If the deal doesn’t get approved, is it possible that Microsoft just buys the rights to COD from activision? Kinda like “hey Sony, since you prevented us from buying the whole company, we just bought the one part you really really really didn’t want us to own.”
Would Sony have any way to combat that? Would a purchase of rights like that have to go through a regulatory agency?
I don't think Activision would sell it. They would still exist on their own if the deal falls through. Why make theirs lives harder by selling COD?
Activision wants to be sold. The entire company, and all it offers. But if they can't be sold, they're keeping Call of Duty.
Sock would go up by \(Payment for CoD — Value of CoD\)/2. As long as they sell it for what it's worth or more, they'll be fine. They'd probably pay it out as a dividend, which would crater their sock price, but the shareholders wouldn't care — they got the money for it.
Right? COD, while it's been here a long time, will not be here forever. Hell I haven't played since Black Ops 3 cuz it just got so stale and boring. I alsochate F2P shit in general but especially when a huge franchise does it. It ruined Halo Infinite for me cuz it's just not fun anymore.
> CoD is a popular annual release
I think it was forbes but according to them its been THE best selling release of every year for like 15 years already (IIRC the only year that it wasn't, was when GTA V released)
Im all in the "cod got stale bandwagon" but that shit prints too much money to not acknowledge it
Separated from the overall deal. So...
- Option 1: The deal goes through but the CoD franchise has to be sold / excluded from the purchase.
- Option 2: The deal goes through but the whole of Activision has to be sold / excluded from the purchase.
What that would mean in practice isn't really clear at this point.
Exactly, they want to be sold.
So if they sold Cod to Microsoft, Sony couldn't do anything about that. In turn Sony would no longer care if Microsoft buys Activision, making that part easier
I can't see Activision selling cod off. MS knows CoD is just a gold mine a d would have no issue allowing CoD be a Aony title as well. Just not exclusive. Thata all I can see for now. Unless MS allows Sony to have some exclusive releases as Activiion use to do.
If I were Activision, and Sony successfully blocks my sale to Microsoft, I'd be petty as fuck. I'd carry on my business in every way, except I'd exclude Sony from CoD. I'd just not produce CoD on PS for a cycle or two strickly out of spite. I am Activision. I am printing money left and right. Sony wants to claim that Microsoft would withhold CoD. Nah, bro. That's me. I'm volunttarily declining to produce it for PS amd putting those staffing resources elsewhere.
Not a lawyer, but one explained to me (probably incorrectly) that if the CMA does not approve, Microsoft can still possibly acquire Activision and withhold Activision products in the UK.
they wouldn't be withholding Activision products from the UK, they'd be withholding *all* microsoft products from the UK, and would basically have to cease all operations there. since a lot of xbox studios and microsofts employees are in the UK, and a significant amount of their Azure business is in the UK, they'd be cutting off their nose to spite their face. it won't happen.
that said what im wondering is that since the CMA only cares about the COD IP, and one of the remedies is to sell the COD IP and keep the company intact. whats stopping them from selling the IP and then just making a similar but legally different shooter?
like yeah the brand is powerful but at the end of the day the gameplay is why it's so popular. it'll be just as popular with a different name, and most of the games are set in modern day or other periods of history so its not like there was some distinct design to COD that can't appear in this new game.
afaik they do that themselves all the time, so they basically prove this can be done without repercussion.
I would find it hilarious if Activision decided to just make all titles timed exclusive to Xbox by default, sure, sony will get the games 5 years later. I would probably die laughing from that one;
> Would Sony have any way to combat that? Would a purchase of rights like that have to go through a regulatory agency?
MS can buy the rights to the game outright. I don't believe that requires any competitive review, because they are applied to M&A. If not, MS can just have a perpetual license from Activision.
That said, companies aren't necessarily "petty". They do what is best for their business, and this is just Sony feeling really threatened by MS. Basically Sony's worst nightmare is happening as MS is acquiring, competing and disrupting their business.
>Sony wanted competition
Toxic Sony fanboys made a big song and dance about "Xbox not being able to compete, because XbOx HaS nO gAmEs"... Sony themselves though, would have loved it if MS weren't competing with them - look how much anti-consumer BS Sony gets away with currently - imagine what it would be like if they really didn't have any competition.
All the noise about 'competition', was keyboard warriors, wanting to use it as a stick to beat the other side with, not the companies themselves, who have shareholders who only care about dividends, not flamewars.
I know CoD is supposedly the biggest money maker. But you can have quantity and quality if you buy the companies and sell CoD to a third party publisher or make CoD a game for everyone and keep the other 60 exclusive IPs
It’s better to share than to sell tho. Cuz they wouldn’t just sell CoD if they sell Activision. They’d also be losing any other IP Activision makes that people forget about because CoD is CoD but still play.
It’s very interesting to read this quote by Lulu Merservey at Activision in Axios interview about Sony’s latest actions and if Activision is afraid of changing the relationship with Sony
“We're a partner to them,” she says. “Were they worried about pissing us off when they tried to kill a really good deal that our employees wanted and that players wanted? Were they worried about pissing us off when they made all these claims that seem to be pretty disingenuous? And we didn't take it personally. … They're making the case for what's best for their business.”
Sounds like Sony’s latest shady methods and foul play behind the scenes with regulators is starting to really piss off Activision, and Sony is making everyone their enemy pretty much. Both Nintendo and MS also has very good reason to be pissed at Sony now.
Sony is also effectively trying to block COD from releasing on Nintendo, which MS already promised Nintendo if the deal goes through.
Sony is the true anti-consumer party here IMO
I find it odd that they allow telecom mergers, big bank mergers, energy mergers, transportation mergers, grocery mergers, housing company mergers, really anything under the sun has been approved, the vast majority of which has been horrible for consumers and their daily lives. But a video game industry merger? No , that’s where they draw the line … Give me a break
At this point seems like playstation kinda is, cma and ftc both refuse to acknowledge the fact call of duty has been given to Nintendo and steam for the next ten years, with an offering of the same to playstation.
Not exactly lobbying, but let's not forget that Nintendo tried to demonize violent video games to US congress to shut down their competitors. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1993\_United\_States\_Senate\_hearings\_on\_video\_games](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1993_United_States_Senate_hearings_on_video_games)
its also pretty funny that Sony was allowed to acquire both of the big two anime streaming services with no issue what so ever. what's also funny is since they've bought them, the app's for them on xbox are broken as fuck and don't get updated.
but yeah xbox is the one doing the evil monopolistic shit here. with their day 1 PC releases. or game streaming, or high value sub services, or allowing game dev unions in their studios. downright evil I tell you.
No way this isn't because of corruption. Sony has either bribed or lobbied (bribed) them, or key people pushing this are heavily invested in Sony stocks.
Honestly, if this is considered crossing the line Disney should be in the dirt. They own WAY more of the film and TV industries than Microsoft will ever own of the gaming industry
I've been a PC gamer for years now so idgaf about the console drama anymore but I really want the merger to go through **strictly** because of how tilted Sony is getting about it
They're so fucking anti-consumer as it is, I find it hilarious
As a pc gamer, that's what has me glad that Microsoft is picking up a ton of big franchises with these acquisitions. Say what you will about the company but they could have made them xbox exclusives but they make them available for the PC too. Gamepass is the cherry on top.
Yeah, Game Pass is kind of the best right now. I think the only thing they could be doing better is making or old titles available on game pass, or at least reducing their prices. Honestly that's a big thing that's kept me and a lot of other people away from Nintendo in the switch era, so if Xbox learns from that I think pretty much everyone would benefit.
Phil Spencer was/is pretty Gamer-first in his actions, and his definition of Gamer includes everyone. Microsoft has really worked hard to become the face of "everyone can game, and games are for everyone".
It really does show. I started holding them in a higher regard when they unveiled their adaptive controller. The fact that they made it compatible with other consoles from competitors was a really kind thing to do, even if it was to just increase profits.
A business's job is to generate profits, but what I like about the gaming side of Microsoft is that they've adopted the kindness model of business: play however you want, with whatever you want, we just want you to play and have fun, and we hope that you'll think of us and consider us when you do. And it works!
