Microsoft Thinks It Hasn't 'Pulled Any Games' from PS5, PS4

Microsoft needs to just keep quiet about this particular issue. It doesn't help because there is evidence to suggest the contrary.

Sure, Redfall was never announced for PlayStation and neither was Starfield. But, the game was in development for the console at one time and pulled. That is technically "taking away".

I’m glad things like this are coming out, so hopefully people can finally realize Microsoft is lying to you to get what they want.
They arennt “ for the gamers” or whatever the hell it is they say.

When you only have to convince the uninformed masses, and don’t care that the minority of educated people can see through your bull.

Just let Xbox have their games already. Who cares how they acquired them, MS & Sony are just as dodgy as each other after all.
Do you really need to have a cry everytime MS say or do anything? Or is it just to bait the readers into a frenzy yet again?

Technically you can make any statement you want correct when you set the parameters yourself.

10 years ago when i didn’t have my own money i would’ve cared , but i ultimately don’t care; Im immune to this corporate bs with a PC, PS5, switch and would have an Xbox if it was actually worth having, but i’m actually glad it’s not because it would be too much clutter.

ironically though i’m still in favor of M$ being creatively bankrupt and buying competition , because i’m still waiting for $ony to diversify their library and stop playing it safe and being anti-consumer .

This sort of blatant lie should be called out by regulators and MS should be punished for it. It's not very different compared to fake news, and we all know damage these can do if they go viral (and not being stopped by followup dismissals).

I hope Sony uses these statements in the Activision acquisition. This sheds light on what they consider “not taking CoD away from PlayStation”.

Microsoft is the worst. And how shills can even support their business practices in this gaming world is beyond me. People don't want to pay for games that bad and dislike Sony that much? Nobody should ever champion a company too much but I'll say Sony has done more to the benefit of consumers than ms has. And this response is so disrespectful to gamers.

@MayaMousavi making games exclusive is a problem. Developing exclusive games isn't a problem. They didn't develop them. They were already multiplat, they canceled them. Huge difference. I'm not like disagreeing with you, just tired of ms bs.

How can they lie soooo much without beeing sued?

I want what Microsoft are smoking.

Seriously though can't wait to play redfall on playstation 5, you know since it was in development for PS5.....

@nomither6 that's a terrible take if you care for the gaming hobby. I don't understand how people want Sony to "diversify" while not demanding the other side to do so as well.

@Widey85
That’s all a bit of a joke. Of course MS have no financial incentive to not sell on PS5…if you ignore the fact they don’t play by the usual rules and can just use their huge piles of cash to eat losses until their competitor dies from the loss of billions.

@Cutmastavictory

"Sony has done more to the benefit of consumers than ms has"

Sony have been just as bad if not worse than Microsoft this Generation. No company should ever be championed. they are all greedy at the end of the day.

Sony were the first to put up the prices of their games to 80 euros, and are still the only company to slap a extra 50 bucks on a console when it was already 2-3 years old.

dont be fooled into thinking sony do the best for their consumers. they have been dreadful this generation

Yaaaaaaawn - first world problems…

I prefer hi-fi rush on ps5 compared to any call of duty games lol.

@Cutmastavictory i do care , which is why i have three platforms to play on already .

i can’t speak for other people but , $ony compared to M$ always had variety since day 1 , Xbox was always just a Halo & COD machine & any other genre was PlayStation . This gen and the past couple of years is the most underwhelming PlayStations ever been.

Whatever Xbox does will be on PC too , so there’s not much of a demand & they’ve never had bangers besides Halo/Gears/Forza , and only one of those is still consistent and good

It is a shame that MS will get through with this. They will be praised for improving the working conditions. Nobody will talk about the golden parachutes, xboxers will be happy until they realise that instead of getting more games they get less games, because there is not more but less competition.

The thing is exclusives are part of the business. Every platform has exclusives and most of the gaming community gets that. The thing that annoys me however is Microsoft is continuing to present itself as a knight in shining armor with all the "We want to bring games to more people, not less" nonsense.

If that truly was the case then why not release all of your games on the other systems? Put your money where your mouth is so to speak. They continue to say how much bigger of a fanbase Playstation has so how does not releasing your games on that platform support their claim to want to bring their games to more players?

It's just a bunch of nonsense. All of the platform holders have exclusives to sell their respective hardware/services. Sony does it, Nintendo does it, and Microsoft does it even if they for whatever reason don't want to admit it.

In denial, like a Horrible gaslight boyfriend, their naive behaviour says it all really 😡😡

What games have been 'pulled' from Playstation?

Starfield & Redfall were NEVER announced for Playstation and never released on Playstation so have not been 'pulled' from Playstation. Zenimax may have 'planned' to release on Playstation to 'SELL' the game to recuperate the Costs of Development and to fund development of NEW games, but MS doesn't 'need' to release on PS as it gets money from ALL sales of Games, Hardware, Accessories, Subscriptions etc etc.

MS NEEDS games to compete with Sony - ALL new IP's and 'Single Player' games will likely be EXCLUSIVE - there is NO ACTIVE ONLINE COMMUNITY that will be 'split' up or miss out on playing with friends on other Platforms - so games like Minecraft, CoD, Overwatch etc have a 'legacy' and ACTIVE ONLINE COMMUNITY of gamers playing together so will CONTINUE being Supported.

As for Bringing NEW games to Playstation, Minecraft Dungeons, Minecraft Legends, F76/ESO new DLC expansions are all on Playstation the SAME day/date as Xbox Consoles.

No game has been 'Pulled' as EVERY game that was released on Playstation is STILL on Playstation. I get it, Sony Fanboys are butthurt about MS buying some Studio's and now can Compete with their 'beloved' Playstation - maybe force Sony to up their Game too. BUT the reality is that its going to be a 'more' difficult choice to decide whether you would rather play Uncharted, Horizon, God of War, Last of Us, R&C, Returnal, Spider-Man, Wolverine, Ghost of Tsushima etc etc, prefer to play Starfield, Redfall, Forza, Halo, Gears, Fable, Avowed, Hellblade, Perfect Dark etc etc.

