I wonder if Microsoft would stop releasing COD games on PlayStation starting next gen (2028) if they manage to get the vast majority of COD players on their Xbox ecosystem between 2024-2028 through Game Pass and brand association, a new generation would be the right time to do something like that since that’s when many gamers are deciding on what system to get, not that I think it would happen but it would make sense.
Of course due to the things they’ve said I think they’re locked on releasing COD on as many systems as possible for the next 10 years if the deal goes through.
And this is due to their success last gen, all of a sudden they think they’re entitled to 3rd parties and dominance forever wtf.
I forgot which video I saw but one mentioned that Sony doesn’t want this acquisition to happen because the fund will largely go to Xbox and if it does, the first-party games will have an even bigger budget than theirs. CoD money and Candy Crush can grant them like ten GoW budget games. Well, he didn’t say that but I can see the point.
Microsoft doesn’t need COD money to fund 1st party development, lol.
I think Microsoft’s goal (and probly as things are anyway) is to have most 1st party games to be profitable in and out of themselves and not be subsidized by Call of Duty.
On the one hand - the more profitable Xbox is, the more flexible Microsoft will likely be when it comes to budgets and further investments into gaming. But I think this idea that they’ll take the revenue of Activision and make some unstoppable line up of big expensive titles is a bit of an oversimplification of things. Every project has a right size, a right budget and every studio has it’s limitations. That’s not gonna change just cause Xbox has more revenue coming in.
It’s like all the people who thought Microsoft would suddenly double or triple the budget of Fallout 76 after the Bethesda acquisition - but that games budget is set by how much money it brings in. Having more money behind them isn’t suddenly changing how these things work.
Plus, and rather more importantly - I think Microsoft is gonna want to see some of that revenue too.
It is confirmed once again that Playstation is ruled by console warriors, which is completely inline with the cultism shown by part of its fanbase. Sony takes advantage of the constant conflict and insanity among gamers, pretty lame behavior.
And how! I keep thinking about how heavy they’ve leaned on CoD for all these years. Don’t even own the IP. Now their fighting to stop a merger as if it’s a hostile takeover. If anything, it should be ABK fighting to stop the merger - they actually want it to happen. Sony is a trip. Lol
The entire point of these major acquisitions is for the Xbox division to be self reliant. In essence, that’s exactly what the revenue will do: give XGS money to do bigger, better and take more risks with their games.
Sony is even telling the same thing. Losing CoD revenue will essentially hurt their first party games division. And they’ll be giving Microsoft the money to better leverage the playing field. Why the hell do you think they’re fighting so hard to stop the deal?
Just because Activision will bring an extra 1.5 billion in profit to the division does not mean Xbox suddenly has an extra 1.5 billion in it’s budget to spend without any consideration. Nor does it mean that studios that did not warrant extra spending before will suddenly get a ton of money thrown at them without the expectations of return on that investment. Sure, maybe they’ll take more risks and maybe we’ll see some studios get more money as the overall division grows more profitable but Microsoft is a trillion dollar company - if it’s financially worth doing they’d probably be doing it by now.
Will Activision being under Microsoft open new doors? Of course! With Activision products available on game pass the service could grow substantially and justify further investment. With King they could make a major push into mobile and increase their revenue even further and again justify further investment into the mobile space. There’s a ton of new opportunities for growth, investment and change that are going to come from this expansion, and that’s plenty for Playstation to be concerned by - but the idea that Microsoft will get Activision and just start throwing money at studios to make the biggest most expensive games is silly and vastly oversimplifying things.
I don’t think MS cares about, honestly much at all right now. They’ve made a 20 year play for Gamepass and Cloud gaming. MS needs enough content for a Cloud gaming service of ONLY first party games can be worth it, a la Disney plus in like 2033 and beyond. This deal gets them closer to than. In the meantime they just need to do whatever it takes to get there.
And Sony doesn’t either, COD isn’t the only money printer on PlayStation, their games are all profitable, especially lately where they’ve been selling millions at full price.
Sony is such a petty antagonistic company, no wonder their fans act like brain washed zombies they have been trained by Sony to console war even in their patent submissions.
Sony opened E3 2002 by declaring the console wars over. Having shipped 30 million PlayStation 2 consoles worldwide, Sony was rightfully confident that neither Microsoft nor Nintendo could possibly catch up.
I can’t find the famous picture, but anyone remember Kaz Harai at E3 2002 mocking Xbox and Nintendo with a chart that says “the console wars are over!”
Sony literally invented the term at a corporate level. That explains the fantasism of their brainwashed fanboys.
