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[Negotiator101]

Love all those replies that say Sony is stupid for acquiring Bungie with the current deal. I’m quite sure Sony doesn’t have their head up their assess and they have a million good reasons to make this deal, which some of us can not understand. Probably this deal is very good/profitable for Sony because not a single company would buy into something with the idea of not gaining anything lol. That you don’t have the insight in the companies that Sony doesn’t mean that Sony made a bad purchase here.

Sony have messed up many times, going into the car business is one they're doing right now. Not too long ago they were in financial trouble, they keep making stupid decisions like this and they could be again.

 

[Evil Calvin]

I think most GAF doesn't want these acquisitions to happen. It's more about having the games you like inside your ecosystem right now.

I always played on Sony consoles and i "want" them to buy Square-Enix not because of console warring, but because i don't want to lose access to those games.

I do think it would be hilarious if Capcom somehow gets acquired by Sony and then Nintendo would lose IPs like Monster Hunter, specially after months of so many people saying "Nintendo is unbothered by all of it" and how this acquisition period doesn't affect them (which it will, even if they don't need 3rd party studios to survive)

You know, an XSS is pretty cheap. Unless you are one of those high-school bums who refuse to work, you could save for the system pretty quickly.

 

[Silent Viper]

Please please dont let deal fail. God lol

 

[kingfey]

You'd be surprised, the PC gaming community accepted microtransactions pretty easily after the initial uproar. In fact, they fully embraced it.

That is the console users.

You guys accepted 70$ price way too easy.

The only difference is that, we got alot of f2p games, compared to consoles, which makes it look like we accepted mtx fully.
Not to mention, we have certain games, that don't work on consoles, which has mtx.

We have mods, which are free extra content.

 

[Evil Calvin]

MS buying Konami and Kojima productions. Kojima to make Silent Hills and Metal Gear 6!!

 

[SLB1904]

buying valve would be a more big deal for sony than microsoft. and before people jump on my throat let me explain. Microsoft is already balls deep on pc, and sony isnt

 

[bentanchorbolt]

I don't think Sony can afford Valve.

I think the real ball buster would be whoever, if anyone, acquires Take Two. GTA is an institution.

 

[Deerock71]

It was defensive all the way; Sony really doesn't want to get into a financial shootout with Microsoft.

 

[LordCBH]

I guarantee it’s to bolster their GAAS library considering D2 is one of the few successful examples of GAAS.

 

[Lognor]

Are you European? Then you must know that E.U are very strict when big corporations buy things… specially when it’s tech related. That’s why in Europe doesnt exist mega tech companies like Google etc…

No, not European. But there was a very large merger that the EU recently approved and the US rejected. Not tech related, but we are talking about the number and number 3 largest insurance brokers in the world. Approved by the EU. If that's not what you are defining as big corporations, not sure what to tell you.

Aon wins EU nod for $30 bln Willis deal, with conditions

EU antitrust regulators on Friday cleared with conditions Aon's (AON.N) $30 billion bid for Willis Towers Watson after it agreed to divest key parts of Willis' business to rival Arthur J. Gallagher (AJG.N) in return for the EU green light.

www.reuters.com

This deal is going to go through, but I'm expecting more pushback from the US regulators.

 

[K' Dash]

I want to see some action with Japanese companies merging or being acquired. Three big one I want to see is the acquisition of Konami.

I want someone that can leverage all those Konami properties, to buy them up or merge. Unfortunately, I think with Konami's other businesses they are worth a lot of money and that will be nearly impossible.

It's a shame that Konami is letting all their big properties like Metal Gear, Castlevania, and Silent Hill die off.

Them releasing a bare minimum effort or compilations is the norm for them nowadays. I don't want to see temporary licensing deals or exclusives to one platform.

I would rather someone buy them and start inovating and releasing new games in their legendary catalog every 2 to 3 years. Wishful thinking I know.

You mean you want to see Sony acquire them, cause Nintendo won't do it and anyone outside Japan can't

 

[Lognor]

A show of power?

Lol, I can't

 

[Dick Jones]

I can confirm that Omni Consumer Products (OCP) have purchased the Game Gear Division off Sega. This will be a great business and we are impressed by what the next handheld generation will look like (like a handheld version of the Genesis quality )

We were looking to keep it under wraps until Wednesday but the Doritos Pope spilled the beans. This is subject to FTC approval and will be completed in 2048.

