[TheKbob]

And the GamePass continues to consume content. 

"You will own nothing and be happy"

They're allowing Kotick to remain, as well.  So don't expect any workplace improvements, it seems.

[Nothing-]

Holy hell that is some news to wake up to.  Biggest acquisition news ever. 

 

gonna be things later like "Diablo 4 a Gamepass exclusive",  "Overwatch 2 exclusive Microsoft content online".  Honestly, the Call of Duty business model might even become more favorable.

 

Can we fire Bobby Kotick now??

[BMXJouster]

Can we fire Bobby Kotick now??

Apparently not.

 

[Insomniac_34]

We're 18 months away from Crash standing outside of Playstation headquarters with a megaphone.

 

They're allowing Kotick to remain, as well.  So don't expect any workplace improvements, it seems.

I'm fairly positive he's out once everything is finalized next year. Everything from now until then is PR talk to try to keep things moving as they have been. He'll get tens (if not hundreds) of millions to leave and there will be no justice for the people he's wronged but at least he'll finally be gone.

[etcrane]

I don’t know why, but waking up to read the Activision acquisition news made me oddly uneasy. I’m a Microsoft fan, but it doesn’t exactly seem like all of their acquired studios have thrived lately. Will be interesting to see how this impacts Blizzcon and WoW … wonder if we’ll finally see a console port.

[Nothing-]

The entire Star Wars franchise (Lucasfilm) was sold to Disney for $4 billion in 2012.

 

Zenimax (Bethesda) acquired by Microsoft for $7.5 billion in 2021

 

Microsoft is paying ~$68.7 billion to acquire Activision-Blizzard in 2022.   Just to give an idea of the scope on this thing. 

[Insomniac_34]

Apparently not.

FWIW, from the article:

 

 

However, the statement does not clarify whether Kotick will leave Activision Blizzard once the deal has been closed.

[MysterD]

I also wonder what's Sony's next move.

 

Microsoft just gobbled up one of - if not THE - top AAA Publishers here. Who knows what games might or might not be Microsoft-Exclusive forever; or timed-exclusive for months to a year or 2 or so. 

 

Does Sony maybe buy something big like say - Take-2? SEGA? Square Enix? EA? UbiSoft?

[Nothing-]

I also wonder what's Sony's next move.

time to piviot AWAY from the Gamepass copycat thing. 

[blueweltall]

The entire Star Wars franchise (Lucasfilm) was sold to Disney for $4 billion in 2012.

 

Zenimax (Bethesda) acquired by Microsoft for $7.5 billion in 2021

 

Microsoft pays ~$68.7 billion to acquire Activision-Blizzard in 2022.   Just to give an idea of the scope on this thing. 

Activision executive made out like a bandit and Microsoft is known to overpaid for companies.

[Syntax Error]

The entire Star Wars franchise (Lucasfilm) was sold to Disney for $4 billion in 2012.

 

Zenimax (Bethesda) acquired by Microsoft for $7.5 billion in 2021

 

Microsoft is paying ~$68.7 billion to acquire Activision-Blizzard in 2022.   Just to give an idea of the scope on this thing. 

Inflation is worse than I thought

[IronChariot]

Now if only all bnet games could be converted to Steam keys for free or a minor discount.

[IronChariot]

I don’t know why, but waking up to read the Activision acquisition news made me oddly uneasy. I’m a Microsoft fan, but it doesn’t exactly seem like all of their acquired studios have thrived lately. Will be interesting to see how this impacts Blizzcon and WoW … wonder if we’ll finally see a console port.

How they treated their studios in the past gives me little confidence, but I don't care too much in the case of Actvision Blizzard since they had been on a downward slide for ages, anyway.

[IronChariot]

I also wonder what's Sony's next move.
 
Microsoft just gobbled up one of - if not THE - top AAA Publishers here. Who knows what games might or might not be Microsoft-Exclusive forever; or timed-exclusive for months to a year or 2 or so. 
 
Does Sony maybe buy something big like say - Take-2? SEGA? Square Enix? EA? UbiSoft?

I hope they leave their hands off Square Enix and Sega. They can have EA if they want, though.

[Syntax Error]

And the GamePass continues to consume content. 

"You will own nothing and be happy"

But you can still buy the stuff that's on Game Pass.  Microsoft will be thrilled to sell you a copy of Doom Eternal, if you'd like one.  Game Pass just offers a different way to access it for people who don't give a shit about "owning" video games (as much as you can in this era of digital licenses).

