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[Warablo]

You'll definitely see some from Microsoft as a result of this. It could be a very good thing for the brand. We have to wait and see what happens.

Sure if it gets Microsoft to make more appealing games, I think it would've inspired more innovation from Sony to go into FPS market.

But they were talking about cloud innovation, which there won't be any in awhile until ISP's get put in their place.

 

[MasterCornholio]

Sure if it gets Microsoft to make more appealing games, I think it would've inspired more innovation from Sony to go into FPS market.

But they were talking about cloud innovation, which there won't be any in awhile until ISP's get put in their place.

I'm sure Microsofts output will get better. They certainly have enough studios to do that. Right now they are going through some growing pains. It might be a while before we see it reflected in the brands hardware numbers.

 

[baphomet]

I'm sure Microsofts output will get better. They certainly have enough studios to do that. Right now they are going through some growing pains. It might be a while before we see it reflected in the brands hardware numbers.

Their output literally can't get any worse.

 

[Bernoulli]

it seems activision has started an ad campaign against the CMA

 

[Zok310]

And then said that they have been working with them just before revealing their decision. The advantage that Microsoft have in this case is that they know that what they have proposed was not enough to the CMA. They have the occasion to offer more to the EU. But i seems that they are doing just more "deals" with obscure cloud service providers for easy PR at the moment. The EU will maybe accept as their situation is not the same as the UK but they have a good chance of following the CMA too. I hope they do.

The thing is MS can continue to make deals becasue the deals dont just hinge on abk titles, it also includes xbox games from all the devs xbox have bought over the years.
So if the cma appeal dont work the folks they singed deals with will still be able to get games like halo, tes, fallout, redfall…..

In order for sony to get these games they would have to accept these terms to also get the games i mentioned above.

 

[Zok310]

It won't be business as usual I don't think. In the sense that I don't think Jim Ryan will pursue another marketing deal with them, nor will PlayStation take a lesser % cut from them.

They will put their eggs on another basket.

I dont think sony will be making much deals period with any pub going forward. Its all too unpredictable now. They work with a pub for a gen and a half, the pub gets merged with their competitor and sony gets a shitty deal out of it, nah why waste time and money?
Keep the money in the family, put all that shit right back into wws they cant be bought.

 

[TheThreadsThatBindUs]

Doesn't he suck kids tongues?

No other way round, he asks kids to suck his

Thanks for clarifying; I was worried there for a moment...

It was a mistranslated, misunderstood cultural idiomatic expression that was taken up by the internet's lunacy and ran with.

 

[jm89]

it seems activision has started an ad campaign against the CMA

Google was actually complaining to the european comission a month ago of microsoft offering deals in the cloud services market to make complaints go away, even though it is a different market same issues can apply.

My point to the regulators would be that they should look at this holistically, even though one or two vendors might settle doesn't solve the broader problem. And that's the problem we need to really resolve, not individual vendors' problems.

Atleast the CMA see the wider problem with these deals.

 

[Chiggs]

I really get the impression that we're going to start seeing the nastier, vindictive side of Microsoft, rather than that touchy-feely "we're all gamers" horseshit that dimwit Phil has been spewing.

Maybe it will light a fire under Xbox's ass? Jury's out, of course.

 

[harry mason 1989]

FIFA 23 has released this special card:

Welcome back

 

[LordCBH]

I really get the impression that we're going to start seeing the nastier, vindictive side of Microsoft, rather than that touchy-feely "we're all gamers" horseshit that dimwit Phil has been spewing.

Maybe it will light a fire under Xbox's ass? Jury's out, of course.

I'd love it if they kicked their studios into high gear. Lots of good IP's and a stable of studios that should be able to release something faster than once a decade.

 

[Bo_Hazem]

Welcome back

Always here, lurking in the shadows.

 

[Sanepar]

You'll definitely see some from Microsoft as a result of this. It could be a very good thing for the brand. We have to wait and see what happens.

Well the only thing they need to do they don't want. Invest in triple A pure SP games story driven. They 23 fucking studios. If they want to grab the audience outside their ecosystem worldwide that's what they need to do.

 

[MasterCornholio]

Well the only thing they need to do they don't want. Invest in triple A pure SP games story driven. They 23 fucking studios. If they want to grab the audience outside their ecosystem worldwide that's what they need to do.

