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[Vognerful]

Yall keep saying Zenimax doesn't make money so MS doesn't mind losing money on it, but COD makes too much money. You are missing the point. If MS is willing to neglect $500 Million from Playstation in one year, then they are also okay with losing $1 billion in a year from Playstation, IF.....................

One of their main goals is to eliminate Sony from the competition.

first of all, I admit that I came a bit hot in my earlier reply.

not let's clear thing here: I did not say that Zenimax doesn't make money. I Said " it is peanuts compared to ABK". Zenimax total yearly revenue is 0.5 billion from EVERYTHING. ABK makes almost 1.7 billion from CoD from playstation alone, that is more than 3 times what Zenimax makes. in fact ABK makes X16 more than what Zenimax does.

So math says that ABK revenue stream can subsidize keeping Zenimax fully exclusive.

and if what? What scenario would make sense to Microsoft shareholders to make ABK exclusive to xbox when sony can just come and release GaaS games as multiplatform and reduce CoD relevance?

One more thing, if you are thinking that they will take CoD in 10 years, can't we blame Sony for not making a good fucking shooting game for 30 years?

Spencer claims it would be a case by case thing, new evidence proves that was never going to happen.

FF7:RB would be up to SE though, it's pretty much guaranteed to be a timed exclusive like past SE games have been. Only reasons I can think of why they aren't offering MS them later down the line is they've evidently gone back to the very close relationship they had with Sony and want to keep that relationship as tight as possible

The problem is Phil is full of shit. He always has been.

I think Microsoft put themselves in a bad situation with SE, they would not even consider porting any game to that console unless they get paid for it. I hate SE a lot but I understand they care about making profit by the end of the day.

 

[SirTerry-T]

I think this thread has also brought out most people’s bitterness. It was like a place where both sides got way too heated. I think I’ve learned about myself that, while I love playing video games, I don’t think I care how the sausage is made. I’ll always own every console, so these deals don’t mean anything to me, and if games start to suck because of moves, then I’ll move on to something else if my needs aren’t being met anymore.

Well said. A lot of people have been taking this business shite way too seriously.


It's video games and big businesses (none of which give a shit about any of us, btw), not a fucking visit to The Hague.

 

[FoxMcChief]

May I ask why? What is it about consolidation that gets people's balls tingling here?

I wouldn’t say my balls tingle about it, but I’m not afraid of it. I’ll give you my selfish reasons though.

Cost less in the long run. I’ve got three girls, mortgage, 2 family car payments and not a ton of time to play, which leads me to….

I don’t care about owning games because it’s rare that a game is worth playing, let alone worth playing more than once.

Convenience of knowing where games are and not having to think about what’s timed exclusive or whatnot. I thought I read somewhere that AEW Fight Forever was going to be on game pass. It’s not, so I’ll likely never play it, unless it’s on the service. Too big of a backlog to keep adding to it, even if on a deep sale.

I guess that’s it. I have both PS+ Extra and Ultimate Game Pass, as well as GameFly that my daughter and I share. That’s like $50.00 a month. This month that $50.00 got me Final Fantasy 16, Diablo 4, Dead Space and both subscription catalogs. If I had purchased just two of those, that would cost me $140.

GameFly lets me play the games not on a service, like the ones I just mentioned.

So if you told me that there were three subscriptions for my three consoles and we got everything day 1 or maybe first 6 months, I’d be a happy camper.

 

[mckmas8808]

Are you sure? Source?

Okay, so you trolling. Gotcha.

first of all, I admit that I came a bit hot in my earlier reply.

not let's clear thing here: I did not say that Zenimax doesn't make money. I Said " it is peanuts compared to ABK". Zenimax total yearly revenue is 0.5 billion from EVERYTHING. ABK makes almost 1.7 billion from CoD from playstation alone, that is more than 3 times what Zenimax makes. in fact ABK makes X16 more than what Zenimax does.

So math says that ABK revenue stream can subsidize keeping Zenimax fully exclusive.

and if what? What scenario would make sense to Microsoft shareholders to make ABK exclusive to xbox when sony can just come and release GaaS games as multiplatform and reduce CoD relevance?

One more thing, if you are thinking that they will take CoD in 10 years, can't we blame Sony for not making a good fucking shooting game for 30 years?

