Support NeoGAF

[sainraja]

I like how biassed all the industry is towards Japanese companies and against Ms in particular.

When Xbox almost disappeared last gen thanks to Mattrick almost single handledly killed the brand and Sony reign the entire gen nobody bats an eye.

MS become competetivie and suddenly everyone and their mothers seem to care about competence and monopolies and what not.

Yet we didn't saw so much fuzz when Sony money hatted all big third party titles for some times exclusive shit (just a refresher, Starfield would come out only on PlaySation at launch) and only on PS DLCs and such.

Sony dominated so hard that they took away with making games $70 (€80) at launch a thing.

But you know, the problem is MS and now everyone needs to lose their minds because having a $15/month subscription with a plethora of games AAA, AA and indies alike is obviously bad for the consumer and paying $70 for each game upfront is healthy.

You'll be OKAY. It's all going to be fine. Don't worry.

 

[Aenima]

Called it. You cant just cut ur COD playerbase in half and think thats a good business decision.
Good news for all gamers. Press F to pay respect to all fanboys dying inside today.

Hopefully this is the path for a furure where one day all games can be played in any platform.

 

[kyliethicc]

Oh I didn't see that lmao

Well there you go

Daddy Jimbo saved us the Duty by buying Bungie

Bless him

 

[Oddvintagechap]

Just reads like something written to get ahead of any kind of scrutiny that the deal could be facing; let's see what they will be doing in 2025.

They have to play nice. Or they give the government an excuse to reject or add concessions to the deal.

Cause they sure enjoyed adding doubt when they first announced the deal. I am personally disappointed cause I enjoyed the future spiciness of it all. It would have been hilarious MS pulling COD from PS, and the franchise rapidly dying. EA is sad today.

 

[M16]

Being on gamepass and having exclusive maps and items is as good as it not being available on PS

 

[Forsythia]

Fine by me, nobody loses in this case. Let's hope Sony will do the same when they buy another dev.

 

[TheAmazingSpiderMan]

This’ll be an interesting thread..

 

[RJMacready73]

Short term this was a no brainer, Playstation is a massive market for COD and there's no way they're leaving that amount of money on the table especially considering how thorough the regulators will be going through the deal, long term we'll be looking at possibly staggered releases, exclusive skins etc but I can't see them walling COD behind Gamepads, game is too big and too multiplatform, same with FiFa it'll never go exclusive and with Sony promising to keep Destiny multiplat it just keeps the peace all round... Damn shame about ES6 though

 

[MadPanda]

Okay, I'll admit I'm surprised. Don't understand why but it doesn't change anything for me. I just hope this deal goes through as soon as possible so I could get call of duty on gamepass

 

[lastmessiah]

This still could mean just allowing existing games to remain on PS beyond agreements.

Maybe they will release everything CoD on PS, but that doesn’t change the fact that CoD players go where the best content/experience is. And we all know what that means.

 

[thicc_girls_are_teh_best]

Guess Satya was concerned about regulation after all

Strongly doubt this has anything to do with that; you guys underestimate how vast the mobile gaming space is.

But anyways, I guess this finally clears up any speculation. "Other" popular Activision-Blizzard games I'm guessing include Crash, Spyro, Overwatch and maybe Diablo.

That said, if they decided to bring back, say, Quest for Glory or Gabriel Knight, I can see new entries in those being exclusive. Those IP have been dormant for years and aren't well-known with most gamers of today.

I said all the laughing reactions would look pretty silly once this plays out.
Activision is on a whole different level than Bethesda, MS knows this and there's no way they'd limit CoD to just Xbox, it would actually be worse for them financially. This is 100% a Minecraft situation and I said that since day 1.

It was never about COD going exclusive; at most some just speculated that the campaign annual releases would go exclusive but stuff like Warzone would always stay multiplatform. The question was really about other IPs not COD: Overwatch, Diablo, WoW, Crash, Spyro etc.

Even in some of those cases I personally felt they would stay multiplat; Nintendo's basically the home for platformers so why not have Crash & Spyro there, for example? But yeah, this was mostly always about stuff beyond COD, I guess today's news has answered that.

