As long as this shit is team sports, fueled in no small manner by underlying currents of "fuck the other guys" spite in both camps, that hypocrisy isn't going anywhere. And it isn't exclusive to or specific to fans of either platform.
[RUMOR] Sony to acquire Bluepoint Games very soon
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As long as this shit is team sports, fueled in no small manner by underlying currents of "fuck the other guys" spite in both camps, that hypocrisy isn't going anywhere. And it isn't exclusive to or specific to fans of either platform.
Hypocrisy abounds. Remember when Microsoft got timed exclusivity to Rise of the Tomb Raider? Was this ever replicated elsewhere? Of course not, but this is because that anger is basically slave to market share dominance.
As I told someone yesterday, we now have a Microsoft CEO that actually gives a shit about gaming, one who is looking to take their vast financial strength to make moves that ensures that the Xbox outfit has a chance of competing, and in a lot of ways, this is something that makes some rather uncomfortable.
It is basically no different to what Sony dud when they came into the market. They bought a publisher, they paid for exclusivity, and then established themselves as the king of console gaming. All of these moves that are made by these companies are essentially moves to perpetuate dominance, or win back market share; and this is what I always see them as.
I personally do not care who Microsoft or Sony buy. It is their money and there are people being paid money to make sure that they bring as many people as possible to their respective ecosystems. What matters to me as an individual consumer is whether or not they are doing enough to make me invest in their ecosystem, and whether or not increased investment is needed. So I always try and look at these from an individual point of view while taking into consideration the realities of business.
Today, PlayStation is what holds it down for Sony, the camera sensor tech and Financial being other good operations. They no longer dominate TV sales as they did back in the day with the Triniton, they no longer dominate as they did with transistor radios and Walkman, and over time, Sony mobile is a much smaller player today too. So they go all in, and they do what has worked for them before.
I personally tend to think that as a consumer, timed exclusives are a waste of time as opposed to actually getting games that differentiate one system from another. I also tend to think that people that champion that it is better think that to be the case because they are mainly the beneficiaries of that practice, and we have an entire topic, this topic as great reference point.
We also know that people are de facto not against to acquisition either. We have this as an exhibit, but it is not the only one, we also have this, and these predate the agreement to acquire Bethesda. This was followed by a myriad of reaction threads, this one being one of the few that actually lasted.
Personally, I like this new Microsoft and what they are doing to bring more games day and date into Game Pass. I was sick and tired of them wandering the gaming market half arsed, lacking in vision and conviction. This is something I have always admired about Sony being cutthroat and doing what it takes to remain at the top when it comes to gaming, if anything, they leveraged the money they made off their kingpin electronics era to fuel their entry into games.
They have been a positive pushing generation defining games and really pushing tech. Microsoft is doing the same i.e. leveraging their assets to now push gaming and you now have these comparisons, some that do not make sense.
Let these companies spend funds as they see fit. If some consumers miss out on games, so be it. It is not the first time this happened in gaming, and it sure wont be the last.
People really deaf out here, but you spittin'.
Imagine comparing DOOM, Wolfenstein, and freaking Skyrim becoming exclusive to remasters that have already been exclusive remaining exclusive.
Plenty of people did that with Bethesda, though, both pro and against.
Yes. Though it does get tiring seeing the same people being giddy about one acquisition come into threads about another and saying "oh so now acquisitions are ok?"
Excellent move if true! Makes sense to me - would be cool to see them tackle some of the other game genres Sony doesn't already have on lock. Stuff like WRPG's or FPS would be cool. They've certainly made a diverse portfolio of remakes/remasters, so whatever they do next I have high hopes!
Bluepoint has been doing remakes/remasters for so long that I literally have no idea what a new IP from them would look like.
Its just the same people as always trying to go "see sony too, gotcha!"
They did this game:
And they worked on Flower, I don't know if as co-developers or if as doing port or something.
They should buy Konami's sports gyms too and rename them to GainStations
It was the PS4 port. Flower was codeveloped by TGC and Sony Santa Monica.
