Microsoft has spent $69 billion on Activision Blizzard, so now it calls the shots when it comes to juggernaut franchise, Call of Duty. Of course, previously, starting with Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 in 2015, Sony had marketing dibs on the series, which meant it could advertise annual entries in the FPS outing specifically for PS4 and latterly PS5. It also would enjoy some small benefits, like early access to betas, exclusive cosmetics, and, in some instances, even extra modes.
These platform exclusive advantages actually started long before PlayStation’s partnership with the property, as back in the PS3 era, fans of Sony’s format would be forced to wait upwards of a month to play map packs.
Nevertheless, Xbox boss Phil Spencer has suggested Sony’s shenanigans were “slimy” – and it’s not something he’s willing to repeat now he owns the series. “I want to give you the choice on how you play your games, and who you play with, and not try to do slimy platform things to force you to do what I want you to do,” he told IGN.
The executive made similarly barbed remarks during the opening moments of yesterday’s Xbox Showcase. Introducing the show, he said: “It’s been 10 years since Call of Duty has been in our show. It’s been even longer since all Call of Duty players got the same game at the same time. Going forward, everyone will experience the game, including the Black Ops 6 beta, the season expansions and the updates, at launch.”
[source youtube.com]
Comments 159
Understandable, it was quite the slimy strategy to be in a divided gaming community because
of the exclusivity content.
At that time Activision's Kotick never cared because he already had his hefty retirement secured and a foot out the door.
Hopefully Xbox will keep the game equal for generations to come no matter if we buy it, rent it or subscribe.
tbf it was an irritating strategy, both when Sony did it and when MS did it.
It's been a while since he's felt the need to throw some PR shade though. Must be trying to make up lost ground.
Well I’m sure the comment section here will be reasonable and thought out.
Well on that note, let's see what happens when GTA 6 releases, I bet Sony renewed already 😅
Happy to have only had to pay £30 for the vault edition. Saved me £70 this year.
Is the 3 months timed exclusivity of Stalker 2 not considered "slimy", Phil? This is just another way for MS to try and brand themselves as the good guys for buying the industry's biggest publisher.
What a hypocritical clown.
He is correct. It’s slimy every time Playstation does it. Same with Harry Potter and Marvel’s Avengers.
“I want to give you the choice on how you play your games, and who you play with, and not try to do slimy platform things to force you to do what I want you to do,”
…how does that remotely square up with spending the best part of a £100 billion, and making a lot of those games exclusive to Xbox platforms? Things are changing now but mainly because Xbox have done so poorly - forcing multiplatform releases.
Not excusing nonsense from Sony in the past - but when whole publishers have been bought, I’m not sure Phil should be making such comments.
“I want to give you the choice on how you play your games, and who you play with, and not try to do slimy platform things to force you to do what I want you to do,”
And that's why I cancelled the release of Starfield, Redfall and Indiana Jones on PlayStation as soon as I bought them.
I actually thank Phil for the first two, and I suspect I'll be grateful for the third after seeing the combat in yesterday's showcase.
Square Enix: 👀👀👀
That’s all I have to say
“Slimy” coming from the guy who bought an entire chunk of the gaming industry with the intention of console exclusivity.
This guy is honestly one of the biggest 🔔🔚s in the industry.
Ah yes but not slimy when Microsoft did it with Call of Duty before, what an hypocrite.
Not slimy to get Tomb Raider one year exclusive, Titanfall 2 full exclusive, GTA 4 DLC timed exclusive, Dead Rising and Ryse full exclusive etc etc, yet Playstation are Slimy 😂, can't wait for this guy to retire.
I don't really disagree with his overriding sentiment, but it obviously comes across a bit hypocritical considering their content spending spree. Obviously Microsoft appears to be going multiformat now anyway, so that does change things.
These platform exclusives became so meaningless over the years, though. Yes, in early Call of Duty games they might have been meaningful, but recently the bonuses were like "one extra loadout slot on PS5". Like, who cares?
@Jacko11 I applaud your use of emojis 😄
I don't get the slimy comment. The platform holder was trying to give their players incentives and perks for having bought their product. If the platforms were entirely agnostic what's the point. "I'll take generic box 1" that in no way differentiates itself from box 2. Count me out If it ever gets to that
Clearly a case of the crow calling the raven black by Phil the Liar here.
I remember the GTA IV DLC being exclusive to the Xbox 360 for around 18 months or so.
Phil, you really need to keep quiet most of the time.
Rather let people assume that you're a fool instead of confirming this assumption by making comments like this.
I remember the exclusivity of a zombie mode in a call of duty game (maybe cold war?) but again, it's competition. Have i to remember that the next gen version of Like a Dragon was exclusive to SX at launch for like 4-5 months?
Yes platforms are terrible aren't they? When you've crashed yours into the ground and trained your player base not to actually buy software.
Xbox is in real trouble
@Solingo_Bill Yeah, there was an extra mode in one Call of Duty, I also forget which one it was. But honestly, there's been nothing like that recently. Like I said above, it's been extra loadout slots and other really meaningless stuff.
