The thing is, on the whole, most third parties don’t ignore Xbox.
They don’t. That’s true. But it was even true in Xbox One era on the west. The main problem has always been asia.
But ATVI deal changed the landscape to a point where Microsoft stops being just a platform holder.
Damn I’ve never liked Bobby Kotick but this story paints him as one of the most unpleasant people around. I really hope that Microsoft figure out a way to screw him
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Honestly with Warzone there is no need for yearly CODs, make some of those studios work on new IPs and give some of the new CODs in development more time in the oven, also get Xbox some more exclusives out of this, it isn’t about taking away from competing platforms to me, as an Xbox fan I just want more people on the console, this way less games skip the platform.
I wish he wasn’t getting a huge paycheck out of this.
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COD not being annual means that it is 100% not coming to Playstation. Who will care in 2025 if Warzone is up and running?
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wasnt that in the bloomberg report a while back
The odds of Sony moneyhatting games going forward are significantly lessened by the move to put ABK games on other platforms.
What is with the mass delusion here where ppl think somehow this makes the move bad for us as customers?! You think Sony ‘treats their customers’ better than Xbox treats us?! Are you joking?! Sorry but these posts some of ya’ll are making are straight cringe. The upsides for the ABK deal for us Xbox gamers are absolutely ENORMOUS. Come back to reality folks.
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With Zenimax deal at 8 billion, it is clear that MS had faith in Xbox and they can recover that much money on there own
With ABK, xbox can’t recover that much money on its own, hence the multiplat talk
Then there are two other reasons as well
Gamepass on PS or Making it easy to get approval from FTC
I am pretty sure that nobody expects to recover 80b from multiplatform sales 
Game Pass on PS won’t happen unless Sony retires its console business too. I know Phil Spencer wanted it but unless Sony allows full Game Pass experience it is not gonna happen otherwise it would create a huge confusion among the subscribers and will drain the people from Xbox platform too.
FTC is a separate matter though.
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I don’t like this timeline. Days before Nadella said that they should not make concessions because they are the third game company in income, now MS takes the initiative to make the concessions.
It’s only a concession if they didn’t plan on doing it in the first place.
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The whole message was regarding Open App Store policy. Relax.
That really depends because if COD is going to require every other Activision studio then it isn’t worth it…I don’t think Phil is going to want Raven, Sledgehamer and Treyarch all non stop working on COD, that’s a waste of man power
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There were reports (unofficial) that Activision were thinking of changing the release cadence for CoD after the deal was announced.
They weren’t concessions, they originally announced them back in October 2020 way before the acquisition was a thing.
They were just reiterating that they are doing this to look good in front of the regulators.
Original post back in October 2020:
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I mean is it a concession? Overwatch 2 and COD are going to make bank for MS on MTX alone and the rest of Activision Blizzard pumping out exclusive games and being able to fund more games and buy more studios…
What’s the concession exactly? If COD and Overwatch 2 stay multiplat and it results in us getting more exclusive games then it isn’t really a concession since MS basically benefits from it
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Might as well ask, you’re Phil Spencer. You get ABK to run anyway you want. You have to keep CoD multiplat and fulfill the contracts. What do you do?
Here’s what I would do.
- #1 priority. Clean house. Kick the abusers out.
- I make CoD multiplat, no exclusive content for Xbox. However, Game Pass users get day one, free cosmetics, battle pass?, etc. I think CoD is massive, is a possible regulatory issue, it’s a thriving esport, it’s beloved by too many.
- I keep Overwatch 2, 3, 4, whatever multiplatform, I keep Diablo IV multiplat (maybe Psychonauts 2 style).
- I switch CoD to once every 2 years, freeing up Beenox, Toys for Bob, High Moon, Raven, etc.
- I make New IPs and revivals of existing IP exclusive, exception maybe of MMOs.
- Starcraft and Warcraft expand to Xbox as exclusive franchises, mostly to get the games on Cloud (but to get on Cloud, you gotta be on Console
). This is additive, not subtractive. These IP haven’t had history in console for over 20. - Crash Bandicoot and Spyro go exclusive, Tony Hawk depends on licensing (don’t rock the boat if it’s an issue. Multiplat THPS is always, always better than no THPS)
- Game Pass Mobile is introduced. Has premium ad-free versions of all King Games, CoD Mobile, Alpha Dog games, Fallout Shelter, Solitaire, etc.
- Game Pass and Xbox App are folded into Battle.net
- In the long-run, I’d do an IP and Studio trade between the three publishers. I think some devs and IP may be better suited under different families.
- Xbox becomes the lead platform for all of these games going forward. No more forced parity. If Xbox outperforms, it outperforms. I’m not saying to cripple the PS5 and Switch (lol) versions to play worse. Still put DualSense, adaptive triggers, the whole shebang. What I’m saying is don’t arbitrarily make Xbox worse to give off a sense of parity.
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Great thoughts. Curious if you’ve done any reasoning on which studios you’d realign and where.
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Concessions are when you are forced to do something. Microsoft isn’t being forced to do anything, unless proven otherwise. When Nadella says they do not need to make concessions, he means that while Microsoft may desire COD on PlayStation, they will do so on their terms.
Long and short of it is, MS is contractually obligated to continue releasing COD on PlayStation until 2024. After this, MS can truly assess what they want to do going forward. If they want to leverage COD against Sony, keeping the franchise on PlayStation may be a way for MS to get something in return.
If they secretly desire to make mainline COD exclusive after the current deals expire, then MS will use the next few years to come up with a strategy to slowly transition the COD community over to Xbox.
Regardless of which path they take, I firmly believe COD will become a bi-annual release, therefore freeing up support studios such as Toys for Bob and High Moon Studios or even a COD main like Sledgehammer to create new exclusives for Xbox.
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Been thinking on this (it’s actually my question for the podcast this week).
I’m not 100% sure yet, but I think it might make sense to have Compulsion go to Bethesda so they can get easier access to tech help from Arkane and Id, I think it might make sense for Toys for Bob to join XGS alongside Vicarious Visions reformed away from Blizzard, and I think maybe some smaller teams at Blizzard join ZOS to help them scale up faster (I believe they are still the one hiring most).
I think IP-wise it makes sense to return Hexen to Id and Roundhouse if Raven no longer has any intents to use it. I think it might be worth lending, not trading, Starcraft to XGS if one of the studios wants to revive Ghost.
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