Microsoft in talks to buy Activision

[Gee]

A reminder Xbox also released Hi-Fi Rush this year with critical success.

 

[psylockolussus]

Microsoft acquiring Activision | Blizzard | King, should make PlayStation be more competitive or make sure Microsoft won't catch up to their lead. Call of Duty makes a lot of cash and who knows what will Microsoft's gaming studios benefit from it? If Microsoft knows what they are doing, it should be a lot - more games annually, better quality control both leading to better sales.

As for Sony, for starters, they really should stop porting their games to PC imo. You aren't really inviting pc and XboX players to buy a ps5, when you give them an option to play those Ps Studios games on a windows pc...

 

[XtremelyBaneful]

Microsoft acquiring Activision | Blizzard | King, should make PlayStation be more competitive or make sure Microsoft won't catch up to their lead. Call of Duty makes a lot of cash and who knows what will Microsoft's gaming studios benefit from it? If Microsoft knows what they are doing, it should be a lot - more games annually, better quality control both leading to better sales.

As for Sony, for starters, they really should stop porting their games to PC imo. You aren't really inviting pc and XboX players to buy a ps5, when you give them an option to play those Ps Studios games on a windows pc...

I agree with that too. Even though the releases are are at least a year after the launch of these games, Sony is devaluing them by making them available on PC. I get that they have been making more money by doing so, but since they have been doing it, anyone without a playstation who had even an inkling of buying one will not think twice about it if they can infer a PC port of the game they want to play on the way down the line

 

[MagnarTheGreat]

Remington Reportedly Made Deal with CoD Maker to Market Guns to Kids

The gunmaker had big plans to market their rifles to young people through “virtual gaming scenarios” while trying to avoid 'direct endorsement' of shooters.

gizmodo.com

Shooters: How Video Games Fund Arms Manufacturers

Simon Parkin investigates the murky relationship between arms manufacturers and the video game creators who license the use of their weapons.

www.eurogamer.net

 

[XtremelyBaneful]

they could easily change their minds...

 

[Joe Von Zombie]

Now get Wolfenstein 2009 back on steam already. It's the only one I'm missing.

 

[Sithborg]

Microsoft acquiring Activision | Blizzard | King, should make PlayStation be more competitive or make sure Microsoft won't catch up to their lead. Call of Duty makes a lot of cash and who knows what will Microsoft's gaming studios benefit from it? If Microsoft knows what they are doing, it should be a lot - more games annually, better quality control both leading to better sales.

As for Sony, for starters, they really should stop porting their games to PC imo. You aren't really inviting pc and XboX players to buy a ps5, when you give them an option to play those Ps Studios games on a windows pc...

I agree with that too. Even though the releases are are at least a year after the launch of these games, Sony is devaluing them by making them available on PC. I get that they have been making more money by doing so, but since they have been doing it, anyone without a playstation who had even an inkling of buying one will not think twice about it if they can infer a PC port of the game they want to play on the way down the line

You have to understand, that the console market in Japan is DEAD. While not Xbox levels of dead, sure, but they have only sold 4 million PS5s in Japan. The PS4 had a lifetime sale of 23 million. You are asking a Japanese company to essentially write off their home market completely. Its not going to happen.

 

[XtremelyBaneful]

You have to understand, that the console market in Japan is DEAD. While not Xbox levels of dead, sure, but they have only sold 4 million PS5s in Japan. The PS4 had a lifetime sale of 23 million. You are asking a Japanese company to essentially write off their home market completely. Its not going to happen.

That's true. I completely forgot about how the console market is dying in Japan. But I feel like as a direct result of that, Sony themselves have made their home territory a lesser priority. The PS4 launched several months after it launched in the west. I'm not sure about this, but Japan might have been included in the Ps5's inflation price increase too.

I think the PC releases of Sony's 1st party exclusives was an idea initiated by Jim Ryan to generate more profit. And now that it's become a trend, they're just going to continue to roll with it when his replacement starts too.

 

[Gee]

The PC ports are clearly another revenue stream for Sony. It's also a way to grow their fanbase in countries like India and China where the PC market is bigger than the console market.

Look, the committed PC player will not be invested into the console ecosystem. The PC player that buys a console and occasionally buys first-party titles can't possibly be a "good customer" to the eyes of the platform holder. Take me for example: I have a PS4 but only bought a handful of exclusives. No multiplat games. The other exclusives that I didn't buy were the ones I could borrow from public libraries. So, I reckon I spent less than $800 CAD in the entire lifetime of the PS4... Not a single dollar spent in the PS Store and I never subbed to PS+.

