Microsoft-Activision-Blizzard Discussion Thread (Part 1)

[Ace_Maverick]

[TheBrightestSun]

@Ace_Maverick

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Microsoft has built cloud infrastructure twice to stick it to Sony

So rather than moneyhattting, Sony could rent a couple of apartments and put PS5 server blades there

[AllianceOfficer]

@Daniel

Adapt or go the way of Blockbuster, I would like to say it really does feel like Sony has no future plans and are living in the moment so there is no vision of what Playstation should be in 5-10 years time.

The one area i have been surprised by them in is VR. This is a very early market and they have dove in full force.

[Daniel]

@AllianceOfficer

The one area i have been surprised by them in is VR. This is a very early market and they have dove in full force.

Well Microsoft should just wait till it’s big then when Sony buys a VR studio complain that it’s not fair and how dare they /s

On another topic, I just noticed that Geforce Now has had/has 10 million customers which is probably more than GP:U so that is worth thinking about when it comes to cloud stuff. It’s also better quality too than xCloud.

[AllianceOfficer]

@Daniel

On another topic, I just noticed that Geforce Now has had/has 10 million customers which is probably more than GP:U so that is worth thinking about when it comes to cloud stuff. It’s also better quality too than xCloud.

Absolutely. A lot of talk about this was brought up a couple months after tthe acquisition on this forum. Everyone was fairly confisent that would be apparent to regulators in their research. It appears however that we may have overestimated the ability of regulator to learn different market dynamics and assess technological similarities.

[Daniel]

@AllianceOfficer

Absolutely. A lot of talk about this was brought up a couple months after tthe acquisition on this forum. Everyone was fairly confisent that would be apparent to regulators in their research. It appears however that we may have overestimated the ability of regulator to learn different market dynamics and assess technological similarities.

It honestly just feels like they are looking at it like

Microsoft is big > they have cloud > their cloud is big > bad

[AllianceOfficer]

@KakkaKarrotKake

This isn’t new right, we’ve already seen a few of these things, this is just the full response instead of the few bits cut up the last few days correct?

I was hoping to see them respond to nonsense like lying about Bethesda games/their games not being on other subscription services

Yeah this is the text of the response a few days ago

[howlingmosquito (mosquito)]

@Biggzy

What amuses me is that a company like Sony can better compete with Game Pass if they offer first party day one games. They choose not to though and that is on them.

Yes. I don’t even see how thats relevant to the CMA anyway. So what if they release their games day 1? Sony stil has a game subscription service.

[Knottian (Daniel)]

@profjjj

…nt bankers out there who make a very nice living putting together deals. So you never know what could possibly be pulled off. But I do think anything bigger than Square or Capcom would be very interesting. One last note: @AllianceOfficer was correct. Mergers are legally and structurally different from acquisitions. Mergers result in an entirely new firm being created and the two “partners” being absorbed by the new entity, In a merger there is typically some blending of the top level executives and the board - so leadership in the new firm is essentially shared. In an acquisition the acquiring firm buys the target firm. The target’s board is typically dissolved and the top level executives (if they are retained) will now report up the chain of command to the executives at the acquiring firm.

Perfect response friend. The only thing I’d add is that Sony of the last 30 years is a considerably more fiscally-conservative company when it comes to taking on debt - the last substantial loan that I recall them taking out was in 2006 (with a decade preceding the last instance).

[ThePastyBandit (Dean)]

@howlingmosquito

… I think Sonys management is either too proud and stupid to change or they are financially bound. They bled billions on PS3 for blu-ray against HD DVD and within 5 years…Netflix had won. And so too we have seen dozens of streaming services rise to carve out their piece. …but not from Sony. Its why I doubt Nicks comments “Sony will eventually do day 1 releases”…historically they have never competed with services and lost control of entire markets before even attempting it…and they had huge advantages in music and film/tv. They had James bond and Spider-man. A decade later they are third party to Disney and Bond is owned by Amazon. They are either ignorant of the model, too proud to embrace it or too poor to run it.

