Microsoft's $69 Billion Activision Deal Approved by the EU Commission

Nintendo set to rename their newest game in the wake of this news.
Zelda: Tears of the United Kingdom

Looks like Sony are going to need to sign that Battlefield marketing deal lol

Seriously though playstation players still get access to future call of duty games, overwatch and diablo so it shouldn't bother playstation players that much in terms of games, especially how they have ruined crash as well.

This deal is more about how it effect sony as a company losing the marketing deal, but sony can now charge Activision the 30% store rate instead of the discount they have in place, meaning for the next 10 years sony could actually make more money off call of duty sales and MTX.

After the 10 years though is anyone's guess to whether it will stay on playstation or not, but by then call of duty could be more irrelevant and Sony could of signed a new deal for a new big popular online game, we will have to wait and see.

@WaffleDee waiting for the Nintendo Life article now so I can post the same bad joke there too 😅

Based on an "in-depth market investigation", the EU Commission concluded that "Microsoft would have no incentive to refuse to distribute Activision's games to Sony, which is the leading distributor of console games worldwide

There it is, apparently PlayStation will continue to get Activision games other than call of duty, let's see how well this ages.

@pip_muzz

Nobody liked that

@UltimateOtaku91 I wouldn't be so sure about that. Microsoft know that Sony will be desperate to keep CoD on PS for as long as possible so could just offer them a deal for their current share, or less even, and play hard ball on it being a tale it or leave it deal. If Sony refuses the deal then MS can just spin it that they offered the deal and it was Sony that refused it. It could very well be something that was already stated in the 10 year deal that was already on the table, we don't really know what terms were being offered there but I'd be very surprised if they didn't favour MS heavily.

Congrats to Microsoft! Finally some competition!

@get2sammyb I think that's the difference between the CMA and everyone else. The CMA is looking beyond the 10 year agreements, whereas others seem to have the view that either 10 years is enough, or MS will carry on offering the deals after the 10 years is up.

Given MS record with acquisitions, expect a CoD: Redfall edition very soon.

@WaffleDee Sony losing COD is only good if you don't know anything about anything.

I don’t see how this will change the internal issues that plague Microsoft game development.

Here comes another 12 months of this topic. Hold on to your socks folks

@Heavy_Artilery nothing has ever stopped MS from competing without the merger. It honestly baffles me how people seem to think this was the only way that MS can 'compete'.

@Kevw2006 Maybe just maybe they have been investing their moneys and brains into this purchase instead of gaming. Now they should be firing on all cylinders.

I tried to tell everyone that this wasn't over yet and it was way to early to be high fiving the other week. Puts the CMA in a trickier situation and makes their decision look irrational, not good for them at the CAT appeal

This will all be finally over soon and we can stop talking about it.

I am sure this comment section will be very constructive and friendly.

They must have forgot to tip their politicians earlier in the case.

The beginning of the end of Call of Duty.

@Heavy_Artilery Maybe just maybe they should have been investing their money and brains into their existing studios and sorting out any issues or teething problems that there has been with their previous acquisitions before focusing their attention elsewhere.

They've literally done it to wind up the UK 😂 never underestimate the EU's pettiness.

I wonder if this decision will affect the rumoured PlayStation Showcase going ahead.

@Kevw2006 Why? When you have infinite money you can afford to f around without finding out. Microsoft is now in a great position to start competing against Sony.

I just don't see how any of this is pro competitive when all it does is eventually take away so many 3rd party games off the competition, just like all Bethesda games will be off the table for the competition. Will it go through or won't it, either way I just want this to be over with, sooner the better. Yawn

In 10/15 years I'll be willing to bet you may just get steam/epic launcher or Nvidia geforce access on playstation consoles.then you can play call of doody all you want

Curious to see how this plays out, hopefully positively for all gamers. Now to watch what other gaming companies get bought up as this deal finishes to completion.

@Heavy_Artilery They were already in a great position to compete with Sony before buying ABK. But just a couple of weeks ago they were basically admitting that they have bashed on with buying ABK without even properly sorting out integrating Bethesda. They can throw around all the money they want buying things but they really need to sort out what they already have before looking any further.
If you think releasing sub par games while throwing around money elsewhere is acceptable then fair enough.

@Snake_V5 I was thinking that at first but tbh I don't think sony can afford to wait much longer. People are clamouring for new playstation game reveals and after spiderman (probably in September) there's nothing confirmed from any playstation studio. And even their biggest marketing deals street fighter 6 and final fantasy 16 will be out soon

@get2sammyb How can anyone know what happens to anything after 10 years? Who's to say call of duty will still be the juggernaut it is today? The only thing you can use to make predictions are past trends and data. Microsoft's track record for the last decade with regard to studio output has been abysmal when compared to it's competition. If the EU are basing their decision on what is most likely to happen should Microsoft acquire ActiBlizz, 10 years seems like plenty of time for the IP to be destroyed or at best significantly eroded.