 

[Thirty7ven]

A lot of people bleeding, don't don't bite your lips that hard this ain't but a sweet thang.

 

[legacy24]

they really spent 70 billion on more gamepass subscribers what a joke

 

[Saber]

Only fanboys would think otherwise. Thats the way they get the money back in the long term.

 

[Represent.]

Duh. More money to be made on multiple platforms than on 1. You fanboys are turning this into rocket science.

Sony doing the same thing with Bungie. More platforms = more money.

Very easy to understand.

70 on Playstation. "Free" on Gamepass. Its simple logic.

 

[Coloress_Kafka]

FTC should still require them to put it in writing and make it iron clad for at least a decade.

 

[Kenshin775]

Wow thats huge. I wonder if they made a deal with Sony. Something like we will continue to make CoD for PS but starting in 2022 or 2023 new content will be able to launch on Gamepass Day 1. Ofcourse This is assuming PS even has a deal to keep CoD off Gamepass.

 

[FrankWza]

Daddy Jimbo saved us the Duty by buying Bungie

Bless him

Where’s that locker room gif?!

 

[drganon]

I was going to make a joke about continuing to not play them, but several posters beat me to the punch. Good news for people who are into them and wanna play them on playstation I guess.

 

[Banjo64]

CoD on Nintendo too?

 

[recursive]

How many times do they have to say this? Xbox has come out and specifically stated this about 4 times now, and every time people refuse to believe it.

Isn't this the first time it was explicit to be past current deals?

 

[Deerock71]

So...Nintendo?!?!?

 

[ChuckeRearmed]

A lot of people will be dissappointed when the deal closes and they realize that they won't have ATVI games anymore.

This year is gonna be long

 

[mansoor1980]

 

[abacab driver]

"To be clear, Microsoft will continue to make Call of Duty and other popular Activision Blizzard titles available on PlayStation through the term of any existing agreement with Activision. And we have committed to Sony that we will also make them available on PlayStation beyond the existing agreement and into the future so that Sony fans can continue to enjoy the games they love."

Funnily enough, this doesnt specify if future titles (as specified in the Bungie q&a) will be multiplatform..it just states that the games coming "through the term of any existing agreements" will remain multiplatform.

 

[Aenima]

Plz soneone must warn the Belgium retailer that he can now remove the warning signs.

 

[chonga]

Strongly doubt this has anything to do with that; you guys underestimate how vast the mobile gaming space is.

But anyways, I guess this finally clears up any speculation. "Other" popular Activision-Blizzard games I'm guessing include Crash, Spyro, Overwatch and maybe Diablo.

That said, if they decided to bring back, say, Quest for Glory or Gabriel Knight, I can see new entries in those being exclusive. Those IP have been dormant for years and aren't well-known with most gamers of today.

Did you even read it? The whole piece is literally about regulation and what commitments they're making to keep regulators on board.

 

[Kacho]

Diablo will be another one for sure. That game is basically an MMO.

 

[Ozriel]

they really spent 70 billion on more gamepass subscribers what a joke

Don't be simple.
They'll get more gamepass subscribers by putting COD there. They'll continue to rake in revenue from putting the games on Playstation, but possibly also expanding to the Switch to capture a bigger audience.
They apparently also have plans to boost Activision's output, revitalize Blizzard and exploit dormant IP.

Currently, Activision brings in $8bn per annum of revenue. I'm sure they'll be looking for more growth areas...and they'll get a revenue spike with Diablo 4, Overwatch 2, Blizzard's new survival RPG among others.

 

[Swift_Star]

I’ll believe when I see it.

 

[SoraNoKuni]

Oh the laugh reactions I got when I said they'll go the Minecraft way.

It was obvious for gaas games, the revenue is just too much to ignore.

 

[R3claimer117]

Anyone still thinking this doesn’t mean live service games. Is going to be disappointed. No way Microsoft is going to put out their exclusive games on Sony and Nintendo platforms when Nintendo isn’t and Sony is damn sure not putting their exclusive games on Xbox.

