Game exclusivity fears following Microsoft/Activision deal wipe $20 billion off Sony's...

[yRaz]

Sony lost US$20,000,000 just because of this? I swear, these investors are as panicky as a herd of wildebeest. If something as stupid as this can cause that kind of a loss, the only thing I can say is...

"Easy come, easy go."

they didn't "lose" $20 billion. Their share priced dropped ~$5 a share which is about it being down 4%. Sony didn't actually lose a dime, their shareholders did.

 

[Kosmoz]

Sony Group Corporation (SONY) = -6.52%(1M) & +256.22%(5Y) LINK
Microsoft Corporation (MSFT) = -5.20%(1M) & +384.54%(5Y) LINK

They both dropped in the last month and both have grown considerably in the last 5 years.

Nothing has changed in the grand scheme of things.

MS will need to do a lot more to take the lead over Sony in gaming and consoles and even then when or if that happens, it does not mean Sony will go bankrupt, just because of that reason alone.

 

[Watzupken]

yeah, it is. 12 year olds will always think it's a good game. And, now that I think about it maybe that isn't such a bad thing. Games with complex gameplay mechanics and stories are really only entertaining to adults because we are(hopefully) smarter and more educated. I don't think I've met anyone on Eve that is under 20 years old. I also don't think many young people play Civilization or RTS games.

The point I'm trying to make here is that kids need games too. I'm not trying to make wide sweeping statements, there will always be smart kids and dumb adults.

But I also don't think this makes a huge difference. Activision blizzard hasn't actually made a good game in years. I know someone in Blizzard and they have an entire department dedicated to making addictive game mechanics for the sole purpose of encouraging micro transactions.

Addictive doesn't mean good. There are plenty of addictive shitty drugs out there and plenty of really good, non-addictive drugs. Try getting addicted to LSD, I dare you.

Games like COD helps the company earn recurring income, that I agree. And for that reason, MS will certainly not make it an exclusive to Xbox and PC. It is most likely games like Diablo that they will make it exclusive. And in my opinion, exclusive to PC and Xbox is not going to improve Xbox sale, nor have a noticeable impact to PS5 sale. It is highly possible that one that owns a PS5 also owns a PC, so I feel it is a waste of money to try to make games exclusive to PC and Xbox at the same time.
In addition, I also feel that the price that MS have offered to buy Activision Blizzard is too high. I've also noted that there are little new titles coming out of the company for many years. Most of their game titles are very old, and the company is just sitting on it hoping that people will still buy it. If the sales is poor, they just release a "remastered" version with spruced up visuals to attempt to revitalise sales. Diablo 4 is the next most anticipated title from them, but I feel this genre is getting very long in the tooth, and I doubt they will do anything to make it interesting beyond giving better visuals and throwing more classes or "special" items to make people go back to play it.

 

[Theinsanegamer]

I'd argue that games with more complex gameplay/mechanics and stories are lost to the younger generation because they've been conditioned to crave/need/want that immediate gratification.

Spoiler

My kids can have a fu¢king meltdown if they have to use brainpower and put forth effort to resolve an issue. Take my 13 year old daughter - she's horribly smart (in accelerated classes for her age), but if a task doesn't come to her with great ease she defeats herself and breaks down and starts crying. For example, the kids got an Xbox Series X for Christmas, got an extra controller and a headset with it. She wanted to use the headset the other night (hadn't used it yet) to chat with a friend and play a game with them. I was busy in the kitchen working on making dinner and she asked if I could setup the headset for her. I told her I was busy and wouldn't be able to help for a bit and that she's more than capable of doing it. Follow the instructions in the box....

Three (yes, 3) minutes later she's back in the kitchen in tears because she can't get audio to come through on the headphones and she's done everything she can to get them working. I tell her to keep working at it and try things, see if she can figure it out....she disappears downstairs. I go down there about 10 minutes later and see her just scrolling through crap on her phone. I asked if she got it working by following the instructions. She said it's not working and handed me the instructions. The instructions are 3 different pictures. Shows you to plug in the headphones into the controller and make sure the controller is active with the xbox and how to adjust the volume and mic.

I look at the wire for the headset and see it's plugged into the controller - it is, but doesn't appear to be plugged in all the way. I pull it out and plug it back in, but this time I pushed it in and it gave a soft click, but wasn't in all the way so I used a little more force and the headphone jack went all the way in, unlike how my daughter had it plugged in about 2/3 of the way. I then turned up the volume on the headset and BAM! They were working. 30 seconds of effort and they were working.

Gawd, how I f'ing hate Tiktoc and youtube and all those short "funny" videos kids make/stream/share/watch. The instant gratification of the kids these days, if they can't solve a problem at the drop of a pin, they freak out.

