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[Infamy v1]

Sony outbidding them this gen.

So then it would be a competition of whoever gives Activision the funding I guess as always. There is your answer.

In the hypothetical world that Sony stopped the ABK deal from going through, things wouldn't just go back to the status quo. Sony wouldn't be looked at as favorably as they used to.

Investors and shareholders lose a metric shit ton of money from the guaranteed $95/share (stock will plummet drastically), ABK chairmembers will be pissed since they were the ones shopping for a buyer in the first place, Kotick won't get his golden parachute and still stay, employees won't get the industry-leading unionization that was promised to them by Microsoft in agreement with the CMA (edit: CWA) (that ABK is currently blocking), the majority of the studios will still be slaving over the CoD sweatshop (probably even more to attract investors back), studios will not get the creative freedom promised to them by Phil Spencer, tons of employees will likely be fired as per ABK status quo (especially the heavily pro-union sector), and a ton of other shit I'm forgetting.

 

[thicc_girls_are_teh_best]

Those are the ones. MS since then said they wanted it on Xbox. They have the leverage. Didn’t say it was your version of fair.

CoD for PS. FF and more for Xbox. More games for everyone.

CoD has always been on PlayStation, however. Final Fantasy has not always been on Xbox, and sales ratios show that when it has been, the vast majority of sales are still mainly with PlayStation whereas with CoD the spread is more even between the two platforms (i.e PlayStation accounts for a smaller lead in sales compared to Xbox).

"More games for everyone" can be done if more people just purchased more consoles, which quite a few already do. I'm pretty sure a good number of people with PS5s have a Series S, and a lot of Xbox owners also have PlayStations. So they already have access to these games whether or not they go exclusive to one system or the other.

And yes that also directs to PS players if COD by some happening does become Xbox exclusive in the future. I'm just saying, COD's history and its sales split in modern time is nothing similar to Final Fantasy's history among consoles and its sales split between PS and Xbox altogether.

Sony outbidding them this gen.

MS could've outbid them though. In fact they could've outbid MS for all COD releases between 2017 and now, RotTR, FF VII, Shenmue 3, RDR 2, AssCreed Valhalla, KOTOR Remake, FF XV, SFVI, and RE Village combined and still spent in total less than half the cost of acquiring Zenimax, let alone what they're going to pay for ABK.

The problem was always MS's lack of priorities in that particular space.

 

[Three]

In the hypothetical world that Sony stopped the ABK deal from going through, things wouldn't just go back to the status quo. Sony wouldn't be looked at as favorably as they used to.

Investors and shareholders lose a metric shit ton of money from the guaranteed $95/share (stock will plummet drastically), ABK chairmembers will be pissed since they were the ones shopping for a buyer in the first place, Kotick won't get his golden parachute and still stay, employees won't get the industry-leading unionization that was promised to them by Microsoft in agreement with the CMA (that ABK is currently blocking), the majority of the studios will still be slaving over the CoD sweatshop (probably even more to attract investors back), studios will not get the creative freedom promised to them by Phil Spencer, and a ton of other shit I'm forgetting.

When MS protested the Nvidia/ARM deal that didn't go through did ARM or Nvidia throw a fit over MS or Google and not look at them favourably? Companies aren't petty kids. They will look at what's best for the company.
Will MS maybe have closer ties to Activision due to Mike Ybarra and negotiating a possible plan post deal that they can still execute on, maybe.

 

[Mr Hyde]

Probably. I hope so. Sony needs a good smack in the mouth. Their stranglehold on the video game industry is starting to show Sony in an ugly light that I'm not too fond of. I also don't care for CoD so it's whatever for me. I do hope Microsoft keeps some franchises multiplat though, like Diablo. And maybe some retro stuff if they have some left after Blizzard classic collection. Crash and Spyro would be nice too.

 

[DR3AM]

Sure hope so. The money I would save by not buying CoD every year would be nice. Game Pass is the best thing that happened to MS

 

[Infamy v1]

When MS protested the Nvidia/ARM deal that didn't go through did ARM or Nvidia throw a fit over MS or Google and not look at them favourably? Companies aren't petty kids. They will look at what's best for the company.
Will MS maybe have closer ties to Activision due to Mike Ybarra and negotiating a possible plan post deal that they can still execute on, maybe.

