I think Sucker Punch never had a mega hit, but I also think they never had a flop.
As for ND, I think despite big sales, TLoU2 still disapointed Sony's expectations for the title. (probably still made a profit, though)
Microsoft acquired Activision Blizzard King for $69 Billion on 2023-10-13
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I think Sucker Punch never had a mega hit, but I also think they never had a flop.
As for ND, I think despite big sales, TLoU2 still disapointed Sony's expectations for the title. (probably still made a profit, though)
Titanfall 2 proves this.
Would Ghosts of Tsushima count as a mega hit? It sold about 10 million copies IIRC, reviewed well and felt like a big deal when it came out.
I did not know Tsushima sold thar well. Yeah, thats was probably cosidered a great success.
iceberg187
Regular
FTC Petition for Preliminary Injunction Against Microsoft-Activision Deal Is Unfounded | The Recorder
Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley with the San Francisco Northern District Court is expected to decide whether or not to grant this preliminary injunction next week, according to James Skyles of Skyles Law Group.
www.law.com
Wouldn't making Sony like content like Uncharted , Horizon etc be entrenched market leaders ? Isn't that why people want them ?
Sony should have kept on plugging away at it until they had success , isn't that what is repeated all the time about what MS should be doing ?
I think its obvious from Sony's strategy that its easier to buy successful developers and fund them while closing unsuccessful studios and killing ip that doesn't take off.
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Deleted member 11852
Guest
Microsoft also testified that none of their first party exclusives would be coming to PlayStation, and that this decision was taken back in 2021 when Microsoft were publicly claiming that each game would be assessed on its merits. More discrepancies between what companies think and what they say they will do.
The only game that was ever on the table to come to PlayStation and Nintendo platforms as an exception was Call of Duty.
Microsoft offered to keep releasing "popular franchises" on Playstation, and has referred to them as "existing multiplatform titles" as well. It's unclear if that means only IP that's been released on PS4 and 5, or if they say, bring back Hexen or some other dormant IP. But it's more than just Call of Duty.
Here's a link from Feb '22
Here's a more complete version of the quote
And more....
But if you want something a little more recent
I don't see that as bad business given the context. Sony weren't after GaaS back then; no-one was. Unlike, say, Fallout '76, that was a mess but constant development has made it somewhat less of a mess (although how profitable is it?), these games were rolled out and, given a low uptake and no plan from the outset to grow them to mammoth proportions because that wasn't a strategy back then, subsequently shelved. In the modern economy, once you have engagement, constant investment seems wiser to grow organically. Although at some point you still might have a duffer and just need to pull the plug. That is, a game either too close to the market leader that it doesn't justify its existence, or one who's USP just doesn't click with the masses. A lot of BR contenders have come and gone because they couldn't compete.
Those games aren't available on Xbox. If they were, there'd be less reason for MS to emulate these titles. Although limited duration single player games have more space in the market for more titles than time-swallowing MMOs.
I love the way your every single argument hinges on a 'hypocritical comparison to MS'. It's always 'Sony are treated differently'...
Why should Sony have stuck at trying to make a successful COD clone instead of cinematic AAA single player titles? COD already served the shooter market while there was an opening to sell single-player titles. That opening gave Sony massive profits and kudos, differentiating their library with some tent-pole IPs. The only reason to think Sony should have stuck with fostering a MMO shooter is to create a COD clone either 1) because they could displace it and get all that money themselve, but the chances of that are ~zero, and 2) for when COD was removed from their platform and, left with a hole, they'd want a title to fill it. What reason was there to think in 2012 that COD would disappear from PlayStations and Sony would need to start working on a COD replacement franchise?
Yes. Those 'successful developers' being ones that have worked on 3 or 4 second-party titles for Sony prior to being bought. And the same way all publishers with in-house studios operate, buying talent and then closing down studios when felt they've 'run dry'.
Silent_Buddha
Legend
Sorry, I forgot to include a link. Here's just one of many...
