Talking Point: What Do You Make of Microsoft and Sony's Call of Duty Quarrel?

I think it's annoying as hell whenever a situation like this pops up. It brings out the absolute worst in the boot-licking corporate defenders who are a little too attached to their plastic boxes and think these rich hypocrites are their friends. Both Phil Spencer and Jim Ryan don't give a flying ++++ about you, and any public display of supposed altruism is fake, insulting, and mechanical. To suggest otherwise shows a complete disconnect from reality.

And CoD can get in the bin for all I care.

I personally stopped playing Cod a long while ago. However I think Microsoft ballsed up their messaging a bit by saying that Cod will remain multi-platform and the insinuation was that it was going to stay that way. I think Sony are right to call them out on that if privately ms were saying, actually, you can have three years but that's it.

Unless they keep it as it is, both companies will lose lots and lots of cash

If COD leaves PlayStation people will not be selling their £500 boxes and jump ship just to play it but will probably be told by YouTubers which game to play instead.

The whole thing is utterly appalling. It's completely destroyed multiple friendships within my circle. I think Microsoft should be shuttered and have their assets seized. The funds can be used to repair the societal destruction they've caused. Sick of corporate externalities.

I think the hypocrisy on display is quite astounding. Sony calling out Xbox regarding things they have been doing themselves for years, playing the victim when in fact they've been the bully for much of the last generation. It's pretty cringeworthy to watch.

I also find it utterly unbelievable that Jim publicly responded to Phil regarding Call of Duty remaining on the PlayStation for the next 5 years (at least) as not being good enough, when Xbox didn't have to make any such commitment (beyond the 2 year contract that already existed), and we all know that Sony would have been highly unlikely to have made any such commitment. It just seems all very salty from Sony.

As much as I love my PS5, it's just not a good look for PlayStation at all.

I don’t even play COD, but I understand by those who are unhappy for whichever direction this series goes.

Personally I don't mind, I haven't played one since Ghosts and if I do want to play the campaigns then I have a series S, but let's face facts, it won't be exclusive to xbox as they can't afford to lose millions of players and sales from those microtransactions, yeah it will be on gamepass day one but millions of people will still get it on playstation and gamepass isn't worth it for casuals who just want to play call of duty.

PlayStation can also find a hit with their own multiplayer game, possibly with the TLOU multiplayer game coming out next year, make it free to play and market the hell out of it, then put in microtransactions and battle passes and they will get easily over 10 million players and rake in the cash, also since the release of fortnite and apex legends, call of duty has slowly been dying in terms of sales numbers, the last one sold poorly from what I've read.

I just want a showcase at this point. I want Sony to concentrate on their own business and their own fanbase and give us a reason to get excited for Playstation again

@Fiendish-Beaver Not being sarcastic but can’t think of any mainstream multiplatform series that Sony have paid multiple billion dollars to acquire the studio and publisher to then make the series exclusive? Most of their games like Spiderman and Uncharted etc are home grown. It makes sense that Halo etc are exclusive to Xbox since they created it but why for example would you spend nearly 100 billion on say EA and make FIFA exclusive to one platform?

I haven't touched CoD in years but I do genuinely feel bad for peeps that love the series and want to keep playing on PlayStation.

I think it’s great! I love reading comments from fanboys both sides. The hypocrisy of both. And I love seeing Sony and Ms publicly drop the vail and show they are in competition with one another.
I love seeing how Jim Ryan and Phil Spencer are direct reflections of their platforms fanbases…it’s really interesting to see.

Ryan spitting his dummy out when he can’t get his own way… conveniently forgetting the marketing deals Sony have done to actively prevent cross platform parity. Selective in his memory of the exclusivity deals Sony had/has. And then pretending that Sony cares about ‘the players’ first and foremost.

Spencer, pretending he doesn’t care about exclusivity…that we should all play together regardless of device….and then excited about big acquisitions and exclusive content.

And Bowser…silent. Reflected by Nintendo fanboys (who haven’t had a cod in years) just eating popcorn and enjoying the show.

End of the day cod is guaranteed to be on PlayStation for 6 more years…pretty much the entire gen is a guarantee. That’s 6 more years xbox gamers can’t be offered timed exclusive modes from cod… that seems like a pretty sweet deal when nearly every big AAA 3rd party game Sony gets marketing for offers either exclusive content for PlayStation, or places 1-2years timed exclusivity on it for PlayStation.
And…even after those 6 years there’s only the slim possibility you won’t be able to play cod again - the title for the last few years most here have been complaining is rubbish.

In 6 years there’s also the possibility gamepass will be on PlayStation…on your tv. It’s already on your phone, tablet, pc. There’s no need now to ever miss out on cod let alone in 6 years time…

It’s just all hilarious. I especially love those that say they’d rather timed exclusivity than MS buying a whole publisher - like activision was forced to sell to Microsoft and wouldn’t have ended up closing studios or being sold to somebody else who definitely wouldn’t have offered guarantees for 6 year cross platform support.
Oh how I wish MS had just paid a couple of billion to get every cod going forward as a years timed exclusivity instead…so I could have read all your happy posts.

Fact is Cod is just a small part of this deal…not even the part that’s going to make them the most money.

I really hope this goes to court

@Sequel societal destruction? Really?

Don't really care much about CoD nor for anything ActiBlizz owns and thank God for that. Sucks for most PS fans but not a big loss for me

wow, you guys really trying to stir it up.

cod wether you like it is huge.

this whole argument makes both companies look bad, however both 'need' each other, MS to make sure merger happens. sony wants security.

imo it will remain on both till the next consoles. currently people arent rushing out to buy xbox and ps is selling its stock, its not like every cod player will rush and buy an xbox day1 its not on ps

this is gona happen subscription based gaming playstation will have their own development teams xbox theirs just get both and be done.
ive subscribed to gamepass this playstation thing and Nintendo. i work dont drink ( used to but got bored with it) i have to tweak out with something and that's gaming.

@Fiendish-Beaver love the critter eating away 🤣😂

I think that, in part, Sony is dumb. Of course Microsoft will try to make the game exclusive eventually...why would they (Sony) think that they are entitled to have the game on Playstation? lol
Aren't they releasing their exclusives on PC? Then tell your fanbase to play COD on PC too

As an owner of both consoles I obviously am happy to get the games on Xbox at no extra cost than I have already payed

Phil should’ve come out right away & said that COD would leave PS eventually.
Instead he said it would remain on PS being intentionally obscure due to the legal reasons & having to portray ‘good-guy Phil’.

