Breaking: Microsoft to acquire Activision-Blizzard in near 70$ billion deal
- Thread starter Draugoth
- Start date
To be honest there is absolutely no way Sony can compete with COD.
It's a fucking juggernaught IP.
They could release 50 more shitty iterations of COD and the masses will lap it up.
If I was Sony, I would buy Bungie or Take 2. Otherwise, kiss Playstation goodbye.
Braag
Gold Member
They have started to lose that PC audience a bit once they went in bed with Epic and ditched Steam.
Yeah. That sounds like "We have marketing deal for Call of Duty that ensures COD games will come out on PlayStation, but when the deal expires we don't know what the fuck will happen"
Dibils2k
Member
damn, thats a public plea to MS to show mercy lol
Riky
$MSFT
You can almost smell the desperation, maybe buying up exclusive deals trying to starve Xbox of content wasn't a great idea after all, seriously backfired.
Gameplaylover
Member
Not anytime soon, they just recently announced Ubisoft+ on Xbox
Gameplaylover
Member
skit_data
Member
I don't think those deals were the deciding factor, MS has done similar deals for a long time as well.
I'd assume the changing landscape with Tencent, Embracer, Google etc. making moves is what primarily forces MS hand.
But yes, I don't think Sony expected the gaming landscape shifting so quickly under their feet and it shows.
Banjo64
cumsessed
Willing to publicly comment on this to try and soothe investors (they were silent on Zenimax) - but still not willing to allow Game Pass on PS5?
Riky
$MSFT
Maybe not the primary factor but we now live in a world where Call Of Duty and Crash Bandicoot are Xbox first party games.
We've also now literally got statements from Sony port begging, how the tides have turned.
geary
Member
))))
DenchDeckard
Moderated wildly
Ooof this is rough, Sony are wounded. Of course ms will honour current agreements and contracts but after that….. Sony are going to get screwed one way or another. Either they bring Game Pass to PS or they get the short scraps.
I'm clearly responding to his own interpretation of the article, not the article itself. Hence why i quoted him.
You surely need to work on your comprehension skills.
Good thing that there's lots of competitors in the FPS genre, eh?
If you have your choice of hardware to play the games you like, how then does MS have a Vice grip on the devices you play on like the other fellow said?
You warriors crack me up
More clearly, this seemingly indicates they have no plans to challenge this deal.
Team anti-trust in the mud.
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skit_data
Member
Yeah, I think at this point the best thing they can do to is just work out a deal with Xbox regarding gamepass that minimizes the upcoming economic losses of Sony and hopefully could benefit both companies. If Zenimax wasn't a wake up call, this most definitely should be.
ZywyPL
Banned
I just want these 4 mega-studios to be free from Call of Duty hamster wheel and do something else, with passion.
While Infinity Ward handles everything related to COD.
So much talent wasted for only one IP.
Just image the possibilities. And look at their raw manpower. It's crazy.
Fully agree. I see a lot of comments that CoD is getting stagnant and needs a change, but what it really needs is simply to take a break. Leave CoD to IW since they're the best at it with one game every 3-4 years, and it'll feel fresh and people will love it, while the other studios should focus on something completely new, not even an FPS.
octiny
Banned
Riky
$MSFT
I think Jim Ryan should be signing that Gamepass deal asap, if other big publishers go to Amazon and Google then it's their only hope.
Shmunter
Member
Easy to say from a fan point of view. Different story when each year it is the biggest selling game. Activision profit is practically COD, ignoring mobile
Schmick
Member
The only way GamePass will be viable to PS Users is if it allows local installs and for that to work for MS and Sony the library will be reduced to just MS first party games.
It'll be a Gamepass lite scenario.
However I think the chances of Gamepass going to PS is close to nil.
It'll be a Gamepass lite scenario.
However I think the chances of Gamepass going to PS is close to nil.
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Nickolaidas
Banned
Say Bryank, if you are still lurking, you must be very happy that every single Activision Blizzard game will be xbox only, giving console gamers an incentive to buy an xbox, right?
Swift_Star
Banned
It's pretty clear that Microsoft aims to become the only place available for you to play HD games, hence, it wants to become a monopoly. They're clearly on their way there.Good article
Monopoly money: is Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard good for gaming?
The company’s bottomless appetite for new acquisitions is creating a megalith where the art of the deal is threatening the art – and heart – of the gamewww.theguardian.com
Microsoft sees games as content. It seems not so much interested in creating games – or selling consoles – as owning where and how we play them.
Sosokrates
Report me if I continue to console war
Not every year is the same though, you will have years when more devs are releasing.
8 would be a quiet year for XGS.
It is and I wonder how much money PS would need to spend on marketing to make a game like the one like Deviation and Firewalk even begin to compete.
GHG
Member
They are not the ones responsible for challenging the deal, it's up to the regulators.
CircusOfValues
Banned
Banjo64
cumsessed
I don't think it was me who said what you've attributed that quote to.
But to your point, Sony can't just make a CoD killer, or they would have done it already. It's like saying Microsoft can just make a Spider-Man killer.
Think the quoting went weird cause I was going to reply to one of your other questions/comments so it's very weird.
1. PS games are generally more feature full on disc than Xbox is the common thought (aka can work offline without any downloading needed)
2. I agree that Sony can't make a CoD killer, they can try to compete with Firewalk/Deviation's games but I was kinda rhetorically asking the amount of marketing spend that they would need to commit to doing so. I think it's in the multi-billion range over 3/4 years.
