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[Yoboman]

He did a hell of a job with the CMA, lol

So far he's got Microsoft to push from nothing to 3 years to 10 years and then to MS offering contracts to Nintendo, Steam, NVIDIA and all those other streaming services

I'd say it worked

 

[jm89]

All because phil spencer is a useless cunt who couldn't do his job.

 

[StueyDuck]

Man I'm liking the xbox ecosystem right now but Microsoft make it very hard to like them as a company. They are like a whiny crying child. Everything is everyone else's fault but never their own.

I was really into the fake phil Spencer stage where he was pushing cross-platform and got that initiative moving in tandem with Nintendo.

A phase where we all thought miyamoto was gonna walk on stage at an Xbox conference and shake hands

Current real Phil Spencer and shitty Microsoft really makes me dislike them. Sony are being full of shit as well but I don't feel like Sony is trying to wipe out MS or Nintendo where vice versa feels like that's MS end goal, to unify and destroy gaming into one gross Disney-esque platform

Look these are all corporations and none of them are your friends but I really just see dirty MS from the 80s/90s and trying to strangle the competition. All while touting fake shit about being scared of Amazon and Google who've both had an abundant failed attempts at gaming over the years.

 

[Snake29]

20+ years in the console space and now they are awake? What do they think, Sony and Nintendo where waiting for them? What a useless company both MS and Xbox, they didn't try to compete at all, but all their failures they made they want to blame at Sony lol.

Do your fucking job better or just fuck off the console market (sorry for this), but this company isn't trying to get all gamers in the world together, But they would prefer to divide them into groups.

 

[RoboFu]

Nintendo also uses their influence to keep Japanese games off both PlayStation and Xbox and/ or timed exclusives.

All of these are just facts.

 

[Tiago Rodrigues]

MS is really doing this while they are making the biggest videogame acquisition we’ve ever seen is interesting.

whats scary is that this is starting to look like they are making some arrangements for a possible big Japanese acquisition. They didn’t say this for no reason…

 

[Woopah]

I'm fairly certain that exclusivity agreements are not against the law. Microsoft just can't do them as well as Nintendo or Sony because they don't have the user base / software sales to justify it.

This is a really strange, backwards argument. Microsoft failed to make a compelling product for the Japanese audience's needs. This is well documented.

With Microsoft's current offerings, that isn't really going to change. I think something like the Steam Deck is a much more compelling product for Japanese audiences given their affinity for the Nintendo Switch.

Steam Deck is far far far too niche a product to have any real impact on the Japanese market. Switch's success is driven by software.

 

[Gobjuduck]

Reality is a DJ with how the tables are turning.

 

[squidilix]

Fuck Satya Nadella. I knew something was being cooked up when he brought this up in that MSNBC interview.

These Congress members, like Maria Cantwell, probably have MS money connections through funding (Maria Cantwell herself getting almost $600K in funding directly from Microsoft), and are trying to legitimize an otherwise batshit insane theory that, somehow, Sony had to pay off Japanese developers to not release Japanese versions of their games for the dead XBO, the XBO that Microsoft killed over there due to treating the market like an afterthought. But somehow that is Sony's fault.

These brainlets don't even realize they are insinuating that the Japanese government are involved in collusion by pressing these claims, and I'm sure it's a great idea to piss off one of your few Asian political allies in the Pacific while China and Russia seem to be rolling ahead on great terms. But it's not the first time American politicians have messed things up with global partners, and it won't be the last.

The hilarious part is that when you actually look at 8th gen Japanese releases, virtually all of the big Japanese games came to XBO globally. FF XIV didn't, but that's because Microsoft rejected crossplay in the 360 gen. SFV didn't, but that's because Sony co-funded the game and sponsored it for CapCup. FF VII Remake didn't, but that's because the game ran into dev issues and Sony probably stepped in and wanted exclusivity in return.

Now, if there's only one way they can maybe prove Sony are in the wrong here, it's in relation to cross-gen games post-2020. Now I guess it can be considered "interesting" that we've been seeing PS4 versions for tons of games that don't have any XBO versions available, such as RE4 recently, but that could also be explained through MS officially discontinuing the XBO in 2020, phasing out both it and the One X, and revamping their XDK into the GDK which would have made devs less inclined to spread their cross-gen resources across two wildly different SDKs and APIs (considering for one of the, XDK, it'd be for officially discontinued consoles seeing a lot of upgrades to the new Xboxes anyway).

That's honestly the only leg of a hope & prayer these Congress people have in trying to prove Sony guilty in doing this, otherwise they are just looking for a scapegoat to dump Microsoft's failures with the Japanese market and Japanese developers onto, and oh hey it just happens to be the company that was most against the acquisition. What a surprise.

