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[Gamer_By_Proxy]

 

[Three]

"The CWA claims Sony has dissolved some studios to avoid competing in select markets and secure a 'monopoly position."

 

[reinking]

CWA logic.

I broke up with my last girlfriend of 15 years because I was looking for commitment.

 

[ZehDon]

The idea is that shuttering jobs makes those remaining less likely to unionize. That’s their explanation at least.

The use of “monopoly” is dumb here either way.

Their support of MS is ironic though all things considered, but I guess all they care about is Activision QA unionizing.

And all they care about is the US obviously.

Under Nadella, Microsoft actually plays ball with the unions, and so in Corporate America's staunch anti-Union landscape, Microsoft gets itself some unusual allies. We saw a lot of... odd endorsements during the ABK circus for exactly that reason. Sony, at least in the US, is the same as every other US corporation: it union busts at every opportunity.

As for their monopoly, whether intentional or not, it's an accusation Sony's going to have to contend with moving forward. Sony's dominant position in the console space has driven out both Nintendo and Microsoft. Whether Sony wanted to do it or not is largely irrelevant to fact that that is what's happened. Once Microsoft's finished doing... whatever it's doing, Sony will find itself in a monopoly position in the high-end console landscape. It'll have basically full control over that entire section of industry, and thus have the power to negotiate whatever deals it wants with publishers and developers. And then it'll be just like Apple: every other dog will be lining up to sue and level accusation against them like the CWA.

 

[EN250]

Oh yeah, having less studios making games will sure make their position in the market much stronger

 

[StreetsofBeige]

Under Nadella, Microsoft actually plays ball with the unions, and so in Corporate America's staunch anti-Union landscape, Microsoft gets itself some unusual allies. We saw a lot of... odd endorsements during the ABK circus for exactly that reason. Sony, at least in the US, is the same as every other US corporation: it union busts at every opportunity.

As for their monopoly, whether intentional or not, it's an accusation Sony's going to have to contend with moving forward. Sony's dominant position in the console space has driven out both Nintendo and Microsoft. Whether Sony wanted to do it or not is largely irrelevant to fact that that is what's happened. Once Microsoft's finished doing... whatever it's doing, Sony will find itself in a monopoly position in the high-end console landscape. It'll have basically full control over that entire section of industry, and thus have the power to negotiate whatever deals it wants with publishers and developers. And then it'll be just like Apple: every other dog will be lining up to sue and level accusation against them like the CWA.

Legal stuff about monopolies is such a weird combo of making sense and not making sense.

I remember our company's legal team giving us a presentation on code of conduct, monopolies etc... I dont remember much about the monopoly part but I do remember it doesn't really matter how a company gets into a sticky situation like that. It's just about whether they are or arent.

People have a view that monopolizing means the company did shady shit stomping on on all other companies. But sometimes it's just natural sales and a company wins. Or no other company wants to bother.

So if there's a company where they are the only one who makes a special chemical or ingredient thats super important to the country they can get regulated even if the fact they dominate is simply because no other company out there wants to bother making it.

I totally understand the concept of anti-monopoly laws, but in my opinion any company getting penalized due to winning because of good business sense or lack of competitors (lazy) shouldnt be punished. But if it's dominance due to shady shit (flexing muscles due to market dominance or bribes etc....) then ya shut that down and penalize them.

 

[mckmas8808]

Clown shit from the CWA. What kind of big brains logic gets you from a failed studio closure to a "molopsony" .

I was wondering the same thing. LOL!

 

[ArtHands]

They shouldn’t have close the studio

 

[BennyBlanco]

I don’t understand what the whining is about. This team released flop of the century and lost hundreds of millions of dollars. They are trying to run a business. What would keeping them around do, other than burn more money?

 

[StreetsofBeige]

Firewalk wasnt unionized, but burning money with zero accountability couldnt make a union rep and the members happier. Make good money making a shit game nobody wanted and somehow expectations are people keep their job for a trash performance.

That sure makes sense. lol. Anything for a buck.

 

[W11d]

They wanted Sony to waste another 400 mil on Concord 2. But instead they may spend it on something good

 

[//DEVIL//]

The company lost more than 400$ million, what are the expectations? bleed more money for these useless talentless freaks fucks?

Are these people retards or something? it's not logical to even try and open your mouth after this huge loss unless you are one of those woke ugly mfers that got offended another woke got fired. There is no other explanation.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

The company lost more than 400$ million, what are the expectations? bleed more money for these useless talentless freaks fucks?