MS own Activision-Blizzard now. They paid a lot of money for them. They have no obligation to PS or anyone. Just be upfront.

Jim might not have been the most professional with his statement but else can PS do when team Xbox is saying contradictory things.
Maybe he should’ve gotten one of them leakers to spill the story instead 🤷‍♂️.

Personally speaking I haven’t played a COD since Infinite Warfare so this doesn’t affect me much, but I will miss Diablo.

I think Sony had every right to call out Microsoft's use of the word 'several'.
If they had promised 3 years they should have said 3 years. Typical used car salesman tactics.

My take is that PlayStation Gamers actually have a genuine reason to be disgruntled at CoD (potentially) leaving their systems, but the way that Jim Ryan and Sony have complained and whined about it has eroded any sympathy I would have had for them.

I find it very unwise that Sony doesn't keep hammering it home this isn't only about Call of Duty and the Activision-Blizzard deal does not exist in a vacuum. Microsoft bought another major publisher two years ago and intends to keep those games exclusive, it seems. So, it's not about losing Call of Duty only - it's about losing Fallout, Doom, Elder Scrolls, Wolfenstein, etc. AND Call of Duty.

@fight_teza_fight dont own them yet, still under scrutiny, hence the posturing (very high chance will happen)

I think most people here don’t play COD and they’re just being drama queens. Also Microsoft never said the deal couldn’t be renegotiated in 3 years. Sony would probably be even worse about this tbh.

It really dosnt bother me..i'll get call of duty this year and then see what happens. I'm not that much of a cod fan to purchase another console to play one franchise. I hope diablo remains multiformat as that game is the one i'm most interested in..

@TheCollector316
Sony does the same thing keeping many many third party games exclusive to PlayStation. I don’t think either side is right but Sony is just as bad as Microsoft.

Should have given an option for “I don’t give a damn about COD, but also don’t want MS using their cash to buy an effective monopoly”

MS are doing what makes sense to them, and Sony saying what makes business sense for them. None have anything but the bottom line in mind. But as they take opposite positions then one is obviously going to be better and the other worse for the industry, and it happens that it is (no surprise) the side looking to buy up all the biggest multiplatform publishers that is worse for the industry.

Would think the same if Sony did it, but thankfully they don’t have the money to buy dominance from MS.

That’s my take.

"It's just business"

This is the bottom line of this whole drama. Big company spends money to make itself more money. Sony and MS have been doing this for years.

They aren't arguing over COD "for the players" it is purely for the money.

What gets to me, is that people are far more upset about this than they ever were about the other stuff the industry does on the regular. It's clear that the outrage at this has nothing to do with industry behaviour, and everything to do with access to a franchise or siding with a multi billion dollar company that provides your chosen piece of plastic.

I went fully multiplatform this generation. If CoD will be xbox only but will appear on UGP day 1 I will definitely play it there.

Anyone who defends MS in this is a blatant fanboy. You have a company that couldn't make great games on their own to compete so now they've gone and bought up two massive 3rd party publishers and dozens of multiplatform IP's with the sole intention to make them exclusive to force people to buy an Xbox. Using conglomerate money to consolidate and ruin and industry is one of the worst things that could happen to gaming. CoD is the biggest IP in gaming and has tremendous pull. The door is now open for Amazon, Apple, Google, and anyone else to just buy up anything they want to force themselves in as market leaders.

People who try to call this "competition" are living in fantasy land. There's a major difference between putting out great games and services and having people choose your platform and buying up 3rd party IP's using conglomerate money to force people into your platform if they want to keep playing the games they love. It still makes me laugh when I see the same people in here trying to say "SONY DOES SAME THING". Pretty sure Sony has never bought a 3rd party publisher to make IP's permanently exclusive.

@darkswabber
Hence the governmental concerns over MS monopolising the subscription gaming sector before anyone else gets a foothold I guess…

@Deemo37 name one time sony took a game away from xbox that had 15+ million players on xbox alone.

PlayStation has kept final fantasy 7 remake away from xbox but the last final fantasy before that (15) sold less than a million on xbox...

Sony gets timed exclusives for games that sell way better on playstation to begin with whilst xbox is buying games that sell better on the competition to make the competition weaker, that's what this is about. Xbox will have taken elder scrolls which as 10+ million playstation players, fallout which has 5+ million players, possibly call of duty which has over 15 million playstation players, crash and spyro which sell millions more on playstation more than xbox.

Now you name the same kind of figures for games playstation has kept off xbox.

These deals aren't purely about making xbox better for value, they are primarily about making the competition weaker, and for someone who has trillions compared to someone who has billions, at some point it becomes bullying the market and will be stopped.

It has been amusing to see folks think this is a fight between Spencer and Ryan. That's not what's happening here. Like the article said it's just business. Spencer is looking out for Microsoft's interest, Ryan is looking out for Sony's interest. That's really all there is to it. It's nothing personal.

As for COD going exclusive I dabble once in a long while in COD but I'm far from a regular so I'd be fine. I've actually been pretty fortunate with who Microsoft has decided to gobble up as I thankfully don't play many if any Activision, Blizzard, or Bethesda games. The only one that affected myself was Ninja Theory as I do really like their work.

All that said, I will get an Xbox Series eventually (probably around Gears 6 release) so I'm not really bothered anyway but I understand for folks that only get one system getting upset about all this.

@thefourfoldroot1 "Hence the governmental concerns over MS monopolising the subscription gaming sector before anyone else gets a foothold I guess…"

Sony should have launched their own subscription service like 3 years before Game Pass. Maybe they would have had a chance then.

@Richnj I think you’re right in what you said, but it can’t just be belittled to these people being loyal to a ‘bit of plastic’…or loyal to a multibillion dollar company that provides them with a ‘bit of plastic’. It’s far deeper than that. It’s not even particularly the games. It’s the community…the community that comes with the ‘bit of plastic’ that most are loyal to…and the community provides them something very important…something that means everything to a lot of people. The plastic is a doorway of finding somewhere where you’re accepted - you can’t really put a price on that, especially if you’ve got not much else going on.
So I can understand why you get such passionate fanboys defending anything negative against their platform of choice…they take the attack personal, as an attack on them and their community. And when you’re feeling attacked it’s harder to think rationally and logically…your instinct is to attack back. And thus we have console wars.

