Support NeoGAF

[Porticus]

That's the thing. FTC fine with Sony having exclusives but not MS.

They fine if Japanese company dominate American market with 3rd party deals, but they cant let American company do the same in America.

I seriously wonder what kind of people work in FTC

I seriously wonder if you are a bot or simply lack any logical thinking.

 

[FullMetalx117]

That's the thing. FTC fine with Sony having exclusives but not MS.

They fine if Japanese company dominate American market with 3rd party deals, but they cant let American company do the same in America.

I seriously wonder what kind of people work in FTC

I think many devs are intentionally making the choice to make exclusive or get a deal with Sony because well…how many more copies can you realistically expect to sell on Xbox with its small user base? For example…activision had a marketing deal with Sony because they have a large user base. Nothing to do with Japanese versus American company or whatever. No one wants to sell 2 copies total unless being bankrolled by Microsoft or bought out

 

[StueyDuck]

Again, you seem to be confused. Microsoft isn't limited to what it can acquire because Sony is limited.
Just because Sony hasn't bought a company as big as ABK doesn't mean MS can't.
Sony bought big publishers years ago. They have purchased the vast amount of their game studios, just like MS have. Infact, Sony only has two more studios they built from the ground up than MS has (6-4).
Sony doesn't dictate the rules of how game companies can be ran, or how they can grow.
It doesn't matter if Sony fans think MS buying a big publisher isn't "fair". It doesn't matter that Sony doesn't have the ability to match MSs wallet.
And let's be honest here, of Sony could afford to buy ABK, and they had the opportunity, do you honestly think they wouldn't? You do realize the same Sony who doesn't do that sort of thing offered about 40-50 billion for Fox yeah?
Don't kid yourself. And, if Sony did buy ABK, the same people here saying how bad it is that MS is doing it, would all suddenly be touching themselves in their dirty spots about it.

Hey, it sucks when things don't go your way. It sucked as an xbox gamer when Sony was getting all the exclusive content and Xbox didn't. But you didn't mind then, so now that Xbox is getting exclusive content that PS isn't, you again shouldn't mind.
In the words of my PS friends, want to play the exclusives? Buy an xbox.

Holy persecution complex batman...

 

[Ar¢tos]

Completely understand Pete Hines frustration here. He was the big decision maker and that's been taken away from him. It's a tough pill to swallow.

Phil has always been quite out front that Bethesda was purchased to improve xbox first party line up but call of duty is a completely different beast.

He can always leave and start a new multiplatform studio and take talent from the teams at Bethesda with him. I'm sure Tencent or another company will give him funding, if his big issue is not being multiplatform anymore (vs sales decrease for lack of Playstation versions + gamepass).

 

[Astray]

Pete is probably still on a contract that primarily incentivizes B2P sales, in that case, you would be pissed off too if you are disallowed from publishing on the most lucrative platform and forced to ship all of his games "for free", only to watch his boss be far more lenient with another guy.

Spencer and Xbox getting exposed a bit more each time. Love to see it.

Shocked at how these emails are leaking out. I think it must be employees that have been bought out that are sick of their shit too.

It's part of the FTC trial documents, they're available publicly

 

[DenchDeckard]

He can always leave and start a new multiplatform studio and take talent from the teams at Bethesda with him. I'm sure Tencent or another company will give him funding, if his big issue is not being multiplatform anymore (vs sales decrease for lack of Playstation versions + gamepass).

This is True, I expect Todd and maybe Pete to leave soon after Starfield ships.

 

[harry mason 1989]

shhhh he says he is against hypocrisy but conveniently ignores all the third-party exclusive games Xbox has done over the years.

I think some of these accounts are actually Ai designed to spread certain agendas
That's why I stopped taking them seriously
Or maybe I'm exaggerating
I don't know

 

[Kacho]

This is True, I expect Todd and maybe Pete to leave soon after Starfield ships.

Lol what?

 

[Coulomb_Barrier]

I am all for exclusives. The more the better. I am just against hypocrisy.
When MS got Tomb Raider as an exclusive, do you remember the absolute smashing they got from the media and Sony fans for taking the game away from Sony?
It was a bloodbath, and it scared MS from ever doing it again.
Now that Sony has been doing it, they got praised for getting those games for their players.
It might upset some people that MS has deep pockets and could buy Sony tomorrow with Cash and not lose a night's sleep, but stiff shit. That's the reality, and MS should do all the buying of studios they can for their console.
I don't give two fucks if Sony can't match them. Sony should do what they are good at, and if they do a good job, they will be successful.

This is absolutely absurd.

There can be no hypocrisy or equivalence to MS making the biggest tech acquisition of all time, which followed MS making another huge publisher acquisition which itself dwarfs anything Sony has ever bought out. Even if Sony made a dozen game exclusivity deals made up of all big third party titles it wouldn't be equivalent to what MS is trying to do here.

