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[Corndog]

After the ARM and SoftBank news dropped this week they better be shooked. FTC ain’t fucking around

The deal wasnt killed by regulators. If it had continued it might of happened later.

 

[Bernkastel]

I like how so many here are going "I told you so!" and "I knew this was going to happen!". No. You knew jack shit. Neither PS nor Xbox fanboys knew, all you could do was guess/hope.

But I was right.

It will be. You dont spend $68.7b on a company, and share it with your competitors. That is the dumbest thing in the world.

They want to increase gamepass. And making COD exclusive is n1 priority for that.

They didn't spend 68.7 b only for COD though. Why are we speculating on matters that have been officially clarified?

It will tell. Just like starfield and TES6.

And they said it will be exclusive, always.

People didn't get that memo.

I made these three threads after Zenimax purchase before it was finalized

Phil Spencer on Bethesda IP exclusivity | Yahoo Finance

Credits to @Hix for finding it. https://ca.movies.yahoo.com/xbox-series-x-most-powerful-170813309.html At 4:33 In terms of where games will show up, our commitment is that our games will show up on Game Pass, PC, console and xCloud. In terms of other platforms we'll take it on a case by case...

www.neogaf.com

Phil Spencer further clarifies the nature of Bethesda exclusivity

https://kotaku.com/xbox-boss-phil-spencer-on-series-x-launch-halo-infinit-1845392984 Spencer had said in previous interviews that existing deals involving ZeniMax games would still be honored, suggesting that something like the time-traveling game Deathloop would still come first to PS5, as...

www.neogaf.com

https://www.neogaf.com/threads/xboxs-ben-decker-says-they-will-address-exclusivity-of-zenimax-titles-after-acquisition-but-their-goal-is-to-get-more-people-into-xbox-community.1578319/

The difference is this time they are clear that COD will be multiplatform, interestingly they specifically mention COD not the other Blizzard stuffs. If MS can fix the issues with Blizzard management some amazing games can come out of it.

With Zenimax they were slightly vague until the deal was closed. The day the deal was closed they dropped this

Microsoft is finally clarifying the situation regarding future Bethesda games

So for exemple, nothing is ruled out for Indiana Jones coming to PS5 but the next DOOM, Elder Scrolls VI and all IP from Bethesda are gonna be Xbox exclusives. To be more clear: Phill basically said Xbox exclusive will be available on all plateforme were GamePass is available. Elder Scrolls...

www.neogaf.com

But they still made it obvious with statements like

• Xbox community, what they should feel is a huge investment in the experience they're going to have in the Xbox ecosystem
• we want the Xbox ecosystem to be the absolute best place to play and we think game availability is absolutely part of that
• “Is it possible to recoup a $7.5 billion investment if you don’t sell Elder Scrolls VIon the PlayStation?” I asked.
  
  “Yes,” Spencer quickly replied.
• I’m just answering directly the question that you had—when I think about where people are going to be playing and the number of devices that we had, and we have xCloud and PC and Game Pass and our console base, I don’t have to go ship those games on any other platform other than the platforms that we support in order to kind of make the deal work for us. Whatever that means.
• our goal is to get as many people into the Xbox community

This is very different from COD where they are saying the opposite.

 

[FrankWza]

Why? PS is by far the main revenue source for the non-mobile CoD.

Because they’ll say whatever they need to get the deal closed and he has a history of double speak

 

[reksveks]

They were the only one who joined the lawsuit and got very vocal about it!

The Coalition of App Fairness is pretty wide in terms of support. MS is definitely the biggest companies that joined the appeal but there is a number of others that have joined in including 35 states now.

Epic Games' Apple appeal bolstered by huge show of support

35 US States, more than 50 academics, Microsoft, others take aim at iGiant and its grip on the iOS ecosystem

www.theregister.com

 

[Nautilus]

...For now.

 

[NickFire]

No they didn't write a public letter to regulators on their website before.
And no they didn't commit to keep games multiplatform beyond existing agreements in a letter to regulators before.


People should just accept that in a regulated market big companies cannot do whatever they want and the same people as consumers should be happy that's the case regardless of who's doing acquisitions (MS. nVidia, Sony whatever).
This is the price they believe is fair to pay to make sure the deal is approved, they're telling regulators what they're willing to accept.
It's crystal clear.

Adding to what you said, even MS has essentially said some of the same things as you in a different way. When they first announced Bethesda, they refused to initially comment on future plans on PSN because of possible repercussions for false claims. So they refused to admit the games would be exclusive at first to avoid that trouble.

It's also possible false claims would expose individuals to insider trading claims above and beyond any issues caused to MS.

 

[Nikana]

So the consolidation isn't gonna stop. Fantastic.

