540°

Sony Really Is Concerned About Microsoft's Xbox Strategy Following the Activision Blizzard Buyout

Amid the devastating data breach of Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 developer Insomniac, leaked slides have revealed Sony’s internal concern at competitor Microsoft’s emerging strategy following its $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard.

Zeref166d ago (Edited 166d ago )

Some people on here told me that Sony isn't worried about the 3rd place console 👀

They got scared of Microsofts growing live service games
Like Sea of Thieves, Halo Infinite, Minecraft etc and now Call of Duty, Overwatch, World of Warcraft, Diablo 4 etc.

They called their own strategy outdated 👀
Looks like Xbox is ahead of the curve once again and Sony is trying to catch up. Hence the Bungie acquisition and the "12 game" live service strategy.

Number1TailzFan166d ago

Rumours they want to launch the next Xbox earlier than the next PS (not Pro) as well. Most likely they are feeling an earlier launch might be more successful, kind of like 360 vs PS3.

Zeref166d ago (Edited 166d ago )

I think one disadvantage of that is that Sony could release a new console that's more powerful soon(2 years) after that.

However I think overall it will be good for Xbox to not put pressure on consumers to choose between Xbox or Playstation anymore when they have their own console release schedule. This way the nextgen Xbox will have 2 years to itself.
It gives consumers more breathing room.

That's one of the reasons Nintendo is successful as well. There was never a moment where consumers needed to choose between a Switch or a Playstation/Xbox during it's launch and inevitably compared. The Switch had 3 years where it was the only new thing.

crazyCoconuts166d ago

If the they're really selling 3X more XSS than XSX, with the low sales numbers, I can understand why they'd feel a Pro wouldn't be worth it. By the time 2026 comes along that might be more clear than it is now, we'll see

darthv72166d ago

Or it just makes sense to release on their own schedule. Not filling time with a mid gen system. If rumors of 2026 are true, that is a nice amount of time between it and the initial release of the Series line.

Profchaos166d ago

History tells us being first isn't always garunteed to win you that generation Dreamcast was first. The Atari Jaguar was first.

Remember all the advantages that the Jag and Dreamcast had

Lightning77166d ago (Edited 166d ago )

Apparently 2026 is when the next Xbox launches. Making it 6 years and shortest time since 7th gen transition.

@Zeref. If anything this gen taught me is that the whole power chasing narrative, its not that important. PS5 performs better here, Xbox performs better there. The game design overall isn't doing anything different except for RT here and there. That's the power narrative. We're just now seeing the power being taken advantage of with games like Alan Wake 2. I think most ppls imaginations when power get brought up for next gen is Super ultra realistic graphics, AI that's smarter than you and open world games that's 100% changing and reactive and dynamic with 120fps etc. When that's not hardly the case. In all honesty, it's just more work form the developers and even longer dev cycles. All PS and Xbox fans wanna do is beat on their chest about power, power that ultimately doesn't amount to much of anything, at least not these days not like they use to.

Xbox release a new console in 26, 2 years later PS releases their console in 28 then Xbox in 30 etc, etc, it's so pointless. Plus Series X 2 would have to play games on SS and SX1 so once again won't be seeing the advantages of that console. It's price gouging, longer dev cycles and almost pointless.

For reference sakes PS360 had a long and even annoying life cycle but said sequels of games looked much better. GTA4 to 5 way better. AC 1 to the last AC of that gen looked way better even COD MW1 to Advance Warfare is night and day.

Anyway this whole power chasing Sony and MS are doing is a joke at this point, there won't be anymore huge leaps anymore.

As of right now 2024 is looking overall kinda bleak in terms of overall releases, now that's sad. Where's all these powerful PS5X games?

shinoff2183166d ago

Hopefully they plan it better so we don't have another rrod issue.

crazyCoconuts166d ago

I think in short, Sony releases a pro model because they can and they believe enough customers want it to pay for it.
If MS doesn't release a pro it's either because they can't (of course they could) or because they don't think enough customers would pay for it... It's not because of some brilliant strategic move or because they can't be bothered with mid gen upgrades

Hofstaderman166d ago

@Lightning77 2024 for PS5 kicks off with FF7 Rebirth, nice try. Where have the games been for XBOX since 2011?