 

[Darsxx82]

Pete’s really triggered you guys huh.

Quite the contrary, rather it seems that it causes obfuscation to you... Well, rather, any of the published emails causes it for you even though it lacks a minimum of substance

 

[Banjo64]

Quite the contrary, rather it seems that it causes obfuscation to you... Well, rather, any of the published emails causes it for you even though it lacks a minimum of substance

Hearing directly from the leads at Xbox and Zenimax causes obfuscation?

 

[Darsxx82]

Hearing directly from the leads at Xbox and Zenimax causes obfuscation?

Yes, that is what is surprising, that an email whose content lacks substance produces such a thing for you. Well no, no surprise.....

 

[Zathalus]

Spencer and Xbox getting exposed a bit more each time. Love to see it.

Shocked at how these emails are leaking out. I think it must be employees that have been bought out that are sick of their shit too.

Nobody is leaking anything. These are public documents submitted in the FTC trial.

Also try actually reading the email to see what's it about, there is nothing here exposing Phil Spencer or Xbox.

 

[Nankatsu]

 

[cebri.one]

 

[Banjo64]

Yes, that is what is surprising, that an email whose content lacks substance produces such a thing for you. Well no, no surprise.....

I have to say if you don’t think the written word of the highest level of executives at Xbox and Zenimax have no substance, then you’re probably not operating with a full deck.

 

[Coulomb_Barrier]

Also try actually reading the email to see what's it about, there is nothing here exposing Phil Spencer or Xbox.

'Good guy' Spencer has been exposed, the guy that keeps repeating 'we're trying to bring games to as many gamers as possible' while simultaneously making phone calls to cancel Playstation builds of multiplat titles was always a load of horseshit.

 

[Darsxx82]

I have to say if you don’t think the written word of the highest level of executives at Xbox and Zenimax have no substance, then you’re probably not operating with a full deck.

No matter how high-ranking they are, not everything they say has to have substance.

In any case, if what you are looking for is to draw some conclusion or substance from that email, the only thing left is the confirmation that MS is going to make COD and other ABK games multiplatform.

That Pete Hines doesn't know how to answer the question from the press as to why ABK's games will be multiplatform and Bethesda's won't (or on a case-by-case basis)..... has no substance.

 

[topper_harley]

I thought Microsoft had completely hands-off approach with Bethesda. At least that's what lying Phill said.

 

[Loomy]

Way too go off the rails.
He is so against exclusives, and apologised to PlayStation players for not bringing Starfield to PS, yet he had no fucking problems selling exclusives to Sony to have them held off xbox.
He should shut the fuck up, realize he works for MS now and his only concern should be about putting the best content out on MS platforms.
If he wants to be a multiplatform guy, fuck off to EA or Ubisoft.

You're showing a fundamental misunderstanding of the difference in the situations here.

No one is preventing Microsoft from paying for times exclusives on their platforms - they've done it in the past. That is what Bethesda did with Deathloop and that is what Crystal Dynamics did with Tomb Raider.

Although I imagine that's going to be harder to do going forward with AAA games because of Game Pass.

The difference here is that Microsoft is paying to deny others content permanently.

 

[Zathalus]

'Good guy' Spencer has been exposed, the guy that keeps repeating 'we're trying to bring games to as many gamers as possible' while simultaneously making phone calls to cancel Playstation builds of games was always a load of horseshit.

That's not exactly news. Starfield was confirmed exclusive ages ago. Nothing in this email contradicts that?

 

[Tsaki]

'...what we were asked (told)...'
Interesting that he has to remind his colleagues about this

 

[ToadMan]

Pete is probably still on a contract that primarily incentivizes B2P sales, in that case, you would be pissed off too if you are disallowed from publishing on the most lucrative platform and forced to ship all of his games "for free", only to watch his boss be far more lenient with another guy.

I think this is an important point but it doesn’t stop with Pete Hines.

Bonuses are performance related across MS. If you’re selling Windows and Office to governments you’re making bank in bonuses and options because those sell themselves these days.

But what if you’re doing the intangible work of getting stuff on GP with stagnant subscriptions and no sales?

When it comes time for your annual performance review what metric can anyone pinpoint to say you’re increasing the value of MS?

Some of these emails seem like underlings trying to gently wake Phil Spencer up and point out they are losing a lot of money on a crusade that is taking them all down.

And not to mention that creative people want their content to reach a wide audience, not be hidden from access for arbitrary and potentially misguided business reasons.

FO76 on PS Now Phil pushed back on but zeni was doing that before formal acquisition and made it clear they wanted to go that way so he gave in. Post acquisition - he cuts zeni’s throat.

He wanted Minecraft and subsequent properties exclusive but they seem to have found some contract clause to force him out of that idea.

