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Matt Booty: "We are in a unique position to spend Sony out of business"

Panajev2001a

GAF's Pleasant Genius
It’s absolutely comical

Yeah, in 2019 we were speculating on killing Sony by outspending them

Fast forward 3 years, and Microsoft announces the largest tech acquisition in history, larger than the market cap of Nintendo…which is right after they announced the previous largest gaming acquisition of Zenimax, only this one is 10x that size… and suddenly they want us to believe that’s not an extension of their 2019 comment?
… and also followed by other e-mails where they make plans to buy other publishers and with Phil publicly boasting that their acquisitions are not stopping anytime soon.
Seriously, get fucked for taking anyone with half a brain as an idiot that laps up these lies
🔥.
 

Mr.Phoenix

Member
It’s absolutely comical

Yeah, in 2019 we were speculating on killing Sony by outspending them

Fast forward 3 years, and Microsoft announces the largest tech acquisition in history, larger than the market cap of Nintendo…which is right after they announced the previous largest gaming acquisition of Zenimax, only this one is 10x that size… and suddenly they want us to believe that’s not an extension of their 2019 comment?

Seriously, get fucked for taking anyone with half a brain as an idiot that laps up these lies
Exactly.

And what people dont even see about that 2019 comment...its was not just a comment,it was a reaffirmation of intent.

What we are seeing now, didn't start in 2019...it started as far back as 2015. A year after Spencer took over. There was a clear shift or change in direction with Xbox. A new strategy. That new strategy is what we are seeing now... all coming together. It was not just one thing.

like this shit is so obvious to me I don't get how there are people here that don't get it.MS was not even hiding it. Well, as they say...common sense isn't common.
 

Heisenberg007

Gold Journalism
Oh some of the reactions in here... lol.

I wonder what some 2013 Sony internal emails were saying. "Guys Microsoft is too vulnerable right now... we better pull back and give them a break."
Can you share some of those emails, or are you just speculating in a feeble attempt to normalize this? #SonyToo.
 
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Valkyria

Banned
What I’ve never understood about their support of this is they have a not-insignificant number of members who proudly describe themselves as pro-labor anti-capitalists.

So why the hell would they be in favor of THIS, a mega merger, one of the biggest kinds of capitalist moves that almost always ends up harming labor down the line?!?
Because they don’t know what being progressive is. No offense to my fellow Americans, but most of you don’t know what it’s left wing because you don’t have such party in your country.
 

Alex Scott

Member
Studio names in a list of considerations = / = 'Targeting them'.
Yes. They were targeting them. But they failed to acquire them.

Just like Sony wanted time exclusivity of Starfield doesn't mean they would have gotten it. Imran Khan says they approached every studio, but only exclusive games I see is FinalFantasy and Star wars: knights of the old republic.

And FinalFantasy doesn't even sell well on Xbox to begin with.
 
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The CMA did see concern in the console market but it couldn't prove that they would pull content due to some incorrect maths so it dropped its SLC there and concentrated on MGS and cloud. The CMA was more concerned about multigame subscriptions and cloud.

Don't see the relevance either way. You can't point to the current situation and say "where is the monopoly right now then" when the deal hasn't even closed and Zenimax only closed a couple of years ago and their big content haven't released yet.
Ok, couldn’t prove then. You can’t just obstruct business because you’re concerned, you have to actually demonstrate your concerns in real outcomes. Something which the FTC and CMA seem to have had difficulty doing.
 
No offense... and I don't mean this as an insult...

But are you being serious? Or just ignorant?

Do you have no idea how monopolies work? Are do you have your head so far into the sand that it literally takes it happening before you realize that what `happened` actually started x number of years ago?

