920°

Jim Ryan: I don’t want a Call of Duty deal, I just want to block the acquisition

A new moment of tension is taking place in the process of reviewing the purchase of Activision Blizzard by Microsoft and the name of Jim Ryan came up a few moments ago after an Activision executive criticized Sony’s opposition to any offer that make it the Xbox company.

BandarHub415d ago (Edited 415d ago )

Low point for Jim. This is plain childish
There is no reason for him to be this mad at Xbox owning COD. It's going to be available on PS in the future.
I see no reason for Xbox to make COD exclusive... it's going the way of Minecraft
The number of exclusives that Sony has Money Hatted is astounding.
The deal is going through no matter what. But essentially what Sony is doing is damaging their reputation.

shinoff2183415d ago

Ms has just as many 3rd party exclusives bandarhub

343_Guilty_Spark414d ago (Edited 414d ago )

Such as? Those same A, AA, and indie games SONY fans claim are GamePass trash?

Does MS/XBOX have anything with the weight of Final Fantasy or Forspoken?

TricksterArrow414d ago

@343_Guilty_Spark Wha...? All Bethesda titles are essentially exclusives now. Not Sony's fault if MS does not know how to manage them.

WelkinCole414d ago

You serious? MS is the king of 3rd party money hatting. You forget Bioshock, ME, Tomb Raider and many other time exclusives or console exclusive or first show (lol!) exclusive or DLC exlusive or marketing exclusives that MS pioneered?

There are way too many to count. Sony is just following suit but MS after 4 generations still can't beat Sony now they are buying well established 3rd parties because MS suck at making games. That is cheating.

We are not just talking about huge ass 3rd party franchises like Fallout, Elder Scrolls, starfield, Diablo, COD. No we are talking about complete buy out of the whole fucking pulbisher.

COD is the 3rd party top money maker.

Its bad enough they bought Bethseda. They had to buy out the biggest 3rd party publisher as well. How is that not anti competitive? Whats next? EA? Where is it going to end? Until they can outcompete Sony?

fr0sty414d ago (Edited 414d ago )

I'd have to agree, Sony doesn't buy Publishers, they buy studios to add to their own portfolio as a publisher. MS is using the fact that they are one of the world's wealthiest companies to monopolize the market... so yes, of course the various trade regulators out there are crying foul. then MS is taking it a step further by using even more of that money to try to buy their way through the legal system with lobbying, ads, etc. trying to influence the regulators' decision. Not to mention, they are killing the third party game industry. They've already bought out 2 of its biggest publishers.

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415d ago
aarallen1414d ago

343_Guilty_Spark Forspoken? Are you serious? Superman 64 would be a better exclusive than that game. It's funny mentioning weight. Forspoken is weightless. It's zero gravity.

-Mika-415d ago

If this deal doesn't go through, Activision and Sony's partnership is ending. The fact that a high ranking employee revealed that information shows how badly they want this deal to go through. If the deal is denied, they are definitely going to make Xbox the new home of COD and the relationship between Sony and ABK dead.

MaximusTKG415d ago

Most ridiculous thing I’ve heard. Just cut out a multi million console install base because they are mad? Money talks every time. BS

Godmars290415d ago

By the sound of thing that's done regardless whether out or under MS's umbrella.

Flakegriffin414d ago (Edited 414d ago )

You do know there’s a difference between weird fanboy assumptions and actual business sense, right?

You know how silly Activision would have to be to end deals with a company that’s 70% market share? If they want to go from making $1 billion+ to tens of million then that’s on them, I guess LOL

SeTTriP414d ago

Those are your feelings talking, imagine the deal doesn't go through then simultaneously saying screw the market leader, does that make sense to you and the 20 ppl that thumb this up?

Tres21414d ago

While I disagree with Mika cause it makes no sense to drop such a lucrative end of the game division and I see the disagrees and the comments saying the same thing they would be fools to drop that no way they would…then why in the same breathe are ppl worried of CoD leaving from Sony system? All that revenue and they’re just going to dissolve the partnership? Does no1 really believe they wouldn’t just do like Minecraft at least for that ip? I get more of the complaints were ms and being able to keep the brand strong but is it really that strong? How much longer does it last neways?

