adamsapple
Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
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Starfield Was Planned For PS5 Prior To Microsoft's ZeniMax Acquisition, FTC Says
- Thread starter Solidsnake_1
- Start date
- News
The elements you're bringing up definitely played a role. Doesn't change the fact that Sony made the deals. And it was considered a shitty thing to do as a console seller several years ago.
You can find plenty of excuses like the fact Sony sells a lot more games and has a lot of history with some third party publishers, we thought we were beyond that for like 2 generations of consoles. And now we're back in the Playstation 2 era where Sony has such a dominant position they can do that with a lot of big games. I think that sucks.
bender
What time is it?
GTA:IV DLC back when the division knew how to compete.
VulcanRaven
Member
Doesn't Microsoft kind of give Sony money on any game put on disc. Sony owns Blu-ray.
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StealthGoblin
Banned
That’s why Microsoft’s logic here is dodgy. If they were worried about Starfield then they could have done a deal for that game, not bought the entire publisher and then cancelled versions of PS5 games too. That’s using a sledgehammer to crack a walnut.
It’s classic 90s Microsoft again.
BennyBlanco
aka IMurRIVAL69
MS really pulled a legit warchest moment. Jimbo showed up to bethesda one day with a hat full of money and phil had his feet up on the desk.
SlimySnake
Flashless at the Golden Globes
lol this is hilarious because Jimbo's idiotic strategy of buying up timed exclusives blew up on his face.
On the other hand, Phil didnt have to buy the entire publisher. Thats nonsense. just get in a bidding war or make a better offer and sony wouldve backed down.
On the other hand, Phil didnt have to buy the entire publisher. Thats nonsense. just get in a bidding war or make a better offer and sony wouldve backed down.
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Laptop1991
Member
So Starfield by Bethesda game studios was going to release only on PS5, not PC or Xbox, no way i believe that, Bethesda have always been a PC developer whose games perform better on Xbox than Playstation console wise, this makes no sense for Bethesda.
DenchDeckard
Moderated wildly
Spencer showing his hot moves
That looks like Liv Boeree....God damn that woman makes things tingle in my kecks!
FoxMcChief
Gold Member
I was joking.
Sure if they wanted to waste budget on a foolish moneyhat. Considering Microsoft has to pay 4 times as much because of marketshare. So if sony went all in at 250 million Microsoft would has to go to a billion. Or they could buy the whole damn thing for 7 billion.
Bumblebeetuna
Member
I thought I read he was only doing a video or something.
Gobjuduck
Banned
Yea, when PlayStation is such a hostile competitor, it takes big moves like this to stand ground.
Imagine the state of Xbox series without starfield, call of duty, and more. Sony was willing to squeeze Xbox out of the market.
adamsapple
Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
Correct, it's a pre-recorded video deposition.
DenchDeckard
Moderated wildly
No way! Guy can fly to Brussels etc but can't take the hot seat?
Fucking coward if true.
Negotiator101
Member
What's sad about that?
BennyBlanco
aka IMurRIVAL69
It would cost way more than Sony because of their market share. Sony leverages their position to get these deals.
ProtoByte
Weeb Underling
I don't see it as a shitty practice. I see it as normal practice. The only question is whether or not it hurts, helps, or is neutral to the game.
They would have to pay much more than Sony for a deal. And they are already doing plenty of deals for Gamepass and with japanese publishers only to have the actual games releasing on the platform, not even for exclusivity.
They would lose at this game. I'm not saying they didn't have a choice or anything but that doesn't seem illogical to me that they're doing that.
BrutalTruth_
Banned
And yesterday people were up in arms and shitting on MS for trying to "Kill PlayStation"
It's business, competitor try to squeeze eachother out, it's hilarious how Sony usually gets a pass on these things though.
Salty Popsicle
Banned
I like angry Microsoft.
Snake29
Banned
In the meantime, why is Microsoft signing exclusive deals with others? Why is ARK 2, 2 year exclusive? Why signing deals with STALKER devs and many more and still some upcoming games which are console exclusive foe xbox or timed.
What stops MS from making better deals? In the meantime they ignored a lot of deals, like Spiderman, KOTOR, FF16 (their bid was bad compared to Sony, new marketing deal with CoD etc.
We are back with the Xbox circle were they act as victims and that everything is Sony’s fault. Xbox have a management problem, and while they are slow as fuck, they think Sony is just going to wait for them or something?
They just van’t compete and this is MS their only way, taking away major AAA games and publishers and IP, to starve PlayStation. They are not here to be creative and trying to build new worlds.
Xbox is just a complete bullshit and personally, i don’t like them in the console industry right. I see them better fuck off and go third party if they want everyone to play their games.
If this is even true, then it would’ve been PS5/PC and maybe a year or 6 months later on Xbox.
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Gamerguy84
Member
So why is it exclusive then?
Their guys will say any and everything until something sticks.
From thought experiment to this is Sonys fault. Whatever dude
Their guys will say any and everything until something sticks.
From thought experiment to this is Sonys fault. Whatever dude
Topher
Identifies as young
No we don't because he wasn't....
except Peter Hines just testified yesterday that Zenimax was the one approaching companies
And "Microsoft heard" means next to nothing.
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adamsapple
Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
Well, as per
HeisenbergFX4
it seems like all parties were approaching each other, there were even rumors around early 2020 that Sony was approaching Zenimax for acquisition talks as well.
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Mr Moose
Member
But they moneyhat games too...?
