Microsoft acquired Activision Blizzard King for $69 Billion on 2023-10-13

[Nesh]

The genius in the way Sony does marketing deals is that you never know if it's for a day or permit exclusivity.
So for the xbox gamer they have to in affect consider it permanent, as if you want to play it who knows if it will ever come.

MS got burned with tomb raider, but instead of in the future just refuse to discuss it regardless of how much they was asked they buckled and never really went that route again. They could've just said only gonna answer once, and the answer is we're not discussing it.

Last gen Sony was really aggressive and when it was clear they had demolished xbox, they never got complacent they kept foot on neck and kept being aggressive to this day. Yes I'm aware of the language I'm using but hopefully people understand what I mean.
I don't see that as bad Sony, I've always been impressed by it. Only couple things I disagree with, but that's just personal views, their not wrong/bad company for doing it.

What known franchises did Sony "steal" away from XBOX apart from Street Fighter from previous gen btw? I cant think of many. Btw regarding Street Fighter, Capcom was looking for funding and approached Sony themselves.
The reason MS got a backlash for Tomb Raider exclusivity on XBOXOne was a combination of MS not being clear with the exclusivity message and the history of the franchise itself.
It is a franchise historically very much associated with Playstation. People who owned a PS expect by default to have access to TR. Kind of natural if you think about it, how many Playstation owners felt like MS pulled an aggressive attempt that initially seemed to prevent millions of PS players from playing it. The backlash primarily came from the Playstation owners who felt like they were opted out. Not from the gaming community in general. XBOX and PC owners didnt care.
If MS were the ones who pulled that with a franchise like Shenmue 3 for example, a lot less people would have complained.
Just like not much have happened when MS bought Ninja Theory and made Hell Blade 2 an exclusive for Series X.
Reactions depend on the history of a title and who was expecting to access it.

 

[AmFreak]

MS got burned with tomb raider, but instead of in the future just refuse to discuss it regardless of how much they was asked they buckled and never really went that route again. They could've just said only gonna answer once, and the answer is we're not discussing it.

Ms also got burned with Tomb Raider because they weren't liked much at that point due to the XBox One Desaster. This wouldn't have happened in the 360 gen were they were perceived as the "good guys" in the Anglosphere. They did a ton of exclusivity in the 360 gen and didn't stop after Tomb Raider. Ofc if you acquire everyone and their neighbor the field of candidates to money hat shrinks.

 

[eastmen]

I never heard anything about Sony retaining marketing rights. That just sounds crazy to me, even to just get them to sign.

I obviously don't know what was in contract, but it was signed very quickly after the FTC loss which is one of the reasons I would expect it to be the same one.

I think Sony is in a much weaker position and with any deal it should change based on that. But, as I said I reckon MS didn't revise it, just sign and get it over with.
Reckon deal is 10year,
70/30 split(maybe slightly better for Sony than that) ,
everything parity including marketing.

I posted about it in this thread

Microsoft acquired Activision Blizzard King for $69 Billion on 2023-10-13

We have huge consolidation every where when it comes to media. Disney bought Fox with a 72 billon dollar purchase. Sony bought MGM years ago also. Then we have Sony purchasing into the anime industry with Funimation in 2017 and Crunchyroll in 2021 which are the two biggest anime streaming...

forum.beyond3d.com

It came out in the FTC trial

The genius in the way Sony does marketing deals is that you never know if it's for a day or permit exclusivity.
So for the xbox gamer they have to in affect consider it permanent, as if you want to play it who knows if it will ever come.

MS got burned with tomb raider, but instead of in the future just refuse to discuss it regardless of how much they was asked they buckled and never really went that route again. They could've just said only gonna answer once, and the answer is we're not discussing it.

Last gen Sony was really aggressive and when it was clear they had demolished xbox, they never got complacent they kept foot on neck and kept being aggressive to this day. Yes I'm aware of the language I'm using but hopefully people understand what I mean.
I don't see that as bad Sony, I've always been impressed by it. Only couple things I disagree with, but that's just personal views, their not wrong/bad company for doing it.

I personally don't care about what these companies buy or don't buy. I rather sony buy square and I simply know that square games on other platforms would be at best the expection but to never expect another game from them. Vs hey street fighter 4 is on all consoles , street fighter 5 is only playstation but hey now 6 is on every platform again. Or hey here is a $70 game ... oh you are buying it on a switch or xbox or pc well you don't get all the content cause sony paid for a special deal.

