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Microsoft / Activision Deal Approval Watch |OT| (MS/ABK close)

Do you believe the deal will be approved?


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adamsapple

Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?



Its Happening GIF by MOODMAN
 

Ozriel

M$FT
Longterm most of these studios will be divested, shut down (Lionsgate), stop producing games (The Initiative), or remain as a shell (Arkane). Look at what's happening with Embracer.

Sony will be fine amidst all this; their strategy is solid. The only problem with Microsoft's strategy is that the overall industry will suffer.

Embracer ran out of money after their expected investor bailed. I'm not sure it's safe for you to hold your breath for the same thing to happen to Microsoft.
 

Topher

Identifies as young
seems this is the new marching orders? Destin was sharing this as some sorta gotcha as well despite it being old news and from the start of this process BEFORE they came out against it



Anyone who has followed this stuff knows the timeline. ABK deal announced. MS initial talks with Sony are favorable. Phil Spencer says deal will only be 3 years for PS. Jim Ryan goes public and says that is absurd.

In the end, Sony walks away with a better deal anyway.
 
Anyone who has followed this stuff knows the timeline. ABK deal announced. MS initial talks with Sony are favorable. Phil Spencer says deal will only be 3 years for PS. Jim Ryan goes public and says that is absurd.

In the end, Sony walks away with a better deal anyway.
10 years about the length of 1 console generation. I hope Sony is going to have a plan instead of waiting until 2033 and then panicking when MS owns the entire industry and forecloses all content from Playstation.
 

graywolf323

Member
Anyone who has followed this stuff knows the timeline. ABK deal announced. MS initial talks with Sony are favorable. Phil Spencer says deal will only be 3 years for PS. Jim Ryan goes public and says that is absurd.

In the end, Sony walks away with a better deal anyway.
honestly I fully believe Destin knows that, he’s spreading BS on purpose to try to take some heat off Xbox re: the recent leaks

the only other explanation is he’s really really really bad at his job… (supposedly a journalist and not just a PR mouthpiece for Xbox)
 

Jemm

Member
10 years about the length of 1 console generation. I hope Sony is going to have a plan instead of waiting until 2033 and then panicking when MS owns the entire industry and forecloses all content from Playstation.
Isn't their plan to create the ten or so live service games and hope some of them succeed big time?
 

Heisenberg007

Gold Journalism
If that's what saves them from being annihilated by Microsoft then I support it 100%

Might or might not work, who the hell knows at this point
It definitely is.

PlayStation does not rely on third-party publishers for single-player games. They make single-player games better than most: God of War, TLOU, Ghost of Tsushima, etc. If Ubisoft gets purchased today and AC, Far Cry, Ghost Recon, Watch Dogs become exclusive, Sony already has better blockbuster single-player open-world AAA games in place.

PlayStation does rely on third-party publishers for multiplayer games: FPS shooters, co-op TPS, etc. Activision, Epic, Bungie (now 1P), etc.

They bought Bungie to secure at least one such developer. Now they are creating FPS PvP games (Concord), co-op TPS (Helldivers 2), extraction shooters (Marathon), Arena shooters (Bungie's Gummy Bears project), car combat games (Twisted Metal), Metaverse Heist games (Fairgames), Online fantasy MP (London Studios's next game), MMORPGs (Horizon MMORPG by NCSoft), open-world co-op combat as a Monster Hunter alternative (Horizon Online) and many more.

Sony isn't buying single-player studios and publishers because they already do this better than others. It is the MP area they lack in, which is what they are trying to remedy.
 
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Mr.NiceGuy

Banned
Successful sure, but in the context of saying domino's makes authentic style pizza, many would say it's terrible, and a mockery of real pizza

Yep. No wonder the analogy flew over the XBox fans head, Destin can be successful (Twitter followers. engagements) but that doesn't make him a journalist (or even a decent human being might I add), just like Dominos having sales and reach doesn't make the a real authentic Pizza place.

And the funny thing is that analogy is on point with the whole Xbox brand so again you see why to their fans it's a good thing.
 
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D

Deleted member 848825

Unconfirmed Member
It definitely is.

PlayStation does not rely on third-party publishers for single-player games. They make single-player games better than most: God of War, TLOU, Ghost of Tsushima, etc. If Ubisoft gets purchased today and AC, Far Cry, Ghost Recon, Watch Dogs become exclusive, Sony already has better blockbuster single-player open-world AAA games in place.

PlayStation does rely on third-party publishers for multiplayer games: FPS shooters, co-op TPS, etc. Activision, Epic, Bungie (now 1P), etc.

They bought Bungie to secure at least one such developer. Now they are creating FPS PvP games (Concord), co-op TPS (Helldivers 2), extraction shooters (Marathon), Arena shooters (Bungie's Gummy Bears project), car combat games (Twisted Metal), Metaverse Heist games (Fairgames), Online fantasy MP (London Studios's next game), MMORPGs (Horizon MMORPG by NCSoft), open-world co-op combat as a Monster Hunter alternative (Horizon Online) and many more.

Sony isn't buying single-player studios and publishers because they already do this better than others. It is the MP area they lack in, which is what they are trying to remedy.
I'd love for all games to be available on all platforms. It gives me more power and choice as a consumer. I just wish everyone who loves games, would simply see that acquisitions ultimately reduce their own consumer choice. And the danger is that all of this just further hastens and escalates any spend they have to acquire as much as they can and as quickly as possible. Which of course means all platform holders gain more exclusives, further limiting consumer choice.

