Microsoft is trying to acquire Activision Blizzard (UPDATE: CMA says NO!).

[Broker]

Yeah I think that’s one of the things that bothers me about this. Microsoft have so many excellent developers. They should have a selection of triple A games that is mind blowing. But instead they’re trying to buy the most boring game in the world. 

[moosegrinder]

Doesn't matter if it's boring. Or if it's good. Excitement or quality doesn't sell games exclusively. The only game CoD is scared of is GTA. CoD and system sellers could exist side by side but Microsoft has a fundamental management problem that they've not solved and are nowhere near solving. Unless E3 brings some absolute barnstormers that are out this Christmas but none of us believe that'll happen.

[JPL]

12 minutes ago, moosegrinder said:

Doesn't matter if it's boring. Or if it's good. Excitement or quality doesn't sell games exclusively. The only game CoD is scared of is GTA. CoD and system sellers could exist side by side but Microsoft has a fundamental management problem that they've not solved and are nowhere near solving. Unless E3 brings some absolute barnstormers that are out this Christmas but none of us believe that'll happen.

What games are actually in development? Do we know?

 

Personally I’m looking forward to the Perfect Dark reboot and Senua’s Saga, both of which should be getting shown off this year. Then there’s obviously, Starfield, Forza and Redfall, which better not get further delays. Beyond those though, what have they got?

[thesnwmn]

There's Minecraft Legends, Fable

You'd have to imagine a new Gears and highly likely there's a new Doom, Fallout and Forza Horizon.

 

Then looking at their franchises you'd think maybe a return to Crackdown, State of Decay, Wasteland.

 

And if you wanted to round that out and make colourful games for a wider audience it would seem to me you'd make a Banjo, an Ori, and a Viva Pinata.

[LaveDisco]

15 hours ago, rgraves said:

 

So we're just forgetting or ignoring stuff like Hi-Fi Rush and Pentiment then?

 

I'm honestly currently drowning in stuff on GP, there's absolutely no lack of content to play IMO. YMMV obvs.

 

By far the best first party games to come to Gamepass (also only), but again, it's telling that Petiment, their only first party release was hidden from MS for the first 6  months of it's year long development. 

[K]

31 minutes ago, LaveDisco said:

 

By far the best first party games to come to Gamepass (also only), but again, it's telling that Petiment, their only first party release was hidden from MS for the first 6  months of it's year long development. 

 

Maybe you know more about Pentiment than I do, but this sounds highly unlikely. I thought it was in development for years, and it seems odd that the developers would hide the game from their publisher. Did they develop it in secret, using funds they'd got for some other purpose?

[rgraves]

33 minutes ago, thesnwmn said:

There's Minecraft Legends, Fable

You'd have to imagine a new Gears and highly likely there's a new Doom, Fallout and Forza Horizon.

 

Then looking at their franchises you'd think maybe a return to Crackdown, State of Decay, Wasteland.

 

And if you wanted to round that out and make colourful games for a wider audience it would seem to me you'd make a Banjo, an Ori, and a Viva Pinata.

 

And Avowed, and Contraband, and Everwild - it's not like they don't apparently have a lot of stuff in development - although I'm not sure Everwild in particular will ever actually see the light of day, that one feels like it's doomed to development hell.

[JPL]

37 minutes ago, thesnwmn said:

There's Minecraft Legends, Fable

You'd have to imagine a new Gears and highly likely there's a new Doom, Fallout and Forza Horizon.

 

Then looking at their franchises you'd think maybe a return to Crackdown, State of Decay, Wasteland.

 

And if you wanted to round that out and make colourful games for a wider audience it would seem to me you'd make a Banjo, an Ori, and a Viva Pinata.

Seems like there’s loads of stuff in development then. They just need to start delivering. But that’s something we’ve all been saying for years.

[thesnwmn]

I'd argue the problem is quality and frequency.

 

Forza Horizon is probably their one consistently great franchise but I'd argue that it's too frequent. Too much of a crutch.

 

Outside of that these big games need to be unquestionably excellent. The debacle with Halo is a great example. This is supposed to be their big thing. The Xbox frontman. And yes it's so consistently just off. From delays to questions about it's completeness and long term support. Forza Motorsport being literally unavailable on their system for over a year is embarrassing.

 

Sony put out bangers. There are of course missteps (GT7's monetisation at launch and even now) but in general you get stuff that lands. Most of it arrives on time based on when they said and you don't hear much grumbling from the internal teams. It's quiet and efficient.

[Stanley]

1 hour ago, thesnwmn said:

There's Minecraft Legends, Fable

You'd have to imagine a new Gears and highly likely there's a new Doom, Fallout and Forza Horizon.

 

Then looking at their franchises you'd think maybe a return to Crackdown, State of Decay, Wasteland.

 

And if you wanted to round that out and make colourful games for a wider audience it would seem to me you'd make a Banjo, an Ori, and a Viva Pinata.

State of Decay III was announced years ago, with a nice fancy trailer, but like everything else there’s no sign of it. 
 

Fable was one of the titles rumoured to have been scrapped and started again, and we’ve heard nothing about Rare’s new game. Hey ho. 