I meant in the context of a console hardware company acquiring a multiplatform publisher. Of course my example is not comparable from an IP, market share and brand value perspective.
They're primarily a PS dev though. They've only recently branched out to the Switch within the last few years.
They haven't is NIS handling the ports not them. They are 100% PS devs, for a while now.
If Bluepoint wants to branch out to making their own IPs, this acquisition is an absolute no-brainer for them. They would be able to secure their funding off two remakes, with existing fanbases, while Housemarque, Pre-Facebook Ready at Dawn, and the like, had /have to prove themselves critically (and sales-wise) with new IPs.
Talented studio, great output, plenty of potential, fairly small, no IPs to balloon their pricepoint, comes with their own engine, Sony would be dumb to pass them up.
Talented studio, great output, plenty of potential, fairly small, no IPs to balloon their pricepoint, comes with their own engine, Sony would be dumb to pass them up.
I was responding to a post saying that Sony fans were laughing it up when they were announcing timed exclusives earlier in the year but when the Bethesda announcement came through they were suddenly crying foul.
Well, it happened. And I actually gave you threads on that.
So you meant the Deathloop and Ghostqire Tokyo games? Got it. 😂
Did you show that it's the same people with contradictory statements about both types of situation?
You also didn't bother to respond to the point I made that from the consumers perspective there is a difference and instead looked at it purely from a business one.
We can all do that but it doesn't change things. I personally wouldn't want Sony to buy up a big publisher because it would remove games from other people but from a business perspective it would make a lot of sense to do so since Microsoft has been so aggressive recently.
I wasn't referencing any particular games and the person I was responding to didn't mention any either.
My issue was conflating the two situations as being the same when there is a massive difference to the consumer.
Does OP not realize that the deal could be finalized but take months for an announcement?
Seems risky to bet your account on too. Bluepoint wants to make their own IP. They're completely unproven in terms of developing a game from the ground up and would need to hire a considerable number of developers. Is Sony going to see eye to eye on that regarding budget and scope? Seems like an issue that could easily break the deal.
(Not to imply Bluepoint couldn't make a game, only to say that investing heavily in an untested developer is a risk that could put the deal in jeopardy)
Seems risky to bet your account on too. Bluepoint wants to make their own IP. They're completely unproven in terms of developing a game from the ground up and would need to hire a considerable number of developers. Is Sony going to see eye to eye on that regarding budget and scope? Seems like an issue that could easily break the deal.
(Not to imply Bluepoint couldn't make a game, only to say that investing heavily in an untested developer is a risk that could put the deal in jeopardy)
1) For someone uninterested in acquisitions you definitely have a lot to say about it
2) Buying Bluepoint and buying Bethesda are not comparable, so approving of one and disliking the other is not hypocrisy
3) I'm sure there are fanboys who dislike MS buying studios and like Sony buying studios (the opposite will also be true), but unless you can point out someone who specifically did these things I don't know who your unspecific hypocrite comments are aimed at?
Yeah, I would like Sumo to have another go at a Transformed-style arcade/karting game, and if Sega aren't going to commission it then Sony should step up and try. They actually seem to be leaning into their PS history a bit more now, so maybe the time is right for more cross-brand games a la PS All-Stars Battle Royale. I still think they should make Daxter & Clank Karting, and given that their line-up of characters is much bigger and more diverse now than it was ~8 years ago, they should maybe think about making a sequel to that.
Well said. This reminds me of someone trying to argue that Spider-Man being a PS4 Avengers exclusive was more anti-consumer than Microsoft buying Bethesda.
Switch
The only two things that Bluepoint have ever produced not on a Sony console were the Xbox 360 version of Metal Gear Solid HD Collection and the 360 version of Titanfall. So the idea of an acquisition doesn't surprise me as Sony has been more and more willing to trust them with larger projects and have increasingly worked to incorporate them into their existing ecosystem. There's no IP that Sony would be taking away from anyone else as Bluepoint doesn't have their own, so I think that's a relatively minor acquisition, much smaller than Insomniac from a couple years ago.
