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Sony Gamepass: Does it really not make sense financially? Let's see

Kerotan

Member
Sony don't give a dam, they have their GamePass in Playstation Now..their focus is on delivering the big-hitters for the PS5....if they wanted to do a Gamepass I'm sure it wouldn't take them aeons to do..
Yeah they could literally do it right away. All new games launching on ps now. They don't want to.
 
Exactly. The only standing in the way is Sony deciding if their excusives go on there day one.

Hell, Sony could do it the Disney Plus way and add them after 1-2 months.

You're right, PSNow isnt like Game Pass:

There are no separate tiers
PSNow didnt need Plus for online MP day one, MS finally decided to do the same...for the most expensive tier.

Again, Sony went thru the growing pains of this on the PS3 with Plus IGC. They also have the content. They just need to decide if its best for them, and as of right now its not.

Remember when ppl asked how was Sony gonna counter Game Pass after it launched? Less than a year later they allowed downloads from PSNow. Some of yall make it seem like its a monumental hurdle to...add content to the service....lol.

Only thing MS are doing radical is all games day one, thats it.

Also......another fallacy is because Sony sold more consoles, MS sold less the Gold and Plus ratios means one is a better success? lol.
It's hard to call MS releasing 1st party games day one radical right now since they've only released 3 AAA 1st party games since the service launched in 2017.
 
Yeah they could literally do it right away. All new games launching on ps now. They don't want to.
It would be irresponsible to do that, they'd be throwing away hundreds of millions if not billions of dollars in game sales. Other than Minecraft no other 1st party game broke 5 million in sales on xbox one, Halo 5 came close but was still under 5 which is big drop from previous halo titles. Halo 4 sold over twice as many copies as Halo 5 just to add some perspective, and the Gears games on X1 dropped roughly 50% from where gears games on the 360 sold, Gears 3 sold 3 million copies in it's first week and Gears 4 sold just over 3 million lifetime Gears 5 with gamepass only hit number 7 on NPD in its launch month and was out of the top 20 the following month. Imagine Sony releasing god of war, horizon or some other title that sells millions in it's first month on a platform that only costs $10 a month, people will sub for that month finish the game and cancel before the next billing cycle which means we all got to play God of War for $10 instead of $70, while that sounds good we'd have to enjoy it while it lasts because PlayStation would be dead as a brand in a couple of years.
 
It doesn't make sense financially for MS as I am not sure how long they will let it bleed before changing or stopping it.
Sony and Nintendo's current way of doing things is what leads this industry so I see no reason for Sony to even consider to do what the distant 3rd is doing 🤷‍♂️
Yeah too many people want the leader to follow the loser for some reason, there is some logic missing here lol.
 

Redlancet

Banned
Everytime i see the word tier on this shit (americans love to be rípped off)


x33f6FO.jpg



I know that for some of you its hard to realise Microsoft is doing gamepass because they have big pockets and were losing big time, they are burning money like there is no tomorrow, Sony and Nintendo dont need or have to follow any of this
 
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"ffs", what are you googling exactly?


Latest quarterly earnings, not cash flow positive, but hoping to get there soon. Raised a ton of debt in 2011 that it still needs to pay down. 200 million subscribers. And yet with all this, yeah they are money losing operation. Maybe not in the near future. Any profits in past quarters has to do with how they are doing accounting and amortizing production expenses. But they are burning a lot of money. And they had a few quarters last year of being "cash flow positive", but again, it was because they halted production. So they were only hitting that by not making new content. That certainly isn't sustainable with a subscription service. Netflix, as it stands now, is a money losing business with 200 million people signed up and billions of revenue each quarter. It begs the question for people who think GP is going to be this massively profitable success, what has Phil Spencer figured out, that Reed Hastings has not?

People who sign up for GP definitely don't have to worry about this stuff. It's not their problem. Take advantage of it all you want. It just seems to go against basic reason in terms of it being a good business move for MS. If it were, why wouldn't the number 1 and 2 game companies be jumping on it?
This is in your source...Net Income.

The person I replied to, said Netflix didn't made any profits for years.

Its not unusual for big Corps to make investments in spaces or markets where they see long term growth, even if they make a loss right now.