 

[Gone]

As an Iraqi person, I approve this deal.

 

[Dream-Knife]

Stuff like destiny or literally any activision blizzard games was never gated by plastic consoles, in the case of blizzard pc was the main platform mostly, but now that they own these companies they can decide to postpone the release on pc to gain more money on console first and hoping for people to double dip, maybe not M because they have gamepass pc, but sony can actually do that.


Also if M doesn't put their games on steam for whatever reason, you would be forced to use their super shitty and broken store...


Pc gaming is not doomed but them acquiring those studios may actually be negative for pc players in a way.

Activision/Blizzard have their own launcher already. If anything, it means we'll get those games on Steam.

 

[Perrott]

Didn't santa Monica cancel that destiny like game because of, destiny? It had the god of war 3 Director in charge.

Destiny had nothing to do with what went down with Darkside. They canceled that game because the scope had grown out of proportion and Santa Monica was clearly not going to be able to deliver on such ambitions. WWS management at the time just shot the sick horse in the head before it became an Anthem.

 

[assurdum]

Please please dont let deal fail. God lol

Lol. After seen Disney I don't see it remotely possible.

 

[Dream-Knife]

Valve would buy PS off of Sony, not the other way around. PS is moving away from consoles and into a publisher role.

It seems that Valve and Sony have enjoyed a good relationship since then with Sony games appearing on Steam and Alyx potentially being a launch title for PSVR2. That's why I think that if Valve did sell it would be to Sony rather than to MS. Since it's not publicly traded they can decide who buys them if they even decide to sell.

PSVR2 potential future buyers want Alyx on PSVR2, but it is probably not going to happen.

Sony puts games on Steam because it has to. As does MS and Amazon.

 

[Gone]

PC gaming future looks absolutely fantastic.

 

[00_Zer0]

You mean you want to see Sony acquire them, cause Nintendo won't do it and anyone outside Japan can't

Well, there has been rumors going on forever, about Sony getting some kind of deal to make new games with some of Konami's biggest properties, but that would be a limited time deal, if true at all. I wouldn't want Sony to buy them if they turned around and made every Konami game exclusive to Sony Consoles. Then again to have properties like Castlevania, Metal Gear, and Silent Hill languish for years without a new game, is not making fans very happy. So it would be better that Sony buy them than to let Konami lay there and let there properties die; however, I prefer if someone that did not have a stake in the console war buy them. That way the games don't become exclusive to one platform.

 

[Hendrick's]

You think this deal was made in the days following MS purchasing ACT/BLZ?

It factually was.

 

[AncientOrigin]

For the love of God and all that is holy, PLEASE Nintendo just buy Capcom!!!!

No please not!That would mean Capcom who always make state of the art games especially graphics wise will be forever bound to Nintendos outdated nonsense handheld consoles.Capcom is way to imported their ips Sony is best fit under Sony Capcom can flourish

 

[chonga]

Can't see this being blocked, we always knew it was going to be reviewed, but it's going to be hard to prove a monopoly or unfair advantage when companies like Sony, Nintendo, Tencent and Embracer exist.

It is more than just how many people exist in a market segment or how much share you have of it. Verticality is also an issue at play.

Consider a box of chicken nuggets. There will be a business selling chicken to another business who will shape it into a nugget who relies on another business to provide it with packaging and it is then sold through a wholesale businesses to consumer facing outlets.

If each one of those businesses are independent then there's no issue, but what if one company owned all of them? Suddenly even though the individual businesses might not be a market leader in their own segments there's a distinct competitive advantage and possibility for market manipulation.

Applying that to our context, for Microsoft they are a dominant in the cloud side, the hardware side and the development side. It really depends on how narrow the FTC want the scope to be.

That said, I don't foresee any issues.

 

[Buggy Loop]

It’s like nuclear deterrence, nothing more. You have COD and you promise multiplat, well now I have Destiny and intend on keeping it multiplat.

It’s all dandy until someone pushes the button for exclusivity.

 

[Sosokrates]

Sony have 18billion to invest for the next 3yrs.

And thats for the whole of sony, not just playstation.

So I think sony could get a small publisher or some more devs, but EA andTake 2 are out of the question for them.

 

[Sleepwalker]

EA and take two merger. Will release their own console and make both gta and sports games exclusive to it.

