False information, Clickbait Journalism & Popular Misconceptions

Dabaus

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On top of other things, the ResetEra/XboxEra crew were observed clickbait or link farming. Members would monitor news aggregators looking for negative Sony/PlayStation opinion or press. A link to said story would be shared on Discord. Within a short period, a thread would be created on ResetEra by a random member discussing the topic, drawing wider attention, gaining further media interest.

They believe strongly Xbox is the better console and that PlayStation's reputation is undeserved. As though they had taken it upon themselves to alter how Sony are perceived by the public. The group is obsessed with diminishing PlayStation's brand "aura" or "halo".
It didn’t have much effect and now it’s Xbox on the back foot after Phil’s terrible interview.
 
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Bryank75

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The Silent Hill games are not based on Centralia, despite what's often claimed. That was an invention of the film.








I'm not gonna lie, I kinda enjoy silly situations like this...when viewing from afar at least!
 

Bryank75

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On top of other things, the ResetEra/XboxEra crew were observed clickbait or link farming. Members would monitor news aggregators looking for negative Sony/PlayStation opinion or press. A link to said story would be shared on Discord. Within a short period, a thread would be created on ResetEra by a random member discussing the topic, drawing wider attention, gaining further media interest.

They believe strongly Xbox is the better console and that PlayStation's reputation is undeserved. As though they had taken it upon themselves to alter how Sony are perceived by the public. The group is obsessed with diminishing PlayStation's brand "aura" or "halo".

Would love to know exactly who is in this Discord. Is it basically all the main Xbox people we see? Senjustsu, PeterOvo, TimDog etc etc?
 
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nongkris

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I think the Xbots have realized that any FUD and negative news stories about Sony is not helping Xbox whatsoever, with the recent CMA block and Redfall reception reinforcing that. That’s why you have shills like Jez getting a PS5 and Ryan Mccaffrey being salty. The hardware gap is so wide that the gen is basically over faster than the last gen. Spider-Man 2 will suck the air out of the room when it’s released, as casuals care a hell of a lot more about that than Starfield, which MS is banking on.

Apple blocking Xcloud on iOS killed their mobile plans, so I’m not sure what will be the next move for Xbox as a brand. The only reason Xbox is able to make so much revenue still is because of the 30% they take off of games sold on the hardware, so they’re pretty much stuck in a dying business unless they want to forfeit billions in software commission to go third party
 

Cool hand luke

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They'll have to go third party. The refrain from the green rats has been to wait until the next generation, when the COD deal expires or XGS and all the stolen studios start releasing games (games released since 2021: 1, Redfall), but with the ABK deal dead and buried and the CMA's reasoning able to be used to block every possible future acquisition by Microsoft, there's no move left for Xbox. Irrelevance it is.
 
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Dabaus

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I think the Xbots have realized that any FUD and negative news stories about Sony is not helping Xbox whatsoever, with the recent CMA block and Redfall reception reinforcing that. That’s why you have shills like Jez getting a PS5 and Ryan Mccaffrey being salty. The hardware gap is so wide that the gen is basically over faster than the last gen. Spider-Man 2 will suck the air out of the room when it’s released, as casuals care a hell of a lot more about that than Starfield, which MS is banking on.

Apple blocking Xcloud on iOS killed their mobile plans, so I’m not sure what will be the next move for Xbox as a brand. The only reason Xbox is able to make so much revenue still is because of the 30% they take off of games sold on the hardware, so they’re pretty much stuck in a dying business unless they want to forfeit billions in software commission to go third party
The reason xbox make so much revenue is because of minecraft and maybe the bethesda mmo's IMO.
 
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Would love to know exactly who is in this Discord. Is it basically all the main Xbox people we see? Senjustsu, PeterOvo, TimDog etc etc?

There were two groups iirc. The Xbox side of ResetEra and the so-called 'secret' Discord. The ResetEra group was full of ardent Xbox enthusiasts. Many familiar names, obsessing over Sony, spreading FUD. Some of them split off and formed/joined XboxEra. The 'secret' side was said to be the same but worse due to inappropriate conversations, but I never witnessed that myself.
 
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Nitro

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How did the press get this story so wrong?

"We believe in generations" is a reference to the design philosophy of lead system architect Mark Cerny. To understand the context, here is Digital Foundry's Richard Leadbetter after talking with Cerny back in October 2016:

Leadbetter: The biggest takeaway I had from the meeting with Mark Cerny was the insight into how Sony views the console generations. PS4 Pro and Project Scorpio have been seen as the beginning of the end of the jump to a new, more capable wave of hardware in favour of intermediate upgrades. What's clear is that Sony isn't buying into this. (Inside PlayStation 4 Pro, October 2016)

When Sony broke their silence on PlayStation 5 three years later, here's how the story began:

Mark Cerny would like to get one thing out of the way right now: The videogame console that Sony has spent the past four years building is no mere upgrade. Sony and Microsoft both extended the current console generation via a mid-cycle refresh, with the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 spawning mini-sequels (the Xbox One X and PS4 Pro). “The key question,” Cerny says, “is whether the console adds another layer to the sorts of experiences you already have access to, or if it allows for fundamental changes in what a game can be.” (Exclusive: What to Expect From Sony's Next-Gen PlayStation, April 2019)

Digital Foundry again in April 2020:

Leadbetter: In our prior meeting back in 2016, Cerny talked in depth about how Sony was wedded to the concept of the console generation and the hardware revealed certainly attests to that. So is cross-gen development a thing for first-party developers? While stressing again that he's all in on the concept of console generations (as opposed to PC-style, more gradual innovation) he wasn't going to talk software strategy, and to be fair, that's not really his area. (PlayStation 5 uncovered: the Mark Cerny tech deep dive, April 2020)

"We believe in generations" was never a singular promise of next-gen exclusive games, as GamesRadar and countless other media publications claimed. It was a message intended to rebuff speculation circa 2016 regarding the end of traditional hardware cycles in favour of more regular step upgrades. It's not Mark Cerny's responsibility to shape or articulate Sony's cross-gen development strategy. For that we must look elsewhere.

The first major clue is found in Wired magazine's April 2019 scoop:

4lMqV3d.png


Peter Rubin As in many other generational transitions, this will be a gentle one, with numerous new games being released for both PS4 and the next-gen console. (Exclusive: What to Expect From Sony's Next-Gen PlayStation, April 2019)

Jim Ryan speaking in May 2020:

Ryan: We have always felt that we had a responsibility to serve that [PS4] community for several years after the launch of PS5 and that it represented a huge business opportunity for us. The numbers are quite straightforward. If you say in broad brush figures that we have a community of 100 million PS4 owners right now, and in the first couple of years... I don't know, somewhere between 15 and 25 million might migrate to PS5, that still leaves a huge number of people with PS4s. (Sony's Jim Ryan: “We are going to launch PS5 this holiday and we're going to launch globally", May 2020)

Sony marketing head Eric Lempel talking with Geoff Keighley, debuting the capabilities of the DualSense controller during a much anticipated live stream in July 2020:

Lempel We wanted to evolve every part of the experience. The controller is really the most intimate part of the experience - it's the extension of the player. So we thought a lot about this. One of the things we could have done is just iterate on the DualShock [...] but we thought let's go a step further, let's see how a new generation can express a whole new feeling. [...] We believe that all of these things combined, as well as all the other great PS5 features we've spoken about, really lead to a next-generation experience, and in many cases we can't take everybody with us from previous consoles into that experience. You need new hardware, you need new devices to experience what these developers want you to experience.

Keighley: And I imagine PS4 there will still be games coming out for it, I mean it's not like the pipeline stops there, but there's this new set of experiences that will be exclusive to PS5.

Lempel: Exactly. PlayStation 4 is a big part of everything we do and will continue to be a big part of everything we do. There's a lot more to come on PlayStation 4. ("There's a lot more to come from PS4," PlayStation marketing head says, July 2020)

Ryan again in November 2020:

Ryan: The larger proportion of the PlayStation community will be engaged with their PS4 and so we have this huge responsibility to that community to ensure that they are really well served with new games... (Jim Ryan on the PS4 to PS5 transition, November 2020)

Sony was keen to emphasize the strength of their hardware approach. Not merely more regular, more powerful iterations of what went before. They have hardware innovations that distinguish PS5 from PS4 and also, they believe, the competition. Yet they always intended to serve both audiences over the transition period—a phase extended by global pandemic. These are not contradictory goals.
 
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Eggman

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There's so much misinformation about Sony spread on reddit. Microsoft have essentially taken over the entirety site. Have a look at this thread




It is just a cesspool of misinformation. Sony did not "support" the lawsuit, they were subpoenaed for documents and were legally obligated to, that's how subpoenas work...

The moderators of that subreddit have been banning any one with a descending opinion of Xbox or Microsoft for years and it has just become an echo chamber of nonsense. It's quite literally a cult.
 

AshHunter216

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There's so much misinformation about Sony spread on reddit. Microsoft have essentially taken over the entirety site. Have a look at this thread




It is just a cesspool of misinformation. Sony did not "support" the lawsuit, they were subpoenaed for documents and were legally obligated to, that's how subpoenas work...

The moderators of that subreddit have been banning any one with a descending opinion of Xbox or Microsoft for years and it has just become an echo chamber of nonsense. It's quite literally a cult.

They also swarmed the Playstation subreddit when the Eu approved the deal.

It's funny how much the Xbox subreddit talks about PlayStation vs how little the Playstation subreddit talks about Xbox.
 

Eggman

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They also swarmed the Playstation subreddit when the Eu approved the deal.

It's funny how much the Xbox subreddit talks about PlayStation vs how little the Playstation subreddit talks about Xbox.

