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As is tradition

You left this part out. He’s not championing against the merger or in support of Sony. That game was not announced at the time, as a consumer you have not lost anything promised.

“It’s not very serious, it’s even a good decision I think,” Smith said of dropping the PS5 version. “[It helps to] support Game Pass and have one less platform to worry about, one less complexity.”

He added: “Game Pass has a ton of players, it could become our biggest game thanks to 30 million, where I can’t remember the exact number, of subscribers.”

You keep cherry picking to support your emotional viewpoint. I’ll say it one last time, all exclusives are inherently bad for consumers, and Sony has indeed prevented games from being launched on rival platforms. There is tons of evidence out there (Final Fantasy would like to have a word, it doesn’t matter if they don’t own the IP, they are paying to keep it off the Xbox).

They don’t do this for you, they do it to protect their position in the market. Now Microsoft follows their established lead and everyone freaks out? It was only last generation that Insomniac released a game on the Xbox (Sunset Overdrive), and now that studio will never work with anyone but Sony again.

Yes, some IP has been lost in the process to Microsoft, but if Sony is as amazing as you say they will be able to produce their own in house rivals to these franchises.

Look, I’ve clearly struck a chord here. I’m not out here saying Microsoft is making the correct decisions, but the core of my position is that Sony did, and continues to acquire studios to boost their portfolio. They are not some bastion of building their entire business from the ground up, that’s my point.

I have owned every platform since the N64 and PS1 (and plan to continue to do so) I have watched this go down over the last 2 decades. I’m not trying to diminish whatever these studios have done post acquisition, but in another 2 decades it’s incredibly likely Microsoft will have fostered similar success. So what if you lose a couple games on your favourite plastic box? Buy both of its really an issue for you. The real issue here is exclusives are bad for everyone in general, and both have continued to push the divide further.

They now own both IP’s and are free to do with them as they wish. The Outer Worlds 1 still exists on PlayStation. The sequel did not enter production until later. Quite simple.

And I’m sorry but Starfield being expected to launch on PlayStation was not confirmation of anything. You can’t claim it was lost when marketing material never said it was coming to PS5. The business world does not run on expected to’s. This is the simple objective truth of it. I’m not saying it’s right, but that’s how it is. I expected Silent Hill 2, FF, and Octopath Traveller 2 on Xbox. Doesn’t mean anything.

While your cherry picking examples, explain why it’s any different that Final Fantasy, a franchise that has long existed on Xbox, is now not getting any new mainline entries thanks to Sony continuing to pay SE to keep it off the platform? Or does this behaviour not count when it comes from a market leader?

I do know the difference. For example, Rare , Obsidian and Tango have produced high quality, new IP for Microsoft since being acquired. This includes Hi-Fi rush, Sea of Thieves, Grounded and Pentiment. That’s talent acquired, as you describe, not franchises.

Not a single franchise that already existed on Playstation has yet to be removed from Sony’s platform. I can still download all existing Bethesda games on my PS4 if I like. Can you name me a title which was confirmed and announced for PS5 or PS4, from an acquired studio, which has since been cancelled on Sony’s platform?

Sony acquired 21 video game studios from 1993 - 2022, including Insomniac, Guerrilla, Naughty Dog, and even an entire publisher, Psygnosis. Let’s not pretend everything PlayStation did was built from the ground up by Sony. This doesn’t even consider timed exclusivity deals with third party studios. Feel free to browse the list here: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_acquisitions_by_Sony

I’m not saying Microsoft should not be critiqued but you can’t say Sony’s behaviour was any different as they established their footing in the industry.

Edit - spelling