DarXyde414d ago

Hmm, I don't know about that.

It doesn't matter how the execs feel because ABK is a publicly trading corporation and if their shareholders don't want it, it's not happening.

No matter who you agree with though, you should respect that the "opposition" is just doing its job. Ryan is literally just trying to protect Sony's bottom line. Likewise, Spencer is trying to increase Xbox value/profitability. I'm biased, but I'm particularly irritated by Spencer basically saying he's okay with the scandals. I'm sure if not him, someone else would be doing it, but it really illustrates a character failure to me.

I don't play ABK games, but regardless of what happens, I'm glad Sony is giving them hell. Goddamn soulless pretender corporation has tremendous resources to make the best games and literally REFUSES to do it, preferring to just buy large publishers.

What is the result? That community talks about game pass nonstop (a service... Imagine that), acts like Todd Howard isn't known for vastly overstating the end product, and in true American society fashion, just passively accept the nonsense being shoveled at them.

They're scum and I hope they fail and heads roll at MS, but a part of me wants it to go through so these rubes can understand how right the test of us are about their corporate imperialism they seem painful ignorant of... And the fact that their sub prices are going to go up.

Extermin8or3_414d ago

More likely the executives involved lose their jobs and are replaced lol

Chocoburger414d ago

You don't understand business. Not one bit.

ChronoJoe414d ago

Activision get a $3b payout if the deal doesn't go through. A significant windfall for shareholders.

The only party annoyed if it doesn't go through will be Microsoft, and perhaps Bobby Kotick himself who was looking forward to a big payout individually.

DOMination-414d ago

Whilst I don’t agree with this original comment, what a lot of people fail to understand is that of CoD was exclusive, a LOT of people would get an Xbox to play it. So whilst they would lose PlayStation sales, the projected Xbox sales would increase and probably significantly. This is what MS wants.

They will be hoping Starfield has the same effect albeit it’s not as big as CoD it’s still going to be a huge entertainment release.

Obviously not saying it will completely bridge the lack of PS sales. That’s almost mathematically impossible. But over ten years, ten exclusive CoDs would allow MS to eat into that PS5 lead.

Irrelevant point anyway because I doubt it’ll be exclusive

Ryzza5414d ago

Bad news for Crash Bandicoot if that were true

+ Show (9) more repliesLast reply 414d ago
SkwakIdent415d ago

Microsoft in an effort to play victim and get the deal to pass claimed their games were inferior and couldn't compete on a level with Sony, seems like Microsoft has done a fair amount of damaging their own reputation. People have been claiming "the deal is going through" for ages now and here we are with it still not through.

415d ago
darthv72414d ago

Sony, in the same effort to play victim to get the deal blocked, also claims that MS would sabotage their version of the games. And that their own first party titles do not generate enough revenue to fund other first party development.

MS at least has some legitimacy to their claims, Sony... not so much.

Tapani415d ago (Edited 415d ago )

Jim is trying to keep the competition alive, which is good for both consumers and creatives.

Asplundh415d ago

By buying up studios themselves and buying timed exclusive? Yeah right.

415d ago
King_Noctis415d ago

Have you seen the news where it says Sony is looking to spend 5 billions dollars to expand their business?

Tapani415d ago

Microsoft is more profitable and has a 17 times higher topline, and have been more aggressive in the past in M&A. 5bn USD is nothing, Activision acquisition is around 70bn USD. Sony is planning "aggressively" to spend less than 7.5% of what Microsoft is doing here. Even Zenimax was more than that at 7.5bn USD. For comparison, Sony paid 3.6bn for Bungie. So yes, Jim is trying to keep the competition alive and a level playing field. Learn business.

Asplundh414d ago

Xbox is definitely not more profitable, you'd have to be living under a rock for the last decade to not know that. Not sure if you're a troll or just slow 🤔

Risky_24414d ago

@Asplundh . I'm sure it was 'Microsoft' not 'Xbox' that was mentioned. One would recommend reading properly before insulting someone by calling them slow, ironically.

