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[reksveks]

Why would British have anything to say to this deal? I am not exactly versed how does it works, but all regulatory bodies in the world, has to say yes in order for it to be successful acquisition?

There are customers and employees of ABK and MS in the UK so they have the legal right to look at the deal.

No, not all bodies have to approve but if a body for a big enough market says no (and its upheld by courts) then the company has to decide if that market is valuable enough to drop the merger.

 

[digoutyoursoul]

From my social feeds, this has brought out the worst tedious behaviour in some people, particularly those with YouTube channels.

 

[cash_longfellow]

Sony: We can't live without Call of Duty
Microsoft: You will have Call of Duty even after acquisition
Sony: But we can't compete when you will have Call of Duty on Game Pass
Microsoft: But you can have Game Pass on PlayStation
Sony: No

More like
Microsoft: The only reason we even sell consoles anymore is because of Gamepass, we are in need of more money, can we please put Gamepass on PlayStation?
Sony: No

 

[M1chl]

It is pure hypocrisy. That's what lawyers do though. They are paid to ignore the sins of their client but highlight and promote the sins of their client's enemy even if they are the exact same sins. It is like this "PlayStation chose to block Game Pass" nonsense. Well of course they did. Microsoft lawyers are pretending MS was doing Sony some favor by offering to bring GP to PS, if that is even true which I seriously doubt.

There is so much corporate lawyer bullshit in all this correspondence going both ways.



Because operates in the UK. So does Activision Blizzard. So they have to abide by the rulings of the CMA or not operate there anymore or perhaps some other consequence.

There are customers and employees of ABK and MS in the UK so they have the legal right to look at the deal.

No, not all bodies have to approve but if a body for a big enough market says no (and its upheld by courts) then the company has to decide if that market is valuable enough to drop the merger.

Thanks!

 

[PharaoTutAnchAmun]

This nugget of info came from the Microsoft filing to UK regulators but this thread this isn't about that deal.

This is about the now confirmed ask by Microsoft, for Sony to allow XBOX Game Pass to be part of the PlayStation platform. Although that ask was refused or "Blocked" as Microsoft refers to it, this has huge implications for this industry as we know it.

Was Sony Justified in refusing GP on PlayStation?

Yes

 

[TheGodfather07]

how stupid are microsoft? they think any company would ever allow their competiton on their own product? it would be like microsoft opening up an xbox store, than advertising and selling playstation and nintendo products in it.

if microsoft want more people to sell their subscriptions to then they should focus on getting their own hardware into peoples hands. if you want to release games on PlayStation, then do so. dont expect sony to let you leech off their install base to sell them subscriptions.

 

[digoutyoursoul]

Yeah I remember a guy on Major Nelsons podcast speaking about Spencer "He would put it all on every system if he could".

Personally I would unlikely buy another Xbox console if it were to happen, if they are putting their stuff on other platforms what's the point when you get what Sony or Nintendo offer plus gamepass on the same box.

 

[Bojanglez]

how stupid are microsoft? they think any company would ever allow their competiton on their own product? it would be like microsoft opening up an xbox store, than advertising and selling playstation and nintendo products in it.

if microsoft want more people to sell their subscriptions to then they should focus on getting their own hardware into peoples hands. if you want to release games on PlayStation, then do so. dont expect sony to let you leech off their install base to sell them subscriptions.

They probably knew they would be rejected, but for procedural reasons in competition investigations like this, they wanted to be able to say that they were 'blocked'.

 

[Tiago Rodrigues]

I'm not saying it's terrible or anything. Just that the majority of people would choose GP over PS+.

I don't think PS+ (a console-only subscription model) took over half a decade and god knows how many billions to surpass 25M subscribers like Xbox + PC subscription service Gamepass...but i'm not sure right now.

 

[DJ12]

I guess now it's confirmed the people that argued with me about ms wanting gamepass on PlayStation are drinking too much coolaid to see the big picture.

Well....

 

[Bojanglez]

I expect if MS ported their first party games natively to PS, allowed them to be sold on PS Store and offered Game Pass just for those first party titles (more like EA play and Ubisoft+) then Sony would have no problem with it.

 

[chixdiggit]

how stupid are microsoft? they think any company would ever allow their competiton on their own product? it would be like microsoft opening up an xbox store, than advertising and selling playstation and nintendo products in it.

