https://www.eurogamer.net/microsoft-wins-crucial-ftc-case-on-activision-blizzard-acquisition
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2023/jul/11/microsoft-may-proceed-69-billion-activision-blizzard-deal

DO you think this is a good idea and deal? ( i think it will be)

i used to love Sony and Playstation more but after all this moaning and wining and playing the victim and saying that Microsoft/X-BOX should not have exclusives and buy companies while they did the same exact thing is making me think Microsoft are the better of the two - what do you all think?

9 months ago

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X-BOX OR PLAYSTATION

View Results
X-BOX
PLAYSTATION

Team Nintendo

signing in
I don't have an XBONE(haven't since the 360) or a giant Sony wifi router. so doesn't matter much to me, no way MS will take away PC versions of the games so I will go on unaffected by their purchase.

9 months ago
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to be fair i would second this and am surprised for that reason alone x-box have not raced into more of a lead

9 months ago
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In the early days of Xbox Microsoft already did exactly that though, pretty much ignoring the existence of the PC as a gaming platform. So while it certainly is unlikely these days, it only requires some CEO with a different idea and ...

9 months ago
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If you're promoting your new gaming platform you shouldn't give to much attention to other ones. But Microsoft published many PC games for years, and many of those franchises were great, like Close Combat, Flight Simulator or Age of Empires. Gates never was a gamer, so he never pushed Microsoft in that direcion. Most income came from enterprise stuff and it stayed that way until now. But I'm really happy that they started to consolidate Xbox and PC game platforms for some time. Also crossplatform gaming is amazing. Finally we can play with all our friends. Which btw Sony opposed for the longest time.

9 months ago
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I know all of that. The point still stands that you never ever can been be 100% certain of such things.
All that is required is someone getting the idea that they could make more money with a different strategy.

9 months ago
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You create companies like that to basically earn money, so of course everything they do has to be profitable or serve some other purpose. But since games are bigger than movies and music nowdays, buying game studios and investing in gaming as a whole is no brainer for Microsoft. Also it's a great PR move, because gamers will see them in a different light. But sure, everything ultimatelly spins around money, for every developer or publisher.

9 months ago
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I don't have a horse in this race, so as long as the games keep eventually showing up on PC I don't mind.
That said I highly doubt that Acti/Blizz can get any worse in their practices, so we can at least hope that this means new management for those companies and the more questionable people getting replaced. I mean, every time Activision shows up in the news is because something creepy or morally questionable happened, their exploitative attitude towards both customers and their own employees is just routine at this point.

9 months ago
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Fuck yeah. While I own neither Playstation nor Xbox, I was tired of Sony and their blatant bullshit, and the FTC trying to protect the market leader. I hope Phil keeps being a Chad and keeps giving us all Xbox games day 1 unlike Sony and their greedy ass. And I was tired of Sony's hypocritical ass during this whole trial. So, happy to see Xbox and Phil take the W. Plus, Phil has a thicc ass, so I know where I'll always be — between those cheeks

9 months ago
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What bullshit? The difference in strategies is night and day. Sony bought studios that already released bangers exclusively on PlayStation (Naughty Dog, Insomniac, Gorilla) while Microsoft is buying huge multi-platform publishers (Bethesda, Arkane, ActiBlizz) with the goal of making their games exclusives. Using this strategy Microsoft doesn’t even need huge hits like God of War or Horizon, they can just take buy their way into taking revenue away from Sony.

It’s not Sony’s fault Halo Infinite was in development hell for 8 years and released with 1/10th of the content of the previous Halo games and then it didn’t work for 2 straight months. Actually if memory serves it is Microsoft’s fault that Infinite was made by a revolving door of contract developers. It’s not Sony’s fault the Halo show was terrible. It’s not Sony’s fault that Redfall was a complete bust.

Also, let’s not forget who we have to thank for being charged for the privilege of playing multiplayer games on consoles.

9 months ago*
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Sony also paid for exclusivity bullshit, like a fricking CoD game mode for an entire year. And have also done that with games, and were about to do it for Starfield as well, until MS bought ZeniMax. So yeah, Sony is a hit and has been very shit by doing anti-consumer things to keep themselves at the top. So, stop acting like Sony hasn't done anything bad, or you're just a Sony fanboy and can't stand that something didn't go your way after all the hypocritical crying done during the trial.

Also, I only own a PC, but MS has my support since they bring their stuff on day 1 to PC. Unlike Sony and their greedy ass which makes users double dip after years and sells old ass games for nearly full price while the same games have huge discounts on their own platform.

