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[ManaByte]

It's not that easy.

 

[FalsettoVibe]

Can we please just get a mega thread for this acquisition?

We are getting threads for literally every single qoute at this point.

Don't get me wrong, I'm looking forward to seeing the value it adds to my subscription, but hearing about the deal I'm personally sick off, as every thread ends up in people bickering.

This.....mods please!

 

[DavidGzz]

“Let us have competition” he says. LOL

It’s like the rich kid that brings his expensive toys to school just to brag.

One thing is to make competition, another thing entirely is to buy the entire industry because you don’t know how to make good games. If only all that money was used to create their own studios and their own IPs, Xbox would be huge. if they wanted competition they would do that, and maybe buy a couple of studios to complement it.

What they are doing is just trying to own the industry. Nintendo is successful doing their own thing, Sony too, but Microsoft just can’t.

I still can believe Ganepass is profitable. It’s just a pipe dream for them that they make work only because they can afford to hemorrhage money into it. Any other business would be bankrupt with a GamePass model.

It would be a shame if this deal pass. I know it will because there is a lot of money involve and they will be able to “convince” everyone involved in the decision.

As I said, they should use the money to create their own studios. Look how much Sony paid for Insomniac and they do amazing games.

MS has to buy talent but also Sony bought talent on the cheap. So yeah, they both do the same shit one just has more money. End of.

 

[akimbo009]

Can we please just get a mega thread for this acquisition?

We are getting threads for literally every single qoute at this point.

Don't get me wrong, I'm looking forward to seeing the value it adds to my subscription, but hearing about the deal I'm personally sick off, as every thread ends up in people bickering.

A bigger thread will stop the acquisition. Let's be careful.

 

[Kagey K]

A bigger thread will stop the acquisition. Let's be careful.

 

[Hawking Radiation]

Wait until you find out what Sony, Tencent, Netease et al want to do.

Are you seriously suggesting MS has cornered the PC gaming market?

Re-read my post.

Sony is paying for timed exclusives while now complaint CoD will be exclusives to Xbox.

1 is not like the other. Timed exclusives have been done for years from both Xbox and PS.

 

[Hawking Radiation]

Can we please just get a mega thread for this acquisition?

We are getting threads for literally every single qoute at this point.

Don't get me wrong, I'm looking forward to seeing the value it adds to my subscription, but hearing about the deal I'm personally sick off, as every thread ends up in people bickering.

I second this.

A mega thread with updates on new quotes from the suits at Xbox. Keep things nice and clean.

 

[Mercenary09]

Anyone paying any attention to what is coming out of Satya's mouth in that video is a moron. Classic case of an executive taking public for fools. Bringing up Sony's recent purchases as if they mean anything. You can put all Sony's purchases over the past couple years together and they don't come anywhere close to what Bethesda and Activision mean. Guy also lying out his teeth talking about "we don't want to take games away we want to put them on more platforms." No you just want to put them on platforms in your ecosystem. Anyone with a brain knows what you're up to

 

[Bernd Lauert]

Another example: Apex Legends. Game literally came out of nowhere and was an instant hit and is now still one of the most popular games on the planet. So yeah it's definitely possible.

 

[Hawking Radiation]

Anyone paying any attention to what is coming out of Satya's mouth in that video is a moron. Classic case of an executive taking public for fools. Bringing up Sony's recent purchases as if they mean anything. You can put all Sony's purchases over the past couple years together and they don't come anywhere close to what Bethesda and Activision mean. Guy also lying out his teeth talking about "we don't want to take games away we want to put them on more platforms." No you just want to put them on platforms in your ecosystem. Anyone with a brain knows what you're up to

Yeah they missed me with that BS about competition. They're trying to buy success and they have the money to do it. My only fear is MS wanting a monopoly in the gaming space. If they make any more acquisitions like this one, then I fear they're going to achieve their goal. Also the competition with with Google/Amazon is BS.

I mean we have some people here trying to compare buying up a timed exclusive to buying up a whole publisher with a crazy catalogue of games. 1 is not like the other. Also timed exclusives have been done for years from both Xbox and PS. It's not pretty but at least the game will eventually end up on other platforms.

