Axios: 11 members of Congress argue Sony is unfairly hurting Xbox in Japan

Vertigo

Did you show the Darkness what Light can do?
26 Jun 2022
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What did Sony find out? That Microsoft destroyed all their internal studios and bled all talent in the last 20 years?

To the point where the only decent projects coming for the platform is Bethesda games that would 100% been released and made most of their money on PlayStation.

Now what? Xbox doing so bad where no software is being sold, no one wants to buy their hardware and no one wants to buy their subscription service which only has one big tentpole release a year at most to push the service.

Gamepass will not sustain big budget game development. And now Xbox wants to claim success by buying a company who makes most of their money on PlayStation?

They’re buying a participation award. This is example of crony capitalism gone so fucking wrong. It’s also put on display who of our public servants are crooked as fuck. If you’re in Microsoft and Bill Gates pocket … you gotta go.

Losers should not be rewarded. That loser is fucking Microsoft. They suck at the games business thing so much.

RIP Activision I’m sure Phil Spencer will destroy them just like every other studio they mismanage.
 

Johnic

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24 Mar 2023
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The pro consumer MS set another precedent in the industry. For the first time ever, a company used politicians to threaten not only a rival company but a country too, all to try and prop up a very tiny portion of their business that almost never made them money. Holy fuck what a miserable company.

But people need to calm down. This doesn't mean MS is preparing to buy a Japanese company or that they're trying to prevent Sony from doing it. It's not how it works. These arguments make no sense. It's just a shit flinging tantrum by a company in desperate need of an acquisition of this size.

The good news is, they've shown their hand. They're willing to use threats to try and get their way.

Sony really needs to ramp up their PR. Call out the blatant corruption of these individuals and the fact that they're outright backed by MS money. Start pushing back on this agenda they're trying to shove down everyones throat.

But seriously, it's exactly this that's putting me off the brand and I own a damn Series X. Not to mention them weaponizing their fanbase.

I honestly have no idea how anyone with an ounce of decency can look at this and go "Hell yeah". Hell, I see the local suspects are using the "fuck around and find out" rhetoric that every single xbox shill uses now. Use some common sense and don't tie your entire personality to a plastic box. We're talking about a major corporation, one of the biggest in the world, using paid-for politicians to threaten a company and an entire country. That's some 1984 level bs and people cheer for it?
 
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Vertigo

Did you show the Darkness what Light can do?
26 Jun 2022
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4,112
First thing Sony should do is put back in place the online $60 a year online paywall that Fortnite and Warzone manage to ignore while every other game is handicapped by it.

It’s always been wrong.
 

Zzero

Major Tom
9 Jan 2023
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1,958
For those who want my take on the list of representatives (since I go pretty deep on horse race stuff.)

Marilyn Strickland (D-WA)- Never actually heard of her before this. Note the state she's from...
Suzanne DelBene (D-WA)- She represents a swing district, another Washingtonian.
Adam Smith (D-WA)- Mainly notable for his funny name. Note his state. I think he has aspirations for higher office, might become a governor or senator some day.
Marie Perez (D-WA)- Another nobody.
Kim Schrier (D-WA)- First I've heard of her.
Derek Kilmer (D-WA)- Really getting to know Washington's congressional delegation here.
Carol Miller (R-WV)- Generally considered the "good West Virginian" compared to the guy in the northern district.
Mike Carey (R-OH)- First I've heard of him.
Claudia Tenney (R-NY)- Represents a swingy district, Democrats have spent the better part of a decade trying to knock her off.
Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA)- A moderate from the Philly burbs, his family have kept that seat for 20 years now while Rs elsewhere have basically gone extinct in SEPA.

I'm a little disappointed. At first I wanted to play the "see who isn't from Washington or a district with an MS studio" game, but then it turns out that all of the Democrats were from Microsoft's home area and the republicans are just a grab-bag.
 

nongkris

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14 Feb 2023
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First thing Sony should do is put back in place the online $60 a year online paywall that Fortnite and Warzone manage to ignore while every other game is handicapped by it.

It’s always been wrong.
Free to play games have not required an online paywall for a long time now. It's not an Epic/COD thing. Though I do think Sony needs to start thinking of some creative ways to stifle COD on their platform if the acquisition goes through.
 
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Vertigo

Did you show the Darkness what Light can do?
26 Jun 2022
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4,112
Free to play games have not required an online paywall for a long time now. It's not an Epic/COD thing. Though I do think Sony needs to start thinking of some creative ways to stifle COD on their platform if the acquisition goes through.