You think Nvidia/ARM will throw a fit against 2 of the 3 main OS owners? How is that any way comparable to ABK which was on the verge of imploding on itself before the buyout? A more apt scenario would be ARM/Nvidia trying to sell to Google and MS stopping the deal, which even still is a bad example given how Windows is practically a monopoly and the leverage that affords them.

 

[BattleScar]

Honestly speaking I don't have high hopes for this no.

If they see MS going to do a monopoly and control the market then no it won't go through.

Nvidia tried last year with ARM for 40 Billion which is much less than this deal and still didn't go through.

The saving grace MS has is :
- MS isn't first or second place in the market sales wise. Even if they close this, it will only make them comptetive and ( Sony honestly is shitting bricks ) from MS if they get this deal.
- MS proved before they still release games on multiplatform even after aquasitions . Minecraft is going to be a huge part in MS favor.
-Sony made the mistake of buying during this time. MS will use that in their favor saying Sony just bought the studio that made their biggest IP.


In percentage if I am being optimistic. I am about 70% sure it will go through. But that 30% remaining is really strong

Part of me I want these companies including Bungie to be multiplatform
But that word doesn't exist. So my next option is MS to buy tell the fuckheads at Sony no more big third party exclusives or you won't get our games.

Enough of this BS exclusive games. We don't live in the ice age anymore

The marketshare in console gaming is a misleading talking point.
Sony are the market leader in the traditional console market.

The ABK deal doesn't just impact the traditional console market, it impacts the game subscription market which is still in its infancy. If Microsoft lock down ABK on top of Zenimax, then they will have basically an insurmountable lead in the gaming subscription market. Nobody will be able to compete with them. They will have everything they need; a recognised gaming brand in Xbox, significant control of popular IP and total vertical integration of hardware, software and cloud infrastructure, and the capital to continue to make huge acquisitions that nobody else can. Sony and Nintendo can't really compete there, and no other potential entrant has an established presence to leverage and after the deal its not like they'll have much left to buy anyway.

If the deal goes through, then whilst the PS5/Xbox Series generation will be fine for a while, as soon as the console market moves towards the subscription model, it will be very close to a monopoly.

Fanboys can rejoice, but it will not be healthy for the gaming market, I can tell you that for free.

And if you think that Microsoft will be charitable and continue to give access to their acquired IP to Sony, just to prevent future third party exclusivity deals then you need to take a look at the history books. They'll play nice for a while, and then they'll leverage their effective monopoly position to close out the competition.

 

[GhostOfTsu]

Link to where Nintendo are trying to scupper the deal and complaining about MS voluntarily offering to put games on the Switch as inadequate?

That comment was not about the OP. It had nothing to do with ABK. It was a general comment about the reaction of xbox fans when Nintendo vs Sony gets third-party exclusives.

It wasn't that hard to understand if you just followed the convo and the context. I had to explain it multiple times now and you guys are still totally lost and confused. I'm embarrassed for y’all

 

[Three]

You think Nvidia/ARM will throw a fit against 2 of the 3 main OS owners? How is that any way comparable to ABK which was on the verge of imploding on itself before the buyout? A more apt scenario would be ARM/Nvidia trying to sell to Google and MS stopping the deal, which even still is a bad example given how Windows is practically a monopoly and the leverage that affords them.

In the same way ABK would not throw a fit against 1 of the 2-5 main platform holders it's reliant on. ABK will not implode and throw a fit just as ARM and Softbank who were looking for buyers had a deal declined and didn't throw a fit against companies who protested. It will do what's best for the company come hell or high water, it's a business not a kindergarten.

 

[Infamy v1]

In the same way ABK would not throw a fit against 1 of the 2 main platform holders it's reliant on. ABK will not implode and throw a fit just as ARM and Softbank who were looking for buyers had a deal declined and didn't throw a fit against companies who protested. It will do what's best for the company come hell or high water, it's a business not a kindergarten.

ABK is saying they're not planning to be reliant on Sony by selling wholly to their main competitor. Comparing it to NVidia/ARM is false equivalence. Losing this deal will be disastrous for ABK and for shareholders, employees and executives, hence why they all unanimously want it.

The fact that you think things will return to the status quo especially after the downward spiral ABK was experiencing before the announcement speaks volumes about your thought process (not that it was any surprise).

 

[poppabk]

That comment was not about the OP. It had nothing to do with ABK. It was a general comment about the reaction of xbox fans when Nintendo vs Sony gets third-party exclusives.