@Bleachedsmiles I appreciate that, but gaming communities can (should) transcend the platform.

The COD community did it when they moved to PS4 from 360.

Communities should be formed around like minded people, or even just those games they play, not the consoles they are played on.

All three consoles could crumble tomorrow, we'll survive.

I don't really care anymore. Both sides are looking out for their own interest. Doesn't matter what we want or think. They do what they gotta do to make themselves the most profit

Not a fan of either side buying up big publishers like this. Studios I'm fine with but not publishers that should be growing themselves. It also means that MS doesn't need to try taking risks anymore like they used to and I don't want to see that happening as i've enjoyed some of their work. Only reason why MS isn't paying for third party is because they don't see their investments back like Sony does. And with Sony being in the lead, MS would have to pay even more to secure a deal. Sony will always keep pushing forward putting in the work to try new things. MS will just rely on their usual games + Bethesda and Activsion to do everything. They have so many great ips that will never see a sequel

Haven't played the last few CoDs and the price certainly puts me off. The older games I used to have a great time playing with friends. Over the years more of them started getting on with life that very few even plays or have time to join at the same time. We had some rare days that a few of us jumped on but a lot moved on years ago. If anything this pretty much kills it off for us entirely.

I mainly just go for the campaign now as i don't have the time to sink into multiplayer. Multiplayer is already ruined thanks to Warzone now. And £70 is far too much for the campaign. I also can't bring myself to support MS for buying up the publishers as it feels like i'd be supporting them to do more. So I think I'd just play the campaign when I have GP and then be done with the game. No more paying for it. That's really the only money they see of me as I never pay for the battle pass or mtx but I know my friends do or at least used to. Without the group, they may move on too as they don't have the money or time for another console. I'll be putting my money towards a different game instead.

frankly Jim Ryans reaction is embarrassing

@Royalblues Uncharted doesn't sell consoles? TLOU doesn't sell consoles? Horizon, GoW, Gran Turismo, etc. All of those games sell at least 5 million copies and go as high as 20 million. They have massive IP's that absolutely sell consoles, just none are as big as CoD and GTA because those are the two biggest standouts in the industry. You talk about exclusive modes and content, guess who started the DLC wars? That's right MS during the 360 gen!

@Richnj
Never could have outspent MS. Anyway, the point is not who gets there first, but rather ensuring consumers don’t get shafted through one company having too much dominance. Any other consideration is simply fanboyism

I have zero interest in COD but it's certainly something Sony will want to hold onto. Look at the past situation with Apple. If Microsoft hadn't been brought into line, back then, Apple would still just be making streamlined, top tier, design/media orientated, machines instead of the style over substance stuff, aimed at sheep, they produce today... hold on, what am I saying... let Microsoft have it.

I'm concerned about the effects the acquisition will have on the Playstation ecosystem. Such as it's already looking like Sony's ditching single player games to focus on live service and this acquisition will no doubt have been at least partially to blame.

Ideally Jim Ryan is successful in blocking the acquisition but I don't see that as likely so what really needs to happen is a Playstation Showcase to ease the concerns of PS players. Nintendo's doing fantastic without a single CoD game currently on Switch but they have Splatoon. That's the mindset Sony needs to have and if Jim Ryan succeeds in blocking the acquisition then he should consider the usual CoD stuff as an extra, not a crutch.

It's dumb as hell, and extremely laughable.
Spencer play the good friend, the nice guy, while using an unlimited checkbook and being fine buying everything he can. But a guy incapable of managing his own studios so they actually release games shouldn't try to give lessons.
Ryan is here for the money, nothing else, and doesn't concern himself with his own image at all. It shows: it's desastrous. The guy is a hypocrite, blaming the competition while doing the same thing with games like Final Fantasy.

It's not inadequate at all. Three years of multiplatform guarantees is more than Microsoft has to do. I'm sure the agreement is open to extension, too.

Unless Jim wants to condemn ALL exclusivity, he has no place being so critical.

@thefourfoldroot1 "before anyone else gets a foothold"

"the point is not who gets there first"

Sony literally had a three year head start to build an audience before MS entered the market. Don't move the goalposts.

"Any other consideration is simply fanboyism"

This is thought-terminating.

Let’s chill, at the moment Xbox can’t organise a piss up down a pub. Consoles sit on UK shelves gathering dust and they have hardly any momentum.
They seem to do nothing when all said and done they won’t have much next year truly AAA that the general public will want to rush out a buy an Xbox for.

I’m far more curious to know what PlayStation game wise AAA exclusives has, it be could a quiet year compared to 2022.
I know there is PSVR.

I read online that what may happen is Microsoft will offer another contract towards the end of the 3 years, which in part maybe true but it's not in black and white from Microsoft so it may not happen either.

Like I said before if it does stay with Microsoft I will just go without, not desperate to play it.

@UltimateOtaku91
I cant really argue that but the only reason COD sells better on PlayStation is because they pay for exclusive content.

@Royalblues @Yupyupyup no individual game sells consoles, certain games as a collective is what sells consoles, no one is buying a ps5 for just ratchet and clank, but will buy a ps5 for ratchet and clank, God of war, HFW etc combined. Same with call of duty, no one buys a console just to play that game. But will buy a console to play call of duty, fifa and other multi platform games etc

So yes playstation exclusives do sell consoles, just not individually. Some people who want a ps5/xbox may wait for a certain game to come out before they purchase it but that's not many.

@Deemo37 no doubt the exclusives content helps, but let's not forget the disaster xbox had last gen, Sony outsold them 2:1 so naturally there would be more call of duty players on playstation even without the exclusive content.

I'm loving how Spencer and Msft are suddenly changing the message about the multi platform plan. Gone from good guys to slinks within one press briefing about the matter.

Going to be very interesting watching how the EU deals with this takeover. They've stopped MSFT in the past and for the life of me i can't remember the big one back in the 90s that got stopped.

@UltimateOtaku91 individual games can sell consoles. Years ago I walked out of a shop with a ps3 instead of a 360 just because God of war 3 was on the way.
I probably would have gone 360 if not,because it was considerably cheaper at the time.

