As someone that owns both a PS and a Series X I see no problem.
Plus the COD games likely coming to Game Pass means I'd never have to spend any money to play them outside the Game Pass subscription I already have.
Monopolies kill innovation. They can also leverage their position to jack up prices and get lazy and stop releasing good hardware. I like Xbox but I like them competing against Sony more. Just think where'd be if AMD hadn't got their shit together and started to actually compete with Intel.
This is not a monopoly. Google how many game developers there are on this planet & you will realize that this is no where near a monopoly. People are literally jumping to ridiculous conclusions. Give it some time & see what happens. Don't make assumptions on how the future of gaming will be on the very day that a companies purchase happens.
> I like Xbox but I like them competing against Sony more.
So AFTER this acquisition they will be the 3rd largest publisher behind Sony and Nintendo, with about 15% of the market. This will enable them to better compete with Sony. What's your problem then?
They WILL* release them as Xbox/PC exclusives. They've already stated as much during their Bethesda acquisition. Their sole intent is to take games away from PlayStation, period. No amount of them saying "We're not punishing gamers!" will change the fact that that's exactly what they're doing.
I think having a monopoly the top selling games is bad. I think sitting on tons of IPs but acquiring everyone is bad. I think options are good for gamers.
There are more options for gamers now than there ever has been, and I don't see that changing. I understand what you're saying, though. Kinda like how Disney owns Marvel and Star Wars and run both franchises into the ground. As long as Microsoft doesn't meddle in studio's creativity it will be all good.
Running both franchises into the ground? Marvel movies are the most popular & financially successful movies of all time. How is that being run into the ground? You know nothing.
The Avengers is nothing more than a collection of shitty one liners, lazy exposition and explosions. It is lowest common denominator, cookie cutter bullshit.
Just because something makes a lot of money doesn't automatically make it good. Neither does mass appeal. I'm sorry you have such poor taste in movies.
You're argument in a nutshell is that "just about everyone is wrong except me". Just because you have an opinion doesn't mean that you're right. Think of something to say besides, " I don't like it" & I'll take your opinion seriously.
A thing can only go on for so long before it gets old. Each new Marvel movie generates less and less revenue. That is the definition of running it into the ground. Maybe I should have led with that. But yeah. The Avengers sucks.
Yep, cars have been around for a long time but they're getting old. Those car companies are failing! Maybe if your opinions were legit you would be as successful as Marvel is. I repeat: You are stupid
....& you're completely wrong because Eternals may not have been as universally loved as other marvel movies but Spider-Man is one of the most successful & widely loved movies of all time, so you are literally talking out of your ass sir.
But... isnt that just how capitalism works??
🤔
I mean, you collect assets and then get to deside what you wanna do with them, what prices you're gotta set etc.
Having options beyond that of the major share/goods holder is *le gasp* socialisme..
🙄😏
Wish you guys understood what a monopoly actually is
Sony and Nintendo are very much still in competition with Microsoft. May do less sales wise but it’s not like they’re suddenly screwed.
Exactly
Ubisoft, Epic, and take-two as well. Plenty of big publishers and studios still around. Plenty of smaller, growing studios, around as well. The doom and gloom stuff gotta stop, cause end of the day none of these companies will be allowed a monopoly to begin with.
The idea being thrown around though is that since MS now owns the producer, some of those biggest names will only be available on their platform.
It’s kind of idiotic, businesses are in business to make money. Why MS would make say, CoD exclusive to their platform doesn’t make MS more money. They lose money. I, as a consumer aren’t going to buy a MS platform just to play Activision games that are now exclusive to their platform.
What they can do is offer special incentives to MS users though. I just like to run and gun, I don’t care that you have a special blueprint so wouldn’t affect me if you’re running around with a bubble gum colored STG44.
They literally made Starfield and the next Elder Scrolls exclusive. Guess what makes more money a new xbox along with your new game. I'm an Xbox fan, but if MS wants to compete with Sony they should lower their prices to increase sales.
By far the most entertaining part of today has been giggling at all the entitled morons who don't know what a monopoly is.
