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Phil Spencer: Nintendo and Sony are not going to do anything that damages gaming in the long run.

quest

Not Banned from OT
Ok. Now lets think about this for a second. Phil just spent $70 billion dollars, $82 if you count Minecraft and Zenimax, because he's afraid Google, Apple and Facebook will come in and remove CoD from Xbox. Do you really believe Phil would spend $70 billion just to keep CoD on Xbox?

Lets not even discuss the fact that Bobby Kotick did go to Facebook and shop around, and found no buyers other than Microsoft. Google already tried their hand at gaming and struck out. They just closed down both of the studios they opened. Amazon failed at creating that awful Moba game and dropped it immediately. Apple has shown ZERO interest in video games. MS had zero competition for the bidding rights to the biggest IP in gaming. What does that tell you?

If Microsoft was just saving gamers from the big bad trillion dollar companies, they would not have made Starfield and Elder Scrolls xbox exclusive. This is about console wars. This is about putting gamepass on the PS5 and Switch. There is really nothing more to it than that. He's creating a big bad boogeyman to hide the fact that he's that boogeyman. The fact of the matter is that no one else was interested in Activision. No desperation from Apple, Google or Amazon here.

Go look up the biggest acquisitions by Apple, Google, and Amazon. $13 billion tops. Most them are in the $2-3 billion range. No one is spending $70 billion on video games lol

You mean the same Starfield that Ryan was inches from locking up as a timed exclusive lol? Sony earned karma on the zenimax deal honestly. Money hat games left and right expect to be hit back. Deathloop, Tokyo ghost wire then trying to lock up starfield it was clear Ryan was going to lock up every zenimax game unless Microsoft either bought them or wasted money in a bidding war for timed exclusives. Blame Ryan for zenimax deal wake a sleeping dragon and face the fire breath.
 
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SlimySnake

Flashless at the Golden Globes
You mean the same Starfield that Ryan was inches from locking up as a timed exclusive lol? Sony warned karma on the zenimax deal honestly. Money hat games left and right expect to be hit back. Deathloop, Tokyo ghost wire then trying to lock up starfield it was clear Ryan was going to lock up every zenimax game unless Microsoft either bought them or wasted money in a bidding war for timed exclusives. Blame Ryan for zenimax deal wake a sleeping dragon and face the fire breath.
I do and I have several times on this board.
 

Toni

Member
Isn't it the opposite? Sony has been out played and out maneuvered. Sony tried to lock down exclusivity on starfield and ms bought Bethesda. Sony had an exclusivity deal with cod and ms bought Activision. Sony tried to bluff and ms called them on it and took the pot. Hopefully Sony has finally learned their lesson.

And where did that take Xbox?

Back to last place in console revenue

CBT0pKL.gif
 
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Yoboman

Member
I don't think these political allegories are working.

The lesser evil invaded Poland



Ready At Dawn

BigBox VR

PlayGiga

Population

Typhoon Studios

..a few examples. And don't tell me they "don't count" because they might not be studios you know or you care about.

Also, a publisher's just a collection of developers who can market and distribute their product. So saying one acquisition is less "evil" because it wasn't a publisher is saying mostly nothing.
Ready at Dawn, Typhoon, PlayGiga, BigBox VR are developers. Population is a game by BigBox not a developer or publisher

A publisher is not just a collection of developers. It is distribution, data, IPs and brands as well as all of the developers in its network. It is completely different to buying a single developer and your false equivalence and baseless fear mongering that Google or Facebook would have done it doesn't change that
 

Ozriel

M$FT
Ready at Dawn, Typhoon, PlayGiga, BigBox VR are developers. Population is a game by BigBox not a developer or publisher

A publisher is not just a collection of developers. It is distribution, data, IPs and brands as well as all of the developers in its network. It is completely different to buying a single developer and your false equivalence and baseless fear mongering that Google or Facebook would have done it doesn't change that
YOU were the one who asked him to show you what publishers and developers were purchased. He did that and you're now moving goalposts.

Can you stop moving goalposts and keep this conversation honest?

