I find it so funny that my brother next to me asks me why are you laughing so hard
After acquiring bethesda and knowing that Microsoft is working on many second-party projects , people was Happy and believe that Microsoft will regain a large share of the market and the quality of their games will get better .
And with each unofficial report on sales, we find that the Xbox is selling more and better than the previous one and The number of xbox game pass subscribers is constantly increasing , And the crazy thing about this is that With all these positive reports ,The upcoming Big games have not released yet .
Suddenly, in just one day, Microsoft decided that some ABK games will be on all platforms , Some people were angry and say stupid things that Microsoft is not serious about competition and does not understand the market, and at this point it is better to release all games on all platforms
I really wonder where the responses that said Microsoft will return to competition because of the many exclusive projects they are working on ? All of this changed because some ABK games will be on PS ?
I feel when I see the responses that Microsoft has lost call of duty , While the reality says that nothing has changed, And Microsoft has become in a stronger position, And the Xbox game pass will get more games than before .
Stop investing emotionally in the console wars and you will see things better and you will know the huge investments that Microsoft is making in favor of xbox and game pass .
I donât want to nitpick, but Tom should have put the word âpopularâ in his tweet when Brad Smith talks about the other Activision titles as it gives a wrong impression that everything will be multiplatform and we all know very well how some in social media love to run away with narratives.
To be fair, Tom does clarify in a reply to a comment.
Had the same reaction lol, the ones who said Xbox might as well make everything multiplat or the ones that said Xbox isnât committed to gaming got me chuckling
This isnât quite true. They canât make declarations that would upset the status quo expectations of shareholders without the deal closing first. With Zenimax, that status quo was upended after the deal closed and MS announced things were exclusive. There is nothing legally preventing them from commenting on plans if those plans amount to business as usual (just as Sony was able to comment on Bungieâs games staying multiplat since that likewise didnât upend the status quo). The legal issue there is centered on not announcing things that are not in your control (yet) and having such announcements alter stock values in the interim.
Eh Minecraft hasnât really added anything for Xbox players. Itâs a great business move for MS but I could care less about how much money MS makes off that. If MS hadnât bought Mojang the Minecraft experience on Xbox wouldnât have been worse for me. Letâs hope with ABK the Xbox version IS actually the superior console version.
Before this announcement I was thinking if MS may try to keep ABK games multiplat in an attempt to gobble up a few more publishers. It lines up with what Jeff Grubb was saying how MS wants to box out any other major company from joining this space. That MS wants to OWN this space. To do that, you need to own important and major publishers such as ABK, Take 2, EA, Capcom etc. Sure ABK would have probably gone through either way if they kept it exclusive but what if they also want to acquire EA, Capcom, SEGA, Take 2 in 10-15 years ? That could seriously be a major issue as it takes games off other platforms and decreases competition. But if you keep the games on rival platforms they have a much better chance of achieving their goals. That way an Apple, Amazon etc. wonât have much power to compete with MS in this space even if they have all the money cause all the popular publishers are with MS. Buying Konami, Embracer, SE, Bandai, Ubi isnât going to be enough to compete with MS if they have ABK, Bethesda, EA, Capcom, Sega etc.
It would be nice if MS can form a partnership with Sony where they get rid of their stupid full exclusivity nonsense and put their own games on rival platforms. They can release Spidy, GOW on PS5 day one and release it on XSX/S a year later and vice versa with Halo, Forza etc. That would bring Sony more money than limiting themselves to just 1 box. But the reality is MS will put their games on rival platforms while Sony will continue to moneyhat 3P AAA games and buy studios/publishers for full exclusivity (we know Bungie is not the norm but the exception because they had no say in the matter). Maybe not tomorrow or in 5 years but eventually I do see Sony not only releasing their games day/date on PC but also release their games on Xbox. Maybe not day 1 but itâll happen eventually. Thatâs where weâre headed. Sony always follows when MS innovates. Theyâre slowly adapting Phils mentality today. Now theyâre putting their games on PC a few years later. Soon it will be day and date. And eventually it will be on any platform possible. Just like MS.
Personally I donât care if itâs multiplat or not. I just think a game is better when a developer has to create a game for just 1 console/PC instead of 3 consoles and PC. Probably not fun for the staff with the amount of time and effort that goes into it but also takes away from the best possible version of a game. Letâs hope that wonât be the case.