 

[Barakov]

So Satya believes competition in gaming is about who can acquire the most studios? Not about who can release great games? The last time I remember XBOX speaking consistently about pushing this hobby forward by releasing great games, was when Don Mattrick was in charge during the 360 era. A truly pitiful and void of understanding statement.

Whenever I hear something along the lines of 'pushing games forward' it's almost always something that ends up making games worse.

 

[IDKFA]

And the No. 1 player, Sony Group Corp., has made several recent acquisitions. “So if this is about competition, let us have competition,” he said.

Buying not one, but TWO publishers, on top of buying individual development studios (Obsidian, Double Fine, Ninja Theory etc etc) is beyond competition. Sony can't compete with that.

*Disclaimer - I'm not a fanboy and own both a Series S (soon X) and PS5. Feel like I need to make this clear in these threads.

 

[onesvenus]

Did MS have to acquire Square Enix to make Outriders and Guardians of the Galaxy available on gamepass? Or Major League Baseball?

Did Netflix have to buy the Seinfeld IP or Warner Bros. to have Seinfeld show up on Netflix?

You dont need to spend $75 billion on massive purchases just for gamepass. If they wanted to give gamepass users COD, they wouldve simply forked over $250 million to have COD on day one. Thats basically how much money CoD generates on the xbox platforms in digital and retail sales before microtransactions.

Come on, don't be obtuse. All subscription services pivoted from one-time deals to in-house productions because it's cheaper in the long run. Buying studios or publishers is the fast way of doing that.

 

[onesvenus]

Buying not one, but TWO publishers, on top of buying individual development studios (Obsidian, Double Fine, Ninja Theory etc etc) is beyond competition. Sony can't compete with that.

Not being able to compete with that is not the same as being anticompetitive.
Maybe Sony can't get those deals but there are other companies that could.
And looking at the market sizes, doing that will make it more competitive than before, not less.

 

[akimbo009]

And the No. 1 player, Sony Group Corp., has made several recent acquisitions. “So if this is about competition, let us have competition,” he said.

Buying not one, but TWO publishers, on top of buying individual development studios (Obsidian, Double Fine, Ninja Theory etc etc) is beyond competition. Sony can't compete with that.

*Disclaimer - I'm not a fanboy and own both a Series S (soon X) and PS5. Feel like I need to make this clear in these threads.

Until MS is a market leader, or has a meaningful plurality, then it's going to be approved regardless of Sony's purchasing power.

Disclaimer - your consumer purchases have no bearing on your bias.

 

[GhostOfTsu]

Another example: Apex Legends. Game literally came out of nowhere and was an instant hit and is now still one of the most popular games on the planet. So yeah it's definitely possible.

If it's so easy why is Xbox not making their own COD, Splatoon or Apex? Only Sony needs to create their own

Sony is paying for timed exclusives while now complaint CoD will be exclusives to Xbox.

Here's a small list of xbox 3rd-party timed or permanent exclusives. What's the difference?

Dead Rising
Last Remnant
Infinite Undiscovery
Star Ocean The Last Hope
GTA DLC
Dino Crisis 3
COD DLC
Morrowind and Oblivion
Ninja Gaiden
ACE COMBAT 6
Tales Of Vesperia
Rise of the Tomb Raider
Tomb Raider Underworld DLC
Bioshock
Splinter Cell
Splinter Cell Conviction
Ghost Recon
The Division DLC
Mass Effect 2
Dead or Alive 3 and 4
Titanfall
Guilty Gear 2
Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare
The Medium
Stalker 2
Wartide
PUBG
NARAKA
FiFA Legends DLC
Rainbow Six Vegas
Rainbow Six GRAW
Ridge Racer 6
Lost Planet
Alone in the Dark
Eternal Sonata

Ark 2
Ashen
Cuphead
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2
Phantasy Star Online 2 New Genesis (Time Exclusive Western Release)
Crossfire X
Valheim
Echo Generation
Sable
Warhammer 40,000: Darktide
Slime Rancher 2
High On Life
Somerville
Lightyear Frontier
CACOON
Replaced
The Last Case of Benedict Fox
Ereban: Shadow Legacy
ExoMecha
Shredders
PowerWash Simulator

 

[Bernd Lauert]

If it's so easy why is Xbox not making their own COD, Splatoon or Apex? Only Sony needs to create their own

Here's a small list of xbox 3rd-party timed or permanent exclusives. What's the difference?