So you can't play Redfall on PS5 (not that you ever bought a PS5 to play Redfall as it was NEVER announced for Playstation) but that doesn't mean 'fewer' people can play now - because ALL those gamers 'could' play on devices they have via the Cloud (I know - not the same) but the Cloud can reach MORE gamers than the entire PS5 install base.

Its 'great' when Sony buy up Studio's, buy up 'exclusivity' (timed or otherwise) in IP's they don't own from Studio's/Publishers they don't own etc to keep games/content away from Xbox and/or PC gamers, but when MS buy up Studios to OWN those IP's etc, that's 'wrong' - Sony bought their Studios, Activision/Blizzard merged and acquired Studios, EA bought Studios, TenCent, Embracer and Ubisoft bought Studios etc etc... Psygnosis became Sony Computer Entertainment to 'compete' with Sega/Nintendo and their 'dominant' market position...

@Widey85 I would expect Sony to get back around the table and make a deal with MS now that the EU and CMA have dropped the console SLC.

The best thing about this whole acquisition process is the dirty laundry that comes up from both of them. Other than that, there is not much to be excited about it going through imo.

@ArcadeHeroes you named 2 things. I'm not a fan of raising game cost, but while Sony did it first, ms said they wouldn't do it... then did it. You quoted my comment and still proceeded to be fallacious in your response. You only mentioned this generation, and while my comment still holds true to this generation, I was speaking from when they both entered gaming. Have a good day.

Extremely likely that a version of hi-fi rush was in development? Likely, yes, but not substantiated. The facts are that redfall was in development and pulled from ps5. Microsoft will have launched three Minecraft games on PlayStation platforms by April - base minecraft, Minecraft dungeons and Minecraft legends. Technically they have brought three more games to Playstation platforms. Again no confirmation that I can find anywhere that hi-fi rush was in development for PlayStation so it's still just conjecture.

As of today, hi-fi rush is the only exclusive from their Bethesda acquisition not available on PlayStation Vs 2 Minecraft games from their previous mojang studios acquisition. Technically, even correctly omitting ghost wire and deathloop, Microsoft have more games from acquisitions on PlayStation than they've made exclusive.

@ArcadeHeroes

Wrong. MS increased their prices in countrys like Japan.

Get your facts straight dude

@Korgon The thing that annoys me however is Microsoft is continuing to present itself as a knight in shining armor with all the "We want to bring games to more people, not less"

That is a reference to their DAY and DATE releases on PC and the Reach of Cloud gaming - which can technically 'reach' EVERY gamer - inc ALL those who prefer to play on Playstation as they ALL have a Mobile or other 'Game Pass' enabled device so they can still play - just NOT on their 'prefered' platform.

If Sony buys 'exclusivity', that 'LIMITS' that game to just those who own a PS - just the 'console'. Therefore, MS's claim to bring Games to 'MORE' People is NOT 'nonsense'. Sony limits games day and date to just their Console but you don't 'need' an Xbox to play Xbox 'Exclusives' and EVERYONE has some Game Pass enabled device - if you 'choose' not to game on your Mobile via Game Pass (as that's the ONLY device you own that can give you access), that is your Choice - its not 'stopping' you from playing unless you rush out and buy a Microsoft built Series S/X Console so are 'bringing their games to 'more' people as more people can 'access' their games DAY and DATE!!!

Microsoft’s problem here is that this isn’t more of the silly arguments being flung about, this is a direct statement from an employee of a company Microsoft acquired speaking specifically to how Microsoft directed them in regards to PlayStation after the acquisition. There are no ifs, ands or buts. Microsoft bought ZeniMax and specifically singled out the PS5 and said to cancel further development. If proof is in the pudding, this is pretty damning.

The saddest part about the Zenimax and ABK squistiions is that this also means that there will not be any VR versions of deathloop, ghostwire tokyo, skyrim, doom and COD. Maybe that was never ever a thing. But deathloop and ghostwire tokyo really look like VR games. Maybe MS will also provide a VR headset at some point in the future. But since they discontinued all the AR/VR projects and they focus on providing the same experience on all platforms down to cell phones. It is very unlikely. Anyway, this only concerns this niche of VR enthusiasts. Everybody else will be happy to play COD and the other remaining franchises competitively with touch controls on cell phones, or maybe even on your apple watch.

@BAMozzy totally agree , they haven't taken anything it's was never announced for ps ,in fact if it wasnt for this one person no one would have known at all

Sony keeps games on PS4/5 for 12months /2 years yeh great we love exclusives ,sod everyone else

Xbox release games on pc/quest ( unofficially for now )/TV/tablet/ phone/some TVs , near enough everywhere apart from ps. Oh no they taken a game away that was never on/advertised on ps

I can't wait till some McDonald's staff announces they were once going to make coffee flavoured ice cream but didn't ,....get them !!!!!

@Cutmastavictory

From when they both entered gaming ?

Ok then lets do a memory recap shall we

During the playstation 3 era Sony were the first company to introduce online passes that if you bought a used game, you were locked out half the content on the disk unless you bought a key to access the online portion of the game.

Sony once upon a time offered free online, but then saw the success of xbox live and then made it mandatory if you wanted to play online.

Or how about in 2011 when Psn was hacked and 77 million accounts were compromised and peoples Credits Cards were stolen, but sony had to make a public apology about it for keeping it hush hush to the consumers who were affected ?

Ken Kutaragi founder of playstation once said that playstation fans are too stupid that they wouldnt mind paying 600 euros for a PS3.

and then lets fast forward to this generation. Sony are the only Console maker that dont offer free next gen upgrades to their exclusives for people who already bought the game, and demands people pay a extra 20 euros if they want it.

is that enough for you ?

Again as I stated no company is for their consumer. stop being a fanboy for a company. they are not your friend

@lacerz Not damning at all and TOTALLY expected.

Zenimax were a 'multi-platform' publisher and had to release on multiple platforms to SELL as many games as possible to recuperate Costs and bring in Revenue to develop more games.