You honestly think MS would refuse Nintendo and Sony games on their console? Are you serious?

 

[MisterXDTV]

I think what this shows is that Microsoft cares very little about the Xbox console and the hardware market. They want Gamepass on as many platforms as possible as they make more money with subscriptions and software sales.

Fine, then they should stop making consoles that compete against Sony and Nintendo.

Then we can talk again about Game Pass on Playstation and Switch

 

[DForce]

The move mostly benefits Microsoft and not Sony. So why would they help the competition again?

 

[SSfox]

And thankfully they did, the day Sony allows Gamepass in Playstation i will sell my PS console and won't buy one ever again.

 

[SlimySnake]

this is like bitching you cant have access to another man's wife. "But your honor, this man won't allow me to fuck his wife."

 

[Shut0wen]

Tbf i cant really see how this would even benefit sony, would definitely benefit nintendo since most games can be streamed but for sony, no ways especially since just say if it did happen gamepass would have to be almost twice the amount it costs so that both sony and MS benefit from this

 

[SmokedMeat]

I'm 1,000% sure Nintendo would block it as well.

Are people supposed to get riled up about this?

 

[Morrie’s wig shop]

I thought he turned that L.A.W into a bong, fucking genius.

 

[Pelta88]

From my social feeds, this has brought out the worst tedious behaviour in some people, particularly those with YouTube channels.

The mask of neutrality has been decimated. There's a lot of anger in some of these social media/youtubers types.

 

[Tiago Rodrigues]

this is like bitching you cant have access to another man's wife. "But your honor, this man won't allow me to fuck his wife."

What's next? "Sony doesn't allow Xbox games to work on PS5"?

 

[Frank Horrigan]

How did that trojan horse work out the last time it was accepted as a gift?

Once gamepass is on PlayStation, there's no stopping what Microsoft can then put on gamepass to destroy playstation from the inside.

"Oh you're biggest selling game is FIfa, Sony? Well, we've just made a deal to have it day and date on gamepass so now playstation players get it for free"

As much as I love gamepass, I'm glad Sony rejected them. Let's keep competition between who is best and not who has the deepest pockets. Otherwise we open the door to bigger companies than Microsoft, and they're not all American tech companies

 

[JackMcGunns]

it's ridiculous that this is even brought up. Sony should ask them if they can launch their own PS store on xbox. Maybe even PS+.

Microsoft would allow it lol

 

[Ezekiel_]

The move mostly benefits Microsoft and not Sony. So why would they help the competition again?

If MS sold their games on the PS Store, and made a MS first party only GamePass available on PS, that would mostly benefit Sony.

 

[Panajev2001a]

I'm looking forward to the Activision deal closing. Microsoft has tried to show Sony goodwill offering to put Gamepass on their platform, only to be rejected. It's time to go scorched earth.

Are you having a laugh? That is goodwill to you?! Are you Attila the Hun?

 

[TGO]

For some reason I don't think this is a the second time a MS representative has been laughed out of the building by suggesting something so stupid.

 

[digoutyoursoul]

The mask of neutrality has been decimated. There's a lot of anger in some of these social media/youtubers types.

From a personal perspective, I couldn't care less for Call of Duty or Activision, Bethesda either. I get it people have their views , cool with me, how some go about it tho is so boring. "This side good, that side bad no matter what". Fucking same lame act over and over dude.

I'm just glad Scorn is out tomorrow even if it's a good or bad, talk about actual games. I'm bored of this constant Gamepass, Services, Subscription talk. And I'm a Xbox guy mostly.

 

[SSfox]

this is like bitching you cant have access to another man's wife. "But your honor, this man won't allow me to fuck his wife."

This.

Or like "MUH my honor, my neighbour isn't letting me put my cars in his garage MUH"

 

[lh032]

Jimbo is not only smart, hes brave as well.
Fight like a warrior!!! to the death!!!!

Gamepass model on Playstation makes no sense.

Yes, the PS5 could attract alot of consumers due to a huge library avaliable.

BUt in the same time, Microsoft could earn ALOT of revenue from the playstation ecosystem, which in business sense makes no sense for Sony.

If this is a fight Microsoft looking for, then so be it. May the best wins, lets go!

 

[Josemayuste]

I think that this statement by Microsoft part was made only for UK regulators and the rest to be told: 'well we proposed this deal and Sony rejected' bla bla

Tu sum up, in order to get the Activision deal approved, and that's it.

