The video game industry continues to advance by leaps and bounds, year after year, generation after generation. Driven in turn by the perfect synergy between video games and new technologies, large companies are also seeking to offer the best possible product to users. That’s usually the rule of thumb to follow, but what’s happened over the past few weeks (and years) in relation to the Activision-Blizzard purchase has got me thinking long and hard in relation to Xbox and to its most direct competition; Play Station.
Xbox Area is a specialized media in Microsoft systems, of course. But I think we love video games first and foremost, regardless of where they’re played, which along with recent events has led me to expand on this article. Some of you will already guess what I mean by the title, but there’s still more fabric to cut; the increase in the price of the PS5, abusive packs, poor services, lawsuits… in short, a recurring malpractice that has harmed the industry for years.
Brasil and Call of Duty land on Playstation
The acquisition of Activision-Blizzard-King by Microsoft continues to be talked about. If the takeover of Bethesda has already shaken the foundations of the industry (and very well), it would seem that the early arrival on Xbox of the parents of Call of Duty specially chose the Japanese company. But let’s get down to business first.
The summary is simpler than some media outlets claim. Being this purchase the most important in the history of video games (remember that Activision is the oldest third-party company), and as is often the case with this type of action, it is essential that certain regulatory authorities give the green light to the operation. And the more important such an operation is, the more time it takes.
This is where Brazilian regulators come in, where some issues related to consulting other companies have been made public. For information only, Microsoft’s direct competitors were questioned about this decision with Activision-Blizzard, to which Apple, Nintendo or Google (among others) have responded with total indifference. Some didn’t even bother to comment. No one objected except one company, Sony.
The lie as a reliable old woman, is the Activision saga irreplaceable?
In these official documents, Sony made two points to consider. First of all, that Call of Duty It’s a franchise that supports what would be its own genre, which is flat out wrong. The hit shooter saga is part of a more than full cast of internationally acclaimed titles. It’s obviously a brand that moves millions of dollars every year, even with its worst deliveries, but it’s not the only one; Battlefield, Wolfenstein, Borderlands, Apex Legends, PUBG, LOSS, HALO, Titanfall…
With this, they also pointed out that the Activision shooter was little less than an irreplaceable name in the video game industry, showing that its possible exclusivity could lead to the purchase of consoles. Of course, you don’t mind. It remains to be clarified if it will end up being exclusive to Xbox, although the Phil Spencer (Xbox CEO) has already dropped that the saga will continue to come to Playstation “at least for a while”.
As for the “irreplaceable”, let’s remind Sony that, in direct response to this acquisition, they are the ones who absorb on a Bungiecreators of the saga HALO. However, and despite the 3.6 billion it cost them, they seem determined to put their studies in a bad light. Unfortunately, marketing cannot camouflage a reality; activity shooter, Fortnite there Fifa They are ultimately the true pillars of the company.
Xbox Game Pass, the other “cross” in the room
In the aforementioned “Brazilian documents”, things went beyond Call of Duty and Activision. This is the Xbox Games Pass, a service that has been “untenable” according to Sony itself, but as has been shown it has only grown and improved over time. Once again the nonsense comes out, and that is that although they argued that they couldn’t compete with this Xbox service, Playstation Plus also presented its new restructuring in the form of three new subscriptions.
They claim that even investing a lot of time and money in developing a similar subscription, they would have no guarantee of success. It seems that Sony forgot to invest. Keep in mind that they themselves have already implemented Playstation Now (cloud gaming), and now they have united it into a single service giving rise to these subscriptions.
Cheating
We’ve been seeing “strange” Playstation moves for far too long, but thanks to what happened with Brazilian organizations, some of them have been clarified. Some of you will remember the controversy that went through with Resident Evil Village, game that had an exclusive advertisement on Playstation. We have now been able to confirm, thanks to statements from Microsoft, that the company itself Sony was the one paying other companies to limit the potential of their games in other systems.
