Support NeoGAF

[Mibu no ookami]

I think that's crazy to say that, why does anyone have to "give up" their playstation....Why not buy both? why aren't those people buying both consoles? There's something deeper involved and I don't think any of us understand it.

I get it when you are talking about the everyday public who just buy fifa and Cod/Madden...but theres millions of people out there that consider themselves hardcore gaming hobbyists but refuse to own anything but a playstation...and maybe a switch...but even then there's loads that insult nintendo games and think they are kiddy. I don't think there's a way to penetrate those people without something major happening....If at all.

Just a question, do you own a switch? an Xbox and or a PC that you actually purchase games on and use frequently?

The vast majority of consumers aren't buying a ps5 and and xbs. MAYBE they'll buy one or the other and a switch or there will be some combination of PC in there, but
ps5 and xbs is rare. Again they play 95 percent of the same games.

You keep missing the point because you refuse to accept that reality. Heisenberg007 painted you a pretty realistic picture of what Microsoft needs to do to compete for market share now. They're several franchises behind. They need like 2 maybe 3 straight years of nonstop bangers that make anything Sony is doing look pretty vanilla in comparison.

Imagine we're in a foot race and I'm 400 meters ahead of you. In the next 30 seconds, if you run 200 meters and I run 100 meters, you've doubled my pace, but you're still 300 meters behind.

Buy Bethesda/Zenimax helps, but you have to ask yourself how many fans of their games will buy a console for them. Were any Zenimax games critical to the PS4? Will they, releasing day 1 on PC get any of the PC market to buy on Xbox?

 

[lh032]

Xbox should stay exist for fair competition!!!!
As 2nd place.

 

[IllegalLemon]

Obviously the only one who knows what they are talking about is @SenjutsuSage

Spoiler

Mhm!

 

[Rhazer Fusion]

I’m expecting them to be around even if the deal gets blocked especially with all the acquisitions they procured. Imo, they should just forget about the Activision/Blizzard deal and concentrate on what they have already which is plenty. They receive all their games anyway. Do something with the companies you acquired instead of trying to grab more of them.

 

[Pelta88]

That moment when Cope morphs into anti-British sentiment.

 

[SJRB]

“Competition is us trying to get stronger,” Spencer told The Times. “I don’t have great rationale for … how better competition in consoles is somehow hurtful for consumers."

Because to me, having us, Sony, and Nintendo doing well in the console market — all of us with strengths and uniqueness and content and capabilities — gives consumers more choice.

 

[ChorizoPicozo]

you know what? honestly speaking. i don't think they deserve to be around anymore.

but if it is about the money....drop the console, become a third-party publisher and capitalize in the market in which you are a monopolistic entity....PC.

make windows not a shitshow. make a windows store not a shitshow.

 

[TheGodfather07]

I just don't understand Microsoft. Don't they now have the most studios and ip? Why isn't that enough? They already have everything needed to have a great library of games. They have more studios than both sony and Nintendo. They have pretty much unlimited money to fund those studios and create great games, so what's the problem? Microsoft are their own worst enemy.

 

[Panajev2001a]

I just don't understand Microsoft. Don't they now have the most studios and ip? Why isn't that enough? They already have everything needed to have a great library of games. They have more studios than both sony and Nintendo. They have pretty much unlimited money to fund those studios and create great games, so what's the problem? Microsoft are their own worst enemy.

Getting Activision - Blizzard means they would control a huge portion of PlayStation and PSN profits, totally not going to be used to damage their competition… sure…

 

[Bumblebeetuna]

I just don't understand Microsoft. Don't they now have the most studios and ip? Why isn't that enough? They already have everything needed to have a great library of games. They have more studios than both sony and Nintendo. They have pretty much unlimited money to fund those studios and create great games, so what's the problem? Microsoft are their own worst enemy.

I mean, are we pretending that if ABK came to Sony with a purchase offer Sony could actually afford, they wouldn’t bite? Of course they would.

Investing billions in ABK is not the same thing as investing billions into your existing studios.

 

[IllegalLemon]

Has no one asked why the CMA Country Music Awards is trying to block MS acquisition of Activision?

The CMA continues to double down on divestment being the big solution to let it through without having to resort to more extreme methods. MS during their entire tangent in Brussels almost a week ago, made it abundantly clear that they won't bow down to divestment demands from the CMA. Essentially a big "fuck you" to the CMA's demands.

CMA isn't a boy band or a group of armchair intellectuals doing whatever the hell they want because it's convenient and without reason. They're a massive group of researchers, lawyers & experts that have ran the numbers long before deciding to oppose the potential buyout. That decision of theirs wasn't taken overnight, it took potentially hundreds of hours of research gathering to reach that sentiment and conclusion. And they potentially didn't oppose the buyout only because the 10 years were inadequate.