It wasn't that hard to understand if you just followed the convo and the context. I had to explain it multiple times now and you guys are still totally lost and confused. I'm embarrassed for y’all

You guys?

 

[Three]

ABK is saying they're not planning to be reliant on Sony by selling wholly to their main competitor. Comparing it to NVidia/ARM is false equivalence. Losing this deal will be disastrous for ABK and for shareholders, employees and executives, hence why they all unanimously want it.

The fact that you think things will return to the status quo especially after the downward spiral ABK was experiencing before the announcement speaks volumes about your thought process (not that it was any surprise).

Yes but you are talking about if the deal doesn't go through what will ABK do. They will continue to do business that benefits ABK and they wouldn't hold some petty kindergarten grudge. Neither does ARM or nvidia now even though when the deal fell through stock prices tanked for nvidia.

 

[//DEVIL//]

The marketshare in console gaming is a misleading talking point.
Sony are the market leader in the traditional console market.

The ABK deal doesn't just impact the traditional console market, it impacts the game subscription market which is still in its infancy. If Microsoft lock down ABK on top of Zenimax, then they will have basically an insurmountable lead in the gaming subscription market. Nobody will be able to compete with them. They will have everything they need; a recognised gaming brand in Xbox, significant control of popular IP and total vertical integration of hardware, software and cloud infrastructure, and the capital to continue to make huge acquisitions that nobody else can. Sony and Nintendo can't really compete there, and no other potential entrant has an established presence to leverage and after the deal its not like they'll have much left to buy anyway.

If the deal goes through, then whilst the PS5/Xbox Series generation will be fine for a while, as soon as the console market moves towards the subscription model, it will be very close to a monopoly.

Fanboys can rejoice, but it will not be healthy for the gaming market, I can tell you that for free.

And if you think that Microsoft will be charitable and continue to give access to their acquired IP to Sony, just to prevent future third party exclusivity deals then you need to take a look at the history books. They'll play nice for a while, and then they'll leverage their effective monopoly position to close out the competition.

Agreed but it's a factor. MS as a company can't operate at loss in the Xbox division either.. I do not trust MS or Sony for the matter for monopoly.

The thing is it's too late to stop at this point. Sony bought like 5 studios in the last year if not more. And MS is doing the same. At this rate it's just who can add more.

However Microsoft's real threat is Amazon / apple/ Netflix and Google ( lol Google )

Apple alone made from game store more MS, Sony and Nintendo combined. And they are just silent about this. So from that prospective, I believe the deal will go through. As MS as a company in terms of video games / sales. They are like dead last between Sony/apple/Nintendo and them.

 

[BattleScar]

In the hypothetical world that Sony stopped the ABK deal from going through, things wouldn't just go back to the status quo. Sony wouldn't be looked at as favorably as they used to.

Investors and shareholders lose a metric shit ton of money from the guaranteed $95/share (stock will plummet drastically), ABK chairmembers will be pissed since they were the ones shopping for a buyer in the first place, Kotick won't get his golden parachute and still stay, employees won't get the industry-leading unionization that was promised to them by Microsoft in agreement with the CMA (edit: CWA) (that ABK is currently blocking), the majority of the studios will still be slaving over the CoD sweatshop (probably even more to attract investors back), studios will not get the creative freedom promised to them by Phil Spencer, tons of employees will likely be fired as per ABK status quo (especially the heavily pro-union sector), and a ton of other shit I'm forgetting.

Oh no. Poor Bobby Kotick, and nameless faceless corporate board members. Whatever will I do.

If the deal falls through, yes the board will be coping, but they'll continue to conduct business as they have. If they make more money playing nice with PlayStation they will continue to do so. They're not going to turn away business out of spite.
And to be honest, the complete collapse and capitulation of Activision Blizzard King would be nothing short of a boon to the industry. If all those developers decide they've had enough of shitty working conditions and go independent, that is great news to me. Even better for the industry. Why? Because at least those who have left to be creative and fulfil their passion, without market consolidation.

At the end of the day. Consolidating the market; especially at $70 billion dollar chunk of it, is not good for anyone.

We're happy now while GamePass is in its infancy and loss-leader phase. But if Microsoft is allowed to continue with their acquisitions and have the game subscription market locked down, that lil' baby GamePass will grow to be big and expensive. Especially if nobody exists to challenge them, because half the popular games are automatically on GamePass first.