I like my PS5 and I like having a Series S in the spare room, but I'm so glad I switched to PC as my primary platform. It has its downfalls to be sure, but I haven't got to put up with any of this console war nonsense any more.
That being said, the hypocrisy on display from Spencer here is staggering.
Disingenuous and hypocrytical. Phil, Phil never changes.
Didn't xbox have marketing rights before sony for that franchise or am I missing something and didn't this guy seek out buying whole publishers with making all of its content xbox exclusive I mean hypothetical much
"slimy platform things"
buys an entire company that releases games on multi platform. Gets to decide which games goes multi-plat or not
Remember to never believe anything this guy says.
@salvadorhealth Nah, I don't think Xbox is in trouble. They're just turning into something else. Not only a console, but a brand spanning over multiple platforms.
Spending insane amount of money on Activision-Blizzard was risky for sure. However, it could still be worth it since the biggest games are going to be multiplatform, and they will be making a lot of money. Having Call of Duty be console exclusive would be dumb as hell, since that would limit their profits. So Call of Duty, Doom etc being multiplatform makes a lot of sense to me.
Edit: That said, I don't think all of their games are going to be multiplatform in the near future. Only those that make sense. I personally think all online games should be multiplatform in order to keep the playerbase large and active.
It would be a very Slimy thing to turn round and say the ONLY way to play Call of Duty going forward, now they 'own' the IP, would be via an Xbox or via Game Pass ONLY - Forcing players to Subscribe and/or buy Xbox consoles, just because they can because of some petty Console 'war'
At the end of the day, CoD gamers are fans of a MS owned IP and its better to treat them ALL equally than annoy a sub-section because of their Platform choice.
You may see it as 'meaningless' but when some are getting 'more' XP, therefore unlocking more gear and rewards for the 'same' activity, that is still 'unfair'. It was 'unfair' that DLC was released a month earlier on Xbox too of course.
At the end of the day, its still 'better' value on Xbox as you get the PC version if you Buy from MS or can play for 'free' with a Subscription. However, if you 'choose' to play on Playstation, you won't miss out, be forced to buy an Xbox or be forced to Subscribe to Game Pass to play
If the quote truly reflects his views, then he won't last long at Microsoft should Xbox ever gain (rather than buy) a preeminent place in the industry.
Yet your company sells a SlimyPlatformPass, Phil.
@Mustoe PC is starting to even gain more of my attention. I mean Sony and MS are now both 3rd party PC supporters. I can have all my games in one place and run them at max settings. I can’t say when i will leave console but the fact i am saying i will leave at all is a huge change for me. Console warriors are so insanely bad for the industry and bring zero value to the industry.
Ah, use the cover of recent showcase positivity to make the comment of an absolute ass-hat and try poison people's minds with untruths 👏👏
@HonestHick You can say the same for the "PC master race" crowd
Pot, kettle and black. That is all
@AllStarGamer exclusivity is how brands are built. Competition is what drives are industries. I hope Sony, Nintendo, and Xbox keep exclusive content. No one is obligated to another corporations IPs.
Corporate translation: "The Xbox subsidiary of Microsoft isn't happy because Activision is officially under the corporate umbrella and no smart corporate entity gives their competition an edge over them.
Good ol’ Phil Spencer.
So the thing xbox did during the 360 era lol
So if Xbox is slimy for having acquired 3 months exclusivity with STALKER, @Kanji-Tatsumi, what on Earth does that make Sony with the likes of Final Fantasy 7, or 16 or 14, or Deathloop or Ghostwire Tokyo, or Kena: Bridge of Spirits, and so the list goes on and on and on, and none of those games were just 3 months either, and all of them were this generation. Some still haven't released on the Xbox years after releasing on the PlayStation.
It should also be remembered that in the case of STALKER, Microsoft have helped out with its development too...
As does Sony, @Vdweller...! 🤔
@Nyne11Tyme Well put, if you're going to reward me for choosing a certain ecosystem, I'll def choose that one.
I see it as a way to earn loyalty from consumers.
Especially if it's not permanent, who cares?
@KoopaTheGamer I agree with you and when you have the financial backing of Microsoft you aren't really "in trouble".
I think what I mean is its importance as a console brand to players. That has been diminishing since the Xbox One announcement and not likely to improve.
I see them being a publisher maybe not under the Xbox banner but Microsoft publishing and having little presence in the hardware space. We shall see...I'd like them to do well as competition is important for Sony and Nintendo
Leave it to Phil "Slimy" Spencer to know what a slimy stragtegy is.
It takes one to know one, that's all I have to say.
This dude is so fake and annoying it drives me nuts.
Hypocrite and indigenous comment from Phil Spinner.
And as much as "slimy" Sony did with exclusives marketing for COD, i think i never heard anyone from Sony like Kutaragi, Kaz Hirai, Shawn Layden, Andrew House, Jack Tretton, or even ol Jimbo calling MS or Sony's competitors as "slimy" when MS did exclusives deal for GTA / Tomb Raider or Nintendo did for Monster Hunter.