Maybe there is a spark of hope for the xbox community.

Now.sony pleaseee. Showcase

@WaffleDee Microsoft successfully "out-bribed" Sony 😉

@Kevw2006 It's more than acceptable. Having access to all of these IP's will help them more than Redfall being received well. I know that you may think that the occasional SP game like Skyrim, Zelda, Elden Ring or GOW selling 10m+ copies is the dream of every studio, but for Microsoft that's peanuts. They think bigger

@WaffleDee my guess is CAT will agree 10years is long enough when talking about a nascent market like cloud gaming, just like the EU have. Legal precedent is not on the side of the CMA

@GodofCapcom there’s plenty of sparks for both PS & Xbox i feel and you are right it’s these showcases coming up that will start to let gamers know what to look forward to. I am ready for both of the showcases to begin. I hope the rumor of Sony going first and maybe even before June is true. I am ready to see Last of Us multiplayer.

@Beerheadgamer82 it makes the least competitive platform more competitive with Sony and Nintendo. Xbox will still be in 3rd place but it will put pressure on sony to maintain their status as market leader.

Having 3 console platforms somewhat close to even is much better for the industry than having one or two.

I feel like w/ UK on 1 side and EU the other the ball is the US court. You know, where it should be, b/c 1 US company is buying another US company. If other countries don't want that combined US company doing business in their countries, well that's fine, but I don't think they should be holding up the merger between 1 company in Washington (state) and another in California.

I am opposed to the merger and not a fan of where capitalism's abuses have lead us but that's how I feel about 1 US company buying another US company. If UK companies and EU companies want to buy each other, or Japanese companies, that should be up to them. 🤷‍♂️

Ain't over until it's over. I'm betting on MS bottomless cash pile.

@UltimateOtaku91 No, Microsoft will stop all PS5 Activision games as soon as they can just like they did with redfall & starfield.

"Margrethe Vestager, said: "Video games attract billions of users all over the world. In such a fast-growing and dynamic industry, it is crucial to protect competition and innovation. Our decision represents an important step in this direction, by bringing Activision’s popular games to many more devices and consumers than before thanks to cloud game streaming."

looks like narrow sight look without seeing this all acquisition leads to Microsoft gaming monopoly.

@pip_muzz respect the commitment lol

@djlard It won't because Microsoft is forced to offer their games on competing services

@WaffleDee The European Commission members got big bribes.

@get2sammyb i think both extremes are hyperbolic: Sony being able to just make a CoD competitor in 10 years and Sony market position simply being devastated by lack of access to CoD.

Killzone and Resistance were both very failed attempts at making a “Halo killer”. They ended up making a name for themselves, but nowhere near their target. Making a CoD killer would be even harder. Let’s not get started with The Order.

I really feel PS is missing something needed to build up a strong FPS IP, although now they own Bungie so who knows what might come out of that.

But even if they were to lose access to CoD, something I doubt is going to happen, Sony has enough IPs and third party deals of their own to stay the top console in town, or at minimum a neck-to-neck competitor.

@XenonKnight If that ends up being the case then I hope the EU learn their lesson for when any future acquisitions come around.

@UltimateOtaku91 After the f up of 2042 battlefield not worth a marketing deal.

Also in terms of a COD killer they do technically have one, it's called destiny 2. Destiny 2 is pulling the same player counts on steam and sometimes more. Or go to valve and get counter strike global offensive as a console exclusive, job done.

I knew the CMA was delaying the inevitable. So what next? Either way, will be glad once we don’t hear about it anymore.

@Heavy_Artilery You mean them having access to all of those already existing IP's that they already release on Xbox anyway? That's not thinking bigger, it's thinking smaller. Now if they invested some of that massive money in creating their own studios or ip's then THAT would be thinking bigger.

@UltimateOtaku91 @XenonKnight MS will stop CoD from coming to PlayStation as fast as they stopped new Minecraft games from coming to PlayStation, so, not at all.

But I’ll give you this: they will stop making PS5 CoD games because in 10 years we will be all playing on a PS6.

@UltimateOtaku91 Destiny 2 is nowhere near a CoD killer. MW II last year generate a billion dollars in sale within a few days of launch and no doubt a large chunk of those sales were on Playstation

@Somebody there's nothing wrong in Xbox trying to be competitive but do they have to spend almost 80 billions and taking away so many 3rd party games away from the competition for themselves to be competitive. Just because Xbox is the least competitive console out of the three doesn't mean you go around buying up all the biggest and best games. None of this is Sonys or Nintendos fault Xbox is behind. Potentially taking away so many games off the competition with many a billions isn't the right way for a healthy fair level playing field competition. The fact Sony or Nintendo don't have anywhere near Microsofts pockets and yet Sony and Nintendo are market leaders, tells you all you need to know

The story of Europe: accept everything to be the happy-friendly party member until it blows up in your face and you have to pick up the pieces afterwards.