Dead Rising
Last Remnant
Infinite Undiscovery
Star Ocean The Last Hope
GTA DLC
Dino Crisis 3
COD DLC
Morrowind and Oblivion
Ninja Gaiden
ACE COMBAT 6
Tales Of Vesperia
Rise of the Tomb Raider
Tomb Raider Underworld DLC
Bioshock
Splinter Cell
Splinter Cell Conviction
Ghost Recon
The Division DLC
Mass Effect 2
Dead or Alive 3 and 4
Titanfall
Guilty Gear 2
Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare
The Medium
Stalker 2
Wartide
PUBG
NARAKA
FiFA Legends DLC
Rainbow Six Vegas
Rainbow Six GRAW
Ridge Racer 6
Lost Planet
Alone in the Dark
Eternal Sonata

Ark 2
Ashen
Cuphead
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2
Phantasy Star Online 2 New Genesis (Time Exclusive Western Release)
Crossfire X
Valheim
Echo Generation
Sable
Warhammer 40,000: Darktide
Slime Rancher 2
High On Life
Somerville
Lightyear Frontier
CACOON
Replaced
The Last Case of Benedict Fox
Ereban: Shadow Legacy
ExoMecha
Shredders
PowerWash Simulator

Xbox has Halo, they need all hands on deck for that right now.

 

[S0ULZB0URNE]

Could of swore this was posted already.

 

[DarkMage619]

You don't need to buy publishers to have competition. You just need to make high-quality games.

Let's not pretend like MS didn't have teams prior to 2018, or that they didn't buy several developers prior to Zenimax.

MS is free to compete in anyway they wish as long as they aren't breaking the law. They are carving their own path through subscriptions and no one is forcing anyone else to do what they are doing. They had to make an adjustment when what they were doing before wasn't working. Others can do the same if necessary.

No matter how many studios MS acquires, Nintendo will always have Mario and Sony will always have GoW and their other major IP. Plenty of room for everyone to be successful. Sony, Nintendo and everyone else have been around for years and are perfectly capable of competing.

I think if MS's Xbox division, post-ABK, already starts matching Sony's and yet they're out trying to buy yet another big publisher, is when it finally gets shut down. Because the idea of buying your way to being the #1 revenue platform in the gaming industry isn't exactly the type of competition that is favored in industries. Heck, they're already kind of pushing it with ABK.

Don't forget MS is far from being the biggest company in the gaming space. Unless they are buying Tencent I don't see them simply buying their way to number 1.

Psychonauts 2 physical edition is $70 on Xbox platforms.

That physical edition is like a collectors edition with cards and a special packaging. Pretty sure digital version is still $60 as are other first party MS games.

This is whataboutism; Nintendo barely gets ABK games outside of the Crash, Spyro type of games. COD hasn't been on a Nintendo platform since the Wii days and I'm not even sure about that. They don't have a close business relationship with ABK the way Sony does, so why would Nintendo file any complaints?

Now if MS were going after, say, The Pokemon Company, or Sega, or maybe even Ubisoft...well I bet you Nintendo would be filing a lot of complaints in those cases given how close they are with The Pokemon Company and Sega, and they've gotten a couple of exclusives out of partnerships with Ubisoft as well.

I dunno about whataboutism but it does show that the industry is much bigger than PlayStation and purchases MS makes don't affect the industry as a whole. Regulators should be focused on the industry as a whole not just the industry leader and protecting its market position.

 

[Kagey K]

1 is not like the other. Timed exclusives have been done for years from both Xbox and PS.