Also Sony might jump in on it, if not now in the future. They might be forced to if GP proves to be successful for MS
1zBFi2O.jpg
 

MiguelItUp

Member
Playstation clearly has a different focus than Microsoft does, and there's nothing wrong with that. They DO have PS Now, which is about as close to a Game Pass-like product that we'll see from them. Could they do something even more Game Pass-like? Most definitely. But I don't think it's part of their plan. So in the meantime, at least something like PS Now exists.
 

EDMIX

Member
Fair disclaimer: I hate the idea of enjoying content just because the other team can't play it. That's very schadenfreude for me.

Having said that, purely from a Sony's business perspective, I have no idea why Sony isn't doing anything like that. 2-3 years ago, Bandai Namco's market cap was around $2 billion. Now it's $6+ billion. Sega is still around $2-$3 billion dollars that Sony can acquire.

Honestly, they should invest roughly $4-$5 billion in studio acquisitions and portfolio enhancements. With that kind of money, they can easily get:
  • BluePoint
  • HouseMarque
  • Kojima Productions
  • Ember Lab
  • miHoYo
  • Sega
  • Platinum Games
It's just baffling that they aren't being very aggressive. I don't like the notion that Xbox will just run past Sony with these moves. Sony is just so far ahead. However, Xbox will narrow the lead if Sony doesn't do anything. To maintain that lead, Sony needs to become aggressive again.

Agreed. They did say they are seeking to acquire more teams, but they haven't said a thing since. This is one of those fire must match fire situations. I'm happy that Sony doing so many big AAA games caused MS to do something like actually buy teams to build a solid first party, in that respect, I'm happy MS did it to get Sony to continue to do it instead of thinking they can relax.

So who knows who they are in talks with or what they will do, but I do see them buying a chunk of what you listed.
 

lefty1117

Gold Member
Sony is hard to trust because they tend to completely kill legacy products instead of trying to keep them alive via backwards compatibility or even lights on support. I'm still pissed at how quickly they dropped the PSP. I just don't think they have a strong software services game. Meanwhile this is MS bread & butter and they've been building it since XBL went live in like 2003. And now they have Azure on the back-end to run it all. That is fing hard to compete with. I can see a world where Sony gets out of the console OS business and perhaps licenses xbox as a platform for their gamedev companies to use, and just plug into the XBL backend for all the online services, matchmaking etc. They might save a megaton of cash in hosting and other infrastructure, but in theory could keep at the aspects they do best which is hardware and game publishing. "xbox by Sony" bundled in with their TVs and home theater, maybe a couple first party games and a 1 year gamepass sub in the package. etc. Still the great quality you expect from Sony branded consumer items, but focused more on sleek hardware and AAA games

The cloud is a bitch if you're not Google, Amazon or Microsoft.
 

StreetsofBeige

Gold Member
This is in your source...Net Income.

The person I replied to, said Netflix didn't made any profits for years.

Its not unusual for big Corps to make investments in spaces or markets where they see long term growth, even if they make a loss right now.

Also Sony might jump in on it, if not now in the future. They might be forced to if GP proves to be successful for MS
1zBFi2O.jpg
NF also spends a shitload of money on original content, movie deals and everything else is a licensed deal. They also must spend among the most in the world on server and bandwidth costs.

There are no selling content, no 30% digital cuts, no mtx, no extra money from controllers, memory cards and whatever other options they have that bring in cash.

Their entire revenue and profits is based off monthly sub fees. And they even give every user a free month to start.

And despite all this, they can still make profit.
 
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Zog

Banned
ps5 is still outselling the series xs. Why would they worry? When that changes then maybe but now make no sense.
I always wait until the car completely breaks down before taking preventative measures too. /s
 

Smoke6

Member
It is sustainable. We've seen this kind of service do exactly what MS do. Its what Spotify and more simularly Netflix did.

MS is offering subscriptions at discounted rates atm($1 for 3 months or roughly $121for 3 years). That will build the sub base up alot, and if going by history most tend to keep it. Word of mouth spreads how good it is. More people subscribe. Eventually the $1 deals wil stop and you'll have all full paying subs. Then down the line when you have a huge userbase the model becomes profitable and extremely so.

It may be a 'money sink' currently (you don't know) but these models tend to be at the start. It won't stay like that is the subscribers numbers continue to go up which I believe it will. Then MS will be making tons.

