I am absolutely gutted with Microsofts acquisition on Bethesda; as a lifetime PlayStation user and lover of Elder Scrolls and Fallout franchises (not to mention intrigued by Starfield) I feel that I now need to either give up on those franchises or splash out on a new system, either xbox or a future proof PC.
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I can't claim to know all of the nuances of the story, but my sense is that if Microsoft tried to make major franchises Xbox exclusives, they'd cut themselves off from a big chunk of players who have recently spent a pretty penny on a PS5. Meanwhile, it'd open the door for Sony to retaliate and do the same.
If anyone wants to take a bigger piece of the market pie, I still think the best way to do it is to produce the best platform/product and the market will naturally swing in their direction.
Having said that, its times like these that regulation can protect players.
I am a mess of opinions on this (and the ActiBlizz takeover). As it happens I'm an Xbox owner this gen, but that's mainly due to sheer chance around the stocking issues of the pandemic.
So, on the one hand, I obviously benefit from it but I get it's frustrating for PS fans of some very long-standing game series. On the other hand, there are some PS exclusive games I really really want to play, but haven't reached the tipping point of the "hardware tax" they demand.
It's just something I've had to accept as part of the wider game over the last however many decades. It just happens to be that Microsoft can wield a particularly epic chequebook - which changes the game entirely and brings us on to the whole ActiBlizzard drama really.
I voted "see my comment" because:
The MS aquisition of ABK concerns me in the same way as Disney aquiring Marvel and other large corps concerns me. Or any of the other huge media companies that control so much.
However Sony's complaints come as rather hypocritical considering their actions in the gaming landscape since the PS2, and the buy outs they've made, the exclusives they've bought again and again and again. It's just this one is on a larger scale, and I suspect Sony is just upset they're not the ones in MS' position.
I just want one box that has all the games on it, in the same way that I want one streaming service that has all the films + shows on it. Ideally the same box.
In fact, ideally it's not even a box. Pipe everything directly into my TV. Pipe it directly into my brain.
I completely agree that Sony are hypocritical for their arguments against it. However, as a consumer I am at the mercy of these mega corporations and hope that I can still access content that I have loved for decade or two without having to fork out for a new platform.
I think the changing landscape certainly is pushing me to consider forgoing consoles and looking at getting a PC that I can update over time as needed, but at least I would have a wider access to the content. Though gaming in general is becoming an even more expensive hobby recently!
I love PC gaming because I'm a bit of a strategy nerd and love mods. Consoles have never quite gotten those things right...
I have a Steam deck, and that's a pretty good alternative to a console IMO.
My hot take (read: guess) is that Playstation has such a massive lead over Xbox that making the titles Xbox exclusive wouldn't make sense (and they've said as such).
Rather, I think they're going for the long play around Game Pass and the value you get from that - buy an Xbox and get Game Pass free for a year, so you get COD and a load of other things for free. Buy a Playstation and you then have to buy a load of titles.
I think this is why the antitrust stuff has focused on cloud gaming in the UK.
It's a weird one, as the only 2 games so far that have been console exclusive are Hi-fi Rush and Starfield.Everything else from Bethesda has been released on PlayStation, with Sony being happy with the quality of the games being praised.
Xbox has been out their signing contracts for titles to appear on streaming platforms and other consoles - it's just Sony that seems to be throwing their toys out of the pram. There's zero chance that CoD will go exclusive, it too much of a revenue stream.
Is it a good thing for the industry? Is consolidation, ever good?
I do, however, think it's Activision's best chance to have it's toxic work culture taken care of and Kotick to be ousted.
Not specific to Microsoft/Activision deal but one issue that I think we're going to see a lot of in the games industry soon (because of the huge amount of consolidation recently) is:
Developer was sold to a larger entity
A few years later the acquirer runs into trouble/needs to tell a new story to shareholders, changes strategy (ie. away from games, or VR/Metaverse/crypto/AI or whatever the original rationale for the acquisition was)
The acquired company is shut down or suffers lots of layoffs because it's deemed not core to the new plan... and the previous owners have already left & the argument for keeping the studio running isn't heard by the new owners
The studio's IP gets locked away forever. Not used by the acquirer but also never sold on (... until the strategy changes at a later date, but the talented studio has already dispersed, so you get a crappy reboot instead!).
It's been happening for years, to the detriment of consumers, but I think we're in for a bit of an avalanche of this soon...
Kind of happening right now with the Embracer group.
Not keen on it, the warm words and remedies are all well and good today/the 10 year agreements, but company bosses come and go. When some new company head comes in they always want to put their own stamp on things, make big changes to policy and do things differently.
As a PC gamer I Would hate to see back catalogue titles (and future ones) removed from steam etc and only available via the awful windows store/xbox app.
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