Microsoft is buying Activision Blizzard for $68.7 billion [FTC sues to stop - CMA issues updated preliminary findings]

[majob]

50 minutes ago, Eraezr said:

Makes me wonder if the rumoured Square Enix acquisition by Sony has fallen apart.

Well Sony was in talks with Bethesda over Starfield when the Microsoft made their acquisition of Zenimax. But Sony buying Square Enix has also been a rumor for years now

 

 

Edit: Sony is still seeking more acquisitions. Whether they'll be more small studios or a major publisher remains to be seen

 

https://gamerant.com/sony-playstation-studio-acquisitions/

Edited July 29, 2023 by majob

[Oberlin1694]

The news FF XIV is coming to Xbox has honestly really wound me up.

 

Like they just got Zenimax and now Activision, but sure let’s just keep giving them wins and handouts.

 

It’s honestly absolute hullshit, no clue what Square is playing at but they’re just further promoting for Xbox now, it’s a bad joke. Luckily we know they can’t get FF16 and 7 Remake but if they get 7 Rebirth I think I’ll stop supporting Square as a publisher and I suggest others do the same.

 

Xbox/Microsoft is about to make all future Activision titles Xbox exclusive, so let’s not start giving them PlayStation console exclusives now just to make things even worse. Fucking stupid. 

2 hours ago, Rozalia1 said:

 

Only took them 4 years after saying it was going to happen. The whole commitment thing has happened before and even with other companies. It'll last until they get the horrible sales numbers for a number of games, ask for bags of cash from Microsoft for future games to make up for it, and get rejected.

 

At the end of the day companies love making money as much as Spencer loves spending it. The idea that Square Enix, of all companies, was on some jihad against Microsoft was absurd and manufactured nonsense to hide the embarrassment of a third party seeing your platform as so lowly that it wasn't worth even releasing many of their games on it. The only companies that can operate without care for money are either ones ruled absolutely by someone/a group who can do things on principle, or supremely rich ones like Microsoft (though only if they can hide losses like they can at Xbox).

 

 

Success isn't exactly a cure all here. People often would rather have something less successful if it is more to their tastes, or alternatively they believe that what they like would bring far more in if it was pushed correctly (usually this is delusional). That said, while a real concern from PlayStation gamers, it is noticeable that Microsoft astroturfs that view heavily to amplify it. Just ask any of their shills what their issue with PlayStation is and that is their go to for a reason.

 

Microsoft's aggression will hopefully get Sony back into building themselves up in Japan. I understand that the games made in Japan, as much as many of us think fondly of, didn't actually sell all that well as PlayStation's demographics aren't quite as positive towards such games as Nintendo's are (Xbox's is non-existent), but it is worth keeping these things around for variety/future opportunities. Sony top management knows this as from what I recall hearing they basically keep their phone division around simply to keep hold of the expertise and be ready to move on any opportunity that presents itself (Microsoft meanwhile scrapped their phones which they now heavily regret).

There’s not a chance in hell Square supports Xbox for long imho. As Xbox likes games on Game Pass, but Square likes the cold hard cash from actual sales figures so I doubt we’ll see new releases of theirs on Game Pass.

 

But Xbot gamers are conditioned to wait for games to hit Game Pass now so the next few games Square releases will completely flop on Xbox and they’ll just go back to supporting Sony where they make the money.

[Prosser187ATX]

On 7/26/2023 at 1:08 AM, Zephrese said:

 

Sony hardly advertised the game at all, and Sanzaru made a lot of questionable decisions that the fanbase didn't seem to like (almost nobody likes Sanzaru either way, R.I.F.).

The former element played a significantly larger role in the game not selling well, for sure. Perhaps the timing wasn't quite right as well, but on that note I am unsure.

 

Golden Abyss being on the Vita is probably a larger reason behind that game's "bastard" status than the fact that it wasn't made by Naughty Dog specifically.

Sly 4 was a fantastic game that I only got around to playing in 2021. Sanzaru had a lot of respect for the franchise and if I remember correctly, they started developing aspects of the game prior to getting approval for it and Sony/Sucker Punch were really pleased with the pitch. If it didn’t sell well it may have had something to do with the game being locked to the Ps3 and the release date being February 5th 2013, 9 months before the Ps4 released on November 13 2013. That, along with a decline in the appeal of platformers compared to shooters (I was in 5th grade when Sly 1 came out and in my final year of college playing GTA V when Sly 4 released).

[N1cktim]

4 hours ago, Oberlin1694 said:

The news FF XIV is coming to Xbox has honestly really wound me up.

 

Like they just got Zenimax and now Activision, but sure let’s just keep giving them wins and handouts.

 

It’s honestly absolute hullshit, no clue what Square is playing at but they’re just further promoting for Xbox now, it’s a bad joke. Luckily we know they can’t get FF16 and 7 Remake but if they get 7 Rebirth I think I’ll stop supporting Square as a publisher and I suggest others do the same.

 

It looks like they're going to get more games.