Heck. I don't think anyone from Sony says MS is slimy when they try to steal LBP from Sony lol
https://www.pushsquare.com/news/2024/05/tipsy-microsoft-exec-once-attempted-to-steal-littlebigplanet-from-sony
Removed - trolling/baiting
Removed - trolling/baiting
It was indeed slimy on PlayStation's part but what's even more slimy is buying up multiplat studios and making their games exclusive.
So now it slimy but when they were doing it was ok to do yeah that's some things he would say
@HonestHick
PC is definitely the way to go, more than ever I would say, but unlike consoles there's a lot to consider - and not just cost. Recently upgraded mine based on my budget (did a lot of overtime), with RTX 4070ti and an i7-14700K combo. It does kick some butt, but the i7-14700K does pump out a lot more heat, significantly so compared to my previous set up, so a cooler upgrade was also required.
I like my PS5 and have invested a lot of games in it, but looking ahead I don't think I'll be going down the console route again. Consoles are just too limited for what I want from my gaming.
This guy's got some balls talking about sliminess in business considering the messages from him that were leaked during the whole acquisition debacle. Or how about Xbox shutting down successful studios just to make their profit margins look better on a report?
You're all down in the mud together, Spencer. XBox, PlayStation, Nintendo, every big company. It's just the way you show it that differs.
@Kanji-Tatsumi In the case of Stalker 2, pretty sure Microsoft helped fund the development of the game.
@Vaako007: Exclusivity is healthy for competition, but not parts of it as Sony was doing. Sony was actually hurting the Call of Duty franchise by fragmenting it into exclusive content...of course Activision's Kotick never cared because he already knew for decades that he had a foot out the door.
@Fiendish-Beaver I think it’s more don’t throw stones in glass houses.
Both have used these tactics in the past. Neither is better than the other.
Microsoft wrote the book on being slimy in the gaming industry. In order to get Halo, they had to prevent it from releasing on the platform it was originally intended for.
Kinda ironic, considering Microsoft invented the practice in the 360 era.
@ThorsHammer “what? How dare Sony use our own tactics against us!”
So I suppose he thinks it was also “slimy” when MS did the same by paying for World at War DLC to be timed exclusive for 360 then? Or Rise of the Tomb Raider? Dead Rising 3? The list is endless.
@VeldinX Or bought Ninja Theory to make Hellblade 2, sequel to a game that sold well on PS4, an Xbox exclusive.
@HonestHick @Mustoe I am strongly considering that route for the next generation.
It may be a heftier up front cost, but when I consider that paying for both a new PlayStation and a new Xbox would cost about as much as getting a decent box that can run at minimum Medium settings for games for quite a while, it's definitely worth mulling over.
Plus, games tend to be cheaper on PC (sometimes free), cloud saves are free everywhere, most games have Gamepad support, and there is no cost for online multiplayer (not that I really do that anyways, but it's still nice).
Sure, the experience isn't as streamlined as a console, but I don't mind having to do a little but of "power user" stuff if it means having only one box in the entertainment center (I don't need a flashy case or anything, just something with properly cooling) to play all the games of interest to me.
Pfff! Good one Phil! And buying off entire companies that were producing games for rival platforms was such a class act! Top notch stand up comedian
I'm convinced his strategy going into interviews is basically "just say whatever makes you sound like a good, pro-gamer guy and we'll figure out how to contort whatever I say to make sense later."
@get2SammyB This is just your translation of it. But if you watch the WHOLE Phil Spencer segment, including when the guests joined, he actually said it was XBOX who started the COD exclusivity thing and broke the community. It's just as likely he was referring to themselves.
EDIT: 10:50:49 in Video here
Phil Spencer wrote:
The Big 3 have all done their own slimy, shady decisions, they're not all squeaky clean.
I'm sure Sony held Activision at gun point in order to secure this exclusivity deal? Oh wait Activision took a huge amount of money after offering it to Sony? I remember Xbox getting a month of early access to every CoD map on the 360 but Ok.
Blame Bobby.
Spender talking about slimy actions went they went and bought entire publishers to keep the games out of PS.
What a f*cking clown. I have a problem with this guy wanting to present himself as a "savior of gamers" when he is clearly full of *****. *****.
@GamingFan4Lyf
The upfront cost is hefty and this is my first upgrade in 6 years, but it's well worth it. It's nice to max out some of my previous games and have them run flawless.
I also love modding and the upgrade has opened a few more doors on that front in terms of performance and visuals.
He can call names all he wants that won't make better the business, if COD on gamepass doesn't add a substancial number of users to gp that strategy and him are done. Tic tac Spencer LOL.
Oh whatever Xbox, I still remember the 360 days when it felt like EVERYTHING had timed exclusivity deals or just got everything first (GTA DLC, TES IV etc) so I don't want to hear any revisionist history about how Sony is slimy blah blah blah.
@K1LLEGAL was it slimy every time Microsoft did it? Seeing as how you think it’s slimy when Sony does it, surely it was slimy when MS did and STILL continues to do it? Right?
@AdamNovice oh im sure. Most gamers act a fool. But it’s a little quieter over there. Plus now that all the games are on PC and more and more keep coming. It’s now time for me to start giving it more thought.
