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Sony's Jim Ryan: “It's time to give fans something that can only be enjoyed on PlayStation 5”

JTCx

Member
So why are some people are upset that PS5 exclusives won't be playable on PS4? Is it because XSX games will be on Xbox One? I don't get it, nobody complained when you couldn't play your PS4 games on a PS3 or Xbox One games on X360. What's the problem? I for one am excited that there will be exclusive PS5 games that I can't play anywhere which takes full advantage of the PS5's hardware. I'll be playing Halo Infinite on my Xbox One because I'm not interested in increased resolution or framerate. I didn't jump to PS4 Pro or Xbox One X for that reason. When there's a Series X exclusive that I can't get on my Xbox One than it'll be time to purchase that console.
The only people that are 'upset' are the competitor's fans. They're trying to twist this narrative as a negative.
 

wolffy71

Banned
This thread is pretty much proof that you guys are really trying to be butthurt here. Theres no sense in blowing up and over analyzing every tweet these two companies make.
 

Brofist

Member
The thing is that Sony's used games video was a genius marketing move in response to a major fuck up by MS, while what Aaron Greenberg is doing its pretty much crying for attention because PS5 has been dominating the conversation for the last couple of weeks.

I think it's more the Sony fans like when the Sony guy does it and vice versa
 

Perrott

Member
I think it's more the Sony fans like when the Sony guy does it and vice versa
The difference is the following:

Sony won the generation thanks to that video and the segment of their E3 show were they said "but we don't" to all of Microsoft's questionable policies. Aaron Greenberg on the other hand has only managed to make a fool of himself on social media by trying to "react" in a hypocritical, unprofessional and childish way to Sony's recent statements.
 

Brofist

Member
The difference is the following:

Sony won the generation thanks to that video and the segment of their E3 show were they said "but we don't" to all of Microsoft's questionable policies. Aaron Greenberg on the other hand has only managed to make a fool of himself on social media by trying to "react" in a hypocritical, unprofessional and childish way to Sony's recent statements.

I don't think they won because of that video, it probably set the tone though. They had a better more appealing system with a better library. If they didn't have all that the video wouldn't have amounted to jack.
 

mckmas8808

Mckmaster uses MasterCard to buy Slave drives
I think its probably the best response MS could give on this issue. BUT (here it comes), I have to agree with the guy above that there's some cringe here. I say this because its such obvious and blatant spin, coming soon after the other guy suggested frame rate was a next gen feature, that it makes me wonder just how much of what we hope from them is smoke and mirrors. I really hope that they minimize the blatant spin. They've done a really good job the past couple years, and I don't see the same company who shooed me away with the debacle from the last launch period. Just stay focused on highlighting the great features they do have, and keep the corporate mumbo jumbo to a minimum.

Why did he even feel the need to respond in the first place.
 

VAVA Mk2

Member

"A great deal has happened since we last spoke. Terrible things happening in the world, which puts everything that you and I do into context. You have to measure all this conversation against that."

Sony Interactive Entertainment's president and CEO Jim Ryan wants to give us an update on where things are with PlayStation. We spoke to him in November last year about the firm's ambitions for PlayStation 5. Back then, PS5's biggest threat was its competitors, now it's biggest challenge is launching during a time of immense economic turmoil caused by the COVID-19 crisis.

Is it going to be delayed? Will big games miss the launch? Is it going to just arrive in select markets?

Ryan wants to put that uncertainty to rest. PS5 will launch this year globally, and its first-party games are on schedule. But that doesn't mean it's been business as usual for the console maker.

Jim Ryan, PlayStation

"It's been a real rollercoaster of a year," Ryan tells us. "We realised a couple of months ago that we were going to have to spend a lot more time paying attention to the PS4 community than we had anticipated, as that community, along with everybody else in the world, went into lockdown.


"We have devoted a lot of effort to making sure out network works. I am really proud of what we've done there. The days when Sony was criticised for the resilience of its networking activity, that should be consigned to history. The levels of engagement are just off the radar screen, both in terms of the number of people and the amount of time that they are playing. And the network has stood up just fine.

