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Our desire is to keep Call of Duty on PlayStation - Phil Spencer

Saber

Gold Member
Only a fool(aka console warriors) would think they would throw away the big slice of CoD cake on Sony to go full exclusive. Also lol at them forcing Gamepass on Sony, whatever is wrong with you guys.

Our "desire" to keep CoD on PlayStation. Is that every CoD? Are there conditions? Will it have full parity?

Er...yes, its not that vague. And yes, theres probably conditions. The main take here is that they farm money on the long term deal by taking advantage of Sony with CoD.
 
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SlimySnake

Flashless at the Golden Globes
I’m starting to have doubts on my initial belief they are all in on exclusive still. The article about content war, the most recent Phil statement, a tweet posted in this thread, and the sheer money at stake has me wondering. Is this about dominating console sales, or is this a return to its roots in software in a way? MS didn’t just spend a ton on this. They also just gave 10 million casuals (minimum, and possibly wildly underestimated) a reason to subscribe to game pass. Even consoles that don’t have the bells and whistles to run some games could theoretically stream them. If one console doesn’t want it because it would overlap with sales of 3rd party games that release on gp, well good luck explaining to customers why there’s no duty anymore.

So, is it possible, did they just brute force gp onto PS?
Yes. 55% of ALL console players are CoD players. 70% of all CoD sales are on PS consoles. 45 million PS+ subs are not subbed to play single player first Party exclusives. They are all for either cod or GTA Online which is played by 41% of ALL console players.

If Sony loses CoD, they are done. Their revenue will drop by billions. Their valuation will go down so much that they will have to be spun-off and sold off to the highest bidder. They have to play ball. Which means gamepass on PSN.

If they dont concede to Microsoft demands, and thats a big possibility since MS will probably bring Halo, Starfield and Forza to PS gamepass, they will likely sell Playstation before CoD goes exclusive and their valuation drops.
 

adamsapple

Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
If Sony loses CoD, they are done. Their revenue will drop by billions. Their valuation will go down so much that they will have to be spun-off and sold off to the highest bidder. They have to play ball. Which means gamepass on PSN.

Their stock already took a $20 Billion hit after the acquisition news:

 

paparazzo

Member
Well, yeah. With chip shortages limiting the number of consoles they can sell, going exclusive makes no sense. Even if the shortages end next year, that's two+ years of missed console sales. Hardly an enticing proposition if the people you're trying to sway can't even find the thing in order to have access to COD.
 
I felt the same too on that reason for Sony to say no. But I remembered a little known game called Fortnite, which ended up forcing Sony to do crossplay because of backlash. At least it seemed that way at the time.

Like you said, if Phil's lip service actually means anything then they came to Sony with some sort of proposition. The desire part speaks for itself. They "want" to keep COD on PS, but there are some caveats.

Whether Sony agrees or not is another matter, but they're trying to use COD as leverage. There's only two ways this plays out in that case. They either agree and they can start the process of getting gamepass on PS or they just say no and COD is gone. There can't be a middle ground here.

Or of course it is just lip service. But I'm not ruling anything out anymore after this.
 
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Sosokrates

Report me if I continue to console war
Yes. 55% of ALL console players are CoD players. 70% of all CoD sales are on PS consoles. 45 million PS+ subs are not subbed to play single player first Party exclusives. They are all for either cod or GTA Online which is played by 41% of ALL console players.

If Sony loses CoD, they are done. Their revenue will drop by billions. Their valuation will go down so much that they will have to be spun-off and sold off to the highest bidder. They have to play ball. Which means gamepass on PSN.

If they dont concede to Microsoft demands, and thats a big possibility since MS will probably bring Halo, Starfield and Forza to PS gamepass, they will likely sell Playstation before CoD goes exclusive and their valuation drops.

Its going to happen to some degree anyway because Cod will be on gamepass.
Good luck in trying to convince the majority Cod players to keep spending $70 every release.
 

pratyush

Member

adamsapple

Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
You do know tech stocks are taking a hit right now? It was a non story and a clickbait.

No I just read that article and don't have a greater context of the tech stocks falling elsewhere, if that's happening everywhere then my bad for linking the article without proper context.
 

Sosokrates

Report me if I continue to console war
Those guys preorder stupid ass editions of course they'll continue to waste money

Meme Reaction GIF by MOODMAN


Im sure some do, but the vast majority, I dont think so.
 
Meme Reaction GIF by MOODMAN


Im sure some do, but the vast majority, I dont think so.

the vast majority buy the same shit every year. They're not financially sensible people lol. Gamepass alone won't put much if any of a dent in the sales. The franchise needs to go for that to happen.

Also if all I play is COD i'm not going to do it through a sub service. That's actually just dumb
 
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Sosokrates

Report me if I continue to console war
the vast majority buy the same shit every year. They're not financially sensible people lol. Gamepass alone won't put much if any of a dent in the sales. The franchise needs to go for that to happen.

