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[Men_in_Boxes]

Oh please. Stop with all the drama, people. Nothing is affecting you right now. The one thing that is constant in the tech industry is change. MS has not done well in the past with their acquisitions as far as developers. That may change, or it may stay the same. Only time will tell if this has any effect on the Playstation market. So we'll see. Heck, it's POSSIBLE that Microsoft buys everyone up to the point where you just need to use a gaming PC or Xbox to play 90% or more of the games out there. If that happens, we can whine about it then. Just relax and enjoy the current generation of games and play what you want to play. Having some weird, strict, tribal loyalty to one company or another is just silly. Be a consumer and leave the cheerleading to company executives!

 

[SlimySnake]

Sony losing big third party games will lead to losing profit (software and hardware), and that will directly impact on the quality of their games and the money they can spend on their games.

This is not about if these acquisitions will be successful for MS or not, it's about the possibility of PS losing their ability to make more money to make these games on that picture.

Yeah, people dont realize just how much traffic cod brings to the PS consoles. It's not just the digital sales and royalties which are probably around $200-300 million per year from all the COD game sales, but the PS+ subs, the warzone microtransactions (i have seen $5 million a day figures thrown around) and all the game sales from THE biggest userbase on the PS5. Now that they have lost CoD, their entire eco system is going to see a massive 20-30% drop. That will trickle down to 20-30% reductions in first party budget, console R&D budget, PS+ budget, acquisition budget, and of course, the parent company will evaluate if that kills their entire profit margin, and whether it is even worth it to go and make new acquisitions and deals of their own.

I mean whats the point in buying Square or Take2 for $40 billion when you are never gonna get the CoD market back anyway.

I was thinking Sony would go buy something else, but now I am not so sure. No exec over at Sony Tokyo HQ is going to ok a deal to get freaking Ubisoft or merge with EA. I think Playstation is in a far more precarious position tonight than we all think. I dont see Sony Japan signing off on a merger just to save their PS division, and i dont see them spending the $25 billion cash on hand on an acquisition that wont even get that cod audience back.

Oh please. Stop with all the drama, people. Nothing is affecting you right now. The one thing that is constant in the tech industry is change. MS has not done well in the past with their acquisitions as far as developers. That may change, or it may stay the same. Only time will tell if this has any effect on the Playstation market. So we'll see. Heck, it's POSSIBLE that Microsoft buys everyone up to the point where you just need to use a gaming PC or Xbox to play 90% or more of the games out there. If that happens, we can whine about it then. Just relax and enjoy the current generation of games and play what you want to play. Having some weird, strict, tribal loyalty to one company or another is just silly. Be a consumer and leave the cheerleading to company executives!

See above^. Losing COD will have serious consequences in Sony's bottomline. This stuff might not affect anyone today, but it will affect everything in the next year or so as CoD is removed and the massive cod fanbase along with it.

Ignoring this reality is just shortsighted. We can postulate what might happen when you lose THE biggest source of revenue from a userbase, and it is not pretty. Even in the dark days of the PS3 when they lost FF13 and GTA4 exclusivity, they still had those games appear on their consoles. This time it's gone for good.

 

[Sinthor]

Yeah, people dont realize just how much traffic cod brings to the PS consoles. It's not just the digital sales and royalties which are probably around $200-300 million per year from all the COD game sales, but the PS+ subs, the warzone microtransactions (i have seen $5 million a day figures thrown around) and all the game sales from THE biggest userbase on the PS5. Now that they have lost CoD, their entire eco system is going to see a massive 20-30% drop. That will trickle down to 20-30% reductions in first party budget, console R&D budget, PS+ budget, acquisition budget, and of course, the parent company will evaluate if that kills their entire profit margin, and whether it is even worth it to go and make new acquisitions and deals of their own.

I mean whats the point in buying Square or Take2 for $40 billion when you are never gonna get the CoD market back anyway.