"We are going to get The Last of Us Part II out at the end of next month, and we're going to get Ghost of Tsushima out the month after that. And both with only small delays. And really, they were delays that were born out of complete uncertainty about the distribution scenario when we had to pull the trigger. It was like the world was heading into this big black hole, and we didn't know whether the internet would be working, we didn't know whether warehouses would be able to operate. So we took the cautious approach. But the games are ready to go and we are feeling really good about them.


"And then there was the Play At Home initiative, where we made a couple of games available for, well, everybody, but with particular relevance to those who are financially strapped.

"But we are obviously principally occupied with getting ready for PS5. I think most businesses would find themselves challenged with the working-from-home environment, and I do think the way that the various groups within PlayStation have responded has been magnificent. There are the hardware engineers who are having to work without being able to get into China, where PS5 will be assembled. That's kind of tough. The software engineers who are building these great features, who are building a great PS5 UI... some of that can be readily done in isolation. But when it comes to putting it all together, that's not easy to do remotely and they're doing a great job.

"And finally, the people who make games. We, and our partners, seem to be coping really well. And so we are on track. We are going to launch this holiday and we're going to launch globally. We're really looking forward to it and it's going to be a blast."


Back when we spoke to Ryan in the before times, he spoke about the transition between PS4 and PS5 happening "at a scale and pace that we've never delivered before."


He says that ambition remains the same. Yet with the possibility of a deep recession, surely that poses a challenge when trying to sell a high-priced piece of consumer electronics?

"Recent history has told us that gaming is one of the pastimes, and one of the businesses, that benefits in economically difficult times," Ryan suggests. "It's quite logical, people don't have the money to go out so they stay at home. Now, who knows how this recession is going to look, how deep it will be and how long it will last. It could be that the historic templates, the historic models, that have applied in the past may not apply in the future.

"I think the best way that we can address this is by providing the best possible value proposition that we can. I don't necessarily mean lowest price. Value is a combination of many things. In our area it means games, it means number of games, depth of games, breadth of games, quality of games, price of games... all of these things and how they avail themselves of the feature set of the platform."


As with each new generation, there is a pressure to find a large audience quickly. The Unreal 5 demo from earlier this month showed what PS5 is capable of, but creating such a project looked expensive.

PS4 sales have spiked since the lockdown

"I think, to the extent that the technology enables the graphics side of it to become more interesting and life-like, [the games] will become slightly more human intensive and capital intensive to produce," Ryan notes. "So yes, we think there probably will be an increase in development budgets. We don't see it as being a massive increase, and that's why we want to do more faster than we have ever done before, to provide a fertile install base for people who make games to be able to monetise against. If we can keep pace with a likely increase in development costs, then the industry can continue to prosper."

The speed in which players adopt PS5 is important, but Sony does have that 100 million-plus PS4 install base to fall back on. And that install base is growing, with console sales jumping up since the lockdown began worldwide.

"We have always felt that we had a responsibility to serve that [PS4] community for several years after the launch of PS5 and that it represented a huge business opportunity for us," Ryan says. "The numbers are quite straightforward. If you say in broad brush figures that we have a community of 100 million PS4 owners right now, and in the first couple of years... I don't know, somewhere between 15 and 25 million might migrate to PS5, that still leaves a huge number of people with PS4s. And that community is demonstrating an amazing stickiness, and willingness to stay engaged that, I think, the events of the past few months have just reinforced what we knew already.

"But it's certainly been eye opening. Whether it's because we had a big spike in PlayStation Plus subscriptions, we make sure that that proposition remains interesting and that people want to renew. Or whether it's because all of these people have got their PlayStations back out over the last couple of months, so we try to find a way to make them want to go and buy The Last of Us: Part II or Ghost of Tsushima. I don't think we've learnt stuff that's completely new, but everything is very definitely amplified."

One way to keep PS4 users engaged would be to make upcoming PS5 games playable on the older machine, just like Microsoft is proposing with its Xbox Series X games being playable on Xbox One. Yet Ryan says that's not something PlayStation is interested in doing.

"We have always said that we believe in generations. We believe that when you go to all the trouble of creating a next-gen console, that it should include features and benefits that the previous generation does not include. And that, in our view, people should make games that can make the most of those features.