I have a feeling Jim is backing on the fact CoD may have to stay on PS for this deal to happen. MS aren't being kind here they're trying to keep regulators happy and Jim knows this.

@Balosi so you didn't plan on getting a ps3 before that at some point or have any interest in eventually playing any other ps3 games other than god of war

Micro$oft aka microshaft is pissed because they’ve finished LAST in console sales every generation they’ve been apart of and are poised to do so again this generation. Grats to Phil baby.

I’m not seeing why Jim Ryan thinks MS owes him something. I mean, yeah, Sony is giving them MLB: The Show now, but they were apparently forced into that. And I guess they’ll also get future Bungie games too, but those will still be few and far between, unlike CoD. Even still, absolutely none of this obligates MS to keep CoD on PlayStation.

@UltimateOtaku91 no i had been out of consoles for a while and was hilariously clueless. Didn't even know the controllers were wireless, a friend told me when I was complaining about how short the cable was.

@Richnj
Lmao.
You cut my comment in half before quoting, but I said:

“ Hence the governmental concerns over MS monopolising the subscription gaming sector before anyone else gets a foothold I guess…”

Monopolising the subscription service is the governments concern, “getting there first” is merely a descriptor of what allows this to happen.

I wasn’t changing the goalposts when I said “the point is not who gets there first” because the point is to stop “ANYONE” getting there first. The regulators do not care who that is, only fanboys do.

I’m sure you understand this, or you wouldn’t have cut my comment, or maybe you just didn’t read the beginning 🤷‍♂️

@UltimateOtaku91 "Sony gets timed exclusives for games that sell way better on playstation to begin with"

So my question is why is Sony spending millions of dollars keeping games off of Xbox when they sell like wet dog anyway? Is Jim Ryan the dumbest and most wasteful business exec in gaming?

If Final Fantasy really sells like a 107 copies on Xbox and I pay millions to prevent those 107 copies from being sold on my competitor then I'm just setting money on fire for no reason 🤷

Couldn't care less about any of this.

Honestly, I think my biggest issue at this point is the dishonest way Microsoft is framing the situation. Buying up publishers and making their games exclusive while talking out the other side of your mouth about how games should be as widely available as possible... it's obviously hypocritical, and I understand why it would make regulators suspicious about Microsoft's intentions with CoD.

With that said, as long as the Japanese companies stay out of the mix, I don't really care. But the longer this acquisition war goes on, the more likely it is we're going to see one of them get caught up and bought out.

EDIT: I will say, though, that this passage does read a little funny to me:
"The platform holder has partnered with the FPS franchise for years to secure PlayStation-adjacent marketing and exclusive content, so Microsoft swooping in to potentially take all that away — from Sony and PlayStation users — gives the suit reasonable cause for concern."

While I understand "exclusive content" isn't the same as buying the whole farm, this does read very much like 'it's OK when we do it.'

tbh Sony primed this situation with their out-of-control tactic of trying to buy up timed exclusivity for as many big releases as possible. It's a dangerous tactic to use against an objectively much wealthier rival, as we're seeing now.

@SinfulDestroyer they've tried, it's not easy to topple an established brand, especially one with a long heritage like cod.

I think they should both shut their mouths & focus on creating fresh, new experiences for their current gen consoles. Because as it is, this gen has so far been about as exciting as....well.....a yearly iteration of Call Of Duty😐

@Juanalf just looking at sales figures of final fantasy games alone which have all sold best on playstation by some margin, so yeah without a doubt Jim ryan is the most wasteful exec around, I mean buying bungie for the price they paid tells you exactly that. At this point they want playstation to be the home to games like final fantasy and persona by paying millions for deals yet they already are the home for those games and don't need to carry on paying for these deals. God to think what they have paid for final fantasy 16's and most likely persona 6's exclusivity deals, money that could of been spent elsewhere such as not increasing the price of the ps5. People will still buy those games on playstation primarily.

Hopefully its the start of Cod dying out without the majority of players there any longer. No doubt game funding and quality will drop when sales dont exist

@UltimateOtaku91 @UltimateOtaku91
Yeah Xbox sucking last gen is part of it for sure. All I’m saying is that both sides are at fault here.

I like my Cod with chips and mushy peas.

I feel Sony is shooting themselves on the foot. This deal will go through and investors are going to remember leadership telling the world how devastating it is going to be for them. It will hit their stock prices harder than it would have otherwise.

I heard Roland Emmerich is basing the story of his next disaster movie around this fallout. He always goes bigger with each movie.

CoD can die for all I care. I never enjoyed it. The one thing MS has that I want on PS5 is Indiana Jones.

Xbox buying Activision Blizzard, no one wins.
Xbox gamers are getting nothing new, they get the games that would have been made anyway. The only "win" is that they come on gamepass. There is a caveat as no studio bought by MS has performed better than when they weren't bought, always worse. And gamepass will get more expensive as eventually investors will want to see a return on investment (something Xbox hasn't done ever).
PS will initially lose as they will miss income from the sale of the games and the many dlc/microtransactions, gamers who are devoted CoD players will jump ship. Caveat, It will force PS to invest and create a better multiplayer game. Above that PS will try harder to get players back to their system or make sure gamers don't leave (like in the PS3 era) and to be honest that was a big win for the gamers.

Xbox not buying Activision Blizzard, nothing changes, no one loses.
*Disclaimer: I don't play mp games or care much about the Activision Blizzard games so I couldn't care less.

@RBMango

Well said. I play on Playstation because it has the games I want to play, if that ever changes, i would not hesitate to go to another platform.

Both companies just want our dollars from our wallets. Sony currently provides better value for me to give my dollars to. Simple as that.

Last cod I bought was over decade ago. Sony kept giving rest of cods away for free with ps plus.

I didn't bother playing bigger half of them and really only modern warfare remasters I did play. Rest are just something I can't find time to play and prob won't play in years to come.

If it was to be gone from playstation it was the last thing I would miss.

Sony is scared they just aren't outright saying it. Losing COD now or years down the road will severely hurt console sales and overall revenue in general.

In my humble opinion, if you pay billions of dollars for something you get to decide what to do with it. Its a videogame, not some kind of monopoly on running water. You can live without it..

Eh. If your business model depends on outside revenue that clearly can be bought off, then your business model is bad.

Dont play COD anymore so im not fussed either way personally. Dont like to get entangled in all crap. I just like to enjoy playing games.

