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Sony signs agreement with MS to keep COD on PS

I love how people just assume that MS will spend into oblivion and not expect some accountability from the shareholders.

I appreciate these posts because they make it obvious who knows how to spend money but not how to make money.
I never said I believe this. But if you take a gander at the Microsoft/Activision merger thread, almost every single person against this deal was saying that Microsoft's end goal was to have Sony go out of business.
 

THE DUCK

voted poster of the decade by bots
Microsoft needs this deal more than Sony, honestly. They have to be able to sell COD everywhere or else they won't have the ability to recoup the investment. That's why Sony fought it so long - COD was going to be on Playstation regardless of what happened in court.

Additionally, everyone is acting like this is a loss for Sony, but these agreements only exist in the first place because Sony threw a fit. If Microsoft didn't have to appear magnanimous to regulators that Sony clearly stirred up, none of these agreements would have happened, and certainly not for ten-year periods.

What? Ms doesn't need this at all, they were 100% buying Cod to make it all exclusive. They don't need the cash flow, and we're totally prepared to sacrifice it to grow gamepass long term.
 

ByWatterson

Member
What? Ms doesn't need this at all, they were 100% buying Cod to make it all exclusive. They don't need the cash flow, and we're totally prepared to sacrifice it to grow gamepass long term.

They were gonna do something exclusive-y, but full exclusivity was never a realistic possibility (Warzone, at the very least, would have been there).
 
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Ulysses 31

Member
7srbla.gif
 
How?

Pay an absurd amount of money for GamePass parity on ps plus?

How much would that cost?

It’s not worth it at this point. Sony isn’t going to spend marketing money on a Microsoft ip

The negotiations between Sony & ABK would have been done on the grounds of ABK operating as an independent corporation, not as a subsidiary under Microsoft. That's how they would have been legally required to operate prior to the close of the deal. And, at least back a few months earlier into the year, I'd say after the CMA's block, Sony had the most leveraging power.

They could have easily stipulated Day 1 exclusion clauses for Game Pass since ABK themselves seem generally apprehensive towards doing anything Day 1 for any subscription service. It would not have costed Sony that much, either. And, that's in addition to still having marketing rights, preferred early beta access, and various DLC & MTX perks. Anything Microsoft would have wanted would have been ignored, because they did not own ABK yet, and ABK is legally required to operate in the best interests of an independent entity until the actual acquisition is completed (and that's if it's even completed; back in March it seemed very unlikely that would have been the case).

Now maybe Sony will quit with 1st and 3rd party exclusivity so gamers can "look forward to a future where players globally have more choice to play their favorite games."

Nothing stops people from buying multiple platforms to access the games they want. Let's just stop this fake "pro-consumer" BS; MS have 1P & PLENTY of 3P exclusives too, as does Nintendo.

"Gamers" have no issue buying multiple devices to play their games. It's the weird single-platform types who either can't afford (not the fault of console makers BTW), don't want to buy multiple systems, or are shills for a very specific company, that have adopted this "exclusives are bad" mentality.
 
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adamsapple

Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
Apples and oranges, how does that work?

Why doesn’t Microsoft sign a deal with Sony to market Bungie’s games?

Because anyone with a brain knows that marketing spend is better served on your own titles

It's not apples to oranges, MS was not given the option to be Bungie's exclusive marketing partner for year(s) after they got acquired, Sony was and Jim refused it.

Sony would still get the same platform holder share from sales, the only difference is that Activision now reports to a different parent company. That wouldn't change how much money Sony would get from the sales and even more related to the exclusive marketing.
 

UnNamed

Banned
This thing over CoD has no sense: does Microsoft hate money? It has absolutely no sense to not release the best seller game CoD on the best selling hardware, it's like stating the obvious.
 

Fabieter

Member
Yet nobody has an issue when Sony try to do shit like keep FF off Xbox, or buy exclusive shit for Destiny.

The double standards some of you hold are beyond hard to believe

Ninja gaiden black is still xbox exclusives. Gears started as a moneyhat, dead rising 1-3 way moneyhattey. Dead rising 4 was timed exclusives to xbox. Titanfall 1 with the argueable better multiplayer never made it to Playstation and there is a big upcoming game in stalker 2 which also isn't releasing on Playstation. Yet sony never bought a big publisher. Talking about double standards. The victim complex is something else. They both suck I get it but consolidation is still considerably worse.
 
This thing over CoD has no sense: does Microsoft hate money? It has absolutely no sense to not release the best seller game CoD on the best selling hardware, it's like stating the obvious.
COD is mainly casuals and casuals dont care where the game is, they just want to play the game.
 
I think part of this is a realization from MS that if they really wanted to Extinguish Sony they'd need to buy essentially the entire industry, that even with Activision it's just not going to happen fast enough to keep shareholders happy. I honestly don't know if we get another dedicated home console from Xbox or not even with this win.
 

James Sawyer Ford

Gold Member
The negotiations between Sony & ABK would have been done on the grounds of ABK operating as an independent corporation, not as a subsidiary under Microsoft. That's how they would have been legally required to operate prior to the close of the deal.

Activision is not going to negotiate a deal as an independent entity after already selling themselves to Microsoft

The only casual talks with Bobby occurred assuming the deal were to fail
 

James Sawyer Ford

Gold Member
It's not apples to oranges, MS was not given the option to be Bungie's exclusive marketing partner for year(s) after they got acquired, Sony was and Jim refused it.

