The way they be spending $70B on one purchase but don’t seem to be able pay what’s required for big 3rd party day one GP releases… or licenced IP, that can’t possibly cost them more than a fraction of that 
As humongous this deal is, I think MS is not done yet. What this shows is that any of the other huge ones could be options. And that makes me wonder , if for example MS bought EA and Take 2 as well, and like Bethesda with the goal to make them exclusive…there has to come a point Sony caves and agrees to Game Pass on their console. If this Activision deal already won’t do that, lol.
But I don’t know, I think Sony will stay stubborn and proud for as long as they can.
That’s because other publishers will be paying MS to release on Xbox Gamepass soon! 
2 Likes
Sony should stop aiming for the leg. Timed exclusive will only provoke them to steal the weapon mass of destruction. If Phil is Thanos, then you aim for the head.
2 Likes
Also, every restaurant is Taco Bell. 
1 Like
But what can Sony realistically do in terms of aiming anywhere else? Buy SE?
I guess this acquisition will stop them in the long run, for the simple fact MS will have a too much big market share to be bullied out with the usual timed bullshits.
5 Likes
If they can’t afford, then they should stop fighting and do what they do. It was fine back in PS4 with them just making games. They stepped into the dirty territory with timed exclusives from Bethesda, Square, and KOTOR. Xbox probably saw this as another “concern” when Amazon went gaming, hence purchased Bethesda before someone does.
In short, do what Nintendo do. Mind your business.
6 Likes
Honestly hope that when the deal is done, one of the first orders of business ( along with showing Kotick the door) is pulling Treyarch, Sledgehammer, Toys for Bob and Raven off of COD. Let Infinity Ward be the sole dev on that in 3 year dev cycles or whatever.
8 Likes
all those billions and still no fighting game studio
jk
3 Likes
Oh, good stuff. So with that you mean they slow down their timed deals too, sometimes lasting two years or just completely? I guess that could get them back in MS’s good graces, so to speak.
you’re very optimistic about this lmfao. I really don’t think the CoD machine is slowing down, like at all.
nah just expand the teams to work on two games, COD yearly releases would probably continue.
I remember joking that Bethesda was a nuke strike when it happened…well that was a small tactical strike compared to this complete and utter megaton.
I’m still in shock…
I’ve had Covid since Saturday and thought it was giving me delusions….
8 Likes
That’s pretty embarrassing for a professional to say.
I work in M&A for a different industry but all antitrust issues can be evaluated based off of the best source for market share, which in this case is revenue.
Look up the Herfindahl-Hirschman Index if you want more detail, but it essentially measures how concentrated an industry is using simple math. As long as a #1/#2 company in market share isn’t buying a #2/#3/#4 company in that same market, it won’t get close to triggering antitrust issues.
That is a gross oversimplification but it also is exactly why MSFT had “this will place us at 3rd in revenue behind Tencent and Sony” in their announcement, to directly address this concern to smarter people than internet commentators.
5 Likes
Phil: I see your Bluepoint, Nixxes, Housemarque, and Firesprite, and raise you Activision Blizzard
Sony:
4 Likes
I don’t see COD keeping the yearly cycle with Halo and Gears being a thing. Plus MS wants a lot of unique content for Gamepass and you have like four good studios wasted on one IP. Maybe it doesn’t happen right away but u think eventually.
4 Likes
As if we needed any more evidence, but Sony is eating at the kids table when it comes to acquisitions.
Thanks @n0tjack. Hopefully the un-informed will be able to understand this.
1 Like