Red5
Member
Not Tencent, the US will block Tencent from buying anything major in the US citing national security just like they did with Huawei and Dubai Ports World. The US is all about free trade and laisser-faire business until it's inconvenient.
With the Activision deal possibly being approved, what could stop MS from literally buying the industry at this point
Not Tencent, the US will block Tencent from buying anything major in the US citing national security just like they did with Huawei and Dubai Ports World. The US is all about free trade and laisser-faire business until it's inconvenient.
docchicken
Member
This will likely be the beginning of rapid consolidation if the deal goes through. There is no halt after this.
Gambit2483
Member
Yeah, after 4 years of constant updates.
RARE was an IP powerhouse.
Sea of Thieves is litterally the ONLY thing that has kept them even halfway relevant for the last 5+ years. That's not an upgrade from where they were.
Kvally
Member
Yup, Sony and MS both plan to keep buying studios. They have announced that publicly.
DeepEnigma
Gold Member
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RickMasters
Member
Hey…. Just admit you like being one of the bad guys, more. Welcome to the dark side. Let's share an evil laughing GIF over this….. 'brother'…. Mwuahahaha!
There's a concept in mergers and acquisitions known as the winner's curse. The bidder gets what they want only find out they overpaid, or the talent leaves, or the competition finds a cheap substitute. It could happen to Microsoft from using an inorganic strategy of basically buying market share.
dem
Member
I would almost guarantee this happens.
Especially if they keep Phil in charge. The guy is clueless. Business acumen of a potato.
The biggest thing they get out of this right now is a big revenue stream. COD and the like will stay multiplatform for quite a long time, I think. Anything less would be a financial disaster. This isn't Bethesda. This is FAR bigger than Bethesda.
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RaySoft
Member
Ignorance is blizz isn't it?
docchicken
Member
What tread is this? Sony control damage? Sony dominates the western market, including buying exclusivity for third party games, not only did it buy Bungie, Bleepoint, Insomniac. Even the judge said this:
I don't see all this concern about the games market, let's go stop with the hypocrisy.
I wonder how many whining about this buy out were those fantasizing about sony buying studios and developers and how many were dismissing call of duty before this was ok'd.
Also sony loss lead they're way into their position to begin with, the ps1 was being sold at lose a 40000 yen, the 300 dollar western price, they offered financial incentives to developers sega, Nintendo and other small players couldn't afford. They bought the largest publisher in europe at the time, even before video games sony would buy stuff for influence they bought Columbia pictures for example to influence us copyright policy
This isn't big corpo ms vs little guy sony its big vs big here and now sony is just mad their own tactics are being used against them
Same thing Nintendo got sued for,
Predictable
Furthermore ms cant and wont just buy forever ms Cash reserves before the activision acquisition was about 100 billion after abk they'll burn through most of that down to like 32 billion,
Offering take2 or ea a sweet 150% value offer isn't even viable
and I doubt ms board is going to sign another blank check to the tiny games division again anytime soon as further acquisitions would require things like stock swaps or other means shareholders are more likely to find un acceptable
Plus everyone needs to remember ms went after activision because their stock was crazy down due to conduct scandals and they offered 150% ofbthe market value which brought it back to near pre-scandel levels,
93xfan
Banned
Says who? Maybe a few small acquisitions like Crystal Dynamics.
docchicken
Member
Microsoft themselves said so, first off. This acquisition is the largest ever in gaming, and likely in tech. If regulators clear this, they are setting a type of precedent here that will clear all future attempts to buy up parts of the market.
CatLady
Selfishly plays on Xbox Purr-ies X
Love your new look. Here let's share some Doritos and Dew while we discuss what a great human being Judge Corely is.
Ass of Can Whooping
Member
I wish I was her son
Fess
Member
It truly is, even if something bad would happen I guarantee I'll be too old to see any major consequences from this anyway, in 10 years when MS might be free to start doing exclusives I'll be 57.
I just hope all this at least lead to more games on Gamepass. If it'll just be some extra numbers on an MS earnings report then Meh
RaySoft
Member
Sony has suddenly become the underdog.
E
Ecotic
is right though. I feel Sony has a strong standing in the industry for nurturing talent. Nothing is fixed, everything is always flowing and some talent, usually the best ones, are driven more by goals and team identity than money. It's usually the older guys that already had their time in the sun (and with family) that goes for the money, wich I totally understand btw. Younger talent usually seeks greater challenges than their elder peers. And I'm afraid MS will have a harder time than Sony to express their hunger now... The Beatles already made it official in the '60; "Can't buy me love"
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RaySoft
Member
So your around 10y older than me, but I'm also considered a dinosaur by todays standards;-)It truly is, even if something bad would happen I guarantee I'll be too old to see any major consequences from this anyway, in 10 years when MS might be free to start doing exclusives I'll be 57.
I just hope all this at least lead to more games on Gamepass. If it'll just be some extra numbers on an MS earnings report then Meh
Edit: But you do know that gamepass is just MS' Trojan Horse right? They can't bleed money forever..
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Bumblebeetuna
Member
Yes they can. Each acquisition makes the next more difficult.
Gaming will be fine. Even Sony agrees with this.
SlicedBread3
Member
Did Sony buy the I.P rights to Final Fantasy? if not then it's not the same thing.
fart town usa
Banned
My libertarian phase from 20 years ago is forcing me to point out that the US is anything but laissez-faire.
I know what you're getting at though and I agree, I'm just having fun with my comment.