Well it's not just making games. It's making games that people want to buy. They don't necessarily have to be massive AAA titles but any desirable content will attract people to your platform.

 

[Sanepar]

Well it's not just making games. It's making games that people want to buy. They don't necessarily have to be massive AAA titles but any desirable content will attract people to your platform.

They need to be triple A high quality sp story driven. Gaas, coop and mp they have more than enough.

 

[Nothing1234]

It says alot about someone's character if they ran off and hid after this verdict. $MSFT.

 

[MasterCornholio]

It says alot about someone's character if they ran off and hid after this verdict. $MSFT.

Well hopefully he's not taking this extremely hard. I had my issues with him but i don't want to see this affect his life outside of Gaf.

 

[RoadHazard]

I'm sure Microsofts output will get better. They certainly have enough studios to do that. Right now they are going through some growing pains. It might be a while before we see it reflected in the brands hardware numbers.

I feel like we've been hearing this for a decade.

 

[MasterCornholio]

I feel like we've been hearing this for a decade.

They have a lot more studios now. All that depends is how patient consumers are at this point.

 

[Skifi28]

With all those cheering for the acquisition in hiding for the past few days, the thread has become quite boring. There goes my 100 page initial prediction...

 

[Nothing1234]

With all those cheering for the acquisition in hiding for the past few days, the thread has become quite boring. There goes my 100 page initial prediction...

They are cowards.

 

[DJ12]

With all those cheering for the acquisition in hiding for the past few days, the thread has become quite boring. There goes my 100 page initial prediction...

They'll be back when they've received the plan of attack from Redmond.

 

[MasterCornholio]

With all those cheering for the acquisition in hiding for the past few days, the thread has become quite boring. There goes my 100 page initial prediction...

The EC might bring them back. But we have to wait and see.

 

[Spitfire098]

I really get the impression that we're going to start seeing the nastier, vindictive side of Microsoft, rather than that touchy-feely "we're all gamers" horseshit that dimwit Phil has been spewing.

Maybe it will light a fire under Xbox's ass? Jury's out, of cocourse.

You look at this man and tell me if he gives a fuck.

 

[The Pleasure]

she tought likes and lies would make the deal go through
and all the comments supporting it look how it turned

 

[The Pleasure]

With all those cheering for the acquisition in hiding for the past few days, the thread has become quite boring. There goes my 100 page initial prediction...

I propose we tag them as reported for sucking Phil's ass and make that their permanent tag. That or Bitch Made by Phil Spencer.

 

[Ar¢tos]

They'll be back when they've received the plan of attack from Redmond.

They'll probably invade the CMA building with a shaman.

 

[reinking]

I really get the impression that we're going to start seeing the nastier, vindictive side of Microsoft, rather than that touchy-feely "we're all gamers" horseshit that dimwit Phil has been spewing.

Maybe it will light a fire under Xbox's ass? Jury's out, of course.

I sure do hope so.

 

[Unknown Soldier]

It says alot about someone's character if they ran off and hid after this verdict. $MSFT.

I mean it doesn't. He was being paid by $MSFT to post here. Now that his contract has been terminated, he's gone. It's the same with any influencer network on any social media anywhere.

 

[Brigandier]

i hope the european commision is watching how MS is making threats against the UK and block them too
they are finally showing the true colors behind all the PR "When everybody plays we all win"

This is pretty much what I think from all this childish drama... MS acting like spoilt kids it's embarrassing, You'd think they would regroup and appeal with a solid case rather than resort to threats and name dropping prime ministers and behaving in such an unprofessional manner... I hope the EU block them too.

Look at the absolute state of these people:


"MS, hear me out. What we should do is reengage with UK and CMA, with thinly veiled threats about potentially allowing disastrous cybersecurity breaches against the nation. Surely they'll budge, and we'll get COD on Gamepass! Everyone wins!"

Good lord...

 

[DenchDeckard]

I really get the impression that we're going to start seeing the nastier, vindictive side of Microsoft, rather than that touchy-feely "we're all gamers" horseshit that dimwit Phil has been spewing.

Maybe it will light a fire under Xbox's ass? Jury's out, of course.

I think if they are serious about this gaming shiz, they will get dirtier and go for it. Securing third party deals etc.

