Washington Post: Phil Spencer interview on the Activision deal and more

[WinFonda]

It's hardly just a couple of moneyhats though. Sony have been signing exclusivity deals relentlessly all last generation, and they've done them largely unanswered as a result of both Xbox having a weaker market position making it cheaper for them to do, but also because the practice of signing them is widely accepted for them, but not for MS.

There's a reason why something like Final Fantasy sells so disproportionately on PlayStation... it's because these exclusivity deals reinforce (or in some cases disrupt) audiences on a given platform, and as time goes on that becomes more difficult to undo. Sony's had Final Fantasy in their corner for a long time now, going back to Final Fantasy 7, but the series DID eventually come to Xbox day and date beginning with Final Fantasy XIII, and was starting to cultivate an audience within that ecosystem that had a desire to play JRPGs. That Final Fantasy 7 Remake got moneyhatted (for what is still an uncertain length of time in regards to Xbox) isn't a random coincidence. This type of moneyhat is a precisely targeted one to cause an entire genre of game not be viable on the platform.

There are some IP that within their sphere carry so much weight that they cause ripple effects across the genre. Sony's Street Fighter V moneyhat effectively buried the entire fighter genre on Xbox, because nobody invested in that genre was going to opt for a console that lacked Street Fighter.. and as a result other titles that weren't (or at least I'm not aware of being) moneyhats would start to skip the console also, because if nobody that's invested in that genre is opting for that console, why should the smaller, more niche IP target that console either, right?

So yes... timed exclusives very much can be used to push a competing platform out of the market, and Sony was routinely targeting games that would be the most crippling across the spectrum. Whether that be Final Fantasy (and possibly Persona?) in the JRPG space, Street Fighter in the fighting game space, the year (or two) long exclusive content deals for Destiny, and the exclusive map content for COD in the FPS space, etc... the goal was to make it so Xbox as a platform wasn't a viable choice for the majority of the market. And quite frankly, it was working and working well... hence the situation in 2016 where MS bowing out of the market entirely was a very real possibility.

When that didn't occur, Sony looked to land killer blows right away at the start of this generation. Hence the announcement of Final Fantasy XVI's timed exclusivity ahead of the consoles being released, and the murmurs of a whole slew of others to be revealed in time. And the general response here was just that it was a foregone conclusion that PS5 would just continue to build on PS4's momentum largely unimpeded. And considering the shit MS took back in 2015 when they dared to land a single comparable exclusivity deal with Rise of the Tomb Raider, that avenue of retaliation was clearly not available to them. Look how quick the clarification of the duration of exclusivity of RoTR was forced out of MS and SquareEnix, and then contrast that with Crash N'Sane Trilogy, Nier Automata, Final Fantasy 7R, KOTOR remake... or any of countless other deals where their eventual Xbox release was happily left vague as hell. That's how we're here today, because MS were either gonna commit fully and land some true heavy blows that made a real difference to the current landscape, or they were inevitably going to see their platform marginalised to the point where they had to drop out.

If people didn't want to see the level of escalation we're seeing now today... well, they shouldn't have been so comfortable commending the ever increasing frequency and severity of deals Sony was making to cripple their primary competition. "Final Fantasy sells 80%+ on PlayStation anyways, so they may as well" and by extension "of course it makes sense for game X to skip Xbox, because the audience is all on PlayStation". Well, congrats... now they won't all be. The rampant desire for the glory days of PS2-era domination has led us here, and so cries about how unfair it is ring hollow.

Click to shrink...

So much applause for this warped revisionism. Microsoft has nobody to blame but themselves for the way the last decade went down. They're one of the richest companies on the planet and had bad priorities that culminated with a bad console. They fucked up beyond the pale. End of. And the irony is surely lost, when all the things you're complaining about, Microsoft was spinning game on back in the X360 days when they had a marketshare advtange in the US. Sony got really good at the established ruleset and now Microsoft has changed the rules. OK, fair play. Unfortunately the rules are now completely unsustainable consolidation which is even more horrible for the industry, but let's go ahead and justify it anyway because our parasocial identity with a brand and megacorporation has left us with a bruised ego of feeling betrayed, bullied, and/or mocked. The general tone and lack of perspective of this post makes me wonder your age.

 

[Curufinwe]

Wow, a succinct and brutal takedown.

 

[naitosan]

It's hardly just a couple of moneyhats though. Sony have been signing exclusivity deals relentlessly all last generation, and they've done them largely unanswered as a result of both Xbox having a weaker market position making it cheaper for them to do, but also because the practice of signing them is widely accepted for them, but not for MS.

There's a reason why something like Final Fantasy sells so disproportionately on PlayStation... it's because these exclusivity deals reinforce (or in some cases disrupt) audiences on a given platform, and as time goes on that becomes more difficult to undo. Sony's had Final Fantasy in their corner for a long time now, going back to Final Fantasy 7, but the series DID eventually come to Xbox day and date beginning with Final Fantasy XIII, and was starting to cultivate an audience within that ecosystem that had a desire to play JRPGs. That Final Fantasy 7 Remake got moneyhatted (for what is still an uncertain length of time in regards to Xbox) isn't a random coincidence. This type of moneyhat is a precisely targeted one to cause an entire genre of game not be viable on the platform.

There are some IP that within their sphere carry so much weight that they cause ripple effects across the genre. Sony's Street Fighter V moneyhat effectively buried the entire fighter genre on Xbox, because nobody invested in that genre was going to opt for a console that lacked Street Fighter.. and as a result other titles that weren't (or at least I'm not aware of being) moneyhats would start to skip the console also, because if nobody that's invested in that genre is opting for that console, why should the smaller, more niche IP target that console either, right?

So yes... timed exclusives very much can be used to push a competing platform out of the market, and Sony was routinely targeting games that would be the most crippling across the spectrum. Whether that be Final Fantasy (and possibly Persona?) in the JRPG space, Street Fighter in the fighting game space, the year (or two) long exclusive content deals for Destiny, and the exclusive map content for COD in the FPS space, etc... the goal was to make it so Xbox as a platform wasn't a viable choice for the majority of the market. And quite frankly, it was working and working well... hence the situation in 2016 where MS bowing out of the market entirely was a very real possibility.