Are these people retards or something? it's not logical to even try and open your mouth after this huge loss unless you are one of those woke ugly mfers that got offended another woke got fired. There is no other explanation.

Because people are typically entitled and think any company they work for should be pressured to keep them employed no matter what.

It's probably the only thing in life whether employees and company can do poor, but expectations are still high.

If someone plays sports and the players and team stink, you dont win. People accept that. If someone doesnt study or put in effort and does bad in exams getting low grades, students can accept that. People treat others like shit and it's hard to get married. People can understand that. Nobody assumes in these situations the team should get auto-boosted to win the championship, kids gets an A, and people bend over begging for your hand in marriage.

But for jobs. It's totally different. Even when it's proven the product stinks, financials are in the toilet, and with something like game making (as an example) it might take another 5 years to make another game, somehow people expect to be kept whole with a job and full pay like nothing happened.

Figure that one out.

 

[FunkMiller]

 

[Mister Wolf]

Addition by subtraction?

 

[Bernardougf]

So ending own studios equal monopoly and buying full third party publishers equal fair competition? ...

We really are in the upsidedown world

 

[Shadowstar39]

Which way is the wind blowing today CWA?
My Tax money at work ladies and Gents.

Wait is this one of those European socialist groups who demands everyone to never fail even if they are shit at the job? (well except when big daddy Microsoft gives them a handy, and by that I mean payout).

 

[StreetsofBeige]

So ending own studios equal monopoly and buying full third party publishers equal fair competition? ...

We really are in the upsidedown world

Probably the only time you'll ever see in life a story saying shutting down a poor performing company/department (game studio in this case) which had an atrocious product, cost a ton to make, and was so bad it even lead to blanket refunds two weeks later being spun into a monopoly narrative.

 

[Varteras]

 

[thicc_girls_are_teh_best]

Absolute peak retardation of a group. Worthless idiots.

The company lost more than 400$ million, what are the expectations? bleed more money for these useless talentless freaks fucks?

Are these people retards or something? it's not logical to even try and open your mouth after this huge loss unless you are one of those woke ugly mfers that got offended another woke got fired. There is no other explanation.

If you want a kick, here's what they said about Microsoft when the ABK stuff was happening:

This isn't the first time the CWA has taken a major platform holder to task. Back in May, the union asked Microsoft for more "respect and compassion" following a huge round of layoffs and studio closures. When the Xbox maker then proceeded to cut even more jobs, the CWA again expressed its disappointment.

The CWA was a vocal advocate of Microsoft's colossal merger with Activision Blizzard. Despite initially protesting the move, the union eventually threw its weight behind the deal after signing a labor neutrality agreement with Microsoft and Activision Blizzard to enable workers to freely unionize.

The deal was hailed as a major win for the CWA, but the Activision Blizzard merger has now resulted in thousands of layoffs as Microsoft works to implement a "sustainable cost structure" after spending $68.7 billion to purchase the Call of Duty maker.

These retards thought MS buying ABK was a win for gaming unions, only for MS to then fire 2500+ people from Microsoft Gaming after purchasing ABK. But no, Sony closing Neon Koi is the real problem.

Maybe it's time to open an audit on the CWA, see where their funding's coming from....

Spoiler

And I say all of this while of the mind SIE look incredibly stupid & wasted hundreds of millions on Firewalk & Neon Koi only to shutter them after a few months of purchase.

 

[nowhat]

Painfully transparent, this corruption is.

 

[Killjoy-NL]

Pretty sure they're overestimating the 'select markets' they're referring to.

 

[Pedro Motta]

Are they stupid?

 

[Three]

Are they stupid?

No, they think we are.

 

[Klayzer]

No, they think we are.

 

[Lunarorbit]

What? That makes no sense. Yup they meant to shit down their legs and lose a ton of money and talent.

Never heard of cwa

 

[MALpractice311]

Generally pro-union, but this is an odd take.

I'm all for labour organizing, and collectively bargaining for better pay, work conditions, etc.

But shit like this is what makes it harder to have these conversations.

Yup. I think unions in general have a net positive effect on the work, but, God damn, does shit like this make some of them look corrupt and stupid.

 

[GHG]

No, they think we are.

To be fair, they had a ton of people agreeing with them and even referencing them with regards to the ABK deal when that was under investigation. So it's easy to see where they got that impression.

 

[RoboFu]

I'm confused... so to get a stronger hold they kill studios? What kind of thinking is that?

 

[Goalus]

Time for Sony to leave all this clown shit behind and move everything back to Japan and Europe.

Europe is full of clowns, would not recommend that.