I grew up playing RPGs such as Dragon Warrior games on the NES and Phantasy Star games on the Genesis and so on. You had to be able to follow the story, understand instructions and learn to how to navigate the worlds to progress the game's storyline.

I tried having my kids play the original Doom on Xbox Game Pass - since there is no real direction in the game, they got bored and didn't want to try to figure out where to go or how to play it.

That....all sounds like a parenting problem. No different then the cereal munchers of the 80s who saw everything through the lense of TV shows. Stop letting your screens raise your kids and teach them some troubleshooting skills.

 

[Neatfeatguy]

That....all sounds like a parenting problem. No different then the cereal munchers of the 80s who saw everything through the lense of TV shows. Stop letting your screens raise your kids and teach them some troubleshooting skills.

Yep, parenting problem....sure. Sounds like the typical response from someone that doesn't have kids or ones at an age that they can still have 100% control over.
Real good response there. /s

How about school when all kids have access to an iPad and they're required to have access to it at all times for school work (at school and home) and then the school system utilizes $hit like youtube (so you can't block it) for watching videos for school work or teachers post their videos on youtube they make for school work....kids have constant access to this $hit all the time, even in elementary school. First grade and up, always have access to iPads at school....I absolutely hate it, but the school district believes it's how the future of education should be and it's a growing fad among schools.

At home I can block and do block, access to social media. Outside of the home, gloves are off and kids can do whatever they want.

 

[lostinlodos]

The PlayStation is a dying platform.

Sony already kicked everyone in the teeth with the censorship.

When Nintendo is putting out the same game uncensored… you’re doing something wrong.

The only thing that kept Sony going was a few exclusive titles. And those title’s fans will stick around.
But outside of that the platform is heading to lost cause quickly.

I have an xbox and a Switch. And a Mac with Parallels.
I sold my PS4 and have no interest in the 5.
Why would I support a platform that butchers games when I can buy the complete title, for less, in unmodified form, elsewhere.

 

[waclark]

No, I don't think so. You don't buy a powerhouse like Activision Blizzard and not make the games exclusive. COD is a monster and there are a ton of Sony fans who will now be interested in Xbox and the subscription service. They get the sales from xbox and PC and it brings even more people to their platforms. I don't see COD going to Sony anymore.

I disagree. Some Sony fans will never make the jump to Xbox and many computer gamers will never game on a console. If you're looking for max revenue, it won't come with exclusives. Let's face it, I can't imagine the margins on Xbox or PlayStation hardware is all that great. I'm sure the money comes from games and gaming services.

Last but not least, I think streaming game services are going to make hardware platforms irrelevant some day in the future.

 

[hwertz]

An immediate 13% drop because of games company being bought out? I'm no Sony fan, but Playstation is not in that much trouble now because MAYBE a few games won't come to several years from now. Investors are crazy.

 

[waclark]

Yep, parenting problem....sure. Sounds like the typical response from someone that doesn't have kids or ones at an age that they can still have 100% control over.
Real good response there. /s

How about school when all kids have access to an iPad and they're required to have access to it at all times for school work (at school and home) and then the school system utilizes $hit like youtube (so you can't block it) for watching videos for school work or teachers post their videos on youtube they make for school work....kids have constant access to this $hit all the time, even in elementary school. First grade and up, always have access to iPads at school....I absolutely hate it, but the school district believes it's how the future of education should be and it's a growing fad among schools.

At home I can block and do block, access to social media. Outside of the home, gloves are off and kids can do whatever they want.

I think the key is, and always has been, balance. It's one thing to use a tool like a computer or tablet for learning. It's another when that electronic device is your babysitter and parent all rolled into one. I

t reminds me, back in the day before we all had computers and smartphones, some people/parents would say "that kid has his nose buried in a book all day, he needs to go outside and play" as if it was a bad thing to be reading a lot. I suppose it's one thing if you're sitting around reading Batman comics all day versus reading classic literature or the history of WWII.

 

[waclark]

LOL who are these people that still use physical media?

Well, when it comes to music, me. I am enjoying searching out and buying vinyl records.

 

[waclark]

they didn't "lose" $20 billion. Their share priced dropped ~$5 a share which is about it being down 4%. Sony didn't actually lose a dime, their shareholders did.

That's true it didn't come out of their bank account, but losing Market Cap can be problematic for a company. First, many companies hold some amount of their own shares, so while still on paper, they lost that value. Second, stock price can impact loans and interest rates. Sony probably doesn't do that much borrowing these days so it's likely not to be a big issue for them specifically.

 

[Ohnooze]

I disagree. Some Sony fans will never make the jump to Xbox and many computer gamers will never game on a console. If you're looking for max revenue, it won't come with exclusives. Let's face it, I can't imagine the margins on Xbox or PlayStation hardware is all that great. I'm sure the money comes from games and gaming services.