I don't see it as bad or good. But to label what MS is doing as bad when its what Sony has been doing since before entering the video game market is the issue we keep running into on this forum

Ms also got burned with Tomb Raider because they weren't liked much at that point due to the XBox One Desaster. This wouldn't have happened in the 360 gen were they were perceived as the "good guys" in the Anglosphere. They did a ton of exclusivity in the 360 gen and didn't stop after Tomb Raider. Ofc if you acquire everyone and their neighbor the field of candidates to money hat shrinks.

Sony removed 14 developers from the table since 2019. So yes when you acquire everyone and their neighbor the field of candidates to money hat shrinks indeed.


I also think Ms got burned with things like Mass effect and even gears to a certain extent. MS invested a lot into Mas effects marketing and helped make it extremely successful but then EA bought Bioware and wanted to put that game/series on everything possible. The same happened with gears. Epic had it up and running on ps3 and then wanted to stop making the series all together so MS had to pony up the money to keep it.

It's a lot easier to money hat something when you are the market leader. What happens is inertia helps keep the series or platform exclusive and even when it isn't exclusive anymore follow ups will likey do less well on the competition because the previous entry wasn't there. I am sure there are people who owned sf4 on xbox and bought ps4's for sf5 and are now on ps5s .


MS has learned from this and are building up their content that stays on their platform.

 

[Deleted member 11852]

I think Sony is in a much weaker position and with any deal it should change based on that. But, as I said I reckon MS didn't revise it, just sign and get it over with.

Microsoft are desperate to close by 18 July. That's two days away.

In what way does Microsoft's desperation put Sony in a weak position?

 

[eastmen]

Microsoft are desperate to close by 18 July. That's two days away.

In what way does Microsoft's desperation put Sony in a weak position?

Ms doesn't need a contract with sony to close. They only need to have offered the contract. If sony doesn't except it and the deal closes then Sony doesn't have call of duty on the playstation. As long as Ms offered the contract in good faith and likely the same one they offered nintendo then there isn't much that Sony would be able to do


Also MS confirmed to the Verge that its a 10 year COD deal only. MS originally offered to keep existing activision console titles on Sony including future versions of current activision games on PS till the end of 2027 but that isn't what got signed

https://twitter.com/x/status/1680665085482598401

 

[Remij]

Microsoft are desperate to close by 18 July. That's two days away.

In what way does Microsoft's desperation put Sony in a weak position?

Sony is inherently in the weak position... because they made the deal they didn't want to make.. and it's a worse deal than they had before.... and they would only do it was if it was already certain that the CMA and MS were reaching an agreement.

 

[AmFreak]

Sony removed 14 developers from the table since 2019. So yes when you acquire everyone and their neighbor the field of candidates to money hat shrinks indeed.

I count 12 with 11 of them acquired in or after 2021, more than SIE acquired in their entire history before, as if something changed around that time ...

Sony is inherently in the weak position... because they made the deal they didn't want to make.. and it's a worse deal than they had before.... and they would only do it was if it was already certain that the CMA and MS were reaching an agreement.

How is 10 years of CoD a worse deal than 4 years of "existing Activision console titles on Sony, including future versions of current Activision games" aka CoD and (possibly) Crash?

 

[Nesh]

How is 10 years of CoD a worse deal than 4 years of "existing Activision console titles on Sony, including future versions of current Activision games" aka CoD and (possibly) Crash?

It depends what else is in the clause we arent aware of. In one of Sony's reports for their case they mentioned that the deal offered by MS was costlier for them. Plus it is also less likely to be able to negotiate any extras for the Playstation version. Lastly after 10 years time, MS might be able to pull away a PS version, if it makes more business sense for MS's whole strategy, regardless if releasing it on PS might still be profitable.

 

[Malo]

MS could also use most of the CoD team resources to make a new competitive online shooter that is different enough to not be "CoD" and just release some crappy CoD every 2 years to fulfill the contract.

 

[Jay]

Sony is inherently in the weak position... because they made the deal they didn't want to make.. and it's a worse deal than they had before.... and they would only do it was if it was already certain that the CMA and MS were reaching an agreement.

The CMA had already said console isn't an issue and from what I remember had no stipulations around COD having to be on PS.
Think every jurisdiction is the same. So MS didn't need contract at all at this point.