I was thinking Sony would go buy something else, but now I am not so sure. No exec over at Sony Tokyo HQ is going to ok a deal to get freaking Ubisoft or merge with EA. I think Playstation is in a far more precarious position tonight than we all think. I dont see Sony Japan signing off on a merger just to save their PS division, and i dont see them spending the $25 billion cash on hand on an acquisition that wont even get that cod audience back.


See above^. Losing COD will have serious consequences in Sony's bottomline. This stuff might not affect anyone today, but it will affect everything in the next year or so as CoD is removed and the massive cod fanbase along with it.

Ignoring this reality is just shortsighted. We can postulate what might happen when you lose THE biggest source of revenue from a userbase, and it is not pretty. Even in the dark days of the PS3 when they lost FF13 and GTA4 exclusivity, they still had those games appear on their consoles. This time it's gone for good.

Sorry but the point is, we DON'T KNOW anything of the sort right now. People need to just breathe and see what comes. If MS totally wins and Sony is out of the game business in 5-10 years then we'll all be playing on something else. Just is what it is. We don't have to LIKE that if it happens, but it's really borrowing trouble at THIS point to be anxious about it all. Unless MS can make up the revenues by keeping games exclusive, they will have to offer more broadly. they are in the business of making money. So we'll just have to see where that takes them and the industry.

Myself, I don't think things will work out as crazily wonderful as MS hopes and they'll probably be looking to replace that lost sales revenue pretty soon. Of course, it's possible they get wildly successful and we're all playing on PC's or Xbox's in years from now. Possible. Just...plans like this in business rarely seem to pan out exactly like their companies plan. So I'm just gonna wait and see and enjoy playing in the meantime. I'd rather still have a choice when it comes to what I buy and where I play, but if the market reacts and changes all that...nothing I can do about it.

 

[SlimySnake]

Sorry but the point is, we DON'T KNOW anything of the sort right now. People need to just breathe and see what comes. If MS totally wins and Sony is out of the game business in 5-10 years then we'll all be playing on something else. Just is what it is. We don't have to LIKE that if it happens, but it's really borrowing trouble at THIS point to be anxious about it all. Unless MS can make up the revenues by keeping games exclusive, they will have to offer more broadly. they are in the business of making money. So we'll just have to see where that takes them and the industry.

Myself, I don't think things will work out as crazily wonderful as MS hopes and they'll probably be looking to replace that lost sales revenue pretty soon. Of course, it's possible they get wildly successful and we're all playing on PC's or Xbox's in years from now. Possible. Just...plans like this in business rarely seem to pan out exactly like their companies plan. So I'm just gonna wait and see and enjoy playing in the meantime. I'd rather still have a choice when it comes to what I buy and where I play, but if the market reacts and changes all that...nothing I can do about it.

well the thread is called where do we go from here so we are trying to figure out where Sony might go next, and how this purchase affects Sony's PS division, and future aspirations.

 

[bender]

I think Playstation is in a far more precarious position tonight than we all think.

If worst came to worst, Sony could just sell the Playstation brand and all the IP to an interested party or parties.

Microsoft signed two checks and have two of the largest western appealing games in TES/COD. Maybe this will help Sony diversify their AAA portfolio again.

 

[SlimySnake]

If worst came to worst, Sony could just sell the Playstation brand and all the IP to an interested party or parties.

Microsoft signed two checks and have two of the largest western appealing games in TES/COD. Maybe this will help Sony diversify their AAA portfolio again.

Wasnt there an investor always trying to get Sony to spin-off their PS division?

Maybe Apple will acquire the new Playstation lol. I just dont see Sony corp going all in on gaming like MS has done here with this $70 billion purchase. Take2 will cost them more than they have cash on hand, and MS will outbid them anyway. And I just dont see a japanese company like Sony swallowing their pride and merging with a western company like Ubisoft or EA. Maybe Nintendo but Nintendo has nothing to gain from it. They have carved a massive audience for themselves without the need of CoD, GTA or WRPGs.

 

[ChiefDada]

Head of Core Technologies at Insomniac Games

 

[Sinthor]

well the thread is called where do we go from here so we are trying to figure out where Sony might go next, and how this purchase affects Sony's PS division, and future aspirations.