Agreed. I do not trust MS or Sony for the matter for monopoly.

The thing is it's too late to stop at this point. Sony bought like 5 studios in the last year if not more. And MS is doing the same. At this rate it's just who can add more.

However Microsoft's real threat is Amazon / apple/ Netflix and Google ( lol Google )

Apple alone made from game store more MS, Sony and Nintendo combined. And they are just silent about this. So from that prospective, I believe the deal will go through. As MS as a company in terms of video games / sales. They are like dead last between Sony/apple/Nintendo and them.

Sony's acquisitions are tiny by comparison. So its fallacious to suggest that Sony and Microsoft are equals in this fight. Sony can consolidate, but not even at close to the same speed and aggression as Microsoft.

Microsoft have absolutely the financial muscle to negotiate similar exclusivity deal and arrangements, but they're leveraging astronomical amounts of capital that no other competitor has to bypass negotiations and simply buy their way out of that problem.

Make no mistake if Sony had the cash, they'd be doing the same damn thing, but right here and right now in the present reality, Microsoft is the bigger problem.

 

[//DEVIL//]

Oh no. Poor Bobby Kotick, and nameless faceless corporate board members. Whatever will I do.

If the deal falls through, yes the board will be coping, but they'll continue to conduct business as they have. If they make more money playing nice with PlayStation they will continue to do so. They're not going to turn away business out of spite.
And to be honest, the complete collapse and capitulation of Activision Blizzard King would be nothing short of a boon to the industry. If all those developers decide they've had enough of shitty working conditions and go independent, that is great news to me. Even better for the industry. Why? Because at least those who have left to be creative and fulfil their passion, without market consolidation.

At the end of the day. Consolidating the market; especially at $70 billion dollar chunk of it, is not good for anyone.

We're happy now while GamePass is in its infancy and loss-leader phase. But if Microsoft is allowed to continue with their acquisitions and have the game subscription market locked down, that lil' baby GamePass will grow to be big and expensive. Especially if nobody exists to challenge them, because half the popular games are automatically on GamePass first.



Sony's acquisitions are tiny by comparison. So its fallacious to suggest that Sony and Microsoft are equals in this fight. Sony can consolidate, but not even at close to the same speed and aggression as Microsoft.

Microsoft have absolutely the financial muscle to negotiate similar exclusivity deal and arrangements, but they're leveraging astronomical amounts of capital that no other competitor has to bypass negotiations and simply buy their way out of that problem.

Make no mistake if Sony had the cash, they'd be doing the same damn thing, but right here and right now in the present reality, Microsoft is the bigger problem.

Tiny in terms of IP names. But in terms of talent ? I would argue that insomniac and Bungie alone are worth more than whole Activision in terms of talents.
IP names you can always create new and hype them to the roof. Especially if it does look/play good.

The best example of this is Ghost of T and Destiny. Brand new names, sold more than any Activision game probably did at that year ( aside from maybe COD but not sure. )

I mean, look at the UK top 20 games for 2022. ( Or was it 2021 ) in the thread that was just created recently. cod isn't even in the top 20.

 

[Infamy v1]

Yes but you are talking about if the deal doesn't go through what will ABK do. They will continue to do business that benefits ABK and they wouldn't hold some petty kindergarten grudge. Neither does ARM or nvidia now even though when the deal fell through stock prices tanked for nvidia.

ARM/NVidia wasn't stopped due to a single entity, and the entirety of the devastating negative impact in my original post doesn't warrant a simple "petty kindergarten grudge" as you put it. It's the fact that the status quo will not be what it was, not even remotely. Simple as that. To think otherwise is laughable.

Oh no. Poor Bobby Kotick, and nameless faceless corporate board members. Whatever will I do.

If the deal falls through, yes the board will be coping, but they'll continue to conduct business as they have. If they make more money playing nice with PlayStation they will continue to do so. They're not going to turn away business out of spite.
And to be honest, the complete collapse and capitulation of Activision Blizzard King would be nothing short of a boon to the industry. If all those developers decide they've had enough of shitty working conditions and go independent, that is great news to me. Even better for the industry. Why? Because at least those who have left to be creative and fulfil their passion, without market consolidation.

At the end of the day. Consolidating the market; especially at $70 billion dollar chunk of it, is not good for anyone.