Console warriors in disbelief

 

[Sybrix]

These are business deals with one objective........... to make money.

Roll on the Tsunami of NFTs from all your beloved franchises!!!

 

[Roronoa Zoro]

I think Sony will end up with one of the big Western publishers after Microsoft now getting 2 of them. Things will level off a little bit. They all suck big time but ubisoft would be the best of a bad bunch.

Wb games would be big. Imagine DC and Marvel exclusives on one console plus HP

 

[tommib]

EA and take two merger. Will release their own console and make both gta and sports games exclusive to it.

Console warriors in disbelief

Anything to minimize the current wars.

 

[Roronoa Zoro]

Sony is absolutely going to buy a Japanese developer. Don't be surprised if it is Square or Capcom. Microsoft is likely going to buy one also. Don't be surprised if it is Sega or Capcom.

However, you are about to see Amazon, Facebook, and Netflix buying some also. That's where you need to start worrying. Take Two is the big one you need to worry about.

Would Amazon, Facebook, or Netflix have the balls to make any exclusives to their platform? Its a big gamble to wager that people would sub to a cloud service and not just Minecraft or destiny it and reap the profits from PS and Xbox

 

[SLB1904]

 

[Lognor]

i have a Feeling Sony is gonna go get EA just a hunch

I don't think Sony would go for a public company. They're probably wary with all the attention Microsoft is getting and don't want the scrutiny since they just bought bungie

 

[The_hunter]

The doritos pope hath spoken

 

[spookyfish]

Well, consolidation has been nothing but GREAT for the public (consumer) with media companies and banks, so this should work out just as well. /s

 

[SlimySnake]

Does anyone really pay more for their streaming content than when they had cable? I was an early adopter, cut cable back in 2010. At the time I was on some mid tier cable package plus internet for like $110 a month. Now I pay like $55 for internet, $15 for Netflix, $8 for Disney, and $10 for Amazon. That's $88 a month and I don't have to deal with commercials, DVRs, cable boxes, contracts with cancellation fees, and I get the content I want on demand. Sometimes I cancel my Netflix when we aren't watching enough, and other times I've subscribed to Hulu, HBO, or Paramount when I want to watch a series or movie. It makes no sense to pine for the days of monolithic cable companies charging you $65-100 bucks to get a bunch of shit you never watch, to have it be infested with commercials, and to not be able to cancel at will.

Even if we have five different gaming subscription companies in the future things are not getting worse. You can subscribe and cancel at will. You will still be able to purchase games separately. It's just like people pining for the old days of gaming with physical only games, game rentals being the only way to try something, game magazines being our only source of news, and 900 numbers existing for game tips. All of those things are worse than what we have now.....

yeah, i also cancelled cable in the early 2010s. It made no sense to pay $150 just for cable plus $20 premiums for HBO and Showtime. Since then ive been using my brother's HBo and Netlfix logins lol

Same with gamepass. Havent bought a single MS exclusive since i got an x1x in early 2018. It makes zero sense to spend $60 on one game when I can just sub for a $1 or $10 max if i ever run out of deals.

 

[Azelover]

They need to spend their money, because we're very close to an era of severe inflation.

Expect more acquisitions. Of course it's competitive to an extent, but it's mostly about retaining value.

 

[SenjutsuSage]

It certainly wasn't a show of power, but it was a showing of their willingness to fight, but done from a position of obvious weakness.

Bungie got away with a deal that no other acquired studio has ever been able to get from Sony in their entire history of the Playstation business. I think that's significant, and it's because Microsoft forced Sony to make their biggest acquisition in their history on Bungie, Destiny 2 and the future of what Bungie has coming.

 

[ChuckeRearmed]

Nvidia had a substantial $1.5 billion blackout fee for ARM too. Guess what. It still isn't going through

It's not about preventing monopolies, it's ultimately about protecting consumer choice. From their lens, they're going to look at the Zenimax deal, and see they're taking consumer choice away, they're going to look at the ActBliz deal and see they're taking consumer choice away. They're going to be scrutinized even further for being a tech giant and the risk they pose if they continue on that type of heavy acquisition streak.

I'm still of the position it'll go through, but you're a fool if you can't see how regulators might want to block or condiationalise this.

Trying to compare Nvidia & ARM deal with MS & ATVI. Oof.