"We do believe in generations, and whether it's the DualSense controller, whether it's the 3D audio, whether it's the multiple ways that the SSD can be used... we are thinking that it is time to give the PlayStation community something new, something different, that can really only be enjoyed on PS5."

The DualSense controller is one of the new features of PS5

The marketing challenge for Sony is showing off these new features. The big game expos are cancelled this year (or are expected to be) and it's hard to imagine players being eager to share controllers in a retail store while there's this virus in the world.

"Obviously the shows, whether it's GDC, PAX, E3, Gamecom... they've all gone," Ryan says. "We have to live in a world where that particular oxygen isn't available to the industry. It's not available to PlayStation or anybody else. We just have to come up with ways to communicate what we're doing, and try and engender the same level of adrenaline, excitement, buzz that we get with thousands of people in an auditorium in Los Angeles. And do that somehow remotely.


"That's the challenge I've set the teams: try to get that community, the 100 million people -- and all of the people who don't have a PlayStation we'd like to talk to -- just as excited as if they were in the E3 auditorium, or if they were watching the stream."

Another potential challenge for PlayStation is the impact the lockdown may have on physical retail. There has been an acceleration in games being downloaded since retail shops have had to close, which is potentially troubling for a company that relies on retailers to sell their physical consoles and accessories. But Ryan has actually been reassured by the sales he's seen in the physical space.

"Obviously, the content distribution model is shifting from physical to digital. We, along with everybody else, has seen a blip upwards in that over the course of the last two to three months. But equally, over the last two to three months our traditional retail partners have been doing really well in our category. I am just amazed at the number of PS4s that we are able to sell in stores that I understood to be closed."

Not every part of the games industry has been pandemic proof, of course. Last month, PlayStation opened a $10 million fund in an effort to help indie developers, with 100 studios about to receive some vital finance.


"I know a lot of indies from my time working in London, I know that community quite well," Ryan begins. "Some of these guys... I know how they work, I know how they're capitalised, or how they're not capitalised. It must be tough. It's easy for me sitting here with someone paying my salary. But if you're an indie with not much money in the bank, and you've got a game that might be within touching distance of getting made and getting published, but you're running out of cash... that's a pretty rough situation to find yourself in. Of all the stakeholders in the industry who are probably worthy of support, they'll be pretty close to the top of my list."

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Overall, Ryan thinks that the games industry can be "pretty proud of itself" for how it has responded to the pandemic. But he acknowledges that uncertainty remains. Right now, PS5 is coming, its games are on track and there's plenty of excitement that's sure to deliver a strong launch. But there are potentially longer-term challenges, and for consumers there may be games that will take a little longer to arrive.

"If you ask just about anybody in any line of business if they're functioning just as efficiently working remotely as they are in the office, most people will tell you they're at 80% or 90%," Ryan concludes. "The developers that I talk to say the same thing. The line-up of games that we will present at and around launch does not appear to be meaningfully impacted in any way whatsoever.

"Now, whether or not there is a knock-on effect in 2021 or 2022, where some of the gestation processes are a bit longer, and getting creative people in a room to brainstorm, which is obviously difficult over [Microsoft] Teams... whether the inability to do that might have an impact, I think that is legitimate to discuss. But I don't see anything to worry about in the games that we're about to show you."
TL;DR
 

pixelation

Member
The difference is the following:

Sony won the generation thanks to that video and the segment of their E3 show were they said "but we don't" to all of Microsoft's questionable policies. Aaron Greenberg on the other hand has only managed to make a fool of himself on social media by trying to "react" in a hypocritical, unprofessional and childish way to Sony's recent statements.
This is how they come off everytime they try to ride on Sony's coattails.
 
You guys are pretty funny. Did you feel like the PS3 playing generations of previously released PlayStation games as a problem? I have not heard anything about all the software on the Series X working on the One X. Isn't it a pro-consumer move to make sure that if you invest in a console your investment will still get support? Wasn't one of the criticism against MS was the Xbox One had anti-consumer practices with regards to DRM? Now they are getting attacked for giving customers too many options? The only thing MS is doing is respecting the money their customers spent on their previous consoles. I bet a million dollars that the Series X will play EVERY game the PS5 will get from 3rd parties and will have plenty of great next gen games just like the PS5. Are you really fans of this industry?

