/14/2023 at 8:41 PM, famicommander said:

Atari would be well off their radar. I'd be more worried about the Saudis (who purchased SNK as well as minority stakes in many larger publishers) or Embracer Group going after Atari. Microsoft has their sights on bigger fish like SEGA, Square, Konami, Capcom, or Koei Tecmo.

God I hope not, Microsoft buying Sega ( like a lot of they're fanboy's unfortunately want ) would be the biggest tragedy in gaming history since the death of the Dreamcast.

[zzip]

2 hours ago, JPF997 said:

There's no need for lawyers in a case like this, if Microsoft and Atari both agree that it would be beneficial for both companies to license Activisions old ip's then that's it, no one else can say anything about it.

Of course there is, they would need to write up a contract that specifies which properties can be used, for how long and in what contexts,  what the licensing fees are and make sure the language in the contract is not ambiguous.   Also since game licensing can be tricky, they might have to research if they are free-and-clear to license out the property to begin with.

[KainXavier]

On 10/14/2023 at 2:41 PM, famicommander said:

Atari would be well off their radar. I'd be more worried about the Saudis (who purchased SNK as well as minority stakes in many larger publishers) or Embracer Group going after Atari. Microsoft has their sights on bigger fish like SEGA, Square, Konami, Capcom, or Koei Tecmo.

 

Yeah, I could definitely see Embracer Group going after Atari first but hopefully they've slowed down their acquisitions for now.

 

On 10/16/2023 at 9:11 AM, JPF997 said:

 

God I hope not, Microsoft buying Sega ( like a lot of they're fanboy's unfortunately want ) would be the biggest tragedy in gaming history since the death of the Dreamcast.

Acquiring SEGA makes a scary amount of sense.  They're probably cheaper to buy than Nintendo, it'd finally give Microsoft a foothold in Japan, and it would be a huge blow to Sony in terms of Xbox-exclusive RPG's.  That said, I hope it never happens.  The Activision-Blizzard merger should have never happened either.

Lastly, even though the Dreamcast died, I feel like the spirit of it lived on, oddly enough, in the original Xbox.  (Games like Jet Set Radio Future, Shenmue II, and Toejam & Earl III come to mind.  There was also some wildly original stuff like Breakdown, Metal Wolf Chaos, Phantom Dust, and Raze's Hell.)

[+jeremiahjt]

16 hours ago, KainXavier said:

The Activision-Blizzard merger should have never happened either.

Why?

[JPF997]

19 minutes ago, jeremiahjt said:

Why?

Some people are scared that  it could lead to more consolidation in the gaming industry, as for me I'm ok with it, ABK was already going downhill anyways so being bought by Microsoft could actually be an improvement for them, if Microsoft later tries to go after healthy companies like Sega or Nintendo that's when I'll draw the line.

[roots.genoa]

On 10/13/2023 at 5:12 PM, Lord Mushroom said:

I see you, like me, struggle with putting two "t"s in Antstream.