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LazyAnonBoner t1_j1ievqa wrote

Yawn… Sony and Activision have shafted PC and Xbox cod players for years with exclusives and perks only available on PlayStation.

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ironichaos t1_j1iltlg wrote

Before that it was Xbox exclusive. I remember mw2 you got map packs a month early on Xbox.

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ThatGuyMiles t1_j1j97tn wrote

That’s the thing though it’s not even that extreme any more. For the past several years it’s been Sony receiving those benefits but I think Bo4 was the last time you get actual month long exclusive shit. Ever since then the time line started decreasing and now they are at a point where they no longer happens. Sony is legit complaining about theoretically/possibly (despite guarantees to the contrary) losing unique skins on purchase, some random double xp perks once a month, and I think some extra create a class slots IF you buy the battle pass, that’s basically the jist of their “exclusives” at this point.

What it was in the past is no longer relevant to be frank, it only matters what’s been going down the last few years, and that’s what it is, some skins and other random token bull shit. It’s actually laughable at this point, people aren’t buying PlayStations for CoD for those perks any more, the days were you would get a month long preview before anyone else are already long gone…. This was also a time before crossplay and proper PC support, things have changed and there’s no way Sony doesn’t already understand this….

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Bfife22 t1_j1jccqt wrote

In Modern Warfare 2019 there was a game mode that was exclusive to PS for an entire year

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enter360 t1_j1kkmm4 wrote

Yeah and when it did come over it wasn’t the complete mode either.

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Duckpoke t1_j1jjcsa wrote

There’s things in Destiny 2 Xbox/PC players don’t get for a YEAR. It’s total bullshit

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SFWxMadHatter t1_j1lvccs wrote

Used to in D1 but not anymore, fortunately. Thankfully Bungie got away from that bullshit realizing they needed a unified experience.

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Agreeable-Meat1 t1_j1kvcfa wrote

Yeah but Destiny is part of Game Pass with all the DLC. Or at least it used to be when I got super into it for a few months

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acprocode t1_j1k97mk wrote

I dont disagree, but i still fail to see how microsoft buying out this company makes this any better. You are acting like microsoft wouldn't do the same.

On Xbox some MW games were exclusive as well. So I dont really see this point as sticking to begin with.

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Hayden2332 t1_j1kexef wrote

At least with MS, they’ll support Xbox and PC and not just xbox

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acprocode t1_j1ky3kg wrote

Yea if your idea of support is just getting me to pay extra for exclusive content to gamepass thats not really support. I own both a PC and PS5, but I just dont see how this merger actually benefits me as a consumer.

I honestly don't see gamepass as the future as I know well from experience that all subscription services always turn to shit due to licensing, pricing hikes, and diminishing returns over time as the service continues to acquire new content.

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Khalmoon t1_j1lq6s9 wrote

Idk who down voted you but this is my main concern, it’s so suspicious when game pass so bloated. It gives you ea play, riot games champions and agents in valorant, tons of games and all Microsoft’s exclusives. That price is definitely going up especially with starfield now being $70

As well as Diablo (I think it will also be on gamepass) Microsoft is going to use this acquisition to entice gamers to keep game pass forever effectively making the preferred model subscribe to play.

It’s no wonder they keep giving the membership away for a dollar, they want you to feel like game pass is a requirement. I know PlayStations equivalent isn’t much better but the model is simpler. Just buy the games you want to play.

Game pass is great but in the two months I’ve had it 3 games I was in the middle of playing got removed. So I’m not really having a great outlook on Microsoft.

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Calm-Zombie2678 t1_j1lro9j wrote

>I honestly don't see gamepass as the future as I know well from experience that all subscription services always turn to shit

I really fear this future, and it's inevitable too. Currently priced for growth but give it a few years once growth in customers slows but the growth in profits is still demanded like with all the streaming services atm

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Requiredmetrics t1_j1lv0b9 wrote

The US does not have the internet infrastructure to support the kinda of speeds needed to have this sort of subscription service gobble up the majority of the market share.

