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[ReBurn]

They won't make CoD exclusive. Bethesda games like Starfield, Elder scrolls etc. are mostly SP. Maybe with an MP component. But CoD is an online service with a steady income stream.

People who buy a PlayStation primarily for Call of Duty would sell their PlayStation and move to another platform to keep spending money to play it. I believe NeoGAF likes to refer to these folks as "casuals."

 

[Punished Miku]

No, it's not. I can't believe some people still actually believe this.

Microsoft paid a shit ton to keep these games off their competitor's box. You ain't getting it on your PS5. You can either stream it or plunk down the money for a XSX (I'd got for the latter...it's worth it!)

Really, I think it could go either way. I also think the purchase price is a bit of an afterthought for them at this point. Bruce Springstein just sold all his songs to Sony for like half a billion, and most of his audience will be dead in 20 years. It's going to be for licensing in movies, commercials, presidential campaign ads, and putting remakes on elevators.

MS buying a $50 billion company for $70 billion means they get to keep a $50 billion asset. They're really only spending $20 billion as long as it doesn't drop in value. If it increases in value, the amount they spent is even less. MS stocks and Activision stocks have already gone up, which takes a chunk off that $20 billion right there. They pull in at least $1 billion a year if not more, profit. Over the next 20 years, just owning that license will basically pay for itself, regardless if they put it on Gamepass or not. They could just have it day one on Gamepass and think that is enough of a contrast to the $70 or more it'll cost on PS.

Similar to the Minecraft purchase in that case.

 

[Orta]

A few well eaten scraps will be thrown in Sony's direction for the foreseeable, once contractural obligations have expired they'll be told to fuck off out if it.

As was the case with Bethesda.

 

[Excess]

Of course.

It would be stupid not to keep these games multiplat because many of them are multiplayer with crossplay, and because Microsoft no longer needs to sell consoles, they only need to focus on raising subscription numbers for Game Pass with Activision/Blizzard games.

 

[Raven117]

Makes some sense....Stuff like CoD yeah, it will be on Playstation. They will continue to make a fortune.

 

[Sosokrates]

It makes sense.

Put CoD on game pass and also sell it for 70 usd on Playstation.

Might as well be exclusive if thats the case, which COD player is going to spend $70 a pop when they can get it plus a shit ton of other great games for $10-15/ month?

 

[phil_t98]

It'll force them to get closer to their fans and gamers, and to release more games and IP's that they are now. So it should end up well for me as a PS gamer. Also this could mean they review their PC approach.

So release more games? So you want them to shorten the development cycle? That’s bizarre

The pc approach is the right approach. They making money out of it. It’s all about business

 

[Aion002]

I'm betting that Microsoft won't release COD on PS5 once the deal is done. Yearly COD games are a perfect fit for a recurring subscription model. My guess is they'll try to use it to shift PlayStation players to PC game pass or release a Series X or S COD bundle with some free game pass to try to coax them away from PS5.

If MS wants to hurt Playstation sales that's the way to go.

Most console Call of Duty gamers won't hesitate in buying an Xbox if the next CoD is exclusive.

Imagine a Series S bundled with 1 month of Game Pass for free with a huge CoD and Fortnite art on the box.

Might as well be exclusive if thats the case, which COD player is going to spend $70 a pop when they can get it plus a shit ton of other great games for $10-15/ month?

My take is that would be the plan.

"Why keep a Playstation if the Xbox gives what CoD players want plus more for less money" is what MS would hope from consumers reaction. Plus MS gets extra money from Playstation die hard gamers and is the "good guy" for some.

 

[iHaunter]

Microsoft Buys Scandal-Tainted Activision in Bet on Metaverse

Microsoft Corp. plans to buy Activision Blizzard Inc. for $68.7 billion, acquiring a legendary game publisher responsible for franchises like Call of Duty and World of Warcraft, but recently roiled by claims of sexual misconduct and discrimination.

www.bloomberg.com

There you go. Sony isn't going anywhere and the Playstation brand will be perfectly fine.

JIM RYAN IS GOD!

I guess not too surprising. Phil needs to make-up for all of his spending. Limited to just XSX will lose them millions per release if not billions from Macrotransactions.

