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DualSHOCKERS: Microsoft Might Announce A New Xbox Studio Acquisition at E3 2021

Corrik

Member
Konami would be the dream. Won't happen. But, it would be the dream.

I'd lose it for a Suikoden game.
 
Calm down. That's not how any of this works. For starters, the whole notion of bribing a nation's leaders to allow them to break the law and buy a major Japanese company is silly. It would be political and business suicide. It would cause a shitstorm none of those companies or politicians would want to be a part of.

Having money doesn't mean you get to buy whatever you want. Sony's market cap is almost $125 billion and Nintendo's is over $74 billion. Even for Microsoft, Tencent, Google, or Amazon that is an EXTREMELY risky proposition to buy either company. That's a fuck ton of money to spend on a company in the hopes it dramatically increases your market share permanently. Sony employs over 111,000 people. Microsoft's employee count, for example, would suddenly swell by over 66%. It would be an organizational nightmare.

This assumes that Sony would even be open to being bought, which they would not. Neither would Nintendo. Yes, Japanese law does indeed prohibit the sale of Sony to a foreign company. They are a Tier 1 company. Which makes them incredibly protected by the Japanese government. Nintendo doesn't have the same protections but it would be extremely difficult to convince the Japanese government to allow a foreign entity to buy them. There would also be, without a doubt, huge legal battles over potential monopolies. Just look at Sony being tripped up in legal investigations over their purchase of Crunchyroll and how that might give Sony too much power in the anime streaming market.

Microsoft has been trying for 20 years now to stand at the top of the industry and they're still not even close. Google and Amazon have both proven to be completely incompetent in the industry because they have no one managing their forays who has a fucking clue what it takes. Tencent, by virtue of being a Chinese company, has even greater hurdles to overcome. Sony and Nintendo have both been doing this dance for decades. They've dominated the market and survived every attempt to take them out of the picture. Not just survived, but either immediately or eventually beat the shit out of the competitor.

T2 and EA aren't likely going anywhere either. They're not going to sell to a Chinese company in the current geopolitical climate. Amazon and Google are too inept to trust with the future of those companies and even if they DID buy them chances are that they'd remain third party after a few attempts at exclusives because no one has bought into Stadia or Luna anyways. Both companies are finding out very quickly that being a first party in this industry is brutal enough, nevermind being the new kid against three brands that now have anywhere from 20 to 40+ years of history in the industry.

We've heard this tune before. "Someone has a lot of money so they can buy it all and win". It doesn't work that way. It has never worked that way. Xbox would have already been the only console on the market if it did.
I suggest you have some lesson with American politics. All politics these days can be bought.

Nintendo and Sony have values. Maybe not for Google or tencent, but they have more value for Amazon. Sony has the movies. Nintendo has games which kids love. Either of these are too valuable for Amazon.
What amazon can do is strike a deal with Japanese government. Invest more in their country. And no country will deny the opportunity business their country will get.
Sony isn't just gaming, unlike Nintendo. So other sectors of Sony have more values to Amazon.

As for your Microsoft gaming point, they never had any invest in that sector. Or else, you have seen tons of buying studios from them, just like now. Hell, they stopped giving crap in 2014 e3, when they went all tv. Their main goal was other sectors. While Sony on other hand, had more experience (ps1).

At the end of the day, money Rules.

Those big companies wouldn't be able to buy Sony or Nintendo certainly but they can buy a lot of the smaller publishers. It seems a future with more consolidation is more probable than without it.

Sony will also play that game if they want to keep being leaders. Can you imagine Google, Amazon or some other company making big third party games exclusive? Playstation games are really well received but I wouldn't bet a Sony-games only console would keep its current market share
Could we get some more discussion focused on this subject please.

Out of all the fairytales found on GAF. The one where the SIE plays the part of the forbidden fruit is one of my favorites. Starring in the villain role. MS, in a desperate attempt to purchase SIE, finds out that they're cloaked under a mysterious veil provided by the Japanese Government.
 

Spidey Fan

Banned
Could we get some more discussion focused on this subject please.

Out of all the fairytales found on GAF. The one where the SIE plays the part of the forbidden fruit is one of my favorites. Starring in the villain role. MS, in a desperate attempt to purchase SIE, finds out that they're cloaked under a mysterious veil provided by the Japanese Government.
i will like to read that novel.
 