Because Microsoft didn’t propose a good enough marketing deal. If they wanted it, they could have afforded it

It makes zero sense to fund/capitalize and invest into entrenching yourself even more to CoD when there’s high risk of it going away in 10 years
 
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M1987

Member
Yet nobody has an issue when Sony try to do shit like keep FF off Xbox, or buy exclusive shit for Destiny.

The double standards some of you hold are beyond hard to believe
Buying Activision and FF being PlayStation exclusive is completely different ffs 😂
 
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MarkMe2525

Member
Maybe Sony can use this opportunity to make Killzone a thing again? Or Resistance? How about a first-party FPS?
This is what I'm saying. Sony hasn't released a homegrown fps since signing it's original marketing agreements with Destiny and CoD.
 

dem

Member
The problem with Microsoft is they aren’t cool. They were never cool… they will never be cool. They are almost incapable of art. Even the low bar that counts for “art” in gaming. They are a dork ass software company. They are Jay Allard in a hoodie.

I say this as someone who sees nothing wrong with MS buying Activision. That’s exactly what they should be doing. This isn’t a monopoly.


Sony is a media empire in all aspects. They know cool. They know the culture. They somehow made boring ass Gran Turismo into an interesting looking movie. Sony will be the dominant player for a long time. They will be fine.
 
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MarkMe2525

Member
How can it be worse than keeping 100% of in game purchases?
I wouldn't mind seeing a source that disputes my understanding of the situation, but I thought I read that the agreement you are referring to is MS agreement with Nvidia for GeForce Now. This is Nvidia's standard agreement with publishers as they only make money from the use of their cloud servers, and not the games themselves.
 

M1987

Member
Now maybe Sony will quit with 1st and 3rd party exclusivity so gamers can "look forward to a future where players globally have more choice to play their favorite games."
Last time I checked Gears,Halo and Forza wasn't on my PS5
 
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Now this deal is all but done, I'm curious as to what Sony's strategy will be next? To retaliate with a purchase of their own? Or more investment in their own properties.

Now Microsoft are essentially 3rd and 1st party; they don't even need to sell consoles to compete anymore as revenue and active paying subscribers is the name of the game now.
 

adamsapple

Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
You'll be an old man like me by then.

At that point you'll only take part in these discussions for the banter due to lacking the necessary reflexes to even play COD.

old man relax GIF

I will train the next Adam in all the ways of his forefathers. Never forget the valiant efforts of one Major Larry Hryb. He fought for our right.
 
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Bitmap Frogs

Mr. Community
Now maybe Sony will quit with 1st and 3rd party exclusivity so gamers can "look forward to a future where players globally have more choice to play their favorite games."

Thanks to your buddies at microsoft, you will be looking down at more mergers, more foreclosures, more exclusives. Think video streaming services. That's our future, thanks to your friends.
 

Bumblebeetuna

Gold Member
The deal with Activision as an independent third party doesn’t actively fund a bitter rival in the platform/services business

Can you spot the difference?

The extension offered by ABK was before the deal was done. It wasn’t to a rival.

Also, the deal would have kept marketing on PS and prevented the games from going into GamePass. Your argument is purely an emotional one, not a logical one.

Sony wouldn’t look at it as “omg we’re paying to market an XGS game!”. They’d look at it as “omg I am too busy counting these nearly one billion of annual revenue these games bring in to care who publishes it. They’re also blocked from GamePass!”

At the end of the day these companies don’t care about feelings or console warz they care about money.
 

adamsapple

Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
I don't believe Sony would want to lose their 20-30% cut of sales revenue.

No, 20~30% sounds small on paper but when you realize that it's 20~30% of a multi billion total, it would be stupid. Quite frankly any "fan" whose saying things like Sony should boycott and refuse certification, they're gonna make Sony lose a not-insignificant chunk of the PS brands revenue stream.
 
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Malcolm9

Member
Maybe, but whoever goes after CoD needs to go right at the core. Realistic wartime graphics and gameplay. All these fantasy, avatar based, space shooters aren't going to do it. Sony has the talent to do, but I don't think the return on invest for them is there. CoD with Microsoft's financial backing is going to be a monster to deal with.
A monster to deal with like Halo was?
 

CatLady

Selfishly plays on Xbox Purr-ies X
And on the other side of those arguments we had some folks saying the moment the deal was done then Microsoft would be free to yank COD away from PS and regulators could do nothing about it. So all kind of theories have come out of this drama. I find myself repeatedly asking people why they think Phil Spencer is a blatant liar because many are still convinced COD will be exclusive.

Awkward John Krasinski GIF by Saturday Night Live
MS has a ton of money and theoretically could afford to do this, but it would be insanely stupid. MS didn't get to be a $2.5T by being insanely stupid. They'd lose billions in lost PS sales and fines.
 

MarkMe2525

Member
Not if all they care about is CoD SP and Warzone
It depends, in MS eyes their ideal situation is people join for CoD to then stay for other titles. That's what all the studios are for. It's always a risk, so all they can do is play their cards and hope for a good draw. Time will tell if it works out.

How so?

Sony got better terms over time. They can’t control what regulators will or won’t decide on.

So in terms of what Sony could control out of this, they played the right cards for them.
Where did they gain leverage for better terms? Does MS even need this deal in order to publish the game on Playstation. Is Sony in the habit of blocking the release of games that generate as much revenue for them as CoD? I really don't think so.
 
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