As soon as MS came in, they don't NEED to sell games, spend time, money etc on Porting, optimising, manufacturing and distribution costs to release a game NEVER 'promised' or announced for Playstation. They get income from ALL games sold, not just their own like Zenimax had to rely on, get income from all the Subs, the sales of Hardware/accessories etc so don't 'need' Money from Sony's gamers to 'keep' making games like Zenimax (or A/B or any other Studio).

MS need Single Player and NEW IP's to Compete with SONY. Sony has Horizon, God of War, Spider-man, Wolverine, Uncharted, Last of Us, R&C, Returnal, Ghost of Tsushima etc etc and MS needed more than just Forza, Gears and Halo so have now added Starfield, Redfall, Avowed, Hellblade etc to compete with SONY and their Dominant market position - something that is growing again this generation...

@BAMozzy
Like I said. Every platform holder has exclusives to sell their respective hardware/services. What is Game Pass? A service. Who owns it? Microsoft. What sells it? Among other things, Microsoft developed/funded exclusives.

As for the Cloud argument that is not something everyone has access to. Cloud gaming is still a niche part of the gaming landscape and for a good reason. Gaming over the internet is just not reliable. Just ask Google about it. It is getting better overtime but it's still not there. Oh yeah and who owns a Cloud gaming service? Oh yeah that would be Microsoft.

Finally as for Sony buying exclusives limiting gamer access...yeah...I know it does. Never denied that. It's part of the business. The difference however is you don't see Playstation walking around constantly spouting nonsense about "We are bringing games to more players" all the time like Microsoft has.

I say all this as someone that has access to all three consoles in some capacity. (Though I'm still on Xbox One at the moment I do intend to get a Series X by the time Hellblade 2 or Gears 6 comes around). I just don't like it when companies present themselves as the "good guys". It's a business, act like a business.

@BAMozzy Microsoft releasing day and date on PC is a no brainer really as it's pretty straightforward to port and it's highly likely that PC gamers will play the games on a device running Windows OS so they are essentially just releasing the games on their own platform and they stand to benefit from it. Cloud gaming is just giving the illusion of giving people more options when realistically are you going to play a game with the scale of Starfield on a mobile device? Highly unlikely but the choice is there so that makes them look good. Cloud gaming does have its place on some areas but it's definitely nowhere close to being a viable option for full time gaming at the moment.

@KaijuKaiser I guess it's kind of a technicality on this. Because no platforms had officially been announced for Starfield at the time of it's initial announcement, development "changing" to only support PC/Xbox isn't necessarily wrong. Like, there was no "lie" there. There was no "taking away" since it was never "promised" to begin with when it was first announced.

It's all just PR spin though. This is why Microsoft just needs to shut up about it. Basically, Microsoft didn't break any contracts since no platforms had been announced.

In Redfall's case, the game hadn't even been announced yet, so again, technically no wrong-doing on Microsoft's part.

Microsoft is basing this solely on announced platforms and contracts for their basis of "not taking away". Anything that happens during development can be chalked up to the "development process".

I mean, this has probably been going on for years between Microsoft, Sony, and probably even Nintendo where games start development on multiple consoles until someone ponies up some dough to make it exclusive (or even timed exclusive). We just never heard about it until all this Bethesda/ABK acquisition stuff.

From the court of public opinion, Microsoft did "take games away". From actual legalities and business side of things, there is no wrong-doing on Microsoft's part: "it's just part of the development process."

Bottom line: It's a serious gray area.

Microsoft trying to use Ghostwire and Deathloop as evidence that they've "expanded [their] footprint" of games shipped on PlayStation is utter bs. Personally, I am not very invested in the whole Activision deal because there are scant few Activision franchises that I give a damn about, but if Microsoft is going to resort to straight up lying then they can, to quote a great scholar, "shut up, or ***** off, ideally both, in either order."

@BAMozzy Glad to see someone else here know how to read a sentence re: “pulled”. Platinum never pulled Scalebound from Xbox. You can’t pull what was never released. 🤷🏻‍♂️

Also see the article about the senator regarding Sony’s “high end” gaming monopoly in Japan. These people are paid to say things a certain way, that a lawyer can defend in court.

There's a coin toss, here. They're using the semantics of delivering things that were already promised as saying they increased their PS output which isn't right.

OTOH the fandom isn't right in pushing they "they took Redfall and Starfield away", they didn't take away something that wasn't made yet. There was work in progress and they cancelled it before spending more money on completing it. A product that "would have been" on a platform before it was cancelled and not actually totally made isn't "taking it away." Especially where new IP is concerned. It's just a product that never existed for PS but was on the to do list and now isn't.

Where I think it's touchier is series that were on a platform that then continue on only one platform, like Elder Scrolls or Doom. Taking a series off a platform sucks.

Maybe not many right now, but in the future, a bunch of games that probably would've come to PS5 aren't going to: Starfield, Redfall, Elder Scrolls VI, Hellblade 2, possibly the next Doom and Wolfenstein games, etc

@ArcadeHeroes again. You're increasing your ability to be fallacious.

@pyrrhic_victory By the time ES6 is out we will all be probably playing everything through the cloud so as long as you own a laptop or a phone you will be able to play it.

@BAMozzy Technically you're right, but after what has come out about Redfall, you could take it as they pulled it from PlayStation since it was in development for it. Regardless, Microsoft just needs to stop with all of the exclusive talk. Them crying that PlayStation has over 200 exclusives (if I remember correctly) is not Sony's fault. That's their own fault for sitting there relying on a handful of series instead of going out there and maintaining and expanding their catalog. I know that part isn't part of this article, but it does go back to the exclusives talk and how it would probably be better if they just concentrated on actually finally turning things around than anything else.

Also, yes, technically you don't need an Xbox in order to play Xbox games. Still, you need to pay for the service in order to play the games only on their service. Also, streaming is only a viable option really for certain people. More people don't have the internet capable of making it a viable option than do. Also, unless you have a Series X or a capable PC, you are getting an inferior version of the game. It's a difference of distribution, and one you could argue is not the ideal solution right now.