You can't be serious about the bolded. COD is a tried and true GaaS game at this point. Making one of those every year is basically impossible for anybody else to do. And to the 2nd bolded, I don't think MS will wait 10 years. I think they will make COD exclusive the second that the contract runs out. Which I think is in 2025. And couldn't you also ask MS to make a great shooter so that they didn't have to buy the whole Publisher?

Are yall just not thinking? Or do you just want every game on planet Earth on GamePass?

 

[Alex Scott]

Okay, so you trolling. Gotcha.






You can't be serious about the bolded. COD is a tried and true GaaS game at this point. Making one of those every year is basically impossible for anybody else to do. And to the 2nd bolded, I don't think MS will wait 10 years. I think they will make COD exclusive the second that the contract runs out. Which I think is in 2025. And couldn't you also ask MS to make a great shooter so that they didn't have to buy the whole Publisher?

Are yall just not thinking? Or do you just want every game on planet Earth on GamePass?

The contract ends this year. 2024 CoD will likely be exclusive if MS closes the deal.

 

[93xfan]

Okay, so you trolling. Gotcha.

Tried not to hide it.

Honestly, I think both will be fine. It’s not the apocalypse people are making it out to be

 

[93xfan]

The contract ends this year. 2024 CoD will likely be exclusive if MS closes the deal.

Nope. They need to make a profit.

 

[GHG]

I wouldn’t say my balls tingle about it, but I’m not afraid of it. I’ll give you my selfish reasons though.

Cost less in the long run. I’ve got three girls, mortgage, 2 family car payments and not a ton of time to play, which leads me to….

I don’t care about owning games because it’s rare that a game is worth playing, let alone worth playing more than once.

Convenience of knowing where games are and not having to think about what’s timed exclusive or whatnot. I thought I read somewhere that AEW Fight Forever was going to be on game pass. It’s not, so I’ll likely never play it, unless it’s on the service. Too big of a backlog to keep adding to it, even if on a deep sale.

I guess that’s it. I have both PS+ Extra and Ultimate Game Pass, as well as GameFly that my daughter and I share. That’s like $50.00 a month. This month that $50.00 got me Final Fantasy 16, Diablo 4, Dead Space and both subscription catalogs. If I had purchased just two of those, that would cost me $140.

GameFly lets me play the games not on a service, like the ones I just mentioned.

So if you told me that there were three subscriptions for my three consoles and we got everything day 1 or maybe first 6 months, I’d be a happy camper.

Personally I don't understand this desire to be beholden to very few individuals order to decide what you play but each to their own.

What you're basically requesting is that you have all autonomy surrounding your hobby be whipped away in exchange for monthly rental fees (while hoping said rental fees stay static over time which has proven to not be the care across other entertainment media).

You want your gaming access to be heavily curated and you also want zero ownership? Sorry but that makes zero sense to me. What next, no hardware ownership as well?

Nope. They need to make a profit.

Who, Microsoft? No they don't.

 

[NonPhixion]

Guy thinks Xbox needs to make profit.
Xbox division didn't use 69 billion of their own departments income to buy COD(ABK).
Turns out Xbox doesn't need to make a profit.

 

[FoxMcChief]

Personally I don't understand this desire to be beholden to very few individuals order to decide what you play but each to their own.

What you're basically requesting is that you have all autonomy surrounding your hobby be whipped away in exchange for monthly rental fees (while hoping said rental fees stay static over time which has proven to not be the care across other entertainment media).

You want your gaming access to be heavily curated and you also want zero ownership? Sorry but that makes zero sense to me. What next, no hardware ownership as well?



Who, Microsoft? No they don't.

That’s the dream. Cloud gaming for nvidia, Xbox and PlayStation have been great for me.

 

[GHG]

That’s the dream. Cloud gaming for nvidia, Xbox and PlayStation have been great for me.

Sorry man, I just can't relate at all.

 

[FoxMcChief]

Sorry man, I just can't relate at all.

That’s ok.

 

[DeepEnigma]

What next, no hardware ownership as well?

That's coming. Bet.

And brand cultists will conform and defend.

 

[mckmas8808]

The contract ends this year. 2024 CoD will likely be exclusive if MS closes the deal.

Oh snap. Welp. COD was a good run on PS at least. That's if the CMA turns into bitches and quits the fight.

Tried not to hide it.