@get2sammyb Yeah, I don't think the US gov't is that opposed to MS doing anything. 😝

https://www.vgchartz.com/article/456903/us-senator-in-letter-to-sony-ceo-asks-to-see-playstation-exclusivity-deals/

And the packed screwed up messed up SCOTUS is about to make sure the FTC is a non-factor. Why protect it's citizens when our courts can protect big corporations? 🤑

https://www.law.com/nationallawjournal/2022/11/07/the-supreme-courts-rare-opportunity-to-limit-the-ftcs-antitrust-overreach/?slreturn=20230415114744#:~:text=A%20process%20that%20has%20resulted,insulate%20the%20agency%20from%20accountability.

SCTOUS 1, FTC 0

https://www.law.com/nationallawjournal/2022/11/07/the-supreme-courts-rare-opportunity-to-limit-the-ftcs-antitrust-overreach/?slreturn=20230415114744#:~:text=A%20process%20that%20has%20resulted,insulate%20the%20agency%20from%20accountability.

FTC maybe too busy trying to fight this to also fight MS.

@UltimateOtaku91 that’s a good point with Destiny. It has slowly become a WoW-like game with a base that won’t quit no mater how poorly they perceive being treated. I could see, in a future were CoD is removed from PlayStation, Sony would remove Destiny from Xbox.

Finally some common sense. CMA has a proven track record of bad decisions. I really hope Sony invest more into cloud because it is the long term tech future regardless.

Not shocked, i guess MS needed a win after the past month of disasters. In 2033 Xbox will be long dead and MS will be 3rd party so no need to worry there haha.

@Jamesblob obviously not in this case, this is another big blow for Sony owners right now I bet

@XenonKnight Battlefield 1 sold over 15 million, so there is a large audience for it. Even more so if sony went all out with marketing the game and got exclusive content. Sony are the ones who helped call of duty become the juggernaut it is today, no reason they couldn't do the same with Battlefield or even Titanfall 3 exclusivity etc

If they wanted to they could even get the Fifa license and be the new creators where near all revenue goes to them.

There's plenty of deals out there to make with the right money, but making their own call of duty is 100% a no go.

@crazykcarter of course it won’t be their last acquisition, but I doubt they will aim for big guys anymore. I assure you Phil is annoyed he was locked down on this deal when Square decided to sell Edios, owning Tomb Rider and Deus Ex would had been a huge boom for them.

So, it’s likely any future acquisitions will be on the smaller side, although still big, in fear of a large deal preventing them from bidding on good opportunities.

@XenonKnight not having redfall on ps5 is actually a good thing. It saved several uninformed PlayStation owners from losing $70 to one of the worst games of 2023.

@Kevw2006 Are you forgetting about Gamepass? lol you forgot about Gamepass.

@UltimateOtaku91 They lost alot of that audience after 2042.

@Neither_scene Yes redfall is trash but maybe starfield will not be trash.

Let’s hope the U.K. sticks to its guns. A monolithic Microsoft has already wrecked other markets, lets not let it do the same for gaming please.

@UltimateOtaku91 this is legit the first time ive ever heard someone referring to Destiny 2 as the COD killer. That was a good laugh, you made me smile

@UltimateOtaku91

If they wanted to they could even get the Fifa license and be the new creators where near all revenue goes to them.

I could actually see Sony doing this. They already have a good sports studio with MLB The Show, but it’s very likely a FIFA license would be as restrictive as MLB (unable to make it exclusive.) Still would get the full share of first party sales, not just royalties, including all IAP and likely able to market it without mentioning Xbox. That could be a big win for Sony, even if not one the platform fans in this website would care much for.

This simply means, if the deal goes thro, COD is as good as it’s ever gonna get. Microsoft won’t improve it nor will they release any new games.

Hope they don’t get caught with the suitcase of cash like other EU ministers.

@RonnieL As long as you buy GP Microsoft happy

@XenonKnight I have a series X and a ps5 so I hope starfield will live up the the hype, but I'm still skeptical based on Microsoft and Bethesda's past showings. Either way, I should still have Spiderman 2 to look forward to in September, if release date rumours are true.

@Beerheadgamer82 you can't just create a studio and have it spit out iconic IP immediately. You're talking close to a decade or more to get up and running and make their first big AAA game. Then they need to build a following through marketing, word of mouth, etc. There is no guarantee that even 20 years from now they will ever have created a meaningful IP that becomes popular. So yes spending billions on already established studios/publishers is the best way for xbox to be more competitive.