9 months ago
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You realize that timed exclusivity != full exclusivity, right? Meaning that you can still get those games on Xbox. Will Starfield be available on PlayStation next year or is it going to remain exclusive? Do you see the difference here?

Also, the fact that you have to resort to personal attacks really shows that you can't separate your emotions from your critical thinking capabilities which is something I highly recommend you work on because it will make your life so much better.

I too am exclusively a PC player (so maybe you shouldn't attack me with baseless claims), but that doesn't mean I want mega corporations to grow and become more powerful just because it doesn't immediately affect me because eventually, it will.

9 months ago*
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When on launch day, you only have one console option, you're likely to forget about the second option (if it even comes) because all the hype is centered around launch day not a year later release. And even a timed exclusive can hurt sales of a console and its growth. Why would you get an Xbox if you know a certain game will come to PS but you have to wait for it a year, two, or X number of years? Getting a PS in seems like a logical choice. And Sony wouldn't be pushing so hard on these deals if they didn't bring them profit. So, try to justify why one is bad and one isn't. But the reality is, both are bad, and both only benefit the party that's utilizing it.

Also, not all games are "timed exclusives". How many years did it take Persona games to come to Xbox? Two generations of consoles, or was it three? Yakuza? What about the new FF and FF remake games? Or are you just conveniently "blind" to those cuz they don't serve your argument of Sony only doing "timed-exclusives"?

Oh, and let's not forget the amazing CoD game mode timed-exclusive for 1 year. Meaning during the game's most played time, Sony is the only company to have access to a part of the game, but we all pay the same full price anyway.

I actually want MS to grow and compete with Sony, dude. Sony has a monopoly on the console market. If you can't see that, I can't help you. And despite having a monopoly, they still practice shitty exclusivity deals.

Also, how did I attack you? By saying to stop acting like Sony isn't a shitty company doing shitty things to stay at the top? Like, bruz, come on now.

9 months ago
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Wait timed exclusivity? are you excusing how sony has been for most of its existance? Just recently they startedporting their flagships to pc and such. I grew up with no consoles, could only game on my parents pc, so i grew up without ever touching the original god of wars, shadow of colossus, journey etc.

Only now theyre porting- and i dont think its any coincidence that happened as xbox was announcing gamepass and such. Sony is also beholden to shareholders, so they finally decided the exclusivity alone wouldnt be enough to grown on game sales as well. As xbox showed signs of gaining market shareholders grew more demanding so lo and behold now they do ports...

But this whole timed exclusivity wasnt a thing at all. Sony (and nintendo) thrived on full exclusivity alone- and they didnt bought studios that 'only released on playstation'... they made contracts for those exclusives, and upon sucess they bought the studios whole. All of then, not a single one was exclusive without some deal for it.

Im torn on the subject tough. On one side good that sony is tasting how that feel- on the other i dont want xbox doing it either. People claim capitalism and competition is what improves things but frankly they damaged gaming in my view. Not only exclusivity locks generations out of relevant works (kids dont have money, not all families can buy consoles for christmas) because of how pc works its unparalel for back compatibility and game preservation, i can run amiga games here...

Once upon a time most companies released their ips everywhere they could even where they shouldnt (like adapting 16 bit games to 8bit platforms in barely recognizeable versions). It was only nintendo the one odd out, until playstation came...

9 months ago*
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Regarding PC and "double dipping" by Sony: I'm going to guess you are not a developer and thus don't understand the intricacies at play. The reason MS can bring their exclusives to PC on day 1 is because Xbox and Windows share the same underlying graphics API (namely, DirectX 12). The PlayStation operating system, obviously not owned by Microsoft, does not have Microsoft's proprietary DX API. So when games were developed exclusively for Playstation by Sony's own studios, they require extra work to port to PC which typically includes nearly full re-writes of large portions of the code. It's not a simple check a box and boom you can release to PC at the same time. Now with that said, Sony has stated they will be putting a greater emphasis on PC going forward. Since development cycles are typically 5-6 years I suspect in about 2-3 years we should be seeing Sony games come to PC in much smaller windows of maybe a few weeks if not day 1.

9 months ago
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Ummm... you've heard of multiplatform releases, ye? So, why can't Sony do the same? Aren't all multiplatform releases doing exactly what you're saying, tailoring a game to the PS OS and XbX OS, and the PC OS'?

