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[thicc_girls_are_teh_best]

I mean, they state explicitly that they 'can't win' and have proposed internally using the allocated XBOX budget and just going the mobile route.

I think that what they're most afraid of is the PR blow back. What's sad to me is that the influencer space, knowing what we know now, looks like it was set up to quell dissent of the eventual move from console to mobile.

It's clear that they are losing a ton of money. And while I'm sure some shill will remind us of Microsoft's market cap, it's clear that XBOX as a division is a gargantuan money sink. This 70 Billion feels like the end of the line. A last ditch effort. If this deal fails, the gaming industry is going to shift. Thankfully, XBOX's presence and therefore impact, is minimal. Minimal to the point where outside of the US I doubt it'll be felt.

They shouldn't be afraid of the PR blowback because there is actually a way for them to successfully transition without any blowback.

Just move Xbox off the traditional console business model.

That's it. It's that simple. Reposition the consoles as gaming PC devices and open them up to Windows support with the same console-like UI they currently offer (but the option to switch to a full Windows desktop environment at will). They could position them competitively as OEM NUC-style gaming PCs & laptops with design headed by the Surface division, also allowing them to sell the hardware at actual profits, regular hardware refreshes every 1/2 years (makes All-Access actually beneficial), produce less volume of hardware (can better control production costs this way), etc.

Meanwhile they'd also not have an excuse for not being a full-on multiplatform publisher. And with Xbox hardware now as a PC device, they would still have certain games "technically" exclusive to it at least timed, like we saw with Flight Sim and Gears Tactics on PC before they came to Xbox consoles. Meanwhile they could also better focus on mobile expansion with Game Pass, xCloud and their storefront (how they would work with Apple & Google on revenue cut is a whole different thing, but maybe trying Windows Phone again wouldn't be a bad alternative).

Yes some of the zealot fanatics in the base will sulk about it "basically" being MS "giving up" on the traditional space

 

[Freelance Yakuza]

 

[93xfan]

Something something, personal personal, SonyToo™.

Come back to me when you can actually address the points I've made. Return to base and seek consultation if necessary.

My understanding is that part of the comment you made was irrelevant as you omitted that Sony had done it too.

If my understanding is correct, then perhaps you should change your original post. As of now you don't come across well.

 

[bender]

Just move Xbox off the traditional console business model.

I think this is the very plan. Move out of the hardware business and focus on subscriptions and publishing.

 

[Kilau]

Is BYOG...Bring your own game? Does this mean in order to play on GeForce Now, the customer has to already own the game?

Yeah, GFN isn't a service like Stadia. They don't sell any games, just access to your own library of supported games.

 

[GHG]

My understanding is that part of the comment you made was irrelevant as you omitted that Sony had done it too.

If my understanding is correct, then perhaps you should change your original post. As of now you come across like an ass.

I see the bat signal has gone out.

Frankly I don't care how I come across. That's not my concern. I'm here to get my thoughts out and discuss this along with everybody else here. Seriously, I'm not here to coddle the Xbox fandom's feelings, least of my concern.

This isn't about Sony, Sony aren't the ones on trial right here and right now. Microsoft are, so get used to the fact that they are the ones under scrutiny at the moment. If they didn't want that to be the case then they could have ended the pursuit of this acquisition the moment the CMA decided to block it, then none of the dirty laundry comes out, there's nothing to discuss and no conclusions can be drawn.

So I'll refer you to what I said to him, either come back to me with relevant discussion points that go beyond "but Sony" or don't waste my time.

 

[Nubulax]

They shouldn't be afraid of the PR blowback because there is actually a way for them to successfully transition without any blowback.

Just move Xbox off the traditional console business model.

That's it. It's that simple. Reposition the consoles as gaming PC devices and open them up to Windows support with the same console-like UI they currently offer (but the option to switch to a full Windows desktop environment at will). They could position them competitively as OEM NUC-style gaming PCs & laptops with design headed by the Surface division, also allowing them to sell the hardware at actual profits, regular hardware refreshes every 1/2 years (makes All-Access actually beneficial), produce less volume of hardware (can better control production costs this way), etc.

Meanwhile they'd also not have an excuse for not being a full-on multiplatform publisher. And with Xbox hardware now as a PC device, they would still have certain games "technically" exclusive to it at least timed, like we saw with Flight Sim and Gears Tactics on PC before they came to Xbox consoles. Meanwhile they could also better focus on mobile expansion with Game Pass, xCloud and their storefront (how they would work with Apple & Google on revenue cut is a whole different thing, but maybe trying Windows Phone again wouldn't be a bad alternative).