 

 

Quote

Kiryu: As CEO of Square Enix, we want to continue to deliver fabulous games to fans across the globe. We want to welcome the Xbox community as well. Starting with today's announcement and whenever possible we are planning to bring our games to Xbox for players to enjoy.

 

Quote

Yoshida: We are commited to working with Xbox going forward.

 

[turniplord]

1 hour ago, N1cktim said:

 

It looks like they're going to get more games...

 

 

What did you expect them to say on stage? "This is the only game we're giving Xbox, we don't want to commit to anything moving forward - screw you Daddy Phil"?

Of course they're going to both say something in the vein of "we're looking forward to working together". It doesn't mean anything until it happens though. Personally, I think FF7R will come to Xbox within a year, but it's going to be a day-one GP title that Xbox has paid upwards of 100m for. They'll certainly lose money on the deal, as SE will charge them the projected sales based on how well it sold on PlayStation (which Xbox will never achieve), but that's the only way big titles like that will move over - SE can't afford taking any loses by porting their games to a system where people don't buy games.

Another possibility if the FF Pixel games - again, Game Pass day one backed by a lump sum of how much the game made, only this time based on PS, Nintendo and possibly PC combined - which will easily be in the tens of millions.

[Oberlin1694]

1 hour ago, turniplord said:

What did you expect them to say on stage? "This is the only game we're giving Xbox, we don't want to commit to anything moving forward - screw you Daddy Phil"?

Of course they're going to both say something in the vein of "we're looking forward to working together". It doesn't mean anything until it happens though. Personally, I think FF7R will come to Xbox within a year, but it's going to be a day-one GP title that Xbox has paid upwards of 100m for. They'll certainly lose money on the deal, as SE will charge them the projected sales based on how well it sold on PlayStation (which Xbox will never achieve), but that's the only way big titles like that will move over - SE can't afford taking any loses by porting their games to a system where people don't buy games.

Another possibility if the FF Pixel games - again, Game Pass day one backed by a lump sum of how much the game made, only this time based on PS, Nintendo and possibly PC combined - which will easily be in the tens of millions.

7 Remake literally isn’t allowed to come to Xbox and neither is 16. Sony had Square sign a contract that excludes those two titles at least from EVER coming to Xbox consoles. So no, it won’t be on Game Pass within the year, as it won’t ever come to Xbox.

 

Its the same kind of deal Konami signed with Silent Hill 2, which will also never come to Xbox.

Edited July 29, 2023 by Oberlin1694

[AJ_-_808]

I'm not sure that MS handing over a truck of cash for something that's going to be gamepass fodder qualifies as a win for xbox

[majob]

1 hour ago, AJ_-_808 said:

I'm not sure that MS handing over a truck of cash for something that's going to be gamepass fodder qualifies as a win for xbox

Money is immaterial, the goal is to shrink Sony's marketshare while increasing their own.

[AJ_-_808]

2 hours ago, majob said:

Money is immaterial, the goal is to shrink Sony's marketshare while increasing their own.

I don't think they're doing either by this move specifically, it isn't exclusive.  All it is is PR and gamepass fodder

[Iker_01]

I'm not even sure if there's going to be any Gamepass content. Sure, they could add FFXIV, but it's still a subscription based game, and they sure as hell won't include the subscription.

 

It's also interesting that "whenever possible" they'll bring their games to Xbox... not sure if we'll see FFVII Remake, Rebirth or FFXVI there any time soon.

[majob]

3 hours ago, Iker_01 said:

I'm not even sure if there's going to be any Gamepass content. Sure, they could add FFXIV, but it's still a subscription based game, and they sure as hell won't include the subscription.

 

It's also interesting that "whenever possible" they'll bring their games to Xbox... not sure if we'll see FFVII Remake, Rebirth or FFXVI there any time soon.

Microsoft's vehicle as of now is to get games on gamepass, it's why they were more upset about Sony blocking games on Gamepass than them blocking games on the Xbox platform because their software sales are already abysmal as is and Gamepass is the only thing seeing any actual growth. So it's safe to assume any deal they're striking with SE right now is to have games come to gamepass and while "whenever possible" sounds like a case by case basis, they honestly wouldn't be going this public with their announcement only to announce they're picking and choosing whats coming to the platform. As AJ_-_808 said, this is primarily PR. They want Sony to see that Square Enix and Microsoft are working together again as well as consumers.

[Oberlin1694]

4 hours ago, Iker_01 said:

I'm not even sure if there's going to be any Gamepass content. Sure, they could add FFXIV, but it's still a subscription based game, and they sure as hell won't include the subscription.

 

It's also interesting that "whenever possible" they'll bring their games to Xbox... not sure if we'll see FFVII Remake, Rebirth or FFXVI there any time soon.

With 7 Remake having been contracted as fully excluded from Xbox I wouldn’t be surprised if when it releases the same information comes out for 7 Rebirth.

 

It’s obvious Sony is funding these games to a ridiculous degree, as 7 has been a PlayStation mainstay for over a decade now. I don’t think there’s any kind of chance main titles come to Xbox

 

It just doesn’t make sense to release Part 2 of a trilogy to Xbox when they’re missing the 1st part which sets up every event going forward and is honestly for Part 1 of a trilogy surprisingly important to have played.