Dude, this was a 69 billions case... What did you expect...?

 

[C2brixx]

How embarrassing.

Is it? It's a common theme around here. When a story comes out that some people don't like they immediately attack and try the discredit the messenger. In this case they attack the congress member motives and ignore whether Sony is actually breaking trade laws.

 

[Ozzy Onya A2Z]

Consequences. Meet actions.

Yep, Sony and the regulators set their own rules. Now industry and other bodies/govts are going to play by those rules, especially in the lobbyist haven that is the US system with agreements to other countries. It will be interesting to see how Japan handles such things, they're pretty fierce with defending their home ground and commercial spaces.

 

[Brigandier]

And today in clown world

People's lives, homes, families are ending in wars around the world and the next hot topic is American mega corp crying that they are doing shit in Japan compared to a Japanese company and are not happy that Japanese Devs don't make games for American mega corp...

Fuck off America and MS most corrupt country/company in the world.

 

[RoboFu]

MS is really doing this while they are making the biggest videogame acquisition we’ve ever seen is interesting.

whats scary is that this is starting to look like they are making some arrangements for a possible big Japanese acquisition. They didn’t say this for no reason…

No they are doing it to counter Sonys claim against the activision purchase.

I thought that was obvious

 

[ulantan]

No they are doing it to counter Sonys claim against the activision purchase.

I thought that was obvious

Japan approved the deal though

 

[Varteras]

And today in clown world

People's lives, homes, families are ending in wars around the world and the next hot topic is American mega corp crying that they are doing shit in Japan compared to a Japanese company and are not happy that Japanese Devs don't make games for American mega corp...

Fuck off America and MS most corrupt country in the world.

First of all. I agree.

Second of all. Fuck you.

 

[NoobSmog]

There's been a lot of anti-asian pro american bullshit coming out of Microsoft lately trying to get the abk deal to go through. Fuck Microsoft.

 

[Kilau]

So many went straight to character assassination of these congress members when the story is about whether Sony is breaking the law or not.

Insulting congress members is a time-honored tradition, don't you dare try to take that away.

 

[Sleepwalker]

I was really into the fake phil Spencer stage where he was pushing cross-platform and got that initiative moving in tandem with Nintendo.

A phase where we all thought miyamoto was gonna walk on stage at an Xbox conference and shake hands

Current real Phil Spencer and shitty Microsoft really makes me dislike them. Sony are being full of shit as well but I don't feel like Sony is trying to wipe out MS or Nintendo where vice versa feels like that's MS end goal, to unify and destroy gaming into one gross Disney-esque platform

Look these are all corporations and none of them are your friends but I really just see dirty MS from the 80s/90s and trying to strangle the competition. All while touting fake shit about being scared of Amazon and Google who've both had an abundant failed attempts at gaming over the years.

 

[adamsapple]

There's been a lot of anti-asian pro american bullshit coming out of Microsoft lately trying to get the abk deal to go through. Fuck Microsoft.

Can you share some examples ? this is news to me.

 

[Varteras]

Can you share some examples ? this is news to me.

 

[Aaron Olive]

So...American politicians want to control what the Japanese gamers want to buy? it's been proven that Microsoft has no interest in Japan time and time again and if Microsoft doesn't want to invest in what Japanese gamers want someone else will.

1. Microsoft shunned Square for FF
2. Didn't make deals with Capcom for getting Street Fighter.
3. That 70 Billion that they spent to buy a whole corporation ahem 70 Billion could have helped.
4. besides the 2 games listed Xbox get every 3rd party Japanese game that Sony does.
5. So What Monopoly?

Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) criticized Sony Interactive Entertainment’s “monopoly” control of the high-end gaming market during a hearing Thursday and called on U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai to press Japan on the issue during ongoing trade talks.

“I'm told that Sony controls a monopoly of 98% of the high-end game market, yet Japan's government has allowed Sony to engage in blatant anti-competitive conduct through exclusive deals and payments to game publishers,” Cantwell said during a Senate Finance Committee hearing.

Cantwell noted that Japan's Fair Trade Commission has “failed to investigate these exclusionary conducts” before posing a question to Tai: “So what do you think we can do to [better] address these issues and create a level playing field with the [Indo-Pacific Economic Framework] on something as important as this issue?”

Told by Whom.... Microsoft?

 

[graywolf323]

just living up to the tag

 

[[Sigma]]

MS making sure that money they threw around pay off.

 

[Ozzy Onya A2Z]

All because phil spencer is a useless cunt who couldn't do his job.