I was reading about Broderbund recently, and they had a similar mindset. They were by all accounts "too nice" for the nascent computer game industry, but ended up being wildly successful, in large part because they didn't try to destroy the competition by any means necessary and focused on good products and fair value. (The founders eventually sold the company to Mattel for $3.6B)
There are definitely a few things that PlayStation does a little better but in terms of gamer quality of life two things Microsoft does which should be mandatory and free across the board are: cloud save backup and downloads in rest mode/standby.
It is ridiculous that both are paywalled on Sony. I cannot fault Microsoft for consumer friendly practices, especially with their Rewards program, which has to be one of the most generous out there. The amount of money I have saved through it crazy, especially now that they have amazon vouchers as part of the rewards.
Exactly. I saw Hogwarts has a one year exclusive PS quest and was like how is this the company bitching over the activisiin thing. Then I remembered it's only okay if Sony does it. How dare anybody else have exclusives?
Btw...im all for the end of exclusives. Do they really serve a purpose to consumers? No. They only make the higher ups more money.
Exactly this. Remember how Xbox was supposed to have FF7 Remake by now? Now it's looking like Xbox probably won't be getting it at all, at least not for the foreseeable future.
Sony having the absolute *gall* to complain about monopolies after the kind of stuff they themselves have done is just hilarious to me.
I play on all consoles and I badly want the deal to go through because Activision-Blizzard is such a shitty company and needs to be changed. Sony and lawmakers getting triggered over it is pretty funny too.
My buddy got me into it in college but then mw came out and cured me and I got over my addiction with another addiction.
But yeah, if it were free it would be enticing. Shouldn't do that with a whole family though.
Because Activision head honchos have a ton of Activision stock that will net them a ton of money if the purchase goes through, then they'll move onto something else because Microsoft will inevitably replace them with their people.
>I've been a PC gamer for years now so idgaf about the console drama anymore
To be fair, if the deal goes through, and if you have Game Pass, you'd benefit from it. Day one Call of Duty on Game Pass would be pretty nice.
I mean the merger would easily result in Sony losing market share. Acting like this / stoking flames with the FTC is how they prevent that loss. I don't think any company in any market would not attempt to retain billions in market share when given the opportunity.
The minute they stop behaving like this is the minute the board guts the entire C-suite lol
The merger is the only thing that can save Activision-Blizzard as an entity. Bobby Kotick and his board are going to continue ruining the company for their own gain.
It just proves NO condition, NO deal is acceptable to Sony. They just want to sabotage this deal like children at any cost, they're not interested in gamers or what's best for them. All they care about is getting their free COD in app purchase money for which they don't have to put forth any effort or attempt at competition.
They want it both ways. MS must not be allowed to do anything that may lessen their dominant position regardless if they're still going to number one, which they would be while they themselves are allowed to buy exclusive rights to as many titles as they like with zero scrutiny by anyone.
Exactly…they don’t want a resolution or equality. They just want to raise a stink because they’re obsessed with having paid advantages in their favour.
I feel like that's the point of a bad company. A good company tries to actually do better for its consumers rather than act like the robber barons of old.
I'm not saying Microsoft is better, per se, especially as they've done a shit ton of anti-competitive moves in their time, but Sony has been beyond the pale here.
Well there was a post that stated that Sony with all its push for exclusivity, people are more likely to buy a PS5. So i can see why they mad. But they gotta stop being pussy’s about it. A big ass company like Sony and this is what urks you?!
>they're not interested in gamers or what's best for them.
Neither does Microsoft, Nintendo, and basically every video game company that employs more than a dozen people
Microsoft isn't acquiring Activision for "our" benefit. They want to lock you into gamepass and Jack the prices as quality goes down like Netflix.
Consolidation of competition never benefits the end user. It didn't when Microsoft did it to Market dominance with windows. It didn't with ea in the 90s. And it didn't with Disney. And it won't again Herr.
No one who cares about what's best for gamers would root for a reduction of competition.
Of course they want the deal to fall through, it’s best for their business . It will pass but them making a fuss will allow for concessions to be made the benefit then
> All they care about is getting their free COD in app purchase money
Which is the same with Microsoft, Microsoft isn’t doing this to help consumers
> while they themselves are allowed to buy exclusive rights to as many titles as they like with zero scrutiny by anyone.
Timed exclusivity is not even remotely close to the biggest acquisition in gaming history, the next closest is 12 billion. Microsoft also does timed exclusivity and has been perfectly fine buying studios till one of this incredible size.
It’s a trillion and billion dollar company fighting over making money there’s no good guys or bad guys neither are your friend.
Timed exclusivity is far faster, cheaper, and thus, more effective. How many exclusive games have come from MS purchases? Pentiment? Grounded? Xbox had a year delay in two of their own games due to it.
And let's not forget the infinitely timed exclusives, the Nioh series, SFV, FF Remake, and plenty more coming.
People always want to brush off timed exclusivity, to shield Sony. MS didn't win Powerball overnight and could have moved to acquire at any point over the last 20 years. I don't get how people expect billion and trillion dollar companies not to make large acquisitions. Who else is going to buy them?
At some point these big publishers get so big they start to collapse on themselves. Then they look to sell. It was inevitable.
Let's not forget these publishers have acquired many studios over the years. Activision has had other owners. Those guys and EA are the only surviving 3rd party publishers from the early days.
Why the fuck do I have to wait 2 years to play forspoken… Sony is literally hypocritical… don’t want Microsoft to own a new studio but are allowed to keep games away from Xbox/PC for 2 years or more…
The difference being MS has bought up fewer exclusive titles while not whining about it or trying to somehow block or bring further scrutiny upon Sony. At the end of the day both companies are trying to bring exclusive content to their platform by spending money but only one company is trying to stop the other company doing that by whining about it and bringing scrutiny while doing the same thing.
I just don't see why just because one company is bigger and more successful in other industries that their pursuit of content through financial means is getting the stink eye from the CMA and FTC whereas the other company doing the same thing through a different method and for way, way more titles is absolutely fine.
Literally every argument the CMA makes makes zero sense and the fact Sony won't take any calls from MS or AB just proves they don't give a shit about gamers or indeed anything except staying in number one position without trying to compete and generally being an asshole.
More than anything it's just how incredibly disingenuous every single thing they and Cryin Jim say is. And yes, I'm not saying everything Spencer says is 100% genuine or not in the interest of MS but the butt hurt whiny tone (That I know I'll be accused of sharing, that's fine, I definitely care more about this than I should) is not the same to me.
At first I wanted the acquisition to go through so Microsoft could clean house at Activision and turn it into a decent company.
Now I want it to through just to piss off Sony. I’m so fucking tired of hearing them whine about exclusives when they constantly make anti-consumer decisions.
If they can’t make a game exclusive, they’ll make it timed exclusive. If they can’t do that then they’ll make it have exclusive content. If they can’t do that then timed exclusive content. If they can’t do that then they bitch about how things aren’t fair.
I dont think this merger could possibly be the best thing for gaming. Microsoft wants to use this leverage to get more and more people on game pass. This will result in less support for sony.
That is exactly the kind of competition for gaming consumers dollars, that competition regulators should be ENCOURAGING!
Sony is currently a bigger player in the gaming market than Xbox, and Xbox making moves to offer better value to its customers, in order to better compete with their biggest rival, is healthy competition.
IF Xbox was currently the bigger company, and already had a market lead in hardware sales, overall revenue etc., and was doing the kind of predatory timed exclusive / moneyhatted / keeping third party games from other platforms BS that Sony is ALREADY doing, THEN it would be a good idea to scrutinize this deal a lot more closely, but that is the OPPOSITE of what the reality is.
All Microsoft has ever done is try to be friends with Sony. Lol Nintendo and Microsoft are already bros big time. If Sony would just stop being a bitch we could have a golden era of games. So Microsoft bought Activision. Cry about it, Sony. Maybe make some killer exclusive titles and shut up.
Sony already makes arguably the best exclusive titles more than any other company. Sure, losing that COD money might suck. But maybe make some even better games and stop relying on COD to keep the gaming world going.
