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[Elbow Identity Shallow]

By 'everything on everything' if you mean that we'll get a billion different game streaming services like we have now for TV? Sure.

We were promised television utopia unburdened from the strings of big cable companies. A la cart channel and content viewing. Everything on everything......for $15 a month....each company.....content fragmentation...everywhere.

Expect more of the same.

Youll go from paying $400 once a generation and a dozen $60 games over 6 years. To $20 a here, $30 there, $50 here for the platinum tier and $60 on you card for the pay by minute plan there...MONTHLY.....FOR LIFE.

As much as I've enjoyed gaming over many years alone with friends, with family and with my wife and children I'm fortunate in that it's just not even close to being the biggest hobby for me or my family. If it does get as bad as the major players seem to be wanting then it really wouldn't bother in the slightest if I never spent money on another game again.
I could very happily walk away from anything to do with gaming. Even places like the venerable GAF will just be moved to centralised social media systems like Discord, Facebook and whatever new ones are going to start appearing over the next few years.
To be fair though, I do own many platforms going back over the years and stupid amounts of games for those platforms so in reality I think I could play a new game every single day for the rest of my life and still not have to play the same game twice.
I was genuinely shocked by how readily people latched onto GamePass without any sort of idea how much control they are giving away from their gaming and I;d imagine although it will hopefully take a very different shape, the expanded PlayStation Plus thing will likely be just as popular. My concerns really aren't for mow but maybe a decade from now when people's entre library of games are no more than rented.
Hiking prices at the moment is largely pointless, I think for the companies involved it's far better for them to lose money until the size of people's rented libraries is massive and they've become so used to not owning content and then that again means none of the power is with the consumer and they find they could lose a decade of games unless they agree to double what they are paying paying each month.
I honestly thought that the companies would just wait for the younger consumers to mature because the younger gamers already welcome the "metaverse" and not owning anything that they pay for but no, it's coming from the top down where the went straight for the "hardcore gamers" via GamePass. I say GamePass because that was the first one that managed to turn things around for older gamers, others will of course follow though as we're already seeing this generation, companies really don't want to be wasting on producing disc based games so although it will still happen for while expect it to slowly peter out and he people who do want to own their games will left with "boutique" operations who produce them in smaller quantities but also at a higher price.

 

[Fredrik]

Gabe is getting old. He'll be looking to sell the company soonish.

It’s not like every CEO who’s getting old is selling off their life work, he could just step down and let someone else run the company too. The whole thing scares me though. There is so much that could end badly if Steam gets in the wrong hands.

 

[pqueue]

THIS is why it will be approved (line 2 in column 2)

 

[Vaelka]

I really don't want to see them buy up Japanese studios.
American corporate culture isn't something I want to see seep into their studios any more than it already has and the PS side of Sony is very centralized in NA already.

I am not sure how much I trust Sony to not start pestering devs about what they make and start dictating things same with Microsoft.
Studios like Capcom in particular are so iconic to gaming I feel like they shouldn't belong to anyone.
Same for example with Fromsoft and Bandai Namco.

 

[MonarchJT]

good it will go faster

 

[kyoji]

Thank god our lord and savior EviLore sanctioned politics cause its going to be mad funny if this gets blocked and the political crowd come in with there dumbass theories .

 

[Tschumi]

some of them never built a game are just helping studios

It's pretty common, cod is contributed to by raven, among others

 

[itsjustJEFF]

If for some crazy reason this acquisition falls through Jim will probably try to get a refund for Bungie

"fuck.. fuck, fuck, fuck" - Jim Ryan

Apparently the deals been in the works for 5-6 months... Sorry Jim you're stuck with the bill.

Edit: On a sidenote, I really do love all the armchair Merger and Acquisition analysts who have popped up over the pandemic... almost as much as I love all the home-grown epidemiologist and scientist/researchers LOL I respect the Merger and Acquisition analysis WAY more than the latter... the former is much more speculative than the latter to begin with.

 

[Bridges]

Am I the only person that likes Ubisoft and Take Two? I feel like an alien here. I love their games. Give me Bioshock, AC, and aby other old ips I can't remember

Take Two is usually good to great, they haven't put out that much lately though that I can recall, a lot of their strong titles from the last two generations like Bioshock, XCOM and GTA have not gotten true successors yet.