BennyBlanco
aka IMurRIVAL69
Why wouldn’t it be exclusive?
Vognerful
Member
It was an open secret and something that needed no confirmation. SONY's strategy of stifling XBOX with 3rd AAA deals building on its position as a distant market leader.
I think especially when MS saw that SONY's intention was to make every Bethesda-Zenimax game exclusive, it was the fuse.
I said it at the time, I think SONY thought I was competing with a dead lion (XBO was a generation disaster) and it really was a sleeping lion and they woke up that lion.
I think especially when MS saw that SONY's intention was to make every Bethesda-Zenimax game exclusive, it was the fuse.
I said it at the time, I think SONY thought I was competing with a dead lion (XBO was a generation disaster) and it really was a sleeping lion and they woke up that lion.
Ev1L AuRoN
Member
It's amazing that you believe in that. COD would never be exclusive. Square exclusivity makes sense since their games has low appeal to the Xbox crowd, Starfield exclusive I don't think Sony would be successful pulling that off.
Microsoft really wants to put COD on Game pass and use it as a Trojan horse to force their service on PS5. That is clear as water. Then they come back and say, "We want PS players to enjoy COD and all the amazing value that gamepass provides, but Sony don't want it" and the fanboys will keep preaching that Sony is anti-consumer BS. And I hope this deal don't come through. It won't be good for us in the long run.
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CatLady
Selfishly plays on Xbox Purr-ies X
Buying the entire publisher makes more sense for Xbox/MS. It's a tangible investment. They actually OWN all those studios which prevents Sony from ever trying to moneyhat them again, they add to their stable of first party studios and give them a bunch of high quality exclusives.
It's a much better way for them to compete as they have the advantage due to their warchest as opposed to trying to compete with Sony in money hatting where Sony has the advantage due to market share.
Topher
Identifies as young
Well, as per
That's fine, but Pete Hines said Bethesda were the ones looking for cash for exclusivity. Imran Khan left that out. Where were these Zenimax acquisition rumors again?
Perrott
Member
No. Look at all the other exclusivity deals Sony made with Bethesda: Deathloop PS5 & PC; Ghostwire PS5 & PC.
The Starfield deal was for timed console exclusivity, meaning a simultaneous release on PS5 & PC.
HeisenbergFX4
Member
Was told many times those talks happened back and forth with Sony as well as Microsoft about overall acquisition (not Starfield exclusivity) and usually were initiated up by Todd HowardWell, as per
Both Sony and MS knew Zenimax was looking to be acquired the problem was the starting asking price of 20B
I will have to look at my PC back in Indiana to see if I have the receipts to prove this number though I know many of these talks were held over voice chat so might not be able to prove said number anyhow
FoxMcChief
Gold Member
It was a joke. I guess calling people PS5 only bros wasn’t obvious enough.
adamsapple
Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
Thanks
This is the Sony rumor I can find on a cursory search, the original source is Reddit.
Sony's Rumored Acquisition Of ZeniMax Kicks Off 2020 [Update]
In a surprising series of events, It's Microsoft who has acquired ZeniMax Media instead of Sony Interactive Entertainment. Microsoft has revealed that all
segmentnext.com
CatLady
Selfishly plays on Xbox Purr-ies X
Apparently PlayStation gamers does not equal players.
They did it to keep Sony from taking away games from Xbox and PC gamers. I know this might be surprising but I bet Xbox's gamers are more important to Xbox than Sony's.
Laptop1991
Member
Sony may have wanted to do it, but no way Bethesda would agree. they sell far more games on PC and Xbox, then there's the mod situation. Playstation doesn't support them really. and those games are not mainline BGS titles, they are 3rd party and hardly a TES or Fallout, i need more proof than someone's word on this
twilo99
Gold Member
Seems that way, when you don’t have the install base to compete, you have no leverage.
touchfuzzy
Member
It's gonna be funny if after all this, Starfield ends up sucking. Like, it's not a guaranteed win here.
Setsuna Mudou
Member
Classic "they made me do it", used to work wonders in 2nd grade 
Fabieter
Member
There was also no need to make it fully exclusive if they were worried for a timed exclusive moneyhat from sony.
SlimySnake
Flashless at the Golden Globes
They cant buy all publishers. Well, maybe MS can, but if anything taking out all Zenimax studios and COD gives Sony more dollars to spend elsewhere on timed exclusives. No one wins if sony takes all their marketing dollars that went towards deathloop, ghostwire tokyo, potentially starfield, and of course the yearly cods, and wrote Rockstar a $500 million check for 1 year exclusivity.
This approach only results in more headaches and more exclusives for both. only problem is sony will never go on trial for these deals while MS is having all their dirty laundry being aired in public.
Perrott
Member
I doubt that's true about modern Xbox. Some of the biggest games of this year - Dead Space, Resident Evil 4, Jedi Survivor, Street Fighter 6 - had a 70/30, 80/20 and even 90/10 sales split between PlayStation and Xbox, likely due to the impact that Game Pass has had on consumer habits within the Xbox ecosystem, to the point that some of them failed to even chart on Xbox's "50 most played" list of active users.
Back to Starfield, well, Bethesda was in a dire spot back in 2020, hence why they were making all those deals in an attempt to stay afloat until Starfield, following five straight years of sale flops from their entire family of studios.
HeisenbergFX4
Member
It was happening either way MS just paid moreClassic "they made me do it", used to work wonders in 2nd grade