 

I imagine 7 Rebirth won’t even sell well on Xbox even if they do get it as so many people won’t play it without having played Part 1. 
 

Square has to be super careful here, but so does Microsoft, the minute it looks like they’re going to start making moves Sony will just close the door on them and enter into more exclusivity deals with Square. And they’ll take those deals over whatever Microsoft offers as they’re impressed with the sales of FF16, what with it only being on PS5 etc

Edited July 30, 2023 by Oberlin1694

[Lance_87]

5 hours ago, Oberlin1694 said:

as 7 has been a PlayStation mainstay for over a decade now

 

18 years. But it's no longer a console exclusive since 2019 (when it was released on Switch and Xbox, with a 2016 release on Android, too)

Edited July 30, 2023 by Lance_87

[Rozalia1]

I'll briefly mention it as it isn't worth much time. The EU recently released their report at last after... months? They're finally feeling safe it seems as most people have accepted the deal is very likely going through so who cares about the EU being corrupt. Anyway, they do some cute work here and there, but to sum up briefly the conclusion they reach in the end. It does not matter if Microsoft is buying up companies to foreclose Sony. It is in fact completely irrelevant. You see, Sony is so overwhelmingly powerful that no matter what Microsoft does they will be unable to overcome Sony, so Microsoft has the complete green light to keep buying from the EU.

 

I've spoken on this before and it is a completely absurd position. Momentum doesn't change instantly, these things take time to be felt. If Microsoft were to tomorrow buy up every single sizable third party tomorrow they'd likely still sell less Xboxs than PS5s. What happens in the next generation however? I and others would obviously reject the Xbox on principle and swear to not give them or their now owned games a cent as it just isn't proper to do something so tasteless. Will the majority? Possible, but unlikely. Will the EU then work to reverse Microsoft's buyouts to try and recover things? Obviously not.

 

Do keep in mind that the EU, like the US judge, and other parties all have the belief that consoles are a dead end and the cloud, which Microsoft has the advantage in, is what will take over. In spite of that however, Sony being stronger in consoles means they will reign for a thousand years. Makes zero sense, but that is often the case with corruption.

 

On the subject of consoles and "dying" as that so often gets talked about as some inevitability. Something to remember is people were predicting that the PS3 was going to be the end. Then the PS4. Then the PS5. These people not only keep being wrong, but consoles have only been going from strength to strength. The main thrust has been that PCs can be stronger and will be able to easily overcome a console's performance, so eventually everyone will move over to PC. However, we're actually seeing some very interesting things going down in this generation. The I/O that Cerny put together for PlayStation has proven itself quite the advantage when compared to what you'll find on PCs (it ain't just a matter of using a SSD which PCs can obviously use too, bit more complicated than that). The amount of brute force, very expensive brute force of course, that PCs are needing to build up to get better performance is quite something, and that isn't without its own problems. The second stab of the spear is of course mobile and it being bigger. And? Gaming due to mobile is overall much bigger, but consoles have grown too. The experiences you get on mobile and console are completely different.

 

Finally we have the final stab at killing consoles. The cloud. To that I'll say... what actually is Microsoft's cloud? What is xCloud? Literally Series X farms. In fact the Series X having the stupid design (in and out) that it has? All to make it easier to set up as a farm. If Microsoft in the future releases the Xbox 180.1 Mark X (you can't have that one for free Microsoft, I expect a royalty fee) then they'll then need to create a whole new farm of that console to do the cloud for it too. It may well be a situation that for the cloud to take off big time in gaming, consoles need to die yes... but the cloud itself has no capacity to kill consoles so they're stuck.

 

14 hours ago, majob said:

Money is immaterial, the goal is to shrink Sony's marketshare while increasing their own.

 

I agree with @AJ_-_808 that it doesn't really achieve that. That is their overall goal obviously yes, but they're fools if they think this'll do it. No, instead this is like the Sega stuff I've talked about. Xbox as a brand is cold and only colder if it doesn't have what is currently hot, which in enthusiast circles are Japanese games.

 

9 hours ago, Iker_01 said:

I'm not even sure if there's going to be any Gamepass content. Sure, they could add FFXIV, but it's still a subscription based game, and they sure as hell won't include the subscription.

 

It's also interesting that "whenever possible" they'll bring their games to Xbox... not sure if we'll see FFVII Remake, Rebirth or FFXVI there any time soon.

 

Any game that comes to Xbox, even if it was always coming anyway will be attributed to Spencer talking them into it. It is pretty typical astroturfing fodder, but in this case for the benefit of Spencer who for a while now has been taking quite a lot of damage. I personally think it would be smarter to get rid of an incompetent like Spencer rather than astroturfing his reputation as some manner of living saint who does no wrong (as Xbox collapses), but hey, aren't old boy's networks great.

