Microsoft acquires ZeniMax Media (Bethesda, id Software, Arkane + 5 more) [2020-09-21, 2021-03-09]

[Deleted member 11852]

The only thing I want is for apple to allow third party apps to be installed outside of the app store. Then anyone can make an app store and you can do what you want

That'll be a cold day in hell. You can jail break pretty much all iOS devices but you'll never be able to side load unscanned apps as well as run Apple's secure enclave; these are incompatible technological goals. For everybody saying various Governments will force Apple to do this they simply won't. Apple doesn't have a monopoly in which regulatory leverage can be applied but importantly, Government hardened iPhone OS is now the ubiquitous phone for most Government personnel in a very large list of countries.

Denting this secret dents Government security.

The iOS market share is small, anybody not being onboard with Apple's was of doing things can buy any other mobile device/OS.

 

[manux]

That'll be a cold day in hell. You can jail break pretty much all iOS devices but you'll never be able to side load unscanned apps as well as run Apple's secure enclave; these are incompatible technological goals. For everybody saying various Governments will force Apple to do this they simply won't. Apple doesn't have a monopoly in which regulatory leverage can be applied but importantly, Government hardened iPhone OS is now the ubiquitous phone for most Government personnel in a very large list of countries.

Denting this secret dents Government security.

The iOS market share is small, anybody not being onboard with Apple's was of doing things can buy any other mobile device/OS.

Just have enable debug mode button which then informs user of all the evil things that can happen. For corporate phones allow administrator to remove this capability, it's corporate not personal phone. If you must be greedy then ask 20$ activation fee and enable debug mode at place of purchase. There is no need for jailbreak and access to sensitive API's. Just make it easier for regular user to get something similar to what registered developer mode gives.

Android lets regular user enable mode where any adb they like can be installed. I wish ios had something similar. Similarly oculus allows user to enable mode where any adb user likes can be installed. Even windows allows user to download something they find useful and install it.

 

[eastmen]

That'll be a cold day in hell. You can jail break pretty much all iOS devices but you'll never be able to side load unscanned apps as well as run Apple's secure enclave; these are incompatible technological goals. For everybody saying various Governments will force Apple to do this they simply won't. Apple doesn't have a monopoly in which regulatory leverage can be applied but importantly, Government hardened iPhone OS is now the ubiquitous phone for most Government personnel in a very large list of countries.

Denting this secret dents Government security.

The iOS market share is small, anybody not being onboard with Apple's was of doing things can buy any other mobile device/OS.

They can get hit with illegal bundling. Apple is making a lot of money off seeing what apps and services work and get large subscribers and then putting out their own version in which they don't have to pay the apple tax too and can compete better. That could force it open

 

[rokkerkory]

(Halo is on the back of the real box)

Is this even legal??

 

[Silent_Buddha]

That'll be a cold day in hell. You can jail break pretty much all iOS devices but you'll never be able to side load unscanned apps as well as run Apple's secure enclave; these are incompatible technological goals. For everybody saying various Governments will force Apple to do this they simply won't. Apple doesn't have a monopoly in which regulatory leverage can be applied but importantly, Government hardened iPhone OS is now the ubiquitous phone for most Government personnel in a very large list of countries.

Denting this secret dents Government security.

The iOS market share is small, anybody not being onboard with Apple's was of doing things can buy any other mobile device/OS.

In the US you don't have to be a monopoly in order to be prosecuted for anti-competitive or anti-consumer behavior. You can also be prosecuted in the US for monopolistic behavior without being a monopoly.

Regards,
SB

 

[Deleted member 11852]

They can get hit with illegal bundling. Apple is making a lot of money off seeing what apps and services work and get large subscribers and then putting out their own version in which they don't have to pay the apple tax too and can compete better. That could force it open

What you call "illegal bundling" (aka the Microsoft browser abuse) isn't a thing. Microsoft fell foul because Windows had a defacto market monopoly, Apple have tiny mobile and desktop market shares. The fact that Apple are insanely successful does not mean Apple have a monopoly.

In the US you don't have to be a monopoly in order to be prosecuted for anti-competitive or anti-consumer behavior. You can also be prosecuted in the US for monopolistic behavior without being a monopoly.

This is very much news to me, you can presumably you cite the relevant legislation?

