Editor TLN
Despite their disagreements, Microsoft, Sony, and the regulators agree on one thing: call of duty It is very important for the industry. Not for nothing is the bone of contention in the purchase of Activision Blizzard. This is understandable, since we are talking about one of the franchises with the greatest media and commercial impact on the market. However, Microsoft and Sony seem totally blinded by this gold mine, by this monster that they have fed for years and that is now the reason for their intense war with the authorities.
It even gives the impression that call of duty it’s all they care about from Activision Blizzard, one of the most legacy developers and distributors in the industry. This when for years we have been bombarded with speeches about the wealth of the industry and about taking risks in search of innovation.
In this sense, really call of duty Is it so relevant that PlayStation belittles its franchises and the talent of its studios? Or for Xbox to gain so much ground against its rival just by having the saga in its hands? The reality is that the franchise should not be so important, at least not so that industry giants fight to the death as if there were no more.
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Activision Blizzard is more than call of duty
Before continuing, it is important to clarify something: the importance and legacy of call of duty they are indisputable. After all, it has earned its popularity and success on its own merits since 2003. It is one of the most economically relevant franchises in the industry and, of course, the highest benchmark in FPS. The thing is, Activision Blizzard has a lot more on its hands.
The developer currently has 30 offices around the world and has worked with more than 40 outstanding franchises. The agreement with Microsoft implies sagas of the stature of crash bandicoot and Spyro the Dragon, which were very important for the beginnings of PlayStation and the development of the brand. They are also Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater and guitar heroand not to mention Devil, warcraft, starcraft, Overwatch and more Blizzard sagas that hold great historical and sentimental value to players. Despite this, little to nothing has been said about them during the negotiations, as if they were not important to companies, developers or fans.
call of duty it’s so huge that it can dwarf the rest of Activision Blizzard for one simple reason: it’s a blockbuster that prints money and is essential to the company’s good financial results. To put this in perspective, just remember that Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II generated $1 billion in just 10 days. With this, it competed tú por tú with the most important releases from other industries such as cinema and music.
Hence, Activision Blizzard has an unstoppable machine to keep the franchise going every year: Treyarch, Infinity Ward, Sledgehammer Games, Raven Software, High Moon Studios, Demonware, Beenox and more studios have dedicated themselves partially or completely to call of duty.
By May 2022, it had 3,000 employees in its ranks working on something related to the saga. That number represents 31% of Activision Blizzard’s entire workforce and nearly half of its approximately 6,800 developers. This comes while several of its iconic sagas are either dying or totally buried in oblivion. At the same time, studios like Toys for Bob have had to put aside their ideas to work on call of duty as a supporting study.
The demands to maintain its yearly stream of releases and continued profits have taken their toll in a number of ways. For starters, they’ve led to troublesome development cycles, where studios can’t really take a breather to rethink things, keep innovating, and take the saga to a new level. call of duty he has stayed in his comfort zone even though he has what it takes to go further. Not for nothing has there been talk of its decline on several occasions in recent years.
Furthermore, this frenetic pace of development has also led to waves of layoffs and labor controversies that have a direct impact on creators. Despite this, call of duty It is unstoppable and, it seems, Activision Blizzard will do everything to keep their machinery well-oiled, even if they have to sacrifice part of their legacy for that.
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Sony and Microsoft are blinded by the franchise
Over the past few months, we’ve heard all sorts of arguments for and against the Activision Blizzard purchase. However, most revolve around call of duty for obvious reasons: it is the goose that lays the golden eggs that everyone wants to have. It seems that it is the only subject that matters and that is disappointing. Especially because of the war of absurd statements between Microsoft and Sony.
For their part, Xbox owners downplayed the franchise and pretended to the FTC that they were unaware of its impact on the industry. They also argued that players from call of duty they are not special or unique in terms of spending against fans of other IPs.
As if that were not enough, they stressed that the saga is not the most important part of the purchase for them, when in reality things are more than clear: having call of duty It gives them quite an advantage over PlayStation. Microsoft knows this perfectly well and will not hesitate to take full advantage of that hit of affection. In the meantime, he never tires of saying that everything is in favor of the players, and he even printed it full page in UK newspapers.
Then there’s Sony, which claimed that running out of the franchise will irreparably hurt its exclusives through lost revenue and will cause many gamers to ditch their consoles for Xbox ones. He also pointed out that call of duty it is something unique that cannot be rivaled. He even said that battle field he is unable to cope. The Japanese company not only belittled the EA saga, it also turned its back on its studies and its franchises. While his players yell for the return of SOCOM, kill zone and ResistanceSony just keeps them buried because they think they can’t do anything about it. call of duty.
Where was that Shawn Layden PlayStation who insisted that the essence of the brand was to take risks, support all kinds of productions and push the limits of their studies through creativity, innovation and technology. Yes, it may have been just talk in the end, but Jim Ryan has gone out of his way to damage the reputation of the brand and even his relationship with Activision Blizzard in order not to lose call of duty and your income. PlayStation has simply placed too much importance on the franchise over the years and now has no choice but to abide by the decision of the regulators.
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The Activision saga has so much weight in the industry that Sony and Microsoft used it as a weapon to defend their interests at all costs. What does it matter if for this they have to belittle their legacy and everything they have built over the years. Or if they have to exclude from the conversation the franchises that have marked the lives of several generations of players.
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Everything is for call of duty
Doesn’t the industry find it alarming that a single IP can have so much weight as to pull the strings of 2 major players in the market? Especially when it’s a blockbuster that doesn’t necessarily push the boundaries of video games further or innovate thanks to its enormous production values. call of duty it’s quite a social phenomenon and yes, it may be irreplaceable in commercial terms, but the reality is that it’s still an increasingly worn-out annual franchise that, at times, seems only to aspire to win awards for best audio.
Longtime fans know that Activision has played it safe with call of duty. He doesn’t always take the risks necessary to deliver those memorable moments that made the franchise what it is today. Sometimes, it even leans more heavily on nostalgia to inject a bit of excitement into an experience that, for some, is already a bit gray and tired. Even at its worst, the saga has continued to be an unstoppable money-printing machine, and sadly, it seems that this is the only thing its value to companies lies in: generating profits to perpetuate and stick with a formula that works, but doesn’t. commitment to go further. So, it is discouraging that Sony and Microsoft form a whole circus in order not to lose or gain control of the saga.
call of duty it is also very important for retail chains and their sales. For more than a decade it has held the crown as the best-selling franchise every year, at least in the United States, one of the most important markets. Its importance is such that some stores even alerted their customers about the acquisition of Activision by Microsoft, which will have control of the series in the near future. For all this, it is still worrying that some of the main players in the industry give the franchise so much priority over everything else.
Why do so many things depend on call of duty? Yes, it is a mainstay of the industry, but it seems that companies do not have a plan B or that they feel lost if they lose their sales and market share. That partly reflects the current state of the industry and the ambition of its managers, who never tire of ensuring that players and developers come first.
In the end, call of duty it will continue to grow with the backing of Activision Blizzard and will become even more gigantic when Microsoft makes good on its promises to bring it to more systems and services. The problem is not the popularity and massiveness of the franchise, but that companies do not hesitate to sacrifice everything for it in a truly rich industry.
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