What Sony has been doing to build it's catalog of exclusives by buying smaller studios they have already worked with is far better than Microsoft sitting on a handful of IPs and then realizing over a decade later that they have to do better in order to survive and buying huge studios/publishers. They bought Ninja Theory and Obsidian, sure, but instead of doing what Sony did, they opened up their huge pocketbooks and bought Bethesda and Activision. I'm sure more Bethesda games will be like Redfall and Starfield and never appear on a PlayStation platform either. No matter how much you love Xbox and hate what Sony has been doing, it's not like what Microsoft has been doing is exactly in the right either. Instead of organic growth, they are just buying everything, and that isn't consumer friendly either.

This sounds like something Trump, Putin or Boris would say 😂

This is bordering on gaslighting now and it’s in the same ballpark as the “GamePass actually increases the sales” nonsensical BS that Xbox team was championing not long ago.

Sony already had contracts in place for Deathloop and Ghostwire Tokyo, so excluding those what other new games have they put onto playstation? Leaving existing games on playstation doesn't count as expanding their footprint on playstation 😑

Its more about taking future games of existing franchises that's are on playstation now and making them xbox exclusive, that is what is meant by xbox taking games off playstation.

I can't think of an existing IP that playstation has taken away from xbox with one of its acquisitions, other than spiderman which was offered to playstation and rejected by Microsoft themselves. Sonys Biggest owned IP's have never been on an xbox console. Yet Microsofts biggest owned IP's after the Activision deal and Bethesda deal have been on playstation for decades. That's the difference people fail to see.

Elder Scrolls 6 is likely to be a Single Player game starting a NEW game from Scratch, creating a 'new' character that has nothing to do with or related to any 'previous' characters, no ACTIVE ONLINE COMMUNITY eager to play 'together' that now 'can't'...

Fallout too is another 'new' game every time you start. These are self contained 'individual' Stories, not Sequels, not part of a long story arc that you are now going to 'miss' the final chapter etc, these are 'individual' one off games that stand alone. It's like saying Spider-Man was released on Xbox before Insomniacs Spider-Man so that has to be on Xbox - NO because that is a completely new, stand-alone Single Player game...,

Whether its a 'Single' Studio or 'group' of Studio's, that's irrelevant. MS added '5' studio's at E3 2018 (Playground, Undead Labs, Compulsion, Ninja Theory and Initiative) another 3 several months later (Obsidian, inXile and Double Fine) - 8 Studios in one year, Bethesda - another 8 Studios - added in 2021, and another 'group' of Studios expected in 2023 with A/B.

Its still Studios that 'could' and probably were planning to make 'multi-platform' games because that was the ONLY option to them to 'fund' development of 'new' games. Zenimax income relied purely on Sales of their OWN games so had to release on as 'many' platforms as they could. MS's (like Sony) income is not limited to 'just' Sales of their OWN games, they get a percentage of EVERY Sale, get money coming in as Platform holder, for Hardware/Accessories, for Sub services etc etc so DON'T need to release on PS but NEED games to attract people in and Compete against Last of Us, Spider-Man, Horizon, God of War etc etc.

Sony bought exclusivity in IP's they never owned, from 'multi-platform' Studio/Publishers, pay to keep those games/content away from Xbox/Game Pass - MS owns the IP, the Studios, the Publishing Rights etc and you expect them to 'pay' to Port, optimise, manufacture and distribute their games to Playstation..

Maybe Jim Ryan is 'perfect' as Sony Fanboys are just as hypocritical, just as self-serving and as arrogant too. Only concerned about 'Playstation' and not the 'bigger' picture. I know Cloud isn't the 'same', but its still better than NOTHING, still much more accessible and affordable than having to Rush out and BUY a Series S/X etc. Its still allowing you to play these games on devices you probably own. Even XB1S gamers can play at '1080/60' - games that at best would be 720/30, at worst, not released or playable natively - so its still 'better' than having to buy 'Hardware' or miss-out.

And its NOT just 'Microsoft' services or Microsoft Platforms that will have access to 'Xbox' games because they also release on STEAM - so you could also play on a Steam Deck - its still available to 'MORE' people than just the 'Console' which is what MS state...

Will people buy a Xbox console for this? Highly doubt.

Will people upgrade their PC for this? Maybe. How much it really benefits Microsoft for losing a platform?

@UltimateOtaku91 What about Minecraft Dungeons (Currently available on PS+ too btw) - A brand new game that was wholly developed by MS owned Studio in an MS owned IP which was released on PS hardware 'long' after MS acquired Mojang. They are also releasing Minecraft Legends too. There is two new Games for a start. Fallout 76 and ESO have continued getting major expansions, new Content day and date too so MS has continued to bring 'new' content to Playstation despite not having to contractually (like MLB or Destiny) so MS has a bigger 'footprint' - ALL the 'older' releases you can still play that MS own, MS get money for if you buy as they own those games. Fallout 4 is 'owned' by MS so if you buy it for PS, that money goes to MS as they own the Publishing rights and haven't 'pulled' it away - which they could. Every Bethesda game could be 'delisted' on PS if MS decided to - there is NO legal requirement to keep them on PS...

@BAMozzy Boy, you are trying hard to make MS the good guys in this situation when neither is great but hell you pulling out all the stops.

@JackInGame
If they are a last gen console gamer still, who have not yet gone current gen (the vast majority btw) then, yes, this could easily make a COD player go Xbox instead of PlayStation.

@JackInGame Chances are, if MS hadn't bought Zenimax, Redfall would ONLY be SOLD on PS5, Series Consoles and PC. However, with MS cancelling PS5 but replacing that with 'Cloud', the 'few' million that may have purchased could theoretically be replaced by 100's of Millions of players that can now play on Mobiles, tablets, laptops, Samsung TV's, XB1's (not natively releasing here but still has a 'sizeable' install base that could play via streaming), PC's and any other Game Pass enabled device.

So you can't play on Playstation, but you could play on a Student laptop with your DS4/5 controller for just $10 a month - much cheaper than buying a Series S or X. OK so its not the 'best' way to play, but still 'better' than 'nothing', better than having to spend hundreds on Hardware and the Software to play, still accessible to MORE gamers as they all have a device to play on - even if its not their 'favourite' way to play.

Point is, you don't 'need' to buy an Xbox Console or Upgrade a PC to have the required Specs needed to play natively - you can play on a really basic PC through a browser...