They tried something ridiculous in buying ABK but the market has clearly spoken what is allowed and how the gaming landscape needs to be handled.

I genuinely think that after this, Sony fans wouldn't treat MS like they did when the Tomb reader deal happened. MS needs to go out and secure some big exclusives deals and play the game like Sony does.

If I was MS I would be securing that exclusive mandalorian game, something like a spiderman that can generate major hype.

Then lock in some exclusives for a couple of years similar to the final fantasy deal.

 

[Unknown Soldier]

I think if they are serious about this gaming shiz, they will get dirtier and go for it. Securing third party deals etc.

They tried something ridiculous in buying ABK but the market has clearly spoken what is allowed and how the gaming landscape needs to be handled.

I genuinely think that after this, Sony fans wouldn't treat MS like they did when the Tomb reader deal happened. MS needs to go out and secure some big exclusives deals and play the game like Sony does.

If I was MS I would be securing that exclusive mandalorian game, something like a spiderman that can generate major hype.

Then lock in some exclusives for a couple of years similar to the final fantasy deal.

The issue is that 3rd parties are very wary of locking themselves in with Xbox after some really bad exclusivity agreements during the early days of XBone.

The previously mentioned Tomb Raider deal nearly killed the franchise. Square Enix was lucky that anyone still cared about TR a year later when they were finally allowed to release the PC and PS versions. TR is a franchise closely associated with PS from the early days, it was one of the games which cemented the status of the PS1 along with Final Fantasy VII. Trying to force it on Xbox was a total disaster for Square Enix, it's no wonder they will never again stray from PS exclusivity.

The deal for Titanfall literally killed that nascent franchise. I don't think Titanfall was really that great but locking it to Xbox when the majority of gamers were still pissed about TV TV TV and Always Online/No Used Games was a terrible decision. In the end, Respawn became little more than EA's new Star Wars studio making titles in existing IP instead of a new franchise. Jedi Fallen Order and Survivor are pretty good games though despite their technical issues, it's clear that Respawn weren't very technically proficient from the state Titanfall shipped in also.

So MS has the problem now of 3rd parties not wanting to touch Xbox for any price because it's literal poison to their futures. This is one reason why MS has resorted to straight up acquisitions, it's unlikely Bethesda would have ever agreed to any timed exclusivity agreement for anything in the current environment. So now MS is forcing Redfall and Starfield onto Xbox by having Bethesda as a wholly owned subsidiary, let's see how well those games sell when they are no longer on PS and are forced to be Day 1 Gamepass.

 

[b6a6es]

With all those cheering for the acquisition in hiding for the past few days, the thread has become quite boring. There goes my 100 page initial prediction...

Xbox PR department stopped payments

 

[DenchDeckard]

The issue is that 3rd parties are very wary of locking themselves in with Xbox after some really bad exclusivity agreements during the early days of XBone.

The previously mentioned Tomb Raider deal nearly killed the franchise. Square Enix was lucky that anyone still cared about TR a year later when they were finally allowed to release the PC and PS versions. TR is a franchise closely associated with PS from the early days, it was one of the games which cemented the status of the PS1 along with Final Fantasy VII. Trying to force it on Xbox was a total disaster for Square Enix, it's no wonder they will never again stray from PS exclusivity.

The deal for Titanfall literally killed that nascent franchise. I don't think Titanfall was really that great but locking it to Xbox when the majority of gamers were still pissed about TV TV TV and Always Online/No Used Games was a terrible decision. In the end, Respawn became little more than EA's new Star Wars studio making titles in existing IP instead of a new franchise. Jedi Fallen Order and Survivor are pretty good games though despite their technical issues, it's clear that Respawn weren't very technically proficient from the state Titanfall shipped in also.

So MS has the problem now of 3rd parties not wanting to touch Xbox for any price because it's literal poison to their futures. This is one reason why MS has resorted to straight up acquisitions, it's unlikely Bethesda would have ever agreed to any timed exclusivity agreement for anything in the current environment. So now MS is forcing Redfall and Starfield onto Xbox by having Bethesda as a wholly owned subsidiary, let's see how well those games sell when they are no longer on PS and are forced to be Day 1 Gamepass.

Well money talks and Microsoft will just need to seriously invest in a titles to ensure it is successful for them. Including potential sequels etc.

