Playeressence's Furious Francis discusses how the PS4 doesn't need to be the cutting edge monster the PS3 was at launch to sell the most consoles next generation.
Sony and Microsoft have responded to the CMA's revised findings with Sony citing Redfall's Harvey Smith about the cancelled PS5 version.
Sony: "If PlayStation received a degraded version of Call of Duty, it would "seriously damage our reputation. Our gamers would desert our platform in droves and network effects would exacerbate the problem. Our business would never recover."
Wow Sony just admitted that their 1st party titles are meaningless to the success of the platform, so much for exclusives matter lol.
MS will literally have the existence of the Playstation brand in the palm of their hand if Sony is being truthful.
CoD is 10% of their annual revenue and similarly so for Xbox. If gamers move elsewhere for CoD, the biggest game out there, then they will also buy other third parties elsewhere.
Zero platforms survive on exclusives and rely primarily on third party titles (even Nintendo).
Losing a huge portion of your revenue stream means you can't compete as well and your competition gains what you lose.
This isn't rocket science. Why are you acting like you've figured out some sort of gotcha moment when saying exclusives matter isn't the same as saying they determine the profitability of your company.
The problem is that CoD is too big of a game and people are acting like it isn't. It is the juggernaut in the industry. It is the Usain Bolt of video games, no one is catching up to it and it keeps running.
I am just quoting Sony if you think they are lying that's up to you to believe that.
You're miscontextualizing their quote, not quoting them. You're essentially saying that someone that says they prefer hamburgers will never eat pizza. They never said what you said, which is that exclusives are all that matter.
"Zero platforms survive on exclusives and rely primarily on third party titles (even Nintendo)."
Not true. Nintendo´s Switch TOP 20 best selling games is literally made of Nintendo´s first party games ONLY. Check your facts.
So yes, unlike Sony and Microsoft, Nintendo relies on their first party first and foremost to survive.
Jim Ryan´s statements is just stupid and irresponsible. Playstation ain´t going nowhere with or without COD, all he´s doing is downplaying Playstation first party games and developers every time he opens his mouth by calling COD the holy grail of games.
***Why would they move if the game is still on PS5?***
Did you miss the first part of sparky77's quote? "If PlayStation received a degraded version of Call of Duty, it would "seriously damage our reputation."
I'm replying to sparky, not the title of the submission.
***Not true. Nintendo´s Switch TOP 20 best selling games is literally made of Nintendo´s first party games ONLY. Check your facts.***
Guarantee fortnite and Minecraft make more money than any of those best selling games. Being best selling doesn't mean saving the entirety of the platform. Those are also the titles that cost Nintendo the most to put out. Third parties are literally w/o any production/manufacturing costs. Just a percentage of sales, including MTX/DLC.
Obscure, Jim's not downplaying anything. He's stating that if Microsoft takes away 10 percent of their revenue that comes from cod, that extra money they make to use on creating first party games, getting exclusives from third parties, investing in indie developers, releasing innovative hardware like PS VR 2 would be lost because of Microsoft's monopolization of publishers and franchises.
You can't just quickly recover from a big portion of your money being taken away. Microsoft could easily recover because Daddy Warbucks is footing the bill of a loss leading platform. Sony's PlayStation platform makes money on its own.
But you guys want to make it seem he's saying that internal games are worthless. Which isn't the case. And Sony's teams know that. They know what it means as well to lose money to create games besides from exclusively created game revenue.
Because they don't have arguments. They want to put under the rug the impact of Cod. So they are tryng to say it's just Cod.... For me it's the Cristiano Ronaldo or Messi of videogaming. Every year means billions. No other game does this. Fact
"Guarantee fortnite and Minecraft make more money than any of those best selling games. Being best selling doesn't mean saving the entirety of the platform."
And guarantee that you won´t see Nintendo crying over the possible loss of any of those.
Nintendo always had and will continue to rely on themselves, period! They never needed some third party GaaS games to survive and never will.
@Obscure I'm pretty sure the WiiU pretty much failed because they made it difficult for third parties to put games on the console
***And guarantee that you won´t see Nintendo crying over the possible loss of any of those.***
I think you'd be surprised.
***Nintendo absolutely doesn't not primarily rely on third party titles.***
I guarantee the majority of Nintendo's profits from gaming comes from third-parties. People forget how much it costs to make your own content and how that eats into profits compared to the 30% off of other people's work.
So a lot of people have commented on Sony receiving an inferior version of the game. It seems that most people on here haven’t read or heard of the remedies/concessions MS bound itself to.
The biggest of which is an independent oversight committee that is paid for by MS and its members chosen by the government agencies. Their job will involve ensuring parity on quality and content. They will have the power to stop the game releasing on all platforms if the standards are not met.
So all the fuss over an inferior version is mute.
Well said.
To add on, obviously Sony is going to push this sentiment just as MS pushed the fact that Sony is dominant and they can not compete with them. Each company will play to the legislative powers and appear more weak and vulnerable than they are in an attempt to sway the results. For ppl to use either as a "gotcha" moment is ignorant.
While both are technically true, Sony's reliance on CoD and Xbox being less successful than PlayStation, each company is embellishing their particular ssentiment.
Obscure_Observer
"PlayStation ain't going nowhere with or without CoD"
I'm sorry but this guy depicts the worst of fanboy culture. I'm bias to a degree. I have preferences and i pull for a particular platform more than others bc i enjoy that product more. However, the inability to give any credit or at least be realistic about the opposition is weak.
Are you insinuating that PlayStation isn't or won't be successful in the future? They are dominating. PS5 projections are outlandish. They are breaking revenue records. Demand is insane. They are pushing more hardware, software, and studios than ever. Your agenda is so bluntly obvious and weak. Yeah, PlayStation is clearly struggling and has no future. Ppl who live by the "wait til next year" mentality do so bc they are failing in current day.