And yeah, developers can - and often do - own IPs. If you claim to be fundamentally against consolidation, stop hiding under the scale argument. No major difference between acquiring 3 developers in a quarter and acquiring a publisher - a collection of developers - for example.

Given the fact that you didn't know that Google, Amazon and Facebook had acquired developers, I'm not sure you're informed enough about this topic to do justice to the discussion.

And FFS, stop moving goalposts.
 

Ezquimacore

Banned
Nintendo probably will create the next best thing once again with the minimum budget possible, outsell you again and make you look like a clown for wasting like $100B in acquisitions.
 

adamsapple

Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
Nintendo probably will create the next best thing once again with the minimum budget possible, outsell you again and make you look like a clown for wasting like $100B in acquisitions.

I ... don't think MS cares about Switch sales when making any acquisitions
 

adamsapple

Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
What I mean is they think Nintendo and Sony are not their enemy, but they could release something that would make their investment seems like a joke. He should stop trying to be the nice guy, looks fake.
All of his tweets are very carefully worded PR speak, he's not being nice or mean to anyone, he's just saying all the politically and financially acceptable things he can before the deals get finalized.
 

Edgelord79

Gold Member

"Phil Spencer: Nintendo and Sony are not going to do anything that damages gaming in the long run."​


Yeah theyre not, but you guys are
You're right. Activision was doing a bang up job being stewards of those IP's. They weren't damaging gaming at all. Microsoft can't possibly improve them.

Stop pearl clutching. At least now there's hope that Diablo 4 won't be terrible, that StarCraft may come back, that Warcraft gets a proper sequel. As someone that he grew up with these franchises, it's been painful to see the CoD factory Activision has become. I trust MS to at least try and resurrect some of these IP's and do a better job.

Seems to me you only care about gaming on your favorite plastic box and not the actual industry. I suspect that's the case with many here.
 
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Three

Member
At least now there's hope that Diablo 4 won't be terrible, that StarCraft may come back, that Warcraft gets a proper sequel. As someone that he grew up with these franchises, it's been painful to see the CoD factory Activision has become. I trust MS to at least try and resurrect some of these IP's and do a better job.
They bought a company making these games. It's the same people. Phil isn't going to the studio coding and it's not like Activision had a money problem to do the games justice.

As for resurrection of old IPs there are people asking for those on IPs MS already own and nothing is happening. Conker and Banjo still missing in action, KI back in the darkness and the Battletoads resurrection was damn awful. One of the worst games ever.
 

jufonuk

not tag worthy
If Apple, Facebook, google and Amazon get into gaming properly like the big 3 are I think we are in trouble they will absorb who they can and just shut them down when it doesn’t go smoothly as they hoped.

I think we are on the edge of something and it could go bad because of all the consolidation. Who knows.
You mean like a video game industry crash?

Yeah It happened before. I doubt it would happen the same way again. But I can see a lot of AAA titles no being made after and it going to A and indies type thing.
 

quest

Not Banned from OT
They bought a company making these games. It's the same people. Phil isn't going to the studio coding and it's not like Activision had a money problem to do the games justice.

As for resurrection of old IPs there are people asking for those on IPs MS already own and nothing is happening. Conker and Banjo still missing in action, KI back in the darkness and the Battletoads resurrection was damn awful. One of the worst games ever.

Considering Matt Booty will let some of these studios make games again instead of being part of the COD machine will be a big improvement and first step.
 

Three

Member
No major difference between acquiring 3 developers in a quarter and acquiring a publisher - a collection of developers - for example.
This is bullshit and you know it. What did you lose for example when Meta bought Ready at Dawn? The major difference is that Oculus Studios wanted a talented developer who was looking for work to create NEW games for their platform. Buying a publisher like Activision is about making sure you control established existing IPs and being able to take it away to lure people in.
 
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Edgelord79

Gold Member
They bought a company making these games. It's the same people. Phil isn't going to the studio coding and it's not like Activision had a money problem to do the games justice.
Yes they did have a money problem. It's called Call of Duty. They didn't care to focus on anything else. If they could do other games justice then why haven't they. Their games are all in decline.