I posted about it in this thread

Microsoft acquired Activision Blizzard King for $69 Billion on 2023-10-13

We have huge consolidation every where when it comes to media. Disney bought Fox with a 72 billon dollar purchase. Sony bought MGM years ago also. Then we have Sony purchasing into the anime industry with Funimation in 2017 and Crunchyroll in 2021 which are the two biggest anime streaming...

forum.beyond3d.com

It came out in the FTC trial

Stopped coming into this thread ages ago, thanks.
Sounds like Kotec was trying to extend the current deal to get them to sign. But that wouldn't have been in the MS contract. That contract would say they will abide by any current contracts. Kotec can do that stuff because still an independent company.
Anyway definitely don't see that being in contract.

What known franchises did Sony "steal" away from XBOX apart from Street Fighter from previous gen btw? I cant think of many.

That's one, destiny content, is another but I'm pretty sure you actually know the rest. Believe I also never said I was talking about only 'stolen permanently'.
Not allowing cross play for so long as didn't benefit them. I consider all that stuff to be aggressive especially when most gamers wanted it.

Ms also got burned with Tomb Raider because they weren't liked much at that point due to the XBox One Desaster. This wouldn't have happened in the 360 gen were they were perceived as the "good guys" in the Anglosphere. They did a ton of exclusivity in the 360 gen and didn't stop after Tomb Raider. Ofc if you acquire everyone and their neighbor the field of candidates to money hat shrinks.

That could also be part of it.
Regards I don't see a problem with either company doing it.
From pulling it permanently like street fighter (personally probably my favourite franchise) to just marketing deals.

 

[Cyan]

The coverage must never end! After whatever occurs with the CMA, it'll be 'why is Kotack still there?', 'why is it still a shitty place to work?', '1fps difference between XSD/PS5 parity lies!'

talking of which, with this deal Sony is saying to the CMA something along the lines of "you made a fool of yourselves like no one ever did since videogames exist".

 

[Jay]

Meant to ask, is it only COD or 'all' ABK titles going to be multi platform?
Did they stick to case by case.

 

[SmooTh]

Meant to ask, is it only COD or 'all' ABK titles going to be multi platform?
Did they stick to case by case.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1680665085482598401

 

[Jay]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1680665085482598401

Thanks. Was there any kind of wooly commitments in court about non COD?

Going by the tweet, sounds like there isn't because they never came to an agreement on it. So will be done on game by game basis.

 

[arandomguy]

Thanks. Was there any kind of wooly commitments in court about non COD?

Going by the tweet, sounds like there isn't because they never came to an agreement on it. So will be done on game by game basis.

Wasn't the old deal just existing titles as well and not all titles/franchises (which wouldn't make sense as there are Activision games not on the XSX as well). It seems like guaranteeing CoD, which is the one franchise that constantly iterates/releases, over 10 years would be more important than guaranteeing all existing franchises until only 2027. Especially since Diablo 4 just released, so likely in practice wouldn't have mattered under a 2027 agreement either.

At least in theory it seems like the comparison would be -

1) CoD titles until 2033

vs.

2) CoD titles, Tony Hawk, a Sekiro title?, Crash titles? until 2027.

 

[see colon]

They worked hard for it? Who is "they" in this context, and doing what work?

Sony. That's what they've been doing for the last 18 months, right? Negotiating for a better deal than they were initially offered.

What known franchises did Sony "steal" away from XBOX apart from Street Fighter from previous gen btw?

Sunset Overdrive. They stole it from Xbox and burried it in their back yard so no one will ever get it again. Also, the Final Fantasy games that don't get releases on Xbox (or Switch). And Soul Calibur 3, but that was a while ago.

 

[stu11]

Sunset Overdrive. They stole it from Xbox and burried it in their back yard so no one will ever get it again.

LOL you've got to be kidding!! Are you serious?

Sorry for laughing but is it Sony's fault that Xbox only signed a 1 game deal with for Sunset Overdrive with Insomniac?
Is it Sony's fault that MS didn't either feel the game was worth buying the IP for or even buying up the team for?

You should be happy now , in Activision you've now got your very own Xbox exclusive Naughty Dog game and another Insomniac exclusive too.

 

[see colon]

LOL you've got to be kidding!! Are you serious?

Sorry for laughing but is it Sony's fault that Xbox only signed a 1 game deal with for Sunset Overdrive with Insomniac?
Is it Sony's fault that MS didn't either feel the game was worth buying the IP for or even buying up the team for?