@zekk
"I'm pretty sure the WiiU pretty much failed because they made it difficult for third parties to put games on the console"
All the way wrong, couldn't be anymore wrong if you tried. See Wii U had Watch Dogs, NFS and even Batman: Arkham Asylum (or some other Arkham game) and at least one or two CoD games, but it sold less units than PS Vita (which had some version of CoD that was poorly received)...
Nintendo really might be fine without third parties until we consider Pokémon. Without Pokémon Nintendo might really be hurting, as far as I'm aware it actually is a third party game, Game Freak and The Pokémon Company can pull their support for Nintendo and Pokémon revenue disappears... even so Nintendo games are some of the best selling out there and more often than not these days they include MTX and/or subs to unlock things or to play at all like Splatoon does.
We’ll yeah call of duty is a very important game in the industry probably the most important one right now. So not surprising they think that it’s the truth. It moved consoles and gives them a lot of money so they obviously don’t want Microsoft in control of that.
But on topic I guess it’s good Microsoft never promised anyone that they wouldn’t make Bethesda games exclusives so they are doing nothing wrong. If that was a stipulation for buying Bethesda then okay I get it but it wasn’t.
Supposedly it was said by ms that whatever was in development for ps would still be put out. Therefore shutting down development of said game by ms was a bs move. Pretty sure that's it
@Sonic
Great suggestion! Only problem is they would need to think. So.... seems unlikely.
You also forget that all Cod players buy Playstation Plus.
That is also a huge financial hit if those players switch platform.
Finally... In some way you finally get it. Yes their monopolistic to tendencies are fatal for other companies...hence why the deal shouldn't go through...and as Christopher said....you're also misrepresenting their quote.
Sparky, i truly trying to figure out why you care so much act like Sony is the bad guy here for trying make this multiplatform publisher stay independent and making games for every one
I hope you have this strength when Sony is doing the same and i hope to see you defend the decision when buy big publishers like Capcom and Square Enix or From Software etc etc
Sony: "If PlayStation received a degraded version of Call of Duty, it would "seriously damage our reputation. Our gamers would desert our platform in droves and network effects would exacerbate the problem. Our business would never recover."
But we have no issue with giving a degraded PC version of our game or paying to ensure that the PS4 version of COD has exclusives features
As we said in the past PLaystation is the home of Call of Duty
Hey lets just take everything out of context and present it as fact, truly emulating Phil and MS!
I actually fear the damage Microsoft would moreso do to the gaming sector than Sony would, Microsoft is just throwing money around to buy themselves a monopoly, truely cancerous behavior.
And I'm had much more quality experiences with Sony than I ever have with Xbox.
Just like MS admitted they are getting dominated by Sony and have no chance to compete. Read between the lines. Each company will make themselves appear weak or vulnerable in an attempt to influence legislation. Stop with the bs. I seriously wonder if ppl are naive or just pushing their agenda.
COD is too big an IP to be handled by 1 company and COD fans will move to xbox easily.
Highly doubt that unless someone bought a PS solely to play COD otherwise PS fans,loyalist & owners will continue to support the PS platform.
Again...the lack of brain activity is incredible.
Yes! There are many who buy a console based on what other are purchasing and aren't entirely loyal to one brand. They will easily move if one of their biggest games goes to another platform. Heck I already know a few individuals purchasing Xbox over PlayStation because of starfield. They were originally going to purchase PlayStation but when I told them about starfield exclusivity...of which they had no idea...they changed their mind on which to purchase.
@crows Having a lack of brain activity is incredible. It seems you don't know what fans & loyal customers mean. Most loyal customers & fans of PS do not own a PS console solely to play COD though you may have some casuals that buy a PS console to play COD only with their casual friends that only play COD. I play COD but I only play the campaign then I'm done with it. I've bought all generations of PS consoles & it wasn't to play COD & I'm quite sure there are millions of PS owners that have the same mindset. That's a ridiculous notion to think PS fans & loyalists will drop PS if it was exclusive to XB. They would play it on PC, finally buy an XB alongside their PS or they won't bother to play COD at all.
Nintendo doesn't care. Look at the sales of Nintendo without Cod... If they wanted activision would be jumping at their door. Streaming... No words... Pc got lackluster sales. Let's see what will haopend
If the case then why is COD back on Steam instead of just Battle.net?
Or how come EA games are back on Steam too?
Surely it's cheaper and easier to install a FREE launcher compare to buying a 500$ console + subscription.
@Badz
I'm pretty sure that Steam users do own a PC.
So again my question Why did Blizzard Activision or EA decide to come back to Steam when it's free to install Battle.net or EA Origin?
Crows90, PS is still getting Call of duty. The only changes are so are Nintendo and Gamepass.
All Ms gotta say is look at Stellar Blade it was announced for Xbox in the trailer and it not all the suddenly.
Street Fighter 5 your honor the previous Street Fighter 4 was on all consoles and was best played on Xbox for Evo tournament and Sony paid Capcom a huge amount of $$$ to skip Xbox and Nintendo for a whole generation.
@343, don't be ignorant get informed. Capcom was in bad shape back then and would not have made street fighter 5 but for Sony funding the game and publishing it. Capcom since then has recovered financially and therefore sf6 has returned to being multiplatform. Doesn't matter xbox players don't buy games anyways.
How do you know stellar blades still ain't coming to xbox 6 months to a year later.
Street fighter I've read Sony played a part in helping develop that. Maybe it's not true. Eh I ain't looking it up
This lie that “Sony helped” needs to stop.
SF6 is coming to Xbox. Did Sony help with SF6. Did it help with SF4. Read between the lines they paid to keep it exclusive.
It won't. Sony never said it was timed or anything. They funded the rest of the game and took away the already announced and planned Xbox version.
There's no "what ifs" Don't even begin to make excuses. .
