Microsoft buys Activision Blizzard

[whydoibother]

Profile, its interesting.

Sweet merciful Christ, literally a factory-produced NPC.

Still would

Spoiler

She looks like a high class Thailand tranny escort

 

[Alphons]

Still would

And then 7 years later

 

[whydoibother]

SIXTEEN PIGS

 

[Morgoth]

totally not con artist stuff

Learn in the Metaverse how to become a binman or nurse IRL. "What is that? You don't wanna unplug from the Metaverse anymore? Good... good..."

 

[J_C]

Profile, its interesting.

Sweet merciful Christ, literally a factory-produced NPC.

Still would

Spoiler

She looks like a high class Thailand tranny escort

But still would.

 

[Drop Duck]

I like this idea that gaming is becoming IP based like the movies, as if gaming hasn't been there since the '90s. Even this language, referring to series as IPs comes from video games. It's how people have been talking about the video games they like since the 2000s. Something I thought was funny during some Force Awakens fan questionnaire thing, (so probably at Celebration) before the movie came out, someone asked JJ about working on the Star Wars IP, and JJ was kind of taken aback by that language because it wasn't really how you'd hear people talk about movies; but referring to stuff as just some property was how video games had been getting talked about by fans since like the mid 2000s or something.

I can't really see why most of you guys give a shit about Game Pass when you're all using Steam. If you're not using Stream, then OK, I get it. But at least Game Pass is honest about what it is. It's not this pseudo ownership bullshit where you pay full price to pretend to own some digital copy of a game you don't actually own. Game Pass isn't some dystopian shit, Steam was, and basically every PC gamer ceded ground on this digital fight a decade ago. God I kind of hope Microsoft just pulls the license on everything they own that's on Steam so people can see how shit Steam is, and how the thing people say could never happen (even when it has) is one buyout or merger away from happening.

I don't really see the big deal about Game Pass, and this is coming from a weirdo that hasn't used Steam since before you could "buy" games on it, only uses GOG, and who has stuff like the Japanese import for Capcom Belt Action Collection because I don't want a digital version if there's an option. But Game Pass? Seems kind of like renting, and when Blockbuster was still around I rented games with the unlimited trade-in deal all the time. Anyways, all this shit was clearly going the way of Netflix by like 2010. It's almost surprising it's taken everyone just these last few years to really jump on board given how clear the future was. Give it a few more years and Steam will probably move over to a similar model; if they were smart they'd of done that before Xbox Game Pass was even a thing and they started losing indies to Switch.

300 IQ post that won't get the ratings it deserves. Subscription based gaming is the future and it started with Steam. Everyone is slowly moving to that model. The only question hanging in the air is about DLC. Paradox introduced their subscription model to deal with this. Items or cool gear will be tied to NFTs. How would expansion style DLC work on Steam when it becomes the Netflix of gaming though? Paradox's business wouldn't work if they couldn't nickel and dime whales for every small update they put out. Either DLC will have to get integrated back into the game if we assume a game as live service model, they get paid by the service to introduce new content at intervals. Or it might be opt ins during your subscription, getting Paradox premium for some extra cash when you subscribe to Steam.

 

[Van-d-all]

The major difference with Soylent Pass is the "collectivization" of games so to speak. You don't get to choose, comment, rate or interact in any meaningful way with the content therein. It's an all-in-one kind of deal where you either opt-in or out. Don't like this or that? It doesn't matter because it's just a tiny part of the huge game bundle. It effectively snuffs out even the basic "vote with your wallet" idea before it had a chance against modern consumerism. Fuck, you don't even get a choice what's inside, because the game catalog gets curated for you. It pushes everything so hard towards lowest common denominator, it's hardly even important to make those games good, like the fucking Epic guaranteed sale deal does, since they'll "sell" as a bundle anyway. Imagine, every game a nondescript, inoffensive product like The Outer Worlds. Everything set for you at the tiny price of newest DirectX and Windows like a nice warm enema.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

Only things that get put on gamepass is low budget garbage or old games.

 

[Van-d-all]

Only things that get put on gamepass is low budget garbage or old games.

Bold thing to say about Total War: Warhammer III

 

[rusty_shackleford]

Only things that get put on gamepass is low budget garbage or old games.

Bold thing to say about Total War: Warhammer III

There hasn't been a good total war game for a very long time.

 

[Van-d-all]

Only things that get put on gamepass is low budget garbage or old games.

Bold thing to say about Total War: Warhammer III

There hasn't been a good total war game for a very long time.

Sure, bah, it's going to be utter shit most likely, but conversely, given this and their ridiculous DLC policy it's still a solid incentive for a few buck subscription, and is neither low budget nor old. People keep flocking to the Total War brand like flies to shit.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

Only things that get put on gamepass is low budget garbage or old games.

Bold thing to say about Total War: Warhammer III

There hasn't been a good total war game for a very long time.