 

[phil_t98]

I feel like there may be a chance they will keep CoD multi-plat even once the deal is complete.

I think there is a contract to have dlc on ps first so they will have to honour that til it ends I guess

 

[SafeOrAlone]

You can play Call of Duty on Playstation but all player-characters must wear a little pink dress.

 

[Fully engaged]

Microsoft right now.
"Your move Sony."

 

[Excess]

Might as well be exclusive if thats the case, which COD player is going to spend $70 a pop when they can get it plus a shit ton of other great games for $10-15/ month?

They won't, but it helps maintain Microsoft's Goodwill.

 

[lastmessiah]

Spending all that money, they should go exclusive.

There’s no question that they will be full exclusive, this is just the River of Nile all over again like the Zenimax buy.

 

[Kacho]

 

[Billbofet]

Now I am half-thinking they will buy Sega. Tomorrow is Wednesday.

 

[//DEVIL//]

This is a marketing to soften the hate and the threats of PlayStation fanboys and the millions of players on PlayStation right now.

It’s clear as a sun.

Games like warzone or whatever games that has continues user base will keep getting supported . Like all the previous cod games and warzone etc .


New cod ( specially 2023 cod, who knows about 2022 cod ) is Xbox / pc / game pass exclusive

Bet your ass MS didn’t fork 70 billion to release their biggest game on PlayStation

 

[Edgelord79]

This doesn't mean anything. They will just not allow those games to be on Sony's upcoming gaming service which could pull a lot of strong titles from their service. However, they will be happy to sell them at PS prices.

 

[DenchDeckard]

Microsoft have stuck to one thing and what Phil has been chiming for ages. Console wars are pointless, people are bickering over small scraps when you have a player in the game that are willing to literally buy the biggest third party publisher in the west. It’s just out of this stratosphere.

mental shit. There’s no point in warring when a company could just buy an entire company like this. I think MS will keep games like cod coming to PlayStation, but Diablo and others will be cherry picked to drive game pass. Plus call of duty will have exclusive game pass skins etc to drive further incentive.

 

[ToTTenTranz]

Hope they change their mind and go full exclusive.

I think they would if they could, but not going full exclusive is probably how they intend to escape anti-trust class action suits or additional government regulation.

 

[Naked Lunch]

This statement reads to me like they arent going to just pull the games already released from other platforms. Like they arent going to just shut down the recent Dutys from Playstation. Just like Bethesda didnt pull the already released Fallouts and Skyrim. Those communities will remain.

Also games already under development before the sale like Deathloop and Ghostwire will come out on other platforms too.

But in my eyes, new entries/titles will be exclusive.

 

[DaGwaphics]

Clear as mud.

Agreed. They seemed to take at least 5 different positions before Starfield went exclusive. I've given up try to guess.

 

[Silent Viper]

Microsoft Buys Scandal-Tainted Activision in Bet on Metaverse

Microsoft Corp. plans to buy Activision Blizzard Inc. for $68.7 billion, acquiring a legendary game publisher responsible for franchises like Call of Duty and World of Warcraft, but recently roiled by claims of sexual misconduct and discrimination.

www.bloomberg.com

There you go. Sony isn't going anywhere and the Playstation brand will be perfectly fine.

JIM RYAN IS GOD!

Dear boy.

Let Me explain you in simple English. -

Games which are already released and are actively played on PS will remain as it is like Warzone n all. But new games from 2023 or 24 onwards when MS fully and properly actually acquires them, then you will start seeing exclusive games.

 

[KungFucius]

Deal will close by mid 2023. AB has to operate assuming the deal will not close so they will plan CoD games on PS5 through 2025 at a minimum. That will be 5 years into PS5 lifecycle. Cutting the franchise off at that point makes no sense and it would not go over well with the fans who play COD on PS5. PS6 would be where they draw the line if they choose to do so. You can't argue that they are pissing off PS6 & COD fans if they make it clear the the PS6 will not get new COD games before it even launches.

That said, it is not clear to me that they would stop publishing these games on all platforms. The game sells a shit ton on every platform, every year. This is different than TES/FO that release 1 game each per generation at most. COD releases the biggest game each year. For a 7 year generation this is ~5x or more more copies sold than those titles. It would be much more expensive if they get it wrong. My guess is that they would determine that strategy as they move into whatever the next gen is, not now.