I can't decide which is worse, resetera or reddit but it's clear as day they have both been severely influenced and compromised
 

Eggman

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There's so much misinformation about Sony spread on reddit. Microsoft have essentially taken over the entirety site. Have a look at this thread




It is just a cesspool of misinformation. Sony did not "support" the lawsuit, they were subpoenaed for documents and were legally obligated to, that's how subpoenas work...

The moderators of that subreddit have been banning any one with a descending opinion of Xbox or Microsoft for years and it has just become an echo chamber of nonsense. It's quite literally a cult.



Returning to the post I see a mod of that sub is actively spreading misinformation




Wouldn't be surprised to see the comment correcting him get removed and the user banned. That moderator is known for it
 
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Nitro

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As I said elsewhere, this is what happens when you energize the most fervid and toxic elements of your fan base, and your subreddit is moderated by Xbox Ambassadors who ban any member who mutters a word of dissent, you end up with a cult following. The Xbox sub is basically an extension of Microsoft propagandist Florian Mueller's blog at this point.

They also swarmed the Playstation subreddit when the Eu approved the deal.

The r/ps5 EU submission approving the merger gained more upvotes than the r/ps5 CMA submission blocking the deal. The approval post also acquired more upvotes than PlayStation's recent showcase announcement. There were multiple signs of botting and brigading.

I can't decide which is worse, resetera or reddit but it's clear as day they have both been severely influenced and compromised

Reddit has has greater reach. Anything that reaches the top 5 pages gains several millions views. A years-old study found that for every member who upvotes a story, there are hundreds of non members who are exposed to that story.
 
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Eggman

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I meant to post this the other day when that new bullshit Takashi article came out about Playstation underperforming despite record sales.

Just to document his lies and the three times Sony has called him out for lying that I am aware of. It's clear he has an objective to attack Sony's stock price

1) First he claimed PS5 shipments were being cut and this was denied by Sony

Takashi: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...4-million-due-to-chip-woes?srnd=technology-vp

Sony's denial: https://www.gamesindustry.biz/sony-reportedly-cuts-ps5-production-by-4m-units


2) He also claimed Sony was going to end production of the PS4 but changed their minds because of PS5 production issues. This never happened as Sony never planned to end PS4 production

Takashi: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-01-12/sony-tackles-playstation-5-shortage-by-making-more-ps4-consoles?leadSource=uverify wall

Sony's denial: https://www.playstationlifestyle.net/2022/01/21/sony-never-planning-stop-ps4-production/


3) And most recently he went after PSVR2 claiming they cut production which was also a lie he fabricated by first claiming they were planning 2 million PSVR2 for the "launch window" and then later claiming they cut production

Takashi: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...-order-disappointment-leads-to-production-cut

Sony's denial: https://www.gamesindustry.biz/sony-we-have-not-cut-ps-vr-2-production-numbers

Let's add some more for our friend Takashi.

While it was an analyst that said PSVR2 only sold 270,000 Takashi pushed the report heavily into the light making everyone else pick up the B.S story and spam it everywhere.


We now know it was actually more than twice that within 6 weeks of launch selling 600k in 6 weeks


Takashi needs to be fired. Not sure why Bloomberg still employs him.
 
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Satoru

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Takashi needs to be fired. Not sure why Bloomberg still employs him.

My guess, and I may be 100% wrong, but there seems to be a very "nationalistic" approach to news and rumours from a lot of American publications. Since Microsoft has leaned heavily into lobbying in the US, and I suspect into "guerrilla" marketing with certain publications, it could be simply because Sony is a foreign company.

i could be very wrong here.
 
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Eternal_Wings

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Sony needs to give this asshat the Nintendo treatment. Takashi Mochizuki is constantly spreading misinformation which impacted Sony’s share price mire than one time. I mean this proposed misinformation he can be held accountable for?
He is probably trying to lower Sony’s value on purpose. Thoughts gentlemen?

 

Cool hand luke

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Sony needs to give this asshat the Nintendo treatment. Takashi Mochizuki is constantly spreading misinformation which impacted Sony’s share price mire than one time. I mean this proposed misinformation he can be held accountable for?
He is probably trying to lower Sony’s value on purpose. Thoughts gentlemen?


If there are laws against it, he should face consequences, yes.
 

Eggman

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More Jez Corden propaganda nonsense


No Jez he did not work for a "Sony Law Firm". He worked at a law firm 10 years ago that today represents Sony. The name of the law firm is Cleary Gottlieb. Florian Mueller fails to provide a scrap of evidence that Raftery worked a case for Sony 10 years ago, or that Cleary Gottlieb represented Sony during his time there. The law firm does not represent Sony in the UK over these affairs, where the CMA preside, so Muller artfully says they represent Sony "internationally" instead.


Also the CMA's investigations are all done independently of the CMA's board, and Raftery wasn't the director overseeing this case.