Check yourself before you wreck yourself

One jobsworth at French supermarket chain Cora has attached a warning to its PlayStation 5 display, informing unsuspecting customers to choose their console carefully following Microsoft’s near-$70 billion buyout of Activision Blizzard. It’s added a handwritten clarification in parenthesis to the bottom of the note which simply reads: Call of Duty.

Of course, it’s likely that the first-person shooter series will remain on Sony’s systems for the foreseeable future, as sources suggest that the publisher has planned at least three further entries in the franchise for PS5 and PS4. It’s unknown what will happen beyond that, but Xbox chief Phil Spencer has expressed a “desire” to continue to support PlayStation platforms.

It’s unclear whether this notice has been posted in all 60 of Cora’s French stores, or if this is just the efforts of an individual location. Sony’s unlikely to be particularly happy with the poster, however – although, it’s not like you can find PS5 stock easily even if you want to. We’re curious how many consumers would actually be deterred by a message like this, to be honest.

[source twitter.com, via videogameschronicle.com]

A true PlayStation veteran, Sammy's covered the world of PS gaming for years, with an enormous Trophy count to prove it. He also likes tennis games way more than you.

Yeah I’m going to assume it’s fake (or just from an individual) and not posted by a big retailer unless Ms didn’t just buy the publisher.

I love how last month everyone hated COD and now it's the end all be all.

@JJ2 I’d assume it’s just an employee’s idea

Lol, Xbots. They are everywhere.

PlayStation is safe for many years people. Climate will end the world quicker then that company will be acquired or go bust.

Probably just the one off store and only the casuals would be deterred and even then, its only the casuals who care about call of duty

But I do wonder if either Microsoft paid this store chain to do this or this is just a one off due to an xbot being the manager

I mean most people have to pick their console carefully as they can only afford one but saying COD is the only reason to buy an Xbox series is a bit of a kick in the teeth to other devs lol

@Voltan Yeah I know. That sign will be removed soon enough. I ve seen a few people trying to sell me an Xbox in retails. You guess how that went haha

I thought it was quite amusing, really. I do agree that this is likely the efforts of one employee rather than something the chain would do. (Why wouldn't the shop want to sell as many consoles as possible, after all?)

I've been thinking a lot over the last week since the Activision acquisition and asked a question "what has Activision made that has been any good in years?" and came to the conclusion.

The best Spyro games were the original trilogy, all that followed were not good. The original trilogy has already been remade so we're good

The original Crash Bandicoot trilogy was the best, all that followed were also not good. We got a remake, we're good.

Tony Hawk's 1+2 were better than the rest. We got a remake, we're good.

Don't care about WoW, don't care about CoD. Battlefield is better. There are more shooters being developed for competition.

So what has Activision got that we're missing out on? All of this is my opinion and there is nothing to miss. CoD will attract casuals and that's about it.

PlayStation gamers have nothing to worry about in my opinion.

@get2sammyb Didn’t you know, there is no humour in war

I saw some of the usual Xbox Twitter trolls sharing this around yesterday and it honestly made me laugh.

Xbox only users 2021 - ugh not another yearly COD. halo is the best. We don’t need COD. Only casuals buy COD and FIFA.

Xbox only users 2022 - COD being exclusive in 4 versions time is massive and will send Sony bust.

Us in the middle think short term it’ll mean nothing as games take a while to develop and long term - it means less games for everyone including Xbox owners.

I am a XSX and GPU owner/user.

@GADG3Tx87 I agree. It’s more worrying about ‘what’s next’ kinda thing though.

PSVR 2 has the potential to tilt the advantage towards Sony as the console with the most value for money.

Today I learned how to say 'Call of Duty' in French

@Splat It still sells very well, though. A lot of the people who hate it probably but it

@JJ2 Yup, that's my thinking also. Zenimax was worrying because it was so sudden and a huge purchase. Playing through the Mass Effect trilogy has reminded me how good BioWare is/was. If they stay in the game along with CDPR, Square Enix, Sega and Guerilla (they did great with horizon, could make new RPG IP's in future) I think we'll be ok.

Fallout 76 and ESO we're ok but not great like the real RPG's. With the path Bethesda are on and Microsoft's track record of acquired games being a shadow of their former self can we assume any Bethesda games will be as good as their legacy as FO3 and Oblivion/Skyrim?