ZehDon

Member
All this money blown just to finish in third again. Perhaps they are going to spend more billions on Epic? It's the only company that really would be worth it long term.
Business is not a zero sum game, and certainly doesn't operate on faulty thinking like the bolded. One does not "blow money" just because they didn't "finish" in "first place'. Companies can make a massive amount of money without being in the top 10 of their respective industries... which is why there are hundreds of video game development companies around the world, despite only one of them being able to "finish" in "first" each year. What a silly post.
 

Derift

Member
You literally were saying they don't manage studios well and your only examples were Rare games, it's very obvious you were trying to insinuate like Microsoft now is the same one that "ruined" Rare, especially considering that's the only acquisition people ever bring up to support their "Xbox can't manage studios well" nonsense point. Also I didn't see any shilling for Xbox in this thread so it was clear what your bias is and what you were trying to say with that comment
Dude, you said I was comparing Bethesda to rare which I was not in fact I wasn't comparing any studio i actually said comparing them is silly... and yes I am within my right to say they do not manage studios well, from Lionhead to Ensemble Studios to rare there's a few I could name...
 

johnjohn

Member
In my opinion, this is the Hail Mary of Xbox insiders and influencers. One final chance to make it look like MS is about to take over gaming. This year we’ve seen it all, MS is about to buy your favorite developers. Konami, sqaure enix, kojima. We’ve seen article after article and influencer after influencer shill for gamespass, so much so it was almost as if there is a quota they have to meet by speaking the word to make it some sort of mk ultra trigger word. We’ve seen hit job after hit job from these same influencers go after Sony for focusing on aaa games while Xbox hasn’t had a new game in almost 2 years.

So now We’ve reached reality where rumors and heresay have to pay the piper. One final Xbox acquisition on the eve of e3. The influencers have tried their hardest for 6 months to derail Ps5s hype and build Xbox up but it just wasn’t enough and now we’re about to see a dud e3. Halos in such bad shape it’s rumored we won’t even see campaign gameplay. Avowed, hellblade, ever wild, said to be no shows. Fable and perfect dark, years away. Star field, 2023. So why not, another fake rumor to add to the pot of endless fake rumors before we see they’ve been lying and exaggerating for half a year.

Edit: Yes they could buy an ip but the people pushing this are already trying to set expectations that’s it a AA game at most but people are letting their imaginations run wild.
Is this a new copypasta or something lol? MS has been on a massive shopping spree for the past 3 years. This isn't something new, MS is going to continue to acquire developers to keep the Game Pass content flowing.
 
Is this a new copypasta or something lol? MS has been on a massive shopping spree for the past 3 years. This isn't something new, MS is going to continue to acquire developers to keep the Game Pass content flowing.
Some people just spend way too much time on console war Twitter.
 
All this so they can get some games out before 2023?
This comment ain't gonna age well after the conference next Sunday. I predict 3 AAA exclusives for the rest of the year and 4 or 5 smaller exclusives all day one Gamepass. I think Sony have blown their load for this year and I don't think they have anything AAA exclusive apart from Deathloop. Horizon unfortunately I think won't make this year.
 

Coolwhhip

Neophyte
Playstation owners
video game controller GIF


Xbox owners
200.gif
 
This comment ain't gonna age well after the conference next Sunday. I predict 3 AAA exclusives for the rest of the year and 4 or 5 smaller exclusives all day one Gamepass. I think Sony have blown their load for this year and I don't think they have anything AAA exclusive apart from Deathloop. Horizon unfortunately I think won't make this year.
So microsoft will make games out of nowhere and sony no, why? It seems whishfull thinking
 

reksveks

Member
So microsoft will make games out of nowhere and sony no, why? It seems whishfull thinking
Forza Horizon 4 was announced at E3 2018 and released in October 2018. They do that also assume that the quoted post was included Halo so that's 2/3 AAA games.

I do think there is a possibility of a Sony first party game but not a high one. I am not sure of any rumours or studios even lined up to do so. Maybe Factions comes out this year.
 