Point to where Phil hurt you on the diagram. /joke

 

[RoboFu]

Japan approved the deal though

These aren’t Japanese officials are they.

 

[Elios83]

So far he's got Microsoft to push from nothing to 3 years to 10 years and then to MS offering contracts to Nintendo, Steam, NVIDIA and all those other streaming services

I'd say it worked

Add to that that the whole plan about buying a dominant position in gaming with money has been exposed and brought to the attention of all regulators in the world making impossible for them to target other huge publishers without anticipating an even worse opposition than what they're going through with Activision.

 

[DenchDeckard]

I think we actually need to see these contracts, these claims.

It just seems like something that has been coasting along with no one looking at it, and this acquisition has clearly got eyes on from Congress peeps who are now looking into how the games industry works.

Also, seems like absolute bullshit that they can try this shit. Why can't Sony secure exclusivity deals with Japanese devs?

Is it some issue that Sony is a Japanese company but is massive worldwide with their console so they can secure exclusivity deals wherever they want? Or is it that big Philly went to Japan and got shown the door so now they are whinging?

Or is there a chance that there is something going on between Sony and the Japanese publishers behind closed doors?

 

[ZoukGalaxy]

"We can't lobby Japan since 20 years, that should be illegal"

Best Regards,
DJ Pmurt

Pathetic

 

[Aaron Olive]

She and anyone else taking Bribes from Microsoft should be hauled to jail for obstruction of a corporate entity and acceptance of funds from a business competitor but it's legal.

 

[splattered]

This is the sort of crazy shit i said i wanted to see come from the acquisition attempt haha... hopefully it doesn't stop anytime soon. *Grabs popcorn*

 

[PJX]

The Sony Defense Force is out in full force.

 

[Banjo64]

The Sony Defense Force is out in full force.

Volunteer army vs paid mercenaries. You love to see it.

 

[DenchDeckard]

What's the matter with you lol just laugh at all this craziness, it's not like any of us have a fooking clue what's going on in the wider world of this shit....

I mean, peeps like Heisenberg007 and many more thought there's no chance CMA let the ABK purchase go through then it turns out they can't do maths and did a full 180...

Is there absolutely no chance that these officials have seen or heard about the deals Sony is making with publishers in Japan? Maybe there is something going on? Maybe there isn't?

I don't have a clue.

 

[ChorizoPicozo]

their influence

what do you mean by that?

 

[jm89]

Add to that that the whole plan about buying a dominant position in gaming with money has been exposed and brought to the attention of all regulators in the world making impossible for them to target other huge publishers without anticipating an even worse opposition than what they're going through with Activision.

Japan are also very protective of their top companies and no doubt Sony is one of them. Honestly I wouldn't be surprised if they rejected big Japanese publisher buyouts by Microsoft.

Why let a company the Japanese audience don't give a shit about and that could actually worsen the competive landscape buyout companies.

 

[Varteras]

The Sony Defense Force is out in full force.

They pale in comparison to the Phil Fellatio Fellowship. Their jaws of iron never tire. Their tongues never waiver. Their gag reflex destroyed long ago.

 

[ChorizoPicozo]

No Microsoft is

Sega on Wednesday right?

 

[nial]

The "Tier 2" country just doesn't want your consoles, Satya Nadella.

 

[Goalus]

Fuck off America

Classy.
Are you sure that you are in the right forum?

 

[ulantan]

Sega on Wednesday right?

Regulators willing

 

[GHG]

This is too funny.

Instead of being introspective and realising every single problem they've had in Japan (and many other countries in the world by the way) stem from issues with marketing and product design, instead they blame their competitor for giving customers in those places exactly what they want.

What a pathetic business.

 

[splattered]

What's the matter with you lol just laugh at all this craziness, it's not like any of us have a fooking clue what's going on in the wider world of this shit....

I mean, peeps like Heisenberg007 and many more thought there's no chance CMA let the ABK purchase go through then it turns out they can't do maths and did a full 180...

Is there absolutely no chance that these officials have seen or heard about the deals Sony is making with publishers in Japan? Maybe there is something going on? Maybe there isn't?

I don't have a clue.

Well... i don't know if they would raise public stink to this degree unless something substantial was actually revealed. Is Sony creating an anti-western culture within the game pub/dev community to try and keep a lock down on exclusives? Are they paying to keep games off Xbox? Or is it all just a bunch of hot air? Who knows *shrug* i hope we get to see whatever "evidence" they have to back up their claims though. Prob a nothingburger... but just imagine if it isn't.