@Mustoe yeah makes sense. Consoles have their pro’s and con’s like anything. But PC just looks better and better these days. The main reason for me is console just can’t get the CPU side of gaming right. I do love my PS5 and Series X for what they are. But it would be nice to just get a PC and i am sure i would add a Steam Deck 2 whenever that is a thing.
@get2sammyb Isn’t this marketed generosity mandated by a parity clause for at least 10 years?
@K1LLEGAL and What Not slimy when xbox does it lmao they did it 1st during 360 era some gamers might have been too young to remember this.
@Mustoe I was a heavy PC gamer during the X360/PS3 era, but kind of got tired of tinkering with settings all the time and started focusing on consoles - plus my gaming laptop died and I really didn't want to spend a ton of money getting a replacement.
I feel like during the X1/PS4 era kind of changed things and made settings menus a lot easier to work with if you didn't want to dive too deep into the menus to tweak every little detail.
@themightyant Nice of you to point that out that Phil acknowledged Microsoft's hand in it, but I am sure your comment will be entirely looked over because it doesn't fit a narrative.
Phil knows he'll be considered a hypocrite because of MS' recent activity with buying developers and flipping games that were to be multiplatform over to Xbox exclusive, but he doesn't care about that.
Realistically any CEO/President/Company Mouthpiece will (or has) made contradictory statements like these, because this is marketing.
Phil isn't trying to sell on what MS did yesterday, they're trying to sell based on the idea of MS tomorrow. It's just that with Phil's track record of using statements that are vague and could easily be interpreted various ways, and MS' actions, no-one believes him anymore.
@falkirk4life @RicketerCricketer it was slimy when Xbox did it. But they don’t do it anymore as far as i’m aware. Which multiplatform game has exclusive content on Xbox that you can’t play on PS or at least couldn’t for a year?
@HonestHick
Shopping around is key. For the cost of a PlayStation 5 and a Series X you can get a pretty decent rig. Maybe throw in a couple more hundred and once you're set up, you're off. Best thing about moving to PC? Outside or developers and poor optimisation there's no waiting around "hoping" these consoles will deliver performance and visual clarity in equal measure every single generation (which the never do). Just upgrade when you want. 🤷
Anyway, going off topic here, but yeah, PC is absolutely the way forward as a primary platform..
@Intr1n5ic yeah, I just watched that trailer and wow, my expectations for it were low but they made it look even worse.
@K1LLEGAL don’t know but MS still practices blocking games from going on rival platforms, so they’re still slimy.
@GamingFan4Lyf
The 360/PS3 era was also holding its own in many regards against PCs of the time. I did have a gaming PC, but low-mid end for playing Might & Magic 7 and the like. PCs were still a lot more fiddly back then, you're quite right.
@RicketerCricketer urm okay? Not what we are talking about. I’m not saying Xbox is squeaky clean, who cares? I was saying Phil Spencer is right when he called this specific tactic slimy. Thats it. Sony is lucky to have you defending them though 👍
@K1LLEGAL so calling out Microsoft for the same hypocritical practices is defending Sony?
Sheesh you Xbots take every criticism of MS as defending Sony, you need to learn that the two are often separate.
Haha what a clown. Full of himself after one really decent Xbox Showcase, meanwhile PS has had plenty of those over the past decade, albeit not so much in recent years. Take away the almost 80 billion spent in the last few years and this Xbox Showcase would have been average at best. PS don't need to purchase huge 3rd party publishers for 80 billion to create a great Showcase
@themightyant I wish they would add this to the article. I've noticed many times before that Push Square likes to do clickbaity and sensational articles. Context is everything, and the same quote can mean two very different things depending on whether the context is included or not.
I don't want to argue with anyone, just giving some constructive criticism.
I like how Phil conveniently leaves out the part where Xbox did the same thing during the 360 era when they had the Call of Duty marketing deals. Phil = Everything PS does is bad and they are evil. Also Phil = ignore that we do all of the same things. He's seemingly still salty about Sony buying Insomniac.
@AllStarGamer Microsoft never did something like that was this harmful just buying up everything is way more friendly towards the customer.
Final Fantasy 11 holding the game hostage behind their launcher or Tombraider a fake 1 year exclusive deal, GTA 4 DLC what am i saying they started with these COD deals you are a hypocrite mate sorry but you are.
The only thing why he talks like this is because Sony beat them to the punch with a new contract.
Microsoft is slimy
Sony is slimy
Nintendo is slimy
They are all slimy and not one of them cares a jot for the fans. They care about the buisness and the money only. Poeple need to realise they are all just as bad as each other and stop perpetuating the console wars by thinking (insert name here) is their mate and would have them round for dinner.
@KoopaTheGamer Indeed but the article just wouldn't get the clicks and responses with it. I just hate this sort of tribalism and setting gamers against each other so needlessly. But sadly too many gamers are like a moth to flame for this sort of article, lapping it up. It's by far the most commented article of the day. Sigh.