When that didn't occur, Sony looked to land killer blows right away at the start of this generation. Hence the announcement of Final Fantasy XVI's timed exclusivity ahead of the consoles being released, and the murmurs of a whole slew of others to be revealed in time. And the general response here was just that it was a foregone conclusion that PS5 would just continue to build on PS4's momentum largely unimpeded. And considering the shit MS took back in 2015 when they dared to land a single comparable exclusivity deal with Rise of the Tomb Raider, that avenue of retaliation was clearly not available to them. Look how quick the clarification of the duration of exclusivity of RoTR was forced out of MS and SquareEnix, and then contrast that with Crash N'Sane Trilogy, Nier Automata, Final Fantasy 7R, KOTOR remake... or any of countless other deals where their eventual Xbox release was happily left vague as hell. That's how we're here today, because MS were either gonna commit fully and land some true heavy blows that made a real difference to the current landscape, or they were inevitably going to see their platform marginalised to the point where they had to drop out.

If people didn't want to see the level of escalation we're seeing now today... well, they shouldn't have been so comfortable commending the ever increasing frequency and severity of deals Sony was making to cripple their primary competition. "Final Fantasy sells 80%+ on PlayStation anyways, so they may as well" and by extension "of course it makes sense for game X to skip Xbox, because the audience is all on PlayStation". Well, congrats... now they won't all be. The rampant desire for the glory days of PS2-era domination has led us here, and so cries about how unfair it is ring hollow.

Click to shrink...

Incredible post. You pretty much nailed it and honestly this needs to be trademarked. So many people don't see or realize this sadly.

 

[SlayerSaint]

If a company is willing to sell, they're willing to sell. And to me, it's better they're acquired by the megacorporation that has 20 years of experience in gaming and learning from their fuckups to get to where they are today than the megacorporation that hasn't done shit in the gaming space like Amazon or Google. Can't ever see Amazon or Google coming straight in and doing something as consumer friendly as game pass, because Xbox is only here due to having a colossal fuck up under their belts in the original Xbone launch.

 

[DrowsyJungle]

Media consolidation has been going on since the inception of media. When budgets and cost rise, business consolidates and the process continues until new media is invented.

Videogames used to be made in garages by 1-2 people now they require large scale coordination, marketing, IP and platforms to exist. All of those things considered, creates a ton of risk for creativity especially when shareholders are involved. I at least appreciate the revenue model of Gamepass to allow for possibly of more creative freedom

But yes consolidation is unfortunately the inevitable future of our industry and believe it or not the competetive market of your time almost requires it.

 

[TheXboxPost]

I do not know if you guys are feeling the same thing, but everywhere I'm trying to reach a healthy discussion about THE topic of this week, I'm greeted by hostility towards anything Microsoft.

So this made me come up with a question.

Are these moves counterproductive to the image perception of MS the same way as Meta (Formerly known as FyouFacebook) doing their thing?

 

[speedomodel]

I find it really hard to take someone seriously when they think that Activision being sold is worse than them continuing on the way they were.

 

[neoak]

I do not know if you guys are feeling the same thing, but everywhere I'm trying to reach a healthy discussion about THE topic of this week, I'm greeted by hostility towards anything Microsoft.

So this made me come up with a question.

Are these moves counterproductive to the image perception of MS the same way as Meta (Formerly known as FyouFacebook) doing their thing?

Click to shrink...

You getting that amount of hostility is Fanboyism at it's finest.

And no, the only reason there is so much hate is that it is not Sony doing it.

There was a ton of vitriol sent to Platinum Games about Bayonetta 2 because they couldn't port to PS4 due to Nintendo daring to actually fund the sequel. And they got it again for Bayonetta 3. Kamiya has had to address that several times.

And then from history: when Final Fantasy XIII was announced as a multiplatform release. Oh boy. Cue the Japanese expert meme.

 

[Azerth]

You getting that amount of hostility is Fanboyism at it's finest.

And no, the only reason there is so much hate is that it is not Sony doing it.

There was a ton of vitriol sent to Platinum Games about Bayonetta 2 because they couldn't port to PS4 due to Nintendo daring to actually fund the sequel. And they got it again for Bayonetta 3. Kamiya has had to address that several times.

And then from history: when Final Fantasy XIII was announced as a multiplatform release. Oh boy. Cue the Japanese expert meme.

Click to shrink...

Didnt insomniac get hate for making an xbox exclusive as well

 

[Chaos Legion]

So much applause for this warped revisionism. Microsoft has nobody to blame but themselves for the way the last decade went down. They're one of the richest companies on the planet and had bad priorities that culminated with a bad console. They fucked up beyond the pale. End of. And the irony is surely lost, when all the things you're complaining about, Microsoft was spinning game on back in the X360 days when they had a marketshare advtange in the US. Sony got really good at the established ruleset and now Microsoft has changed the rules. OK, fair play. Unfortunately the rules are now completely unsustainable consolidation which is even more horrible for the industry, but let's go ahead and justify it anyway because our parasocial identity with a brand and megacorporation has left us with a bruised ego of feeling betrayed, bullied, and/or mocked. The general tone and lack of perspective of this post makes me wonder your age.

Click to shrink...

Of the many perplexing things with that post that have been already noted, I really love the complete erasure of the 360 days, as you point out.

 

[Laver]

It'a hilarious how the haters of industry consolidation are so overwhelmingly silent in the practically monthly Embracer/Tencent acquisition threads (or in the multiple Sony acquistion threads last year for that matter).

 

[neoak]

Didnt insomniac get hate for making an xbox exclusive as well

Click to shrink...

I wasn't aware, but I wasn't paying attention to it.

It'a hilarious how the haters of industry consolidation are so overwhelmingly silent in the practically monthly Embracer/Tencent acquisition threads (or in the multiple Sony acquistion threads last year for that matter).

Click to shrink...

Or are totally fine with Sony exclusives in their post history.

 

[Fenixrisingxl21]

I do not know if you guys are feeling the same thing, but everywhere I'm trying to reach a healthy discussion about THE topic of this week, I'm greeted by hostility towards anything Microsoft.

So this made me come up with a question.

Are these moves counterproductive to the image perception of MS the same way as Meta (Formerly known as FyouFacebook) doing their thing?

Click to shrink...