Ubisoft I feel has the opposite problem. They had a lot of big exciting new franchises these last two generations that they proceeded to churn out like a machine, mainly Assassin's Creed and Far Cry. They still come out with good games, I actually think R6: Extraction is really cool, and For Honor is very underrated, but for me the fatigue has set in with all their pillar franchises and the more time goes on the more those franchises all start to sort of blend together.

 

[SenjutsuSage]

Hate to break it to you guys, but this will go through without issue. Khan and Kanter are both a lot less hostile towards Microsoft, and despite rhetoric of wanting to be more tough, won't block this for key reasons that Microsoft was a major ally in securing the 2020 elections from foreign interference. The same leadership who appointed the two of them in the first place to these posts benefitted from those botnets being taken down by Microsoft. Head of the Cyber division at department of homeland security was also a Microsoft employee, and is currently back at Microsoft last I checked. These are all things that will factor in here. This isn't just a regulatory thing, but a political thing also.

Not only that, the political response is to side in favor of new leadership coming in to clear up the workplace issues, and it will amount to nothing more than a commitment on Microsoft's end to change the culture, improve the workplace situation, and to not unfairly disadvantage competitors. This will mean Call of Duty Warzone in the end is what will stay, and the next set of COD games up to 2023 will go to Playstation. Microsoft has ample enough going in their favor, such as Minecraft, ghostwire tokyo and deathloop deals, to safeguard the fairness of the transaction, and will even use Sony's recent purchase today of Bungie as a market leader in the business as further evidence of why they want to better position themselves.

If they really want to lay it on thick, they can keep Diablo 4 and Overwatch 2 on PS consoles as well, but this being reviewed by the FTC will just further lend credibility to it because the FTC is seen as much stricter than the DOJ has ever been.

In an election year, I'll be surprised if THIS administration decides to paint a target on and screw over one of their biggest allies in the tech world, and also a major DOJ/DOD partner. Will be back end of year or next year when it's finally approved.

 

[itsjustJEFF]

THIS is why it will be approved (line 2 in column 2)

They'll at least pretend to look at it like they're really trying. The big issue is the amount, if it was less it would have been no damn issue. The fact that it is one of the biggest acquisitions EVER is the big issue, it kinda sets a precedent.

 

[Zok310]

Video game forums have some of the smartest people in world. Not only do they find time to play video games and surf the web all day, they are also executives of billion dollar video game companies and expert anti trust lawyers.

 

[Fredrik]

I'm not sure what would give you that fear? All the statements from Bungie and Sony indicate the opposite and Sony's support of Playstation games on PC is stronger than ever.

I’m not talking about Bungie but acquisitions in general, people should always expect stalled PC releases unless Sony outright say it won’t happen. Insomniac, Housemarque, Nixxes aren’t doing much on PC now are they? If Sony would buy Square Enix then I fully expect PC releases of Tomb Raider and Final Fantasy to arrive a few years later. Same thing with Capcom, Konami, Bandai Namco, etc. They want to sell consoles.

 

[EviLore]

Video game forums have some of the smartest people in world.

 

[Hobbygaming]

Xbox is buying Microsoft

 

[Dream-Knife]

It’s not like every CEO who’s getting old is selling off their life work, he could just step down and let someone else run the company too. The whole thing scares me though. There is so much that could end badly if Steam gets in the wrong hands.

Steam goes down and I'll just quit gaming, or sail the high seas.

 

[KyoZz]

Microsoft buying Valve?

Just imagine. I mean it's honestly the only thing I can think of that would be bigger than Bethesda/ActiBlizz as teased earlier.

What if man... what if??

 

[Ozriel]

As much as I've enjoyed gaming over many years alone with friends, with family and with my wife and children I'm fortunate in that it's just not even close to being the biggest hobby for me or my family. If it does get as bad as the major players seem to be wanting then it really wouldn't bother in the slightest if I never spent money on another game again.
I could very happily walk away from anything to do with gaming. Even places like the venerable GAF will just be moved to centralised social media systems like Discord, Facebook and whatever new ones are going to start appearing over the next few years.
To be fair though, I do own many platforms going back over the years and stupid amounts of games for those platforms so in reality I think I could play a new game every single day for the rest of my life and still not have to play the same game twice.
I was genuinely shocked by how readily people latched onto GamePass without any sort of idea how much control they are giving away from their gaming and I;d imagine although it will hopefully take a very different shape, the expanded PlayStation Plus thing will likely be just as popular. My concerns really aren't for mow but maybe a decade from now when people's entre library of games are no more than rented.
Hiking prices at the moment is largely pointless, I think for the companies involved it's far better for them to lose money until the size of people's rented libraries is massive and they've become so used to not owning content and then that again means none of the power is with the consumer and they find they could lose a decade of games unless they agree to double what they are paying paying each month.
I honestly thought that the companies would just wait for the younger consumers to mature because the younger gamers already welcome the "metaverse" and not owning anything that they pay for but no, it's coming from the top down where the went straight for the "hardcore gamers" via GamePass. I say GamePass because that was the first one that managed to turn things around for older gamers, others will of course follow though as we're already seeing this generation, companies really don't want to be wasting on producing disc based games so although it will still happen for while expect it to slowly peter out and he people who do want to own their games will left with "boutique" operations who produce them in smaller quantities but also at a higher price.

