Sony in Ultra Petty mode: Sony has responded to the CMA's decision to further investigate the acquisition, and says it "welcomes the announcement."

[ColdSlither]

its funny how vague and double sided microsoft is with their messaging that even their own shills don’t know where they stand at this point. Does this sound like an honest pro-consumer facing brand?

To the last guy who said he bets that CoD will be on PlayStation for as long as Xbox exists. What version of CoD? Will Treyarch and Infinity Ward only work on exclusives for Xbox and PC, and other studios will work on the multiplatform games not in the main series?

 

[Gizmo_Duck]

To the last guy who said he bets that CoD will be on PlayStation for as long as Xbox exists. What version of CoD? Will Treyarch and Infinity Ward only work on exclusives for Xbox and PC, and other studios will work on the multiplatform games not in the main series?

This is what the CMA investigation is for, they don’t have to deal with the bullshyt doublespeak

 

[Pressure]

Sony stans went from no one cares about Activision games to this would turn the gaming industry on its head if Sony can't play call of duty.

#shambles

 

[MeachTheMonster]

You'll have to travel to an alternate timeline to make that list for Microsoft. Because it sure as hell didn't happen in this one.

No, it’s you goofys who live in an alternate timeline.

In reality Microsoft has built multiple studios from the ground up to become some of the most successful in gaming history.

 

[MeachTheMonster]

its funny how vague and double sided microsoft is with their messaging that even their own shills don’t know where they stand at this point. Does this sound like an honest pro-consumer facing brand?

Y’all goofys just hear what you want to.

He literally says. “our expectation is to continue to ship COD on playstation”

 

[Gizmo_Duck]

Y’all goofys just hear what you want to.

He literally says. “our expectation is to continue to ship COD on playstation”

“Our expectations” lol

 

[The Mad Titan]

Bend Studio acquired in 2000- notable IP at the time, syphon filter 1 & 2 ( As a different studio)

Bluepoint Games acquired in 2021- notable IP at time, remakes of Demon’s Souls, Shadow of the Colossus, and remasters of Gravity Rush and Uncharted 1-3

Firesprite acquired in 2021 - The Persistence

Guerrilla Games founded and acquired in 2000

Haven Studios founded 2021 acquired in 2022

Housemarque acquired in 2021 - Returnal, Resogun, Alienation, Super stardust

Insomniac Games acquired in 2019 - Ratchet & Clank, Spyro, Resistance

London Studio founded in 2002

Media Molecule founded in 2008 acquired in 2010 - little big planet

Naughty Dog founded in 1984 acquired in 2001 - crash bandicoot 1 & 2, and Crash racing

Pixelopus founded in 2014 (college grad students)

Polyphony Digital founded in 1998

San Diego Studio founded in 2001

Santa Monica Studio founded 1999

Suckerpunch founded in 1997 acquired in 2011 - Sly Cooper 1-3, Infamous 1 & 2

Team Asobi founded as a division of Japan Studio in 1993

Then there are the support studios….Valkyrie, Xdev, Nixxes, San Mateo, Studio Malaysia. You can see from this list that sony has never made any acquisitions as a company that have pulled any real amount of 3rd party support from other platforms. Almost all their current successful studios were either founded by them or acquired off potential to produce bigger more popular games.

The one exception being Bungie, who not only right off the bat committed themselves to future multiplatform development but have mostly been acquired to even further support the expansion of sonys own studios with their multiplayer efforts.

I can make the same list for Nintendo. I would love to see someone make a list for Microsoft.

They haven't because the A) Didn't have to and B) couldn't.

Why would you pay for something that you're getting for free anyway?

Microsoft really never showed any type of aggression towards acquisition purchases until recently.

In fact it's sony probably thought they would bow out at some point and wasn't in it for the long haul.

So again why purchase Activision Blizzard or even attempt or any other MAJOR 3rd party company. When You are already all the benefits?

You think Sony thought years ago Microsoft was going to spend over 100 billion on companies? And even if they did truthfully it wouldn't have mattered unless they bought everything up almost. The only reason it's such a big deal now is because of game pass and cloud gaming combined with acquisitions.


So Sony has to not only buy companies but then offer day and date "free" games and manage cloud services.

That's a huge investment that they want no part of when they are ready number one on the block.


You just listed a over 24 year of company acquisitions. MS really just starting in that field within the last 5 years outside of rare.

 

[MeachTheMonster]

“Our expectations” lol

What else could he say?

What if sony don’t even make a PS6?

 

[Gizmo_Duck]

They haven't because the A) Didn't have to and B) couldn't.

Why would you pay for something that you're getting for free anyway?

Microsoft really never showed any type of aggression towards acquisition purchases until recently.

In fact it's sony probably thought they would bow out at some point and wasn't in it for the long haul.

So again why purchase Activision Blizzard or even attempt or any other MAJOR 3rd party company. When You are already all the benefits?

You think Sony thought years ago Microsoft was going to spend over 100 billion on companies? And even if they did truthfully it wouldn't have mattered unless they bought everything up almost. The only reason it's such a big deal now is because of game pass and cloud gaming combined with acquisitions.