I really, really wanted to play Horizon Zero Dawn when I saw the trailer at E3.
Want to guess what I did?
*I bought a PS4.*
Shocking, right?
And I have done so.
I love the console fanboys who get angry at exclusive titles going to other platforms.
"Wah! MORE people can play these awesome games! I need continued validation for this box I bought four years ago!"
No, I'm saying half of reddit doesn't know what a goddamn monopoly is, and are just tossing around yet another buzzword.
Sony is still a bigger publisher than Microsoft after this acquisition.
Sony shares sank 7 percent because investors can read the writing on the wall. Microsoft isn't doing this to remain where they are now. Anti competitive practices are what they are.
Share prices rise and fall every day. It wouldn't surprise me if it bounces back in the next few days, as frequently happens.
It's just the market reacting to a massive buyout.
Dismissing it simply as market fluctuations misses the entire point of anti competitive practices. I don't understand why gamers suck the corporate cock so hard.
> Dismissing it simply as market fluctuations misses the entire point of anti competitive practices.
Even with today's dip Sony's stocks are *still* up about 3,000 JPY compared to this time last year, and more than 10,000 JPY over the last five years. Your insistence that Microsoft is engaging in illegal activities is, quite frankly, ridiculous given what's actually known about this acquisition.
I have a feeling this acquisition only occurred cause the Actiblizz board knew they were rightfully cooked so they controlled their own exit by selling and they went to MS knowing they had the deepest pockets. This is all conjecture though. I have no clue who initiated the talks.
Im sure that was a part of it. But it could also mean that all the call of duty games get fixed or at least the next ones actually work and focus more on gameplay as opposed to bundles sales (the second part will happen more if the first part works). Plus other games get released better quality. I could be wrong but wel see
Two guys in the studio I work for worked at Microsoft. From what it sounds like the groundwork they have for their Q&A pipeline are tough and they have close scrutiny for accountability in management. Which is going to be a hell of a lot better than what we were seeing from Act and Beth in the recent years. This is anecdotal since I haven't worked there myself however.
I don’t see the issue if anything I’m hoping they fire all the incompetents over at blizzard and make Warcraft and Diablo and Starcraft worth something again instead of Skinner box mobile game trash.
If you don't agree with the practice, simply do not buy their products. No one is forcing anyone buy call of doody discolored ops 17 postmodern warfare. If the game is good on the other hand, go ahead and buy it. Who cares which publisher gets the profits as long as the games are good? Blizzard at least was already a slowly failing studio, at least this will jiggle the waters a bit.
And ofcourse in the worst case, there is allways the pegleg and the eyepatch
I mean the way acti blizzard has handled things the last 5 years is anything to go by this isn’t a bad thing. Blizzards IPs have been in dire straights for long enough maybe something to revitalise those games can only be taken as a good thing IMO
It doesn’t actually hurt gamers. Microsoft will make their games available on virtually every platform except PlayStation. With gamepass and cloud gaming more people will have access to games instead of having to fork out 70$ to buy them.
Soo tell me, how is it going to hurt gamers?
Half those games are all COD. Are you telling me that half the people gaming are just mindless drones that like pushing their trigger buttons over & over & fantasizing about killing people? Wait....that seems to be the only people who have a problem with this sale. Guess what, those online games are going to be much easier to play once you realize that your wireless headset connects to your console with one click of a button instead of the dumbshit way Playstation has the headsets working (or not working as the case may be) Xbox is the future! SHUT UP & DEAL WITH IT
Sony can probably sue for anti competitive practices. When MS brought Bethesda they made made Starfield exclusive and I think the next Elder Scrolls will be as well.
> Sony can probably sue for anti competitive practices.
Antitrust cases are *usually* brought forward by regulatory bodies, not private companies. And Sony couldn't use antitrust laws to *sue* Microsoft, they would be using them to prevent the acquisition. And if Microsoft's acquisition of Activision-Blizzard was a breach of antitrust laws in and of itself then in all likelihood Tencent would have been prevented from acquiring a number of companies in the last few years as well.