Chittagong
Gold Member
So UK blocked the merger and it's proceeding? Sorry Boris Liz Rishi I guess
Mythoclast
Member
The end result is the same, with the game being unavailable on the competing platform. Microsoft can just as easily choose to keep releasing COD on PS (in fact that's what I think will happen, just COD games will be on GamePass), just as Sony can choose NOT to pay to keep games away from Xbox.
93xfan
Banned
Source where MS said they'd make more major buyouts, with major being the key word.
And no, they don't have the go ahead to do whatever. Quit being silly.
93xfan
Banned
Why is it so hard for these doomsday fantastics to understand?
Today is a great day for gaming. No amount of stupidity will ruin it
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SlicedBread3
Member
No the end result is that Microsoft will be able to disctate what platforms COD appears on from here on out.
Sony has one exclusive Final Fantasy game. And Square Enix are free to make other games in the series for other platforms. (Even ones that don't appear on Playstation).
These are not the same result.
graywolf323
Member
ah yes so we're back to it's all Sony's fault that Microsoft has to take the unprecedented action of buying up some of the largest third-party publishers
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Trab-Pu-Kcip
Member
Do you remember that Simpson scene?
Mythoclast
Member
Remember FF7 has yet to appear on Xbox as well.
My point is that people make such as fuss about COD potentially becoming Xbox exclusive in the future when Sony has a ton of first and second party exclusives. I just don't like the hypocrisy behind defending Sony.
93xfan
Banned
Keeping it off other platforms is the same effect. Until MS takes multiple entries in a major established franchise off of PS, I find this fair.
Hoping MS will leverage some of their IP now to make Sony allow games like Final Fantasy on Xbox.
docchicken
Member
So you want me to find an article that inserts the adjective "major" in order to confirm the knowledge that they are already planning more buyouts? Why are you calling me silly?
Mythoclast
Member
It doesn't matter if it is or is not Sony's fault. Both Sony and Microsoft could go to 0 tomorrow for all I care.
The point is, it doesn't matter if Sony gets hurt or not with this transaction. What matters is that consumers don't get hurt, and they won't.
More titles will come to GamePass, Sony will have to innovate more to keep up.
Microsoft will not raise GamePass prices uncontrollably as some people here suggest. If they outprice the market, people will go back to buying single games they like.
Thick Thighs Save Lives
NeoGAF's Physical Games Advocate Extraordinaire
93xfan
Banned
Who has a monopoly?
dem
Member
Lokaum D+
Member
Who has the money to have it is the correct question.
yurinka
Member
They will only sell if their main stakeholders want to sell. And if that would be the case, they may not be interested to sell to MS.
MS has a very small portion of the market, and ABK represents a very small portion of the market too. Meaning that for regulators it's ok this or smaller acquisitions. Regulators would be more worried seeing the market leader Sony making big acquisitions because that could hurt competition way more.
Companies not wanting to sell, or prefering to sell to others will stop them from making big acquisitions at some point. Or well, maybe some day MS stakeholders get tired of losing billions with their gaming division and mandate to stop it.
I think they won't continue buying big publishers, but instead during the next few years they will buy some gamedev studios as could be Asobo, CD Project etc.
Gaming is very far from being a monopoly, specially in mobile or PC. And in consoles and game subs, MS is in the last position with their direct competitor outperforming them for at least 2:1 in most key metrics. Even adding ABK they'll continue in the last position.
Even if in 10 years or so CoD becomes Xbox console exclusive (note: Xbox maybe doesn't exist anymore in 10 years from now) pretty likely they will continue the last one.
There's no monopoly in gaming, and if someone has monopoly isn't MS at all.
Embracer Group bought Crystal Dynamics.
Yes, but this doesn't mean they'll buy companies tomorrow. Sony said they'll stop acquisitions for a while and will continue in the middle to long term (meaning, minimum a couple years from now).
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Dick Jones
Banned
Amazon, Tencent and Apple are probably licking their lips with zero restrictions on acquisitions. It's going to be a shitty acquisition war for everyone including MS.
fart town usa
Banned
That's me too, Bethesda stings a touch but no biggie for me, Tango stings the most but with Shinji gone, Tango might be stuck making BS titles, though Hi Fi Rush is definitely the thing they needed to *break out*.
ABK though, I don't play COD, Diablo 4 looks fun but it's already available. WOW and Overwatch, no interest.
The acquisition is a massive deal but I really don't see PS being overly affected in a negative way. They're already trying their hand at GAAS and all it takes is for one to stick and be a hit with the streaming community. The hyper cinematic titles are the trend for the foreseeable future, for better or worse, and they seem to be selling well enough. If anything, I can see MS being overwhelmed with overlooking things and relying on Gamepass. Gamepass isn't sustainable in the way people expect it to be. None of the streaming services are working out the way studios want them to.
Sony has VR too but that is so niche and Sony doesn't seem too keen on actually making bangers in-house, they're mostly relying on 3rd parties. VR studios are the most interesting thing for me right now, lots of people sleeping on really great stuff, it's hands down the most "videogamey" type experience you can get in 2023.
93xfan
Banned
This thread is about buying out the entire industry.
Until MS says they are buying another major publisher (they have given no indications on that), you can't assume it's relevant or important that they may make a few more purchases. They could be moon studios, crystal dynamics, or something smaller.
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fart town usa
Banned
Bruh, just be happy that XVI is secluded to a single platform. You ain't missing out on much
I hope Sony got a good deal with whatever they did to get it exclusive.
93xfan
Banned
So then nothing has changed today. And no monopoly. Thanks for confirming.
8BiTw0LF
Consoomer
Agreed. Amazon are the real threat - if they want to be... and I'd imagine they won't let Microsoft and Tencent have it all.
