We now have concrete details as to the contract MS has with Sega and how they weaseled their way into Yakuza/Persona ports

Danja

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Well one can hope Sony was smart enough to sign or negotiate Persona 6. Before 2020. But either way, Sega took this deal because they knew 95% of the sales will come from Playstation if it's just Xbox / Playstation. So they get paid while still reaping some profits.

I've already been boycotting them ever since they withheld the Yakuza 7 PS5 patch.

They can go fuck themselves.

Only a matter of time till Microsoft tries to bribe Capcom as well.

Jim Ryan will twiddle his fingers then tell Nixxies to speed up the PC port, so they can attack M$ on their home turf again. 😅
 

Impulse

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IDK, Microsoft paying money to get ports and some gamepass games that aren't even exclusive isn't what i'd call nefarious in any way.

Like, they easily did way worse stuff than this.
 
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Bodycount611

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also funny how Yakuza Gaiden is announced for gamepass a month before release.

They want to milk all of us PS5 to preorder the game before we can see it's freeware fodder on Welfarepass.
 
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Old Gamer

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Microsoft signed a 'parity' clause with RGG studio, which states that if RGG studio (or likely Sega entirely?) release a game for PlayStation, they must also release it for Xbox. I'm unsure if this extends beyond Yakuza games, (The documents were about RGG studio/ Yakuza Like a Dragon specifically) but it makes sense as to why Xbox is getting Persona ports and Unicorn Overlord from Vanillaware, but is skipped on Switch exclusives likes Etrian Odyssey collection and SMTV.

Nintendo's Sega exclusives weren't targetted or included in the clause, just PlayStation's.

With this news, Xbox will most likely be getting Persona 6 day one. It also goes to show MS's mentality: Undermine and destroy PlayStation's 3rd party relationships, by FORCING developers to support Xbox too, if they support PlayStation

This is a pretty damned devious deal and must have cost Xbox hundreds of millions of dollars. MS also sweetens the deal by paying a lump sum for gamepass inclusion, which negates the possible (and let's be honest -- likely) sales failures of these games on the Xbox platform.

Well, there it is.

F6l-RKQeb0-AAfiv-L.jpg


TL,DR: Microsoft has signed a Parity clause with Sega moving forward from ~2020 that states if Sega develops a game for PlayStation, they must also develop it and release it for Xbox.
A parity clause just to ensure release by itself is not necessarily bad or such a big deal. Although those are usually signed on a title per title basis. But what we've seen SEGA do goes far beyond that. They literally give next gen exclusivity on the platform with least ROI (which is quite stupid), and have recently set a precedent of pre-order exclusivity for that same platform, effectively sabotaging sales accross the board.

It's almost as if the SEGA BoD has been infiltrated to prime them for failure and buyout. Like NOKIA.
 
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reziel

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Microsoft signed a 'parity' clause with RGG studio, which states that if RGG studio (or likely Sega entirely?) release a game for PlayStation, they must also release it for Xbox. I'm unsure if this extends beyond Yakuza games, (The documents were about RGG studio/ Yakuza Like a Dragon specifically) but it makes sense as to why Xbox is getting Persona ports and Unicorn Overlord from Vanillaware, but is skipped on Switch exclusives likes Etrian Odyssey collection and SMTV.

Nintendo's Sega exclusives weren't targetted or included in the clause, just PlayStation's.

With this news, Xbox will most likely be getting Persona 6 day one. It also goes to show MS's mentality: Undermine and destroy PlayStation's 3rd party relationships, by FORCING developers to support Xbox too, if they support PlayStation

This is a pretty damned devious deal and must have cost Xbox hundreds of millions of dollars. MS also sweetens the deal by paying a lump sum for gamepass inclusion, which negates the possible (and let's be honest -- likely) sales failures of these games on the Xbox platform.

Well, there it is.

F6l-RKQeb0-AAfiv-L.jpg


TL,DR: Microsoft has signed a Parity clause with Sega moving forward from ~2020 that states if Sega develops a game for PlayStation, they must also develop it and release it for Xbox.
Hopefully Xbox doesn't convince Japan that their developers have to do this for all the big games over there.
 
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AllBizness

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What incentive was Sega given to sign such a deal? Doesn't make any since unless Microsoft gave them some cash to sign that deal.
 
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If you're a diehard Sega/Atlus & PlayStation fan and you're still buying their games Day 1 on PlayStation, even after knowing this, I'm sorry but you're being stupid.

Azure. They signed a deal and this was probably a part of that.

Yah, they are giving Microsoft/Xbox preferential treatment due to Sarah Bond acting as the middleperson between them and the Azure team for that strategic partnership.
The slap in the face being, when that was first announced I thought it meant MS funding a few Xbox exclusives from Sega/Atlus like back in the OG Xbox days, which would've actually been interesting. Instead it seems they are both stupid and petty enough to not add more creative output to the industry slate; they just want to be an inferior copy of PlayStation.

This just further goes to show Phil Spencer has virtually zero creative impetus as a leader.

Well one can hope Sony was smart enough to sign or negotiate Persona 6. Before 2020. But either way, Sega took this deal because they knew 95% of the sales will come from Playstation if it's just Xbox / Playstation. So they get paid while still reaping some profits.