It isn’t unheard of for rural communities to have 3mbs download speeds.

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Calm-Zombie2678 t1_j1lx95l wrote

I live in New Zealand, so very lucky with internet but we've been dealing with their splintered licensing since Netflix launched with some seasons of a few shows here while ligtbox had some seasons of some shows and go fuck yourself if you want to watch a whole show on one subscription

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Requiredmetrics t1_j1lz431 wrote

The internet sounds great but the subscription set up sounds horrible.

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Calm-Zombie2678 t1_j1lzd8l wrote

Sailing to Tortuga with a bottle of rum has always been a go to for me so I remain un effected, in fact I've saved money lately because it's the more convenient option lol

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Cytizens9320 t1_j1ne609 wrote

You don't have to have game pass to play COD. Xbox games are already available on steam

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LazyAnonBoner t1_j1kaomr wrote

That exactly it. It’s just gonna be more of the same, just a switch from red team to blue team. Some what’s the point of blocking it? It’s no better or worse for consumers

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acprocode t1_j1kyk80 wrote

Thats not at all what I am saying. I am actually saying that them moving in with microsoft would be worse as a consumer. Microsoft has a significant stake in gamepass and their subscription services. They have every reason to offer exclusive content on gamepass and ensure the game down 5+ years stays within their ecosystem (they currently have only promised a 3 year contract with Sony). I honestly want to see gamepass crash and burn as I see it as anti-consumer in the medium to long term.

I don't see gamepass as the future and I frankly think itll go down the same path as netflix within the next 2-3 years as day one releases pick up (they will create gamepass tiers for day 1 games vs delayed releases), the subscription prices will eventually devolve into it being less valuable going month to month vs buying a yearly subscription, and they will be hiking the price going into 2023.

>It’s just gonna be more of the same

You cant really make this arguement in good faith when one team literally owns the damn studio and IP.

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LazyAnonBoner t1_j1l1uai wrote

Actually, Microsoft had a good record of broadening access to their IP, not just in games. They know it’s easier to sell a license than to convince you to buy a specific box and then a license.

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Daedelous2k t1_j1jp2ja wrote

Meanwhile Sony get exclusivity with Final Fantasy Remake and so on, keeping it off PC for ages and off xbox ENTIRELY...

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technikarp t1_j1jv1md wrote

Microsoft has very little market share in Japan

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Daedelous2k t1_j1k1ouw wrote

and?

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IM_INSIDE_YOUR_HOUSE t1_j1la823 wrote

The FTC has very little say in what a Japanese company does with games made by another Japanese company played on a console made by a Japanese company.

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technikarp t1_j1k2ujc wrote

Japanese dev shop making Japanese rpgs for Japanese audience for a Japanese console. Can’t complain that they aren’t making games for some other country’s console that has no market share to them.

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BababooeyHTJ t1_j1kpj3k wrote

Dude Final fantasy has been a mainstream franchise for well over a decade at this point. This isn’t back in the day where it would release in Japan a year before anywhere else with poor translations.

I’m not so sure it’s the Japanese market is it’s target audience. SIE is also headquartered in California….

This isn’t ff7 on the ps1 sadly. Whatever the current company is it’s the Squaresoft that I loved

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somegridplayer t1_j1lpe3p wrote

>Dude Final fantasy has been a mainstream franchise for well over a decade at this point.

2 1/2 decades. Square Enix is happy with PC and Playstation.

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Bradfromihob t1_j1kwamf wrote

Hate to break it to you but final fantasy is more popular in Japan, gets realized in Japan first, and is primarily supported for the Japanese’s community. Yes the Franchise has worldwide appeal but it’s made for Japan.

Same with monster Hunter to a lesser extent. We get the game months after Japan. There aren’t even dual releases. This is kind of a “America is the center of the world” argument.

