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Microsoft’s Activision buy may see more metaverse in the office and crypto in gaming

More signs say the acquisition will boost metaverse applications in business than in gaming as CEO Nadella talks about productivity and metaverse enthusiast…

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More signs say the acquisition will boost metaverse applications in business than in gaming as CEO Nadella talks about productivity and metaverse enthusiast Kotick leaves Activision.

A lot was said about the metaverse when the Microsoft deal to acquire Activision Blizzard was announced in January 2022. The attention was mainly 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 had high visibility in Microsoft’s announcement of its deal for Activision in January 2002. “This acquisition will accelerate the growth in Microsoft’s gaming business […] and will provide building blocks for the metaverse,” the company said in the first paragraph. A few paragraphs later, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said, “Gaming […] will play a key role in the development of metaverse platforms.”

Nadella elaborated on his vision for metaverse development in an interview the following month, telling the Financial Times:

“We are building, quite frankly, metaverse applications, if I could call them that. Or experiences in business applications, in productivity tools, and meetings and games — all three on a common platform.”

Nadella’s emphasis on work is telling. He listed four things and referred to them as “all three” — apparently, “meetings and games” count as one. Microsoft’s metaverse platform, Mesh, which began previews this month, is positioned as a complement to its Teams business communications platform.

Mesh contains a gaming component too. While promising “you will transform your two-dimensional (2D) meeting into a 3D immersive experience,” it added:

“Play 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.”

The metaverse went unmentioned in the Microsoft Gaming statements at the beginning and completion 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.

Related: FTC opposes Microsoft’s metaverse-focused Activision Blizzard purchase

Spencer questioned what the metaverse even is in an interview with Bloomberg in August. “My view on Metaverse is that gamers have been in the Metaverse for 30 years,” he said. He said little about the Web3 metaverse except that he was “cautious” about play-to-earn. He was later quoted as calling the metaverse “a poorly built videogame” 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.”

Activision CEO Bobby Kotick is enthusiastic about the metaverse. He said in 2021, “We’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’s] Ready Player One is going to start to materialize as something that is very real."

In an interview on CNBC on the day the Activision deal was announced, Kotick and Spencer appeared together on CNBC. Kotick said, “We’re 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,” Kotick said. Spencer did not mention the metaverse.

Kotick will remain with Activision through the end of the year.

Spencer may be more bullish on cryptocurrency, however. Leaked internal documents reportedly revealed that Microsoft planned to integrate crypto wallets into Xbox. Spencer downplayed the leak, saying “so much has changed,” 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.

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Schedule for Week of October 15, 2023

The key economic reports this week are September Retail Sales, Housing Starts and Existing Home sales.

For manufacturing, September Industrial Production, and the October New York and Philly Fed surveys will be released this week.

—– Monday, Octo…

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October 14, 2023

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The key economic reports this week are September Retail Sales, Housing Starts and Existing Home sales.

For manufacturing, September Industrial Production, and the October New York and Philly Fed surveys will be released this week.

----- Monday, October 16th -----

8:30 AM ET: The New York Fed Empire State manufacturing survey for October. The consensus is for a reading of -1.5, down from 1.9.

----- Tuesday, October 17th -----

8:30 AM ET: Retail sales for September will be released.  The consensus is for a 0.2% increase in retail sales.

This graph shows retail sales since 1992. This is monthly retail sales and food service, seasonally adjusted (total and ex-gasoline).

Industrial Production9:15 AM: The Fed will release Industrial Production and Capacity Utilization for September.

This graph shows industrial production since 1967.

The consensus is for a 0.1% increase in Industrial Production, and for Capacity Utilization to decrease to 79.6%.

10:00 AM: The October NAHB homebuilder survey. The consensus is for a reading of 44, down from 45 in September. Any number below 50 indicates that more builders view sales conditions as poor than good.

----- Wednesday, October 18th -----

7:00 AM ET: The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) will release the results for the mortgage purchase applications index.

Multi Housing Starts and Single Family Housing Starts8:30 AM: Housing Starts for September.

This graph shows single and multi-family housing starts since 1968.

The consensus is for 1.405 million SAAR, up from 1.283 million SAAR.

During the day: The AIA/Deltek's Architecture Billings Index for September (a leading indicator for commercial real estate).

2:00 PM: the Federal Reserve Beige Book, an informal review by the Federal Reserve Banks of current economic conditions in their Districts.

----- Thursday, October 19th -----

8:30 AM: The initial weekly unemployment claims report will be released. The consensus is for 210 thousand initial claims, up from 209 thousand last week.

8:30 AM: the Philly Fed manufacturing survey for October. The consensus is for a reading of -6.8, up from -13.5.

Existing Home Sales10:00 AM: Existing Home Sales for September from the National Association of Realtors (NAR). The consensus is for 3.94 million SAAR, down from 4.04 million in August.

The graph shows existing home sales from 1994 through the report last month.

12:00 PM: Discussion, Fed Chair Jerome Powell, Economic Outlook, At the Economic Club of New York (ECNY) Luncheon, New York, New York

----- Friday, October 20th -----

10:00 AM: State Employment and Unemployment (Monthly) for September 2023

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Ferrari to accept crypto payments in the US

Ferrari’s decision to accept cryptocurrency payments was driven by market demand and dealer requests, with numerous clients investing in digital currencies.
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October 14, 2023

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Ferrari’s decision to accept cryptocurrency payments was driven by market demand and dealer requests, with numerous clients investing in digital currencies.