I'll say no, if only because Microsoft already knows their naysayers aren't going to give them a fair shake, anyway.
There is no 'right' or 'moral' way for Microsoft to compete, as certain consumers/observers seem to prefer them to either overpay for game-exclusivity agreements, or build studios from the ground up, and put themselves at a competitive disadvantage, as each team takes maybe four years to put out their first product.
Microsoft is basically admitting "we don't know how to build all of these games across all of these genres, so let's get the people that do, and just get the hell out of the way."
Ideally, each team will get minimum three years to build a product, but have wiggle room in the schedule that can perhaps be filled by another team's game.
Or simply subscribe to the "it's not ready until it's ready" mantra for each studio's title.
Quality of workplace conditions and software should (eventually) turn the tide of negative opinion.

 

[Panic Freak]

Look, it depends what you want to discuss. In the context of the modern acquisition discourse, it doesn't make a great deal of sense to discuss Psygnosis (especially since that studio is shut down now anyway). You could argue this began back in 2010:
PlayStation Studios
2010 - MediaMolecule (Sony second-party gamedev studio)
2011 - Sucker Punch Productions (Sony second-party gamedev studio since 2002)
2019 - Insomniac Games (Multiplatform gamedev studio)
2021 - Housemarque (Sony second-party gamedev studio since 2012)
2021 - Bluepoint Games (Multiplatform gamedev studio specialising in remasters/remakes)
2021 - FireSprite (PSVR support studio with only one full game release, former Psygnosis/SCE Liverpool staff)
2021 - Nixxes Software (PC porting support studio)
2021 - Valkyrie Entertainment (Gamedev support studio for God War IV+V)

Xbox Game Studios
2014 - Mojang (Indie gamedev studio behind Minecraft)
2018 - Compulsion Games (Indie multiplatform gamedev studio)
2018 - InXile Entertainment (Multiplatform gamedev studio, former Interplay staff)
2018 - Undead Labs (Xbox second-party gamedev studio)
2018 - Obsidian Entertainment (Multiplatform gamedev studio, former Black Isle staff)
2018 - Ninja Theory (Multiplatform gamedev studio)
2018 - Playground Games (Xbox second-party gamedev studio)
2019 - Double Fine Productions (Multiplatform gamedev studio, former LucasArts staff)
2021 - Bethesda Softworks (Major multiplatform game publisher)
2022 - Activision | Blizzard (Major multiplatform game publisher)

"Second-party studio" I've used here as short-hand for "with very rare exceptions, develops and publishes games exclusively at the behest of a platform holder".

With the exception of Insomniac and Bluepoint, none of the studios SIE have acquired in the past 12 years had any history of note publishing or developing games for other console platforms, and even Insomniac was primarily known for their work with SIE specifically on Spyro the Dragon, Ratchet & Clank, Resistance, and Spider-Man. Xbox had Sunset Overdrive, but it was very much the exception, not the rule. Bluepoint's only real work outside of SIE games was the Metal Gear remasters which were themselves made at the behest of a major third-party publisher.

By contrast, only Undead Labs and Playground Games really fit the same model of "long previous history of exclusivity with platform holder", the other 7 acquisitions Microsoft made were all solidly dev houses that released games on a variety of platforms, including both Nintendo and PlayStation, and two were major third-party *publishers*, which Sony also had not dabbled with arguably ever since that initial Psygnosis deal. And even at that time, they released software on non-PlayStation console platforms as late as 1999.

This is what has contributed to the image of Microsoft acquisitions as being focused around "depriving" a competitor of IP that they were previously able to enjoy, whereas Sony's has, with very few exceptions, been focused on securing relationships they had already cultivated with dev houses over a number of years. You can argue perhaps that Sony's version of the strategy is their courting of exclusive deals like FF7 Remake and the like, but those have always been more limited in scope compared to full-on acquisitions.

Click to shrink...

I think most people would agree that Microsoft was way, way behind Sony with regard to it's internal development capabilities and people would likely also agree that they needed to do a lot to be competitive.

If Microsoft were to employ the same strategy that Sony has been using for the past 20 years, they would likely remain 20 years behind Sony with respect to it's internal development capabilities. That's why you've seen them purchase third party developers because you're never going to make that huge gap using the same strategy that Sony used.

You may not like it but that's the reality of the situation.

 

[Sydle]

I do not know if you guys are feeling the same thing, but everywhere I'm trying to reach a healthy discussion about THE topic of this week, I'm greeted by hostility towards anything Microsoft.

So this made me come up with a question.

Are these moves counterproductive to the image perception of MS the same way as Meta (Formerly known as FyouFacebook) doing their thing?

Click to shrink...

It's a vocal minority that won't like anything that Microsoft does to get ahead. I'd ignore them and focus on the folks who want to genuinely talk things out.

 

[OfficerRob]

I do not know if you guys are feeling the same thing, but everywhere I'm trying to reach a healthy discussion about THE topic of this week, I'm greeted by hostility towards anything Microsoft.

So this made me come up with a question.

Are these moves counterproductive to the image perception of MS the same way as Meta (Formerly known as FyouFacebook) doing their thing?

Click to shrink...

No offense, but this is basically the equivalent of "_____ is trending on twitter, it's blown up". We are talking about bubbles within bubbles and anecdotal nothingness.

 

[FeenixRisen]

Of the many perplexing things with that post that have been already noted, I really love the complete erasure of the 360 days, as you point out.

Click to shrink...

As a PS3 only person early in that generation, those exclusivity deals MS were cutting had me sick, lmao. I eventually had to buy a 360 later in the generation.

 

[Deleted member 93062]

It'a hilarious how the haters of industry consolidation are so overwhelmingly silent in the practically monthly Embracer/Tencent acquisition threads (or in the multiple Sony acquistion threads last year for that matter).

Click to shrink...

By industry consolidation, they mean "games leaving my platform"

 

[Absent]

All the third party discussion reminds me of this post from Imran in 2020. There seems to be every indication that Sony was happy with previous deals and wants to extend it to this generation.

 

[B.C.]

By industry consolidation, they mean "games leaving my platform"

Click to shrink...

Exactly.