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BoxOfDemons t1_j1l3cek wrote

Looking at what sales numbers I can find, even back 20-25 years ago the US was selling almost as many FF games as Japan, and today some games sell more here than Japan depending on the title. Then for nearly every game that has world-wide sales listed as well, it is 3-4x the total Japan sales. Even if a game sold 1/4 as well in the English market than the Japanese market, that's enough profit to pay for a translation. Translations are a fraction of the total game production costs. Japanese gamers per capita love Square Enix WAY more than Americans, but America has a massive population advantage.

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Bradfromihob t1_j1l4b67 wrote

Who gets the game first, who plays the games longer. Statistically its Japan. Why do games come to the us? We have 3x as many citizens, and don’t limit things like games. The facts are that these games are funded and popularized by Japan first then come to the US months or years later. They would never be just released here first cause chances are they wouldn’t be as popular. Singular sales numbers are not the best metric you can use. Or even the only metric you should use.

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Otaku_Instinct t1_j1l8evh wrote

"The Japanese market is no longer sufficient for achieving a level of earnings that enables us to recoup our development investment and generate a profit, and we therefore need to approach our development efforts based on the assumption that we have to succeed in the global market."

-Yosuke Matsuda, Square Enix President

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leftnut027 t1_j1kwvk8 wrote

Other countries console?

My brother in Christ the PC is literally the most universal gaming device in the world.

Are you seriously under the impression no one in Japan uses COMPUTERS?!?!?!

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technikarp t1_j1m67dq wrote

Xbox only has .06% market share in Japan. Nintendo and Sony have 99.94%. Just looked it up. Pc gaming only starting to gain popularity, but it’s all about the mobile market there.

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TheChrisDV t1_j1k3l1x wrote

On top of that, the Final Fantasy games released on Xbox haven’t sold well - even in the days of the 360, most of their sales were on PS3.

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Calm-Zombie2678 t1_j1lqvzn wrote

Tbf name a good ff game on 360...

... no, I'll wait

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TheChrisDV t1_j1lrs8f wrote

I mean, let’s not act like FFXIII didn’t review well at launch.

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Calm-Zombie2678 t1_j1lrwwd wrote

Did it?!? I may remember that differently but I also went in expecting a continued slide in quality after 12

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-cocoadragon t1_j1lj1m2 wrote

Squares American market is literally four times that of Japan's last time I checked. Which was just hours ago for some other tangent.

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blargh29 t1_j1ievvn wrote

Xbox players can’t play Bloodborne, Spider-man, Uncharted, …etc. We then get shafted on timed in-game exclusives because Sony pays money purely to shaft non-PS gamers. Some games can’t even appear on Gamepass because Sony cries loud enough about it.

Yet Microsoft wants to bring in a handful of games to the Xbox and PC and toss them onto the Gamepass while stating they will not make them console exclusive and that’s suddenly anti-consumer?

Sony has been anti-consumer for decades. Fuck ‘em.

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TheChrisDV t1_j1k2yve wrote

Xbox players don’t get those games because Sony paid for them to be made.

It’s literally the same situation as Mario and Halo being exclusive to their respective platforms, but it’s only a problem when Sony do it.

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KaboodleMoon t1_j1kpmna wrote

No, it's only a problem because Sony does it MORE.

The article even states it.

"Sony has 286 exclusive games, while Xbox has 59"

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TheChrisDV t1_j1lej2a wrote

So it’s Sony’s fault that Microsoft are completely incapable of producing worthwhile exclusives beyond Halo, Forza, and Gears?

They certainly aren’t lacking for studios, even if you ignore the ones they acquired when they bought Bethesda.

It also begs the question - what are Microsoft claiming as a PlayStation exclusive? Are they just going by PS4 & PS5 games? Are they including defunct franchises like Twisted Metal?

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KaboodleMoon t1_j1lf5lc wrote

It's more that they cross platform with PC more. All three of the things you mentioned aren't even exclusive fully anymore, so I'd give Sony a pass on done of their recent choices to do pc too. The numbers are still quite strikingly different

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TheChrisDV t1_j1lfy1w wrote

That’s why I’m not talking about PC - Sony are gradually releasing more of their games on PC, but they only started doing that in the past year or so.