Well that is also the problem: they are taking their primary customer base for granted to appease a company that simply wants to be an inferior duplicate of a brand that already exists, instead of carving out their own path in a way that actually resonates with the majority of gaming customers.

As long as people continue being Day 1 supporters of Sega/Atlus releases on PlayStation, they will continue to enable these sort of deals by Microsoft, as it keeps the price manageable for them. If those sales dry up, though, suddenly Microsoft has to pay out a metric ton more to make up for that drop. It could even get to the point where they don't feel it is worth paying.

I've already been boycotting them ever since they withheld the Yakuza 7 PS5 patch.

They can go fuck themselves.

Only a matter of time till Microsoft tries to bribe Capcom as well.

Jim Ryan will twiddle his fingers then tell Nixxies to speed up the PC port, so they can attack M$ on their home turf again. 😅

I think Capcom will be fine; they have historically made better business moves as a games publisher than Sega, and they prioritize B2P sales revenue. I think they know what goodwill they'd stand to lose by cutting a deal like this with Microsoft, while expecting their primary customer base to act as paypigs on PlayStation in turn allowing Microsoft to keep prices for such deals manageable.

You may get a few more games like Exo Primal to Game Pass, but nothing AAA. Meanwhile Capcom's already generally been quite multi-platform and while Xbox accounts for the lowest percentage of their Western game sales by far, it's still some easy money to pick up releasing there. Though, yes, it would suck if Microsoft tried forcing Capcom or anyone else into supporting their platform; 3P should have the choice of where their games go.

I actually wonder if this contract they have with Sega/Atlus can potentially be considered anticompetitive in a way. Only way I can see it is if they "tricked" Sega/Atlus into such a term but these game publishers tend to have good lawyers who'd spot that type of thing ahead of time. So at most they coerced Sega/Atlus into those terms...though leaving Nintendo out of it definitely shows a targeted intent on Microsoft's part that when paired with the bevy of other leaked information and plans from them, could be considered quasi-anticompetitive intent piecing together in the myriad of ways they want to "spend Sony out of business".
 
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Banana

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As long as Persona 6 comes to Steam or Nintendo.

Never playing another Persona or SMT game not on a handheld.
 
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Well one can hope Sony was smart enough to sign or negotiate Persona 6. Before 2020. But either way, Sega took this deal because they knew 95% of the sales will come from Playstation if it's just Xbox / Playstation. So they get paid while still reaping some profits.

I've already been boycotting them ever since they withheld the Yakuza 7 PS5 patch.

They can go fuck themselves.

Only a matter of time till Microsoft tries to bribe Capcom as well.

Jim Ryan will twiddle his fingers then tell Nixxies to speed up the PC port, so they can attack M$ on their home turf again. 😅
Hope to god they don't get their hands on capcom still annoyed that dead rising 3 isn't on playstation if they got resident evil exclusive I'd be livid
 
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Johnic

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Don't care either way. If more games come to Gamepass. awesome.
This kind of mindset is exactly what's wrong with diehard Xbox fanboys. 'As long as I get games for cheap in the short term, I don;t care what happens".

So when MS gets enough IPs to think they can increase price, which already happened, it's still fine?

When they release mediocre games because they don't need to bother because they already have you subscribed, like it happened last year with no games, it's still fine?

What about the latest rumor that sees MS willing to put COD and other high level AAA games on a much more expensive GP tier, it's still fine?

How about their latest scheme, where you don't get games on release on GP but instead have to pay to play them "early"? You can bet they'll start using that more, removing games from day one.

See, this is exactly why Xbox is 3rd. Both their management and their users are only interested in short term. It baffles me how some of you are unable to see 2 feet in front of you and think of the future of games on Xbox. As a GP subscriber and a Series X owner, their GP strategy is incredibly worrying and quality will suffer for it. it already is. See Starfield, Halo, Redfall and even Forza Horizon, which felt more like a DLC chapter.
 
27 Jun 2023
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This kind of mindset is exactly what's wrong with diehard Xbox fanboys. 'As long as I get games for cheap in the short term, I don;t care what happens".

So when MS gets enough IPs to think they can increase price, which already happened, it's still fine?

When they release mediocre games because they don't need to bother because they already have you subscribed, like it happened last year with no games, it's still fine?

What about the latest rumor that sees MS willing to put COD and other high level AAA games on a much more expensive GP tier, it's still fine?

How about their latest scheme, where you don't get games on release on GP but instead have to pay to play them "early"? You can bet they'll start using that more, removing games from day one.

See, this is exactly why Xbox is 3rd. Both their management and their users are only interested in short term. It baffles me how some of you are unable to see 2 feet in front of you and think of the future of games on Xbox. As a GP subscriber and a Series X owner, their GP strategy is incredibly worrying and quality will suffer for it. it already is. See Starfield, Halo, Redfall and even Forza Horizon, which felt more like a DLC chapter.
"What about the latest rumor that sees MS willing to put COD and other high level AAA games on a much more expensive GP tier" haven't heard that rumour but I am & have been for the longest 💯% convinced that's what they're going to do & I'll laugh my arse off when they announce it & the xbots assemble to damage control & say its still 'the best value in gaming'
 

AllBizness

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Azure. They signed a deal and this was probably a part of that.
Still doesn't make sense, Azure is a service Sega can pay to use why would they have to give up anything other then their payments? Makes no sense for Sega to be subordinate to Microsoft.