OmegaSupreme

advanced basic bitch
Business is not a zero sum game, and certainly doesn't operate on faulty thinking like the bolded. One does not "blow money" just because they didn't "finish" in "first place'. Companies can make a massive amount of money without being in the top 10 of their respective industries... which is why there are hundreds of video game development companies around the world, despite only one of them being able to "finish" in "first" each year. What a silly post.
lmao. They also lose money on their hardware and gamepass. They are spending more money than anyone ever to lose. "The Worlds Most Powerful Console" is losing to a tablet. It's easy to imagine them dropping out of the home console business.
 

ZehDon

Member
lmao. They also lose money on their hardware and gamepass. They are spending more money than anyone ever to lose. "The Worlds Most Powerful Console" is losing to a tablet. It's easy to imagine them dropping out of the home console business.
Why did you reply to me only to post the same non-sense? This isn't how business works, and no one in the real world thinks like this. Period.

Sony lost more money on the PS3 than all the money they made on the PS1 and PS2 combined. By your logic, Sony should've bowed out. Fortunately for everyone, uneducated people like yourself don't run large businesses who need to make complicated decisions.
 

reksveks

Member
lmao. They also lose money on their hardware and gamepass. They are spending more money than anyone ever to lose. "The Worlds Most Powerful Console" is losing to a tablet. It's easy to imagine them dropping out of the home console business.
Cause they make money on mtx. You know amazon loses money on prime video and a large chunk of their echo/fire range?
 

12Dannu123

Member
There's a lot of salty Sony fanboys here. All Sad that Sony won't be able to compete in an acquisition arms race against MS. If Square Enix, Sega, Capcom was on sale, Microsoft will be the likely one to acquire it as they can outbid Sony. Relationships are irrelevant for public companies, it explains why Sony is investing in time exclusives instead of acquisitions.
 

Thirty7ven

Banned
The worst part of having these rumors week in week out, is that discussion around strategic purchases has reached a dead end. Everything has already been said, and all that's left is a shopping wish list that consists of ridiculous ideas. Take Two, Eidos, etc basically a who's who. After the Bethesda deal, fanboys want more escalation, because that's how drugs work when you like them... you start asking for bigger doses until you're numb to the whole stupidity surrounding it.

And then there's the misinformed people, who despite spending their time on gaming forums, watching twitch, and dreaming about their favorite company basically going about it like the Night King, from horde to horde, conquering the industry, these people think buying From Software means MS gets Bloodborne, or that buying IO will make 007 exclusive, so on and so on.

Non stop rumors, from buying devs to publishers, to making Star Wars. It has been so for the past 12 months at least. The online xbox community has basically stopped talking about games, it's all about shopping lists.

You just know that if Sony, Nintendo, or whoever, just so happens to acquire a big dev/publisher, the reaction online will be an army of xboys storming twitter demanding answers from Phill about why Microsoft didn't outbid them. It's a shit show. (See above, yikes)
 
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MonarchJT

Banned
lmao. They also lose money on their hardware and gamepass. They are spending more money than anyone ever to lose. "The Worlds Most Powerful Console" is losing to a tablet. It's easy to imagine them dropping out of the home console business.
Just after they buy sega Sony and ninty
 

Loope

Member
If people were super pissed off about hzd, uncharted 4 coming to pc announcement, imagine the outrage those New ip would make, if they were announced for pc.

I would be there for the popcorn though.
Fox Tv Popcorn GIF by The Four
They shouldn't. It doesn't barr them from enjoying the game, right? I mean, the games i worked on as an exclusive, to take advantage of the specifica hardware, when it comes to another platform (like PC) that isn't exactly in the space as MS and Nintendo, then it just means it's more money for them to throw at the development of their next game.
 

MonarchJT

Banned
Don't hate me for saying this but at this point anything MS buys is going down..... MS aren't artist they are conartist IMO ban me for this is you want but it won't change the way MS does business it's why nobody gives Windows the time of day anymore
we don't hate you .... we pity you
Xbox in their worst gen sold 50 millions of consoles.....windows is the first gaming platform in the whole world...and yes all of what you wrote is a complete ignorant nonsense
 
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Spidey Fan

Banned
They shouldn't. It doesn't barr them from enjoying the game, right? I mean, the games i worked on as an exclusive, to take advantage of the specifica hardware, when it comes to another platform (like PC) that isn't exactly in the space as MS and Nintendo, then it just means it's more money for them to throw at the development of their next game.
People sadly don't see it that way. They think their plastic is special, and should have those exclusive.