Thankfully PlayStation are in a very strong position and know how to manage their studios. Or at least I get the sense of quality is there. And they do at least seem keen to innovate with things like haptics and adaptive triggers and VR. But many of their games aren't really my thing. But the quality is there. So for me its important that they retain third party choice in addition to their inhouse stuff. Then we have Xbox who are buying up massive publishers complete with many franchises and IP's. Which are more likely to be my usual game type. But I fear for the quality of those releases through lack of good management paired with the strong focus on a sub business model.

In short, all of what's going on at the moment is a bit shit for me as gamer.
 
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RickMasters

Member
"I believe it would be better if we were equal partners", says COO Haruhiro Tsujimoto.

Merger with Xbox game Studios it is then
Well….. they would be valuable in marketing the Xbox in Japan that’s for sure. And Some big capcom exclusives.



I don’t think it would actually happen. Japan laws n all….
 

RickMasters

Member
So apparently IGN reporting that the deal is done in the U.K. just seen it on Facebook on one of my friends feeds.


I guess this is all wrapped up then? Or is there still some thing going on with the FTC?
 

Heisenberg007

Gold Journalism
So apparently IGN reporting that the deal is done in the U.K. just seen it on Facebook on one of my friends feeds.


I guess this is all wrapped up then? Or is there still some thing going on with the FTC?
FTC thing is still going on, but that's not really an issue. Microsoft can/will close over it because the injunction had already been denied.

The deal is provisionally approved by the CMA, so Microsoft can't close now until the final decision comes in -- which is expected to come on and or before Oct. 18. Then it'll close. No hurdles now.
 
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I *really* hope MS has a couple of guys cranking on some BC specific updates / content to go along with the deal closing, whenever it closes.

There's just way too much back-catalog and it'll be a shame if they don't utilize it.

Yeah, I know they said they closed out the BC program for OG Xbox/360, but this should open up some games that weren't eligible before for licensing reasons. Fingers crossed.
 

RickMasters

Member
FTC cannot block the deal from closing. Once the CMA gives its formal approval, the deal is ok to close.


Then I guess I’ll be playing tony hawks on GPU soon enough.



On a side note:

I guess Bobby gonna get his 300 mill before Xmas after all. They would be wise to give that man a job! His business acumen is insane.



That kind of payout ? Im celebrating in Miami and mexico for Xmas… I’m buying Atleast two singer 911s, two APs, two pateks and a new fucking yacht! And I’m paying the taxes with my old money… then after the holidays…. I’m walking right back into MS offices, like a boss and telling them….. “ listen….I’ll make you that 70bn you just spent, back within a year…. Gimme my old job and lemme handle that bag” 😂😂


For real…Whether you Hate or rate the guy. He is one of life’s winners. I can’t knock his hustle.
 
Looking at an impressive success of Starfield.
I cannot wait to see even more impressive success of the next Call of Duty without PlayStation!

I guess see you in like 10 years then...

Also Xbox and PC players lol good luck with the hackers.
 
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HeisenbergFX4

Gold Member
There wont be an issue with full lobbies. PC hackers will be ready and waiting to jump in.
Thats the rub, most console players avoid playing with PC players and if you're only playing COD in only Xbox lobbies good luck in a month or two getting into games quickly

I just do not believe anyone who really loves and plays a particular game would want the larger player base removed from it, sound like just wars to me
 
Thats the rub, most console players avoid playing with PC players and if you're only playing COD in only Xbox lobbies good luck in a month or two getting into games quickly

I just do not believe anyone who really loves and plays a particular game would want the larger player base removed from it, sound like just wars to me

I don't even think Xbox has the ability to remove PC players anymore. I know in Warzone there was an option but it didn't work. For playstation there was an option but eventually it took forever to find games if you removed cross play. I love PC gaming. I have a great gaming PC but I refuse to play with PC gamers on MP games they are the worst.
 

HeisenbergFX4

Gold Member
I don't even think Xbox has the ability to remove PC players anymore. I know in Warzone there was an option but it didn't work. For playstation there was an option but eventually it took forever to find games if you removed cross play. I love PC gaming. I have a great gaming PC but I refuse to play with PC gamers on MP games they are the worst.
As far as I know you can still do it at the system level in Xbox settings but maybe not anymore
 
D

Deleted member 848825

Unconfirmed Member
Looking at an impressive success of Starfield.
I cannot wait to see even more impressive success of the next Call of Duty without PlayStation!
Well, hold that thought for the next 10 years. And you may finally get your wish. As weird as that wish might be.
 
So its done huh, Pandoras box has officially been opened:messenger_confounded:. Now that the precedent has been set that there's nothing really stopping MS from buying the biggest publishers since everything is smaller than Activision, Im not really sure what is stopping MS from steamrolling here long-term. Initially they might face halfhearted resistance from regulators but as we have seen with the CMA basically falling over themselves to get the deal closed within microsofts timeline in the last hearing said regulations would just be facesaving measures MS has too much pull and they have roundabout measures to get things through.

Sony cant handle the finanical pull needed to pull off a gamepass scenario so will be forced to go for smaller studios and publishers leaving Microsoft to gobble up the bigger ones leaving almost zero independent studios which is just sad for the industry. Sony has a good legup in its current position which will carry them until the latter stages of this gen but once COD, doom, diablo, fallout, ES and the other shit that MS consolidates falls day 1 on gamepass....yeah worrying times ahead.

Also before people start laughing kindly look up Microsoft's history of consolidation in markets and see how damn successful they are in this strategy. In the short term Sony will compete and will win this gen overall but longterm..

In 10-15-20 years? The world will be fucked up, imo, and MS hegemony on the VG market will be the least of my concern...
 
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