@Gremio108 I thought ‘Call of Duty’ in French was ‘Le Surrender’.

Considering it’s basically impossible to find PS5s on store shelves I’d say this message is a bit of a mute point.

@Splat Those aren't mutually exclusive, you can hate CoD while at the same time acknowledge how much power the franchise has when it comes to people deciding to buy a new console. Same with FIFA.

Fortunately Nintendo proves you can do very well without CoD, you just need extremely good quality 1st party titles from very recognizable franchises.

Pretty sure this is just some casual Xbox fanboy work who happens to work there.

I remember the old days where game stores used to tell customers who didn’t know which console to get, do they prefer Halo or Socom.

Now Sony doesn’t do a FPS first party of that calibre anymore I can understand why people are saying do you like Halo and Cod like games so as to future proof them in the long run cause who knows how long it will be multi platform for.

I made the decision to just buy first party games on PS from now on and all other third party on PC cause if you can afford it, it makes the most future proof sense in my situation as I also like pc only Strategy games as well. (So buying an Xbox for me won’t solve the problem)

As a consumer I hate all these acquisitions which is why I’ve slightly altered my third part gaming purchases to PC now as who knows who Microsoft will get next and beyond.

I love PS and their first party titles and will continue to buy and love them. But I am someone who wants 90% of all their games on one platform and not here there and everywhere.

@GADG3Tx87 Absolutely. I get the value for Bethesda. But Spencer saying he got excited about Activision blizzard looking at the (old) IPs and that’s the deciding factor for throwing all that money was funny.

@ScottyG well you can pick up new PS5’s off the shelf in the Uk if you are willing to pay CEX’s prices which are the same as scalpers but hey it’s a national store lol.

I'm just here for the Ice Cube sub-header.

I want new Skylanders games on PS5. And Barbie games also.

@Anti-Matter I will never understand why you ask for these games in completely random articles 😂😂

@nessisonett Well, Skylanders and Barbie games were also published by Activision.

Some big time clown behaviour right there

@nessisonett Actually now you mention it, I've heard the French version is much shorter

@Anti-Matter maannn. You’re a different breed 🤣🤣

Haha, stupid casuals, their £60 isn't worth the same as my £60.

@Richnj aye. I came here to see the elitism. Wasn’t disappointed.

@Richnj Technically as it’s PlayStation, our £70 would be worth the same as their £60. Wait…

… and here’s the next (admittedly small in this case) stepping stone towards global Gamepass hegemony 🤣

edit. and I’m a PlayStation user btw… I know how y’all like to get antsy about my ironic avatar 😤

i love how everyone is so sure of what the future holds for these newly acquired publishers/devs.

I'm putting as much stock in these "everything's going xbox exclusive" claims as i did the "next gen games will take up less storage" claims.

Anyway it seems like a really good time to just own both.

@GADG3Tx87 Activision not so much bar the Crash remakes but Blizzard obviously publish the Diablo series. Given the timing, I assume we're OK for D4 but any extra add-ons might be in jeopardy, though I'd doubt it.

Let's face it, M$ want Game Pass on Sony systems. If Sony capitulate, you'll get as many games as you like but there really aren't that many big titles that Sony will miss out on - WoW never came to console so the only big name is CoD.

COD is the most successful game nearly every year. Stop being so ignorant.

Many of you will buy an Xbox soon enough, it's inevitable

The fact that they had to put the notice below the controllers (instead of the actual console boxes) speaks volumes.

Not sure why this website would even cover such "story".. there are always going to be opinionated people working in stores trying to sell you on their idea of good. Some might even offer you NFT.. 😝

Honestly from a consumer point of view (not a blind loyalty point of view) this is a good thing. It allows the consumer to be informed, and when parents are buying little timmy the ps5 so that he can play all the new cod games but they don't come their way and little timmy gets upset, the parents are going to be resentful of the fact they weren't provided with information and avoid spending money in said shop. I'd certainly appreciate the heads up.

Has it only been two weeks? I'm so sick of Activision news.

@Gremio108 Funniest comment of the week!

some saddo has put that up 😂🤦 some saddo that's heavily invested in the idea that console wars is an actual thing and not just squeaky kids exercising thumbs

@LightningLeader not sure about soon but one day perhaps as I'll have no choice.