Asplundh414d ago

@Risky
I read it correctly and made a statement, you're the one confused here sir. I'm going to compare the competing products and not the companies as whole in order to make it look better for Sony.

MontyeKristo414d ago

Asplundh - but, Xbox is not the one buying Zenimax - Microsoft is. So comparing the two in this instance as just Xbox and Playstation doesn't really make sense.

Risky_24414d ago

@Asplundh You are seriously making yourself look foolish now. The company making the purchase is Microsoft. No amount of spinning to make your statement look better is going to change that. Someone speaks about a company and you speak about a product. Well done!

Asplundh414d ago

@Risky
The argument is over competition in the gaming console market, so yes I'm speaking only of that market. Tell me how sales of Window products is damaging Sonys ability to compete? The only spin is coming from you as you go off topic of what regulators are even arguing over.

1Victor414d ago

@ noctis have you seen the news of Microsoft buying ABK for 69 billions instead of using that money to fix their developers teams and ensuring their games are of the best quality, making a console that don’t split between developing between low end/ last gen and current gen,

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Godmars290415d ago

"There is no reason for him to be this mad at Xbox owning COD."

But there is with MS simply buying a good chunk of the established market, especially after decades of questionable attempts at growth on their end.

HardKnockKid24415d ago

This is funny as many gamers here call those studios that MS bought “trash” and “buggy”…. if that’s true, what’s the harm?

Godmars290415d ago

@HardKnockKid24:
That under MS they'll get worse, or become another Rare. Be left to rot before either being closed or their IPs given to other - short-lived - studios.

King_Noctis415d ago

“ That under MS they'll get worse, or become another Rare.”

Lol what? So what is happening to Playground Games? Mojang? Bethesda? Obsidian? InXile?

You just conveniently chose the one that is not as successful didn’t you? If so then where is Evolution studio? Studio Liverpool? Japan Studio? Zipper Interactive? BigBig studio?

CBaoth415d ago

funny how you cherry pick Sony's failures King yet you can't pick one studio owned by MS that's better for it. Oh and Liverpool and Evolution's former employees formed Firesprite and let themselves be re-acquired by Sony. Thanks for the set up, I couldn't have said it better without your ignorance!

King_Noctis415d ago (Edited 415d ago )

“funny how you cherry pick Sony's failures King yet you can't pick one studio owned by MS that's better for it”

Funny how Godmars cherry picked MS’s failure yet can’t pick the studios that are successful under MS such as Playground Games, Mojang, Bethesda, and inXile.

Hypocritical isn’t a great taste now isn’t?

HardKnockKid24414d ago

@King, lol let them be… the only approval we will get from them is if we say, “MS/Xbox bad, Sony good” then queue the standing ovations haha. Truth is that Xbox has made some terrible decisions in the last decade but so has Sony. People are just WAY less willing to give the same grace to MS. So when you bring up fair comparisons, it breaks their brains. Millions will still enjoy Xbox no matter what they say, just as millions will enjoy PS.

Godmars290414d ago (Edited 414d ago )

@King_Noctis:
???

They've just bought Bethesda. Have literally had no impact on what they've made and wont for years. Likewise what has Mojang done of any real significance, besides some DLC tweaks for the one title they're known for? Quickly forgotten Minecraft off-shoots?

And yes of course Sony's closed studios. Thing is the point people who - somehow - miss when making the comparison is that those studios MADE GAMES, well regarded ones, while under Sony. Unlike, the at best, continued exiting IP with MS.

Again the point is AT BEST the games Activision currently make will continue. Maybe they'll even make attempts to bring old IPs like Starcraft back. Ghost will finally come out. Meanwhile Bethesda will continue putting out buggy entries in their old and established titles.

The reason I mentioned Rare, as one of MS's most notable acquisition for the time, is that for years MS brought out like an old broken sex-slave in a gimp suit whenever they wanted to promote their old IPs - some which that gutted studio didn't even have a hand in reviving.

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gold_drake415d ago (Edited 415d ago )

damaging their reputation for standing up to the multi trillion company?