Fans of the industry, yes, but never been happy with microsoft bouncing into this one. How can anyone mention Microsoft and consumer friendly in the same sentence? They’ve dominated one market and there’s no way in hell they are dominating this one. Sony needs to be market leader for the greater good. The only reason they are playing it all nicey nicey is because they are solely focused on subcriptions and getting everyone on board. If they had the exclusives do you think they would push cross platform play so much?
 
D

Deleted member 775630

Unconfirmed Member
The fuck? Did he not get the memo? A big part of Microsoft's strategy is to blur the lines between the generations...
Did you only read the first sentence?
 

Stooky

Member
"One way to keep PS4 users engaged would be to make upcoming PS5 games playable on the older machine, just like Microsoft is proposing with its Xbox Series X games being playable on Xbox One. Yet Ryan says that's not something PlayStation is interested in doing.

"We have always said that we believe in generations. We believe that when you go to all the trouble of creating a next-gen console, that it should include features and benefits that the previous generation does not include. And that, in our view, people should make games that can make the most of those features."

This statement is why I'm getting PS5 day one over XSEX, last gen I got systems day one. If sony delivers this 1-2 punch next week, for Xbox it could be 2013 all over again. I really want Xbox to show me a launch exclusive that will justify a day one purchase. If not I can wait 2 years. If more ppl are thinking like that's a problem. It just feels like Xbox strategy is more on the cross gen side, for me that doesn't equal a next gen purchase. Xbox needs to stop playing catch up and get their messaging clear, and I hope the price is right. After the Epic demo showcase, Sony is showing that next gen is on PS5, if next week goes well Sony could easily runaway with this. Xbox/Micorsoft show some me next gen games actually running on next gen hardware with a tag line only on XSEX and you will have a customer.
 

longdi

Banned
Greenberg seemed to tweet a response to the "we believe in generations"



A fair point to make. I dont get the uproar.

MS care for generations mean well.. care for generations. Fair.
Sony care for generations mean breaking away from the past, kill it if you have too. Which is a tradition of consoles. Fair too. 🤷‍♀️
 
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Psykodad

Banned
A fair point to make. I dont get the uproar.

MS care for generations mean well.. care for generations. Fair.
Sony care for generations mean breaking away from the past, kill it if you have too. Which is a tradition of consoles. Fair too. 🤷‍♀️
Tbf, MS can't cut current-gen, because their userbase is half of that of PS4.
There's also a high chance of them losing more fans, especially with their terrible games output this gen and not having their games ready for the XSX launch, while Sony is going in hard.
 

Panajev2001a

GAF's Pleasant Genius
Yup, watch people take the “Oh, you bought your $399-499 console... let’s give you software that is 100% focused on it to help justify your choice and reward you” and spin it into a negative :LOL:.
Considering that they also say that PS4 exclusives are not over, that PS5 supports PS4 BC, and all the support they have been giving to PS4 customers then it sounds like console warrior spin only.
 
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Hobbygaming

has been asked to post in 'Grounded' mode.
You guys are pretty funny. Did you feel like the PS3 playing generations of previously released PlayStation games as a problem? I have not heard anything about all the software on the Series X working on the One X. Isn't it a pro-consumer move to make sure that if you invest in a console your investment will still get support? Wasn't one of the criticism against MS was the Xbox One had anti-consumer practices with regards to DRM? Now they are getting attacked for giving customers too many options? The only thing MS is doing is respecting the money their customers spent on their previous consoles. I bet a million dollars that the Series X will play EVERY game the PS5 will get from 3rd parties and will have plenty of great next gen games just like the PS5. Are you really fans of this industry?
The XSX won't get every 3rd party game the PS5 gets, especially not from Japan
 

longdi

Banned
Tbf, MS can't cut current-gen, because their userbase is half of that of PS4.
There's also a high chance of them losing more fans, especially with their terrible games output this gen and not having their games ready for the XSX launch, while Sony is going in hard.

Nah i think it is MS gamers' focused approach that they have been working on since Phil took above. BC is not just first party but all multiplatform BC, so im not sure where MS games output has any factor in it.