Honestly, I think both will be fine. It’s not the apocalypse people are making it out to be

MS can (if they want to) accept less profit from COD if they'd like. Their executives said it was fine. They just need to increase their GP numbers by 2 million users. Plus if MS are allowed to buy ABK, then why not EA and Ubisoft next? Who doesn't think MS will try to buy Take-Two also.

EA: $35 billion Market Cap
Take-Two: $25 Billion Market Cap
Ubisoft: $4 Billion Market Cap.


That's $64 Billion right there. Add on a 20% premium and they could buy all those for $77 Billion. Now explain to me why Microsoft "WOULDN'T" want to own all three.....

 

[GHG]

That's coming. Bet.

And brand cultists will conform and defend.

Well some have seemingly already conformed.

Burn it all down.

 

[FoxMcChief]

That's coming. Bet.

And brand cultists will conform and defend.

Well some have seemingly already conformed.

Burn it all down.

It’s just not that serious to me, and probably not to most people that play games. I have fun playing games and talking about them. But it’s still just a side thing in my life.

 

[93xfan]

Oh snap. Welp. COD was a good run on PS at least. That's if the CMA turns into bitches and quits the fight.



MS can (if they want to) accept less profit from COD if they'd like. Their executives said it was fine. They just need to increase their GP numbers by 2 million users. Plus if MS are allowed to buy ABK, then why not EA and Ubisoft next? Who doesn't think MS will try to buy Take-Two also.

EA: $35 billion Market Cap
Take-Two: $25 Billion Market Cap
Ubisoft: $4 Billion Market Cap.


That's $64 Billion right there. Add on a 20% premium and they could buy all those for $77 Billion. Now explain to me why Microsoft "WOULDN'T" want to own all three.....

Then what has changed? I guess these are always options. Why don’t we complain when MS actually tries this.

Pretty sure they don’t want to go through all of this again.

 

[Unknown Soldier]

Shower thoughts - When Phil dies, do you think he'll go to hell for lying so much?

Or will Saint Peter allow him into the pearly gates of heaven?

They are in a position to spend God out of business

 

[FoxMcChief]

Shower thoughts - When Phil dies, do you think he'll go to hell for lying so much?

Or will Saint Peter allow him into the pearly gates of heaven?

Of course he’s going to Heaven. Only god could be behind something so awesome as game pass. Duh.

 

[Venom Snake]

That's coming. Bet.

And brand cultists will conform and defend.

Yep, hardware-as-a-service is not a young idea afterall (fleet services, security services, mobile industry etc.). This is just a natural stage of business model progression. It doesn't take much to convince people that upfront purchasing cost savings will do the same wonders for them as they did for the industrial sector.

All it takes is a few professional liars promoted via social media to be the saviors of gaming, spilling buzz words and "choices" among followers addicted to instant gratification.

 

[mckmas8808]

It’s just not that serious to me, and probably not to most people that play games. I have fun playing games and talking about them. But it’s still just a side thing in my life.

Have you seen the 30fps vs. 60 fps threads on GAF? LOL!!!

Then what has changed? I guess these are always options. Why don’t we complain when MS actually tries this.

Pretty sure they don’t want to go through all of this again.

Some of us did complain when MS tried this. With the Bethesda deal. There were 1.5 million threads on GAF about that deal. Many of us thought it was nuts and could lead to future big purchases. And at that time I was stupid enough to think MS surely wouldn't pull a game off of the PS5 that could 100% guarantee sell 10 million units in one year like Starfield could. Yet here we are.

And if it ends in success, MS wouldn't care 1% to go through all this again. That's what executives are paid for.

 

[FoxMcChief]

Have you seen the 30fps vs. 60 fps threads on GAF? LOL!!!

I have, but I know GAF doesn’t tend to represent the majority on some things.

 

[FrankWza]

Cost less in the long run. I’ve got three girls, mortgage, 2 family car payments and not a ton of time to play, which leads me to….

I don’t care about owning games because it’s rare that a game is worth playing, let alone worth playing more than once.

Convenience of knowing where games are and not having to think about what’s timed exclusive or whatnot. I thought I read somewhere that AEW Fight Forever was going to be on game pass. It’s not, so I’ll likely never play it, unless it’s on the service. Too big of a backlog to keep adding to it, even if on a deep sale.