Also if all I play is COD i'm not going to do it through a sub service. That's actually just dumb

The majority of people will go for the best value version.
Of cause gamepass inclusion will effect sales.
Why is playing cod via a sub dumb?
 

Sosokrates

Report me if I continue to console war
Why wouldn't the majority continue to buy the game?

Most gamers don't use gamepass like services.
The same reason 25million people decided to join gamepass.

Because its better value, especially for a regular release like COD.
 
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NinjaBoiX

Member
We aren’t going to be dicks and pull old CoD games from PS, there’s not much money left in those titles anyway.

But you best believe the new ones will be exclusive to Xbox.

Love,

- Phil
 

sainraja

Member
The majority of people will go for the best value version.
Of cause gamepass inclusion will effect sales.
Why is playing cod via a sub dumb?
Subscription is a recurring cost. If all you play is one game — why would you pay more for it instead of just buying it for a one-time cost? That was his point.
Value prop aside, for that person, paying $70 once is going to save him/her money vs paying $120 yearly to play one game.

EDIT
I don't have any statistics but I know people who basically just bought COD every year and that was the only game they played. I tried getting them to try other games but COD was it for them so those people do exist and I'd bet that's likely the majority of COD's userbase but just guessing here.
 
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pratyush

Member
Nah, Apple, Google, Facebook all dropped around 5% in the last 5 days but Sony dropped over 10%.

To say the acquisition news had no effect is denying reality. anyone can look at the stock drop on google.
Microsoft dropped 8% in last one month and Sony dropped 5.74%. Acquisition news will have effect but to say it will wipe of PlayStation is delusional and far from reality. COD is big but PlayStation isn't done because it may or may not come on it.
 

Neo_game

Member
Yes. 55% of ALL console players are CoD players. 70% of all CoD sales are on PS consoles. 45 million PS+ subs are not subbed to play single player first Party exclusives. They are all for either cod or GTA Online which is played by 41% of ALL console players.

If Sony loses CoD, they are done. Their revenue will drop by billions. Their valuation will go down so much that they will have to be spun-off and sold off to the highest bidder. They have to play ball. Which means gamepass on PSN.

If they dont concede to Microsoft demands, and thats a big possibility since MS will probably bring Halo, Starfield and Forza to PS gamepass, they will likely sell Playstation before CoD goes exclusive and their valuation drops.

Are you sure about these numbers ? Out of 7billion $ Activision makes every year. Sony is probably contribution at least 3billion $. I think both parties will get affected. I hope Sony, Microsoft and Activision shares all their numbers . It would be interesting to see if COD keeps selling some 20 million every year even after being removed from one platform.
 

adamsapple

Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
But it still won't change what I said.

What was 2021 top selling console game?

I mean, of course, a new acquisition won't change things that have already passed.

Nor do I expect an Xbox/PC only CoD to be 100% Game Pass only, Halo: Infinite charted only below Call of Duty on NPD despite being on Game Pass.

But a franchise like CoD being on GP Day 1 (along with all the other potential Activision IP) will certainly be a big boost to the GP subscriber base.
 

SlimySnake

Flashless at the Golden Globes
Are you sure about these numbers ? Out of 7billion $ Activision makes every year. Sony is probably contribution at least 3billion $. I think both parties will get affected. I hope Sony, Microsoft and Activision shares all their numbers . It would be interesting to see if COD keeps selling some 20 million every year even after being removed from one platform.
"The two biggest hits in this sense are Activision's Call of Duty and Take-Two's Grand Theft Auto -- played by 55% and 41% of console gamers, respectively. Nothing else in MIDiA's games tracker comes close. Fortnite and Assassin's Creed were played by 28% of console gamers, FIFA at 23%, Spider-Man at 17%. Now Microsoft will own the most played title, and with it potentially shift console gamers' content proposition deliberations in favour of Xbox."


Also, Activision's $8 billion revenue includes the $1 billion they make from candy crush every year and however many billions they make from warcraft. cod is roughly $4 billion total split between yearly cods and warzone. Warzone makes $5.2 million a day or roughly 2 billion a year. Sony is definitely a massive chunk of that $4 billion. Probably 60-70% but that audience once migrated from the 360 to the ps4 and they will migrate again.
 

Sosokrates

Report me if I continue to console war
Subscription is a recurring cost. If all you play is one game — why would you pay more for it instead of just buying it for a one-time cost? That was his point.
Value prop aside, for that person, paying $70 once is going to save him/her money vs paying $120 yearly to play one game.

EDIT
I don't have any statistics but I know people who basically just bought COD every year and that was the only game they played. I tried getting them to try other games but COD was it for them so those people do exist and I'd bet that's likely the majority of COD's userbase but just guessing here.