I want to play ps1-3 games. I can't, without emulator. Ps1 is hard to fine, let alone the games. Ps2 games are hard to find. I was lucky with my OG games. We had store which used to sell used games. The pandemic shut them down sadly. And I can't buy anymore OG xbox games.

Only league option is psnow, and that is streaming.
 

Spidey Fan

Banned
we don't hate you .... we pity you
Xbox in their worst gen sold 50 millions of consoles.....windows is the first gaming platform in the whole world...and yes all of what you wrote is a complete ignorant nonsense
Fanboism is hella of drug man. What it can do to a man is crazy. Losing all common sense and raging nonsense is darn sad.
 

GhostOfTsu

Banned
Non stop rumors, from buying devs to publishers, to making Star Wars. It has been so for the past 12 months at least. The online xbox community has basically stopped talking about games, it's all about shopping lists.

You just know that if Sony, Nintendo, or whoever, just so happens to acquire a big dev/publisher, the reaction online will be an army of xboys storming twitter demanding answers from Phill about why Microsoft didn't outbid them. It's a shit show. (See above, yikes)
Yep. Everyday there is a new "rumor" going around. It's the only way to keep Xbox in the news. And they get so excited they want MS to buy all the big multiplatforms games and make them exclusive.

I've never seen so much blatant hypocrisy in my life.

Fun fact: Game studios make "actual games", crazy concept I know
The posts here are not about new games. It's all gloating and hoping MS buys another major publisher or studio to make games that were already coming to Xbox exclusives
 
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Yep. Everyday there is a new "rumor" going around. It's the only way to keep Xbox in the news. And they get so excited they want MS to buy all the big multiplatforms games and make them exclusive.

I've never seen so much blatant hypocrisy in my life.


The posts here are not about game titles. It's all gloating and hoping MS buys another major publisher or studio to make games that were already coming to Xbox exclusives

Very few people are wanting Xbox to buy a studio with the sole (or even primary) intent of excluding Playstation owners, and those people aren't worth responding to because fanboys on both sides (or all 4 if you include Nintendo and PC) are dumb. For most people, acquisitions are exciting because they generally help make games better and when a company no longer has to deal with financial pressure they can produce more games too. Not to mention getting everything Day 1 on Game Pass. The closest I've seen in this thread to what you described was a couple people jokingly saying they want a major acquisition of Konami just to see the reaction on neogaf, which I don't agree with but can't blame them. I'm not hoping for any major acquisition unless it's Sega (just because it perfectly fills the missing pieces of Xbox's 1st party studios (E-rated content, fighting games, platformers, JRPGs, Japanese games in general) and would bring games like Persona to Xbox), but even then I would really just want it for Persona, which could be done much easier than buying Sega. I firmly believe that every studio acquired so far (including Insomniac by Sony) will be improved and have better games due to the acquisition. If Xbox buys EA or Ubisoft or Take-Two and makes those exclusive I would think that would be a bad thing for gaming, so I fundamentally disagree with people cheering on acquisitions of those caliber. But people are excited about potential acquisitions for a variety of reasons, pretty much none of them are excited about the average Playstation gamer not being able to play those games
 

Dabaus

Banned
Is this a new copypasta or something lol? MS has been on a massive shopping spree for the past 3 years. This isn't something new, MS is going to continue to acquire developers to keep the Game Pass content flowing.
Why would that be a copy pasta? Where am I wrong?
 
From what Jez was saying, if a studio acquisition did happen it is nothing like a Sega or Konami situation. It wouldn't be very hype inducing. Sounds like a smaller scale studio and/or IP. So I don't even think a Warner Bros studio is on the table. That all hasn't even been finalized yet in the transition to the new holding company last I heard.
Yeah, he recently did say it was more AA in size, probably 100-200 people max size. Last I know Sega had over 5,000 employees (might've cut that down by 1K but still a lot), likely similar with Konami.

If they were looking to sell, Asobo would've been the best get IMO; they're on an upward trajectory similar to Insomniac IMHO, they just needed some more funding, which they recently secured. Extremely talented and versatile developer in terms of the types of games they can make. At the very least I hope Microsoft are continuing to partner with them not just for FS 2020 updates but maybe a few other, new games too. Would be very interesting to see A Plague's Tale 2 or something in that vein that could get developed.
 

