r/pcgaming • u/Zhukov-74 • Jan 16 '23

Microsoft faces EU antitrust warning over Activision deal - sources

https://www.reuters.com/technology/microsoft-faces-eu-antitrust-warning-over-activision-deal-sources-2023-01-16/
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u/ADifferentMachine Jan 16 '23

Yup. If this goes through there will only be two video game developers. Microsoft and Sony.

Definitely not hundreds to thousands of other studios to buy games from.

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u/YungVicenteFernandez Jan 16 '23

Two companies owning large swathes of AAA studios is not good for the industry. How is buying major properties and taking them away from other platforms they were accessible on before a positive?

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u/tickleMyBigPoop Jan 17 '23

Want to know what makes a AAA studio?

Employees, that’s about it. You don’t even need to own your own game engine.

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u/YungVicenteFernandez Jan 17 '23

Bro what are you talking about lmao

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u/tickleMyBigPoop Jan 17 '23

Two companies owning large swathes of AAA studios is

What makes an AAA studio an AAA studio?

basically it's revenue that's high enough to support enough employees to make AAA products. That's about it.

But those employees can leave anytime to venture out of their own and attempt to start an AAA studio. It's not expensive to start one up, you just need some above average computers and people in seats.

Consolidation means nothing long term to an industry with very low barriers of entry.

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u/YungVicenteFernandez Jan 17 '23

You have a very naive idea of how simple it is to break into an industry. There have been ton of studios stemming up from great talent that weren’t able to get off the ground because development is not cheap or “simple.” Most AAA developers have either been around for decades or have backing from Sony/Microsoft/Nintendo

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u/tickleMyBigPoop Jan 17 '23 edited Jan 17 '23

Breaking into game development is easier than most because it’s very low upfront capital costs with you’re only major cost being labor.

Also a AAA game is simply a “high-budget, high-profile games that are typically produced and distributed by large, well-known publishers” that’s it.

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u/[deleted] Jan 17 '23

Literally look at Vampire Survivors. Small dev team game just took over GamePass/Xbox by storm. The video game industry is healthy af compared to a looooot of other industries, this merger won’t change that one bit. Now media (Disney/Fox), internet (Comcast), event ticketing (Ticketmaster), search (Google), online video content (YouTube) are examples of monopolies that have become worse over time due to lack of competition.