 

[neoak]

So much applause for this warped revisionism. Microsoft has nobody to blame but themselves for the way the last decade went down. They're one of the richest companies on the planet and had bad priorities that culminated with a bad console. They fucked up beyond the pale. End of. And the irony is surely lost, when all the things you're complaining about, Microsoft was spinning game on back in the X360 days when they had a marketshare advtange in the US. Sony got really good at the established ruleset and now Microsoft has changed the rules. OK, fair play. Unfortunately the rules are now completely unsustainable consolidation which is even more horrible for the industry, but let's go ahead and justify it anyway because our parasocial identity with a brand and megacorporation has left us with a bruised ego of feeling betrayed, bullied, and/or mocked. The general tone and lack of perspective of this post makes me wonder your age.

Click to shrink...

This you?

Imran Khan: "Sony has locked timed exclusivity for some huge and widely known multiplatform games" News

The only reason Xbox pushes crossplay, a platform agnostic outlook etc is because they lost a huge amount of market share and were demolished in sales and first party quality output. Xbox would have not pushed those ideals had they either won this generation or at least matched PlayStation...

www.resetera.com

Imran Khan: "Sony has locked timed exclusivity for some huge and widely known multiplatform games" News

I was referring to the people who are the most upset about these rumors, people who had and continue to have absolutely no intention of buying a PS5. Sony is obviously targeting 'maybes' and fence sitters with these types of deals, yes, but I don't think fairweather fans are where the bulk of...

www.resetera.com

I mean, why not just buy an Xbox?

 

[Chaos Legion]

As a PS3 only person early in that generation, those exclusivity deals MS were cutting had me sick, lmao. I eventually had to buy a 360 later in the generation.

Click to shrink...

I mean, 360 Microsoft was killing it. 360 was easily one of my favorite consoles of all time and Microsoft went above and beyond ensuring that it secured exclusives/exclusivity on many titles I actually loved.

 

[The Living Tribunal]

This you?

Imran Khan: "Sony has locked timed exclusivity for some huge and widely known multiplatform games" News

The only reason Xbox pushes crossplay, a platform agnostic outlook etc is because they lost a huge amount of market share and were demolished in sales and first party quality output. Xbox would have not pushed those ideals had they either won this generation or at least matched PlayStation...

www.resetera.com

Imran Khan: "Sony has locked timed exclusivity for some huge and widely known multiplatform games" News

I was referring to the people who are the most upset about these rumors, people who had and continue to have absolutely no intention of buying a PS5. Sony is obviously targeting 'maybes' and fence sitters with these types of deals, yes, but I don't think fairweather fans are where the bulk of...

www.resetera.com

I mean, why not just buy an Xbox?

Click to shrink...

 

[Renna Hazel]

But SE's motivation in this isn't important.

The point is that Sony paid a lot of money to them, for one reason and one reason only. To stop the game from coming to Xbox.

And yes, Xbox has had exclusives. But relatively few third party, mainly through XGP which they fund fully. And the third party games they do get exclusivity on, generally lasts 3 months. It's a bit different to keeping a game off a platform for 2+ years as Sony are doing.

Also, its a bit reductive to just put down the acquisition to keeping the games off of PlayStation. Unlike regular moneyhats, they're also paying to acquire a ridiculous list of IP, as well as the talent and technology that comes with acquiring the whole company. So yes, whilst part of it is keeping games off PlayStation (and as you say, exclusives are just part of the business, and I don't like them on either side), there's a whole lot more to it, than a regular moneyhat where the sole intention is to keep it off the competing system.

Click to shrink...

Xbox has moneyhatted plenty of exclusives when they were leading Sony, because it's easier for the leading console to do that. MS started buying timed exclusive games and DLC in the 360 era. They even launched Xbox One with the same timed exclusive DLC CoD deal, which they said would last the generation. When it became clear that PS4 would lead Xbox One, that deal suddenly became a PS deal. It sucked when Sony did it but let's not pretend MS didn't do the exact same thing (and even started the timed exclusive DLC thing) when they were in the advantageous position. It's wack all around.

 

[Deleted member 97514]

I mean, 360 Microsoft was killing it. 360 was easily one of my favorite consoles of all time and Microsoft went above and beyond ensuring that it secured exclusives/exclusivity on many titles I actually loved.

Click to shrink...

Right. I mean the 360 was the place to play COD at one point because of the exclusive deal MS had with them. Lets not forget the paid timed GTA expansions. Both are guilty of throwing money around to secure exclusive content.

Also didn't Sony help fund Street Fighter 5? That game doesn't get made without them so it's not like they just paid to keep it off of Xbox IIRC.

 

[neoak]

Also didn't Sony helped fund Street Fighter 5? That game doesn't get made without them so it's not like they just paid to keep it off of Xbox IIRC.

Click to shrink...

Yup. Missed opportunity by MS for SFV.

 

[SimpleCRIPPLE]

I think a new Hexen could be more interesting than a new Quake.

 

[Nif]

Also didn't Sony help fund Street Fighter 5? That game doesn't get made without them so it's not like they just paid to keep it off of Xbox IIRC.

Click to shrink...

You could say any exclusivity agreement helps fund the game. Suggesting Capcom wouldn't make a sequel to an existing IP is hilarious, though.

It's Capcom.

 

[Grazzt]

This you?

Imran Khan: "Sony has locked timed exclusivity for some huge and widely known multiplatform games" News

The only reason Xbox pushes crossplay, a platform agnostic outlook etc is because they lost a huge amount of market share and were demolished in sales and first party quality output. Xbox would have not pushed those ideals had they either won this generation or at least matched PlayStation...

www.resetera.com

Imran Khan: "Sony has locked timed exclusivity for some huge and widely known multiplatform games" News

I was referring to the people who are the most upset about these rumors, people who had and continue to have absolutely no intention of buying a PS5. Sony is obviously targeting 'maybes' and fence sitters with these types of deals, yes, but I don't think fairweather fans are where the bulk of...

www.resetera.com

I mean, why not just buy an Xbox?

Click to shrink...

Lmao.