Sony and Microsoft surely wants a customer that is fully invested into their ecosystem, one that buys and plays both first parties and multiplats, one that buys digital games from their digital store, one that pays monthly/yearly to play online. And honestly, for the latter, it's outright laughable for PC players.

 

[Joe Von Zombie]

The PC ports are clearly another revenue stream for Sony. It's also a way to grow their fanbase in countries like India and China where the PC market is bigger than the console market.

Look, the committed PC player will not be invested into the console ecosystem. The PC player that buys a console and occasionally buys first-party titles can't possibly be a "good customer" to the eyes of the platform holder. Take me for example: I have a PS4 but only bought a handful of exclusives. No multiplat games. The other exclusives that I didn't buy were the ones I could borrow from public libraries. So, I reckon I spent less than $800 CAD in the entire lifetime of the PS4... Not a single dollar spent in the PS Store and I never subbed to PS+.

Sony and Microsoft surely wants a customer that is fully invested into their ecosystem, one that buys and plays both first parties and multiplats, one that buys digital games from their digital store, one that pays monthly/yearly to play online. And honestly, for the latter, it's outright laughable for PC players.

The console eco system and constant remasters are a huge reason I'm a primarily a pc gamer now. I grew tried of having to repurchase my library after a new console launched and inevitable hardware failure. I got really burned by the seventh gen and have zero interest in going back.

 

[Iceman]

That's true. I completely forgot about how the console market is dying in Japan. But I feel like as a direct result of that, Sony themselves have made their home territory a lesser priority. The PS4 launched several months after it launched in the west. I'm not sure about this, but Japan might have been included in the Ps5's inflation price increase too.

I think the PC releases of Sony's 1st party exclusives was an idea initiated by Jim Ryan to generate more profit. And now that it's become a trend, they're just going to continue to roll with it when his replacement starts too.

Yeah, cant see them stopping that now. The problem for devs that make AAA games nowadays is that console install bases and game prices aren't rising enough relative to the spiralling costs and time it takes to develop a AAA game. Unless they look for more sources of revenue from the same product (like the dreaded microtransactions), they just make less and less money. Selling on pc too opens up a huge market for manageable additional costs for the same games.

 

[Iceman]

Remington Reportedly Made Deal with CoD Maker to Market Guns to Kids

The gunmaker had big plans to market their rifles to young people through “virtual gaming scenarios” while trying to avoid 'direct endorsement' of shooters.

gizmodo.com

Shooters: How Video Games Fund Arms Manufacturers

Simon Parkin investigates the murky relationship between arms manufacturers and the video game creators who license the use of their weapons.

www.eurogamer.net

Mentioned this elsewhere but I guess it's inevitable but I'm really not comfortable with this element of it. Especially with news of mass shootings so often.

 

[XtremelyBaneful]

Yeah, cant see them stopping that now. The problem for devs that make AAA games nowadays is that console install bases and game prices aren't rising enough relative to the spiralling costs and time it takes to develop a AAA game. Unless they look for more sources of revenue from the same product (like the dreaded microtransactions), they just make less and less money. Selling on pc too opens up a huge market for manageable additional costs for the same games.

the opportunity to earn more from the PC market was definitely their main incentive. and it's always more than a year so I guess their thought process is that anyone who has a PC who wanted to buy the game to play the game with the new PC port, would have done so by now. and the opportunity cost of the prospective Ps4/5 buyers by the time of the said PC port release is lower than however much revenue and profit they would get from the PC port release

Mentioned this elsewhere but I guess it's inevitable but I'm really not comfortable with this element of it. Especially with news of mass shootings so often.

absolutely disgusting. I'm of the opinion that video game ratings should be taken seriously by parents. it's become a meme and a stereotype that you'll hear young childish voices in a CoD lobby but honestly, NO children should be playing an M game. No CoD, no Halo, no GTA, but they all do and it's a terrible precedent set in our society.

 

[Iceman]

CWA Union on Activision deal

Completion of Microsoft/Activision Merger Will Transform the Video Game and Technology Labor Market

Today’s announcement that Microsoft has completed its acquisition of Activision Blizzard represents a milestone in the effort to improve working conditions in the video game industry. Under the terms of a ground-breaking, legally-binding labor neutrality agreement, Microsoft will remain neutral...

cwa-union.org

 

[XtremelyBaneful]

New studio formed

Microsoft's Activision team is opening a new game studio in Poland 'Elsewhere Entertainment' to build new AAA IP

The studio boasts The Last of Us, Witcher, Cyberpunk, and Uncharted developers in its team.

www.windowscentral.com