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[dibella360]

the audio is back up

 

[Darsxx82]

If this is true, they are demonstrating the weak bargaining position Microsoft is in when it comes to the industry.

 

[adamsapple]

Interesting, Doug wanted CoD back on Nintendo platforms and it sounds like Activision themselves weren't playing ball, otherwise why wouldn't it have been all these years.

 

[Banjo64]

audio is back bitches.

 

[Thick Thighs Save Lives]

the audio is back up

and with improved audio quality lol

 

[Nothing1234]

 

[Venom Snake]

Apparently, what Jim Ryan believed Microsoft wouldn't do, prior to the meager deals they offered, is somehow stronger than what Microsoft has been demonstrably doing, despite a prior insistence to a regulator that they had no incentive to foreclose. Am I getting that right?

 

[thicc_girls_are_teh_best]

Damn. ABK treating MS like how EA treated Sega

 

[Banjo64]

'forced'

M$ should have just made a CoD killer. As one of the industry's leading players they could have made one within 10 years.

 

[DeepEnigma]

If the Amber Heard Vs Depp trial taught me anything is confirmation bias does 98% of the work.

There are people still to this day, who swear Depp was a guilty evil man-devil and Heard was an innocent little delicate flower victim.

Cognitive dissonance is real and one of many of our faults as a species.

 

[feynoob]

 

[Dick Jones]

Am I seriously hearing that Xbox knew ABK and Sony have a marketing deal for CoD and Xbox thought they could also market it

This has to be a joke

 

[DeepEnigma]

 

[xHunter]

If i had to guess the timeline would be something like this:

0. Acquisition gets announced

1. MS contacts Sony:


2. Jim Ryan sends the mail that was revealed today

3. Further contact between MS and Sony where the 3 year part comes into play

4. Jimbo goes public after seeing Phil go public

5. MS ups it to 10 years and somehow Phil talks about CoD being on PS as long as a PS console exists

 

[feynoob]

Am I seriously hearing that Xbox knew ABK and Sony have a marketing deal for CoD and Xbox thought they could also market it

This has to be a joke

They also backed from bidding war for marketing deal.

 

[X-Wing]

So, the FTC is doing good?

 

[Bergoglio]

audio is back bitches.

can I have a link?

 

[Banjo64]

can I have a link?

 

[Sony]

This isn't a good argument for Microsoft, because this shows that CoD is important enough that they can be pressured in renegotiating revenue shares.

 

[feynoob]

 

[Dick Jones]

They also backed from bidding war for marketing deal.

Are MS doing court mandated community service by hiring these unemployable idiots?

 

[Banjo64]

Bond re: 10 year deals and Steam trusting M$. I'm not sure what her point is, M$ are trying to hand out 10 year deals to every company going, it's not Sony being unreasonable.

 

[thicc_girls_are_teh_best]

So, the FTC is doing good?

I would say so, yes. They got Pete Hines basically looking like an idiot on the stand, for starters.

 

[feynoob]

Are MS doing court mandated community service by hiring these unemployable idiots?

Yes. The entire management is a circus.

 

[adamsapple]

Am I seriously hearing that Xbox knew ABK and Sony have a marketing deal for CoD and Xbox thought they could also market it

This has to be a joke

Sounds like they're just talking about just saying that the game is also coming to Xbox

Activision said you can talk about it on the website, twitter etc but cannot mention it in the showcase streams.

 

[DeepEnigma]

Now we can knock Valve off the list from back early in this thread as a tool from their PR statement. Even they thought the "10 year deals" were bullshit.

 

[Nothing1234]

Activision bullying Xbox for better revenue share is so strange tbh.

 

[DeepEnigma]

Activision bullying Xbox for better revenue share is so strange tbh.

Also shows how strong the CoD brand is. Not a good look for MS.