"i see no reason for cod to he exclusive"

ah, we have intel right here. the original intent was to make it exclusive.

415d ago
Owlbert415d ago

You are aware this is a Sony fanboy site,hence your dislike ratio...lol,fuck all the fanboys 🤣✌️

Abracadabra415d ago

I don't mind this being a Sony fanboy site. What irks me is that even the mods are Sony fanboys... that make no effort to be impartial.

VoiceMale414d ago

@abracadabbra
Yes I wish it differently cause it’s such a good source of daily compiled articles
The first comments are usually off topic or trolling in every Xbox article especially the positive ones
I have been around for years and have yet to see a healthy respectful chat on an Xbox topic
I’m
Sad part is that your comment and @ Owlbery is gonna be marked for trolling

Babadook7414d ago (Edited 414d ago )

This fanboy site is about 2-1 Sony fans over Xbox fans. Same ratio as a place called planet earth. Welcome here.

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Abracadabra415d ago (Edited 415d ago )

Jim Ryan is like a typical Sony fanboy... hypocrite and childish. "If I can't have it, nobody can".

Reverse the roles: If it was Sony acquiring Activision, all people complaining about Microsoft, would be praising Sony for the purchase... just like they praise Sony presently for all the acquisitions and 3rd party exclusive deals.

1Victor414d ago

@abra: “ Reverse the roles: If it was Sony acquiring Activision, all people complaining about Microsoft, would be praising Sony for the purchase”
I can’t speak for anyone but myself if the role was flipped I still wouldn’t support the acquisition for the same reasons of not taking 3rd party games from the competition after a contract expire.
Please don’t come with the flimsy defense that CoD will be on PS because Phil said so we all know how it turned out with starfield

Kakashi Hatake414d ago

It cuts into their revenue, how daft are you guys? MS is doing this to make money, not appease the fanboys. Sony is trying to block this to look out for their bottom dollar. How dare they, right? Cod has been a given on mainline consoles for years. Sony has every right to try to stop it.

darthv72414d ago

...well duh. Like the saying goes. gotta spend money to make money. MS just happens to have the money to spend and ABK has a price that Sony can't afford. So naturally ABK would go to MS and not Sony. sony is just pissed they weren't offered the first right of refusal. Had ABK decided they were going to part out certain franchises then maybe they would have talked to Sony first. But being the best customer doesn't guarantee you get dibs, especially if ABK were looking to sell the whole lot.

Bobertt414d ago

I was watching commentary about this from a developer and he said Microsoft was really expecting cloud gaming to take off and for Game Pass numbers to be higher than they are now to make it more profitable. Their idea going into this gen was to get people to give up physical games like they originally wanted to last gen before the backlash and to subscribe to Game Pass so they can get constant revenue. He says this also why they are having issues with delayed or no first party games. Microsoft was focusing on spending money to get third party games on Game Pass and to market it as even though we don't have as many exclusives as Sony you can play most of the third party games for cheaper through Game Pass.

But this didn't work out as they hoped and by focusing on third party on Game Pass they have neglected or mismanaged their first party studios so there are tons of delays for Xbox exclusives. For example the Hellblade 2 was announced by Microsoft way back in 2019 and we haven't seen anything 4 years later. They have even more studios that they claim are working on exclusives but we haven't even heard about most of them this far into the cycle. They know they won't be able to release these exclusives on time so they will lose even more market share while they wait. So they have pivoted to a new strategy of just buying up as many big studios as possible to forcibly take market share by removing some of those games from competitors to become the new exclusives, and to generate revenue to license out those big earners like CoD to their competitors. This strategy is better to them because they don't have to wait for years for the exclusives or build up goodwill with the community to gain market share and it won't just be with consoles. Activision has a huge presence in the mobile gaming market so Microsoft will instantly become one of the top players in the mobile market too. That's why regulators are saying they need to sell off some part of the company for this deal to not be a monopoly. Either they gain some of the biggest games on consoles or they gain some of the biggest games in mobile but not both.