 

18 hours ago, Oberlin1694 said:

7 Remake literally isn’t allowed to come to Xbox and neither is 16. Sony had Square sign a contract that excludes those two titles at least from EVER coming to Xbox consoles. So no, it won’t be on Game Pass within the year, as it won’t ever come to Xbox.

 

Its the same kind of deal Konami signed with Silent Hill 2, which will also never come to Xbox.

 

I don't recall any proof of this. Sony sent people to help out on the game sure, but they did the same with the likes of Deathloop for example. That itself doesn't prove such a contract. You might be getting the idea from stuff Microsoft's fans real or otherwise have been saying.

 

On a side note, this whole campaign they've had against Square Enix is a classic. They were astroturfing against SE to put forward the idea that big bad Sony is trying to destroy the small time trillion dollar company. Then when they get the most minor of commitments from SE they put forward the idea that if even SE has turned then everything will be coming up Xbox soon.

[Oberlin1694]

1 hour ago, Lance_87 said:

 

18 years. But it's no longer a console exclusive since 2019 (when it was released on Switch and Xbox, with a 2016 release on Android, too)

This is true but that’s just the HD Remaster. 
 

I just doubt we’ll see any of the remake games on Xbox ever. Sony fans waited over a decade from the remake concept trailer they released before PS3

1 minute ago, Rozalia1 said:

I'll briefly mention it as it isn't worth much time. The EU recently released their report at last after... months? They're finally feeling safe it seems as most people have accepted the deal is very likely going through so who cares about the EU being corrupt. Anyway, they do some cute work here and there, but to sum up briefly the conclusion they reach in the end. It does not matter if Microsoft is buying up companies to foreclose Sony. It is in fact completely irrelevant. You see, Sony is so overwhelmingly powerful that no matter what Microsoft does they will be unable to overcome Sony, so Microsoft has the complete green light to keep buying from the EU.

 

I've spoken on this before and it is a completely absurd position. Momentum doesn't change instantly, these things take time to be felt. If Microsoft were to tomorrow buy up every single sizable third party tomorrow they'd likely still sell less Xboxs than PS5s. What happens in the next generation however? I and others would obviously reject the Xbox on principle and swear to not give them or their now owned games a cent as it just isn't proper to do something so tasteless. Will the majority? Possible, but unlikely. Will the EU then work to reverse Microsoft's buyouts to try and recover things? Obviously not.

 

Do keep in mind that the EU, like the US judge, and other parties all have the belief that consoles are a dead end and the cloud, which Microsoft has the advantage in, is what will take over. In spite of that however, Sony being stronger in consoles means they will reign for a thousand years. Makes zero sense, but that is often the case with corruption.

 

On the subject of consoles and "dying" as that so often gets talked about as some inevitability. Something to remember is people were predicting that the PS3 was going to be the end. Then the PS4. Then the PS5. These people not only keep being wrong, but consoles have only been going from strength to strength. The main thrust has been that PCs can be stronger and will be able to easily overcome a console's performance, so eventually everyone will move over to PC. However, we're actually seeing some very interesting things going down in this generation. The I/O that Cerny put together for PlayStation has proven itself quite the advantage when compared to what you'll find on PCs (it ain't just a matter of using a SSD which PCs can obviously use too, bit more complicated than that). The amount of brute force, very expensive brute force of course, that PCs are needing to build up to get better performance is quite something, and that isn't without its own problems. The second stab of the spear is of course mobile and it being bigger. And? Gaming due to mobile is overall much bigger, but consoles have grown too. The experiences you get on mobile and console are completely different.

 

Finally we have the final stab at killing consoles. The cloud. To that I'll say... what actually is Microsoft's cloud? What is xCloud? Literally Series X farms. In fact the Series X having the stupid design (in and out) that it has? All to make it easier to set up as a farm. If Microsoft in the future releases the Xbox 180.1 Mark X (you can't have that one for free Microsoft, I expect a royalty fee) then they'll then need to create a whole new farm of that console to do the cloud for it too. It may well be a situation that for the cloud to take off big time in gaming, consoles need to die yes... but the cloud itself has no capacity to kill consoles so they're stuck.

 

 

I agree with @AJ_-_808 that it doesn't really achieve that. That is their overall goal obviously yes, but they're fools if they think this'll do it. No, instead this is like the Sega stuff I've talked about. Xbox as a brand is cold and only colder if it doesn't have what is currently hot, which in enthusiast circles are Japanese games.

 

 

Any game that comes to Xbox, even if it was always coming anyway will be attributed to Spencer talking them into it. It is pretty typical astroturfing fodder, but in this case for the benefit of Spencer who for a while now has been taking quite a lot of damage. I personally think it would be smarter to get rid of an incompetent like Spencer rather than astroturfing his reputation as some manner of living saint who does no wrong (as Xbox collapses), but hey, aren't old boy's networks great.

 

 

I don't recall any proof of this. Sony sent people to help out on the game sure, but they did the same with the likes of Deathloop for example. That itself doesn't prove such a contract. You might be getting the idea from stuff Microsoft's fans real or otherwise have been saying.

