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Kyuu on 31 March 2023
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Machiavellian said:
Kyuu said:

If it's full exclusivity for bigger titles, good chance the Japanese would not take Microsoft's money even if it's in the billions, because it would risk their IP's strength and momentum. And Xbox wouldn't benefit much from such deals because the majority of fans will be buying them on Steam, PC is the fastest growing platform. Microsoft won't go as far as to pay billions for a very small return.

I don't know if you noticed but... ABK and other acquisitions aren't preventing Microsoft from still paying for timed exclusivity for relevant games. They made a 6 month exclusivity deal for Valheim which sold 10 million as of a year ago (early access). It's arguably a bigger seller than any exclusive Sony has paid for since the PS2... but it isn't Japanese and is a new PC IP from an emerging publisher/studio, so not much is at risk here.

MS controlling ABK is a far bigger blow on Sony than moneyhatted exclusives which will nearly always be timed anyways. Playstation is too big for 3rd parties to skip, and people aren't yet grasping just how popular the PS5 really is. Giving Sony shit for their attempt to block the acquisition is flat out weird. Had they not attempted that, MS would not have extended the CoD offer from 3 to 10 years, and maybe not promised to put their games on the Switch for 10 years, and would have had an easier time acquiring their next major publisher/developers.

For the Xbox fans that were angry or pretending to be angry about the few relevant exclusives Sony is moneyhatting... Instead of cheering for MS to acquire publishers, ask them to block exclusivity deals for games that don't need it by offering better deals, and moneyhat more relevant timed exclusives like Valheim and maybe STALKER 2. Personally, I'd like to see them moneyhat/fund small and midsized games, establish new 2nd party relations, and acquire small and mid sized developers. Post ABK acquisition, MS should literally be able beat Sony in profits even if they stopped making consoles altogether. Their software alone would make them a lot more money than the entire Playstation business, but this isn't enough for Microsoft. They intend to go broader AND gain hardware marketshare at the same time. The only way for any corporation to achieve this is by acquiring several major publishers.

That is not going to happen.  This is the landscape the console space is at.  Exclusive deals, exclusive games, exclusive IP.  Everyone of these companies play the game and its integrated into the console space.  MS isn't going to not purchase any company that comes up for sale that helps them to expand their business, grow GP and subs.  Sony would purchase a publisher in a moment and who knows if any are on the table.  Sony also has the right to take advantage of any deals that drop in their lap.  I keep saying this phrase but its still relevant.  Its business.  What you want as a gamer has nothing to do with what each one of these companies want or need to grow and be competitive.  Xbox gamers could cry a river of tears over 3rd party exclusives or if Sony purchase some big Japan publishers.  Sony gamers can cry a river of tears if MS grab another studio or publisher but at the end of the day, that is what each of them will do.  A company has the right to sell whenever they please and the only thing that is going to stop it is if the impact on competition in that space is severely impacted.

It might never happen but platform-exclusivity for big titles has been much less common compared to the old days, you'd think it makes everyone a bit more happy but nope, some cried rivers over any moneyhatted Sony exclusive and are now justifying the "response" of the competition regardless of the scale of it. Gamers aren't consistent with their own little philosophies, and may adjust to whatever their favorite company does and say it's the right thing.

In the end, Microsoft is doing both unprecedented acquisitions that aren't necessary, and timed exclusives for bigger sellers than what Sony has moneyhatted (albeit for shorter periods of time), yet not many on the Xbox side hold them accountable or call Phil Spencer out on his "games should be available for everyone" bullshit. In addition to Valheim, Series XS is also getting Ark 2 as an exclusive, the sequel to another game that sold over 16 million copies as of August 2019. Where is the outrage?

The truth is... Sony's meager moneyhatting has nothing to do with Playstation's dominance or why MS is doing what it's doing. The dominance is simply the result of right decisions and a compelling 1st party lineup that complements an excellent library of multiplatform games that gamers associate with the Playstation brand. But Microsoft's fans have invented an "ethical reason" that justifies major acquisitions that should have never happened, and this will only escalate to Sony grabbing more companies and by extension making more unnecessary exclusives, and we all lose. The fanbase that would cry the loudest over a SquareEnix acquisiton would be Nintendo's lol.