As for resurrection of old IPs there are people asking for those on IPs MS already own and nothing is happening. Conker and Banjo still missing in action, KI back in the darkness and the Battletoads resurrection was damn awful. One of the worst games ever.
Those games have nowhere the pedigree that these do, especially on PC. I think a lot of people forget that there is a large PC component to this deal as well.

Hey, if 5 years from now we don't see any movement or an improvement on these games and it's just CoD, I'll be the first one to say I was wrong.

Edit: I would love for say Sony to purchase EA. Imagine what they could do with BioWare franchises with their production values.
 
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SkylineRKR

Member
Phil talks as if he's in a market leader position or something, but he's distant third if you talk about adoption rate, profitability and software sales. I think the supply constraints make the differences smaller than it actually is. How much the impact of losing CoD is for the Playstation sales in general remains to be seen, but I think as with many multiplatform titles you're not going to see huge differences after all.

Its smart of them to kind of branch out from dedicated hardware though. You're always at the mercy of supply, its a high entry price for many etc.
 

DenchDeckard

Moderated wildly
You mean like a video game industry crash?

Yeah It happened before. I doubt it would happen the same way again. But I can see a lot of AAA titles no being made after and it going to A and indies type thing.

yeah, I feel like a potential crash. Not how it’s happened before like you say but basically a few huge AAAs nit landing and selling like they are supposed to and it just causing a huge disruption.

maybe not, I don’t really know but something just feels off in some ways to me.
 

Ozriel

M$FT
This is bullshit and you know it. What did you lose for example when Meta bought Ready at Dawn? The major difference is that Oculus Studios wanted a talented developer who was looking for work to create NEW games for their platform.

Now the goal post has shifted to “what did you lose”.
I thought the whole discussion was around consolidation?


Buying a publisher like Activision is about making sure you control established existing IPs and being able to take it away to lore people in.

If, according to you, The Bad Thing is controlling established existing IPs and using them to lure people in, why have I never seen you critique the Sony deals to keep the Final Fantasy series exclusive?

They fit the criteria you specify. They are an established, existing IP and exclusivity for them is designed to sell hardware.

Ah yeah. You called it ‘locking down’ when Sony paid for exclusivity. Definitely no angry response.
 

Three

Member
yeah, I feel like a potential crash. Not how it’s happened before like you say but basically a few huge AAAs nit landing and selling like they are supposed to and it just causing a huge disruption.

maybe not, I don’t really know but something just feels off in some ways to me.
It's already happening. Game sales are declining.

December growth in subscription and recurrent spending across PC, console, VR, and mobile platforms offset declines in premium game sales to keep content spending flat vs YA

The future is Metaverse. 'free' games that you might even pay two subscriptions for which are full of microtransactions and NFTs.
 

Ozriel

M$FT
They bought a company making these games. It's the same people. Phil isn't going to the studio coding and it's not like Activision had a money problem to do the games justice.

See why it pays to read the article? Phil talks about improving resources and capability to allow them do more and do better. And you’re here daydreaming about the status quo remaining the same post-acquisition.

It could even be a change in direction. Just allowing one extra year with no COD could potentially free up multiple support studios. There are multiple levers to pull.


As for resurrection of old IPs there are people asking for those on IPs MS already own and nothing is happening. Conker and Banjo still missing in action, KI back in the darkness

Every single one of MS studios are busy with projects, though, so it’s not like anything’s been missed out. Fable and Perfect Dark are in the works, and there’s strong rumors that Quake is coming back.


the Battletoads resurrection was damn awful. One of the worst games ever.

72% metascore isn’t anywhere close to ‘one of the worst games ever’. Higher than Days Gone, for example, which you liked.
 

Cyborg

Member
In general, I do think Phill is a nice and cool guy. I do respect that he has a vision for Xbox and is able to execute it.
Its only a lot easier to do this and say what he is saying when you have so much money backing you up.
 

assurdum

Banned
You're right. Activision was doing a bang up job being stewards of those IP's. They weren't damaging gaming at all. Microsoft can't possibly improve them.