If your in the industry and know as much as your making out, perhaps work for MS and advise them as you seem to know more about how to make money then they do.
Man as cheap as y’all are, you’re not gonna be willing to plop down $15-20 a month for this service when they eventually get the gears churning!
I don’t even think y’all are thinking about the costs all around for this compared to pure games sales alone!
This is a joke right? All the large companies have some form of subscription service, but you're saying they're all wrong and it's not sustainable lol
First off, there are more movie watchers than there are gamers!

Secondly, those services are very much optional across a wide array of devices (which MS is trying to do) and are not console or platform dependent!

Third, MS would be shouting from the high heavens about their numbers and how much success it’s seeing! But they’re not and no matter what there services will never be as you will never be able to download a game like gears and shit on your tv in a way you’d do it on a console or PC!

the numbers don’t add up and never will as they’re not selling enough consoles to justify the service!

Wanna a talk about the games?

right now with acquisitions and games in development there’s already over $10bil right there outside of the service and no matter how you shake a leg at it, you’d need at the least 100mil subscribers all paying full price for the service monthly and that sub number has to keep climbing and maintain! And that’s with just the halo and zenimax deal!

also I’m sure Sony made a killing selling the show to MS for gamepass, that was a smart move by them for the game to get more exposure from a console that’s been lacking the sport on its console!.

but yeah just the basic math can tell you that it’s not possible in the gaming realm at the moment as the prices for game development far outweighs those of most b tier and up movies!

loke it cost Netflix $200 million for a couple sequels and a producer, halo surpassed that already and is not even out yet!

and if we’re being honest, I haven’t heard shit about Gears that was positive besides that last update that made the game look good and nobody talks about sea of thieves and the state of halo and it’s multiplayer is still up on the air and given the like warm reception of the reveal of that game and it’s delay due to it, I’m not holding my breathe!

mom inclined to believe that’s why they over paid for Zenimax as halo may not be their flagship anymore and this reeks of desperation!

anything else you’d like to add?

please show me where gamepass is as profitable for their games as Sony are with there with sales!
 

StreetsofBeige

Gold Member
Adobe doesn't sell Photoshop anymore. If you want it, they do all kinds of sub plans.

Revenue, profits and stock price has never been higher.
 

M16

Member
Ok, let's take a look at your assertion that MS, one of the richest companies in the world, cannot throw money at bad business ventures.

Well, ever heard of Nokia and windows phone? It was a failure of massive proportions, losing MS billions. They did it in order to get a foothold in the mobile OS marketplace, with disastrous results.
nope, it didnt fail as you portray it. thats what people like to parrot but it didnt go down like that at all.
Ballmer bought nokia as CEO while it was reported Nadella was against it. As a matter a fact, Windows Phone was growing almost reaching 10 million phones a quarter (similar to LG,Sony,and a few others). In some markets it had surpassed Iphones. Former Nokia CEO Stephen Elop,who then joined microsoft after the acquisition, was in the running for next CEO with Nadella but ultimately lost.

When Nadella became CEO he wrote Nokia off immediately because he didn't believe Microsoft needed a mobile OS when they can just put their software on these other OSes anyways.
That's where the "loss" comes from, but in reality they didn't lose shit because the clever accountants use it to offset taxes.
 
I always wait until the car completely breaks down before taking preventative measures too. /s
My man, maybe you’re not aware of unprecedented demand for PS5 around the world right now. Not sure we’ve seen anything like this ever. At least, I can speak for Europe, this is like holy grail of consumerism. Sony would be at 15-20M now if everything was normal. Some people really under appreciated what Sony did in the last 7-8 years. It has become a behemoth of a brand, it’s stronger than ever (again, my focus is on Europe).
 

Zog

Banned
My man, maybe you’re not aware of unprecedented demand for PS5 around the world right now. Not sure we’ve seen anything like this ever. At least, I can speak for Europe, this is like holy grail of consumerism. Sony would be at 15-20M now if everything was normal. Some people really under appreciated what Sony did in the last 7-8 years. It has become a behemoth of a brand, it’s stronger than ever (again, my focus is on Europe).
Do you remember how successful they were during the PS2 era only to see it all turn around the following generation? I think it's obvious that if they wait too long to compete against Microsoft in this area, they will regret it just like I would regret it if I didn't change my brakes until they completely stopped working and I rear ended a cop.
 

