Xbox Series S/X: Thread 04

[nonny]

Aww, poor little MS. A little business being bullyed by mean naughty mega corporation Sony. Stopping them from spending (clears throat)... SEVENTY NINE ****ING BILLION on a game company to ensure those games don't appear on a Sony Console.
That naught Sony paid some money to Square so that Final Fantasy doesn't appear on Xbox. So of course it's only right that little MS paid (Clears Throat) SEVEN ****ING BILLION to prevent any and all Zenimax games appearing on Sony ever again. That mean Sony!

Sigh... they've literally said, repeatedly they'll release COD on PS for the next decade. How does that equate to them ensuring those games don't appear on PS?

If we're talking "other" titles like single player experiences then are we suggesting all titles need to be platform agnostic regardless of owner? Because I'd love to see God of War on Xbox if that's the case...

Or are we saying it's ok to moneyhat a 3rd party title for a long duration of time, essentially locking it out temporarily.. but buying the studio and then being responsible for its staff is different? I don't get the lens here... is one ok? So if the deal falls through and MS decides to just buy up 24m timed exclusives instead that's fine?

We know MS isn't a poor old second rate company... but let's be clear, Sony IS bullying them right now. They're the only company really making noise to the regulator and they are employing tactics outside of this whole merger to restrict game pass specifically, any way that they can.

Neither of these companies is innocent, or the good guy... but Sony is the only one crying to the regulator in a market of several companies of comparative size.

[hudson]

I do feel for the innocent gamer who isn't following this news. Like for example, my son plays Fortnite. It's his time to team up with friends from school and has a laugh. He's into all the meta etc. He has a PS5 only. Imagine one day we say you can't play that game soon coz another company ate for their console belly. Obviously, Fortnite isn't a 1-2 year refresh of a game like CoD, but there will be this scenario out there for many.

[randombs]

There are only three console manufacturers. Sony has more to lose if the deal goes through, and I doubt Nintendo would care that much if MS bought Activision.

I’m surprised there’s even a comparison being made between paying for timed exclusives and outright buying a company. If Sony paid for exclusivity - timed or complete - from Square Enix for a bunch of games, they don’t suddenly own Square Enix.

I love Phil Spencer as much as the next guy but it’s naïve to think MS is buying up these companies for our benefit.

[nonny]

True... but Sony isn't trying to block the deal for our benefit either.

We're in a world where Activison has pretty much gone down the toilet besides COD providing sustainability. They needed a buyer, and there's several ways that could have gone...

Microsoft buying them has some negative implications for Sony in the console space but I'd argue that even MS gets things all it's own way Sony will still be absolutely fine.

Even though this would definitely aid MS in the console space I also feel this is much more about mobile and them positioning to have a foothold there than anything else.

[Cassius_Smoke]

To be honest, Sony blocking it kind of does benefit everyone. Because actibliz games carry on being multi platform.

MS 'Trust me bro' statements don't mean ****.

[nonny]

I don't believe so, because if this deal doesn't go through Activision / Blizzard don't just carry on as they have the past couple of decades.

I'm not sure what is in store as an alternative but chances are there'll be another buyer, or they get sliced up into smaller chunks.

The staff are unionising, you've still got Kotick at the top, lawsuits going on... And in the middle of it COD development just feels unsustainable.

Therefore I don't think the deal failing is going to be the end of it, or a relief that everyone's favourite franchises are back to what they were.

[Cassius_Smoke]

Probably best MS does buy them.
The output from Rare, Compulsion Games, Undead Labs etc has been off the charts. I can definitely see MS not squandering all the actibliz studios.

[hudson]

They could just be ready to ship the ultimate motherload of games in 2023. Maybe they were forced to go to market too early with XSX coz they heard Sony were about to unleash the beast. I'm sure MS are not just lounging around. There will be a massive jizz of games. But could it be too little too late for them. I think not. Bethesda RPGs are gonna end up selling consoles and with the series S sitting at such a cute price, I think things will end up smoothing out for them.

[randombs]

True... but Sony isn't trying to block the deal for our benefit either.

We're in a world where Activison has pretty much gone down the toilet besides COD providing sustainability. They needed a buyer, and there's several ways that could have gone...

Imagine if the deal falls through and then Sony just offers them a bunch of money for CoD exclusivity!

[fishbowlhead]

Imagine if the deal falls through and then Sony just offers them a bunch of money for CoD exclusivity!

Waste of money for a company Sonys size, especially when they can just sit back and earn good profits off the back of the royalties from sales.

[nonny]

Imagine if the deal falls through and then Sony just offers them a bunch of money for CoD exclusivity!

To be honest I'd be fine with this. I've bought 3 of the last 4 COD games and been disappointed... The series needs to shift hands and I'd be fine when it being Sony or Microsoft as I think they have to periphery studios to refresh it properly.

[Neon Ignition]

Infinity War = Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III with at least three years of content support

Free Treyarch and others to make something else.

[MartyG]

True... but Sony isn't trying to block the deal for our benefit either.

No corporation is doing stuff for our benefit. The number one rule applies in all cases.

Corporations are not your friend.

Whilst this deal going thru would be good for Game Pass and Game Pass Users, it's a byproduct of the acquisition - but corporations owning more and more of the market share isn't ultimately good for gamers in the long run. Whether that be Sony, Microsoft, Tencent, or any other gaming conglomerates currently hoovering up the money for executives and shareholders.

And Microsoft can sod off at making £70 the defacto RRP for games just as much as Sony can - in fact in this case it might be worse, claiming it's getting too expensive whilst wanging $60 billion about to buy Activision.

[Neon Ignition]

The Call of Duty angle has been overplayed by Sony, they've been so suspect and hardballed against MS on that front that MS's concessions on it kind of miss the wider picture for Sony. All Sony is going to come out with with a continuation of the same on that franchise front, something that was always likely anyway as has been the case with a couple of multiformat franchises MS has picked up like Minecraft

What Sony has succeeded in doing is creating so much publicly aired bad faith between the two that every other non-discussed franchise under MS's roof is now going to get locked in as Xbox exclusive for eternity and if MS can't spend any more on acquisitions they're going to go to absolute town moving forward on moneyhatting exclusivity deals and blocking stuff from appearing on PS+ etc.

I know MS is meme-like in the cycle of 'b-b-but next year there will be loads of games!' but I'm thinking Sony have approached this situation all wrong and things are about to backfire hard on them over the rest of this generation

[Brad]

CoD isn't the problem for Sony; CoD on Gamepass day one is the problem. They don't want to make a gamepass equivalent (for whatever reason, maybe they can't, I dunno) and they don't want Microsoft to have gamepass either, especially not if it has popular games on it.