At this point both companies are playing their cards in this Poker games of M&A.

 

[ZoukGalaxy]

Poor little Microsoft, this is so unfair, maybe letting PS now on all Xbox consoles first will change things.

/s

 

[SF Kosmo]

Put your shit on smarttv platforms already and this won't be an issue for anyone.

Why would Sony want this on their platform?

 

[Victor Omega]

Sony: We can't live without Call of Duty
Microsoft: You will have Call of Duty even after acquisition
Sony: But we can't compete when you will have Call of Duty on Game Pass
Microsoft: But you can have Game Pass on PlayStation
Sony: No

Thats reminds me of Sony - Capcom feud with monster hunter back in the 7th gen:

Capcom: Fix ad hoc on psp
Sony: No
Ninentdo: hi
*Monter hunter tri exclusive to Wii*

 

[Kilau]

Would it not just be Xcloud like what's coming to Meta?

 

[Yoboman]

This is a really dumb argument for MS to make in the context of acquiring Activision and COD. This is called product tying and is ripe for anti trust

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tying_(commerce)

And Id question what external platforms they have let on Xbox? Will PSN come to Xbox?

 

[Lukaku's First Touch]

What are these HUGE implications you are talking about?

 

[SSfox]

What's next? "Sony doesn't allow Xbox games to work on PS5"?

"Sony doesn't release Playstation Studios games on Xbox"
"Sony are making too many good games"
"Sony has made PS5 SSD/IO too good"

...ect

 

[Slicker than your average]

I don't think Sony offered Microsoft PS Plus on Xbox. Microsoft actually offered Game Pass on PlayStation. So your whole spiel has one big problem...

And you trying to spin this as evil Sony is equally ridiculous.

 

[Yoboman]

This is like McDonalds asking Burger King if they can set up a Big Mac stall in all their restaurants

"Yeah we bought all the meat in the country, but we are happy to sell our burgers in your stores"

 

[OmegaSupreme]

No shit? Wow. What a revelation

 

[Godot25]

And you trying to spin this as evil Sony is equally ridiculous.

No. I understand why Sony don't want to allow Game Pass on their console. Not even in cloud form.

I'm just stating facts. Microsoft offered Game Pass on PlayStation. Sony did not offered PS Plus on Xbox.

 

[DForce]

If MS sold their games on the PS Store, and made a MS first party only GamePass available on PS, that would mostly benefit Sony.

Selling their games on the PS Store would be different, but they could also offer Game Pass on the PS with a low entry cost.

This would discourage players from buying their games and they'll go straight to the Game Pass Subscription. They could also strike deals with major third-party publishers to put their games day one on Game Pass, eating into Sony's revenue.

 

[Badlucktroll]

"We offered our hand, they offered us STEEL!!"

 

[ReBurn]

Sony has already stated that they plan to have more than 50% of games as live-service games by 2025. As I already stated (and what you ignored in my previous post), the Bungie acquisition was made due to Bungie's exceptional knowledge regarding live-service games. Sony wants that knowledge shared with its other development teams as that would drastically reduce R&D time and help propel Sony towards more live-service content at a substantially quicker pace. Additionally, Sony will still get their cut of micro-transactions from Bungie content regardless of the platform used. Sony benefits greatly without having to put Bungie under their thumb - not that Sony could have done that if they had wanted to since they had no leverage over Bungie.

This isn't opinion, by the way. Sony has already stated this information as well. They told people the reason they wanted Bungie, and it wasn't just for Destiny. It was for the technical expertise in the live-service arena.



Source: https://techcrunch.com/2022/07/15/sony-owns-bungie/



Source: https://techcrunch.com/2022/05/26/sony-live-service-bungie-destiny/

No doubt Sony purchased Bungie due to their exceptional knowledge of live service games. Sony wanted their expertise and their technology. It allows Sony to get their other live service games to market faster than if they were trying to build the tech from the ground up. That's why Bungie was able to command a price of $4 Billion. I agree with all of that.

I do not believe that Bungie is fully independent within Sony. A few snippets from the PR after the acquisition doesn't outline their entire relationship. If Bungie craps the bed and a big budget game they make bombs do you think Sony is just going to say "oh well, these things happen" and just forget it?

