cragis0001

@Tecinthebrain depending on what Microsoft announces today. If certain titles do get ported to PlayStation like Sea of Thieves. I bet Sony will be watching sales figures. As I guess Minecrafts sales on all platforms was a catalyst to whatever strategy Microsoft announces today.

@ryanburnsred if Games Pass hits PlayStation then you have a point. But why would current Xbox users who don't pay full price for Microsoft's first party games go to PlayStation to pay full price for them 😅. As long as Games Pass & third party publishers stick around then Xbox hardware is still a viable product for consumers.

@Jay767 Xbox isn't going anywhere. Microsoft is treating Xbox like they do there Surface PCs. Its one of many entry points to the eco system. PC, PlayStation & Nintendo Switch could be like 3rd party vendors to Microsoft.

@TheTony316 sure that's just you saying that? As seems odd for the Square Enix CEO to partner with Xbox if he doesn't expect its gonna benefit the company in the long term.

@AverageGamer he's also an executive vice president to the company so would have a say in how the company is run & probably aware of the issues involving Babylon Falls.

@MagisterMagi or he doesn't believe in the direction the company is heading.

@MagisterMagi not necessarily. It could just be that he is falling on the sword for the failure of Babylon Falls.

@HwuaiLiang You say it has no impact. But look at Insomniac. They made Fuse a multiplatform title, Sunset Overdrive an Xbox exclusive & several mobile, PC games before being acquired. Yes they made mostly fantastic PlayStation games but they had the option to make for others before being acquired. They lost that after. Sony buying a studio is no different than Microsoft as they buy mostly for exclusivity. Love it or hate it? That will never change.
Embracer is closing studios, culling jobs in a lot of there studios & potentially selling off studios like Gearbox Studios & you think that's better wow.
Problem is both Phil Spencer & Jim Ryan are both full of *****. It's business they will booth ***** to promote & protect there brand.
I'm sure in time Xbox will produce exclusives that may bring you back & to be fair you should hope for it as more competition keeps Sony on there toes as they seem to drop the ball when they feel less threatened.
You make it sound like none of Microsoft studios had any close ties to the company before being acquired. Bethesda made bangers for Microsoft. Elder Scroll: Morrowind still is a xbox console exclusive & Oblivion was a console exclusive to Xbox for 12 months. Bethesda games always ran better on Xbox than PlayStation. Double Fines original Psychonauts got funding from Microsoft before that deal fell through & 2 got funding for it to be finished. Playground games & Undead Labs both made games soley for Xbox before being acquired. Microsoft funded the 360 port of Minecraft before being acquired.

@HwuaiLiang you did. As you said its OK for Sony as the companies made bangers for them before. Which means your OK with Sony acquisitions. Also from your latest comment it seem to include anyone who will still commit to being multiplatform gets your support. So it's just Microsoft then. I bet Tencent has a similar list of possible targets being the biggest investor of acquisitions around the globe before the ABK deal. Embracer has been closing studios, potentially selling studios & paying off large amounts of staff which means if there not profitable most will be closed, stripped or sold off for scrap. So there not safe either.
I understand though as if Sony bought Square Enix I'd have to buy a second PS5 for the house so I'd get to play more of those games. I Play Sony exclusives on my eldest sons PS5.

@HwuaiLiang so what your saying is its OK for Sony to buy up studios but not anyone else including Microsoft. Where's the hate towards Tencent, Embracer & others eating up the industry.

@HwuaiLiang the bulk of Sony's blockbusters were from studios that Sony once acquired though 😂😂😂.

@number1024 if the whole out spending of Sony was written by Phil Spencer then I'd worry...but it wasn't & was confirmed under oath that it was never an option. I'd also bet Sony was aware that Microsoft was wanting Bungie back as well.

@DeathlySW I agree 100%.

@AverageGamer I don't know. Sony seems to be looking for experience in certain types of games which Gearbox has. The publishing part could be spun into something else to help get more games onto PlayStation I guess. But only time will tell I guess.

@number1024 Microsoft helped Bethesda enter the console market with the original Xbox & were close until the start of this current gen. Todd Howard said when Fallout 76 flopped he went straight to Phil Spencer for advice. If I remember correctly he passed him onto Rare who managed to make Sea of Thieves into a success. Square helped make the PS1 a success & have been close to Sony ever since.
I see it as more than just Microsoft buying Bethesda because of Sony was sniffing about. If Microsoft hadn't purchased them it would be a case of history repeating itself as Microsoft was close to Bioware before EA swooped in. It did hurt them. But probably for the best at the time.