@343
Is it also a lie that FF16 was helped developed by Sony? This partnership ives Sony a few months of exclusivity, but the game itself would have taken that many months or more of development without Sony anyways. The first FF game to have no development troubles in who knows how long. Interesting how people can point out supposed "lies" on one side and not apply the same attention to detail or reading between the lines of another to provide criticism for.
343
It's foolish to use SF6 as an example of why Capcom didn't need Sony's help with SF5. Capcom is vastly more successful now as opposed to the inception of SF5. The resurgence of Monster Hunter, Resident Evil, etc gives them the financial freedom they lacked back then. Around a time when RE was floundering, Monster Hunter was on essentially one platform, and Deep Down and Panta Rai were draining money. Look at RE6, MvC Infinite. That era of Capcom was largely a flop. They are much stronger now.
And Tomb Raider was the same thing. Titanfall, Dead Rising 3, The Gunk, Pugb, etc. Both companies have done and continue to do this with 3rd party games. How many timed deals are on Game Pass? Stop clinging to Stellar Blade and FF like MS never did the same thing.
If anything, 3rd party deals are common. However, publisher acquisitions that cancel in development versions of games for a particular platform and banish IP from a particular platform forever are less common to the point of nearly unprecedented. Not saying either is good for fans but to act like timed exclusivity on Stellar Blade is equal to the Bethesda and ABK deals is ignorant.
And the only reason MS doesn't acquire bigger 3rd party exclusivity these days is bc Gamepass limits their ability to do so. But even last generation as the vastly inferior platform they still had major 3rd party exclusives timed or otherwise via Tomb Raider, Titanfall, Pubg, Ryse, Dead Rising, ReCore, Quantum Break, etc. Early 360 they had deals for Mass Effect, Oblivion, Bioshock, Alan Wake etc. You guys cling to Stellar Blade though. Funny.
You still missed the entire point if the argument. 3rd party has been goin on for ages it's fine it's normal. "times deals on gamepass" is something you clearly made up I don't even know what that means.
"And Tomb Raider was the same thing. Titanfall, Dead Rising 3, The Gunk, Pugb, etc. Both companies have done and continue to do this with 3rd party games. How many timed deals are on Game Pass? Stop clinging to Stellar Blade and FF like MS never did the same thing."
But how many times has a game that was announced to the world as a multiplatform game only for MS to take over and rid of said PS game?
Let me say it again. People like you have trouble reading.
Again ANNOUNCED to world as a multplat? How many times has MS done that? You have no excuses for Stellar Blade. If you make excuses then it's only ok for Sony to do it right? Since you love defending terrible buissness practices.
"Not saying either is good for fans but to act like timed exclusivity on Stellar Blade is equal to the Bethesda and ABK deals is ignorant."
Hifi, Redfall and Starfield are own by MS. No contracts or obligations were done by Sony (they almost got Starfield though) those games were never announce just to take away like Sony did with Stellar Blade. A game and studio Sony doesn't even own. Owning with no contracts or obligations vs none owning and canning the announced Xbox version. Which ones worse?
You lost this argument.
The CMA did not care if Bethesda made their games exclusive to Xbox. Also they already knew about Redfall's cancelled version. Doesn't matter what Sony says now.. the CMA doesn't care.
"Doesn't matter what Sony says now.. the CMA doesn't care."
Jim Ryan is desperate, he just called CMA irrational yesterday and now he´s trying to bring them some "sense" by mention Bethesda. What a loser.
@curtain_swoosh
"but you'd know all about losers."
Yeah, I can easily tell that bozo is gonna lose this case and will be begging at MS´s door in no time.
@Ryuk, Jim,Ryan is,right, the CMA did a complete 180 from their own stated position (supported by their own extensive research) just 2 months ago. Was their logic/research completely wrong just 2 months ago? Lol. I doubt it. Any reasonable observer would find such behavior on the part of the cma "irrational " .
Evidently MS and others made a more compelling case then Sony for the merger to be approved.
If Sony wasn't in such a dominant position in so many markets the merger may have been blocked, success can be a double edged sword.
@king, it was never Sony's job to make any case, I'm talking about the cma's own findings a few months ago. Anyone who knows a little about administration law knows that regulatory bodies are very careful when giving findings, the cma was not nuetral at all on their last report about this purchase they said definitively it would reduce competition. A complete reversal on their own findings call into question the validity of all their reasoning on this issue. I don't like conspiracies but I believe Microsoft recent purchase of a sizeable portion of the London stock exchange influenced this decision to change course.
@derek what is this about London stock exchange?
@kingnick MSs case and details of it are completely public and it was not compelling AT ALL. Infact it was deeply flawed as is the CMA's new position. Their new position, makes no sense and by the same logic they are using elder scrolls 6 should still be on PlayStation as should redfall and no titles should go to games pass fay 1 as they are causing MS tonloae out on alot if money. It assumes microsofts gsme isn't to destroy competitors revenue streams vs increase their own. They have plenty of form in such practices.
It's pretty suspicious behavior from the CMA, I can imagine some "greasing of the wheels" may have happened, but I don't have any evidence to suggest this was the case, it's just a weird turn of events anyhow.
yup, when the eyes are already blinded and ears already closed by money from MS, nothing else matters
But they should have. Bethesda alone banishes future iterations of IP like Fallout, Elder Scrolls, Starfield, Doom, Wolfenstein, Quake, Redfall, and potential future iterations of Dishonored, Evil Within, or other IP from Arkane/Tango etc. That's so many impactful multiplat IP to strip from a particular fanbase. Pretty egregious. Pretty unprecedented.
Then factor Crash, Diablo, Overwatch etc. Even if CoD remains multi the potential that all of these other IP could eventually be taken from a fanbase is unconscionable.
In letters obtained by Axios, reps blast an “imbalanced Japanese video game market.”
As they should, Sony is preventing Xbox gamers playing JP games like Final Fantasy which is why they dominate in JP. And since Sony doesn't count Nintendo they have a monopoly.