I also feel bad for the COD studios who have to port the game over to Switch. How is that even gonna work lol.
Is your thinking that MS will have Blizzard make âunpopularâ games and keep those exclusive? Anyone focusing on individual words or phrases at this point is gonna end up twisted in knots and disappointed.
The problem with this interpretation is that you are confusing who the audience for that blog post actually is. It isnât meant for the public. It is meant for Congress and regulators. This is the beginning of their lobbying effort. They are 100% for sure NOT going to go this far telling Congress and the FTC one thing, only to renege on it later. Doing so would lead to the deal being retroactively shuttered in its entirety. The FTC doesnât take kindly to companies misleading them. You can cherry pick individual words or phrases all ya like, but the message is clear and changing it up after the deal is done is not a realistic option.
Theyâre handling the messaging here much better than with BethesdaâŚwith Bethesda you had Tim Stuart or whatever his name is giving that âfirst and best on Xboxâ and that caused an entire clusterfuck and didnât even to be saidâŚdude could of kept his mouth shut and saved a bunch of arguing and head ache
Here Brad Smith has to actually speak and make statements and theyâre very carefully crafted and worded. Iâm now convinced that this will go through this year
That being said it took Bethesda over 2 years before they announced it and I recall an interview with Brian Fargo on how thorough Microsoft is when it comes to acquisitions
As a gamer this is okay. The games coming to Gamepass day 1 is the most important aspect.
However as someone who frequents online gaming communities this stings a bit. Give ps fanboys an inch and theyll take a mile. Some of the discourse online today was absolutely ridiculous.
Seems like a certain group needed this win, however small, very badly.
You are giving congress way too much creditâŚwhatâs the worst case scenario exactly? MS does make COD exclusiveâŚwhat exactly is the FTC going to do about it? They can try to sue and MS would curbstomp them in courtâŚcourt systems are built off technicalitiesâŚpeople have gotten away with murder because of technicalitiesâŚit doesnât matter what kind of f*ckery MS pulls and what the FTC says, the technicalities MS uses will 100% favor them.
Separately, Microsoft said it has committed to Sony that popular franchises it acquires from Activision Blizzard will remain available on PlayStation under Activisionâs existing deal with Sony, and that it has offered to extend the deal on a âmultiyear basis.â The existing deal with Sony runs until 2024, Smith said.
(Trying to link the CNN article but it wonât let me for some reason?)
I wonder why nobody is talking about this.
Firstly, it means that CoD was going to be coming to PlayStation per contactual agreements (which they admitted to honoring despite technically not having to do so, as the clause for breaking a contract is expensive and gives very bad PR) up until 2025-2026. If you believe that theyâre going the two-year release route as is heavily hinted, thatâs 2026. Why would anybody be upset that now, potentially, CoD would still release on PS in 2026, and for $70 while free on Game Pass?
Secondly, why do many think (including media, but we all know how the media works), that Sony will simply get CoD for free, especially with Microsoft funding it, renovating the culture and fostering am entirely different workplace? Seemed like common sense that Sony will make consessions (âcalls with Sonyâ), whatever that may be, and here we have a factual quote from Smith implying so.
Finally, wasnât Overwatch 2 and Diablo 4 already confirmed for PS? Especially OW2 being so connected and intertwined with your progress in the first game? It shouldnât be shocking that some popular ABK titles will stay multiplatform. The big thing here is:
New IP, obviously staying only where Game Pass exists, and we know of quite a few new IP already
Relinquishing the CoD train from their yearly shackles and having these talented studios and devs work on their own IP, again, IP that will go where Game Pass exists
Reviving old/dead franchises, like Phil explicitly stated, to, again, go where Game Pass exists
Yet people are concerned about Call of Duty 2026 and Overwatch âdevelopment hellâ 2, as if thatâs even remotely exciting with what we know ABK is bringing to Xbox in the future? It seems Xbox is still winning massively with this deal in the long term.
After catching up on the thread, reading social media, etc. Iâm really wondering why MS is talking about this at all when they canât make âdefinitiveâ statementsâŚ
Anything that needs to be said to get the deal through to regulators can be done in private or at what ever meeting/hearing will happen.
Just STFU, get the deal done, and then make CLEAR statements about what you intend to do. Enough the cloak and dagger nonsense.