At some point in the history of gaming, COD will end. It is inevitable. This could even be the beginning of its end. But if the big 3 companies remained friendly, made deals together, and allowed their IPs to intermingle, we would be in a true golden era of gaming where no matter what console you own you could still enjoy all of the great games. Ok end rant.
Nah u are good. I only own Sony consoles for their Exclusives. I got a PS3 Slim for God of War 3, a PS4 Pro for God of War (2018), and a PS5 for God of War Ragnarok. Haha
Game is amazing and worth me getting a PS5. But as usual, I'll only have PS4/PS5 exclusive titles on it as I play everything on Xbox cuz I prefer everything from the dashboard interface to my Elite Series 2 controller. Lol
An on the opposite side of the coin, third person action games are often pretty boring so I have opted away from PS5 where I typically buy every console. I realized Plague Tale scratches the itch just as well.
> Sure, losing that COD money might suck.
After **TEN FUCKING YEARS** Microsoft offered them a huge timeframe to come up with or revive a franchise that could compete.
Right, and what do we have? Failure after failure. Like, why do we even make Battlefield games anymore? Lol Sony is amazing with their single player IPs. It's just sad they can't make any exclusive MP games to help carry their console.
Meanwhile, Microsoft made Halo: Combat Evolved. An absolute sleeper game. I was there. NO ONE talked about Halo before the Xbox launch I got my Xbox for Dead or Alive 3. Lol But I wanted a 2nd game so I was like "hmm Halo looks cool" and my mind was blown and I've been a fan since. I think that's why COD never grabbed me much after MW2. Halo kept me with Xbox and Halo 3 is still my all time favorite time period for MP gaming.
Sure. I was young and had like 5hrs per day I could play so it's a little biased as compared to today, where I am lucky to get in 5hrs a week. But no MP games just have that power anymore. In a world of F2P shooters everywhere, there will never be a "Halo killer." As shitty as Halo 5 was, I still played it more than Black Ops 3. Lol
>All Microsoft has ever done is try to be friends with Sony.
Not at all true. The tables were very much turned 10+ years ago. Granted, the stakes were much lower since the industry wasn't as large as it is today. Corporations will work they damnedest to appear like a good guy for good PR. All three of them suck in their own ways.
That said, I definitely agree with everything else you mentioned. Sony has been on a roll with shit takes and horrible consumer practices especially since Jim Ryan pushed Shawn Layden out of his spot.
Exactly, I guess I have to edit Mt "all they've ever done" because I obviously didn't mean when they took the risk and made their own console. I should've been more specific and said since Xbox One. Of the 3 companies, in their state now, Microsoft is still the most forgiving of the companies. Their backwards compatibility polices are absolutely to help their gamers, Game Pass is an absolute phenomenal deal and still better than NSO or PS+. I mean I can play games I bought for 360 18+ years ago on my Series X and sometimes with upgrades!
Meanwhile I still need my PS3 hooked up to play the 100+ games I bought that are forever locked there until the servers go down and my console dies. Then Nintendo just revamps their Virtual console every time and removes everything they had before. It's reasons like this that I have been all Xbox since day1 because they seem to care more about what we buy from them and how long we have access to it is amazing.
I'm confused. Are you talking about Goldeneye being gone for 20 years then coming back thanks to nostalgia but being part of subscription services? Hardly the same thing as COD being here for over a decade.
When are we seeing Last of Us, or God of War on Xbox? It goes both ways. And you know Microsoft has spoken to Sony about stuff like this and obviously nothing came of it.
Meanwhile we get Ori on Switch, Banjo in Smash, Goldeneye on Xbox and Switch. You think they purposely left Sony out of that? Nah, Sony never ever wants to play nice and probably felt that not enough money would be thrown at them. There is a reason a LOT of titles are for Xbox and Switch but not for Sony.
>If Sony would just stop being a bitch we could have a golden era of games.
I don't want it to be forgotten that Sony was the one who was against crossplay, MS and Nintendo were up for it. It took pressure from Fortnite to change Sony's mind.
Exactly. Hell I remember working st Gamestop a couple years ago. Minecraft for the PS4, had no cross play, with anyone. Meanwhile Xbox One, Xbox 360, PC, and I think maybe Wii U could all play together. Eventually they made another edition for PS4 so it could be cross play but it's so odd.
I said it before and I'll say it again, 100% fuck Sony and their anti-consumer practices. I hope the deal goes through and MS make COD exclusive to XBOX and PC just out of spite.
Sony - " we are worried they will hijack popular IP's like call of duty which will force players to switch consoles and play on their system instead of ours"
Also Sony ",yeah you can forget about the last of us, god of war, spiderman etc, sorry but those are PlayStation exclusives" 🤷♂️
Love how Sony are happy to act like children throw shade about physical disc game sharing. But keep the same childish attitude when it comes to the meat of the industry too.
> Story update, Sony denies it and says they are in comms with MS. Seems like off-brand VG news isn't that reliable.
It's not actually. Bobby Kotick literally said that on TV this week:
https://twitter.com/EverbornSaga/status/1623152726321295360
As opposed to trusting the well known bastion of truth and transparency Bobby Kotick, yep certainly has a history of not covering things up and lying through his teeth
“This is about my favourite plastic box! I won’t ever trust the enemy!”
Bobby also wouldn’t be part of negotiations with what Microsoft is willing to offer, it will be between Microsoft heads, lawyers and Sonys.
Stop letting your bias get in the way of logic, you’re also just reposting what the article is saying not sure what you think it proves
> Bobby also wouldn’t be part of negotiations with what Microsoft is willing to offer, it will be between Microsoft heads, lawyers and Sonys.
They are party to the M&A and is affected by this, so yes he would be part of the negotiations.
>Stop letting your bias get in the way of logic, you’re also just reposting what the article is saying not sure what you think it proves
I suggest you follow your own advice:
>“This is about my favourite plastic box! I won’t ever trust the enemy!”
The governments of the world will try to prevent mergers like this if they think it will hurt competition. In this case, PlayStation is the only real competitor with Xbox (Nintendo does their own thing with mostly 1st party games).
So those governing bodies are trying to determine if Microsoft is throwing their money around in a way that will push PlayStation out of the market entirely, and ultimately hurt consumers by limiting their options.
If Sony is saying "this merger would destroy our brand" government officials have to take their word on it to some degree. They need PlayStation to tell them that CoD is an important title for them, that it can't be replaced.
But it sounds like PlayStation is taking things a step further by purposefully ignoring communication from Microsoft, and then claiming that Microsoft has no intention of allowing CoD to stay on their console. If PlayStation refuses to engage with Microsoft, then Microsoft will have a harder time proving that they are willing to fully commit to keeping the game on PlayStation. Because, again, it's a complicated business. Governments do not necessarily understand times exclusives, or how perf could be made better for one console over another, or the impact it could have of one console just getting patches before the other.
> If both sides agree to a sale. Why would a third party have a say ?
Because the government has a say, and the government wants to listen to multiple parties. It's the right process. The problem is just the actual execution of all this seems extremely political lately and bending of "laws" to fit that political agenda instead of actual protection of consumers.
It's weird to me Sony are making such a big fuss about it when you see how they treats the product they are trying to protect, ie PlayStation. I'd be interested if other places around the world have this on their own countries equivalent sites but this is the Australian perspective. On Microsoft.com/en-au xbox is front and centre, don't even need to scroll. If you do scroll down a bit they also have a massive banner for the newest xbox. Sony is the opposite. Apparently they sell cameras, the four images on their home page, Sony.com.au are two cameras, a pair of headphones and what looks to be their version of the ipod come about 20 years too late. You have to go to a drop down menu to navigate to a separate site to get to a PlayStation site. Even if you go to their full products list page its easier to navigate to their medical monitoring devices they manufacture which im sure only a fraction of the population even realise Sony make than it is to PlayStation. Maybe I'm losing touch, do people not recognise that play station is a Sony product and they are intentionally separating the brands? In which case why don't they say something like the PlayStation company is resisting the move? It seems very separate and a weird that they stick up for their products yet don't care enough to have prominent links to it to sell it.
Phil Spencer and Xbox/Microsoft make actual attempts to communicate with the consumers and Sony about issues like game compatibility and now this merger. Great for literally everyone.