I'm afraid Jimbob is one of the major problems in the Playstation machine.
He either needs to a) go or b) start looking through the PS back catalogue and green light some decent reboots (not overpriced remasters or remakes) of things like Resistance, Motorstorm, LBP and ModNation Racers - things that give PS a competitive edge on its own terms.

@Allfather

Wow you totally got me!! Congratulations

@KaijuKaiser
They're just constantly lying. Why aren't regulators calling them out more?

Because most of these regulators have been paid to allow the deal to go through. Doesn't anyone else think it is odd that the attitude was, "...I don't think this is a good idea"....into, "we see nothing wrong with this now."
Bribery pure and simple is my theory.
Certainly simpler than throwing even more money at lawyers.

Even if Sony were to make a new Killzone with VR support, how many of you would buy it over a new COD?

IF it's like Killzone 2 + Mercenary, I would definitely buy it myself.

Lies of p and lies of m .come on stop lying.and sony is still gonna beat them anyway.word up son

Let's be real here, Sony isn't any better, just look at FFVII remake which still hasn't released on xbox and possibly never will. Pc gamers are getting the best of both worlds, while console players bicker amongst each other over this petty stuff.

Just sign a contract for Call of Duty to remain multiplatform forever and move on, Microsoft. Seriously, Sony couldn't care less about all the other 1000s of IPs owned by Activision that Xbox players will benefit from, all they're complaining about is COD.

Microsoft has a long history of acquiring game developers ( as with the majority of their portfolio) and pulling/delaying/bastardizing games in development for other platforms.

Although not the first, as a longtime Mac user the one that instantly pops into my mind (ironically) is Bungie…nearly 23 years ago now. Halo was being developed for macOS (and Windows) when Microsoft snapped them up and made it an XB exclusive. It took licensing deals, third-party devs and two years to finally get it on Mac and Windows…where it languished and was eventually forgotten.

The most common fact gleaned from any history: repetition is nearly inevitable. Alas, that fact also seems to be the most commonly forgotten.

@KaijuKaiser Because you don't think a 2 trillion dollar company isn't in the back pockets of these regulators??

@thefourfoldroot1 People in the Uk should be used to this; we’ve had a Conservative government for 13 years …

Bethesda's games have been some of my favorite of all time, but sadly all Microsoft did by acquiring them was to ensure I don't care about their games anymore. I'm certainly not going to buy an inferior console (IMO) just to play 1 or 2 games that come out 5 years apart lol

@Totheteeth
Don’t know what that comment is in relation to, lol. Where you meant to reply to me?

@Martsmall well if the dev had kept his mouth shut nobody would've known,but the fact is,it was coming to ps and now it isn't, therefore ms stopped that game coming ,just like they cancelled starfield for ps ,this is just slimy corporate bullsh*t.

@get2sammyb It’s a slightly different subject but I’ve said for a while now, Microsoft will offer many games in a traditional manner but it will get to the point to where they won’t sell them, you will only be able to play them on GamePass at a price of 25$ or higher a month, and when it comes to other competitors like Sony, the only way they will be able to have the games is if they allow GamePass on their consoles. That way they never lied, they’ve offered their games to competitors.

Microsoft will eventually strong arm everyone.

You wanna play COD? You will have to subscribe.

Give it 10 years, it will happen.

@UltimateOtaku91 oh they see it,they just choose to ignore those facts, the spiderman game is a bit different in my opinion, Sony does own a part of the webslinger after all, however it was marvel who approached insomniac, and they got to choose which character to make a game for ,with the success of spiderman ,wolverine followed ,and if thats great ,probably another character will be ps exclusive, Sony own a fair few marvel characters ,who knows which ones the mcu want to include in their films.

I just see 2 massive companies full of sh*t which never cared about anything else than money and having the biggest share in the console market. Sony and Microsoft are ready to do about anything to achieve their goal. It's just that Sony doesn't have the same budget, so they are pissed off

@NomNom "Even if Sony were to make a new Killzone with VR support, how many of you would buy it over a new COD?"

enthusiastically waives hand in air

@OmegaStriver On console MS said about 17% of rev comes from subscriptions and they don't expect that number to change significantly, just become 17% of a bigger number, while most of the sub growth beyond that is on PC and mobile.

I know nobody wants to take any MS statement at face value, but if that is true, it's it's very believable, that means 83% of their console platform revenue is from traditional software purchases and accessories. Even if the balance radically changes it's going to be a lot longer than 10 years before they stop selling traditional software. Growth of the Windows Store as a rival to Steam/GoG/EGS is also a big tentpole for them, so traditional sales still matter to them greatly in the PC space as well. Sub may become their primary driver, but traditional sales aren't going away for decades.

IMHO subscription will grow as a portion of sales, especially to a new, larger, more casual audience, and subscription may be how the "masses" receive video games, but that doesn't necessarily mean the purchasing market will significantly shrink so much as engaging an expanded market.

I do think Sony will have to step up their Plus Extra/Premium game quite a lot though in the future. They're not even streaming PS5 games now......

Sony has many exclusives, and so should Microsoft, otherwise you might as well just get a PC. Sony and MS just want profit and market share for shareholders, lets not get this twisted here.

@tallythwack but buying games to be exclusive to ps is a gd thing right ?
I'll remember that when I play steller blade on Xbox ...oh wait , and just remember if ps had Thier way starfield would have been a exclusive ...but that's ok right cause it's Sony ?

It's called busines everyone does it to get users /make money
Unless ppl like in care bear hug a lot land companies will not play nice with one another
it's BUSINESS , and most of the ppl moaning were wanting Sony to buy square and keep Thier games exclusive to sony a few weeks back ...double standards much

Have you seen sony complain about starfield /redfall being exclusive to Xbox in any of the takeover reports ? No cause they know it's business and they do the same they just don't buy out the company to do it cause they can't afford it

@KaijuKaiser not only will they not call them out, but let the buy another huge publisher because MS promised to "be nice" for 10 years. lol I'm glad I don't care about COD or ABK games, by the time this stuff matters, hopefully I'll be in another country retired on a beach just playing Mario Kart.