Ferrari will accept cryptocurrency payments for its luxury sports cars in the United States due to customer demand. The carmaker also plans to accept crypto payments in Europe.

According to an Oct. 14 report from Reuters, Ferrari’s chief marketing and commercial officer, Enrico Galliera, confirmed the intentions of the luxury car brand. Ferrari’s choice to accept cryptocurrency payments was driven by market demand and dealer requests, with numerous clients, including crypto-savvy young investors, having invested in digital currencies.

Although Galliera didn’t specify the number of cars Ferrari expects to sell via crypto payments, he reportedly stated that the carmaker’s strong order portfolio is fully booked until 2025. Ferrari aims to test this expanding market to connect with potential buyers beyond its usual clientele. The luxury automaker plans to introduce cryptocurrency payments in Europe by the first quarter of 2024 and expand to other crypto-friendly regions after.

For its initial phase in the U.S., Ferrari has reportedly partnered with major cryptocurrency payment processor, BitPay. This collaboration enables transactions in Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH) and USD Coin (USDC).

Galliera confirmed that there will be no additional fees or surcharges when using cryptocurrency, as BitPay will promptly convert cryptocurrency payments into conventional fiat currency for Ferrari’s dealers, ensuring they are shielded from cryptocurrency price fluctuations.

BitPay will also verify the legitimacy of the digital currency, ensuring it does not originate from illicit activities, money laundering or tax evasion.

Related: Madeira announces creation of Bitcoin business hub for innovation

Many large corporations have hesitated to adopt cryptocurrencies due to their price volatility and associated transaction impracticality. Among these companies is Tesla, the electric vehicle manufacturer, which initially started accepting payments in Bitcoin in 2021. However, CEO Elon Musk suspended this payment method due to environmental concerns.

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Caroline Ellison wanted to step down but feared a bank run on FTX

Former Alameda CEO Caroline Ellison recognized she wasn’t doing a good job months before the company filed for bankruptcy, but Sam Bankman-Fried persuaded…

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October 14, 2023

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Former Alameda CEO Caroline Ellison recognized she wasn’t doing a good job months before the company filed for bankruptcy, but Sam Bankman-Fried persuaded her to stay.

Caroline Ellison wasn’t doing a good job leading Alameda Research in 2022, and she did not hide it. Excerpts from her personal notes shared as evidence by prosecutors in Sam Bankman-Fried’s trial revealed details about the trading firm’s struggles and its CEO’s desire to resign weeks and months before FTX collapsed.

Ellison spent over 10 hours testifying during Bankman-Fried’s trial this past week, notably entering through the front doors of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York in Manhattan, joined by her attorneys. Ellison said she had not seen Bankman-Fried since the crypto empire failed in November 2022, but their communication had eroded months before.

In April 2022, their romantic relationship ended, and Caroline started avoiding meetings with Bankman-Fried even though they still lived in the same luxurious apartment in the Bahamas. Alameda’s growing liabilities with FTX and the breakup with Bankman-Fried made her consider leaving the company altogether.

“I feel like neither [Sam] Trabucco nor I have been doing a great job of pushing on stuff,” she wrote in the document to Bankman-Fried, which was shared as evidence during her cross-examination by the former FTX CEO’s defense counsel.

Bankman-Fried asked her to stay on, saying that her departure could create rumors about Alameda’s financial health, thus harming FTX’s credibility, so Ellison remained CEO.

Ellison joined Alameda as a trader in 2018. By 2020, she handled most of the company’s operations, while Bankman-Fried focused on his newly launched crypto exchange, FTX. In August 2021, she became co-CEO alongside Sam Trabucco, who stepped down a few months later, leaving her in charge of the company. In August 2022, Trabucco officially resigned as co-CEO.

Ellison was against creating FTX, she revealed. “I didn’t think of myself as ambitious before I started at Alameda, but I believe I became more ambitious” under Bankman-Fried’s incentive, she said.

As CEO, Ellison was in charge of handling Alameda’s crypto lenders. In mid-2022, after the Terra ecosystem failed, the company’s open-term loans stood at $1.3 billion. The market downturn drained liquidity from crypto assets, prompting Alameda’s lenders to demand loan repayments.

According to Ellison, Bankman-Fried instructed her to keep repaying creditors via Alameda’s line of credit with FTX. In other words, Alameda would use FTX’s customer assets to repay crypto lenders. At the time, its line of credit with the exchange stood at $13 billion.

As lenders demanded loan repayments and Alameda’s balance sheets, Bankman-Fried suggested Ellison use “alternative means” for presenting the company’s financials. In the following months, Ellison would create many additional versions of a balance sheet to deceive creditors.

Early in November 2022, an alternative version of Alameda’s balance sheet was leaked. Ellison was on vacation in Japan at the time, but she had to travel to FTX Hong Kong’s office to deal with the company’s crisis.

While the balance sheet data didn’t reflect the company’s reality, it was enough to spread rumors and trigger a bank run on FTX a few days later, exposing an $8 billion gap between the companies.

Having cooperated with the U.S. Department of Justice since December 2022, Ellison will soon receive her sentence regarding the seven counts of fraud and conspiracy to commit fraud she was charged with.

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