Bobby Kotick Says Sony Is 'Trying to Sabotage' Microsoft's Activision Bid

Has Kotick only just figured that out now? If so, MS should knock a few billion off the price.

Oof, Activision starting to worry then?

Kotick wants his grubby payday

Why should we care what this worm of a man has to say? He should crawl back into his hole and forget about his golden parachute.

All that clown cares about is money.

How childish! I’m sure he knows Sony are just trying to protect their interests through legal means when asked about the acquisition (and, thankfully for gamers, that will protect us by proxy).

I would stop talking to him too if he is this irrational, although I’m sure it’s far more likely legal advise for Sony to do so at this point in proceedings.

And how can he say the whole idea of not supporting PlayStation is “absurd” when the last multi billion pound acquisition MS made had them completely stop supporting PlayStation 🙄

ABK should really be told to put a leash on these guy’s public statements. This, and the attack on the U.K. government and voting public, is not doing them any good.

Isn't Bobby Kotick a convicted sex offender?

Well done for working that out kotick, glad such a genius is earning so much

The next few months should be interesting for us neutrals. Some interesting quotes if you read the full interview.

"It's funny, Sony is not on the phone to us. In fact, they are not returning our phone calls. And so... I think one of the things that are surprising to us is, this is the time ordinarily we would be talking about the future and new opportunities together for partnership, and they just haven't been returning our phone calls. And so, I don't know that we're as valuable as they maybe have represented to the regulators that we are."

@Constable_What another issue Sony will have is if the deal goes through or not is. If Sony does go on later to buy SquareEnix. The regulators will have a better picture of Sony's working practices, there position within the industry & will be less sympathetic. As they'd need to argue why they claimed a distant third competitor buying is bad but the market leader buying is good.

Well unfortunately Mr Kotick no one believes a word that comes out of Phil Spencers mouth.

@cragis0001 Square Enix & Activision aren’t even in the same league in terms of profit/revenue. It’s not a good comparison. I’d say Sega would be a better example.

He’s said a lot more than that this week, including veiled threats that the UK will become Death Valley as opposed to the European Silicon Valley if the CMA nix the deal. The guy is evidence that CEO’s of billion dollar corporations are more Don’s than business men.

This guy has got one of the most punchable faces I've ever seen.

This bullying, abusive scumbag just wants his golden parachute.

Oh please! Bobby ToeD@ck is only concerned about the payout he'll receive if the deal goes through, he don't give a damn what kind of impact this deal has on the Gaming Industry, be it positive or negative. And considering the type of scum he is, I truly hope he doesn't receive a dime of that payout money, because if he does, he's pretty much being rewarded for his disgusting actions.

I kept reading his name as Tiktok 🤷

In a Bananenrepublik this kind of behavior is probably the way to get what you want, but in the rest of the civilized world the law will judge if a sale can go trough.
When everything is said and done Xbox gamers won't play a game less if the sale doesn't continue. If they ask sugar-daddy Phil nicely he'll pay to get CoD on their beloved gamepass.

@Straylad75
You seem entirely unhinged. Maybe stop using cap lock and punctuate your rants to gain a little more legitimacy?

Anyway, some counter points:

1) monopolistic dominance has a long history of being proven to be anti consumer. In this case anti gamer. To say their is no evidence of that is false. Whether this acquisition might lead to disproportionate market dominance is exactly what is being investigated. It’s their job.

2) it doesn’t matter how rich a company is in isolation, only in terms of other players in the market. MS could buy the entirety of Sony outright, many times over, with change they drop down the back of the couch, so in this respect Sony are very much the poor relations.

3) Sony isn’t throwing a tantrum, their legal team is answering questions brought by 3rd parties charged with protecting consumer markets.

4) whataboutism , especially focused on things that happened decades ago, is irrational.

Really not sure why you have such an emotional connection to a company that couldn’t give a damn about you.

@Straylad75 I think you need to go back to bed mate.

If the deal doesn't go through, it's because Phil Spencer, Satya Nadella, Aaron Greenberg & Bobby Kotick can't seem to keep their mouths shut, it's like every time they speak on the ABK deal, they say something stupid or contradictory, that the FTC & CMA will likely use against them in blocking the deal.

I can see why Sony has been quiet lately and not answering calls from Activision, they trying not to say anything at all so that it can't be used against them, 'Silence is Golden' in this case, but I guess Phil, Satya, Aaron & Bobby didn't get that memo.