[Nate Dogg III]

45 minutes ago, K said:

 

Maybe you know more about Pentiment than I do, but this sounds highly unlikely. I thought it was in development for years, and it seems odd that the developers would hide the game from their publisher. Did they develop it in secret, using funds they'd got for some other purpose?

They made a prototype before talking to MS about it. Not sure that’s ‘secret’ as such, given the way Microsoft lets acquired studios operate, but still. https://www.techradar.com/news/obsidian-worked-on-pentiment-for-9-months-before-telling-microsoft
 

 

[Benny]

Hiding in a basement to work on your subversive masterpiece in secret? That's so Pentiment.

[jonathanhoey]

16 hours ago, Broker said:

 

Forza isn’t my thing, and I don’t know if they’re lacking in driving games, but I think there’s already a Forza game? It’s one of their franchises like gears that reached the point of repetition and stagnation where I lost interest years ago.

 

There are two Forza franchises - Motorsport and Horizon - which are by different subsidiary studios, probably share a common engine and most of the assets (car models etc) but are quite different. 

 

Forza Motorsport is a straight-up car-racing simulator. It originated on the first Xbox as a competitor to Gran Turismo on the PlayStation. 

 

The Motorsport series does not currently have a game that you can buy. The latest one was Forza Motorsport 7, which came out in 2017 and was deleted from sale 18 months ago in 2021. 

 

There's a new one in development for Xbox Series (irksomely they've dropped the numbering so it's just going to be called Forza Motorsport) but goodness knows when that's coming out. 

 

In parallel, there are the Forza Horizon games, which are not racing simulators but more open-world sandboxes where you can hoon around in supercars doing stupid jumps and shit. There are currently two of those available - 4 and 5. The previous entries in the Horizon series have been deleted from sale. 

 

On some level yes all the games in each series are the same. Motorsport 7 was like Motorsports 1-6 before it, just with more/different cars and racetracks, and better graphics and controls. That's not inherently a problem IMO - racing games have always kind of been iterative like that. 

 

Similarly the Horizon games are all the same, just with different environments (Colorado, France, Australia, UK and Mexico respectively IIRC). 

 

For me I'll never get tired of actual racing, but I wouldn't particularly miss the Horizon games - they're fine for what they are but they're shallow and trying too hard to be zany. 

 

Wish they'd hurry up and finish Forza Motorsport Not-8. 

 

[Uzi]

18 hours ago, Stanley said:

If ten years is enough to make a COD rival why haven’t they [Microsoft] done that 

Because they were too busy nailing Halo! 

 

I like games on gamepass but I don't like MS owning studios. It means they'll be allergic to making games! 

[Talk Show Host]

7 hours ago, Stanley said:

What I find particularly galling about their statement, telling Sony they have ten years to come with a COD beater, is that they’ve spent the last ten years since the start of the Xbox One generation, not coming up with games to rival Sony’s output. And now they need COD to be competitive 

I agree, but that’s only because it’s so difficult to do it and it takes more than one generation to have a chance at it. Sony was only able to do it to that effect after three generations.  Plus, Microsoft has a point because it’s Bungie who is now with Sony and they have great expertise regarding online fps. I am not saying it’s a very logical argument, but it’s not crazier than Sony claiming what they are claiming. It’s all a mess really.

 

All in all it’s not that different than Microsoft saying “Sony had plenty of time to change their strategy and build a rival for GP, but they chose a different business plan.”
 

The most insane thing is that Sony is claiming what is claiming and still practices exclusive deals which shape the market. Maybe Microsoft should have done that instead of going down the acquisition road.
 

 

[thesnwmn]

8 minutes ago, Talk Show Host said:

The most insane thing is that Sony is claiming what is claiming and still practices exclusive deals which shape the market. Maybe Microsoft should have done that instead of going down the acquisition road.

 

It is not insane. At all. It's business.

[Talk Show Host]

4 minutes ago, thesnwmn said:

 

It is not insane. At all. It's business.

Of course. All the stupid things Sony says, or Micro, also business. 

[Stanley]

26 minutes ago, Talk Show Host said:

I agree, but that’s only because it’s so difficult to do it and it takes more than one generation to have a chance at it. Sony was only able to do it to that effect after three generations.  Plus, Microsoft has a point because it’s Bungie who is now with Sony and they have great expertise regarding online fps. I am not saying it’s a very logical argument, but it’s not crazier than Sony claiming what they are claiming. It’s all a mess really.

 

All in all it’s not that different than Microsoft saying “Sony had plenty of time to change their strategy and build a rival for GP, but they chose a different business plan.”
 

The most insane thing is that Sony is claiming what is claiming and still practices exclusive deals which shape the market. Maybe Microsoft should have done that instead of going down the acquisition road.
 

 

Difficult it is but that’s their business. It didn’t take Sony three generations to get to number 1, first console straight in there. Second console, best selling console of all time. 
 

Anything else is just excusing their poor management. 

[Talk Show Host]

30 minutes ago, Stanley said:

Difficult it is but that’s their business. It didn’t take Sony three generations to get to number 1, first console straight in there. Second console, best selling console of all time. 
 