DavJay

Member
I always wait until the car completely breaks down before taking preventative measures too. /s
It’s still dominating and the trend doesn’t appear to change. It’s like buying a new car and worrying about the transmission giving out. Ridiculous
 
Do you remember how successful they were during the PS2 era only to see it all turn around the following generation? I think it's obvious that if they wait too long to compete against Microsoft in this area, they will regret it just like I would regret it if I didn't change my brakes until they completely stopped working and I rear ended a cop.
You still need a Microsoft’s console (or be a PC gamer who’s interested in this between all the other well-established options) and the problem is so many fewer gamers want their console compared to PS. Again, especially outside of US.
 

M16

Member
ps5 is still outselling the series xs. Why would they worry? When that changes then maybe but now make no sense.
they're both selling out genius. and ms didnt start production until later than sony, so sony has more hardware for sale either way. how about waiting for supply to catch up to demand before showing your extreme insecurities.
 
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Jigsaah

Gold Member
Sony will answer, just don't know how they have the financial might to compete with what Xbox is doing right now. Seems like they should wait til Xbox simmers down a bit before trying to match the service. That makes the most financial sense to me.
 
The way i see it, games done sell as much on Xbox bc not many ppl own it or has interest to even own one “lack of exclusives” , so a way to differentiate itself from Sony and playstation, Microsoft xbox offers gamepass where ppl are more likely to buy a service thats cheaper then a game to play multiple games on it, they see that as a deal and i dont blame them..

You can argue differently but it is what i just said
 
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Sony will answer, just don't know how they have the financial might to compete with what Xbox is doing right now. Seems like they should wait til Xbox simmers down a bit before trying to match the service. That makes the most financial sense to me.
Or they dont have to answer it 🤔
 

Derktron

Banned
Ohh boy, Microsoft really has rocked the gaming world with all these moves. I'd say it's about time. But it's ironic now everyone who was bashing Microsoft because of Gamepass, now wants Sony to follow Microsoft and make their own Gamepass service. Ohh the damn irony. This will only get good.
 
PS Now would be good if ...they allowed u to download PS3 games. And if they didn't have so much shovelware

another annoying thing is ur saves aren't compatible with PS Now games. I own Injustice 2. But if i try to stream it on PSNow it doesn't recognize my save. U have to start a new one.
 

Astral Dog

Member
Right now it doesn't make sense, in the future, maybe GamePass will become a new standard that other game companies will begin to follow.
When that happens Sony and Nintendo should be prepared, because they are following the industry trends like everyone else.

However when these threads get made its always people asking, why doesn't company X drop their current succesful business model for GamePass? Are they stupid?? The fact is, there is no need RIGHT NOW for Nintendo or Sony to abandon their business in the next few years.so these discussion devolve into fanboy wishful thinking and wanabe bussines experts (not talking about this thread specifically! 🤭)
 
As long as Sony offers their caliber first party games that's all that matters. If they offer a gamepads alternative great, they don't, then they don't. They've made more money than ever with their current strategy and playstation owners have experienced hit after hit lately. Seems like a good strategy right now.
 

Hugare

Member
Microsoft cant even show the receipts to prove how sustainable it is.

They are bleeding money with Game Pass, but its their only option right now in order to be competitive. MS dont have "10M sales" exclusives like Sony and Nintendo.

Yeah, maybe a Sony Pass "could work", but it would be nowhere as lucrative as their strategy today. They would be dumb to do what the company at 3rd place in sales is doing. Especially when Sony is proffiting more than never.

It would be good for gamers? Absolutely. But get real.
 

lh032

I cry about Xbox and hate PlayStation.
Microsoft cant even show the receipts to prove how sustainable it is.

They are bleeding money with Game Pass, but its their only option right now in order to be competitive. MS dont have "10M sales" exclusives like Sony and Nintendo.

Yeah, maybe a Sony Pass "could work", but it would be nowhere as lucrative as their strategy today. They would be dumb to do what the company at 3rd place in sales is doing. Especially when Sony is proffiting more than never.