Did people even think that the thought of "What happens after that 10 year grace period of the contract expires" might've passed through the minds of the CMA and was one of the key factors, besides the research they did that lead them to oppose and propose alternative solutions? Or is the only thing some people are thinking being that Sony's outcries was the only factor that rigged these regulators, even though that is absurd in every sense of the word. Regulators like the CMA don't care about Sony's outcries, their goals don't involve protecting Sony, they involve protecting consumers and calling out deals like these done from corporations, who abuse their power in an attempt to bully much smaller companies.

 

[Mr Moose]

If xbox releases a shit load of games this year and have an amazing year of announcing ( and showing) future games and it barely moves the needle on sales...it just proves that fans are far too entrenched to even consider an viable decent other option of a console and something is actually wrong.

Just like AMD swayed millions of PC owners, what does it take to convince people to pick up an xbox?

What would it take to convince people here? I think there are many that are that entrenched in an eco system they wouldn't pick one up, no matter what...out of spite or something....which is a really bad place for us to be.

Fire some of the Xbox team, bye Greenberg, bye Major Nelson, bye Phil. Change the controller to one that looks like the DualSense, I ain't using asymmetrical sticks.
I have an OK-ish PC now for 1080p gaming (3060) so I don't really need an Xbox though.
Also I am from the UK, fuck America!
Kidding, added the last part after seeing the Tweet above lol.

 

[Bumblebeetuna]

no one cared about crossplay then, especially devs. When it mattered sony refused, until they found a way to charge publishers.

since we like to go back to the 360 days. Remember at that time Xbox was the only one helping indies get their games published? While Sony, Valve, and Nintendo shut down indies.

Oh man I forgot that Sony started charging devs for that. I wonder if they still do?

 

[ByWatterson]

I don't understand how they can be so good at hardware and services and so bad at actually getting games out.

Does everyone realize how barren their 2023 would be if they hadn't bought Bethesda? None of their other gajillion studios have anything ready to go - except 343!

Who gets shit on! But at least they actually get content out.

 

[Nankatsu]

MS struggling to buy something? That's new to uncle Phil, he is in shock.

 

[Spyxos]

Does he have a weekly schedule of where and when to say what. Every week he has said this he has said that. Slowly it is annoying. Is this some kind of bad pr?

 

[Robb]

 

[Mephisto40]

Sounds like he doesnt have a clue whats going on

 

[jasondefaoite]

I just don't understand Microsoft. Don't they now have the most studios and ip? Why isn't that enough? They already have everything needed to have a great library of games. They have more studios than both sony and Nintendo. They have pretty much unlimited money to fund those studios and create great games, so what's the problem? Microsoft are their own worst enemy.

What's the problem? Mismanagement since the annoucement of Xbox One onwards. The 360 was about games and that's all. For some reason the replacement had to be about something in addition to games. The home hub. At least with the X/S they are back to being gaming machines. But their game release cadence is poor considering the studios they have.

 

[StueyDuck]

Is this a reverse psychology strategy Phil?

This is... your shareholders are watching Phil

 

[ToadMan]

I think that's crazy to say that, why does anyone have to "give up" their playstation....Why not buy both? why aren't those people buying both consoles?

This is Sony PS3 levels of arrogance.

Just get 2 jobs to pay for an xbox … something that would have been unnecessary without this acquisition.

How about “No” say consumers and the CMA.

How about MS doesn’t buy ABK just to form a coercive monopoly, and instead focuses on innovation and new content to win customers over?

 

[Kusarigama]

Xbox needs to first manage their existing studios better before acquiring more and running it all down in to garbage. There is a lack of innovation in general.

I hope Bethesda and Obsidian continue to have their partial-independence because it seems to work but majority of the studios aren't doing anything groundbreaking

 

[Nautilus]

 

[Unknown?]

Blah blah blah, more PR feel-good nonsense spewing out of Phil's mouth.

 

[Topher]

That moment when Cope morphs into anti-British sentiment.

What the fuck is your problem, British people?

Don't make us bring George out of retirement...

Kidding.....love you guys

 

[Mibu no ookami]

you know what? honestly speaking. i don't think they deserve to be around anymore.

but if it is about the money....drop the console, become a third-party publisher and capitalize in the market in which you are a monopolistic entity....PC.

make windows not a shitshow. make a windows store not a shitshow.

They got into console gaming because they didn't want to cede the living room to Sony as they thought the living room would be the next big frontier in home computing.

That really never came to be, especially as TVs became smart TVs and people shifted to absorbing content on mobile.

Had they been able to see the future, they probably would have put Windows CE on TVs, come out with their own streaming tv stick, and focused more on windows phone.

They don't really see a future or have a future in the console business. That business itself might not exists in 15-20 years. Their only way forward right now is subscriptions and cloud. Everyone knows that the market is shifting away from the living room and even with moderate gains, the console business is kind of tapping out outside of maybe coming online in china and india.

