I embarrassingly bought into the gamepass fantasy. I thought that we would start seeing more smaller and experimental experiences, better quality control for bigger titles. I thought that it would allow developers to have a piece of mind, a steady income and job security. When a few of my favourite developers were bought up I was happy for them, that they could feel a sense of stability. Now if a dev gets bought by Microsoft I now worry for their future and I can’t imagine being employed by them. I just hope the one who have been played off can find their footing.
Some people thought the same about Amazon, providing them a huge marketplace to sell on... Then Amazon cloned the products which sold well and undercut to force those sellers out of business before hiking the prices back up again.
The whole fucking point of the gamepass model is that you subscribe and provide them with a steady income stream between game releases. No big "boom" when a title drops, but also no "bust" when there are no releases.
The fact that MS has blinked and isn't going to stay the course means that gamepass is unsustainable at present, and they don't have the spine to triple down until it is.
I don't want gamepass to succeed, but it's a move thst only a company of MS' size could even attempt. And it requires years and years of patience to pull off. But after the ActiBlizz buyout, investors lost patience and now the 10 year gamble is over.
Would be a great time for Sony to acquire essentially the entire studio for $0, simply paying for their salary (won't even need relocation since it is already based in Tokyo, they could probably just reuse the same office space).
They would not even need to think of a game, simply focus on the planned sequel to hi-fi rush (obviously with different name but keeping the same core idea that was proposed for the sequel) and release it as a Sony exclusive.
Not any better when Sony does it either, but let's not kid ourselves. Microsoft has spent so much more on acquisitions over the years compared to Sony.
Sony is worth a fraction of what Microsoft is worth. Microsoft could buy Sony multiple times over if allowed. Microsoft wanted to buy Nintendo back in the day.
Microsoft has spent so much more on acquisitions over the years compared to Sony.
Because Microsoft has far more money available to spend on acquisitions. If Sony had the same spending capital that Microsoft has, they would be buying up the sector just the same. But since they can't afford it, they do the next worst thing by just buying game exclusivity, paying developers to keep games from being ported to platforms other than PlayStation.
I've never played a Sony game or owned a Sony console. I'm simply stating how a major japan-based company could save a young studio from completely disintegrating, allowing them to realize what could be a promising new IP. Also Sony could easily spinoff the studio once they've gained a certain size/reputation (they have spinoffed subsidiaries like financial services last year). Oth Microsoft would never spinoff any game company (they'd rather shut the whole thing down).