I guess that’s it. I have both PS+ Extra and Ultimate Game Pass, as well as GameFly that my daughter and I share. That’s like $50.00 a month. This month that $50.00 got me Final Fantasy 16, Diablo 4, Dead Space and both subscription catalogs. If I had purchased just two of those, that would cost me $140.

GameFly lets me play the games not on a service, like the ones I just mentioned.

So if you told me that there were three subscriptions for my three consoles and we got everything day 1 or maybe first 6 months, I’d be a happy camper.

Sounds like you've been conditioned nicely.

It’s just not that serious to me

Are you sure?

But it’s still just a side thing in my life.

You mean like a hobby?

 

[Slicker than your average]

Sounds like you've been conditioned nicely.

Are you sure?

You mean like a hobby?

Yup the guy is complaining about the cost of individuals games while paying $50 a month which is 600 a year.

 

[mckmas8808]

Yup the guy is complaining about the cost of individuals games while paying $50 a month which is 600 a year.

I just don't understand some of these people. It's as if they don't realize they can buy some of their games used or wait when they go on sale.

 

[GHG]

It’s just not that serious to me, and probably not to most people that play games. I have fun playing games and talking about them. But it’s still just a side thing in my life.

Sorry but I just don't buy this.

You're posting here, on an enthusiast board. You're posting in this thread which concerns only the business side of the so called "side thing" in your life. You have well over 2000 posts here in less than a year.

If you're here with your level of activity it's serious enough. So what's the deal?

 

[FrankWza]

Yup the guy is complaining about the cost of individuals games while paying $50 a month which is 600 a year.

GAF is an enthusiast forum. Unfortunately, a lot are enthusiastically against spending money to support a hobby but want to hoard new releases they have no time to play. You can wait for a sale and save the same amount of money and not need to somersault your way into a pretzel trying to rationalize things to yourself. But deygotalldasystemz.

 

[Dick Jones]

Shower thoughts - When Phil dies, do you think he'll go to hell for lying so much?

Or will Saint Peter allow him into the pearly gates of heaven?

I imagine when Phil dies, he lies still

 

[GHG]

GAF is an enthusiast forum. Unfortunately, a lot are enthusiastically against spending money to support a hobby but want to hoard new releases they have no time to play. You can wait for a sale and save the same amount of money and not need to somersault your way into a pretzel trying to rationalize things to yourself. But deygotalldasystemz.

This is the one constant that continues to confuse me. I recently had another discussion with another member here who swears by these subscription services, says he doesn't want to buy games anymore but yet at the same time he claimed to not have much time to play games anyway.

If you're going to say you don't have time to play games then why the fuck do you need access to hundreds (if not thousands if you're subbed up to the hilt across all platforms) of games all at once?

None of this is adding up. I genuinely think I spend less money annually on games than these guys do (by just hand picking what I want to purchase day one and getting the rest on sale) but yet I'd never say this hobby isn't a big deal to me. It's bizarre.

 

[PaintTinJr]

if coca cola and pepsi merge, the FTC will be there to ensure it doesn't get a day 1 release on soda-pass

Despite the Pepsi and Coke merger hypothetical meaning very little to us, I actual think that quick draw remark from the FTC lawyer was actually when he won a big slice of argument in the judge's eyes, and showed he wasn't the slow kid taking 15secs to answer one simple question anymore,

She tried to belittle the size of the console market in terms of overall gaming spend, and equating that this deal didn't mean much in that scope, and him rapidly equating the deal to the importance of the minority customers that drink Pepsi and Coke - brands that she knew implicitly like we all do -and those customers being disadvantage by the loss of competition from that type of merger seemed to crystalize - for her - why the FTC had brought this PI request for a full case.

His response sounded almost like his FTC training kicked in and he was on autopilot for a split second to reply so fast with a meaningful argument.

 

[ulantan]

Nope. They need to make a profit.

Why do they need to?

 

[mckmas8808]

Why do they need to?

It's funny that the Xbox division went years literally losing money and MS decided to keep it going. So I'm not sure why he thinks Xbox "needs" to make a profit.

 

[FoxMcChief]

Sorry but I just don't buy this.

You're posting here, on an enthusiast board. You're posting in this thread which concerns only the business side of the so called "side thing" in your life. You have well over 2000 posts here in less than a year.

