{"id":173870,"date":"2023-10-14T01:36:31","date_gmt":"2023-10-13T20:06:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dripp.zone\/news\/?p=173870"},"modified":"2023-10-14T01:36:31","modified_gmt":"2023-10-13T20:06:31","slug":"microsofts-activision-buy-may-see-more-metaverse-in-the-office-and-crypto-in-gaming-crypto-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dripp.zone\/news\/microsofts-activision-buy-may-see-more-metaverse-in-the-office-and-crypto-in-gaming-crypto-news\/","title":{"rendered":"Microsoft’s Activision buy may see more metaverse in the office and crypto in gaming – Crypto News"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

A lot was said about the metaverse when the Microsoft deal to acquire Activision Blizzard was announced in January 2022. The attention mainly was on business communications, rather than gaming. If public statements and leaked documents are any guide, the Activision deal could promise more for the future of crypto than the metaverse.<\/p>\n

The metaverse had high visibility in Microsoft\u2019s announcement of its deal for Activision in January 2002. \u201cThis acquisition will accelerate the growth in Microsoft\u2019s gaming business [\u2026] and will provide building blocks for the metaverse,\u201d Microsoft said<\/a> in the first paragraph. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said, \u201cGaming [\u2026] will play a key role in the development of metaverse platforms\u201d a few paragraphs later.<\/p>\n

Nadella elaborated on his vision for metaverse development in an interview the following month. Nadella told<\/a>\u00a0the Financial Times:<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are building, quite frankly, metaverse applications, if I could call them that. Or experiences in business applications, in productivity tools, and meetings and games \u2014 all three on a common platform.\u201d <\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Nadella\u2019s emphasis on work is telling. He listed four things and referred to them as \u201call three\u201d \u2013 apparently \u201cmeetings and games\u201d count as one. Microsoft\u2019s metaverse platform, Mesh, which began previews this month, is positioned as a complement to its Teams business communications platform. <\/p>\n

Mesh contains a gaming component too. While promising \u201cyou will transform your two-dimensional (2D) meeting into a 3D immersive experience,\u201d it added:<\/p>\n

\u201cPlay built-in interactive games for team bonding within immersive spaces. To get started, you can see a few designated areas to roast marshmallows, throw beanbags, answer fun icebreaker questions, and more.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The metaverse went unmentioned in the Microsoft Gaming statements at the beginning<\/a> and completion<\/a> of the deal on Oct. 13, and Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer made it clear later in 2022 that his enthusiasm for it was weaker. <\/p>\n

Related: FTC opposes Microsoft\u2019s metaverse-focused Activision Blizzard purchase<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Spencer questioned what the metaverse even is<\/a> in an interview with Bloomberg in August. \u201cMy view on Metaverse is that gamers have been in the Metaverse for 30 years,\u201d he said. He said little about the Web3 metaverse except that he was \u201ccautious\u201d about play-to-earn. He was later quoted<\/a> as calling the metaverse “a poorly built videogame\u201d and saying “Building a metaverse that looks like a meeting room, I just find that’s not where I want to spend most of my time.”<\/p>\n

\n

Today is a good day to play. We officially welcome Activision Blizzard King to Team Xbox. Together, we\u2019ll create stories and experiences that bring players together, in a culture empowering everyone to do their best work and celebrate diverse perspectives. https:\/\/t.co\/KBCESknYYh<\/a> https:\/\/t.co\/jTHOeH48Wx<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Phil Spencer (@XboxP3) October 13, 2023<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Activision CEO Bobby Kotick is enthusiastic about the metaverse. He said<\/a> in 2021, \u201cWe’re going to get to a place where that original vision that Neil Stephenson had in Snow Crash or what you see in [Ernest Cline\u2019s] Ready Player One is going to start to materialize as something that is very real.”<\/p>\n

In an interview on CNBC on the day the Activision deal was announced, Kotick and Spencer appeared<\/a>\u00a0together on CNBC. Kotick said, \u201cWe\u2019re beginning to see what the metaverse will be like, and in that race for the metaverse, it started to become apparent that there were a variety of resources and talent that we needed,\u201d Kotick said. Spencer did not mention the metaverse. <\/p>\n

Kotick will remain with Activision through the end of the year. <\/p>\n

Spencer may be more bullish on cryptocurrency, however. Leaked internal documents reportedly revealed<\/a> that Microsoft planned to integrate crypto wallets into Xbox. Spencer downplayed<\/a> the leak, saying \u201cso much has changed,\u201d but did not deny any of the information. If the plans to incorporate crypto have not changed, they could potentially be expanded throughout the new Microsoft games holdings. <\/p>\n

Magazine: Minecraft bans Bitcoin P2E, iPhone 15 & crypto gaming, Formula E: Web3 Gamer<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A lot was said about the metaverse when the Microsoft deal to acquire Activision Blizzard was announced in January 2022. The attention mainly was on business communications, rather than gaming. If public statements and leaked documents are any guide, the Activision deal could promise more for the future of crypto than the metaverse. The metaverse […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":173871,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[235,203,210,234,231,232,237,238,236,233],"class_list":["post-173870","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blockchain","tag-bitcoin","tag-crypto-currency","tag-elon-musk","tag-ethereum","tag-hyperledger","tag-ibm","tag-mining","tag-nodes","tag-spacex","tag-tesla"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dripp.zone\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/173870","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dripp.zone\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dripp.zone\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dripp.zone\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dripp.zone\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=173870"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/dripp.zone\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/173870\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":173873,"href":"https:\/\/dripp.zone\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/173870\/revisions\/173873"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dripp.zone\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/173871"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dripp.zone\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=173870"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dripp.zone\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=173870"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dripp.zone\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=173870"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}