 

[demigod]

FTC got them shooked so they had to add an additional line to appease the FTC.

XboxGAF let me know if y’all are ok!

 

[yurinka]

Because they’ll say whatever they need to get the deal closed and he has a history of double speak

Do you think it's a good idea to openly and blatantly lie to their investors, regulators and customers? It would severly hurt them.

By combining MS and ABK they are the third in the gaming market and the console market, and don't even have a 15%. There's absolutely no reason to stop this deal, even if they would say that they plan to make all their games exclusive. They will keep ABK games multiplatform because it gives MS more money than to keep them exclusive, that's all.

 

[Swift_Star]

Gotta say, those that were saying "if you think MS paid $70Bi to put games on rival's platforms are going to be disappointed" surely are eating crow.

 

[reksveks]

No they didn't write a public letter to regulators on their website before.

They kinda did do something similar when they announced their store changes a couple of days before the Epic vs Apple trial (https://www.theverge.com/2021/5/1/2...ame-fees-change-apple-app-store-epic-games-eu)

I think we need to separate the FTC looking into MS and Congress passing something like the Open App Market Act.

 

[Vognerful]

FTC got them shooked so they had to add an additional line to appease the FTC.

XboxGAF let me know if y’all are ok!

I assure you that it is really not related to FTC

 

[Astral Dog]

Maybe this actually means we will see more Activision on Nintendo..

 

[Banjo64]

FTC got them shooked so they had to add an additional line to appease the FTC.

XboxGAF let me know if y’all are ok!

This is the worst day of my life.

 

[DaGwaphics]

That supposed to be referring to me? I haven't played CoD in years and am one of the few people living who has never played Skyrim.

Stoked for Starfield though, I will be cheerleading that one hard.

#XboxStillTheBest #GamePass4Life #PSKillsPuppies

 

[SlimySnake]

Who's gonna buy Call of Duty for 70 bucks when you can play it on GamePass day one with only a few bucks?

People play cod everyday for an entire year. These guys dont play much else and they dont drop that game after the first month. There is a reason why COD has such a high resale value. Even used cods go for $50 at gamestop.

All of a sudden those $10 subs start to become $120 a year games.

 

[Swift_Star]

i never thought I would see the day where some guy on twitter had more common sense than the average people in this thread.

But let's keep circle jerking and all act surprised and say "Holy shit no one saw that one coming" when Microsoft announce that these games will be exclusives.

This is the Bethesda deal all over again, and Gaf already forgot about it.

Bethesda bought september 2020,spencer says we love multi platform.

March 2021, acquisition went through, whoopsie these games are exclusive my mistake.

So you're hoping MS takes games away from other platforms. Got it.

 

[Banjo64]

That supposed to be referring to me? I haven't played CoD in years and am one of the few people living who has never played Skyrim.

Stoked for Starfield though, I will be cheerleading that one hard.

#XboxStillTheBest #GamePass4Life #PSKillsPuppies

What? No, lmao it’s just a funny meme template to be honest

 

[El Pistolero]

not sure how it is a good business decision when you spend almos 70 bln dollars to get what you already had.
and revenue doesn't really matter since before recouping from such and expense through profit (not revenue, profit) a good decade would pass at least, and we might not even have an xbox console anymore since it's share of the market is starting to get irrelevant day by day at this point..these deals were their chance to go back in the race..now it seems the plan is just going all in with gamepass and let the console side of xbox die...but even that doesn't explain why wouldn't go for gamepass exclusivity and secvure millions of new subscribers

as i said before, maybe it all makes sense, just not to me.

You did not have a plethora of highly successful IP day one on gamepass; You did not have a dozen teams and thousands upon thousands of developers you could rely on to create the next big games; You did not have an entity that would provide a constant monetary flux all year round; You did not have all those IPs at your disposal to do with them as you please, outside of their traditional reach (TV series, merchandises...)...

 

[Bojanglez]

Part of me wonders if MS and Sony have done some kind of secret deal, to go carve up the existing industry publishers between them in order to stop others getting a foothold in the industry. It would never be made public for the competition scrutiny it would bring.

Maybe a far fetched conspiracy theory, guess we'll wait and see how it all pans out.

 

[Swift_Star]

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

Another one hoping MS takes games away from other platforms. You people must be getting off of this.

 

[DaGwaphics]

What? No, lmao it’s just a funny meme template to be honest

Okay, I don't get the meme.

You had me confused for a minute since he had quoted me there.

 

[SlimySnake]

to support Nintendo's platform!?!?!?...Switch been around for 5 years, and you guys are nowhere to be seen there. Now it's a 100 million platform, suddenly you want to support Switch?!?!? .....yeah GTFO

Microsoft didnt own Activision for the last 5 years.