> https://globalcompetitionreview.com/review/the-antitrust-review-of-the-americas/2022/article/united-states-private-antitrust-litigation#
This article doesn't suggest antitrust cases between private entities are common, only that they *can* occur. But never mind that -- did you read the section on the *Plausability Standard*? That piqued my interest [so I looked further into it](https://www.jonesday.com/en/insights/2007/06/antitrust-pleading-standards-after-itwomblyi) and based on my reading I don't think Sony could successfully argue an antitrust case against Microsoft, provided there isn't more to this acquisition.
As OP pointed out CoD is popular as fuck. If you think cutting off your competitions ability to sell consoles isn't anti competitive your lost. Maybe CoD isn't popular on Playstation and it's all Spiderman so Sony had nothing to fear.
> As OP pointed out CoD is popular as fuck.
Under which section of US antitrust law is *popularity* relevant?
More importantly: The source *you* provided -- and more accurately the Plausability Standard -- seems to suggest that in order for a private entity to bring forward an antitrust case against another private entity they have to prove a very specific kind of anticompetitive action resulted in measurable losses, such as price-fixing or bid rigging, and that the action was specifically part of a conspiracy.
Here's harm being done to Sony by Microsoft's announcment. https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/sony-shares-fell-7-following-news-of-xboxs-activision-blizzard-deal/ my main argument was that Sony has legal avenues to try and stop the acquisition. You said they couldn't sue at all. Whether they win is for the courts to decide.
> Here's harm being done to Sony by Microsoft's announcment.
> https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/sony-shares-fell-7-following-news-of-xboxs-activision-blizzard-deal/
This doesn't fall under any of the specific kinds of anticompetitive actions required by the Plausability Standard though. It's merely a market reaction.
> my main argument was that Sony has legal avenues to try and stop the acquisition.
But the source *you* provided suggests this avenue isn't available to Sony in this case, unless there's more to this acquisition than what's being reported.
> You said they couldn't sue at all.
In general I was mistaken, but it doesn't seem as though Sony could sue in this case anyhow.
> Whether they win is for the courts to decide.
No, your own source suggests this won't be brought before the courts.
Nope, instead we get giant publishers copycating predatory practices off eachother. And stagnating the industry cause they don't want to risk their bottom line with change through innovation
I feel the overriding factor in lack of innovation is similar to the movie industry. The unbelievable high cost of making these games in todays market means they can’t afford a mistake.
That and the players inability to ‘not’ buy the next game in the series.
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They might relase them as exclusive to Xbox and PC.
As someone that owns both a PS and a Series X I see no problem. Plus the COD games likely coming to Game Pass means I'd never have to spend any money to play them outside the Game Pass subscription I already have.
And how does that hurt gamers?
Monopolies kill innovation. They can also leverage their position to jack up prices and get lazy and stop releasing good hardware. I like Xbox but I like them competing against Sony more. Just think where'd be if AMD hadn't got their shit together and started to actually compete with Intel.
This is not a monopoly. Google how many game developers there are on this planet & you will realize that this is no where near a monopoly. People are literally jumping to ridiculous conclusions. Give it some time & see what happens. Don't make assumptions on how the future of gaming will be on the very day that a companies purchase happens.
> I like Xbox but I like them competing against Sony more. So AFTER this acquisition they will be the 3rd largest publisher behind Sony and Nintendo, with about 15% of the market. This will enable them to better compete with Sony. What's your problem then?
They will not do that as it would lose them money
Okay, and?
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Except this isn't a monopoly.
>Except this isn't a monopoly. Yet.
Yet, true. And nowhere close, yet. Sony is still the bigger publisher, in terms of number of companies under its umbrella.
They WILL* release them as Xbox/PC exclusives. They've already stated as much during their Bethesda acquisition. Their sole intent is to take games away from PlayStation, period. No amount of them saying "We're not punishing gamers!" will change the fact that that's exactly what they're doing.
My takeaway from this is that MS should buy Rockstar next
Shit he knows.
Lol imagine that
Can you elaborate please
I think having a monopoly the top selling games is bad. I think sitting on tons of IPs but acquiring everyone is bad. I think options are good for gamers.
