Support NeoGAF

[mckmas8808]

MS has not beaten Sony in 21 years. Maybe the moment is now finally!

It BETTER be! Hell they've spent over $80 Billion over the last 3 years to do so. That money better mean they can sell more consoles and create more revenue and profit than Sony. If not now, then when? What will it take?

 

[AV]

Overwatch 2 was already announced to already be on PlayStation systems as well. Pretty sure that will stay the same just as it did for Psychonauts 2.

Overwatch 2 as we know it was and it's in complete development hell. Would not surprise me in the least if they scrap it and start again.

 

[Lt.Calley]

Starcraft Ghost a possibility now?

 

[3liteDragon]

Only if you want to my man. The consumer has all the power. MS try to increase the price of Game Pass from £7.99 to £19.99 (will never happen) - stop your sub. Buy the games, wait for them on sale on Steam - whatever you want. Or just forsake the games and play using the traditional console makers Sony and Nintendo.

Was planning on getting a good gaming laptop before Starfield comes out, might as well start working on that new PC build I ditched at this point. But this is not good for the industry in any sort of way at all.

 

[fart town usa]

People like us are in the minority. Just look at game sales, the average Playstation/Xbox user mainly buys stuff like COD, Fifa, NBA, Assassins Creed, etc.

The only platform holder that has truly managed to build their entire business around their exclusives is Nintendo.

For sure, just curious what it will do in terms of console sales. Will Sony people jump ship? Will they stick with Sony but also buy an XBOX console? Will these games be on PC (likely).

Peak living is having all the consoles but just not affordable for everyone. Interesting times for sure.

 

[MonarchJT]

absolutely and 100% this...maybe warzone will stay multi with some advantage if you are playing from a Ms platform

 

[Emedan]

Holy Shit, that's some endless pockets, COD 1st day on GamePass gonna make some subscribers. At least I can play Diablo remaster with my friends now

 

[Roufianos]

Woooooooooooooah. I'm all for this if it means more Tony Hawk, Spyro and Crash. We need a more competitive MS to keep Jim Ryan's head out of the clouds also.

 

[kevm3]

Sony has been casually trotting about. This should send shockwaves to them and make them wake up.

 

[jaysius]

Activision/Blizzard hasn't exactly been releasing bangers for the last... 15 years? Overwatch was fun when it came out, but now it's gone stale.

Hopefully MS will put some new leadership into the studios and get some great products rolling out.

MS hasn't bought this thing to let it stagnate.

Amazing get overall though.

 

[ReBurn]

This is industry changing news and will set the tone for the next decade.

At this point, Sony would have to acquire Take Two or EA to compete.

Spider-Man 2 video got 20 million views on YouTube. Sony is fine.

 

[mckmas8808]

It's funny how the same people who cry foul when Sony pays for a timed exclusive celebrate when MS buys up the whole gaming market. But that's console warring I guess!

It's pure tribalism at it's worse. Console warriors will always war.

 

[Orta]

>CoD
Same game since 2007, last ones are especially awful apparently
>WoW
Hasn't been good for a decade
>Overwatch
Pretty much dead and 0 hype for "2"
>Diablo
Nothing will be ever as good as 2 anyway
>Tony Hawk
Maybe a remake or two, but don't expect anything new
>Spyro
Dead
>Crash
4 was okay I guess.

So it's nothing then, no reason to buy a zombie company.

Quick! Ring Microsoft and inform them of your findings. It might not be too late for them to get their money back!

 

[MonarchJT]

Dear god no please.

Gabe will not stay at the head for much long (imho) and I am convinced that if he sells to someone it will be to Ms. Ms will never let Epic take Steam market share on their owned OS ..given their incredible investments in the world of gaming.

 

[SafeOrAlone]

Shouldn't have been a-holes, Sony.

What do you mean, that'd have no effect on this outcome? Don't encroach on me.

 

[Doom85]

Overwatch 2 as we know it was and it's in complete development hell. Would not surprise me in the least if they scrap it and start again.