@RonnieL The next generation of gamers will probably prefer it over buying everything separately

I'm not giving microsoft a penny more of my money. I'm voting with my wallet on this Activision buyout, that I oppose. Had this thing fail I could have renewed game pass.

@Heavy_Artilery You should really give people a chance to respond before being so condescending towards them. Obviously I haven't forgot about game pass, but please do tell me what game pass has even remotely got to do with Microsoft using their money to invest in the studios they currently own and create their own original ip's, rather than regurgitating out the same old ip's we've been playing for years? I'm fully well aware that Microsoft will benefit from adding ABK's back catalogue and future releases to game pass, but how about them actually using their vast resources to actually create some new and original content and add value to game pass that way. Rather than including games people will be able to play anyway.

@Somebody Xbox has already had almost 23 years in the cosole space to get it right. So what your saying is these past 23 years for Xbox has been a failure and have failed to maintain competitive top tier IP of their own and now these huge acquisitions are like putting a bandage on their shortcomings

I wish they put this much effort and money putting PC GamePass on the SteamDeck.

Well there goes Spyro then. With Microsoft's track record not only will it never be on PlayStation it'll also never be a good game ever again.

And that's the only thing I'll miss. Microsoft don't know the meaning of the word 'competitive' they just know how to buy things.

As against consolidation as I am I now think Sony should consider locking down SE for the guarantee of Final Fantasy exclusivity forever.

And for anyone who uses Minecraft as an example from Microsoft, that was a one-off and from what I heard part of the deal made by Mojang was to not make it exclusive. Otherwise they wouldn't have cancelled Redfall for PS or confirm ES6 will be on PS. (And for the record I don't give a rat's behind about that abomination Redfall.)

@UltimateOtaku91 Or go to valve and get counter strike global offensive as a console exclusive, job done.

I think Phil Spencer and Jim Ryan would hold hands in a movie theater before Gabe would work with Sony not to mention exclusive. Gabe has been a MS PC guy from the start and isn’t even shy at saying he’s not much for PS. So Counter Strike coming to PS exclusive has a snowballs chance. Sony will be just fine COD is staying on PS 😀

@Beerheadgamer82 i would mainly agree with your point if and that’s a big IF is a once in a lifetime studio was on the block for sale. Remember ABK was for sale and they let it known MS wasn’t their first choice and option. So if a large company is for sale and MS knows it has things that would strengthen it, such as king with mobile, i see no reason a company wouldn’t get on the phone and inquire. This wasn’t MS on the phone begging ABK to sell, so they could further compete. Context to the whole story is key, even tho your point is valid, it doesn’t pertain to the ABK deal.

@Beerheadgamer82 There xbox 360 years were not a failure.

Don't Care, I will simply stop playing the franchise. It won't make me suddenly drop the PS for the inferior Xbox

Just remember ladies and gents, call of duty is trash these days, it is designed to take every bit of your pocket money now so.....who cares.

@thefourfoldroot1 As a Hardcore Apple user and fan, i laugh at the Microsoft has dominated or took over other markets. The truth here is Sony has pee’d the bed in almost every market they used to be in that the PS is the one they get right and they need that market. MS has stunk in everything outside of its OS and Cloud services. While i see MS getting more and more marketshare over the years with their PC/Cloud and Console approach, it will not end or hurt Sony’s PS. In fact it will make Sony better in the space. Which for me is good as i own both consoles.

@pip_muzz Sony fanboys ultimately lose nothing in this deal. Trashy COD stays, Nintendo (finally) will receive COD again, and if anything, it might spur Sony to acquire more themselves, which no one around here ever cries when Sony buys out a studio. Hmm, how funny....

@EYEBALL
I am playing CoD: MW2 on PS5 and the only thing i paid for was the Season Pass 2 (Since i got the Vault Edition of the base game i got Season Pass 1 included). I got the season 3 for CoD points i earned by playing Season 2. Never spent a penny on anything optional. I bet You never played the game.

@Green-Bandit Well that would explain why Half Life Alyx hasn't come to PsVR then.

@EVIL-C my memory isn’t great….Please remind me the last time Sony spent 60 billion on a publisher with decades worth of franchises under its belt, many of which got their start on Xbox.

@EVIL-C Fanbois? Lol. Dude 99% of PlayStation players cant care less bout 1 franchise. I wont buy xbox to play CoD lol

@Green-Bandit
Phones? Who mentioned anything about phones. Are you completely uninformed about Microsoft’s monopolistic history in the PC OS field and their attempts to do the same with the internet?

I think you took the first part of their “embrace, extend, extinguish” strategy a little too much to heart.

And MS already have 70% of the cloud gaming market. This will extend that massively…

The EU even said as much. They said this would hurt competition in this market. They just don’t care beyond 10 years.

With supposedly only 2 million Xbox Series consoles in the UK they may as well just ditch the UK market and plough ahead I guess. The extra income from the new subscribers worldwide should offset the loss.