Right now there isn't anything solely on GP that I'm interested in playing.

This guy gets it. He knows that the only game ps fanboys* play is cod. So he's giving people a heads up.

*if you're upset, you're probably a fanboy. If not you probably read this, laughed and moved on.

I appreciate the warning so i can pick the console that doesnt have garbage like CoD, nor advertisement about it on my dashboard / in the store.

Fingers crossed the PS6 doesn't even get a sniff of COD. Maybe Sony can then make the next big thing. COD can't be massive forever I assume. The kids won't want to be playing the same game their parents played as kids as it isn't the done thing.

I've been making similar posts where Xbox is sold... No Uncharted. No God of War. No Horizon. No Ratchet & Clank. No Spider-Man. No The Last of Us. No Ghost of Tsushima. No Infamous. No Little Big Planet. No Days Gone. No Dreams. No Gravity Rush. No Astrobot.

It becomes a very long list and I typically tire out and quit...

Yeah, choose carefully. Either get mainstream crap or exclusive masterpieces

@nessisonett Says the guy dressed funnily

@lacerz "I've been making similar posts where Xbox is sold..." sees someone looking at an xbox series X box "hey man, did you know that by buying xbox: No Uncharted. No God of War. No Horizon. No Ratchet & Clank. No Spider-Man. No The Last of Us. No Ghost of Tsushima. No Infamous. No Little Big Planet. No Days Gone. No Dreams. No Gravity Rush. No Astrobot." /just joking, still don't understand what you mean by "where xbox is sold" tho lol!

Crazy. Outside of my own PS5 I’ve never actually seen another one in person. It was the same for the Series X; I’d never seen one before I got it on Thanksgiving Day (U.S. Holiday).

Only other one I’ve seen in person is the one my best friend has.

We got them on the same day. I got my order in at wal mart on launch day. He got his a day after. Both arrived at our respective houses the same day.

@get2sammyb because they don't have many ps5s to sell, unlike xboxes?

I hope this whole acquisition thing would humble Sony down a bit, so they can be consumer friendly instead of the greedy basta*** they are.

@Cikajovazmaj i'd bet money it wasnt even an employee, just someone who walked in and put it up for the photo.

I'm actually looking forward to a COD-free and Elder Scrolls free Pushsquare. Hopefully, Microsoft will buy EA and free PlayStation from the worst plagues.

It's not wrong. Your average parent buying a console for their kid so they can play CoD with their friends would want to be warned as much, otherwise they'll have to buy a different expensive machine. A lot of people out there still mainly just play CoD and get the new one every year.

I pre-ordered mine but it was part of the Walmart batch that was like 10 days late. I still remember calling Walmart the day it arrived and them telling me they couldn’t find it lol. There was almost h*ll to pay!

Is it confirmed to be real? I read a random comment under the tweet earlier claiming that the sign is photoshopped. They were saying that recently this particular store has started putting games behind glass, and that the signs are put up to inform customers to contact a member of staff if they want to pick an item.

@GADG3Tx87 even if you’re not interested in games like CoD, lots of people are so Sony sell more consoles. If third party releases dry up, Sony sell less machines, have a lower install base and games you do like might be affected.

I don't think it will have an impact but it's incredibly unprofessional for a store to do this especially when there's still potentially years of CoD support, I'm guessing someone at that store is a massive Xbox fanboy

I don't care about any Activision game tho.

@kyleforrester87 Maybe. I'm not saying I'm in favour of acquisitions and it's just my opinion as I said but I don't think Activision games are that important, some people might think otherwise. Some people might hold their games in high regard. That is just a personal breakdown of some of Activision's popular games.

You say Sony might be affected but Nintendo seem to do ok with mostly their first parties alone. And those are few and far between.

That being said I don't want one company owning everything I'm just looking at these two major acquisitions from my own point of view on a case by case scenario.

In my case, acquisitions of Atlus/Sega, Konami, Capcom among other would affect me, other people might think different.

Oh no! Not call of duty.

@get2sammyb maybe they've got loads of series s deadstock. This would stop their customers from asking them about ps5s (which probably happens enough as in here they've put signs up that no-one can pre-order). It would also mean they could perhaps offload more series s consoles at retail price instead of having to offer it for discounts. All very fine margins and maybe a bit redundant, but maybe they're just testing the waters.