 

[DrFreeman]

Look, it depends what you want to discuss. In the context of the modern acquisition discourse, it doesn't make a great deal of sense to discuss Psygnosis (especially since that studio is shut down now anyway). You could argue this began back in 2010:
PlayStation Studios
2010 - MediaMolecule (Sony second-party gamedev studio)
2011 - Sucker Punch Productions (Sony second-party gamedev studio since 2002)
2019 - Insomniac Games (Multiplatform gamedev studio)
2021 - Housemarque (Sony second-party gamedev studio since 2012)
2021 - Bluepoint Games (Multiplatform gamedev studio specialising in remasters/remakes)
2021 - FireSprite (PSVR support studio with only one full game release, former Psygnosis/SCE Liverpool staff)
2021 - Nixxes Software (PC porting support studio)
2021 - Valkyrie Entertainment (Gamedev support studio for God War IV+V)

Xbox Game Studios
2014 - Mojang (Indie gamedev studio behind Minecraft)
2018 - Compulsion Games (Indie multiplatform gamedev studio)
2018 - InXile Entertainment (Multiplatform gamedev studio, former Interplay staff)
2018 - Undead Labs (Xbox second-party gamedev studio)
2018 - Obsidian Entertainment (Multiplatform gamedev studio, former Black Isle staff)
2018 - Ninja Theory (Multiplatform gamedev studio)
2018 - Playground Games (Xbox second-party gamedev studio)
2019 - Double Fine Productions (Multiplatform gamedev studio, former LucasArts staff)
2021 - Bethesda Softworks (Major multiplatform game publisher)
2022 - Activision | Blizzard (Major multiplatform game publisher)

"Second-party studio" I've used here as short-hand for "with very rare exceptions, develops and publishes games exclusively at the behest of a platform holder".

With the exception of Insomniac and Bluepoint, none of the studios SIE have acquired in the past 12 years had any history of note publishing or developing games for other console platforms, and even Insomniac was primarily known for their work with SIE specifically on Spyro the Dragon, Ratchet & Clank, Resistance, and Spider-Man. Xbox had Sunset Overdrive, but it was very much the exception, not the rule. Bluepoint's only real work outside of SIE games was the Metal Gear remasters which were themselves made at the behest of a major third-party publisher.

By contrast, only Undead Labs and Playground Games really fit the same model of "long previous history of exclusivity with platform holder", the other 7 acquisitions Microsoft made were all solidly dev houses that released games on a variety of platforms, including both Nintendo and PlayStation, and two were major third-party *publishers*, which Sony also had not dabbled with arguably ever since that initial Psygnosis deal. And even at that time, they released software on non-PlayStation console platforms as late as 1999.

This is what has contributed to the image of Microsoft acquisitions as being focused around "depriving" a competitor of IP that they were previously able to enjoy, whereas Sony's has, with very few exceptions, been focused on securing relationships they had already cultivated with dev houses over a number of years. You can argue perhaps that Sony's version of the strategy is their courting of exclusive deals like FF7 Remake and the like, but those have always been more limited in scope compared to full-on acquisitions.

Click to shrink...

Hard to argue with that but people will undoubtedly find a way.

It's hardly just a couple of moneyhats though. Sony have been signing exclusivity deals relentlessly all last generation, and they've done them largely unanswered as a result of both Xbox having a weaker market position making it cheaper for them to do, but also because the practice of signing them is widely accepted for them, but not for MS.

There's a reason why something like Final Fantasy sells so disproportionately on PlayStation... it's because these exclusivity deals reinforce (or in some cases disrupt) audiences on a given platform, and as time goes on that becomes more difficult to undo. Sony's had Final Fantasy in their corner for a long time now, going back to Final Fantasy 7, but the series DID eventually come to Xbox day and date beginning with Final Fantasy XIII, and was starting to cultivate an audience within that ecosystem that had a desire to play JRPGs. That Final Fantasy 7 Remake got moneyhatted (for what is still an uncertain length of time in regards to Xbox) isn't a random coincidence. This type of moneyhat is a precisely targeted one to cause an entire genre of game not be viable on the platform.

There are some IP that within their sphere carry so much weight that they cause ripple effects across the genre. Sony's Street Fighter V moneyhat effectively buried the entire fighter genre on Xbox, because nobody invested in that genre was going to opt for a console that lacked Street Fighter.. and as a result other titles that weren't (or at least I'm not aware of being) moneyhats would start to skip the console also, because if nobody that's invested in that genre is opting for that console, why should the smaller, more niche IP target that console either, right?

So yes... timed exclusives very much can be used to push a competing platform out of the market, and Sony was routinely targeting games that would be the most crippling across the spectrum. Whether that be Final Fantasy (and possibly Persona?) in the JRPG space, Street Fighter in the fighting game space, the year (or two) long exclusive content deals for Destiny, and the exclusive map content for COD in the FPS space, etc... the goal was to make it so Xbox as a platform wasn't a viable choice for the majority of the market. And quite frankly, it was working and working well... hence the situation in 2016 where MS bowing out of the market entirely was a very real possibility.

When that didn't occur, Sony looked to land killer blows right away at the start of this generation. Hence the announcement of Final Fantasy XVI's timed exclusivity ahead of the consoles being released, and the murmurs of a whole slew of others to be revealed in time. And the general response here was just that it was a foregone conclusion that PS5 would just continue to build on PS4's momentum largely unimpeded. And considering the shit MS took back in 2015 when they dared to land a single comparable exclusivity deal with Rise of the Tomb Raider, that avenue of retaliation was clearly not available to them. Look how quick the clarification of the duration of exclusivity of RoTR was forced out of MS and SquareEnix, and then contrast that with Crash N'Sane Trilogy, Nier Automata, Final Fantasy 7R, KOTOR remake... or any of countless other deals where their eventual Xbox release was happily left vague as hell. That's how we're here today, because MS were either gonna commit fully and land some true heavy blows that made a real difference to the current landscape, or they were inevitably going to see their platform marginalised to the point where they had to drop out.

If people didn't want to see the level of escalation we're seeing now today... well, they shouldn't have been so comfortable commending the ever increasing frequency and severity of deals Sony was making to cripple their primary competition. "Final Fantasy sells 80%+ on PlayStation anyways, so they may as well" and by extension "of course it makes sense for game X to skip Xbox, because the audience is all on PlayStation". Well, congrats... now they won't all be. The rampant desire for the glory days of PS2-era domination has led us here, and so cries about how unfair it is ring hollow.

Click to shrink...

Wow dude, let's just step back a little here because you seem to really be obsessed with nailing Sony as the only platform holder that moneyhats.

Did you forget about the 360 days? When Microsoft failed to make a dent in the PS2's success, they decided to reach into their pocket and buy exclusivity deals.

Did you forget Microsoft paying $50 million for GTA IV DLC timed exclusivity?

Did you forget Microsoft paying for Call of Duty multi-player DLC timed exclusivity for 8 entire years?