Not so much luck for Bethesda though.

 

[wolffy66]

So the fact he is running Xbox 1st party studios is irrelevant?

As proven by reality...

 

[Kokoloko85]

another email that isn't interesting. Keep them coming.

Another email that shows MS is full of shit

 

[MarkMe2525]

Marketing guy asking direction on how to market shit.

 

[Gambit2483]

MS pulled an Okie Doke with Bethesda.

You only get one Okie Doke during an imminent monopolization campaign.

 

[Jigsaah]

Why would Bethesda think they would get the same treatment as Call of Duty, a game that literally ships yearly? Pete Hines is dumb.

Also, this doesn't mean TES6 is exclusive to Xbox. They may want it to be, but the public verbiage has been that if franchises that have a fanbase on Playstation would still get those games. To me, that means TES6 will be multiplat.

 

[Clear]

I think this is an important point but it doesn’t stop with Pete Hines.

Bonuses are performance related across MS. If you’re selling Windows and Office to governments you’re making bank in bonuses and options because those sell themselves these days.

But what if you’re doing the intangible work of getting stuff on GP with stagnant subscriptions and no sales?

When it comes time for your annual performance review what metric can anyone pinpoint to say you’re increasing the value of MS?

Some of these emails seem like underlings trying to gently wake Phil Spencer up and point out they are losing a lot of money on a crusade that is taking them all down.

And not to mention that creative people want their content to reach a wide audience, not be hidden from access for arbitrary and potentially misguided business reasons.

FO76 on PS Now Phil pushed back on but zeni was doing that before formal acquisition and made it clear they wanted to go that way so he gave in. Post acquisition - he cuts zeni’s throat.

He wanted Minecraft and subsequent properties exclusive but they seem to have found some contract clause to force him out of that idea.

Not so much luck for Bethesda though.

Yep, he has to be wondering about whether a reduction in SKU's is going to be accompanied by a reduction in funding, whether headcount/team-size needs to be trimmed, its a whole can of worms from a management standpoint.

What's more there are obvious questions of status within the company; if one group remains multi-plat and income remains constant, what happens to the group tied down to GP/exclusivity and thus generating lower revenue? Seems to me that their star will fall comparatively making it harder for them to argue for funding bumps and bonuses.

Not to mention the basic ego thing of why Bobby's lot are getting left alone while his studio is expected to change their processes for the overall good.

Maybe this is what Jim Ryan is counting on? If MS starts demanding structural changes at his new acquisitions its inevitable that some people are going to find themselves unhappy or unwanted, at which point he can have his recruiters reach out and make offers for talent thinking about a change.

At the end of the day the only things that can be truly "acquired" are assets and IP, the key people behind these franchises need to be kept happy.

 

[solidus12]

Those Bethesda tittles are amazing. Both of them.

I read those Bethesda titties

 

[DeepEnigma]

Pete's mistake is to think a videogame journalist would press a developer on literally anything.

We no longer have journalists, we have marketing extensions. And that applies to all sectors in society when it comes to "journalism."

 

[solidus12]

 

[NEbeast]

Again, you seem to be confused. Microsoft isn't limited to what it can acquire because Sony is limited.
Just because Sony hasn't bought a company as big as ABK doesn't mean MS can't.
Sony bought big publishers years ago. They have purchased the vast amount of their game studios, just like MS have. Infact, Sony only has two more studios they built from the ground up than MS has (6-4).
Sony doesn't dictate the rules of how game companies can be ran, or how they can grow.
It doesn't matter if Sony fans think MS buying a big publisher isn't "fair". It doesn't matter that Sony doesn't have the ability to match MSs wallet.
And let's be honest here, of Sony could afford to buy ABK, and they had the opportunity, do you honestly think they wouldn't? You do realize the same Sony who doesn't do that sort of thing offered about 40-50 billion for Fox yeah?
Don't kid yourself. And, if Sony did buy ABK, the same people here saying how bad it is that MS is doing it, would all suddenly be touching themselves in their dirty spots about it.

Hey, it sucks when things don't go your way. It sucked as an xbox gamer when Sony was getting all the exclusive content and Xbox didn't. But you didn't mind then, so now that Xbox is getting exclusive content that PS isn't, you again shouldn't mind.
In the words of my PS friends, want to play the exclusives? Buy an xbox.

Missing the forest for the trees there buddy.

 

[RoboFu]

This is True, I expect Todd and maybe Pete to leave soon after Starfield ships.

of course they will... its standard practice for a deal to include the higher ups to stay for a year or project end in a aqusition.

 

[Nydius]

Why would Bethesda think they would get the same treatment as Call of Duty, a game that literally ships yearly? Pete Hines is dumb.