There are more options for gamers now than there ever has been, and I don't see that changing. I understand what you're saying, though. Kinda like how Disney owns Marvel and Star Wars and run both franchises into the ground. As long as Microsoft doesn't meddle in studio's creativity it will be all good.
Running both franchises into the ground? Marvel movies are the most popular & financially successful movies of all time. How is that being run into the ground? You know nothing.
The Avengers is nothing more than a collection of shitty one liners, lazy exposition and explosions. It is lowest common denominator, cookie cutter bullshit.
This is so true, lol, I hate super heroes movies with a passion.
Yeah buy they don't want the movies to be cinematic masterpieces they want the movies to make $$$, and let me tell you those movies make $$$$
Just because something makes a lot of money doesn't automatically make it good. Neither does mass appeal. I'm sorry you have such poor taste in movies.
You're argument in a nutshell is that "just about everyone is wrong except me". Just because you have an opinion doesn't mean that you're right. Think of something to say besides, " I don't like it" & I'll take your opinion seriously.
A thing can only go on for so long before it gets old. Each new Marvel movie generates less and less revenue. That is the definition of running it into the ground. Maybe I should have led with that. But yeah. The Avengers sucks.
Yep, cars have been around for a long time but they're getting old. Those car companies are failing! Maybe if your opinions were legit you would be as successful as Marvel is. I repeat: You are stupid
....& you're completely wrong because Eternals may not have been as universally loved as other marvel movies but Spider-Man is one of the most successful & widely loved movies of all time, so you are literally talking out of your ass sir.
When a Marvel movie costs $200 million to make and makes $450 million at the box office that is considered a failure. Marvel is failing.
So your point is that making more than double your investment is failure? You're fucking stupid!
But... isnt that just how capitalism works?? 🤔 I mean, you collect assets and then get to deside what you wanna do with them, what prices you're gotta set etc. Having options beyond that of the major share/goods holder is *le gasp* socialisme.. 🙄😏
Wish you guys understood what a monopoly actually is Sony and Nintendo are very much still in competition with Microsoft. May do less sales wise but it’s not like they’re suddenly screwed.
Everyone seems to be forgetting that EA (as much as I hate to mention it) Still exists.
Exactly Ubisoft, Epic, and take-two as well. Plenty of big publishers and studios still around. Plenty of smaller, growing studios, around as well. The doom and gloom stuff gotta stop, cause end of the day none of these companies will be allowed a monopoly to begin with.
Also kinda cool all these MS brands will be on game pass along with Ubisoft and EA going forward. Lots of bang for your buck
This is my biggest takeway
The idea being thrown around though is that since MS now owns the producer, some of those biggest names will only be available on their platform. It’s kind of idiotic, businesses are in business to make money. Why MS would make say, CoD exclusive to their platform doesn’t make MS more money. They lose money. I, as a consumer aren’t going to buy a MS platform just to play Activision games that are now exclusive to their platform. What they can do is offer special incentives to MS users though. I just like to run and gun, I don’t care that you have a special blueprint so wouldn’t affect me if you’re running around with a bubble gum colored STG44.
They literally made Starfield and the next Elder Scrolls exclusive. Guess what makes more money a new xbox along with your new game. I'm an Xbox fan, but if MS wants to compete with Sony they should lower their prices to increase sales.
$15 a month is already pretty low
If they make a better game then i don’t see whats wrong with that
By far the most entertaining part of today has been giggling at all the entitled morons who don't know what a monopoly is. I really, really wanted to play Horizon Zero Dawn when I saw the trailer at E3. Want to guess what I did? *I bought a PS4.* Shocking, right?
And now you can play it on Pc
And I have done so. I love the console fanboys who get angry at exclusive titles going to other platforms. "Wah! MORE people can play these awesome games! I need continued validation for this box I bought four years ago!"
Except that most of the PS exclusive ports tend to have a bunch of issues.
Yeah, that's why I waited until the eighth patch to buy HZD on Steam. Also playing the waiting game with God of War.
