European Union Likely to Pass Xbox's $69 Billion Buyout of Activision

The fix is in. Apparently all it took was offering COD to Nintendo and nvidia, who MS specifically said are not their competitors. Although this does lessen the overall impact of one company owning COD for now. 10 years down the road? I guess we’ll see if MS choose to renew the contracts or not.

Not a big shock, and suspect CMA will go the same way in the end.

As someone who pre-ordered it religiously every year I sincerely hope that in 10 years time the CoD bubble has finally burst and it's no longer a talking point.

I will be intrigued by Sony's reaction to this once it's done. As the PlayStation brand will have lost significant value with all Activision blizzard games becoming Xbox exclusive bar cod which will be "free" on GP. While $70 on PlayStation.
I'm fairly certain they'll try and claw back some minor percentage to keep the PlayStation brand competitive in the face of the huge swing in COD players migrating to GP by taking something major away from the Xbox brand within their purchasing power.
Capcom , maybe fromsoft which they already have made nibbles at

European Union Commission has much much much bigger problems to solve than this!!! For example peanut butter isn't worth wearing word "butter" because it is not butter. These are problems that must be solved, because they are vital!!!

@Kevw2006 It would be kinda hilarious if Call of Duty goes the way of Tony Hawk and Guitar Hero and loses popularity in the next few years, making their contracts with Nintendo and Nvidia worthless. Then what would their $69 billion deal be worth?

(Answer: Still a lot, because King is worth more than COD alone, let alone Blizzard with their money-printing franchises 😊)

@djlard peanut butter is not butter?!?! Preposterous 😤😤😤

Keep fighting Jim ✊🏻

#InJimWeTrust

Eu would always pass with concessions, they usually do. Ftc will lose in court, they almost always do. The "final boss" is the cma, and i can't predict how it's going to go. End of April and it should be alot clearer

Hardly a surprise. The EU and corruption go hand in hand.

Sony would be in bad shape if this happened. They’d lose billions over the next 5 years or so as the remaining 70% of console owners transition to their next gen of choice, and then we move on to the next next gen.

The only way to stop everyone going to Gamepass would be to buy up lots of other publishers, which this would give them the authority to do. It’s just they don’t really have the money if MS were able to retaliate.

Sad times when a company with pockets as deep as MS can just buy up all the most popular content needed to survive in the young gaming subscription market. Competition is over before it’s even begun.

I hope the deal goes through. This industry is stale and Sony is complacent for the most part.

@MrMeeeseeeks
Yes, such a disgusting little cabal.

@Milt Forced to get an Xbox...you literally will be able to play them on your Phone...Tablet ...PC...

Hope it goes fast now, could not take much more of sony's complaining.

We'll take the deal if they throw in the IP rights to Crash and Spyro.

The original article quotes 3 people close to the deal, which could be 3 microsoft employees for all we know. It also states that concessions will be reqired for the deal to be approved. Which is probably what Sony want at this stage.

I don’t have a horse in this race since I’m not tied down to one platform, but I do think it’s odd that anyone at Microsoft thought it to be a good idea to purchase Activision right after buying up Zenimax and all of its studios. Just seems greedy and unnecessary

Let me grab popcorns for the comments…

"Well, this just makes me even less likely to support Microsoft.", I thought to myself while waiting for Windows to finish updating so I could download a report hosted on Azure, import it into Excel, and send it to my boss via Outlook before my next Teams meeting.

@thefourfoldroot1 I think off the back of this deal Microsoft will have a hard time pushing through another large scale acquisition anytime soon.

@Amnesiac haha yeah. And Microsoft were, and are, trying to come across as an underdog here. Give me a break lol!

(No really, I'm at work and I need one).

@Shad361
I wouldn’t call the industry stale, and if anyone isn’t stale and complacent it’s Sony. They just released a high end gaming VR device. Nintendos current console is a portable hybrid which we hadn’t really seen before. Microsoft…well, they have subsidised gaming…

@thefourfoldroot1 releasing vr doesn’t change the fact that they have relied mainly on sequels, third party deals, and remakes this generation. This generation is nothing more than an extension of the last generation really. Returnal was the only good new ip this whole generation thus far and PS5 doesn’t even have 5 non cross gen exclusives worth playing yet.

@Anthony_Daniels 1 year of Game Pass Ultimate in order to play Call of Duty (including multiplayer) = $180

Buying base Call of Duty ($70) + 1 year of Live Gold ($60) = $130

Buying highest tier Call of Duty ($100) + 1 year of Live Gold ($60) = $160.

Tell me, again, which is a better value?

Look, I get it if you don't agree with this acquisition due to it's potential effect on the games industry in the future; but don't use the whole "Game Pass "free", Sony still pays $70" argument because Microsoft still releases retail games to people AND it's cheaper to do so.

Granted many people don't buy into Game Pass for 1 game, but for that annual CoD/Sports Title crowd (that makes up the majority of those sales), Game Pass Ultimate is a terrible value for them for Call of Duty.

