maybe the CMA worded it wrongly in terms of cloud gaming.
but the gist of it remains the same. Microsoft wants to weaken Sony's exclusive moat by buying their own big property to make it an exclusive down the line, thereby either increasing the value proposition of Game Pass, or Xbox cloud gaming anywhere.
by now Microsoft already knows they're not going to catch up to Sony or Nintendo in terms of console sales.
game pass is probably one of the best deals in entertainment though, and by that I mean all forms of entertainment whether sports, film, music etc.
I don’t understand why Microsoft doesn’t build up their exclusive library the way Sony does. Yes, it’s riskier but so what. Sony could do it. Microsoft definitely has the money to do it.
Not to mention making former multi-platform franchises exclusive to their machines just makes everyone who isn’t in their camp hate them.
To my knowledge, Sony mostly fund the development of games and keep the rights to them - e.g. Demon Souls and Bloodborne were funded by them, they own the rights, and of course they are exclusive to PlayStation; maybe they will appear on PC if Sony feels like it.
It’s hit and miss. Some games become big hits. Some flop and they just wasted a few million.
IMHO it’s a better model. More games get created. No one loses out by having a franchise they have played for years denied to them because they own the wrong console.
They had a dedicated studio making or collaborating on many of their famous exclusives, Japan Studio[1].
Though in a 2021 org restructure they were seemingly merged into another first-party Sony studio, Team Asobi[2] who hasn't been credited with anything particularly noteworthy. Just a bunch of tech demos. Not sure what that move was about.
If you read the CMA's statement it is specifically about Cloud Gaming, so they didn't word it incorrectly. They are talking specifically about streaming games from a data center to a thin client.
but the gist of it remains the same. Microsoft wants to weaken Sony's exclusive moat by buying their own big property to make it an exclusive down the line, thereby either increasing the value proposition of Game Pass, or Xbox cloud gaming anywhere.
by now Microsoft already knows they're not going to catch up to Sony or Nintendo in terms of console sales.
game pass is probably one of the best deals in entertainment though, and by that I mean all forms of entertainment whether sports, film, music etc.