It is not even about consumer choices either. It is all about competition. So there won't be any problems as ATVI deal is big, but not really important for 170b gaming market. So regulators won't even try to block it.

 

[Ass of Can Whooping]

Trying to compare Nvidia & ARM deal with MS & ATVI. Oof.

Not understanding context. Oof

 

[assurdum]

I want desperately Sony buy Konami just because I missed so much their IPs.

 

[Rudius]

Just buy Konami and revive it. Don't waste money on western studios that don't need it.

 

[Ozriel]

They absolutely can impose that condition. It's on Microsoft to ensure the well-being of their employees to meet it. Developing for multiple platforms isn't the reason for crunch and you're going to have a damn hard time trying argue otherwise

Anyone at the FTC is going to have a hard time mandating multiplatform releases post acquisition. It's not standard in the industry, and as many have said, MS position in the gaming industry is VERY far from fears of monopoly or destroying competition.

 

[assurdum]

Sony is absolutely going to buy a Japanese developer. Don't be surprised if it is Square or Capcom. Microsoft is likely going to buy one also. Don't be surprised if it is Sega or Capcom.

However, you are about to see Amazon, Facebook, and Netflix buying some also. That's where you need to start worrying. Take Two is the big one you need to worry about.

No way a Japanese company will end in the MS hands. More likely they will take less money by Sony if they haven't choice if I can say.

 

[ChuckeRearmed]

Anyone at the FTC is going to have a hard time mandating multiplatform releases post acquisition. It's not standard in the industry, and as many have said, MS position in the gaming industry is VERY far from fears of monopoly or destroying competition.

Really. I mean, imagine believing that FTC will argue that a military shooter should be on every platform

 

[TheAssist]

Yeah I get that opinion. Of course its not good for the consumer that cant afford it or those who want everything in one place. But I feel the way things are now is a bit stupid. Either have everything everywhere at the same time or have closed systems with vastly different libraries.

Since PS3/360 owning a console felt unnecessary as a PC owner. Just the same games with a handful of good exclusives over a 7 year lifespan.
I think we remember the older gens because they felt so distinct. Imagine the NES and Master System sharing 99% of the same library.
But of course there is a reason things became the way they are now. To justify the cost of games development you have to publish on a many places as possible while keeping the barrier of entry low.
With streaming and subscriptions the barrier becomes increasingly low. Subscriptions are the new consoles.

So this is a weird one. You can play on any system, but only the games that you are subbed to. But then again, paying 2 or 3 subs is still cheaper than buying like 3 games per year and with 3 subs you can almost play any relevant game that comes out.

Crazy times.

 

[Ass of Can Whooping]

Anyone at the FTC is going to have a hard time mandating multiplatform releases post acquisition. It's not standard in the industry, and as many have said, MS position in the gaming industry is VERY far from fears of monopoly or destroying competition.

This industry hasn't had a $70 billion aquistion before either. There's a first time for everything.

Like i said in my other post. They're not going to argue Microsoft has a monopoly because they bought ActiBliz or anything like that. They're going to look at the risk letting a big tech comapny to absord so many companies and how that would affect consumer choice in the future.

Really. I mean, imagine believing that FTC will argue that a military shooter should be on every platform

You should put more effort into reading. Might learn a few things

 

[metaru_geah_sorrido]

I just want to be able to access my PS digital library from a Steam Deck.
I always wanted a Vita but they are basically collectors items, big with modders I guess.

 

[The Alien]

Assumed this was part of the process.

I'll have a hard time seeing it get rejected as:

• Microsoft is 3rd out of 3 console manufacturers.
• Microsoft isn't even in the top 3 for the PC space.
• Also, the IP are all broken uo between mobile, PC, console.
• If Disney can buy LucasArts, 20th Century Fox, and Pixar.....
• I cant see an regulatory body saying COD had to be on specific platforms. That seems very down in the weeds.
• If the deal falls thru Microsoft owes Activision $3B. Im sure they have fantastic lawyers that assured them it'd be ok.

 

[Kokoloko85]

Not every publisher is up for sale, Activision has fallen apart and was ripe for the picking.

While I think so too, if someone gives an offer too good to refuse Im sure they will take it.

 

[assurdum]

Lol Valve under Sony. What people you smoke. It's more probable to have Nintendo under MS.