What this whole charade has done is show how naive gamers can be, with petty fan wars trumping common sense. If this deal goes through and Sony are significantly damaged, or (and this is an extremely unlikely scenario, but all cards on the table) forced to pull out of the videogame market, this would be awful for videogames from a consumer choice and competitiveness standpoint.

People hoping for Sony to 'take the L' here need to think again.

@Shad361
So you would consider a new flat IP (which are all basically reskins of every other game released these days but with a different story) to be less “stale” than pushing forward the next step in immersive gaming?

I can’t remember the last IP that wasn’t a rehash of what’s gone before. Even new IPs are within safe genres these days, with safe messages and commonplace interactions.

@get2sammyb Look at Sonys first party this year. Completely non existent outside of Spider-Man 2. Zero announcements. The last real PS5 exclusives was ratchet and clank.

Any yet everyone swears PS5 is the best console ever,completely blinded by hype.

I'm sorry, @Milt, but how are Microsoft 'monopolising' the industry? That is such an exaggeration. Even with having purchased ABK, they will still lag behind Sony in terms of gaming revenue, console sales, and gamers. Sony are by far the market leaders with clear dominance in both the sales of games and consoles, plus they have a far larger install-base. Will this impact Sony? Absolutely! Will they still be the largest gaming company? Absolutely!

@thefourfoldroot1 VR isn’t even a new concept itself though at this point. And how many PS5 owners even have the money to buy it?

Yep,wish I could say I'm surprised,but when you're dealing with governmental authorities inexperience in the subject,(in this case the games industry),& politics are a bad mix.

Microsoft being a multi trillion company have far reach in several areas,whether OS,Cloud etc. Keeping in mind companies like Facebook, Amazon & co.,have grown into megacorps.

For "Gamer" Phil & co.,to suggest the Ninty deal is a sign of their good intentions when Activision ignored Switch as unprofitable shows how shoddy the whole exercise is.

Zenimax Bethesda buyout showed how quickly Xbox moved to make previously 3rd party IP's & studios exclusive. Microsoft have openly argued that their previous exclusives ala Halo,Gears, Fable,Forza weren't enough so as they should be allowed to buy up as many 3rd party AAA publishers & IP's until it can shut out Sony.

Much like the line in Revenge of the Sith, undoubtedly to the thunderous applause of thousands of Xbots....at least til they find they'll only be able to rent games!🙄

Normally these buyouts get me a little nervous, but Blizzard/Activison is a large exception for me. With all of the leadership and workplace issues that have been rampant, there needs to be a shakeup. Microsoft is one of the few companies with the cash to do it. Microsoft usually has a good track record of treating their employees well from what I have seen. Sony also has a very short memory with all their timed console exclusives they get, especially PS4 COD era.

@Shad361
Eye tracking with foveated rendering, headset and controller haptics and adaptive triggers, Sony’s headset is at the cutting edge for all the cuts they had to make to keep the price down.

And millions of us can. Asking whether people who have £500+ to spend on a luxury device like the PS5 have, well, £500+ to spend on a luxury device like the PSVR2…that’s a bit of a strange question.

@Robocod i own a Xbox and GP and still buy my games. I own a PS5 and PS+ and still buy my PS games. Renting is an option but not the only solution. In fact MS has said they see a 10 year future still with consoles having disk drives. So i don’t think renting will ever be the only option for either of the Big 3

I'm not entirely sure I follow what you are saying about Game Pass, @GamingFan4Lyf. Are you suggesting that if the only game you play every day for an entire year, is CoD, then it would be more expensive to go the Game Pass route? Because if so, surely you are talking about a a tiny minority of gamers. I know a lot of people love CoD, but do many really play it to the exclusion of everything else? If we agree that the vast, vast majority of people that play CoD also play other games, then suddenly Game Pass becomes an entirely affordable and worthwhile product, one that would save you a considerable amount of money, whilst offering you a diverse set of games to play. I think most people, if they chose to do so, could easily find something worthwhile and entertaining to play on the Game Pass.

Personally, I think the number of people that will fully migrate from Sony to Xbox, as a consequence of CoD alone, will be minimal. I doubt it would even be seen in the numbers that Sony put out. I think the number of people that buy a PlayStation to play CoD only, is likely not that high. Most people would invest in a PlayStation for its stellar exclusives. Call of Duty is just there as well. It's just an afterthought...

Let Microsoft have them, this just means sony can buy a publishers like capcom, square enix or cd projekt red with no problems, or anyone else that becomes available.

This deal going through is going to set off a wave of bigger acquisitions (which can't be denied) from everyone including tencent and Microsoft have themselves to blame.

@thefourfoldroot1 Wondering who’s next. If this goes through then they’ll try for another and another and another until they’re told they can’t buy anymore. Will they go for the easier to acquire publishers like Ubisoft or Focus, the big boys like EA and Take Two, or just try to buy the Japanese publishers to undercut Sony more? I think people that think it’s impossible for them to buy Japanese devs are vastly underestimating the power of money and just how much of it Microsoft is willing to hand out.