So you hate Gamepass for renting games when you prefer to buy them, but Hate companies buying devs when they prefer not to rent them?



Isn't what they are doing is buying physical vs renting on a much larger scale?

If you are anti subscription, and hate timed exclusives, it makes no sense to object to this as they are doing all things you preach.

There's no license or ownership buying timed exclusives.

It can be revoked at any time. It's better to own the disc, that way nobody can take it away

 

[SenjutsuSage]

Yes there are other reasons for Microsoft to pursue the purchase, however the most compelling evidence in support of a merger block would be the nature of the console gaming industry, Microsoft's position as a console manufacturer, and the fact that there are so few players in that market that I don't need all the digits of one hand to count them all. Therefore it's time waisted focusing on other motivations when again, the potential ramifications on the console gaming industry is the most sensitive to the antitrust concerns surrounding this deal.



I don't know what you're trying to say here. What global factors are you referring to?



Now this is where you started to get really weird - What in god's name does rising interest rates have to do with this deal's antitrust concerns?

All of this just to tell me you don't pay attention to news outside of gaming/console war news. It would be long to explain it all or to go into why raising interest rates by the U.S. Federal reserve is something that is a major factor in this deal that will matter even in jurisdictions such as the UK, but I'll summarize as best I can.

Rising interest rates means it's more expensive just for businesses, especially big ones, to do business. They all borrow money to run their businesses. It's how a lot of companies operate. Activision isn't immune, Microsoft isn't immune, Sony isn't immune, many businesses in the UK who also do business in the United States aren't immune while also having their own domestic issues to deal with. Interest rates are very likely the true reason for Sony raising their prices in the UK and other territories around the world, and also likely the true reason for Twitch (Amazon) moving to change their revenue sharing agreement with top streamers. When interest rates go up and it becomes a choice between satisfying shareholders and protecting profits, major companies often pick profits. As interest rates keep going up it will lead to a contraction of hiring and potentially millions of jobs will be lost.

You would like to believe that only the things regulators or Sony are saying in their public statements about this are what's really at issue in determining whether or not this deal gets approved or not, but it has never been that from the very start. Microsoft chose to make the move on Activision Blizzard when they did because they're fully aware of the fact that various macroeconomic factors would be not just be in their favor domestically, but that they would be in their favor globally also as they try to close the deal. This is likely the ONLY climate in which Microsoft could successfully get Activision Blizzard in a fashion that will be a whole lot easier than it might have been under different circumstances.

Microsoft's CEO is picking his words very carefully. He knows exactly what he's doing and why he's saying what he is. These remarks are not by accident. They all play a factor in this deal closing.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...-activision-deal-approval-handling-of-economy

“The constraints are real—inflation is definitely all around us,” he said. “I always go back to the point that in an uncertain time, in an inflationary time, software is the deflationary force.”

Microsoft is focused on “ensuring that our customers are able to do more with less,” Nadella said. “So in terms of outlook, I am optimistic about Microsoft’s value proposition. I’m optimistic about our share, but we are not immune from anything that is a macroeconomic headwind.”

The company has been slowing hiring and eliminating many open jobs, including in its Azure cloud business and security software unit, as well as Windows and Office, Bloomberg News reported earlier this year. Nadella said the company will keep growing in some areas after adding approximately 70,000 workers during the pandemic.

“We are going to be more deliberate,” he said.

Microsoft will be “taking the same medicine, which is doing more with less,” Nadella said. “We have many businesses that are really doing super well and will continue to grow, but we will also be looking at what the macroeconomic situation is.”

With the company continuing to grow and increase productivity, “we’ll be able to navigate the waters,” he said.

Translation: A lot of companies are pulling back and protecting themselves and their profits, some of that will mean jobs losses, but amidst all of that Microsoft is still trying to grow and expand parts of their business. Which part of the business are they most obviously trying to grow by taking on jobs? Activision Blizzard and its nearly 10,000 employees. It's a reality that the employment situation of many countries will start to become more uncertain over the next couple months and going into next year. As such, preventing a major corporation with the bankroll of a Microsoft from completing this acquisition does not seem the most prudent of decisions to make for any major economy. Activision is still the same old ruthless company they always were. None of that has suddenly changed. When times get hard, especially as winter hits Europe (won't go into why that also matters because I don't want to touch any politics), who do you presume they would rather be in charge of all those employees? Bobby Kotick and the current leadership of Activision Blizzard? Or Microsoft?

