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[Ellery]

i dont understand his point?

He is saying that Sony and Nintendo are the good forces in the gaming industry pouring in passion, blood and sweat to create things from the ground up that gamers love whilst hypercapitalism is looming over the gaming industry trying to find entry points of using big money to make even bigger money.
People here have really no idea how powerful big american tech is. More powerful than many nations on our planet. So powerful that countries have embassies in silicon valley.

Phil is basically pointing out that Nintendo and Sony are not big/powerful enough and what they are doing is for gamers. They make games. They don't create context (big high five to my homie Kojima for predicting that 20 years ago with MGS 2 my god genius dude) like the other big companies that have a different angle. Those companies make you the product, sell you, have their algorithms put you into carefully created digital bubbles and analyze your every move to the point that they know what you are purchasing before you even know it might exist.

And lastly Phil wants to be the powerful good guy.

TL;DR a very easily comprehensible way to understand this would be : Facebook, Amazon, Google, etc = bad because they would use big acquisitions like activision to use their technology and IPs to create big "metaverses" that create another digital layer to spend money on and spend your time in. Sony and Nintendo are too small and create video games. They are small japanese video game makers and not trillion dollar american tech giants. Phil Spencer wants to be big and powerful for gaming and find the right way to do the right thing (from his or Microsoft's pov) with what they get. Probably a middle way of Xbox handling games and Microsoft controlling the metaverse side of things, but at this point I am going into speculation.

 

[splattered]

Your are right. Try to private AAA to a counterpart it's more monopoly.

But Sony just bought Bluepoint Games and i really loved their work on MGS HD Collection and Titan Fall on Xbox. So i guess because i want them to work on more games for Xbox Sony is now "a monopoly" ?

Sony have bought nearly all of their existing studios and then nurtured them over time to crank out amazeball games... but it still all really started as acquisitions just the same.

 

[rodrigolfp]

Yeah because before sony, Spiderman games had such high quality, lol.

Ultimate Spider Man on pc at 60+fps >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> the rest

 

[remember_spinal]

Once the smoke clears and a few months pass by people are gonna start to look at these moves a lot different. I think everyone is still caught in the whirlwind of what this is right now.

It’s gonna take one more big acquisition which will most def happen this year by some company before people put the Pom Pom’s down for good I assume most enthusiast forums like this or era or whatever don’t care at the moment because these aren’t the places that love CoD games. Once people lose franchises they really like, on either side, nintendo, sony, microsoft, pc…we’ll start to see a tonal shift

 

[assurdum]

Ultimate Spider Man on pc at 60fps >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> the rest

 

[NickFire]

No point in trying to make a serious post in here, just going to float away...

BIG BAD MS MAN SAID BIG BAD THINGS!

What kind of serious discussion can be had about MS savings us from Amazon by taking COD away from PS?

 

[assurdum]

But Sony just bought Bluepoint Games and i really loved their work on MGS HD Collection and Titan Fall on Xbox. So i guess because i want them to work on more games for Xbox Sony is now "a monopoly" ?

Sony have bought nearly all of their existing studios and then nurtured them over time to crank out amazeball games... but it still all really started as acquisitions just the same.

What great AAA exactly Bluepoint has developed for the market before Sony? There is a big difference between invest in an emergent studio than buy a bigger publisher and eliminate all the catalogue from another platforms. How you can find it remotely comparable lol.

 

[rodrigolfp]

 

[assurdum]

 

[Ezekiel_]

What would google/facebook do with game publishers though? New forms of data collection, advertisement and monetisation...

Phile is saying like sony use insomnia, ND,ssm etc to make great games Microsoft will do the same with there devs.

You realize Microsoft is in Advertisement and Search too with Bing, right?

Microsoft is exactly like other big tech companies (Apple, Google, Amazon), so he's effectively arguing against himself here.

 

[Captain Toad]

I think Microsoft should acquire Sony and Nintendo before Google and Apple completely destroy this industry.

Microsoft TRIED to buy Nintendo. Nintendo laughed in their face. Literally. And that story has been told by Microsoft themselves.

So many people here look at what a certain company is worth and think that's just a big price tag anyone can just buy if and whenever they want.

 

[Ozriel]

Microsoft pretending they aren't the world's most notorious tech monopolist is the epitome of lunacy.

Perhaps among perennially angry forum dwellers.

Congress got out Amazon, Apple, Google and Facebook when they wanted to clamp down on big tech. Guess which big tech company barely gets a mention in grown up conversations around monopolies these days?

 

[thicc_girls_are_teh_best]

Curious bit from the Washington Post interview:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/video-games/2022/01/20/xbox-activision-blizzard-phil-spencer/

Reminds me of Jay Leno saying, 'Dont blame Conan.'