So trying to block this is not childish of Sony it's smart business because if Xbox fails for another generation then people will be hesitant to buy their next system at launch and give PS6 an advantage.

414d ago
SeTTriP414d ago

I see no reason for Ms to buy Activision, we just always skip right over this part.

MIDGETonSTILTS17414d ago

I don’t see how his ruins Sony’s reputation.

Sony is acting just like I am as an Xbox owner since x360: they don’t think the largest media buyout in history should be what fulfills M$’s decade-long empty promise of “the games ARE coming.”

I want to see what they have been working on for all of this time, not what they can buy up last minute to make up for lost time.

So, have they really been unable to produce anything but Halo Infinite, Gears 5, and a few Forza titles over the course of 10+ years?

Yeah, I don’t want those same liars to run Activision and their franchises. M$ can thrive or fail on their own efforts, just like Sony.

senorfartcushion414d ago

It doesn’t matter what company it is; a monopoly is a monopoly

giovonni414d ago

Which doesn’t apply to this purchase

414d ago
Jin_Sakai414d ago (Edited 414d ago )

“Low point for Jim.“

Yes the President of PlayStation should just say sure thing to the competition taking over the worlds largest 3rd party publisher and gaming franchise.

mastershredder414d ago

How much derp sauce can you drink? Sounds like you had a few gallons.

Crows90414d ago

Except there is absolutely nothing wrong with his statement. He doesn't want a deal to be struck because no deal is going to allow call of duty permanently available on PlayStation. There's also a ton of other IP that would be removed from PlayStation from the other developers. He prefers that all of these developers continue to make third-party multiplats.

That's in the interest of PlayStation gamers ...so if anything a new high because he recognizes the value of the whole company and not just one IP

TheEroica414d ago

Jim Ryan is a crybaby with no plan other than complaining about competition out menuvering him. Cry more Jim! Cry even more Sony defense force!

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Lifexline415d ago (Edited 415d ago )

Well at least they are being honest lol even though it’s not what they want to hear have to respect that. It’s obvious they don’t want to make a deal.

The agreement that MS has offered has been more than fair. They are now offering a lifetime guarantee to call of duty according to activision exec yet that was not enough so pretty obvious where Sony’s mind is at. It seems relations between actiblizz are souring I wonder how it will play out once it’s all said and done.

I just hope the government once it’s done with all this circus focuses on the shady deals that goes on between these companies and fines them. To pay developers to exclude games sounds more anticompetitive.

DarkZane415d ago

Microsoft are scums and liars, they will definitely go back on their promises the very second that deal goes through, it's why Sony are trying to stop them. They promised Bethesda games wouldn't be exclusives and the first thing they did was make them exclusives. Nothing Microsoft or Phil Spencer says can be trusted. Especially Phil Spencer, everything that comes out of the guy's mouth is lies and bs, he is not better than Bobby Kotick in my book.

Lifexline415d ago

I agree with that MS sentiment the majority of billion dollar companies are scum I like the Xbox but don't really care for MS. They never promised bethesda games being exclusive that was debunked. Do you not know how a contract works? Go google it if you really are that clueless. Damm you sound really bitter what did Phil do to you that doesn't allow you to eat or have a roof over your head to warrant that bitterness. Some of you guys take this way too seriously.

MadLad415d ago

What Sony games are on Xbox, besides Destiny? Sony literally pays just to keep certain games off of Xbox. They don't own the company; they just throw money at people to keep them off their competition.

Imalwaysright415d ago (Edited 415d ago )

Oh the irony... No they did not promise such thing. They said they would honor the deals that Sony had with Bethesda wich they did with Deathloop and Ghost Wire timed exclusivity and that Bethesda games being released on the PS5 would be on a case by case basis.

babadivad415d ago

Most of the derogatory statements you made applies to Sony as well.

shinoff2183415d ago

Madlad

Care to explain ms 3rd party exclusives then. It's getting very old seeing yall try and trash Sony for 3rd party deals like ms don't do that shit. Come on you had to be around during the 360 days right. 50 mill for gta 4 dlc timed exclusive in top of numerous exclusives , mind you they still have 3rd party exclusives themselves.
Far as Sony fans. I don't speak for all of us but it seems we're more in the camp of being annoyed ms keeps buying up all these multiplatform studios and publishers. Fuck cod I'd prefer to get some of those wrpgs ms bought all the studios thay do them , personally. Were annoyed by that and the fact that ms already has more then sony but hasn't gotten there shit together in 20 years. 20 years they've been in this and there upside was a good stretch on the 360 of 4 5 years.

richardmmorales414d ago

They did no such thing when it comes to Bethesda. The FTC tried saying that and the European Commission even countered and said that never happened.