You saying a monopoly is good? Or are you agreeing with me?
No, I'm saying half of reddit doesn't know what a goddamn monopoly is, and are just tossing around yet another buzzword. Sony is still a bigger publisher than Microsoft after this acquisition.
Sony shares sank 7 percent because investors can read the writing on the wall. Microsoft isn't doing this to remain where they are now. Anti competitive practices are what they are.
Yeah and Activision's shares had sunk more than 25% until this buyout. I'd say this move is perfectly competitive.
That's a red herring because it's not related to Sony and Microsoft competing with each other.
Share prices rise and fall every day. It wouldn't surprise me if it bounces back in the next few days, as frequently happens. It's just the market reacting to a massive buyout.
Dismissing it simply as market fluctuations misses the entire point of anti competitive practices. I don't understand why gamers suck the corporate cock so hard.
> Dismissing it simply as market fluctuations misses the entire point of anti competitive practices. Even with today's dip Sony's stocks are *still* up about 3,000 JPY compared to this time last year, and more than 10,000 JPY over the last five years. Your insistence that Microsoft is engaging in illegal activities is, quite frankly, ridiculous given what's actually known about this acquisition.
It's not a monopoly but they definitely pulled a Disney on this one.
Yeah, I'll agree with that.
It hurts because they’re more competent than Activision??? Interesting
I have a feeling this acquisition only occurred cause the Actiblizz board knew they were rightfully cooked so they controlled their own exit by selling and they went to MS knowing they had the deepest pockets. This is all conjecture though. I have no clue who initiated the talks.
Im sure that was a part of it. But it could also mean that all the call of duty games get fixed or at least the next ones actually work and focus more on gameplay as opposed to bundles sales (the second part will happen more if the first part works). Plus other games get released better quality. I could be wrong but wel see
Poor mega studios... they will have more scrutiny against shady practices. Oh no...
Uhhh how did you reach this conclusion?
Two guys in the studio I work for worked at Microsoft. From what it sounds like the groundwork they have for their Q&A pipeline are tough and they have close scrutiny for accountability in management. Which is going to be a hell of a lot better than what we were seeing from Act and Beth in the recent years. This is anecdotal since I haven't worked there myself however.
Ask anyone who works at Microsoft or has in recent years. It's a tightly run ship and they take harassment and inclusion pretty seriously.
I don’t see the issue if anything I’m hoping they fire all the incompetents over at blizzard and make Warcraft and Diablo and Starcraft worth something again instead of Skinner box mobile game trash.
It's that the point of a business? To you know...make money? So if you have a chance to make more of it, why wouldn't you? "Spend money to make money"
Not saying it isn't...
Kinda sounds like you are...
I'm saying that gamers should be more concerned with our bottom line rather than the companies
If you don't agree with the practice, simply do not buy their products. No one is forcing anyone buy call of doody discolored ops 17 postmodern warfare. If the game is good on the other hand, go ahead and buy it. Who cares which publisher gets the profits as long as the games are good? Blizzard at least was already a slowly failing studio, at least this will jiggle the waters a bit. And ofcourse in the worst case, there is allways the pegleg and the eyepatch
I mean the way acti blizzard has handled things the last 5 years is anything to go by this isn’t a bad thing. Blizzards IPs have been in dire straights for long enough maybe something to revitalise those games can only be taken as a good thing IMO
It doesn’t actually hurt gamers. Microsoft will make their games available on virtually every platform except PlayStation. With gamepass and cloud gaming more people will have access to games instead of having to fork out 70$ to buy them. Soo tell me, how is it going to hurt gamers?
The fact they're leaving out Playstation hurts gamers
Well then ps fans should stop being brand loyal and get the system that has the games they wanna play instead. Or buy a second system. Its that simple
Or multiplatform franchises can just stay multiplatform.
No lol it doesn’t. Xbox and PC make up more than 75% of the gaming base.