There is competing... and then there is trying to win by buying out the competition. And the simple truth, the bottom line, is that of the major players in the console business right now...MS is the only one that is in a position to do that. To win by buying out, or outspending the competition. And they have clearly shown, that its not only something they say amongst themselves internally, but its something they are actively putting into motion.

like just stop for a second and think... or if you cant think, just look at what's happening. If this deal goes through, it would mean, that in the space of 2 years, MS has spent over $75B in acquisitions. $75B in acquisitions in 24 months. Do you want to know how much Sony or Nintendo make as profits from gaming in the past 5 years.... combined? Or that that is over 8x more money than sony has spent on gaming-related acquisitions since PlayStation existed.

And you do not see the problem where that is going? like you really think, that after MS has taken two of the 4 biggest publishing scaps in the industry... they would just stop there? Why? Or we should wait till they go and get Sega, Ubisoft, EA, capcom, Namco....etc before we know they have become a monopoly?

You don't see how this works? If you want to outspend the competition, to buy out gaming... what you do, is acquire an overwhelming amount of content. You don't start that by buying up all the sma publishers/studios. If you do that, there would be a major push back when you then try and go for the big ones. You start, by buying the biggest ones you can... if you get away with that, then no one bats an eye when they hear you are buying a smaller one for $5B.

Hysterical? re you on some cheap drugs or something? If anyone is willing to spend $75B in 18 months.... you better take notice. like I dont get it, there have to be a lot of people here that work for MS because that is the only way I can understand how there arent people here losing sleep at the thought that MS, MS of all companies, can become a monopoly in gaming.

Losing sleep at the thought of MS monopolising gaming as a result of this deal?

No offence to you, but you seem to have less idea than even I do and be on cheaper drugs.
 

Three

Member
Ok, couldn’t prove then. You can’t just obstruct business because you’re concerned, you have to actually demonstrate your concerns in real outcomes. Something which the FTC and CMA seem to have had difficulty doing.
Sure, but that still doesn't mean you can point to the current situation and say 'where is the monopoly'. The FTC and CMA would be trying to prove the SLC if it closes, not as it is now.
 

demigod

Member
Yeah. I just feel like if we were looking at all of Sony’s internal emails we’d all be surprised at what we saw, too. So we’re really just putting Msoft under the microscope because we’re being shown all these emails written multiple years ago.
Difference is, Sony doesn’t go on social media and interviews pretending to be the “good guy”. Xbox needs to drop the act. They never fooled me.
 

DenchDeckard

Moderated wildly
Does matt booty have any control on the wider business or is he just games?

Trying to work out how the judges and CMA etc passed this up before
 
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demigod

Member
Serious The Four GIF by Diddy


Forget to switch accounts?
He definitely has an alt, it’s probably meirl again.
 

Hudo

Member
I don't understand why everyone is so surprised about this. You don't think every business in the world has similar emails on different topics?
This. Every bigger company that has competition will have "dirty laundry" and internal emails brainstorming ways how to screw the others. It's normal (and it would be worrying if a company wouldn't think about that).
 

Bkdk

Member
Sony's business model is going to be hit hard if they continue this route, by focusing way too much on their more linear and cinematic AAA they will surely get outspend by microsoft really soon.
 

Helghan

Member
This. Every bigger company that has competition will have "dirty laundry" and internal emails brainstorming ways how to screw the others. It's normal (and it would be worrying if a company wouldn't think about that).
Indeed, but I have a feeling a lot of people here are nowhere near a strategically position within a company, or deliberately act surprised for warring.
 

demigod

Member
Where did I say that, like explicitly point me to the place where I said they were the same, if you can't then you're the moron trying to put words in my mouth. I'm talking about the type of quote from Booty about "spending Sony out of business", which I almost 100% guarantee Sony execs have said similar things about Xbox. Like that's the entire point of this thread, acting like somehow Microsoft is more malicious than Sony because they're doing bigger things, when the intent on both sides is the same, merely the magnitude of the actions they can afford to do is different. Just because Microsoft aren't the "good guys" doesn't mean Sony is
Are you foreal dawg? You think Sony can outspend ms?
 