9 months ago
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You realize they dont use dx12 because of platform wars right? They go out of their way to try to make the hardware and software somewhat obtuse, both to justify as to get in the way of hacking/emulators etc. Dx had become a standard and now vulkan, and vulkan isnt owned by ms... theres no reason not to be part of the standard if not to raise the middle finger to other platforms.

9 months ago
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Bad idea, Microsoft should have bought Twitter

9 months ago
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??

Cause free(er) speech bad, Bag of Dicks globalist / WEF narratives good?

Weird you always seemed like a reasonable fellow before shrug

9 months ago
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It was a joke like how Twitter is since Elon, there is nothing to gain from it, especially now.
The free(er) speech is especially questionable, since the prince clown is personally banning and doxxing people who annoy him. Guy's on an ego trip for a good a while.

I don't have a horse in the "console wars". Microsoft / xbox a little bit because gamepass is available on PC, but that's just an extra.

9 months ago
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Yea cause the last crew weren't a complete band of douche-bags, with shady (and proven) links to Big Brother government and a mouthpiece for some of the most complete BS narratives ever dropped in human history.. also Jack Dorsey himself is surely one of lifes most punchable faces.

Yea I also don't care about the consoles as I don't use them, I'm just relying on the big corporation making everything more suck in gaming effect. I think it's undefeated so far? Like I said somewhere else, I've nearly already buried Blizzard with Activision already making them worse

9 months ago
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Holy weirdly-hasty-assumptions Batman!

9 months ago
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Hate them both. And activision already damaged Blizzard more than enough to call them "mostly dead" to me. This probably just shovels dirt on the grave.

9 months ago*
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Does this mean we get Diablo 2 on Steam?

9 months ago
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maybe?

9 months ago
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That would be awesome! 😊

9 months ago
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If this means that life of developers are gonna improve and we, the consumers, get Activision games like Diablo, Warcraft, and Starcraft on other platforms, like Steam, I'm all for it!

9 months ago
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I'm honestly not sure anything will improve. The fact the whole shit-storm exploded publicly right around the time Micro$oft launched their campaign to buy it is definitely not a coincidence. They wanted to pay less and they wanted to make sure their target company was going to be in a weakened position so they softened the ground with that despicable stuff.
I don't know that Microsoft is any better unfortunately. With all the lawsuits settled in the past few years, I doubt it is.

9 months ago
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From what I remember is that Phill Spencer is a better CEO and treats people more better than Bobby Kotick. That's all I know and why a lot of people were rooting for Xbox to take over. Plus the possibilities that we'll maybe one day get access to some of the old titles on our favorite platforms. We can only dream, but that's my wish really.

9 months ago
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I get it. Maybe they're just better at the cover-up but in the end, it's all out of our hands anyway. I hope things don't go to shit too fast, for the people working there (who will hopefully keep their jobs) and for us poor chums who are paying for the whole thing when we are buying games

9 months ago
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Agreed. I want the best for gamers and devs alike. I don't like consolidation and I certainly don't want exclusives. I know though that there's a slightly better chance for PC gamers to get a Xbox game quicker than a PlayStation game. I am glad PlayStation is slowly bringing their games to PC. I really like their catalog of games.

Now if only Nintendo would do that too... Ah... a man can only dream!

9 months ago
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I am glad PlayStation is slowly bringing their games to PC. I really like their catalog of games.

I am too. I get that they release their games for their console first and porting is costly and takes time but there's a wide market for it and they also release at full prices as if they were new games so it's really a win/win.

Now if only Nintendo would do that too... Ah... a man can only dream!

Heh let's dream together. You never know ;)

9 months ago
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I am too. I get that they release their games for their console first and porting is costly and takes time but there's a wide market for it and they also release at full prices as if they were new games so it's really a win/win.

I am all for all consoles having all games. If I can afford it, I'd buy all 3 consoles and a PC. I don't care which company it is. I do want one thing, bring the games people love to other consoles even if it takes 1 year or more to port.

Heh let's dream together. You never know ;)

Maybe one day, when they discover a way to stop PC gamers pirating games they will probably find a solution to bring games to PC. That's my thought why Nintendo just doesn't want to.

9 months ago
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Maybe one day, when they discover a way to stop PC gamers pirating games they will probably find a solution to bring games to PC. That's my thought why Nintendo just doesn't want to.

That's a good point. I don't know how much piracy costs to the big studios. I'm sure it's not chump change but I'm also sure it's factored in the price. We pay for the rest basically.
Nintendo prefers to keep it locked and I get it too. They've managed to stay ahead of the curb with technical innovations on the hardware side. I don't know how long they can go that way though. The Wii was a big thing but fizzled out quickly. Then the Switch was a stroke of genius. It's still going strong but it does have competition now.