@number1024 Starfield isn't for everyone I guess? You either love it or hate it. I guess Bethesda is to Xbox what Square Enix is to PlayStation. I look at both Redfall, Starfields many flaws along with there PlayStation exclusive deals as evidence that Bethesda was in financial trouble before Microsoft purchased them.
I'd still rather see studios from Embracer purchased than closed down? specially if someone like Sony comes along to invest in them.

Everyone keeps bringing up Microsoft. I think Sony would be a good fit for Gearbox.

@themightyant I got the feeling the US prices are higher due to them not getting a PS5 price hike.

@iapaulogise Microsoft don't track compilation rates though. They kill there own completion rates though by offering reward points for playing games. Hi Fi Rush was used numerous times after launch. I watched many podcasts where this was brought up & none mentioned the effect of reward points.

@CallMeDuraSouka the US didn't get a PS5 price increase like most did so I guess this is why they increased it more?

@OneWingedAngel easily done 👍

@OneWingedAngel i guess he meant this info. A quick Google search found it. Between August 2021 and March 2022, Xbox Game Pass went from 15 million to 18 million subscribers. So we can pinpoint a range $2.9 billion revenues generated from 15-18 million subscribers across both PC and consoles.

A simple Google search found Microsofts Q4 2023 results said Games Pass was up 5% & game sales was up 1% over the same period last year.

@rjejr Sony will eventually have to comment. If its real they'll eventually announce it. If its fake or a 3D print of an earlier prototype. Someone with knowledge will confirm it. But if the news continues Sony will need to confirm if a "slim" is in the works.

@rjejr maybe Sony could bundle the disc slot shell with the disc drive I guess. Or you get all the plates for digital & disc set up with the new console. Sure we will find out soon enough.

@theSpectre @Rmg0731 just like the unfortunate employees of Manchester Studio, Japan Studio & Pixel Opus over the last three years. Sony isn't immune either as its buying studios, closing them & making record profits from it now. Unfortunately it's business I'm afraid.
I can't see Microsoft closing Arkane Austin or Machine Games due to Games Pass needing regular content. Redfall was forced to be a live service by Bethesda & is being allowed to be fixed by Microsoft. Plus there next game will be single player they confirmed . If there AAA aren't successful they may be forced to make AA titles instead. But only time will tell as Microsoft also payed off 10,000 staff accross the board.

@Dark_Knight exactly that's why I scratch my head at fellow gamers that whine about Microsoft then say its OK for Embracer, Tencent & Saudi Arabia because they keep games multi platform?

@theSpectre we also had Jim Ryan say that they won't give Activision Blizzard PS6 dev kits. Microsoft also confirmed that Mojang didn't get any PS5 ones either. So looks like both PlayStation & Xbox versions of Minecraft suffer for it. Minecraft Dungeons & Legands were created by two different studios. So I guess the email about Bethesda future games could be the result of a similar problem.

You should be more worried of Tencent. I heard there making a cloud gaming console with Logitech. So how long will it be before they start making there high profile games exclusive to there cloud network.

Its just the Xbox Series S problem all over again. devs don't want to work with weaker hardware so spend less resources on it as they know they can fix it later. So try it again in 6 months time after it's been patched.

@tallythwack I don't use Psygnosis to justify the Activision Blizzard deal. I bring it up as people are happy to ignore it with statements like "Sony have never purchased a publisher" or make up excuses like yourself comparing how much both are worth to riducule it's importance. Yes the size of the industry was smaller but buying a publisher that would go on to have 40% of all sales in the EU for two years puts it in the same league of importance as Activision Blizzard is now. both acquisitions have the power to transform the landscape & make there owner a serious threat to the competition. As for what games that were taken away from the competition. I owned a Sega Saturn & enjoyed playing Wipeout, Destruction Derby, Lemmings, Discworld to name a few which sequels were made PlayStation exclusive after purchase. Others like Adidas Power Soccer were in development before cancellation.

@Sekijo https://m.youtube.com/watch?t=1526&v=QAUyM1EX-2s&feature=youtu.be

@Sekijo Microsoft approached the devs of Valheim & essentially payed for it's console development. Just like how Sony helped finance Final Fantasy 16 but that's OK.