Did you forget Microsoft paying for Skyrim DLC timed exclusivity?

Did you forget Microsoft paying for Ninja Gaiden 2 to be exclusive?

I guess you forgot about Bioshock too?

Did you also forget that Microsoft coined the term "console launch exclusive' to make people think it wasn't a timed exclusive when it actually was? I.e. games like PUBG, Stalker 2, The Medium etc.

Get your mind out of whatever brainwashing you've subjected it to and understand that this shit happens on both sides. It's been going on for decades.

What's different now is that Microsoft has changed the game entirely and is buying exclusivity to entire publisher sized vaults of games eternally, not just a few months for specific games here and there.

 

[neoak]

You could say any exclusivity agreement helps fund the game. Suggesting Capcom wouldn't make a sequel to an existing IP is hilarious, though.

It's Capcom.

Click to shrink...

Capcom at the time as hurting financially, and they had no plans to make SFV.

People can say what they want, but Sony funded part of the game. Otherwise it wouldn't have happened. I mean, it came out barebones af, cuz low budget.

 

[inpHilltr8r]

Look, it depends what you want to discuss. In the context of the modern acquisition discourse, it doesn't make a great deal of sense to discuss Psygnosis (especially since that studio is shut down now anyway). You could argue this began back in 2010:
PlayStation Studios
2010 - MediaMolecule (Sony second-party gamedev studio)
2011 - Sucker Punch Productions (Sony second-party gamedev studio since 2002)
2019 - Insomniac Games (Multiplatform gamedev studio)
2021 - Housemarque (Sony second-party gamedev studio since 2012)
2021 - Bluepoint Games (Multiplatform gamedev studio specialising in remasters/remakes)
2021 - FireSprite (PSVR support studio with only one full game release, former Psygnosis/SCE Liverpool staff)
2021 - Nixxes Software (PC porting support studio)
2021 - Valkyrie Entertainment (Gamedev support studio for God War IV+V)

Xbox Game Studios
2014 - Mojang (Indie gamedev studio behind Minecraft)
2018 - Compulsion Games (Indie multiplatform gamedev studio)
2018 - InXile Entertainment (Multiplatform gamedev studio, former Interplay staff)
2018 - Undead Labs (Xbox second-party gamedev studio)
2018 - Obsidian Entertainment (Multiplatform gamedev studio, former Black Isle staff)
2018 - Ninja Theory (Multiplatform gamedev studio)
2018 - Playground Games (Xbox second-party gamedev studio)
2019 - Double Fine Productions (Multiplatform gamedev studio, former LucasArts staff)
2021 - Bethesda Softworks (Major multiplatform game publisher)
2022 - Activision | Blizzard (Major multiplatform game publisher)

Click to shrink...

2018 looks like a more significant starting point. Only 3 acquisitions in the 8 years preceding, then at least 16 in 5 years

 

[slothrop]

I said this in some other threads but its wild how much people really need to stop analyzing every facet of this as part of competition with Sony or even anything to do with Sony. This is Sony being caught in the blast radius of MS trying to create a new consumer market segment and beat Meta, Google, and Amazon there. It is part of a big tech fight and Sony is not so relevant here. If MS were only caring about the classic gaming and competition with Sony, they would not be investing the amount of money they are. Beating down Sony's market share in the current market would not be enough to move the needle at the Exec level considering Microsoft's broader revenue streams outside the gaming division.

Like... no.. MS did not buy a bunch of studio because Sony bought some exclusives. thats just... not even related to whats going on and the level of investment. They want their major consumer platform with tons of eyeballs like every other big tech company and want to beat them there.

Weirdly this is also said outright in this interview? I guess its reasonable to not trust Phil, certainly he's trying to not ruffle feathers, thats PR. But its entirely in keeping with how big tech has been approaching this space in recent years and all 3 of the other mentioned Big Tech companies have clear goals to carve out their own gaming platform to flip the current market to subscription/streaming. Yes the others haven't been able to execute, but MS buys into the same vision they do of what is possible at scale.

 

[ForoBud]

This you?

Imran Khan: "Sony has locked timed exclusivity for some huge and widely known multiplatform games" News

The only reason Xbox pushes crossplay, a platform agnostic outlook etc is because they lost a huge amount of market share and were demolished in sales and first party quality output. Xbox would have not pushed those ideals had they either won this generation or at least matched PlayStation...

www.resetera.com

Imran Khan: "Sony has locked timed exclusivity for some huge and widely known multiplatform games" News

I was referring to the people who are the most upset about these rumors, people who had and continue to have absolutely no intention of buying a PS5. Sony is obviously targeting 'maybes' and fence sitters with these types of deals, yes, but I don't think fairweather fans are where the bulk of...

www.resetera.com

I mean, why not just buy an Xbox?

Click to shrink...

Hahahahahaha.

A perfect example of the hypocrisy of the whole topic.

'Just buy a PS5'.

 

[ForoBud]

Xbox has moneyhatted plenty of exclusives when they were leading Sony, because it's easier for the leading console to do that. MS started buying timed exclusive games and DLC in the 360 era. They even launched Xbox One with the same timed exclusive DLC CoD deal, which they said would last the generation. When it became clear that PS4 would lead Xbox One, that deal suddenly became a PS deal. It sucked when Sony did it but let's not pretend MS didn't do the exact same thing (and even started the timed exclusive DLC thing) when they were in the advantageous position. It's wack all around.

Click to shrink...

Oh I agree totally. Moneyhats suck. Exclusives suck. All they are is a way force people to spend money in your ecosystem.

In an ideal world, every game would be available on every platform. But hey, it's bog business, and unfortunately it's not ever going to change.

The thing I take exception to is the hypocrisy of the whole discussion. As has been seen from so many in this thread alone. (Not accusing you of that by the way)

 

[ForoBud]

Hard to argue with that but people will undoubtedly find a way.



Wow dude, let's just step back a little here because you seem to really be obsessed with nailing Sony as the only platform holder that moneyhats.

Did you forget about the 360 days? When Microsoft failed to make a dent in the PS2's success, they decided to reach into their pocket and buy exclusivity deals.

Did you forget Microsoft paying $50 million for GTA IV DLC timed exclusivity?

Did you forget Microsoft paying for Call of Duty multi-player DLC timed exclusivity for 8 entire years?

