170°

Why The Sony And Google Lawsuits Are A Win For Gamers

from eXputer "These multi-billion-dollar cases mean more savings for both devs and consumers. Public reactions to these lawsuits have been mixed, with some in favor/against the points being made"

mastershredder120d ago

They lost one, won one, and are about to go do sony. Yeah, Yeah, so where is the win part for gamers? This is about industry dividend regulation and enforcement, and has nothing to do with gamers (Studios will take a larger cut before you get a discount). The win and gratitude should be diplayed by the creators/publishers; way, WAY before the cosumers or a game jurno. Good Grief. Most of this is correct, but who it is really aimed at is misleading in its inclusivity as some kind of shoe-in for future savings/discounts for gamers.

Petebloodyonion120d ago (Edited 120d ago )

The argument is pretty easy for why it's a win for the consumer
More competition often equals reduced prices for consumers which is not the case here since Sony established the price point for the whole industry due to the price parity clause.

Here's an easy example of what could happen if it went through.
MS wants to acquire more market share and decided to reduce the 30% cut to 20% for publishers willing to reduce their price by 5%.
Sony would have to follow suit
or feel that their consumers would be okay with paying more for a Playstation product (like often the case for Nintendo).

Right now this scenario can't work because the publisher would have to offer the same price on Playstation despite them still paying 30% due to the price parity clause So there's no pressure for MS to reduce their 30% cut.

mkis007120d ago

Now you're just arguing for the biggest corporations model. Not everyone can afford to follow that model. Some rely on game sales not subs.

Petebloodyonion120d ago

@Mkis007
I fail to see what my comment has to do with sales versus subscriptions.

In my example, MS reduces their 30% cut (the same one Sony charges) to 20% because they want ppl to buy Xbox instead of publisher.
MS gives the 10% reduction to publishers who will reduce their Xbox price by 5% (so consumers pay less and publishers still make 5% more profit on a sale.

Eonjay120d ago

We already know from real life that Activision had a deal with MS to reduce their 30% platform fee to 20% for Call of Duty. That did not result in lower prices for Xbox gamers. It only mean a wider profit margin for Activision. In addition, it did not result in Sony having to follow suit and lower its platforming fees. Activision still wins because paying 10% more to triple your sales is a win. Here, the actual end users (gamers) are not made better or worse just because companies are negotiating platforming fees. In fact the only way for competition to reach the consumer is for Activision to offer its game cheaper on the platform it pays less for... which it obviously doesn't (you know because its actually the PUBLISHER who sets the price). Ubisoft already cut the price of Avatar. Games are constantly on sale on PSN without being on sale on Xbox and vice versa.

There are some potential arguments to make but you don't make any of them and you conflate corporate welfare with consumer advocacy. In a real world example, it turns out Sony does not have the power to force Microsoft to charge a higher platforming fee. You made it up. Or you were lied to and you didn't do your own research. You have a real concern over competition but misrepresented it in your example and made us all worse off.

mkis007120d ago

Xbox would be more likely to cannibalize sales for subscriptions. Especially if it would get rid of the competition who does not have the ability to play with fire.

Petebloodyonion120d ago

@eonjay
Of course Activision would not reduce the price on Xbox due to price parity clause.
Meaning that if Activision would reduce the price on Xbox ( because it’s cheaper to produce) they would have an obligation to match the price on PlayStation ( despite costing more).
https://www.ign.com/article...

Sephiroushin120d ago

a win for consumers 🤣 … you lost me at reduced prices but read a bit more and the cut fee to publisher doesn't benefit consumers on anything at all dont kid yourself!

tagzskie120d ago

@peterbloodyonion
What i fail to see is how can MS console exclusive have the same price as sony exclusive? If you say MS reduces the cut at least do it in their console exclusive first so we can actually see that they actually do it, not wishful thinking because of parity. More competition is good? yeah i agree but not all because MS is the one who indroduced pay to play online and the others follow it. As long i dont see any price reduce in games i dont see any benefit in consumers period..

zaanan120d ago

@pete
I read that IGN article you linked, and nowhere does it mention “price parity,” console cut, or anything of the sort. Just a clause in the Sony contract not to make the RE Village game worse on PS. Stop making shit up.

JackBNimble119d ago

Reduced prices ... lol ... that's so naive.

+ Show (6) more repliesLast reply 119d ago
AlterRecs120d ago

The case is against monopolies.

When you have a monopoly, companies can charge as much as they want knowing they have no competition.

If you are able to buy PlayStation games from places other than the PS Store, then Sony will lower their prices to make people continue to buy games from their store.

It's not rocket science

mkis007120d ago

Simce when do digital cards get markdowns. To this day the card for breath of the wild is full price.

QuantumMechanic120d ago (Edited 120d ago )

The vast majority of third-party content is already not exclusive to one platform. Leading a market does not necessarily mean monopolizing it, especially when the content is generally available on several platforms. What is your evidence for monopoly?