I love how people are just saying "well Sony can buy Capcom or CD Project Red now"

Companies have to want to be bought you dinguses. If they aren't up for sale or willing to sell, Sony can't buy them.

I wouldn't get carried away by one report claiming it knows what one of the authorities will do.

It been fairly clear from the start that this was likely to pass as long as MS made several concessions. I'm not sure they have made enough personally, but I'm not the one judging.

Even if it were to go through with no further concessions, securing a 10 year COD deal was never going to happen without this process - and Geforce would never have had access to all Microsoft's games on their streaming service without it.

Those concessions alone show it was correct to challenge the purchase. I think some further titles on 3rd parties might have redressed the balance too, but Europe appear to think the concessions made are enough.

Having watched Microsoft decimate small business's in the 80s and 90s through sheer financial muscle, I cant pretend this purchase doesn't give me concerns. But the Xbox studios have had a different demeanor to their head office for a long time, and I'd like to believe they wont completely behave in the same way.

@Shad361
Everyone relies mainly on sequels and remakes. MS made a huge deal about being able to play the same games as last gen on their machine and keep releasing Halo, Gears, and Forza; Ninty releases Mario and Zelda games to this day.

And everyone makes third party deals. Every time MS gets a game day 1 on Gamepass that’s a third party deal, I’m sure they stipulate the game can’t come to Extra for a period of time because, well, we’ve continually seen that.

You are right that the industry has become stale with sequels and remakes though, I completely agree. Which is why PSVR2 is so refreshing to someone like myself who has been gaming for nearly 40 years.

“Our commitment to grant long term 100 per cent equal access to Call of Duty to Sony, Steam, NVidia, and others preserves the deal's benefits to gamers and developers and increases competition in the market.”
How exactly does it benefit me , I can already play cod on my preferred platform if I want all the deal will do is take away IP's that aren't live service & micro transaction riddled. & Not that long ago philnocio spender was saying playstation & Nintendo weren't Xbox's competition trying to throw shade but now all of a sudden they are make up your minds 😂

@Shstrick
I doubt they’ll go after Japanese devs because there isn’t enough money there. MS would love Sony by pushed into that niche themselves.
I think any future buyout wouldn’t go ahead if this does. I do see them buying up lots of small devs though, they need to keep Gamepass stocked after all.

@Sakisa Are you not aware of the term 'hostile takeover'?
Any public traded company where more than half the shares are publicly traded can be bought regardless of it wants it or not..
You got enough cash to offer the shareholders and you have the controlling interest.

However...

Sony have always bought a studio at a time, and usually those they have already worked very closely with. I think its unlikely they will panic and seek to buy whole publishers. Their business model is fine at present.

I hope the deal goes through so i can have a field day reading the comment section

@Sakisa
Not saying Sony will, but someone being willing to sell is almost 100% dependant on the price offered. So saying Sony can now go and buy someone is true, as long as they are willing to pay above their market valuation. Plus if it comes down to shareholders it’s not always even a choice.

I am so fed up hearing about this news, the only thing about the ABK deal that would make me smile would be Bobby Kotick getting a p45 without a golden parachute. No danger of that happening tho....

I don't gaf about CoD, but Crash, Tony Hawk, Diablo, and all the other IPs are much more important, I would imagine all those will get exclusive games from this point on, apart from COD which they promised 10 ***** years.

Sony is fine either way.

I been with NVidia GeForce Now since beta. And now use it to play games I have on the Ubi Store and Epic Store on my SteamDeck.

On that side, the more games on it the better. One more option to play away from home. Not what my PC/PS5 is for.

I disagree with the notion that just because you had £500 to spend on a PS5, that it follows that you have a further £500 to spend on VR, @thefourfoldroot1. On a personal note, knowing that the console was forthcoming in 12 months time (but not knowing the price at that point), I began saving £50 every month in the belief that the console might cost £600. As it was, at the point the console was released, I had saved sufficient money to buy the console. However, fast forward two years, and with prices the way they are at the moment, I couldn't save £50 a month now, let alone just drop £500 on VR in one go. I can only assume that you are fairing far better, but please don't be fooled into believing that because you can afford VR, that everyone that bought a PS5 must be able to do so too.

@thefourfoldroot1 As if Sony hasn't turned their back on Japan. I'm cool with MS buying smaller studios, Obsidian, Double Fine and InXile are my favorite Xbox developers and put to absolute shame any of the teams Sony has after they put a bullet in Japan Studios.

Except Insomniac, they still do good work.

@Titntin @thefourfoldroot1 I'm aware of a hostile takeover, but I don't see Sony pulling that card when they can pay much less for third party exclusives, like they've done with Square Enix.