Stop pearl clutching. At least now there's hope that Diablo 4 won't be terrible, that StarCraft may come back, that Warcraft gets a proper sequel. As someone that he grew up with these franchises, it's been painful to see the CoD factory Activision has become. I trust MS to at least try and resurrect some of these IP's and do a better job.

Seems to me you only care about gaming on your favorite plastic box and not the actual industry. I suspect that's the case with many here.
Oh wow. You really say that, look at the irony. Only an avid fanboy of the Xbox plastic box could think such acquisition is the better thing could happen for the gamers :messenger_tears_of_joy: there is nothing of good for the final customer when a billionaire multinational corporations buy a publisher.
 
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DenchDeckard

Moderated wildly
It's already happening. Game sales are declining.



The future is Metaverse. 'free' games that you might even pay two subscriptions for which are full of microtransactions and NFTs.
i think we will see a decline vs peak Covid year but these execs seem clueless. Look at big games like Anthem, BF2042, CoD vanguard all this talk about NFTs.it’s like they are all losing their way trying to make even more money.

hopefully a reset happens and we get some really good games coming out. Im personally not even bothered about insane graphics just give me good gameplay or a decent story and gameplay with solid performance. These boxes can deliver it for sure but shit just seems too by the numbers now.
God of war was the last game where I truly felt like SSM nailed it. Kind of Metroid design done in Unique way with excellent game play and story.

everything seems to be some open world shite padded with the same mundane tasks over and over again.
 

Edgelord79

Gold Member
Oh wow. You really say that, look at the irony. Only an avid fanboy of the Xbox plastic box could think such acquisition is the better thing could happen for the gamers :messenger_tears_of_joy:
I'm starting to think you aren't that smart.

At first it was your 60 FPS interpolation thread. But hey, honest mistake.

Then it was your inability to grasp the concept of a monopoly.

Now it's your inability to grasp irony.

Irony = Your Avatar
 
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Three

Member
Now the goal post has shifted to “what did you lose”.
I thought the whole discussion was around consolidation?

Where did I move goal posts or change the conversation? Somebody said:

A publisher is not just a collection of developers. It is distribution, data, IPs and brands as well as all of the developers in its network. It is completely different to buying a single developer and your false equivalence and baseless fear mongering that Google or Facebook would have done it doesn't change that

To which you replied "buying 3 developers is the same as buying a publisher".

To which I replied it isn't and you know it.

The "what did you lose" is the topic. It's not a goal post shift. Ok let me rephrase it for you, what harm did Meta buying Ready at Dawn cause you or the industry?

From whichever pespective you want to look at it it's actually your favourite company MS doing the most consolidating of existing IPs and of developers. All the while the other companies are apparently the harmful ones for buying small out of work studios to support their VR platform they are trying to get off the ground.

As for your FF7 whataboutism, Sony don't control the IP. They don't own it. Yes exclusivity sucked but all this talk of lesser evils you still don't see how that's at least better because it will eventually come as Sony didn't go and buy the publisher and IP.
 
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Lupin25

Member
I guess his justification and resolve for acquisition is to fend off corporate conglomerates (Amazon, Meta, Google, etc.) but it’s ironic, considering MS are one of the biggest enablers of consolidation there is.

These statements are made almost as if MS isn’t financially backing XGS, as if we should trust their intent above all else lol…

$69-70 billion for essentially COD (knowing Warzone will remain multiplatform) and past-their-prime dormant IP’s is a bit drastic, but I’d much rather MS obtain them, then allow Activision-Blizzard to continue to destroy their prestige.

Looking at the list of titles other than COD, there aren’t any I could envision Sony having interest in now after all of these years.

In the long run, I just hope MS can actually competently manage all of these IP’s.

Sony will be fine. We’re in a weird, transitional phase of gaming where even the heaviest of hitters (ie. BF2042, Far Cry 6) can be dead upon arrival or simply overlooked.

