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Microsoft wins FTC fight to buy Activision Blizzard
(darkfriend.social)
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this post was submitted on 11 Jul 2023
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Gaming
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Normally, I would not be happy about this, but this is the exception. Even as a Mac gamer (and please don’t at me - I have had decades of sass coming from the PC community. Let me enjoy my platform. I get what I need) this is a win. Activision was always poison for Blizzard. At the bare minimum, Microsoft will enforce corporate HR standards - may not be awesome standards, but it’s a lot better than Activision turning a blind eye. And it’s in Microsoft’s best interest to support native Mac development where it exists (and while I don’t see Blizzard ramping up their Mac dev team to previous (if meager) levels, I expect that the games I enjoy will continue to work fine on my machine, which is a modest ask.
I mean, if Microsoft bent over backwards to prop up Apple in those dark days (and you could have concussed me with a feather when Gates announced MS was investing in Apple IIRC on stage during an Apple keynote) they’ll support other platforms.
Should all gaming fall under several big umbrellas? No. But getting the Activision Board and C-suite out of the “day to day” of studio development can’t hurt.
Being a Mac gamer is like being a Linux gamer where even though the game isn't officially supported it has way more of a chance to run than if it existed only on consoles. So if PC ports continue and Mac's Game Porting tool improves like Proton has for Linux then hopefully Mac's become more viable options for gaming as long as the game is on PC despite no attempts to make a native version.
Yeah. I was fine with Blizzard, since they had always developed natively for the Mac. I have to say that I was surprised to find that SE at least tried with their Wine port of FFXIV, and pleasantly surprised when they actually updated to the M chip.
That said, it is huge that Apple licensed the source code of Crossover from Codeweavers. I believe that the end result is basically going to be a game-specific “Rosetta for Windows” in which PC games will run seamlessly on a Mac (like FFXIV does), probably needing only an installer. And last I heard, MS was in talks with Apple regarding whatever gaming platform MS has - and it would absolutely be in MS best interested to tout “our platform [whatever this platform is, I am not deeply versed in the gaming scene] runs on Macs, so we’re not a monopoly."
I hope Mac's entry into VR improves Mac gaming compatibility and support moving forward, but also hope it doesn't lead to MacOS exclusives games since it seems like trying to get MacOS exclusive games would be more of a challenge to get working on Windows or Linux than it is the other way around.
It’s going to be years before the apple headset is meaningful enough to have exclusive anything. It has to coke down in price 4-5x and have several other must have apps. Gaming is still hardly worth the effort for studios to support on Mac or Linux.