Dabaus

Banned
Yep. Everyday there is a new "rumor" going around. It's the only way to keep Xbox in the news. And they get so excited they want MS to buy all the big multiplatforms games and make them exclusive.

I've never seen so much blatant hypocrisy in my life.


The posts here are not about new games. It's all gloating and hoping MS buys another major publisher or studio to make games that were already coming to Xbox exclusives
Youre right, Its a new lie, a new fake rumor, one fraud after another multiple times a day to keep xbox in the news. The brand is so dead and desperate for attention that out right lying to fans is the "grass roots" strategy Aaron Greenberg spoke of. Before one lie and fake rumor is debunked theyre already on to the next one. I would think after awhile that whats left of xbox fandom (to the extent it even exists) would wise up that theyre being lied to but i honeslty think they like it at this point.
 
Wrong. People say it's a lesser evil compared to acquisition because it objectively is. With timed exclusivity, at least everyone will eventually be able to play that game.

This is such a false strawman; on a technical level yes, others eventually get to play those games. However, the effect that timed exclusivity has on the platforms not lucky to get it are very negative, because the vast bulk of a game's sales, revenue and impact are had with the initial launch, especially for the massive AAA games.

So if one platform gets those games at launch and the other has to wait a year or two, then there is a runoff effect generated for the platform that doesn't secure those games; it loses retention with the hardcore and core gaming bases, and in turn loses retention with the mainstream and casual audiences, as a lot of them tend to go where the hardcore/core gamers set the stage to play at.

Eventually a narrative starts to form and the pace of userbase retention loss for the platform not netting such timed exclusivity deals grows exponentially. Not to mention, the value of brand image perception that is lost; the platform that is able to get those games as timed exclusives is generally seen as the "stronger" platform, it's very similar psychologically-speaking to the type of competition we see among people in business, romance etc. IRL and, psychologically speaking, people tend to resonate more strongly with those that can display strength, which getting timed exclusivity on major games definitely falls into.

There is a reason Sony continues to use this strategy, and it's for every single reason I just mentioned above. Not to say other platform holders don't pursue it but among the three Sony easily does it the most and generally with the biggest 3P AAA releases. The technicality that those games eventually get to other platforms doesn't undo the perception damage the brands of those platforms face, not even close.

Quite the contrary, the only ones who liked the Bethesda acquisition are the childish petty hypocrites who rejoice at the prospect of entire game franchises being permanently taken away from a certain platform.

They have not been taken away permanently, though; options on the backend exist for users of that platform to still play those games. These people have these things called "mobile phones", correct? I thought everyone had a PC so what would it matter, anyway, their PC should blow past these consoles anyway that was the talk back in September right? Maybe we should introduce them to the world of tablets...

The truth is, people who are upset about the Bethesda/Zenimax deal but had a choice in what platform to buy knowing that, only to still buy the platform whose holder does not own those studios, and also for any number of reasons refuse to buy into the ecosystem of the platform whose holder DOES own those studios....have done nothing but bring disappointment upon themselves. The deal was announced TWO MONTHS before the consoles even launched, and rumors were persisting even earlier than that.

I also think it's quite childish in itself to label everyone who liked the acquisition as hypocrites who enjoy seeing a platform deprived of certain games. For one thing, not everyone who is okay with the acquisition "likes" it; they are just sensible adults who understand the reality of the situation and accept the results as they are. I personally don't cheer on acquisitions, but when there's enough smoke to hint that one might be happening, I might speculate it could happen. And if it's announced as actually happening, then I accept it because me complaining, bitching and moaning isn't gonna reverse the decision.

More importantly, most of us are aware that these acquisitions are done by companies that WANT TO SELL IN THE FIRST PLACE! Who am I to be petty and wish it not so, or erroneously fearmonger about "monopolies" and "consolidation" (when if you want to talk companies acquiring a lot gaming-wise, Embracer Group is much more active on that front than Microsoft yet I've not once seen those people question that company...I wonder why :pie_thinking: ...) when the deals involve a company willing to buy and another willing to sell? Some folks are acting like these are hostile takeovers, when it's the complete opposite.

