Xbox Megathread

spronk

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yeah if anything microsoft is even more fucked than activision, they are a massive corporation infested with the alphabet people and don't really get much done as a company. Microsoft bought like 15 studios over the past 8 years and they haven't put out really fuck all thats good.

I'd guess secretly the CEO of Microsoft is fine with the deal not going through, $70b in cash in 2023 is worth a LOT more than in 2021 when interest rates were zero and money was free. Especially since in the last few weeks we've seen reports that xbox sales have slowed down a lot and execs are not super happy about how the division is performing. Adding a massive fucked up company like Activision when you are already kinda fucked up isn't smart.
 
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Pharazon2

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spronk said:
I'd guess secretly the CEO of Microsoft is fine with the deal not going through, $70b in cash in 2023 is worth a LOT more than in 2021 when interest rates were zero and money was free. Especially since in the last few weeks we've seen reports that xbox sales have slowed down a lot and execs are not super happy about how the division is performing. Adding a massive fucked up company like Activision when you are already kinda fucked up isn't smart.
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Exactly - I was saying this 6 months ago and its even more valid today. Its an insane amount of money to spend for a gaming company - maybe somewhat rational when money was cheap, but today? Blizzard's stock price would probably be in the $40-$50 dollare range today if not for this deal on the horizon propping it up. If the deal gets blocked they'd probably happily work on finding AI causes to divert this to where they'd see better gains. Hell, how about using some billions of this to accelerate AI initiatives within the gaming studios they already own.
 
Vorph

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So now they just have to convince one judge instead of a panel of drooling retards who think MuH cLoUd GaMiNg has any relevance whatsoever?
 
spronk

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got a package from microsoft, some random stuff to enjoy the june 11th xbox showcase event same items as this guy


should be interesting to see their presentation compared to what we got from Sony last week
 
Vorph

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They should have called it the Sega/Atlus show with all the stuff (mostly brand new announcements too) they showed. Complete overshadowed everything else imo. Looked like pretty much everything except Metaphor and Like a Dragon 8 is coming to Game Pass too. Day 1 that is, they'll both show up a few months later just like Soul Hackers 2 and the previous Like a Dragon.
 
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meStevo

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That's Phil Spencer under oath being asked that by the judge during the hearing on the FTC's requested injunction that would effectively kill the Activision deal. Could be a pretty pivotal moment in this acquisition if the injunction is denied and they move to close the merger in the coming weeks regardless of other outstanding litigation. If the injunction is granted it puts the acquisition on untenable timelines, years, when contractually it needs to close by 7/18 or it will cost MS a $3b break up fee.

Huge live-tweeted thread on that testimony if you're interested in more.
 
meStevo

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Internal emails reveal how Sony actually feels about the Activision deal.

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www.windowscentral.com

Bombshell PlayStation emails reveal Sony's true feelings about Xbox's Activision merger

The big FTC vs. Xbox court case is coming to an end.
www.windowscentral.com www.windowscentral.com

We'll find out very soon if it happens, will basically be decided by the injunction hearing still underway.
 
Utnayan

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meStevo said:

That's Phil Spencer under oath being asked that by the judge during the hearing on the FTC's requested injunction that would effectively kill the Activision deal. Could be a pretty pivotal moment in this acquisition if the injunction is denied and they move to close the merger in the coming weeks regardless of other outstanding litigation. If the injunction is granted it puts the acquisition on untenable timelines, years, when contractually it needs to close by 7/18 or it will cost MS a $3b break up fee.

Huge live-tweeted thread on that testimony if you're interested in more.
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Everyone knows MS is playing the long game and that was a bullshit answer to COD. They didn't care about ripping ES and Starfield away from Playstation because there wasn't an injunction. In 10 years they can pull it away and will not care about "Irreparable harm" to the Xbox brand. It's Microsoft's motto to take over where they can (Obviously). From the Netscape/Internet Explorer debacle, to including MS Teams on the desktop native to Windows.

Sony is also looking at this wrong. They rightfully so shouldn't give two shits about the acquisition because the talent at Act Blizz has all gone anyway. They will swallow up a bunch of shitlords from that company that will be laid off as soon as the merger is official. MS will bumble around with mediocre development due to Gamepass, and their story of mediocrity will continue unless Sony fucks up the hardware gen again. Atmos, Vision, Ultra HD, drop in out party chat, and product quality and services is what Sony needs to concentrate on. That and now allowing their 1st party developers to not Druckman off a fucking cliff destroying another IP with woke garbage that people are tired of playing/hearing about as the tides tilt in the other political direction.