Last but not least, I think streaming game services are going to make hardware platforms irrelevant some day in the future.

Well we can agree to disagree on this one. Console gamers love COD....if it means buying a different console I think they will absolutely jump ship.

 

[Neatfeatguy]

I think the key is, and always has been, balance. It's one thing to use a tool like a computer or tablet for learning. It's another when that electronic device is your babysitter and parent all rolled into one. I

t reminds me, back in the day before we all had computers and smartphones, some people/parents would say "that kid has his nose buried in a book all day, he needs to go outside and play" as if it was a bad thing to be reading a lot. I suppose it's one thing if you're sitting around reading Batman comics all day versus reading classic literature or the history of WWII.

I tried getting my daughter, this was 2 years ago, to talk with her great-grandpa about WWII. He was an engineer and helped keep inventory/supplies, help maintain machinery and help build bridges in WWII. She was doing a report on vehicles, especially tanks used.....I said it's a rare thing to be able to go right to a source for WWII still and he'd be happy to chat with her about that sort of thing from the war (he wouldn't talk about the gritty stuff though, like the internment camp his platoon helped liberate). Sadly, she passed up the opportunity and then about 6 months ago my grandpa passed away at the age of 97 (he'd have been 98 this February 28th - he was born about an hour before Feb 29th, almost a leap year baby...I'd joke with him about it because he'd only be 24 if you went by leap years).

The wife and I have the kids read at least 20 minutes a day. If it's a book they like, sometimes that 20 minutes turns into an hour and the 9 year old, he likes to tell about the funny parts he reads about when he's done.

Once all school work is done, chores are done, reading is done and if there are no other activities for the day, we let the kids play on the xbox or tablets for a bit, but we won't let them sit there all day long on them. I grew up with the NES when it launched when I was just about 6 years old, I had video games my whole life and I played them and enjoyed them, but I also worked and went outside to play, not just hunkered down in front of the TV playing games all the time.

As for Activision/Blizzard haven't supported either 15+ years.
CoD games are a joke, just downhill since CoD2.
WoW - bleh, I tried it, but wasn't a fan of it. Got old after getting my hunter to level 40.
Warcraft: Orcs and Humans and Warcraft 2 were good.
StarCraft was good.
Diablo and Diablo 2 were good.

I tried a few the other CoD games that have come out since CoD2 on my brother's Xbox systems over the years and they weren't very good, too many QTEs.

My kids don't even play any Activision/Blizzard games, either. I can't say this is good or bad from my personal perspective.

 

[Bustinone]

F this guy you would have already had to have alot of money to buy enough of these to scalp to make any worthwhile profit.

 

[Theinsanegamer]

Yep, parenting problem....sure. Sounds like the typical response from someone that doesn't have kids or ones at an age that they can still have 100% control over.
Real good response there. /s

How about school when all kids have access to an iPad and they're required to have access to it at all times for school work (at school and home) and then the school system utilizes $hit like youtube (so you can't block it) for watching videos for school work or teachers post their videos on youtube they make for school work....kids have constant access to this $hit all the time, even in elementary school. First grade and up, always have access to iPads at school....I absolutely hate it, but the school district believes it's how the future of education should be and it's a growing fad among schools.

At home I can block and do block, access to social media. Outside of the home, gloves are off and kids can do whatever they want.

You know, it's funny, when I was growing up we had the internet. We were told we were not allowed to use it to stream videos. We (myself and my sibling) listened, because we respected our parents. We had computers in every classroom, used them every day, we had mobile gaming devices and computers at home. Somehow we still not only were taught restraint but also taught how to solve problems.

Using "well there are devices in schools so I cant bother parenting at home" is the favorite excuse of the lazy parent who cant bother raising their child properly. You're effectively admitting that the school yous end your child to is doing the parenting for you. Nice self own! /s.

If your child is 13 and has no problem solving skills, to the point they cant read three pictures to plug in a cable then get frustrated and give up after 30 seconds, that is a failure of parenting. It has nothing to do with using technology daily. She was never taught how to control her anger, how to work through a problem, or how to seek help. That's not technology's fault.

 

[Rdmetz]

Sony has a lot more going on than just games. People forget that they make TVs, phones and countless other electronics. If Sony really wanted to play hardball they could pull the BluRay License from Microsoft to use in the xBox. Maybe Microsoft predicted this and that's why they're making an xBox without a disk drive.

Just remember, Sony makes money off of every xBox sold.

Sony doesn't own Blu ray itself.... They are part of the Blu ray alliance along with many other companies.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blu-ray_Disc_Association