The multimedia hopes of consoles completely died with the PS3 and the X1. They aren't even trying anymore. It's why we didn't see a 4K bluray player in the PS4 and why Sony dropped PSVue (weren't even able to find a buyer). Had they marketed it better it could have been a rival to YTTV, but the PlayStation branding made people think you had to have a PlayStation to use it. That's why Sony is trying to redefine what PlayStation means now, because they see the same ceiling as Microsoft.

That's why I'm pretty confident they'll come out with their own PlayStation store on PC, because they're quickly shifting what PlayStation means.

 

[Nothing1234]

 

[Nothing1234]

Xbox don’t have budget to market their console? Why are they being ran like a startup? That Brad Smith pie chart looks even funnier now. How do you sell a product with no advertising?

 

[Loomy]

no one cared about crossplay then, especially devs. When it mattered sony refused, until they found a way to charge publishers.

since we like to go back to the 360 days. Remember at that time Xbox was the only one helping indies get their games published? While Sony, Valve, and Nintendo shut down indies.

Oh man I forgot that Sony started charging devs for that. I wonder if they still do?

Both Sony and Microsoft took turns screwing each other over with Cross Play. When Sony was struggling early with the PS3 and the 360 was doing well, MS prevented cross play with Playstation.

 

[Panajev2001a]

They got into console gaming because they didn't want to cede the living room to Sony as they thought the living room would be the next big frontier in home computing.

That really never came to be, especially as TVs became smart TVs and people shifted to absorbing content on mobile.

Had they been able to see the future, they probably would have put Windows CE on TVs, come out with their own streaming tv stick, and focused more on windows phone.

They don't really see a future or have a future in the console business. That business itself might not exists in 15-20 years. Their only way forward right now is subscriptions and cloud. Everyone knows that the market is shifting away from the living room and even with moderate gains, the console business is kind of tapping out outside of maybe coming online in china and india.

The multimedia hopes of consoles completely died with the PS3 and the X1. They aren't even trying anymore. It's why we didn't see a 4K bluray player in the PS4 and why Sony dropped PSVue (weren't even able to find a buyer). Had they marketed it better it could have been a rival to YTTV, but the PlayStation branding made people think you had to have a PlayStation to use it. That's why Sony is trying to redefine what PlayStation means now, because they see the same ceiling as Microsoft.

That's why I'm pretty confident they'll come out with their own PlayStation store on PC, because they're quickly shifting what PlayStation means.

They were smart investing in cloud and services that is for sure, if Xbox contributed to make a case or helped the future of Azure then it paid for itself.

Otherwise, if those resources could have been invested in Windows Phone earlier well… Android may not exist now… maybe…

 

[Talkin Hawkin]

Microsoft's biggest problem is that it doesn't feel failure and feedback or have to respond to it in ways that normal companies do.

Without the backing of Microsoft, the Xbox division would have been forced to make a choice: Continue with the Xbone strategy and risk bankruptcy, or change to suit the market. We saw Atari and Sega choose not to change and we saw Nintendo and Sony change to suit the market.

Evolution is adapting to the change in the environment, from external pressures and forces. Microsoft have been able to soak up the feedback and charge ahead into what would have been bankruptcy for any other company, but still come out alive because of their financial failsafe.

Microsoft should stop, look around and take note of what the market wants. Stop listening to online shills like they have since the days of Kinect and listen to the fans who got the xbox to where it was at its' peak.

Gamepass is a great service for B-tier, Indie and AA games; a place to nurture and grow new talent. It is the death of AAA games though. We all want free or cheap games, myself included, but it isn't sustainable for Xbox. The Elite pad v1 is the best controller ever made, the 1X was the best console Microsoft have ever made. They need to stop with the split console idea and rushed off-the-shelf hardware and take some real risks like they did with the xbox360 - minus the RROD.

Microsoft can turn the Xbox division around and turn it into a very profitable department, but they need to have a honest and long, hard look in the mirror.

 

[IllegalLemon]

What the fuck is your problem, British people?

Don't make us bring George out of retirement...

First their problem was Lina Khan, now it's the UK. This little petty Twitter talk between them has to be the most circlejerk, inconsequential, self-masturbation bullshit they've ever done. I assume the worst reactions from them have yet to come.

 

[Iced Arcade]

Jez is absolutely embarrassing.

 

[Teletraan1]

For most of the world outside of NA xbox has always just kind of existed.

 

[Loomy]

Can't afford to put together an ad campaign to help bolster their position, but can afford to throw around almost $80b to buy publishers with games already on their system...Sure.

 

[phil_t98]

What's the made up argument? I didn't suggest hellblade or starfield are gaas or not. I bolded the games that haven't released. You suggested this list of unreleased games assuming none of them could be GaaS when you know very little about them. I didn't make any assumptions about any of them.