Oh...my bad. I got confused on the threads. I see I closed the other thread I thought this was.... Sorry everyone!

Ok.... So...I really don't see anything Sony HAS to do to respond to this. There's going to be a ton of pressure on MS to produce financially. If they cut more than half of the market off...that will be tough. They'd need to seriously grow gamepass on PC to be able to make up for this. So there's a chance that this doesn't materially change things for Sony.

As long as more big developers still exist that are not acquired along with the independents and Sony's own devs, they can do just fine. MS is banking on GamePass growing huge. If it doesn't, and fairly quickly, they will begin having to make adjustments to their strategy. At this point I think Sony should just stay with their strengths and do what they do. They simply can't compete if it becomes a race about who acquires the most studios, etc. MS has too much money. But that money also doesn't guarantee success. So by staying focused and strong at what they normally do, Sony has the best chance of weathering the storm. IMHO.

Also want to just add that as I've said consistently...MS really doesn't care about the hardware. If they could make money on that too, fine. But they don't care as much about the hardware. It's all about content and subscription services to them. I'm still convinced that when MS divested itself of almost all developers at the end of last generation, they were planning to be out of the hardware market altogether. Then they re-considered. BUT...I do think they are looking to offer GamePass on all devices INCLUDING Sony. See...if they own the content like say, COD, people will pay for it. Doesn't matter to MS if you're paying $20 a month for GamePass on Xbox, PC or if you are still paying them $20 a month to play on a Playstation. THAT is the real revenue stream and where they are focused. So they are using the hardware market now to try and help still make money while they position themselves ultimately as the content providers. At THAT point, the hardware won't matter nearly as much. If you want to play the games MS has, you'll buy their subscription service.

It's much the same as we are seeing in the TV market. Hulu, Netflix, Amazon, Apple, etc. People used to say no way would Amazon put their videos on Apple TV, etc. But they were wrong. Because Amazon makes money on the subscription- they don't care if you use an Apple TV to watch on. Sure they'd rather you buy the Amazon TV hardware, but they make so much less profit margin on the hardware than on the "software." So, that's where we're seeing the video/TV market go and now we see that at least Microsoft believes that this is where the game market will go.

The recent deals with Azure that Sony did with MS indicate to me that Sony probably knows this as well. The two companies may already have some agreements in place for all we know. Ok, that's less likely but bottom line, MS will be looking to put GamePass EVERYWHERE. Because if they succeed with that, they will make FAR more money than they do today.

 

[SlimySnake]

Head of Core Technologies at Insomniac Games

lol semantics. Clearly, Phil meant MAKERS, not the original creators. And even using creators in that sense is accurate. A new COD is created by an Activision studio that is now going to be joining team Xbox.

 

[Boss Man]

Idk, play good playstation games and also stream gamepass games on your laptop or buy an xbox

 

[ChiefDada]

lol semantics. Clearly, Phil meant MAKERS, not the original creators. And even using creators in that sense is accurate. A new COD is created by an Activision studio that is now going to be joining team Xbox.

Oh for sure. Thought it was interesting as I've been trying to get a sense of the overall mood over at Sony post deal announcement.

If Mike's any indication, then the saltiness levels are ultra high over there! It's weird because he seemed like a pretty laid back/reserved guy when I watched him on a DF interview.

 

[SlimySnake]

Oh for sure. Thought it was interesting as I've been trying to get a sense of the overall mood over at Sony post deal announcement.

If Mike's any indication, then the saltiness levels are ultra high over there! It's weird because he seemed like a pretty laid back/reserved guy when I watched him on a DF interview.

oh yeah, he definitely comes off as salty. I havent heard a peep from any of the big name directors on twitter. I bet they all see the writing on the wall. This will definitely cut their studio budget and the delays Sony so consistently afforded them. They cannot be happy about this.

 

[SlimySnake]

Oh...my bad. I got confused on the threads. I see I closed the other thread I thought this was.... Sorry everyone!