Anything Act/Blizz has now is washed up horseshit because their is no talent left. These dweebo's are so out of touch they do not even know the difference between a 2 handed sword and a 1 handed sword cosmetic in Diablo 4.

So if I were Sony, I would clean up the support and UI features for their next console, whip crack the 1st party dev's back to neutrality on the political spectrum and concentrate on quality gaming, consolidate their horseshit subscription services into one and organize the damn thing, and continue to watch MS flail around with a bunch of IP's and no talent to do anything with them until the cows come home.
 
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meStevo

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Nah, it only makes sense if Sony massively fumbles the next gen or something and demolishes their own market share in the space. Otherwise it'd be untenable to give up the revenue generated from Sony's platform. COD breaks a lot of the rules around that kind of thing, it will be on Sony platforms indefinitely unless they play games and demand stupid terms (which they may already be doing), giving MS an out and cover from a branding perspective. Reality though is they both need each other in this case. One big thing learned from Spencer's testimony is how closely revenues are managed and monitored and that he is responsible for. They can't afford to just give up a significant chunk of revenue for the potential of a couple % of market share.

Sony has kinda been all over the place in regards to this transaction. Sony execs have contradicted themselves w/ testimony, private emails, public statements. FTC may deliver the goods and effectively kill it if they convince the judge to grant the injunction though.
 
meStevo

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www.videogameschronicle.com

Sony accidently reveals confidential Call of Duty player and revenue data | VGC

Poorly redacted documents shine a light on the importance of Call of Duty to PlayStation…
www.videogameschronicle.com www.videogameschronicle.com

“In 2021, over [14?] million users (by device) spent 30 percent or more of their time playing Call of Duty, over 6 million users spent more than 70% of their time on Call of Duty, and about 1 million users spent 100% of their gaming time on Call of Duty.​
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“In 2021, Call of Duty players spent an average of [116?] hours per year playing Call of Duty. Call of Duty players spending more than 70 percent of their time on Call of Duty spent an average of 296 hours on the franchise.”​
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It was recently confirmed that Call of Duty software accounted for over $1 billion in sales on PlayStation consoles in 2021.​
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According to The Verge, Sony’s redacted document suggests Call of Duty games were worth $800 million for PlayStation revenue in the US alone that year — and seemingly $1.5 billion globally.​
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That figure jumps considerably when also factoring in Call of Duty players’ average annual platform spending on PlayStation hardware, accessories, subscriptions and services. The Verge claims the redacted figure appears to be $15.9 billion a year (or perhaps $13.9 billion).​
 
spronk

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didnt even finish the halo 5 story and uninstalled recently so no shock really
 
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Vorph

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Wonder how that will effect the cheap way to extend GPU subs (XBLG 3 month codes converted to 51 days of GPU). I just re-upped another year since Eneba had the cheapest price (worked out to roughly $5 a month) I've seen in quite a while. Might be a good idea to top it all the way up to 36 months before this change goes through since buying actual Game Pass codes is generally about twice as expensive as buying and converting XBLG ones.
 
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Utnayan

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Vorph said:
Wonder how that will effect the cheap way to extend GPU subs (XBLG 3 month codes converted to 51 days of GPU). I just re-upped another year since Eneba had the cheapest price (worked out to roughly $5 a month) I've seen in quite a while. Might be a good idea to top it all the way up to 36 months before this change goes through since buying actual Game Pass codes is generally about twice as expensive as buying and converting XBLG ones.
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Did this before but forgot how it works. 3 month codes are now 9 bucks. I can get to July 2026 - do they automatically convert once I enter the code? Been a bit but I think that is what happens.
 
Vorph

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Utnayan said:
Did this before but forgot how it works. 3 month codes are now 9 bucks. I can get to July 2026 - do they automatically convert once I enter the code? Been a bit but I think that is what happens.
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9 bucks is on the higher side of normal, especially since you have to pay the Paypal/CC fee on top of that. The ones I bought were about $7.75 including the fee. That was with a coupon, but the seller appears to be out of keys and isn't listed anymore.

As long as you have an active GPU sub, redeeming a XBLG 3 month code will automatically convert to 51 days of GPU. 7 codes = a year, more or less. Anything under $60 (after fees) is a good deal. Whether or not the new announcement messes with prices immediately remains to be seen though I guess.
 
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