At least I see some people have already said exactly what happened. That they said current contracts would be honored and future titles would be done on a case by case basis. Man Sony fans are just as bad as Sony making stuff up that never happened.

@Minute Man 721 the only reason MLB The Show is multiplatform is because of Major League Baseball. They told them make it multiplatform or they'd lose the MLB license.

MontyeKristo414d ago

Minute man - MLB is not a great example of this. It's not Sony being the nice guy, like "here have this game, on us!" It's the MLB wanting the game to be not exclusive to one system.

S2Killinit414d ago

Its interesting that people are complaining about PlayStation buying exclusivity. Has everyone forgot that this was MS’s business model? In fact, this was so relied upon by MS that they neglected to foster their own studios leading to the need to spend 70billion to acquire a large part of the industry in the form of Activision. Now all gamers (including xbox gamers believe it or not) will pay for MS’s mismanagement. To put this into perspective, MS has not made 70 billion profit in all the generations they have been in gaming. That is what they are doing.

All gamers used to enjoy these multiplat games including xbox owners. Now they will get the same thing but will have to be happy that “its exclusive” because MS is going to deprive others.

gleepot414d ago

They never promised that.

343_Guilty_Spark414d ago

Never said Bethesda games wouldn’t be exclusive

Focus40414d ago Show
wiz7191414d ago (Edited 414d ago )

@Darkzane
Bethesda still releases multi platform games and still support the ones that’s currently out. If anybody thought any new IPs were going to be multi platform are delusional , why would they be ?? I bet the next Doom and Dishonored games like that will continue to be multi platform. Just like with mojang all new games and updates on Minecraft is still multi platform. Hell even Pyschonauts 2 was a multi platform release after Double Fine was purchased. If this deal goes through MS doesn’t want to remove COD from PS , you think they’re spending $68B just for exclusives right ??? Nah it’s to get that money Activision is bringing in currently. Sony doesn’t want that to happen , imagine funding your competitors hundreds of millions even billions possibly.

Gravesinger_414d ago

My guy...its not that serious, sony are just as scummy as Microsoft and any one who says otherwise is just a, can't believe I havento say this in 2023, a fanboy. They're bith billion dollar companies whose only purpose is to make money. Grow up

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isarai415d ago

What did people think they were doing? Thought this was understood from the start...i dont get it

Outside_ofthe_Box415d ago

That's what I was saying. Sony is only using CoD as a talking point to get the deal blocked. Keeping CoD on the system isn't the priority, stopping Microsoft from buying up the industry is.

theindiearmy415d ago

If that were the case, why is Sony on board with UK's idea of only allowing the deal through if COD is sold off? This is all about COD.

415d ago
shinoff2183415d ago

Because cod is the biggest console game. That's why the indie army, you gotta put the rest of that together yourself. Look at the bigger picture guy

blackblades415d ago

They think Sony would give up and sign the agreement. Apparently people dont know signing a agreement means defeat and Jim had them fighting words.

KillBill414d ago

Fighting words? His words were basically the Monty Python Black Knight "I'll bite your legs off" come back. lol

MrDead414d ago

What he said: “I don’t want a new Call of Duty deal. I just want to block their merger (Microsoft | Activision Blizzard)”.

I'm totally confused by what people thought this was about. This entire thing is to stop the merger as it will hurt PlayStation and give MS control over the industry that it's currently buying up and trying to monopolise... thats why we're here people!