I doubt anyone is worried about Sony or Nintendo are going out there spending almost a $100 billion buying out Minecraft, Zenimax and Activision at the risk of creating monopolies that might damage the industry in the long run.

Man if you weren't so off-base dumb-concerned over monopolies (this deal BTW doesn't create a monopoly, read up on what a monopoly actually is) you'd recognize the forest from the trees: MS's intentions aren't to "destroy" Sony or Nintendo like fanboys think. Why would they? If Sony or Nintendo are destroyed, that creates a vacuum for Apple, Google, Amazon, Tencent etc. to come in and fill the void.

That doesn't mean they won't be competitive with their newly acquired assets; it just means they aren't out to choke Sony or Nintendo to death. There'll always be some form of Activision-Blizzard (and Zenimax) software support on Sony and Nintendo platforms, especially if those platform holders work out a deal for GamePass on their systems (probably tailored to their ecosystem in some way).

Put it another way: if Microsoft didn't buy Activision-Blizzard, Facebook would've. Or Google. Or Tencent (btw Tencent have shares in Activision-Blizzard they'll still retain post-acquisition). And while all of these major tech/entertainment conglomerates (yes, including Sony) are at least partially involved in things benefiting various governmental bodies that may not be at the peak best interest of us regular folks, out of the companies looking to buy Activision-Blizzard, Microsoft are the least offending of those options by a decent mile.

Also I don't see how you blame the buyer when the seller approached the buyer with the proposition to begin with

 

[Thaedolus]

Your are right. Try to private AAA titles to the market counterparts smell more of monopoly.

Don't get me wrong, I can understand why people who are a fan of Activision/Blizzard games and not a fan of MS would be upset by this deal. I don't fall into that category because A) I don't really give a shit about A/B and B) I'm totally ambivalent toward every gaming company, so I see it and think "yeah it makes sense MS would want to buy that."

Why I think it's funny is because people are letting their feelings about the deal color their interpretation of everything else now. Monopoly? Not even close. His statement in this thread about the competition? It was perfectly rational. People are really just being salty.

 

[Ozriel]

As if Google was going to buy Call of Duty and make it exclusive on Stadia streaming lol

How was Apple or Facebook stock after the purchase? Did it drop because of it? No, only Sony dropped. There is no impact on anyone else but Sony.

Don't fall for his shit guys.

Nintendo’s stock didn’t shift. Neither did Tencent. Most of gaming didn’t even feel that. Valve continued counting their increasing CCUs.

So to you, because this deal could potentially affect Sony, it’s ‘killing gaming’?

 

[Coolwhhip]

Phil Spencer is like that kid with filthy rich parents that started his "own" company.

 

[splattered]

Once the smoke clears and a few months pass by people are gonna start to look at these moves a lot different. I think everyone is still caught in the whirlwind of what this is right now.

It’s gonna take one more big acquisition which will most def happen this year by some company before people put the Pom Pom’s down for good I assume most enthusiast forums like this or era or whatever don’t care at the moment because these aren’t the places that love CoD games. Once people lose franchises they really like, on either side, nintendo, sony, microsoft, pc…we’ll start to see a tonal shift

The funny thing is, you don't "lose" anything if you are an open minded gamer that plays games on more than one console/pc/etc

In reality, the people that are the most upset about this are those that are just stubborn and refuse to dip their toes in different ecosystems.

I am not freaking out because i have to own a Playstation to play Final Fantasy 7 Remake or whatever other exclusive deals Sony makes all the time that people celebrate for some funny reason.

 

[JackMcGunns]

"Spencer said he's concerned about tech companies unfamiliar with the gaming industry barging in to the space"

I always considered it ironic when Sony (Makers of TVs and Walkman) came in to the videogame space where Sega and Nintendo ruled and were considered the household name for consoles and people had the audacity to complain when Microsoft tried to enter the space.

Well, they entered and succeeded. If it hasn't sunk in that Xbox is just as established as a gaming company as Sony and Nintendo, then it's time to wake up and smell the coffee.

 

[SlimySnake]

Microsoft TRIED to buy Nintendo. Nintendo laughed in their face. Literally. And that story has been told by Microsoft themselves.

So many people here look at what a certain company is worth and think that's just a big price tag anyone can just buy if and whenever they want.

 

[oldergamer]

Christ, Phil is such a douche.

What phil said makes total sense. what you wrote doesn't. companies that are invested in games won't do things to destroy the market. Amazon, google, facebook, don't have gaming as a important part of thier buisiness.

You could even say MS falls into that more then 20 years ago. Its only now that they made it a priority after ballmer was gone.

 

[mckmas8808]

"Spencer said he's concerned about tech companies unfamiliar with the gaming industry barging in to the space"

Yeah, like did he say this with a smirk or something?

 

[envyzeal]

Oh god this guy...it's clear all he wants is to be a good guy protecting games from big bad companies. He's totally not trying to control gaming scene making Gamepass the next Windows.