The Elder Scrolls 6 Still 'Five+ Years Away', PlayStation Version Undecided - IGN
Xbox's Phil Spencer has confirmed that The Elder Scrolls 6 is still "many years away", and that Microsoft has yet to decide whether it will launch on PS5.
A year or two ago, Phil Spencer hinted that it would be exclusive to Xbox. Currently, he will no longer commit to it being exclusive to Xbox. Other sites have mentioned asking him specifically whether or not it will still be exclusive and he's saying that it's now undecided.
So, if you're skeptical of anything anyone says, then it's still going to be exclusive.
If, like me, you believe that under Nadella and Spencer, they'd like to move as many titles as possible to as many platforms as possible, but have to do it carefully to not spook investors into demanding Xbox cease operations because you're making all your titles available on rival platforms, then it's still possible that it'll come to PlayStation.
Regards,
SB
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Deleted member 11852
Guest
You're posting what Microsoft was telling the media over a year ago. The court case last week forced Microsoft to disclose documentation from 2021 (following the Zenimax acquisition) that showed Microsoft - actually Phil Spencer - had decided then and there not to release any more first party titles on PlayStation, which Phil Spencer didn't deny in his testimony. You must have missed the rundown on Microsoft's epic bullshittery exposed from that day in court.
To be blunt, what Microsoft was subsequently feeding the media were PR lies.
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Deleted member 11852
Guest
double post. Weird.
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Deleted member 11852
Guest
I don't believe that because I believe that Nadella and Spencer still want to make Xbox as profitable as PlayStation by virtue of largely marginalising their competitor and having the bigger closed platform where they can continue to charge licensing fees and take the retailer cut for all digital sales. I.e., tay just want to be a bigger version of Sony. If this is not their aim, then they are f***ing stupid because they should be their aim. Having a profitable closed ecosystem with little competition is a licence to print money.
Look at Apple, Sony and Nintendo. How Microsoft tare f***ing this up so much is the only mystery.
Johnny Awesome
Veteran
My take on it is that MS is fine going multi-platform as long as GamePass is winning. Right now they want exclusive content for GP, but if GP had 100+ million subscribers they'd probably be fine throwing games on PS6 to make an extra buck. Going forward, as a strategy, I love the idea of Starfield being "free" on GP, but costing Sony PS5 owners $70. Same for the next Elder Scrolls, Diablo, Doom etc....
But that's the difference between renting and owning.
Has the used game market completely cratered? Because you used to be able to recover part of the cost of a game.
Certainly more convenient and instant gratification to download it but you don't have the opportunity to re-sell the game.
Also, it remains to be seen if people want to constantly subscribe to play games. You can binge and finish games but how much time do you have to play in a month with work, school, family, friends, other entertainment, etc.?
It's one thing to binge shows over a couple of days and some people do finish games over a similar timeframe but probably not as many adults with responsibilities.
What are GP subscriber numbers? I thought they'd be ruling the world by now but it doesn't sound like it's swung the console market to MS.
I think when they came up with the idea, they saw Netflix's crazy market valuation because of their subscriber numbers. Well MSFT stock is doing great but it's on the strength of other MS business, not Entertainment and Services or whatever division Xbox is in.
Has the used game market completely cratered? Because you used to be able to recover part of the cost of a game.
Certainly more convenient and instant gratification to download it but you don't have the opportunity to re-sell the game.
Also, it remains to be seen if people want to constantly subscribe to play games. You can binge and finish games but how much time do you have to play in a month with work, school, family, friends, other entertainment, etc.?
It's one thing to binge shows over a couple of days and some people do finish games over a similar timeframe but probably not as many adults with responsibilities.
What are GP subscriber numbers? I thought they'd be ruling the world by now but it doesn't sound like it's swung the console market to MS.
I think when they came up with the idea, they saw Netflix's crazy market valuation because of their subscriber numbers. Well MSFT stock is doing great but it's on the strength of other MS business, not Entertainment and Services or whatever division Xbox is in.