I'm generally against acquisitions, but if this is want Bluepoint genuinely wants, I think this is one of the better ways to go about an acquisition.
I'm generally against acquisitions, but if this is want Bluepoint genuinely wants, I think this is one of the better ways to go about an acquisition.
Why are people talking about Psygnosis as a gotcha to Microsoft acquiring Bethesda? That shit happened 27 years ago when the industry wasn't nearly as mature. Not to mention are we really comparing a company that owns Elder Scrolls and Fallout currently to bloody Lemmings? Psygnosis acquisition if anything is more similar to Rare, as both companies were trying to get a foot into the industry when those acquisitions happened. Bethesda's acquisition is an alarm sign towards industry consolidation.
Insomniac and Bluepoint have made games for Sony for well over a decade now, and in both cases, IP's that are owned by SIE. Microsoft swooped in and acquired a whole big publisher and all of their IP's. As well as several development studios who never worked on an exclusive game for them previously, (Double Fine, Ninja Theory, Mojang, etc).
I'm not saying "fuck Microsoft", and that it's wrong, but its clearly two different types of businesses that are being done here. These fanboy wars are a clear display of a lack of foresight. If Sony goes and acquires Capcom or Square Enix, then yes, that would be a "see, Sony too!".
This is pathetic. Also OP, if you do lose your account due to this acquisition happening a few days or weeks after your deadline, my deepest condolences to you.
Insomniac and Bluepoint have made games for Sony for well over a decade now, and in both cases, IP's that are owned by SIE. Microsoft swooped in and acquired a whole big publisher and all of their IP's. As well as several development studios who never worked on an exclusive game for them previously, (Double Fine, Ninja Theory, Mojang, etc).
I'm not saying "fuck Microsoft", and that it's wrong, but its clearly two different types of businesses that are being done here. These fanboy wars are a clear display of a lack of foresight. If Sony goes and acquires Capcom or Square Enix, then yes, that would be a "see, Sony too!".
This is pathetic. Also OP, if you do lose your account due to this acquisition happening a few days or weeks after your deadline, my deepest condolences to you.
Literally mentioned that in the post you quoted from me so not sure what you're trying to add here. :P
I'd love to see them remake MGS1, that was the rumoured remake that got me the most excited when people were speculating what they were working on.
Sorry, I didn't finish my post. Not even sure what I was going to say!
Why would anyone think that these businesses bother about the consumer perspective? They care about what can make them money. Sony says 'take this money, and make sure that this game that was supposed to come out on all systems launches later on Xbox'. Microsoft says to developers and publishers 'here is the money, come and make games for out ecosystem'.
In each, some gamers are screwed, but such is the nature of every competitive business, and as much as some complain, it has its benefits elsewhere.
In any case, this was you.
Link.
Link.
Let us move on post Bethesda.
We really ought to pay attention to our post histories.
1. I am not bothered by who is purchased. I look at it as business as usual. I stated this here and here. I have echoed these sentiments elsewhere too on this very forum.
2. A purchase is a purchase. The only people that make this distinction are people on this forum. Every purchase is geared towards getting talent and/or IP. Or in some cases, the IP alone. Every publisher acquires these be it Nintendo with Monolith and the Xeno series, or Sony getting Insomniac alongside the Sunset Overdrive IP, and sometimes, it is just straight up talent acquisition.
3. We do not need to prove this.
I can't believe there are people in here that are seriously equating this to MS acquiring Zenimax. Absurd.
Well, it did happen...
And the Xbox fanboys did the same, too. Hell, a lot of them were saying exclusives in principle were anti-consumer, too.
Bethesda acquisition happened, and bam, they changed their tune.
That's the point of what I was saying. Fanboys are hypocrites, regardless of their preference.
How much you guys think it would cost? U$40~60 million? Just for comparison, Insomniac cost was U$230 million, but they have two studios, somes IPs and almost 300 employes.
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