Support NeoGAF

[SLB1904]

Youre not going to get a ton of that anymore. Gamers contribute so much into certain game franchises with constant sales and mtx, the hey days of gaming 15+ years ago of tons of new random IPs is over. The last time we got lots of new IPs was the 360/PS3 gen.

Meh. The state of play already got 2 new games, plus the one that's coming to xbox gamepass. There is no sign to slowing down at all. There isn't absolutely no evidence of that. Santa Monica is working on a new ip. Jade studios is working 9n a new ip. The cod guys that are working on a new ip for Sony. Bend is working on a new ip. Capcom on oragmata. Square with forspoken and so forth. Cod ain't growing anymore the same people play cod every year. Same fir fifa, fortnite. Yes its a load of people but ain't changing much

 

[Stuart360]

People are missing the bigger picture here outside those console wars.

I said this in the other "inadequate" there but if this goes through what stops some other giant (I used Apple) from stepping in and buying up other major publishers and sticking their games exclusively on some shit piece of hardware that costs $1000?

Or making the next GTA exclusive to Stadia?

God i have said the same so many times on here. Could you imagine Google or Amazon signing Acrivision and putting COD soley ona streaming platform? (Talking hypothetically). Atleast when Microsoft and Sony buy someone, the games still are released as traditional games, with varying ways to play and buy them. And in Microsofts case, day and date with PC which is the most important thing for me.

 

[Frank Horrigan]

People are missing the bigger picture here outside those console wars.

I said this in the other "inadequate" there but if this goes through what stops some other giant (I used Apple) from stepping in and buying up other major publishers and sticking their games exclusively on some shit piece of hardware that costs $1000?

Or making the next GTA exclusive to Stadia?

Exactly this.

Worse still, what if it isn't tied to hardware, but tied to storefronts like on PC? That an xbox or Sony console just becomes a shell that loads store fronts. Then imagine that future where those storefronts are online only and streamed, not downloaded?

All of this Acti purchase news revolves around the idea that in 2027 - when the COD deal expires, that gaming as it is now, will still be as it is now. But with VR taking hold, Subscription and streaming services gaining in popularity, there's no telling what could happen.

Look at gaming from 1990 - 95 or 2005 - 2010. In 2005 Microsoft demanded all of their games must have multiplayer, something never done before on console. 5 years later, a game without multiplayer was unheard of.

I do laugh at the many comments that are made by posters who must have only started gaming within the last 5 years

 

[HeisenbergFX4]

The realization that the games market can’t be easily bought out

Stadia failed fast and Google quickly realized they hit off more than they could chew

Currently yes but what sort of pandoras box COULD be opened once this deal goes through

 

[SlimySnake]

From Microsoft?


Yep.

I always find it funny how people claim it’s good that MS is buying Activision just so they can get CoD on GamePass.

Frankly the entire deal stinks and is extremely anti-consumer. You’re probably going to get worse CoD games, and the competition will suffer from less online revenue which also impacts their ability to invest in first party games.

The other thing is that most acquisitions make sense because these are smaller studios that can’t really thrive without a big publisher supporting them.

But Microsoft’s acquisitions of Zenimax and Activision is comical because neither of these companies needed MS to buy them out. They were operating just fine as an independent publisher. But daddy warbucks MS shows up with a vault of cash and the owners know they’ll never get a deal as good as that because, frankly, nobody but MS could afford them outside of other big tech names.

Let’s also not ignore the fact that MS has a terrible history of gaming acquisitions and stewardship of their of IP like Halo. I feel like after management cashed out, these studios really won’t have strong leadership in place to keep them motivated, and under Matt Booty these studios don’t have strong support from MS.

So ultimately you can see why Sony is pushing so hard for GaaS. Losing CoD is enormously harmful to them. Even if they keep CoD but people start getting it on GamePass instead, it’s very harmful.

Sony is trying to cultivate their own must have AAA GaaS games to keep the PS plus subs going. If they hit it big, it could be a huge boom to their business even if they lose CoD, but if none of them generate that viral appeal, losing CoD is catastrophic. It’s a huge risk

Yeah, it's why I always gave Shawn Layden shit for saying he stopped making online MP games because he didnt want to compete with third party publishers. Well, you moron look at how that turned out.

