Sony was negotiating timed exclusivity for Starfield a couple months back

DeoGame · Sep 21, 2020

I can't say I love the idea of a platform holder buying a massive publisher, but Bethesda needs some extra time for polish and Xbox more exclusives. That said, I did start with Elder Scrolls and Fallout on PS3 so I do feel a bit disappointed for my PS peers.

Thankfully, I think MS has made strides in breaking down barriers to gaming through PC and XCloud meaning a timed or full exclusive for them is less restrictive than one for Sony or Nintendo where you have to buy another system.

asd202 · Sep 21, 2020

Ufffffff

spookyduzt · Sep 21, 2020

Black_Red said:
The biggest difference, is that by tying bloodborne to PS4 we cant play it on 60 FPS.

At leas with MS you have the option to play the games on a PC at a good framerate.

Hell, I would have loved to play Bloodborne on the One X. Whatever.

Tacitus · Sep 21, 2020

They were negotiating exclusivity?

Aki · Sep 21, 2020

P

data said:
Would consolidation of publishers not result in funding of development?

I would say Microsoft is hardly a monopoly with how vast the game industry is.

If these are one off titles that wouldn't have existed without Microsoft or Sony's involvement then I'm okay with them. Money hatting is wrong no matter who does it.

and buying out a publisher like Bethesda is a huge blow to gaming. If Sony retaliates by also starting to buy other publishers then I'm worried at what the gaming landscape will be by the end of the gen.

asmith906 · Sep 21, 2020

Spark said:
As a PC gamer, I'm happy this fell through. At least with Microsoft I know what to expect. Sony's exclusivity contracts are always vague and annoying.

Wait until this game is announced as an EGS timed exclusive

lexible · Sep 21, 2020

CrispyGamer said:
Let me guess people are happy now but would've been pissed if Sony got timed exclusivity?

Sure. Fuck Sony and their exclusivity bullshit. This is bad for the industry but I almost don't care just to see egg on Sony's face.

asmith906 · Sep 21, 2020

lexible said:
Sure. Fuck Sony and their exclusivity bullshit.

You're happy MS has full on exclusivity for an entire publishers catalog but unhappy that sony might have gotten a 1 year timed exclusive.

That doesn't really make sense to me.

klastical · Sep 21, 2020

Pryme said:
A large chunk of PlayStation buyers will pick those games up on PC or buy an xbox to play them.

Some will play it on pc but if you think that Microsoft could hit 30 million sales just on pc and Xbox your fooling yourself. Its the same reason they don't make minecraft an xbox exclusive.

Plasma · Sep 21, 2020

asmith906 said:
Wait until this game is announced as an EGS timed exclusive

I don't think there's any chance of that happening, Microsoft haven't put any games up on EGS yet and neither have Bethesda who were trying to push people onto their own launcher. Also the only reason Microsoft have bought them in the first place is so they have more stuff to put on gamepass so making a game exclusive to the EGS would make zero sense.

SgtCobra · Sep 21, 2020

Apath said:
Then why aren't we all advocating for a single console industry that gets every title? That way everyone just needs a single system and they do not need to worry about availability. Well, we all know that's a silly concept — competition is good, and it's worth the cost of some gamers not having access to every game.

Microsoft was severely lacking on the console front compared to Sony. Everyone keeps calling this anti-consumer, however I see the strengthening of the Xbox brand as a positive. If it means Xbox and PS5 sales get closer to 50-50, it means more competition for Sony.

To create a distinction, I would not feel the same had Sony instead acquired Zenimax. Sony is the runaway leader of this generation, outselling the XB1 more than 2-to-1 and already has a substantial competitive advantage with their exclusives library. It's one thing for the market leader to increase their lead further and another for the brand getting outsold to become much stronger.

Maybe Sony losing a substantial portion of their exclusive portfolio competitive advantage means they will focus more on a Game Pass competitor. Maybe they will double down on their investment. There are numerous beneficial outcomes for everyone that extend beyond game availability.

Competition is important and very much needed in the console space I defintiely agree with you on that. But I have the feeling this whole buyout of devs and pubs is going to negatively impact the console AND PC space. You'll see Sony do the same and lock games for their own ecosystem while PC, Xbox and Nintendo players get the short end of the stick.