So Sony has to not only buy companies but then offer day and date "free" games and manage cloud services.

That's a huge investment that they want no part of when they are ready number one on the block.


You just listed a over 24 year of company acquisitions. MS really just starting in that field within the last 5 years outside of rare.

Yeah thats a management issue of not investing in their own studio growth the same way its a management issue for sony to rely on third parties during the ps4 generation for multiplayer centric games

 

[Legal]

My view of this is after that deal expires they're going to use Call of Duty to leverage Game Pass onto PlayStation. From that perspective the ball will be in Sony's court if it stays on PlayStation or not.

Yall keep up with these fallacies. Nobody competes with Sony at games. Hell Nintendo doesn't. Do you see Nintendo making games like God of War and Last of Us? Do you see Sony making games like Splatoon and Mario Kart. Nintendo and Sony have effectively pulled out of most major genres that the other has success in as well as targeting different audiences. Sony used to try to compete with Nintendo. PlayStation Allstars, exist Crash Team Racing, Modnation Racers. They pretty much stopped all that. About the closest they get to Nintendo now is Maybe Ratchet and Clank and that isn't that close.

If the developers at Nintendo can't compete with Sony why would Microsoft be able to at this point?

No company will step in and compete with Sony without spending decades trying to cultivate software or else without spending billions acquiring existing assets. I say if Microsoft wants to let them. It becomes a necessary evil.

This whole post goes off of the assumption that competing means you make the exact same type of product as your competitor, and that really hasn't ever been the case.

These companies view each other as competitors in the sense that they want the business of people who are interested in playing video games, full stop. Specializing in types of games is just finding different ways to reach those gamers.

Nintendo decided a long time ago that their brand doesn't align with games like Last of Us, God of War, Call of Duty, etc, and mainly just okay the hits to their audience. They're completely open to OTHER publishers putting out thoae types of games on their platform, but the lack of power in the their consoles usually blocks that. But even then, we're seeing more games that are closer to what you'd find on other consoles via cloud editions.

Microsoft could make their own games in the style of Sony's first party fare, and have even made a couple of attempts (like Ryse, for example), but they haven't really shown the patience thus far to let a studio maybe catch half a brick on their first attempt, and improve over time.

Microsoft absolutely CAN compete with Sony on the studio front, but they just need to be okay with taking the long road to it.

No, it’s you goofys who live in an alternate timeline.

In reality Microsoft has built multiple studios from the ground up to become some of the most successful in gaming history.

Yeah, I'mma need some receipts for this one, breh. That's a bold claim.

 

[Tim Lord]

(Starts at 34:53 - Sorry, I don't know how to give a direct timestapped link from a mobile device)

There is a good 9 min clip breakdown explaining why this acquisition is anti-competitive and stating that this is just how M$ moves.

In gaming, Xbox creates, but then doesn't cultivate IP. Then, they are able to use Microsoft Office and Azure money to bully their way into relevancy. I have said it before in different threads, but I don't think Xbox is profitable or has been profitable in years.

We have little proof that the studios or IP that M$ have purchased recently will produce better material now than they have in the past.

I can make an argument that out of their many studios, the only good ones they've helped develop are Turn10 and Playground. Coincidentally, they both handle the only IP that MS has kept relevant. Its a shame what they have done with Halo and Fable. Halo for obvious reasons, and Fable should be Witcher status.

(While I think The Coalition is a great technical studio, Gears 4 and Gears 5 were nothing special gameplay/storywise. It doesn't get criticized much because people don't love that IP as much as they love Halo.)

These Phil Spencer quotes/interviews are worthless. He never really says anything. Nothing that he said addressed what Jim Ryan said, he's just talking around it. "We expect", "we desire". Jim wants a longer than 3 year commitment, M$ aren't going to give it but they can't flat out say that or UK, EU and maybe even US will stop the deal.

At first, I found this interesting and I was curious to see how this played out, but, after the last couple of weeks, I have listened to or read way too many terrible, disingenuous takes from gaming talking heads.

I wish we could just fast forward to the end and get it over with.

 

[CoolinInTheCut]

(Starts at 34:53 - Sorry, I don't know how to give a direct timestapped link from a mobile device)

There is a good 9 min clip breakdown explaining why this acquisition is anti-competitive and stating that this is just how M$ moves.

I'm normally pretty critical about KF's commentary but this guest was really good and this was a good segment recapping everything.

In gaming, Xbox creates, but then doesn't cultivate IP. Then, they are able to use Microsoft Office and Azure money to bully their way into relevancy. I have said it before in different threads, but I don't think Xbox is profitable or has been profitable in years.

We have little proof that the studios or IP that M$ have purchased recently will produce better material now than they have in the past.

I would argue we got way more evidence of the complete opposite. Where are Ensemble and Lionhead today? Why did their crown jewel, Bungie, leave them for a seemingly worse publisher: Activision? What have all of the acquired studios done since being acquired? Rare, we can at least attribute to being a completely different Rare today with different staff, but Ninja Theory was acquired back in 2018 and Hellblade 2 still doesnt have a release window or much footage out there. Same with State of Decay 2. Then there's all the rumors of the issues over with Avowed and Everwild development being rebooted, Playground struggling with Fable, The Initiative requiring consulting from Crystal Dynamics, the disaster with 343 and Halo Infinite, and more.