Imagine if Zipper was given ten years to refine MAG. Epic turned a coop building game into a battle royale shooter in months. Zipper couldve been there day one. Imagine what Incognito wouldve done with a real budget for Warhawk with PS4 and especially PS5 specs. Insomniac started the whole PvE trend with their 8 player coop mode in Resistance 2. IIRC, Gears horde was only 4 players and didnt have the PvE elements of Resistance 2. They had 60 player online on the pS3 in 2008. KZ, TLOU and Uncharted MPs were very unique and had dedicated userbases that wouldve flourished on the PS4 after it got the CoD audience from the 360.

And yeah, I was all for MS buying Ninja Theory, Playground games and especially obsidian. It's insane that they passed on Crystal Dynamics and the Deus Ex Studio for just $300 million. But buying Bethesda doesnt give xbox owners anything new. They were always getting Starfield, Elder Scrolls, Fallout and CoD. It just takes away from PS users. Its no better than the Rise of Tomb Raider, FF7 and FF16 exclusivity. Just moneyhats. Nothing more. If they really wanted to put these games on gamepass, simply outbid sony for marketing rights and put the damn thing on gamepass. 25 million monthly users making them $250 million a month, 3 billion a year, and you cant afford to get 1-2 big AAA games a year? Forget 12 big AAA games a month. You cant afford one cod game a year?

Interesting point about CoD suffering under MS management. We just saw that Bethesda couldnt deliver their game despite MS backing. All those 24 studios and billions of dollars and they couldnt ship a game on time.

 

[Bernd Lauert]

Stadia failed fast and Google quickly realized they hit off more than they could chew

Stadia is a terrible business model, that's why it failed.

 

[DeepEnigma]

Currently yes but what sort of pandoras box COULD be opened once this deal goes through

Meta/Facebook are licking their chops. You think they put out that fluff statement to fellate the team green fanatics on the internet as they are diving deeper into more expensive gaming tech?

 

[HeisenbergFX4]

Meta/Facebook are licking their chops. You think they put out that fluff statement to fellate the team green fanatics on the internet as they are diving deeper into more expensive gaming tech?

Heck yeah the alien himself wants this deal to go through

You think that guy isn't watching this closely for personal gains?

Elden Ring 2 only on Meta?

 

[Represent.]

Lmao at people cheering for this shit to go through. Would absolutely decrease the amount and quality of AAA games Sony releases going forward.
I hope it falls flat on its fucking face

 

[DeepEnigma]

Heck yeah the alien himself wants this deal to go through

You think that guy isn't watching this closely for personal gains?

Elden Ring 2 only on Meta?

That's why I said to the derpy doos, careful what you wish for when cheering on Meta of all places for your fanatical wishlists.

 

[Oddvintagechap]

The realization that the games market can’t be easily bought out

Stadia failed fast and Google quickly realized they hit off more than they could chew

This is false, Google simply didn’t try. They can easily afford all these gaming companies. They expected this scrutiny that MS is facing since they are one of the big tech companies. This is why Facebook, Google, and Amazon approve the deal. The moment it goes thur… they are all going on buying sprees.

EA, Ubisoft, Rockstar… are looking forward to big offers.

 

[SlimySnake]

The best selling COD is around 30 million. On average they sell around 20 million I guess. If Sony contributes 50% to that it comes to 10million on average. Not sure if COD is getting more popular or worse but who is to say that COD will be best selling games in next 10 years as well ? It will be an amazing achievement considering it is not going to be on PS5 and PS6 in future. But who knows ? May be BF will get better ? Probably Sony is going to partner with them once COD is no longer available and be hoping BF can start making good games again. lol

Its a possibility, but these games sell every single year. Even Vanguard which flopped really poorly. Warzone has reinvigorated the franchise, and CoD mobile makes a billion on its own.

I just dont see anything beating it other than GTA which only comes out once every 7 years. Sony is doing the right thing greenlighting several gaas games but copying cod didnt work out for them in the PS3 era. CoD is just different. Its secret sauce is not something you can capture.

I dont think the sales will suffer too much. People will simply switch to xbox. Im guessing they lose maybe 25% of revenue because i dont see the european market abandoning the PS5 over CoD, but US will be a major shift.

 

[sainraja]

You know what I love about this is just how seriously Sony is taking this compared to some of the posters on this board who initially dismissed this as 'PS doesnt NEED CoD'. They will be fine they said. Clearly Sony themselves think this will destroy their business.

