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PlayStation: Xbox's Call of Duty offer was "inadequate on many levels"

MS have full control over the growing cloud gaming market and can use the acquisition of major publishers to further entrench that, which is what the regulators are looking at.
The cloud gaming market is sparse of entrants because most (like Google with Stadia) are unwilling to play the long game and give up too quickly when ROI isn't instantaneous, and because others (like Sony with PS Now) are only willing to dip their toes in the market without really pouring much thought or resources behind the initial investment. That's not a MS problem.
 

ManaByte

Member
Inadequate? That’s 3 years more than I thought they’d get. My bet was zero more years.

I’m not sure why Sony feel they are entitled to CoD for some reason. They come of as extremely dependent on this one franchise to survive to me. It’s really strange to see.
Perhaps they understand that PlayStation's market position is not as entrenched and guaranteed as many here on GAF would have us believe.
 

Menzies

Banned
I saw this on a German discussion with translate
Too right. If these regulators actually cared about fairness in competition, why do we only see them express concerns during a merger or acquisition?

Microsoft could have left the industry years ago (much to their own fault), but I'm sure a deal that secured exclusive content and marketing rights to a then 2:1 market leader to the perennially best shooter on the market didn't help...
 

Jaybe

Member
Jim is based. Basically telling the UK competition bureau they will all need to buy their kids an Xbox in 3 years if they allow this to go through.

But seriously though, Phil commenting even vaguely at first on a private conversation is seen as rather unethical in the business world.
 

Punished Miku

Gold Member
Too right. If these regulators actually cared about fairness in competition, why do we only see them express concerns during a merger or acquisition?

Microsoft could have left the industry years ago (much to their own fault), but I'm sure a deal that secured exclusive content and marketing rights to a then 2:1 market leader to the perennially best shooter on the market didn't help...
Yeah. Its honestly a joke. Remember like 2 weeks ago when everyone explained that PS can raise system prices in Europe because MS is basically nonexistent there? People should hope MS is competitive there.
 

xHunter

Member
Well done Jim, you just fell for the trap and effectively fucked yourself, guaranteeing the deal goes through. Phil wanted him to come out with that publicly. Now that will strengthen Microsoft's hand when they dig internally into how Sony has been operating with their market leadership.
Real gangsta shit
 

ManaByte

Member
Phil commenting even vaguely at first on a private conversation is seen as rather unethical in the business world.
It wasn't a private conversation. It was a letter MS sent to Sony.

And it's amazing how EVERYONE in this thread is now suddenly an expert as to when the Sony COD deal ends. When this purchase was announced people were saying there's no way to know when the deal ends. Funny how that changed so quickly.
 

Kiraly

Member
Jim Ryan felt entitled to more than an extended three year agreement at this point in time and instead of negotiating it privately, he went to the media to publicly cry about it. It's impossible that it wouldn't have included an option to renew or reconsider the agreement before it ran out in six or seven years time. Of course Microsoft wouldn't be in a position to sign anything longer term, it's damn six years away. Genuinely just embarrassing from a CEO.
 
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Markio128

Member
Have Sony played the wildcard here? If they don’t accept a COD deal, then does that not put the acquisition in a new light?
 

HeisenbergFX4

Gold Member
what's this gangsta meme lol
I think people are poking him for his statement in the other thread

This is gangsta as shit. He's basically confirming it's going exclusive? Or just that they won't give Xbox any kind feature or content perks until after the agreement? Either way, that tells you his confidence in the deal closing right there.

https://www.theverge.com/2022/9/2/2...station-letter-commitment-activision-blizzard

“In January, we provided a signed agreement to Sony to guarantee Call of Duty on PlayStation, with feature and content parity, for at least several more years beyond the current Sony contract, an offer that goes well beyond typical gaming industry agreements,” says Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer in a statement to The Verge.
 

ManaByte

Member
Have Sony played the wildcard here? If they don’t accept a COD deal, then does that not put the acquisition in a new light?

Ok say the Sony-COD deal ends in 5 years, that means it would end in 2027. No one really knows when it ends. MS said they'd keep COD on PlayStation for three years AFTER it ends, that would put COD on PS into 2030 and well into the next gen of consoles.
 

TGO

Hype Train conductor. Works harder than it steams.
Seems fair, pretty shitty of Phil to sugar coat it though to Call of Duty fans.
 

Northeastmonk

Gold Member
At some point when all the CoD’s come to GamePass, everyone’s Library is going to be layered in annual releases of CoD. The series will never go away. They probably have 10 years worth of remasters.
 
Have Sony played the wildcard here? If they don’t accept a COD deal, then does that not put the acquisition in a new light?
The deal will go through and Sony will have no 3-year extension after contractual agreements are met. PlayStation owners get cucked because Jimbo was too salty.
 

SSfox

Member
I like how some of you acting as if MS never locked any exclusives for Xbox, remember GTA4 expansions? Rise Of Tomb Raider? And recently Stalkers 2. But no let's just pretend only Sony lock 3rd party exclusives lmao.

Here is about buying entire big 3rd party that has been historically releasing games for Playstation and where they have half their fanbase, just bought in One night by uncle Phil with its billions from Papa Satya and remove the games from all other plateform, mainwhile the Phil acting like it's not the case just to lure people so they can finish the aquisition deal.