I can make an argument that out of their many studios, the only good ones they've helped develop are Turn10 and Playground. Coincidentally, they both handle the only IP that MS has kept relevant. Its a shame what they have done with Halo and Fable. Halo for obvious reasons, and Fable should be Witcher status.

It was. Halo was also top shotta in the FPS/multiplayer space. Gears was a huge brand too. Sony had absolutely nothing that could've compared to these brands at the time. All three of these franchises have been dethroned and have completely fallen off with competitors lapping them several times over.

(While I think The Coalition is a great technical studio, Gears 4 and Gears 5 were nothing special gameplay/storywise. It doesn't get criticized much because people don't love that IP as much as they love Halo.)

They were still decent games, thats why they dodged a lot of criticism.

These Phil Spencer quotes/interviews are worthless. He never really says anything. Nothing that he said addressed what Jim Ryan said, he's just talking around it. "We expect", "we desire". Jim wants a longer than 3 year commitment, M$ aren't going to give it but they can't flat out say that or UK, EU and maybe even US will stop the deal.

At first, I found this interesting and I was curious to see how this played out, but, after the last couple of weeks, I have listened to or read way too many terrible, disingenuous takes from gaming talking heads.

I wish we could just fast forward to the end and get it over with.

100% agreed with all of this.

 

[Gizmo_Duck]

(Starts at 34:53 - Sorry, I don't know how to give a direct timestapped link from a mobile device)

There is a good 9 min clip breakdown explaining why this acquisition is anti-competitive and stating that this is just how M$ moves.

In gaming, Xbox creates, but then doesn't cultivate IP. Then, they are able to use Microsoft Office and Azure money to bully their way into relevancy. I have said it before in different threads, but I don't think Xbox is profitable or has been profitable in years.

We have little proof that the studios or IP that M$ have purchased recently will produce better material now than they have in the past.

I can make an argument that out of their many studios, the only good ones they've helped develop are Turn10 and Playground. Coincidentally, they both handle the only IP that MS has kept relevant. Its a shame what they have done with Halo and Fable. Halo for obvious reasons, and Fable should be Witcher status.

(While I think The Coalition is a great technical studio, Gears 4 and Gears 5 were nothing special gameplay/storywise. It doesn't get criticized much because people don't love that IP as much as they love Halo.)

These Phil Spencer quotes/interviews are worthless. He never really says anything. Nothing that he said addressed what Jim Ryan said, he's just talking around it. "We expect", "we desire". Jim wants a longer than 3 year commitment, M$ aren't going to give it but they can't flat out say that or UK, EU and maybe even US will stop the deal.

At first, I found this interesting and I was curious to see how this played out, but, after the last couple of weeks, I have listened to or read way too many terrible, disingenuous takes from gaming talking heads.

I wish we could just fast forward to the end and get it over with.

Well said, I actually watched part of that show with Janet and whats his name and for some reason wasn’t interested enough so i never made it to that part, but he broke it down so intelligently and blunt. It’s 100% exactly how I feel about it.

Its just going to always be an argument where no matter how much sense you make that xbox stans and paid media will just stick their heads in the sand because they are too enamored with the immediate benefits of it. Phil Spencer could retire in 3-4 years and the next president could decide ‘fukk yall, we’re doing something completely different with all these studios and IP’. Even in his own words its very vague and jargon heavy, carefully constructed by a team of lawyers to sound pretty on paper.

The fact that they keep referencing Tencent is what people need to pay attention to. They think if this Chinese company can keep spending and spending to be #1 then we should be able to also. Thats their grand strategy, thats isn’t innovation its the exact opposite. It’s being so creatively bankrupt that you are just taking a enormous amount of content off other platforms for your own sake.

I suspect even if this acquisition goes through and they announce they are buying EA or Take Two next the response will be “but but sony bought exclusivity for final fantasy 16 and this ninja jrpg for a year”

 

[Tim Lord]

Well said, I actually watched part of that show with Janet and whats his name and for some reason wasn’t interested enough so i never made it to that part but he broke it down so intelligently and blunt. It’s 100% exactly how I feel about it.

Its just going to always be an argument where no matter how much sense you make that xbox stans and paid media will just stick their heads in the sand because they are too enamored with the immediate benefits of it. Phil Spencer could retire in 3-4 years and the next president could decide fukk yall we’re doing something completely different with all these studios and IP. Even in his own words its very vague and jargon heavy, carefully constructed by a team of lawyers to sound pretty on paper.

The fact that they keep referencing Tencent is what people need to pay attention to. They think if this Chinese company can keep spending and spending to be #1 then we should be able to also. Thats their grand strategy, thats isn’t innovation is the exact opposite. It’s being so creatively bankrupt that you are just take a enormous amount of content off other platforms for your own sake.

Edit: Wrong quoted post.

 

[Gizmo_Duck]

Sorry if I wasn't clear in my wording. I agree with everything you said, we are saying the same thing.

Yeah im just adding on, i agree 100%