Rac3r

Member
I don't understand why everyone is so surprised about this. You don't think every business in the world has similar emails on different topics?

This. Every bigger company that has competition will have "dirty laundry" and internal emails brainstorming ways how to screw the others. It's normal (and it would be worrying if a company wouldn't think about that).

The big difference is that his statement wasn't hyperbolic. Microsoft has the means to do exactly what he said, and we're seeing their plan in action right now.
 

Hudo

Member
The big difference is that his statement wasn't hyperbolic. Microsoft has the means to do exactly what he said, and we're seeing their plan in action right now.
Most of the internal brainstormings within companies about how to deal with competition aren't hyperbolic, though.
 

demigod

Member
That’s the whole point of every acquisition, though. “there’s another company that’s doing some thing that you wish you could be doing and you have lots of money, so just buy them out instead of doing it yourself”. I mean that’s like, Standard Business Practice in America 101.

And as far as money-hatting and wheeling and dealing for console exclusivity, or timed exclusives, Sony drives everyone else off the road with those kinds of deals. So, I’m not understanding the double standard.

And since we all agree that all of these companies are basically terrible, and they all want to drive the other one out of business, so that they’re the only one left, I’m not see how Microsoft is any worse than Sony is in that regard.

Please tell me how I’m wrong 🤷‍♂️
Please tell me you just started gaming and missed out on gen 7.
 

Fabieter

Member
This. Every bigger company that has competition will have "dirty laundry" and internal emails brainstorming ways how to screw the others. It's normal (and it would be worrying if a company wouldn't think about that).

How often do these bigger companies make acquisitions almost as big as the competitions market cap?
 

SJRB

Gold Member
Some of you need to understand that these quotes by themselves are meaningless, however they are important in the context of their Activision acquisition where they're under heavy scrutiny.

Microsoft having emails stating they want to wreck Sony is the opposite of what they've been saying they're planning with this acquisition. They've been trying to position themselves as the underdog, the scrappy good guys yet all these e-mails keep pouring out about them wanting to put Sony out of business, or at least exclude PlayStation from their formerly multiplatform game releases.

Hence why these mails are threadworthy, and why it's not a good look for them even though obviously every competitive company in the world wants to wreck their direct competition.
 
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Hudo

Member
How often do these bigger companies make acquisitions almost as big as the competitions market cap?
Maybe not every day but big acquisitions are happening on a regular basis, just maybe not as much in the entertainment industry. But the financial or medical sectors are more active with acquisitions worth billions. I still don't see why this is such a big issue that Microsoft are discussion how to deal with the competition internally? I can promise you that Sony and Nintendo also have talked about the competition and what they can do. And I remember Sony behaving pretty nasty behind the scenes towards Sega, which is why we didn't see Sega games on PS2 for some time after they've given up the console space.
 
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Tams

Member
This. Every bigger company that has competition will have "dirty laundry" and internal emails brainstorming ways how to screw the others. It's normal (and it would be worrying if a company wouldn't think about that).

Yeah, but a healthy business does not need to brainstorm ways to remove/'destroy' their competitors.

A moral absolutely doesn't.

And shouldn't we at least want companies to be moral? After all, in some countries they are legally people.
 

Fabieter

Member
Maybe not every day but big acquisitions are happening on a regular basis, just maybe not as much in the entertainment industry. But the financial or medical sectors are more active with acquisitions worth billions. I still don't see why this is such a big issue that Microsoft are discussion how to deal with the competition internally? I can promise you that Sony and Nintendo also have talked about the competition and what they can do. And I remember Sony behaving pretty nasty behind the scenes towards Sega, which is why we didn't see Sega games on PS2 for some time after they've given up the console space.

Ofc they do. But like I said context is important. We dont have another player able to counter anything happening here and buying two of the biggest publisher in the span of 2 years will have a big impact on competition. Didnt he said in another email that they want to content starve sony?
 
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