Sony shouldn't have poked the bear that is MS, you can bet after the deal is done they will go scorched earth on Sony.
MS has the money and power to make Sony disappear so they best keep silent from here on if they want to remain relevant.
Sony hasnt done much like Nintendo is getting JP games as well. The only company is square that they are doing a couple of deals outta dozens of games.
They dominate the Japanese market because it is a Japanese company. And not all PS exclusive jp titles are exclusive due to exclusivity deals. Yeah FF for sure is, but there's dozens if not hundreds of jp games that are exclusive simply because they dont see the point in putting it elsewhere. Also MS has exclusivity deals too, doesnt matter where they're from. If MS was that concerned about it they would have finished Scalebound or Phantom Dust
Kinda like ms has already gone and cornered the western rpg market. From things I've read ms doesn't even try in Japan anymore. They did during the 360 and after about 4 5 jrpgs they just said nah. That's on ms
Why would Yoshi-P make a game for Xbox when Microsoft specifically said "no, we don't want your previous game, FF14n on our console."
Yeah, like making donations to some of these politicians right? You Xbox fanboys would co-sign corruption if MS does it. You claim MS has money and power, yet they refuse to invest in the Japanese market, yet their have enough money to encourage some politicians to spread lies.
Microsoft can literally work with more Japanese studios, open Studios and releases games that appeals to the Japanese market, they can also advertise their products in Japan, they don't and cry about the Japanese government or Sony getting in their way.
What the fuck are you on about? I didn't realize this gamer shit is becoming a fucking national issue.
Sony dominates Japan if we don't count Nintendo? Well no shit...not sonys fault MS is a real competitor over there.
I like how Apple does well in japan.
Shows if a foreign company actually wants to make headway in Japan, they totally can.
MS never gave a fuck about Japan.
some shitty efforts from MS for further appeal to ABK deal there with obvious lobbying lmao
conveniently skipped Nintendo and PC overwhelming dominance over Sony in japan with ultra specific “high-end console market space” phrase, when in any other day they’d claim PC is one of their environments until their throat is sore
what’s funny is how these congressmen suddenly understand “high-end console market space in japan” as if they’ve been a game connosieur all their lives, I don’t even think they can even name all Xbox console right.
Before its wait for E3 now its wait for activision deal is done LMAO! xbox 3rd place for life.
Your rantings are like those of people that love the sound of their own voice. I know you're enjoying spending time in the fantasy world you've created for yourself though.
Rep. Kevin McCarthy: Those people are stopping American businesses from selling those play things in Japan, and this will not stand! We want the PlayBoxes to be fairly sold worldwide, we demand it! IF you do not start selling more good ol' American-made Nintendos in China, we're going to call for an investigation and subpoena Xi Jinping to testify before Congress!
Sony nor Nintendo is preventing anything. Playstation and Nintendo sells more consoles so developers makes games for those consoles. Why would japanese developers make games for a consoles that only sales 300 consoles per month?
Xbox gamers don't like Japanese games. They just okay halo, gears and forza. That's why Sony dominates there.
Yup, this is going to blow up in Sony's face. They should have taken the 10 year deal.
They released a few games on xbox..they don't sell man. lol You can take a horse to water but you cannot make it drink. The community on xbox simply don't play jrpg.
Lost Odyssey was a damn hit of a game that deserved way more sales than it got.
@ sparky Kid here’s a lesson in business, companies follow the money if your distributor isn’t promoting your product and have it in the back of the store with a broken light while the distributor competition have it at the front door with bright lights, sales signs and sale 10x the other who do you think the company will look for to sale their product, the one that barely sale it in the back or the one that sales 10x by the front door, I know it’s hard to use logic but think about it.
SPOILER ALERT 🚨
It’s the one that sale the most and the company will keep going to the one that sales the most
Lmao ah ok. How long has MS had that same power and money to make Sony "disappear"? They have been in the game business now for what like 20 yrs now, and they ALWAYS finish last. Lol Sony are a smaller company, but they are FAR better at making games. Call me when they have blockbusters like the last of us, God of war, spiderman, uncharted etc. The only way they can try to compete is to buy up publushers like abk. It's really sad.
"MS has the money and power to make Sony disappear so they best keep silent from here on if they want to remain relevant."
You just described the actions of a monopoly using threat, force and intimidation to further their means.
Congratulations, you played yourself.
Not just Japan, Sony dominated in certain countries because they care about the market outside of US. While MS is crying about Japan, Sony is pushing their investment to Korea, China， India , Thailand... "China Hero" project, Playstation studio Malaysia , just today they released a playstation story commercial in Thai.
And most importantly, the xsx supplyment to Asia is SHIT compared to PS5. The price of xsx here are much higher than PS5 because of that. By what Chinese says here, MS is treating us like monkeys, their console supply is like throwing bananas to monkeys just for fun.
MS's failure in Japan reflects his ignorance to the whole east. They have much to cry about, and it's def not because of one or two exclusives titles. Even in this case, MS pretend they care about Japan, but in real they are just using this as leverage to make Sony bend.
Go touch grass xbot fanboy, you sound just like Microsoft, butt hurt and crying like a little baby.
MS can have all the studios it wants and it won't make a single difference lol they'll all just be mismanaged and closed years later. How's Halo working out for you? Oh that's right, its dead now.
How's Rare doing? Oh right they were mismanaged into oblivion.
How's Playground Games? Ahh all top veterans quit! Hahaha LOL I'd expect CoD to be a very dead franchise soon.
Japan doesn't buy American Consoles and never has. They are not interested and besides that.
Nintendo rules the roost in Japan and I don't ever see that ending.
One reason is the handheld market. It's massive out there.
you speak of both companies as a whole in a contained market rivalry. MS ain't putting all their resources onto this. The sub division of MS dedicated to gaming is! Same goes for Sony's side. Translated into simple terms, Sony is bigger than MS in the gaming department
Here is some of the jrpgs that was exclusive to Xbox, and they all flopped badly just for that reason.
