Microsoft Tries to Buy Activision Blizzard

[nonny]

Of course you would want to negotiate launching in the largest ecosystem, but part of that contract means you're unable to also launch on game pass...

As a 3rd party you may want to do both for the furthest reach possible but it appears Sony is blocking here to prevent that. It's that part I don't really agree with because I don't think it's necessary in their position and I feel it's anti-competitive.

For the developer it's opportunity cost, and as you say they would take a Sony deal as not hurts them more.

[CMcK]

What I would like to know is how much of a threat does Sony perceive Xbox to be? On one hand they’re saying that MS acquiring ABK wouldn’t really affect them but all the blocking deals they’re signing suggests otherwise. I don’t know what percentage of income and profits Sony Corp. gets from the PlayStation division but it used to be substantial.
I think the prevalence of digital storefronts has effectively introduced vendor lock in anyway. People are more likely to buy a supplemental console than move wholesale to another system.

[Neon Ignition]

I think Sony sees MS as a threat only because MS is the sole company in the world pitching against the PlayStation. I don't think they even see Xbox as a credible threat that much either. I don't think they were that spooked about Starfield or MS buying Bethesda.

I also don't think they have sweated too much about MS owning Activision. I think they utterly **** the bed about losing Call fo Duty however and the scale of the deal MS was willing to go to in order to become more competitive. For twenty years MS has failed to take down a single PlayStation console, a track record that has only gotten worse and I can imagine Sony has always been a little mindful of the incomparable finances MS has at its disposal. But MS has always been wary of committing too much into Xbox, that changed in the last five years and I think this has always boiled down to two things:

1 - Losing Call of Duty and the method of its release.
COD prioritising Xbox wouldn't be a concern at all for Sony. It's been under a deal with MS before and it never hurt Sony. But it being exclusive would be big, every year. It being available so cheaply via Game Pass would be seen as a massive blow and part of why even with assurances Sony is reluctant to relent.

2 - The Future
As in, if the deal went through unchallenged what might MS target next given that we know MS plans several more buyouts post-Activision. The challenge might fail but it's more likely than not that even if MS wins and acquires Activision, it will presumably not aim so high with its future buyouts now.

It's really all about COD and it's very obviously so, lots of online talk about the evils of MS buying out companies but no-one cares less about them owning franchises bar one. I'm curious as to how this would have gone if COD wasn't so big. It's a 20 year old franchise now, say in ten years time it's sales fall down in line with normal AAA games of 6-8m copies, is it still reasonable for MS to be bound to multi-format on that one franchise?

Frankly, if owning COD would make Xbox a more closely competitive platform to PS5... good. There's a near 100m unit gulf between Xbox and PlayStation. That's almost a monopoly in Sony's favour and COD is not going to swing it the other way. Ironicially, if it weren't for Nintendo Sony would have probably been called out on it too but it seems the CMA and FTC only class Nintendo as relevant when it's convenient to do so. When Sony is market dominant they suck, hard. A more even playing field would benefit everyone. For me, it would seem easier if it were possible to clear the buyout but make it a condition that MS wouldn't be allowed to approach another games developeror publisher for X amount of years.

[nonny]

Reading between the lines here I do wonder if Sony had a very good deal with COD where the split was greatly in their favour due to the install base?

In court MS mentioned having to resort to a 80/20 revenue split to even retain COD on Xbox, down from the usual 70/30.

With Sony snaffling up marketing and DLC incentives I wonder if they have something far better in the split but when MS gave them the "standard" 10 year deal it was back to 70/30 (and obviously no marketing).

It would explain why Sony has got its nose out of joint on taking the deal...

[fishbowlhead]

https://www.theverge.com/2023/6/26/23774482/microsoft-sega-bungie-acquisition-targets-internal-email-xbox

Both Sega & Bungie were targets for MS buy out in 2020. Honestly Sega is a much better fit that chucking moon money at Activision. Much more diverse back catalogue with tons of potential to build on for years to come, Sega also has global appeal including Asia which MS have never been able to get anywhere near.

Whether talks ever got underway who knows, it may have just been a PowerPoint presentation on who I’d like to buy pretty please.

[Neon Ignition]

I like the use of the word 'was' in the article as though it might not still come to pass

[nonny]

I get why they're buying Activision... It's more about their overall PC/Xbox strategy. But agree they do need a better global presence and having someone like Sega really assists in that.

As Neon says it still might happen.

[fishbowlhead]

Hopefully they get blocked from buying anyone of size, too 5 companies like MS can’t be allowed to just gobble up entire industry’s just because they loose at trying to make it as a business in that industry.

[Asura]

Their first big mistake was allowing themselves to get overly distracted by the short term Kinect. By the time the cheap, short fluff appeal waned away they'd committed to repeating it on XBO and eroded their development teams. Madness that PGR4 was allowed to just vanish the franchise back then too

I can understand their mistake, though. Kinect was the fastest selling consumer device ever. It was a massive financial success. Just they couldn't convert that to ongoing success, because it was a casual market (Nintendo had the same problem with the Wii, only they made more before they had to cash out).

[Neon Ignition]

SEGA - To Be This Good Takes AGE$

[Cassius_Smoke]

US has trouble purchasing Japanese companies. They tend to stick together like glue and I'm sure there is additional red tape involved. Saying that, Sega would be quite happy to be swallowed up and given a cash boost. Need a Dreamcast 2.

[dataDave]

What can Sega possibly bring to the table other than Yakuza, Total War, and Sanic exclusivity?

MS gobbling them up doesn’t automatically mean we’re going to see new Crazy Taxi and Cosmic Smash games. Quite the opposite… we’re likely to see even less than what we see currently, if that’s even possible. Maybe another MegaDrive collection, if we’re lucky.

[Neon Ignition]

With Sega, I imagine the focus was probably on Sonic, Total War etc but mostly the back catalogue that would have resulted in a heavy slew of GP content. That being said, a lot of the back catalogue is either very old or not that good.

[dataDave]

Sonic Forces and Shadow The Hedgehog are perfect for GP.

[fishbowlhead]

Segas BC would never be utilised anyway as Dave says, MS would just waste the assets like everything else they hoover up.