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OPINION: Microsoft's ZeniMax Acquisition is Bad for Consumers (Shank Rants)
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OPINION: Microsoft's ZeniMax Acquisition is Bad for Consumers (Shank Rants)
By now, you have no doubt seen the news of Microsoft's $7.5 billion buyout of Zenimax Media - the parent company of Bethesda Softworks. Before the hype and excitement make their rounds, if they haven't already, let's pause for a moment and apply some critical thinking. I do not think this acquisition is good for consumers. Here's why.
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Bethesda needs quality control. It needs standards. The kind of standards that being a first party platform seller would put upon it.
Microsoft needs quality platform selling titles to compete with Sony on that front. That competition would push both of them to compete on a game quality level and potentially even force Sony's hand on competing with Gamepass.
I don't like that Xbox has been a joke. I want to see it do better, and this could be a step towards it doing better.
So, to reiterate... as a PC using MMORPG player... I like this deal so far.
All time classic MY NEW FAVORITE POST! (Keep laying those bricks)
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Hell, Sony is far worse in this and owns/has sole game exclusive agreements with a lot of studios.
Sony has far more Playstation only game exclusives than Microsoft.
Microsoft is just trying to compete with Sony.
The advantage with Microsoft however, is that their games will not be XBox only exclusive, but also end up on PC, since they own both platforms and are pushing Game passes on both.
As such, actually benefiting a lot more gamers worldwide, unlike Sony who wants to lock everything down to Playstation only.
So PC gamers should actually rejoice and be happy it's Microsoft who acquired Zenimax and not Sony.
거북이는 목을 내밀 때 안 움직입니다
Anyway I don't much care about console exclusivity wars having always been almost 100% a PC gamer. I'm good with game pass and other PC gaming services.
Also... PS5 players have nothing to worry about with respect to ESO since the PS5 will run the PS4 version of ESO, Anything ZOS has said about new generation console specific versions of ESO are plans for the future and knowing them, that's probably far future. What they have said is that player on the new Xbox of PS5 can carry right on playing the current version of ESO from day one of the new consoles' release - the current console versions will keep right on working on the new consoles.
Starfield and TES6 I guess we'll see but I doubt even MS with all their money will pass up the likely 33% of total sales by not also releasing on the PS5.
“Microtransactions? In a single player role-playing game? Are you nuts?”
― CD PROJEKT RED
For the entire gaming community this is a question of what type of games we play and how we play them. Look what happened to Bioware, Bethesda is unlikely to be any different.
Monopolies do not help any industry and the number of players in the gaming world just keeps dwindling. This is another death knell tolling for gaming innovation and originality. While indie mushrooms, AAA coalesces and stagnates.
You automatically assumed the worst at every turn and ignored all the context of the gaming industry as it already stands. Bashing Microsoft for potentially doing things in the future that have long been standard practices for all the other big players in the field, and not even alluding to the greater whole.
We get it, you hate Microsoft. So what, everybody hates the big dogs, especially when they slobber. But if it wasn't Microsoft it would be some other company.
And let's be honest, Microsoft hasn't done anything to endear themselves to gamers, but they haven't really screwed us over either, other than the bat guano insane naming non-convention on the xboxs. (Really, what acid & meth addled exec came up with those?)
You want to complain about exclusives? Wow, talk about wanting the cake and eating mine too!
I'll bet last year you were complaining that Microsoft didn't have any good exclusives, and now you're complaining that they MIGHT have exclusives? Sheesh, blow out both ends of that candle before you get burnt.
I'll stop pointing out things about your article and end with this: I don't know what Microsoft will actually do, and neither does anyone else here. I look forward to hopefully seeing some good things as they aren't entrenched in an our way or else attitude like many others. Of course, they could whiff it bigtime, and that would suck. If nothing else, maybe they can get Bethesda back on track to greatness, and at least they aren't the studio killer that is EA.
Let's keep our fingers crossed and keep an eye on this.
Lost my mind, now trying to lose yours...
Without exclusives, Amazon wouldn't be pumping out quality content like The Boys, Carnival Row, and Good Omens. Netflix wouldn't be putting out Stranger Things (before it went to crap) and the Umbrella Academy. HBO wouldn't be putting out Game of Thrones (before it went to crap) and His Dark Materials.
Sony wouldn't be putting out God of War, The Last of Us, Spiderman, etc.
Nintendo wouldn't be putting out your Marios, Zeldas, and Fire Emblems.
I don't want to imagine a gaming landscape in which these don't exist or are of lesser quality.
The acquisition pumped money into ZOS. That's a good thing.
As for exclusivity, it's ok for consoles to have exclusive games, but not Microsoft?
emulators, that is the answer, how you think anyone could play breath of the wild without a nintendo? lol
rally since I don't bother with consoles, and most exclusives are timed and the ones who are not you survive without, because there is always a copy around the corner(if is good people will copy it) and if anything bethesda need some QA lets hope MS will put that up on then, I would be worried if MS will try to cut any modders from working on bethesda games, because lets get real here any success bethesda have is because of modders, and even so bethesda tried to get money from then
still with luck we can see obsidian putting his hands on fallout IP again with thankfully they can save the IP back to his glory
I'm too lazy to check, but something tells me that this writer doesn't feel this way in regard to Sony or Nintendo keeping things exclusive to their consoles.
Poorna: Big business is bad!
But I'm worried that Microsoft might be gaining too much power here. We need the competition between Microsoft and Sony so that there's more than just a single option, but with both Windows and XBox and the success of game pass it feels Microsoft already has somewhat upper hand. If Microsoft keeps spending billions buying game studios there's a risk they might win against Sony, and that would be really bad for us consumers, we need there to be real competition.
I believe Microsoft isn't even interested in a "console/exclusivity" war anymore because they have shown an incredible willingness to lose money on their consoles. The appearance of a consumer-friendly Microsoft that leverages a few exclusives(Fable, Halo, Gears, Etc.), while making the majority of their products widely available on competing consoles and digital platforms, is a more likely scenario for Microsoft to pursue. I'll even go out on a limb and predict that this next Xbox will be the last console Microsoft develops that doesn't have complete software parity with their Win10 and future operating systems. Microsoft is moving toward monetizing large-scale, easy access to their products while protecting the exclusivity a few original IP's.