Microsoft-Activision-Blizzard Discussion Thread (Part 1)

[Roronoa_Zoro90]

@Hix

…Difficult situation for Sony there, Jim ‘lyin’ Ryan has spent years pivoting their strategy away from Japan. In that, he wasn’t necessarily wrong - the market there is itself shifting from standard home consoles etc - but he made the mistake of trying to take on Microsoft directly, squeeze Xbox out of the market entirely. Make no mistake, this acquisition is a direct shot across the bows. CoD is PlayStation’s biggest seller. 4 of the top 5 best selling PS4 games are Call of Duty. Crash and Spyro have long been associated with the Sony brand, both featuring exclusively on the PS1 when they started. PlayStation will recover from this, but I’d imagine they’ll think twice before pursuing a strategy designed to threaten a company worth over $2 trillion

Imo the big mistake Sony did was thinking Xbox level of competition would have been at 360 levels at best.

[ProgStopper]

Look all I’m saying is this:

The last time I was on a moderator approved vacation in 2020, Microsoft bought Bethesda.

I went on a lengthy moderator improved vacation a second time, Microsoft bought Activision.

You’re Welcome

[Weaam]

@ProgStopper

Look all I’m saying is this:

The last time I was on a moderator approved vacation in 2020, Microsoft bought Bethesda.

I went on a lengthy moderator improved vacation a second time, Microsoft bought Activision.

You’re Welcome

time for third one

[Staffy]

Not gonna lie…if Sony were to snatch up SE it’s gonna hurt me. For sure they’ll make a case to include Tomb Raider in it too along with the studios.

I wonder, could CDPR be a candidate for Sony or absolutely not?

[ProgStopper]

@Staffy

Not gonna lie…if Sony were to snatch up SE it’s gonna hurt me. For sure they’ll make a case to include Tomb Raider in it too along with the studios.

I wonder, could CDPR be a candidate for Sony or absolutely not?

Oh Sony will respond in kind. Probably won’t be in the short term, but yeah, SE is good as gone. Probably Capcom as well.

May not be this year or even next year, but 5-10 years SE and Capcom gonna be owned by someone, Sony seems like the logical choice.

[Staffy]

@ProgStopper

Oh Sony will respond in kind. Probably won’t be in the short term, but yeah, SE is good as gone. Probably Capcom as well.

May not be this year or even next year, but 5-10 years SE and Capcom gonna be owned by someone, Sony seems like the logical choice.

Capcom would hurt Xbox more, we could be looking at a bidding war, doubt Xbox will just let that unfold.

[ProgStopper]

@Staffy

Capcom would hurt Xbox more, we could be looking at a bidding war, doubt Xbox will just let that unfold.

Disagree. Since Sony hired that former Capcom exec to their teams, I fully expecting more money hats by Sony, so maybe not RE games get timed/full exclusivity, but stuff like DD2 or SFVI, yeah.

[dehnus]

@Staffy

Capcom would hurt Xbox more, we could be looking at a bidding war, doubt Xbox will just let that unfold.

By now I’d even settle for SEGA joining Nintendo, as with Sony they’ll just shrivel up and die off. Forced to make third person action sadventures with “cinematic experiences!”.

You just know it’s a matter of time until they get bought up. OR worse… bought by Facebook/Meta .

I know people will again report me for being “negative”, but I’m a bit depressed over some of the possible outcomes. And Indeed I also think it’s a matter of time. Apple, Google, Meta/Facebook, Amazon… it’s go big or go broke .

[Rondras]

Something a lot of people havent tought about

Microsoft now OWNS classic SIERRA GAMES?!?

MetalJesus worked at Sierra and knows most of the people that worked there. Most of them work at Microsoft now and now Microsoft owns Sierra.

[Staffy]

SteelPhoenix78 #ABetterABK

Dylan Snyder

[floop]

@dehnus

as with Sony they’ll just shrivel up and die off. Forced to make third person action sadventures with “cinematic experiences!”.

I 100% doubt that would happen lol

[dehnus]

@floop

I 100% doubt that would happen lol

I don’t, I gave Sony as an example - as Sony has forced most of their developers to now focus on big cinematic games -. But, it is not Sony I’m the most scared for. It is META, Amazon, etc. Like I mentioned, we’ve gotten to a stage were it is “go big or go broke”. Publishers will be bought up, and these companies want to get into gaming, I can assure you in 5 years a lot of the big names will have bought up publishers. SEGA won’t be any different.