There was a stat posted in those acquisition threads that pointed out how 45% of the console online playerbase plays call of duty. Thats a huge chunk of players that Sony relies upon to keep their 46 milllion PS+ userbases going. Not to mention all the other revenue these players bring in as they invest in the PS ecosystem. Sony will simply be a different company without the cod userbase. They would have to completely trim down and become more like Nintendo because their revenues which rely heavily on PS+ subs and PSN digital sales will take a massive hit from losing the CoD userbase. That means fewer revenues, fewer profit, fewer first party games, cheaper and thus less powerful consoles just to stay competitive.

Nintendo pretty much had to merge their handheld and console business to reduce costs and stay relevant. Their industry leading devs forced to work on a 0.19 tflops hardware in 2022. But they dont have a choice and had to kill off either the handheld business or the console business and they basically chose to merge them the best they could. Sony can also cut down and be leaner business, but it will not be the same Sony AAA after AAA business as we know it today. Cost cuttings alone will result in fewer first party studios and fewer third party deals like FF7 and FF16. If you're a Sony studios fan like I am, people need to fucking worried about this deal going through. They will survive of course, but at what cost?

Always doom and gloom, eh?

If what you are saying does happen, we all know who will be celebrating. Well, some of them already are. Although, I personally think they will find a way to still be competitive.

 

[James Sawyer Ford]

This is false, Google simply didn’t try. They can easily afford all these gaming companies. They expected this scrutiny that MS is facing since they are one of the big tech companies. This is why Facebook, Google, and Amazon approve the deal. The moment it goes thur… they are all going on buying sprees.

EA, Ubisoft, Rockstar… are looking forward to big offers.

They tried and realized it wasn’t worth it

Gaming is a labor intensive industry, it’s more of an art and not a science

They learned you can’t just poach a few key people and start delivering AAA content in a few years

Hell, Microsoft has been in this game for over 20 years and still hasn’t learned how to do it well.

It’s a very hard industry. These tech companies would rather invest in platforms where you can monetize attention instead, that’s a lot easier

 

[tmlDan]

God i have said the same so many times on here. Could you imagine Google or Amazon signing Acrivision and putting COD soley ona streaming platform? (Talking hypothetically). Atleast when Microsoft and Sony buy someone, the games still are released as traditional games, with varying ways to play and buy them. And in Microsofts case, day and date with PC which is the most important thing for me.

I think COD would absolutely die if it was bought by Apple or Amazon tbh

 

[FalsettoVibe]

Yeah, it's why I always gave Shawn Layden shit for saying he stopped making online MP games because he didnt want to compete with third party publishers. Well, you moron look at how that turned out.

Imagine if Zipper was given ten years to refine MAG. Epic turned a coop building game into a battle royale shooter in months. Zipper couldve been there day one. Imagine what Incognito wouldve done with a real budget for Warhawk with PS4 and especially PS5 specs. Insomniac started the whole PvE trend with their 8 player coop mode in Resistance 2. IIRC, Gears horde was only 4 players and didnt have the PvE elements of Resistance 2. They had 60 player online on the pS3 in 2008. KZ, TLOU and Uncharted MPs were very unique and had dedicated userbases that wouldve flourished on the PS4 after it got the CoD audience from the 360.

And yeah, I was all for MS buying Ninja Theory, Playground games and especially obsidian. It's insane that they passed on Crystal Dynamics and the Deus Ex Studio for just $300 million. But buying Bethesda doesnt give xbox owners anything new. They were always getting Starfield, Elder Scrolls, Fallout and CoD. It just takes away from PS users. Its no better than the Rise of Tomb Raider, FF7 and FF16 exclusivity. Just moneyhats. Nothing more. If they really wanted to put these games on gamepass, simply outbid sony for marketing rights and put the damn thing on gamepass. 25 million monthly users making them $250 million a month, 3 billion a year, and you cant afford to get 1-2 big AAA games a year? Forget 12 big AAA games a month. You cant afford one cod game a year?

Interesting point about CoD suffering under MS management. We just saw that Bethesda couldnt deliver their game despite MS backing. All those 24 studios and billions of dollars and they couldnt ship a game on time.