Maybe Bobby needs to remember that an absolute Sh*t tonne of money that has come into his company is because of the PlayStation brand?

If this deal finally goes through, I hope Sony have been quietly working behind the scenes to pounce on Square Enix and maybe even another developer or 2, because surely if Microsoft go for anymore acquisitions after this, they are definitely going to get stopped in their tracks. I can’t see them being allowed to get too much more after Activision Blizzard.

Im not going to dignify a certain someone with a reply, but to say Playstation doesn't innovate is absurd and they haven't been paying attention.

https://www.gamerevolution.com/originals/621058-playstation-defined-by-25-years-innovation

Here's an old article that hints at some of the stuff Sony have done, and even that misses out thing like eye toy, pocket station, gaikai etc. That doesnt mean they have been getting everything right, and things haven't been done better on other platforms - but to say they dont innovate is madness.

Even the PS5 has innovative ideas, like using liquid metal in a home console for cooling. Will it be the right decision? Time will tell. And thats before we even get to the dualsense controller.

And this month they release the second iteration of the PSVR which has made innovative hardware decisions to improve VR for gamers, and remains the only console platform to have a dedicated VR platform.

As for Bobby, i dont think anything needs to be said. But given this is an ongoing legal matter, im sure Sony has to be careful in how they interact with Activision and their lawyers are advising them to stay quiet. Its also abit rich of him to say its about this time of year Acti discuss business opportunities. We are literally a year into the Microsoft attempted purchase of the company. I hardly think there are many opportunities for Sony.

Ah yes of course sony should just roll over and let Microsoft just buy who they want 😂
What a clown.

All this man truly cares about is the fat payout he will be getting once the deal goes through.

Ever since the deal has been scrutinised all I've seen is Phil, Microsoft and Activision Big wigs whine and whinge publicly about Sony trying to make them out to be the bad guys, whilst Sony are staying out of the media and doing things the legit way.

@cragis0001 - Not really a fair comparison, Square Enix are not on the same level in terms of size & popularity, not to mention that if Sony were to acquire Square Enix AND choose to keep Square Enix games off of Xbox, they (Sony & Square Enix) would be more justified in doing so than Xbox with ABK, because Square Enix games don't particularly sell well on Xbox anyway, and would only need to provide sales numbers of past Final Fantasy games & Kingdom Hearts games AND point out that those games were also available on Gamepass and that there wasn't enough player engagement from Xbox Players to justify putting those games on Xbox. Whereas COD is HUGE on PlayStation (I'll never understand why), Sony makes a lot of money off of COD & a lot of people buy COD on PlayStation (Again I don't know why), combined with the fact that MS lied about Bethesda and how they wouldn't take games away from PlayStation, but once the deal went through they said Starfield, Redfall & Elder Scrolls 6 weren't coming to PlayStation, and that lie is a major reason why the ABK deal is under such scrutiny and could potentially NOT go through, and if they got away with taking games away from PlayStation with Bethesada, no reason not to suspect they won't lie and do the same with COD if they acquire ABK.

That's just what I think though, I don't care about COD at all, I'm more concerned about the fate of Crash & Spyro, I don't want them to meet the same fate as Banjo Kazooie & Conker, and under Xbox, there's a high probability of that happening.

@Constable_What "The outcome I foresee, is this deal goes through, but with a caveat that CoD remains accessible on Playstation platforms indefinitely."

Not sure about any other jurisdiction, but I don't think that such a caveat would be enforceable in the UK as it would infringe too much on MS/Activision's property rights in the CoD franchise.

I recall that one of the CMA's possible remedies was that the CoD business would be spun off into a separate business. PlayStation and MS would then be able to compete on more equal terms to do business with the new CoD publisher/developer, as they currently do with third parties.

that man really is the biggest lunatic in the gaming world. I really don't understand how that man still gets money if he has to leave Activision after all that misbehavior. What a nasty man that is.

Kotick should go back to Gringott Wizarding Bank's lower levels and stay there tbh.

"Sony's trying to sabotage this deal!!"
Says the genius who took Blizzard from a "it'll be released when its done",to releasing bugfests like Warcraft 3 remastered?
From reducing Activision from a multi faceted publisher to being a largely one trick (albeit massive cashcow),in Call of Duty & was quite happy to receive the timed exclusive dlc pay checks from Xbox/MS then undoubtedly even bigger ones from Sony since the start of the ps4 generation?
The same genius who happily cull hundreds of employees if it meant protecting his precious bonus & 2023 home Sauna & spa extension?
The genius who drove the multi billion Activision Blizzard reputation & share price into such a vulnerable position due to years of mismanagement,& cover-ups that the current board gladly took the gold watch retirement package funded by Phil Spencer's corporate credit card?