 

On a side note, this whole campaign they've had against Square Enix is a classic. They were astroturfing against SE to put forward the idea that big bad Sony is trying to destroy the small time trillion dollar company. Then when they get the most minor of commitments from SE they put forward the idea that if even SE has turned then everything will be coming up Xbox soon.

The proof of Xbox exclusion was in a document that was shared that also revealed FF16, Bloodborne and SH2:R are also excluded from EVER coming to Xbox

Xbox will get XIV and Pixel.

 

The subscriber rates will barely change in XIV and no expansions will be sold on Xbox due to Game Pass and Pixel will flop and barely sell due to Game Pass.

 

Square will then go back to consistent PlayStation exclusives while Xbox gets occasional scraps, as has been the case for decades now

[N1cktim]

1 hour ago, Oberlin1694 said:

The proof of Xbox exclusion was in a document that was shared that also revealed FF16, Bloodborne and SH2:R are also excluded from EVER coming to Xbox

Xbox will get XIV and Pixel.

 

20 hours ago, Oberlin1694 said:

Its the same kind of deal Konami signed with Silent Hill 2, which will also never come to Xbox.

 

SH2 is just a PS5 timed console exclusive, so it'll be on Xbox too.

[Oberlin1694]

11 minutes ago, N1cktim said:

 

 

SH2 is just a PS5 timed console exclusive, so it'll be on Xbox too.

Nah it won’t. Xbox exclusion contract 

[Lance_87]

1 hour ago, Oberlin1694 said:

This is true but that’s just the HD Remaster.

 

Well i would've preferred the original emulated PS1 version over the PC port. Because the HD Remaster is based on the old PC version re-released in 2012. It has the very same audio bugs on every version. At least the Speed Square minigame is a lot easier. *shrugs*

Edited July 30, 2023 by Lance_87

[Rozalia1]

4 hours ago, Oberlin1694 said:

The proof of Xbox exclusion was in a document that was shared that also revealed FF16, Bloodborne and SH2:R are also excluded from EVER coming to Xbox

Xbox will get XIV and Pixel.

 

The subscriber rates will barely change in XIV and no expansions will be sold on Xbox due to Game Pass and Pixel will flop and barely sell due to Game Pass.

 

Square will then go back to consistent PlayStation exclusives while Xbox gets occasional scraps, as has been the case for decades now

 

If you're referring to what I think you're referring to then that was just a claim made by Microsoft while they did their 'we're being oppressed by Sony' act.

 

I agree except for the no expansions bit as Microsoft will pay up.

 

Depends. It'll keep coming as long as Microsoft keeps paying and I don't see why Microsoft are going to suddenly tell Spencer to chill out with the spending. You don't spend Sony out of business if you stop sending, that just wouldn't make any sense. All this is to be expected and Microsoft already has all their PR in order. Remember, Sony brought all of this on themselves. They dared to mock Microsoft that one time (borrowing a game video) 10 years ago (ignore Xbox's console warring all of this time) and they've been oppressing Microsoft with their good games and basic business moves. It is now justice for Microsoft to attempt to drown them in (even more) cash. If they had just let Microsoft destroy them then Microsoft wouldn't have to resort to such things. Poor guys just want a(nother) monopoly and mean Sony won't let them have it.

[boaly2008]

On 30/07/2023 at 7:27 AM, N1cktim said:

 

It looks like they're going to get more games.

 

 

 

 

This feels like Kojima appearing on that one Xbox showcase. It feels really important in the moment but in hindsight will probably appear totally meaningless.

Edited July 31, 2023 by boaly2008

[Rozalia1]

 

What this ultimately means who can say. The most obvious reading would be them passing the deal for Microsoft by bending the rules and doing something that really should get them in trouble, as a phase 3 is not a thing... on the other hand, if they do a whole phase then that is a lot more time wasted and if they then say no again... you can't say that the CMA didn't give them chance after chance to divest CoD, something that on record Microsoft has said is the least important aspect of the deal. Obviously they're lying, I know it, you know it, everybody knows it, but I find this notion certain people have out there that if a lie is obviously a lie then that means it should essentially be struck off the record, to be ridiculous.

 

Interesting how courts/law are so often a mess of technicalities and petty rule lawyering, but so often only ever works to the benefit of big business. Things can be thrown out of the window if it favours big business and how dare anyone try to pull any such tricks against them also.

 

[Rozalia1]

From the Financial Times: 

 

Quote

Under the restructured deal, Ubisoft acquires cloud streaming rights to Call of Duty and all other Activision games including new ones released over the next 15 years, which it would retain in perpetuity. These rights would be exclusive everywhere except within the EEA.
 

The concessions Microsoft made earlier in the year to Brussels, including licences to other cloud services, would be honoured.
 

Other subscription services, such as streaming giants like Netflix, would be able to license the games as part of the agreement. Microsoft said it would be compensated through a one-off payment and through a market-based wholesale pricing mechanism, including an option that supports pricing based on usage or time playing games.
 