9 months ago
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Never liked the idea of "exclusives" since it's basically gatekeeping players who chose a different platform or didn't have a choice. One of my favorite games series "yakuza" was a exclusive to PS and I probably would have never got to play and learn about it if it remained an exclusive for consoles.

9 months ago
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Now they just need to take the opportunity to sack Bobby Kotick and they'd have done the gaming industry a great service.

9 months ago
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Maybe I am wrong, but if MS buys Blizzard, Kotick will get a HUGE amount of money... so even if they fire him, he wont care...

9 months ago
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I believe you are correct, he's in a win-win situation. He either stays on and keeps making money, or he gets fired and gets a big payout.

9 months ago
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"saying that Microsoft/X-BOX should not have exclusives and buy companies while they did the same exact thing is"

You see, here is where you are wrong. Nobody said MS should not have exclusives. I never saw a single article, which pointed out anything like that from SONY... The problem is BUYING the exclusive... Sony "created" they exclusives, not waited for companies to release them, become a huge success and then buying them... Also saw somewhere, that MS bought Bethesda because there was a rummour Sony wanted Starfield to be a time exclusive - i guess for one year... they bought it, and shut down the PS development of the game... so in my opinion none of the parties are saints... But still...

9 months ago
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Let's be honest, Xbox exclusives aren't that "exclusive" since they release day 1 on PC always. Sony or Nintendo will never do that.

9 months ago
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Lets be honest MS releasing on PC for day1 only because they have their own store... If they would focus on selling consoles they wouldnt release on pc at all, or with delay...

9 months ago
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not really they understand a lot of people have a reason to not own a console that is up near a tv - like if you travel a lot and stay in hotels a laptop or Switch are perfect

9 months ago
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I don't even have TV lol

9 months ago
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Do people actually buy there games on their store?
And there is nothing stopping Playstation from having their own client on PC if they don't want to lose the 30% cut to Steam like pretty much every other company tried. Even Epic is an option with their much lower cut. As a PC gamer, I don't particularly care if a game is on Steam or not. If I care enough, I will purchase it wherever it's available.

9 months ago
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Never say never.... Sony is already committing their free-to-play multiplayer titles to release on PC day 1. And they aren't taking anything Bungie makes and making it exclusive. Marathon is planned for release on Xbox day 1.

And in a sense Xbox exclusives are still exclusive on PC.... Do you see an Apple or Linux version of Halo? Just saying... If Sony or Nintendo owned the Microsoft Windows operating system, I'm sure they would port their games day 1 all the time there too.

9 months ago
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Yeah the idea that Sony is somehow the devil all of a sudden while Xbox are the good guys is hilarious, they've been shady throughout this whole thing behind the scenes and no argument people make in Xbox's favor has any legs to stand on.

9 months ago
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https://www.thenationalnews.com/business/2022/02/01/sony-buys-game-company-bungie-for-36bn/ so your wrong the didn't 100% make their own games all the time

9 months ago
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Hm, Bungie could be a good example, if Destiny wouldnt be available still on PC... Even on MS Store. So at that point I am not sure if it matters who owns it... 🤔

9 months ago
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I never saw a single article, which pointed out anything like that from SONY... The problem is BUYING the exclusive... Sony "created" they exclusives, not waited for companies to release them, become a huge success and then buying them

Sony Would Rather Pay For New IPs Than Acquire New Studios, Says PlayStation Boss

Unlike Microsoft, which has no problem dropping $7.5 billion on a studio even as large as Bethesda, Sony prefers to pay for IPs rather than studios.

It seems that Sony does actually "buy" some of their exclusive IPs. Unlike MS, Sony just buys the rights to something and makes it with an existing studio, MS buys the rights and the studio together.

9 months ago
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Sony is buying timed exclusives and has done so with CoD for years. So, while none are saints, I prefer MS as they bring all their games to PC day 1, unlike Sony. Plus, they were extremely hypocritical during the FTC trial that I grew to dislike them even more.

9 months ago
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To be honest, both parties were super hypocritical during the FTC trial... 😅

9 months ago
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But... on which side does Phil's thicc gluteus sit. Easy choice on who to support I would say.

9 months ago
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For Xbox it's definitely great, they can turn around and say, if you buy game pass you get the monthly sub for wow or any other crazy stuff, which let's be honest will make it a must have for a lot of people.