[Souffrir]

How they treated their studios in the past gives me little confidence, but I don't care too much in the case of Actvision Blizzard since they had been on a downward slide for ages, anyway.

Activision has been garbage since the third console generation.

[TheKbob]

But you can still buy the stuff that's on Game Pass.  Microsoft will be thrilled to sell you a copy of Doom Eternal, if you'd like one.  Game Pass just offers a different way to access it for people who don't give a shit about "owning" video games (as much as you can in this era of digital licenses).

I'm aware; they are happy creating FOMO with a sub service and sell you marginally discounted games.

Rather wait for a sale anywhere else than dealing with subscriptions.  They're not exactly a great deal in the long run.

[BreadNiblets]

The Bethesda deal felt more impactful to me personally, but what do I know about contemporary gaming? I'm just an old man in a young girl's world.

[blueweltall]

It just the $70 billion price tag that is very wild. 

[Kyle1022]

CoD on game pass will be a game changer. And you better believe they will be exclusive to Xbox and PC now - MS didn't drop $70 billion to make games for its biggest competitor


With MS now owning the west and Nintendo owning Japan, it seems like Sony is getting squeezed out. Square-Enix might play ball for timed exclusives, but not complete exclusivity. And Atlus still loves Sony for some reason even though they shunned Japan, but even they're starting to put games on more platforms

[BreadNiblets]

CoD on game pass will be a game changer. And you better believe they will be exclusive to Xbox and PC now - MS didn't drop $70 billion to make games for its biggest competitor

I think they'll do whatever makes them the most money. It probably feels like a win either way to MS. They either get full blown exclusivity or Sony is going to have to allow them to have a major presence on their own console.

[Syntax Error]

Rather wait for a sale anywhere else than dealing with subscriptions.  They're not exactly a great deal in the long run.

Guess it depends on how you approach games.  Most times I'm happy with one-and-done and don't need a bunch of digital detritus in my library after the fact to feel like I "own" something I'll never touch again.  I've definitely come out ahead on my subscription, albeit that's a "Convert this and buy those shady codes" subscription that came out to a couple bucks a month for the next couple of years.
 

[TheKbob]

Guess it depends on how you approach games. 
 

No, it's more an approach on how games would be developed and designed if subscription services would become the normal.   We already know that the rise of subs, to include streaming, has impacted both video and music development, thus games would be no different.

Games that can be easily consumed within a subscription window would likely die off unless there's sustained proof that they can make more money being on a sub platform than standalone.  Non-subsidized, to be clear, as "free money" goes away when market share dominance is reached.

Larger titles will either build to create gameloops that last longer than the sub window (thus forcing a purchase convert), create subscription limited versions (see Godfall on PSN+ this month), or vastly increase monetization schemes further (NFTs, ahoy!).

So if you're thinking it just from your pocket book stand point, yea, I guess it can be a good deal.  For now.  But in the long run, big picture, it's not great to absolutely awful. 

These companies never do anything that's a "good deal" to you and I.  They are legally required to hold the interest of shareholders as the highest regard, and the require continuous growth.  Forever.  They wouldn't be making and pushing subs if there wasn't some way to extract more gaming dollars from either more people (which has saturation limits) or more from people who do game (which has less limits).

So, no, I don't think CAGs should be for subs.  Short sighted completely.

[Syntax Error]

We already know that the rise of subs, to include streaming, has impacted both video and music development, thus games would be no different.

There's tons of great stuff created for streaming video services and my music collection has grown a lot with services like Spotify introducing me to artists/songs so... yay?

[TheKbob]

There's tons of great stuff created for streaming video services and my music collection has grown a lot with services like Spotify introducing me to artists/songs so... yay?

I suppose ask the people who create the stuff, the music artists, etc. how much they like it?  

If you don't think subscriptions won't royally rip through game design more than other monetization schemes have, then dunno what else to tell you.  To be clear, sub models have negatively impact those who work in the industry and what does/does not get greenlit onto them. 

And if you're not on them, you don't exist.

And none of that really addresses the other points of how they scheme pricing and making sure they make record profits.  Only $120 a year from their customers on subsidized hardware ain't gonna cut it.

"You will own nothing and like it."