 

[Bo_Hazem]

So release more games? So you want them to shorten the development cycle? That’s bizarre

The pc approach is the right approach. They making money out of it. It’s all about business

Not shorten, expand their studios and buy/build new studios for that task.

 

[Evil Calvin]

Thing is, if Sony bought Take Two do you think Sony would allow GTA6 on the Xbox? Hell no!!!

 

[phil_t98]

Not shorten, expand their studios and buy/build new studios for that task.

according to you guys Sony only does this naturally.what you asking for is to force them. leave them to do what they do

 

[01011001]

Have we gone back in time? That's almost identical to what was said about Zenimax at this stage...

yes, that is PR speech for "we will not shut down Warzone on PS4"

it would be more than easy to say "future Activision games will come to PlayStation" but instead this vague stuff gets said

 

[SlimySnake]

This is a marketing to soften the hate and the threats of PlayStation fanboys and the millions of players on PlayStation right now.

It’s clear as a sun.

Games like warzone or whatever games that has continues user base will keep getting supported . Like all the previous cod games and warzone etc .


New cod ( specially 2023 cod, who knows about 2022 cod ) is Xbox / pc / game pass exclusive

Bet your ass MS didn’t fork 70 billion to release their biggest game on PlayStation

Yep. They did the same thing when they announced the Zenimax acquisition. It wasnt until the deal was finalized six months later did they come right out and say that Starfield and Elder Scrolls will be exclusive.

 

[SLB1904]

Thing is, if Sony bought Take Two do you think Sony would allow GTA6 on the Xbox? Hell no!!!

the ages we live in i don't think gta is a good investment anymore. probably for online but that doesn't interest me at all

 

[Cyberpunkd]

Don't think it is

WIth Zenimax it was much more cryptc

Nah, this is exactly the same thing. Xbox/PC exclusive from now on.

 

[Umbasaborne]

Kinda reads like "well keep supporting [the existing] titles on PlayStation" without really coming out and saying future games will be exclusive to Xbox.

Exactly what they said about Bethesda. Which is why the Elder Scrolls Online is still getting content updates and new DLC on PlayStation.

I bet new call of duties will be xbox exclusive, however warzone will remain multiplatform and contjnue to be updated on ps, like minecraft. Either way, this shit sucks

 

[Fredrik]

Yeah, all cards are on the table. They've secured their position for sure now so how they choose to release content going forward is entirely up to them; it could stay status quo (what we're used to now) or they might just start act more like a Disney and put their content where they think it makes sense; if that is on PlayStation and they can still make money, they might do that. But who knows at this point. Game Pass is definitely their focus so whatever helps them promote that is what they will do.

It seemed like a game over moment for PS fans at first but it could be alright.

And if Sony allow Gamepass on PS we’re all winners.

For real I literally payed $60 for everything I played on XSX last year - Forza Horizon 5, Halo Infinite, Psychonauts 2, The Ascent, Flight Simulator, The Medium, Gears Tactics, MLB, Outriders, etc etc - $60

 

[FStubbs]

That sounds like an explicit confirmation that their intention is to keep ABK as an autonomous subsidiary in order not to run into regulatory issues.

And lets face it, if they stated up-front their intention was to make CoD exclusive, that would look explicitly anti-competitive to the extent that it'd definitely legitimize objections to the deal on those grounds.

Also. As I noted in another post the annual release + season pass strategy really does not work within Gamepass. Because it turns the offer into "buy a subscription and then buy another subscription!" Whilst severely distracting from all other similar product on the service for a month every year...

To be honest, the more I think about it, the worse a deal it looks for MS. The whole structure of Activision is so geared around this specific launch cadence I cannot imagine it not simply resulting in a severe loss of revenue for the unit as a whole. I really do not see a scenario where it makes CoD bigger and more profitable.

Microsoft is a platform holder. Their goal is to get people onto their platform.

"After 2023, if you want to play any new CoD, Overwatch, DID WE MENTION CALL OF DUTY?!, Starcraft, Diablo, AND DID WE MENTION CALL OF DUTY, you will need to be in Microsoft's ecosystem - Xbox, Gamepass, PC".