We have no idea what games has been paid for time exclusivity or life time exclusivity, what we do know however is that Square and many other Japanese companies doesn't see profit in putting games on Xbox anymore, even thou they tried over and over again.
The mindset that only Sony reach out to SE is getting childish, as it's so far from the truth.
Eternal Sonata (Bandai Namco)
Octopath Traveler (SquareEnix)
Lost Odyssey (Mistwalker)
Blue Dragon (Mistwalker)
Infinite Undiscovery (SquareEnix)
Star Ocean: The Last Hope (SquareEnix)
The Last Remnant (SquareEnix)
Crystal Defenders (Square Enix)
If by “scorched earth” you mean a couple legal treadmills and wasted dollars, sure, but you talk like MS if gonna go Taken on Sony, drop the phone and find them in their sleep, jeez, it’s legal video game BS, calm yourself
Final Fantacy has nothing to do with it. MS just does not appeal to the JP. How well did the 360 do in JP, it had final fantasy and other rpg games. Maybe, just maybe it MS
"As they should, Sony is preventing Xbox gamers playing JP games like Final Fantasy"..
And..........Oh is that it? Do you have any more examples of Japanese games Sony has blocked? And I mean where Sony have a written down deal that specifically excludes Xbox and not because of poor Xbox sales in Japan.
Another Xbox fanboy made a similar claim on Eurogamer, but funny enough they couldn't think of any more examples.
"Sony doesn't count Nintendo they have a monopoly" do you have a link to this claim?
How is that an American congressional area of concern?
How is it of the American Congress' power to affect the behavior of a Japanese corporation over another?
They need to stay out of it honestly, they don't know nothing about video games to begin with. Like the time they tried to blame video games for gun violence.
Exactly. Maybe a handful of them literally but the rest of them old ass white dudes don't know dick about gaming except its an easy scapegoat for a mass shooting. Also the first 1 that jumped on this bandwagon was a politician from Washington state itself. You know what company of the big 3 console makers is from Washington state right
No what they are doing is the right thing sony needs to be fined what they are doing that’s actually anticompetitive. They need to be regulated Japan needs to stop showing preferential treatment to Japanese companies if not the US should do the same
To pay a developer in Japan to exclude a game on Xbox definitely needs to be checked whether it sells or not is not the point. They shouldn’t be bitching about call of duty if that was the case. They brought this on themselves now need to be looked at closely and have their practices scrutinized and fined or file a lawsuit on.
@blackblades that’s because we are morally sane individuals , but it’s some ppl who are crazy asf out there that will see stuff in movies and games .. then try to reenact something’s on real life
Well, Sony open the the hornet's nest. Now they must deal with the consequences.
Many people claim Final Fantasy doesn't sell on Xbox. Basically, Sony doesn't need those Final Fantasy exclusives deals, since the Xbox market is irrelevant for japanese games. So by their logic, Sony is just throwing away money on these deals... apparently, the American Congress doesn't agree with those people.
That’s the thing.
If Sony didn’t go full-r*tard on this and make all these outlandish claims to stop what is the 4th biggest revenue income publisher for them, under them no less, these things wouldn’t have come to light.
Now, all their scum bag practices got aired out. Officials declare MS acquisition not to be anti-competitive or a monopolistic move and as a result Sony is now being questioned by all the revelations that came about these court proceedings.
Should’ve just taken the deal…
Sony opened the honest message. What are you 12. We're you even alive during the Xbox 360 Era for fuks sake.
I would say it's fair enough that Sony is getting grief for this. I've said it before, but I fully understand their interests in trying to block the deal, but when you go to court and you're doing shady stuff, you CAN'T be upset when it comes to light that you've got some trade secrets and panic when they get aired out. In this regard, Microsoft did nothing wrong and Sony goofed.
And you make an interesting point on Sony essentially throwing away money. The only benefit I can see to this strategy is essentially commissioning publishers and developers to make the one console version the best that it can be. An incentive, if you will.
As for the American Congress, well... It's pretty much a democratic senator from Microsoft's home state and some right wing House members (who, if you don't know, are quite corporate capitalists; Democrats are too, but let's just say republicans are just more honest in how terrible they are). If Microsoft opens up their wallets even more, I'm sure they'll get the support they need from legislators with a price tag. If we see McConnell and/or Manchin get in on this, you'll know what's up.
Sony started this by buying a major publisher and several IPs? Having the money to do so yet failing to develop its own in-house games years after, decades, being in the industry.
Yah they are probably fearing them buying up a smaller Japanese publisher or 2. I'd trade ABK for Capcom and square all day long.
I like how 6 people disagreed with my comment like there is any other reason. Lol
@tay8701
Same here. Also there are rumors of a certain large publisher that is in Sony’s crosshairs. At this point the rest of the multiplatform publishers are all for grab with the legal precedence that is about to be set by MS’s aquisition of Activision, so I hope Sony goes after some instead of some other corporate giant like tencent, apple, google, etc.
He still has a big portion of his personal wealth in Microsoft, which means strings are being pulled, because he'll want to protect that. Big tech needs putting in it's place, THAT'S something congress should be involved with, not helping them to amass more power. They're only doing this because of orders from above and/or for personal interests.
This topic again..
Not gonna harp on it, just want to say that the timing is suspicious and you would be foolish to believe this uncritically.
Very curious about recent lobbying efforts.
Japan don’t care about Xbox. But hey let’s blame Sony. And ignore the fact Nintendo is the one actually dominating.
“As they should, Sony is preventing Xbox gamers playing JP games like Final Fantasy which is why they dominate in JP.”
Square Enix could’ve easily said no to PS5 exclusivity but they didn’t. It’s not a one way street.
Sony should buy Rockstar and tell Microsoft they have 10 years to come up with a GTA competitor.
