4 ms·

Uh no. Buying out previously cross platform studios and then converting their titles to Microsoft only is absolutely not “strengthening competition”. If Micros

by wredue 3y ago

Uh no. Buying out previously cross platform studios and then converting their titles to Microsoft only is absolutely not “strengthening competition”. If Microsoft want to strengthen competition, they would stop burning their first party studios to the ground.

crazygringo 3y ago
Of course it is strengthening competition. Playstation has tons of exclusive titles. By one estimate, 4x as many as Xbox [1]. How is that a fair playing field? I'm personally totally in favor of ending exclusivity entirely for all consoles. (What gamer wouldn't be?) But as long as Sony is playing that game, Microsoft is simply trying to level the playing field here, to make Xbox more competitive against PS. That's what more competition is. [1] https://www.tomsguide.com/face-off/ps5-vs-xbox-series-x-exclusives https://www.tomsguide.com/face-off/ps5-vs-xbox-series-x-excl...
- xinayder 3y ago
  How many are actually relevant, though? I can name a few that are definitely relevant: Uncharted, Horizon, God of War, The Last of Us, titles that are also being released for PC. They are no longer exclusives.
- wredue 3y ago
  It’s not Sonys fault that Microsoft destroyed their first party dominance while Sony was curating their exclusive titles. Microsoft endorsed enshittification and got complacent. Sony didn’t. Microsoft lost their previously winning position through incompetence in a single console generation, and that doesn’t all of a sudden make buying up and making several studios exclusive “fair competition”. “Fair competition” is not using your other business lines to subsidize harming consumers because you made several years of terrible decisions. What’s more, Microsoft’s throwing money around to just buy a position in the gaming market is showing through clear review manipulation (Starfalls wall of 10s for what’s clearly a 5-6/10). For any other company this purchase is viewed as anti-competitive. Microsoft’s arguments were fucking toddler level. How consumer protections managed to bungle this so badly to prevent the sale is likely to go down in law education for “what not to do”. All the lawyers involved in the consumer protection side should be disbarred on the basis of complete incompetence.
gdulli 3y ago
What does competition mean, if not differences in software? The console hardware between Sony and Microsoft isn't meaningfully differentiated. If the consoles had identical catalogs what would be left to differentiate them other than friends list lock-in? A few FPS or a home screen you happen to prefer aren't important things.
- wredue 3y ago
  So Microsoft failing for a decade to bring titles to their console means that it’s okay to remove titles from Sony gamers? The consoles today don’t have identical catalogs. That’s where your argument falls apart. One company made a decade of bad decisions which caused them to fall behind. In a fair market where Microsoft didn’t have trillions in resources to just steal the market, Phil Spencer would be fired and Xbox gaming would be looking for better direction. Also, Microsoft was granted moving forward on the basis that their claim “the games would be more accessible to everyone” was true. Yet you are here arguing that this will not be the case. Which is it? We all know what Microsoft plans are. Personally, I am now hoping for Sony and Nintendo to pick up major publishers and make the content exclusive just so I can see the Xbox fanboys lose their shit over how its anti-competitive when they lose games, but not anti-competitive when they rob experiences from others.
  - crazygringo 3y ago
    What does a company's past failures have to do with whether its current strategy is sound? Do you think Apple shouldn't have been allowed to acquire NeXT when Steve Jobs came back, just because Apple's previous CEO's had done a bad job? It's not "stealing" anything. It's acquiring a company and paying a fair price for it. Playstation has way more exclusives than Xbox. This is just getting closer to leveling the playing field. There's nothing wrong with that. The more equal in size major market participants are, the better off it tends to be for consumers. And please don't call anyone "fanboys". That kind of name-calling isn't appropriate for HN discourse.

by wredue 3y ago

crazygringo 3y ago

Of course it is strengthening competition. Playstation has tons of exclusive titles. By one estimate, 4x as many as Xbox [1]. How is that a fair playing field? I'm personally totally in favor of ending exclusivity entirely for all consoles. (What gamer wouldn't be?) But as long as Sony is playing that game, Microsoft is simply trying to level the playing field here, to make Xbox more competitive against PS. That's what more competition is. [1] https://www.tomsguide.com/face-off/ps5-vs-xbox-series-x-exclusives https://www.tomsguide.com/face-off/ps5-vs-xbox-series-x-excl...

xinayder 3y ago
How many are actually relevant, though? I can name a few that are definitely relevant: Uncharted, Horizon, God of War, The Last of Us, titles that are also being released for PC. They are no longer exclusives.
wredue 3y ago
It’s not Sonys fault that Microsoft destroyed their first party dominance while Sony was curating their exclusive titles. Microsoft endorsed enshittification and got complacent. Sony didn’t. Microsoft lost their previously winning position through incompetence in a single console generation, and that doesn’t all of a sudden make buying up and making several studios exclusive “fair competition”. “Fair competition” is not using your other business lines to subsidize harming consumers because you made several years of terrible decisions. What’s more, Microsoft’s throwing money around to just buy a position in the gaming market is showing through clear review manipulation (Starfalls wall of 10s for what’s clearly a 5-6/10). For any other company this purchase is viewed as anti-competitive. Microsoft’s arguments were fucking toddler level. How consumer protections managed to bungle this so badly to prevent the sale is likely to go down in law education for “what not to do”. All the lawyers involved in the consumer protection side should be disbarred on the basis of complete incompetence.

gdulli 3y ago

What does competition mean, if not differences in software? The console hardware between Sony and Microsoft isn't meaningfully differentiated. If the consoles had identical catalogs what would be left to differentiate them other than friends list lock-in? A few FPS or a home screen you happen to prefer aren't important things.

wredue 3y ago
So Microsoft failing for a decade to bring titles to their console means that it’s okay to remove titles from Sony gamers? The consoles today don’t have identical catalogs. That’s where your argument falls apart. One company made a decade of bad decisions which caused them to fall behind. In a fair market where Microsoft didn’t have trillions in resources to just steal the market, Phil Spencer would be fired and Xbox gaming would be looking for better direction. Also, Microsoft was granted moving forward on the basis that their claim “the games would be more accessible to everyone” was true. Yet you are here arguing that this will not be the case. Which is it? We all know what Microsoft plans are. Personally, I am now hoping for Sony and Nintendo to pick up major publishers and make the content exclusive just so I can see the Xbox fanboys lose their shit over how its anti-competitive when they lose games, but not anti-competitive when they rob experiences from others.
- crazygringo 3y ago
  What does a company's past failures have to do with whether its current strategy is sound? Do you think Apple shouldn't have been allowed to acquire NeXT when Steve Jobs came back, just because Apple's previous CEO's had done a bad job? It's not "stealing" anything. It's acquiring a company and paying a fair price for it. Playstation has way more exclusives than Xbox. This is just getting closer to leveling the playing field. There's nothing wrong with that. The more equal in size major market participants are, the better off it tends to be for consumers. And please don't call anyone "fanboys". That kind of name-calling isn't appropriate for HN discourse.