Ok.... So...I really don't see anything Sony HAS to do to respond to this. There's going to be a ton of pressure on MS to produce financially. If they cut more than half of the market off...that will be tough. They'd need to seriously grow gamepass on PC to be able to make up for this. So there's a chance that this doesn't materially change things for Sony.

As long as more big developers still exist that are not acquired along with the independents and Sony's own devs, they can do just fine. MS is banking on GamePass growing huge. If it doesn't, and fairly quickly, they will begin having to make adjustments to their strategy. At this point I think Sony should just stay with their strengths and do what they do. They simply can't compete if it becomes a race about who acquires the most studios, etc. MS has too much money. But that money also doesn't guarantee success. So by staying focused and strong at what they normally do, Sony has the best chance of weathering the storm. IMHO.

Also want to just add that as I've said consistently...MS really doesn't care about the hardware. If they could make money on that too, fine. But they don't care as much about the hardware. It's all about content and subscription services to them. I'm still convinced that when MS divested itself of almost all developers at the end of last generation, they were planning to be out of the hardware market altogether. Then they re-considered. BUT...I do think they are looking to offer GamePass on all devices INCLUDING Sony. See...if they own the content like say, COD, people will pay for it. Doesn't matter to MS if you're paying $20 a month for GamePass on Xbox, PC or if you are still paying them $20 a month to play on a Playstation. THAT is the real revenue stream and where they are focused. So they are using the hardware market now to try and help still make money while they position themselves ultimately as the content providers. At THAT point, the hardware won't matter nearly as much. If you want to play the games MS has, you'll buy their subscription service.

It's much the same as we are seeing in the TV market. Hulu, Netflix, Amazon, Apple, etc. People used to say no way would Amazon put their videos on Apple TV, etc. But they were wrong. Because Amazon makes money on the subscription- they don't care if you use an Apple TV to watch on. Sure they'd rather you buy the Amazon TV hardware, but they make so much less profit margin on the hardware than on the "software." So, that's where we're seeing the video/TV market go and now we see that at least Microsoft believes that this is where the game market will go.

The recent deals with Azure that Sony did with MS indicate to me that Sony probably knows this as well. The two companies may already have some agreements in place for all we know. Ok, that's less likely but bottom line, MS will be looking to put GamePass EVERYWHERE. Because if they succeed with that, they will make FAR more money than they do today.

Yeah, Sticking to its strength which is first party, first party, and first party is probably Sony's best bet. I said something similar earlier in the day. That they need to double down on first party and go on a massive hiring spree, but now im not sure if the parent Sony will give them the budget boost they need. But we shall see.

And I think I was talking to James Sawyer Ford about this earlier, but you nailed it on the head there with this purchase being used to get Sony to put gamepass on Playstation. There is definitely more to this $70 billion purchase than just getting CoD on xbox consoles. CoD makes maybe $2-3 billion a year. Activision in total made $8 billion last year. This move will take almost 10 years to pay off unless the idea was to pressure Sony into putting gamepass on playstation. No better game to hold as hostage than CoD. They know Sony cant live without CoD, and MS knows they need Sony's 100 million userbase to make gamepass successful.

I completely agree that MS no longer cares about consoles. I bet once they get gamepass on Nintendo and Playstation consoles they would leave the xbox console business altogether. One of the MS execs at the Apple/Epic trial confirmed that they have never made money off of console sales. Ever. So the services model that has made them so successful under the Satya leadership is what they are going for, and in order to get 200 million users like Netflix, they need access to the switch and PS userbases.

Very good point. My friend said earlier that they might put xcloud on the switch since it doesnt have the hardware to run next gen games. It will be interesting to see if Nintendo is stubborn enough to reject that enticing offer.

 

[lastmessiah]

PlayStation division can’t survive on its first party alone, that much I am certain of. Will be interesting to see how they respond. Probably will go 3rd party imo.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

Yeah, Sticking to its strength which is first party, first party, and first party is probably Sony's best bet. I said something similar earlier in the day. That they need to double down on first party and go on a massive hiring spree, but now im not sure if the parent Sony will give them the budget boost they need. But we shall see.