@BusyOlf It was Apple in the '90s. But if that's anything to go by we'd be better off if Microsoft end up with COD.

I have a feeling this whole thing will be debated for at least several more years.

This "quarrel" of theirs is just a carefully choreographed theater play, to stir up the masses, get people's attention, keep people interested in the game and the consoles.
To quote a famous phrase: "It's all Humbug, I tell you, Humbug!"

Is there still 2 developer studios making COD? If so why cant one studio cover ps5 and the other studio focus on xbox, both under the COD brand.
Personally im not fussed, i play the games i like and not interested in the hierarchies and business structures that go into making our plastic boxes, this after all is an entertainment hobby.

@Richnj Doesn’t work like that…it’s the same with everything …you can like A sport but still have a team you religiously follow within that sport…and it’s that that offers the sense of community and belonging

If you don't play, you don't care

It's Call of Duty and the bickering of two giant, soulless corporations ...Those are probably two of the absolute least interesting things in the world for me personally. I wouldn't even care if the fate of the entire universe was at stake.

Whoever wins, the gamers with just one console lose. Just buy a Series S. It's not a crime and it's not expensive.

Lets be honest this is pure BS and I'm glad Sony are at least causing some fuss over it. Everyone keeps saying, 'well Sony have been doing this for years', its comparing apples and oranges! If this deal goes through, MS will have purchased two monolithic publishers, with multiple IP's that have existed as multi-platform franchises for decades. Sony have never purchased a publisher, only singular studios, generally with prior longstanding relationships.

@RBMango this is the only comment I needed to see here, it's bang on. Anyone who thinks corporations respect you is delusional. All the 'Uncle Phil' crap turns my stomach

COD must stay on PlayStation.

Phil is a snake and that becomes more publicly visible every move Xbox makes.

They are buying an advantage in the industry whilst at the same time destroying the business.

COD is the last straw.

I’ve been rethinking this recently and I don’t think it’s quite as bad as I originally thought. The real issue here is all the COD money that PS uses to fund internal studios, R&D, marketing. COD sells 10m+ copies on PS every year, so to not have that revenue anymore is a big deal. With that said, I do think PS could build up to having something comparable over time if they tried. If anyone can make something to compete with COD in terms of quality it’s Sony. What I think is more likely is that they’ll put their money behind a different FPS series like Battlefield. Either way there will be something to fill the void on PlayStation.

I personally like COD, but I don’t play every game in the series and I NEVER buy them at full price. I’ll either stop playing them or I’ll find a cheap Xbox/use GP streaming.

I buy the MW releases and that all to be honest.

I think they should bring back SOCOM or Killzone. And i only buy the MW releases and that all to be honest so if its lost its a big issue for me.

@Eldritch no I don’t believe Microsoft were ever offering to buy Apple. They I.e Bill Gates certainly loaned money to Steve Jobs who had returned to Apple after the board had wrecked the companies success and had brought out a games console that tanked on release. There was some agreement to do with Microsoft applications being allowed on Mac OSX and that Apple wouldn’t protest to another anti competitive case that Microsoft had at the time regarding IE.

There is missin answer in pool: "I don't care CoD at all, but I'm upset about other games."

Sour grapes from Sony , they have done everything they can to keep content off Xbox .
Now they could lose the franchise all together.

I think Jim Ryan shouldn't of said anything about it. He knows PlayStation is the king, as we all do. They don't need to worry about anything. Even Phil Spencer knows PlayStation is the king, that's why he congratulates Sony.

As I've said before, a franchise that launched multiplatform should stay multiplatform, apart from that I think it's hilarious to watch the usual suspects think they know more about what's going on than anyone else and are willing to argue for the sake of arguing. Sony has Cod for at least another 6/7yrs and that's good.

@Bleachedsmiles in this analogy, the team would be the game. The platform would be the league.

Anyone rooting for the league is kinda weird.

@Richnj nah, the teams the platform. The games would be the players

If this was happening for the launch of the PS4 and CoD was becoming XBox-exclusive it'd be massive. I and many others I know probably would have stuck with XBox instead of swapping over to PS after the 360.
Now though? For me personally I've lost interest in the franchise and the PS 1st party exclusives are too good to miss out on. If anything it's an opportunity for Sony to create their own new FPS IP as an alternative, which Deviation Games may currently be working on.

For a lot of people though, CoD being exclusive will pull players from PS over to XBox the next time we have a console launch.

that playstation is doomed

Honestly I'm really sick of hearing about this in the news. I don't play CoD but I'm sick of the drama.

I think exclusivity (up to a point) and consolidation is bad for gamers in the long term. It really confuses me when gamers cheer on these big corporations buying studios and publishers left, right en centre. Guess what, these corporations don't give a sh*t about gamers, despite what their PR may have you believe.

I feel the situation as a whole crazy. I think MS will ruin COD even though COD hasn’t been that good besides the remake of Modern Warfare. If MS thinks this is going to sale their console they are fooling themselves. Removing from PlayStation is idiotic if you think of the monetary aspect of it. Yeah MS has money but it has been confirmed Xbox is one of the weakest if not the weakest in regards to bringing funds to the MS business. As for Sony I feel will get over it. Sony continues to build new worlds and IP’s. Lol just bring SOCOM back or even MAG. They will find a way they always do.

Couldn't care less, been pants for years. Suppose a lot of the Ed Sheeran/City/Chelsea type casuals would be lost to Xbox Hardware and that concerns Sony but personally not bothered.

Unless they bring Call of duty back to what it once was then maybe it would interest me.

COD is certainly fun and I enjoy some of their yearly iterations. But if PlayStation loses it at some point, I have FULL confidence in Sony that they can create a comparable and equally fun exclusive of their own. As far as console exclusivity goes, Sony still blows MS out of the water and it ain’t even close.

Let's face it, Microsoft is spending huge amounts to control IPs and make a vast number of titles exclusive even though their platform was going to receive these titles anyway. They're essentially using their deep pockets to smother and kill PlayStation.

It's pretty ruthless when you stand back and look at it objectively.

I'm still waiting for anyone to put forward a case that MS have actually added anything to the industry since they began this full on assault. All they've done is spend an eye watering amount to corner stuff that would have been made either way. Imagine what they could have added to the industry by funding new studios and projects with all that money.

