Microsoft wins FTC fight to buy Activision Blizzard
https://www.theverge.com/2023/7/11/23779039/microsoft-activision-blizzard-ftc-trial-win
From the article, quoting Judge Corley:
… the Court finds the FTC has not shown a likelihood it will prevail on its claim this particular vertical merger in this specific industry may substantially lessen competition. To the contrary, the record evidence points to more consumer access to Call of Duty and other Activision content. The motion for a preliminary injunction is therefore DENIED.
Apples and oranges. Those were created as Playstation exclusives, not an existing property potentially made exclusive years after the fact. Decades later, Mario games are still almost entirely Nintendo-only. That’s the comparison for God of War, not Call of Duty.
It’s still an example of why some prefer Microsoft, since Sony and Nintendo are still very much in the business of pushing people towards using proprietary hardware. Even Linux and Mac users benefit from a game coming out to PC versus console only or a delayed PC release despite no native port with improvements in proton and Mac’s Game Porting tool.
Just as there are those who dislike Microsoft for its proprietary software and patterns of abuse of market dominance.
Yep agree there. It is however much easier to get Microsoft made software to get running on Linux or MacOS than to do the same for console games. There you are for the most part stuck to using that specific hardware for a decade, and then should emulation happen wait even longer for more expensive and powerful hardware to be able to run it to satisfaction.
It’s pretty much the ideal corporate controlled product to really trap people in it for as long as possible.
I’m okay with console games. Many others are as well. The experience is cleaner and generally safer. I have a mobile phone, tablet, laptop and desktop but the number of games I play on them combined is approximately zero.
I trend more towards open hardware options without being forced to get specific hardware, so tend to see it from more the perspective of the impact on that area than I guess more normal gaming centric view where expectations of console ownership is normalized.
Those two games are both on PC
Yes after much delay and future sequels not an absolute guarantee either.
https://insider-gaming.com/sony-ceo-jim-ryan-says-ps5-exclusives-wont-launch-on-pc-day-one/
Their hardware is the priority and main focus over an open hardware platform, so while I love that Sony has started releasing exclusives even if it is 3-4 years later it wouldn’t shock me if they ceased future plans either.