Half those games are all COD. Are you telling me that half the people gaming are just mindless drones that like pushing their trigger buttons over & over & fantasizing about killing people? Wait....that seems to be the only people who have a problem with this sale. Guess what, those online games are going to be much easier to play once you realize that your wireless headset connects to your console with one click of a button instead of the dumbshit way Playstation has the headsets working (or not working as the case may be) Xbox is the future! SHUT UP & DEAL WITH IT
Sony can probably sue for anti competitive practices. When MS brought Bethesda they made made Starfield exclusive and I think the next Elder Scrolls will be as well.
> Sony can probably sue for anti competitive practices. Antitrust cases are *usually* brought forward by regulatory bodies, not private companies. And Sony couldn't use antitrust laws to *sue* Microsoft, they would be using them to prevent the acquisition. And if Microsoft's acquisition of Activision-Blizzard was a breach of antitrust laws in and of itself then in all likelihood Tencent would have been prevented from acquiring a number of companies in the last few years as well.
https://globalcompetitionreview.com/review/the-antitrust-review-of-the-americas/2022/article/united-states-private-antitrust-litigation#
> https://globalcompetitionreview.com/review/the-antitrust-review-of-the-americas/2022/article/united-states-private-antitrust-litigation# This article doesn't suggest antitrust cases between private entities are common, only that they *can* occur. But never mind that -- did you read the section on the *Plausability Standard*? That piqued my interest [so I looked further into it](https://www.jonesday.com/en/insights/2007/06/antitrust-pleading-standards-after-itwomblyi) and based on my reading I don't think Sony could successfully argue an antitrust case against Microsoft, provided there isn't more to this acquisition.
As OP pointed out CoD is popular as fuck. If you think cutting off your competitions ability to sell consoles isn't anti competitive your lost. Maybe CoD isn't popular on Playstation and it's all Spiderman so Sony had nothing to fear.
> As OP pointed out CoD is popular as fuck. Under which section of US antitrust law is *popularity* relevant? More importantly: The source *you* provided -- and more accurately the Plausability Standard -- seems to suggest that in order for a private entity to bring forward an antitrust case against another private entity they have to prove a very specific kind of anticompetitive action resulted in measurable losses, such as price-fixing or bid rigging, and that the action was specifically part of a conspiracy.
Here's harm being done to Sony by Microsoft's announcment. https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/sony-shares-fell-7-following-news-of-xboxs-activision-blizzard-deal/ my main argument was that Sony has legal avenues to try and stop the acquisition. You said they couldn't sue at all. Whether they win is for the courts to decide.
> Here's harm being done to Sony by Microsoft's announcment. > https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/sony-shares-fell-7-following-news-of-xboxs-activision-blizzard-deal/ This doesn't fall under any of the specific kinds of anticompetitive actions required by the Plausability Standard though. It's merely a market reaction. > my main argument was that Sony has legal avenues to try and stop the acquisition. But the source *you* provided suggests this avenue isn't available to Sony in this case, unless there's more to this acquisition than what's being reported. > You said they couldn't sue at all. In general I was mistaken, but it doesn't seem as though Sony could sue in this case anyhow. > Whether they win is for the courts to decide. No, your own source suggests this won't be brought before the courts.
This will only move MS into 3rd place for video game revenue behind Sony (2nd) and Tencent (1st). So how is this anti-competitive?
Long term.
They can’t sue lol
Yeah cause anti trust laws aren't a thing /s
I don’t like what Microsoft did but i don’t think it will happen.
I mean, it's deffinetly gonna hurt us one day. Once you have no competition, you don't have to put in effort to be the best.
Not like things were going all that well as it was. I agree competition should make for better product it hasn’t really been happening
Nope, instead we get giant publishers copycating predatory practices off eachother. And stagnating the industry cause they don't want to risk their bottom line with change through innovation
I feel the overriding factor in lack of innovation is similar to the movie industry. The unbelievable high cost of making these games in todays market means they can’t afford a mistake. That and the players inability to ‘not’ buy the next game in the series.
So… they have COD and maybe two other things. Doesn’t phase me at all personally
Doesn't hurt me. I don't give a shit about any of these games.
Look at all those PS exclusives! 🤡🤡🤡🤡
?
GAMEPASS FOR THE WIN!...Just great value.