It would be hysterical if that were to go down. They would be in full meltdown mode. Then all of the sudden It would be bad that Sony buys up a big publisher, when they have been screaming IF MS and ABK wants to do it, they should be able to.
The legal precedence set by MS’s acquisition means the rest of the industry will go the same route, there will be a frenzy of mergers amd acquisitions. There is already rumors of Sony aiming for exactly what you mentioned. Other mega corporations will also be aiming for the rest of the publishers so they can create their own services.
Yeah, it's all a big plot so that Japan is forced to let MS buy Sega and Namco and have all 4 classic characters as their mascot. They will then replace the X in a circle with an X over pacman's face, as their logo. We will also see adds in the likes of Crash, Spyro, Sonic and Pac-Lady around an MS logo with the caption "the way it's ment to be plaid" 🤣
The government is in bed with Microsoft, has been for years. How is this not a conflict of interests? How is this not straight up nepotism?
They do this kind of thing all the time at that level, looking after their buddies. (See: Ursula Von Der Leyen (AKA Ursula Fond o' Lyin') and her hubby's links during the vaccine rollout). Why should congress waste the tax payer's time and money dwelling on what happens in a foreign market that may or may not hinder the progress of a company that happens to be American? It's outside of their jurisdiction. Which is why it's plain to see it serves the interests of the individuals in congress rather than the American citizens...
And why did Microsoft buy zenimax and Activision along with 10+ other developers ?
US congressmen can't work on bill that could be improving American lives, we still have homeless people under the bridges, many of whom served in the military but instead these congressmen areworried about japanese gaming market. This is all Microsoft and their resources talking
Ya their practices of not giving money to politicians like MS sure is suspicious.
By "somebody" you mean paid for politicians MS has in their back pocket, of course.
As stated by sony themselves, they spend 2.5 million a year lobying in the US. Quite crying.
@bleedsoe9mm
Oh god, “representational government” was not meant for lobbyists. Lol
The reason your politicians are the best money can buy is because of little case called Federal Election commission vs. Citizens United where they inadvertently openned the floodgates of corporate shills when they ruled that a corporation was a “person”. This resulted in corporations being able to “donate” money to politicians in the same way mom and pop could. As if both mom and pop and a corporation had the same financial might. That is why you got corrupt politicians like the ones MS is sicking on Sony at the moment.
LOL...this is Congressmen doing it for campaign support. It's called legal bribery.
It is all out there to see..
The Japanese cutler spends money on reliable long lasting items.
All stems from Microsoft’s faulty hardware that built distrust with said market.
You are just reading an article payed for by Microsoft’s money doing everything to get the deal done.
Lack of game making and lack of reliability on their hardware is why they do not do well in markets with a culture that looks for the complete opposite of what Microsoft offers.
That and Microsoft’s stigma of being cruel and shady to competitors through many tactics.
They just are not liked.
Spilt blood does not get anyone any sympathy.
Looks like Sony's crying and complaining about MS to the FTC has shifted some unwanted eyes on them.
And Microsoft is burned beyond belief. That's why it's in last place, their games don't sell, their services floped and are spending 80 billions on publishers... Scary stuff
We are seeing the power of money in action. Why would US Senators be concerned over the failings of a trillion dollar company's venture in Japan? Because when you can buy Senators, you can use the government as a vehicle to look at things that tax payors probably don't care about. Instead of gun violence we have our senators trying to fight on behalf of the richest of the rich.
Am sure the MS donations checks have cleared. This does absolutely nothing and I guarantee you, tje Japanese government will pretend these politicians don't exist
"Am sure the MS donations checks have cleared"
Ah yes, it was all fair and square when the attention and focus was on MS...now it's bribes and corruption when questions are asked about Sony.
@gangsta_red
https://twitter.com/stephen...
The 1st lady that came up literally has Microsoft as one of her biggest donors
Anyway Mr. Bot, you are welcome.
1st off MS employees are her biggest contributors. 2nd it literally her job to look out for the well being of her constituents. If there is nothing untoward in Sony business nothing will come of it.
Probably for the best. These politicans arent entirely right in the head anyways. ITs funny though to see some suddenly care about these politicans judgements.
@bleedsoe9mm
You mean the same business practices that Microsoft themselves take part in, from having a history of paying for exclusive content to full and timed exclusive deals? I wouldn't be surprised if these politicians knew MS does they same things, but they look the other way then the check clears
"well being of her constituents", I didn't know her constitutes included those in Japan. Microsoft is the one who refuses to advertise Xbox games and consoles in Japan, they don't want to invest in the Japanese market, they don't want to make games that appeals to the Japanese, but here they are crying to politicians, who receive money from them and who are too stupid to do basic research and regurgitate whatever lies MS tell them. There are many Japanese gamer/content creators on Twitter who have spoken about how there is almost no marketing of Xbox from Microsoft in Japan. Tell me, how do you expect to grow in a market that you intentionally refuse to invest. I guess make a few donations to politicians and tell them Sony and the Japanese government are making things difficult for you. Right?
@bleedsoe9mm
So you are saying that for the last 20 years no senator in WA state gave a shit about Microsoft and Xbox until now? It is not like the Xbox was not getting their asses handed to them in Japan, with Europe right behind, for the last 10 years. Where were the senators then? It is pretty obvious that after the acquistion decison all of these senators complaining will go away since they will stop being paid
@redemption
Oh yeah, it's not like Sony doesn't also donate money to lobbyists for their own interests. Here's something to gurgle on...
https://www.washingtonexami...
"Sony donated nearly $750,000 to candidates and spent more than $5.5 million on lobbying in the last two years — almost all directed to Democrats, and it has a reputation of successfully using its money to buy their support."
https://www.opensecrets.org...
https://twitter.com/SenWarr...
https://twitter.com/SenSand...
Always a pleasure.