@GamingFan4Lyf Indeed. To be fair when I first heard it I thought it COULD mean what the article is implying, but Phil's not usually a pot stirrer in this regard imo. But when he later specifically said it was Xbox themselves that divided the community and started the exclusive COD content it seemed clearer he was talking about the practice in general rather than singling out Sony. Which is fair.
@HonestHick Well, @AdamNovice isn't wrong, PCMR was kind of the original toxic community before the 360 dudebros that became PS4 ponies managed to jump the shark and make them look tame. The one thing you deal with in the PCMR world that's not in the console world is the elitism and gatekeeping....your $3000 rig is just worthless next to that other dude's $6000 rig, know your place. Plus their incessant penchant for promoting their 1337 overclocking and thermal management skillz... It's more like the hifi community where money buys bragging rights, and everybody loves to brag. You're the hillbilly at the country club without rocking the high end
@GamingFan4Lyf @Mustoe @HonestHick I think it's telling and sad that so many of us regulars have switched from being enthusiastic about the consoles to eyeing a PC change. And sadder still that many of us are "Recovering PCMRs" (Not you, Hick, know your place n00b ) who vowed never to go back into the rabbit hole, and are now eyeing it again. I got sick of PC after all the iterations of AGP, busted parts, money money money, and BSOD/freezes galore. Vowed I was done forever, embraced a $400 box that plays everything the way it was intended (now $500.) But somehow this gen something just broke, and instead of getting a "good enough" experience for cheap it just feels like a "mediocre PC with weird restrictions" and nothing ever runs right on it. Somehow the spend though daunting doesn't feel so bad again. Both consoles have scrambled to become budget PCs (regardless of what Cerny says), and have done so up to the point of offering none of the advantages but most of the disadvantages.
Though you never leave the controversy of slimy monopolies. In the PC world it's Nvidia who uses these kinds of slimy tactics to keep AMD and Intel at bay and own the GPU space as a monopoly. There's always one....
@Flaming_Kaiser: I endorse exclusivity, I actually thing it's healthy for the industry, but I don't endorse DLC exclusivities as that only hurts the franchise in question by keeping the whole community fragmented....and that's what Sony was doing.
@NEStalgia
I think that's the problem. Consoles provided a sense of the unique that I feel has gone away, certainly this generation. As you say, both consoles are little more than budget PCs with none of the advantages.
As one example: Both consoles can now do mods, which is cool, but some of the best mods are not available due to restrictions such Script Extender and in some cases storage space/download limit.
@AllStarGamer MS was doing exclusive COD content long before Sony was.
@NEStalgia It's not just Nvidia by the way. There's a bunch of AMD sponsored games that lack features such as DLSS. Coincidence? Maybe, maybe not. But it does seem very much like all of the component manufacturers have made decisions that could be seen as anti-consumer.
@UltimateOtaku91 "Titanfall 1 full exclusive, GTA 4 DLC timed exclusive, Dead Rising and Ryse full exclusive etc etc" Phil wasn't even in charge of Xbox when these happened... Also, Xbox had some stake in the studio that did DR3 and DR4. So, they had contractual rights to the franchise, and was probably the only reason we gotten the sequels that we did.
Pot kettle etc etc
Xbox had exclusivity on CoD for about 5 years! Also...it's pretty slimy the way that Xbox has bought up nearly half the industry! I can't stand Phil Spencer; massive hypocrite.
Hang on, Xbox was the reason why playstation signed a deal with Activision in the first place.
Back on the PS3 we had to wait as Xbox had signed a exclusivity deal with Activision for content first. How much of a freekin hypocrite is Phil Spencer .
@crossbit
Yep, exactly this. I truly don’t understand how a single person can like Phil Spencer at this point and not see through his disingenuous BS. He is so fake, it’s quit pitiful.
I specifically remember them buying the exclusivity to the Tomb Raider sequel and also adding silence clauses to crystal dynamics PR so they were not allowed to admit that the deal was temporary and would eventually the game would come to other platforms.
@AdamNovice I'm so sick of them too. I want nothing to do with the PC gaming community and I do own a RoG Ally(Windows 11 handheld).
@Falkirk4life
"xbox does it lmao they did it 1st during 360 era some gamers might have been too young to remember this."
And you must be too young to remember Sony paying to keep games from the Sega Saturn before xbox was even a thing...
@KoopaTheGamer Yeah, they're both doing that sort of thing, which is as bad as the console shtick where you buy one card and just miss out on features aimed at the other card. Swap cards between games, lol?
That definitely sucks. But what Nvidia's doing some nasty stuff regarding the hardware distribution itself. Namely mandating that distributors put their entire order in at the beginning of the year, tricks like delaying shipments (indefinitely) to distributors that will also put orders in with AMD, the backlash stuff they tried in the partner program they had to backtrack on they just started doing behind closed doors instead.
with GPUs, it seems like even PC can't escape the console vendor antics....
@Mustoe Yeah, that's why I had to do a double take at the Mark Cerny interview with "we're not just building cheap PCs"....I'm thinking....are you looking at the same big white router I am?
