So Math (get triggered Byakuya @ice) was the saving grace of the deal? Incredible how MS and their lawyers pulled this off. 

Good they can have them. 

Plus SEGA better + Ratio.

 

Gotta catch up on the posts. Think I'm all done. Overall, summary post inbound. 

Good to be back from cooldown. Looks like yall' lost V, but gained me back? Not sure if upgrade or downgrade.

Since I was gone...
-Like a Dragon Ishin I beat, worst fapuza in terms of grindy cheevos, but very solid overall. Little confusing with the time period as I'm not familiar with the Edo Samurai period in Japan. If you like the original cast in Yakuza they back in similar roles but in a new setting, very cool to see.
-Starfield Direct and Xbox E3 going to be fun.
-Beat the first two Nonary games. If you like math you'll like the first one more. But overally amazing game with great stories. Liked the setting of the first one better, but overall, Spike Chunsoft not missing. Wonder if the 3rd will be added to Gamepass next month, if not I might have to buy it.
-In regards to Nonary games... @ice needs to stop leaving games to last minute, dude missed a banger. Maybe Santa will gift you it ....
-Noble's Tale innocence was very good. Amazing setting, wasn't a huge fan of the gameplay though. Definitely better than Hellblade for me though. In terms of a narrative 3rd person walking/puzzle sim. Final boss very fun as well. Looking forward to Requium. Sucks that Gamepass forced me to buy the damn game even though it was on the serveice for 3 years. :/
-Benedict Noble in April going to be fun!!
-Ghostwire Noblio (reach...) coming to Gamepass is cool. Has anyone here played it, I'm a little scared. Co op? Might be too scary as a standalone Me game.
-Hellblade 2 looks amazing, my God... actress is stunning as well. Hope the gameplay is better than the first...
-Redfall and Diablo 4 look amazing... One of the best Gamepass years.
-Redfall cringe bad faith arguments have been laughable. Love how people be quoting things that was regards to cross play right? (Just heard that from Rand on their podcast)
-MS working on getting more cloud deals is great, hopefully more come out next week and so forth. Doubt they going to partner with amazon.
-Sony's money hats reaching the senate is pretty funny and apt. Definitely theatrical and nothing will come from it though. Sony will continue to take Japanese games off of Xbox where they would have outsold 95%/5%. Smart use of money.
-Sony and Cryin Ryan gettin screwed is justice. Nice when logic and facts beat fear mongering and irrational behavior.
-WWE 2k23 took over my life.
-@Ryuu96 Trashin my rasslin game when it gets a higher meta than majority of Gamepass fodder

ALL 90 PAGES CAUGHT UP FROM WHEN I RAGE QUIT THE SITE. Don't blame anyone here who reports for spamming, or whom block for overall annoyance.

Gonna start Ni No Noble 2 next. Didn't like the game on PS (as it wasn't like the first one), but maybe Xbox will change that.

Had to remain pessimistic so if it did get blocked I wouldn't be disappointed. Happy it appears to be going the other way. 

CMA when they block the deal on a Cloud SLC after getting everyone's hopes up.

Saw a post on Reset Era from Klob about how says it's our right to ask for more when it comes to Gamepass and first party given their commitment they proclaimed in 2018. The original post was actually a repsonse to that from a denthead, dude got banned, called him a fanboy etc. 

Who do yall want once the deal is finished. Don't care if it's been asked a million times, it's a million and one now. 

-Asobo
-Squanch
-SEGA

Would love a nice Japanese toy to play with. Don't need another huge pubby... 

I can see Sony getting Rocksteady/WB games with their deals they have in place, only a matter of time until SE. 

Thoughts?

They can chill for a while after this and focus on individual studios, I'd say Asobo, IO Interactive and Certain Affinity. My ideal Japanese publisher would be Sega and it might be just small enough to evade most regulatory scrutiny. I think Microsoft could be interested in Paradox as well but they've a very strong relationship either way.

I don't think WBIE will sell, the last time they tried they apparently couldn't get anyone to meet the asking price. But also, they're apparently profitable as well, so they've not much reason to sell outside of sheer money desperation, they've however had a few sales/player disappointments lately but then a few very strong sales successes.

• Gotham Knights - Flop.
• Multiverse - Big launch but player base crashed.
• Hogwarts Legacy - Sold amazing.
• Lego Skywalker Saga - Sold great.

50/50...Hogwarts probably makes up for the Gotham Knights flop and Skywalker for Multiverse dying.

Upcoming they have Mortal Kombat in 2023 which will obviously sell great but also Suicide Squad which seems like it will underperform, I don't think it's enough to cause them to sell though, they'll likely just put Rocksteady back onto Batman or something, Lol. Plus they're also doing the stupid idea of trying to bring their games and films/tv together which sounds like it'd be a fucking nightmare to manage but good luck to them.

Asobo is pretty much the only one on my wish list.

For individual studios it's Certain Affinity, IOI, Asobo, Platinum Games that i would MS to target a dark horse pick of mine would be Pearl Abyss or Crytek, once again I will say that if MS were to go for a Japanese publisher it needs to be Capcom. My scenario would be that Sony triggers a Square Enix acquisition and then MS triggers a Capcom acquisition at the same time then Sony wouldn't be able to complain without the FTC, CMA, EU looking like hypocrites.

It also really sucks that they lost out on Crystal Dynamics and Eidos Montreal due to this deal though.