And I think I was talking to James Sawyer Ford about this earlier, but you nailed it on the head there with this purchase being used to get Sony to put gamepass on Playstation. There is definitely more to this $70 billion purchase than just getting CoD on xbox consoles. CoD makes maybe $2-3 billion a year. Activision in total made $8 billion last year. This move will take almost 10 years to pay off unless the idea was to pressure Sony into putting gamepass on playstation. No better game to hold as hostage than CoD. They know Sony cant live without CoD, and MS knows they need Sony's 100 million userbase to make gamepass successful.

I completely agree that MS no longer cares about consoles. I bet once they get gamepass on Nintendo and Playstation consoles they would leave the xbox console business altogether. One of the MS execs at the Apple/Epic trial confirmed that they have never made money off of console sales. Ever. So the services model that has made them so successful under the Satya leadership is what they are going for, and in order to get 200 million users like Netflix, they need access to the switch and PS userbases.

Very good point. My friend said earlier that they might put xcloud on the switch since it doesnt have the hardware to run next gen games. It will be interesting to see if Nintendo is stubborn enough to reject that enticing offer.

They got the money.

Sony's latest annual profits were I think $12 billion and their gaming division was I think about $3 billion. (If someone wants to verify that go ahead).

If Sony cant find an extra $100M/game to make more AAA games (and this cost is even spread out across 3 or 4 years so it's like $30M/yr), they are purely milking the money.

 

[mcjmetroid]

They literally make no games I'm interested in so meh.

A big deal for sure but if I was a true Sony fan I would take solace that their first party is still by far better than Microsoft's... For now

 

[Rhazer Fusion]

This may sound crazy, but imo Sony may need to go back to their roots. The one advantage Sony and Nintendo still has is Japanese games, niche or quirky stuff do not sell well on XBOX. It’s really working for Nintendo and gives them an identity and advantage. Maybe it will work for Sony as well.

Acquisitions might be pushing it, but form a very close partnership with Japanese companies and get genuine exclusives from TecmoKoei, Konami, Capcom, SquareEnix, From Software, Kojima, Namco-Bandai, Sega, etc. Provide extra funding if possible or necessary to give these games bigger budgets. Sure, these won’t upstage acquiring Activision, but there is still a big following for games from these companies. I know most of these games have the biggest player base on PlayStation anyway, but I think it could create some positive buzz for Sony.

Snagging games like Final Fantasy, Resident Evil, Silent Hill, Metal Gear, Dark Souls, Dragonquest, Street Fighter, Dead or Alive, Dragon-Ball, Naruto, Yakuza, Chrono Cross, Monster Hunter, Ninja Gaiden, Tekken, etc exclusively could give Sony a boost and give gamers another reason to invest into a PlayStation besides the first party games. For example, an exclusive Tekken 8 would probably turn heads especially since Tekken 7 hit over 8 million copies worldwide. Genres like JRPG, action, cinematic and fighting game fans are on PlayStation. Sony could and should take advantage of that.

 

[Yoboman]

sony can not afford take two. realistically if sony were to buy anyone it'd be square/capcom.

take two, ea, ubi are no gos.

Sony have said they are going to spend $18 billion on investments in the next few years

Take 2s market cap is $17.7 billion

So they could afford it. But it will limit other investments they probably want to make

 

[clintar]

If worst came to worst, Sony could just sell the Playstation brand and all the IP to an interested party or parties.

Microsoft signed two checks and have two of the largest western appealing games in TES/COD. Maybe this will help Sony diversify their AAA portfolio again.

I dunno, I would think it helps Microsoft diversify their AAA portfolio again.

 

[Yoboman]

Sony losing big third party games will lead to losing profit (software and hardware), and that will directly impact on the quality of their games and the money they can spend on their games.

This is not about if these acquisitions will be successful for MS or not, it's about the possibility of PS losing their ability to make more money to make these games on that picture.