It'd almost be funny to compare "Gamer" Phil's carefully curated "gaming for all,game by game" rhetoric prior to the Zenimax Bethesda buyout where both parties were at great pains to emphasise Xbox/MS had no direct control or influence in operations until the deal passed regulators & was finalised....but in contrast Activision Blizzard has acted like its already a wholly owned division of M$!🙄

@Rob_230 - The thing I personally like about PlayStation (Other than their incredible Story-Driven Single-Player games) is that they know when it's time to move from an IP and create something new, sure it sucks we have to say goodbye to an IP, but I appreciate the constant rotation of old & new IP's.

Insomniac Games went from Spyro the Dragon to Ratchet & Clank to Resistance to Sunset Overdrive to Spider-Man, Naughty Dog went from Crash Bandicoot to Jak & Daxter to Uncharted to The Last of Us, Sucker Punch went from Sly Cooper to Infamous to Ghost of Tsushima, and again yes it sucks we may never get a new Jak & Daxter or new Sly Cooper, but I would rather see them move on from a series BEFORE they st5agnate or potentially get worse with subsequent unnecessary entries, but if they DO decide to return to old IP's, I'm all for it IF they can make a great game out of it.

And sure there are many areas that PlayStation can improve upon, I've been saying for years they need a First-Party developed Fighting Game franchise of their own, and to fund & highlight more JRPG's, Bluepoint already said they would be all for a Legend of Dragoon Remake, and if enough people buy and support it, turn it into a franchise, that way they don't just have to rely on Square Enix with Final Fantasy.

But for that guy to claim Sony don't try or innovate, is simply ludicrous, apparently they aren't 'innovating' with VR, they aren't funding development of games via the China Hero Project, they aren't approaching Third-Party developers about reviving popular IP's like Silent Hill (Only reason Crash, Spyro & Persona even made a comeback), they assisting Third-Party developers develop games like Control & Calisto Protocol, they're trying to create more Multiplayer Games, even if I myself don't care for Multiplayer Games, the fact is they're trying. While I don't care about PS Plus Premium or services in general, they're there as an option, though they really need to step-up and overhaul the service by adding more PS1, PS2 & PS3 games.

So to claim PlayStation don't try or don't innovate is quite a silly claim to make, sure there's always room for improvement, but that applies to any company or business really.

I presumably have no idea of how business works. But, I do not see how playstation will continue to do business in the same way as before with the remains of activision. I obviously have no idea since when sony knewn about the deal, or whether all of this is just some theater for the judges. But, I would say, sony will stop pumping money into cod (people call this typically "money hatting" i.e. paying for exclusive content). Either MS will take over sony's share, or the quality of cod will go down. Since there are contracts cod will stay on playstation for another few years. But, confidence is lost and cod will play a lesser role on playstation. Whether players will then move over to MS, or whether there will be an interesting enough alternative is to be seen.

sony deserves it , they got too comfortable . time to branch out and make variety IPs and revive your neglected legacy -

Old Bobby needs to work on his negotiation tactics. I'd be saying fine, don't let the deal go through and we will make it MS exclusive.

On the one hand "Sony is trying to sabotage" sadface

On the other "SHE WILL ABSOLUTELY CRUSH THEM!!!"

👀

The perfect response I have for Bobby ToeD@ck is something Johnny Knoxville once said...
"Go crawl back into ya mama's a$$"

@TeapotBuddha I've literally never heard of the guy, but from this article alone can deduce that he has psychopathic tendancies. And then I read your comment after, Jesus effing Christ. Why do they let these people out in public 😂

Nothing comes close to COD. All the comparisons with smaller IPs, studios, even publishers are simply laughable.