 

[thicc_girls_are_teh_best]

I'm confused... so to get a stronger hold they kill studios? What kind of thinking is that?

It doesn't make any sense. The only think I can think of, is they're trying to say Sony are limiting competition by purchasing and closing a mobile game dev, therefore preventing other companies from buying them. So by reducing the number of mobile game devs in the market, Sony are trying to have a monopoly by.....secretly planning to put all their SIE games on mobile?

Never mind there are like thousands of other mobile devs and 99% of them with a lot more mobile market cache and net worth/value than Neon Koi. Never mind that a lot of SIE's teams seem to be taking their sweet time releasing new games for the PS5 itself, let alone some fantasy nightmare of optimizing downports for some Consumer Cellular smartphone.

TL;DR: I just want the CWA to STFU.

 

[FoxMcChief]

"The CWA was a vocal advocate of Microsoft's colossal merger with Activision Blizzard. "

Yeah....they were bought. CWA brought up Sony when Microsoft laid off workers as well.

"Microsoft’s decision to lay off 650 video game workers is an extremely disappointing move from one of the world’s largest and most profitable corporations. This news comes just after Sony Interactive Entertainment subsidiary Bungie announced 220 layoffs in late July. While none of those who are losing their jobs are represented by CWA, we understand how devastating layoffs are to the workers and their families."

Statement from CWA Following Layoffs at Microsoft Gaming

Microsoft’s decision to lay off 650 video game workers is an extremely disappointing move from one of the world’s largest and most profitable corporations.

cwa-union.org

If you ain’t cheating, you ain’t trying.
- Abraham Lincoln.

 

[RoadHazard]

I don't understand. How does closing studios strengthen your "monopoly position"?

Edit: I see I'm not the only idiot here who doesn't understand what the hell they're talking about.

 

[Katatonic]

 

[noob smokes]

Sony done pissed off the rainbow posse with this

 

[skit_data]

The CWA claims Sony has dissolved some studios to avoid competing in select markets and secure a 'monopoly position.

 

[Codeblew]

Monopoly? Do these guys forget Nintendo exists? Its rich talking about a monopoly when MS is losing at one thing. lol.

 

[DeepEnigma]

Monopoly? Do these guys forget Nintendo exists? Its rich talking about a monopoly when MS is losing at one thing. lol.

MS is now the largest 3rd party publisher (and largest enterprise/IT company) in the world, owns the biggest IP in the world (CoD) that can foreclose any time on a first party venture since they do have a first party console.

CWA are corrupt clowns and nobody but fanatical retards will buy their shit.

Hell, some of our resident ambassadors are not even touching this thread because it stinks too much to even rationalize for them.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

It doesn't make any sense. The only think I can think of, is they're trying to say Sony are limiting competition by purchasing and closing a mobile game dev, therefore preventing other companies from buying them. So by reducing the number of mobile game devs in the market, Sony are trying to have a monopoly by.....secretly planning to put all their SIE games on mobile?

Never mind there are like thousands of other mobile devs and 99% of them with a lot more mobile market cache and net worth/value than Neon Koi. Never mind that a lot of SIE's teams seem to be taking their sweet time releasing new games for the PS5 itself, let alone some fantasy nightmare of optimizing downports for some Consumer Cellular smartphone.

TL;DR: I just want the CWA to STFU.

Ya.

It'd be like an oil company buying out a random gas station on a corner, putting in years worth of time and operational costs, had zero sales and ultimately shutting it down after big losses. The twisted narrative is they did this all on purpose to limit the number of gas stations in the neighbourhood so their branded location down the street could get more customers and it prevents a competing company from buying Joe Bob's gas station.

That sure makes sense.

It's a silly take reeking of desperation from a Union organization trying to drum up membership and raking in union dues so their senior reps can all make $100,000+ salaries, and the big union heads make half a million. Googling it, the head of SAG makes about a million.

 

[Sooner]

Coca-Cola to stop making some of their products. This will give them a monopoly over their competition.

Don't ask how.

 

[DeepEnigma]

Coca-Cola to stop making some of their products. This will give them a monopoly over their competition.

Don't ask how.

If MS bought soda companies, then this would be the argument.

 

[ArtHands]

Monopoly? Do these guys forget Nintendo exists? Its rich talking about a monopoly when MS is losing at one thing. lol.

But many people here consider Sony the market leader and disregard Nintendo entirely

 

[N30RYU]

How does Sony losing their investment in the studio help them make a monopoly?

How does not competing with mobile games further a monopoly?

I'm sorry guys but this press release says words that appear to make sense but in context they do not. In fact, can anyone explain this to me?