Yes some of the zealot fanatics in the base will sulk about it "basically" being MS "giving up" on the traditional space

I would love this approach tbh... I hope that is where they take it. I would say they can just release a new model every year instead of 2 a year though

 

[Jimmy_liv]

My point is this is bigger than anything we've seen before... Microsoft having the power to put a big player on its gamepass service to fund future buyouts, games becoming less inventive and more like mobile clones which also generate large amounts of revenue, though why I'll never understand ... Sony generates a lot of its revenue from third party to fund it's big first party titles... Sony will have to change its tactics if this deal does go through, but it will be like starting all over again.

Starting again....because all those 1p ips Sony have will cease to exist?

Nintendo make more money than them without COD and so no, Sony will just have to make better games.

 

[93xfan]

I see the bat signal has gone out.

Frankly I don't care how I come across.

Hope you enjoyed wasting your time writing all that. Your first sentence says it all and tells me all I need to read.

 

[Varteras]

I see the bat signal has gone out.

Frankly I don't care how I come across. That's not my concern. I'm here to get my thoughts out and discuss this along with everybody else here. Seriously, I'm not here to coddle the Xbox fandom's feelings, least of my concern.

This isn't about Sony, Sony aren't the ones on trial right here and right now. Microsoft are, so get used to the fact that they are the ones under scrutiny at the moment. If they didn't want that to be the case then they could have ended the pursuit of this acquisition the moment the CMA decided to block it, then none of the dirty laundry comes out, there's nothing to discuss and no conclusions can be drawn.

So I'll refer you to what I said to him, either come back to me with relevant discussion points that go beyond "but Sony" or don't waste my time.

 

[ToadMan]

I actually have a question relating to Nvidia.... why arent they allowed to stream the game if the user already has purchased it. At that point isnt it basically just a hardware rental service? I have never really got why this isnt allowed if the dev has already gotten paid for the game.

To do that, the cloud service provider has to license the game content on terms that allow it to rebroadcast the game.

It's like watching a sports event at home for personal consumption vs showing it to the public at a venue to make money - different licensing terms with the content creator.

 

[thicc_girls_are_teh_best]

I think this is the very plan. Move out of the hardware business and focus on subscriptions and publishing.

Agreed. The only area where I think they'd be making a mistake is not leveraging Xbox as a PC NUC-style gaming device series. They can leverage most of the R&D practices and groundwork in the console space to do something neat there, but pricing the hardware at levels with good profit margins, like say $599 for Series S equivalent w/ Windows and $799/$899 for Series X equivalent w/ Windows (they could do this simply by designing them to run full-fat Windows) would immediately make Xbox as hardware still viable. It'd also be very competitive with actual PC NUC-style gaming devices from OEMs already on the market.

It'd also help in them solidifying Window's place in PC gaming, because Valve aren't shy about wanting to shift away from Windows dependency. They've successfully started it with Steam Deck and their Linux compatibility work, but they won't stop there. Windows is way more important to Microsoft than console gaming but they can bring a console-like solution to the PC gaming space and have that also help solidify a market for Windows.

Aside from that though, yeah, being a publisher and pushing out their subscription services (and mobile storefront) would be their big focuses by far. I also think Xbox remaining in hardware form would be handed over to the Surface division rather than the Xbox one, but that could also help maybe enable some interesting hardware designs too.

I would love this approach tbh... I hope that is where they take it. I would say they can just release a new model every year instead of 2 a year though

Same. It might almost be enough for me to overlook all the garbage they've been pushing in the circus to get this deal through, and get such an Xbox if it were a real thing.

Although, these rumors of them wanting to move Windows fully to the cloud do not sound very good :/

 

[Three]

Is BYOG...Bring your own game? Does this mean in order to play on GeForce Now, the customer has to already own the game?

That's correct, yeah. GFN doesn't get any mtx money or game sales money.

 

[Edmund]

.

 

[GHG]

Hope you enjoyed wasting your time writing all that. Your first sentence says it all and tells me all I need to read.

And still you have nothing of substance to say. Wonderful isn't it?

Maybe once you come to terms with the fact that there's no need for anyone to sugar coat every statement regarding this case with "SonyToo™" then you might be able to muster up something intersteing that we can actually discuss.