9 months ago
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You're wrong on multiple levels. First of all Playstation like every other major publisher including Xbox buys studios every now and then, NOT entire other publishers, this is not the same thing at all. Second of all Xbox has had its own exclusives forever so one is stopping them, that's a non-existing argument. They have however sucked at maximizing their IPs or creating new great ones so their solution is just to buy other publishers to starve its competition and brute force exclusives simply by stopping multiplatform releases on PS. Finally, this is not a good thing in any way, industry consolidation at this level is never a good thing for consumers.

9 months ago
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pc day 1 at least for new games

9 months ago
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These are multiplatform games that come out on PC day 1 already, this changes nothing for PC.

9 months ago
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But it was good to leave Sony at the top, essentially enjoying their monopoly without any real competition and buying exclusivity for certain big games? They were even planning on buying an exclusivity agreement for Starfield for the first year as they did with Deathloop. I guess that's fine. Both companies suck, but Sony has been doing anti-consumer things in order to boost their own platform and keep their monopoly. MS answered but with a much bigger punch than anyone expected, and as a consumer I see nothing wrong with it. And it just seems Sony loves exclusive content, so they should applaud MS for what they did, bc if Sony could they would do the exact same thing.

As a PC player I have no stake in this war, but I came to dislike Sony a lot more during this whole trial thing due to how hypocritical they were. They cried wolf on stage, but off it were seemingly not worried about this. So, why should we be worried in the name of the de facto console market leader?

9 months ago
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Because ultimately you're likely to be trading one market leader for a far worse one. People that are excited about this decision aren't thinking long term and in the long run this wil inevitably harm the industry. If Playstation goes down it's game over and there'd be no one to stop Microsoft from doing whatever they want to the industry and its consumers. This is choosing the nuclear option to slow down Sony and it will come back to bite us in the ass.

9 months ago
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Sony isn't worried about this themselves. So, why should I be worried about it? Plus, MS is heavily invested in cloud gaming, which is where the true value of GP and this acquisition will come into play I think. You won't need a console anymore, and just like with Netflix, Disney and all that jazz, the best catalogue of games will attract more customers to subscribe to your service.

Also, Sony's current monopoly isn't gloom and doom, so why are you making the future in which MS is on top sound so bad? Sony is currently dominating the market and it's not even close, yet they still resort to scummy tactics for some reason. So, yeah, I don't think if MS becomes the #1 console things will be all gloom and doom.

9 months ago
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First Bethesda, now Actiblizz, who's next, how many more other major publishers do they have to acquire before people start worrying about industry consolidation? Give MS enough time and they'll become far worse than a few temporary exclusivity deals that people moan about Sony making.
Xbox didn't die a hero and I guarantee you they'll become the villain they once were again, except this time Sony won't have the arsenal to fight them. It is what it is.

9 months ago
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First Ghostwire Tokyo, then Deathloop, how many more shitty 3rd party exclusivity deals will Sony sign to stick it up MS before we start worrying about shitty practices that negatively impact the industry? See, there's an easy counter to whatever you say about MS, as Sony is equally as bad.

It's just that since MS has more money when they shit on you, it's a big one. And, ofc I'm gonna cheer for the dickheads at Sony losing. Why would I applaud a company that actively tries to bury its competition through scummy tactics? Would rather see MS gain some market share than Sony keep their monopoly on the console market indefinitely.

9 months ago
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You guys are too quick to forget all the good Sony has done in the past. If it wasn't for them Xbox would require an online connection for every game and sharing/reselling games wouldn't be possible. These deals are nothing compared to all the crap Xbox pulled in the past, they're nowhere near equally bad. Scummy tactics this, scummy tactics that, when all they've done is some temporary exclusives deals which Microsoft has done in the past too. Whatever man, I don't care, you'll learn the hard way how bad industry consolidation is for consumers. For the record I'm a PC gamer so I don't have a horse in this race , I just know a red flag when I see it. We'll have to agree to disagree and move on.

9 months ago
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Such a poor take. It makes you look like a gaint Sony fanboy salty over MS winning the FTC trail, despite you saying you're a PC gamer and on the sidelines of this whole thing. The good Sony did doesn't excuse the bad they are doing. Sorry, my dude, that's not how things work. Bad is bad, and you're trying so hard to justify the hate Xbox gets while defending Sony who are equaly shitty (and would do exactly what MS did if they were in the same place and had the same bags of money to work with). And not all exclusives are temporary. FF isn't a temporary exclusive. Persona games were not seen on Xbox for almost three generations of consoles and were considered PS games only. Yakuza is the same.