It's pretty awful when you think about it like that. What a sad waste of funds and resources.

Phil spencer is wrong because i remember him saying he dont want to take games away from PlayStation.and he actually did that also when Bethesda got bought by them.it is what it is.but sony is still gonna win the generation again.x box is trying its hardest for games that used to come to PlayStation.and all that stuff.people still trust PlayStation over x box anytime.and all the time.word up son

@Agnostic exactly this. Just shut up and make a game that is better instead of whining about how it’s impossible.

I agree with Sony ofc. Microsoft has done dirty monpolistic stuff in the past and gotten away with it in other markets.
This Activision buyout puts the market in a vulnerable position. Microsoft brought nothing to the market. It has repeatedly failed and it's solution is to buy the market out.
If i was in a government position i would most certainly veto the buyout.

Personally? I don't care. I don't play CoD nor will i ever. But, i know it moves people.

My stance on this whole thing hasn't changed since the beginning: Good riddance.

The biggest problem with this whole Microsoft-Activision deal is that Microsoft is buying publishers not developers. After Bethesda, they basically removed a publisher from the marketplace and the Activision deal will do the same. Would a game like Sekiro be made without a Activision type publisher. While is dislike the developers being bought up, I see the publisher buyouts as a much more dangerous turn of events.

Having not played more than 1 hr of any COD, I could care less. Understand why people are passionate bout it tho. If a game that I played yearly would no longer be on the platform I choose to play on, I would be upset too. Let’s be clear M$ has no obligation to extend the contract (if acquisition goes through). I think it hurts them more than Sony if they don’t tho.

I don’t really care about COD there’s a lot of video games to play.Sony Executives are worried if they lose Call of Duty because their Shareholders wants it they gain more profits from it remember folks Sony lost 10 or 20 Billion dollars Market Value from it when their Shareholders heard the news that Microsoft is acquiring ActiBlizz.

From a business POV, I don't like it. You could argue MS already has a monopoly with Windows/Workforce. They are using those funds to buy one of the most popular brands in gaming and intend to make it exclusive. I'm sorry, but if you are FOR this type of move, taking away a game that has been 3rd party for decades, you lack fellow sympathy. It's not just business, not to the consumers, and it's kinda annoying seeing so many people act like it is. It's not normal for a company to have trillions of dollars and be able to buy entire countries at will. None of this is okay, and putting AAA on subs has a LOT to prove before I believe it won't change gaming for the worse.

Hell, the biggest games are going free to play and becoming GAAS so this actually might blow up in MS face. They got all these studios under Xbox already (Ninja Theory, Bethesda, etc...) this is/was just unnecessary and only possible because of MS deep pockets. No, the move does not make a monopoly, but how it doesn't set a terrible precedent is beyond me. MS is just gaining too much control over too many valuable IP without working for them.

And then there's just the history of MS in this industry stinking up the place. Where are the amazing games from Xbox own studios? I dunno, it just feels like Nintendo and Sony have won consumers over the normal way = awesome games. MS is just buying up what's good and forcing people onto Gamepass.

@Angelus3K
Spiderman was multiplatform ip but after Sony got the right they made it exclusive.

And yes we all read about Microsoft didn't want it so Marvel did the Deal with Sony...still its a one ip that become exclusive after sony made it exclusive.

@Omnistalgic
Sound like you just don't like Microsoft.

I have all the platforms and I prefer Gears and Halo than Sony exclusives (also played them)

But in the end its a business and Microsoft can afford to buy a company just like Sony did before and Block Sunset overdrive sequel and made Spiderman exclusive ip.

Also you talking about xbox in the past but they won the 360 Era and now they more consumers friendly while Sony really not.

Also you said the force people to buy gamepass but they really not, it's up to the user and someone who play only fifa not gonna buy it

• PlayStation is trying to get to best of it. God forbid.
• And Spencer is being Spencer the pretend Jesus saving gaming but in reality a giant hypocrite.
• Console warriors doing what they do. (Being tools)

Water is wet.the sky is blue. Corporates have secrets.

@jamescrowx yes, Spider-Man was multiplatform, but Sony still made games from the ground up that were never intended for other platforms.

If MS were buying a license to something like, say, Batman, and then making the game from scratch to be an exclusive, it wouldn't be such a big issue. Instead they're paying through the nose to control huge chunks of the market and take away big titles, that would still be made either way, from a large demographic, and in the process adding nothing to the industry. It's quite a big difference that benefits nobody but MS, yet negatively affects many.

As someone who would actually be glad to see the back of Call of Duty, I still see this as a hugely negative development for gamers on the whole. It brings nothing to the table, yet potentially encourages stagnation and complacency if MS end up with no competition and no reason to try and make anything new or exciting. They'll simply focus on producing cash cow money-spinners and nothing else eventually.

@BusyOlf That's not the incident I was talking about. I think that was late '80s. My fault though for getting my dates incorrect. (Edit: Apparently it started in '98) It was 2001, not the 90s, and it was the US vs Microsoft, though Apple was involved. It was that case that really kickstarted Apple's journey from a designer's dream to a phone orientated cult for sheep.
Hence my thinking perhaps COD going to Microsoft would be for the best. The competition could make Sony double down at what they're good at.

I literally couldn't care less. I'm fortunate enough to own both consoles so if I really wanted to play it (which I doubt) then I'd at least have the option.

Who the heck plays these games aside from frat bros and neck beards?

The only thing that leaves a bad taste about this whole thing is Sony's IPs were nurtured and grown by Sony themselves, which I feel gives them more of a moral right to hold exclusive rights to those IPs. Same with Nintendo. Whereas MS bought existing multiplatform IPs and then alienated a huge chunk of long-time players.

@Old-Red
Still no one else can make Spiderman games for consoles so they did it for the whole ip, it's not Microsoft buying Cod and than no one can make shooters, Sony have great fps ip but they they just lazy and prefer to take cuts than really invest on new game and not the usual 3rd person with different story.

BTW Ms making new titles and still its funny because if it was Sony who buying activision alot of people here would say nothing.

Also Sony doing same thing without even buying the studios..deals for year, 2 years and even unknown like FF.