 

[adamsapple]

Lol what do you mean by, “keeping games available?”

Once a game is released to the public, it’s launched and supported. How often do you see a game (and many more through a gen) taken off of the shelf (or offline) after years of being readily available on all platforms just to be exclusive?

The only thing you can logically extract from that quote (same as the one Topher posted), is that they’ll continue making sequential games available for all platforms post agreements.

They literally said the same thing 2 weeks ago, just in different wordings:

Activision Blizzard games won't be pulled from platforms after acquisition

Microsoft will continue what it started with Mojang and Minecraft

www.gamesradar.com

 

[SSfox]

 

[Batiman]

This is good leverage for MS. If Sony start pulling destiny type exclusive shit then MS has them by the balls

 

[MrTentakel]

You did not have a plethora of highly successful IP day on on gamepass; You did not have a dozen teams and thousands upon thousands of deveopers you could rely on to create the next big game; You did not have an entity that would provide a constant monetary flux all year round; You did not have all your IPs for your disposal to do with them as you please, outside of their traditional reach (TV series, merchandizing...).

MS got some studios with an amazing pedigree. Possibilities are endless. Let`s earn some money on Playstation with COD and show a nice Microsoft Xbox splashscreen at every start of the game.
But just imagine they`d make COD in a bi-anual franchise and give some studios the creative freedom to create something special. New IPs, exclusives, ideas, the next big thing.

 

[BennyBlanco]

Right before the Nintendo Direct

 

[Swift_Star]

Who's gonna buy Call of Duty for 70 bucks when you can play it on GamePass day one with only a few bucks?

Lots of people buy games despite being available on Gamepass. Steam users also do this.

 

[SenjutsuSage]

This blog shows Microsoft isn't willing to take any chances with the activision deal being blocked. It's that important. And why wouldn't it be? It's a game changer for their entire videogame forturnes, and one of the biggest acquisitions in their history, if not the biggest?? Microsoft doesn't want part of it, some of it, they don't want to risk any divestitures or carve outs. They want the entire thing, and if making existing popular games from Activision Blizzard available everywhere where they already exist means getting this deal approved, that's what you do.

These are the most important parts of the blog basically. Notice what it does not commit? To release all Activision Blizzard games on Playstation. It specifically says "continue to make" and uses language such as "And we have committed to Sony that we will also make them"

Translation: Microsoft has a definition of *them* and it's Call of Duty and other popular Activision Blizzard. Crash, COD, Diablo, Overwatch, Tony Hawk, they all stay on PS going forward. But You can't "continue to make" games available that were never available on Playstation in the first place. Meaning exclusives are happening, they just won't be from the games everybody already loves from Activision today. I'm totally okay with that.

 

[kingfey]

Some of you can’t read either it doesn’t state in there that future games will be on other platforms. It said that they will continue to make those games that already exist on those platforms available post the expiration of those agreements so they can continue to be played. Nothing there is saying all future games will be multiplatform

Nah, at this point, future cod will come to Playstation at this point. Once future word is stated, it's over for the exclusive part.

What they will make exclusive however, is the new IPs. Those new IPs like starfield won't come to Playstation.

 

[ShaikhCroft]

People play cod everyday for an entire year. These guys dont play much else and they dont drop that game after the first month. There is a reason why COD has such a high resale value. Even used cods go for $50 at gamestop.

All of a sudden those $10 subs start to become $120 a year games.

True though. I'm not a CoD fan, I'm a Battlefield guy. And I buy Battlefield Ultimate Editions and play Battlefield day in and night no matter what!

 

[Calverz]

I honestly couldn’t care less about this. I’m just glad PlayStation won’t get exclusive map packs in cod and timed Bullshit for everything else.
As a gamepass owner, the ps5 sales will continue to ensure good content on gamepass from day 1.

 

[Ass of Can Whooping]

They literally said the same thing 2 weeks ago, just in different wordings:

Activision Blizzard games won't be pulled from platforms after acquisition

Microsoft will continue what it started with Mojang and Minecraft

www.gamesradar.com

They talked about continuing to support games like 76 and ESO too. They never talked about future releases like they've done here

 

[KingGhidorah]

What are you talking about?

I'm talking about CoD franchise on Switch

 

[Ghost of Caelid]

I'll buy it when it happens. Still think the main line will be exclusive while warzone will be multiplat. Why pay 70 bill to change nothing.

 

[ChuckeRearmed]

Bethesda wasn't big enough to catch regulatory eyes

A $68 billion acquisition was. Which should have been obvious to you armchair analysts from the start

At this point arguing is meaningless. Get ready to another E3 with Xbox Exclusive in either 2023 or 2024

 

[SenjutsuSage]

I felt a great disturbance, as if millions of voices suddenly cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced. I fear something terrible has happened.