Imagine asking someone to edit their post to add in SonyToo™. I've seen it all now.

 

[Three]

I actually have a question relating to Nvidia.... why arent they allowed to stream the game if the user already has purchased it. At that point isnt it basically just a hardware rental service? I have never really got why this isnt allowed if the dev has already gotten paid for the game.

I think it's things in the EULA of the game that prevent it and they are legally allowed to prevent it. There is a good writeup about it here:

May the GeForce Be with You: GeForce Now's Legality & Publisher Wars

Video game publishers are leaving Nvidia GeForce Now, but why, and what's the legality? End-user license agreements (EULAs) and copyright law play a part.

www.escapistmagazine.com

If you're asking why they would care to prevent it it might be ease of sharing accounts to share games but this is no different to local accounts. They probably just want a big payout by cloud platform holders.
It's also worth pointing out that both Boosteroid and nware allow you to stream call of duty already since they were too small for the publishers to have cared before and EE is an xcloud deal.

 

[Edmund]

I see the bat signal has gone out.

Frankly I don't care how I come across. That's not my concern. I'm here to get my thoughts out and discuss this along with everybody else here. Seriously, I'm not here to coddle the Xbox fandom's feelings, least of my concern.

This isn't about Sony, Sony aren't the ones on trial right here and right now. Microsoft are, so get used to the fact that they are the ones under scrutiny at the moment. If they didn't want that to be the case then they could have ended the pursuit of this acquisition the moment the CMA decided to block it, then none of the dirty laundry comes out, there's nothing to discuss and no conclusions can be drawn.

So I'll refer you to what I said to him, either come back to me with relevant discussion points that go beyond "but Sony" or don't waste my time.

I imagined Todd Howard in drag and makeup telling off a little kid when I read your post to 93xfan lol.

 

[bender]

It's bizarre and it's not rational, but when you have as much money as they have you don't need to be rational.

Say what you will about Lord Kottick, but the guy understands the landscape of videogames. His testimony today disagreeing with strategy around subscription services should be setting off alarm bells within Microsoft.

 

[GHG]

I imagined Todd Howard in drag and makeup telling off a little kid when I read your post to 93xfan lol.

I quoted the wrong post earlier.

Be sure to SonyToo™ when discussing any matters regarding Xbox, we need to protect the children - Jim Ryan

 

[b6a6es]

Mistrial incoming ?

 

[mckmas8808]

Mistrial incoming ?

This is insane!!!!

 

[DavJay]

Where are you guys watching this?

 

[Edmund]

People in the PlayStation OT in Resetera are calling out that place for being biased. Negative news about Xbox are being locked or merged with the Acquisition thread.

One member even talked back to a mod (Transistor) in the last page (Page 106)

There's a few people talking back to Transistor now. Good. The people there are fed up.

 

[Bitmap Frogs]

bruh

 

[GHG]

Mistrial incoming ?

If it's a mistrial does that mean we get to do all of this again?

 

[digital_ghost]

Someone should make a gif of Phil Spencer's face on Thanos' body. Then with the infinity cash gauntlet snaps his fingers and Playstation disappears

 

[Kilau]

We all knew some of the Sony stuff would get "leaked" but I didn't expect it would be officially posted leaks.

 

[Thirty7ven]

So funny all this time echoes of FTC being incompetent and all of the sudden it's the court that is fucking up.

 

[graywolf323]

If it's a mistrial does that mean we get to do all of this again?

only if they can squeeze it in before ABK walks away from the deal with $3 billion in <3 weeks

 

[Three]

I don't know why but I saw earlier that they had deleted literally everything. including MS deal with Sega when I was looking for it earlier. I guess they did it as a precaution to review that every file is redacted properly.

 

[Sanepar]

The reason Xbox is in third place is because of bad business decisions, Xbox has had exclusives especially in the 360 era, let's also not forget what Phil Spencer said with regards to Halo in 2011... "If we lose our way with Halo, we lose our way with Xbox." and even today bad decisions are happening, Redfall being one example... I don't have much faith they'll be able to maintain any kind of quality, and I wouldn't be surprised if "the bigger picture" is just more games that reflect the generic titles that currently flood the mobile gaming industry.

Problem is xbox fanbase doesn't have any quality control and accept anything if it is "free" on gamepass

 

[thismeinteil]

Gotta laugh at Nadella's, "Sony made us do it" excuse when it comes to exclusives. Exclusives, whether 1st party or 3rd, have been a part of console gaming since it's inception. MS are actually the ones who took it to the nth degree during the PS3/360 gen, buying up exclusives, both full and timed, left and right. Even going so far as buying up DLC exclusivity.