Riky
$MSFT
Some franchises I don't think you can compete with, Battlefield can't compete with Call Of Duty despite its history, Konami couldn't complete with FIFA and nobody can touch GTA, same with Minecraft.
Their best hope is buying Bungie and owning Destiny.
darrylgorn
Member
Oof. They were better off with 'no comment' or some kind of feigned compliment.
This just comes off as extremely salty.
Honey Bunny
Member
I was just starting to like xbox but this has soured me on them all over again god damn. I was even designing my series x controller on design labs. No longer!
Sosokrates
Report me if I continue to console war
Good article
Monopoly money: is Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard good for gaming?
The company’s bottomless appetite for new acquisitions is creating a megalith where the art of the deal is threatening the art – and heart – of the game
Microsoft sees games as content. It seems not so much interested in creating games – or selling consoles – as owning where and how we play them.
Does not make much sense.
Its not the first time a platform has had vastly more first party then the competition, during the early xbox one years sony had double the first party and no one was calling sony monopolistic then.
Its strange people create some artificial point where a company become monopolistic, but in the case of this article its just no true there plenty more devs out there if sony needs more to compete.
But the whole concept is flawed.
I mean any company or person wanting to make a video game platform needs millions and now billions of dollers, so is sony and Nintendo monopolistic all these years because it requires huge amounts of capital to be a player in the gaming platform business.
Microsoft does have an advantage by having such vast sums of cash, but so does sony against companies with less money, its weird that now its multi billions of dollers its monopolistic but multi millions is A ok.
Just another smear piece.
Sosokrates
Report me if I continue to console war
Clear
CliffyB's Cock Holster
One thing I doubt the gloaters have considered is that Sony are certainly big and influential enough in Europe and Asia to lobby regulators extremely hard to block the deal if they feel like they are getting treated unfairly.
EU regulators say no, and the deal is dead. And lets be real, the EU has a track record of slapping down and fining MS on anti-trust grounds.
EU regulators say no, and the deal is dead. And lets be real, the EU has a track record of slapping down and fining MS on anti-trust grounds.
Robb
Gold Member
darrylgorn
Member
I haven't seen anyone gloating about this.
Honey Bunny
Member
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Cyberpunkd
Banned
Joke post? Because one thing EU hates is lobbying. It's a fucking videogames deal, and Russia is almost invading Ukraine. This will be OK'ed in 5 minutes.
KiteGr
Member
Well...
- By by saying "proper console", I mean "with adequate firepower". Nintendo in the recent generations are releasing underpowered consoles where the games never drop in price and they get emulated less than a generation. I was talking about the big boys.
- When it comes to Microsoft, there was the whole fiasco with the Xbone where they tried to make it fully digital. After that, they seem to focus on their game subscription service to much, and that's obviously is no way to truly own any game. Even Limited Run Games who made a career of releasing physical editions of games that otherwise wouldn't get one, know to exclude their platform from their releases.
- Now when It comes to Sony. Just like the last generation, they are included for doing nothing. They released an adequately powerful console that accept disks that for the most part can play offline on their own, and they didn't try to shove digital licensees down our throats beyond the plus games they hand out. And I added in my previews comment the "seem to" because despite their lack of significant moves, they seem to REALLY REALLY want to go digital as well.
EU is far from immune to lobbying but when they slapped MS they had an actual case. Here there is none.
Ehh. Isn't that true for every console manufacturer?Good article
Monopoly money: is Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard good for gaming?
The company’s bottomless appetite for new acquisitions is creating a megalith where the art of the deal is threatening the art – and heart – of the game
Microsoft sees games as content. It seems not so much interested in creating games – or selling consoles – as owning where and how we play them.
One of the reason exclusives exists is to motivate people to use your ecosystem. And by that spend additional money on third party stuff inside that ecosystem.
Sony jumped ahead with PS4 with sought after exclusives. But even more important side effect is that PS4 replaced X360 as a defacto place to play third-party games. So by having great exclusives Sony motivated people to buy PS4 instead of Xbox One. And those people then bough Call of Duty, FIFA etc. on PS4 giving Sony fat 30% cut with every transaction.
So, even Sony and Nintendo sees games as a content. Content that give people reason to buy YOUR console and spend money in THAT ecosystem. And by that owning where and how we play those games. Especially in Sony's and Nintendo case. Because while Microsoft allows their games day one on PC and they are even available in cloud, to experience Sony and Nintendo first-party you HAVE TO buy PS4/PS5 or Switch. So, who cares more about place where you play those games? Microsoft or Nintendo and Sony?
Shmunter
Member
Why would anyone buy an xbox then if you can have all of MS & Sony IP on a Playstation?!?
Honey Bunny
Member
Joke post? EU loves lobbying
Big Tech takes EU lobby spending to an all time high | Corporate Europe Observatory
New research by Corporate Europe Observatory and LobbyControl shows that Big Tech has spent record sums of money to lobby EU institutions. The report shows that the digital industry now spends nearly €100 million on lobbying, a sum which dwarfs all other lobby spending by the private sector...
corporateeurope.org
>New research by Corporate Europe Observatory and LobbyControl shows that Big Tech has spent record sums of money to lobby EU institutions. The report shows that the digital industry now spends nearly €100 million on lobbying
Banjo64
cumsessed
Thanks for the explanation
I certainly pray Sony never go the way of SEGA.There needs to be 2 major console makers competing to ensure neither company get greedy. If Sony were to go I would go PC and Nintendo only as I think Xbox would get mega greedy/anti consumer.
Haggard
Banned
You have clearly slept on EU politics since 1993.
Same corrupt bastards bowing their heads before big money as everywhere else.