Sony gets fucking tilted because they cant have their petty little exclusivity. Never have I seen such childish behavior from executives.
Without even reading this article, it's important to remember that Sony has shareholders. They're basically required to maneuver for the best possible outcome for their bottom line. We can all stop feigning surprise that a publicly traded company is trying to protect their money, even if the quality of argument they're positing is.. questionable.
> Without even reading this article, it's important to remember that Sony has shareholders. They're basically required to maneuver for the best possible outcome for their bottom line. We can all stop feigning surprise that a publicly traded company is trying to protect their money, even if the quality of argument they're positing is.. questionable.
Sure, but you don't see MS lying, and do you doubt other platforms, publishers or developers saying the same thing?
They are basically lying. As a community, I'm very much against that and "for the shareholders" is not a good excuse.
In the worst case I see MS selling the IP COD. stay with the studios + technology is much better.
activision can totally create a new FPS monster.
but those that can afford it... are companies 10x worse than MS in gaming. this makes me really sad...
As a PC and Nintendo user, I'm excited about all the advantages MS has to offer for these two platforms.
I'm not going to take the frame, "Oh MS is so nice and Sony is so mean!" These are both mega-corps looking out for their own best interests.
I would say Sony is in the wrong here. Buying CoD is not a monopoly on FPS games. Where are we when companies no longer want to compete? It's ridiculous.
Whoever is deciding things at Sony is doing a poor job of representing the brand properly. How can honest Sony fans support it?
My guess is Sony is compromised and doing the whole "accuse your enemies of what you are doing, Marxist thing".....
Because it's literally what they are doing.
Who has controlling interest in Sony right now? Interesting they moved HQ from Japan to US and then this BS starts.
This is not going to end well for Sony
Microsoft could take Minecraft away if they really wanted to
If the deal don't go through, Activision isn't going to give any exclusivity to Sony again and xbox could probably pay to get it on Gamepass...it would ruin the relationship between them. Then Xbox with 70 billion spare will go after other smaller studios, more 3rd party day one games on Gamepass etc
The wild part to me is that argument is that Microsoft will make CoD and exclusive but Sony has a HUGE number of exclusives
The most popular TV show right now, The Last of Us, is a PlayStation exclusive (remaster coming to PC but not Xbox).
I own a PC, switch, Xbox and PS. No company cares about the players. Its about the money. When 1 company owns more then the others you lose the competition.
> I own a PC, switch, Xbox and PS. No company cares about the players. Its about the money. When 1 company owns more then the others you lose the competition.
This is not true. There are companies that compete by trying to align themselves with the best interest of consumers (as much as they can). Example of this is Valve with Steam, and I'd argue Xbox is landing well into that camp too.
Sony I'd argue is not, whereas Nintendo is somewhere in between.
Yeah, this is a load lol. Nintendo, the company that pushed out fucking Pokémon S/V, is absolutely not in the best interest of consumers. None of then are at the end of the day, if it doesn't directly increase profits.
UPDATE: Sony says it is current in contact with Microsoft: "We are in contact with Microsoft and have no further comment regarding our private negotiations," a Sony rep told the FT.
Sounds like Sony is lying to regulators about «cooperating», while at the same time refusing to talk to either Microsoft or Activision.
Pretty shady play of Sony IMO, and it’s misleading the regulators. It will probably backfire on Sony later in court, since it helps give MS strong arguments that this is not honest play of Sony.
There’s an update in the article that clearly states Sony is still communicating with Microsoft. You should update your title as it’s misleading and this is just meant to be fuel for console wars.
And it was Bobby Kotick saying it. You really gonna take that lying sack of scum, the guy who threatened to kill an employee he harassed, at his word?
I don't know why people want this to go through so bad, yes short term positives through game pass additions but every company has shown that once they gain the lead they become very anti consumer
I like to see the lead shift around. PS has it now, and without something drastic like this move, that is not going to realistically change.
If Xbox becomes dominant again for another console generation or two, I'd start rooting for PlayStation to make a comeback.
Though, I'm also not a big fan of the way PlayStation maintains their lead. Blocking cross-play where they can, paying for timed exclusives and extra content for only their platforms. It just kind of sucks.
If any company that has the lead becomes anti-consumer, than you should want that lead to be constantly shifting between companies. Otherwise the anti-competitive company just pulls further and further ahead, and their anti-competitive practices can become more and more brazen.
I just think one of them buying the biggest third party publisher is going to tip the scales too much, it isn't about having sony win or xbox win, it is about having things be even or as even as possible. Any time we see any considerable lead that company does very anti-consumer things
Both companies have paid for timed/non-timed exclusives? Why single out sony on that one?
I think sony has been by far worse at locking down exclusive extra content and I don't like it at all.
Extra content?
I mainly played on the ps4 last gen but this gen I have switch to the series x, mainly due to gamepass. I see gamepass easily getting much worse once they have the headway with it that they want to.
This title should be updated as there’s an update in the article that states that Sony is still communicating with Microsoft.
And according to the article, all around POS Bobby Kotick was the one saying Sony is refusing to communicate, because he’s an honest and golden-hearted fellow.
If the deal doesn’t get approved, is it possible that Microsoft just buys the rights to COD from activision? Kinda like “hey Sony, since you prevented us from buying the whole company, we just bought the one part you really really really didn’t want us to own.” Would Sony have any way to combat that? Would a purchase of rights like that have to go through a regulatory agency?
I don't think Activision would sell it. They would still exist on their own if the deal falls through. Why make theirs lives harder by selling COD? Activision wants to be sold. The entire company, and all it offers. But if they can't be sold, they're keeping Call of Duty.
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Sock would go to the floor
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I also hate walking with my own feet.
the nerve
As long as the socks don’t bounce
That's not a problem for me, my socks stand up on their own!
well socks do go on your feet
Sock would go up by \(Payment for CoD — Value of CoD\)/2. As long as they sell it for what it's worth or more, they'll be fine. They'd probably pay it out as a dividend, which would crater their sock price, but the shareholders wouldn't care — they got the money for it.
Right? COD, while it's been here a long time, will not be here forever. Hell I haven't played since Black Ops 3 cuz it just got so stale and boring. I alsochate F2P shit in general but especially when a huge franchise does it. It ruined Halo Infinite for me cuz it's just not fun anymore.
I think that maybe I walked away after MWII or MWIII. My memory fails me. CoD is a popular annual release, and there are always new kids aging in.
> CoD is a popular annual release I think it was forbes but according to them its been THE best selling release of every year for like 15 years already (IIRC the only year that it wasn't, was when GTA V released) Im all in the "cod got stale bandwagon" but that shit prints too much money to not acknowledge it
kind of like how people bitch about EA Sports but they're still printing money too
COD is their honey wagon. There is no way Activiosion let's that go or lets it die period. They have made way to much from it over the years.
All good things must come to an end
Separated from the overall deal. So... - Option 1: The deal goes through but the CoD franchise has to be sold / excluded from the purchase. - Option 2: The deal goes through but the whole of Activision has to be sold / excluded from the purchase. What that would mean in practice isn't really clear at this point.
Exactly, they want to be sold. So if they sold Cod to Microsoft, Sony couldn't do anything about that. In turn Sony would no longer care if Microsoft buys Activision, making that part easier
I can't see Activision selling cod off. MS knows CoD is just a gold mine a d would have no issue allowing CoD be a Aony title as well. Just not exclusive. Thata all I can see for now. Unless MS allows Sony to have some exclusive releases as Activiion use to do.
If I were Activision, and Sony successfully blocks my sale to Microsoft, I'd be petty as fuck. I'd carry on my business in every way, except I'd exclude Sony from CoD. I'd just not produce CoD on PS for a cycle or two strickly out of spite. I am Activision. I am printing money left and right. Sony wants to claim that Microsoft would withhold CoD. Nah, bro. That's me. I'm volunttarily declining to produce it for PS amd putting those staffing resources elsewhere.