It would be good for gamers? Absolutely. But get real.
well true, if im not mistaken, all they show is the financial report of overall microsoft, so far we did not see any fianncial report on gamepass alone
 

StreetsofBeige

Gold Member
Microsoft cant even show the receipts to prove how sustainable it is.

They are bleeding money with Game Pass, but its their only option right now in order to be competitive. MS dont have "10M sales" exclusives like Sony and Nintendo.

Yeah, maybe a Sony Pass "could work", but it would be nowhere as lucrative as their strategy today. They would be dumb to do what the company at 3rd place in sales is doing. Especially when Sony is proffiting more than never.

It would be good for gamers? Absolutely. But get real.
Companies don't get nitty gritty. Has Sony even done a separate page strictly on PS Now showing everyone if it's profitable?

Apple doesn't break down financials either. The best you get is Mac, iPhone, Services etc... That's it. You got 5 blanket product lines. Have fun trying to figure out whether or not Apple Arcade is making money.

And besides who cares if MS is losing money on GP. The key is if it offers great value for Xbox gamers and it is. Heck they even got a Sony game on it now.

Foe eons, gamers want corporations to be more generous And Xbox and GP is that service now. Tons of shit on it for dirt cheap. I someone doesn't like it, cancel the service. But in the meantime, lots of us are playing GP for $1. And that will include The Show 21. lol

Sony lost a lot of money during the PS3 years. They lost so much it basically wiped out most of the profits from the PS1/PS2 eras combined. Would you tell them to call it quits? Or keep going and see where it goes with PS4 and PS5?

Their TV division was even worse. I think they lost billions for years. Yet they still make tvs.
 
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Hugare

Member
Companies don't get nitty gritty. Has Sony even done a separate page strictly on PS Now showing everyone if it's profitable?

Apple doesn't break down financials either. The best you get is Mac, iPhone, Services etc... That's it. You got 5 blanket product lines. Have fun trying to figure out whether or not Apple Arcade is making money.

And besides who cares if MS is losing money on GP. The key is if it offers great value for Xbox gamers and it is. Heck they even got a Sony game on it now.

Sony lost a lot of money during the PS3 years. They lost so much it basically wiped out most of the profits from the PS1/PS2 eras combined. Would you tell them to call it quits and see where it goes with PS4 and PS5?

Their TV division was even worse. I think they lost billions for years. Yet they still make tvs.
Yes, Sony shows how much money they make from PS+ subscriptions.

If I'm not mistaking, MS dont even show how proffitable the Xbox division is.

"And besides who cares if MS is losing money on GP". lol, the whole point of the thread is discussing if Sony should do the same. So use your brain.

I dont know what you were trying to say with your Sony argument at the end of your post.

Sony is better than ever right now, so they dont have any reason to change estrategy.

The actual numbers are showing that they dont need to change estrategy
 

StreetsofBeige

Gold Member
Yes, Sony shows how much money they make from PS+ subscriptions.

If I'm not mistaking, MS dont even show how proffitable the Xbox division is.

"And besides who cares if MS is losing money on GP". lol, the whole point of the thread is discussing if Sony should do the same. So use your brain.

I dont know what you were trying to say with your Sony argument at the end of your post.

Sony is better than ever right now, so they dont have any reason to change estrategy.

The actual numbers are showing that they dont need to change estrategy
Really? Ok, post the link or charts showing Sony stating how much profits they make on PS Now.

We agree on something. I said in one of these threads Jim Ryan and company don't have to do anything either.
 

lh032

I cry about Xbox and hate PlayStation.
Really? Ok, post the link or charts showing Sony stating how much profits they make on PS Now.

We agree on something. I said in one of these threads Jim Ryan and company don't have to do anything either.
lol tbh,i think theres a reason why they focus on PS Plus, but who knows ,maybe they will invest on PS Now thanks to Microsoft : P
 

StreetsofBeige

Gold Member
lol tbh,i think theres a reason why they focus on PS Plus, but who knows ,maybe they will invest on PS Now thanks to Microsoft : P
Probably. Competition is great.

Sony already opened the wallets with PS5 collection pack of 15 free games and just unloaded another 9 free games to everyone.