PS is popular, but I can't quite escape the feeling that the future of "consoles" as we know them is near the end. Now that they really don't do anything PCs don't do other than be "cheap" and "easy to set up/use", they don't seem to serve a lot of purpose anymore. They were cool when they were bespoke and did a totally different thing than "computer games" did. Even back in, say, 2008 or so when I started switching away from PC, consoles played console games, PCs played PC games, there wasn't a ton of overlap. Since then consoles seem to play PC games badly and console games mostly just don't exist anymore.
@ThorsHammer
Kinda ironic, considering Microsoft invented the practice in the 360 era.
@WhiteRabbit
"Microsoft wrote the book on being slimy in the gaming industry"
No that would be Sony. Paying to keep games of the Sega Saturn.
They invented that play on being slimy as they entered the console market with the PS1.
@GeeForce that’s what Microsoft did with Halo and Apple.
What games did they block on The Saturn? I googled it but found nothing but how the demise of the Saturn was entirely Sega’s fault.
@NEStalgia
That's all consoles are now, as you say, cheap PCs that are easy to set up. I've my PC sat next to my 4k 43" Samsung and it's as easy to use as my PS5, but with all the added bonuses that come with PC.
No, I won't be investing in game consoles going forward. For me there is literally no point. I won't sell the PS5 as I have invested in it, (and of course then there's the excellent Demon's Souls Remake), and have all my PS4 games sat on an external HDD, but I don't buy console games any more - and given the current climate I won't have to.
@WhiteRabbit
The 2 games I know off are Tekken and Ridge Racer. Sony paid Namco for the exclusives.
@GeeForce https://www.timeextension.com/features/how-namco-helped-playstation-win-its-first-console-war
Namco signed up to be Sony’s first 3rd party dev as soon as they had the chance. Sony didn’t pay them to keep them off Sega, Namco wanted Sony to make their games.
I mean, he's right lol
I'm all for platform exclusives. Helps competition and breeds innovation, also theoretically the game would be optimised to take full advantage of the exclusive system.
However exclusive DLC (Spider-Man cough) and timed exclusives are ridiculous.
@GeeForce FYI. Sony doesn't paid Namco for Tekken and Ridge Racer exclusivity. But it was Namco themself who wants to work with Sony to developed both games on PS1. Namco not only interested to expand their games with 3D graphics on a new console but Sony offers cheaper license cost /disc for any company who wants to release their games on PS1.
Namco with Sony even co-developed an arcade board based on PS1 hardware called "Namco System 11" so they can easily port Tekken from Arcade to PS1.
And back then, way back to the 70's, Namco and Sega are fierce direct rivals because both are competing in Arcade business. So Tekken and Ridge Racer didn't released on Saturn was a result of Namco wanted both games as a direct rival to Sega's Virtua Fighter and Virtua Racing / Daytona USA.
That is great I still get the game on my series x day one game pass.
One the superior console with the superior control on Xbox that suits me.
Xbox make some more money and make some more games for game pass.
Not sure what all the fuss is about. Well I do.
See the Sony gang hate the thought that Xbox control all those studios and can at anytime pick and chose what games they put on PlayStation and that really annoys them.
Sony after controlling COD for years at Xbox owners loss, missing on the little treats and perks are all upset. What does Xbox do.
We will share everything day one on PlayStation as well.
But let’s remember Sony don’t share their games in this new sharing games world. Now who are the villains.
It's funny that everyone jumps on Phil Spencer every word but your new PlayStation CEO first public act is to lie about there multiplatform future. No outrage.
Three months ago phil said that only 4 games are going elsewhere, literally an hour after a phenomenal presentation he literally said to ignore more games are going to other platforms definitely. It's like two steps forward and five back with gaming now . Imagine having such an amazing presentation like that and heavily hinting at but they may not be here for long!!! Pointless owning both systems now in that case . Nintendo are literally the only ones who actually care about exclusives so for that reason I'll definitely be getting there new hardware.
@OldGamer999 I've a funny feeling putting exclusives on other platforms will drastically hurt both sales of PlayStation and xbox. Yeah some people say it'd good for everyone but look at it one way , if you have an iPhone would you buy it if all it's unique features and looks,operating systems and basically everything else was on a Samsung phone. Eventually iPhone sales would die . I see it as gaming is becoming to similar and these deals and exclusives are killing the reason to own xbox or PlayStation. Meanwhile with nintendo they continue to push out AAA and I'm all in . Sony are more interested in pc now and complaining about deals ,Microsoft are buying everything and up until now doing nothing. Then they announced the best presentation in years and Phil said an hour later to ignore they was going to other platforms. Don't get the strategies at all .
@PuppetMaster @WhiteRabbit
So what you are saying is that Sony took advantage of the Namco/Sega arcade battle resulting in Sony having console exclusivity on Namco's games and them not being on the Saturn...
Sounds pretty slimey.
@GeeForce Read again, carefully.
Fan boys will be fan boys, and gladly cut off their noses to spite their faces. No reasoning with them.
Glad to see that there are a lot of adults in the comments who realise that ultimately gamers lose from slimy tit-for-tat type deals.
Sony were every bit as much the villains as any other company. Arguably the worst offenders.
I’d rather all games on all platforms, and I’d buy the best hardware, based on the power v price point preferences I have, and how much I like the user experience.
