Blizzard and Activision Announce $18.8bn Merger

[Nyarlathotep]

Check out this article...

Nine million people pay a monthly subscription to play World of Warcraft.

damn, do the maths on what Blizz is earning a month...

[Andrew]

Yah, that is ridiculous on what they are making a month. Big cash cow.

My guess is that they will release Starcraft 2, then develop a starcraft 2 multiplayer game like world of warcraft.

[Nyarlathotep]

My guess is that they will release Starcraft 2, then develop a starcraft 2 multiplayer game like world of warcraft.

I doubt they'll make a World of Starcraft. Now that they have the merger, I think it'll rather be World of Quake (or Quake world if you will) ;)

[Acriku]

This is an interesting merger to me because it brings somewhat two different accomplished micro-industries together - console and PC games. The results may be very good for consoles/PC games.

[gunner154]

Considering how consoles are now having Internet capabilities, I find the future bleak for PC gamers...

[Apollyon]

Considering how consoles are now having Internet capabilities, I find the future bleak for PC gamers...

Nah. Just about anyone who has a console *also* has a PC, which is very often capable of better things than the console in question. The only real appeal of the console is its ability for in-situ multiplayer games with friends. Either that or blatant gimmicks -- which is basically what the Wii is.

All that will happen if consoles continue employing features from full PCs (i.e. Internet access, mouse and keyboard capabilities) is that they will basically become PCs -- but PCs that are impossible to upgrade or tinker with or use for just about anything other than games.

[gunner154]

From what I observe so far, my impression is that spending hours non-stop on WoW at home and interacting with no one is a far more popular activity than sitting together and playing some co-op game on a console.

Yeah, I'm sounding like I'm pro-console. I don't have a working console anymore, and it's staying that way. I just enjoy being able to do everything on one machine, and I don't intend to take up game-only machines. Just hope games don't become restricted to the console.

[Acriku]

To be fair, WoW is full of interaction with real people. For gaming, I'll always favor the mouse+keyboard combo but it's still fun with Xbox360/PS3 controllers. I would consider consoles reaching the level of gaming-focused PCs. But neither industry will dominate the other, at least in the near future.

[Nyarlathotep]

From what I observe so far, my impression is that spending hours non-stop on WoW at home and interacting with no one is a far more popular activity than sitting together and playing some co-op game on a console.

Yeah, I'm sounding like I'm pro-console. I don't have a working console anymore, and it's staying that way. I just enjoy being able to do everything on one machine, and I don't intend to take up game-only machines. Just hope games don't become restricted to the console.

Like Acriku stated, WoW IS interacting with others. 10+ friends of mien are playing WoW and we regulary organize LAN parties to just play WoW together. That and some good old FPS games :)