166d ago
Lightning77166d ago (Edited 166d ago )

@hof yeah you're not very bright. Your instant reaction you thought I was talking about PS. I'm talking about 3rd party overall PS5X means PS5 and Series X. You're, way, way too sensitive over your console holy crap. I guess it is the serious.

+ Show (7) more repliesLast reply 166d ago
crazyCoconuts166d ago

If being ahead of the curve is releasing mediocre games that you feel compelled to play because you're on a subscription model, then yeah, Xbox is ahead.
There's one problem though- anyone can do mediocre

Zeref166d ago (Edited 166d ago )

No, ahead of the curve is their business model of being on PC, Mobile, Day and Date gamepass games, and successful multiplayer games. Sony agrees 😏

crazyCoconuts166d ago

Sony is also saying Day 1 releases are unsustainable and GamePass is losing lots of money, so I wouldn't say they want to copy the MS strategy based on the leak

JackBNimble166d ago

You seem to forget that Sony changed ps+ to reflect what games pass is doing almost identically other then day one. Then increased the price 30% ... Sony have been trying to do what MS has been doing for years.
The only difference is day 1 games and the fact that the price increase pushed a lot of ps+ subscribers like me away.

Jin_Sakai166d ago

Fake.

Xbox fans were making fake slides and throwing them into the Insomniac Games leak. How pathetic.

https://x.com/xmbgx/status/...

maniacmayhem166d ago

Lmao, MBG is your source that they're fake?

That's like getting confirmation that a 3 dollar bill is fake from a Unicorn

Zeref166d ago (Edited 166d ago )

It's not fake. Every major website is covering this and you're taking the word of "MBG"?

Kribwalker166d ago

Definitely not fake. Might wanna check into that again

Jin_Sakai166d ago

Even if it turns out to be real wouldn’t it be pretty obvious they’re concerned about a 3rd party publisher being acquired for $69 billion?

Microsoft are concerned about Game Pass number and potentially exiting the gaming business in 2027 if growth doesn’t meet expectations.

thesoftware730166d ago

It is not fake,

They have cause for concern, no matter how we try to downplay MS, some of the games they have acquired make a lot of money and have long legs. Diablo is a good example, people on here rag on it, but both the cell phone game and console versions bring in crazy bank, and are played by millions of gamers.

Lightning77166d ago

MBG is one of in the biggest Sony fan boys out there, you have to be atleast a little, just a little smarter than that.

Kribwalker166d ago

and now MBG has deleted his tweet you linked 😂😂

Vengeance1138166d ago

@lightning

If you think MBG is at all a fanboy then you are truly lost and delusional. Maybe watch his content and learn something.

thesoftware730166d ago

🤣🤣🤣, the comment delete.

What a new low for a Sony fan...and you should apologize for reporting nonsense news and acting like it was true...wow mud on your face.

You guys are trying so hard to make this sound ok.

JackBNimble166d ago (Edited 166d ago )

This is exactly where fanboyism get's you, it just makes you look unintelligent.

+ Show (7) more repliesLast reply 166d ago
badz149166d ago

Sony not worried? Is that why they were fighting so hard to void the buyout? You only hear what you wanna hear, ha?

But maybe you're right. Sony has no worries about the distant 3rd place console nobody wants, they are worried that one of the trillion dollar club trying to gobble up the industry using the money the distant 3rd place console never earned!

Zeref166d ago

Never earned? 😂 😂 😂

badz149166d ago (Edited 166d ago )

@Zeref

Care to provide proof that xbox has made at least $79B in profit during this 2 decades that have allowed them to buy Mojang, Bethesda and ABK?

Hofstaderman166d ago

You are amazing. This doesnt change sales at all. It merely reiterates thay Sony is not going to sit on their laurels. MS is getting their asses handed to them so bad they cannot and will not even course correct from launching an all digital series X. Even if they reset the clock and launch a new console in 2026 which is highly doubtful, their time with consoles are done for. Accept it or not it will be an eventuality. They can eff around with mobile and PC, I dont care for those, just as long as consoles are not tainted by them any further. And no their exit will not result in a collapse where Sony can do what they want but it will open up a space for a serious contender who can actually do the space some justice.

Lightning77166d ago (Edited 166d ago )

By the way there is no other serious contender in the console space. No google, Amazon will never grow to a single console, Apple doesn't care. Even if someone steps up, you would cry and complain about them to. Has nothing to do with Xbox it's anyone who "threatens" your favorite little console and white knight for a 100b$ industry with all your might. That's sad lol.