I think people will be more open to those practices now after seeing how Sony is dealing with titles and simply more knowledge...devs don't just decide to go with Sony. Sony are very aggressive in securing third party deals and Microsoft needs to do the same.

Let's be honest, deathloop and ghost wire didn't see success on sonys platform so it's not exclusive to Microsoft. Some games just don't perform as they should.

We will see this year and next how serious MS is about this stuff.

I for one think that if Microsoft did sign a game most of this forum would just say..."fair play" now.

 

[b6a6es]

They'll probably invade the CMA building with a shaman.

SenjutsuSage

 

[Topher]

I think if they are serious about this gaming shiz, they will get dirtier and go for it. Securing third party deals etc.

They tried something ridiculous in buying ABK but the market has clearly spoken what is allowed and how the gaming landscape needs to be handled.

I genuinely think that after this, Sony fans wouldn't treat MS like they did when the Tomb reader deal happened. MS needs to go out and secure some big exclusives deals and play the game like Sony does.

If I was MS I would be securing that exclusive mandalorian game, something like a spiderman that can generate major hype.

Then lock in some exclusives for a couple of years similar to the final fantasy deal.

I think Xbox needs to have more market share before moneyhatting AAA games is feasible. You basically have to pay to cover the sales of the platform being excluded. In this case, it being PlayStation, means it will require a hefty fee. Probably not going to get a return on that investment. Microsoft tried that with Rise of the Tomb Raider and Titanfall. Didn't work so well.

MS really needs to focus internally and get their own shit in order. A year and a half without a AAA game doesn't cut it at all.

 

[Eotheod]

It might be deader than dead now but that doesn't mean it always will be. As has been pointed out in the other thread with a link to an article on the topic, the decision is about preventing issues from cropping up in the future. It's a proactive block now rather than a reactive anti-trust lawsuit later.

But I feel ya about infrastructure. I live in rural Oklahoma and I'm lucky to have one high speed internet provider, which works about 85% of the time. Far too many outages and slowdowns for cloud to be effective right now. But if they just look at the here and now and give Microsoft all these resources, it's not farfetched to see a future where Microsoft has absolute dominance in cloud, server side hosting, and software to leverage people to only their cloud services.

Besides, Microsoft themselves have been banging about how the cloud is their "#1 priority" for years now. They can't turn around and complain when that very priority turns out to be the reason their acquisitions are blocked.

I definitely see the decision asap reaction of future prevention, but that future is very predicated on a model of global infrastructure. Realistically, first world countries won't suddenly have cloud-gaming capable infrastructure built out in the next 10 years because it costs a stupid amount of money. Add in a current recession that will easily disrupt any economic plans currently in place, or were for COVID, and you can easily see nothing is going to happen anytime soon.

Governments around the world are contracting, because they had to spend big during COVID to ensure their country didn't jump off a cliff. Now we are seeing those choices needing to be pulled back through inflation measures, which results in reduced government spending in order to retain normality/control. Infrastructure is one of those that gets significantly reduced unless it is literally falling apart.

I just can not foresee a 10 year Phoenix rising of cloud gaming. I understand the need to protect all potential markets coming into fruition, and as you said Microsoft put heavy weight on the cloud in the last five years. It is just very difficult to see the dominance that the CMA is speaking of because it is so reliant on global infrastructure and the experience being 1:1 with typical hardware play.

No one is going to play games via cloud anytime soon with the horrendous ms quality, that is quite literally a deal breaker. So I just don't agree with CMA on the basis of cloud gaming prevention due to a belief Microsoft could become the monopoly through IP power (really in 10 years I doubt ABK's IPs are going to be that impactful), as it relies heavily on a system that so far shows no promise. Also throw in the fact CMA's cloud-gaming userbase numbers being drawn down from Game Pass subscriptions because you can't split the two, it shows a flawed decision.

 

[Kenshin775]

Also throw in the fact CMA's cloud-gaming userbase numbers being drawn down from Game Pass subscriptions because you can't split the two, it shows a flawed decision.

Yes I agree and 100% believe CAT will review this flawed math and MS will win the appeal. But i don't think it matters because CMA can just find another reason to block the deal. They can just keep narrowing markets to help their argument or keep submitting flawed financial models and statistics until MS finally gives up.

