Mergers that pissed you off

[Zhon]

Hi there Newgrounds. This thread is just for fun, I don't expect any real discussion to come of it, but feel free to elaborate/respond/etc.

Basically, what company mergers or acquisitions got on your nerves, made you worried, etc.?

I remember back in '09, I was in my senior year of highschool when Activision Blizzard became a thing. I liked both companies respectively, but hated the idea of them merging. We were playing a stock market game too. It made me worry that the old Blizzard titles I grew up with would be bastardized in an attempt to please a writhing market. I wasn't wrong.

Another one is Square Enix. Just IMO, the entire FF series went to shit after Squeenix was born.

P.S. - doesn't have to be game companies. These are just the two that were most relevant to my life.

[Zhon]

At 3/28/15 02:56 AM, NotASpammer wrote: Sony Playstaion and Nintendo, pisses me off they DIDN'T merge... So much potential... But who knows, Nintendo could've pulled Sony down, and vice versa.

Competition drives quality. If Sony and Nintendo merged, one of the three giants would be out of the console market. Quality would plummet. Sony Nintendo would be one merger I'd rage about day in and day out.

Plus, their styles are wildly different. N64 vs Playstation was like night and day.

[someaveragechap]

Damn, you already mentioned Square Enix, or as I call them now Squenix.

You'd think that the bomb that was Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within would have made them think twice...

[Zhon]

At 3/28/15 03:23 AM, someaveragechap wrote: Damn, you already mentioned Square Enix, or as I call them now Squenix.

You'd think that the bomb that was Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within would have made them think twice...

Sad thing about Spirits Within is that if they didn't try to link it to the FF franchise it could have been a great film. Awkwardness aside.

[ThePulp]

"Whenever EA gobbles something up" is a standard with these types of discussions.

[someaveragechap]

At 3/28/15 03:32 AM, Zhon wrote:
Sad thing about Spirits Within is that if they didn't try to link it to the FF franchise it could have been a great film. Awkwardness aside.

There were some nods toward the series, but urgh. Kinda seemed sci-fi generic. Though I did think their Thriller bit was funny.

[NeonSpider]

Pretty much when any of those companies that don't really seem to produce anything of value of their own gobble up yet another company they bought out, only to turn once-good products into crap. There are a few companies that seem to operate on this exact business model and they suck but they also tend to remove actually good companies and products from the market.

Rather than compete based on putting out better products, they compete based on "We have more money than you and you're on our turf so we're buying you out". It's a strategy that literally would not work unless a company already had tremendous financial backing to make it work. It's very predatory.

[Tony-DarkGrave]

Square enix merger and Comcast and Time Warner trying to perform the unholy union of joining shitty service and shitty customer support together.

[FaroutFrank]

Companies merge all the time, what's the big deal?

[PleasantPeasant]

When craft breweries get bought out by Anhueser-Busch (league).

[DoctorStrongbad]

When AutoNation merged with Marroni. Marroni had a superior jingle.

[ThePulp]

At 3/28/15 01:56 PM, mysticvortex13 wrote:

At 3/28/15 03:34 AM, NGPulp wrote: "Whenever EA gobbles something up" is a standard with these types of discussions.

i was under the impression that ea died off long ago, when the pyramids were still young..

What the fuck are you on about now, Jesus?

[5ERGEI]

Google + Youtube

[ThePulp]

At 3/28/15 08:49 PM, mysticvortex13 wrote:

At 3/28/15 08:25 PM, NGPulp wrote: What the fuck are you on about now, Jesus?

i thought electronic arts dissolved a long time ago.

It's grown much larger, actually.
It's eating everything now.

also, i was cracking a yugioh joke.

Oh, Jesus-- you never manage to stop impressing me.

[RiverofBloodyTears2]

During the 2nd the evil and good joined each other to for some disturbing reason that I have not ascertained, the 2nd realized the flaw and sacrificed himself to separate and thus the 3rd came

[orangebomb]

At 3/28/15 08:54 PM, IsaacIsBlind wrote: Atlus and sega worries me because sega is making crap sonic games that aren't selling well

And how does that affect Atlus at all? Sega is the kind of company that seems to be hands-off with most of their franchises that isn't named Sonic, and I certainly know that Sega isn't going to be dumb enough to get all grabby with Atlas's works considering that they're shitty at marketing their own games that doesn't have the brand recognition of Sonic the Hedgehog.

Frankly, this is like comparing apples to oranges.

[TheGamechanger]

Microsoft acquiring Rare.

[Prinzy2]

When Enron bought 49.9% of Newgrounds back in 2008, man were people pissed.