There was definitely a period of time when Xbox was the home of the fps (COD included). Xbox was pretty closely aligned to western games/PC-ports whereas Playstation still leaned heavily on Japanese games early on.
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Both things can be true. It’s obviously a huge seller on PS historically and is easily the biggest platform for COD nowadays but COD was not always synonymous with PlayStation.
It became a juggernaut franchise on the 360.
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It was. I definitely didn’t dispute that. It can be closely associated with both brands. 360era it was popular.
Me saying it is popular with one doesn’t make it not the case on the other side. I’m not doing A vrs B thing. I am just saying it is popular on PlayStation.
The EU is forcing Apple to accept third party stores on the iPhone, breaking open that walled garden.
Yes Apple are trying every trick to weasel out of it but the EU have warned they’ll come down hard on such attempts - and the EU fines for non-compliance can be billions if not tens of billions.
So yes regulators in countries where corporations have not fully taken over democracy very much can do that
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I don’t know if that doesn’t qualify a democracy. Apple are also in a market where they have a strangle hold on a required social market. Phones are basically compulsory.
I understand what you are saying. I do agree to a certain point. I don’t even think it would be necessarily a bad thing.
So does that mean steam would be the same?
Lol the democracy part I more mean just where regulators haven’t been captured by vested interests via lobby groups and campaign donations.
Gaming and PCs are a regulated area, and most for now are left alone even if they have near-monopolies as long as they don’t stifle competition and try to be open - so Steam and Windows have to behave for example.
PlayStation could end up in that scenario in the “high performance games consoles” bracket they helped create for regulators, if they continue to dominate Xbox to a worse degree than the last generation - particularly if their competitor is already opening up
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You said exactly the following: “COD has always been synonymous with PS” but from 2010 until 2015 COD marketing was with Xbox, and thus COD was not synonymous with PS. Don’t deny history.
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What do people play call of duty on and have done for a long time?
PCs and now Mobile.
Waste of energy for me. Have a nice day.
I doubt this rumor. What we have heard from Microsoft as of now is 4 games and to not expect the flood gates. Just looking at what is happening to hell divers now would give pause to any hasty decision. Gears going multiplatform might be fine but the discourse on twitter would in my opinion do more damage and rob the developers of their hard work. The reaction at fanfest might even become a nightmare. Xbox already had mass panic and had to have town hall meetings to pacify their employees. Going multiplatform will require a complete change in how things are done.
I would say making changes for a customer base you don’t have is pretty reckless. Get the base first and then enact the changes. The multiplatform approach to me seems to be something aimed for nextgen in 2026 when they are ready to roll out the PC storefronts console idea. Releasing the whole slate makes more sense then not now.
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Call of Duty gained popularity and in a way early dominance with the Xbox 360 especially back then when Xbox was known by many as the shooter box. It then became bigger on PlayStation 4 once Sony acquired the marketing rights along with Destiny from Activision. It’s now back home where it began on Xbox as Microsoft now has the marketing for the game which should be for as long as they own the IP and the franchise exists.
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There was a reason Xbox was known as the Dudebro shooter game console and it had to do with Halo, Gears of War and Call of Duty. There is nothing wrong with that, but those are the facts.
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The EU considers smartphones and mobile devices as necessary in today’s world, just like they do with PCs.
Consoles are not like that. At all.
So good luck trying to get Sony or Nintendo to open their platforms…
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I will say this about the whole consoles won’t open up. They will. Jim Ryan 's. Arrogance and downright stupidity of trying to break that division deal is going to have ramifications. You now have lawmakers and regulators looking at gaming more serious because you drag that out for a whole year. You don’t think any person’s going to question why this system is the way it is. You’re going to be mistaken my friend. Things are going to change rapidly and Microsoft is looking at that because I’m pretty sure they have more ears to the ground than we think
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It’s not whether something is necessary or not, it’s whether there’s a monopoly or not - the Digital Markets Act makes no distinction on device or entertainment type.
At the moment, games consoles have competition, but if Sony do get to dominate the high-end gaming consoles (a distinction they created during the ABK saga remember) then I wouldn’t be surprised to start seeing them get investigated - particularly with their reluctance to let third parties sell digital games to the same degree as Xbox, and if Xbox start to open up and show the excuses don’t hold weight.
Also, you’re seriously saying the EU would struggle more with Sony or Nintendo than Apple? They’re about 50 times the size of either of them
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The EU has established comprehensive frameworks for competition rules that go well beyond just ‘necessary products’. These frameworks and their methodologies are crafted to thwart anti-competitive practices across the board. Market dominance and mergers are significant aspects, with clear stipulations that the necessity of a product is not a factor for consideration.
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Honest question: If MS felt they couldn’t justify the return on investment of a Gears of War collection without bringing it to PS, would you prefer it just never came out, even if that means Xbox and PC didn’t get it either?
In reality, these are the kinds of business considerations companies like MS are always making when it comes to making platform decisions.
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I don’t think they need to make that decision though. To maximize ROI for sure, just as Sony and Nintendo should do, but that’s not taking account other elements of users staying in your ecosystem and spending money on other things as well. But in general, I am of the opinion that Xbox + PC is huge enough in itself that it wouldn’t need any other platforms in order to make any game profitable.
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