@GADG3Tx87 I wasn’t suggesting you are in favour of acquisitions, I wasn’t saying it was a good or a bad thing either. Just saying that the loss of any third party games will impact Sony’s ability to perform as well as it does now and franchises you do enjoy are likely to be impacted if it keeps happening. Nintendo suffered massively not having enough third party support with N64 and GameCube. They are doing fine now because they are not directly competing with Sony and MS. But I’m not sure Horizon 3 on 10% of the budget Horizon 2 has would please the PS fan base..

It’s just not quite as simple as “I won’t miss CoD”

I can’t imagine caring about playing an FPS (especially a competitive one) on a console when PCs exist. COD is the worst FPS game out anyway … go for Insurgency, much better game. Or literally any other fps (besides battlefield)

This gave me a good chuckle

I think they want to sell the series s consoles lol.

But I think it's important for people that want all of the call of duties, so good for informing them.

@thefourfoldroot I don't think it was a fanboy who put that. We really want to label people this quickly?

@Danloaded That's all they care about. COD > Sony exclusives for 30 million people.

@ApostateMage "...Because the comment section is bad for your health"

@colonelkilgore who's the guy in your avatar?

@SamMR How is a $20 color consumer friendly?

We gotta stop. Nobody is consumer friendly.

@Rhaoulos I highly doubt that (MS getting EA). I think now every publisher will think. Wait... we ain't competing with cod on playstation? WE'LL BE RICH!!!!

@RevGaming some fool with more money than sense 🤷‍♂️

@RevGaming Erm, there can be no other reason. Not that I can think of anyway. Would you like to hazard a reason other than the obvious fanboy nonsense we’ve all experienced before? An employee who didn’t care about such things wouldn’t have a reason to do this. The business doesn’t care whether it sells a PS5 or Series console, all the same money to them.

the store wanting to sell series s and informing people that can only buy one console that they can't get all the CODs that will come out.

but you chose to label it as a fanboy behavior.

Don't worry. I am starting to notice who was a fanboy in disguise all these years. The guy who added that wasn't one.

Some people here laughed at xbox for only having halo, gears and forza, and halo and gears not being the best as they were on 360.

Do they also put warnings on series consoles saying you cant play super Mario on them or on switches saying you cant play god of war 🙃

@Would_you_kindly No, because even casuals know you need a nintendo for those.

I bet the majority of people who is playing cod right now doesn't know they will be exclusive after 2023.

@RevGaming no one knows that because the deal isn't done yet & they haven't said if it's going to be an exclusive or not

@RevGaming This is weird. I labelled this guy a fanboy for spouting fanboy nonsense. It’s quite obvious. This is NOT an employee/company sign. It’s clearly something someone has printed off to “warn” people the PS5 is “inferior” or, more likely, to get a photo on social media.

This is not because a retailer wants to sell more series S (cheaper) consoles as you suggest. The Series S is not selling so badly that the retailer would risk their supplier relationship with Sony in such a way.

If you think that a company, which relies on these manufacturers for stock, would be so publicly biased against one of their suppliers, you don’t know how business works.

Observation biase on your side, clearly.

@Would_you_kindly Just like they said with Bethesda...

Would you kindly believe them?

@thefourfoldroot How will they risk their relationship with Sony? They're selling all of their ps5s.

What about the relationship with xbox? Wouldn't they liked this.

Anyways it's a joke. Even if someone put that there, it doesn't make him a fanboy. Hell, I would've add it there to trigger fanboys too and I don't even own an xbox. It's a joke. Just like "xbox has no games" or "halo, gears and forza" or "TV TV TV".

"Observation bias on your side, clearly" Take a hint. I think you're the fanboy in this equation. Another attempt on jumping to conclusions about me being an xbot and I don't even own an xbox, lol. Never have actually. Even if I tell you to be self aware, you can't be self aware. WOAH! (crash bandicoot noises).

@RevGaming I’m an adult, I don’t need to get into this “I’m not a fanboy, you’re a fanboy, I own own/don’t own these consoles” conversation.

This is comical and moronic at the same time (the person that wrote that probably already got fired and the sign removed)... also, he/she forgot this:

"...but the deal won't close until mid-late 2023, and PS will still get 3 of these soulless CoD games in the meantime, which includes the sequel to the popular free-to-play game Warzone (which is probably the one most of you play)..."