Christopher414d ago (Edited 414d ago )

Exactly. This immensely reduces the competition in the industry. Competition is pro consumer but Microsoft is trying to sell the idea that them controlling more of the market, let alone some of the biggest IPs on the industry (multiple of them larger than anything Sony has and that Microsoft already has two IPs more valuable than any Sony IP - Halo and Minecraft) is better for the consumer.

It isn't. The same way Windows and Office aren't better for the consumer. It's just what there is and is maintained because no other company has the patents Microsoft has to control what features are in such software because as soon as a company comes out with something that could compete in some way they buy them out.

thorstein414d ago

Yeah. Not that Sony is our shining knight, but Monopolies are terrible for innovation and growth as an industry.

giovonni414d ago

But this is not a monopoly, so I don’t understand what you’re saying.

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110°

Outriders Dev's Next Game Has Been Canceled After Publishing Agreement With Take-Two Fell Through

Outriders developer People Can Fly's next game has been canceled after its publishing agreement with Take-Two Interactive fell through.

Read Full Story >>
twistedvoxel.com
Tacoboto1d 14h ago

"the capital group of PCF Group S.A."

If you're getting funding from a group that needs two different ways of Acronyming itself, things will not go the way you want them to.

banger881d 9h ago

If it was more online-only crap then good riddance.

jjb198119h ago

Outriders was crap. They slapped that game together and threw in a loot system to get players' attention. This game was absolutely jank and the always online nonsense made it stutter like crazy. People Can't Optimize.

thorstein18h ago

I liked Outriders but I could see where the artistic vision was compromised. The way the industry is now, it wouldn't surprise me that upper management would scrap something that didn't pull in money via gaas, mts, or other means.

290°

Microsoft’s Surface and Xbox hardware revenues take a big hit in Q3

Microsoft just posted the third quarter of its 2024 fiscal financial results. The software maker made $61.9 billion in revenue and a net income of $21.9 billion during Q3. Revenue is up 17 percent, and net income has increased by 20 percent.

Read Full Story >>
theverge.com
darthv721d 12h ago

Xbox content + services up 62% while hardware down 31%... seems about right with the way they tout you don't need the hardware to play. People can play on their phones or smart tv or other means. I don't hardly play on my consoles directly since getting devices like the logitech g-cloud and ps portal. Which is to also say I have been playing more digital than physical because of these devices.

solideagle23h ago

you should apply in MS PR team buddy, I think you will do a great job in my humble opinion :)

Sonic188120h ago

I thought darthv72 and Obscure_Observer already work for Microsoft 🤔

dveio20h ago

MS: "Xbox services and content without AB up 1%, with AB up 62%. Hardware down 31%. In total a loss of 350 mill."

darthv72: "Seems about right."

MS: "Excuse m ..."

darthv72: "I don't hardly play on my consoles directly."

MS:

Lightning7715h ago

What he said was facts. How he plays games is no concern of you. Don't get too mad about it.

Cacabunga22h ago

I can tell people like you are an absolute minority..

If service is up means their fans and fanboys accepted this model and subscribed to it. The near future you will see a big decline because the service is saturated.

darthv729h ago

to you it may seem like the minority... but your bubble is shrinking because more and more are following suit. convenience is a hell of a drug and its also why physical sales only amount to 30% of overall game sales. times are changing, you either get with them or you get left behind.

neutralgamer19924h ago

Darth

30% physical sales: yet Phil and xbox division are in a rush go give up on that 30%. they don't have any right to give up any piece of the pie since the control such a little of the pie to begin with

also, the market is clearly speaking that the model Xbox is pushing isn't working right now the keyword being right now. you are right about freedom to play anywhere so i hope they put their games on steam

shinoff218322h ago

But that's been ms for years. When things aren't going their way they try to change the way things are said. For instance console sales are down, they stop telling how many sold instead telling us how many hours spent in halo or headshots. So it makes sense console sales down just say people are playing on more devices then previous. What they won't say is how many xbox players jumped ship to ps5.

Cacabunga21h ago

Hardware sales are so bad that Sony and Nintendo are blowing the sales off the water with their hardware.