A link on macroeconomics if you want more details.

https://www.investopedia.com/terms/m/macroeconomics.asp

 

[SenjutsuSage]

I dunno about whataboutism but it does show that the industry is much bigger than PlayStation and purchases MS makes don't affect the industry as a whole. Regulators should be focused on the industry as a whole not just the industry leader and protecting its market position.

Contrary to the CMA's statements, trust me when I say they do not care about protecting Playstation. The reason they said what they did is because that's how it has always worked. The remarks they made were almost identical to the complaints Sony delivered to them in open submission. If everybody has no qualms with the deal, then they say nothing. But if ONE major player raises an objection, they then parrot those objections and then challenge the companies trying to complete an acquisition to demonstrate to them why those arguments by that competitor are unfounded or exaggerated.

 

[Kagey K]

Contrary to the CMA's statements, trust me when I say they do not care about protecting Playstation. The reason they said what they did is because that's how it has always worked. The remarks they made were almost identical to the complaints Sony delivered to them in open submission. If everybody has no qualms with the deal, then they say nothing. But if ONE major player raises an objection, they then parrot those objections and then challenge the companies trying to complete an acquisition to demonstrate to them why those arguments by that competitor are unfounded or exaggerated.

That's an easy win even under the threat of another 6 months lead time. (They said it wouldn't close until June '23)

Meanwhile I'm just going to keep buying more stock.

You are retarded not to at this price. If it ever exceeds 95.00 prior to close I'll sell it all

 

[ChorizoPicozo]

Waiting for Jim Ryan's answer.

 

[Kagey K]

Waiting for Jim Ryan's answer.

We love gamers and gamers love us.

It wouldn't be fair.

There I just did his next 5 rebuttals.

 

[SenjutsuSage]

That's an easy win even under the threat of another 6 months lead time. (They said it wouldn't close until June '23)

Meanwhile I'm just going to keep buying more stock.

You are retarded not to at this price. If it ever exceeds 95.00 prior to close I'll sell it all

I got serious bank in that stock lol. I'm poised to make like $8,000 or so on my money with how much I put in.

Warren Buffett is confident it's going to pass, too, which is why he put all that money in.

 

[Kagey K]

I got serious bank in that stock lol. I'm poised to make like $8,000 or so on my money with how much I put in.

Warren Buffett is confident it's going to pass, too, which is why he put all that money in.

Fn you went deeper than me, bit it's an easy win on a leery market.

Nobody else is giving 20% returns anywhere.

It's free money to anyone when it passes.

 

[Silent Viper]

“Let us have competition” he says. LOL

It’s like the rich kid that brings his expensive toys to school just to brag.

One thing is to make competition, another thing entirely is to buy the entire industry because you don’t know how to make good games. If only all that money was used to create their own studios and their own IPs, Xbox would be huge. if they wanted competition they would do that, and maybe buy a couple of studios to complement it.

What they are doing is just trying to own the industry. Nintendo is successful doing their own thing, Sony too, but Microsoft just can’t.

I still can believe Ganepass is profitable. It’s just a pipe dream for them that they make work only because they can afford to hemorrhage money into it. Any other business would be bankrupt with a GamePass model.

It would be a shame if this deal pass. I know it will because there is a lot of money involve and they will be able to “convince” everyone involved in the decision.

As I said, they should use the money to create their own studios. Look how much Sony paid for Insomniac and they do amazing games.

Mr X and you are neighbours and you both love same girl, but that girl is more impressed by Mr X as he has more money. So u as jealous and salty whiny beyaatch, runs around crying, no its not fair and attack Mr X. Mr X beats the shit
out of u and walks away with the girl.