I made my choice last year, when i purchased a PS5 thanks.

When you take the total number of any one games sales vs total number of consoles sold.Then you can see that no single game defines a console. I love my PlayStation because of its variety of many types of games.

There is no law the says you can have only one console! Even if it takes a few years to save for the second one. Fill your own needs with your own choices. Do what makes you happy. Stop worrying about other peoples choices.

Only the Xbox fanatic trolls would do that

@Anti-Matter Get a switch that has them kind of games.

@GADG3Tx87 Battlefield is a mess.

@lacerz Unfortunately, PS5 won't be getting a new Gravity Rush game either.

@Luna-Harmony PS4 already have some girlie games such as My Universe games by Microids, Horse Club Adventures, Story of Seasons Friend of Mineral Town, Cooking Mama Cookstar and Skylanders games (Swap Force until Imaginators).

New girlie games on PS5 such as Barbie or Bratz or My Universe games or Nicola Kanshuu are very welcome for me.

@LightningLeader Never! I'll never join the dark side!!

@GADG3Tx87 Majority of people what buy PS do it for games like COD. You might not care for COD or Diablo 4 or Overwatch 2 but them exclusive to Xbox with Gamepass as well will see a shift for those to who buy PS for those games. I feel the "hardcore" don't get that the majority of console sales aren't from those who want Horizon 2 next month. MS getting COD is a massive hit to PS if MS decide not to put it on PS

Most people buy consoles and only play COD or FIFA (in Europe) in them. Most people are calling Xbox Series S a dedicated COD machine with game pass as an extra. Like Gameboys were just Pokémon machines for most casuals back in the day. I think Sony will still win this gen though, but most cause of the PS4 momentum

@Splat A lot of Sony players don't care. I have 150 players in my friends list and a lot stopped playing cod because of the hackers since modern warfare. I have watched people on YouTube and read comments and people aren't freaking out except some die hard cod players. There's other fps to play better than cod such as hell let loose, bf, etc. I find this post in the store either fake or some fanatical worker is a crazy Xbox fanboy. Lol Not that serious. Cod is not PlayStation main hit games. They have so much more.

@UltimateOtaku91 Sony use to make agreements with stores to not display competitors consoles.

@Splat I still don't care about CoD. The reason I am excited for this acquisition is Blizzard. I don't know. Maybe under MS, CoD will stop being a yearly crapfest and be a great game again (last one I liked was the first Modern Warfare). But as a mainly XBOX user (I have a PS5 though), I find it very funny that PS fans trying to present the most succesful game on PS platform, as a piece of crap since the announcement.

Everyone has a choice when it comes to console buying and it shouldn’t come down to whether or not a game studio has bought this or that. It’s not the end of PlayStation and why are we saying it is. Blimey what a huge deal we are making. And if Xbox have any sense it’ll be multi platform releases anyways. We need console wars and studios ain’t gonna change it. I love my PS5 and I don’t give two craps about this huge news that for me isn’t huge news. Move on. What’s next to be delayed? 😂

Sony should have a great month coming up with Horizon and Turismo. I am sure Horizon will score 9s across the board and put the spotlight back on the fantastic sony first party studios.

@AyanamiReign cod is cross platform though so I doubt that would matter

@get2sammyb Exactly Sammy! No retail store in the world has ever tried to discourage people from buying anything.

@Medic_Alert i'm sure people are aware of the size of the franchise, but if it's a game that they personally aren't interested in then that's what they are going to say.

@Shepherd_Tallon Cora is a big supermarket chain in France. The correct translation is actually worse : ‘Choose well your machine accordingly’ it actually says. I can’t imagine a big chain cautioning it and it must be some individual being misinformed and silly. The sign isn’t even placed straight.

@Medic_Alert excellent post everything you say is correct. Since the acquisition I’ve seen a lot ignorance and elitism over on this side, saying Casuals don’t matter. Everything you have just said highlights why they do matter. I’d say at the moment PlayStation is the console ‘casuals’ buy into just going by sales numbers alone. If Sony lose them, it’ll be massive damage to their revenue.

@Fenbops But nobody said that.

