The analogy was and is entirely irrelevant to what was being discussed.To you, sure.
Fortnite and Apex rolled in matches and bests COD in short time and both of those game print money. $6billion in 2022 for Fortnite alone. Sony can easily obtain the "infrastructure" they need. There is a reason Sony has been acquiring studios left and right. Especially Bungie. There is a reason they have quadrupled down on live service games. They want a piece of the COD and Warzone and Fortnite and Apex pie.
You spend 70 billion to also get....CANDY CRUSH and mobile gaming. King made almost $3 billion in 2022 alone.I agree with that. you dont spend 70 bn and not make things exclusive. Just Not COD, its a golden goose. a cash cow. an IP in a pretty unique situation clearly. but future releases of other IP, I can agree i think those will be exclusive.
They would lose up to 1.5 billion in revenue; it absolutely is slated to hurt them, and that's what one of the primary goals of this M&A was as laid out in the emails we all read in the discovery process.
Also, no one is going to build a "COD killer." If it was possible, it would have been done by now. The massive infrastructure built around COD in Activision is part of the reason it is valued so highly.
That would literally kill Sony (not just PS brand) instead lolInstead of a content / arms race, I'd prefer they double down on "for the players." Maybe stop charging for online. Stop including games in a free collection we already got free. Stop giving a PS4 version of a 1st party game and charging for PS5 upgrade. Maybe offer discounts for remasters to people who already bought older versions once or twice. Make free demo's available for all games (within reason). Be a little more candid with future plans, and make sure not to let false narratives fester in the future (like generations).
Last time they felt threatened things worked out well in the end. Hopefully this leads to them being a little more grass roots with their customers.
At this point, we will have to agree to disagree.The analogy was and is entirely irrelevant to what was being discussed.
I can see where you're trying to go with this conversation, and I preemptively disagree. Consolidation is bad for gaming no matter who does it. Live-service games are bad as well; these viewpoints should be coupled in my opinion.
1. Apex has not bested COD. Fortnite has competed with COD revenue. Both of these are bad examples anyway unless you are specifically comparing Warzone.
2. The number of live service games Sony is creating is concerning fans, not pleasing them. If this merger goes through, gamers will likely see less of the games they want from Sony, and more GaaS.
3. Sony is focusing on GaaS in order to compete in said scenario outcomes: MS acquires ABK, Sony loses 3P GaaS revenue and multiple titles. etc.
I agree with that. you dont spend 70 bn and not make things exclusive. Just Not COD, its a golden goose. a cash cow. an IP in a pretty unique situation clearly. but future releases of other IP, I can agree i think those will be exclusive.
Correct. But as people keep saying here on the forum, that COD is such a powerhouse, clearly if it was that powerful, people would flock to Xbox and PC to play it.
Ms will be releasing at least 4-6 big aaa every year. They have 33 fucking studios.
you mistakenly assume they actually care, it's pretty clear they don't and are just saying this crap to try to justify a $2 trillion dollar company buying a $70 billion company in order to 'compete' with a ~$60 billion (Nintendo is worth around that much IIRC?) and $120 billion dollar companyThis. The "everything's fine, Sony can proceed as normal" crowd aren't seeing the forest from the trees.
Cutting Sony off that revenue, cutting Sony off from big 3P publishers to independently work out deals and opportunities with, controlling the terms to which Sony can even access the acquired content and by how much...that is all collectively how Microsoft "spends Sony out of business".
Which ends up impacting Sony/PlayStation customers. Who are, in fact, customers after all.
Yep, and that makes this deal anti-competitive and harmful to consumers. Too bad the FTC was focused on other things.I agree with that. you dont spend 70 bn and not make things exclusive. Just Not COD, its a golden goose. a cash cow. an IP in a pretty unique situation clearly. but future releases of other IP, I can agree i think those will be exclusive.
Best thing for Sony is that MS take COD off Sony in 2024. That would at least put a spanner in future acquisitions quicker. Sony and Nintendo need to look at Japanese publishers and push the Japanese Government to move certain publishers under the groups with no non-foreigner ownership. Not buy them but enough of a push that the Japanese publishers can stay third party without Western consumption. Although I own a PS5 and love SE Eastern games, I want SE to remain independent.After everything from the PI hearing, I would say that MS's sole intention is to remove future ABK releases from Playstation.
They got it out of the way prior so it didn't look like a lie.What are the chances of GP prices going up even more before they start putting Activision titles on the service?
I'd bet the chances are pretty high
Well, if Sony is for the players, they wouldn't do that. That is a decision that Sony made, if they chose that route. Not MS and not the consumer.Sony have already threatened exactly that by leaving Activision no means to make their games for PS6. Which, because of the development cycle of CoD games, would almost certainly mean no CoD at launch or for the following year or two.
yeah. we spend so much time on the COD part, I almost forgot this!You spend 70 billion to also get....CANDY CRUSH and mobile gaming. King made almost $3 billion in 2022 alone.