In the end you look like a whiny salty kid and girl goes with Mr X and lives happily after.

This jealously towards people who are rich must end.

Its not MS fault, that they rich and can afford to buy big studios .

And FYi, Sony also acquiring studios left n right as well. ND, GG, sucker punch, insomniac, Bungie nd all are acquired studios. Go look up their history

 

[Kagey K]

If this fails Activision will basically bankrupt overnight and fai to exist as a company anyway.

Either way they are done.

 

[Kagey K]

And FYi, Sony also acquiring studios left n right as well. ND, GG, sucker punch, insomniac, Bungie nd all are acquired studios. Go look up their history

Those are different.

Organically grown, and blah blah blah.

 

[Silent Viper]

Those are different.

Organically grown, and blah blah blah.

Sure. I heard that shit before

 

[Kagey K]

Sure. I heard that shit before

You mean buying studios with no games isn't organic?

 

[phil_t98]

If it's so easy why is Xbox not making their own COD, Splatoon or Apex? Only Sony needs to create their own

Here's a small list of xbox 3rd-party timed or permanent exclusives. What's the difference?

Dead Rising
Last Remnant
Infinite Undiscovery
Star Ocean The Last Hope
GTA DLC
Dino Crisis 3
COD DLC
Morrowind and Oblivion
Ninja Gaiden
ACE COMBAT 6
Tales Of Vesperia
Rise of the Tomb Raider
Tomb Raider Underworld DLC
Bioshock
Splinter Cell
Splinter Cell Conviction
Ghost Recon
The Division DLC
Mass Effect 2
Dead or Alive 3 and 4
Titanfall
Guilty Gear 2
Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare
The Medium
Stalker 2
Wartide
PUBG
NARAKA
FiFA Legends DLC
Rainbow Six Vegas
Rainbow Six GRAW
Ridge Racer 6
Lost Planet
Alone in the Dark
Eternal Sonata

Ark 2
Ashen
Cuphead
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2
Phantasy Star Online 2 New Genesis (Time Exclusive Western Release)
Crossfire X
Valheim
Echo Generation
Sable
Warhammer 40,000: Darktide
Slime Rancher 2
High On Life
Somerville
Lightyear Frontier
CACOON
Replaced
The Last Case of Benedict Fox
Ereban: Shadow Legacy
ExoMecha
Shredders
PowerWash Simulator

yeah xbox does it to, that's not the problem. the problem is when Sony complains about it and does it to. remember them paying to keep tomb raider 2 off the Saturn completely?

all this with COD isn't for protecting the gamers its to protect their revenue. after all we don't see Nintendo complaining about this do we?

 

[Ozriel]

Anyone paying any attention to what is coming out of Satya's mouth in that video is a moron. Classic case of an executive taking public for fools. Bringing up Sony's recent purchases as if they mean anything. You can put all Sony's purchases over the past couple years together and they don't come anywhere close to what Bethesda and Activision mean.

Satya is talking about the principle of acquiring external studios to beef up internal development capability. I don’t believe he feels he needs to limit himself to spending exactly what Sony spends on acquisitions. The principle is the same, scope is the only difference.

This is a concept you folks clearly understand, because you’re happy to claim that “both parties pay for timed exclusivity” even though you’d be hard pressed to convince anyone that a 3 month timed exclusivity window for STALKER 2 has the same impact as 2 year exclusivity for Final Fantasy XVI.

Guy also lying out his teeth talking about "we don't want to take games away we want to put them on more platforms." No you just want to put them on platforms in your ecosystem. Anyone with a brain knows what you're up to

Satya is heavily pro-cloud (he used to run Azure) and his ‘more platforms’ line is probably referring to XCloud use on phones, ultrabooks, smart TVs etc.

But it’s easier to accuse him of ‘lying out his teeth’, I guess.

 

[GhostOfTsu]

yeah xbox does it to, that's not the problem. the problem is when Sony complains about it and does it to. remember them paying to keep tomb raider 2 off the Saturn completely?

all this with COD isn't for protecting the gamers its to protect their revenue. after all we don't see Nintendo complaining about this do we?