For real you need to go outside and live life man. A single platform or a piece of Metal and plastic has you hard pressed and angry isn't a healthy obsession. Your life priorities need evaluating.

Eonjay166d ago

Sony was pretty vocal in their opposition to this deal. They were the most vocal in fact.

shinoff2183166d ago

Where you been though cause it looked like the live service games were kind of a jim Ryan thing. Have noticed some canceled games recently. And saying ms is ahead of the curve , seems to point at live service stuff. I'm alright with sony being behind the curve when it comes to live service games. I hope they stay behind on that front. Where they ain't behind the curve though is single player games. My only issue with that is I wish Sony would step up to make some rpgs, whether jrpg or wrpg something.

ChasterMies166d ago

Sony is much less worried about the third place console than it is about the trillion dollar company that can buy up all gaming publishers.

Christopher166d ago

***Some people on here told me that Sony isn't worried about the 3rd place console 👀 ***

A few months ago tons of people you're not talking about were using the fact that Sony said they weren't worried about the Activision merger, quotes from specific Sony emails, were proof why the merger should happen. Now, those same people are wondering why people were saying Sony wasn't worried when Sony themselves said that. In an email, btw. Not just through anonymous sources.

*** Looks like Xbox is ahead of the curve once again and Sony is trying to catch up. Hence the Bungie acquisition and the "12 game" live service strategy. ***

Man, if only Xbox could translate that curve advantage into actual sales and not, as Microsoft specifically said themselves, losing to the market leader that is Sony.

mrcatastropheAF165d ago (Edited 165d ago )

These businesses understand that this competition is a marathon not a race.

Sony sees the positioning resulting in leverage for MS and a potentially significant threat of loss of future market share in the future but the pony in you is celebrating them being the current market leader

S2Killinit165d ago

Now imagine what MS is worried about.

IRetrouk165d ago

Find the slide this article is based on in the leaked documents and post it here, bet you can't......
Infact if you can ill buy you a game on xbox.

Markusb33165d ago

i dont see how xb is ahead of any curve when their financial officer says they plan to be on all devices even previous competitors, meaning 3rd party publisher, who owns a service. Also xb dont even mention their own console in press or marketing its always GP. Hasnt this document been shown to have been created by someone via editing and its not actually real ? i see marvel needs 6 million sales to keep games exclusive, xb is out of luck there, since they dont believe in sales and only games played in a service, which means nothing.

+ Show (9) more repliesLast reply 165d ago
-Foxtrot166d ago

Maybe this is why Sony has slowly started to reel in its live service push. Why p*** off your fanbase with GaaS content which is a gamble whether it will be successful or not. If it wasn’t successful and MS grows bigger than most people will just get annoyed eventually and drift other places.

Better to double down on what they are good at.

Zeref166d ago (Edited 166d ago )

According to the documents. Their single player games are not making enough money. Some of them don't break even. Only doing so when they sell 500 million dollars or more.

That is unsustainable. No wonder they wanted to pivot to live service so hard.

Some people on here were too busy worried about Xbox instead of buying games like they said they do.

I've also seen that Playstation games sell horribly on Steam. With their most sold game being Horizon Zero Dawn at 3 million and Sack boy the lowest at only 62k. All because they're not day and date launches. Even Spiderman flopped on Steam with Spiderman Remastered at 1.3 million and Miles Morales at 450k.

Day and Date PC Playstation games are coming sooner than later.

I've seen somewhere they were even debating raising the price of games to 80-100 dollars.

https://www.threads.net/@ha...

purple101166d ago

1. they said their worried about cod in 2027 , so they know something were not privy to

2. only ratchet and clank (ps5 launch game during shortage) didn't make money, the rest did.

CrashMania166d ago (Edited 166d ago )

Calling all those PC releases flops is just innaccurate and gives no context, sure sackboy is yikes, but some of these released years later after they sold many millions on console already, but you will of course ignore that conveniently.

I don't think day and date PC ports are any 'solution' to what you claim, unlike MS, Sony don't want to gut their console base. I can imagine most of those ports besides the obvious Sackboy made a bit of extra cash on the side, Playstation revenue and profits seem to be fine. They didn't have to spend 80 billion to move up a space or two on that ladder.