Looks like even if the deal fell through, it will not be good for Sony, as Activision is going to retaliate against them

@SamMR ah yes, punish our biggest platform/customer base. Business 101. That's why he's so mad 😅 he can't really rip up existing contracts, and when they come to an end PS will still be their biggest platform to make sales on 😁

The alternative, take a huge chunk of money to go on game pass, and pi$$ off it's customer base with PlayStation. And if they took it off PlayStation there would be almost literal riots 🔫🔫

I'm now really glad some random scumbag CEO is getting annoyed by this, this makes me like PlayStation even more, and forget all the annoying things they do too 😅

@TeapotBuddha yeah, that's fair 😅 but within seconds of reading his words from self pity to "annihilate the competition" it's like, yep, this guy is a proper psycho. Normally it takes a little more of a slip up to reveal themselves. But obviously he has done that in the past too, as your comment, and the wave of "scumbag" comments seem to show 😂😂

Stick them all on an island, let then run their companies, sure, but also, have them do random challenges, and each week the loser gets fed to the sharks. Televise it, you could call it "Shark Tank" 🤔🤔🤔

Then eventually people with empathy can take over, sure the profits might slip, but the world will be better and more equal for it 😅

Jesus this guy is really trying to stay relevant..hideous human and i'm not sure he is..

Of course Sony is trying to sabotage the deal! It's a bad deal for them. It doesn't matter if they pledge CoD support for 3 years or 20 years.

@KaijuKaiser Agreed. I know Sony have their faults but one of the reasons I've stuck with them since PS1 is they do try to innovate. Doesn't always work out for them but they push boundaries, experiment, they're not afraid to try something new.

He's not wrong, and also to him I'd say, 'duh,' of course Sony is going to try to sabotage the deal. The same way I would expect MS to try and sabotage a deal for a big publisher if Sony were the one making the purchase.

Really, this whole thing has become tiresome and even as somebody who buys every Xbox console, who likes the brand and wants to see it succeed... I find this purchasing of big publishers disgusting. It's disgraceful enough what happened with Bethesda, after that deal MS had more than enough IPs. More than the company can handle, it seems, based on how absolutely putrid its exclusive lineup has been. As others have said, innovate. Do well with stuff already in-house like Perfect Dark, Banjo-Kazooie, Project Gotham Racing (yes, MS has Forza but the two series are different enough to co-exist), Killer Instinct. And instead of buying up publishers just do what Sony has done and make some shrewd deals here and there like the Final Fantasy VII Remake and FF XVI.

As others here have said, he's not wrong. But then, what does he expect?

I'm not a CoD player, played it a bit when it first came out but not since. In the last 20 years nothing has changed that makes me want to play it, so I don't personally really care what happens in that respect.

But, obviously a lot of people do care and I can see the problem. Ultimately, though, the best solution has to be for Sony to develop their own must-have multi-platform IP.

Yes, that is what sabotage means, literally even if not what expresses the correct connotation. I hope the regulators use their basic faculties of reason to see this is a very harmful deal to consumers, especially after the Bethesda buyout. This is monopoly 101 and should not be allowed through.

Given Microsoft's history of bullying and trying to intimidate their rivals into submission, I have no sympathy for them, let's not forget that there is a reason that Steve Jobs physically detested Billy boy.

@cragis0001 Because COD is the largest gaming franchise and would tilt the gaming industry in favor of any platform that owned it. I'm not sure why people are missing the actual not secret bone of contention in this buyout. If Sony were attempting to buy Activision the same regulators would be having the same problem.

Square Enix is nowhere near the size of Activision.

That's hardly news Bobby, jeez just go back to your boats and yachts and be quiet 🙄

So annoying that this parasite is in Moneyball i.e one of the best films ever made.

This guy should be quiet.word up son

Kotick is vile, but, he's a shrewd businessman. He knows what's what. He wouldn't be party to selling the company for $70B if he weren't. His thoughts on business matters are meaningful even if he's an unlikable person.

@KaijuKaiser Isn't MS innovating on the business model front, though, which is then what people complain about that they're "subsidizing" gaming, etc? Even if they are, business model innovation is still innovation. That's one front that Sony refuses to innovate at all on, still leaning on the 1980's model started by Nintendo, and borrowing their 1960's film and music model for gaming. They innovate on hardware, less and less so on software, and not at all on business models.

@colonelkilgore Don's have always just been businessmen who haven't found a legal way to not pay taxes unlike actual business men.

@Zemo55 "Isn't Bobby Kotick a convicted sex offender?"

He's good at knowing when he's getting screwed!

This fella always reminds me of the egg, in the kinder egg advert from the 80s.

I don’t like this dude at all but he’s not exactly wrong here.