Did you forget Microsoft paying for Skyrim DLC timed exclusivity?

Did you forget Microsoft paying for Ninja Gaiden 2 to be exclusive?

I guess you forgot about Bioshock too?

Did you also forget that Microsoft coined the term "console launch exclusive' to make people think it wasn't a timed exclusive when it actually was? I.e. games like PUBG, Stalker 2, The Medium etc.

Get your mind out of whatever brainwashing you've subjected it to and understand that this shit happens on both sides. It's been going on for decades.

What's different now is that Microsoft has changed the game entirely and is buying exclusivity to entire publisher sized vaults of games eternally, not just a few months for specific games here and there.

Click to shrink...

So once again, it's bad when Microsoft do it, and Sony were only fighting their corner and doing what they had to do to survive?

Why can Sony fans not just admit, it sucks when they moneyhat a game???

And yes, it sucked when Xbox did it too.

Stop being a hypocrite!

 

[Renna Hazel]

Oh I agree totally. Moneyhats suck. Exclusives suck. All they are is a way force people to spend money in your ecosystem.

In an ideal world, every game would be available on every platform. But hey, it's bog business, and unfortunately it's not ever going to change.

The thing I take exception to is the hypocrisy of the whole discussion. As has been seen from so many in this thread alone. (Not accusing you of that by the way)

Click to shrink...

Oh for sure, people were definitely cheering Sony exclusives on. As well as timed exclusive DLC, the most obvious practice of giving nothing to the consumer and just taking away from others. So yeah, I agree and I also wish people were as upset about that stuff when Sony was doing it.

 

[Diablos]

It'a hilarious how the haters of industry consolidation are so overwhelmingly silent in the practically monthly Embracer/Tencent acquisition threads (or in the multiple Sony acquistion threads last year for that matter).

Click to shrink...

To a lot of us, Tencent is really stealthy. That's a big reason why.

 

[DrFreeman]

So once again, it's bad when Microsoft do it, and Sony were only fighting their corner and doing what they had to do to survive?

Why can Sony fans not just admit, it sucks when they moneyhat a game???

And yes, it sucked when Xbox did it too.

Stop being a hypocrite!

Click to shrink...

Read my last 2 paragraphs again bud.

 

[Calvinien]

It's hardly just a couple of moneyhats though. Sony have been signing exclusivity deals relentlessly all last generation, and they've done them largely unanswered as a result of both Xbox having a weaker market position making it cheaper for them to do, but also because the practice of signing them is widely accepted for them, but not for MS.

There's a reason why something like Final Fantasy sells so disproportionately on PlayStation... it's because these exclusivity deals reinforce (or in some cases disrupt) audiences on a given platform, and as time goes on that becomes more difficult to undo. Sony's had Final Fantasy in their corner for a long time now, going back to Final Fantasy 7, but the series DID eventually come to Xbox day and date beginning with Final Fantasy XIII, and was starting to cultivate an audience within that ecosystem that had a desire to play JRPGs. That Final Fantasy 7 Remake got moneyhatted (for what is still an uncertain length of time in regards to Xbox) isn't a random coincidence. This type of moneyhat is a precisely targeted one to cause an entire genre of game not be viable on the platform.

There are some IP that within their sphere carry so much weight that they cause ripple effects across the genre. Sony's Street Fighter V moneyhat effectively buried the entire fighter genre on Xbox, because nobody invested in that genre was going to opt for a console that lacked Street Fighter.. and as a result other titles that weren't (or at least I'm not aware of being) moneyhats would start to skip the console also, because if nobody that's invested in that genre is opting for that console, why should the smaller, more niche IP target that console either, right?

So yes... timed exclusives very much can be used to push a competing platform out of the market, and Sony was routinely targeting games that would be the most crippling across the spectrum. Whether that be Final Fantasy (and possibly Persona?) in the JRPG space, Street Fighter in the fighting game space, the year (or two) long exclusive content deals for Destiny, and the exclusive map content for COD in the FPS space, etc... the goal was to make it so Xbox as a platform wasn't a viable choice for the majority of the market. And quite frankly, it was working and working well... hence the situation in 2016 where MS bowing out of the market entirely was a very real possibility.

When that didn't occur, Sony looked to land killer blows right away at the start of this generation. Hence the announcement of Final Fantasy XVI's timed exclusivity ahead of the consoles being released, and the murmurs of a whole slew of others to be revealed in time. And the general response here was just that it was a foregone conclusion that PS5 would just continue to build on PS4's momentum largely unimpeded. And considering the shit MS took back in 2015 when they dared to land a single comparable exclusivity deal with Rise of the Tomb Raider, that avenue of retaliation was clearly not available to them. Look how quick the clarification of the duration of exclusivity of RoTR was forced out of MS and SquareEnix, and then contrast that with Crash N'Sane Trilogy, Nier Automata, Final Fantasy 7R, KOTOR remake... or any of countless other deals where their eventual Xbox release was happily left vague as hell. That's how we're here today, because MS were either gonna commit fully and land some true heavy blows that made a real difference to the current landscape, or they were inevitably going to see their platform marginalised to the point where they had to drop out.

If people didn't want to see the level of escalation we're seeing now today... well, they shouldn't have been so comfortable commending the ever increasing frequency and severity of deals Sony was making to cripple their primary competition. "Final Fantasy sells 80%+ on PlayStation anyways, so they may as well" and by extension "of course it makes sense for game X to skip Xbox, because the audience is all on PlayStation". Well, congrats... now they won't all be. The rampant desire for the glory days of PS2-era domination has led us here, and so cries about how unfair it is ring hollow.

Click to shrink...

All the people concerned about 'monopolies' have nothing to say about the ps1 outperforming the closest competition by 3 times. Or the ps2 outperforming the competition by 6 times. Or Nintendo being essentially untouchable in the handheld space since 1995. Hell, an analyst projected THIS week that the ps5 outsells the xbox 2:1. Amazing how Microsoft can be a monopoly while also being in last place. It's not a monopoly that is feared, it's microsoft being the dominant console owner.

People make noise about formerly multiplat IPs going exclusive but are silent when Sony locks down the spiderman IP so hard it even affects other games from other publishers. They were silent when sony locked down COD dlc and even etie game modes for a YEAR. They wee silent when sony paid to have content from the xbox version of Destiny, an already anemic game, removed, so their version would be the obvious choice.