We're happy now while GamePass is in its infancy and loss-leader phase. But if Microsoft is allowed to continue with their acquisitions and have the game subscription market locked down, that lil' baby GamePass will grow to be big and expensive. Especially if nobody exists to challenge them, because half the popular games are automatically on GamePass first.

Reading comprehension, do you have it? Seemingly not. Nobody is sticking up for Kotick and board members, the contrary, their toxicity will be allowed to remain unhindered.

The argument that thousands upon thousands of employees can just suck it up and leave their livelihoods if they don't like the toxicity is pathetic; if it was so easy it would've happened considering how insanely toxic it has been to work under ABK during Kotick's reign. But hey, all the employees leave and ABK implodes, that's better than MS acquiring them, Sony maybe eventually losing CoD in a decade, and Game Pass potentially getting too expensive!

 

[BattleScar]

Reading comprehension, do you have it? Seemingly not. Nobody is sticking up for Kotick and board members, the contrary, their toxicity will be allowed to remain unhindered.

The argument that thousands upon thousands of employees can just suck it up and leave their livelihoods if they don't like the toxicity is pathetic; if it was so easy it would've happened considering how insanely toxic it has been to work under ABK during Kotick's reign. But hey, all the employees leave and ABK implodes, that's better than MS acquiring them, Sony maybe eventually losing CoD in a decade, and Game Pass potentially getting too expensive!

I don't really care about Sony. I'm more concerned about the industry.
Specifically that with the ABK acquisition anyone who wants to enter the game subscription market is going to be significantly gimped. ABK own a lot of very, very popular IP. Multiplayer IP specifically have a huge appeal in a subscription context (shit like your FIFA's, CODs etc). So anyone entering that space will have to do without the biggest games and most popular franchise. When you add the context of Zenimax and their absolutely gargantuan properties. Any new entrant into the market will be massively disadvantaged and essentially forced to operate on Microsoft's terms, which to be blunt, will not be generous. It will be an active deterrent to investment into the industry.

GamePass will be the subscription service to own for broad mass-market appeal and that's great for Microsoft, but not for the industry. And again, to be blunt, I don't give a shit about what's good for Microsoft. They make enough fucking money.

As for the toxicity of ABK. Mate Microsoft aren't some paragons of development virtue. I'm sure they'll want some things to improve at ABK, but its not going to be green grass and roses afterwards.
So many other publishers have toxic working conditions. Should Microsoft just go out and buy all of them too? If Sony had the same amount of capital as Microsoft should they just go out and buy massive pubishers and consolidate intellectual property because they offer better working conditions than other toxic studios?

Using studio acquisitions to talk about workplace toxicity is an interesting line of thought. But if you really want to improve working conditions for developers, you should be shouting about proper unionisation across the whole gaming industry, not for a company to just buy them out with the hopes that things might improve for them. Remember, Microsoft and Sony both still crunch to hit development windows. Unions would benefit all developers everywhere, not just those "lucky" enough to be bought out by a platform holder. And proper unionisation would also help protect these workers from Sony and Microsoft, because as I've said, its not all sunshine and rainbows on their side either.

 

[93xfan]

Lol, blaming Sony for MS policies now?

"Unable to share servers cross-platform​

Microsoft’s policies for Xbox Live are the reason there isn’t an Xbox 360 or Xbox One version of Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn, director Naoki Yoshida tells RPG Site."

https://www.destructoid.com/square-explains-why-theres-no-final-fantasy-xiv-for-xbox/

Is that the current policy and reason?

 

[Clear]

Imagine telling somebody you're not even reading the majority of their posts and then, with a straight face, saying you have no clue what they're talking about and can't make out their points.

Dude, you don't even seem to understand my position, hence my confusion about your aggressive disagreement.

Firstly, do I think the merger will go through? Yes, I believe it will.
Second: Do I believe that will be in a positive development for the industry? No I do not, because the prospect of so many high-performing legacy IP's within a single genre being owned by ANY single party is, at worst, suggestive to me of cornering the market, and at least will have a chilling effect on competition.

Why do I believe this, and what does this have to do with competition and regulation? Many reasons; but the primary one is because when a bunch of formerly competing IP share ownership everything changes. The overarching goal from publishing is to coordinate these properties to their best advantage, and so it becomes about product pipelining and content coordination. A whole can of worms I'm not going to open up right now, just let it be said that it displaces rather than removes inter-brand competition.