Sure, bah, it's going to be utter shit most likely, but conversely, given this and their ridiculous DLC policy it's still a solid incentive for a few buck subscription, and is neither low budget nor old. People keep flocking to the Total War brand like flies to shit.

ok it also has medium budget shit.

 

[Boleskine]

https://cygnusentertainment.com/2022/01/19/big-fish-getting-bigger/#comment-141

Ken Williams says:

I did recently speak to Bobby Kotick about using some of the old Sierra IPs for a next product, but recent events probably undo those discussions.

Maybe something will still happen.

Was it this?

 

[Assisted Living Godzilla]

If Game Pass brings back more arcade style games, (which basically got priced out of existence because of their length) and studios taking chances again on smaller budget games, this just seems like a good thing to me. The up side to Game Pass is you could have studios freed from sales expectations, so you might see more types of games that people still enjoy but the business has mostly moved on from because they don't sale what they need to. Like, there's people here that sure seem to like bitching about RE4, but RE4 only happens because the Resident Evil Remake (and Zero) didn't sell well. Now in a world where the price of admission is nothing but the subscription fee, and you need content for the service, something like fixed camera angle Resident Evil could easily exist again in a way it probably wasn't feasible for on a budget like the GameCube remake had...and now Microsoft owns the studio run by the creator of Resident Evil. I wouldn't be too surprised if Microsoft getting back into RTS games with Age of Empires is to flesh out the PC Game Pass.

 

[Assisted Living Godzilla]

Aaron Greenberg trolling Sony fanboys by simply changing his twitter avatar.

I don't get it.

 

[Infinitron]

Only things that get put on gamepass is low budget garbage or old games.

I assume you mean "in addition to every single game made by a Microsoft-owned studio".

 

[lycanwarrior]

If Game Pass brings back more arcade style games, (which basically got priced out of existence because of their length) and studios taking chances again on smaller budget games, this just seems like a good thing to me. The up side to Game Pass is you could have studios freed from sales expectations, so you might see more types of games that people still enjoy but the business has mostly moved on from because they don't sale what they need to. Like, there's people here that sure seem to like bitching about RE4, but RE4 only happens because the Resident Evil Remake (and Zero) didn't sell well. Now in a world where the price of admission is nothing but the subscription fee, and you need content for the service, something like fixed camera angle Resident Evil could easily exist again in a way it probably wasn't feasible for on a budget like the GameCube remake had...and now Microsoft owns the studio run by the creator of Resident Evil. I wouldn't be too surprised if Microsoft getting back into RTS games with Age of Empires is to flesh out the PC Game Pass.

All this will lead to is AAA publishing becoming the domain of only the 1st-party console manufacturers (Sony/Nintendo/MSFT). Then there will be the small indie developers, with not much in-between.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

Only things that get put on gamepass is low budget garbage or old games.

I assume you mean "in addition to every single game made by a Microsoft-owned studio".

yea low budget garbage

 

[rusty_shackleford]

people who whined about AAA gaming should be very happy though. mass produced AA subscription-pass fodder is here to save you from the tyranny of AAA games.
not sure which is worse, at least AAA games sometimes made nice screensavers

 

[Black]

people who whined about AAA gaming should be very happy though. mass produced AA subscription-pass fodder is here to save you from the tyranny of AAA games.
not sure which is worse, at least AAA games sometimes made nice screensavers

Where does BG3 fit in?

 

[Cael]

people who whined about AAA gaming should be very happy though. mass produced AA subscription-pass fodder is here to save you from the tyranny of AAA games.
not sure which is worse, at least AAA games sometimes made nice screensavers

Where does BG3 fit in?

 

[Assisted Living Godzilla]

If Game Pass brings back more arcade style games, (which basically got priced out of existence because of their length) and studios taking chances again on smaller budget games, this just seems like a good thing to me. The up side to Game Pass is you could have studios freed from sales expectations, so you might see more types of games that people still enjoy but the business has mostly moved on from because they don't sale what they need to. Like, there's people here that sure seem to like bitching about RE4, but RE4 only happens because the Resident Evil Remake (and Zero) didn't sell well. Now in a world where the price of admission is nothing but the subscription fee, and you need content for the service, something like fixed camera angle Resident Evil could easily exist again in a way it probably wasn't feasible for on a budget like the GameCube remake had...and now Microsoft owns the studio run by the creator of Resident Evil. I wouldn't be too surprised if Microsoft getting back into RTS games with Age of Empires is to flesh out the PC Game Pass.

All this will lead to is AAA publishing becoming the domain of only the 1st-party console manufacturers (Sony/Nintendo/MSFT). Then there will be the small indie developers, with not much in-between.

No, it'll just lead to other big studios having something like Game Pass, or making deals with those that have it. You know, it'll just become like movie streaming now, and maybe even fold into movie streaming services in some cases. And look at movie streaming right now. Some studios have their own streaming services, some don't, and there's paid and free streaming services that aren't part of the major movie studios. I mean really, you think EA and Ubisoft created things like Uplay and Origin around the start of the previous decade but they aren't going to get in on this streaming thing? It's also going to lead to large companies that aren't even major players in video games at the moment entering in, in a much bigger way.