Why can’t you really just worry about yourself alone? A whole wall of text to say you’re concerned that many people’s entire library would be rented. How’s that truly your concern?
Aside the fact that retail will be an option for many many years to come, there’s also the option available to everyone to simply purchase the games they want to keep.

People latch on to good value deals. That’s the way the world works.

 

[SenjutsuSage]

Well, you already listed a few potential ones. I think CoD will keep coming to PS even after the contract period is done.

I'll take that bet.

 

[GHG]

Isn't this normal for large mergers and acquisitions?

Of this size? Yes.

Which is why anyone who said it wouldn't face scrutiny is either stupid or full of wishful thinking. This saga will go on for months.

Anyone who thinks this is certain to go through should be buying as much ATVI stock as they can considering the discount it's currently trading at (relative to the sale price).

 

[bender]

Insomniac, Housemarque, Nixxes aren’t doing much on PC now are they?

Insomniac didn't have a lot of PC releases in the first place, Housemaque's track record was spotty at best and Nixxies is more of a porting studio. You have a much better chance of seeing Insomniac and Housemarque projects coming to PC today than you did three years ago. Further, none of those studios are self publishers. Given the autonomy that Sony is affording Bungie with their acquisition, I doubt another acquisition of such scale, say Capcom, would be much different. Sony and Microsoft's strategies are different and Microsoft's pockets are much deeper. Sony is going to look for quicker return on investments and disrupting a publishing strategy would be counter to their goals. If they want to go exclusive shopping, they'll look at more studios like Insomniac, Remedy for example.

While their strategies are different, both Microsoft and Sony are looking far beyond selling you hardware. There is little profit in hardware.

 

[TaylorSwiftFan]

I'll take that bet.

Nice. What are we betting?

 

[clintar]

just borrow some and get epic

 

[Elbow Identity Shallow]

Why can’t you really just worry about yourself alone? A whole wall of text to say you’re concerned that many people’s entire library would be rented. How’s that truly your concern?
Aside the fact that retail will be an option for many many years to come, there’s also the option available to everyone to simply purchase the games they want to keep.

People latch on to good value deals. That’s the way the world works.

As I pointed out, I have no concerns about gaming for myself or for anybody else.

 

[bender]

 

[Nickolaidas]

I’m more worried about Nintendo buying Capcom

I'm not, especially with Capcom saying that pc is going to become their main platform from now on.

 

[gspec]

Sony for the first time in many years is facing a more serious threat than they ever have before, the prospect of being totally shut out from some of the very biggest games across the entire industry. Even if all Bungie was willing to give them with their acquisition is a guarantee that all of their games will come to Playstation and never miss the platform, right now in the situation that Sony finds themselves in, that is absolutely worth paying $3.6 billion for because they Microsoft buying up IP and developers and publishers to not just secure their own platform access to certain games, but to also remove them from Sony's platforms.

Sony now can't just rely on a timed deal or their dominant market share positioning. They now know they can cut two timed exclusive deals with Bethesda, and still end up losing Starfield and the next Elder Scrolls, and all future Fallout games, 3 monumental franchises gone just like that, not to mention Doom. Sony have seen they can have a major marketing deal with Activision for the biggest game in the industry, and even that doesn't protect them from being completely shut out. At this stage spending $3.6 billion to avoid Bungie from being added back into that dangerous fold is totally worth it.

But that isn't all Sony got from this deal. They also get full cooperation and access to all Bungie's proprietary technology and tools, to spread throughout Playstation studios similar technology and expertise on multiplatform, game development with a strong service component. Sony seems to be making this Bungie acquisition a signal towards their new strategy. This represents a full embrace of PC and Playstation day and date releases, and I believe this new project of Bungie's will feature big in their game pass competitor as a day one release. On top of this they've also left open to Bungie's own desire to also release across Xbox consoles. This is a deal in which Sony has given up more than they ever have in the past.