Business is business, healthy competition blah blah blah, I mean I get it, capitalism at it's finest. What separates Sony and MS are that Sony develops exclusive titles in-house, and for at least 2 generations now they are some of the most successful critically and commercially of the era. Meanwhile, MS has to buy existing developers/publishers and go that route because they don't have the talent to do it the way Sony is doing it. It just seems kind of lame and pathetic, like if you can't compete just go home.

@UltimateOtaku91

so excluding those what other new games have they put onto playstation?

Two new Minecraft games, Minecraft Dungeons (already out) and Minecraft Legends (coming soon.)

They also released the Quake Remaster on PS5 post acquisition, without being bound by any contractual obligation.

Not a stellar list (unless you love Minecraft) but it’s also not “nothing”.

As for taking things away, this is nothing new in the industry. Nintendo also did it with Xeno when they acquired Monolith.

@Phantasystar77
The difference is that Sony has never been deceptive or straight up lied about what exclusives there are. FF7 Remake was a year long timed exclusive and that was told to us from day 1, they are not holding that game from being released on Xbox if Square so chooses. Street Fighter was also never told as anything but a PS4 console exclusive. Meanwhile Microsoft not only lies about Redfall and Starfield having been at one point in development on PS5 but try to push the whole "we aren't withholding any games, we want to get as many games out to as many people as possible" which is total BS. I have no issue with Xbox having exclusives or any platform for that matter as exclusives encourage competition and higher overall standards, it's the lies and the fake ass image I take issue with as do many here.

@BAMozzy Again, you are not wrong, but you need to look at your excuse used to support Microsoft from another perspective. Sure, the option is there to play Redfall by everybody that pays for a subscription, but some people literally can't. Not everybody has the internet capable of playing games very well via streaming. I'd say it's probably a pretty significant percentage that don't actually, and shouldn't be considered a very viable alternative until that ever changes. Input lag and inferior graphics is not really "better than nothing". You might as well not even play the game. Also, you own nothing that's on the service you have to pay a monthly fee for.

@EhronLocke Exactly, but that's not Microsoft's style apparently. Instead of actually doing more things like acquiring Obsidian or Ninja Theory and developing new IPs with them or not sitting there for over a decade creating nothing, they would rather just go out and buy two of the biggest publishers in the industry and put them exclusively on their subscription service instead. I don't count any new IP they create like Hi-Fi Rush because that's from a Bethesda developer, and anybody thinking that most of their games won't be exclusive to Game Pass is nuts. So far they are 3 for 3 for keeping Bethesda games exclusive.

Some would argue that Sony has done things with Final Fantasy and such, but that's one franchise, and I doubt Square Enix would have turned down their money if they had offered instead when it went to PC. Regardless, it's hard to have any respect for a company that sits on their butts for over a decade doing nothing and then acquires one of the biggest publishers and makes everything exclusive so far, effectively going against what they said about withholding games. It makes matters worse when they cry about PlayStation having so many exclusives in their defense for acquiring Activision.

@KilloWertz Again, I point to the fact that whilst its not the same as playing a 'Premium' game on 'Premium' hardware to get the 'Premium' Quality you 'want' as a dedicated gamer, its still an 'entry' point for MANY more.

You state that people don't have the 'internet' capability to stream at 1080/60 yet requires what would be considered relatively average to low speeds - Best performance will be achieved at rates of 10 Mbps on mobile devices, 20 Mbps on consoles, PCs and tablets and 5GHz WiFi or mobile data connection. That's not a 'lot' of bandwidth at all - I get over 60Mbps (minimum 60 but averages about 75) and use Cloud on my Laptop & XB1X using wifi and Series X hardwired to my router and the difference in Latency/Lag between Cloud and Downloaded versions is 'negligible' at worst, imperceptible at best.

My point is that $10 to play on DEVICES you already own - whether you can play 'natively' on a PC/Laptop or rely on Cloud to play because the 'Hardware' you own can't run it natively, is a LOT cheaper and more accessible than having to go out and spend $500 on Hardware, $70 on the game and any other 'costs' you may need (Gold/PS+) to get full Access to ALL content (inc Online modes).

There are still gamers who are 'happy' to play on PS4/XB1S - its 'good' enough for them to 'play' the games they want - even if they are 'limited' to 30fps and now often below 1080p. If you own an XB1S for example, you can still play Redfall without needing to buy a Series S/X. Let's be honest here, the Cloud maybe better than 'Native' PS4/XB1S versions. 60fps has 'lower' lag than 30fps and a lot lower than any additional lag streaming adds. If it adds 5ms (not enough for you to 'notice') but saves 40ms - a net 35ms saving (about 1 30fps frame) due to the game being updated 'twice' as often. Not only that, Cloud offers a LOT better visual settings as its running on 'Series X' in the Cloud so its still better than Last gen which people are still 'happy' to play on.

As I have said many times - Cloud is an 'ENTRY' point for Gamers - a 'Budget' option as it has a 'limited' library, not offering 'Premium' Features (like 4k or 120fps modes), slightly more latency/lag but not enough to be 'significant' and doesn't require anyone to rush out and buy 'Premium' hardware or miss-out but extremely low entry cost...

Series S is an 'Entry' model for Hardware - for those that want to 'own' games, want to play 'Natively' etc but as its 'entry', you don't get the 'Premium' 4k Visuals and/or may not get RT or 120fps modes either, but its a 'step-up' from Cloud but does have an upfront cost and/or additional 'costs' (Gold - half the 'monthly' cost of Streaming to play online)

Series X is a 'Premium' Console offering Premium features but has a Premium cost (like PS5). Its the 'equivalent' to a PS5 and therefore would require gamers wanting 'Premium' features would need to 'buy' at least a Series X to get a 'similar' experience to what they are accustomed with on their PS5 but that would incur a HIGH 'Premium' upfront Cost and ongoing monthly costs too. PC's offer the Highest Tier but have the highest upfront cost.