This shit again? No I don't remember because that was 30 years ago. Tomb Raider was not even in the Top 10 reason why the Saturn failed. Get over it.

COD is not on Nintendo so their opinion is irrelevant.

 

[khakimzhan]

1. Why buying the publisher is not how you compete? What are the rules of competition? Where can I read them?
2. What does xbox gaining? The fact that there would never be exclusive game mode inaccessible for a whole year by xbox owners of COD. For example

 

[Goalus]

Satya is heavily pro-cloud (he used to run Azure) and his ‘more platforms’ line is probably referring to XCloud use on phones, ultrabooks, smart TVs etc.

But it’s easier to accuse him of ‘lying out his teeth’, I guess.

Satya's words are a stab in the heart for Sony zealots because they are nothing but the truth. MS are not even taking anything away from them, just Game Pass will become more attractive by an order of magnitude. That's why they are so mad - they can't even find a proper reason why this acquisition is bad for them.

 

[ZehDon]

This deal and the related antitrust issues has plenty to do with Sony. One of the primary focuses of antitrust regulations is how prospective mergers could unduly harm competition. Sony is direct competition in this case...

Sure, but also not really. Sony wouldn't actually be unduly harmed under any definition of that term by this purchase. Ryan's blustering is simply because Sony's PSN strategy has been "let third parties carry the entire platform while we do basically nothing and take 30% of their money", and now Microsoft is buying their largest platform driver and cash cow. Sony would actually have to make titles that drive PSN engagement - which is all but abandoned during the PS4 era. That's not Microsoft acting in anything resembling an "undue" manner, that's Microsoft trying to complete with the entrenched market leader who's currently paying developers to stay off of Microsoft's subscription service. Jim Ryan's [shocked_pikachu.jpeg] is the result of Sony putting all of its PSN eggs into a Call of Duty shaped basket. Sony can whine all it wants, but it doesn't have an opinion here - it has rhetoric, and its just the same as any company looking to suppress competition: Sony doesn't own anything, but they want everyone to act as if they do because its dramatically cheaper for them. Sony has nearly a dozen GaaS titles in the works. Let them drive their own damn platform, rather than trying to force everyone else to do it for them.

 

[phil_t98]

This shit again? No I don't remember because that was 30 years ago. Tomb Raider was not even in the Top 10 reason why the Saturn failed. Get over it.

COD is not on Nintendo so their opinion is irrelevant.

exactly and they survive without it but do remember that COD was on Nintendo to, Sony is just looking after revenue not gamers. so for 30 years ago, they were aggressive in their practice to get the market share of the market, its massively relevant to what is happening now as Microsoft is doing it and they don't like it. also just before this gen started Sony appraoched all major third parties trying to secure exclusivity deals for PS5. there is even a thread about it if you would like to go back and read it. loads of Sony fans bragging about how good that was for the PS5, Microsoft wised up and thought we aint gonna get more market share by playing the good guy and they got aggressive and made purchases.

 

[Cyberpunkd]

the more MS boasts the more embarrassing they look.

Both MS and Sony should just stfu and sort this out in private, MS keeps going public like a twitch influencer.

Unfortunately you cannot be quiet in social media era, everyone seems obliged to share their opinions about everything all the time.

Having said that Nadella is signalling the investors here, so he actually has reasons to speak up.

 

[Cyberpunkd]

You can have a reasonable opinion for why the deal does/doesn't rise to the level of violating regulations but we should at least start from a foundation supported by facts.

Facts are as follows: Microsoft is acquiring cultural IP, in the market with no barriers of entry. CoD is not a software platform, nor does it have proprietary secret sauce. The success can be in theory easily replicated, the law doesn’t deal with “maybe it won’t be as popular as CoD”.

That deal was always going to go through.

 

[ChorizoPicozo]

I don't think there is a person who genuinely believes this deal is not going to be approved.

The drama among rats as far as I am aware is:

Blue rat: This ain't fair cuz, these are publishers.

Green rat: Sony has been buying studios left and right.