Pryme said:
people waited well over 1.5 decades for a final fantasy 7 remake, only for Sony to gate it behind their hardware for at least a year.

so yeah, that's how it works nowadays. At least xbox seems to be more pro-consumer with this shit since you can play their games on PC.

An eye for an eye? If that's what people want this gen then that can only bode well for the whole industry /s
Look at other threads where people are crying for Sony to acquire publishers like Capcom or Square Enix, I've even seen Take Two and Ubisoft being thrown around.
Console manufacturers buying up big publishers who weren't in any serious danger is bad however you spin it. We don't know how Microsoft will handle this acquisition when it comes to where these games will be released, but they're locking millions of people out of many games if they keep them out of other consoles. But the acceptable response to this is "buy an Xbox" or "stream your games" I guess.
I'm just surprised at the reactions from this forum as timed or DLC exclusivity is seen as something from the devil himself while this is applauded. I thought people here were against buying pubs/devs unless they were struggling? Oh well.

Linkeds2 · Sep 21, 2020

asmith906 said:
You're happy MS has full on exclusivity for an entire publishers catalog but unhappy that sony might have gotten a 1 year timed exclusive.

That doesn't really make sense to me.

I didn't like the fact that Sony was trying to do it with every AAA game short of EA/Ubisoft.
It's almost like they had a meeting at some point and the topic came up about "how many games could we possibly prevent coming to Xbox" and they started doing it.
Now with Bethesda under MS this is Karma coming back on them for trying to tip-toe their way into 3rd party exclusiveness.

this is still a bad deal if Bethesdais cut off from PlayStation completely. But honestly the timed exclusive act was starting to hurt Xbox so they had to do something

More Butter · Sep 21, 2020

LordBaztion said:
ccccccc-combobreaker

Love this!

More Butter · Sep 21, 2020

MS is serious about their PC Xbox ecosystem. Holy shit

asmith906 · Sep 21, 2020

Linkeds2 said:
I didn't like the fact that Sony was trying to do it with every AAA game short of EA/Ubisoft.
It's almost like they had a meeting at some point and the topic came up about "how many games could we possibly prevent coming to Xbox" and they started doing it.
Now with Bethesda under MS this is Karma coming back on them for trying to tip-toe their way into 3rd party exclusiveness.

this is still a bad deal if Bethesdais cut off from PlayStation completely. But honestly the timed exclusive act was starting to hurt Xbox so they had to do something

Sony's whole existence as a company is dependent on the PS5 not being a failure. It's not really a surprise they have gone so hard trying to make their console appealing. And also those deals they made didn't mean the games couldn't come to Xbox at all. It was usually for a few months exclusivity. This deal means things like Elder Scrolls will be exclusive forever.

jsnepo · Sep 21, 2020

LOL at Sony.

MeBecomingI · Sep 21, 2020

Falchion said:
Glad Microsoft pulled the rug out from under Sony on this one then.

Right, so now PS5 owners will get fucked instead. Microsoft just did the same thing except instead of timed exclusivity they bought the entire fucking publisher to get timed exclusivity and permanent exclusivity. This isn't good for anyone or the industry, unless I guess if you're a fan boy then this is wonderful news!

Jade1962 said:
I don't play their games but if this is the stance why all the threads crying about exclusive games all the time? Also Bethesda makes games across a multitude of genres and play styles. One doesn't need to like all their games.

Because people shift the goal posts all the time to fit their own agenda. It's bad that Sony got timed exclusivity on Final Fantasy 16, shame on them! But it's good that Microsoft bought an entire publisher to do the same to a ton of other big name franchises!

MeBecomingI · Sep 21, 2020

Oops, double post. Sorry!

nekkid · Sep 21, 2020

Mister_X · Sep 21, 2020

Sony: How much for Starfield?
Bestesda: Ummmm......*hangs up phone*

janoGX · Sep 21, 2020

marecki said:
If the deal was made than it doesn't matter, contractual obligations don't just disappear when the owner of the company changes. Even if the deal isn't finalised yet Bethesda cannot just walk away or Sony would have grounds to sue for negotiating in bad faith. Let's get some common sense back here folks.