TLOU 2 is profitable day one from this Neil Druckmann interview.
Episode 25: The Last Of Us Part II with Neil Druckmann and Halley Gross — Script Apart
Our first video game episode! The director and co-writer of one of the greatest video games of all-time tell us about crafting its densely layered story and characters.
www.scriptapart.com
TLOU 2 is profitable day one from this Neil Druckmann interview.
Episode 25: The Last Of Us Part II with Neil Druckmann and Halley Gross — Script Apart
Our first video game episode! The director and co-writer of one of the greatest video games of all-time tell us about crafting its densely layered story and characters.
That's what I said. It was likely profitable, yet still not as profitable as sony was hoping for.
I wasn't talking about GAAS at all. Sony only make blockbusters. And that's great if you like blockbusters. I like blockbusters. But not every game has to be that, though. And I think a game like Hellblade, or HiFi Rush, or A Plague Tale, those games are perfectly great as well, even if they didn't have the ridiculous budgets like The Last of Us or God of War. I think Sony could have continued making Days Gone, SOCOM or Killzone and offered more focused experiences that would have been entertaining to play and kept interest in the franchises without a blockbuster budget. But instead they chose to kill those franchises off. And I worry if they put together a string of duds, with those big budgets, that it could put the company at risk.
About the only place I see these more middle size projects from Sony are on PSVR.
On a somewhat related note, people keep saying that Gamepass is full of GAAS games, but that hasn't been my experience at all. Honestly, the reason I subscribed to Gamepass in the first place was because I wanted to play Wolfenstein 2, and having played the first one, I knew that after I finished the single player campaign, I would likely never return to it. The subscription price was less than the game. Well, it was $1 for 3 months I think when I signed up. But I've played mostly single player games, and Back 4 Blood, which has no microtransactions. The only way it's GAAS is that Gamepass is the service, and it's full of games.
I didn't miss anything of the sort. Companies, and the people that run them change their minds. So 2 years ago, they may have had a policy of everything being exclusive. A year later, they were saying something different. Unless things have changed drastically in the last few months, I believe Microsoft owned companies combined have published or developed enough third party games for PS5 that they are in the top 10 by volume. So there are actions that support the change of heart.
judge Curley has left the FTC in a bad place it seems.FTC Petition for Preliminary Injunction Against Microsoft-Activision Deal Is Unfounded | The Recorder
Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley with the San Francisco Northern District Court is expected to decide whether or not to grant this preliminary injunction next week, according to James Skyles of Skyles Law Group.
Right and if MS buy's ABK then COD and ABK games wont be on playstation unless sony signs an agreement. Even if MS pulls the games after a decade Sony would have had a decade to rebuild those franchises.
At the end of the day all this is about choices each company makes. MS needs more content and content producers and are looking to buy a company that makes that. Sony instead of putting all their eggs in one basket in terms of home grown games they should have supported many genres. After all there are plenty of 3rd person action games already on the playstation and yet sony continues to make those in droves. There are racing games on the playstation and yet sony makes GT.
Well the FTC has taught me this is all about Sony so why wouldn't I bring up sony ?
I mean we are talking about MS having to keep games on sony's platform but I'm not allowed to talk about sony ?
Because they are the market leaders. Why stop being number one just because there are numbers two through five below you? the fact you are number one at long jump and pole vault doesn't mean if your team loses their 100 and 200m sprinter, you can just train and become number one at those too. Sony's success in some genres doesn't mean they can succeed to become number one elsewhere. You ask why they closed down studios - to optimise on what they are best at for the biggest dollar ROI, rather than spend money on being an also-ran.
There's nothing wrong talking about Sony. The issue is you always claim Sony bias in everything that happens in the world, even when there clearly isn't. Every argument, you claim Sony is treated differently to MS, rather tyhan the two do different things for different reasons with different outcomes and reactions.
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