 

[zed]

That'll be a cold day in hell. You can jail break pretty much all iOS devices but you'll never be able to side load unscanned apps as well as run Apple's secure enclave; these are incompatible technological goals. For everybody saying various Governments will force Apple to do this they simply won't. Apple doesn't have a monopoly in which regulatory leverage can be applied but importantly, Government hardened iPhone OS is now the ubiquitous phone for most Government personnel in a very large list of countries.

Denting this secret dents Government security.

The iOS market share is small, anybody not being onboard with Apple's was of doing things can buy any other mobile device/OS.

If I didnt want the government snooping on me an iphone is not what I would get,
do you remember some us government organization trying FBI? to get apple to include something to unlock a phone, they were practically shouting it from the rooftops, it was all over the news. If they really wanted it they would of been a lot more quiet with the paperwork

FBI (shouting) "dont get an apple phone we can't break into it' (hint hint)
apple (shouting) "we will never compromise our security" (buy our phones if you care abotu security)
FBI (yes you terrorist organizations dont get those IOS devices we cant see whats going on with them)
(*)

the thing was at the time, they could of easily gotten a company to unlock it for a price (I think perhaps they did in the end), so when apple at the time saying it was impossible to unlock them it was a proven lie

2/ you will also see here http://zerodium.com/program.html they pay less for a IOS full exploit than an android one, ergo its easier to break into IOS

3/ google is not really in china as they wont agree to china governments rules, apple OTOH has no problems operating there, I wonder why that is

FWIW I have a IOS device, as I dont care if the government spies on me, but I'm not naive enuf to believe that my devices are secure

(*)I was talking to my GF about something similar the other day, about area 51, she was saying if they had alien stuff it would be there, Im like thats the last place, sure its very secure, like a lot of US bases but its also got a lot of eyes pointed at it, how many hackers have tried to break in over the years.
better to have it at somewhere else with the same level of security but anonymous. Not that I believe the US government has any alien stuff

 

[Nesh]

3/ google is not really in china as they wont agree to china governments rules, apple OTOH has no problems operating there, I wonder why that is

Apple produces their hardware products in China because its cheaper AFAIK. Most likely they preferred to accept the conditions to rip the production benefits and thats the only reason why Apple is there.
I dont know why would Google want to be in China in general. If it made business sense they wouldnt give a damn and operate there as well.
Profit is all that matters for a business

 

[zed]

Apple produces their hardware products in China because its cheaper AFAIK. Most likely they preferred to accept the conditions to rip the production benefits and thats the only reason why Apple is there.
I dont know why would Google want to be in China in general. If it made business sense they wouldnt give a damn and operate there as well.
Profit is all that matters for a business

I was more talking about them selling stuff to chinese consumers, China is a very large market for apple products, 2nd largest I believe.
I have crossed over to china from HK, google operates in HK, but you step over the border, bang! no google search, no google maps etc (shocking how good it worked like within 10 meters from total to nothing), bing and bing maps etc works though. So obviously MS like apple were willing to accept the CCP terms something that google were not willing to play ball

 

[seahorsesaw]

better to have it at somewhere else with the same level of security but anonymous. Not that I believe the US government has any alien stuff

The US government has alien Anti-Grav tech that they retrieved from a crashed Tic-Tac. Also, Db Cooper was an Alien who was beamed into the mothership after jumping from the Boeing 727.

 

[zed]

Mate I dont believe that intelligent Aliens are/have visited the earth, but hey if you wanna believe that then more power to you
IIRC they did find some cash that is prolly linked to that 'robbery' in some woods in washington/oregon (join the dots ppl, now we know where bill gates got his funding from )
also I dont think you can jump out of commercial aircraft like that nowadays

the funny thing is if DB cooper came forward now and sold his story he could prolly earn more cash than that stunt netted, By coincidence I was gonna go skydiving for the first time today, but the strong winds have put me off

 

[Unknown Soldier]

Sony cannot produce enough exclusives to differentiate and doesn't have the robustness of the infrastructure to compete.

They unfortunately need to let go of console sales as a metric and focus on subscription and advertisement.
And I say unfortunately because I firmly believe that some things cannot be made with exceptional quality on subscription alone.

Is Microsoft's Azure Cloud infrastructure not robust?

Sony can produce exclusive, we have seen it this gen. I have no doubt next-gen will be the same(with some landing up on PC).

Sony are way ahead in console sales, so to say they should let go of console sales is a bit of a laugh. It's their bread to their butter(game software) at this point in time.

 

[BoardBonobo]

Is Microsoft Azure Cloud infrastructure not robust?