Uh no, based on the major preview video they released last year, they would be dumb as fuck to scrap everything they had done so far. It’s not like they were in pre-production or some shit, they were clearly well into production.

 

[ThatOneGrunt]

They have been independent from Activision for while but they clearly plan to get in bed with Tencent. Already got a deal going on.

Oh ok.

You know, Microsoft gets a lot of heat for this stuff, but isn’t Tencent doing the same thing?

 

[SEGA_2012]

Edit: sorry, wrong post

 

[Three Jackdaws]

seriously though.

i hate this mega corporation battle. feels sleezy. ah well

Right, I do find it strange that people are cheering on mega-corps trying to gain monopolies on the market, it’s good fodder for fanboys but the ugly truth is a lot of gamers will miss out because of the exclusivity, especially on massive multi-platform games like Call of Duty.

 

[Karak]

So this was the huge news you were talking about huh.


Well played

Another thing of course is that Sony isn't done working deals. And the shadow of Embracer is looming pretty heavy on everyones mind.

 

[splattered]

Have they come and said that all these games will be exclusive to Xbox (and GP via PC)?

If so that's even worse. How do you expect them to recoup the costs and keep shareholders happy? The only answer will be to lace these games with as many MTXs and loot boxes as possible. Anyway to squeeze money out of a smaller player base and recoup the costs.

No. They're going to recoup the cost by Candy Crush in a few years. Also, everyone is going to be buying an xbox and subscribing to GamePass so there's also that. They aren't sweating this purchase, it's silly to think otherwise.

 

[Allandor]

Damn... that came unexpected.
Never thought they would want to buy such a big publisher. The price .... well activision has some really good game franchises, even if the last years weren't so good the franchises are really big (Warcraft, StarCraft, Diablo, Call of Duty, ....). Considering that, $70b isn't "to much". There is no doubt that they will still sell many, many games in the future.

But the timing of the deal is a bit ... well "goofed up". But those deals need a bit of time to get official. I guess this all started way before all that shit get public at Activision. I hope they clean up some of this mess there.


Now waiting for WoW on xbox ....

 

[Kacho]

Meanwhile at Nintendo HQ

 

[IDKFA]

You got it backwards.

You spend 70B to grow Game Pass and your ecosystem. Not to keep the status quo.

My problem with that is surly this means an increase in GP prices?

70bn for the initial sale, but all of these extra staff Microsoft just acquired need to be paid, a load of new offices need to be operated (utility bills, coffee machines etc), basically there a shit ton of extra costs on top of just buying all these studios.

I thought they kept Minecraft multiplatform because it would be easier to recoup the costs as the game is hugely popular on all platforms? Serious question.

 

[Braag]

Well my heart sank a bit reading that. These acquisitions are getting crazy.
Does this mean... we might see Blizzard games on Steam though

 

[StreetsofBeige]

Holy Shit, that's some endless pockets, COD 1st day on GamePass gonna make some subscribers. At least I can play Diablo remaster with my friends now

That's what happens when a company makes about $60 billion profit per year. Opens up lots of options.

 

[Damageinc103]

So exclusives on COD bad now?

 

[reksveks]

Fun chart (12/20 is MS owned games)

Also I was surprised to learn that Activision operating income for the last 6 months was 1.7bn usd.

 

[Neko Mimi Mode]

 

[John Wick]

Buy success is the MS way.

I think Nintendo and Playstation have to follow suit and buy IP’s before MS buys them all lol

No they don't. Why waste 70 billion?

 

[Maiden Voyage]

Gabe will not stay at the head for much long (imho) and I am convinced that if he sells to someone it will be to Ms. Ms will never let Epic take Steam market share on their owned OS ..given their incredible investments in the world of gaming.

I’d rather Steam go to MS than Epic but really I’d prefer for them to remain independent.

 

[TTOOLL]

That is literally insane. It's A LOT of money holy shit.

 

[mckmas8808]

Who believes this lie? This ain't happening. Either the leaker is lying or Phil is lying. You don't pay $70 BILLION for AB to then release Diabo 4, COD, and the next Crash on a Playstation console.