I mean i don't even care about Acti, they can keep those COD excluisve on Xbox i won't care it's not a franchise i care much about, but now at least MS is showing their true face with those nasty lies.
 
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Markio128

Member
Ok say the Sony-COD deal ends in 5 years, that means it would end in 2027. No one really knows when it ends. MS said they'd keep COD on PlayStation for three years AFTER it ends, that would put COD on PS into 2030 and well into the next gen of consoles.
As far as I understand it, the Sony-COD deal ends as soon as MS acquire Activision. It’s only what MS offer Sony from that point on.
EDIT: Didn’t MS just say they would honour any existing deal to allow the acquisition to go through? Couldn’t Sony just turn around and say, stick it?
 
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ManaByte

Member
The deal will go through and Sony will have no 3-year extension after contractual agreements are met. PlayStation owners get cucked because Jimbo was too salty.
darth-vader-alter-the-deal.gif
 




Make no mistake. MS could care less about their recent statement of "Not taking games away from other platforms". Allowing COD on PS for 6 more years is purely to their benefit as they do not want to take a major loss by removing their #1 customer(Sony) and loosing a ton of revenue. Allowing it to stay on PS for a few more years while they win over COD mindshare and bolster Gamepass is the main goal. Then they are safe to make it exclusive. In the end this is simply MS having enough money to hit the "I win" button.
 
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I like are you all acting as MS never locked any exclusives for Xbox, remember GTA4 expansions? Rise Of Tomb Raider? And recently Stalkers 2. But no let's just pretend only Sony lock 3rd party exclusives lmao.

Here is about buying entire big 3rd party that has been historically releasing games for Playstation and where they have half their fanbase, just bought in One night by uncle Phil with its billions from Papa Satya and remove the games from all other plateform, mainwhile the Phil acting like it's not the case just to lure people so they can finish the aquisition deal.

I mean i don't even care about Acti, they can keep those COD excluisve on Xbox i won't care it's not a franchise i care much about, but now at least MS is showing their face with those in your face lies.

Arguing with timed exclusives?

Episode 2 Whatever GIF
 

HeisenbergFX4

Gold Member




Make no mistake. MS could care less about their recent statement of "Not taking games away from other platforms". Allowing COD on PS for 6 more years is purely to their benefit as they do not want to take a major loss by removing their #1 customer(Sony) and loosing a ton of revenue. Allowing it to stay on PS for a few more years while they win over COD mindshare and bolster Gamepass is the main goal. Then they are safe to make it exclusive. In the end this is simply MS having enough money to hit the "I win" button.

People underestimate this

1.37 Billion in one year?

People think MS will lose that just because?
 

Lady Jane

Banned
Jim is based. Basically telling the UK competition bureau they will all need to buy their kids an Xbox in 3 years if they allow this to go through.

But seriously though, Phil commenting even vaguely at first on a private conversation is seen as rather unethical in the business world.

It wasn't private but even if it was, those happen all the time. Written laws and what is actually enforced are two different things. Everyone knows that deals like these were discussed in unlisted dinners and phone calls. As long as the entities involved are paying their taxes, government institutions aren't going to go hardcore on the companies.
 

ManaByte

Member
I mean, they can’t buy a company and the rip up all the contracts thst company entered into. That’s kinda the point of contracts.
Depends on the contract. If someone were to buy Sony Pictures and eliminate Colombia Pictures in the process, guess what happens to the Spider-Man film rights?
marvel studios fox GIF by Leroy Patterson
 

Pelta88

Member
New thread worthy?



I'm fully confident that the deal, for better or for worse, will go through. But there is a legal argument to be had here which explains the hold up. 1.37 Billion a year is substantial.
 

Yoboman

Member
The cloud gaming market is sparse of entrants because most (like Google with Stadia) are unwilling to play the long game and give up too quickly when ROI isn't instantaneous, and because others (like Sony with PS Now) are only willing to dip their toes in the market without really pouring much thought or resources behind the initial investment. That's not a MS problem.
Maybe you should speak to the regulators cause that's their concern

“We are concerned that Microsoft could use its control over popular games like Call of Duty and World of Warcraft post-merger to harm rivals, including recent and future rivals in multi-game subscription services and cloud gaming,” said Sorcha O’Carroll, the CMA’s senior director of mergers.

The CMA added: “Microsoft already has a leading gaming console (Xbox), a leading cloud platform (Azure), and the leading PC operating system (Windows OS), all of which could be important to its success in cloud gaming.”
 

Kenneth Haight

Gold Member
When will the CoD bubble burst?

It’s a behemoth, a juggernaut if you will.

But it’s really creatively dead, boring and stale.

It has been for a very long time, that won’t matter to MS as long as it continues printing money. But how can you make money if you’re giving it away for cheap, unless you raise game pass prices.

I for one really couldn’t care less about CoD. But I’m quite surprised at the amount of people on here who are happy to see one side “suffer” because of this deal. Some sad men about here. I’ll probably buy an Xbox when the games that really grab me are there. But at the moment they just are not and I’m amazed at the outrage of this deal. We always knew that if you wanted to play CoD or Bethesda games going forward you’re going to have to grab a PC or an Xbox. Show me the games that are worth my money.
 
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