Consoles as they are today are probably going to be a thing of the past by the time the next console cycle rolls around some time between 2027/2028 and 2030. They'll probably just be universal players made by a bunch of different companies like movie players have been, and you'll probably be able to pull Game Pass (and other things) up on all the stuff you can pull Netflix up on now.

 

[Lizard]

or making deals with those that have it.

I think this is what Embracer/THQ Nordic's plan has been all along. They own so much mid tier stuff now.

 

[Hobknobling]

If Game Pass brings back more arcade style games, (which basically got priced out of existence because of their length) and studios taking chances again on smaller budget games, this just seems like a good thing to me. The up side to Game Pass is you could have studios freed from sales expectations, so you might see more types of games that people still enjoy but the business has mostly moved on from because they don't sale what they need to. Like, there's people here that sure seem to like bitching about RE4, but RE4 only happens because the Resident Evil Remake (and Zero) didn't sell well. Now in a world where the price of admission is nothing but the subscription fee, and you need content for the service, something like fixed camera angle Resident Evil could easily exist again in a way it probably wasn't feasible for on a budget like the GameCube remake had...and now Microsoft owns the studio run by the creator of Resident Evil. I wouldn't be too surprised if Microsoft getting back into RTS games with Age of Empires is to flesh out the PC Game Pass.

All this will lead to is AAA publishing becoming the domain of only the 1st-party console manufacturers (Sony/Nintendo/MSFT). Then there will be the small indie developers, with not much in-between.

No, it'll just lead to other big studios having something like Game Pass, or making deals with those that have it. You know, it'll just become like movie streaming now, and maybe even fold into movie streaming services in some cases. And look at movie streaming right now. Some studios have their own streaming services, some don't, and there's paid and free streaming services that aren't part of the major movie studios. I mean really, you think EA and Ubisoft created things like Uplay and Origin around the start of the previous decade but they aren't going to get in on this streaming thing? It's also going to lead to large companies that aren't even major players in video games at the moment entering in, in a much bigger way.

Consoles as they are today are probably going to be a thing of the past by the time the next console cycle rolls around some time between 2027/2028 and 2030. They'll probably just be universal players made by a bunch of different companies like movie players have been, and you'll probably be able to pull Game Pass (and other things) up on all the stuff you can pull Netflix up on now.

I think it resembles the Hollywood studio system:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Studio_system

A studio system is a method of filmmaking wherein the production and distribution of films is dominated by a small number of large movie studios. It is most often used in reference to Hollywood motion picture studios during the Golden Age of Hollywood from the 1920s to 1960s, wherein studios produced films primarily on their own filmmaking lots with creative personnel under often long-term contract, and dominated exhibition through vertical integration, i.e., the ownership or effective control of distributors and exhibition, guaranteeing additional sales of films through manipulative booking techniques such as block booking.

Game Pass is basically block booking but done at customer level:

Block booking is a system of selling multiple films to a theater as a unit. Block booking was the prevailing practice among Hollywood's major studios from the turn of the 1930s until it was outlawed by the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in United States v. Paramount Pictures, Inc. (1948). Under block booking, "independent ('unaffiliated') theater owners were forced to take large numbers of [a] studio's pictures sight unseen. Those studios could then parcel out second-rate product along with A-class features and star vehicles, which made both production and distribution operations more economical."[1] The element of the system involving the purchase of unseen pictures is known as blind bidding.

I doubt that consoles will become universal players since that goes against the principles of vertical integration.

Thankfully, the gaming industry is protected by the low barrier of entry and relatively effortless distribution. Making games is not fully comparable to making movies.

 

[Assisted Living Godzilla]

Microsoft already doesn't given a shit about consoles, and they aren't a manufacturer. They'll keep doing the console because that's what the overall business is at the moment, and that's what they need to do right now. But five years from now? Eight years from now? Things are probably going to be different. Microsoft want Game Pass on everything. They want you to be able to turn on your Nintendo system and be able to play games on Game Pass. They want you to be able to access Game Pass on your PS5. The business now is Game Pass. The reason Microsoft entered the console business was to control the living room, well, technology has lapped their original ambitions and now your TV can just do all that other stuff they wanted the console to do; and if you're tv can't at the moment, your cheapo bluray player or Roku can do what Microsoft wanted to do with the XboxOne when they first showed it off when it comes to TV.

The idea that Game Pass is Block Booking on the customer has to be the dumbest fucking comparison. How do you imagine they're even kind of similar? Because it's a grouping of stuff? Maybe you should reread that bit on block booking again and think about how a theatre being forced into buying things they don't want and haven't seen to stay in business is different from the consumer (who doesn't need to pay for Game Pass) paying a subscription fee and getting access to a selection of games they do know of.

The funny thing is those B movies of the era are a lot of the interesting things of the era; and if you were to chop up what the Codex mostly seems to like video game wise into A and B products they'd most likely mostly just be B products.