Sony are, by far, the market leader. Their behaviour in this whole situation is pathetic. They are acting like the plucky underdog fighting against injustice when they have swallowed up developers for years. And for those who say "But this is different, Xbox want to buy an entire publisher". Grow up. Sony would do exactly the same if they could.

I really hope that Xbox win the case outright and then demand that Sony allow Uncharted, Spider-Man and GoW on Xbox as a trade for CoD. I know which I'd rather have.

@SJBUK I love my PlayStation but don't really see Sony as innovators. What innovations are you referring to?

So 88% of Playstion players surveyed claim one or more games was the reason they chose the console they purchased. 73% of that 88% claim COD was that game. However 69% claim exclusives and 45% claim GTA 5. Is this some kind of new math or what?😵‍💫

@__jamiie Sony do innovate though, Dualsense, touch pad on a controller, playstation move, playstation handheld, playstation VR, playstation eye toy, first to use remote play with the vita, first to make a gaming subscription.

They innovate by not just sticking to traditional gaming, taking risks by reaching niche markets and making fancy gimmicks for their players.

Id say the same for nintendo as well at times, both way above Microsoft for innovation.

@__jamiie Just form a games console perspective -
The original PS1, nothing like it at the time. I was there.

PS3, the Cell architecture, great innovation with incredible potential, shame devs couldn't get to grips with it.

PSVR1, a big gamble but they gave us a decent OLED display and a very comfortable headset at a very competitive price.

PS5 gives us an incredible IO architecture, superb controller, fantastic audio, liquid metal cooling. Loads of potential still waiting to be unleashed.

PSVR2 - Improvement on PSVR1 in every way, for a great price with very little that compares with it on the market.

You can argue the merits of all of the above but they didn't just take something that existed and rehash it in a cheaper format.

@UltimateOtaku91 Valve made touch pads on a controller. And haptic feedback. PS Move was a copy of the Wii remote. VR was around well before PSVR and the Master System even had it's own headset. PlayStation handheld is not an innovation, it's just Sony's version of things that already existed. Xbox Live was the first console subscription.

I'll let you have the Eye Toy. I had one. It was crap.

Bobby Kotick goal of this is to push sony out of the video game market(because that's what Microsoft goal is and he's there pet) or into being just a new sega. We should never forget microsoft is guilty of the Sherman Antitrust Act.

@cragis0001 A Square Enix acquisition is likely to go through. Considering that they have been making a majority of their mainstream titles Sony exclusive for the past few years, they can claim that they work very closely with Sony and the deal wouldn't effect other markets...similar to how Microsoft pushed the Zenimax Acquisition through.

Activision on the other hand, beyond marketing deals has never moved away from their third party status with either Sony or Microsoft prior to this acquisition.

@__jamiie Yup, Sony is good at chasing trends and copying others, but they ain't innovators in the hardware department.

@SJBUK In what way was there nothing like the PS1? I was there too and remember another Japanese made, CD based console that launched before it. The Cell processor was a terrible idea from the start. It made the PS3 harder to develop for, more expensive and multiplatform games always performed better on the 360. Bayonetta and The Orange Box are two examples of absolute trash on PS3. PSVR (I adore mine btw) was a gamble but not an innovation. It even used PS3 tech as it's controllers. PS5 is amazing but not innovative. Haptics and touch pads have been done before. Fantastic sound is not an innovation. PSVR2 looks incredible but again is a new iteration of something that's already been done.

Innovation is not the same a making great products.

@__jamiie You have your opinion, I have mine. You seem to look at it from a consumer perspective, I look at it more from a tech perspective.

I knew a guy who worked at SG at the time the PS1 came out, he was pretty stunned at the 3D capability on something at that price.

As each PS has come along I've felt a genuine sense of excitement for them when the tech specs were announced and could see all sorts of possibilities for them. Well, maybe not the PS4.

I've never felt that way about MS or Nintendo products.

Each to their own.

@starbuck2212 The Xbots believes everything Phil Spencer says.

@__jamiie what a dumb take. Being the market leader has nothing to do with not wanting a publisher that is equal in size to you get swallowed by the competition. There is no world where that can be considered fair.

I don't mind Uncharted being Multi plat, if I can play Halo on my PlayStation 5.

@SJBUK From a tech spec the Xbox series x is more powerful then a ps5, but why doesn't the xbsx give you a sense of excitement?

@XenonKnight Hard to explain. For me it's not just about the TFlops. The way I see it Microsoft took a bunch of PC bits and stuffed them in a small box. Granted the cooling system etc is great but really, it's just a PC in a box. It just doesn't do much for me. I have a PC.

