That is utter bullshit. Nintendo has some nearly 40 year old, iconic franchises that are far more recognizable than anything MS has. They are successful because of those franchises and their platform, not just because they innovate. MS couldn't just replicate that. Nintendo is actually using their franchises and history if delivering good games to coerce people like me into buying their underpowered HW just to get a taste.
But that didn't help the Gamecube or WiiU against the Xbox, Xbox360/X1 for them by "market share", so the IPs alone don't give them market share.
I think what is also pertinent to this acquisition is that consumer opinion years later - as with the Gamecube and WiiU - as great means little to the immediate "Ls", which is exactly why Microsoft are trying to buy ATVI for immediate disruptive narrative wins for them and their platform, and was exactly the type of narrative win Nintendo would have needed to recover their day to day positions when the Gamecube and WiiU were failing, so where the argument is that Nintendo don't need CoD as the exclusive on their system, that argument is only true in successful generations like the NES, SNES, Wii, Switch, the others would have been massively changed by the news of a $70b acquisition of ATVI and the chance to entice/snare CoDs userbase to their consoles of the future.
They created those IPs, that's still innovation.
On console it usually took at least 3 months before the offer would reset for me. When the $1 offer dropped for GPU it took 6 months before the offer reset for me. Doesn't matter much these days because I get GPU for free with Microsoft rewards points.
I should have used the word mindshare, and probably used the word western-mindshare at that. The examples you gave I would place alongside Sega Japan IPs that only reinforce or increase mindshare when you've already got the traditionally important western IPs - with parity, or best version - on your system like the CoDs/Fifa/Maddens, etc like PlayStation and Xbox always have.
Amen.
I think Kotick is going to be hard to completely abandon. The dude has positioned himself in such a way that if he goes it will be on his terms.
wat? explain.
But after you've had a go, he would take pleasure telling you that he has test driven both first
If/when Spencer retires, it is quite clear they are setting up Sarah Bond to be his replacement.
Been very obvious for a while.
and when do you expect for this to happen ?
I thought Tomb Raider being owned by Square was because the original publisher had already had success issue and financial difficulties, so wasn't a system selling IP by then and was only seeing a rival after the PS3/360-PS4X1 cross-gen reboot.
My guess is as good as yours, but if you look at their public appearances over the last year or so, it could actually happen relatively soon. Spencer looks tired.
It is? What makes you think that?
Microsoft is literally cooperating with him right now in order to pay him millions in their purchase. How is him being a PR Nightmare a deterrent here and not when they initially made the deal?
She travels with him pretty much everywhere now, her public presence has tripled lately. It just feels like a natural match. Perhaps I'm wrong. I don't know, so lets just call it a hunch.
That's how it will start imo. Then they will give him a promotion.
She was the first presenter at their last E3 also. Spencer only showed up at the very end to announce Wo Long.
Okay. Guess I'm not seeing it but I googled for a few minutes. Just seemed like she was getting more exposure because of the ABK deal.
Him being a PR Nightmare as a whole helped the deal.
It's pretty obvious she is next in line and is being groomed for the role.
I know the CMA hearings with ABK & MS happened last week but isn't Sony meeting up with the CMA this week?
She's not a good fit imo. People hate on Phil all day long here but he actually seems to genuinely like games. He talk too much but I still like him. I don't ever hear Sarah talk about the games she plays, to me she's more like the typical suit we see everywhere else, fake PR smile and all, and that bores me to death.
I kind of agree. I mean, there is no replacing Phil, he is a God. But you are right, I don't know much about her and she doesn't seem like a person who has ever picked up a controller.
Yup spot on
I think she speaks Japanese. That's about all I know. Involved in negotiations, so probably sitting in or leading all the Gamepass deals and more.
Yup spot on
Let's just hope Phil has no plan to retire yet, Google says he's 55 so there is still hope he's around for another decade.
yeah, that was the story from last week
There's no way Kotick stays if the acquisition were to be finalized. He and the ATVI board will get their golden parachutes and they'll be gone with Microsoft's best wishes.
I'd question if he'll stay if/when the acquisition fails. IIRC a group of shareholders have an ongoing legal case saying that the Bobby/board are failing in their duties to ATVI shareholders by having a conflict of interest with the size of the parachute payments compared to their size of shareholdings.