 

[Varteras]

Here's the problem; nothing stops Microsoft from providing those benefits WITHOUT BUYING PUBLISHERS! Why? Because we have seen examples of both Sony AND Nintendo doing precisely that. Sony provides 3P partners with console exclusives access to groups like XDEV, the ICE teams, other engineering support and marketing support, alongside shorter development times. Final Fantasy XVI is a prime example of this and, last I checked, Sony don't own Square-Enix.

So what Pete Hines is saying, is not a great reasoning as examples exist through direct competitors showing ownership isn't a prerequisite for those types of benefits. That mean acquisition is not a priority in enabling those benefits so...what DOES exist to mandate acquisition as a requirement?

Whatever it is, Pete Hines did a very poor job of explaining it on the stand today. I don't even think he knows what the answer to that would be!

Honestly, that is the same reasoning I've used for why Sony didn't need to buy Bungie. They could have asked for help with live service games in exchange for helping them expand their IP beyond gaming. Sony already has a similar partnership with Kadokawa. They bought Bungie for the purpose of ultimately being in control of them. Either so no one else could or because they eventually will take their games off competitor platforms. Either way, it wasn't necessary to get what they wanted. Xbox could have easily extended offers to assist them. Getting exclusives in the process. I'm sure there is a little more nuance, but I think that covers the gist of it.

 

[thicc_girls_are_teh_best]

Sounds like they're just talking about just saying that the game is also coming to Xbox

Activision said you can talk about it on the website, twitter etc but cannot mention it in the showcase streams.

Well fair is fair; makes up for MS's crazy 48 (or longer)-hour embargos for 3P multiplat announcements at their showcases.

At least with COD, Sony gets something materially advantageous for their platform. With MS's embargos, it's just temporary optics boosts.

Honestly, that is the same reasoning I've used for why Sony didn't need to buy Bungie. They could have asked for help with live service games in exchange for helping them expand their IP beyond gaming. Sony already has a similar partnership with Kadokawa. They bought Bungie for the purpose of ultimately being in control of them. Either so no one else could or because they eventually will take their games off competitor platforms. Either way, it wasn't necessary to get what they wanted. Xbox could have easily extended offers to assist them. Getting exclusives in the process. I'm sure there is a little more nuance, but I think that covers the gist of it.

Oh of course. It's ultimately always about control of content and claiming that money for yourself, doesn't matter if it's MS or Sony or any other company making these sort of acquisitions.

That people like Pete Hines are trying to avoid the elephant in the room, while under testimony no less, is just kind of sad but also very funny.

 

[feynoob]

 

[Dick Jones]

Sounds like they're just talking about just saying that the game is also coming to Xbox

Activision said you can talk about it on the website, twitter etc but cannot mention it in the showcase streams.

Exactly. Dumbfucks. They've been in the business 20 years and had to be told.

 

[adamsapple]

Now we can knock Valve off the list from back early in this thread as a tool from their PR statement. Even they thought the "10 year deals" were bullshit.

They said they don't need a contract because they believe MS's word on bringing the games, not sure how you read this as "10 year deals are bullshit"

 

[Mr Moose]

They said they don't need a contract because they believe MS's word on bringing the games, not sure how you read this as "10 year deals are bullshit"

According to MS.

 

[adamsapple]

According to MS.

According to Gaben

“We’re happy that Microsoft wants to continue using Steam to reach customers with Call of Duty when their Activision acquisition closes,” Valve boss Newell wrote in a statement provided to Kotaku.

“Microsoft has been on Steam for a long time and we take it as a signal that they are happy with gamers reception to that and the work we are doing. Our job is to keep building valuable features for not only Microsoft but all Steam customers and partners.

“Microsoft offered and even sent us a draft agreement for a long-term Call of Duty commitment but it wasn’t necessary for us because a) we’re not believers in requiring any partner to have an agreement that locks them to shipping games on Steam into the distant future b) Phil and the games team at Microsoft have always followed through on what they told us they would do so we trust their intentions and c) we think Microsoft has all the motivation they need to be on the platforms and devices where Call of Duty customers want to be.”

 

[PaintTinJr]

Damn. ABK treating MS like how EA treated Sega

Is it though?