The companies have yet to give details on how the commercial terms would work, for example, whether Ubisoft would take royalties or an upfront licensing fee and how much Microsoft would make from a deal. People familiar with the terms suggested this would encourage licensing widely, and further alleviate antitrust concerns.
 

One area where Microsoft retains control over the development of games and rights to mobile game streaming, which it has highlighted as a growth area where it wants to launch its app store for games on phones.

 

Those within the EU will be able to get the rights for free. Those outside it will have to go to Ubisoft to get the rights who Microsoft will have handed them over to (though Microsoft will still get a cut). 

This to me seems to be a complete surrender if it is accepted. In theory this means PlayStation/Nintendo could pay Ubisoft to have a streaming version of say Forza on their console. Was this possible before? No. Are people really going to be playing a streaming only game though? Doubtful, at least until this day of domination streaming is going to be dominating that judges, regulators, and Microsoft (when not in court) say is going to happen, which if it does is likely beyond the 15 year timeframe anyway. So essentially it appears to me that all these words might as well have at the bottom 'By the way, all of the above is completely meaningless. It exists only to serve Microsoft and to save some political embarrassment at kowtowing to them'.

 

None of this nonsense makes any sense. Take the streaming domination for example. Yes we've heard the sad story from Microsoft. They're completely incompetent, their Xbox business is falling apart (it gets glossed over for obvious reasons, but Spencer outright admitted in court that business was not good), and their streaming/subscription push has stalled. Yet, all the involved people still maintain that those ways are the future even if not quite yet. What sense then does it make to put these timeframes on these measures? If streaming/subscriptions aren't going to take over for longer than the 10/15 years then a measure against Microsoft within that timeframe is pointless. 

 

We'll see. Always a chance that the CMA blows up the deal again because of some minor issue some random civil servant raises. Whatever the case, nothing changes in all of this. Microsoft is to be rejected completely for their vile ambitions. As for Activision if the deal doesn't go through... arguable I suppose, but they aren't exactly the most worthy of companies to have the high place that they do. Largely a mass production factory that makes use of the worse aspects of western gaming business. Gaming certainly would be in a much better place if all the money sent that factory's way instead went to smaller developers who actually have some spirit. 

[Medaembo]

Come on Rozalia, could you just ONCE try to report any news without the console warrior undertone? I've been following this thread since the announcement of the news at the beginning of last year. Since then I've had to read countless posts about absurdly evil Microsoft "Monopoly" (do you even know what that word means?), corrupt *insert random regulator*, everybody reporting neutral or god forbid positive (!) about the ongoing events is a paid shill. I get it, it's a trophy hunting forum first, so of course  everyone including me, has a bias towards PlayStation. But I can't let your "takes" on events stand any longer without some context.

 

Let's not kid ourselves. This deal is absolutely not about bringing games to more gamers, when we play everybody wins or some other PR-bullshit Spencer likes to talk about. This deal is about strengthening the XBOX division (which does fine) and the absolute limping XBOX console (which does absolutely not). And the way they're trying to do is by cutting off the access to PlayStation gamers. But the thing is no matter how much that might suck - nothing in all of this illegal, unjust or immoral, at least not by the current law. Hasn't it dawn on you that when every regulator on earth had to drop the concern about the console angle or get their ass handed to them because of it (FTC) there might be not a legal ground to this accusation at least? 

 

This week we could read again that XBOX is in free fall in Europe. They were outsold by something like 10:1 in Germany recently and the US numbers weren't even published - rumor is thats because they're more than abysmal. Even if Microsoft could make everything exclusive, as they sure tried to in the beginning (remember the three year deal for CoD?) and now can't thanks due to these "corrupt regulators" which are "bought by Microsoft" they would be far, faaaar from a monopoly in the console space. The chances of every single ABK brand becoming worthless is much higher than XBOX suddenly becoming the console of choice for the people.

 

The recent news is however not indicative that Microsoft will fail in buying ABK, at least not to the market and people whose money is at stake. The share price of ABK, Microsoft and Ubisoft all went up premarket after the announcement. People are expecting it to go through. The question wether this is deal in the current form is beneficial to Microsoft has yet to show. They're trying to use ABK as a cash-cow to help to keep the XBOX afloat until it hopefully (from Microsoft's perspective) picks up a bit of steam or they grow their ecosystem on PC so much that console becomes irrelevant. That might not even be so crazy as already of today Game Pass has more subscribers on PC as they have on console...

 

I'm not worried about PlayStation, they'll be fine. The sales discrepancy grows by the day and it's going to be harder and harder to convince people of joining the XBOX ecosystem due to the rise of digital purchases, friends lists, TROPHIES (!!!) etc. Post ABK the XBOX division will grow so large that they can't hide their console underperformance any longer. The shareholders will want to see a return on investment on this MASSIVE 69 billion acquisition and if XBOX continues to be anemic and PC doesn't pick up the slack by itself they will look for alternatives. If anything I think the chances of Microsoft post ABK acquisition becoming third party are much higher than they would be otherwise.