That's ok. Still worth it at the next price point. Especially with the Activision catalog and future titles.They got it out of the way prior so it didn't look like a lie.
I expect another increase in 2 years max.
Playstation is almost 50% of Sony revenue and they always prioritize aquisitions for other business just show how bad their strategy is. Their last relevant aaa was god of war. Their next will come 11 months later. They can't compete like that. Ms will be releasing at least 4-6 big aaa every year. They have 33 fucking studios.
For anyone wanting more info on Sony and 21st Century Fox.Fact is regulators have given the go ahead.
It's up to Sony to show just how committed they are now. They were willing to buy 20th Century Fox, before Disney outbid everyone. So if they wanna play bean counter and let MS have free license to eat their lunch then that in itself also shows how much they value PlayStation.
Well, if Sony is for the players, they wouldn't do that. That is a decision that Sony made, if they chose that route. Not MS and not the consumer.
The dev kit issue is fully absurd. Even if Sony is so paranoid they wont give dev kits out before the system is out, it would impact 1 annual CoD game. That 1 year that a console launches, they can get the PS5 version instead and play it on BC. And get the free update the second the system is announced and dev kits made public to everyone. It's just part of the FTC's losing argument that just got shot down.Well, if Sony is for the players, they wouldn't do that. That is a decision that Sony made, if they chose that route. Not MS and not the consumer.
Sony has been making roughly $2-3 billion profit from the PS division alone for the past maybe 5 years. It's up to them if they want to pump out more games or bank the profits. Add it up ad they probably banked $10 billion profit from the PS department alone. Well, to get back in the game use some of that money.This. The "everything's fine, Sony can proceed as normal" crowd aren't seeing the forest from the trees.
Cutting Sony off that revenue, cutting Sony off from big 3P publishers to independently work out deals and opportunities with, controlling the terms to which Sony can even access the acquired content and by how much...that is all collectively how Microsoft "spends Sony out of business".
Which ends up impacting Sony/PlayStation customers. Who are, in fact, customers after all.
The next few weeks will be interesting. If Sony is serious about staying in the console business then they must have had contingency plans that include talks with big publishers so they should now begin the process of closing those deals.Fact is regulators have given the go ahead.
It's up to Sony to show just how committed they are now. They were willing to buy 20th Century Fox, before Disney outbid everyone. So if they wanna play bean counter and let MS have free license to eat their lunch then that in itself also shows how much they value PlayStation.
but Sony have already threatened exactly that by leaving Activision no means to make their games for PS6. Which, because of the development cycle of CoD games, would almost certainly mean no CoD at launch or for the following year or two.
Well, if Sony is for the players, they wouldn't do that. That is a decision that Sony made, if they chose that route. Not MS and not the consumer.
They did not say that. They said they would no longer get very early dev kits or design features before anything is finalized. It would be how they give devkits to Mojang.The dev kit issue is fully absurd. Even if Sony is so paranoid they wont give dev kits out before the system is out, it would impact 1 annual CoD game. That 1 year that a console launches, they can get the PS5 version instead and play it on BC. And get the free update the second the system is announced and dev kits made public to everyone. It's just part of the FTC's losing argument that just got shot down.
It's okay, you don't need to feel threatened to justify your spending habits.That's ok. Still worth it at the next price point. Especially with the Activision catalog and future titles.
That's a nuclear option for Sony. They won't do it though.The only realistic option for the time being is for Sony to do what they can to take the edge off. Heavily promote a competitor like XDefiant. Continue to work on their own offerings. The goal being to shift as many people as possible away from CoD. Their only option outside of that, and it would be fucking wild, would be to refuse CoD on PlayStation going forward. They already threatened to refuse ABK access to devkits for their future consoles. Meaning they'd already be taking a step to CoD not being on the platform. That would obviously be a heavy blow to PlayStation, but it would also screw Xbox out of revenue from CoD. Seeing as how they're sure to see greatly reduced sales on their own platform.
For anyone wanting more info on Sony and 21st Century Fox.
Sony Also Interested in Acquiring 21st Century Fox Assets
Sony Pictures Entertainment is looking to purchase 20th Century Fox, after it was revealed Disney was in talks to acquire the company.
Acquisition of 21st Century Fox by Disney
Cost: US$71.3 billion
Disney to Buy 21st Century Fox Assets for $52.4 Billion in Historic Hollywood Merger
Sony was willing to aquire 21st Century Fox for $50b+, acquiring Take-Two at $30-35b for example is in the realm of possibility.