Edit: To be clear, at least we have Steam that ensures it won't get dominance in the PC marketplace, for now.  But I do believe that it's not great to be supporting.  Been pretty right about how bad other monetization has got; you don't need to be an expert to determine these corps will do anything they can to squeeze a nickel more from you.

[Syntax Error]

I suppose ask the people who create the stuff, the music artists, etc. how much they like it? 

Well, otherwise I would have literally never heard of those artists or their music so "you have to have never heard the artists so they can be paid more" doesn't seem like a great structure.   I get it, you seem very passionate about this.  The arguments aren't really there though, in my opinion.  Anyway, I'm NOT very passionate about it so I'll leave it there.

[TheKbob]

Well, otherwise I would have literally never heard of those artists or their music so "you have to have never heard the artists so they can be paid more" doesn't seem like a great structure.   I get it, you seem very passionate about this.  The arguments aren't really there though, in my opinion.  Anyway, I'm NOT very passionate about it so I'll leave it there.

I mean, you didn't really address the meat of the argument.  I can agree that GamePass has brought some value to some indies because curation has value (see, Steam... SEE?!), but otherwise, that still doesn't mean it won't change how games are or will be made, just like it has to video and music.

Your point just continues to iterate that "I found one small positive, but continue to ignore the massive negatives."  It's short sighted, as I said.

But I guess caring about people, how things are made, and what not is all "passion" these days.  That's how we get the Bobby Koticks of the world, by not caring.

[etcrane]

With MS now owning the west and Nintendo owning Japan, it seems like Sony is getting squeezed out. Square-Enix might play ball for timed exclusives, but not complete exclusivity. And Atlus still loves Sony for some reason even though they shunned Japan, but even they're starting to put games on more platforms

Nintendo doesn’t own Japan … I think there are two Tiers of the gaming world in Japan and Sony is still in control of the more mature gaming market. In Japan Nintendo has the same appeal as Disney, but without Disney’s ability to use other internally owned brands to fully market to adult audiences.

I could see Sony acquiring Square-Enix and maybe Sega to boost their exclusives. What will be really crazy is when Apple buys Nintendo … 😉

[Syntax Error]

I mean, you didn't really address the meat of the argument.

I don't think you understand how this stuff works.  I don't care if you use Game Pass therefore I'm not going to put any real energy into convincing you that it's swell or trying to refute fantasy hypotheticals about how the gaming world is in peril and we'll never have 15hr games again.  You're trying to convince people NOT to use Game Pass so the onus is on you to present a convincing argument.  One convincing to the Game Pass subscriber, not one where you say "DOOM! DOOM!!" then lamely try to guilt anyone who didn't think that was especially convincing with "I guess I'm the only one who cares, man!".

 

If your goal as to tell yourself that you won an internet argument then mission accomplished, I guess.  If your goal was convincingly express that sub services are awfulbad and should be avoided then not so much.  My goal was just to say "This argument doesn't really make sense" and I've done that and it doesn't seem as though you're going to make it make sense so whatever.
 

[TheKbob]

You actually haven't even framed how the argument "doesn't make sense."  I even provided real examples, such as time-limited games on the service (to increase FOMO and/or encourage purchases on top of sub fees), games designed to be mere fractions of complete titles (Godfall: Challenger Edition on PS+ this month), and additional monetization schemes for reoccuring spending to further increase (see pretty much any first party Microsoft game these days, etc.).

These are real things, happening now.  Do you really think $15/month is going to both replace the direct dollar cost purchase of these games and create more annual revenue without something else to encourage more spending?   If you don't believe that to happen, it's literally against the basis of a for-profit company. 

Thus, revenue and profits must go up.  You either decrease costs through further developer exploitation and/or increase revenues from customers.  They got exploitation down pretty good these days (you can even fart in their faces and still get promoted!), which means these subs and "free stuff" are loss leading market entry tactics that will ratchet up in price later.

And if you think these are "doomsaying," well I guess call me Cassandra.  Or perhaps someone who's read a history book or two and studied economics and perhaps knows how this will play out if history is our guide.

Your argument makes sense, too.  It just remains short sighted and self-centered; it's "I got mine," and to which I say, yes, that's the perspective Microsoft wants you to have based upon loss leading market entry tactics.

They aren't selling a digital-only Xbox Series S for farts and giggles.

But it's just about "internet arguments" not about an hobby I've had for 30 years being monetized and commodified to death.  Can't be that...  In the mean time, do you want some Poopisoft NFTs and some WATA-graded sealed games?