You should be happy now , in Activision you've now got your very own Xbox exclusive Naughty Dog game and another Insomniac exclusive too.

I not sure I understand exactly what you are asking. Am I serious to think that Sunset Overdrive was an Xbox exclusive and now Sony owns the IP and there won't ever be an Xbox Sunset Overdrive again? Yes, I think that is seriously factual. Do I believe Sony is going to release a Sunset Overdrive game anytime in the foreseeable future? No, I seriously do not.

We know why Sunset Overdrive was an Xbox exclusive and why Microsoft doesn't own the IP. The team wanted to make and own their IP and Microsoft was the publisher that allowed them to do that.

And why exactly should I be happy? I'm not advocating for an exclusive. They wouldn't be my exclusives anyway. I don't even own a current generation Xbox. I'm simply stating facts. Sometimes I do so in a serious fashion.

 

[stu11]

I not sure I understand exactly what you are asking.

I apologise then, let me explain my logic while answering your questions below.

Am I serious to think that Sunset Overdrive was an Xbox exclusive and now Sony owns the IP and there won't ever be an Xbox Sunset Overdrive again? Yes, I think that is seriously factual.

And why will there never be another Xbox Sunset Overdrive again? You said that Sony "stole" the game away from Xbox? Right? You seem to think this is Sony's fault. Right?

The game was released in October 2014 ( the year "Uncle" Phil Spencer became Chief Xbox Officer), it received good reviews and was nominated for numerous awards. Fast forward 4 years to 2018 and Ted Price of Insomniac stated that he would love to make a sequel to the game and that all he needed was a publisher to help fund the game. Everyone said "Ask Microsoft " apparently.



Did the millions AND millions of Xbox fans go and tweet at Uncle Phil and tell him?

"We want Sunset Overdrive 2 on Xbox!!"

No they did not.


Did Uncle Phil tweet back:

"Hey guys I hear you loud and clear that you want Sunset Overdrive 2 so we are going to fund the game and hey we just bought Insomniac for a billion dollars!!! WOOO! "

No he did not.

So guess what? No Sunset Overdrive 2 was greenlit, even though Ted Price at Insomniac wanted to make it. Fast forward another year and guess what happened.... Sony bought Insomniac for $229 million. All of Insomniac's IP become property of Sony. Game Over Dude! Game Over!

Can you now see why I am having trouble understanding why it is Sony's fault MS lost the game? If the game was important to the fans then they should have demanded it. They should have bombarded Uncle Phil with tweets. But they didn't. So why now all of a sudden is it Sony's fault?

Do I believe Sony is going to release a Sunset Overdrive game anytime in the foreseeable future? No, I seriously do not.

Do you have actual evidence that Sony will never EVER greenlight a sequel to Sunset Overdrive? Has Sony ever categorically stated that there will never another Sunset Overdrive game?

In 2021 Sony filed trademarks for Sunset Overdrive so apparently Sony still care enough about protecting the trademark . Also interestingly the director of the game, Drew Murray, rejoined Insomniac after leaving the dumpster fire that is The Initiative. There was even a little Sunset Overdrive/Ratchet and Clank crossover when the latter game came out. So can you honestly say never? No you can't.

And why exactly should I be happy? I'm not advocating for an exclusive. They wouldn't be my exclusives anyway. I don't even own a current generation Xbox. I'm simply stating facts. Sometimes I do so in a serious fashion.

Relax... It was a joke, based upon the fact that Microsoft now owns Activision. I am figuring by the way you supported the merger that you are a subscriber to GamePass, which if you have either an Xbox One or a PC you probably are since we keep being told that "Xbox is no longer just a console, Xbox is an ecosystem consisting of Console, PC and Cloud, with a Mobile version soon to be added" Again I apologise for any offense caused.

For the record - My latest Xbox is the Xbox360, my newest Playstation is a PS2 and have an ancient and decrepid PC that won't run modern games and I do not subscribe to GamePass.

 

[Nesh]

Sunset Overdrive. They stole it from Xbox and burried it in their back yard so no one will ever get it again. Also, the Final Fantasy games that don't get releases on Xbox (or Switch). And Soul Calibur 3, but that was a while ago.

Thats barely a list that communicates aggression. Sunset Overdrive died by itself. Final Fantasy 14 not being released on XBOX is due to MS not helping Square releasing it.