Microsoft/Xbox thinking to future with cloud/streaming/subscriptions whilst Sony/PlayStation wanting to stick to the status quo of gaming hardware console exclusives. Software sales

Reminds me of how Sony/PlayStation saw the future in gaming on CD and using their music publishing and tech for CD’s to muscle out the old way of cartridges used by Nintendo to become no1. Ironically this actually made Nintendo lose games to Sony. I believe they nicked final fantasy because of this if I’m correct.

[TheBrightestSun]

From some point of view, the idea to use Xbox server blades in Azure is kinda brilliant. If Microsoft will decide to sell Xbox server blades to third parties, third parties will have to port their games to Xbox, meaning releasing the game on Xbox.

Kinda similar to Stadia, but unlike Stadia, Microsoft has a home console platform - Xbox which is actually in use unlike Linux’s fork.

[Sparda3g]

It’s sad for people to root for this to fail because of platform. Forget these employees need freedom, we want Sony to win. That’s what I got out of this.

[AllianceOfficer]

Can anyone provide some insight on exactly what Microsoft means in the below statement? I am well aware of the Xbox Series server blades used within the Azure datacenters but anywhere that I’ve found Microsoft talking about their bespoke technology solutions they were referring to specialized custom cloud software solutions that they sell as a service. Are they saying they are not using the Azure software and the only thing is that they use the Azure facilities for housing their Xcloud. I’m very confused.

[Terrin]

@AllianceOfficer

…Can anyone provide some insight on exactly what Microsoft means in the below statement? I am well aware of the Xbox Series server blades used within the Azure datacenters but anywhere that I’ve found Microsoft talking about their bespoke technology solutions they were referring to specialized custom cloud software solutions that they sell as a service. Are they saying they are not using the Azure software and the only thing is that they use the Azure facilities for housing their Xcloud. I’m very confused.

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They are saying basically what you Meant. Sense Xbox cloud service is using Xbox series x in the cloud racks it cannot be considered an advantage as it isn’t ultra high end pc specs. So in theory Sony could do the same thing with their cloud infrastructure

[Biggzy (Hassan)]

@Terrin

They are saying basically what you Meant. Sense Xbox cloud service is using Xbox series x in the cloud racks it cannot be considered an advantage as it isn’t ultra high end pc specs. So in theory Sony could do the same thing with their cloud infrastructure

Yeah this is what they are basically saying. Hence why it actually took time for Xcloud to switch over to Series X blades and why on the odd occasion you can experience wait times in some places.

[Don-Vito (Vito)]

VEED - trim.08652A09-890F-44B7-A630-995339568965.MOV

6-minute clip from Seasoned Gaming Podcast on YouTube. This should calm this thread down a little. Also check out the full show it’s pretty good

Bitcast 223 : Where Do VR and the Metaverse Go From Here?

[CallMeCraig]

@AllianceOfficer

…Can anyone provide some insight on exactly what Microsoft means in the below statement? I am well aware of the Xbox Series server blades used within the Azure datacenters but anywhere that I’ve found Microsoft talking about their bespoke technology solutions they were referring to specialized custom cloud software solutions that they sell as a service. Are they saying they are not using the Azure software and the only thing is that they use the Azure facilities for housing their Xcloud. I’m very confused.

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Azure are datacenters (which is hardware + infrastructure) and a whole bunch of different software service stacks for business software from database and compute to ai. Xcloud is their own software stack with own hardware. So they don’t use Azure cloud services, they use Xbox stuff running on Xbox hardware. They use Azure infrastructure (as they are in the Azure datacenter) for routing, networking, etc.

Thats all not new, they are just clarifying the facts. Technically this is all correct but i don’t think its adressing the main point of the CMA complaint. There are synergy effects if you have a world class cloud engineering team, know how and infrastructure inhouse. Obviously. I would rather suggest this is not really a ‘problem’ concerning CMA stuff or has anything to do with ABK.

[TheBrightestSun]

I love that sentence

It is some high level “you are talking nonsense” stuff

[Thickchunkypoop (Poop)]

Millie A

Disturbing if true

[Daniel]

@Thickchunkypoop

Disturbing if true

I doubt that anyway the launch of God of War is really poor timing for Sony lol all the fanboys are going to hype it up and it’s going to get a lot of hype by the media and probably sell a ton of consoles and copies.

What’s the bet Sony doesn’t brag about sale numbers for GoWR