Anything else is just excusing their poor management. 

Yeah, but it wasn’t their first parties that out them there, as opposed to PS4. Big difference.

[Stanley]

1 minute ago, Talk Show Host said:

Yeah, but it wasn’t their first parties that out them there, as opposed to PS4. Big difference.

Does it matter? 

[Talk Show Host]

1 hour ago, Stanley said:

Does it matter? 

 

It matters when it comes to their strategy, which is what we are talking about I think. And because of that strategy they have a problem putting these titles day one on their online services, which would be the best way to counter GP, instead of filling up the headlines with drivel over the last few months or so about CoD.

[Stanley]

10 minutes ago, Talk Show Host said:

 

It matters when it comes to their strategy, which is what we are talking about I think. And because of that strategy they have a problem putting these titles day one on their online services, which would be the best way to counter GP, instead of filling up the headlines with drivel the last few months or so about CoD.

You’re saying Sony should put all their first party releases on PS+ day one like Game Pass? 

[Ry]

7 hours ago, JPL said:

What games are actually in development? Do we know?

 

Personally I’m looking forward to the Perfect Dark reboot and Senua’s Saga, both of which should be getting shown off this year. Then there’s obviously, Starfield, Forza and Redfall, which better not get further delays. Beyond those though, what have they got?

 

 

[Talk Show Host]

5 minutes ago, Stanley said:

You’re saying Sony should put all their first party releases on PS+ day one like Game Pass? 

 

I am saying they can't do it even if they wanted to because of the strategy they have chosen (but they will probably be forced to do it at some point). So they have become increasingly worried about GP, especially with the inclusion of AB΄s games, because they can't counter that. If they did include their AAAs day one, then PS+ would easily become more of a rival to GP.

[David Kenny]

17 minutes ago, Talk Show Host said:

 

It matters when it comes to their strategy, which is what we are talking about I think. And because of that strategy they have a problem putting these titles day one on their online services, which would be the best way to counter GP, instead of filling up the headlines with drivel over the last few months or so about CoD.

But this would make zero sense for Sony. If MS are to be believed, Sony are absolutely trouncing them while asking people to pay full whack for new releases. What possible reason would Sony have for giving them away for "nothing"? 

[Talk Show Host]

4 minutes ago, David Kenny said:

But this would make zero sense for Sony. If MS are to be believed, Sony are absolutely trouncing them while asking people to pay full whack for new releases. What possible reason would Sony have for giving them away for "nothing"? 

 

There is no reason to do it, other than say "sure, you get all the 3rd party games of AB in GP while you pay 80 bucks to play them in our system, but we give our super charged AAA in the subscription, which are state of the art". That would be a worthy counter to GP.

 

But they can't do that because of the strategy they have chosen, hence why they are losing their minds over the AB deal. They really have no answer to that.

[RubberJohnny]

I'm not really sure Sony are threatened by Game Pass, I mean for one they're doing great, but also I saw this advert recently and it's basically just a Game Pass advert? Like Tchia is a new game, Ghostwire just dropped on Game Pass recently, etc. "Game Catalogue" is a little dry as brands go, but it's not nothing.

 

[Stanley]

Just now, Talk Show Host said:

 

I am saying they can't do it even if they wanted to because of the strategy they have chosen (but they will probably be forced to do it at some point). So they have become increasingly worried about GP, especially with the inclusion of AB΄s games, because they can't counter that. If they did include their AAAs day one, then PS+ would easily become a rival to GP.

I don’t know exact figures, but aren’t there already more PS+ subscribers than Game Pass? 
 

There’s a reason COD isn’t already on Game Pass or similar services, and that’s because they make their money in the first few weeks selling it at premium prices. 
 

I’m unconvinced that Game Pass is profitable, and let’s be honest MS have been pretty shy about sharing exact numbers, bu I don’t see how you can make the money COD does selling 15 million in its first week or whatever at full price by sticking it on a premium subscription service that most people aren’t interested in. 

[Talk Show Host]

3 minutes ago, RubberJohnny said:

I'm not really sure Sony are threatened by Game Pass that much, I mean for one they're doing fine, but also I saw this advert recently and it's basically just a Game Pass advert? Like Tchia is a new game, Ghostwire just dropped on Game Pass recently, etc. "Game Catalogue" is a little dry, but it's not nothing.

 

 

They will be really threatened when all the AB games are on GP while people have to pay full price to play them in PS5.

[Talk Show Host]

2 minutes ago, Stanley said:

I don’t know exact figures, but aren’t there already more PS+ subscribers than Game Pass? 
 

There’s a reason COD isn’t already on Game Pass or similar services, and that’s because they make their money in the first few weeks selling it at premium prices. 
 

I’m unconvinced that Game Pass is profitable, and let’s be honest MS have been pretty shy about sharing exact numbers, bu I don’t see how you can make the money COD does selling 15 million in its first week or whatever at full price by sticking it on a premium subscription service that most people aren’t interested in. 

 

GP is just getting started. Subscribers will shift when they realize a bunch of super games can be played on GP while they cost full price on PS5. It is the future Sony is scared of and for a good reason in my opinion.