Imo it is good to build such ecosystem in the era of digital ID based ownership .
 

Panajev2001a

GAF's Pleasant Genius
Isn't it a pro-consumer move to make sure that if you invest in a console your investment will still get support?

Look at the history of support for consoles, especially in terms of titles released when the successor system was being prepared or when it launched and talk again about support for investment ;).

I see XSX and PS5 having very similar support of the previous generation titles, in terms of titles, and it is a good thing... I like BC, I appreciate the efforts MS made on it, but Sony’s BC support in the past aside from PS4 has been undersold while MS’s one a bit oversold (PS2 BC, PSP BC, PSVita BC, PS3 BC we’re supporting far far more titles than Xbox One ever did).
 

Psykodad

Banned
Nah i think it is MS gamers' focused approach that they have been working on since Phil took above. BC is not just first party but all multiplatform BC, so im not sure where MS games output has any factor in it.

Imo it is good to build such ecosystem in the era of digital ID based ownership .
That's just how it seems on the surface. Under Phil, they already didn't have any of their big titles ready for at least 1-1.5 years into next-gen and now they even have nothing except what 3rd parties offer.

They are dead last, even behind the Switch, so they have no other choice than to play the good-guy.
Basically, they're trying to keep a sinking boat afloat.

I don't get why people still deny it.
 
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longdi

Banned
That's just how it seems on the surface. Under Phil, they already didn't have any of their big titles ready for at least 1-1.5 years into next-gen and now they even have nothing except what 3rd parties offer.

They are dead last, even behind the Switch, so they have no other choice than to play the good-guy.
Basically, they're trying to keep a sinking boat afloat.

I don't get why people still deny it.

Nope why you need to put negative spin around it?
Tbh i care more about multiplatform than Sony 1st party if it matters. Tlou, Uncharted, HZd, all dont appealed to me, with their expensive cinematics overlaying a cookie cutter games design.

Does it make my preferance in denial? 🤷‍♀️
 
That's just how it seems on the surface. Under Phil, they already didn't have any of their big titles ready for at least 1-1.5 years into next-gen and now they even have nothing except what 3rd parties offer.

They are dead last, even behind the Switch, so they have no other choice than to play the good-guy.
Basically, they're trying to keep a sinking boat afloat.

I don't get why people still deny it.

Finally someone else saying it how it is. This whole cross platform garbage was only pushed because they need to support third parties. Funny how pro consumer they are when they’re falling, but when they have the market they double down and make sure people stick to their brand and software.
 

Psykodad

Banned
Nope why you need to put negative spin around it?
Tbh i care more about multiplatform than Sony 1st party if it matters. Tlou, Uncharted, HZd, all dont appealed to me, with their expensive cinematics overlaying a cookie cutter games design.

Does it make my preferance in denial? 🤷‍♀️
I'm not putting a negative spin on it, I'm saying it like it is.

Your preference is clouding your mind, yes.
You disliking Sony's games output has nothing to do with MS' current state in the console-industry.
 

longdi

Banned
I'm not putting a negative spin on it, I'm saying it like it is.

Your preference is clouding your mind, yes.
You disliking Sony's games output has nothing to do with MS' current state in the console-industry.

Nope yours is clouding your mind, not me. Im open minded.
Xbox output has been perfectly fine, with the power of 1X, games are best on Xbox (no PC here).
Please dont make it another 'X have no games' fud.

Gamers buying PS for Sony games are not more than gamers buying PS because of non-Sony games.
 

Psykodad

Banned
Nope yours is clouding your mind, not me. Im open minded.
Xbox output has been perfectly fine, with the power of 1X, games are best on Xbox (no PC here).
Please dont make it another 'X have no games' fud.
I didn't say Xbox One didn't have games, but their 1st party output has been mediocre at best, with the exceptions of Forza and Gears.
That's what people care about.
In practice, the differences for 3rd party are neglectible to the average consumer.

On the matter of not having games on XSX, MS themselves literally said they won't have their games ready for launch and their major XSX titles won't be coming for at least the first year.
That's not something I make up.

Gamers buying PS for Sony games are not more than gamers buying PS because of non-Sony games.