Sony do something a bit different, which hits my geek spot. I found Cerney's PS5 Deep Dive absolutely fascinating, which probably tells you all you need to know about me! I love the way they've optimised the IO paths through the system to the point the SSD can be treated as memory fast enough to stream textures from. The thought invested in streamlining rather than just throwing raw power at the problem.

Just the way I roll.

Does anyone think Bobby Kotick was one of those kids that would abuse small animals or weaker kids?

I own a Xbox Series X should I feel dirty(and microsoft is scumbags) if I renew game pass next year only for games I can't play on ps5?

Sony Nintendo Merger...
Make it happen.
Microsoft will lose their minds.

This guy playing the moralist and honest businessman and making Sony seems like a villain, while he is being investigated by several disgusting conduct in the work environment himself. This is ridiculous.

When Kotick is condemning your actions then you know you're doing the right thing. More power to you Sony.

@SJBUK In my opinion, Nintendo and Xbox have created far more excitement and innovation.

Nintendo - D-Pads, shoulder buttons, the ABXY buttons, 3D platformers, console FPS, 4 player consoles, analogue sticks, rumble, stereoscopic 3D, touch screens, glasses free 3D, motion controls, gyroscopic movement, asymmetric gameplay (GBA to GameCube and Wii U), hybrid gaming. And many more.

Xbox - PC driven development (which everyone including Sony does now), built in HDD, interchangeable HDD, Xbox Live (the first console subscription service), HD graphics, online multiplayer, a digital console store, indie console development, customisable consoles, broadband connection, team chat, Game Pass, Smart Delivery.

Please name something that Sony has done that has innovated more than any of these things.

@__jamiie Well the first duel stick pad for one, then there's console vr ,also the eye toy used movement to control games years before the wii popularised it,Sony made gaming cool with the original ps, and it was the dreamcast that started online console gaming to be fair ,nintendo has been doin the same thing for decades and ms just copies everyone else.

@__jamiie the eye toy used the move controls ,therefore motion gaming before the wii,and the eye toy was better than the kinect ,that was some hot garbage

Oh F off Bobby. You are just upset you won't get another fat bonus. You don't care about anyone else.

@tallythwack Dual analogue sticks is not an innovation it's a very well made improvement of what already existed.

VR on a console was on the Sega Master System. Even the Atari Jaguar tried it.

The Eye Toy (which was crap and I had one). It was a webcam. Nothing like the technology or playability of the Wii remote. They're completely different.

Dreamcast DID start online console gaming. And the Dreamcast had a Microsoft operating system. Windows CE in fact.

Xbox created the online console industry. Nintendo created pretty much everything else. How are you that ignorant that you don't realise Nintendo pretty much did everything first???

@tallythwack The Eye Toy was completely different technology to the Wii remote. The Wii remote was good. Eye Toy was awful. Games using the Wii remote were wonderful. Eye Toy games were basically spam. They were shovelware.

What's your favourite Eye Toy game?

Because I imagine that my favourite Wii game is better.

@tallythwack Also, Xbox invented 'Achievements'.

The idea of MS not supporting PS is absurd but they cancelled starfield while in production for PlayStation.

@__jamiie my kids loved the eye pet it was great for its time ,and you can bet as much as you like sonny Jim,its just an opinion and doesn't really mean anything to the individual.

@__jamiie Good morning. I've already stated how I feel Sony have innovated. I'm sure there are many other ways if I took the time to think about it.

I've not said that only Sony innovate, however, so I'm not sure why you needed to reel off innovations of MS, Nintendo or others?

As I said, I'm a bit of a techie and I've always been far more excited about what Sony have done with PS than MS or Nintendo with their products. You clearly feel differently, which is fine.

As my Nanna used to say. "If it looks like a Toad, and talks like a Toad, it probably isn't to be trusted".
How right this is of Bobby.

@__jamiie
The Wii remotes were *****.

@KarasawaII
As much as that'd create a major juggernaut, I think it'd be bad in the long run. I think a Square Enix and Sony merger would be better, especially for Sony.
We all know how Japanese companies like to merge.

@Ravix Not ripping off existing contracts, but favoring Microsoft when it comes to exclusive content and marketing campaigns which Sony wants desperately, that's why they refuse to negotiate even if COD would still come to PlayStation for years to come, Sony wants to have the attractive overall package of content to be theirs.