And then you have a series of whataboutism.

I just want this drama to be over and have a new one...this is getting old.

 

[reksveks]

I don't think there is a person who genuinely believes this deal is not going to be approved.

The drama among rats as far as I am aware is:

Blue rat: This ain't fair cuz, these are publishers.

Green rat: Sony has been buying studios left and right.

And then you have a series of whataboutism.

I just want this drama to be over and have a new one...this is getting old.

Basically this

 

[Sosokrates]

You don't need to buy publishers to have competition. You just need to make high-quality games.

Let's not pretend like MS didn't have teams prior to 2018, or that they didn't buy several developers prior to Zenimax.

Yeah, well easier said then done and theres nothing wrong with buying devs or pubs, so they can have more exclusives. Sony have been buying up devs too, Microsoft need to make big moves to equal or be better then sony.

Theres a thread about xbox one being the worst console for exclusives, its because they lacked first party.

 

[Banjo64]

Satya's words are a stab in the heart for Sony zealots because they are nothing but the truth. MS are not even taking anything away from them, just Game Pass will become more attractive by an order of magnitude. That's why they are so mad - they can't even find a proper reason why this acquisition is bad for them.

Have they committed to keeping anything on Xbox beyond CoD? (Genuinely don’t know).

Future Tony Hawks, Spyro, Crash, Diablo (beyond 4), future Blizzard FPS games?

 

[Godot25]

And the No. 1 player, Sony Group Corp., has made several recent acquisitions. “So if this is about competition, let us have competition,” he said.

Buying not one, but TWO publishers, on top of buying individual development studios (Obsidian, Double Fine, Ninja Theory etc etc) is beyond competition. Sony can't compete with that.

*Disclaimer - I'm not a fanboy and own both a Series S (soon X) and PS5. Feel like I need to make this clear in these threads.

No it is not. Sony does not define what "competition" is. Market does not operate on basis "we can't afford this merger so it should be illegal"

If you look at this acquisition through "console gaming only" lens it will not put Microsoft in dominant position. That argument is clearly debunked by Nintendo who does not have Call of Duty and is still smothering Xbox a PlayStation in terms of console sales.
If you look at this acquisition through "whole gaming including mobile" it makes even less sense arguing against it. Especially when you have companies like Tencent, Apple, Google, Sony, Nintendo etc. on the market.

Only way how you can argue against this acquisition is through lens of "will it hurt Sony?" Which is ultimately not really reasonable argument. Because you can't argue against merger just because one company will loose money. Especially when you read all Brasil stuff where nobody have a problem with this merger except Sony.
Basically the only reason why there is even a doubt that this acquisition will go through is because current FTC hates big tech companies. But even then, senators tried to challenge this acquisition through "workers rights" which have bitten them in the ass because merger got approval of CWA (labour org. in USA).

 

[Goalus]

Have they committed to keeping anything on Xbox beyond CoD? (Genuinely don’t know).

Future Tony Hawks, Spyro, Crash, Diablo (beyond 4), future Blizzard FPS games?

I am not sure, but it would make sense because Sony users would basically subsidize Game Pass by paying full price. They want to own their games and have been shitting on Game Pass for the past three years anyway, so MS is doing them a favor by letting them buy the games like they are used to.

 

[Banjo64]

I am not sure, but it would make sense because Sony users would basically subsidize Game Pass by paying full price. They want to own their games and have been shitting on Game Pass for the past three years anyway, so MS is doing them a favor by letting them buy the games like they are used to.

But equally it would have made sense for Sony users to subsidise Game Pass by buying Starfield, TES, Redfall (and presumably the next Doom and Fallout) - but look how that’s turned out.

 

[Warablo]

People act like Microsoft put a gun to a company's head to buy it.

 

[Kiraly]

This shit again? No I don't remember because that was 30 years ago. Tomb Raider was not even in the Top 10 reason why the Saturn failed. Get over it.

COD is not on Nintendo so their opinion is irrelevant.

Oh so that doesn't count but your fifteen year old list of Xbox 360 exclusives does.