I just don't see the day of Sony trying to buy out Capcom when they themselves have a great thing going with some titles on Switch and PC, and ESPECIALLY not CD Project Red with their PC focus.

@Fiendish-Beaver I am suggesting that the majority of people who are the annual CoD/Sports title folks wouldn't be interested in the games that Game Pass offers as a whole and to therefore subscribing to Game Pass is a terrible investment if the only game of interest to them is Call of Duty.

I mean, MAYBE it will draw them to look into Halo, Forza, and Gears of War - but Game Pass is very indie heavy and I just don't see that being worthwhile for that particular gaming crowd.

I am with you though, this isn't suddenly going to create a massive influx of console "switchers". Honestly, I don't think Microsoft is necessarily concerned with that.

Microsoft wants the King money and the MTX money from CoD on all platforms. Microsoft isn't AS concerned about pushing Xbox console sales.

I will enjoy having Call of Duty on Game Pass, but I am only interested in the campaign. So it is value to me since I haven't bought a Call of Duty since MW2 on X360.

@thefourfoldroot1 i think Sony will have to lean heavily on Japanese titles after this, more so than they already do. I think MS understands that Sony’s heritage is in Japanese games and they’d love to take that away, so I really hope you’re right.

Definitely agree you on them buying up smaller devs.

@Sakisa
Whether Sony try to buy out Capcom, Konami, or anyone else depends on whether MS are allowed to keep doing so. MS are hungry for product for Gamepass to chew up. If Sony can only retain key franchises buy buying up the dev before MS do then they have little choice. It will be a risk for them I don’t want them to need to take of course.

Absolutely agree about the CoD campaign, @GamingFan4Lyf. It's the only part of the game that I play every year (and I always pre-order the game in order to play it) so having it on the Game Pass (to which I am an Ultimate subscriber as I also have a PC) will enable me to save £70 every year from the time it begins to release on the service (probably not in time for this year though, unfortunately).

@Fiendish-Beaver Ok. I'm sorry for overreacting a lot about this news.

I own both " new" consoles.

So far, I'll freely admit, I've preferred my PS5 to Series X for well discussed reasons.

However, it's the PlayStation I enjoy gaming on, not the SONY PlayStation.

It baffles me to see people shilling for these corporations like they were their friend.

Sony, MS, Nintendo? All out to separate you from as much of your money as possible. Ideally for as little minimum viable product as possible.

These acquisitions and mergers are anti consumer and ALL the main players are wrong to practice it.

I want to see gamers enjoy games on whatever platform they choose.

Let the quality of the hardware and IN HOUSE produced games be what tempts the customer.

Not, frankly obscenely expensive acquisitions or money hatting third party exclusivity.

"X has bought Y so A should buy B, that'll teach them."

No, that'll just come back and eventually bite you in the arse as a gamer.

ALL anti consumer! ALL hurting YOU the gamer!!

These corporations are not your friends!

Open your bloody eyes!

It was the likely conclusion from the start. The deal will ultimately pass, there just simply isn't an argument against it. It would be a joke for regulators to protect the company with 75% market share. This is the correct decision by the EU.

I personally have both consoles but I see the deal as a good thing for the industry. Sony will do what it does best and innovate. They will make their subscription better. They will have to think a little harder next time they want to drive the industry to higher prices.

Approval of this acquisition would be a disaster. They already bought a publisher and will keep doing it until they bought their way to dominance or they are stopped. This is the only way Microsoft operates.

@Somebody "They will have to think a little harder next time they want to drive the industry to higher prices."
Its called inflation, and Microsoft also have put their games to $70 - they only waited 3 months to do it because they didnt have any titles to release. I understand BOTW2 on switch will also be $70.

Blaming a company for inflation is absurd - are you sitting in your local Tesco calling them out for raising food prices? Of course not, because that would be as daft as your statement.....

Games @£70 are still significantly cheaper than games were at PS4 launch if you adjust for inflation, despite dev costs rising.

Anti monopoly consumer laws are just failing if this goes through. This should absolutely be illegal. the lack of forethought is just crazy. Your honor, it won't be a full monopoly for at least 10 years, only after that.
Ridiculous. How many more purchases before they look at what's going on and stop an acquisition.

@ZoSo Well, that's true and not true at the same time. The problem is we are better with Sony making a lot of big acquisitions than MS making all of them instead. And them having something to say "we'll let you have some games if you let us have these" is better than MS just saying Sony gets nothing.
None of it should happen in the first place, but you don't want it to be all one-sided if that happens.

I hope that Sony have been working away in the background towards a few of their own acquisitions. It’s not that I think that acquisitions are a good thing at all, but if they don’t do something themselves, there is a chance that they will lose even more to Microsoft and that’s not a good thing at all. I do think Sony will find it a lot easier going for developers, as there is no way that they will be denied if the AB deal goes through. Microsoft themselves probably and hopefully won’t be able to buy anything for quite some time after this. I would like to see Sony going for Square Enix (that’s more than likely almost done anyway), Capcom and perhaps Ubisoft or WB Games. The latter will likely be on the market for a lot less than they were worth before. WB had explored selling up a while back, but I can really see it happening after Rocksteady get done with destroying their legacy and tarnishing WB Games in the process.