@JJ2 I’ve seen it plenty around here over the last couple o weeks.

@Fenbops I feel the general consensus here is that it doesn’t matter to them. They aren’t saying it doesn’t cost Sony money which we don’t really care that much.

@Medic_Alert It's important, but they can adapt. They need to get away from this reliance on income generated by massive third party online games anyway, and develop something which does the same thing but that they have control over. Or just buy SE if they're will to sell, and hog FF XIV.

@Shepherd_Tallon I’d be honestly more annoyed if Sony wasted $70b for AB really. I’d feel depressed haha People should be concerned about the way Ms uses it’s money instead of the way Sony might lose money.

@JJ2 I genuinely agree! In terms of the IP gained I mean. Square Holdings would cost a fraction of the price at roughly 8 billion dollars (plus how much extra is usually added on in sales like these), but that purchase would gain you almost as much as the 70 billion MS spent. It would also cement PlayStation as the place to go for JRPGs.

CoD will be a big loss to the balance sheet if it does in fact become Xbox exclusive, but other than that I would argue that Sony's targeted acquisitions so far have been well thought through, whereas MS are in a situation where they have to buy whoever they can before Meta or Tencent or someone does it so they can keep adding stuff to Game Pass.

The thing is, both of MS's big purchases so far were publishers who were in trouble. They needed to be bought. And if they hadn't bought Activision, Meta or someone would have... The devil you know, and all that.

@__jamiie Yep, that it is.

@Medic_Alert It is what it is. They'll adapt or they won't.

Hopefully the second party deals they've been making with the likes of Haven etc are a start towards generating their own online income.

As for SE, of course they would need to want to sell, or be convinced to sell, but Sony have more than enough cash on hand to go that route if it was a possibility, and they're already a very versatile company in a lot of different markets. They're one of the biggest anime publishers in the world now. SE's manga publishing and distribution pipeline would be a nice get.

Ask MS and I bet you they'd swap the unionising movement they've bought for a restaurant chain. Sometimes big purchases come with messy bits.

Of course I don't know the half of what's needed to know about decisions like this. I'm just speculating because it's fun to speculate sometimes. If you'd asked me two weeks ago if Sony should buy SE I'd be telling you to relax.

@Richnj Really a pathetic post.

@Don_Corleone Millions of PlayStation fans do care. Despite the fact your friends don't agree.

Hopefully Sony will continue to make content for "your friends" otherwise they'll be out of business.

@andy24king Why should Xbox make any of their studio's games available on PlayStation??? So they can sell more copies?

By that reasoning, Sony should port Uncharted to Xbox. Right?

Oh wait, it's different because Sony had a relationship with Naughty Dog and they can't ever be accused of developer buying.

@__jamiie Ah, Judger of Posts, I'm glad you have arrived. But please, in order to post less pathetic posts, I need to understand why my post was pathetic in the first place. Please bestow upon me knowledge that only you currently possess.

@Medic_Alert I don’t think he was concerned about MSs pockets. More about the industry, in which increasingly publishers are being bought up and consolidated under a monolithic organisation. But more, for players who have had multiplatform franchises they have played for generations torn away from them and imprisoned behind Xbox/Gamepass in order to try to force them to move platforms, and then likely manipulate pricing to “encourage” them into a subscription model in which they own nothing.

@colonelkilgore Nobody cares about your avatar. Stop being so self important.

@Grimwood This is a very stupid fanboy comment. Grow up and buy more games.

@Richnj Your elitist attitude. Your patronising way of responding. Your pretentious vocabulary trying to seem to be clever.

@Medic_Alert It looks like Ms are on a buying spree for big publishers every couple of years. It’s very different from acquiring some indie studios Sony Or Ms had a close relationship with. Anyone who has common sense should be concerned about the future of console gaming not about Ms or Sony bank account.

I’ll start to worry if MS buys FromSoft or Square.I couldn’t care less about Activision. As for Bethesda I went out and got a Series S.

@Medic_Alert Indeed. I don’t blame MS for flexing their operating system muscle. This is no different in principle to what has happened before. In practice however, we now have a company involved that could monopolise the whole industry if they wished, and the inability for other companies to compete is concerning. A couple more big publishers like EA and Take 2 basically destroys Sony as a serious platform for the casual gamers, and thus any competition in the market.