You may 'lose' 3 or 4 million 'Sales' on PS5, but get 10m on XB1S/X who haven't upgraded yet now playing, another 10-15m on Mobiles, Tablets, Laptops or ANY other device playing that couldn't before because they don't own 'Premium' gaming hardware. Yes they may not be 'hardcore' gamers that frequent Gaming websites and their main hobby.

Just because you (and me for that matter) are 'dedicated' gamers and buy 'Premium' Hardware (inc Pro/X to get the highest resolutions/frame rates on Consoles) and wouldn't be 'satisfied' with 1080/60 today, there are many, many more gamers 'happy' to play on Switch, on PS4, on XB1S, on Mobiles/Tablets etc etc and the 'Cloud' is on par with, if not better than those 'Hardware' SKU's. Doom on Cloud is Superior to Doom on Switch! Its still cheaper than spending money on a Series S/X, Gold subscription to play online and $70 to buy the game to play 'forever' - even though you may 'never' return to 'old' games because 'new' games keep releasing...

If you were on Xbox for example and Sony's PS+ service allowed Streaming day/date, I bet many would 'stream' Spider-Man 2 rather than rush out and spend a LOT more on a PS5 and buy the game (which is probably why Sony won't do that) rather than 'miss out' - however, the ONLY choice is to buy Premium Hardware, buy a Game you may not like or play again after a few months etc.

If you are 'desperate' to play these games but don't own a Series S/X, don't have the 'money' or desire to buy an Xbox Console, you still have 'choices' - inc the ability to use your DS4/5 controller to play and from just $10, so are NOT missing out - OK so its NOT the 'Premium' experience on your 'favourite' Premium Console, but at least you can still play the game, still enjoy the story, the game-play etc. 4k doesn't change the Game drastically and 60fps is better than some hardware offers...

I'm embarrassed to own a PS5 right now because of this drama. So Microsoft threw money at some studios, so what! Its what they do and they have the money for it. Start building new studios and developing new IPs or make some new strategic purchases but move on already. Building a gaming PC is starting to look better and better with the passage of time!!!

@Cutmastavictory They have soooooooo many shills it's just ridiculous that make it sound like Microsoft is god's gift to gamers.

@KilloWertz I defend ANYTHING - inc Sony at times when they are 'unfairly' attacked by Xbox Fanboys on Xbox based websites as you don't see many (if any) actually 'correcting' and/or providing a more accurate/balanced opinion.

Redfall was NEVER announced for or had released on Playstation - just because Zenimax would 'expect' their Studio's to make games for EVERY platform, it was NEVER pulled from Playstation because it was NEVER on Playstation. To 'pull' it, it would need to have been on that platform to be 'removed'.

I bet a LOT of games were 'cancelled' for Last gen systems during 'development' for whatever reason - whether its hardware limitations, Cost outweighing potential Sales etc but unless they were 'specifically' announced for PS4/XB1, they can't be 'pulled' from those Systems - they just decide to 'release' where they want.

Is Burning Shores DLC 'pulled' from PS4 or just not worth the 'cost' to try and make it work? Hardware limitations? Would you be 'irate' if you find out Guerilla had 'planned' to release on PS4. You can't take away something they 'NEVER' had.

MS could Pull their IP's from Playstation - Pull Fallout, Elder Scrolls, Doom, Wolfenstein, Deathloop, Ghostwire etc - games that ARE on Playstation, have been purchased by Gamers on that Platform. These are ALL Xbox owned IP's, Xbox owns the Publishing Rights so can PULL those games from PS gamers - stop them 'working' online on PS yet haven't...

All 3rd Party Studios are probably planning to release on Xbox/PS hardware to 'maximise' their sales - until a 'Platform' owner comes along and dumps 'cash' on them to keep them on their Platform. The point is that Arkane was a '3rd party' Studio and were expected to port their game eventually to PS and 'optimise' it but then they 'STOPPED' being a 3rd Party Dev and became a First Party Dev - so that plan changed under 'new' management with different objectives. The Game STOPPED being Published by a 3rd Party 'multi-platform' Publisher and became a first Party Publisher, Therefore 'PLANS' change and part of that change was to focus purely on PC/Xbox development from now on - just like you get from Insomniac, Housemarque, Nixxes, Bluepoint etc - 3rd Party Studios that become 1st Party to work on First Party games.

There is a 'Strong' rumour that Sony will acquire what's left of SE - especially now it seems that A/B will go through and it won't 'hurt' Sony's argument against that now. Would you be just as critical when you find out that 'Forspoken' won't now come to Xbox after it's 'exclusive' period ends, that Final Fantasy won't be on Xbox or games that were 'planned' for Switch/Xbox now are ONLY on PS??? I can tell you I won't be 'angry' and would likely 'defend' Sony if Xbox Fanboys start using irrational and pathetic arguments like Sony fanboys are over the A/B and/or Bethesda deals...

@BAMozzy You completely ignored my point. Conveniently again, you choose to ignore the point that it shouldn't matter whether they were announced or not. You know that those games would have appeared on the PS5. The only way to say otherwise would be just to support your narrative, but there's no way those games wouldn't have appeared on the PS5 if Microsoft never bought ZeniMax. That's taking games away whether they were announced or not.

You are going off on this whole tangent about pulling already existing titles when that's not even what I'm talking about anymore. That is part of how this whole thing started I believe, but I left that behind before, but you continue to stay on it as a way to defend Microsoft. Once again, just because a game wasn't announced or released doesn't mean Microsoft aren't technically now keeping PS5 owners from being able to play those games on their PS5. Now they have to either buy a Series X or subscribe to Game Pass. Saying otherwise is just ignoring obvious things just to continue to defend Microsoft. The whole cross-gen argument doesn't even apply here, so that would be why I'm ignoring that.

You are right that a 3rd party studio becomes a 1st party studio when they are bought. One of my points this whole time is that Microsoft chose to go after two of the largest publishers in the industry to finally try to fix their issues that they created solely on their own. They can blame Sony all they want for this and that, but at the end of the day the only company they can truly blame is themselves. They caused themselves to not have much in the way of any exclusives because of incompetent management. Now they are trying to finally fix that by buying two of the biggest publishers in the industry, ones that create games that are bought by millions and millions more people than most of the developers that Sony has bought over the years. Not everything Sony does is positive, I've said that many times, but at least they have bought developers that are much smaller for the most part.