If negotiations are still ongoing or they haven't signed it they can still back out or do re-negotiations now with Microsoft on the table.

Either Sony has to pay tons of money, more than the one they first negotiated, for a timed console exclusive that might get a Gamepass day 1 release on PC meaning that MS wins on that one, or MS backs out and leaves Starfield as an Xbox exclusive, which means MS wins on that one.

It's a win-win scenario.

Kyrios · Sep 21, 2020

I would hazard a guess that the talks didn't work out.

janoGX · Sep 21, 2020

Andri said:
Nintendo probably profits from this lel.

Direct finishes with Starfield, "from our friends at Microsoft".

Then Nintendo rep looks at the camera:

Antrax · Sep 23, 2020

MeBecomingI said:
This isn't good for anyone

Factually this isn't necessarily true. If you're a BGS fan who plays on PC, any deal with MS is for sure better than a deal with Sony (or Nintendo, but they aren't in this conversation).

This is also a win for Game Pass owners specifically since it's likely these titles will be on the service. I know in my household, we were going to be buying two copies of Starfield and TES6 because my wife and I can share everything but our Bethesda time lol. We own two copies of Skyrim and Oblivion for that reason (I don't care for Fallout for whatever reason, so we get away with one copy of those). But since you can game-share with Game Pass, we'll just each download a copy of it. Maybe even buy them just in case, but Game Pass games come with a discount so even then, it's easier on the wallet for GP subscribers.

This is not to minimize the concerns of people who may not want to buy a PC or Xbox or xCloud device for various reasons, but I just wanted to highlight that there is a sizable number of people who benefit here.

SpaceCrystal · Sep 23, 2020

LMFAO @ Sony.

RockmanBN said:
Sony sure does love timed exclusivity

Soliloquy of a Dogge said:
I am so glad that Microsoft made this purchase.

Sick and tired of these timed exclusivity deals Sony makes.

Akirai said:
Nah, as a Sony fan, I hate how they are buying up timed exclusives. They were behaving like Microsoft was during the 360 era.
Either make the game completely exclusive by funding the development (like SF5) or just leave them be.

This consolidation of publishers is worrying. I wouldn't want Sony to buy Square or Capcom, we don't need monopolies.

Sony doesn't have the kind of money to buy full exclusivity nowadays, let alone a huge 3rd party company.

DopeyFish · Sep 23, 2020

it actually makes sense why it never happened

Bethesda likely wouldn't exist without MS or Xbox. Bethesda was on the verge of going under when making Morrowind. MS is the one that convinced them (and helped) to bring Morrowind to Xbox... and Morrowind was a *MASSIVE* success on Xbox compared to PC. 4 million on Xbox compared to 300,000 on PC by August 06. It continued with Oblivion and eventually they really took off as a third party studio.

without MS/Xbox fans, they probably wouldn't exist today so they probably didn't want to stab their fans/partner in the back.

like yeah... deathloop and ghostwire are whatever... but a mainline bethesda RPG not showing up on Xbox? you'd be stupid to think it was a possibility and sony is stupid if they actually tried it.

headspawn · Sep 23, 2020

asmith906 said:
You're happy MS has full on exclusivity for an entire publishers catalog but unhappy that sony might have gotten a 1 year timed exclusive.

That doesn't really make sense to me.

Just the same it doesn't make sense to me that you think people are happy with a ton of timed exclusives.

Midas · Sep 23, 2020

M.Bluth said:
lmao

Must be bad jokes?

Eeyore · Sep 23, 2020

headspawn said:
Just the same it doesn't make sense to me that you think people are happy with a ton of timed exclusives.

Who is saying they are? The lot of you are just not even being consistent about this which is the most frustrating part.

asmith906 · Sep 23, 2020

headspawn said:
Just the same it doesn't make sense to me that you think people are happy with a ton of timed exclusives.

People obviously weren't if you looked at all the negative topics Sony has gotten recently. It just seems odd that those same people that hated timed exclusives of Individual games are now happy about full on exclusivity of entire publisher catalogs.

rokkerkory · Sep 23, 2020

Welp spencer got tired of heaing xbox had no games

Biggzy · Sep 23, 2020

SpaceCrystal said:
LMFAO @ Sony.

