"Then why doesn't MS invest some of that money into the Japanese market?"
What makes you think they haven't tried? I would wager Sony operates far more freely here than MS does in Japan.
Plenty of people are fearmongering. You been to comments sections here and at IGN, surely. Then there are a few people who do it under the guise of lawyer or amateur economist.
Personally, I didn't anticipate the ABK deal, though I don't have much problem with it. It is a sign that MS truly is behind XBox and apparently, they are really serious about Game Pass. Seventy billion sitting on in a bank is going to melt away quicker these days. The process will take about two years, all said and done, so I want them to complete the acquisition and move forward.
There are no other platform holders stepping into the market, despite the regulators uninformed hypothetical scenarios. Without MS & Xbox, it would be wall to wall Sony.
@psych32: Sounds like the regulators have pushed them to concede that for Call of Duty. Which is absurd. They can't flip it right back on Sony after a decade, even after shelling out billions to own the company.
@Barighm: Are you seriously still bringing up Tomb Raider when there are a littany of counter arguments to be that? Why don't we go about Vice City being delayed for OG Xbox?
SF6, No Man's Sky, Nier Automata, MS owned Deathloop and GWT. MS could even mention the existence of their own games.
Nioh 1 & 2, FF Remakes 1 & 2 are not coming at all. Time will tell for Rise of Ronin...Sony announced another 3rd party exclusive at the State Of Play.
Then there's all the content exclusivity deals Sony pays for...
@Barighm: The regulators called Playstation and Xbox "their own 2-entity industry," so by their own definition, what else could they call it? Playstation has over 80% of the market, as defined. Well over, apparently.
@Atzenkiller: Microsoft has had tons of money for decades. The entire existence of Xbox. At no point did they "buy up the whole industry" as we now see fearmongers post. People gave them crap for not spending enough money on Xbox, now they want to say, "Well, hold on a minute..."
It is just Sony fanatics paranoid about competition. There is no one else coming to compete. Playstation market share amounts to a monopoly in Japan (all of Asia, I would imagine) and likely Europe or the UK. Nobody sees a problem with that.
Started this last night. I was tired so I only got through the opening (I paused while in the car). I switched to Russia dialog with English subtitles. Not sure if that was a mistake, we'll see. I had previously heard one line from the protagonist in English -- his performance reminded me of a modern-day American goofball which felt anachronistic and geographically out of place.
@thehawk3986: Just because people make a lot of noise online about a game doesn't mean it is good, or that smaller games are mediocre. Games that appeal to the lowest common denominator will garner a lot of hype. Looks over gameplay. There have been Indie games that are great experiences that I would have skipped otherwise, and a few I've tried and decided not to continue. Well regarded or not.
Media is making ungodly hype about BoTW2 right now. Is it deserving, I don't know. Seeing if it lives up to the hype is more of draw to play than any direct interest.
Years ago, I would buy many games day one. As a result, there are hundreds in cardboard boxes or in Steam/Origin/Uplay libraries. I don't usually have the time to start new games when they release anymore, so I don't waste money buying them early.
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