Our only hope then is that Apple or Amazon step up their game, but those are not gaming companies. We’ll then see the horrible future of subscription only Microtransaction riddled rubbish dominate, and MS very happy to go down that road.

@__jamiie Well the various responses I've had in regards to it on previous threads would suggest you're wrong on that one jamiie 😎

If there was a system without CoD, I would consider that a positive. Then people could buy actual games instead of throwing their money down an annualized hole. The Switch is outselling everything, Nintendo could care less.

@__jamiie Oh, let me clarify. That was sarcasm. I was satirising the elitist comments of this thread.

@Richnj judging by his recent posts, his hypocrisy knows no boundaries.

@Medic_Alert @JJ2 I know MS have the money to buy another big publisher, but do you think they can buy one? They're getting a lot of attention now from regulators. The language being used suggests that this purchase will be approved for sure, but that another big publisher being bought out would not be as easy for MS.

@Shepherd_Tallon That’s why they have to wait a few years. I can’t possibly know if that would be approved but considering the whole gaming industry seen more and more as way beyond a console thing I think it’s possible since they don’t really buy competition per se.

Edit Spencer advocating who he thinks the real competition are and positioning as a major player on a larger market comes to mind. Console gaming isn’t that important on itself for regulation. Even Sony admited console gaming is a relatively niche market.

Oh wow... now that is vile.

@__jamiie Glad to know you are a God and have seen a million responses of playstation players lol. Your comment is funny. Last I checked no people have filed lawsuits against Microsoft but you keep of that God delusional to think you know everyone cares. Tech websites report when fans write them or even Sony or Microsoft tweets will they get millions of people complaining to them. Phil or Sony never made a statement. So, your point is moot also. I was merely stating no viral outcry in legal action has taken place. You clearly came at me condescending which is not cool so on that note our Convo ends. Be an adult and respectful if you want to have civil dialogue with people not be a jerk.

@colonelkilgore She seems to think she knows what everyone on the planet thinks. Delusion is real.

@JJ2 Fair points. Maybe the smart money from Sony here then would be to start introducing offer that combine services. Offer the millions of Crunchyroll subscribers they just bought access to game streaming on PC at a discount or something. Build their platform and their alternate income that way.

@__jamiie You are being very toxic on here to a lot of people. I think you are extremely ignorant and childish. The moderator needs to block you.

@Richnj How about everyone just block her or get the mods to?

@Shepherd_Tallon Well I dont know I’m a nobody haha I’m just hoping Sony refocus even more on console gaming with specific exclusivity like they’ve always done but double down on it.

@Don_Corleone Thank you but I'm not a god. There's no such thing as god.

Are you drunk or just angry??? Your sentences barely make sense. I don't understand why you're so angry.

Your reply to me doesn't actually relate to anything I said.

@JJ2 Ah, we're all just speculating, as I say.

I'd love them to introduce offers merging the anime and gaming services like I described, and then to just set themselves apart like Nintendo have done and focus on what they're best at.

I'd like them to start weaning themselves off of the CoD and Fifa money too, and on to income streams that they control.

Let MS do battle with the likes of Meta, they're the only ones who can.

@Shepherd_Tallon Spot on. Sony needs to focus on their strength because they can’t and don’t really want to play Ms game which is not even safe for Ms btw but Ms can afford to screw it all.

@JJ2 That's the very thing - If Game Pass doesn't work (I mean it very likely will succeed, but let's just say it doesn't), MS will just move on to the next thing. Sony and Nintendo have to be far more careful.

A lot of words over one silly little notice.

It's the weekend, enjoy it, play some games or something.

So I'm lucky enough to have both a PS5 and an Xbox X - and tbh the Xbox is dreadful in comparison. Constant crashes, a 4k player that only works if you buy sound software separately, and even then goes to a black screen randomly and needs to be rebooted, a severe lack of decent games (besides Halo and Forza), a confusing UI and a loud plastic controller.

The PS5 is far superior - in my humble view.

This better be fake or some moron employee. Otherwise this is a head scratcher. Why stock product if you don't want to sell it? The purchase of Activision is not official for some time.

@Splat I still bit a big fan of COD but a lot of people are. 🤪

If this means I no longer have to see CoD ads on my Playstation, I guess it was worth it. 🤣

@JJ2 you bought an Xbox then. Good choice man.