Good post. Interesting thing is, I think Sony realized that they maybe should have kept a couple of those multiplayer games around. That's why they are putting a big focus on them now.
Naughty Dog, Insomniac, Haven, London Studio, Firesprite and possibly Deviation are all working on multiplayer stuff. I would think that something from that group would be a hit.
Sony just absolutely positively cannot make the mistake of making them PS5 exclusive. PC day one and crossplay is a must.

If MS is firm in their commitment, and honors what they say, then Sony would be fools not to have a backup plan for the loss of revenue in 2027/2028.

 

[DeepEnigma]

You know what I love about this is just how seriously Sony is taking this compared to some of the posters on this board who initially dismissed this as 'PS doesnt NEED CoD'. They will be fine they said. Clearly Sony themselves think this will destroy their business.

Name them.

 

[James Sawyer Ford]

Stadia is a terrible business model, that's why it failed.

GamePass is a terrible business model because it’s in no way self sustaining and requires huge subsidies to make it work.

Google just didn’t want to eat the cost like MS is with GamePass

 

[DeepEnigma]

This is false, Google simply didn’t try. They can easily afford all these gaming companies. They expected this scrutiny that MS is facing since they are one of the big tech companies. This is why Facebook, Google, and Amazon approve the deal. The moment it goes thur… they are all going on buying sprees.

EA, Ubisoft, Rockstar… are looking forward to big offers.

 

[StormCell]

Did you not read the post you were replying to was talking about? Maybe I misread your original comment, I'm not sure.

And yes, all 3 moneyhat shit, they've been doing it years and won't be stopping any time soon.

No, no one is lying about the lack of Monster Hunter on Switch early on. There was no Monster Hunter World coming to Switch, and then strangely Monster Hunter Generations XX was only being released in Japan and not in the west... While I can't claim to know that Sony had anything to do with that, it just seemed awfully damn convenient to try to keep the new Nintendo hardware from really taking off since those first couple of years after launch are so critical concerning trajectory of sales.

Sure, all 3 companies are guilty in one way or another, and Nintendo wrote the book on being a bitch and a Karen with third party publishers. But Sony has not only studied that book rigorously but made their own amendments and published a superior book on the topic. They don't just hold on to grudges, they continue to seethe over them for decades to come.

 

[MasterCornholio]

They made some of their best new IP when they were desperate mode in the first few years of the PS3.

You may be onto something here.

No more wii wii wiis for you.

 

[Leyasu]

Based on what? Sony seem pretty ok with the status quo where neither they nor MS owns ABK.

I'm sorry but its not just about the money, its about how the money is used. MS could have used that huge cash-pile on building stuff of their own. Like where are there new IP's?

It strikes me that MS are mainly investing to control, not build the industry. Is that what you want from a potential market-leader?

Really? I think even the most hardcore Sony fanboys know that they would have been saving their pennies if they had foreseen where Microsoft were going.

They were quite happy to maintain the status quo, which for them was to slowly but surely try and squeeze Microsoft out, by using their market position to get far cheaper moneyhatted timed exclusives.

Even if they didn’t squeeze them totally out of the market, Sony’s continued dominance was all but guaranteed.

The bit about the money at the end is fucking laughable. Acti wanted to sell and Microsoft wanted to buy. Should they have said no?

 

[StreetsofBeige]

Yeah, it's why I always gave Shawn Layden shit for saying he stopped making online MP games because he didnt want to compete with third party publishers. Well, you moron look at how that turned out.

Imagine if Zipper was given ten years to refine MAG. Epic turned a coop building game into a battle royale shooter in months. Zipper couldve been there day one. Imagine what Incognito wouldve done with a real budget for Warhawk with PS4 and especially PS5 specs. Insomniac started the whole PvE trend with their 8 player coop mode in Resistance 2. IIRC, Gears horde was only 4 players and didnt have the PvE elements of Resistance 2. They had 60 player online on the pS3 in 2008. KZ, TLOU and Uncharted MPs were very unique and had dedicated userbases that wouldve flourished on the PS4 after it got the CoD audience from the 360.

Problem with Sony back then was they shotgunned so many shooters, they were hit and miss quality and no doubt thinned out the online community bases. What they should had done is focus on maybe a couple tops and flesh them out. Halo and Gears are still around, BF is, COD is. OK, some bombed like Crysis on console and Medal of Honor. But what they have in common is each big company only focused on one or a handful of shooters.