If you're here with your level of activity it's serious enough. So what's the deal?

I like talking about games. Not sure what else you need to hear. It does seem funny that I talk about games more than I play them these days. That’s why I posted the other day in the sleeping while you play games thread. I’m lucky if I get to play before I fall asleep.

 

[JayDucker]

I like talking about games. Not sure what else you need to hear. It does seem funny that I talk about games more than I play them these days. That’s why I posted the other day in the sleeping while you play games thread. I’m lucky if I get to play before I fall asleep.

 

[FoxMcChief]

Sounds like you've been conditioned nicely.

Are you sure?

You mean like a hobby?

Probably.

Yup.

Yup.

 

[adamsapple]

The contract ends this year. 2024 CoD will likely be exclusive if MS closes the deal.

No it won't, that's the whole argument.

 

[DeepEnigma]

GAF is an enthusiast forum. Unfortunately, a lot are enthusiastically against spending money to support a hobby but want to hoard new releases they have no time to play. You can wait for a sale and save the same amount of money and not need to somersault your way into a pretzel trying to rationalize things to yourself. But deygotalldasystemz.

I spend literally pennies on the dollar now that I conditioned myself years ago not to buy games as soon as they come out, only to sit in a backlog, and by the time I get to them they're $15-$20 on sales tops. Now I use a wishlist as a backlog.

Same with subs services. I spend far less on buying games on sale when I finally get around to them in the backlog order, than if I had a perpetual sub of a ton of games that sit in a log as well.

When I game, I focus on 1 or 2 at a time. Maybe 3 tops as a palate cleanser of the more hardcore games.

With that said, there are games that skip the backlog and are day 1 games, but I get my money's worth due to putting hundreds of hours in them, like GT7, etc.. Hell, I put over 230 hours into Elden Ring and I got it almost a year later on its first sale for $40.

I can guarantee I spend far less than perpetual sub users yearly. Just have some discipline and remove the FOMO mentality from single player games and be selective on the day 1 backlog skippers.

 

[FrankWza]

Probably.

 

[93xfan]

No need to be a jerk.

Sorry your team lost (not really though)

 

[FrankWza]

No need to be a jerk.

Sorry your team lost (not really though)

Uh, that's Gary Oldman.

 

[93xfan]

Uh, that's Gary Oldman.

Well, tell Gary to stay out of this

 

[CRAIG667]

To everyone say ms will make cod exclusive in 24/25, you are absolutely mental.

Just like Minecraft, there is ZERO chance they'd leave that kind of change on the table let alone face the backlash.

COD is here to stay and stay multiplatform at that!

 

[bender]

Well said. A lot of people have been taking this business shite way too seriously.


It's video games and big businesses (none of which give a shit about any of us, btw), not a fucking visit to The Hague.

Jim Ryan loves me.

 

[DeepEnigma]

To everyone say ms will make cod exclusive in 24/25, you are absolutely mental.

Just like Minecraft, there is ZERO chance they'd leave that kind of change on the table let alone face the backlash.

COD is here to stay and stay multiplatform at that!

Phil Spencer said he's been trying to make Minecraft exclusive since they purchased it, but can't find a way around [the original contract] yet. This was revealed on the stand.

The PR was a lie.

 

[Topher]

Phil Spencer said he's been trying to make Minecraft exclusive since they purchased it, but can't find a way around [the original contract] yet. This was revealed on the stand.

The PR was a lie.

Wasn't that long ago that I was saying COD would stay multiplat because Phil Spencer promised over and over again. Now I just don't know. Too many lies have been exposed in all this. I won't be surprised by anything.

 

[Connxtion]

Phil Spencer said he's been trying to make Minecraft exclusive since they purchased it, but can't find a way around [the original contract] yet. This was revealed on the stand.

The PR was a lie.

Source?

 

[FrankWza]

Sorry your team lost

Honestly, I think both will be fine. It’s not the apocalypse people are making it out to be

 

[DeepEnigma]

Source?

Search the thread. It's in here from the past Tuesday.

 

[93xfan]

Lost in the battle, Gary, not the war. Eyes on the road

 

[FrankWza]

Source?

It's somewhere around here

https://www.neogaf.com/threads/microsoft-activision-deal-approval-watch-ot.1641775/post-268106628

Connxtion