They need a fresh take on the multiplayer space like Epic & Riot Games had with Fortnite & Valorant. They definitely shouldn’t replicate others and follow suit though.

London, Naughty Dog, Firesprite, and Deviation all of have a great opportunity.

Also, notice how indie titles are receiving more & more praise (Hades, Spiritfarer, etc.) and the “next fad” is routinely sensationalized as some of most well-known, age-old industry vets clamour for innovation.
 
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Three

Member
72% metascore isn’t anywhere close to ‘one of the worst games ever’. Higher than Days Gone, for example, which you liked.
If I had said 'literally one of the worst games ever' you would have a reason to be butthurt but to everyone else it's clear it was just a bad game. look at the user score for that thing. Also lol at your assumption that I liked days gone. I have it but I haven't even played it.
 
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Or selling Activision made it possible for Bobby to broker in a golden parachute, instead of getting booted from the company.

Dude is laughing his ass off right now
Well, while this operation certainly has been a good big bump for Kotick wallet, let's not pretend that there was ever a credible scenario in which Kotick could find himself paying the consequences of his actions...
 

Tams

Gold Member
The discussion we've had internally, where those things are important to those other tech companies for how many consumers they reach, gaming can be that for us.
What even is this word salad?

Has he been sniffing his own farts a bit too much?
 
I think he's awkwardly saying that he trusts Sony and Nintendo to help preserve some semblance of the business as it exists today, without excessively twisting it into a dystopian NFT disaster.

But what he's really saying is that he doesn't trust that with Amazon, Google, Facebook, Apple, Tencent. He's interested in preserving gaming.
Yes, he's saying that all the while his boss is talking about leveraging gaming assets for the "metaverse".

So take what he's saying here with a pinch of salt.
 

Papacheeks

Banned
You're right. Activision was doing a bang up job being stewards of those IP's. They weren't damaging gaming at all. Microsoft can't possibly improve them.

Stop pearl clutching. At least now there's hope that Diablo 4 won't be terrible, that StarCraft may come back, that Warcraft gets a proper sequel. As someone that he grew up with these franchises, it's been painful to see the CoD factory Activision has become. I trust MS to at least try and resurrect some of these IP's and do a better job.

Seems to me you only care about gaming on your favorite plastic box and not the actual industry. I suspect that's the case with many here.

What Airbus is talking about is With the purchase of this giant Publisher, Microsoft has started a bidding war where more consolidation will occur. And in doing so will cause a ripple effect. Sony and Nintendo are expanding just to studios and the likes, not buying whole giant publishers. I mean Sony might buy Square, doesnt mean its good.

The future of owning nothing is kind of scary with Video games compared to other mediums like music/tv/film. WHich are much easier to host and archive than a game that has online components that require dedicated servers. WHich costs lots of money to upkeep over along period of time when people start to drop off.

If physical PC was still a thing, even a game that its publisher or developer went belly up, you could install it, setup a lan or personal server and literally have people play. Also with the way games are designed now, most games are almost unplayable without a giant day one patch. Imagine if that game server's just get removed? Or its entry removed from the store because it no longer exists developer/Publisher wise?

Music and movies dont require any server/network for patching. They just play.

This path of owning nothing and having a sub is cool in terms of the money spent for entertainment compared to people paying full price. We get it, getting to play games for basically nothing is awesome. But it's a double edged sword. Because of the nature of sub services, you need constant content like Netflix, and only way to do that is you internally have enough developers to do so. Microsoft knows even with the developers they bought not every game is going to land let alone make someone sign up like a call of duty, diablo, WOW would.
 
He’s right? Look at the Amazon train wreck. Imagine they bought up a bunch of companies. They would have been crashed into the sun by now.

I welcome one cheap monthly price for all games versus $103 Canadian for one first party Sony game. Games are too expensive.
 

Gobjuduck

Banned
I don’t understand why PlayStation has so much more respect than Xbox from many on here. The PlayStation brand is only 7 years older than Xbox. Xbox has been in the gaming industry for more than 20 years. Most of us play games on windows devices.