But for the folks who are still holding out these games still make it to a PlayStation console, it's not like Microsoft hasn't left a backdoor open to enable such...it's just up to Sony to work with them so they can meet in the middle and agree to terms that are preferred between the two parties. So maybe try asking Sony to be more cooperative with Microsoft to enable some form of GamePass on PlayStation consoles, if one is dead-set on sticking only to PlayStation for their gaming needs.

The onus is on Sony here, and the fanbase to tell them what they want, which means that, yes, they'd have to work with Microsoft on GamePass implementation (in some form) on PlayStation systems. Those are the terms.

When Sony bought Insomniac, nobody celebrated taking Sunset Overdrive from Xbox. Because Insomniac already had a very long track record of working on several IPs with Sony. That's what people cared about. So, yes, "organic growth" is a real thing in Insomniac's case.

And not in Microsoft's case? Again, the sudden shift to "organic growth" (ironically taken from a marketing slogan so...this isn't even an original talking point xD) means nothing because A): it's a shifting of the goalpost and, B): ignores the fact Microsoft has also done "organic growth" while Sony has also done "inorganic growth".

People seem to forget that Microsoft made an investment into Bethesda back in the early 2000s', when they were needing funding or risked going out of business. That investment funded Morrowind (and also its OG Xbox version), and also funded the creation of Zenimax. Microsoft and Bethesda have been on very good terms for decades now, not just in a business relations terms but also creative relations. Only a dolt would look at this acquisition and try calling it "inorganic".

Meanwhile, a lot of people seem to just forget Sony outright purchasing Psynogsis back during the PS1 days; that was already an established developer on OTHER, non-Sony platforms, but it didn't matter to Sony then because they needed 1P content with proven results that could get things up and running quickly. It's almost as if they needed results sooner rather than later, and leveraged their financial wealth gained through a consumerist-driven, capitalist economy to their strength because, why punish them for having tons more cash than SEGA or Nintendo in order to make such moves, why was that Sony's fault in the '90s? It wasn't.

And all the same, it's not Microsoft's fault that today they have magnitudes more money than Sony, and are simply leveraging their own financial wealth and resources to compete, the same way Sony did when they entered the industry. Now, it's certainly up for discussion why it took Microsoft so long to commit that type of energy to the Xbox division again (arguably on par with what they did in the 360 generation, in some ways exceeding that), but the fact is that's what they're doing and they should be allowed to tap into their resources and strengths just like any other platform holder in the history of the industry.

This weird way some folks have come to try shaming literal corporations for leveraging their financial wealth and resources in a business driven by competition using those very things, simply because one particular company has a lot more they can use in that department vs. the other, is paper-thin logic so easy to see through, you could call it translucent. Especially considering how we have historical evidence of the gaming press in the '90s never once making these same type of insipid arguments when Sony leveraged their money, distribution networks, fabs, retail chain partnerships etc. to push PlayStation in the '90s and early '00s (and for good reason; it would've been a terrible argument back then, too).

If Xbox fans wanted more SO games, they should have bought the first one more. Maybe then Insomniac would not have sold out to Sony either.

Well I guess the same can be said for Days Gone; if PlayStation fans wanted a sequel, they should've bought the first one at full price, per the game director's own quote! 🤷‍♂️ Heck, we can extend this to more PlayStation games coming to PC; if PlayStation fans wanted those to say 100% exclusive, they should've purchased more of them when they were new and at full price.

This is such a dumb point to make and it really doesn't serve much of anything. (and now I'm anxiously awaiting for the accusations of being an Xbox fanboy even though I literally posted a pretty blunt and strongly-opinionated thread about their upcoming E3 a couple weeks ago 🤦‍♂️ )

But I guess that would have required a genuine interest in games, not corporate cheerleading.

And once again with the bad take, we can apply this very same quote of yours to the PlayStation example I listed above. These kind of petty hot-takes aren't needed and just killed whatever flimsy premise of an argument you had to start with.
 