Sonys games are profitable its not like they are selling them at a loss

 

[lastmessiah]

Sonys games are profitable its not like they are selling them at a loss

CoD is the number one selling game on PlayStation. Not just in units but in everything. Losing that is devastating.

 

[Raven117]

As a PS5 owner Microsoft basically got my attention, Bethesda was big, but with Activision as well it will be too hard to ignore Xbox. I loved the older generation where I wasn't interested in a while library of games and alot of games were multiplatform, so I only needed to buy 1 system. Now I have to buy more than 1 to play all the games I'm interested in which is a shame.

Basically, yeah.

 

[RoyalLaFlame]

Time for Sony to think about bringing back some old franchises like Killzone or Resistance and maybe Driveclub. And just expand your studios a bit more.


If they do that, they will keep having the premium content we all love, while offering variety. They need to fill the void.

 

[SkylineRKR]

Whats the problem. Competition means Sony has to retaliate. They've been lazy. Their ecosystem is shit, their subs are shit. I like PS5 but at the same time hate it for being so archaic in a lot of ways.

They still have the games, and imo, still the edge. CoD hasn't been good in ages (with MW2019 being an outlier basically), Warcraft dunno about its state. Overwatch dunno either and Diablo 4 guess what. I did buy Vanguard for PS5 though, from a firesale. But what I really want? A fucking good Killzone like 2. Sony basically has reasons to make their own FPS now. Approach it from the bright side.

 

[Yoboman]

CoD is the number one selling game on PlayStation. Not just in units but in everything. Losing that is devastating.

Its up there, not sure its above FIFA and GTA.

 

[RoyalLaFlame]

Whats the problem. Competition means Sony has to retaliate. They've been lazy. Their ecosystem is shit, their subs are shit. I like PS5 but at the same time hate it for being so archaic in a lot of ways.

They still have the games, and imo, still the edge. CoD hasn't been good in ages (with MW2019 being an outlier basically), Warcraft dunno about its state. Overwatch dunno either and Diablo 4 guess what. I did buy Vanguard for PS5 though, from a firesale. But what I really want? A fucking good Killzone like 2. Sony basically has reasons to make their own FPS now. Approach it from the bright side.

Nah. I'm pretty sure Sony is planning on going all in with Marvel franchises. I fucking hate it, but that Marvel $ is too good to pass up.

I just wish Sony would go back to having a more diverse portfolio. If they start becoming a Marvel machine, I'll just drop it and change to Xbox.

 

[John Wick]

Well we have Jimbo Ryan to thank for having no long-term strategy.
I remember when PS fans were praising his leadership. Look how successfully he launched PS5 blah blah blah. What people tend to forget is Kaz Hirai laid the foundations for success along with House and Laydon. All fuckin Jimbo did is ride the coat tails.

 

[John Wick]

well the thread is called where do we go from here so we are trying to figure out where Sony might go next, and how this purchase affects Sony's PS division, and future aspirations.

Sony should have dropped a bomb when MS bought Bethesda. But they didn't because Jimbo is a wanker. If they had they would far more comfortable right now.

 

[GHG]

You might be right but a world where I can’t play a powerful handheld by Sony or Nintendo on the train or on holiday is a sad world.

Don't worry, they will sell you official controller attachments for your phone/tablet.

 

[shubik]

absolutely nothing changed for Playstation. I doubt people will suddenly switch Systems just because of the new Call of Duty...

 

[Ogbert]

You guys are pipe dreaming if u think gamepass price will stay like that. They have almost $80 billions check to pay and guess who is gonna pay that?

If they get 1 or 2 more publishers they can charge a full game per month and u guys will need to pay.

That's what consolidation brings to the table.

Well, they can try charging that, but people won’t pay it.

It will go up, for sure, but it will have to remain in the ‘subscription range’.

 

[Yoboman]

Sony should have dropped a bomb when MS bought Bethesda. But they didn't because Jimbo is a wanker. If they had they would far more comfortable right now.

