Introduction: Anyone with a little social experience understands that if you want to find out the true intentions of the other party, you must not listen to what he says, but to see his specific actions.
pull
The last episode of the show talked about some things that will happen in the future after Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard, and after carefully reading the comments of the audience, I found that many people did not clearly realize the significance of the whole thing to the game circle, and did not think that Microsoft's behavior would lead to the slow death of Sony.
Based on this, I wrote this article to discuss the internal logic with you from a shallow depth, and to think about whether Sony really has a chance to reverse the future. Without further ado, let's get started.
Microsoft's wild hopes
At its most intuitive level, the $68.7 billion deal gives Microsoft actual control of the call of duty super IP. Although, in a subsequent interview, XBOX head Spencer told the media:
We have no intention of moving COD away from the PS5 platform, and we remain committed to that.
Sounds very NICE, but anyone with a modicum of social experience understands that trying to figure out the other person's true intentions is not to hear what he says, but to see his specific actions. In March last year, when B was acquired by Microsoft, Spencer gave the same response as COD — they wouldn't block games from landing on other platforms, and the company wanted to make games accessible to more people.
As a result, in September and November of the same year, Microsoft announced that the "Starry Sky" and "Elder Scrolls 6" created by B Society were exclusive to the XBOX platform, and they did not forget to leave a sentence: This is not to combat the Playstation platform.
The facts are in front of us, and everyone understands what kind of trend COD will show in the future. I know that some people are still not dead-hearted, and the reason for moving out is nothing more than that Call of Duty itself has a special nature - the series has always adhered to the all-platform route, and once the exclusive strategy is adopted, it will cause irreparable damage to the IP.
Well, let's follow this line of thinking and make the most reasonable assumptions. On the basis of maintaining the whole platform, if all the subsequent COD works, Microsoft has adopted a one-month strategy of exclusive time by XBOX and PC, please ask Sony what to do, further, if the COD is released, it will automatically join XGP, so that members can get it for free, and PS5 users must spend $70 to get started, please ask how players will choose, and what should Sony do.
This account is very well calculated, and I am sure you will be able to figure it out.
And, of course, there's an argument that has been often quoted lately to prove sony's continued strong position. That is, even if Microsoft has invested heavily in the acquisition of B and Activision Blizzard, from the perspective of revenue, they are only the world's third largest game company, still behind Tencent and Sony.
Alas, it is better to look at things in trouble and take a long-term view.
As we all know, Microsoft is very rich. According to foreign media reports, in the fiscal years from 2020 to 2021, Microsoft's revenue was $168.088 billion, of which net profit was as high as 61.271 billion, and the company's cumulative cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments totaled $130.3 billion.
What are the concepts of these three numbers? Just on Jan. 19, TGA founder Geoff Keighley shared the market capitalizations of some of the other companies in the industry:
Among them, Nintendo is worth $53.79 billion, EA is $38 billion, R Star parent company T2 is $18 billion, and Ubisoft has only $7 billion, which means that Microsoft can buy 1 Nintendo, 1.5 EAs, 3 T2 and 9 Ubisoft with a year's profit alone.
In addition, Sony's current market value is $136.4 billion, in the past they were worth a little, but after the news of the acquisition broke, the stock price fell all the way.
Microsoft can save two years and can afford it.
In fact, as early as a long time ago, I joked with my friends that if Microsoft is willing to launch its "banknote capability", the host war will be completely ended within 2 years, but in the past, the company's focus was not on the game industry at all, so Sony, Microsoft, Nintendo three-legged situation can be maintained for so long, and now, Microsoft with a thousand dollars to prove that the company's eyes have been aimed at the game industry.
Admittedly, they are indeed subordinate to Sony now, and the question is, is the acquisition of B and Activision Blizzard the end of the operation, I think everything is just beginning. When this giant ship is about to sail into the ocean of the game industry, who has the ability to stop them?
From the beginning, it wasn't a war of equals, and Sony couldn't win. After saying this, let's talk about how they can get rid of the fate of chronic death, after all, they can't win the fight, and it doesn't mean that they will disappear.
Sony's countermeasures
Of course, before I expound my point, there is a saying that I am not unhappy. I personally for Sony's behavior in the past two years, extremely dissatisfied and even angry, if they can be hit hard, then I will be very happy, the previous video, I am crazy spit on Sony, but I do hope that the company because of the pressure to give up the game industry, the reason I have said in the last issue, a dominant company does not have any benefit to players, but many people do not realize this, or simply want to vent anger.
Regarding Sony's approach to coping, I personally think there are two main points:
First, seize the time to find people who can cooperate. It is true that Sony does hold a lot of heavyweight IP in its hands, such as God of War, Uncharted, Ricky and Jingle, etc., but unfortunately, the above series are not enough to resist Microsoft's offensive in the current environment. Putting aside the need to continue to develop new monopolies, the combination of strong and powerful is the most effective way to face a fierce enemy. Looking at the industry, R Star's parent company T2 is quite strategic, the combination of "Red Dead Redemption" and "Give Him Love" is enough to make Sony sit back and relax, of course, EA, Ubisoft, SE and Capcom, are also good objects, but anyone who can cooperate with any of them can greatly improve the survival rate in the future.
It is necessary to remind all readers that although Microsoft's acquisition has not been much resistance, in view of the objective existence of anti-monopoly law, before the official completion of the transaction in 2023, Microsoft will slow down the pace of its domination of the game circle, and Sony has time to save itself. Of course, whether they can negotiate or not depends on their determination and ability.
Second, make full use of their own advantages. Right now, Sony has a significant strength that Microsoft doesn't have, and that's that they've been involved in the film industry very early. On this basis, let the film and the game form a positive interaction, feed each other back, and further improve their own value.
In fact, they are also actively practicing. When searching for information, I found that Sony set up a new department "PlayStation Production" as early as May 2019, which is specifically responsible for adapting its IP into movies and TV series, such as the upcoming live-action movie "Uncharted Sea" that will be released this year, which is the result of their efforts. Persisting and intensifying efforts is a good strategic direction.
epilogue
The article is over, so we won't summarize it without sensationalism. Answer a frequently asked question about my article (video). When Sony was in the lead, it also acquired the production team, why did Microsoft buy a Activision Blizzard, you feel inappropriate, is this not a double standard?
As an all-platform player who came out very early in the video praising Microsoft XGP and buying 3 consoles, I don't quite understand what you call a double standard. As far as the matter is concerned, Sony did acquire game companies like insomnia group in the heyday, but the insomnia group compared with B and Activision Blizzard, both in terms of volume and influence are insignificant, you know, the market value of the insomnia group at that time was only $229 million, less than one-third of the acquisition, so why did Sony not extend its tentacles to the latter two?
Is it because it has a conscience, of course not, what conscience the businessman has to say, in the end, is because Sony is not able to swallow them. But Microsoft can, and not only does Microsoft have the ability to buy Company B and Activision Blizzard, they can effortlessly buy any of the big, well-known game companies.
Sony and Microsoft fight, and it is always the players who profit, but one of them is killed, and where the winner's fist will fall next, you don't want to guess it.
Well, that's all for this issue, I'm Tony Teacher, we'll see you next time!