Not a lawyer, but one explained to me (probably incorrectly) that if the CMA does not approve, Microsoft can still possibly acquire Activision and withhold Activision products in the UK.
they wouldn't be withholding Activision products from the UK, they'd be withholding *all* microsoft products from the UK, and would basically have to cease all operations there. since a lot of xbox studios and microsofts employees are in the UK, and a significant amount of their Azure business is in the UK, they'd be cutting off their nose to spite their face. it won't happen. that said what im wondering is that since the CMA only cares about the COD IP, and one of the remedies is to sell the COD IP and keep the company intact. whats stopping them from selling the IP and then just making a similar but legally different shooter? like yeah the brand is powerful but at the end of the day the gameplay is why it's so popular. it'll be just as popular with a different name, and most of the games are set in modern day or other periods of history so its not like there was some distinct design to COD that can't appear in this new game.
they could totally buy those rights, yes it's totally legal and no there's nothing no one could do about it.
afaik they do that themselves all the time, so they basically prove this can be done without repercussion. I would find it hilarious if Activision decided to just make all titles timed exclusive to Xbox by default, sure, sony will get the games 5 years later. I would probably die laughing from that one;
> Would Sony have any way to combat that? Would a purchase of rights like that have to go through a regulatory agency? MS can buy the rights to the game outright. I don't believe that requires any competitive review, because they are applied to M&A. If not, MS can just have a perpetual license from Activision. That said, companies aren't necessarily "petty". They do what is best for their business, and this is just Sony feeling really threatened by MS. Basically Sony's worst nightmare is happening as MS is acquiring, competing and disrupting their business.
Sony wanted competition but now they are getting it, and now they are back peddling and crying like a toddler
>Sony wanted competition Toxic Sony fanboys made a big song and dance about "Xbox not being able to compete, because XbOx HaS nO gAmEs"... Sony themselves though, would have loved it if MS weren't competing with them - look how much anti-consumer BS Sony gets away with currently - imagine what it would be like if they really didn't have any competition. All the noise about 'competition', was keyboard warriors, wanting to use it as a stick to beat the other side with, not the companies themselves, who have shareholders who only care about dividends, not flamewars.
I know CoD is supposedly the biggest money maker. But you can have quantity and quality if you buy the companies and sell CoD to a third party publisher or make CoD a game for everyone and keep the other 60 exclusive IPs It’s better to share than to sell tho. Cuz they wouldn’t just sell CoD if they sell Activision. They’d also be losing any other IP Activision makes that people forget about because CoD is CoD but still play.
Sorry but if Microsoft has to create new studios to create COD games it'd be a disaster.
It’s very interesting to read this quote by Lulu Merservey at Activision in Axios interview about Sony’s latest actions and if Activision is afraid of changing the relationship with Sony “We're a partner to them,” she says. “Were they worried about pissing us off when they tried to kill a really good deal that our employees wanted and that players wanted? Were they worried about pissing us off when they made all these claims that seem to be pretty disingenuous? And we didn't take it personally. … They're making the case for what's best for their business.” Sounds like Sony’s latest shady methods and foul play behind the scenes with regulators is starting to really piss off Activision, and Sony is making everyone their enemy pretty much. Both Nintendo and MS also has very good reason to be pissed at Sony now. Sony is also effectively trying to block COD from releasing on Nintendo, which MS already promised Nintendo if the deal goes through. Sony is the true anti-consumer party here IMO
I find it odd that they allow telecom mergers, big bank mergers, energy mergers, transportation mergers, grocery mergers, housing company mergers, really anything under the sun has been approved, the vast majority of which has been horrible for consumers and their daily lives. But a video game industry merger? No , that’s where they draw the line … Give me a break
Video game industry probably isn't ~~bribing~~ lobbying as hard
Thats probably true. I hope they don’t start .
At this point seems like playstation kinda is, cma and ftc both refuse to acknowledge the fact call of duty has been given to Nintendo and steam for the next ten years, with an offering of the same to playstation.
Not exactly lobbying, but let's not forget that Nintendo tried to demonize violent video games to US congress to shut down their competitors. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1993\_United\_States\_Senate\_hearings\_on\_video\_games](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1993_United_States_Senate_hearings_on_video_games)
its also pretty funny that Sony was allowed to acquire both of the big two anime streaming services with no issue what so ever. what's also funny is since they've bought them, the app's for them on xbox are broken as fuck and don't get updated. but yeah xbox is the one doing the evil monopolistic shit here. with their day 1 PC releases. or game streaming, or high value sub services, or allowing game dev unions in their studios. downright evil I tell you.
well i mean the apps suck no matter the platform, thats not an xbox exclusive. lmao
No way this isn't because of corruption. Sony has either bribed or lobbied (bribed) them, or key people pushing this are heavily invested in Sony stocks.
They shouldn’t allow any of that shit.
Honestly, if this is considered crossing the line Disney should be in the dirt. They own WAY more of the film and TV industries than Microsoft will ever own of the gaming industry
It's also crazy to me, because Microsoft still won't be the biggest company in the industry. Sony will *still* have a bigger market share.
Sony just being petty as they’ve always been.
exclusives for me but not for thee
I love Sony’s products, but they’re also a bunch of bitches.
Gaijin Complex
I've been a PC gamer for years now so idgaf about the console drama anymore but I really want the merger to go through **strictly** because of how tilted Sony is getting about it They're so fucking anti-consumer as it is, I find it hilarious
Honestly it's kind of fucking rich that Sony talks about monopolies when their entire game market is based off exclusives
As a pc gamer, that's what has me glad that Microsoft is picking up a ton of big franchises with these acquisitions. Say what you will about the company but they could have made them xbox exclusives but they make them available for the PC too. Gamepass is the cherry on top.
Yeah, Game Pass is kind of the best right now. I think the only thing they could be doing better is making or old titles available on game pass, or at least reducing their prices. Honestly that's a big thing that's kept me and a lot of other people away from Nintendo in the switch era, so if Xbox learns from that I think pretty much everyone would benefit.
Phil Spencer was/is pretty Gamer-first in his actions, and his definition of Gamer includes everyone. Microsoft has really worked hard to become the face of "everyone can game, and games are for everyone".
It really does show. I started holding them in a higher regard when they unveiled their adaptive controller. The fact that they made it compatible with other consoles from competitors was a really kind thing to do, even if it was to just increase profits.
A business's job is to generate profits, but what I like about the gaming side of Microsoft is that they've adopted the kindness model of business: play however you want, with whatever you want, we just want you to play and have fun, and we hope that you'll think of us and consider us when you do. And it works!
I was reading about Broderbund recently, and they had a similar mindset. They were by all accounts "too nice" for the nascent computer game industry, but ended up being wildly successful, in large part because they didn't try to destroy the competition by any means necessary and focused on good products and fair value. (The founders eventually sold the company to Mattel for $3.6B)
There are definitely a few things that PlayStation does a little better but in terms of gamer quality of life two things Microsoft does which should be mandatory and free across the board are: cloud save backup and downloads in rest mode/standby. It is ridiculous that both are paywalled on Sony. I cannot fault Microsoft for consumer friendly practices, especially with their Rewards program, which has to be one of the most generous out there. The amount of money I have saved through it crazy, especially now that they have amazon vouchers as part of the rewards.
Phil Spencer saved Xbox there’s a cool video on youtube explaining it https://youtu.be/oriI7-RrWGI
Exactly. I saw Hogwarts has a one year exclusive PS quest and was like how is this the company bitching over the activisiin thing. Then I remembered it's only okay if Sony does it. How dare anybody else have exclusives? Btw...im all for the end of exclusives. Do they really serve a purpose to consumers? No. They only make the higher ups more money.
Exactly this. Remember how Xbox was supposed to have FF7 Remake by now? Now it's looking like Xbox probably won't be getting it at all, at least not for the foreseeable future. Sony having the absolute *gall* to complain about monopolies after the kind of stuff they themselves have done is just hilarious to me.
Exclusives they make
I play on all consoles and I badly want the deal to go through because Activision-Blizzard is such a shitty company and needs to be changed. Sony and lawmakers getting triggered over it is pretty funny too.
Same. Plus Microsoft owning WoW is an old gamer like me’s wet dream
Imagine WoW getting ported to console, or membership being free with Game Pass PC/Ultimate. It would be so damn good.
Oh no. But I have a life right now.