Here at gaf we've discussed the garbage split offering of the S vs the impressive X bringing the gen lowest common denominator down, and we've discussed how the opaque DirectX offering of not letting devs access the metal is a huge mistake. In the context of CoD, they are absolutely right to demand a better deal when it is them that take the blame for their twitch shooter having opaque frame-rate dips, and it is a lot of extra work to do next-gen games on the S, even more so when it is a 60fps or more twitch shooter.

 

[DeepEnigma]

They said they don't need a contract because they believe MS's word on bringing the games, not sure how you read this as "10 year deals are bullshit"

They said they don't need a contract locking them into just 10 years. That their own brand is good enough to not have one. I am sure they had the upper hand there with, "Fuck you take your games to that shitty non selling Windows Store if you think you can do better."

They were just being nice in the public eye. They know they're the big kid on the block on the PC selling front, just as Activision knows CoD is bigger than Xbox.

He clearly was leaving out the part that they "trust MS to do so" *because MS has no other choice but to do so.

 

[thicc_girls_are_teh_best]

Well the problem is MS only decided to "back up those commitments with actions" AFTER regulators began their fuller investigation/review processes.

AND they used those pledges as public showpieces to regulators only when they felt pressured to provide those offers.

Is it though?

Here at gaf we've discussed the garbage split offering of the S vs the impressive X bringing the gen lowest common denominator down, and we've discussed how the opaque DirectX offering of not letting devs access the metal is a huge mistake. In the context of CoD, they are absolutely right to demand a better deal when it is them that take the blame for their twitch shooter having opaque frame-rate dips, and it is a lot of extra work to do next-gen games on the S, even more so when it is a 60fps or more twitch shooter.

Well, it sorta is in the fact ABK, like EA back then, are a big 3P publisher and MS, like Sega back then, are a "small" (in console space) platform holder in a position of relative weakness, where they need that 3P publisher more than that 3P publisher needs them.

Though I would agree with you in that MS's own choices regarding aspects of the Xbox platform don't have as natural an appeal to 3P as Sony's do, and that's been the case for over a decade and going. I would say ABK's leverage over MS in that regard is with a MS that is arguably fundamentally weaker than Sega was when EA did similar during the early years of the MegaDrive/Genesis.

 

[Ronin_7]

So, the FTC is doing good?

It's mostly Xbox execs doing bad honestly lmao

 

[jm89]

Bond doesn't know where ubitus is from who they made a cloud deal with.

Well atleast she got boosteroid is from romania ukraine

 

[Darsxx82]

According to MS.

Gaven stated those words himself publicly...

 

[Banjo64]

They even signed a deal with EE?

 

[Mr Moose]

According to Gaben

Oh damn, he's an idiot

b) Phil and the games team at Microsoft have always followed through on what they told us they would do so we trust their intentions

 

[Varteras]

Also shows how strong the CoD brand is. Not a good look for MS.

When you can strongarm a company with between 300 to 400 billion dollars in assets, on its way to a $3 trillion market cap, raking in $80 billion in profits annually, because of the value of a single IP... yeah.

 

[Nothing1234]

Throwing 10 year cloud deals out like candy but couldn't remember where Ubitus was from...

 

[feynoob]

Oh damn, he's an idiot

He worked for MS.

Newell spent 13 years at Microsoft as the producer of the first three releases of the Windows operating systems. Newell later said he learned more during his first three months at Microsoft than he ever did at Harvard, which was one of the primary reasons why he dropped out.

 

[adamsapple]

Oh damn, he's an idiot

They've put out almost all of their 1P games on Steam with Zenimax's games (and likely their prior EGS commitments) being the only exception.

There's no reason for him to not trust Phil for bringing the games to Steam.

 

[feynoob]

 

[Banjo64]

I got a 10 year deal in my cereal this morning

 

[DeepEnigma]

Throwing 10 year cloud deals out like candy but couldn't remember where Ubitus was from...

Romania Ukrainia