If MS wasn't so hard on promoting Series S/X with BC and GP, what are the chances of Sony just giving away 24 games just for the hell of it?
 
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Heisenberg007

Gold Journalism
Really? Ok, post the link or charts showing Sony stating how much profits they make on PS Now.

We agree on something. I said in one of these threads Jim Ryan and company don't have to do anything either.
I think the argument was that companies tend to hide divisions/products/services that aren't making profits.
  • Sony reveals PlayStation numbers because it's profitable. MS doesn't reveal Xbox numbers.
  • Sony reveals PS+ numbers because they are good but hides PS Now numbers because they are not profitable.
  • Xbox reveals GamePass numbers because they seem good but doesn't tell the ROI because it's likely negative.
And because it's not profitable (while Sony's current strategy is profitable), Sony doesn't need to follow that. I think that's what Hugare Hugare 's argument was.
 

Hugare

Member
Really? Ok, post the link or charts showing Sony stating how much profits they make on PS Now.

We agree on something. I said in one of these threads Jim Ryan and company don't have to do anything either.
Did I mention PS Now?

But thanks, it was a great example: they probably dont show the profits because just like with Game Pass, it probably looks like shit.

And people in this thread want them to invest more on PS Now? Yeah, right

Want to see Sony changing estrategy? Stop buying their games. Right now, they are profiting so much that they are now charging $70. They are winning, so they dont have any reason to change.

"Oh but Sony Pass would be so much more consumer friendly". Companies only see money, not feelings.

People are voting with their wallets right now. Look at Sony and MS and tell me who is profiting more.
 

mcjmetroid

Member
I love gamepass but you guys are kidding yourselves if you don't think that if Sony released the exact same gamepass idea, the exact same price, exact same type of games and day 1 releases BUT it was Sony games... That they wouldn't beat Microsoft hands down.

Sony have the stronger games. Microsoft have made the Gamepass move to A) fight off competition from Google ( Success) Amazon ( looking successful) and Apple and as a bonus they had no choice to go this direction going against Sony.

Sony has the traditional console approach down.. they cannot be defeated here so what do you do.. you change the game.
 

Redlancet

Banned
Do you remember how successful they were during the PS2 era only to see it all turn around the following generation? I think it's obvious that if they wait too long to compete against Microsoft in this area, they will regret it just like I would regret it if I didn't change my brakes until they completely stopped working and I rear ended a cop.
my man not only you do stupid analogies like the one with the broken car but you seen to have a very rose tinted glasses account of the past years,good luck with all of that
 
They already have their gamepass service. it's called PS Now. You don't need to stream the games as you can download any PS4 (and PS2 classics and soon PS5) games on your PS4 / PS5. Also with PS Now you don't have to pay to play online.

They just have to add more games on it and that's it.
 

Outrunner

Member
I love gamepass but you guys are kidding yourselves if you don't think that if Sony released the exact same gamepass idea, the exact same price, exact same type of games and day 1 releases BUT it was Sony games... That they wouldn't beat Microsoft hands down.

Sony have the stronger games. Microsoft have made the Gamepass move to A) fight off competition from Google ( Success) Amazon ( looking successful) and Apple and as a bonus they had no choice to go this direction going against Sony.

Sony has the traditional console approach down.. they cannot be defeated here so what do you do.. you change the game.
It would be game over for Xbox.
 

reksveks

Member
It would be game over for Xbox.
It would be a better fight for sure and Sony would be the favourite but think there would still be the battle for exclusives and the ease of service, that gives Microsoft a chance until Sony starts to embrace mobile and PC properly.
 

MonarchJT

Banned
I love gamepass but you guys are kidding yourselves if you don't think that if Sony released the exact same gamepass idea, the exact same price, exact same type of games and day 1 releases BUT it was Sony games... That they wouldn't beat Microsoft hands down.

Sony have the stronger games. Microsoft have made the Gamepass move to A) fight off competition from Google ( Success) Amazon ( looking successful) and Apple and as a bonus they had no choice to go this direction going against Sony.

Sony has the traditional console approach down.. they cannot be defeated here so what do you do.. you change the game.
you know how will be the games from playground ,inxile,obsidian ,all bethesda,the initiative,ninja theory? .no? ah..ahh i understand you are just putting out air from your arse )). i see
 
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