So, you can try to justify your hate for Xbox and adoration for Sony all you want, but they are both equally shit. Sony was (and still is) doing scummy things to try and keep their top spot and the monopoly they have on the console market, and Xbox is doing its own scummy things now to try and shake up things. Also, there are regulations in place that prevent the very thing you're yelling about. If MS was the de facto leader of the console market (like Sony is now and has been since the start of PS4 days), they wouldn't have been able to actually proceed with buying Activ/Blizz, because it would indeed make them a monopoly and severely put in jeopardy Sony's chances of competing. But that's not the case here, as MS is so far behind Sony, that even Sony doesn't care about this acquisition behind closed doors.

You can go around preaching about how Sony did good, so that excuses somehow the bad they are doing now and bash MS and what they're doing all you want. But the truth is, without MS doing this, Sony would (still might, will see) hold a monopoly on the console market, and be able to do whatever they want for god knows how long. You seem to not care about timed exclusives, but they do impact not only sales on a console but sales of the consoles themselves, aka bringing in new players. Otherwise, Sony wouldn't be so aggressive about 3rd party exclusivity deals if they didn't strengthen their position.

So, bye now I guess.

9 months ago
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microsoft cause the games will be on windows also

9 months ago
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Activision games are on Windows regardless of the acquisition.

9 months ago
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You'd hope so. However what are the chances they just put all their stuff on game pass only to try and hoard the "subscription" and raise the fee? I think 95% chance.

9 months ago
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I vote Potato.

9 months ago
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Potato Master Race

9 months ago
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+1

9 months ago
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If i look at Bethesda as a reference as to what to expect for activision under microsoft leadership, im afraid this is going to be another hard pass for me.

9 months ago
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Windows 11 aside. Microsoft's game division is pretty dedicated and released some amazing games. They have great ideas and quality control...something Activision / Blizzard is yet to understand considering the mess COD has become.

9 months ago
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Great quality control? Did we play the same Halo Infinite? My group dropped that so fast because we couldn’t play Big Team Battle for two months straight. The newest Forza Horizon was also riddled with issues at launch.

9 months ago
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I like how when they bought Bethesda, they canceled the Bethesda launcher and moved everything to Steam. I hope they gonna do the same to battle.net because I am a malicious person and it seems like the second most useless launcher after Rockstars'.

On the other hand, games by Arkane (one of my favorite studios) had a noticeable drop in quality after Bethesda has been bought. I was never a big fan of Blizzard though so I guess I don't really care.

9 months ago
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Weren't those games already in development and due to release before MS bought them?

9 months ago
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Yeah, you are right. Microsoft may have participated in Redfalls development, but it was probably doomed at that time anyway.

That's sad ...

9 months ago
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I heard they just wanted the game out as soon as possible so they could shift Arkane to more "important" projects. So, they did have some part to play in the downfall of Redfall if that is true.

9 months ago
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That is my hope too. I'd be happy to see my games ported all to Steam. Even so, I'm happy if they just bring them to Steam and sell them. I'm happy either way.

9 months ago
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Big companies getting bigger is almost a certain overall negative. Can't really think of any industry that got better with less competition and more individual company size.

9 months ago
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So, the other choice was MS staying in second place with no way of gaining market share that would hurt Sony who is the de facto leader of the console market and has no competition (but now does)?

9 months ago
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...or provide a better service instead of sucking up some of the biggest game developers to reduce competition in the games industry and punish any consumer that doesn't join them by taking away from choices of products.

And honestly MS literally has been doing well. Game Pass is a massive success according to their own interviews. It was literally an innovation done right and it paid off. That's healthy business.

9 months ago
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Ghostwire, Deathloop, potentially Starfiled until MS bought ZeniMax, FF, Yakuza, Persona, a literal game mode from CoD and a character in Avengers, that's all fine I guess. Those exclusivity deals are cool and that's "healthy business". But MS using its money in a way that boosts its own offerings and challenges Sony is not a "healthy business". That's bad, because somehow MS will now have a monopoly, despite Sony having a monopoly on the console market.

9 months ago
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No, those aren't fine. Why are you claiming like I think exclusivity and stuff like that is good?

But yeah, shitty business practices from a company doesn't mean that we should be happy about more shitty business practices happening.