1Victor119d ago

I agree we the consumers won’t see half’s penny from this it’s just the developers getting the fair share of their hard work it’s not like all of the sudden we will see digital games prices go down 10% from their already equal to physical games prices.

rlow1120d ago

From a business viewpoint, especially small developers these wins are a good thing. But what I’m curious about is the fallout. How would this affect game prices down the road? Will big corp just pass it to the consumer?

Hopefully this will lead to better profits and discounts for the consumer.

AlterRecs120d ago

Well historically more competition = cheaper prices

so fingers = crossed

shinoff2183120d ago

I agree with sony should sell digital stuff elsewhere besides psn. I used to get some good deals on Amazon. The amount their being sued for is kind of an issue though. Maybe them selling elsewhere is a win there shouldn't be a dollar figure attached to that. Imo.

Mr_Writer85120d ago

This

They should just be told "you have to make digital keys available anywhere".

You can now but I don't think it's official. Eg I bought GOW Rag digital key off CDKeys.

I put in the key, it was legit, it worked, zero issues, but I've noticed the store doesn't register it as a purchased game.

I've played the game, completed the game, but PSN still marks it as a game I can buy.

shinoff2183119d ago (Edited 119d ago )

I think its more game sales would increase. For instance, while you could still buy keys off Amazon for ps3 I bought dead Nation. It was like 10 bucks on psn while it was 3.99 on Amazon. Now it was the same price when it was on sale through psn , but at the time it just wasn't on sale(through psn) when I wanted to buy it. So it's not a decrease in game prices to me its just an increase on the times you can find games on sale at good prices.

That's a win for gamers no matter how you look at it. More chances to find a game you want on sale through different outlets. It's no different then buying physical games through different outlets depending who got the best price =Win

ChasterMies120d ago

A win for gamers or game publishers? Publishers don’t want to reduce prices. They just want the stores taking a 30% cut on game sales. If you can side load games on PlayStation, you will PlayStation price increase and turn the console into another gaming PC. No thanks.

AlterRecs120d ago

Publishers don't want to reduce prices because they have to compensate for the 30% commissions. Once commissions get reduced, they will reduce the price they set to compensate for them but keep the game price the same.

An example: a hypothetical game costs $50, $20 extra is put on the price tag to compensate for the commission. With a lower commission rate, the game can continue to be $50, but now you can set the compensation rate to $15 instead of $20.

This way you're making the same amount of profit, but the customer pays less. Hope this makes sense.

badz149120d ago

What win? LOL you think it will lead to cheaper games and DLC for us? Hahaha...cute

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90°

The Epic Games Store Has Two More Freebies this Week

It's time to add two more games to your library for free from the Epic Games Store.

Read Full Story >>
terminalgamer.com
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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150°

Sony Patents To Prevent You From In-Game Harassment By Reading Your Emotions

A new patent recently published by Sony wants to gather biometric data of gamers to track whether one is being harassed using AI tools.

Profchaos2d ago (Edited 2d ago )

I hope this is one of those patents that never comes to fruition.

I already dislike the fact you can pay a significant amount for a online service buy associated games and content on said service and get banned from that service over potentially a misunderstanding the bans are already handed out for flimsy reasons

I'd rather see money invested in a ban that simply removes the offensive players ability to communicate with unknown players allow them to continue party chats with friends but not with Joe blow on cod.

exputers1d 21h ago

Agreed. Blizzard recently banned a college Overwatch 2 player who's dependent for saying "shit." Pretty harsh.

Profchaos1d 6h ago (Edited 1d 6h ago )

How rediculas really. You can't say a word that's allowed in most PG films and prime time TV but the game is based around killing the enemy team using guns, explosives etc.

It's just backwards.

just_looken1d 8h ago

What your talking about is called block list

In 2006 a spaceship dropped of the playstation 3/xbox 360 i say that that generation was the last great gen with game functions/tech that has yet to comeback

Anyhow the playstation 3 if you block listed a id they could not talk to you in chatroom with either text or voice. But that was pre mind fucked 2018 when people were more human than sheep.

But hey gta 6 is coming out billion dollar budget without a single player custom character creator and without singeplayer coop off/online something saints row 1-3 had on the xbox 360.

z2g1d 18h ago

Take my social security and bank account numbers too! Here’s a picture of my wife and our address.

phoenixwing1d 17h ago

Cmon where's the pictures of your children. Don't hold out on them.

H91d 17h ago

At this rate I feel Sony will eventually sell a room to play games in it where they can monitor your every breath

jambola1d 14h ago

I genuinely get a bit worried sometimes when a friend says something that could be offensive In a party
Because I have no trouble believing some bans would happen when in a private party for saying something wrong

SegaSaturn6691d 16h ago

I want them to censor erotic content by measuring my groin temperature so i dont get too distracted while playing black ops 2.

Popsicle1d 16h ago

Terrible idea. Not only do I not consent to providing my biometric data, the potential for mishandling biometric data is almost a certainty. Positive stress and negative stress can produce similar changes in biometrics. Interpreting the precise emotion a person is feeling is not only invasive but could be easily misconstrued. I hope this never comes to fruition.

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