They were not. Redfall, Halo MCC, etc. were. Yes, I should be able to think of more but having trouble right now. Infinite was awful, but technically launched okay, and it was post launch support where they screwed up. Other than Forza I really can't think of big AAA releases they've had otherwise. Definitely nothing that made waves. So they are a huge part of the problem you are referencing here. Smaller stuff like Hi-Fi Rush they have a pretty good track record.was Cyberpunk day one on Game Pass?
was Anthem day one on Game Pass?
was Battlefield day one on Game Pass?
was Avengers day one on Game Pass?
and the list goes on...even Nintendo dosen't space this shit.
Fair enough.Now...the second paragraph. Just look at the Top 10 games every year: you are going to find the usual suspects (from every other publisher) and maybe One New IP.
this is a widespread industry issue. not only Xbox.
Okay, we don't disagree there. But good or bad disruptive? If we are saying this is the first domino in a large series of dominos, I would think this created many more bad timeline possibilities than good ones.i am not saying it is. i am saying is disruptive.
That's not really fair. I've been using it for years. My 'confirmation bias' is the opinion I have formed from being a heavy user of the service. When it comes to huge, highest of quality, AAA releases, it seems like GP has been a negative for Microsoft in that area. You can disagree of course, but I think that it a pretty heavily informed and reasonable opinion to have right now.of course you disagree. because 'game pass big evil' is what your confirmation bias is telling you.
Consolidating incompetence. What's not to love?and this is why is so hilarious to see people having meltdown over MS owning KING and the other two.
You are god damn right! So no cornering and no dev kit threats either!You're not gonna corner me with bullshit marketing speak, man. I don't trust corporations at all. This is business and business is war. You could just as easily complain about Microsoft buying companies and making long running multiplatform games with big PlayStation communities exclusive. None of this is about gamers. It's about making more money and marketshare than the other guy.
That's a nuclear option for Sony. They won't do it though.
For our and our entertainment sake, however, I'd hope they do itAnother 1,500 megathread incoming
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Why would Sony help its rival?Well, if Sony is for the players, they wouldn't do that. That is a decision that Sony made, if they chose that route. Not MS and not the consumer.
You are god damn right! So no cornering and no dev kit threats either!
The next few weeks will be interesting. If Sony is serious about staying in the console business then they must have had contingency plans that include talks with big publishers so they should now begin the process of closing those deals.
I guess now we will find out what Sony Tokyo thinks of their PS business. If they go and get another small developers like Bungie and CD Project then they are clueless. If they go and buy single player japanese developers like Capcom and Square Enix they are putting a band aid while refusing to look at the bigger picture. GTA is the only thing that can compete with CoD, but they would probably need a merger instead of it being an acquisition because i dont think they have $30 billion in cash to buy take2. And thats if MS doesnt outbid them only to raise the price. I am a 100% sure MS has already begun talks with all of these publishers especially Take2 now that they have been given carte blanche to buy whatever the fuck they want. Who is going to stop a $5 bllion Capcom purchase or a $30 billion Take2 purchase when they had no issues with $85 billion Activision, Minecraft and Zenimax purchases?
if they do nothing then they are probably looking to sell before MS slowly kills the PS business by bleeding them dry over the next few years.
I don't feel threatened at all. I'm very pleased with the current price and don't mind a cost increase in the years to come.It's okay, you don't need to feel threatened to justify your spending habits.
I agree with so much of what you're saying. But Sony doing another round of small acquisitions in addition to increasing the number of employees/teams their studios have would be a sufficient response. I think there is some truth to what Jim Ryan was saying about MS having a management/talent retention problem when you basically double the amount of employees you have overnight.The next few weeks will be interesting. If Sony is serious about staying in the console business then they must have had contingency plans that include talks with big publishers so they should now begin the process of closing those deals.
I guess now we will find out what Sony Tokyo thinks of their PS business. If they go and get another small developers like Bungie and CD Project then they are clueless. If they go and buy single player japanese developers like Capcom and Square Enix they are putting a band aid while refusing to look at the bigger picture. GTA is the only thing that can compete with CoD, but they would probably need a merger instead of it being an acquisition because i dont think they have $30 billion in cash to buy take2. And thats if MS doesnt outbid them only to raise the price. I am a 100% sure MS has already begun talks with all of these publishers especially Take2 now that they have been given carte blanche to buy whatever the fuck they want. Who is going to stop a $5 bllion Capcom purchase or a $30 billion Take2 purchase when they had no issues with $85 billion Activision, Minecraft and Zenimax purchases?
if they do nothing then they are probably looking to sell before MS slowly kills the PS business by bleeding them dry over the next few years.
That's ok. Still worth it at the next price point. Especially with the Activision catalog and future titles.
I doubt Sony would sell anytime soon. They're doing great.The next few weeks will be interesting. If Sony is serious about staying in the console business then they must have had contingency plans that include talks with big publishers so they should now begin the process of closing those deals.