Man, they can keep Call of Duty, give me back Bethesda and I'll call it good.

@Kevw2006 You really should stop conversation with the it. It's basically an Xbox troll that recently made an account.

@XenonKnight You're right, the 360 was the only MS console that was truly competitive with it's Sony counterpart.

@Beerheadgamer82 yes their strategy of relying on other studios to develop games for them was not the best use of resources. Buying studios and their IP is much better especially with their emphasis on subscriptions services where 1st party legacy content is very valuable.

@Enigk
Sure, except the U.K. is one of their largest markets (the largest on the European continent I believe). Plus who cares about console sales? MS surely don’t. They only care about monopolising cloud gaming and subscriptions.

Good for them Cloud gaming and all of that gamepass stuff it's not really my idea of a good gaming experience.. if I want to play a game I pay for it once and that's it I mean I've brought most of the decent indies for less than the cost of Subscription anyway

@pip_muzz its the best game in the world, I heard.

@EYEBALL Diablo 4 is the last Activision/Blizzard game I will ever buy.

@Rmg0731 time to see most people complaining about this now.

@Renegade_master I tried remote play at my parents house and it sucked. And remote play is less shity then cloud gaming.

@GeeEssEff What a copout. "If its not equal, the criticism doesn't count"?. Oh please. Thanks for confirming my point about fanboys.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_acquisitions_by_Sony

What a disaster. It would have been far better for the industry if the EU also blocked the acquisition.

The CMA got it right.

Am I surprised? Not in the slightest-as per the previous article on the "fightback" vs the CMA & veiled threats against the UK authorities by both M$/XB & Activision, & the "Murica" flag waving US Congress threatening retaliation & investigations into the ridiculous "Sony Monopoly" but are literally receiving donations from Microsoft, they have a long financial & political reach & engaged in corporate & financial bullying for decades in every market they've entered.

The "ten year deals",really don't matter much when not only do reportedly 100% of the streaming revenue goes to M$,but none of the aforementioned companies they signed deals with are in direct competition either!

M$/XB & most recently "Gamer" Phil Spencer having been spinning the "woe is us,we can't possibly out console Sony" narrative alongside insisting Sony could "easily" come up with a COD competitor to replace COD revenues....

And yet their farcical claims are exposed about "bringing COD to more gamers",when you know Bobby Kotick thought so little of the Nintendo cod market they never bothered making any Switch ports as being unprofitable....
Likewise if making a COD competitor was so "easy" then why would Microsoft be playing $70 billion into buying the entire Activision IP library instead of playing it into Halo/Gears or indeed something new?🙄

It doesn't until like the Zenimax Bethesda buyout you logically draw the parallels that ripping entire catalogues of established IP sequels & other previously multiformat future new releases off your main rival platform permanently using their multi billion monopoly money warchest & combine it with their stranglehold in the Azure market is the easiest way to crush your competition by offering permanent exclusives of what were 3rd parties & buy your way to the top.

Are they alone? No,the failure to stop megacorps whether they,FB,Amazon,Apple etc.,getting to where they are is the real issue.
As to how the currently still big,but not M$ Big Sony/Playstation can respond or if they ultimately seek partnerships with some of the other megacorps & become a division of one to try compete on a more equal footing time will tell.😕

The purchase of Activision,already a mtx monolith in its own right,becoming part of an even bigger Monopoly in Microsoft,(who control the PC & have a very strong Azure presence),is as far removed from being good for gamers as you can get! As is Bobby Kotick getting his golden parachute & army of Microsoft money to make all his mismanagement nightmares go away!🙄

The arms race to buy up all the remaining AAA 3rd parties is going to make things more fractured & ultimately expensive...& to borrow the quote from Revenge of the Sith end in thunderous applause! 😔 Unexpected,no. Disappointing,definitely!

@Tr3mm0r You spoke to and surveyed 99% of all PS owners? Lol, suuuure... You missed at least one.

Just a reminder. EU made a legislation about bananas having no proper curvature to some degree weren't bananas and they also made a legislation that a snail is a fish.

@EVIL-C 99% of which i know. You know any? Or You get the percentages from telly and Xbox tube? Because it is obvious you arent PS player yet You know better?

Funniest thing is They gonna lose millions of players. I bet that millions of PS fans will just abandon Activision franchises instead of switching to xbox lol. This 69 billion trade will be one of the worst decisions MS ever made

@UltimateOtaku91 yeah and that would be a killer PSVR2 game. Not sure why Gabe is so against PS. Maybe the hate he had for the Cell processor. But when he has had a chance to say something about Sony, it’s rarely positive. Which is a shame cause the Big 3 all rock in their own ways. No need to down play the Big 3 when he is a industry leader.