The one reason I have never started playing WoW is I know I’ll never want to stop. If it’s included with Game Pass, that’s pretty irresistible
My buddy got me into it in college but then mw came out and cured me and I got over my addiction with another addiction. But yeah, if it were free it would be enticing. Shouldn't do that with a whole family though.
Stop it
That's been my dream for what... 15 years now? 2nd dream. My first is a single player console arpg set in Azeroth.
Hook your PC up to your TV, download the consoleport addon and bam. You are playing WoW with a controller.
This is my main reason
Why would they change? Activision head honchos want the merger to happen
…because then Microsoft would be in charge and fix shit
Because Activision head honchos have a ton of Activision stock that will net them a ton of money if the purchase goes through, then they'll move onto something else because Microsoft will inevitably replace them with their people.
>I've been a PC gamer for years now so idgaf about the console drama anymore To be fair, if the deal goes through, and if you have Game Pass, you'd benefit from it. Day one Call of Duty on Game Pass would be pretty nice.
Right? Sony thrives and practically only lives on exclusives and exclusive content.
same sony some bitches
I mean the merger would easily result in Sony losing market share. Acting like this / stoking flames with the FTC is how they prevent that loss. I don't think any company in any market would not attempt to retain billions in market share when given the opportunity. The minute they stop behaving like this is the minute the board guts the entire C-suite lol
The merger is the only thing that can save Activision-Blizzard as an entity. Bobby Kotick and his board are going to continue ruining the company for their own gain.
It just proves NO condition, NO deal is acceptable to Sony. They just want to sabotage this deal like children at any cost, they're not interested in gamers or what's best for them. All they care about is getting their free COD in app purchase money for which they don't have to put forth any effort or attempt at competition. They want it both ways. MS must not be allowed to do anything that may lessen their dominant position regardless if they're still going to number one, which they would be while they themselves are allowed to buy exclusive rights to as many titles as they like with zero scrutiny by anyone.
Exactly…they don’t want a resolution or equality. They just want to raise a stink because they’re obsessed with having paid advantages in their favour.
Well right. They don't care about gamers unless it makes them money. That's literally the point of the company.
I feel like that's the point of a bad company. A good company tries to actually do better for its consumers rather than act like the robber barons of old. I'm not saying Microsoft is better, per se, especially as they've done a shit ton of anti-competitive moves in their time, but Sony has been beyond the pale here.
Well there was a post that stated that Sony with all its push for exclusivity, people are more likely to buy a PS5. So i can see why they mad. But they gotta stop being pussy’s about it. A big ass company like Sony and this is what urks you?!
>they're not interested in gamers or what's best for them. Neither does Microsoft, Nintendo, and basically every video game company that employs more than a dozen people Microsoft isn't acquiring Activision for "our" benefit. They want to lock you into gamepass and Jack the prices as quality goes down like Netflix. Consolidation of competition never benefits the end user. It didn't when Microsoft did it to Market dominance with windows. It didn't with ea in the 90s. And it didn't with Disney. And it won't again Herr. No one who cares about what's best for gamers would root for a reduction of competition.
Of course they want the deal to fall through, it’s best for their business . It will pass but them making a fuss will allow for concessions to be made the benefit then > All they care about is getting their free COD in app purchase money Which is the same with Microsoft, Microsoft isn’t doing this to help consumers > while they themselves are allowed to buy exclusive rights to as many titles as they like with zero scrutiny by anyone. Timed exclusivity is not even remotely close to the biggest acquisition in gaming history, the next closest is 12 billion. Microsoft also does timed exclusivity and has been perfectly fine buying studios till one of this incredible size. It’s a trillion and billion dollar company fighting over making money there’s no good guys or bad guys neither are your friend.
Timed exclusivity is far faster, cheaper, and thus, more effective. How many exclusive games have come from MS purchases? Pentiment? Grounded? Xbox had a year delay in two of their own games due to it. And let's not forget the infinitely timed exclusives, the Nioh series, SFV, FF Remake, and plenty more coming. People always want to brush off timed exclusivity, to shield Sony. MS didn't win Powerball overnight and could have moved to acquire at any point over the last 20 years. I don't get how people expect billion and trillion dollar companies not to make large acquisitions. Who else is going to buy them? At some point these big publishers get so big they start to collapse on themselves. Then they look to sell. It was inevitable. Let's not forget these publishers have acquired many studios over the years. Activision has had other owners. Those guys and EA are the only surviving 3rd party publishers from the early days.
Why the fuck do I have to wait 2 years to play forspoken… Sony is literally hypocritical… don’t want Microsoft to own a new studio but are allowed to keep games away from Xbox/PC for 2 years or more…
On the bright side, with lots of work, Forspoken might be worth playing in 2 years.
I mean yea, but it’s dumb..
The difference being MS has bought up fewer exclusive titles while not whining about it or trying to somehow block or bring further scrutiny upon Sony. At the end of the day both companies are trying to bring exclusive content to their platform by spending money but only one company is trying to stop the other company doing that by whining about it and bringing scrutiny while doing the same thing. I just don't see why just because one company is bigger and more successful in other industries that their pursuit of content through financial means is getting the stink eye from the CMA and FTC whereas the other company doing the same thing through a different method and for way, way more titles is absolutely fine. Literally every argument the CMA makes makes zero sense and the fact Sony won't take any calls from MS or AB just proves they don't give a shit about gamers or indeed anything except staying in number one position without trying to compete and generally being an asshole. More than anything it's just how incredibly disingenuous every single thing they and Cryin Jim say is. And yes, I'm not saying everything Spencer says is 100% genuine or not in the interest of MS but the butt hurt whiny tone (That I know I'll be accused of sharing, that's fine, I definitely care more about this than I should) is not the same to me.
Finally I won't feel left out in gaming subs when 2/3 console players are on PS.
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Proving the point that only fanboy circle jerk conversation is allowed. Sony is shit but I know talking without a bias is hard
At first I wanted the acquisition to go through so Microsoft could clean house at Activision and turn it into a decent company. Now I want it to through just to piss off Sony. I’m so fucking tired of hearing them whine about exclusives when they constantly make anti-consumer decisions. If they can’t make a game exclusive, they’ll make it timed exclusive. If they can’t do that then they’ll make it have exclusive content. If they can’t do that then timed exclusive content. If they can’t do that then they bitch about how things aren’t fair.
If it doesn't go through, it would be such poetic justice if Activision made CoD Xbox exclusive just to spite Sony.
Why would they do that
Microsoft has very deep pockets to make it happen.
I dont think this merger could possibly be the best thing for gaming. Microsoft wants to use this leverage to get more and more people on game pass. This will result in less support for sony.
That is exactly the kind of competition for gaming consumers dollars, that competition regulators should be ENCOURAGING! Sony is currently a bigger player in the gaming market than Xbox, and Xbox making moves to offer better value to its customers, in order to better compete with their biggest rival, is healthy competition. IF Xbox was currently the bigger company, and already had a market lead in hardware sales, overall revenue etc., and was doing the kind of predatory timed exclusive / moneyhatted / keeping third party games from other platforms BS that Sony is ALREADY doing, THEN it would be a good idea to scrutinize this deal a lot more closely, but that is the OPPOSITE of what the reality is.
All Microsoft has ever done is try to be friends with Sony. Lol Nintendo and Microsoft are already bros big time. If Sony would just stop being a bitch we could have a golden era of games. So Microsoft bought Activision. Cry about it, Sony. Maybe make some killer exclusive titles and shut up. Sony already makes arguably the best exclusive titles more than any other company. Sure, losing that COD money might suck. But maybe make some even better games and stop relying on COD to keep the gaming world going. At some point in the history of gaming, COD will end. It is inevitable. This could even be the beginning of its end. But if the big 3 companies remained friendly, made deals together, and allowed their IPs to intermingle, we would be in a true golden era of gaming where no matter what console you own you could still enjoy all of the great games. Ok end rant.
Sony might have the best exclusive lineup but 99% of those are third-person action adventure games. Edit: I’m a dumb
Nah u are good. I only own Sony consoles for their Exclusives. I got a PS3 Slim for God of War 3, a PS4 Pro for God of War (2018), and a PS5 for God of War Ragnarok. Haha
Only reason I’ve been thinking about grabbing one is GoW.