Actually Azure is the flakiest of the big three providers but it is the 2nd quickest (less time for traffic on the internet more across their backbone). But I'm sure MS will buy someone who can fix this

Sony can produce exclusive, we have seen it this gen. I have no doubt next-gen will be the same(with some landing up on PC).

That's one of the reasons that I don't think Sony will be all that bothered by the Zenimax deal. They already produce AAA exclusives that outclass Bethesda et al. And now that those studios are locked away in the creative black hole that seems to be MS Game Studios it's going to give a whole stack of smaller developers room to breath so I fully expect some corking RPGs etc to appear now.

Sony are way ahead in console sales, so to say they should let go of console sales is a bit of a laugh. It's their bread to their butter(software) at this point in time.

The way pre-orders are going then the analysts predictions of the 2:1 sales ratio remaining are seemingly correct, but the gap may widen even more this gen as people are far more invested in their chosen ecosystems than ever before. And we're all locked away because of Covid (which was obviously created by the gaming industry as a way to make us buy more ). I think this can be seen by the way the XSS isn't really moving in any big numbers (as in there is stock available in most places still)

 

[Unknown Soldier]

Also, Db Cooper was an Alien who was beamed into the mothership after jumping from the Boeing 727.

Oh I thought he was Kirk with a fake moustache and was beemed onto the Enterprise.

 

[cheapchips]

now that those studios are locked away in the creative black hole that seems to be MS Game Studios

You've banged that drum a couple of times now. The way MS have talked about their acquisitions over the last few years doesn't suggest that they'll be make the same mistakes they did with Bungie and Lionhead. MS have learned the hard way that you don't buy studies for something special and then Microsoftify them. That's a least what they've been saying. You have to assume the folks at Bethesda, Obsidian, Double Fine etc etc are not massive chumps too.

343i & Halo issues are their own thing.

 

[BoardBonobo]

You've banged that drum a couple of times now. The way MS have talked about their acquisitions over the last few years doesn't suggest that they'll be make the same mistakes they did with Bungie and Lionhead. MS have learned the hard way that you don't buy studies for something special and then Microsoftify them. That's a least what they've been saying. You have to assume the folks at Bethesda, Obsidian, Double Fine etc etc are not massive chumps too.

343i & Halo issues are their own thing.

It's a drum worth banging. Mostly because people will jump to the defence of MS at the cost of the studios they've consumed. At the end of the day one thing that MS has proved over and over again is that they just don't get games. That's why they have to buy innovation and creativity but, although the rose tint and wool has been strong the last few months (so many white toothed smiles and cool casual clothes ), they are still bound by having to compete with Amazon, Apple, Google et al. And no matter how much they like us to believe they have changed (spots n all) they are still MS at heart.

It'll be fun watching what happens either way.

 

[eastmen]

What you call "illegal bundling" (aka the Microsoft browser abuse) isn't a thing. Microsoft fell foul because Windows had a defacto market monopoly, Apple have tiny mobile and desktop market shares. The fact that Apple are insanely successful does not mean Apple have a monopoly.


This is very much news to me, you can presumably you cite the relevant legislation?

Oh i don't know , if your taking your competitors information and mimicking their service completely when getting funded by them then there is a problem.

 

[Daozang]

Is Microsoft's Azure Cloud infrastructure not robust?

I don't get the question...
Azure powers front and back end 24/7 systems for banks and fintech's all around the world...
I'd say it is quite robust.

Sony can produce exclusive, we have seen it this gen. I have no doubt next-gen will be the same(with some landing up on PC).

Sony are way ahead in console sales, so to say they should let go of console sales is a bit of a laugh. It's their bread to their butter(game software) at this point in time.

Of course Sony can produce exclusives. It is and always has been their strength. But if they start missing more 3d party games of certain caliber, they will have to up their production, and that isn't cheap.
As for the reliance on console sales, I'm talking about the future, meaning the end of life for PS5 and what comes next.

 

[Eolirin]

I think this can be seen by the way the XSS isn't really moving in any big numbers (as in there is stock available in most places still)

There's no XSS stock anywhere in the US. It sold out within an hour or two. No idea what the state of things is like anywhere else in the world, but the US, and to a lesser degree the UK, are the primary Xbox markets. I don't expect it to ever sell that well in Europe or Asia no matter what MS does.

 

[RDGoodla]

Why doesn’t ms say future Bethesda games are exclusive to Gamepass or xbox?

(except two timed exclusive)