I dont think its Jimbo deciding that buying Crunchyroll is the big acquisition for the company to make while the gaming industry is consolidating before them

Sonys upper management has always been full of idiots looking down on gaming except the brief period where Kaz was CEO

 

[GHG]

absolutely nothing changed for Playstation. I doubt people will suddenly switch Systems just because of the new Call of Duty...

Not even remotely the same.

Nintendo have done their own thing for a long time (ironically since Sony of all people forced them to). Short of them being acquired, they are well shielded from any M&A activity that happens in the wider market.

It's now Sony's turn to play 90's Nintendo and refocus their business.

 

[kyussman]

I certainly timed my extended break form gaming well....I've not invested a penny in next gen yet and am happy to just see how things play out right now.I've been PlayStation only for the last two gens and had a great time....I don't think PlayStation is going anywhere tbh,and I'm still not sure which console I'll pick up first because I'm probably going to get both....but Xbox has become the favorite in recent months.
If Sony make great games they will do well.....sounds a bit dumb and obvious,but it's true I think.

 

[A2una1]

What's rubbing me the wrong way with this aquisitions is, there is nothing creative in these Microsoft purchases. They seem to admit to themselfs they can not create a Studio by themselfs that can bring a good new IP to the Microsoft ecosystem the way the sony studios did for Playstation. So they have purchased Bethesda and Activision-Blizzard to Live from their IPs alongside the Microsoft ones... It's seems to work, that I must admit

 

[Banjo64]

absolutely nothing changed for Playstation. I doubt people will suddenly switch Systems just because of the new Call of Duty...

Absolutely nothing has changed. Well, apart from losing the user base and revenue generated by Doom, The Elder Scrolls, Fallout, Overwatch, Call of Duty, Crash Bandicoot, Spyro the Dragon and any game made by Obsidian, Double Fine and Ninja Theory. But yeah. Apart from that, absolutely nothing has changed.

 

[Ogbert]

Head of Core Technologies at Insomniac Games

Silly tweet.

Comes across as a whole lot of copium. Although in his defence, his targets have probably just been doubled.

 

[Max Payne’s Baretta]

And what happens when the competitions authority says they've bought enough and sony go to buy a publisher?

Xbox is in third place right? Lol think regulators are gonna really be looking at Xbox. Nah.

 

[shubik]

Absolutely nothing has changed. Well, apart from losing the user base and revenue generated by Doom, The Elder Scrolls, Fallout, Overwatch, Call of Duty, Crash Bandicoot, Spyro the Dragon and any game made by Obsidian, Double Fine and Ninja Theory. But yeah. Apart from that, absolutely nothing has changed.

First of all: All of these titles have to release before we talk about lost money Besides that, yes nothing has changed. SONY still owns some of the best-selling IP´s and development studios in the gaming market and SONY still owns the best-selling console and SONY still continues to buy studios just like Microsoft.

Microsoft tried to create its own powerhouse and failed for entire console generations. Now they open up the vault and force their way into the market with overpriced acquisitions.

let's wait and see how this will play out and what strategy will prove to be more successful...

 

[Alphagear]

Not even remotely the same.

Nintendo have done their own thing for a long time (ironically since Sony of all people forced them to). Short of them being acquired, they are well shielded from any M&A activity that happens in the wider market.

It's now Sony's turn to play 90's Nintendo and refocus their business.

Completely agree.

Nintendo suffered for a while but have managed to create a space in the market with their first party games. No amount of acquisitions or new players can affect it.

Sony on the other hand is another matter and they only have themselves to blame. They were reliant on games like COD from third parties whilst ditching games like Socom, MAG and even The Getaway of their own.

 

[Ass of Can Whooping]

First of all: All of these titles have to release before we talk about lost money Besides that, yes nothing has changed. SONY still owns some of the best-selling IP´s and development studios in the gaming market and SONY still owns the best-selling console and SONY still continues to buy studios just like Microsoft.

Microsoft tried to create its own powerhouse and failed for entire console generations. Now they open up the vault and force their way into the market with overpriced acquisitions.

let's wait and see how this will play out and what strategy will prove to be more successful...