 

[Killer8]

Retarded protectionist nonsense. This whole paragraph is just laughable:

Japan allows foreign gaming companies to sell to its market, but U.S. companies have never gained a foothold. Microsoft debuted its Xbox in Japan in 2002, and despite 20 years of investment, still has a negligible two percent share of the high-end console market. Our understanding is that the Japanese government tolerates a range of exclusionary conduct by their domestic companies that may violate Japan’s antitrust laws, and that this inaction by the Japanese government harms the ability of U.S. companies to compete in the country. We understand that Sony – which holds 98 percent of the market – pays third-party game publishers not to make their content available on Xbox and systematically negotiates exclusivity arrangements that keep the most popular games in Japan off Xbox.

The Japanese not being interested in buying your shit is because they don't want it, not because their big bad government is preventing true and honest™ Japanese gamers from acquiring one. It's up to developers whether they want to support your console, and you cannot force them too. Yes, part of it is circular - Japanese devs will not support a console with no Japanese audience and vice versa - but the onus was on Microsoft to address that and they failed to do so spectacularly over multiple generations. Their understanding that Sony "holds 98 percent of the market" in Japan must also surely be a joke which somehow imagines Nintendo and mobile gaming just don't exist. People have even been joking for years that "Sony is dead" in Japan ever since the Switch came out.

Not at all surprised at the level of ignorance on display though based on who signed the letter.

 

[Facism]

You've got a great console and infinite money, but it's Sony's fault you can't get market share

:< :< :<

 

[ChorizoPicozo]

This is too funny.

Instead of being introspective and realising every single problem they've had in Japan (and many other countries in the world by the way) stem from issues with marketing and product design, instead they blame their competitor for giving customers in those places exactly what they want.

What a pathetic business.

what can you expect from a triple-trillion dollar company thay says this:

 

[Varteras]

Well... i don't know if they would raise public stink to this degree unless something substantial was actually revealed. Is Sony creating an anti-western culture within the game pub/dev community to try and keep a lock down on exclusives? Are they paying to keep games off Xbox? Or is it all just a bunch of hot air? Who knows *shrug* i hope we get to see whatever "evidence" they have to back up their claims though. Prob a nothingburger... but just imagine if it isn't.

Buddy. They're American politicians. Give them enough money and they'll act like they care about urinals in men's bathrooms at schools making 0.1% of the population uncomfortable.

 

[Punished Miku]

Its just funny to see people react like its impossible there's any validity.

98%. At least worth some investigation.

 

[DenchDeckard]

Well... i don't know if they would raise public stink to this degree unless something substantial was actually revealed. Is Sony creating an anti-western culture within the game pub/dev community to try and keep a lock down on exclusives? Are they paying to keep games off Xbox? Or is it all just a bunch of hot air? Who knows *shrug* i hope we get to see whatever "evidence" they have to back up their claims though. Prob a nothingburger... but just imagine if it isn't.

Yep, probably a nothing burger...but I'd love to see those contracts.

Retarded protectionist nonsense. This whole paragraph is just laughable:



The Japanese not being interested in buying your shit is because they don't want it, not because their big bad government is preventing true and honest™ Japanese gamers from acquiring one. It's up to developers whether they want to support your console, and you cannot force them too. Yes, part of it is circular - Japanese devs will not support a console with no Japanese audience and vice versa - but the onus was on Microsoft to address that and they failed to do so spectacularly over multiple generations. Their understanding that Sony "holds 98 percent of the market" in Japan must also surely be a joke which somehow imagines Nintendo and mobile gaming just don't exist. People have even been joking for years that "Sony is dead" in Japan ever since the Switch came out.

Not at all surprised at the level of ignorance on display though based on who signed the letter.

I mean, that paragraph, if true is pretty damning. How could Microsoft ever get a footing in Japan If Sony is making deals so that games can't launch there. We have seen it time and time again and thought it was just down to publishers not bothering with a Japanese xbox version even though it was launching in the west. If its true that Sony is paying publishers to not release the game on xbox in Japan then that is surely a bad thing?

I don't know how any one can defend that? Especially if it involves games like final fantasy 7 remake etc that's never come to the xbox on the west either?

 

[Goalus]

There's been a lot of anti-asian pro american bullshit coming out of Microsoft lately trying to get the abk deal to go through. Fuck Microsoft.

Wild claim, when their CEO is of Asian descent.
Not a good look that you feel the need to use foul language.

 

[GHG]

what can you expect from a triple-trillion dollar company thay says this:

What's funny is that if they had competent management in their gaming division none of these things would be a problem and they wouldn't even be needing to attempt to push through what amounts to a 70 billion dollar band-aid.

Let them keep crying. Most customers don't care.