A couple of posters here try to pretend it's about the games but if you go on Xbox sites they tell it like it really is. Their #1 priority (and ONLY) is to keep games off Sony by any means necessary.
They cheer for MS to buy the whole industry. This is their biggest dream and fantasy. They all talk about it openly with tears in their eyes.
All I'm reading here is a collection of your biggest fears, and the biggest fears of a lot of Playstation fans. Nobody is seriously as bothered about acquisitions as you guys appear to be, starting up change.org petitions all over the place to fire jim ryan and to acquire more studios, and to have Starfield release on Playstation, and whatever other desperate gambits I've seen from Playstation fans.
It's absolutely about games with Xbox fans because we can actually acknowledge Microsoft seriously dropped the ball with their first party output further into the Xbox One gen after starting out very strong. And when you say keep games off sony by any means necessary, wasn't it Playstation fans for years who said exclusives add value to an eco-system or platform? Wasn't it Playstation fans who kept laughing and bragging that Xbox had no games? Suddenly Playstation fans are crying and want all these games that belong to studios owned by Xbox as opposed to just sucking it up the way Xbox fans do and buy the other platform in order to play its exclusives, or, you know, use those amazing high end PCs that everybody has been claiming for years they have, but suddenly now no longer possess since Xbox purchased Bethesda.
Just because Microsoft bought a number of studios, purchased Zenimax/Bethesda, and is investing heavily into xbox publishing deals with independent studios to bring more AAA titles to Xbox, which may or may not lead to those studios becoming part of Xbox, suddenly it's now wrong to get excited over exclusives? Suddenly exclusives aren't cool anymore?
Is it only cool to brag about exclusives and games not going to another platform when it works in favor of Playstation?
Because that's what is really at the heart of all the bitterness from many (not all) Playstation fans. They can sure dish it out, but can't ever seem to take it. Nobody is whining about Insomniac becoming Playstation exclusive and taking easily one of the best Xbox exclusives (and best last gen games period) with them over to Playstation. Shit happens. You think there aren't tons of Spider-Man fans on Xbox? We just acknowledge that Sony has ownership over the property. If we want to play Spider-Man, we get Playstation. Xbox gamers aren't whining about not getting Final Fantasy 16 or Forspoken from Square Enix. Playstation fans get to be happy that those are exclusive, am I right?
Sony may be getting MGS 1 remake as an exclusive. That would be huge and exciting. If that's how it is, then that's how it is, and that would be a big win for Playstation. And that's fine. Why do playstation fans fear competition so much? They love Final Fantasy VII remake still not being on Xbox, and brag about it constantly even though a lot of them will never even play the game. Many Xbox fans who couldn't wait got it on their playstations. I, because I know the story isn't even finished being told and I've played the original, am willing to wait for the eventual Xbox version and for them to finish releasing EVERYTHING. If it never comes, then I play it on PS5. I have no issue with that.
So with all that said, yes, I'm VERY happy id software is now an Xbox exclusive first party studio and it means new Doom games will only come to Xbox consoles.
I'm VERY happy that Starfield is exclusive to Xbox consoles. I'm very happy Arkane's next big IP Redfall is exclusive to Xbox consoles. I'm very happy the next Elder Scrolls will be exclusive to Xbox consoles.
I want Indiana Jones from MachineGames to be exclusive to Xbox also. I hope the Wolfenstein franchise, future Fallout singleplayer games, future Dishonored games and anything new and big that's being worked on at Bethesda are all exclusive to xbox consoles. Why? Because Microsoft bought them for $7.5 billion. That's why. You spend that kind of money to have final say on some shit. And because Microsoft has final say, I want first party studios owned by Microsoft and Xbox to focus on xbox specific APIs and hardware features to get the most out of those systems and what they can do. It makes no sense anymore after the acquisition for them to work on Playstation titles outside of binding contracts and supporting existing game releases.
The less platforms they need to concern themselves with, the better the games can be. Would Playstation fans want first party studios like Insomniac, Naughty Dog and Guerilla to not be so focused on Playstation specific hardware and features that they don't take advantage of the Kraken decompression unit and all the mechanisms designed to get the most out of the PS5 SSD? Of course not. So Xbox fans want Xbox First Parties to worry only about Xbox. As much as people hate to see it, that now means all of Bethesda and every studio and game IP they own.
And, yes, I do hope Xbox acquires more studios because I see them building something incredible with Game Pass, and I want it to become even better. I like the idea of Xbox growing their first party operation into more of a powerhouse games factory that delivers more and more incredible games for the xbox ecosystem between xbox consoles, PC and the cloud and whatever form that may ultimately take with newer devices in the coming years.
And guess what? I want Sony to do the same with their own resources as it fits their specific needs. It's called
COMPETITION. Sony could have approached every single company that Microsoft has, but either didn't, or did but didn't have what the studios/companies were looking for. Let's not blame Microsoft for having ample resources, choosing to invest those resources, and getting acquired studios to agree with them.
Enough sour grapes over Microsoft aggressively pursuing more gaming studios and building out their gaming operation. If people are so impressed and satisfied with what Sony are already offering, and has been offering for years, what's there to be upset about? What happens will happen.