Only when they screwed up and it got harder and more expensive for them to make so many deals did the narrative change to exclusives being evil and bad for gaming for Xbox and their shills, who were perfectly fine before bragging about their previous exclusives. Let's not forget that Xbox still made those exact same deals, just to a lesser extent.

So now, instead of actually improving themselves, like Sony had to do after the PS3 launch, Xbox would rather use Papa MS's money to buy up the industry.

 

[thicc_girls_are_teh_best]

If it's a mistrial does that mean we get to do all of this again?

If so then it would probably be after the cut-off date, at this point.

Actually I don't know what happens. All I know is thankfully those documents were archived

People in the PlayStation OT in Resetera are calling out that place for being biased. Negative news about Xbox are being locked or merged with the Acquisition thread.

One member even talked back to a mod (Transistor) in the last page (Page 106)

There's a few people talking back to Transistor now. Good. The people there are fed up.

About time. Absent all the truth that's come out from this trail they probably didn't feel confident speaking up but with this info out the truth is unavoidable.

I do expect that thread to become a graveyard of banned usernames though. That's how the mods and admin over there like to censor criticism, critique and dissent of anything Microsoft.

 

[DrFigs]

People in the PlayStation OT in Resetera are calling out that place for being biased. Negative news about Xbox are being locked or merged with the Acquisition thread.

One member even talked back to a mod (Transistor) in the last page (Page 106)

There's a few people talking back to Transistor now. Good. The people there are fed up.

The difference between the resetera era thread on this and this one is so bizarre. It seems like everyone is for the merger and they've started making really cringy pro-merger memes.

 

[solidus12]

Imma do a Xbox Fanboy journalist tier list for funsies.

1) Jez Corden (Greatest fanboy)
2) Destin Legarie
3) Tom Warren
4) Ryan Mcaffrey ( Weakest fanboy)

You hurt his feelings

 

[Three]

Gotta laugh at Nadella's, "Sony made us do it" excuse when it comes to exclusives. Exclusives, whether 1st party or 3rd, have been a part of console gaming since it's inception. MS are actually the ones who took it to the nth degree during the PS3/360 gen, buying up exclusives, both full and timed, left and right. Even going so far as buying up DLC exclusivity.

Only when they screwed up and it got harder and more expensive for them to make so many deals did the narrative change to exclusives being evil and bad for gaming for Xbox and their shills, who were perfectly fine before bragging about their previous exclusives. Let's not forget that Xbox still made those exact same deals, just to a lesser extent.

So now, instead of actually improving themselves, like Sony had to do after the PS3 launch, Xbox would rather use Papa MS's money to buy up the industry.

People don't remember how ruthless MS was with 3rd party content during the 360 gen. Other competitor's install base now and in gen 8 was more a defence mechanism preventing them from being able to pull that off again. Now though they are just acquiring instead and suggesting they've been hard done by by others.

 

[Kilau]

People in the PlayStation OT in Resetera are calling out that place for being biased. Negative news about Xbox are being locked or merged with the Acquisition thread.

One member even talked back to a mod (Transistor) in the last page (Page 106)

There's a few people talking back to Transistor now. Good. The people there are fed up.

Funny thing is, the era PlayStation people fled to discord a long time ago, and further fled to a secret discord to avoid all era moderation, Why anyone would chose to interact with that place is beyond me.

 

[Moridianae]

There's arguments for and against certain things.

I mean, I do not want this deal to go through, if I'm honest. I like Xbox, I do. I just don't like the whole "We're in last place here! In everything else, we're not. Fuck it, buy everyone out!!"

It's a bad situation for gaming when this starts happening.

I was accused of "scaremongering" by someone in here when I posited about Square-Enix and Sony as a speculative acquisition war being startedpublishers..

Or Microsoft taking the green light here and moving on to keep buying other publishers..

But with the Square/Xbox, Sega/Xbox, Bungie/Xbox things revealed(I think the Square one was revealed today).. I wonder where that guy is now?

 

[Astray]

But with the Square/Xbox, Sega/Xbox, Bungie/Xbox things revealed(I think the Square one was revealed today).. I wonder where that guy is now?

He's waiting for the OTA update, please be patient and he will resume full shill service shortly.