Business is business, but some of the titles that Microsoft will likely keep exclusive now are ones that 10's of millions of fans that would have bought them on other platforms, not ones that top out at maybe 5 million or so. It would be a lot less "controversial" if we were talking about them buying more developers like Obsidian or Ninja Theory rather than the developer/publisher of a series like Elder Scrolls that is one of the most popular in the industry. I'd also have less of a problem with all of this if Microsoft didn't cause all of their own problems and me being an Xbox fan at the time watching it all happen because of their horrible management.

@Martsmall what are you talking about ?

@BAMozzy think you're missing the point ,when a dev of a particular game comes out and says that the game was being developed for a certain console,and then states that, sorry but the game will not now be available,because of a company buyout ,this is cancelling said game,is it not ,if a ff16 dev suddenly said well we did have it for xbox ,but Sony made a deal with us so we stopped development ,do you really think, xbox owners would see it as anything other,than a cancellation caused by Sony.

@tallythwack Cancelling something in development that Customers had NEVER had, never announced and therefore never bought/played is different from 'Pulling something' from a platform because those games now belong to a new owner.

I bet most games were in development for XB1/PS4 but those versions get 'cancelled', plans change and instead they decide to only release on next gen, they haven't been 'pulled' away from gamers on PS4/XB1 era hardware just because they 'cancelled' their plans to Port, optimise, manufacture and release a 'version' for that hardware - a Complete, fully playable last gen version never existed to be 'pulled' away from those players.

You can't PULL something away from Gamers they never had. You can't 'pull' FF16 from Xbox - even if it was in development for Xbox - because it was NEVER announced for Xbox, never promised etc. A complete and full version for Xbox is 'unlikely' to exist - it doesn't even exist for PC yet but they are 'planning' to release on PC, have 'promised' it to their PC crowd so if Sony 'buy' SE and then cancel any PC version, they would be 'pulling' it away as those PC gamers were 'promised' it but NOT from Xbox because Xbox owners haven't been 'promised' it.

Of course Xbox gamers would likely be annoyed that Sony's Money has again stepped in and 'bought' exclusivity, paid to keep a 3rd Party developed game of a previously multi-platform IP away from Xbox. They'd probably feel 'less' annoyed if Sony OWNED SE, OWNED FF etc - they don't expect to get ANY games from Bungie, Bluepoint or any Studio Playstation owns ever again after Sony buys them.

Until a game is 'finished' and released, it doesn't technically 'exist'. Until then, it could be anything from an 'idea' to a 'nearly' complete - but it technically isn't a GAME. Star Wars 1313 wasn't pulled from ANY hardware - it never 'existed' as a fully playable game released on Hardware to be 'Pulled'

Games that are 'released', that people have access to, then suddenly can't because of new management, that is 'Pulled'. Games like PT were 'pulled' from PS4. Licenses run out and games get 'delisted', get 'pulled' from being 'playable' on a Platform that was once accessible.

You can't PULL something away when it wasn't available on that system to begin with. The ONLY games that can be 'Pulled' are those that either were released - games like Fallout, Skyrim, Doom, Wolfenstein, Deathloop, Ghostwire etc - ALL could have been 'Pulled' because ALL either were Complete Games released or 'promised' to Playstation - all of which still came, all agreements 'honoured' - MS could have cancelled 'Deathloop/Ghostwire' exclusivity too btw as 'NEW' management.

Gotham Knights had XB1/PS4 versions 'cancelled' - arguably 'pulled' because it had been announced and promised to those consumers - although they 'never' had it to 'lose' it, had it for it only to be 'pulled away'. Redfall may well of 'cancelled' plans to release on PS5, but wasn't 'pulled' because it never existed on PS5 and wasn't ever promised to be on PS5. It wasn't 'pulled away' because PS5 gamers never had it, never played it to be 'pulled' away, it got cancelled in development - like Star Wars 1313 did under 'new' management.

@BAMozzy not true ,games are in development for years ,I guarantee both redfall and starfield existed on the ps platform,and when they where bought those versions where cancelled,I still think you're missing the point ,and to say if a game isn't released it doesn't exist,is ridiculous.

@tallythwack Starfield or Redfall never existed on Playstation. They were NOT finished, playable games that have any saleable value at the time - just an idea, a project in the works that could be 'cancelled' or take so long that their 'plans' changed.

Scalebound wasn't 'pulled' from Xbox because Xbox gamers never had a complete game to be 'pulled', Star Wars 1313 wasn't 'pulled' from any Hardware, it was Cancelled, like Prey 2 or any other 'cancelled' product. Games are 'not' pulled from PS4/XB1 era hardware even if when they started development, those games were 'targeting' those platforms. If they decide to 'cancel' further development for those platforms, choosing not to waste money on development, porting, optimising, manufacturing, distribution and long term support (patches, updates, DLC etc), they are not 'pulled' from last gen Gamers because last gen gamers never had a 'complete and finished' game to be pulled.

A Complete PS5 version 'never' existed because the game was never finished before they cancelled any plans to keep funding their OWN studio and their OWN IP to focus purely on Xbox/PC, much like cancelling 'last' gen ports. Its not as if Redfall was even a Game at that point - it was an idea, a concept, a product in development and certainly NO obligation, contract etc to continue Funding their OWN studios to make their OWN IP available to their Closest Rival.

You still got Deathloop and Ghostwire (2 MS owned IP's made by MS owned Studio's) because they were announced for Playstation Publicly and had Contracts to 'honour' too - although could have pulled those games and bought out those Contracts. They don't have to keep bringing Content to ESO or F76, didn't have to make Minecraft Dungeons/Legends for Playstation.

If MS cancelled Redfall completely when they took over, it would still NOT exist because it was never 'finished'. Its a 'concept', a 'Project' and doesn't become a 'Game' until its 'released' to the Public to play in its entirety...

@BAMozzy suppose you think E3 isn't cancelled , because you didn't get the chance to go anyway 😂 if a tree falls in the woods,but nobody is there to hear it,does it make a sound?