Also shame on IGN really, poking the 'console war' fire among these awful leaks, I think any competitor would be concerned at a rival throwing dozens of billions around to try force gaming down a drab, live service subscription, streaming only future.

Zeref166d ago (Edited 166d ago )

@purple101

1. Not sure what you're talking about

2. I said they didn't make ENOUGH money. Not that they're not making ANY money. Spiderman 2 only making 75 million. Is not nearly enough profit. That is damn near a flop financially.

isarai166d ago (Edited 166d ago )

Where are you getting that 75mil is " not enough" profit? 🤔

derek166d ago

Just ignore Zeref, he/she has a need for the "Sony is failing and having their worst year" fud to be true.

Mr_cheese166d ago

@zeref, clean your room mate, must be ectoplasm everywhere the way you're going on

Markusb33165d ago

they all made money, even the ratchet report was fake, its been confirmed what the budget was and how many it sold, plus a game that is not successful doesnt get a sequel and Ratchet is listed as a new title in development.
This is why xb games dont get sequels, they have been programmed to say buying games is wrong, dont support your hobbie, support your company by paying for a service. Redfall awful, starfield mediocre, halo awful, they own more studios than anyone and have more money than anyone and still cant release high quality, critically successful and financially successful games.

+ Show (4) more repliesLast reply 165d ago
Gazondaily166d ago

Sony is shook! Damn man. They in turmoil

Kribwalker166d ago

I Thought sony wasn’t concerned with xbox or their sub services/games. Also that nobody likes call of duty either

Lie detector test has determined those were both lies

Outside_ofthe_Box166d ago

December 19 2023. The greatest day of your life!

IRetrouk165d ago

Yall need to stop doing this you yourselves man, every year we hear the same shite from yas🤣

Good show with oti the other day though septic, thrash too, props for that.

Kakashi Hatake165d ago

And it only took MS buying the biggest yearly selling game 😒 *claps * Let's reward a company that has zero vision and just throws money around.

+ Show (1) more replyLast reply 165d ago
Einhander1972166d ago

Well obviously it's a big concern for them.

This shouldn't even be surprising, less surprising than the fact that Sony is outselling xbox 3:1 even when xbox is taking huge losses per console and in the year that was supposed to be their big comeback, on top of being down YoY after COVID.

166d ago Replies(2)
AdonisIsBeast166d ago

Then buy a major publisher as well Sony. Spend some money to compete.

Zeref166d ago (Edited 166d ago )

They don't have the money to do so. They had to take out a loan just to buy Bungie.

When Matt Booty said "we are going to outspend Sony". This is what he meant 😭

Destiny1080166d ago

taking out loans, is standard practice for giant cooperation's, google / apple / microsoft all do it, it has nothing to do with how much money they got

DickyD1226166d ago

Bro how insecure are you that you comment on EVERY comment? We all get it you don't like Sony go back to your Xbox hole and let the rest of us enjoy gaming.

MrDead166d ago

Why? PS is the lead platform for console multiplats, why would you buy a publisher that already releases games on your system?

recoctimocassirnff166d ago

"Then buy a major publisher as well Sony. Spend some money to compete."

Attitudes like your are terrible.

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50°

Interview: Winifred Phillips Discusses the Wizardry Soundtrack -- Gamerhub UK

The talented music maker discusses her process, challenges and, of course, magic!

Read Full Story >>
gamerhub.co.uk
110°

The Status of Every PlayStation Franchise

Sony owns a fair few iconic franchises - many dating right back to the original PlayStation. But while we’re pretty familiar with the likes of ongoing series such as God of War, Horizon, and Gran Turismo, there are plenty of PlayStation franchises that haven’t seen the light of day in a long time. So in this video, we’re going to be taking a look at the status of PlayStation’s many IPs, and checking in on when we last heard from them.

Read Full Story >>
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Skuletor3h ago

A 20+ minute video? Just include the written list in the article.

240°

Take-Two CEO Doesn’t Think AI Will Reduce Employment or Dev Costs; “Stupidest Thing” He’s Heard

Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick doesn't think AI will reduce employment or lower development costs, and calls it "stupidest thing" he's ever heard.

lodossrage22h ago(Edited 22h ago)

They already have AI trained to do coding.......

