Support NeoGAF

[Spitfire098]

According to Michael Patcher, they could create a separate entity to run COD in UK to continue their operations as usual.

Means COD won’t come to game pass or streaming services in UK.

You seem like a person who will believe Michael Patcher

 

[DForce]

This does nothing but prevent cod from being on cloud gaming. That is not a win for gamers

All future Activision titles are going to remain on PlayStation.
Xbox gamers lose nothing other than the games being on Game Pass.

If this deal went through, then Microsoft and Sony would have gone after more big publishers. This probably won't happen now (or any time soon).

This is a win for gamers.

 

[Thirty7ven]

Man that's weird. Lets try that again.

This deal will still go through

This is Kinda Funny believing that the deal will still go through. There reasoning is that they'll probably win the appeal.

Kinda funny?

None of these gaming podcasts know what the fuck they are talking about when it comes to this kind of topic. Ignorance runs rampant.

Even a podcast like Sacred Symbols who sounds like its run by more level headed people, still has some really ignorant takes. Specially when that guy Chris opens his mouth.

 

[bluecowboys]

You seem like a person who will believe Michael Patcher

He was right a few times apparently. He is a millionaire.

 

[THE DUCK]

Whatever dude. You're the same guy saying PSVR2 is dead when it's been on the market for 2 months.

What does Xbox lose with the deal falling through? Nothing. It's business as usual for everyone at this point.

Your reading inability betrays you, since I very clearly never said that, only that it needed further support to be successful which is 100% true. What you decided I said is about you and your fear.

As to Microsoft, they will be fine. Calling them embarrasing/boring due to a dumb cma decision that was completely out of thier control is silly.

 

[GHG]

It's important to note that Microsoft can still attempt to strike a deal with Activision to get COD on gamepass. The situation with this deal doesn't render that an impossibility.

The only problem being that any such deal would need to be mutually beneficial.

 

[Fully engaged]

Because it's Microsoft and Xbox is irrelevant comparatively to the rest of the company.

It was also probably considered a bad deal. MS is out of it. 70 billion for ActiBliz with all its issues and bloat... Outside of CoD it is a shitty piece of business compared to the Zenimax deal.

 

[mckmas8808]

Kinda funny?

None of these gaming podcasts know what the fuck they are talking about when it comes to this kind of topic. Ignorance runs rampant.

Even a podcast like Sacred Symbols who sounds like its run by more level headed people, still has some really ignorant takes. Specially when that guy Chris opens his mouth.

Colin was the only one I heard over the last 6 months actively against the deal and said it'll be bad for gamers. And even he thought it would go through. But still, he at least challenged this thought that Xbox buying ABK was good for gamers.

It's as if podcasts are being paid to shill for Xbox sometimes.

 

[StealthGoblin]

It's important to note that Microsoft can still attempt to strike a deal with Activision to get COD on gamepass. The situation with this deal doesn't render that an impossibility.

The only problem being that any such deal would need to be mutually beneficial.

Sony have first option for PS+ for the duration of their contract, and even then likely have a contractual clause to extend the deal should conditions be met.

All of that is based on other deals and wording we’ve seen with other publishers. Given how much Sony invests into COD, I’d imagine the terms are tighter.

 

[SNG32]

Well I'm honestly surprised...but thats what happens when you buy the biggest ass company with a huge IP I guess.
As for Microsoft, maybe this is an opportunity to invest in their own gaming studios. I mean you have alot of them.

Which they should have been doing. They have more studios than Sony there is no reason for them to be assed out on games. Or start funding some of the new developers wth veterans working on the games.

 

[GHG]

Sony have first option for PS+ for the duration of their contract, and even then likely have a contractual clause to extend the deal should conditions be met.

All of that is based on other deals and wording we’ve seen with other publishers. Given how much Sony invests into COD, I’d imagine the terms are tighter.

Whatever terms were set out in those marketing contracts would have held for the time they are valid for even if the deal had gone through.

Which is why people talking about "COD on gamepass" had to have been talking about from 2024 (potentially) onwards.

 

[Thirty7ven]

Colin was the only one I heard over the last 6 months actively against the deal and said it'll be bad for gamers. And even he thought it would go through. But still, he at least challenged this thought that Xbox buying ABK was good for gamers.

It's as if podcasts are being paid to shill for Xbox sometimes.

Colin has been against market consolidation the whole time. Chris is the kind of idiot to talk about how MS will save ABK from China and shit.

A lot of these gaming media heads wanted the deal to go through, and others are simply used to the idea that rich companies do what they want.