 

[SenjutsuSage]

Microsoft will make zero "real" concessions. Mark it down for around Jan-march 2023.

Looks like I was wrong, but not a bad move at all, especially with strong switch support. Make that money, and whatever concessions need to be made to make sure it goes through, do it.

 

[oldergamer]

I kept saying it didnt make sense for them to not have the games on playstation. Im nit shocked but those arguing otherwise should be

 

[reksveks]

This ain't just about COD you know.

It's about the iOS app store and Play Store.

 

[Represent.]

Fanboys were so sure it was going to be exclusive lmao. You dont spend 70 billion dollars to have less players.

More platforms = wider audience = more money.

Free on Gamepass/70 on PlayStation. Its the ONLY thing that makes sense. And is a win win for MS.

 

[FrankWza]

Why in the world would either Activision or MS sign to extend any contract?

Because they’re trying for the best optics possible and they’re vulnerable. They need the deal to close.

 

[Ass of Can Whooping]

A lot of people will be dissappointed when the deal closes and they realize that they won't have ATVI games anymore.

This year is gonna be long

They've had to make concessions as I said would be a possibility. They're telling you in black and white and you still can't accept it

 

[LeftThumbstick]

$70 on PlayStation or $0 on Xbox…

That’s a good deal for Xbox.

 

[reksveks]

They've had to make concessions as I said would be a possibility. They're telling you in black and white and you still can't accept it

I think they would take that if they could break open the ios app store 'monopoly'

putting it in quotes cause its a touchy subject

 

[TheGodfather07]

I'm surprised about this but good for all the cod fans who play on PlayStation. I guess Microsoft thought removing access for millions of fans is a bad idea. It makes more sense to have the multiplayer games as multiplatform and the big single player games as exclusives.

 

[Dane]

Noice, everybody wins

 

[Ozriel]

Because they’re trying for the best optics possible and they’re vulnerable. They need the deal to close.

That's...not how logic works.
Before the sale goes through, Activision are in charge. And they'll have a freeze in place for new contracts or deals that can impact the value of the company.

 

[bosnianpie]

LOL! Suck it fanboys

 

[Majukun]

well i'll be damned, i haved no idea why did they buy actibliz in the first place then, seems like a lot of wasted money

to me it changes nothing, noth because i don't really care for actibliz games, and because they will probably be on pc gamepass anyway

 

[Topher]

Some folks just got reality checked....

 

[SlimySnake]

Daddy Jimbo saved us the Duty by buying Bungie

Bless him

lol The fact that the man outbid Microsoft is still insane to me. I still think MS can end the war if they go and get Take2. GTA Online + COD and even Bungie cant save Playstation.

I said this when Jimbo signed Bungie but it showed me that Sony believed in the PS enough to write Jimbo a blank check to outbid MS. They could still be acquiring new companies in order to up their valuation for a future sale, but right now that threat of new acquisitions and the Bungie acquisition seems to have worked.

Hate to say it but if they got complacent and didnt buy more companies then they will find themselves in this spot once again. They need at least one more big unnecessary purchase that might become too expensive when Apple and Meta come to town.

 

[lastmessiah]

well i'll be damned, i haved no idea why did they buy actibliz in the first place then, seems like a lot of wasted money

to me it changes nothing, noth because i don't really care for actibliz games, and because they will probably be on pc gamepass anyway

All of that actiblizz revenue goes to MS.

 

[Saber]

Diablo will be another one for sure. That game is basically an MMO.

I dunno about Diablo(and Warcraft). Is their fanbase that huge nowadays? I don't think they are on the same level of farming as CoD.

well i'll be damned, i haved no idea why did they buy actibliz in the first place then, seems like a lot of wasted money

They bought probably for a long term investment, not to please a bunch of stupid fanboys.

 

[GhostOfTsu]

The backlash from the other thread was already too strong. Nobody buys Phil's bullshit anymore besides adamsapple and the likes.

COD is a "Microsoft studio game" like God Of War and Horizon lol

Even Phil knows the FTC won't buy that for 1 second and he's already in full damage control mode Big Tech is shook