Exactly as I do with Apple v Android. Or between different suppliers of Android phones.
@PuppetMaster right? Some people just can’t handle a narrative that goes against their own.
@GeeForce no, the article says that Namco was more than happy to be Sony’s first 3rd party developer. And as someone else pointed out, Namco wanted to create games to rival Sega but I’m sure you conveniently ignored that as well.
Can’t handle your narrative being wrong I see. Typical.
@WhiteRabbit That guy only understand "Sony is slimy mf" and don't want to accept the fact that exclusives deal isn't the only reason why many companies wants to work with Sony and released their games on PS1.
And Sega and Namco rivalry was quite intense back then. Not just both are neck on neck in Arcade business but Namco managed to "stolen" Sega's talent, Seiichi Ishii, the guy who created Virtua Fighter one year after VF 1 released on the market. Seiichi then created Tekken for Namco to compete against VF which is also his own creation lol.
I wonder what happen if Sega accept the merger proposal from Namco...
https://www.cnet.com/tech/gaming/tekken-developer-namco-courts-sega/
Yes it was slimmey,but Phill u are the most disgusting,dishonest,most annoying thing in gaming since Peter Molyneux,and then some.
This man is insufferable!
@SNARF your new PlayStation CEO said lately that the PlayStation console was still the main priority. Then Lego Horizon Adventure gets announced for PC & Nintendo Switch but the PS4 which still has a large audience is excluded.
Both Sony & Microsoft are trying to play down the shift to 3rd party publishing so it doesn't hurt sales of hardware.
@WhiteRabbit @PuppetMaster
Not really guys - just not as willing as you to believe Sony didn't have ulterior motives in helping Namco beyond being their bestie.
@GeeForce Okay, so you’re remaining willfully ignorant regardless of evidence presented whilst refusing to present your own for your own argument’s sake?
Sounds on par for the course.
@WhiteRabbit
The "evidence presented" shows Sony and Namco worked together to get an advantage over Sega.
Namco in the arcades, Sony in getting console exclusives. Was a win win for Sony, hurting Sega on both fronts.
Heck, it got me! I bought the PS1 because I wanted to play Tekken and Ridge Racer. Got a multi-tap too when I was at university - happy days.
@GeeForce cool, so when developers and publishers make deals to create games they should consider their rivals and helping grow their business as well? Make it make sense.
It was a win-win for Namco as well, do they share none of the blame for Sega’s “failure”? After all, they were the ones who wanted to make games for Sony.
Your evidence presented, was none.
@WhiteRabbit
Where did I say anything about Sega's "failure"?
Of course it was a win for Namco - in the arcades, as I said above.
Of course they didn't want to help their rivals - not only that, they wanted to score a victory.
These are things I've already said, are you agreeing with me now?
I'm sure Sony wanted only to work with Namco from the goodness of their heart.
Don't be so naive.
@GeeForce Of course I’m not agreeing with you, your argument is asinine. It’s basically “SoNy BaD”. You’re just blindly disregarding any evidence presented in the article and running with your own head-canon.
It’s not like they bought a developer to prevent them from releasing a flagship series on a different platform, that’s what Microsoft did with Bungie and Halo.
Namco were the ones who wanted to work with Sony. Yet you keep leaving any blame off of them. Weird. It’s like you’re running your own narrative around the events that actually happened.
@WhiteRabbit
"Namco were the ones who wanted to work with Sony."
Do Sony work with every company that wants to work with them?
Do you not think Sony would think what was in it for them?
Sony are a business not a charity. The saw a great opportunity to boost Playstation and hurt Sega.
@GeeForce “Do Sony work with every company that wants to work with them?” Probably not.
“Do you not think Sony would think what was in it for them?” You mean did they weigh their pros and cons about signing on a potential 3rd party? What point are you trying to make?
“Sony are a business not a charity.” The only part of your argument that has an air of authenticity to it. IF all it took was signing on a single 3rd party to get a one-up on Sega to “hurt them” then it’s safe to say Sega didn’t have a chance with the 32bit gen from the get go, regardless if Sony would’ve entered the race or not.
Feel free to die on your hill.
Typical anti Xbox article this site is well known for, it takes a quote out of context to missinform by ommision and stir up fanboy hate amongst the easily manipulated...in the interview Spencer never once mentions playstation regarding this quote and he said himself xbox were a part of that problem in the 360 era....have some dignity for goodness sake your bringing Push Square down to the gutter with articles like this and adding bit by bit to the destruction of the gaming community and Industry with this fanboy nonsense.. but anything for clicks eh
@WhiteRabbit
Think we have a communication problem.
"Feel free to die on your hill."
And you, yours.
@GeeForce no, we have a “one side refuses to look at the presented evidence” problem
And sure, it has an all you can eat taco bar and live entertainment. Great place to be.
@cragis0001 well I might be in the minority but exclusives are a selling point for me personally, I own all three and nintendo is definitely winning for me . There's no point in owning both xbox and PlayStation anymore.
@WhiteRabbit
"no, we have a “one side refuses to look at the presented evidence” problem"
No, we have an interpretation problem.