 

[diffusionx]

This does nothing but prevent cod from being on cloud gaming. That is not a win for gamers

Actually, it does the opposite. Instead of MS using their leverage to put COD on Xbox Cloud and keep it there, it gives every company the opportunity to get it on their service.

 

[ShaiKhulud1989]

The only problem being that any such deal would need to be mutually beneficial.

I think this whole deal was orchestrated to bypass some decisions that would never pass through the shareholders, like CoD on Gamepass deal that will bleed money or withholding software from the biggest platform of the generation (PS5). It went smoothly with ZeniMax because it was private, but underdog platform will always have a huge pain with those kind of deals with the shareholders involved. If (or specifically when, really) the deal falls through, Bobby can spew acid all he wants, he won't go against his biggest platform partner out of personal spite.

 

[bentanchorbolt]

Well, that might all be true, but it cant not create a negative relationship.

Sure. There are a couple general contractors I really don't care for, but their checks clear every two weeks and I care more about money than I do about how grating they are to deal with. And we are talking a few grand to ten grand to in some cases a hundred grand with these guys. If I can get over it for that level of money, I'm sure Jim and Bobby can make nice when their relationship generates billions for one another.

 

[SlimySnake]

It's important to note that Microsoft can still attempt to strike a deal with Activision to get COD on gamepass. The situation with this deal doesn't render that an impossibility.

The only problem being that any such deal would need to be mutually beneficial.

Of course, nothing is stopping Microsoft from buying CoD exclusivity outright. Just like Sony did with FF7 and FF16. Gamepass should be cheaper once they sign the marketing contract.

If anything, MS should not be getting outbid by Sony for marketing rights. Just pay more. Surely they can afford it if they were willing to pay $8 billion for bethesda and $3 billion for Minecraft.

If they really wanted games on gamepass, they wouldve just paid. They just dont want to pay. Elden Ring, Hogwarts, Star Wars Survivor, Diablo, not all of these big games have marketing deals with Sony. They couldve easily paid to get them on gamepass without every needing to acquire fromsoft or EA or activision. even in cases when Sony went in and got a deal, MS must have known and they shouldve gone in to make a counter offer.

It would get expensive but Sony would eventually learn not to get into bidding wars with MS. I was shocked that MS didnt go and get Elden Ring last year as a day one gamepass title. Like you have nothing else and you cant pay a couple of hundred million for the only big AAA game of the year?

 

[PropellerEar]

 

[Sacred]

That is absolutely pathetic reasoning after just a few days ago giving them their stamp of approval.

 

[bentanchorbolt]

Why are we posting tweets from some dork that has 13 followers?

 

[dotnotbot]

Of course, nothing is stopping Microsoft from buying CoD exclusivity outright. Just like Sony did with FF7 and FF16. Gamepass should be cheaper once they sign the marketing contract.

If anything, MS should not be getting outbid by Sony for marketing rights. Just pay more. Surely they can afford it if they were willing to pay $8 billion for bethesda and $3 billion for Minecraft.

If they really wanted games on gamepass, they wouldve just paid. They just dont want to pay. Elden Ring, Hogwarts, Star Wars Survivor, Diablo, not all of these big games have marketing deals with Sony. They couldve easily paid to get them on gamepass without every needing to acquire fromsoft or EA or activision. even in cases when Sony went in and got a deal, MS must have known and they shouldve gone in to make a counter offer.

It would get expensive but Sony would eventually learn not to get into bidding wars with MS. I was shocked that MS didnt go and get Elden Ring last year as a day one gamepass title. Like you have nothing else and you cant pay a couple of hundred million for the only big AAA game of the year?

If they planned to acquire some of companies owning these games anyway then maybe they decided there's no point in outbidding Sony - let them get what they want while we're preparing for long term war. Now that the plan of buying out the industry is dead we might see more serious exclusivity deals.

 

[MarkMe2525]

That 60 to 120ms is on top of it and would be a worse experience than xbox/playstation or pc.

Besides the streaming differences they implied that it will be ported

Again, perfectly doable especially in handheld mode. If you would like to discuss what was implied by MS, we can look to their statement. Here is an excerpt "Microsoft has entered into a 10-year commitment to bring Call of Duty to N nintendo following the merger of Microsoft and Activision Blizzard King." So if we are talking about specifics, the language used does not imply one way or another if it would be a port or a cloud version. Regardless, that was just one piece of my statement earlier, and personally I believe the plan was to indeed develop a bespoke switch version that was feature and content complete, just using different rendering methods. I assume one can divorce the game code from the rendering method so I do not see how this would be an issue.