MS should just learn to make good games instead of buying studios for short-term returns and running them into the ground in the mid-to-long term as they've done for the last 20 years.

My poor Arkane studios...

@KarasawaII

Sony and Nintendo will never merge because Nintendo betrayed Sony in the 90s

@arsmolinarc
Thing is, they can do it. They just destroy those same IPs after a while. Gears was better under EPIC. Bungie was better at their baby Halo.

I'm not worried about the exclusive perks on playstation. What I look at is Microsofts bad track record of buying game studios and desolving them and throwing them to the wind because of poor management. I'm looking at this from a person's perspective not a video game one. Microsoft gets a hold of that company and pisses it away just because they can. Their is going to be alot of people with out a job that's trying to support their family's. This is not about a console to me. As I said every studio that Microsoft buys ends up in ruins and so does the people that works for those companies. When you got money like they got people is no longer the big deal their just clotaral damage and the loss is a tax write off look how many people Microsoft just let go. Does it truly look like they need anything else under their belt? I'm glad somebody stepped in not over the sake of cod but for the sake of people's jobs and lively hoods.

@Rob_230
I don't get the argument that Sony isn't innovative. They have always been S-tier with electronics, the reason both portable music players and CD's took off was largely their involvement. Disc based consoles became the norm precisely because they made them massively affordable. Their monitors and TV's are excellent, even their VR headsets were cheaper and more efficient than any other headset on the market and the sales reflect that.

@PegasusActual93 yes its clearly a ridiculous stance that only a fanboy would take. Doesnt make any sense to me

@tallythwack Nobody has told me a single thing that is a true Sony innovation. I love my PlayStation but I can also be objective. Unlike many people here.

@SolaceCreed I'm struggling to work out what your comment was because you used 5 asterisks. Did you say the Wii Remote was 'great'? 'Brill'? 'Amaze'? 🤣 Enlighten me.

If your comment was negative, then why did Sony copy it as soon as they saw it?

The Wii is home to some absolutely classic, multi-million selling games that used the Wii Remote.

@tallythwack Eye Pet was crap. Your kid's opinion doesn't make that game or piece of hardware objectively good. Shovelware sells to kids.

On the other hand, some of the highest rated, best selling games used the Wii Remote. That's the opinion of many, many reviewers and gamers. Not something you're telling me your kids liked. If Eye Toy was so great then Kinect for Xbox One would have been a wonderful success. It wasn't because gamers didn't want it and Sony fanboys actually mocked it when it launched. You can't have it both ways. Eye Toy good! Kinect bad!

@__jamiie calm down there fella, you're gonna give yourself a stroke

@__jamiie not innovative in your opinion, all the waffle you've spouted is just opinion ,nothing more ,you need to start to see the difference.

@tallythwack Yes. Not innovative in my opinion and you've done nothing to convince me otherwise. What has been innovative???

@CWill97 true the size difference is way off but it's importance to different regions isn't as Activision Blizzard titles sell well in the EU/US & Square Enix titles sells well in Japan.

@Constable_What I hope this deal breaks the camels back & has opened the eyes of regulators scrutinize the industry a lot tougher than they have. I don't see Call of Duty going exclusive to be fair & wouldn't wish it to either. I don't play it but if it stops exclusive content then it's a win for consumers who do.

@Shepherd_Tallon I agree to a certain degree as Square Enix & Sony would make a ton of money making games on PC & Nintendo Switch as well. I'm sure Sony would be happy if they dropped Xbox which has already happened by the look at the 2023 roster. I think Sony & Nintendo have already invested in parts of the business & wonder if there statement was more of a hint for the likes of Microsoft, Tencent & Embracer.

@JustPlainLoco the last I heard Banjo & Conker don't get a shot as the original devs left & there last attempts didn't do well on the 360. The fact that Activision Blizzard are absorbing those teams to make COD is more worrying. I agree the size difference between Activision Blizzard & SquareEnix are huge but there impact in there home territories aren't as look at the hype Final Fantasy 16 is getting.

@Shepherd_Tallon I could imagine Sony has invested more than Nintendo as they can rely on being the market leader to have some sway. But Nintendo definitely have invested to get Dragon Quest.

@Ambassador_Kong the regulators don't care the size of an organisation. It's soul purpose is to determine if any purchase would harm competition which both Activision Blizzard & Square Enix would.