I think you have that in reverse, Sony fans are always bragging about the number of exclusive games they have, trying desperately to brag about "xBoX hAs No GaMeS" while Xbox owners just roll their eyes and continue playing games
journalists are saying now and they were saying last generation that Xbox has problem with lack of exclusives.
what did MS release since launch ? or year before ? what ?

yeah, Xbox owners just play games. didn't they spend entire 2020 spreading lies about Playstation ? even making forum threads about spreading them.
attacking every Sony developer on twitter about resolution, framerate or some random stuff like character model.
Jeff Grubb, Jason Schreier, Tom Warren and Brad Sams sure helped a lot saying shit like "PS5 has problems running RE Village at 1080p, Xbox Live will be free,
PS5 has heating problems, Sony will produce less consoles than MS, PS5 doesn't have RDNA2, games will look better on Xbox, MS has bought this or that studio..."
great non biased journalism.
 

OceanGaming

Member
This is such a false strawman; on a technical level yes, others eventually get to play those games. However, the effect that timed exclusivity has on the platforms not lucky to get it are very negative, because the vast bulk of a game's sales, revenue and impact are had with the initial launch, especially for the massive AAA games.

So if one platform gets those games at launch and the other has to wait a year or two, then there is a runoff effect generated for the platform that doesn't secure those games; it loses retention with the hardcore and core gaming bases, and in turn loses retention with the mainstream and casual audiences, as a lot of them tend to go where the hardcore/core gamers set the stage to play at.

Eventually a narrative starts to form and the pace of userbase retention loss for the platform not netting such timed exclusivity deals grows exponentially. Not to mention, the value of brand image perception that is lost; the platform that is able to get those games as timed exclusives is generally seen as the "stronger" platform, it's very similar psychologically-speaking to the type of competition we see among people in business, romance etc. IRL and, psychologically speaking, people tend to resonate more strongly with those that can display strength, which getting timed exclusivity on major games definitely falls into.

There is a reason Sony continues to use this strategy, and it's for every single reason I just mentioned above. Not to say other platform holders don't pursue it but among the three Sony easily does it the most and generally with the biggest 3P AAA releases. The technicality that those games eventually get to other platforms doesn't undo the perception damage the brands of those platforms face, not even close.



They have not been taken away permanently, though; options on the backend exist for users of that platform to still play those games. These people have these things called "mobile phones", correct? I thought everyone had a PC so what would it matter, anyway, their PC should blow past these consoles anyway that was the talk back in September right? Maybe we should introduce them to the world of tablets...

The truth is, people who are upset about the Bethesda/Zenimax deal but had a choice in what platform to buy knowing that, only to still buy the platform whose holder does not own those studios, and also for any number of reasons refuse to buy into the ecosystem of the platform whose holder DOES own those studios....have done nothing but bring disappointment upon themselves. The deal was announced TWO MONTHS before the consoles even launched, and rumors were persisting even earlier than that.

I also think it's quite childish in itself to label everyone who liked the acquisition as hypocrites who enjoy seeing a platform deprived of certain games. For one thing, not everyone who is okay with the acquisition "likes" it; they are just sensible adults who understand the reality of the situation and accept the results as they are. I personally don't cheer on acquisitions, but when there's enough smoke to hint that one might be happening, I might speculate it could happen. And if it's announced as actually happening, then I accept it because me complaining, bitching and moaning isn't gonna reverse the decision.

More importantly, most of us are aware that these acquisitions are done by companies that WANT TO SELL IN THE FIRST PLACE! Who am I to be petty and wish it not so, or erroneously fearmonger about "monopolies" and "consolidation" (when if you want to talk companies acquiring a lot gaming-wise, Embracer Group is much more active on that front than Microsoft yet I've not once seen those people question that company...I wonder why :pie_thinking: ...) when the deals involve a company willing to buy and another willing to sell? Some folks are acting like these are hostile takeovers, when it's the complete opposite.

But for the folks who are still holding out these games still make it to a PlayStation console, it's not like Microsoft hasn't left a backdoor open to enable such...it's just up to Sony to work with them so they can meet in the middle and agree to terms that are preferred between the two parties. So maybe try asking Sony to be more cooperative with Microsoft to enable some form of GamePass on PlayStation consoles, if one is dead-set on sticking only to PlayStation for their gaming needs.

The onus is on Sony here, and the fanbase to tell them what they want, which means that, yes, they'd have to work with Microsoft on GamePass implementation (in some form) on PlayStation systems. Those are the terms.



And not in Microsoft's case? Again, the sudden shift to "organic growth" (ironically taken from a marketing slogan so...this isn't even an original talking point xD) means nothing because A): it's a shifting of the goalpost and, B): ignores the fact Microsoft has also done "organic growth" while Sony has also done "inorganic growth".