Of course, I'm just trying to have a conversation as none of us here on Gaf will ever know their true intentions. That is unless MS successfully appeals the decision. (I don't think they will be successful personally)

 

[Baki]

Of course, nothing is stopping Microsoft from buying CoD exclusivity outright. Just like Sony did with FF7 and FF16. Gamepass should be cheaper once they sign the marketing contract.

If anything, MS should not be getting outbid by Sony for marketing rights. Just pay more. Surely they can afford it if they were willing to pay $8 billion for bethesda and $3 billion for Minecraft.

If they really wanted games on gamepass, they wouldve just paid. They just dont want to pay. Elden Ring, Hogwarts, Star Wars Survivor, Diablo, not all of these big games have marketing deals with Sony. They couldve easily paid to get them on gamepass without every needing to acquire fromsoft or EA or activision. even in cases when Sony went in and got a deal, MS must have known and they shouldve gone in to make a counter offer.

It would get expensive but Sony would eventually learn not to get into bidding wars with MS. I was shocked that MS didnt go and get Elden Ring last year as a day one gamepass title. Like you have nothing else and you cant pay a couple of hundred million for the only big AAA game of the year?

Companies are valued based on their future potential. For example:

Company A: Receives $1B lump sum payment & they never release anything. That company will be worth the value of the money. A good current example is Microstrategy, they are valued based on the value of the bitcoin they hold.

Company B: Generates $200M in profit every year and is growing their profit by 30%. That company would be worth 10X the value of their profit and potentially more. That's because investors are assigning value to their future growth.

Now, the problem with ABK putting COD exclusively on Xbox, is that the one-time payment is less attractive than a growing business. So their share price will be lower because future growth will be lower because they are ignoring the biggest platform (PS5). Executives bonuses are based on share price. Companies exist to increase shareholder value, so those executives are also at risk of losing their jobs.

 

[Dick Jones]

You seem like a person who will believe Michael Patcher

The ultimate insult

 

[sachos]

Man that's weird. Lets try that again.

This deal will still go through

This is Kinda Funny believing that the deal will still go through. There reasoning is that they'll probably win the appeal.

Now i watched it, ty for linking it. Yeah, i wouldn't celebrate just yet, you never know. Their reasoning was pretty superficial though, expected better arguments.

 

[Mr Moose]

it can’t go to court, where Microsoft can try and tangle the procedure up and create huge legal fees. it goes to a tribunal who decide if the CMA didn’t follow their process correctly. if that’s found to be the case it goes back to the CMA.

that’s it. that’s the appeal process in its entirety.

 

[oldergamer]

Apparently it goes to CAT and if they find something it goes back to CMA who can just block it again. CMA can’t be overruled, only re-review.

Cat uses actual judges from what I understand and it's more fact based. It can still be challenged in court is what I recall reading somewhere. Or the process is more like court.

 

[solidus12]

Remember when Phil was confident the deal would go through

 

[Fake]

Thats a huge volume of money. They could help Fable devs, Halo devs, Bethesda or even using to help the Redfall devs push 60 fps day one.

 

[delirium trigger]

I've paid little attention, too much legalese. So Britain is the reason why this isn't going through?

 

[dotnotbot]

I've paid little attention, too much legalese. So Britain is the reason why this isn't going through?

So far. Still no final decision from EU.

Microsoft's dominant position in cloud market is the main reason though:

 

[oldergamer]

Anything that prevents Microsoft from accelerating (*cough* forcing *cough*) gaming towards a dystopian cloud future where they control the majority of the market is a win for gamers.

You guys need to get more creative if you're going to argue that this was somehow going to be a win for gamers when Activision provided evidence that they were eventually going to make their franchises available via cloud anyway.

Lol dystopian

 

[Kerotan]

Would they also need to drop their other UK studios tho?

Relocate them elsewhere. All operations and sales must cease. The UK is a big market for them especially gaming so they might not force it. They'll definitely appeal though.

 

[The Pleasure]

What happened to all the xbox shills who wouldn't stop licking Phil Spender's ass? Were they sent to the foreign lands of UbiSoften?

 

[Spitfire098]

I forgot about this gem, legend!!!!

 

[ChorizoPicozo]

All things considered this has been quite peacefully and respectful for the most part. i could say i am proud of all you...I guess.

tomorrow is sony's earnings....

and those showcases can't come soon enough.

Now, i am going to twitter and spread some Ezekiel love.

 

[Topher]

Cat uses actual judges from what I understand and it's more fact based. It can still be challenged in court is what I recall reading somewhere. Or the process is more like court.

Why do you keep pretending I didn't post this in response to you earlier?

