Microsoft's Activision Blizzard purchase is good (and bad)

Microsoft plans to purchase Activision Blizzard for $68.7 billion dollars but you already knew that part. So today Brian is going over the pros and cons for the biggest moves in video game history. New details, if true, have leaked about the next Mario Kart game which could be getting the Smash Bros. treatment and might be called Mario Kart 9 or Mario Kart 10 or Mario Kart Crossroads. Watch the segment we’ll explain. Last year marks another record year for video game spending with Call of Duty once again taking the crown for most sold game. The PC launch for God of War is being very well received and former XCOM and Civilization devs have started their own studio to make strategy games. Things get weird in this week’s 5-Second Review and we can finally kick of the year right with our first fully packed Coming Soon section which includes the highly anticipated Pokemon Legends: Arceus. Thanks for watching everyone and have an awesome weekend. 00:00 - Microsoft buys Activision Blizzard pros & cons 07:50 - Details of next Mario Kart leaked 09:32 - Last year set record for game spending 10:25 - God of War has huge PC launch 10:59 - XCOM and Civ vets make new studio 11:27 - 5-Second Review 11:53 - Coming Soon Buy our shirt! https://is.gd/u3xCtA OR follow us on Twitter! https://twitter.com/briangaar https://twitter.com/DarthBurrit0 http://twitter.com/InsideGaming SOURCES [Wall Street Journal] Activision BBlizzard pushes out dozens of employees over misconduct https://www.wsj.com/articles/activision-blizzard-pushes-out-dozens-of-employees-over-workplace-misco… [Wall Street Journal] Bobby Kotick Sexual Misconduct allegations https://www.wsj.com/articles/activision-videogames-bobby-kotick-sexual-misconduct-allegations-116370… [Eurogamer] Bobby Kotick expected to leave after Microsoft closes deal https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2022-01-18-activision-blizzard-boss-bobby-kotick-expected-to-leav… [Twitter] ABK twitter thread https://twitter.com/ABetterABK/status/1483491939714437120 [Xbox] Official Xbox announcement to buy Activision https://news.xbox.com/en-us/2022/01/18/welcoming-activision-blizzard-to-microsoft-gaming/ [NY Times] Microsoft to buy Activision Blizzard https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/18/business/microsoft-activision-blizzard.html [Companies Market Cap] Sony https://companiesmarketcap.com/sony/marketcap/ [Companies Market Cap] Nintendo https://companiesmarketcap.com/nintendo/marketcap/ [Polygon] Phil Spencer says Amazon and Google are their real competition https://www.polygon.com/2020/2/5/21124148/phil-spencer-microsoft-xbox-xcloud-amazon-google-competiti… [Facebook] About Meta name change and the metaverse https://about.fb.com/news/2021/10/facebook-company-is-now-meta/ [Twitter] Geoff Keighley tweet https://twitter.com/geoffkeighley/status/1483614576134406145 [Zippo Speaks] Mario Kart 9 leaks https://zippospeaks.blogspot.com/2022/01/zippo-predicts-2022-in-gaming-finale.html [Twitter] LeakyPandy twitter thread https://twitter.com/LeakyPandy/status/1483202690117410816 [GameIndustry.biz] Gaming Analyst predictions for 2022 https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2022-01-05-what-happens-to-gaming-in-2022-analysts-offer-thei… [GameIndustry.biz] 2021 NPDS for game sales https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2022-01-18-2021-sets-record-for-us-games-spending-at-usd60-4b… [Metacritic] God of War on PC metacritic https://www.metacritic.com/game/pc/god-of-war [God is a Geek] God of War PC review https://www.godisageek.com/reviews/god-of-war-pc-review/ [SteamDB] God of War https://steamdb.info/app/1593500/graphs/ [SteamDB] Horizon Zero Dawn https://steamdb.info/app/1151640/graphs/ [SteamDB] Days Gone https://steamdb.info/app/1259420/graphs/ [IGN] XCOM and Civ devs start new studio https://www.ign.com/articles/xcom-civilization-veterans-new-studio-bit-reactor