@UltimateOtaku91 “whilst xbox is buying games that sell better on the competition to make the competition weaker”

Bad argument. If you think Sony isn’t getting FF7R as an exclusive to make the competition look weaker, then you are absolutely fooling yourself. Sony is just able to do it for much cheaper because they are in a position of power. Both companies like to flex their muscle. In Sony’s case, their muscle is their superiority in install base. They can leverage that for cheaper exclusive rights, due to the larger base. Getting exclusive rights to Deathloop and Ghostwire Tokyo would be much cheaper for Sony than it would be to Xbox. To overcome the install base deficit, Xbox flexes their muscle, which is their vast wallet. They probably got tired of Sony getting all the timed exclusives due to the larger install base and just decided to outright buy the publishers instead.

In the grand scheme of everything going on in the world right now, if you truly care about this, you're not paying attention. These are GAMES! They are not important.

@Balosi At least they offered something TENCENT would never even talk to Sony and the regulators would been silent like they are whenever TENCENT buys a studio or controlling stake in a publisher, they have a 49.9% stake in Ubisoft and a more than 40% stake in Epic games.

My thoughts are use Bungie, Haven and Guerilla to create your own competitive game. This cry baby nonsense is pathetic. CoD is a power house for sure. But imo it's also stagnant and predatory. There are plenty of talented people to create a competitor

@Hypnotoad107 that's a really good take and very accurate I think. Sony has the goodwill of the industry and gamers alike due to the awesome quality of their games and content- along with the massive user base. I think Xbox HAS to buy outright because who wants to let their game die on the least popular console without a nice windfall

It’s really not a big deal. No one will drop the PS5 an switch to Xbox for COD. If you really love COD then just buy a Series S. Costs the same as about the next 4 COD games. I have PS5 an XSX so all i’m hoping is that everything goes on Game Pass day 1.

@jamescrowx if you can't see the difference between paying for an IP license for a limited period to make some exclusive content and buying up whole publishers and sections of an industry with multiple million selling titles to kill the competition I don't really know what else to say.

@Nyne11Tyme I think something that isn’t brought up enough is how much easier and cheaper it is for Sony to get timed exclusives than it is for Xbox. The devs make more money because it’s on a larger platform AND more people play their art, so they get more exposure. Of course, a studio rather sign deals with Sony than they would with MS. We saw what happened with both Titanfall 1 and Sunset Overdrive at the beginning of the XB1 generation. Sunset Overdrive, in particular, was a fantastic game that nobody played.

Edit: I’m going to throw in the fact that Japanese developers are much more loyal to national brands, also throwing another wrench in the works for MS trying to sign Japanese timed exclusives. I think Japanese devs much rather have their games on a Japanese console.

@Old-Red
You talking like Activision is the only company out there.

Also nothing is Xbox exclusive, all the games available on pc and about those times exclusive, remind me when the remake of FFVII released?

And competition? 😂
Microsoft is not just about consoles, and again cod is not the only shooter.

Also Sony make more from video games so its even not a monopoly.

Sony Fans always love to scream Exclusive, but in the end spend more time on 3rd party games.

I have PS5 just for exclusive but to be honest there is nothing to do there if you have more platforms, just waiting for God, finishing it in two days and back to sleep mode.

As I see it Micro doing more for gamers in this Gen than Sony ever gave us... Yes it's about money like any other business and I'm glad micro making Sony to shake a little so we can get more original games from Sony and not what we got for the last few years.

@jamescrowx right

@Richnj Sony could've had a subscription service at least 5 years ago but instead went all in on SP games, PSVR and movie adaptations of games and basically ignored PSnow.

@Old-Red Only difference i see is it's the first time Sony has a competitor they can't outspend.

@Blackbluto Yeah, that's part of my point. Blaming and hamstringing the other guy at something you yourself don't want to put effort in to, even when you had every opportunity to secure a foothold, isn't a defensible position.

If MS released a brand new console and did nothing with it, then Sony came in with a brand new PS console, with loads of new games and taking over 90% of the market, the people here would blame MS for digging their own grave. (This actually happened BTW ).

But could you imagine if Governments thought about coming down on Sony for that dominance of the market? The people crying about monopolies and MS right now, would be right behind Sony.

Haven’t bought a COD for over 5 years and personally it doesn’t bother me. Would be a massive loss for PS though if it went Xbox exclusive.

Phil is likely only saying those things to help get the deal over the line then do a 180 a year or two after. He’s good at 180’s after all.

@Bleachedsmiles This analogy has well and truly scrambled my brains at this point. But fine. If people want to find community and belonging based on rivalry and the success of a thing you are not actually a part of (and ultimately, anger and hate, which leads to those console wars) instead of the love of the thing you are there for, then they can.

I'm sure they are both as good as each other.

@RBMango best comment i have read in years. Wish i could upvote more than once

I've basically never played CoD and have no interest in the franchise at all. That said I have a few friends who love it and would likely be gutted if it wasn't on PlayStation anymore. I don't personally care. I think there should be some concern in a company buying an entity as big as Activision Blizzard both for players and legally. But I also think Sony needs to be able to stand on its own without certain third parties. Nintendo has been doing it since the N64, basically. We can argue that Sony's games and characters are not as universally appealing or iconic, but that is Sony's fault and something they should seek to address.

Multi console player so if -at the end- I can benefit from it, all good. I get they are corporations but MS is actually trying to be consumer friendly when trying to make profit (for now). Sony PS is keeping games from Xbox for years & most people don't even flinch about it. That said, I honestly think this deal will be good for competition (meaning -> Sony PS will hopefully be more consumer friendly because of it!). If Sony wants to pay enough money to keep COD for more years on PS, MS would just agree imo (if that's the best strategy). Sony will lose a lot of profit + market share but it needs to react as a big boy & go with the flow, accept it & surprise us consumers with new ideas/think out of the box. They are the biggest market leader for many years now & nobody seems to mind their buying spree with that position while MS is getting heat for trying to compete? MS has to spend more money than PS for the same thing, just because PS is the biggest gaming platform.
I played good FPS on PS so Sony doesn't really have a problem on that departement (just no more easy COD money for them after this deal). Stop focussing on 3rd person games alone ...