@ScottyG "I’d say this message is a bit of a mute point".

The phrase is actually "moot point".

If COD does go exclusive from 2024 then EA & Respawn can be smart and release Titanfall 3 or a new FPS ip.

More gaslighting trash! The next 3 CoDs have been confirmed to come to PS. And if they are doing 2-3 years inbetween CoDs then it will be PS6 by the time those are out! So who cares! Hopefully CoD is dead by then and Sony will have something way bigger out including PSVR2.

@Stocksy Well One thing is to admit that "I don't care about Call of Duty" But another thing is to admit that this deal will have huge impact if Microsoft will decide to make COD games exclusive after 2023. We are talking about series that is almost every year top seller on PlayStation (only exception was when GTA V and RDR 2 were released)

What the heck was that? What about a month before? No retailers put a sign in the past 8 years to say like beware xbox buyers! you'll have zero chance of horizon, god of war, last of us, ratchet, etc.

@colonelkilgore good job if you made it yourself

@2here2there I can’t take credit I’m afraid 🤣

I doubt the company owners would be happy about their workers trying to deter customers from purchasing products.

Probably the shop's attempt to shift some of the Xbox's its got sitting about on the shelves and not have to put up with people constantly asking "Quand la ps5 est-elle à nouveau en stock s'il vous plaît?"

This whole article is a bit of a damp squid.

Very stupid move by retailer, tbh.

@Godot25 I don’t disagree. My comment was more on the reaction by certain elements. I stand by my stance since it was announced. It’s bad for everyone as it means less games. Ignoring what they do with cod the other IPs will be lost in a big Xbox, Bethesda shuffle. Anyone who thinks these companies churn out the same amount of games they did - before covid and the take takeovers is on another planet. So everyone including Xbox owners (I am one) will get less games. Some may claim they’d have got less games anyway because shift in market. May have a point. It’s hard to call that one.

It's good to have both the latest Xbox and PlayStation. Having said that, it's also good to see PlayStation fans freak out the way they have been for the last year plus after seven plus years of hearing the same thing from them over and over.

It's interesting and amusing to see this all happen in real time. Carry on and play what you play. Most enthusiasts like you guys will play the exclusive titles. Most casuals will gravitate towards the same old CoD FIFA/Madden GTA triumvirate that they go to every year. Kick back and watch how it plays out over the next few years.

Bruh I ain't played called of duty in years lol I'm cool

@GADG3Tx87 exactly what I was saying most games PS players have unless Activision makes some crazy game out of know where call of duty I haven't played in years because I don't enjoy it I've always liked BF more and plus now I have apex legends too

@Stocksy For me it has positive and negative elements. Devs in Acti-Blizz studios are cautiously positive and knowing how Phil and co. are treating devs, I have no reason to believe situation will no be better under Microsoft then it is under Kotick.

I fully expect Microsoft to de-annualize COD franchise because thanks to GP, they don't need to churn out game every year. No if you have TESVI, new Gears etc. coming. And by that they can give freedom to support studios (Toys for Bob, High Moon, Vicarious etc.) to do other games.

If this will be true, we will get better Call of Duty, more games from ActiBlizz side and better treated devs.

Two downsides of this deal is ActiBlizz games on PlayStation and worries about game industry consolidation. And while first one sucks ass for PS gamers, second one is just extension of "we won't get Acti-Blizz games" because there isn't much a case for monopoly from Microsoft.

Tencent and Embracer are buying studios left and right, and nobody gives a ***** because they keeps games multiplatform. And even with deal closed, PlayStation would have higher revenue then Xbox.

Don't really give two hoots who posted that little peice of informative gold, but as someone already pointed out, perhaps Microsoft can buy EA next and lock all the other monstrosites down.

Activision is a greedy and sleazy company who lost sight of things many many years ago.....

Anything that furthers the prospect of never seeing that poisonous franchise on the playstation consoles is just fine by me. 👍

There's zealots in every fanbase, but why is it always Xbots getting over hyped qn have such a "ha ha u guyz" attitude?

Obvious xbot fans did this, do us all a favour an come back when you can release more than just Halo Forza and Gears still despite all those studio buyouts, Moneysoft gonna realise they need to build an nurture relationships with studios like Sony have.

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