So then having them be bought out by Nintendo (As MS is out of the question now) is the lesser of these evils.

@Rondras

Something a lot of people havent tought about

MetalJesus worked at Sierra and knows most of the people that worked there. Most of them work at Microsoft now and now Microsoft owns Sierra.

Gosh, I keep forgetting that. Yes he used to have nice videos like interviews with Al Lowe or talk about his time at Sierra or other things related to that. Now it’s mostly “game collection”, which - and I get it, it pays the bills better- is more popular with the generic crowd, it’s just boring to me.

But yeah, his POV is one I would like to here as MS now also owns the whole SIERRA franchises. Though I doubt they’ll release a Leisure Suit Larry game or a Kings Quest game. It would be awesome if they did, heck Gabriel Knight could make a great Sadventure game LOL :P.

[bigboy1173 (BB73)]

@ProgStopper

Disagree. Since Sony hired that former Capcom exec to their teams, I fully expecting more money hats by Sony, so maybe not RE games get timed/full exclusivity, but stuff like DD2 or SFVI, yeah.

thing is, i can see tencent going No! at square or capcom, and outbidding sony. (and since its shareholders, they arent goign to care about legacy, just what deal gets them most money)

[floop]

@dehnus

as Sony has forced most of their developers to now focus on big cinematic games

Where is the evidence for this? Maybe Sony’s devs want to make cinematic games. Sony is pretty hands off with their devs these days

[Akosii]

@floop

Where is the evidence for this? Maybe Sony’s devs want to make cinematic games. Sony is pretty hands off with their devs these days

I remember a news report a while back (back when Shawn Laden was in charge) that Sony is developing less games, but those games will be AAA over the shoulder type single player experience.

[floop]

@Akosii

I remember a news report a while back (back when Shawn Laden was in charge) that Sony is developing less games, but those games will be AAA over the shoulder type single player experience.

Do you remember when that report was released? I’m curious about that since I haven’t heard about it

[dehnus]

@floop

Where is the evidence for this? Maybe Sony’s devs want to make cinematic games. Sony is pretty hands off with their devs these days

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-04-09/sony-s-obsession-with-blockbusters-is-stirring-unrest-within-playstation-empire

PlayStation Is Hard To Work With, Devs Say

https://twitter.com/JakeRocket/status/1478908070700978179 https://gamerant.com/sony-shifting-away-smaller-games-blockbuster-hits-says-report/

I can go on for a while. Basically Sony doesn’t want to make smaller games anymore.

MS also has this issue a bit, just by far not as much. I’d love for MS and Rare (for instance) to make more smaller games that have a high turn around (time wise) and budget wise are less of a risk so more risks are taken. This also means more couch multiplayer and family gaming.

A game as big as COD (which runs in the hundreds of millions budget wise), have to be very formulaic as taking a risk can proof fatal!

[dehnus]

@Akosii

I remember a news report a while back (back when Shawn Laden was in charge) that Sony is developing less games, but those games will be AAA over the shoulder type single player experience.

Shawn Laden is gone, and it seems to be ever worse now. At least Shawn Laden was willing to support a dev if they wanted to make a sequal to a smaller but succesfull game. (See the tweet I linked). The newer guys don’t even do that.

[floop]

@dehnus

… https://gamerant.com/sony-shifting-away-smaller-games-blockbuster-hits-says-report/ I can go on for a while. Basically Sony doesn’t want to make smaller games anymore. MS also has this issue a bit, just by far not as much. I’d love for MS and Rare (for instance) to make more smaller games that have a high turn around (time wise) and budget wise are less of a risk so more risks are taken. This also means more couch multiplayer and family gaming. A game as big as COD (which runs in the hundreds of millions budget wise), have to be very formulaic as taking a risk can proof fatal!

Jess Ross said in Jaffee’s podcast that Sony is pretty hands off with their games and had nothing to do with days gone 2 not being greenlit. That was bends management

[floop]

@floop

Jess Ross said in Jaffee’s podcast that Sony is pretty hands off with their games and had nothing to do with days gone 2 not being greenlit. That was bends management

But I can agree that Sony isn’t making smaller games anymore. That’s clear as day. I just doubt that Sony will force devs they buy to make 3rd person cinematic games if they don’t wanna. There’s plenty of reports that Sony is going to diversify their portfolio of games this gen. Most of the 3rd person games were made under Layden anyways so this gen we will wait and see what Jim does