I see it as Sony agreeing to work with Namco as they saw the opportunity of hurting Sega.
You see it as Sony working with Namco for fun and hurting Sega was just a unintentional by-product of their partnership.
We're going to have to agree to disagree.
Have a good day, enjoy whichever game you play.
@PurvisP PX was guilty of the exact same thing.
@WhiteRabbit
They were but at least have had the dignity to admit (since being called out on it) that they have unintentionally misled and have now changed the article to reflect and include the ommision that was made in an attempt at putting things right
Of course Phil tries to frame it as we're being the nice guys but the truth is he can't afford to do anything that will piss off the playstation cod playerbase because he desperately needs the game to sell, otherwise he probably would also if I remember correctly he promised content parity in court to get the deal done.
It's funny that he said slimy when he's known as Phil the snake oil salesman Spencer.
Really wish major outlets and etc would start calling Phil out on his hypocrisy whenever he says stuff like this.
@AllStarGamer Xbox isn't going to be here for "generations" dude. 😂🤣
Gotta love the exclusive Game Pass extras that you can't get on PlayStation!
I love how he acts like he is a saint when it comes to gamers. He literally defined slimy. PS3/360 era.. Microsoft’s tactics were nothing but slimy. Call of Duty timed exclusive MP maps. EA marketing rights, trying to buy Media Molecule out from underneath Sony when Sony was building a friendship with..
I mean they are pioneers of slimy business tact’s and here lately buying up the market laying off a huge amount of the devs of the developers you bought. I mean even slime is green after Microsoft.
Making game companies scale back their multiplat games because they want to make a cheaper and less powerful system.. not a fan of him
@theSpectre
He didn't leave it out he admits that xbox started it during the 360 era it's this misleading article that conveniently omits that part.....now that's slimy
When he said slimy practices he included Xbox's former actions into that description but that wouldn't fit the articles false narrative
Oh, ok Phil, whatever you say. We all know your goal is for every gamer to be able to play any game they want to and on any device they want to with, but
with only one requirement, Gamepass. However until then you will need to cover that big 69 billion dollar deal by releasing games also on Playstation.
@AllStarGamer I still don’t see the problem with this fragmented exclusivity for this gaming hobby. Sony paid for it and a separate entity agreed to receive extra coin. Didn’t hurt anything during those COD times.
Isn't Phil Spencer and MS nice? So we'll get Starfield now? Oh wait, we don't need it.
Sony/Microsoft/Nintendo are d*cks.
Get a gaming PC as it's the best platform.
Consoles are crap now.
@AllStarGamer Microsoft is the company that started it. They even locked off a whole game behind a launcher, kept a game a year exclusive without telling it was not exclusive, they locked the GTA 4 expansions or a thing called DLC behind a paywall, they did the exact same thing with COD. My biggest issue that Sony wasted money on such a horrible franchise.
@PurvisP Phil says so many different things a he turns around whenever it fits his agenda this guy is a snake.
@CrashBandicoat The best hardware isn't always the best platform. The best looking movie isn't always the most engaging. Why would you have platforms if tlyou can buy everything everywhere? Smaller companies yes smaller like Sony versus Microsoft one if not the biggest company in the world can beat everyone with a unending stream of money.
A Sony is nothing compared to Microsoft the same goes for Nintendo the reason they exist is because of their exclusive games. You can have all the money but still fail somehow like Microsoft.
Microsoft wants one thing and that is being the only one around it's like most if not all big American companies they win by killing of the competition.
Why is that the biggest American company are not to be trusted, Google, Microsoft, Amazon, Uber, Ticketmaster they all have one big thing in common they all try to be the only one and screw regulations because with unending cash those don't apply.
@Flaming_Kaiser it would become a market of free consumer choice.
A bit like with PC but on a gaming-wide scale.
You can spend console money on a 4060, £800 on a 4070ti, or double that on a 4090.
Choice is yours. Weigh how much you value performance.
Whereas currently the console market is like saying that if you want to play game X, you have to buy a 4060.
Nought wrong with the 4060 per se, but extremely annoying for those with a bit more money but who are stuck with games stuttering along, due to them being exclusive to charity shop hardware.
I mean you’d rather play Tears of the Kingdom on your £500 console than the £270 Switch right? And with good reason.
Must be fun to wax poetic from the top of the money mountain.
Yet they bought Bethesda to keep it out of Sony’s hands. OK, then. Phil being a hypocrite as always.
@SNARF aye Nintendo has won the console war.
It's great that COD is now on Game Pass. I hope this means that many more people are going to be able to experience the campaign than would have before. I never play online games but have enjoyed the campaigns but don't want to fork out £70 for that relatively short experience.
Haha this is truly the most beautiful thing I have ever read. Does Phil know what an Xbox 360 is or has he not experienced that period? It looks like that. What a clown this man
@UltimateOtaku91
I don't think half of the people responding here were even born at the time of the PS3/360. So they have no idea what you mean 🤣
@dcaeuildzt I've also played all the campaigns and never spent more than 10 euros per cod. not going along with the hype is also a talent
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