 

Or maybe I'm completely wrong and ABK will catapult XBOX against all the odds to the top and Microsoft will buy every single publisher under the sun without any repercussions from regulators whatsoever. Who knows? If that's the case I will just buy an XBOX (with whatever needlessly confusing name they'll come up this time) to accompany my PS6 and everything will be fine. I already own a Switch for the Nintendo games. Why do I have to swear allegiance to a plastic box or a multi billion dollar company?

 

So please chill a bit, go out, touch some grass and please stop with the baseless accusations of countless organizations and persons. They're so many interesting discussions to be had about this doubtless history moment in video game history. But can we please do it as grownups without the plastic box warring bullshit?

 

 

 

[Rozalia1]

https://www.windowscentral.com/gaming/xbox/microsoft-confirms-that-sony-has-blocked-these-4-games-from-hitting-xbox-forever

https://www.ign.com/articles/will-final-fantasy-7-remake-and-ff16-ever-hit-xbox-phil-spencer-responds-gamescom-2023

 

One of Microsoft's narratives to justify their buyouts as necessary is that due to all the exclusivity tactics Sony is pulling against them, something which poor Microsoft can do nothing against. Sony has more marketshare you see and that means these deals will be more expensive for Microsoft, and we all know that Microsoft is famously frugal with their money. Ignore that they actually do exclusivity deals themselves also.

 

Anyway, the Final Fantasies have been talked about as being permanently locked down by Sony. Now suddenly it has always been up to Square Enix all along... just as everyone not taken in by the narrative has said. 

 

On 8/23/2023 at 8:35 AM, Medaembo said:

Come on Rozalia, could you just ONCE try to report any news without the console warrior undertone? I've been following this thread since the announcement of the news at the beginning of last year. Since then I've had to read countless posts about absurdly evil Microsoft "Monopoly" (do you even know what that word means?), corrupt *insert random regulator*, everybody reporting neutral or god forbid positive (!) about the ongoing events is a paid shill. I get it, it's a trophy hunting forum first, so of course  everyone including me, has a bias towards PlayStation. But I can't let your "takes" on events stand any longer without some context.

 

Let's not kid ourselves. This deal is absolutely not about bringing games to more gamers, when we play everybody wins or some other PR-bullshit Spencer likes to talk about. This deal is about strengthening the XBOX division (which does fine) and the absolute limping XBOX console (which does absolutely not). And the way they're trying to do is by cutting off the access to PlayStation gamers. But the thing is no matter how much that might suck - nothing in all of this illegal, unjust or immoral, at least not by the current law. Hasn't it dawn on you that when every regulator on earth had to drop the concern about the console angle or get their ass handed to them because of it (FTC) there might be not a legal ground to this accusation at least? 

 

This week we could read again that XBOX is in free fall in Europe. They were outsold by something like 10:1 in Germany recently and the US numbers weren't even published - rumor is thats because they're more than abysmal. Even if Microsoft could make everything exclusive, as they sure tried to in the beginning (remember the three year deal for CoD?) and now can't thanks due to these "corrupt regulators" which are "bought by Microsoft" they would be far, faaaar from a monopoly in the console space. The chances of every single ABK brand becoming worthless is much higher than XBOX suddenly becoming the console of choice for the people.

 

The recent news is however not indicative that Microsoft will fail in buying ABK, at least not to the market and people whose money is at stake. The share price of ABK, Microsoft and Ubisoft all went up premarket after the announcement. People are expecting it to go through. The question wether this is deal in the current form is beneficial to Microsoft has yet to show. They're trying to use ABK as a cash-cow to help to keep the XBOX afloat until it hopefully (from Microsoft's perspective) picks up a bit of steam or they grow their ecosystem on PC so much that console becomes irrelevant. That might not even be so crazy as already of today Game Pass has more subscribers on PC as they have on console...

 

I'm not worried about PlayStation, they'll be fine. The sales discrepancy grows by the day and it's going to be harder and harder to convince people of joining the XBOX ecosystem due to the rise of digital purchases, friends lists, TROPHIES (!!!) etc. Post ABK the XBOX division will grow so large that they can't hide their console underperformance any longer. The shareholders will want to see a return on investment on this MASSIVE 69 billion acquisition and if XBOX continues to be anemic and PC doesn't pick up the slack by itself they will look for alternatives. If anything I think the chances of Microsoft post ABK acquisition becoming third party are much higher than they would be otherwise.

 

Or maybe I'm completely wrong and ABK will catapult XBOX against all the odds to the top and Microsoft will buy every single publisher under the sun without any repercussions from regulators whatsoever. Who knows? If that's the case I will just buy an XBOX (with whatever needlessly confusing name they'll come up this time) to accompany my PS6 and everything will be fine. I already own a Switch for the Nintendo games. Why do I have to swear allegiance to a plastic box or a multi billion dollar company?

 

So please chill a bit, go out, touch some grass and please stop with the baseless accusations of countless organizations and persons. They're so many interesting discussions to be had about this doubtless history moment in video game history. But can we please do it as grownups without the plastic box warring bullshit?