Or having your entire train of thought muddied by some typical gifs that are thrown around here on a daily basis, and said gifs being the focus of your future posts. Although this is most likely due to you having no response to the discourse levied at you and you're using those darn gifs as a cheap way out of the convo instead of, y'know, leaving like you said you was doing.

You can't make this shit up. I'll help you out here by not using a gif. Happy?

My train of thought wasn't muddled, I just noped out when it became apparent that the person with whom I was interacting with wasn't up to having any sort of serious discussion of the issues. Rather than provide a counter-argument it was more about trying (and failing) to get a rise out of me.

I certainly wasn't going to bite on a motte-and-bailey argument about the function of regulatory bodies from a Rick Hoeg video, mainly because it wasn't the case I was arguing! Go back and read the post you jumped in on if you doubt me.

If I was arguing what you apparently thought I was, I'd assuredly go a more nuanced route and talk about how the perception of anti-competitiveness has shifted very recently with political awareness of the impact of network effects in digital commerce.

 

[IDKFA]

Yes.

I then expect Meta and Amazon to follow and also buy their own big publisher. I honestly think in 10 years there won't be any independent video game publishers left.

 

[Chronicle]

Yup and I bet it ruins those franchises.

 

[phil_t98]

I'm pretty sure the deal will go through. Just hoping Microsoft keeps their word on keeping COD multiplat.

I don’t think Jim mouthing off over it in public will help that

 

[ahtlas7]

With MS’s deep pockets? Is there anyone you honestly think they can‘t buy off? Hell, the ”pushback“ is a circus show.

 

[DaGwaphics]

ARM/NVidia wasn't stopped due to a single entity, and the entirety of the devastating negative impact in my original post doesn't warrant a simple "petty kindergarten grudge" as you put it. It's the fact that the status quo will not be what it was, not even remotely. Simple as that. To think otherwise is laughable

That's something that many are not seeing either out of inability or just blind loyalty. MS/Google didn't oppose the ARM/Nvidia merger from a position that amounted to them trying to maintain a monopolistic position they themselves already hold and being scared of the competition. Neither are even direct competitors of ARM/Nvidia. What they didn't want was for the mobile CPU space that is currently based on ARM ip being licensed to multiple CPU vendors (Samsung, MediaTech, etc.) to turn into the space where all arm CPUs are manufactured by one brand at whatever price they choose. Imagine if either AMD or Intel ceased to exist in the desktop space, what do you really think that would do for competitive pricing? ARM is a zillion times bigger in the CPU space than ABK is in gaming, regardless of the dollars involved. One represents nearly 100% of some markets and a commanding percentage of the CPU market overall, the other is less than 10% of a highly competitive market.

 

[adamsapple]

I don’t think Jim mouthing off over it in public will help that

Phil has a lot more integrity than lyin jim. I don't think PS fans have anything to worry about with respect to CoD.

 

[supernova8]

I don't think Microsoft buying out ActiBliz for an outrageous sum of money is in the spirit of competition/sportsmanlike but I also don't think it really "matters" enough in the grand scheme of things (Reminds me of Man City being absolute fucking garbage and then miraculously doing well (read = spent their way too success) once they got bought by a rich Arab oil baron). I assume that even if regulators force Microsoft to agree to some sort of conditions/concessions, Microsoft lawyers will find a way around it or find a way to lobby their way out of it (ie get said conditions/concessions watered down).

I think the logical end game is that Microsoft eventually (within a few years) makes all the heavy hitter multi-plat ActiBliz exclusive to Xbox and PC. Otherwise why would they spend all that money? It makes no sense.

 

[NeonDelta]

if it doesn’t go through Microsoft should buy rockstar instead and make GTA6 exclusive

 

[lostinblue]

Not an expert but it's seeming like 50:50 chance to me.

They have to be lucky and perhaps pass some money for it to go through, they have to be unlucky or have a lot of enemies for it not to.

But it'll change entertainment mergers, I don't think anyone could do a merge like this a while after it does, if it does, go through.

Phil has a lot more integrity than lyin jim. I don't think PS fans have anything to worry about with respect to CoD.

It's not completely his call, even if you are to believe his ethos like that.

If it's not binding, he'll do it if it's possible for him to do it. If it's binding, him or someone will have to do it.