 

[F0rneus]

Funny thing is, the era PlayStation people fled to discord a long time ago, and further fled to a secret discord to avoid all era moderation, Why anyone would chose to interact with that place is beyond me.

Reeee isn't even a discussion board at all. There is no discussion, only hivemind. Do not say something out of line, or you will be perm'd. It's hilarious to go to that dreg heap and read the earliest threads posted. Almost everyone there at first are gone lol.

I can't believe that place is still afloat. Even the user who created REeEEEee long escaped that place.

 

[Unknown Soldier]

I'm legit shocked that even their CEO whines about Sony this much.

You would expect that particular culture to stop at Spencer but apparently the entire company chafes at the idea of actually having to win the consumer's buck.

All monopolists are like this. It's why companies with monopolies tend to find it hard to enter new markets and compete effectively, because they are so used to people giving them money whether they like it or not.

You can see this not just with Microsoft, who previously tried and failed to make a dent in mobile phones. Google is inept at entering any new market, remember Stadia? Amazon is currently flailing around trying to figure out why 50% of Americans who already pay for Prime don't watch the dreck they are putting on their streaming services even though they literally already paid for it. And so on and so forth.

The nice thing about this is, Apple and Google literally didn't need to do anything about Microsoft, they just did their own thing with iOS and Android and let Windows Mobile/Phone self destruct. Sony has been more proactive in seeking 3rd party exclusives but for the most part they haven't needed to do a whole lot, they didn't do anything to force MS to go Kinect/TV TV TV/Always Online with Xbone, that was a self destruct.

 

[adamsapple]

There's arguments for and against certain things.

I mean, I do not want this deal to go through, if I'm honest. I like Xbox, I do. I just don't like the whole "We're in last place here! In everything else, we're not. Fuck it, buy everyone out!!"

It's a bad situation for gaming when this starts happening.

I was accused of "scaremongering" by someone in here when I posited about Square-Enix and Sony as a speculative acquisition war being startedpublishers..

Or Microsoft taking the green light here and moving on to keep buying other publishers..

But with the Square/Xbox, Sega/Xbox, Bungie/Xbox things revealed(I think the Square one was revealed today).. I wonder where that guy is now?

I don't think strategy documents mean they were actively making moves for the acquisition. Looking at the timeline, it looks like there was an internal discussion between approaching Square and Zenimax at the end of 2019 and they chose to go with Zenimax.

-

On topic, got some breathing room so checking out the recap, damn fucking shame they don't archive the audio from the presentation.


- Sharpie gate
real sloppy work and some intern probably got fired for that

- MS's prospects on Square Enix
see my thoughts above, but the idea that they wanted to do that for MOBILE is weird, Square isn't exactly a prominent name in the mobile market

- Nadella
Agree with him on the exclusive part, and him also committing CoD under oath, like Phil, is probably the kind of move that will effect the judge's decision

- Lawyers asking Dr. Carlton on the quality of CoD games on Switch

 

[DavJay]

So who is winning this battle in court so far?

 

[DrFigs]

So who is winning this battle in court so far?

Gotta go with my boys at the FTC. Just an overall great government agency imo

 

[Moridianae]

So who is winning this battle in court so far?

I think Microsoft will skirt the injunction, if I'm honest.

Microsoft will still have to contend with the CMA, but I fear the hubris they'll be given here will cause them to say fuck 'em and close the deal anyway.

I just think this whole thing sets in motion an era of gaming wherein nobody wins...but..In a sense, I feel like..I don't know how to say this, but I'll try--

You know how, many years ago, Nintendo surfaced from the ashes with the NES and became the name you knew for gaming for years?

I wonder if they'll do it again. They seem to be on the sidelines, just kinda doing their own thing and watching these two giants eat each other.

Hell, I thought their recent Direct stomped both MS and Sony.

 

[vpance]

The difference between the resetera era thread on this and this one is so bizarre. It seems like everyone is for the merger and they've started making really cringy pro-merger memes.

Makes sense. MS is very much in favor over there now with Game Pass ushering in the console communist utopia.

 

[JayDucker]

So who is winning this battle in court so far?

 

[Topher]

So who is winning this battle in court so far?

Microsoft

 

[harry mason 1989]

So who is winning this battle in court so far?

Bobby

 

[poppabk]

So who is winning this battle in court so far?

Us. Honestly I hope MS or Sony try an acquisition every year just so we can carry on getting all these glimpses into how they operate.