How he thinks it's stupid is beyond me, Especially since we see it happening in real time.

CS719h ago

Company A has 300 employees and lays of 200 to replace them with AI to release the same quality game.

Company B has 300 employees and keeps all 300 but instead uses AI to release a game with dramatically larger scale, scope, complexity, short dev cycle etc.

Company B would release a dramatically better product by using humans + AI and consumers would buy the better game.

I actually agree with this concept.

Huey_My_D_Long19h ago(Edited 19h ago)

This is key facet. Its how the AI is used. It's actually is impressive as is and really would make an amazing addition to alot of people in their jobs, not just tech. It also has the potential for businesses to use to lay off large amounts of people, as much as they could to save money on labor. I hope too many companies don't go with the latter. But since usually companies are worried about bottom line over people...we will see some try and hopefully fail. But yeah, if its to help workers like in your company B scenario I'm totally down...Just scared Company A may be too enticing to some ceos and businesses.

Darkegg19h ago

Value of AI and value of humans will both be increased with human-AI complex. Each, by themselves, will not be independently better than the other. Whether AI will ever be independent from humans is the fear question of humans, ironically because of our doing. At this stage, most of the doing is because of humans, not because of AI. AI is doing exactly that by our design, until we have failed ourselves with an AI development that went awry. The biggest take is that humans have only ourselves to blame when things become wrong, and we have to decide what is the ultimate goal with AI we want to accomplish. It would take a person with high morals and high ethics to make right of AI. I would not want businessman to decide what AI should do or what capabilities it can have. AI should be in the hands of people with high moral fiber, or those operating on love, kindness, and compassion.

BlackOni18h ago

AI is SUPPOSED to be used as a tool, not a replacement. It's designed to do two important things artists can take advantage of immediately.

- Make the ideation/reference imaging process much quicker and easier (basically using it as a google search)
- Make mundane and time consuming tasks faster and easier so more time is spent on creation.

Unfortunately, what many have done is used it as a way to replace rather than supplement.

Einhander197215h ago(Edited 15h ago)

CS7

In the ideal world yes.

In the real world where companies have shown little desire to innovate and spent every effort to maximize profits the end result will be the same quality games (if were lucky) made by less people and more AI.

Company Real World: Fires 200 people and makes the same game cheaper using AI and the executives get record bonuses.

Edit:

Lets look at history, specifically auto manufacturing.

In the 70's and 80's the auto unions tried to oppose automation of jobs (robots) stating that they would take peoples jobs. And the people in charge who wanted to make more money said the exact same types of things that are being said about AI. But we can look at history and see that countless types of jobs were in fact replaced by automation, that was of course even compounded upon by computers.

The net effect was that the rich got richer less jobs were needed so wages were forced down by competition for the jobs that were left.

+ Show (2) more repliesLast reply 14h ago
Number1TailzFan19h ago

You can already make your own SFX with text prompts now as well, of course it will lower development cost and time

1Victor19h ago(Edited 19h ago)

WARNING WARNING ‼️ SARCASM AHEAD
Sure Strauss and robots didn’t take jobs from car factories.
Edit:Sad thing is he believes it and unfortunately he won’t be replaced for a long time by AI

senorfartcushion18h ago(Edited 18h ago)

He doesn't, he's just lying. These people lay people off so they can get bonuses. If AI takes jobs, their bonus goes bigger and the workforce goes smaller.

porkChop16h ago

Because he sees AI as a tool to aid development. He wants to use AI to help make bigger and better games in the same timeframe. Other CEOs want to replace devs with AI to cut costs and make lifeless games faster for a quick buck. Strauss has the right idea, this is how AI should be used. To extend and expand the capabilities of devs.

+ Show (2) more repliesLast reply 14h ago
jambola22h ago

Ceo says stupid thing
Part 5837384

Zeref20h ago(Edited 20h ago)

I think maybe sometimes we give people in these positions too much credit when it comes to intelligence.

DarXyde27m ago

I think you mean candor, not intelligence.

If you take him to mean what he's saying at face value, sure.

I don't. And I think he's clearly lying.

romulus2320h ago

As long as it doesn't effect his inflated executive salary or his ridiculous bonuses I'm sure he's fine with it.

RNTody19h ago

Hahaha yeah trust the CEO suit over the actual developers making the games. Good one.

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