I only said MS is mainly concentrating on online GaaS at the moment and that's mostly true. Wasn’t even specifically referring to their first party releases either but their gamepass strategy which would stop somebody switching to another service or platform to play the same mostly GaaS games and not having their mtxs and saves transfer over.

Even if we were to look at first party or exclusive releases for whatever reason, I would say it's also true there, with the likes of Grounded, Halo Infinite, SoT, Minecraft, Gears and even Forza having GaaS elements one way or another.

Didn't Sony buy bungie to start implementing GAAS into their games?

 

[Topher]

 

[Loomy]

Didn't Sony buy bungie to start implementing GAAS into their games?

Sony has a few GAAS games in development right now. Acquiring Bungie was definitely partly to learn from them to make sure those games are successful, but I think they mostly wanted access to the almost 2 million D2 players.

 

[Iced Arcade]

Didn't Sony buy bungie to start implementing GAAS into their games?

 

[Edmund]

Can imagine Jez digging out his eyeballs and groaning in exasperation whenever a PS5 ad appears on TV.

What a fucking man baby.

 

[kyussman]

If it doesn't go through they will have to start fudging those numbers again....they have been way too honest in recent weeks,lol.

 

[feynoob]

If Xbox gets out of the industry, console gamers are fucked.
Xbox and PS keep each other in check, considering Nintendo is doing Nintendo stuff.
If there is no one to compete with PS, then Sony would get too complicit and would try and exploit their audience.

 

[jm89]

Can't afford to put together an ad campaign to help bolster their position, but can afford to throw around almost $80b to buy publishers with games already on their system...Sure.

Yeah the budget reasoning(even if true) is insane.

I'm sure they could blow away sony in marketing with cash found in satyas back pocket.

 

[begotten]

since we like to go back to the 360 days. Remember at that time Xbox was the only one helping indies get their games published? While Sony, Valve, and Nintendo shut down indies.

Always funny seeing comments like this. Like yeah, no shit dude - believe it or not there was a point in time when Xbox was actually run by competent people who were actually clued into the industry.

The good old days of discovering and playing Braid, Dishwasher and Castle Crashers on XBLA - Geometry Wars being re-released as a 360 launch title! The accessibility of Japanese visual novels was unique too. They had freaking Chaos;Head exclusively?!

GPInjector, Photo Parties with the boys come midnight, Hacked Betas - you remember these things right? M2AF?

The good old days when Xbox people had a pulse on game development and were sealing up now classics like BioShock and Mass Effect for exclusivity deals. When Xbox were early backers of console eSports through THEIR OWN IP with Halo and Gears through MLG / Gamebattles.

All that magic and soul pissed away by this idiot;

The only people who defend this current regime are Xbox zoomers who have never watched a Final Boss set or never attended an X/360 midnight launch in their life.

That's my disjointed Xbox fan rant over after thinking about the good old days

 

[Thirty7ven]

Can't afford to put together an ad campaign to help bolster their position, but can afford to throw around almost $80b to buy publishers with games already on their system...Sure.

Because they would rather buy the audience than actually put in an effort to compete.

 

[Unknown?]

If Xbox gets out of the industry, console gamers are fucked.
Xbox and PS keep each other in check, considering Nintendo is doing Nintendo stuff.
If there is no one to compete with PS, then Sony would get too complicit and would try and exploit their audience.

Same thing happened when Xbox got complicit during the 360 years.

What makes this even more humorous is that they talk about being competitive while buying two of the largest publishers out there and it's still questionable on them being able to compete with the other two players. If their incompetence couldn't get them more than a distant third before, being bigger only amplifies that incompetence which isn't good for gamers who like the IPs they just gobbled up.

 

[ReBurn]

Define competition.

The Nutella buy everything and play takeaway = cOmPeTiTiOn or actually having to step up to the plate and make yourself better after 20+ years?

Competition was defined in this thread a couple hundred pages ago as the participants in the brand new "high performance console market." People were emphatically insisting that Nintendo wasn't a part of the market and therefore should not be included in the discussion. Now the same people who were saying Nintendo wasn't competition for Sony and Microsoft are saying there's plenty of competition in the market and are including Nintendo in the charts and graphs related to the market.

It's interesting how easily Nintendo moves in and out of the market depending on the point people are trying to make.

 

[adamsapple]

Was anyone actually thinking otherwise ?

 

[SF Kosmo]

I honestly think Activision is a dog of a deal and they're way overpaying for mediocre dev and an IP that's past its prime and won't be the same if it goes exclusive.

 

[begotten]

I honestly think Activision is a dog of a deal and they're way overpaying for mediocre dev and an IP that's past its prime and won't be the same if it goes exclusive.

The deal is actually worth it for Call of Duty alone, IF they had full exclusivity.