@Titntin I'm sure the accountants at MS and Nintendo were thrilled when Sony announced the price hikes because they could follow suit. Sony was comfortable with the decision to raise the price of games and consoles because they don't currently feel threatened by the Series X/S. If this deal leads them to be threatened then they will have to think harder about any future price hikes.

Playstation did report record profits to go along with their "inflation forced us to do it" narrative.

@BAMozzy COD is one of the biggest series there is. It's why many people buy a PlayStation.
What is this other than trying to hobble a competitor in the long term? Sony has built up their portfolio, while MS is desperately trying to buyout the entire industry because they've done so bad at since the Xbox One launched. MS has no portoflio at this point, so they just started buying out games and saying they won't let them to competitors like with Bethesda plans.
How many more purchases until you think it should be blocked? EA, Capcom, Sega, etc. You would have listed Activision as competition while making the same post for Bethesda.
This is bad for games at the end of the day, which makes it anti-consumer.
And assuming only fanboys are opposed to the deal is honestly just disingenuous. I'd be opposed to Sony doing it too. You usually give very good arguments that are very well thought out - which I think is great and love to read - but using those low insults that make very base and frankly bad assumptions frankly undermines your argument. If someone who disagrees with you on a major acquisition that can shift the industry must have "one unused brain cell" I very much doubt you fully thought out the matter, even if you're right and I'm wrong. Instead of asserting why people who thought about it different are mistaken in an understandable fashion, you just said they must not think if they disagree with me, which means you probably didn't think about why someone else could have a point here.

Good, now sony will works harder to get exclusive games rather than prioritizing exclusive cod dlc while ported all their games on pc.

@Shad361

Same here, even tho ABK will make worse games, they already make bad games.

I want it to go through because I only care somewhat about diablo 4.

@Savage_Joe white chocolate is not chocolate! 🙃

@Daleaf Yeah. I support the acquisition because it's self-serving: I want Diablo series on PC Games Pass because I am cheap (I don't hide it).

Plus, I'd like to play the campaign of past CoD games that I never bought because I am not that interested in the series enough to buy the games on any platform - I have been like that even before the existence of Game Pass.

If it doesn't go through, then I'll get a Diablo bundle when it inevitably goes on sale again and continue to ignore CoD. 🤷‍♂️

@Jaz007 And Sony bought Studio's too - Naughty Dog, Insomniac, Bungie, Guerilla, Sucker Punch etc to build up their 'Portfolio' of Studio's and IP's so I don't see any difference here.

CoD may well be a BIG IP in Gaming - but not bigger than Spider-Man or Wolverine for example and its not as if CoD won't release on Playstation with complete Parity for the first time in decades - after Xbox built CoD up to be the Juggernaut it became (thanks to heavy marketing and of course their own 'timed' exclusivity on DLC). Nintendo though is still a 'bigger' platform in terms of numbers sold - all without 'CoD'. And there are LOTS of CoD alternatives to 'compete' all made by 'different' Studios...

As I said, Sony Fanboys aren't 'losing' on this as CoD, like Minecraft, will continue to release on Playstation, continue to be 'sold' exactly as before and exactly the SAME price as it would be on Xbox to buy too - so tell me HOW this is somehow bad? Instead of Xbox/PC with PS5 getting 'more' content, its going to be available on EVERY device - inc many that could never run that Premium software - not ONLY on Xbox Hardware.

Its not as if Sony doesn't have experienced talented Studios and their OWN FPS Ip's they could 'invest' in, maybe even be 'better' than CoD. On top of that, Sony are 'saving' money by not having to pay A/B to keep content 'exclusive' and off of Game Pass, not having to pay for and organise Marketing for CoD etc and EVERY Playstation owner won't 'miss out' on playing CoD with their friends on their 'preferred' platform.

The fact that this will also open CoD up to MANY more gamers, not just those affluent enough to buy Premium hardware or screw over those who 'prefer' to play on PC/Xbox. PS5 owners aren't being 'screwed' by this.

If Sony lose sales because Gamers/Consumers now have a LOT more choice on where they WANT to play, not forced to play on Playstation or feel screwed over on Xbox/PC, that's just 'tough' on Sony - their users can still 'choose' to play on their hardware if its their 'preferred' platform but aren't 'forced' to buy on PS or 'miss out' on something - anti-consumer!!! This gives Consumers/gamers much more choice on where they want to Play 'A/B' games - now and in the future. It doesn't matter if MS owns the IP - its NOT going to be 'limited' to Premium Hardware so MANY more gamers can 'choose' where to play and will get 'Parity' on content - same day, same content, same price no doubt..