 

[MarkMe2525]

Do you REALLY believe MS decided to spend $70B on Activision just because Bobby is a creep? I have no idea how that makes sense to anyone.

I think the point being that because Activision has lost all social currency they were in a state to actually be bought. It is normally very difficult to purchase a publicly traded company when they have such a large positive revenue flow such as Activision.

Edit: after rereading the post you responded to, I actually don't think that was their point. In saying that, there was correlation between the purchase and the state of the companies.

 

[oldergamer]

A company known for extreme consolidation and monopoly, is worried bigger tech companies will consolidate and create monopolies.

Its not the same company it was under bill gates. clearly.

 

[assurdum]

Don't get me wrong, I can understand why people who are a fan of Activision/Blizzard games and not a fan of MS would be upset by this deal. I don't fall into that category because A) I don't really give a shit about A/B and B) I'm totally ambivalent toward every gaming company, so I see it and think "yeah it makes sense MS would want to buy that."

Why I think it's funny is because people are letting their feelings about the deal color their interpretation of everything else now. Monopoly? Not even close. His statement in this thread about the competition? It was perfectly rational. People are really just being salty.

You know right MS was condamned several times to the EU for antitrust violation but not in US and exactly for monopoly practice. I know in US mentality is very elastic about such behaviour but that's a big issue of such society, in others European countries MS wouldn't have such easy life. But sure it's not because American laws are flawed in such matter. It's incredible how toxic and manipulative is in such stuff, I'm sorry unfortunately this is the cruel reality about the American society but it's a very complex and delicate argument.

 

[mckmas8808]

What phil said makes total sense. what you wrote doesn't. companies that are invested in games won't do things to destroy the market. Amazon, google, facebook, don't have gaming as a important part of thier buisiness.

You could even say MS falls into that more then 20 years ago. Its only now that they made it a priority after ballmer was gone.

 

[Hawking Radiation]

Why not show me all the Developers Sony have bought and then shuttered over the years? let's have a good old list war between the two? Just listing gaming companies I bet they are as bad as each other.

This is not a good idea man.

Lets not have a good old list war lol.

 

[Kokoloko85]

Your right Phil. But you and Microsoft will lol

 

[Thaedolus]

You know right MS was condamned several times to the EU for antitrust violation but not in US and exactly for monopoly practice. I know in US mentality is very elastic about such behaviour but that's a big issue of such society, in others European countries MS wouldn't have such easy live. But sure it's not because American laws allow it.

It's going to take a lot more than that to convince me the #3 player (post-acquisition) is somehow a monopoly in the gaming space, especially when they put their own software out on the competition's platforms (MS first party games can be purchased on Steam, MineCraft is on Nintendo/Sony platforms, etc.) And as someone who has to deal with EU regulations professionally (though not antitrust regs), woof. The EU is over-regulated.

 

[Kokoloko85]

Phil Spencer is like that kid with filthy rich parents that started his "own" company.

And people think he done it with hardwork and brains Not spending close to 100billion lol

 

[ManaByte]

Microsoft have been making games for 30 years.

MS has been producing consoles longer than SEGA did.

 

[oldergamer]

What kind of serious discussion can be had about MS savings us from Amazon by taking COD away from PS?

They haven't taken it away from PS.

 

[Son_of_Zardoz]

What kind of serious discussion can be had about MS savings us from Amazon by taking COD away from PS?

Show me where it's confirmed that COD will be taken away from PS? I'll wait.

Of course, it is a possibility, but did they take Minecraft away?

Do you really think that companies that haven't been involved in gaming are going to do a better job with developers? The whole point is he was saying that he trusts Nintendo & Sony but you guys have to jump back into combat gear for war. Have you kept up with how badly Google manages any of their shit? Honestly don't know enough about Apple to speak about them but Amazon doesn't seem to be doing much and I'd rather Facebook stay as far away from gaming as possible seeing as their primary product is digital butthole cancer.

 

[assurdum]

It's going to take a lot more than that to convince me the #3 player (post-acquisition) is somehow a monopoly in the gaming space, especially when they put their own software out on the competition's platforms (MS first party games can be purchased on Steam, MineCraft is on Nintendo/Sony platforms, etc.) And as someone who has to deal with EU regulations professionally (though not antitrust regs), woof. The EU is over-regulated.

Oh that's horrible. How dare. Better multinational corporations make the rules with their money

And I'm not want to convince you, sir. I just not want a big company force me to buy a platform or a paywall services to have a title available in every platform before them. That's what I call monopoly.

 

[tommib]

No point in trying to make a serious post in here, just going to float away...

BIG BAD MS MAN SAID BIG BAD THINGS!

 

[Pedro Motta]

 

[Bernkastel]

"Spencer said he's concerned about tech companies unfamiliar with the gaming industry barging in to the space"

The irony of these posts. If MS is "unfamiliar" then Nintendo would probably be the only remaining "familiar" company in gaming industry.