If Xbox are losers, others aren’t..
Xbox already tried everything with Xbox live then subscriptions went down so much that they had to find something else. Their fans subscribed then reached saturation rather quickly.

Hardware and exclusive games is where it’s at! Keep gamers excited, announce decent software and people will support you

itsmebryan16h ago

@shin
Well keep it simple Sony 's operating income is down 26% and Microsoft's is up 32%. No MS spin there, just facts. 😉
Cheers

S2Killinit9h ago

MS is after diminishing consoles as a medium. They want to destroy this market because they couldnt win. MS’s vision is to dissolve console gaming.

romulus2315h ago

Odd that a company that touts you dont need the hardware to play is already touting another console in the works.

darthv7215h ago

They are not reliant on the HW but still want to maintain a presence (no matter how small) is a good thing. It shows commitment to the craft. It reminds me of SNK and how they made games for their own hardware (Neo Geo) while also making them for others because they knew there was a market to do so. They knew they would sell more to others but also sell to their own niche fan base.

TheEroica9h ago(Edited 9h ago)

Perfectly reasonable post down voted by insecure corporation friendly folk.... But not gamers. Real gamer want accessibility and ease of acquisition for all.... Company shills are the only ones still telling us that hardware locking people from games is good for us.

Chevalier4h ago

@Darth

You should stop parroting metrics like an idiot without context.

"Xbox content and services revenue grew 62% in Q3 from a year earlier, “driven by 61 points of net impact” from the purchase of the third-party video game giant, Microsoft said."

61 of the 62% was from their merger so net increase is ONLY 1%

https://www.mesaonline.org/...

+ Show (4) more repliesLast reply 4h ago
purple1011d 1h ago

Xbox hardware revenue tanks to lowest point of Xbox Series generation

Profchaos1d 1h ago

I'm not surprised surface is struggling they aren't relevant anymore

DOMination-14h ago

In the last two years they've started exiting the consumer market altogether. All of the newest Surface products are business models only. They can't seem to work out what they want to do with it.

XBManiac1d ago

Too expensive hardware when others offer the same or more for less? Good work, Green Team.

SimpleDad1d ago (Edited 1d ago )

"Despite some early successes for Xbox games on rival platforms, Xbox hardware is down by a massive 31 percent this quarter."
"Without Activision Blizzard, Microsoft’s overall gaming revenue would have actually declined this quarter."
"Xbox content and services would have only been up a single percent without Activision Blizzard..."
"It looks like next quarter is going to be a similar story for gaming at Microsoft, too."

That is crazy... so A/B/K is carrying the whole Xbox gaming.
Oh and Microsoft will be fine. Windows, Office and Cloud are growing with each pc purchase.

purple10123h ago

Activision: "we gonna need a bigger rucksack/backpack please"

Microsoft: "why's that"

Activision: "to carry yo' weak ass'

Profchaos23h ago(Edited 23h ago)

Top brass have also wanted to start seeing returns on the 100 billion they have put into various Xbox related moves so seeing more multiplatform games is highly likely especially from abk

It's basically saying that PlayStation is the reason Xbox is afloat right now thinks to Ps5 versions of COD

Kornholic22h ago

So basically PS and PC gamers' money is keeping Xbox on life support.

MrDead15h ago

The only growth MS will get out of the console industry is if it supports it's rivals platforms. Xbox is a pointless machine now. I can see them on a big push for live next, and they won't give up on trying to buy Steam.

+ Show (1) more replyLast reply 15h ago
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90°

An Update on This Year’s BlizzCon and Blizzard’s 2024 Live Events

Blizzard writes: "After careful consideration over the last year, we at Blizzard have made the decision not to hold BlizzCon in 2024. This decision was not made lightly as BlizzCon remains a very special event for all of us, and we know many of you look forward to it. While we’re approaching this year differently and as we have explored different event formats in the past, rest assured that we are just as excited as ever to bring BlizzCon back in future years."

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blizzcon.com
PRIMORDUS1d 10h ago

How about you not hold Blizzcon anymore period. You fucking POS company. I really hope Blizzard would just die.