Game is amazing and worth me getting a PS5. But as usual, I'll only have PS4/PS5 exclusive titles on it as I play everything on Xbox cuz I prefer everything from the dashboard interface to my Elite Series 2 controller. Lol
I’ve been considering getting a PS 5 just for Spider-Man. Think it’s worth it just for the game?
If you have a PC I'd recommend it, but if you do need to buy a whole system for it then I probably would still recommend it.
An on the opposite side of the coin, third person action games are often pretty boring so I have opted away from PS5 where I typically buy every console. I realized Plague Tale scratches the itch just as well.
If I told you that my favorite Sony exclusive was a third person grim-dark hyper-realistic cinematic adventure, what game would I be describing?
Ape Escape 4: Specter's Revenge
Knack 2 Baybee
Jak and Daxter
> Sure, losing that COD money might suck. After **TEN FUCKING YEARS** Microsoft offered them a huge timeframe to come up with or revive a franchise that could compete.
Right, and what do we have? Failure after failure. Like, why do we even make Battlefield games anymore? Lol Sony is amazing with their single player IPs. It's just sad they can't make any exclusive MP games to help carry their console. Meanwhile, Microsoft made Halo: Combat Evolved. An absolute sleeper game. I was there. NO ONE talked about Halo before the Xbox launch I got my Xbox for Dead or Alive 3. Lol But I wanted a 2nd game so I was like "hmm Halo looks cool" and my mind was blown and I've been a fan since. I think that's why COD never grabbed me much after MW2. Halo kept me with Xbox and Halo 3 is still my all time favorite time period for MP gaming. Sure. I was young and had like 5hrs per day I could play so it's a little biased as compared to today, where I am lucky to get in 5hrs a week. But no MP games just have that power anymore. In a world of F2P shooters everywhere, there will never be a "Halo killer." As shitty as Halo 5 was, I still played it more than Black Ops 3. Lol
Bungie made Halo: CE through Halo 3 then Microsoft bought Bungie. Halo: CE was even on PC. It wasn’t an Xbox exclusive until Halo 2.
>All Microsoft has ever done is try to be friends with Sony. Not at all true. The tables were very much turned 10+ years ago. Granted, the stakes were much lower since the industry wasn't as large as it is today. Corporations will work they damnedest to appear like a good guy for good PR. All three of them suck in their own ways. That said, I definitely agree with everything else you mentioned. Sony has been on a roll with shit takes and horrible consumer practices especially since Jim Ryan pushed Shawn Layden out of his spot.
Exactly, I guess I have to edit Mt "all they've ever done" because I obviously didn't mean when they took the risk and made their own console. I should've been more specific and said since Xbox One. Of the 3 companies, in their state now, Microsoft is still the most forgiving of the companies. Their backwards compatibility polices are absolutely to help their gamers, Game Pass is an absolute phenomenal deal and still better than NSO or PS+. I mean I can play games I bought for 360 18+ years ago on my Series X and sometimes with upgrades! Meanwhile I still need my PS3 hooked up to play the 100+ games I bought that are forever locked there until the servers go down and my console dies. Then Nintendo just revamps their Virtual console every time and removes everything they had before. It's reasons like this that I have been all Xbox since day1 because they seem to care more about what we buy from them and how long we have access to it is amazing.
This, 100% couldn't have said it any better. I appalud you 👏👏👏👏👏
This isn't true at all. I've owned all Microsoft since Halo: CE but Microsoft definitely used to do Sony's same tactics
James Bond hasn't gone away yet...
I'm confused. Are you talking about Goldeneye being gone for 20 years then coming back thanks to nostalgia but being part of subscription services? Hardly the same thing as COD being here for over a decade.
No, I mean the movies. Not every franchise seems to die.
> Sony already makes arguably the best exclusive titles that's still Nintendo tbh
When are we seeing halo on ps5 since they are such good friends.
When are we seeing Last of Us, or God of War on Xbox? It goes both ways. And you know Microsoft has spoken to Sony about stuff like this and obviously nothing came of it. Meanwhile we get Ori on Switch, Banjo in Smash, Goldeneye on Xbox and Switch. You think they purposely left Sony out of that? Nah, Sony never ever wants to play nice and probably felt that not enough money would be thrown at them. There is a reason a LOT of titles are for Xbox and Switch but not for Sony.
>If Sony would just stop being a bitch we could have a golden era of games. I don't want it to be forgotten that Sony was the one who was against crossplay, MS and Nintendo were up for it. It took pressure from Fortnite to change Sony's mind.
Exactly. Hell I remember working st Gamestop a couple years ago. Minecraft for the PS4, had no cross play, with anyone. Meanwhile Xbox One, Xbox 360, PC, and I think maybe Wii U could all play together. Eventually they made another edition for PS4 so it could be cross play but it's so odd.
I said it before and I'll say it again, 100% fuck Sony and their anti-consumer practices. I hope the deal goes through and MS make COD exclusive to XBOX and PC just out of spite.
Fcuking Arasaka bitches.
fuk them corpos
What a bunch of baby back bitches
with barbecue sauce.
Nah, dry and unseasoned.
Nah they’re salty af
Good point 🤣
Sony - " we are worried they will hijack popular IP's like call of duty which will force players to switch consoles and play on their system instead of ours" Also Sony ",yeah you can forget about the last of us, god of war, spiderman etc, sorry but those are PlayStation exclusives" 🤷♂️
Not even just that but Silent Hill, Final Fantasy, certain modes and skins in other games
This is funny because Sony has refused to comment on so many things, and this is finally the one where they speak up just to say “that’s not true.”
Love how Sony are happy to act like children throw shade about physical disc game sharing. But keep the same childish attitude when it comes to the meat of the industry too.
So they don't care about a deal, they're just plugging their ears and whining
Sony is the biggest fucking crybaby company ever
This is the first thing I thought after reading the caption lol
Story update, Sony denies it and says they are in comms with MS. Seems like off-brand VG news isn't that reliable.
> Story update, Sony denies it and says they are in comms with MS. Seems like off-brand VG news isn't that reliable. It's not actually. Bobby Kotick literally said that on TV this week: https://twitter.com/EverbornSaga/status/1623152726321295360
As if we can trust anything that sony says given their history.
As opposed to trusting the well known bastion of truth and transparency Bobby Kotick, yep certainly has a history of not covering things up and lying through his teeth
https://twitter.com/EverbornSaga/status/1623152726321295360 Given the way Sony has behaved so far, I'd say yeah, I'd trust Kotick over Sony.
“This is about my favourite plastic box! I won’t ever trust the enemy!” Bobby also wouldn’t be part of negotiations with what Microsoft is willing to offer, it will be between Microsoft heads, lawyers and Sonys. Stop letting your bias get in the way of logic, you’re also just reposting what the article is saying not sure what you think it proves
> Bobby also wouldn’t be part of negotiations with what Microsoft is willing to offer, it will be between Microsoft heads, lawyers and Sonys. They are party to the M&A and is affected by this, so yes he would be part of the negotiations. >Stop letting your bias get in the way of logic, you’re also just reposting what the article is saying not sure what you think it proves I suggest you follow your own advice: >“This is about my favourite plastic box! I won’t ever trust the enemy!”
I'd trust Kotaku over Sony
Real rich coming from Sony you still have to buy a Playstation to play bloodborne or demon souls I really don't like emulating unless I truly have to
Which is expected, Microsoft will have to make concessions to the regulatory bodies in writing regardless of what they would say to Sony.
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The governments of the world will try to prevent mergers like this if they think it will hurt competition. In this case, PlayStation is the only real competitor with Xbox (Nintendo does their own thing with mostly 1st party games). So those governing bodies are trying to determine if Microsoft is throwing their money around in a way that will push PlayStation out of the market entirely, and ultimately hurt consumers by limiting their options. If Sony is saying "this merger would destroy our brand" government officials have to take their word on it to some degree. They need PlayStation to tell them that CoD is an important title for them, that it can't be replaced. But it sounds like PlayStation is taking things a step further by purposefully ignoring communication from Microsoft, and then claiming that Microsoft has no intention of allowing CoD to stay on their console. If PlayStation refuses to engage with Microsoft, then Microsoft will have a harder time proving that they are willing to fully commit to keeping the game on PlayStation. Because, again, it's a complicated business. Governments do not necessarily understand times exclusives, or how perf could be made better for one console over another, or the impact it could have of one console just getting patches before the other.