Sony had:

- Resistance
- KZ
- MAG
- Haze
- Socom
- Warhawk/Starhawk
- Those giant planet shooters that came from PC

They basically released as many shooter franchises than the rest combined.

 

[Mozza]

So basically Sony are o.k with signing exclusivity deals that benefit themselves, but then complain when Microsoft buy gaming studios for franchise exclusivity, sounds totally reasonable to me.

 

[remember_spinal]

this really does feel like peak console wars

 

[DaGwaphics]

Ok, let's try again...

Sony are surely burning a bridge with a statement like that. I don't get why they wouldn't just stay quiet. Weird strategy.

They are trying to spin this into something PR wise. I'm sure they did love the initial CMA response, but it has been mocked hard by those familiar with this type of thing. I'm not sure there is anything that Sony could say to try and improve the overall look of what the CMA is saying so far. What they've provided doesn't look like something that will hold up once you start taking a hard look at the numbers/status of everyone involved.

 

[Baki]

Activision Blizzard is the biggest 3rd party publisher in the world. There is no comparison. This is certainly anti competitive and drastically different from the much smaller scale exclusives that Sony secures.

 

[reksveks]

I feel like I am stuck in a timeloop

 

[CeeJay]

This makes no sense lol

How so?

Sony have been making tons of smaller acquisitions and investments over the past couple of years and all to strengthen their own position and control, it's not that difficult to understand. It's the pot calling the kettle black.

Show me how any of these acquisitions do anything for someone who is a Nintendo or Xbox gamer?

 

[FalsettoVibe]

GamePass is a terrible business model because it’s in no way self sustaining and requires huge subsidies to make it work.

Google just didn’t want to eat the cost like MS is with GamePass

This right here. Gamers are cheering GP now (and I understand why) but I'm not so sure a future where MS and Gamepass are king would be best for gamers in general.

 

[Loxus]

This is false, Google simply didn’t try. They can easily afford all these gaming companies. They expected this scrutiny that MS is facing since they are one of the big tech companies. This is why Facebook, Google, and Amazon approve the deal. The moment it goes thur… they are all going on buying sprees.

EA, Ubisoft, Rockstar… are looking forward to big offers.

This is what makes me scared of the future.

All those companies are going to want exclusives for there streaming service to standout.

Making many games that were once multiplatform, exclusive.

 

[Bernd Lauert]

GamePass is a terrible business model because it’s in no way self sustaining and requires huge subsidies to make it work.

Entirely wrong, according to the CEO of Microsoft gaming. No need to make things up.

 

[James Sawyer Ford]

Interesting point about CoD suffering under MS management. We just saw that Bethesda couldnt deliver their game despite MS backing. All those 24 studios and billions of dollars and they couldnt ship a game on time.

Acquisitions are not always good for morale. It’s great for the execs that can cash out with a big premium.

But if you’re a rank and file dev, are you going to feel better about the company mission if you’re just a cog in Microsoft’s GamePass vision?

Acquisitions on this scale are even worse, you lose that studio entrepreneurial spirit and competition

Morale was already bad at Activision. Maybe MS can turn it around or maybe it just hastens their decline

 

[MasterCornholio]

How so?

Sony have been making tons of smaller acquisitions and investments over the past couple of years and all to strengthen their own position and control, it's not that difficult to understand. It's the pot calling the kettle black.

Show me how any of these acquisitions do anything for someone who is a Nintendo or Xbox gamer?

I mean Bungie is a pretty small acquisition when you compare it to Activision.

 

[Neofire]

Sony is really shook huh. Better to be silent and make plans behind the scenes. You bought fucking Bungie for god sake.

Did you just compare Bungie to Activision Blizzard in size, worth and IP popularity? Back away from the keyboard whether it's physical or virtual lol.

 

[SlimySnake]

Problem with Sony back then was they shotgunned so many shooters, they were hit and miss quality and no doubt thinned out the online community bases. What they should had done is focus on maybe a couple tops and flesh them out. Halo and Gears are still around, BF is, COD is. OK, some bombed like Crysis on console and Medal of Honor. But what they have in common is each big company only focused on one or a handful of shooters.

Sony had:

- Resistance
- KZ
- MAG
- Haze
- Socom
- Warhawk/Starhawk
- Those giant planet shooters that came from PC

They basically released as many shooter franchises than the rest combined.