 

[Warnen]

Not shorten, expand their studios and buy/build new studios for that task.

big ask if casuals jump ship, CoD crowd keeps the lights on going by sales...

 

[JerryinSoCal]

"But Sony still won't support game pass, so they are not interested in keeping the community together"

Could imagine something like that.

What does that have to do with anything? Why would Sony need to support gamepass? selling the game on PlayStation which sells far more copies of COD than xbox has over the past 10 years will help to subsidize gamepass.

 

[JerryinSoCal]

Here we go again!!!

In my opinion, either GamePass comes to Playstation or CoD will be an exclusive.

Got to recoup that $70bn.

MS will make money off of PlayStation sales, they'll make more from that than they do COD being on game pass.

 

[Kokoloko85]

Lol pretty sure Bethesda said the same thing

 

[eastcoastkody]

i think Playstation still gets Warzone. and thats it

 

[dorkimoe]

Agreed. They seemed to take at least 5 different positions before Starfield went exclusive. I've given up try to guess.

yup, there is no way they keep stuff on PS forever unless they are going to focus on software and not hardware. It will stay for a little bit but cant be forever

 

[FStubbs]

Microsoft right now.
"Your move Sony."

Or also,

"Your move, Apple. Your move, Tencent".

 

[MonarchJT]

Hope they change their mind and go full exclusive.

There will be exclusives 100%

 

[JerryinSoCal]

Might as well be exclusive if thats the case, which COD player is going to spend $70 a pop when they can get it plus a shit ton of other great games for $10-15/ month?

A couple of things, there are twice as many PS4 owners as xbox one so clearly a lot of people don't care about MS's games, that $10-$15 is going to go up in price after spending this kind of money, they would be stupid to leave hundreds of millions of dollars on the floor by not releasing COD on PlayStation in the future, it could help subsidize game pass. MS keeps saying console sales are irrelevant, if that's truly what they believe publishing games on PlayStation and making a ton of money off of them makes a lot more sense than trying to lure tens of millions of people over who really don't care for your console portfolio. Let's be real Activision isn't what they used to be, the newest COD had the weakest sales in 14 years, warcraft isn't on console and Diablo is bigger on PC than console, what else do they have aside from smaller franchises that won't be pulling people in?

 

[ResilientBanana]

Here we go again!!!

In my opinion, either GamePass comes to Playstation or CoD will be an exclusive.

Got to recoup that $70bn.

When you buy a house, you buy an investment. They paid that in cash in hopes to continually make money over time and make their company flourish. This didn't put them in debt as Microsoft had over $137B in cash as it was. The goal is to have that $70B investment to make them money over time, but I'm sure there's not a timeframe to recoup it.

 

[PlayStaytion]

Probably the good valuable stuff will be exclusive, fingers crossed if you'll experience future existing ips the same way you experience them today , business deals can't get smarter than that.

 

[Insane Metal]

I mean, COD is huge on both XB and PS, imagine losing half their player base... I don't think that's what they want. There will obviously be exclusive stuff but there's no way everything will be exclusive.

I could be wrong tho so whatever.

 

[Jigga117]

You all haven’t learned from Bethesda sayin the same stuff again? 70 billion isn’t used to keep COD multi platform with PlayStation eventually it will be exclusive and people will move with it. The community is there. Sure people will bitch like some of you are doing now. But people will just accept.

 

[Bo_Hazem]

according to you guys Sony only does this naturally.what you asking for is to force them. leave them to do what they do

Not forcing anyone, just expanding and getting more devs. Keep buying smaller studios with good talent, and build a healthy environment inside those studios that they would rather stay than migrate to other studios.

 

[Godot25]

Watch this
Warzone will still be available on PlayStation
Overwatch 2 will release on PS5 because game is interconnected with Overwatch 1

But mainline Call of Duty games, Diablo IV etc. will be PC and Xbox only.

 

[phil_t98]

Not forcing anyone, just expanding and getting more devs. Keep buying smaller studios with good talent, and build a healthy environment inside those studios that they would rather stay than migrate to other studios.

Your first post I replied to said about forcing. Nothing should it should be natural as Sony fans have always stated. The PS brand will still be as strong as ever, maybe this could make Sony and Microsoft work together a bit?