Call of Duty can only dream of having a game like Skyrim, a game that has such cultural cachet and staying power that they can keep selling it for 12 years without it losing relevance. COD regularly gets shit on precisely for their annual cycle.

Starfield could be a 10+ year seller just like Skyrim, but that’s very unlikely when the audience is limited to PC and one console family and is being cannibalized by subscription.

Hines is 100% right to feel backstabbed by being forced to make formerly multiplatform games into exclusives when Activision gets a pass on the same thing.

 

[Jigsaah]

Call of Duty can only dream of having a game like Skyrim, a game that has such cultural cachet and staying power that they can keep selling it for 12 years without it losing relevance. COD regularly gets shit on precisely for their annual cycle.

Starfield could be a 10+ year seller just like Skyrim, but that’s very unlikely when the audience is limited to PC and one console family and is being cannibalized by subscription.

Hines is 100% right to feel backstabbed by being forced to make formerly multiplatform games into exclusives when Activision gets a pass on the same thing.

You know who obviously doesn't feel this way? Sony....nor Microsoft.

 

[Silent Viper]

I seriously wonder if you are a bot or simply lack any logical thinking.

Instead of giving such nonsense reply come with logical counter argument.

 

[TheGodfather07]

They have no choice but obviously they will be annoyed that they can't leverage the bigger platform. Ultimately, it hurts their ip. Starfield will be big but how much bigger would it be if it also released on PS? Way bigger.

 

[Draugoth]

The mispell at the title made me read it as "titties".

But knowing Microosft, they would snag CoD out of Playstation as soon as possible.

 

[aliadiere25]

I'm willing to bet that Pete and Todd will regret selling their soul to Microsoft. They saw that 8 billion and couldn't resist. They should have set some ground rules before selling.

They could have made a fortune selling future games to Sony and Nintendo. They're banking on it doing well on PC and hoping people buy Game Pass.

 

[CatLady]

'We, at Bethesda regret making our games exlusively on Xbox'

I think it's time to replace Pete. He obviously isn't happy to be at Xbox so get someone who is.

 

[systemr123]

That may still be up for debate internally...

 

[solidus12]

The mispell at the title made me read it as "titties".

But knowing Microosft, they would snag CoD out of Playstation as soon as possible.

Same here. Who doesn’t love a big pair of titties

 

[splattered]

i'm just sayin, if Starfield doesn't meet sales expectations for as much time and money as they've pumped into it i wouldn't be surprised to see MS decide to port Starfield to PS and bring TES6 to PS as well. Ya never know..

 

[mckmas8808]

The senior vice president of global marketing & communications at Bethesda (a multi billion dollar company) should have a basic understanding of games and consoles.
I'm just some random from the street and even I knew Bethesda games would be exclusive.

So why aren't ABK's?

 

[mckmas8808]

Microsoft should just commit to release all their games on Playstation (in addition to PC and Xbox) and then government should just force Sony to do the same. No more buying unnecessary redundant boxes just to play some games.

This is a stupid thing for any government to do. What do you want next? For Netflix TV shows to be forced on HBO Max?

Why would Bethesda think they would get the same treatment as Call of Duty, a game that literally ships yearly? Pete Hines is dumb.

Also, this doesn't mean TES6 is exclusive to Xbox. They may want it to be, but the public verbiage has been that if franchises that have a fanbase on Playstation would still get those games. To me, that means TES6 will be multiplat.

Phil said TES6 is exclusive to Xbox\PC.

 

[Salty Popsicle]

This is True, I expect Todd and maybe Pete to leave soon after Starfield ships.

And abandon the Fallout, Starfield, and Elder Scrolls IP? Yeah right

 

[Spitfire098]

Pete Hines or his kids definitely game on ps

 

[Salty Popsicle]

I'm willing to bet that Pete and Todd will regret selling their soul to Microsoft. They saw that 8 billion and couldn't resist. They should have set some ground rules before selling.

They could have made a fortune selling future games to Sony and Nintendo. They're banking on it doing well on PC and hoping people buy Game Pass.

They are now able to operate and ship games without the constant fear of one bad game bringing the entire company down. Microsoft is bank-rolling all their games, that is a creative person's wet dream.

 

[Salty Popsicle]

This is absolutely absurd.

There can be no hypocrisy or equivalence to MS making the biggest tech acquisition of all time, which followed MS making another huge publisher acquisition which itself dwarfs anything Sony has ever bought out. Even if Sony made a dozen game exclusivity deals made up of all big third party titles it wouldn't be equivalent to what MS is trying to do here.

It makes no matter to the customers who get shafted by games no longer being accessible on their preferred platform(s). However, I do think it becomes more digestible if you take into account the fact that owning the studio makes the buyer (Microsoft) take all the risk including funding and marketing whereas a simple exclusivity does not bring with it any of those responsibilities.