Thats a good point. TBH, I loved almost all of those games. Haze is obviously the exception. But I agree, they shouldve given them more of a backing. I remember how they just released MAG without any marketing. The beta was a week before release and a complete mess to download and install. Game had amazing gameplay but graphics looked like shit, ran at 30 fps and dropped to 15 fps in 256 player games towards the end. Then they rushed out Socom 4 literally releasing it during the month and a half long PSN outage.

Shouldve had Zipper work with Insomniac and KZ devs to improve their engine and release a more fleshed out and better looking game. I remember proposing that they combine the MP teams from ND, GG and ND and have them make one game instead of letting all that mp talent sit and work on single player games all gen.

 

[Mozza]

Activision Blizzard is the biggest 3rd party publisher in the world. There is no comparison. This is certainly anti competitive and drastically different from the much smaller scale exclusives that Sony secures.

Do you think that if they had had the money, Sony would not have tried to buy Activision as well, perhaps Zenimax too?.

 

[DenchDeckard]

It would be amazing if this whole thing stopped exclusivity deals from being possible.

Sony protecting gamers lol. What a joke.

 

[FalsettoVibe]

this really does feel like peak console wars

lol.....I knew there would be drama this generation. One reason why I decided I would own every console.
I'm not missing jack.

 

[digoutyoursoul]

Protecting gamers? £70 games and a console price increase two years after launch? Fuck off Sony.

 

[James Sawyer Ford]

Entirely wrong, according to the CEO of Microsoft gaming. No need to make things up.

I’d like to see the receipts

There’s a ton of number fudging your can do to make this appear good on paper when you’re not accounting for all the costs

 

[StreetsofBeige]

Activision Blizzard is the biggest 3rd party publisher in the world. There is no comparison. This is certainly anti competitive and drastically different from the much smaller scale exclusives that Sony secures.

The biggest publisher, which compared to the industry is actually a small pie slice of gaming.

 

[MasterCornholio]

Did you just compare Bungie to Activision Blizzard in size, worth and IP popularity? Back away from the keyboard whether it's physical or virtual lol.

Plus Bungie seems like they will remain multiplatform. I think it's the exception to the rule though.

 

[SLB1904]

I dont think the sales will suffer too much. People will simply switch to xbox. Im guessing they lose maybe 25% of revenue because i dont see the european market abandoning the PS5 over CoD, but US will be a major shift.

This is the reason I want this deal to go through. Some of you are in for a rude awake.
you think cod is the breakthrough xbox needs to compete with PlayStation.

 

[DeepEnigma]

I’d like to see the receipts

There’s a ton of number fudging your can do to make this appear good on paper when you’re not accounting for all the costs

They said "sustainable," they never once used the word, "profitable." Loss leaders are sustainable when you have the money to burn into it. Great for the tax portfolio on that reinvestment as well.

Netflix as an example was "sustainable" since its streaming inception. Even when it was operating in the negative.

Disney+ decided not to do day and date on some of the biggest bangers, walking that back. And they have almost 100m subs if not more now.

 

[SLB1904]

How so?

Sony have been making tons of smaller acquisitions and investments over the past couple of years and all to strengthen their own position and control, it's not that difficult to understand. It's the pot calling the kettle black.

Show me how any of these acquisitions do anything for someone who is a Nintendo or Xbox gamer?

Are you just ignoring the studios xbox bought because?

 

[SmokedMeat]

Though I agree with you about the exclusivity deals situation, one thing to note.

Sony exclusivity deals are temporary, while Microsoft exclusivity deal is permanent.

I get that.

I’m just saying don’t go acting like you’re interested in protecting gamers, when you engage in shitty tactics that hurt gamers as well.

 

[FalsettoVibe]

Zero business sense.........

Spoiler

At the moment....lol

 

[OverHeat]

I'm sure they do

Sony…

 

[quest]

Acquisitions are not always good for morale. It’s great for the execs that can cash out with a big premium.

But if you’re a rank and file dev, are you going to feel better about the company mission if you’re just a cog in Microsoft’s GamePass vision?

Acquisitions on this scale are even worse, you lose that studio entrepreneurial spirit and competition

Morale was already bad at Activision. Maybe MS can turn it around or maybe it just hastens their decline

Yes work for bobby and current shithole management or work for booty and get creative freedom. I guarantee the studios like toys for bob are stoked for this to get approved then actually make games again instead of being a COD slave.