@thefourfoldroot1 i ain’t talking just phones i am talking tech in general, as i stated MS is strong in Cloud and Windows. Apple and Google has eaten MS lunch and become trillion dollar companies themselves. Apple has markets that MS wishes they could throw money at to enter and can’t. But to MS’s credit they have spent billions on building Cloud tech while few other companies did, or can. Outside of Amazon and Google. That isn’t MS’s fault that no one else want’s to invest in a market that is just 5% of gaming at the moment. However if cloud takes off in the future MS will be sitting pretty no doubt. But that would be a market much like PS that MS built itself and invested in. As much as a non MS user as i am i can’t even fault them for that.

@EVIL-C lol the irony of you calling anyone else a fanboy…brilliant. I hate to break it to you but no matter what your ex girlfriends might have told you size does indeed matter. The acquisition of ABK is a big deal. It’s not a small studio with a few indie games out. It’s an absolute juggernaut and therefore you can’t just pretend it’s the same as every other gaming acquisition. Regardless you have kind of shot yourself in the foot anyway because it’s well documented that Xbox actually owns more studios than PlayStation. I can only find a list of MS acquisitions rather than Xbox specific but if you were to go through them I think you’d find the actual numbers are pretty similar

@XenonKnight yh 360 had such a great start with the whole year head start and got even bigger afterwards with many quality releases but ran out of steam in the last few years just before the Xbox ONE reveal and that's where PS3 slowly caught up around 2009/10 onwards with many top tier releases of their own, even going on to slightly sell more PS3s than the 360 overall. If the PS3 wasn't so much more expensive than the 360 when it released and wasn't already a year behind and wasn't a difficult and complex machine to make games on, it could have been a very different outcome as we know it today. Ever since PS3s improvements around early 2010s PS has maintained those improvements ever since, while not perfect throughout of course, no company ever is always perfect. Couldn't care less for these gaas approach their going with but whatever, as long as the quality games continue coming as well

@RonnieL i agree Ronnie, i am not sure what Gabe thinks, other than i have seen and heard him take shots at PS when he could. He was on the news once in 2020 and the reporter asked him about the new consoles coming out and asked which one is going to be better and Gabe replied Xbox and she asked why and he just said cause it is. I was like dude thats no why to talk and represent the industry.

@thefourfoldroot1 As the UK forms less than 1% of the world's population and it is all about the cloud then they can afford to screw over all the UK Xbox owners and potential cloud streamers. They can just blame it on the CMA and then the death threats to CMA employees start.

@Enigk And some of the death threats are coming from Seattle and Microsoft HQ.

@Enigk
Percentage of population means nothing, percentage of wealth held in that population is far more relevant for a business. Otherwise MS would just focus on India and China

@Green-Bandit
Who’s faulting MS? They are investing their (OK, some would say Ill-gotten) gains to gain a monopoly on a market they already hold a 70% dominance in, at the same time as moving into a very lucrative mobile market. At the same time they are taking massive amounts of money from their main gaming platform rival in the medium term in a way that will all buy cripple them if it continues. This is exactly what a business has a duty to do.

No, I’m criticising that the regulators have allowed them to get away with it for decades / have been paid off in one way or another. That’s who I’m criticising.

@RonnieL Its all the exact same money at the end of the day, which is all these companies care about. They don't differentiate between who made what, who purchased whom, etc... Leave that for gamers and fanboys alike to scream at each other about online. You may be shocked to learn this, but Sony nor any other firm doesnt give an eff about you.

I still don't think people understand how big Call of Duty is, people will ditch Playstation for Xbox if it ever goes exclusive. There is no doubt about that.

@EVIL-C
Of course companies don’t give a damn. Doesn’t mean we can’t see that it’s in our interests long term for multiple companies to be competitive in the gaming market however. Which is what this has all been about, competition.

@Kevw2006

They can make a deal for getting more Square Enix games to XBox and Sony gets CoD

@Kohaku Square Enix knows Xbox owners don't buy as much games, because they want everything on game pass. So there less money for them supporting xbox.

@KaijuKaiser you sure about that, Square's profits has been down despite those exclusion deals against Xbox.

@Kidfried FTC is going to drag the whole thing into next year with the Legal systems and courts.
Lawyers are going to be making alot more money.

@Kohaku That's between Square Enix and MS, nothing to do with Sony so I don't know how they can make a deal like that.

@XenonKnight Yep, I dont see the point in any of this MS stuff to be honest.The infrastructure for cloud gaming right across the world isn't there and wont be for many years to come.. by then playing natively on handheld devices will be more viable than ever anyway.