In other words, while they may work better on Xbox, they’re limited so they don’t overshadow PS4 or PS5. There was therefore no possibility of t aking advantage Village RE
This is perhaps the main reason why Microsoft acquired all of Zenimax (Bethesda), and why it has now done the same with Activision-Blizzard. “If I can’t negotiate, I buy the whole company”, must have thought well of Phil Spencer. The most curious thing of all is that something so contrary to good came from something so bad. Now any user, not just Xbox, can enjoy games like Diablo IV, star field, red fall, LOSS, and a long etc. for a ridiculous price. Even without having to buy a console, thanks to the famous “power of the cloud”.
Policies Against User
Since video games have existed, I can’t remember having lived, read or seen a series of movements of a company, in which the user was the most fragile part of its organization chart. And believe me, I had the chance to cover all kinds of systems, from Megadrive, Game Boy or Super Nintendo. Going through each of the Playstation, Wii, PSP, Xbox 360 and One consoles, until we get to where we are now.
A good example of this is the steps taken by the company with the launch of the PS5 in 2020. Regardless of the hardware, it is unacceptable that in these times a user is forced to pay $80 for a game, or even worse, an extra $10 to upgrade from PS4 to PS5. And let’s not talk about the prohibitive prices of the console, which is now sold in “packages” of $800 in all stores. You can easily check it.
Like logic, These services are totally free in case of Xbox, including cloud saves, also paid with Playstation Plus. In the case of Nintendo, we are talking about the cheapest launch games. Which games are the most expensive to produce? Don’t make me laugh Sony.
dwarfs grow
One of the latest outstanding news regarding this Japanese company malpractice is the class action imposed by some users in the UK. The platform Solve was the one who filed said lawsuit in favor of the nearly 9 million users. 5 billion, neither more nor less, all due to the abuse of Sony’s dominant position in sales related to the Playstation brand. Among other things, Sony is accused of charging users a 30% commission with every digital game or other purchase from the Playstation store.
This mainly happens because Sony has all the power to decide prices, eliminating any ability for developers to maneuver. And if that wasn’t enough, they had the “brilliant” idea of collecting 50$ plus the price of their consoles from September worldwide. Well, except for the United States
Sadly, we’ve been seeing this nonsense for years, which I remember starting with Playstation 3. I was lucky enough to buy one of these with my Xbox 360 elite, and of course enjoyed it too. But what was my surprise when I discovered that this console only had One year warranty.
Yes, although it is an electronic product, the saleswoman claimed to my disbelief that Sony themselves had registered their game console as a “toy”. And since then it has been kept with PS4 and PS5, although it seems no one has complained about it. If you are one of those who did not know, I enclose the ps3 official warranty on the Playstation website so you can check it out for yourself.
Always be informed
One of the best things Sony has done since 1994 is winning the favor of millions of users through very aggressive marketing. And I’m not saying this as something negative, it’s legitimate for every company to bet a lot on their products, but projecting a seemingly winning image is not always synonymous with it. For this reason, I recommend that you inform yourself before buying your console, or even if you wish to acquire several.
The video game industry has evolved a lot over the past ten years, going hand in hand with new technologies. Microsoft gave us the best service ever video games, the Xbox Game Pass and Nintendo created the seemingly impossible; the first hybrid console in history. All this, added to other quality exclusive services and games, as well as the acquisitions of Bethesda or Activision-Blizzard in the case of Xbox, brought the two companies to the top. However, Sony seems to be stuck in the 90s market model.
And even so, if you’ve come this far, I’ll tell you something; Do not be fooled by this article. This is only an opinion, and I therefore invite you to check for yourself what is mentioned in these paragraphs. Whether you compare and test (if possible) the systems, study their catalogs, the advantages of their services. Who knows? maybe you’ll find out how wonderful it is The Legend of Zelda: Breath wildthe driving sagas Mario Kart oh Forzaand you might even end up saving the world by armament of war.
Oh! And if you liked this article, remember that you will find more in the Xbox area.
I’ve traveled to worlds you’d never believe, ended up with enemies that elude all mysticism. I felt my pulse quicken with each battle, and the sigh of someone who knows they will have to get back up. There’s always a villain waiting and an adventure around the corner.
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