Lol How much money do you want to put on that these politicians all have donations from Microsoft.
Really sad how even when obvious people are bought, people will still back them.
You can support the deal going through, without thinking Politicians coming to defend their financial backers is just those politicians really concerned about Sony market share.
A lot. That's why the majority of gamers don't like Microsoft. And never will. It's a scummy company that always tries to get monopoly and force people into get their stuff.
And you really believe Sony donated $0 to American politicians? Sony who's market also includes Hollywood TV/movies, music and real estate in the states?
What about the politicians that supported the FTC in blocking the deal? Most, if not all of them were democrats, the main party Sony donated to.
Should we also bet that they were also paid off by Sony?
https://www.opensecrets.org...
When will you xbox fanboys stop crying and complaining about anything and everything Sony says or does?
Nope, not really. This is just desperation from Microsoft. Anybody with half a brain doesn't eat this
This is performative and nothing else. Just look at who leads it - Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) and "A letter to Tai and Raimondo from six Democratic lawmakers from Washington state — where Microsoft is based — covers similar ground."
And the questions they rise here aren't at all done by Microsoft in the past either. It's a problem when Sony makes a third-party deal, not when Microsoft does it?
This is just more pressure from Microsoft to try and make Sony look bad so they can get the ABK deal done.
***The Republican letter alleges that Sony PlayStation has 98% of the “high-end console market in Japan,” signs deals designed to keep hit Japanese games from Microsoft’s Xbox, and says such moves “may violate Japan’s antitrust laws.”
"Article 8 of the 2019 U.S.-Japan Digital Trade Agreement calls for the countries to enable “non-discriminatory treatment of digital products” which would include games."***
This doesn't apply to licensing agreements. Otherwise, they're trying to tear down how licensing agreements work and would upend the whole industry for video games, streaming services, and more. It's not discriminatory to make licensing deals. It's discriminatory to overprice content on a competing platform.
By this logic, Sony can't have their own exclusives on their own platform if it comes to the U.S.
This is dumb.
Let alone, they are attempting to remove Nintendo and the PC market as a whole, both of which dwarf the PS market in japan, from the conversation entirely. In the competition for “high-end console market in Japan,” it's only Microsoft and Sony. And it's because of non-discriminatory treatment of digital products that did that? Can Microsoft point to us on the timeline of all consoles sales in Japan where they weren't beaten by Sony entirely at similar levels? Is there a metric where, suddenly, Sony started beating the big contender that was Microsoft in Japan?
"Let alone, they are attempting to remove Nintendo and the PC market as a whole" Sony did this not MS, Sony.
The only reason there has been any opposition to the ABK deal is because Sony made up this "high-end market". Now it is being used against them.
Incomparable.
1. Sony and Microsoft are direct competitors. Fact.
2. These congresspeople claim that Japan, the nation as a whole, are working to limit American video game business in their country, irrespective of the current ABK item or Sony alone.
3. Instead of comparing the nation as a whole, they then make it just about Sony.
4. In Japan, Nintendo is larger than Sony in the $2.7b console market, PC accounts for $3.8b of the market and dwarfs the last two, while mobile is at $29b.
5. Among those markets represented in Japan, Sony is the smallest of them, and yet it is Sony that is limiting growth for Microsoft in Japan and not the fact that their single competition at a specific value itself is losing in the market as a whole because of shifts to other platforms.
6. I'll leave you with this fact "The Xbox Series X/S has sold more than 100,000 units in Japan, according to the local industry bible Famitsu. This is at a much faster rate than for its predecessor the Xbox One, which took four and a half years to reach this figure."
I know you guys have had a rough couple of decades but you really need to relax, you guys are going to have an aneurysm with all your Sony hate.
Different markets in the west the comparison of Microsoft and Sony is a valid one excluding nintendo- because that's how our market behaves and how consumers view it by and large. In Japan a different market consumers behave differently and such a comparison is not valid. In Japan Nintendo is very much a competitor of Sony and actually has larger market share.
Microsoft doesn't care about the Japanese home console market. There isn't much of one left to begin with.
It's about Sony getting exclusive games developed in Japan that sell in the rest of the world.
Sony pushed a narrow definition of the market to stop the AKB merger and Ms is going to use it against them to look into exclusive deals from large Japanese publishers/potentially block acquisitions or potentially be ready to fight for future acquisitions of their own.
This could be the framework MS uses to justify the purchase of a Square/Sega/Capcom down the road.
Defining the market as high-end home gaming consoles only was extremely short sighted of Sony and MS is absolutely going to use that to frame this as a David vs Goliath story with regulators for years to come.
***It's about Sony getting exclusive games developed in Japan that sell in the rest of the world.***
Versus Microsoft getting exclusive games developed in the U.S. that sell in the rest of the world?
***Sony pushed a narrow definition of the market to stop the AKB merger and Ms is going to use it against them to look into exclusive deals from large Japanese publishers/potentially block acquisitions or potentially be ready to fight for future acquisitions of their own.***
Sure. How about we do the same with Microsoft and the West? Why do people think there's only one snake in this game? Both companies are the same. 100%. But let's act like only Sony's actions matter? Hypocrisy or just purposeful blindness. Tired of people acting like either of these companies aren't doing the same thing and acting like Sony is getting its comeuppance by letting a company centralize a massive portion of the industry and encourage even more centralization by other companies moving forward.
***Defining the market as high-end home gaming consoles only was extremely short sighted of Sony and MS is absolutely going to use that to frame this as a David vs Goliath story with regulators for years to come.***
Calling the 3rd most valuable company in the world that is worth over 10x the other company and that is spending $70b to "compete" David in this scenario is the most asinine thing I've read about this subject in a very long while.
Christopher M$ doesn't own 98% of the console market in the west like Sony does in Japan. Flip the script for a second and reverse the roles
M$ owns 98% of the console space in the US.
Pays US developers not to release games on PlayStation/Ps plus while money-hatting triple A titles.