Their IPs and development studios aren't what's producing $25+ billion in revenue.

This isn't going to hapoen overnight obviously, but it's inevitable that in 5 to 10 years the landscape will have changed. Complacency will ruin them at this rate

 

[Ogbert]

And what happens when the competitions authority says they've bought enough and sony go to buy a publisher?

Would these be the same regulators that are really getting to grips with Amazon?

MS are not in a position of dominance. There is nothing anti competitive here. In fact, we are seeing raw competition in action.

 

[shubik]

Their IPs and development studios aren't what's producing $25+ billion in revenue.

This isn't going to hapoen overnight obviously, but it's inevitable that in 5 to 10 years the landscape will have changed. Complacency will ruin them at this rate

We already know that SONY is working on a new version of Playstation Plus. Lets see what they can come up with. Besides traditional Consoles, SONY will also go big with VR2. This will also generate income. To think that SONY will just fold their hands and let Microsoft win is just ridiculous. SONY is in gaming for the long run and so far they are very successful.

 

[Yoboman]

Xbox is in third place right? Lol think regulators are gonna really be looking at Xbox. Nah.

MS also have PC so they own 2 of the 4 major gaming platforms

 

[Three]

Sony didn't even respond to Bethesda buyout and here we are with a $70 billion deal

They will get pushed out of the market if they don't do something

They'll lose market share for sure but will be fine. What do you want them to do? MS are trying to claw back market share and if they do this with making CoD gamepass exclusive so be it although it doesn't make much sense for COD the franchise either because it would kill the yearly COD game sales completely. If the aim is to make money on MTX only and sales aren't important to COD anymore then it will become Warzone lite and become redundant. It wouldn't make sense for the franchise but it makes sense for MS only if they prefer to gain more marketshare in spite of it. Then some other shooter releasing on everything will become king of sales or popularity. It's all just a cycle and things just balance out.

 

[Yoboman]

Completely agree.

Nintendo suffered for a while but have managed to create a space in the market with their first party games. No amount of acquisitions or new players can affect it.

Sony on the other hand is another matter and they only have themselves to blame. They were reliant on games like COD from third parties whilst ditching games like Socom, MAG and even The Getaway of their own.

Sony first party was a complete non factor at the time they were making games like MAG and The Getaway. They have a strong enough first party portfolio to build a userbase off on their own. Buy they do need to do more now

 

[Ass of Can Whooping]

We already know that SONY is working on a new version of Playstation Plus. Lets see what they can come up with. Besides traditional Consoles, SONY will also go big with VR2. This will also generate income. To think that SONY will just fold their hands and let Microsoft win is just ridiculous. SONY is in gaming for the long run and so far they are very successful.

They've been successful because no one has been a legitimate threat to them. They've effectively had the premium home experience to themselves up until now. A powerful brand can only get you so far until the giants come and force you out.

Spartacus isn't going to do fuck all for them. If they get into a subscription based battle with Microsoft they WILL lose.

 

[Three]

Really though, Microsoft really just paid $70 billion for Call of Duty. Every other IP Activision owns is dying or already dead.

It's the only thing that is for the hardcore market. Activision own things like Candy Crush though so they will milk those for infinite money like Minecraft.

 

[ZywyPL]

Sony should have dropped a bomb when MS bought Bethesda. But they didn't because Jimbo is a wanker. If they had they would far more comfortable right now.

They said they have 20+ games in the making, both SP- and MP-focused, and games nowadays take years to make, so there might not be anything specific to announce yet, but they surely have a long-ter plan put into motion.

People seem to have a really short memory, Sony always has a sloppy start of each generation, but ~3 years later they start gaining serious momentum and never slow down. So give them another year or two and we'll start seeing Sony constantly getting the headlines.

 

[Alphagear]

Sony first party was a complete non factor at the time they were making games like MAG and The Getaway. They have a strong enough first party portfolio to build a userbase off on their own. Buy they do need to do more now

Agree they have to do more now which they wouldn't needed to if they stuck with Socom, Mag and The Getaway.