Regardless, that's the lesser problem of a merger like this. If Microsoft buys it they can take it away from Sony platforms, that's not the real issue.

 

[Sanepar]

In US? Yes. In Europe and other countries? Maybe

 

[Umbasaborne]

I was team yes, but many regulators
Seem to be opposed to it, so im leaning no now

 

[reinking]

In the hypothetical world that Sony stopped the ABK deal from going through, things wouldn't just go back to the status quo. Sony wouldn't be looked at as favorably as they used to.

Investors and shareholders lose a metric shit ton of money from the guaranteed $95/share (stock will plummet drastically), ABK chairmembers will be pissed since they were the ones shopping for a buyer in the first place, Kotick won't get his golden parachute and still stay, employees won't get the industry-leading unionization that was promised to them by Microsoft in agreement with the CMA (edit: CWA) (that ABK is currently blocking), the majority of the studios will still be slaving over the CoD sweatshop (probably even more to attract investors back), studios will not get the creative freedom promised to them by Phil Spencer, tons of employees will likely be fired as per ABK status quo (especially the heavily pro-union sector), and a ton of other shit I'm forgetting.

Oh the doom and gloom. Deals have not gone through in the past in other industries. It will not upend the gaming industry as much as you think it will. Investors lose money? That happens every day and investors know their risk. You seem to think suddenly Sony will be shunned. That is not the way business works.

All of the Microsoft is going to save the employees is utter bullshit. Will some be fired? Probably. There is also a risk that some will be let go not too far in the future if the deal goes through. You are acting as if Microsoft has never shuttered a studio after acquisition.

I find it funny that some people really do believe that Sony has such a hold on these commissions that they can direct them what to say and tell them to not let the deal go through and they will listen. All Sony can do is present evidence of the harm they believe it can cause the industry the same way Microsoft is presenting evidence to support their side. This is business. The fact that some of you are making it personal has no bearing on the outcome.

It is hilarious to watch some champion splinter the market like it is a good thing over all. On an instant gratification level I can't wait to get to play these games on Game Pass. In a more general sense, I believe publisher buyouts will harm the industry more than help it. I don't want to see the same usernames bitching about Tencent, Google, Amazon or Meta buying out publishers in the future.

 

[The_Mike]

I was team yes, but many regulators
Seem to be opposed to it, so im leaning no now

 

[Orbital2060]

3-year deals sound like a fair way to go about keeping CoD multiplatform. How long have the marketing deals with Sony and CoD been so far?

I mean, market conditions change. Signing new deals on a three year basis might just be how they want to do it. And i doubt they ever take CoD off of PlayStation, its just they cant go and say ok lets make a lifetime deal.

I doubt it will get to a point where it makes sense to make it exclusive. Just like Minecraft is still multiplatform.

 

[K2D]

I'm cynical so I think it'll go through without a hitch.

It's laughably tragic that people here compares it to time spesific/individual deals made by companies in the past.

It's also small compared to the ramifications I see by conglomerates (China/Tencent) swallowing the companies making the development tech.

I can only see it making life harder for the smaller developers and their artists.

 

[Torrent of Pork]

MS makes a lot of generous donations to the [insert political party in power], just saying.

 

[chromatic9]

I think it will go through and if not now then later anyway.

It's a very poor move to buy a major third party publisher that's long established and they've already done it with Zenimax. MS are still languishing behind so they have to buy more major publishers. They failed on their mobile platform, failed in the home console sales so they have to buy up the software industry.

Tricky thing is trends do change and the dynamic of these of software companies change so what you've bought won't be the same later on. They'll be new hotness over there that you don't own and key employees leave or get old in the companies you've bought.

 

[Robb]

But it'll change entertainment mergers, I don't think anyone could do a merge like this a while after it does, if it does, go through.

In what way? Disney already made a even bigger purchase than this when they bought Fox for >$70B back in 2019.

 

[avin]

I think everyone - even many MS supporters - would prefer the Activision deal not happen. I don't see how anything good comes of it. And, I think MS is plenty competitive already without it. Whether or not I end up getting a PS5, whatever ID does next would be enough for me to keep my Xbox.

avin

 

[TheGodfather07]

Those are the ones. MS since then said they wanted it on Xbox. They have the leverage. Didn’t say it was your version of fair.

CoD for PS. FF and more for Xbox. More games for everyone.