This is interesting.....

"When appealing the CMA’s substantive decision in a merger case, a judicial review standard applies, meaning the applicant must show that the CMA acted irrationally, illegally or with procedural impropriety. The CAT will not engage with the merits of the CMA’s decision or conduct a wholesale review of the parties’ evidence. In practice this means that applicants face a high threshold when seeking to overturn a merger decision, which is reflected in the statistics: the CMA has won 67% of all merger appeals since 2010."

Appealing a decision by the CMA in a merger review – The In-House Lawyer

www.inhouselawyer.co.uk

 

[delirium trigger]

So far. Still no final decision from EU.

Microsoft's dominant position in cloud market is the main reason though:

It's crazy to me. In a world run by monopolies, Microsoft having 65% of the cloud gaming market is when regulators put their foot down...

 

[reinking]

Why do you keep pretending I didn't post this in response to you earlier?

Give him time. He is still in the denial stage. He will come around.

 

[Topher]

Give him time. He is still in the denial stage. He will come around.

Reminds me......where is ManaByte anyway?

 

[Mr Moose]

Of course, nothing is stopping Microsoft from buying CoD exclusivity outright. Just like Sony did with FF7 and FF16. Gamepass should be cheaper once they sign the marketing contract.

That never happened, unless you think a PC version doesn't exist.

Reminds me......where is ManaByte anyway?

Looking at Final Fantasy bunduru.

 

[dotnotbot]

It's crazy to me. In a world run by monopolies, Microsoft having 65% of the cloud gaming market is when regulators put their foot down...

No need for more then. Everyone knows letting Microsoft do what they did in the past was a huge mistake. Behemoths like them shouldn's exist if we want healthy competition.

 

[feynoob]

 

[Boots_the_God]

None of those assurances were enough or in line with what the CMA requested.

What did they request in regards to cloud gaming? Serious question

 

[jroc74]

ITT: " Please microsoft skip the UK so I can get call of duty for free in my sub "

Not only is it fuck you got mine for Game Pass...

Now its fuck your country got mine. Some folks are a wee bit too invested in MS and their acquisitions.

 

[Alex Scott]

Have you seen the latest NPD report? Activision will go running to sony to renew the marketing deal. They need sonys massive audience. Things will stay exactly as they are because it's good business. Badblood and grudges ain't even in the equation.

The same thing could be said for Sony that Sony also needs Activision. This should be a wake up call for Sony to start creating their own FPS and multiplayer games.

 

[poppabk]

So far. Still no final decision from EU.

Microsoft's dominant position in cloud market is the main reason though:

Which is hilarious. 70% of nothing is still nothing.

 

[dem]

If xCloud was a separate subscription to gamepass its market share would be zero… cause it fucking blows.

It’s running on fucking Xbox. It doesn’t even have mouse and keyboard support! It’s seriously garbage. Hilarious that xCloud is what derails this deal.

 

[MarkMe2525]

MS invited Nintendo into the argument.

I find that to be besides the point. MS stated they could bring the game ‘feature and content complete,’ and Nintendo agreed to go along for the ride. Yet the CMA seems to have concluded that would not be possible. Regardless of who invited who, that conclusion is not based on anything that one would consider evidence.

There is also a precedent for MS doing this exact same thing at the launch of Xbox One with Titanfall for the 360. The 360 version of Titanfall was not a simple port, but for the most part, a completely separate build of the game designed around the hardware constraints of the 360. I make no claims to be an expert, but would there be anything to stop a developer from pulling the "game code" from a title and incorporating it into a different rendering setup? This is not a rhetorical question, as from my understanding, that is how bluepoint got Titanfall running on the 360. Even if you are not interested in the answer to these questions, I do recommend watching this video on the subject. Bluepoint really impressed with this version of the game.

 

[delirium trigger]

No need for more then. Everyone knows letting Microsoft do what they did in the past was a huge mistake. Behemoths like them shouldn's exist if we want healthy competition.

The fact that governments can get involved to prevent a deal over Microsoft's 60-70% cloud streaming market share is completely ridiculous and everyone knows it. I get some people on here are gonna root for a pro-sony decision regardless of whether it makes sense or not but c'mon.

I wonder if Stadia was still around if this goes through?

 

[thismeinteil]

It's baffling to me: That forum is 99.9% leftist-leaning, except when it comes to MS, a mega-corp, buying out the video-games market. I honestly don't understand...Fanboyism trumps economic/social/societal ideologies, it seems.

Well, MS is the ultimate woke company, so maybe they hope they buy up everything and push that agenda.