Meanwhile, I'm looking forward to enjoying ActiBlizz's next AAA project on my PS5.

Does that count as "Call of Duty and other popular Activision Blizzard titles?" You can't "continue to make" available something to Playstation that was never on there to begin with. So unless Activision at some point before Microsoft takes control announces that game for Playstation, it ain't coming bruh.

 

[Thirty7ven]

I hope they stop anyway, take this trash with you and put pressure on Sony to go big.

Don’t believe these pigs Jim.

 

[Ass of Can Whooping]

At this point arguing is useless. Get ready to another E3 with Xbox Exclusive in either 2023 or 2024

It is. You looked like a clown in the other thread and you look like an even bigger clown doubling down now.

Just take the L

 

[Represent.]

 

[SenjutsuSage]

I'll buy it when it happens. Still think the main line will be exclusive while warzone will be multiplat. Why pay 70 bill to change nothing.

I thought so, too. Microsoft officially killed that today with their language. COD, mailine or Warzone will remain on Playstation forever. That's good for Microsoft's pockets, and seems like a concession Microsoft realized they had to make in order for this deal to not be blocked. And Microsoft doesn't want to give up shit from this deal. They want the whole damn thing.

 

[ChuckeRearmed]

It is. You looked like a clown in the other thread and you look like an even bigger clown doubling down now.

Just take the L

But the clown is you though

 

[skit_data]

Funny how things turn out…
”Sony would never keep titles multiplatform if they bought a big studio”
”MS didn’t pay $68 billions to keep the games multiplatform”

 

[just_like_that]

cod still on playstation? what a waste of money!

/s

 

[Ghost of Caelid]

I thought so, too. Microsoft officially killed that today with their language. COD, mailine or Warzone will remain on Playstation forever. That's good for Microsoft's pockets, and seems like a concession Microsoft realized they had to make in order for this deal to not be blocked. And Microsoft doesn't want to give up shit from this deal. They want the whole damn thing.

I still don't buy it. Content is used to leverage your platform. Not to bolster another. I think them and bungie will both have some exclusive content. It's just how business works.

 

[fart town usa]

Is it really that difficult to grasp that MS may have determined that owning ActiBlizzard and keeping COD, et al. available on Sony consoles is good for their bottom line?

It's weird to see people butt hurt that certain games might still be available on PlayStation in the future, lol.

There's a word for that type of tribal approach but I shan't speak it.

 

[rickybooby87]

I can't believe how many brave warriors died today who swore that we'd never see another COD in 23/24 for PS, and if we did, it was only going to be Warzone. I am pouring one out to all of you now. Some of us seriously need to turn off Succession, Logan Roy is cool, but some of ya'll have some unrealistic interpretations of reality/business deals.

FTC not blocking the deal is an obvious motivator, but I am also sure the Bungie purchase may have weighed in on that somewhat (As postulated by yours truly here https://www.neogaf.com/threads/bungie-the-potential-downstream-implications.1629224/)

 

[adamsapple]

This blog shows Microsoft isn't willing to take any chances with the activision deal being blocked. It's that important. And why wouldn't it be? It's a game changer for their entire videogame forturnes, and one of the biggest acquisitions in their history, if not the biggest?? Microsoft doesn't want part of it, some of it, they don't want to risk any divestitures or carve outs. They want the entire thing, and if making existing popular games from Activision Blizzard available everywhere where they already exist means getting this deal approved, that's what you do.

These are the most important parts of the blog basically. Notice what it does not commit? To release all Activision Blizzard games on Playstation. It specifically says "continue to make" and uses language such as "And we have committed to Sony that we will also make them"

Translation: Microsoft has a definition of *them* and it's Call of Duty and other popular Activision Blizzard. Crash, COD, Diablo, Overwatch, Tony Hawk, they all stay on PS going forward. But You can't "continue to make" games available that were never available on Playstation in the first place. Meaning exclusives are happening, they just won't be from the games everybody already loves from Activision today. I'm totally okay with that.

Exactly.

I'm surprised more people aren't reading it that way. It seems fairly cut and dry to me.

If they intended to commit new future games, they would have said something like new projects etc.

 

[TheThreadsThatBindUs]

I'll buy it when it happens. Still think the main line will be exclusive while warzone will be multiplat. Why pay 70 bill to change nothing.

Change nothing?

MS will get to report all of Activision B's profits under its gaming portfolio.

They also get to put all the publisher's games on GamePass as well as use their non-COD development teams to make first-party Xbox games as well as support their Metaverse ambitions (which they state is actually the primary reason for the purchase).