I mean all gamers care about are games at end of the day The MS Xbox division should stick to their sole purpose which is actually creating new and innovative gaming experiences ..that would actually be a win for gamers ! if they used their trillions moving actual experiences forwards..They could have done that with Halo infinte but instead killed the Campaign in less than 2 years ..it could have been something special! for example

@thefourfoldroot1 i wasn’t saying you are faulting them but many are, and they are missing the point that MS was smart to build up Azure and can sell it for licensing royalty fees for future cloud computing services. I don’t find MS any more shady than any other large company. But i don’t normally use their services or devices outside of Xbox. Truthfully i wouldn’t even use my Xbox as much as i do if Sony made controllers that i liked or didn’t hurt my hands after 20 mins of use, ok back to topic, i just think people like to overreact to anything and everything on the internet cause it’s a free place to complain and people will sort of listen and give others attention they normally don’t receive. I think when you break down this ABK deal, it’s as fair as a deal as something like this of its size can get. The Disney and Fox and Paramount and all those large deals that just passed recently were way more anticompetitive than this and lot’s of people may regret not putting any concessions on those. But this deal will help MS and for sure not even make PS skip a beat.

@Renegade_master Halo infinte was the game I tried with remote play and it sucked.

@pip_muzz Prepare for more redfall quality games if Microsoft gets Activision. Cod with Redfall graphics so that it can run on the switch. Disgusting. /s

@TheLotteryMan1 It's going to have to downgraded more then that or cc it for the switch.

@XenonKnight Haha ! That's Hilarious, was crap for me too, It also leads me to believe mate that there's millions of others who had the same experience with a lot of those people only finding out after paying into the service. Especially those who are buying into specific technologies such as Samsung TV APP and handhelds only to realise the mileage varies a hell of a lot

With remote play sucking so much why is sony bring out a handheld for ps5 remote play!?

@EVIL-C Still You talking about PS gamers yet it is obvious You dnt have a PS

@Tr3mm0r I have and the pay way to win micro-transactions in DMZ is very disappointing, have a good day padawan.

@Tr3mm0r He's a troll just ignore him.

@XenonKnight I have not played diablo since 2 but I'm super tempted on buying 4, hopefully it's not like immortal in the long run.

@Green-Bandit Remember that one time where Steam accounts were on PS3 when Portal 2 launched (the same day the PSN breach was found out and PSN was down for a month?)? Good memories. And probably why Gabe hates them.

@CielloArc What about COD: hifi rush edition?

@RonnieL I'm assuming you are being sarcastic. Off to be pathetic on the net, who's next on my hit list. Note that this is sarcasm.

@BlueBeemer They don't want to continue to sink money into it while simultaneously spending almost $90 billion in the past few years, yeah sorry that doesn't make any sense.

@Kidfried @thefourfoldroot1 Basically I am hoping Microsoft throw a tantrum. "If you won't let me play with these toys then you can't play with any of mine." May put Phil closer to Jim in the eyes of gamers then.

@Heavy_Artilery Easy solution. Microsoft will rename it as for example Actizzard and claim it is new company, ergo they can do whatever they want.

@NEStalgia i did not forget about that. Gabe hated the Cell processor and wasn’t shy about it. No way Counter Strike would ever go to PS. But Sony should have some great shooters in the pipeline and truthfully they won’t need them, they still get COD. Well this news will keep the internet fired up all week and then just a little longer and people can argue over the showcases in June. Personally i think Sony and MS are both about to have great showcases. Even tho i couldn’t care less about Spider-Man 2 i am crazy excited to learn more about Last of Us multiplayer. I really wanna see what they have in mind for that.

@RonnieL I agree that people who send death threats are pathetic but unfortunately that is the world of social media these days. It started out promising but descends further from "social" as time goes by.

@BlueBeemer But here's the thing, the more devs and publisher's they buy to add more content to game pass, the more likely it is that they will need to raise the sub costs to compensate for this. Would you be happy at your sub costs being raised because MS have been throwing money around left, right and centre? They're a business with shareholders to keep happy after all, despite it appearing like they've gone all consumer friendly lately at the end of the day they are out there to take as much of our money as they can.

@Green-Bandit
You think it won’t massively impact Sony’s ability to make games? I don’t think you understand the figures. Understand exactly how much COD generates even at Sonys reduced cut for the game.

Last year Sony were responsible for 13% of Activision $7.5 billion revenue. Even if we say COD was responsible for only $6 billion, and Sony only got a 10% cut (both very very conservative, it’s almost certainly more), then that’s £600 million a year Sony could potentially lose. Which is around 3-6 Sony exclusives. Every year.

Now they won’t lose it all straight away of course, but most hardcore (spending) COD players will move to Xbox next gen because of it. So they won’t only lose, say, a third of that conservatively, but also the cut of every other piece of spend those players now do on Xbox, which is at a 30% cut.