I don't understand how you can hand wave the fact away that at some point it becomes more effort than it's worth for SE to make the game multi-platform only to get a fraction of the sales when Sony was willing to cut them some kind of deal, whether a check directly or co-marketing, most likely both. Any time a hardware manufacturer gets an exclusivity deal its because they feel its worth it for notoriety or filling in a software gap and other reasons similar in nature.

Xbox has had their fair share of exclusives over the years as well, let's not forget.

Exclusives are part of the business. The point in this thread is that Microsoft could always pony up more money to make it worthwhile for Square to make them an exclusive FF game but instead of doing that they decided to spend 70 billion dollars buying up Activision-Blizzard.

Click to shrink...

And yet it seems like they are only a part of the business when Microsoft is the one being excluded.

 

[TheRealTalker]

Well at least it looks like Toys4Bob and other studios may be freed from the COD prisons at least.

Glad to hear that is the case.

 

[CanUKlehead]

Jesus Christ...winners really do get to control the narrative, huh?

 

[Bitterman]

 

[immortal-joe]

Xbox has moneyhatted plenty of exclusives when they were leading Sony, because it's easier for the leading console to do that. MS started buying timed exclusive games and DLC in the 360 era. They even launched Xbox One with the same timed exclusive DLC CoD deal, which they said would last the generation. When it became clear that PS4 would lead Xbox One, that deal suddenly became a PS deal. It sucked when Sony did it but let's not pretend MS didn't do the exact same thing (and even started the timed exclusive DLC thing) when they were in the advantageous position. It's wack all around.

Click to shrink...

No, they were moneyhatting in order to lead Sony.

GTA IV, Call of Duty, a metric ton of JRPGs, Bioshock, and the list goes on and on.

None of that matters now, since the narrative will be skewed, history will be revised, and somehow buying Insomniac or Nauthy Dog was the same thing as buying Bethesda and Activision.

 

[haveheart]

That's what you get, Sony, for signing exclusivity for Nier Automata and Final Fantasy. Better don't do that in the future or we'll buy another publisher, all their developers and IPs.

 

[thecaseace]

This you?

Imran Khan: "Sony has locked timed exclusivity for some huge and widely known multiplatform games" News

The only reason Xbox pushes crossplay, a platform agnostic outlook etc is because they lost a huge amount of market share and were demolished in sales and first party quality output. Xbox would have not pushed those ideals had they either won this generation or at least matched PlayStation...

www.resetera.com

Imran Khan: "Sony has locked timed exclusivity for some huge and widely known multiplatform games" News

I was referring to the people who are the most upset about these rumors, people who had and continue to have absolutely no intention of buying a PS5. Sony is obviously targeting 'maybes' and fence sitters with these types of deals, yes, but I don't think fairweather fans are where the bulk of...

www.resetera.com

I mean, why not just buy an Xbox?

Click to shrink...

'Just buy a PS5'. Kind of goes hand in hand with the double standard mentioned in Synth's post.

One realisation that came out the post from Synth earlier, is that the post is a fairly light criticism of a double standard.

Yet it would be impossible for a games journalist to write the same as that post. The backlash would essentially make it career suicide.

Exclusives are part of the business. The point in this thread is that Microsoft could always pony up more money to make it worthwhile for Square to make them an exclusive FF game but instead of doing that they decided to spend 70 billion dollars buying up Activision-Blizzard.

Click to shrink...

Exclusive content - "part of the business."

Acquisitions - bad business.

It's very naïve to handwave the capitalist business practices that get you the things you want and not realise it's a whole system that allows companies to use money to strike deals or buy other companies.

 

[Laver]

This you?

Imran Khan: "Sony has locked timed exclusivity for some huge and widely known multiplatform games" News

The only reason Xbox pushes crossplay, a platform agnostic outlook etc is because they lost a huge amount of market share and were demolished in sales and first party quality output. Xbox would have not pushed those ideals had they either won this generation or at least matched PlayStation...

www.resetera.com

Imran Khan: "Sony has locked timed exclusivity for some huge and widely known multiplatform games" News

I was referring to the people who are the most upset about these rumors, people who had and continue to have absolutely no intention of buying a PS5. Sony is obviously targeting 'maybes' and fence sitters with these types of deals, yes, but I don't think fairweather fans are where the bulk of...

www.resetera.com

I mean, why not just buy an Xbox?

Click to shrink...

Oh my goodness me.

 

[DoradoWinston]

Dude has his meetings with the Zenimax Online team IN Elder Scrolls Online?

Fuckin based

Click to shrink...

actually tho thats fucking sick haha

I TA as a side gig and we started doing it in something called Gather, essentially imagine a school inside habbo hotel lmao

 

[DoradoWinston]

This you?

Imran Khan: "Sony has locked timed exclusivity for some huge and widely known multiplatform games" News

The only reason Xbox pushes crossplay, a platform agnostic outlook etc is because they lost a huge amount of market share and were demolished in sales and first party quality output. Xbox would have not pushed those ideals had they either won this generation or at least matched PlayStation...

www.resetera.com

Imran Khan: "Sony has locked timed exclusivity for some huge and widely known multiplatform games" News

I was referring to the people who are the most upset about these rumors, people who had and continue to have absolutely no intention of buying a PS5. Sony is obviously targeting 'maybes' and fence sitters with these types of deals, yes, but I don't think fairweather fans are where the bulk of...

www.resetera.com

I mean, why not just buy an Xbox?

Click to shrink...

 

[Sir Sonic]

This you?

Imran Khan: "Sony has locked timed exclusivity for some huge and widely known multiplatform games" News

The only reason Xbox pushes crossplay, a platform agnostic outlook etc is because they lost a huge amount of market share and were demolished in sales and first party quality output. Xbox would have not pushed those ideals had they either won this generation or at least matched PlayStation...

www.resetera.com

Imran Khan: "Sony has locked timed exclusivity for some huge and widely known multiplatform games" News

I was referring to the people who are the most upset about these rumors, people who had and continue to have absolutely no intention of buying a PS5. Sony is obviously targeting 'maybes' and fence sitters with these types of deals, yes, but I don't think fairweather fans are where the bulk of...

www.resetera.com

I mean, why not just buy an Xbox?

Click to shrink...

He's not gonna recover from that