9 months ago
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I'm not, but it seems like you're implying Sony's approach is healthy business, while MS' isn't. In reality, both aren't. The only thing I'm happy about here is that we get more certain games day 1 on PC now, and that Sony will kinda have some form of competition now, with Xbox having a pretty good roster of games to compete with them. And if they keep doing those shitty exclusives, MS can now fight back.

9 months ago
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Oh no, I'm 100% not thinking Sony's fine. For me both are terrible and actively harmful to consumers and other proper legitimate businesses that actually compete rather than buy out competition. Sorry if I made it seem like that :D

9 months ago
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No problem. Kinda thought you weren't implying that, but it's nice to be sure. Can't be too "careful" online, as I've seen people make Sony to be some bastion of how you're supposed to run a company, properly, because they got where they are by just creating good games and then buying the studios that they work with. Somehow, they completely ignored the fact Sony have been doing shitty exclusivity deals for games they didn't make for a long time. And are still doing them despite Xbox having like nothing of value (in terms of first-party IPs) to compete with them for two generations now. It was just done to further hurt Xbox and establish a monopoly over the console market.

Plus, Phil is thicc, Jim is not. So, for me, it's an easy choice who I'm rooting for, despite owning neither console. I do like that Xbox games will come to PC day 1, unlike Sony, who want players to double dip, or wait a couple of years to buy old games for nearly full price.

9 months ago
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Since everyone is talking about exclusives, at least know the CEO agrees with you. https://www.ign.com/articles/microsoft-ceo-if-it-were-up-to-me-id-get-rid-of-exclusives

So hopefully some changes. However this also means that there's going to be less competition which is not good imo, so they can push prices up and there aren't as many people who will compete with them.

9 months ago
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He is 100% full of S***. It came out, they will 100% make COD and ALL games M$ exclusive. They did it before, they will do it again. "10 years" yea.

9 months ago
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they have a contract to bring Cod to Switch/Nintendo

9 months ago
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For ten years only and it was BS to get the deal to go through.

9 months ago
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I think the very important thing to note is that 10 years is literally meaningless as well. It's around 4-5 big releases. But even more, companies don't think in singular years. Just like Disney, this shit's done with a view toward decades. Uplift consumers for 10 years so that for the next 50 you can really stick it to them. These decisions aren't made in the moment. They're made with a view towards what this investment means by 2050.

9 months ago
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I agree with you that basically any big corpo tries to read the future 50 years head basically, but who knows if 10 years is or isn't enough. If the deal goes good they can extend, if the deal goes bad, there's no reason to extend, business in a sense.

I personally don't care to see any call of duty on any console device ever again honestly because they have to provide users with aim assist which is a fucking joke. If you can't aim, have our little program which we made that helps you aim. Now play cross platform with pc users who actually put in the work. Yeah just spray and pray and move left and right, let the game do the rest for you. Don't worry when they get shot across the map with a machine gun, you're at a disadvantage cause you're on a controller. I don't know, I'll never get over this and how people can feel good playing fps on a controller. It's like you know you're cheating to some degree, whether you like to admit or not, even if you are better than the other cheaters. vs PC users even if you die most of the time, the times you do get them, it's not even because of skill, it's because of a cheat program called aim assist. It's the same situation with mobile gaming hence why it's so popular. You don't actually have to put in time to be good at the game, because you aren't even playing it. Might as well have auto play and you just watch bots play like in all those old mmos that are still alive nowadays somehow but they all provide autopathing and questing and killing. So you basically watch the game be played in front of your eyes. FPS on a console was a mistake and should've never existed.

In this context I don't mean you as you specifically just saying in general.

9 months ago
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Fair enough, I just considering one small step in the right direction if even the ceo disagrees with it. He might not have the power to change things due to capitalism, shareholders and the state of AAA vs Indie game devs, but it's nice to know he isn't full on supporting it, at least publicly. We'll have to wait and see but you are probably right, those 3 things will most likely win over him.

9 months ago
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Yes, but Phill Spencer might or might not be here in 10 years. So, whoever comes after concerns people. In 10 years a lot could change.

9 months ago
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In the end, even if he is here, shareholders and capitalism control the company. Combine that with indie devs selling games for 50% the price of a AAA game for users trying to fill a AAA void and then being unhappy that the game doesn't deliver 60x the quality of the indie game. I hope no one is surprised as to why big studios release broken games, outsource work, delays, lower their quality, etc. I'm sure shareholders see this and all they say is "Do it for cheaper! Do it faster! Just release it! Mobile is the way to go! Add more microtransactions, dlc's and season passes! Increase the prices!"