Therefore, I can only assume that its 'small minded' that can't see beyond their 'beloved' playstation hardware (which will still get CoD) that are opposed. Nintendo gamers for example would be keen for this to go through, as will those that can play on devices they have instead of 'miss' out because they didn't buy a PS5...

For every Studio that gets bought, new Studio's are being opened all the time. We see people leaving 'big' studios to set up their own 'new' studio. So please tell me how MS's 30 odd studios is monopolising gaming - when there are 1000's of Studios all capable of making a MASSIVE game - Fortnite is probably bigger than CoD now thanks to its 'reach'

If you don't want to buy a Microsoft made Xbox, you never have to and probably never will to play CoD - it will be available where ever you 'choose' to play....

@GamingFan4Lyf

Well you just answered your own question haven't you , it's not just one game but every cod game ever released all in one place.
And really how many people pay that much for GP

@Jaz007 Also, I am not bias towards ANY company - I own a PS5, PS4 Pro, PS4, PS3 Slim, PS3 Phat and owned PS2/PS1 hardware too and would likely buy a PS6 to play 'ONLY' on PS6 games - but may not buy the 'next' Xbox as I could play everything on PC and/or Cloud enabled devices...

Point is, I am not 'concerned' about access to CoD as a Playstation gamer too. I know the game will have the exact same content day and date and if I choose to buy it on PS for the Haptic Feedback the DS5 provides I will but I could also play 'on the go' on my mobile, at 'Premium' quality on my Series X or Laptop too.

How can making Premium games available to a MUCH larger consumer/gamer base be 'detrimental' - I could understand if it was 'limited' to Xbox Premium Hardware/Expensive PC only, but even mobile gamers can now play - albeit not at the 'same' premium quality but can still play - not 'Miss out'

I hate Fanboys - whether its Sony or Xbox fanboys and look at things from a 'Gamers/Consumers' perspective. I am not going to be 'forced' to buy CoD on PS5 or 'miss out', I can Choose to play on PS5, Series X, PC or any 'Cloud' device and 'won't' miss out so its beneficial to GAMERS.

One thing people don't understand - when Microsoft promises to release CoD on these platforms for 10 years, what happens if in 2 or 3 years they break that promise? What punishment will there be?

None.

There is no reason to believe Microsoft will keep their word.

Personally, I don't play CoD so I don't care. But I do think it's amazing how may people are mollified by Microsoft's PR push. They didn't say they'd build the wall and make Sony pay for it, but their promises sound just as obviously hollow.

@RobN Microsoft gets sued because of binding contracts.

One day there will be an end to this whole saga as its becoming more and more like an eastenders episode everytime its covered..

Glad to see this finally come to an end. As one who absolutely could care less about this transaction, I always refrained myself from commenting on the vast majority of articles related to this topic. My opinion did not have value, so I just watched and waited for its inevitable outcome.

Only thing I ever said was this transaction was going to have major ramifications on the industry going forward, this is only the beginning so brace yourself.

I honestly cannot wait to see how Sony is going to react to combat this because they have to. It is one of your most profitable businesses and as a company, and anyone who understands business, you just not let competitors gain a vast foothold or it will be curtains for you. I expect acquisitions to take place and the same culprits (Square-Enix, Capcom, Tecmo-Koei, From Software, Vanillaware, Atlus, Konami) mentioned above will be a great counterattack to Microsoft. Just as the Bethesda acquisition made sense for Microsoft (just think about it), the above companies are synonymous with the Playstation brand, so they make sense.

Huge congratulations to Microsoft. They have a path they have decided to traverse, and are doing their part to achieve that vision. I do not agree with the vision, thus I will not be a part of it.

One thing I definitely look forward to is the relationship of these two companies going forward. They have definitely been strained, and possibly beyond repair. I honestly like that, you are competitors, not friends, so I am definitely looking forward to how this side of the battle unfolds.

One thing definitely to add is that Microsoft is buying studios with name and pedigree, same with the franchises associated with those studios. They are not buying talent!

The people who made Blizzard, the Blizzard many still associate with the products of the late 90's early to mid 2000's, and remember and hold in high regard, these people are no longer there. They are long gone. Same with Overwatch, the last title I played from Activision/Blizzard (and maybe the final). The people who made Overwatch, who had that vision and created that world, are long gone as well, which is why you see the problems that game has today. Talent is hard to come by, I think this will become apparent going forward.

@BeerIsAwesome Someone woke up a little salty today huh lol

tbh it does push Sony to move, be it buying something like Square or it pushes them to actually create their own FPS. Now I have no interest in the COD series but hey who knows what Sony could bring to the table?

Bout time this got settled.

@Rob_230 Nobody is wishing for Sony's demise except for Xbots, we are only hoping for a serious competition to Sony's legacy as they didn't take their competitor seriously in the previous gen. As long as the competitor is serious about increasing their overall share of the gaming market, Sony will be forced to act accordingly

I have a Series S anyway so access is easy enough for me if I want it.