Microsoft are arguing from a position of bad faith by just throwing numbers at us without providing any sort of context.

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leftnut027 t1_j1kx9ab wrote

What are you talking about?

Halo is on Steam.

It is not exclusive to Xbox.

You claim it is literally the same situation so please send me a link to purchase Bloodborne on PC.

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TheChrisDV t1_j1lf1da wrote

We’re not talking about whether Bloodborne or Halo can be played on PC.

We’re talking about their availability on console.

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Agreeable-Meat1 t1_j1kvjw5 wrote

And that's what Microsoft is trying to do here. Pay for the games to be made.

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thepronoobkq t1_j1khmy4 wrote

smartest playstation shill

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yubnubmcscrub t1_j1kkziw wrote

Ahh yes. Anyone who makes a salient point is a shill. Go touch grass.

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thepronoobkq t1_j1nw2aa wrote

mmm yes microsoft only allows halo on the xbox and not anywhere else i concede

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yubnubmcscrub t1_j1nwetl wrote

That’s not what he said. He said x box players don’t get them because Sony paid for them. Same way Nintendo games are only released on Nintendo consoles. Because they produce them.

Hell as an edit because it needs to be said. Microsoft only releases on multiplatform since Microsoft is in the computer industry and has been for 30-40 years. You know who hasn’t been creating operating systems for 30-40 years for computers? SONY AND NINTENDO. Also the only reason they are able to operate at a loss and operate as a platform through game pass is because they are a giant megacorp 20X the size of Sony. They thought they could buy their way into Japan in the 2000s and failed and had a much less popular system. So they fell behind. This they have to continue to throw money at it at a pace they know Sony and Nintendo can’t keep up with. But we all want to laud the super mega corp that is “pro” gamers. They aren’t pro gamers. They do it all for the bottom line a subscription numbers.

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[deleted] t1_j1ikmna wrote

[deleted]

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StrngBrew t1_j1imfmx wrote

That’s just not true as they regularly put games on Steam or the Epic store though.

You can get Halo & Forza on Steam.

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indyPARADIGM-none t1_j1ka5ll wrote

Ps players can’t play halo. What’s your point?

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blargh29 t1_j1kdsim wrote

Oh no…. Think of the poor PS players who can also play Halo on PC for free.

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-RaisT t1_j1l05bp wrote

LoL, going by your logic same can be said about PS exclusive they are available on Steam and Epic Store Btw multiplayer is only free not campaign for Halo….

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[deleted] t1_j1k022q wrote

[deleted]

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baxtermcsnuggle t1_j1k3euf wrote

To be fairrrr... Bethesda Games always shafted sony on post release support. I think that exclusivity may have more to do with Bethesda/Zennimax's preference than we realize, and not just Microsoft flexing ownership

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leftnut027 t1_j1kxj6y wrote

Bethesda has historically HATED releasing games on PlayStation due to all their proprietary bullshit.

It’s been no secret it’s been a chore to port their games to Sonys consoles.

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UnleashedSavage_93 t1_j1kjsaa wrote

It's not just about call of duty. This is also about mobile games.

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Thebadmamajama t1_j1jiz0e wrote

More bullshit. Activision has significantly more games than CoD, and this concentration of IP on consoles, PC and mobiles games is unprecedented.

This is like when Facebook bought Whatsapp, and consolidated billions of users to their platform.

I can see the downvoting brigade on each of these posts. Dont get fooled. This is ridiculous market concentration.

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culnaej t1_j1kln80 wrote

KING is the real money maker from Activision tbh

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Kairukun90 t1_j1kn3oh wrote

Just over 10b over the last 5 years from king alone. Last year was 2.5b they been increasing profits.

It’s about 33% of the company profits. Blizzard made a lot less. Activision side made the most at like 45% or something.

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[deleted] t1_j1ik2rs wrote

[deleted]

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AngkorLolWat t1_j1jujlm wrote

timed exclusivity. For map packs.