These are huge amounts of money at stake. This is why Xbox’s parent company was willing to spend so much to take these games away from PlayStation players* it will take away Sonys main advantage, it’s ability to make AAAA games. At least in the numbers they have been. This is irrefutable. This is why letting the behemoth that is MS just buy everything up is bad for the industry. It’s especially bad for streaming, in which MS already own a 70% market share due to their position in holding servers.

*in 10 years (which is nothing).

@EYEBALL Wait for a demo & see if you like it.

@XenonKnight off topic, but what game is your avatar picture from?

@Kienda Some MMO Tera maybe?

@thefourfoldroot1 I do not cause Sony has plenty of money to fund the studios they have. Insomniac don’t need cod money to make Spider-Man 3 cause Spider-man 1 & 2 paid for it and then some. I do think Sony CEO’s and bonus’s might change if and it’s a big if they lose some market share to Xbox over the next 7-8 years. Sony has all the Cod and 3rd party money now and all they seem to care about is live service games. So if one of those become a big success they will have that money. Nintendo don’t need COD and 3rd party money to make games that sell 30-40 million copies. Sony will be just fine, and MS will be more competitive with their 4 headed spear plan, Mobile/PC/ Cloud and console. Which I can only imagine Sony will adopt cause Jim Ryan has already said he want’s to see Sony games on more platforms to reach more players. I think the Big 3 are all looking good in the different strategies they have chosen. This deal is important to that vision of MS. They had to get King in order to enter the mobile market and open a storefront. I come from this as a 3 way console owner, so maybe for me this is just water under the bridge, but I truly think all 3 will continue to do well. They have enough differences now to all have merit for owning. It’s just that MS has more infrastructure to carry out a plan like they are doing than the other 2.

Massive cope for the people thinking sony are gonna bring back killzone, shadow fall was a failure and terrible... Now guerrilla are only interested in making horizon which also sucks btw.

Sony needs to start making characters that actually look like people and not Mr potatohead from toy story or make a sequel to days gone the best game sony ever put out

@RonnieL Why are you acting like Sony didn't do the same thing with final fantasy 7, they are the innovators of blocking games from coming out on other platforms, look how long it took them to release the game on steam but i bet it went on epic right away, if anything you should be thanking Microsoft because redfall sucks and it was always gonna suck like every AAA game that comes out now.

I don't know why Sony gamers care so much about this, nothing changes still get to play abk games on their playstation it's just a different logo on the box

@Enigk 99% of gamers don't even know who Phil and Jim are.

It should still be blocked. The regulator rulings are all rubbish, including the CMA.

Microsoft is too big to own such a large stake in the videogame publishing industry.

That's all there is to it. There's absolutely no consumer interest in doing this. This benefits the stock market and Microsoft.

Microsoft could promise that all ABK games are multiplatform for, at least, 10 years and that they will run it as a publisher first and foremost and not an extension of Xbox, which would go a long way towards soothing us naysayers... But they haven't and won't, because that's what they want to do.

Sony owns a bunch of first party studios that publish exclusively on PlayStation and this number isn't anywhere comparable to ABK. Many of these studios were acquired decades ago or were opened newly by Sony. Not at all comparable to taking over an active part of the current market, reducing the pool significantly.

The purchase of Zenimax set off alarms but wasn't so big that it made it a massive problem. This, with that, is a huge problem.

Nothing good will come of this.

@get2sammyb Whilst I can't find the specific quote,I know Microsoft has stated a desire whether its a Windows 12 or similar future iteration they ultimately want to stop releasing individual Windows versions & much like other areas of Satya's reign as MS CEO turn Windows into an online subscription service.

They are already in the process of killing off retail downloads of MS Office,& obviously have a very strong stranglehold in the Azure market.
If you look at Phil Spencer's record as Xbox boss he made PR Backflips after Don Mattick's reign.

But a lot of the "Online,Online sharing" policies weren't reversed so much as repackaged into the likes of Gamepass,Gamepass Ultimate & now XCloud.
I might not be a big Jim Ryan fan for his disdain of PS1-PS3 backwards compatibility programs & libraries as unprofitable apart from no frills efforts like PS Plus Premium/Deluxe,(that only release psp & occasional ps1 games),but i don't doubt he is a business & numbers man & absolutely tries to maximise sales/profits over PR/Twitter point scoring. Sony need that even if I'm not a fan of the live service Gaas direction they're following.

I have no doubt he would like to grow their Cloud presence as a backup,but given the way Xbox has aggressively been taking major 3rd party AAA Publishers & entire stables of devs off PS Platforms for Gamepass exclusively,that Sony must be exploring non-Azure options for an expanded PS Now/Premium expansion as they barely have expanded the revised program (Down Under Territory here),since.

Personally not fussed on streaming,but I have little doubt MS sees XB future as another streaming/online subscription over a box under the TV....they just don't want the Don Mattick blowback by vocalising it here & now. You just follow their actions,not their PR spin.🤔

@XenonKnight I will