@BAMozzy, you have some good points in your take. Now tell us all really why MS would spend 69 billion to purchase a publisher.

My take is MS will continue to purchase more and more. Take-2 is probably their next big dream purchase. The reason? Maybe to put all their games on game pass only with no selling of download or physical copies and then raise the price of game pass? You want to play Gta, Fallout, COD, Red Dead 3, Borderlands, Bioshock 4, and more? No problemo, just sign up for a game pass subscription.

It's not personal, it's business.

@NoCode23 Yet all those games would still be available on Steam/PC and any other Platform they can reach and as for 'Price', people won't pay a LOT more considering they never own the games - its a 'rental' service and people will want to 'play' when those games 'leave' Game Pass - hence they offer a nice extra discount to purchase!!

$70 is the 'current' market price for Games - Sony raised the Price on PS5 long before MS did - other Publishers pushed their prices up too so what's stopping Sony raising the price to $100 to play Spider-Man, Wolverine, Last of Us, Uncharted, God of War, Destiny, R&C, Ghost of Tsushima etc etc - its called 'Competition' with MANY players and MANY alternatives to those games on Steam for example so buy a Steam Deck and play 'cheaper' games - if MS lose Subs because people don't feel its offering 'value' - especially not 'long' term.

Game Pass cloud is ENTRY level gaming - not Premium Gaming - its bringing Premium Quality games to people that can't afford or justify buying Premium Hardware to play them. If you would rather play at 1080/60 streamed to whatever device you have with compression artefacts and increased lag/latency - never buy any game but still play the 'limited' selection that happen to be available on cloud, you can...

But to get the 'best' or 'Premium' experience, you need Premium Hardware and download to it. Most of the Game Pass games require Hardware and are ALL available to buy on Hardware too for those who 'prefer' to own and play regardless of whether its on Game Pass or not, regardless of whether they are still subbed or not.

If MS overprice themselves, people will play other games on Switch, on PS5 on Steam Deck, on their Laptop/Tablet, on their PC, on their mobile phones or whatever 'devices' suit their budget...

Point is, even if they did buyt Take 2 as well, it still wouldn't 'monopolise' gamin and/or force the others out of business and if they did raise the price to an unreasonable amount, people would abandon it for cheaper alternatives...

@Dodoo so you are saying that white cacao doesn’t exist?!? 🥲

@BAMozzy Those aren’t the same and it’s clear to see why. Sony worked with Insomniac and worked out deals to bring Spider-Man to life. They made relationships and worked to make the games better. I don’t think it’s a coincidence Insomniac is a better developer with Sony than MS. MS had an insomniac exclusive, and it was okay. Then Sony helped with Spider-Man and it was a knockout. I think MS had some of that energy too in the 360 Era. I felt like I was missing out on some good stuff by not having a 360.
That was curating, not buying out a series (or many) from a competitor that always had an IP he third-party.
Without Sony, I don’t think the studios would have as good of output. Those are also smaller, focused acquisitions based on a mutual relationship. There’s clear evidence the games are better.
Buying Ninja theory and such would be better examples.
Though the lack of any games suggest Xbox doesn’t know how to manage studios like Sony.
I’m looking for MS to curate something great, so I can play it on my PC and give Sony some real competition, that isn’t based on a company’s wallet size.
Buying Activision isn’t curating, based on a focused mutual relationship, or anything like that. It’s to get one of the biggest publishers on the market to use, in one way or another, against competition. You mentioned EA as a third part competitor to prevent monopoly. MS saw with Activision and wanted to move closer to Monopoly.
And after what we’ve seen of Bethesda, there’s no reason to think MS won’t make CoD exclusive after a decade, and prove they just wanted to buyout comepetion. Buying out the rest of the market aggressively is so different than what Sony has done. You really don’t know what access to CoD will be like in the future.

I could easily match the “small minded single brain cell” with something like “the only reason you say this is to prove your not a fanboy”, carrying the same energy, but I think that would be inaccurate, needlessly insulting, and overly dismissive and reductive of your thought process, even if I think it misses the mark, as it’s clear your formed a genuine non-fanboy opinion just like many against it have.

And the only loser in the deal is the consumers…

@BAMmozzy, yes game pass is a rental service, but what if it becomes MS's only service. That is if you want to play game "X", game pass is the your only option. It will not be available on Playstation. No digital or disc purchase. Stream it or download to a pc or MS game box for the premium performance and MS promises games will only be added and not removed.

Yes play on any devise other than Playstation but you need a game pass subscription. With what new games cost a raise in game pass price will still be a good subscription. Maybe with tiers so those that want the new good AAA on release will need to purchase a Premium Tier for maybe $30 or more per month, to start.

Low end and indies is one thing, buying publishers that output AAA titles is another. MS can do what they want with their purchases, or at least attempt to. That includes putting their games only on game pass and charging as much as they can. Losing something like Goat Sim is not like losing Fallout, ES, GTA, Red Dead, and other AAA games. The big titles gamers get hyped about, talk about, and many call off sick to play day of release.