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[deleted] t1_j1jyp8d wrote

[deleted]

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HaikusfromBuddha t1_j1k5v7h wrote

Does it matter, Sony is doing the same deal. It doesn’t seem that it has completely decimated the gaming landscape. Hell Sony survived when MS did it back in the 360 days. Should be proof enough that CoD exclusivity doesn’t cause one competitor to die.

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Karmadilla t1_j1kog04 wrote

The FTC should break up Activision into Activision and Act Of Duty.

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Malf1532 t1_j1ldp4p wrote

Sony has a bigger sandbox they've been playing for a while. Microsoft is trying to make their own bigger and taking a piss in Sony's as a fuck you.

It's funny to watch because no way this deal doesn't go through.

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Mastr_Blastr t1_j1mi492 wrote

>Sony has 286 exclusive games, while Xbox has 59

I don't own any Xboxs and am exclusively a PS guy, but Sony shouldn't have a leg to stand on here.

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pbx1123 t1_j1kfa7c wrote

Maybe another big company is lobying to make a stop on MS then they make a cheaper offer

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Kalel_is_king t1_j1kswlt wrote

I just don’t see the issue with console exclusives. Growing up Sonic was on Sega and Mario on Nintendo. Then it was Crash and R&S on Sony. Exclusives have been around forever and it’s what makes people buy two or three consoles. Just don’t see why all of the sudden this is an issue with people

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clearlynotanegg t1_j1l1c65 wrote

Cut the crap, is anybody seriously going to fall for the idea that this whole legal battle is over Call of Duty?

The statements from Microsoft sound like its just a way to make the FTC's stance seem unreasonable. It makes sense though, Microsoft really wants this deal to go through and will do anything to move the acquisition in their favor, even if it means distorting the case against them.

This article is so strange. You could swear it was written by a Microsoft employee themselves.

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ZenGunner8 t1_j1icw1o wrote

The best and fastest way to destroy a game franchise is to sell it to another bigger Corporation! Are there any examples at all of a game developer getting better after being bought out?

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t4ct1c4l_j0k3r t1_j1kke44 wrote

No different than corporate takeovers of food. Remember how Pizza Hut, KFC, Domino's, and Taco Bell were pre-2000? They all used to be far better products once upon a time.

Though I think this has more to do with technology and foreign exchange/transfer, particularly with India with whom Gates is quite entrenched with.

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SFWxMadHatter t1_j1lvykp wrote

Such as, every developer MS has brought under their banner touting how great the experience has been? You can easily do some research yourself and find the results of their past acquisitions. Financial and logistical support to let teams make the games they've wanted to make but couldn't for one reason or another.

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GongTzu t1_j1hzeda wrote

If this happens MS will be the kings of gaming for a very long period. It must not happen due to competition, MS is already too big and control too much.

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Chemical-Character79 t1_j1ib44k wrote

Do you guys consider Xbox to be ahead of Sony and Nintendo? I personally don't think they are. As a Xbox user, I feel Sony and Nintendo get more big exclusive games. Microsoft has some but they allow PC gamers to play aswell.

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Agreeable-Meat1 t1_j1kvwa8 wrote

Microsoft has a few exclusives that I really like. The State of Decay series for example is super fucking fun. I loved State of Decay 1 so much from the 360 that State of Decay 2 (and Scalebound) being in development sold me on the Xbox this console generation. State of Decay 2 wasn't quite as fun as the original and Scalebound got canned though.

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[deleted] t1_j1ibrv8 wrote

[deleted]

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carvedmuss8 t1_j1kadl7 wrote

But the fact of the matter is does it constitute a betrayal of public interest with regards to anti-trust laws? You're talking about one company taking over one other company in a highly competitive business environment. This doesn't constitute illegal antitrust, not under the current laws.

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BoricPenguin t1_j1id0o5 wrote

How? They won't even be the biggest video company....

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mrezhash3750 t1_j1i2qg3 wrote

If this happens it is time to do what they didn't do in 2000. And split Microsoft into multiples.

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