It's also Sony's largest ever acquisition in their entire history. I firmly believe Microsoft's moves ended up making Bungie's price higher or much more agreeable to Sony. Microsoft's purchases has made Sony more desperate than they have been in years, which is good news for me as a PS5 owner, you, it's great news for Xbox gamers and even PC gamers. We all benefit.

If I'm wrong, fine, but I think Sony, as unthinkable as it might seem, has the privilege of owning Bungie and will get access to all their new games and all their technology, but I don't think it means they fully control Bungie's Destiny as much as we are use to seeing Sony control previous game studios in the past.

Yeah, Sony was between a rock and a hard place. They had to do something to stop the bleeding. A desperation move but a necessary one.

 

[Robb]

This is going to get pretty interesting. I’m thinking Square, but I can also see Remedy being a good fit for Sony.

 

[sankt-Antonio]

All I want is Sony to get/save Konami and Capcom. These IPs with Sonys first party Studio quality would be great.

 

[Robb]

Yeah, after the ActiBlizz deal nothing will surprise me anymore. Anything and everything is up for grabs now, as long as they’re willing to sell.

 

[GhostOfTsu]

Maybe the FTC should look into Tencent and Sony then.

Sony is not part of the evil Big Tech the government hates.

It's just a japanese company known for movies, music, TVs and video games for them. Entertainment.

 

[Panajev2001a]

biggest technology companies, which she says are able to leverage their dominance in one line of business to gain power in other markets

These are fighting words, not sure nVIDIA was that kind of threat for ARM, but we will see. ARM has a huge China problem.

 

[SentientStone]

Now that Xbox banded with two American publishers already, Sony gotta band up with the Japanese publishers, remind them what Xbox did to them in Hiroshima. Kojima!

 

[Panajev2001a]

Sony is not part of the evil Big Tech the government hates.

It's just a japanese company known for movies, music, TVs and video games for them. Entertainment.

Also, Sony as a corporation is slightly smaller than MS. Where did the talk of “Nadella’s infinite pockets compared to Sony” go? We cannot celebrate MS being a behemoth and how they can use the Azure money to buy their way into the industry (FTC statement was “biggest technology companies, […] able to leverage their dominance in one line of business to gain power in other markets”) compared to Sony and also ask FTC to treat the two companies the same.

 

[remember_spinal]

this is gonna have microsoft jammed up for the next several months and possibly blocks them from going after EA or Take Two at this point. No way this goes through and a year from now they buy another huge publisher

I’d say they even have to be wary about big devs at this point

 

[gow3isben]

Open that warchest sweet jimbo

Use your stunning good looks to bag some japanese devs. Bed them if you have to.

 

[Robb]

I’d think this is just the standard procedure for deals of this size and I’m sure MS knew the deal was going to get reviewed before even announcing it. I have no doubt the deal will go through, for better or worse.

 

[Panajev2001a]

Hate to break it to you guys, but this will go through without issue. Khan and Kanter are both a lot less hostile towards Microsoft, and despite rhetoric of wanting to be more tough, won't block this for key reasons that Microsoft was a major ally in securing the 2020 elections from foreign interference. The same leadership who appointed the two of them in the first place to these posts benefitted from those botnets being taken down by Microsoft. Head of the Cyber division at department of homeland security was also a Microsoft employee, and is currently back at Microsoft last I checked. These are all things that will factor in here. This isn't just a regulatory thing, but a political thing also.

Not only that, the political response is to side in favor of new leadership coming in to clear up the workplace issues, and it will amount to nothing more than a commitment on Microsoft's end to change the culture, improve the workplace situation, and to not unfairly disadvantage competitors. This will mean Call of Duty Warzone in the end is what will stay, and the next set of COD games up to 2023 will go to Playstation. Microsoft has ample enough going in their favor, such as Minecraft, ghostwire tokyo and deathloop deals, to safeguard the fairness of the transaction, and will even use Sony's recent purchase today of Bungie as a market leader in the business as further evidence of why they want to better position themselves.

If they really want to lay it on thick, they can keep Diablo 4 and Overwatch 2 on PS consoles as well, but this being reviewed by the FTC will just further lend credibility to it because the FTC is seen as much stricter than the DOJ has ever been.