I've never said anything even remotely close to this.
 
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longdi

Banned
I didn't say Xbox One didn't have games, but their 1st party output has been mediocre at best, with the exceptions of Forza and Gears.
That's what people care about.
In practice, the differences for 3rd party are neglectible to the average consumer.

On the matter of not having games on XSX, MS themselves literally said they won't have their games ready for launch and their major XSX titles won't be coming for at least the first year.
That's not something I make up.

I've never said anything even remotely close to this.

Again, first party output are overstated. It dont matter which party if the games are good and appeal to the wide audience.

Just because Sony first party output(sales) exploded this gen, dont negate 3rd party games. The success of PS1,2,3 were propped by games.
Sony games sales comes from a good combination of PS4 popularity and Xbox disaster launch period.
My mind always drift and wonder if MS had launched Xbox One with the same philosophy as 1X, where will they be now? where will Sony games sales be?
 
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Psykodad

Banned
Again, first party output are overstated. It dont matter which party if the games are good and appeal to the wide audience.

Just because Sony first party output(sales) exploded this gen, dont negate 3rd party games. The success of PS1,2,3 were propped by games.
Sony games sales comes from a good combination of PS4 popularity and Xbox disaster launch period.
My mind always drift and wonder if MS had launched Xbox One with the same philosophy as 1X, where will they be now? where will Sony games sales be?
Why do you divert the discussion to 3rd party?
We all know 3rd party games are the driving force each gen, but it's the exclusives that seperate each console.

Anyway, to get back on topic:
Sony will be showing us why one should buy PS5 over it's competitors.
They've been prepping silently and patiently whereas MS has been all talk, no substance so far.
 
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longdi

Banned
Why do you divert the discussion to 3rd party?
We all know 3rd party games are the driving force each gen, but it's the exclusives that seperate each console.

Anyway, to get back on topic:
Sony will be showing us why one should buy PS5 over it's competitors.
They've been prepping silently and patiently whereas MS has been all talk, no substance so far.

Because they are some who wants to play all the first party titles while some just wants to play good games + best version of games.

But somehow MS BC approach suddenly becomes a negative because they dont output as much first party this gen. 🤷‍♀️
 

Psykodad

Banned
Because they are some who wants to play all the first party titles while some just wants to play good games + best version of games.

But somehow MS BC approach suddenly becomes a negative because they dont output as much first party this gen. 🤷‍♀️
You're moving goalposts.
I don't think there are many gamers out there who play only and all first party games. I sure as hell don't, at least.
Besides, you're trying to downplay Sony's 1st party to justify MS only having 3rd party at launch? Whatever floats your boat.

And what does BC have to do with this? Another diversion. Which, btw, is a highly overrated feature.
 
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FranXico

Member
Yup, watch people take the “Oh, you bought your $399-499 console... let’s give you software that is 100% focused on it to help justify your choice and reward you” and spin it into a negative :LOL:.
Considering that they also say that PS4 exclusives are not over, that PS5 supports PS4 BC, and al the support they have been giving to PS4 customers it sounds like console warrior spin only.
When MS decides to give only cross-gen games (ports from current gen), that's a good thing.

When Sony releases distinct games for each generation, with current gen games playable on the next-gen system, it's bad! So anti-consumer! They're abandoning current gen!

Sure.
 

Panajev2001a

GAF's Pleasant Genius
You're moving goalposts.
I don't think there are many gamers out there who play only and all first party games. I sure as hell don't, at least.
Besides, you're trying to downplay Sony's 1st party to justify MS only having 3rd party at launch? Whatever floats your boat.

And what does BC have to do with this? Another diversion. Which, btw, is a highly overrated feature.

Not necessarily here, not trying to accuse longdi of this now, but answering a point with a thousand other bombs reminds me of gaslighting tactics:
Using denial, misdirection, contradiction, and misinformation, gaslighting involves attempts to destabilize the victim and delegitimize the victim's beliefs.
 
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Relativ9

Member
Didn't Sony do the whole used games meme as a response to MS. Both do it.

Well one is a response to a competitors unpopular fuckup. The other is a plead shared praise because their competition did something right/loved by saying "we're like that too" even though they aren't really.
 
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