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Video gaming -- High score
電子游戲——高分
Microsoft places a $69bn bet on the future of entertainments
微軟押注690億美元于娛樂業的未來
Even for Microsoft, which boasts a market value of $2.3trn, $69bn is a lot of money.
即便是對市值高達2.3萬億美元的微軟來說，690億美元也是一筆不小的數目。
On January 18th the firm said it would pay that sum—in cash—for Activision Blizzard, a video-game developer.
1月18日，該公司表示將以現金形式向視頻游戲開發公司動視暴雪支付這筆款項。
It is by far the biggest acquisition in the video-game industry’s history, and the largest ever by Microsoft, more than twice the size of its purchase in 2016 of LinkedIn, a social network.
這是迄今為止視頻游戲行業歷史上最大的一筆收購，也是微軟有史以來最大的一筆收購，規模是其2016年收購社交網絡領英的兩倍多。
The move, which caught industry-watchers by surprise and propelled Activision Blizzard’s share price up by 25%, represents a huge bet on the future of fun.
此舉出乎行業觀察人士的意料，并推動動視暴雪股價上漲了25%，它代表著對娛樂未來的巨大押注。
But not, perhaps, a crazy one.
但這并不瘋狂，或許吧。
Gaming was a big, fast-growing business even before the pandemic.
即使在疫情之前，游戲也是一項快速增長的大型業務。
Lockdowns bolstered its appeal—to hardened gamers with more time on their hands and bored neophytes alike.
封鎖增強了它的吸引力——對有更多時間玩游戲的老手和無聊的新手來說都是如此。
Newzoo, an analysis firm, reckons revenues grew by 23% in 2020, to nearly $180bn.
分析公司Newzoo估計，該行業2020年的收入增長了23%，達到近1800億美元。
That growth has attracted the attention of other tech titans, including Apple, Netflix and Amazon, all of whom have dipped their toes into the market in recent years.
這種增長吸引了其他科技巨頭的注意，包括蘋果、網飛和亞馬遜，這些公司近年來都曾涉足該市場。
Microsoft has been in the business for two decades.
微軟涉足這項業務已經有20年了。
It earns $15bn a year from games, mostly thanks to its Xbox console.
該公司每年能從游戲中賺取150億美元，這主要歸功于其Xbox游戲機。
It has made a string of gaming acquisitions since 2014, when Satya Nadella, its chief executive, took the reins.
自2014年其首席執行官薩蒂亞·納德拉掌權以來，微軟已經進行了一系列游戲收購。
Assuming it is not blocked by regulators, who are watching big tech with a beady eye, this deal would cement its position.
如果它沒有被監管機構阻止的話——監管機構正密切關注著大型科技公司——這筆交易將鞏固其地位。
Once completed in 2023, it will make Microsoft the third-largest video-gaming firm by revenue, behind only Tencent, a Chinese giant, and Sony, Microsoft’s perennial rival in consoles.
一旦2023年交易完成，微軟將成為按收入計算的第三大視頻游戲公司，僅次于中國巨頭騰訊和微軟在游戲機領域的長期競爭對手索尼。
Big acquisitions are always risky.
大型收購總是有風險的。
Like most companies, Microsoft has a spotty record.
和大多數公司一樣，微軟的履歷也不盡人意。
Activision Blizzard’s share price slid by around 40% between a peak last February and the deal’s announcement, as it was embroiled in a sexual-harassment scandal.
由于卷入性騷擾丑聞，動視暴雪的股價在去年2月的峰值和交易宣布之間下跌了40%左右。
Player numbers have slipped from 530m a month in 2015 to 390m, and some recent games have had mixed reviews.
玩家數量已從2015年的每月5.3億下滑至每月3.9億，近期推出的一些游戲的評價褒貶不一。
Pessimists could argue that the company is overvalued.
悲觀主義者可能會認為，該公司被高估了。
Optimists, who see annual revenues of $8bn and net profit margins of around 30%, might counter that it is cheap.
樂觀者在看到高達80億美元年營收和約30%的凈利潤率后，可能會反駁道，這也太便宜了。
Most important, Activision Blizzard has lots of content—and in video games, as in all of media, content is king, says Piers Harding-Rolls of Ampere Analysis, another research firm.
最重要的是，動視暴雪擁有大量的內容——在視頻游戲中，和在所有的媒體中一樣，內容為王，另一家研究公司安培分析的皮爾斯·哈丁-羅爾斯說道。
Like the movie business, where “Star Wars” films, even bad ones, are reliable money-spinners, video games rely increasingly on “franchises”—popular settings or brands that can be squeezed for regular instalments.
就像電影行業，《星球大戰》這種電影——即使有的是爛片——都是可靠的搖錢樹，電子游戲也越來越依賴于“專營權”——受歡迎的場景或品牌，這些都可以通過按時分期付款獲得。
Activision Blizzard offers, among others, “Call of Duty”, a best-selling series of military-themed shoot-’em-ups, “Candy Crush”, a popular pattern-matching mobile game, and “Warcraft”, a light-hearted fantasy setting.
動視暴雪提供了一眾游戲，其中包括暢銷的軍事題材射擊游戲《使命召喚》系列，廣受歡迎的模式匹配手機游戲《糖果傳奇》，以及輕松的充滿奇幻設定的《魔獸爭霸》。
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