 

[95mellow]

Excited to play Tony Hawk's Azeroth Skater. Finna hit a kickflip off Icecrown as Thrall.

 

[sinnergy]

 

[dem]

My problem with that is surly this means an increase in GP prices?

70bn for the initial sale, but all of these extra staff Microsoft just acquired need to be paid, a load of new offices need to be operated (utility bills, coffee machines etc), basically there a shit ton of extra costs on top of just buying all these studios.

I thought they kept Minecraft multiplatform because it would be easier to recoup the costs as the game is hugely popular on all platforms? Serious question.

They don't need to increase the price of Gamepass... they just need people to pay full price. I imagine a LOT of people on Gamepass are not paying the real price.

I know personally, Game Pass would be a lost less appealing if I was paying the real price. But Microsoft is making it more and more appealing every day.

 

[DR3AM]

MEGATON
If CoD is on GamePass on Day1 and exclusive, MS won.

 

[reksveks]

My problem with that is surly this means an increase in GP prices?

70bn for the initial sale, but all of these extra staff Microsoft just acquired need to be paid, a load of new offices need to be operated (utility bills, coffee machines etc), basically there a shit ton of extra costs on top of just buying all these studios.

I thought they kept Minecraft multiplatform because it would be easier to recoup the costs as the game is hugely popular on all platforms? Serious question.

Microsoft can monetize the deal in the same way that Activision already is doing aka mtx/DLC. Also Activision is extremely profitable already especially so in comparison to xbox.

 

[AV]

Uh no, based on the major preview video they released last year, they would be dumb as fuck to scrap everything they had done so far. It’s not like they were in pre-production or some shit, they were clearly well into production.

If that's the case, so be it, but I think after a deal like this, nothing is set in stone.

Regardless, an Overwatch 3 or whatever that looks like ain't coming to Playstation, that was more my point.

 

[Loope]

The Antitrust Laws

Congress passed the first antitrust law, the Sherman Act, in 1890 as a "comprehensive charter of economic liberty aimed at preserving free and unfettered competition as the rule of trade." In 1914,

www.ftc.gov

Can we use this rules to block further acquitition from xbox in the future?

We? Are you even thinking about this? Where does MS have a dominant figure in gaming? Aren't Sony and Nintendo the dominant forces? It's not like we're talking about Office or something like that.

 

[Fuz]

This is definitely NOT good news.

 

[AnotherDayAnotherDollar]

Holy shit. That was my first reaction and I thought this was a troll thread. I need to digest this info.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

My problem with that is surly this means an increase in GP prices?

70bn for the initial sale, but all of these extra staff Microsoft just acquired need to be paid, a load of new offices need to be operated (utility bills, coffee machines etc), basically there a shit ton of extra costs on top of just buying all these studios.

I thought they kept Minecraft multiplatform because it would be easier to recoup the costs as the game is hugely popular on all platforms? Serious question.

It's not like they spent $70B and got nothing in return.

COD MTX transactions alone now scooped up from PC and PS gamers is probably billions alone per year.

 

[lefty1117]

Stunning news - wow!

 

[RoboFu]

I’d have to go look up if I have actually bought any of their games in the past 10 years.

 

[Cyberpunkd]

Buy success is the MS way.

Don't hate the player, Microsoft is playing to their strengths, that's all.

 

[Toons]

Holy cow man. That is.... thats a big deal.

Holy cow.

 

[reksveks]

It's not like they spent $70B and got nothing in return.

COD MTX transactions alone from now scooping up PC and PS is probably billions alone per year.

Roughly 8-10bn in revenue and operating income is 3.2-4bn annually off the last 6 months

 

[SenjutsuSage]

Activision back catalogue on Game Pass. Fuck me sideways.

WHY THE FUCK DIDN'T I THINK ABOUT THIS TILL NOW!? WOWOWOWOWOWOOWOWOWOW

 

[Lt.Calley]

Is TakeTwo next? We all know Strauss would cash out.