I guess now we will find out what Sony Tokyo thinks of their PS business. If they go and get another small developers like Bungie and CD Project then they are clueless. If they go and buy single player japanese developers like Capcom and Square Enix they are putting a band aid while refusing to look at the bigger picture. GTA is the only thing that can compete with CoD, but they would probably need a merger instead of it being an acquisition because i dont think they have $30 billion in cash to buy take2. And thats if MS doesnt outbid them only to raise the price. I am a 100% sure MS has already begun talks with all of these publishers especially Take2 now that they have been given carte blanche to buy whatever the fuck they want. Who is going to stop a $5 bllion Capcom purchase or a $30 billion Take2 purchase when they had no issues with $85 billion Activision, Minecraft and Zenimax purchases?
if they do nothing then they are probably looking to sell before MS slowly kills the PS business by bleeding them dry over the next few years.
They did not say that. They said they would no longer get very early dev kits or design features before anything is finalized. It would be how they give devkits to Mojang.
Both MS and Sony does this to platform owned third party games. Trade secrets are a thing.
I dont think this ruling affects development of PS6 one bit. There will be a PS6. Even if MS cancels all COD and Diablo games for PS6, I bet it still outsells Xbox Y.The next few weeks will be interesting. If Sony is serious about staying in the console business then they must have had contingency plans that include talks with big publishers so they should now begin the process of closing those deals.
I guess now we will find out what Sony Tokyo thinks of their PS business. If they go and get another small developers like Bungie and CD Project then they are clueless. If they go and buy single player japanese developers like Capcom and Square Enix they are putting a band aid while refusing to look at the bigger picture. GTA is the only thing that can compete with CoD, but they would probably need a merger instead of it being an acquisition because i dont think they have $30 billion in cash to buy take2. And thats if MS doesnt outbid them only to raise the price. I am a 100% sure MS has already begun talks with all of these publishers especially Take2 now that they have been given carte blanche to buy whatever the fuck they want. Who is going to stop a $5 bllion Capcom purchase or a $30 billion Take2 purchase when they had no issues with $85 billion Activision, Minecraft and Zenimax purchases?
if they do nothing then they are probably looking to sell before MS slowly kills the PS business by bleeding them dry over the next few years.
If you want mobile-quality games so much then just go play mobile games, why are you wishing for the death of this industry? Isn't it bad enough? Like you are not even trying to hide your true malignance anymore, literally wanting streaming services to be the only viable option while hardware should be dead. Unbelievable!I don't feel threatened at all. I'm very pleased with the current price and don't mind a cost increase in the years to come.
Then I look forward to the day where it's just a streaming service and no hardware is required, outside of just a controller.
lol what? so you think if Sony is "for the players" that means they should give sensitive information to parties owned by their main competitor who has not proven to be remotely trustworthy?Well, if Sony is for the players, they wouldn't do that. That is a decision that Sony made, if they chose that route. Not MS and not the consumer.
They did not say that. They said they would no longer get very early dev kits or design features before anything is finalized. It would be how they give devkits to Mojang.
Both MS and Sony does this to platform owned third party games. Trade secrets are a thing.
It's okay, you don't need to feel threatened to justify your spending habits.
Gourd, I hope not.I don't feel threatened at all. I'm very pleased with the current price and don't mind a cost increase in the years to come.
Then I look forward to the day where it's just a streaming service and no hardware is required, outside of just a controller.
Well, if Sony is for the players, they wouldn't do that. That is a decision that Sony made, if they chose that route. Not MS and not the consumer.
Call me crazy for thinking that wont happen. people called me crazy for thinking the deal would go through. and we seen how thats turned out.
Will they keep things like the next tony haws, crash bandicoot and maybe bran new IP, or rebooted old IP, for xbox? yes. I think so. for 70Bn thats how its gonna go.
Will COD go anywhere? honestly I dont think MS will remove it. its gonna bring them way more money to keep things as they are though COD will be on gamepass being the only change here. I could be wrong. But I dont see them removing COD. the other IPs , i think future iterations will be exclusive.
I thought they were saying they wouldn't provide dev kits full stop, not just @ launch. Whether that's true or not is another story.The dev kit issue is fully absurd. Even if Sony is so paranoid they wont give dev kits out before the system is out, it would impact 1 annual CoD game. That 1 year that a console launches, they can get the PS5 version instead and play it on BC. And get the free update the second the system is announced and dev kits made public to everyone. It's just part of the FTC's losing argument that just got shot down.
I play Xbox and PlayStation games on my mobile device, via each of their services. They're fantastic. I've had great experiences.If you want mobile-quality games so much then just go play mobile games, why are you wishing for the death of this industry? Isn't it bad enough?
I used a streaming PC service (Shadow PC) , which allowed me to stream Half-Life Alyx to mu Quest 2 headset. Worked beautifully.Gourd, I hope not.
Even if that becomes the case, I guess there will always be PC gaming and Nintendo.