It should be removed altogether. I accepted bypassing the paywall for MMOs like FF14 because of its own ballooning yearly cost but for f2p games is bs and favoritism for Fortnite, Warzone and Apex. Pretty much every other online mp game has a paywall of 100$ + considering both game/expansion costs and online paywall.

It’s either remove it altogether or level the playing field at this point. I’m hoping sub service costs from Extra help them move away from current methods and fix this.

If Activision is MS owned Sony should no longer do them the favor. Moving forward Sony should indeed do what they can to hurt games like Overwatch and CoD by making them play by the same rules as everyone else.
 
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peter42O

Guest
The industry is stagnant, so much that we stopped arguing about games and we are now arguing over acquisitions. Indies and AA games are not enough to push the industry forward.

We as consumers are giving approval for that, it’s the way we buy, defend and praise brands and games.

I agree completely. But it is the consumers/gamers fault to an extent because when we all ask for the premium top tier shit, that shit is massively expensive and companies need to make sure they get a return on their investment which is why they play it safe the vast majority of the time. Look at Ubisoft. They had Child of Light, Rayman, Valiant Hearts among others but look at them now. They're literally my favorite company and they just go through the motions because they can't afford to take risks and gambles. And when they do, like chasing the free to play Fortnite market, it blows up in their face repeatedly.

This is why I love Game Pass and am hugely in favor of it. This is where the innovation and originality will come into play. Look at Pentiment. It's not my type of game at all but it's one of the most unique and original games that I have seen in a long time. Games like these as well as Hi Fi Rush which is a rhythm based melee combat game is because of Game Pass. Due to the fact that Microsoft and more importantly, the development studios are no longer reliant or dependent on their games selling a set amount of copies in order to break even and eventually turn a profit, we'll get more unique and original type games that we wouldn't get otherwise. And of course, as a consumer, I give them $10 for a month to play/complete the game and then cancel. So im saving money while still getting what I want while at the same time, not giving Microsoft as much money as I would if I had to buy all these games for $70 or whatever the cost would be day one. As for the arguing, if it's not acquisitions, it will be game lists, exclusives, this or that. This is never going to end. Or at least not in my life time.
 
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Gods&Monsters

Gods&Monsters

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21 Jun 2022
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Sony fucked around and may find out.. This isn't all on MS.
Sony didn't do anything. The FTC and CMA did that in their market analysis and it made sense in the case of COD because it’s not on Nintendo and PS/Xbox is 50/50.

It doesn't make sense in Japan.

Stop parroting that dumb "Sony fucked around and find out" like those xbots twitter warriors.
 

Zzero

Major Tom
9 Jan 2023
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Sony didn't do anything. The FTC and CMA did that in their market analysis and it made sense in the case of COD because it’s not on Nintendo and PS/Xbox is 50/50.

It doesn't make sense in Japan.

Stop parroting that dumb "Sony fucked around and find out" like those xbots twitter warriors.
I think seperating Nintendo out from the other two is dumb. Its like saying hatchbacks don't compete with sedans, they totally do.

And then stuff like "open systems" (PCs) and streaming devices can be trucks and motorcycles to complete the car analogy.
 
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24 Jun 2022
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HAHAHAHAHA. LMFAO. This shit is just too funny.

Like I said months ago, Sony was going to end up overplaying their hand. They should have just accepted the 10 year deal and moved on. Instead, they're going to be getting investigated within Japan, will be stuck showing 4+ years of documents come August that will definitely expose a lot of their shitty practices and best of all, they may not even get COD at all. LMFAO!!!

What a great day.

And to think, Xbox One will end up being a blessing in disguise for Microsoft and Xbox. Oh man. Give me more acquisitions baby!! 😂

NGL this just made me lose all respect for you here. This isn't far off from Senjutsu Sage's inane BS on Twitter.

At least you dropped the pretense I guess.
 

Plextorage

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26 Feb 2023
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They should have just accepted the 10 year deal and moved on. Instead, they're going to be getting investigated within Japan, will be stuck showing 4+ years of documents come August that will definitely expose a lot of their shitty practices and best of all, they may not even get COD at all. LMFAO!!!

Investigated by who? MS steeped in their own pile of shit here, man.



MS ignoring Nintendo for some reason and they are market leader there. You can bet that Sony will be more aggressive now with 3rd party deals. Don't cry later for the lack of games on Xbox. You have Bethesda and probably Activision
 

Nhomnhom

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25 Mar 2023
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What did Sony find out? That Microsoft destroyed all their internal studios and bled all talent in the last 20 years?