Microsoft acquiring Activision Blizzard is fair business. They wanted to sell, and Microsoft got the deal. If you are upset about this, you are most likely a big Sony fan who doesn’t want to join the Xbox ecosystem. BTW Sonys biggest IP, Spider-Man, wasn’t always theirs. It’s not even close to being a monopoly, as it’s only ~10% of industry.

Phil Spencer has been at Microsoft longer than PlayStation has existed. He’s been a gamer longer than most of us. He is the best out there for the Job, and he’s right.

Nintendo is the only big player that does their own thing, and has been doing it the longest. Sony and Microsoft bursted into the industry, and now they both have their spots. Both have made anti-consumer moves and have flunked a generation.
 
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Three

Member
Game sales are not declining. Wtf are you talking about
They certainly seem to be by the data. That quote I gave there is from December NPD.
Look at EAs previous earnings call too from August. Full game sales had dropped 19% and EA is moving to GaaS


Overall big game sales are down and they're being offset by microtransactions and subs.
 

Tumle

Member
isn't there a bigger chance of games not going exclusive, if either facebook, Amazon or google was to buy a Publisher?
so better for the whole gaming community?
Not a fan of either company and can't wait to get my games on gamepass.. But looking at the bigger picture, the falesy of microsoft buying up publishers to "protect" gaming.. sounds kind of hollow.
 
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Papacheeks

Banned
I don’t understand why PlayStation has so much more respect than Xbox from many on here. The PlayStation brand is only 7 years older than Xbox. Xbox has been in the gaming industry for more than 20 years. Most of us play games on windows devices.

Microsoft acquiring Activision Blizzard is fair business. They wanted to sell, and Microsoft got the deal. If you are upset about this, you are most likely a big Sony fan who doesn’t want to join the Xbox ecosystem. BTW Sonys biggest IP, Spider-Man, wasn’t always theirs. It’s not even close to being a monopoly, as it’s only ~10% of industry.

Phil Spencer has been at Microsoft longer than PlayStation has existed. He’s been a gamer longer than most of us. He is the best out there for the Job, and he’s right.

Nintendo is the only big player that does their own thing, and has been doing it the longest. Sony and Microsoft bursted into the industry, and now they both have their spots. Both have made anti-consumer moves and have flunked a generation.

i don't blame Microsoft for buying them. This is more the fault of the system we have in place, and giant tech trying to push one another around and out. I would rather have MS own ACT/BLIZZARD than facebook. Facebook is not a gaming company even with quest and their push for meta.

But I think the bigger thing that puts a bad taste in peoples mouth is Microsoft just buys the industry than trying to actually create. Those days are long gone. I'm not saying they are not creating new exciting IP's and brands. But the days of people having that drive and push and overall outlook on games as Entertainment has been replaced fully by goals that allign with Enterprise. While Sony and Nintendo's repsective divisions are still solely based off of psuhing entertainment forward.

Hence the tech/ animators,, writers, mo-cap hands down Sony has the cream of the crop regardless of what people think. And its why a spotlight is put on them when they release a game. Microsoft at this point has yet to show anything at the same caliber of writing, animation, creativity.
Even with Hellblade 2, game is a looker, but its primarily a singular, super linear expiernce with great facial mo-cap. I put it in the genre as games by Supermassic, Quantic Dream. Sony literally make worlds and concept art pop off the screen.

Yet to see anything of that caliber and polish from Microsoft internally. Now they just buy the studios that make those, instead of learning from studios they have and grow them to get to a point in making those type of games. And I'm not saying making what Sony makes I'm saying taking a developer like RARE, and fully have them make something akin to what they use to, even if it falls flat. Everwild could be that, but who knows since it was rebooted already.

Playstation has a history that their developers want to tell stories, and are given the full kitchen sink to make them, and this has been done over 3-4 gens where they have honed their craft and studio culture. Xbox over the gens have just churned sequels after sequel, spin offs, and changed studio culture too often depending on what was hot at the time.
 
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