Yeah im not not talking about people who only play cod. They are pretty rare. Something like gamepass would probably appeal to these people because im sure there open to play other things.
 
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He's literally only saying this because the deal needs to be cleared by regulators. Once the acquisition closes, CoD will go Xbox exclusive. This isn't rocket science.
 
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Lupin25

Member
I highly doubt they’d release a statement like this just to negate all of it by “2023”.

I would love to know what actually entails this agreement.
 

JLB

Banned
ha, of course Phil desires to keep COD in Playstation. Thats why he is trying to convince Jimbo that Gamepass on PS is a really great idea.
 

SteadyEvo

Member
Desire is an interesting word to use. Phrase it nicely while leaving the door open to going exclusive. Just a guess.
 

DJ12

Member
Based on all the chatter here and numerous threads abound about this latest acquisition… Clearly others here apparently do care…
Whats that git to do with what my opinion is. I haven't played CoD since the second game. 8 haven't played a fps for at least 8 years.
 

Sosokrates

Report me if I continue to console war
Microsoft putting gamepass on PS5 would be moronic, the PS5 with sony and Microsoft exclusives makes series consoles a really hard sell.

If that was the plan why not just approach sony before this gen started instead of wasting money on making the xbox Series consoles
 

DJ12

Member
Microsoft putting gamepass on PS5 would be moronic, the PS5 with sony and Microsoft exclusives makes series consoles a really hard sell.

If that was the plan why not just approach sony before this gen started instead of wasting money on making the xbox Series consoles
They already did ask Sony and Sony said no acording to heinsenbergfx4.
 

adamsapple

Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
Microsoft putting gamepass on PS5 would be moronic, the PS5 with sony and Microsoft exclusives makes series consoles a really hard sell.

If that was the plan why not just approach sony before this gen started instead of wasting money on making the xbox Series consoles

If GP ever comes to PS5 (which I doubt) I reckon it'll be the Cloud version of the app, not native downloads as that would require GDK packages to be readable on the PS5.
 

Bankai

Member
Lol sure thing, until they change their mind and it's a "WORLD PREMIERE exclusive" :)

Competition is a good thing, so let them fight. Maybe Sony will finally be backed in a corner enough to make full PS1, PS2 and PS3 backcompat on PS5.
 

Robb

Gold Member
Carefully chosen words, as usual. I don’t trust this one bit, if the deal goes through they’ll use it to gain all the leverage they can.
 

oldergamer

Member
till 2023
its forever. Playstaion is the number one platform for cod. They wont touch the current rev generating franchises. New, unproven , unreleased games or old ip revived are a different story as those do not factor into the current revenue generating numbers.

Most here arent looking at this as a business. It didnt make sense to block minecraft on platforms where it had already been for sale.
 
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SkylineRKR

Member
Lol sure thing, until they change their mind and it's a "WORLD PREMIERE exclusive" :)

Competition is a good thing, so let them fight. Maybe Sony will finally be backed in a corner enough to make full PS1, PS2 and PS3 backcompat on PS5.

Or a Naughty Dog or Guerrilla FPS, which i'm fine with. Either way, gamers likely win. Sony has to adapt regardless of this step, which is why Spartacus rumors surfaced in the first place.
 

oldergamer

Member
It's shocking how some people don't get such a simple point.

Microsoft will STILL profit from all the sales. They can try to find ways to encourage people to play games on Xbox, but by keeping the game on Playstation they are basically guaranteed to profit at least as much as currently Activision is.
Microsoft is obviously interested in being a publisher. Publishing on PlayStation is a no brainer.
Exactly! I fully expect doom and a few other games from Bethesda to still appear on playstation. Possibly day one or close to it.
 
Yes. 55% of ALL console players are CoD players. 70% of all CoD sales are on PS consoles. 45 million PS+ subs are not subbed to play single player first Party exclusives. They are all for either cod or GTA Online which is played by 41% of ALL console players.

If Sony loses CoD, they are done. Their revenue will drop by billions. Their valuation will go down so much that they will have to be spun-off and sold off to the highest bidder. They have to play ball. Which means gamepass on PSN.

If they dont concede to Microsoft demands, and thats a big possibility since MS will probably bring Halo, Starfield and Forza to PS gamepass, they will likely sell Playstation before CoD goes exclusive and their valuation drops.

If what you are saying is true, there is no way in hell regulators will approve deal and allow COD to go exclusive.
 

Leyasu

Banned
11 pages lol

Although I personally think that they will honour all contracts then pull the plug on COD except for Warzone, none of us are going to know their plans until the ink has dried. This is going to go on and on and this tweet confirms nothing. There is a lot of wiggle room with it because "our desire" is certainly not the same as "our intention" or "we will be".

Still, 18 months of this madness to look for to
 
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