Sony doesn't have the kind of money to buy full exclusivity nowadays, let alone a huge 3rd party company.

Actually Sony has enough cash reserves to buy a SE for example if they truly wanted to. The only issue is that spending $7.5 billion to Microsoft is just Tuesday to them while for Sony it would be a pretty major deal and a very significant outlay.

Princess Bubblegum · Sep 23, 2020

Wait, Bethesda Softworks was in negotiations with Sony while Zenimax was in negotiations with Microsoft? Huh, wonder if that will lead to a bit of internal strife.

RestEerie · Sep 23, 2020

Sony:

RestEerie · Sep 23, 2020

Biggzy said:
The only issue is that spending $7.5 billion to Microsoft is just Tuesday

can we not downplay this.....MS might have ALOT of cash in the reserves but purchase a company for 7.5billion isn't 'just tuesday'......Not even for Apple.

headspawn · Sep 23, 2020

asmith906 said:
People obviously weren't if you looked at all the negative topics Sony has gotten recently. It just seems odd that those same people that hated timed exclusives of Individual games are now happy about full on exclusivity of entire publisher catalogs.

Yeah, like I'm saying, I remember you posting in at least a few of them.

Typhon · Sep 23, 2020

Too bad, I might have actually got to play it and it would have made it to all systems eventually. I think that would have been the better deal for consumers.

VinFTW · Sep 23, 2020

SapphiCine said:
Wait, Bethesda Softworks was in negotiations with Sony while Zenimax was in negotiations with Microsoft? Huh, wonder if that will lead to a bit of internal strife.

No, probably not.

Deleted member 14927 · Sep 23, 2020

RestEerie said:
can we not downplay this.....MS might have ALOT of cash in the reserves but purchase a company for 7.5billion isn't 'just tuesday'......Not even for Apple.

Well this is a company that bought LinkedIn for $26bn, Skype for $8.5bn, GitHub for $7.5bn

Sometimes it's straight out cash, others part cash and part stock. GitHub was bought using stock from memory..

PianoBlack · Sep 23, 2020

DopeyFish said:
it actually makes sense why it never happened

Bethesda likely wouldn't exist without MS or Xbox. Bethesda was on the verge of going under when making Morrowind. MS is the one that convinced them (and helped) to bring Morrowind to Xbox... and Morrowind was a *MASSIVE* success on Xbox compared to PC. 4 million on Xbox compared to 300,000 on PC by August 06. It continued with Oblivion and eventually they really took off as a third party studio.

without MS/Xbox fans, they probably wouldn't exist today so they probably didn't want to stab their fans/partner in the back.

like yeah... deathloop and ghostwire are whatever... but a mainline bethesda RPG not showing up on Xbox? you'd be stupid to think it was a possibility and sony is stupid if they actually tried it.

Off topic but holy shit, I never realized how abysmal Morrowind PC sales were. I retroactively forgive them for the console focus in Oblivion/Skyrim and will do penance for my years of PC gamer rage as a youth.

RestEerie · Sep 23, 2020

TheBonehead said:
Well this is a company that bought LinkedIn for $26bn, Skype for $8.5bn, GitHub for $7.5bn

Sometimes it's straight out cash, others part cash and part stock. GitHub was bought using stock from memory..

yeah..And nvidia bought Mellanox last year for 6.9bil followed by a 40bil (cash+stock options) ARM purchase........you are saying like MS is the only company in the world capable of doing this and spending billions is chump change.

For MS, the LinkedIn acquisition has not yield much rewards, it took forever before MS pivoted skype into their Corporate solutions and as for Github, it's anyone's guess whether the opensource community will fully embraced it.

I am not downplaying MS acqusition of Bethesda, but i am confounded by people's idea that MS can just throw billions around to buy companies left and right like it's another tuesday without any considerations. The Bethesda acquistion did not took place just last week or last month....a deal this big took years to set it up and the reason why we only heard it now is because Bethesda's private.

harry the spy · Sep 23, 2020

asmith906 said:
You're happy MS has full on exclusivity for an entire publishers catalog but unhappy that sony might have gotten a 1 year timed exclusive.