In an election year, I'll be surprised if THIS administration decides to paint a target on and screw over one of their biggest allies in the tech world, and also a major DOJ/DOD partner. Will be back end of year or next year when it's finally approved.

There are political and face value reasons to push this through, but it does set a precedent and it can be a trigger of far wilder consolidation.

The irony is that owning a single box and enjoying a far wider variety of games like we had so far is going to become less and less likely unless you subscribe to multiple services and/or own multiple HW, but hey .

 

[Setsuna Mudou]

This guy is a complete bullshit salesman.

1- In the middle of a purchase spree from both companies, the safest prediction is "oh wait, there's more"
2- Jim Ryan confirmed Sony is still acquiring
3- None of the previous acquisitions was leaked in the slightest (except Housemarque since Sony Japan told on themselves accidentally)
4- An acquisition of this type raises the share price like crazy, any time there is information available of such moves, the market regulators force a hold on trading until a clarification is sent to the market.
5- Knowing these acquisitions go on a formula of Market Cap + Premium, if this douche actually knew anything he would put him life savings into buying shares of that company the moment he find out (suspect he didn't do that). It would be the safest form of insider trading

So yeah, he will be right by guessing alone, no lose situation.

 

[EDMIX]

This guy is a complete bullshit salesman.

1- In the middle of a purchase free from both companies, the safest prediction is "oh wait, there's more"
2- Jim Ryan confirmed Sony is still acquiring
3- None of the previous acquisitions was leaked in the slightest (except Housemarque since Sony Japan told on themselves accidentally)
4- An acquisition of this type raises the share price like crazy, any time there is information available of such moves, the market regulators force a hold on trading until a clarification is sent to the market.
5- Knowing these acquisitions go on a formula of Market Cap + Premium, if this douche actually knew anything he would put him life savings into buying shares of that company the moment he find out (suspect he didn't do that). It would be the safest form of insider trading

So yeah, he will be right by guessing alone, no lose situation.

lol I feel like I would do some sly shit like that and be like "Woooow who the fuck told them to believe me doe?"

 

[Hoppa]

Ugh is it gonna be something stupid like Amazon buying Take Two

 

[01011001]

Ugh is it gonna be something stupid like Amazon buying Take Two

can Take 2 get any worse tho? an Amazon acquisition wouldn't really change much lol

 

[SoloKingRobert]

These are fighting words, not sure nVIDIA was that kind of threat for ARM, but we will see. ARM has a huge China problem.

Nvidia Arm deal wouldn't have gone through.. Because they would've own the entire mobile market, having full control over their competitors.

 

[GhostOfTsu]

can Take 2 get any worse tho? an Amazon acquisition wouldn't really change much lol

The games would stay multiplatforms too, same for Facebook or Tencent. Phil is just spreading FUD to get a blank check from Nutella.

 

[adamsapple]

Isn't this normal for large mergers and acquisitions?

Yes, it is.

 

[N1tr0sOx1d3]

i loved xenon!! we are too old maybe )) well since we are here i loved also sierra and Lucasfilm with all of my heart

Damn straight! Happy memories. I had the Atari ST and STE, we couldn’t afford an Amiga at the time.
Those beautiful intros from wasnotwas and the lost boys to name but a couple.
Loved the old point and click adventures.

I absolutely loved the Psygnosis titles along with Dungeon Master and Bloodwych. The 2 player functionality in Bloodwych was incredible and I have many happy memories of playing through this with my brother.

 

[remember_spinal]

Jeff grubb has no clue about shit, he’s already on twitter talking about how his podcasting schedule is packed now

 

[Cyber_hunter026]

Pretty interesting looking at the poll results. it's between square enix, Capcom or fromsoftware judging from the percentage of votes. it will be interesting, as to who sony goes after next. definitely interested in people's thoughts on remedy and why they feel sony would pursue them?

 

[lh032]

TENCENT ACQUIRED TAKE TWO GTA 6 BASED IN CHINA!!!!!

 

[Vaelka]

My hope?
MS buying Ubisoft.

My expectation?
Square selling their western branch.

Squares Western branch doesn't even do anything original and they've had a bunch of disappointments and memes ( the Marvel game ), they might as well just be yet more forgettable Western devs as far as I am concerned it wouldn't even change a thing if they were sold.
The Japanse branch tho I don't want to see get sold..
Japan ( and Korea but they're less integrated ) is like the last beacon of not being completely US-centric and centralized in gaming.
Their games are distinctly different and that's a good thing, gaming shouldn't be as stale and samey as it is.