To the point where the only decent projects coming for the platform is Bethesda games that would 100% been released and made most of their money on PlayStation.

Now what? Xbox doing so bad where no software is being sold, no one wants to buy their hardware and no one wants to buy their subscription service which only has one big tentpole release a year at most to push the service.

Gamepass will not sustain big budget game development. And now Xbox wants to claim success by buying a company who makes most of their money on PlayStation?

They’re buying a participation award. This is example of crony capitalism gone so fucking wrong. It’s also put on display who of our public servants are crooked as fuck. If you’re in Microsoft and Bill Gates pocket … you gotta go.

Losers should not be rewarded. That loser is fucking Microsoft. They suck at the games business thing so much.

RIP Activision I’m sure Phil Spencer will destroy them just like every other studio they mismanage.
Don't you get it? MS has more money and can buy half the industry that's all that matters to Xbox fans. That's their win, it was never about games with them. If someone is an Xbox fan at this point that is a massive red flag and in social media sites they make that pretty clear with every one of their post, they are more bitter about PlayStation success than anything else.
 

VillaiN

Well-known member
10 Feb 2023
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661
It should be removed altogether. I accepted bypassing the paywall for MMOs like FF14 because of its own ballooning yearly cost but for f2p games is bs and favoritism for Fortnite, Warzone and Apex. Pretty much every other online mp game has a paywall of 100$ + considering both game/expansion costs and online paywall.

It’s either remove it altogether or level the playing field at this point. I’m hoping sub service costs from Extra help them move away from current methods and fix this.

If Activision is MS owned Sony should no longer do them the favor. Moving forward Sony should indeed do what they can to hurt games like Overwatch and CoD by making them play by the same rules as everyone else.
This s a must. First thing to do. I have to pay to play online gt7 but fkin activision game doesnt need paywall. Also they pay less for every game and mtx sold, 20%, every1 else pays 30 to platform holder.
 

Nhomnhom

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25 Mar 2023
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Steve Jobs was sooo right 28 years ago. Still on point
That's their identity, their products don't stand out because of quality or innovation. What they are doing to PlayStation now is very in line with how they established their other monopolies in the past (or tried to and failed).
 
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peter42O

Guest
NGL this just made me lose all respect for you here. This isn't far off from Senjutsu Sage's inane BS on Twitter.

At least you dropped the pretense I guess.

Be that as it may, I do find the entire situation funny because Sony should have just accepted the deal and moved on. Instead, they tried to block a deal which was never going to happen and in turn, put much more of a spotlight and focus on their own business practices which is their own doing.

As for me, im no different than anyone else here. I favor what I prefer and that's it. No different than others here constantly shitting and bashing Microsoft and Xbox repeatedly and for what? Because they can't play certain games on their preferred platform? Well, join the club. But hey, to each their own.

My stance has been very clear from the beginning. I want Microsoft to acquire more studios and publishers because it's better for me. I don't see why this is a surprise to anyone. Maybe I went overboard but I do literally find it hilarious that Sony is going to have all this added attention be brought upon themselves and maybe it amounts to nothing or maybe it doesn't. Who knows. What I do know is that they should have just accepted the ten year deal instead of overplaying their hand which I said since last summer, they were going to do. And well, they did.
 

KnittedKnight

Gaming Sage
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13 Jul 2022
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It would be a mistake to reimpose the online paywall for F2P shooters. The cat is out the bag now. MS would pounce on such an announcement and Epic would side with them for a Fornite migration away from PS. Market leverage is no longer as strong due to the acquisition itself.

I agree with Vertigo's take on MS behavior but not on that corrective measure. I do believe there should be serious measures taken to dissuade interest in COD to kill it. Releasing tent pole exclusives same week or same day as yearly CODs is one of many steps to take. You have to drown out COD enthusiasm in its yearly releases. The old "everyone move out the way for COD's release week" should be absolutely over. Its F2P brother is a different nut to crack. Marketing deals should die. Likewise something needs to be done about the eSports COD scene. Propping up competitors with bigger cash bags is just but one of many remedies that should be taken in conjunction with each other, including but not limited to sidelining COD on all eSports competition Sony has a big bag on. You kill COD by drowning it out of enthusiasm. A partnership with EA and Ubisoft, hopefully both, for Rainbow Six and Battlefield is inevitable.

You obviously need a homegrown alternative as well. Actually at least 2-3 cause most are bound to fail. Destiny going exclusive being contingent on COD exclusivity is also a card in the bag.

There are weapons out there, for sure, including but not limited to Microsoft's own managerial incompetence (a freebie).
 
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