People seem to forget that Microsoft made an investment into Bethesda back in the early 2000s', when they were needing funding or risked going out of business. That investment funded Morrowind (and also its OG Xbox version), and also funded the creation of Zenimax. Microsoft and Bethesda have been on very good terms for decades now, not just in a business relations terms but also creative relations. Only a dolt would look at this acquisition and try calling it "inorganic".

Meanwhile, a lot of people seem to just forget Sony outright purchasing Psynogsis back during the PS1 days; that was already an established developer on OTHER, non-Sony platforms, but it didn't matter to Sony then because they needed 1P content with proven results that could get things up and running quickly. It's almost as if they needed results sooner rather than later, and leveraged their financial wealth gained through a consumerist-driven, capitalist economy to their strength because, why punish them for having tons more cash than SEGA or Nintendo in order to make such moves, why was that Sony's fault in the '90s? It wasn't.

And all the same, it's not Microsoft's fault that today they have magnitudes more money than Sony, and are simply leveraging their own financial wealth and resources to compete, the same way Sony did when they entered the industry. Now, it's certainly up for discussion why it took Microsoft so long to commit that type of energy to the Xbox division again (arguably on par with what they did in the 360 generation, in some ways exceeding that), but the fact is that's what they're doing and they should be allowed to tap into their resources and strengths just like any other platform holder in the history of the industry.

This weird way some folks have come to try shaming literal corporations for leveraging their financial wealth and resources in a business driven by competition using those very things, simply because one particular company has a lot more they can use in that department vs. the other, is paper-thin logic so easy to see through, you could call it translucent. Especially considering how we have historical evidence of the gaming press in the '90s never once making these same type of insipid arguments when Sony leveraged their money, distribution networks, fabs, retail chain partnerships etc. to push PlayStation in the '90s and early '00s (and for good reason; it would've been a terrible argument back then, too).



Well I guess the same can be said for Days Gone; if PlayStation fans wanted a sequel, they should've bought the first one at full price, per the game director's own quote! 🤷‍♂️ Heck, we can extend this to more PlayStation games coming to PC; if PlayStation fans wanted those to say 100% exclusive, they should've purchased more of them when they were new and at full price.

This is such a dumb point to make and it really doesn't serve much of anything. (and now I'm anxiously awaiting for the accusations of being an Xbox fanboy even though I literally posted a pretty blunt and strongly-opinionated thread about their upcoming E3 a couple weeks ago 🤦‍♂️ )



And once again with the bad take, we can apply this very same quote of yours to the PlayStation example I listed above. These kind of petty hot-takes aren't needed and just killed whatever flimsy premise of an argument you had to start with.

Adding to your Psygnosis post, Psygnosis published first Drakan game which was a PC game but the sequel to that game (Ancient Gates) was PS2 exclusive (and bombed). If you wanted to play the sequel you had to buy PS2, no alternatives. At least Xbox is giving you multiple options (XBox Consoles + PC and that Valve Handheld if they are actually making it + Cloud). I'm sure they even want to bring it to Switch i feel like.
 
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NickFire

Member
This is such a false strawman; on a technical level yes, others eventually get to play those games. However, the effect that timed exclusivity has on the platforms not lucky to get it are very negative, because the vast bulk of a game's sales, revenue and impact are had with the initial launch, especially for the massive AAA games.
2020 called and wants its fact checking methods back.

:messenger_tears_of_joy:

What i mean is, when you write that on a technical level something is true, then it is not a false strawman (or false for any other reason).
 
Playstation owners
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Xbox owners
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I think you have that in reverse, Sony fans are always bragging about the number of exclusive games they have, trying desperately to brag about "xBoX hAs No GaMeS" while Xbox owners just roll their eyes and continue playing games

You both have it wrong. That's an N64 controller. While you two are arguing over whether Microsoft of Sony is making lists, Nintendo fans are playing games.

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Black_Stride

do not tempt fate do not contrain Wonder Woman's thighs do not do not
All this money blown just to finish in third again. Perhaps they are going to spend more billions on Epic? It's the only company that really would be worth it long term.
Xbox always coming in third.
They need to hide their faces in shame:
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