 

[El Pistolero]

I think if they are serious about this gaming shiz, they will get dirtier and go for it. Securing third party deals etc.

They tried something ridiculous in buying ABK but the market has clearly spoken what is allowed and how the gaming landscape needs to be handled.

I genuinely think that after this, Sony fans wouldn't treat MS like they did when the Tomb reader deal happened. MS needs to go out and secure some big exclusives deals and play the game like Sony does.

If I was MS I would be securing that exclusive mandalorian game, something like a spiderman that can generate major hype.

Then lock in some exclusives for a couple of years similar to the final fantasy deal.

I am trying to understand: MS acquiring Zenimax and cutting off Playstation, trying to absorb ABK, declaring that it was looking at other targets...is MS playing nice? They would only "act" dirty if they were to get 3rd party temporary exclusives and GP deals?
Do you guys live in the Upside Down, or have I gone crazy?

 

[Iced Arcade]

Oh, no wonder they didn't like the 10 year deal.

Yeah that's disgusting, no one can really defend that.

 

[Brucey]

Yeah that's disgusting, no one can really defend that.

So is Microsoft paying Nvidia untold millions for this to make financial sense to Nvidia?

 

[fart town usa]

on spawncast just now

 

[Varteras]

UK revamps competition and consumer regimes - A&O Shearman

UK publishes Digital Markets and Consumers Bill which will make significant changes to the UK competition and consumer rules.

www.allenovery.com

 

[sainraja]

Well money talks and Microsoft will just need to seriously invest in a titles to ensure it is successful for them. Including potential sequels etc.

I think people will be more open to those practices now after seeing how Sony is dealing with titles and simply more knowledge...devs don't just decide to go with Sony. Sony are very aggressive in securing third party deals and Microsoft needs to do the same.

Let's be honest, deathloop and ghost wire didn't see success on sonys platform so it's not exclusive to Microsoft. Some games just don't perform as they should.

We will see this year and next how serious MS is about this stuff.

I for one think that if Microsoft did sign a game most of this forum would just say..."fair play" now.

Uh what... lol.

This is not a Sony or even a Microsoft thing. They both engage in the same types of practices. MS moved away due to "other" reasons but, again, and for emphasis, they did not completely stop making exclusivity deals, so let's stop pretending.

 

[Eotheod]

Yeah that's disgusting, no one can really defend that.

What I don't get is why then would companies sign up for such a deal? Either there is more to that section, or there is more to these deals then meets the eyes.

 

[DryvBy]

Good luck, Microsoft. You goofed.

 

[quest]

What I don't get is why then would companies sign up for such a deal? Either there is more to that section, or there is more to these deals then meets the eyes.

It is the business model they make money hosting game VM's. They don't want to pay per title that can be hosted. Paying millions per title with low user numbers is a money pit. You think Microsoft or Amazon get a cut when a user buys a piece of software on a cloud hosted VM?

 

[poppabk]

What I don't get is why then would companies sign up for such a deal? Either there is more to that section, or there is more to these deals then meets the eyes.

That is the Nvidia model - literally the only viable model for someone who isn't MS or Sony or maybe Steam.

 

[DeltaPolarBear]

Good luck, Microsoft. You goofed.

UK government needed something to boost their popularity and Xbox just gave them a gift. By attacking the entire COUNTRY, Microsoft made it personal.

 

[Eotheod]

It is the business model they make money hosting game VM's. They don't want to pay per title that can be hosted. Paying millions per title with low user numbers is a money pit. You think Microsoft or Amazon get a cut when a user buys a piece of software on a cloud hosted VM?

That is the Nvidia model - literally the only viable model for someone who isn't MS or Sony or maybe Steam.

Right, so it's actually a nothing burger? NVIDIA hosts the VM and they make money off people paying to play their owned games that are certified by say Microsoft's Game Pass API or such? Well that makes sense then why Microsoft gets the profits from internal game purchases like DLC etc., as they own the VM that NVIDIA is hosting.

Am I reading that right?

Good luck, Microsoft. You goofed.

If you truly think the UK Government and CMA passed these new changes due to Microsoft, I have a bridge to sell you. Yes it will make it harder for any large corporation to complete acquisitions, but it most definitely has nothing to do with Microsoft losing and then going on the defence. Government changes take yonks to sort out.