9 months ago
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You're right. It has been like this for a while and it will continue to be. We will see what changes happen in a decade. A lot can change in gaming industry, including gaming becoming a luxury for AAA gaming.

9 months ago
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Well, there goes another Monopoly. They are literally trying to buy out every developer to stop them from making games for Sony....

9 months ago
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What are you on about? Sony has a monopoly on the console market and has been doing exclusivity bullshit during that time to keep it that way.

9 months ago
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Exclusives started with Sega and Nintendo.

9 months ago
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So, it's OK if Sony does it, but, bad if Microsoft does? lmao

9 months ago
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Please show me when Sony did it.

9 months ago
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Since 1993 when they bought Psygnosis. You can read the rest here.

9 months ago
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9 months ago
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Billionaires getting it their way. This has never happened before.

9 months ago
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If they close Blizzard for good, I'd count that as a win.

I'm a salty Overwatch owner that refused to play Overwatch 2.

9 months ago
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Overwatch 2 is such a joke. It makes me angry people still give them money (and Diablo Immortal).

9 months ago
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never played Overwatch what is so bad or different in the second one?

9 months ago
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As someone who only played O1 for a few minutes, but a few hours in O2, I think it had to do with them switching from 6 players to 5, so I think before the game was much more balanced like 2 tanks 1 healer 3 dps, but with the new change you had 1 tank 1 healer 3 dps, however the champs were also super unbalanced, some unviable AF. Not only that they also promised a story mode I think for it and hyped it up a lot, only for them to never release it and cancel it, if I'm still correct.

9 months ago
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-Monetization, it's impossible to get anything without buying their battle pass.
-By reducing the number of tanks to one, instead of balancing their heroes, the entire fight depends on whoever is playing the role.
-Because they only get money from the store, they focus all resources to that, so, no events, no challenges, no interesting game modes.

If I could I'd rather still play the first one, but, they shut that one down, because they knew, no one would play the other one otherwise. So, I just don't play Overwatch anymore.

9 months ago
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That would be stupid. Diablo 4 is a massive success. Hopefuly they also bring Blizz games to Steam

9 months ago
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I don't think it'll happen, just, that I wish it did.

9 months ago
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Massive industry consolidation is bad. Period. I could care less who it is buying who. It may seem good to some consumers in the short term, but it will not be good in the long term. It won't benefit independent studios or 3rd party publishers. It will only make them weaker by comparison to the giant corps. The only positive thing I could see coming would be getting rid of Battle.net and putting Activision Blizzard games on more storefronts/launchers. Besides the giant corporate monopoly's growth, I'm mostly just pissed that Bobby Kotick gets a get-out-of-jail-free card. After all the crap that's gone on at that company, he should not get a golden parachute.

9 months ago
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I'm mostly just pissed that Bobby Kotick gets a get-out-of-jail-free card. After all the crap that's gone on at that company, he should not get a golden parachute.

Isn't it ironic that when asked why CEOs were getting unreasonably huge salaries, the apologists used to say that it was because "they are taking the big risks so there should be a big reward"? Nowadays, they almost make as much money when they fail at basically everything than when their companies succeed. Oh well, more a**hole billionaires.

9 months ago
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I've noticed that those who lick corpo boots will say anything needed to win the specific argument on the topic of the day.
If he's paid more than anyone else, then he's working more than anyone else.
If he's not, then he's the most qualified.
If he isn't, then he takes all the risk.
If he doesn't, then he has the most experience.
If he doesn't, then he propels the company forward more than him not being there would lose money.
If that doesn't happen, then it's just whatever else.

9 months ago
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It's easier than the truth: he was born with a silver spoon up his ass and went to a big name college where he made the right connections with other privileged dudes with connected families and now he's reaping the benefits.
And the best part is most of the time the apologists are not even part of the same class of people. They just like to entertain the notion that they could be part of the 1% one day so they don't like the idea that you have to be born there to get there.

9 months ago
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I used to be in that type of rabbit hole and I remember thinking "Well, once I get rich, I don't want people to think I didn't work hard. Better to argue for it now than once I'm actually rich". Fucking embarrassing I swear lmao

9 months ago
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I think it's a normal part of growing up. You dream big. Then you really grow up lol

9 months ago
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The main reason I like this deal is that maybe there's hope for some of Activision's older titles which they killed and buried. But I doubt it.

9 months ago
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Stopped playing Blizzard games some time ago. This doesn't change much for me. Whether it's good or bad for the overall game dev world though.... only time will tell I suppose.

9 months ago
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