@jamescrowx I don't like MS because of the repeated history of the company. lol So no, I don't have a problem expressing my bias. All of these corporations are about profit, but nothing Sony or Nintendo has done equates buying a gigantic publisher and controlling hundreds of IP. I'm sorry, it just doesn't. Spider-man is only on PS/PC because Insomanic/Sony/Marvel worked out a deal to CREATE an IP. The publisher Sony did buy, has agreed explicitly it will remain a 3rd party publisher. MS is literally buying 3rd party games they have no hand in creating, and by all intents plan to take them off competing platforms. Regardless of your comments about choice/forcing ppl to Gamepass, how do you equate this with anything Sony and Nintendo are doing?

It doesn't add up.

I don’t mind if Sony or xBox buy developers, but I am strongly against any of them buying publishers. Just don’t. You destroy gaming for any of us.

PlayStation just need to up their game with their own studios and make a competitor

I think Microsoft is more powerful than Sony. Luckily the game series is quite terrible.

@Sequel Lol assets seized? That's a bit much now, pal.

It's been hilarious. Xbox don't have to put it on PS at all, they have no obligation too, and when you spend 70bn you can do what you well please with a first party IP.

I'd be more concerned what they do with Spyro and Crash, which I suspect would go fully exclusive.

And yes, I hope this is the last publisher they buy, as a few others have eluded, although something tells me that won't be the case.

I think Jim just looks a bit silly here, at the end of the day its none of his business if another company wants to buy a third party developer. Xbox have said it'll remain for a few years and he still whinges about it. Just because they paid for some marketing in the past gives them no rights going forward and he can stop pretending to care about the players when Sony are more than happy to pay to keep games going to Xbox.

Ultimately neither is really doing anything to benefit us

Shouldn't Sony see this as an opp to invest in games that c/would replace Cod for the FPS community? No one is gonna sell their ps if cod goes. To date I have never met anyone who purchased a console just for 1 game.

I don’t think you understand what a community is. They do feel they’re a part of it. You act like the concept of following a team is completely alien to you. Those people that watch their team score celebrate - this is not an unusual thing. When their team loses they often feel disappointed - this is not an unusual thing. When somebody then mocks their team for losing they often feel attacked - again not an unusual thing.
At no point have they actually played the game they watched. You’ve never been aware of or experience this?

@Blackbluto tencent has no interest in blocking games from certain consoles, so I'm not sure how that example makes any difference in this case.

@Angelus3K Microsoft didn't create halo bungie did then Microsoft bought them & when bungie split from them they sold them the IP

@Bleachedsmiles "Oh how I wish MS had just paid a couple of billion to get every cod going forward as a years timed exclusivity instead" , I'd wait about a year anyway for reviews , bug fixes , a price drop & to see if they screw it up again like they did with mw2019 lol

@Would_you_kindly yea I know that. The point being Halo was a first party game.

Why isn't there an option for "Outrageous, even though I don't play CoD?".

This is anti-consumer, there's no other way to slice it. I'd have the same opinion if Sony were to suddenly acquire Square Enix, even though that would have much less of an immediate impact just going by console demographics.

Microsoft buying a huge company in a market they are already competing in is a step towards monopoly. The only reason we are still even having these discussions is because of blatant corruption and bribery in the legal system. Nothing new, but still a shame to see.

I haven't cared about CoD since the original Modern Warfare 2 game so this doesn't effect me.

I do find the whole thing to be childish however.

Instead of Microsoft spending the time, money, and resources into righting the sinking ship that was the XB1 after its arguably disastrous reveal, they just go on a spending spree instead.

First it was creating Game Pass, then it was paying publishers/developers large sums of money to add their games to the Game Pass service on day one. Which isn't inherently a bad thing as it provides a service with a large appeal to many gamers. I still feel it was incredibly lazy on Microsoft's part.

When Game Pass wasn't even enough, Microsoft just went on an even bigger spending spree and decided to start buying some of the biggest publishers/developers in the entire industry.

Whatever happened to those new studios Microsoft talked about years ago? Especially all the boasting they made of getting big names from the industry to start the world's first AAAA developer? 🙄 The last thing the industry needs is anything more costly than AAA games development. 🤦‍♂️

Also, correct me if I'm wrong, but if my memory serves me well, Microsoft was also the one to start the whole timed console exclusive BS. Which coincidentally, started with month long exclusivity on new CoD PvP map releases.

Also, I believe it was recently revealed in an interview with Peter Moore, that Microsoft started, or at the very least propagated the entire push for the Xbox vs PS console wars. He said it was to bolster competition, but I feel it stained the entire hobby of gaming by pushing a childish rivalry among fans.

I'm not just hating on Xbox either. I loved my 360 enough to go through 8 of them despite the horrible production quality of them.

None of the big 3 are saints, they all have many major faults that are bad for the industry and gamers/consumers. None of these companies do the things they do for the "fans", Its just business for them.

I just feel Microsoft is stirring up 💩 because it likes to. Xbox has always had that dudebro aura surrounding everything they do.

Honestly, MW 2019 and this year's sequel are the only COD games I've been a bit hyped about for the last 10 years. For me, I'm happy as long as I get those two, but I still find it somewhat gross to make any game platform exclusive that wasn't actually originally designed as such. Even platform-exclusive originals are a little sad to me. I'd love to have the Forza series on PS, and I pity the Xboxers for not having Uncharted, TLOU, and other gems... Oh well - Capitalism, our old 'friend'...

Milk it Pushsquare team! We already discussed this in the other article with 400+ comments!

@Enigk

You're wrong, we're selling our PlayStation for an Xbox.
Among the best games are Call of Duty and Elder Scrolls.
If PlayStation doesn't have your games, why play it?, It's not about sides, it's about the games that I enjoy.

@Princessmadllama If they are the only two game series you enjoy then Xbox is probably best for you even if the Activision deal doesn't happen but there are plenty of other games for most people on PlayStation.

@Enigk It's not just a few game series it is multiple game studios, and I'm certain more are to come on their way.

A few games below from the top of my head, all of which resulted from Microsoft buying game studios such as Rare.

Elder Scrolls ,Call of Duty ,Wolfenstein,Doom,Fall Out, Diablo,Guitar Hero and my favourite Viva Piñata and these are from the top of my head.

The tides are changing and I want to be on the right boat, I'm selling due to this, Sony will be left with very few games in serval years to come. There is also the chance that Microsoft will buy Netflix and that will be amazing to get movies and games under 1 pass.

We chose Playstation to begin with because it's been a constant from childhood, I'll still have my memories such as Crash Bandicoot and no one can take this from me.