How lomg has Xbox been a thing?

MS is only 1 gen behind Sony.

Older. You know Flight Simulator or Age of Empires? They had a gaming publishing division since the 70s. The DirectX team deigned the Xbox. Infact Flight Simulator is Microsoft's oldest property that is still

What’s the difference really? MS? Amazon? Google? Meta?

One of the is investing in games since more than 40 years.

Apple had games on the Apple II and the Mac years ago.

Did not make them a gaming company.

But Apple didn't make or publish games until recently.

List of Xbox Game Studios video games - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Captain Toad]

Still works, except now Sony is #2 and Tencent is #1.

 

[splattered]

And people think he done it with hardwork and brains Not spending close to 100billion lol

Right, because Microsoft allowed Phil to step into his role leading Xbox in 2014 and immediately spend 100 billion.

Actually, hard work is exactly WHY they are allowed to spend this kind of money.

 

[Thaedolus]

Oh that's horrible. How dare. Better multinational corporations make the rules with their money

And I'm not want to convince you, sir. I just not want a big company force me to buy a platform or a paywall services that have a title available in every platform before them. That's what I call monopoly.

I think you're fair to criticize that business practice, but that's not what monopoly means.

And no I don't think multinational corporations should make the rules, but there should be a balance where rules don't impede/stunt progress or otherwise have unintended negative consequences. I've seen all of that up close and personally with heavy-handed EU regulations and stupid regulators unable to understand what compliance looks like. There needs to be a balance between regulations and freedom to do business, and the EU balance is completely off in my experience. And I've got experience working with regulators in many different countries outside of the EU.

 

[Calverz]

Well said Phil. I’d want either microsoft, Sony or nintendo buying them out. In this case it was microsoft. Far better them than fuckin Facebook.

 

[oldergamer]

How did you miss the point? MS was like amazon, google, facebook, before they got into the console biz. sure they made a few games but it wasn't a part of the core biz.

Its now 100% part of the core biz. is that clear?

 

[Ozriel]

Phil Spencer is like that kid with filthy rich parents that started his "own" company.

You really think Sony paid for exclusivity for SFV and Final Fantasy XVI using bananas and hugs?

You’d think Spending cash to secure exclusivity was something new and unheard of, the way everyone’s going into hysterics.

 

[assurdum]

I think you're fair to criticize that business practice, but that's not what monopoly means.

And no I don't think multinational corporations should make the rules, but there should be a balance where rules don't impede/stunt progress or otherwise have unintended negative consequences. I've seen all of that up close and personally with heavy-handed EU regulations and stupid regulators unable to understand what compliance looks like. There needs to be a balance between regulations and freedom to do business, and the EU balance is completely off in my experience. And I've got experience working with regulators in many different countries outside of the EU.

Listen I never said EU is ahead to US in terms of laws but with antitrust regulations they are years aheads (Disney couff couff) You should bet your balls if MS was an European countries, would be condamned after such acquisitions. They can acquire whatever publisher they want but they should guarantee that old AAA titles will be still available for everyone in the free market because otherwise that's a monopoly tries. It's not my fault if such society as convinced you that's not monopoly.
From Oxford dictionary:
the exclusive possession or control of the supply of or trade in a commodity or service.

 

[Black_Stride]

Christ, Phil is such a douche.

 

[Thaedolus]

From Oxford dictionary:
the exclusive possession or control of the supply of or trade in a commodity or service.

There's no world in which MS meets this definition now or in any future in which they don't also own Sony and/or Nintendo

 

[assurdum]

There's no world in which MS meets this definition now or in any future in which they don't also own Sony and/or Nintendo

As? And in any case where I ever said Sony or Nintendo are saints. If they will do the same in the future surely I won't clap my hands for them.

 

[Eanox]

The “They want to save gaming from other tech companies” is purely BS.

They just want to monopolize and set Gamepass as the only gaming streaming device on the planet and their buying their way into it.

 

[SlimySnake]

Put it another way: if Microsoft didn't buy Activision-Blizzard, Facebook would've. Or Google. Or Tencent (btw Tencent have shares in Activision-Blizzard they'll still retain post-acquisition). And while all of these major tech/entertainment conglomerates (yes, including Sony) are at least partially involved in things benefiting various governmental bodies that may not be at the peak best interest of us regular folks, out of the companies looking to buy Activision-Blizzard, Microsoft are the least offending of those options by a decent mile.

Yeah, Microsoft is saving us from the real villains. It's kinda like when the Soviet Union invaded Poland to save them from being invaded by Germany.

 

[CobraAB]

So Sony having movies, music, TVs, phones makes them not a gaming company, right?

Well, nit really before the original Playstation.

One could call Sony more of a media company perhaps?