@tallythwack Psygnosis was mentioned as its was a publisher which again everyone claims Sony has never purchased. Secondly it shows that both Microsoft & Sony are exactly the same as Sony had deeper pockets than its rivals & wasn't afraid to use it by buying up talent, 3rd party exclusive etc back in the early PS years.

@UltimateOtaku91 even if the ABK deal goes through & looking at the documents provided by the FTC triaI I'd guess Microsoft will go after or invest in the Asian market.

@tallythwack my point is there both the same in the end as they'll do anything to get to the top.

@SacredPYRO shame as I'd love to play them again 😭

@MattBoothDev Microsoft have said many times they see other companies as competitors like Amazon, Google etc. So Microsoft is reacting to it's competitors as I'd imagine when it comes to acquisition they'd class Tencent, Embracer & others as competitors.
Why don't you start at the beginning of the original PlayStation as it answers two points. Sony on its own started there tale when it came to gaming with buying a publisher. Psygnosis. & Before you complain gaming was different beast then? Yes it was but what they payed then was still a lot of money & it made PlayStation No1 in less than 2 years in the EU/US. Sony did then what Microsoft is doing now which was buy up what it needed to compete which was studios, talent & 3rd party exclusives. Don't believe for one second Sony is any different than Microsoft as they patted themselves on the back very well when Atari collapsed & Sega announced they were finished in consoles. I don't believe Sony is going anywhere but previous management always warned that poking the bear was unwise.

@SacredPYRO exactly. With the popularity of RTS lately you'd think it would be a no brainer to revive the god genre or at least remaster or HD upgrade both Black & White games. I'd buy day one if it was announced.

@MattBoothDev no I agree consumers do suffer. The regulators need to be more tougher on all acquisitions as Microsoft is only reacting to what it's competitors are up to.

@tallythwack look up Psygnosis.

@MattBoothDev you say you don't want to be blackmailed into buying an Xbox. But Xbox & PC users don't want to be blackmailed into buying a Playstation either & Sony has been far more aggressive when it comes to 3rd party exclusivity. It sounds like to me most people's complaints against Microsoft here is that its a larger company that can counter most threats. If this was Sony buying Square Enix or CDPR you'd all be cheering.

@Intr1n5ic & who brought up Cloud gaming concern? Sony, Google & Nvidia. Plus the CMA had to back track that I'd wouldn't effect consoles as they couldn't prove it after a year's worth of searching.

@Intr1n5ic probably the same people that believed Jim Ryan that without COD PlayStation is finished 🤣🤣🤣. Oh I forgot that was the CMA & FTC.

@twitchtvpat I'll clarify. that I was aware Sony didn't own Deviation. What I meant was they recently purchased Firewalk just as there closing PixelOpus & now Deviations game being cancelled

@Falkirk4life I don't think I ever said Sony did own Deviation?

@RonnieL you are correct no one wants passion projects that bad. But I'm sure the team learned a great deal from it's failure which will help improve there next.

@GodofCapcom people think the multiplayer titles will be bad because most are. Also it's not what they want from Sony. You say if Sony release a dud it's ok as they make up with it with others. What others? as so far most studios are making some sort of online title. Last time I seen a publisher force there devs to push online in there titles it didn't work out well. You say cancellation are a sign of quality but then the Last of Us releases on PC as badly as Redfall on Xbox. Unfortunately people are always gonna compare Sony & Xbox as long as they compete a similar strategy regardless of game quality. I find it funny that Sony is pushing all there Devs & acquiring studios solely for online titles which there community don't want but Xbox is slowly adopting a mixture of single player, multiplayer AA/AAA titles. I agree no one has survived two bad generations but Microsoft has deep pockets & so far support from the CEO. I can't see them ditching console yet. Plus Spencer said good games like Starfield won't make people ditch there PlayStation. It will Likely make you buy a second console like you plan Nintendo's next one. I love Nintendo games myself. I always have but don't like the switch even though my son has one.

@twitchtvpat we will probably never know what the full story is. & I agree with everything you've said about it being standard practice games being cancelled & devs closing down. It's still not a good look though for Sony buying up a studio to close another & a game being cancelled. If it was Microsoft doing this it would be more evidence of mismanagement.