I believe MS has a long term plan and that is game pass in every home, probably add movies and other stuff. All available ONLY if you got game pass. Just my take.

@Shad361

I mean, devs are still releasing games on ps4 lol. Games are hitting a graphical peak. Diminishing returns. I believe there won't be such a thing as PS6 exclusive. It will just run better.

Starfield is next gen, but looks worse than ps4 games.

Let's ignore the fact they promised to do the same with Bethesda and broke their promise.
Whatever. The way Microsoft manages studios all these software houses will be closed in less than 10 years. They are leeches. Nothing more. 20 years in the industry and they ruined everything they built. That is why they are this desperate.

@Nem

What we see with Starfield, is what we can expect from ABK.
If MS is serious about this, Starfield will be an amazing game.

but heck, we don't know. They thought Halo Infinite first showing was good.

I figured the final outcome wouldn't change, so I'm not really shocked if it turns out to be true.

@StylesT A even better one i skipped them completely bought the 2019 one and left it at that I never felt better sucks for the fans though

@BAMozzy You as a Microsoft spokesperson where always so pro Xbox that I almost never really agreed on anything with I guess your broken view on this doesn't change that much.

Again you making MS a superhero who is there to safe the poor civilians from the evil massive Sony.

But in the end we all know the US way buy up and starve the competition with unending funds. If y
The Chinese where not that evil I probably would fear the US just as much.

@Rob_230 even If Sony needed to leave the console market Microsoft would not allow, they would invest/make It easier, simples fact If Sony does (and since they have 7 to 3 ratio on Xbox that Will not happen any time soon) Microsoft is a monopoly, and in fact to avoid problems Microsoft saved apple in the 90's, they would do again.

@AdamNovice so by your logic you should be ok Microsoft has bought two publishers. Sony purchased Psygnosis to get a foothold of the EU/US market when launching the PS1 & Bungie is technically a publisher. So both have purchased two.

@GamingFan4Lyf all it takes is playing 2 games and it's worth it and at 3 it's really becoming a "value" argue all you like but no one is ONLY playing the one game all year everyday all day and many would likley be glad to spend the same as befote but have access to tons of more games they can play with no real "risk" of wasting money.

I've played dozens of games I'd never have tried because of Gamepass some sucked some were good and some are now among my favorites ever.

THAT'S what Gamepass is about....

@Anthony_Daniels not me I've been paying on average about $80 a year for my GP ULTIMATE for nearly 3 years with almost 3 more bought and paid for moving forward.

GP is ALWAYS on sale somewhere and if you time your yearly buy to around black friday it's super cheap then.

@Savage_Joe so sorry to shatter your illusions 🤭😂

Anyone thought the lapdogs would decide different? They took the nord stream bombing reveal like well-behaved slaves...

@cjay_001 this is 100% accurate. While the biggest criticism towards Phil and Co has been their lax approach to first party development (take the money, we trust you to deliver a stellar product) no one I’ve spoken to who has worked at Microsoft has objected to how to well they treat their employees. I’m genuinely fine with this even if CoD became exclusive, PlayStation was for many years an rpg/action system. Sure there were plenty of shooters but it didn’t gain its notoriety for having cod. Hell, Sony killed franchises that could have competed with CoD like Resistance and Killzone.

I genuinely support this deal, and while I certainly am salty about the Bethesda stuff mostly going exclusive I don’t blame Microsoft for doing so. Sony has a reputation for throwing money around to stop games from having certain features on Xbox and even Nintendo, so as far as I’m concerned it’s good for competition because sony is and has been in danger of becoming too complacent to easily retain their market position.

Plus, I don’t think anyone would give a fluff if ABK lost Kotick.

Lapdogs much? Not surprising given the EU lets the US "disable" their pipelines no questions asked.

@Shad361 how very wrong you are.

@NoCode23 Of course they won't purchase Take-Two.
One of the main Microsoft's arguments were "we are third in revenue" which will be invalid when you will add ABK into Xbox's revenue portfolio.

Would Microsoft continue buying smaller studios? (IO, Certain Affinity, Avalanche etc.) Probably yeah, because regualtors don't give a damn about that. But big companies like Take-Two, EA etc. are off the table. Same for Sony. Do you think regulators would allow Sony (second biggest company in gaming revenue-wise) to buy publisher of GTA? I reaaaaly don't think so. Not the mention, they probably don't have cash necessary and I really doubt Take-Two wants to sell since they are on the verge of announcing GTA VI which will have huge implications on their market cap.

And why Microsoft spent 69 billion? Because ActiBlizz will give them almost 300MAU across consoles, PC and mobile. It will give them shot to break to the mobile users which is huge for revenue and it will give them new content for Game Pass. And also, ActiBlizz is western publisher with highest margins on the market. They will give you 2 billion in pure profit every fiscal year. And you can take those 2 billion, or you can invest them into future growth of Xbox.