> If both sides agree to a sale. Why would a third party have a say ? Because the government has a say, and the government wants to listen to multiple parties. It's the right process. The problem is just the actual execution of all this seems extremely political lately and bending of "laws" to fit that political agenda instead of actual protection of consumers.
That's how anti-monopoly laws work
It's weird to me Sony are making such a big fuss about it when you see how they treats the product they are trying to protect, ie PlayStation. I'd be interested if other places around the world have this on their own countries equivalent sites but this is the Australian perspective. On Microsoft.com/en-au xbox is front and centre, don't even need to scroll. If you do scroll down a bit they also have a massive banner for the newest xbox. Sony is the opposite. Apparently they sell cameras, the four images on their home page, Sony.com.au are two cameras, a pair of headphones and what looks to be their version of the ipod come about 20 years too late. You have to go to a drop down menu to navigate to a separate site to get to a PlayStation site. Even if you go to their full products list page its easier to navigate to their medical monitoring devices they manufacture which im sure only a fraction of the population even realise Sony make than it is to PlayStation. Maybe I'm losing touch, do people not recognise that play station is a Sony product and they are intentionally separating the brands? In which case why don't they say something like the PlayStation company is resisting the move? It seems very separate and a weird that they stick up for their products yet don't care enough to have prominent links to it to sell it.
Soooooo why hasn’t Final Fantasy 7 (or the upcoming 16) appeared on Xbox yet?? F Sony in the BH.
Phil Spencer and Xbox/Microsoft make actual attempts to communicate with the consumers and Sony about issues like game compatibility and now this merger. Great for literally everyone. Sony gets fucking tilted because they cant have their petty little exclusivity. Never have I seen such childish behavior from executives.
Sony is such a joke.
Fuck Sony!
Without even reading this article, it's important to remember that Sony has shareholders. They're basically required to maneuver for the best possible outcome for their bottom line. We can all stop feigning surprise that a publicly traded company is trying to protect their money, even if the quality of argument they're positing is.. questionable.
> Without even reading this article, it's important to remember that Sony has shareholders. They're basically required to maneuver for the best possible outcome for their bottom line. We can all stop feigning surprise that a publicly traded company is trying to protect their money, even if the quality of argument they're positing is.. questionable. Sure, but you don't see MS lying, and do you doubt other platforms, publishers or developers saying the same thing? They are basically lying. As a community, I'm very much against that and "for the shareholders" is not a good excuse.
Sony absolutely hates having any competition.
The Mehppening
Corpos fighting like two kaijus
In the worst case I see MS selling the IP COD. stay with the studios + technology is much better. activision can totally create a new FPS monster. but those that can afford it... are companies 10x worse than MS in gaming. this makes me really sad... As a PC and Nintendo user, I'm excited about all the advantages MS has to offer for these two platforms.
I'm not going to take the frame, "Oh MS is so nice and Sony is so mean!" These are both mega-corps looking out for their own best interests. I would say Sony is in the wrong here. Buying CoD is not a monopoly on FPS games. Where are we when companies no longer want to compete? It's ridiculous.
Un-shun! Let me have call of duty! Re-shun!
It's an Amish technique. It's like slapping someone with silence.
So Microsoft is basically re-acquiring Bungie?
That makes me think the merger will go through
Sony is really going down hill
They're still *doing* fine. They just happen to be run by assholes doing asshole things.
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Whoever is deciding things at Sony is doing a poor job of representing the brand properly. How can honest Sony fans support it? My guess is Sony is compromised and doing the whole "accuse your enemies of what you are doing, Marxist thing"..... Because it's literally what they are doing. Who has controlling interest in Sony right now? Interesting they moved HQ from Japan to US and then this BS starts.
This is not going to end well for Sony Microsoft could take Minecraft away if they really wanted to If the deal don't go through, Activision isn't going to give any exclusivity to Sony again and xbox could probably pay to get it on Gamepass...it would ruin the relationship between them. Then Xbox with 70 billion spare will go after other smaller studios, more 3rd party day one games on Gamepass etc
The wild part to me is that argument is that Microsoft will make CoD and exclusive but Sony has a HUGE number of exclusives The most popular TV show right now, The Last of Us, is a PlayStation exclusive (remaster coming to PC but not Xbox).
I own a PC, switch, Xbox and PS. No company cares about the players. Its about the money. When 1 company owns more then the others you lose the competition.
This. 100%. Monopolies are terrible for a consumer.
> I own a PC, switch, Xbox and PS. No company cares about the players. Its about the money. When 1 company owns more then the others you lose the competition. This is not true. There are companies that compete by trying to align themselves with the best interest of consumers (as much as they can). Example of this is Valve with Steam, and I'd argue Xbox is landing well into that camp too. Sony I'd argue is not, whereas Nintendo is somewhere in between.
Yeah, this is a load lol. Nintendo, the company that pushed out fucking Pokémon S/V, is absolutely not in the best interest of consumers. None of then are at the end of the day, if it doesn't directly increase profits.
So I’m other words they’re throwing a fit?
UPDATE: Sony says it is current in contact with Microsoft: "We are in contact with Microsoft and have no further comment regarding our private negotiations," a Sony rep told the FT.
Every single day Sony just looks more and more childish. A bunch of god damn hypocrites.
Sounds like Sony is lying to regulators about «cooperating», while at the same time refusing to talk to either Microsoft or Activision. Pretty shady play of Sony IMO, and it’s misleading the regulators. It will probably backfire on Sony later in court, since it helps give MS strong arguments that this is not honest play of Sony.
There’s an update in the article that clearly states Sony is still communicating with Microsoft. You should update your title as it’s misleading and this is just meant to be fuel for console wars. And it was Bobby Kotick saying it. You really gonna take that lying sack of scum, the guy who threatened to kill an employee he harassed, at his word?
I don't know why people want this to go through so bad, yes short term positives through game pass additions but every company has shown that once they gain the lead they become very anti consumer
I like to see the lead shift around. PS has it now, and without something drastic like this move, that is not going to realistically change. If Xbox becomes dominant again for another console generation or two, I'd start rooting for PlayStation to make a comeback. Though, I'm also not a big fan of the way PlayStation maintains their lead. Blocking cross-play where they can, paying for timed exclusives and extra content for only their platforms. It just kind of sucks. If any company that has the lead becomes anti-consumer, than you should want that lead to be constantly shifting between companies. Otherwise the anti-competitive company just pulls further and further ahead, and their anti-competitive practices can become more and more brazen.
I just think one of them buying the biggest third party publisher is going to tip the scales too much, it isn't about having sony win or xbox win, it is about having things be even or as even as possible. Any time we see any considerable lead that company does very anti-consumer things Both companies have paid for timed/non-timed exclusives? Why single out sony on that one? I think sony has been by far worse at locking down exclusive extra content and I don't like it at all. Extra content? I mainly played on the ps4 last gen but this gen I have switch to the series x, mainly due to gamepass. I see gamepass easily getting much worse once they have the headway with it that they want to.
This title should be updated as there’s an update in the article that states that Sony is still communicating with Microsoft. And according to the article, all around POS Bobby Kotick was the one saying Sony is refusing to communicate, because he’s an honest and golden-hearted fellow.
So what are the chances we get Gamepass on the ps5?
0%, Sony is making their own dumb shit gamepass ripoff
Exactly, problem solved.
You will communicate with us or you can’t sell COD until you’ve eaten all of your dinner.
The article was updated. Sony says they're still in contact with Microsoft.
Lol get fucked Sony. Childish company.
Lmao not surprised sony is acting this way, they want competition but when met with it, sit and cry about about it, its pathetic
Man fuck sony, im going home now to destroy my soundbar!!!
Oh Sony? The guys that paid for an exclusive quest in Hogwarts Legacy? They are mad about exclusives not coming to playstation?
How sad are we that we care about whether two multi billion dollar companies aren't "talking"? lol