Cod is massive on PS. FF is tiny on xbox. That's the big difference between the two.

 

[phil_t98]

Cod is massive on PS. FF is tiny on xbox. That's the big difference between the two.

If
You look at sales stats that’s in the other post and see how much income comes from PS vs Xbox it’s not massive.

Also FF not big on Xbox? When Sony pays to keep it off xbox it can’t be big on xbox

 

[93xfan]

Cod is massive on PS. FF is tiny on xbox. That's the big difference between the two.

Yeah, I wouldn’t limit it to just FF if I were them.

Also, I’d ask for the rights to Sooom, since Sony does nothing with that franchise

 

[Zok310]

Let's say the deal doesn't go through.

What keeps Microsoft from signing exclusivity from future games from actiblizzard?

They could just money hat everything from the company.


Some are still recovering from the emotional damage from the Bethesda acquisition.

Because that wont give MS ownership. MS have always been the type to want ownership of ip’s/products/services versus an expensive lease.
Its funny too because all ms give their customers are basically leases across their suit of products.

 

[Menzies]

Cod is massive on PS. FF is tiny on xbox. That's the big difference between the two.

The entitlement argument. The great thing about this logic is, if you play it out PlayStation owners are entitled to everything. The company with first mover advantage and dominant sales are more moral, more fair, more reasoned to keep their exclusives.

Works out great for Sony. Not so great for competition though.

 

[DaGwaphics]

The entitlement argument. The great thing about this logic is, if you play it out PlayStation owners are entitled to everything. The company with first mover advantage and dominant sales are more moral, more fair, more reasoned to keep their exclusives.

Works out great for Sony. Not so great for competition though.

Would be a real bitch for the Sony faithful if Nintendo got a lot more serious about competing head-to-head with PS.

 

[Rhazer Fusion]

Hope so, and hope MS keeps CoD multiplatform but uses it as leverage to get Sony to stop keeping 3rd party games from coming to Xbox (such as FF14 and remake)

Japanese games rarely, if ever sell well on Microsoft platforms, so I’m sure that’s a huge contributing factor as to why companies like Square Enix make certain games exclusive to PlayStation or even Nintendo. In other words, I doubt Sony has to go out of their way to convince SE to make timed exclusives for their platform when that’s where the majority of the fanbase is.

Also, I feel that paying for a timed exclusive compared to buying an entire company and their franchises are two entirely different things. We’ll see what happens if COD goes exclusive to Microsoft which will be interesting because most COD players to my knowledge are on PlayStation.

 

[baphomet]

The FTC blocked Meta from buying a VR developer because they already had a developer producing a similar kind of game. The FTC accused them of trying to buy their way into first place.

“Meta already owns a best-selling virtual reality fitness app, and it had the capabilities to compete even more closely with Within’s popular Supernatural app. But Meta chose to buy market position instead of earning it on the merits. This is an illegal acquisition, and we will pursue all appropriate relief.”

I wouldn't be confident enough to put money on the deal going through personally.

 

[SenjutsuSage]

Yes. I suspect MS make whatever concessions they may need to ensure this happens.

The best part is they won't have to make nearly as big a concession as some are probably thinking.

 

[DarkMage619]

The FTC blocked Meta from buying a VR developer because they already had a developer producing a similar kind of game. The FTC accused them of trying to buy their way into first place.

“Meta already owns a best-selling virtual reality fitness app, and it had the capabilities to compete even more closely with Within’s popular Supernatural app. But Meta chose to buy market position instead of earning it on the merits. This is an illegal acquisition, and we will pursue all appropriate relief.”

I wouldn't be confident enough to put money on the deal going through personally.

It sounds like your Meta example is a poor one because what is the best selling software program MS has with Xbox? Meta is leading in the virtual reality space. Xbox is not leading in console sales, software sales, and thanks to Sony's move with PS+, Xbox isn't leading in subscription services either. There is no ground to deny MS the acquisition seeing how they aren't leading in any area to make it a concern for competition. Xbox is not Meta Quest. You can't complain that Xbox has a monopoly on one hand and laugh at them for being in last place on the other.

 

[Nocturno999]

Government is too rotten and corrupt. It's very likely it will get green lighted.

 

[Mibu no ookami]

Part of me wants to but that 37% CGT is ridiculous.

More like 15 percent, but yeah, it's high.