The U.S blocks Sony from buying American devs/pubs but okays M$ to buy Japanese ones.
Japan calls out the US for not doing anything about M$ anticompetitive practices.
See where this is going?
Sony doesn't own 98% of the market in Japan. They in fact are losing to Nintendo. In fact, the games that Microsoft wants to talk about have become much more profitable in the West and Sony doesn't make games for Japan, but the West.
Sony doesn't control 98% of ANY market. You're as dumb as the congressmen. Now all of a sudden, a 2 trillion dollar company can't compete with a 20 billion dollar one. Maybe if your little plastic box wasn't managed by the folks on Sesame street, they wouldn't have to buy up publishers. Who was the genius who thought making a low income console was a good idea? Oh I know the same dummy who thought IndiePass was a great idea. MS continually shoot themselves in the foot. Xbox one launching with Kinect anyone? Anyone?
Oh also I gotta point out if we want to talk monopoly well every pc comes with xbox gaming pre installed. Look at steam players literally 98% of them have a Windows pc. Factor in those numbers. Steam and epic games don't come pre-installed. I see no adverts for them on the OS. I do however see adverts about xbox games and games pass at an OS level..... hmmm.
That’s what people need to realize that’s anti competitive no matter whether Sony or Microsoft does it or Nintendo. A big brand like final fantasy should stay multiplatform. Because it used to be it’s the same argument with Bethesda and activision that MS is taking away games that were available to PlayStation. especially if they have a history of starting multiplatform. I understand small developers who financially can’t those cases are fine. But square Enix they have the money.
Just because something is “standard” doesn’t meant it’s right and should be allowed. If we are really worried about the consumers then these “standard” practices maybe need to be changed. There are so many things In history that were “standard” that are not anymore because it wasn’t right.
Sony bought what is probably timed exclusive of ff16 and you equate it as fair that ms bought 2 publishers. 1 game as opposed to the 100s of what ms will recieve exclusive now. Wtf wheres the sense. Yall fighting bs trying to down play ms actions over Sony having 3 exclusives mostly timed
@shinoff well usually when you buy something you can do as you please with it. Sony has done it, Nintendo has as well. That’s the point of buying something. It’s yours to do as you please. It’s not like someone held a gun at these companies to sell it wasn’t a hostile takeover.
But paying for timed exclusives or games to keep off competitors platform should be an outdated practice for everyone. Especially to pay a developer to keep a game off a platform. Timed exclusives although it sucks at least eventually you will get the game so that’s not that big of a deal but the other is it’s simply spiteful.
Also it’s not just one or three games it’s been a lot of games that they have done to each other that shouldn’t be allowed.
They were never multiplatform. They always released on one console and from a certain point (I think FF7) came out on pc a year or so afterwards and then, not all of them. XBOX had FF titles and they sold dismally on that platform.
@hof wasn’t FF 13 multiplatform and didn’t the Xbox version sell over 2 million copies considering it released later then the PlayStation version and shipped on four discs That’s impressive. Most games don’t sell that much yes the majority of sales were on PlayStation but who knows if it would have sold more if it released simultaneously as the PlayStation version.
But because of Sony’s anticompetitive practices we won’t know. that’s like killzone and resistance sales. So are those franchises failures? 2 millions is nothing to scoff at most games are lucky to get sales like that. If square released a final fantasy game at the same time worldwide who knows how well it might sale but because Sony always blocks the release in Japan to be released at the same time we will never know.
How so?
What has come out about Nintendo? Literally all the claims against Sony are in court documents and can be read by the public.
I haven’t seen anything on Nintendo.
Nintendo is an outsider in this because ActiBliz is not as important to Nintendo as they are to Sony. but they can't just omit Nintendo when talking about the video game market as a whole, especially Japan. sure Sony is outselling MS heavily over there but it's for pennies compared to what Nintendo is making out of that market. and since when has xbox ever was a success over there? if the market discrepancy in Japan is gonna be questioned, are they gonna investigate the other markets as well? last time I checked, the xbox is being heavily outsold by PS everywhere all around the world! the difference in Japan alone can't make up that >10mil deficit the Series consoles are behind the PS5.
they can't accept the reality that the xbox is not that desirable outside the US and now is blaming Sony for their own incompetence!
Wait so Nintendo isn't included to skew the sales towards Playstation. But when Microsoft needs to include them for 10 year COD they do count? Awfully convenient to count and then not count them right?
Here are ten reasons why we still love the original PlayStation.
Resi 1 and Crash 1 these games go together in my nostalgia filled memory as the start of PS brand afficionando ....and objectively and curiously still remain untouched peaks in their genres ...nothing came close to them
"looks at my PS2"
it actually benefited them not being the most powerful system
No system needs to be the strongest to be great. Look at the PS2, the DS, the Wii U and so on.
Translation: "We're making the PS4 only slightly more powerful than the PS3."
It's the smart thing to do. Make a profit on the hardware right out of the gate. Easy for developers to work with. Cheap to produce and sell.
haha...who are sony kidding..if ps4 is only slightly more powerful then wiiu their fanboys will commit suicide because they;ll have nothing more to say and wiiu will win this next generation hands down....3 million and counting
Would be good if the article actually defined what 'succeed' means. Most people seem to be obsessed with 'Teh Sony haz 2 beat teh M$'.
But for most company's the measure of success is 1st. profit and 2nd. market share. So it really doesn't matter how powerful the PS4 is as long as it increases both the above.
The problem the PS3 had - is that it took far too long to become profitable, and Sony's competitors have grabbed market share. Luckily the market is getting bigger and bigger, so there's more pie to go round, but Sony need to change things next gen. The PS3 may have been the most powerful console, but it was also the most complex to code for and expensive to manufacture - that's the areas they need to look in to.
If the PS4 is some sort of Trojan horse for 4K output, then I suspect we will not see a PS5.