I sincerely believe that Sony will allow Bungie to have freedom to make the games they want to make as long as those games meet earnings expectations. If they don't I believe Sony will absorb the parts of Bungie that were the basis of the acquisition and divest themselves of the rest. I believe this because of past experience. When DriveClub was struggling Shawn Layden told the press that he supported how Evolution Studios was handling the game. Then Sony laid off a chunk of the studio and tried to make DriveClub a live service game. When that didn't work Sony closed the studio.

It's not an agenda, it's an observation. Bungie games can bring in lots of money. If they do then they will enjoy a great future with Sony. If their future games don't make money I feel there's a good chance that Bungie as we know it becomes a platform support team and their game development people are let go. Just my opinion.

 

[//DEVIL//]

Sony would make so much money from GamePass. Wait... They wouldn't.

They would .. if they get a cut since it's on their platform . 30% or something from doing nothing but having the app on their platform ..

 

[Yoboman]

Selling their games on the PS Store would be different, but they could also offer Game Pass on the PS with a low entry cost.

This would discourage players from buying their games and they'll go straight to the Game Pass Subscription. They could also strike deals with major third-party publishers to put their games day one on Game Pass, eating into Sony's revenue.

MS are spending $80 billion on an acquisition

If they were serious about their games on Playstation they would start porting them and can do a sub service for those games like EA and Ubisoft do. This isnt about their games on Playstation but back dooring the revenue streams of 3rd party games with cloud

 

[SSfox]

They would .. if they get a cut since it's on their platform . 30% or something from doing nothing but having the app on their platform ..

No, they would make more money with their own sub services.

 

[chixdiggit]

Once gamepass is on PlayStation, there's no stopping what Microsoft can then put on gamepass to destroy playstation from the inside.

"Oh you're biggest selling game is FIfa, Sony? Well, we've just made a deal to have it day and date on gamepass so now playstation players get it for free"

Valid point. But wouldn't in this case MS rely on Sony doing well?

 

[Three]

First of all. Neither I, neither you know what kind of offer Microsoft took to Sony. Honestly, if they offered streaming first-party Game Pass "lite" catalogue of games through Game Pass app on PlayStation that would be great. Same if Sony offered similar "lite" service on Xbox.

But I know that defending corpo is more important than having flexibility as a player right?

Whatever you speculate it was, it was clearly not in their best interest.

Would Xbox allow PS Plus on Xbox Series? lmao

Like why is this even brought up? What does MS win from saying this? Genuine question btw.

They are saying it to regulators. It makes it seem like they rejected a gesture of good will when it's actually kind of ridiculous.

MS are consolidating the market and creating a subscription service above all else, at the cost of game sales and console sales. They would essentially be killing the PS console in favour of a platform agnostic streaming/sub service which they have the upper hand in due to spending. They didn't compete on hardware sales so they are trying to own the popular software by buying the big software publishers for the "hardware doesn't matter" future.

Allowing it on PS would have just been bad for them. It would have meant fewer people buying games from the PS store and MS just using Sony's only advantage in install base to sell their subs. MS focus right now is a streaming/sub service and that's where the competition is being investigated as much as consoles.

I mean maybe that was part of the proposed deal. MS wouldn't object to it. I think in the future having all consoles pre-installed with both Gamepass and PS Plus would be great for me. I get the best of both worlds and only have to buy one console and I could switch between Game Pass and PS Plus whenever I please. Or just stay subscribed to both. I watch Amazon Prime, Netflix and Disney Plus on my TV and phone. Why not have Gamepass and PS Plus playable on the same devices? Am I crazy or would this be more convenient

In some ways yes but in others not. "All Consoles" wouldn't really be a thing in this future. Consoles sold at a loss would be dead. PS as a platform built on selling games designed for native hardware would be under threat and less viable. What would be the point of creating a console if it's no longer a walled garden? Devs are more likely to offer only streaming for interoperability from a cloud windows machine too. Beats the added cost of xbox only devs developing for PS & Switch and PS only devs on Xbox & Switch. If they all survive in that future that is.

 

[Midn1ght]

Hot Take:
Microsoft will not release another traditional console as we know it but only a streaming stick and a controller.
Gamepass will also be available everywhere (Steam, PlayStation, etc...)

Probably not, but if that happen, I'll quote myself in a few years and feel proud of myself for an hour.