 

First off. Don't just allude to your bias, name it. You're going after my character and trying to discredit me and my posts, in the past and going forward, so have the good grace to not allow others to make the mistake of seeing you as a neutral party or even a PlayStation fan. If your arguments are solid you do not need such a tactic.

---

Point out a post where I say that Microsoft is a monopoly. Go on. I have also told people within this thread to calm down and let things play out with the regulators numerous times, which twice I came out ahead on as things did reverse. The only regulator I have often stated to be corrupt is the EU which I instantly knew would pass the deal, and if you want to argue the EU, with their new system of doing this and in general, are not corrupt? Knock yourself out. The CMA I have, puzzled, stated that I suppose it must be corruption for them to do things they never done before and act so oddly overall, but I've certainly been very restrained in that, especially compared to the Xbox faithful. The FTC I've maintained is not corrupt, though early on when I was still not fully wise to Microsoft's tactics on regulator news, and the word was they had made a complete turnaround due to political influence I did go to that conclusion, which I was pleasantly surprised to then learn was nonsense. All the credit to them for standing as strong as they have in America of all places. Who else? CADE? Again, if you want to defend the Brazilian regulator as some pure entity then go for it. Microsoft does have numerous shills, this is well known to some, but I'm well aware that making out anyone who dares say it is crazy is a normal enough way to view it to some (as it gets viewed as some manner of conspiracy), and also a typical tactic to protect the shills. I've always made it clear that with some exceptions (Mueller getting found out in court by a judge in a previous case) there is never any hard evidence where it says that they're on some manner of payroll (direct payment is just one way, the crudest, to get someone pushing your narratives), but some things, like gravity, can be said to be the case without me having to explain the ins and outs of how gravity works. It is quite apparent that it is there, working. You'll have to try better material than this, because your response is crafted for someone else and you clearly haven't read the thread as closely as you say if these were your conclusions.

 

Again, for someone who has read my posts so closely you're asking an awfully odd question. Numerous times I have pointed out that with the current broken (CMA and especially the FTC see it as broken) antitrust law Microsoft is able to buyout numerous companies to gain marketshare as doing so won't instantly make them a monopoly so everything is cool. The problem of course being that they then can put huge amounts of further money behind those captured efforts and then start taking out further marketshare from the opponent, who then gets destroyed, and then you get a monopoly. Good antitrust sees that as an aim and shuts things down before that can happen by denying the buyouts in the first place, but that was antitrust (wasn't prefect either no) of the now distant past.

 

Addressed this previously, something that again you should know. The argument that Xbox is heavily incompetent so that any plan they cook up to get a monopoly will fail, so no problem, is not valid. Gaming gets hurt if they pull off these stunts so even if they're going to fail, I'd rather gaming not get hurt.

 

Parroting one of Spencer's narratives from his sad man interview. Achievements, friends lists, and digital purchases sure stopped the Xbox One falling apart didn't it? They were so 'sticky' Microsoft thought and yet... nothing. Microsoft themselves have already proven such a thing to be nonsense, but I suppose this is another one where we have to see it as Xbox's failure being due to their supreme incompetence, and that it totally works for Sony. That and the PS4 generation is different to the PS3 one, and there is more digital lock in. Cool, if so then Microsoft should have been able to maintain their base from the Xbox One due to that same lock in. Oh wait, no, their Series S|X is doing even worse.

Also shareholders want a return on 69 billion? What return? The 69 billion was simply turned into an asset worth 69 billion (technically not as the 69 includes a premium, but if Microsoft later sold it then they'd get a premium too). Xbox has only ever been questioned by shareholders during that period before gamepass launched, and they've ever since not given a single care to it. As I've said in the thread, which you should know, it is likely that until Nadella leaves his job and there is a new boss whose eyes will bug out of their skull when they see the Xbox business' operation in full, that Xbox is in no danger at all. That money pit will be open and operating at high capacity.

 

Again, in this very thread I have said that there are good odds that ABK won't help Xbox gain marketshare, as they admitted in court all their thus far buyouts have failed to, and that it'll be funny to see the failure. I would rather not have more companies under the reverse Midas touch of Xbox or take the chance that they'll become competent one day and start being able to carry out their plans of domination effectively.

 

Nah. I've already addressed everything you've said, which I've pointed out with my above text. I've also addressed this 'console wars' type of dismissal to protect Microsoft, who console wars harder than anybody (their very management even does it, so I don't even have to mention their astroturfing) and then cries that everyone is being a mean 'console warrior' when they get anything back. Microsoft is the problem here due to their aims to 'create', note, 'create', not that they currently 'have', but they 'aim' to. Understand? A monopoly not by way of creating good games, which can be respected, but by simply buying their way to critical mass and having that do the job. Me, a poster saying Microsoft is doing these things is not the problem. Microsoft doing said things is the problem. So focus on chastising them rather than sending it my way yeah? It does not matter how incompetent Xbox is stated to be when it comes to this.

Edited August 25, 2023 by Beyondthegrave07
Removed off topic banter

[Lance_87]

As a PlayStation owner i hope that FF7 Remakes gets a Xbox release.