That doesn't really make sense to me.

Most Pc gamers here are like most other people on this forum, hypocrites. They mostly care about getting the game on their platform of choice, not the principle or how many people get prevented from playing the game at as all. If sony gets exclusivity the game doesn't release on pc right away. If Microsoft gets exclusivity the game probably release on both Xbox and pc through game pass but never on PlayStation.

Parcas · Sep 23, 2020

asmith906 said:
You're happy MS has full on exclusivity for an entire publishers catalog but unhappy that sony might have gotten a 1 year timed exclusive.

That doesn't really make sense to me.

Microsoft exclusivity means is on PC also.

Alexandros · Sep 23, 2020

PianoBlack said:
Off topic but holy shit, I never realized how abysmal Morrowind PC sales were. I retroactively forgive them for the console focus in Oblivion/Skyrim and will do penance for my years of PC gamer rage as a youth.

The numbers as posted are not accurate. 300k were the sales of Morrowind in the US only until 2002 and 4 million is the total number of Morrowind sales on all platforms until 2012.

VeePs · Sep 23, 2020

PianoBlack said:
Off topic but holy shit, I never realized how abysmal Morrowind PC sales were. I retroactively forgive them for the console focus in Oblivion/Skyrim and will do penance for my years of PC gamer rage as a youth.

I never played Morrowind but I remember seeing this and thinking this game looks crazy

Biggzy · Sep 23, 2020

TheBonehead said:
Well this is a company that bought LinkedIn for $26bn, Skype for $8.5bn, GitHub for $7.5bn

Sometimes it's straight out cash, others part cash and part stock. GitHub was bought using stock from memory..

And Microsoft was just in negotiations for TikTok, as well as heavily rumoured for WB Games. In fact they are set to spend $40 billion on acquisitions this year.

The point I was making is that if Microsoft really believes a purchase like Bethesda is crucial to their strategy being fulfilled they will do it with minimal hesitation, while for Sony they would have to think about it very hard.

PianoBlack · Sep 23, 2020

Alexandros said:
The numbers as posted are not accurate. 300k were the sales of Morrowind in the US only until 2002 and 4 million is the total number of Morrowind sales on all platforms until 2012.

I mean, I know it's just Wikipedia but I was so blown away by that stat that I tried to verify and this is what it says: "In the United States, Morrowind's computer version sold 300,000 copies and earned $11.7 million by August 2006, after its release in April 2002. It was the country's 62nd best-selling computer game between January 2000 and August 2006. Combined sales of all Elder Scrolls computer games released between those dates had reached 990,000 units in the United States by August 2006.[75]"

unicornKnight · Sep 23, 2020

SpaceCrystal said:
Sony doesn't have the kind of money to buy full exclusivity nowadays, let alone a huge 3rd party company.

Full exclusivity isn't worth it. The value is to have it first, that's when most buy the game, that's when big fans buy the game. If I'm a huge Elder Scrolls fan I'm gonna want it day one.

Alexandros · Sep 23, 2020

PianoBlack said:
I mean, I know it's just Wikipedia but I was so blown away by that stat that I tried to verify and this is what it says: "In the United States, Morrowind's computer version sold 300,000 copies and earned $11.7 million by August 2006, after its release in April 2002. It was the country's 62nd best-selling computer game between January 2000 and August 2006. Combined sales of all Elder Scrolls computer games released between those dates had reached 990,000 units in the United States by August 2006.[75]"

I'm sorry, I posted 2002 instead of 2006.

danm999 · Sep 23, 2020

harry the spy said:
Most Pc gamers here are like most other people on this forum, hypocrites. They mostly care about getting the game on their platform of choice, not the principle or how many people get prevented from playing the game at as all. If sony gets exclusivity the game doesn't release on pc right away. If Microsoft gets exclusivity the game probably release on both Xbox and pc through game pass but never on PlayStation.

This is a really bizarre moral standard you're trying to apply here.

PC gamers tend to dislike exclusives in general, so to try and lecture them about how exclusives deny people access to games is silly.

Sony was negotiating timed exclusivity for Starfield a couple months back

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