November 24th 2024.
Will the new game from FromSoftware, Elden Ring: Shadow Of The Erdtree, be exclusively available on the PS5? One reader is expressing their frustration towards the possibility of Sony acquiring the creators of Dark Souls and Elden Ring, and blames Microsoft for initiating this trend.
When the news first broke about Sony potentially buying FromSoftware's parent company, it seemed like nothing more than a rumor. However, it was soon confirmed that Sony was indeed interested in the purchase. As a gamer who owns both an Xbox and PlayStation, I don't consider myself biased towards one or the other. But it's clear that this trend of buying up publishers and developers was started by Microsoft, and now Sony is just playing the same game. As a result, there are significantly fewer big name publishers in the industry compared to a decade ago.
Microsoft made a mistake by shutting down many of its first party developers at the end of the Xbox 360 era. When Phil Spencer took over, he realized this and began acquiring developers. However, none of these acquisitions made a significant impact on their bottom line. So, they moved on to buying Bethesda, and then Activision Blizzard. This has certainly helped Microsoft's profits, but it hasn't done much for their Xbox console, which is now being overshadowed. And it's not difficult to predict what will happen to these smaller companies now that Microsoft has a cash cow and no longer needs to worry about them.
It's clear that when things go wrong, Microsoft's go-to solution is to spend money. But they must have known the consequences of their actions when they started buying up other companies. And it's not just Sony that has responded to this trend, but other big publishers as well. They realized that if they want to keep their developers for themselves, they need to buy them before Microsoft does.
There have been reports that Sony bought Bungie to prevent them from being acquired by Microsoft. I'm sure there are people at Sony who regret this decision now, but at least they weren't taken by Microsoft. I personally believe that all of these acquisitions are bad for the industry, but Sony and other publishers had no choice but to respond in kind to keep up with Microsoft. It would have been better for FromSoftware to remain independent, but now they will likely only make PlayStation exclusives.
And this trend is not likely to stop. Ubisoft is rumored to be the next target, and then who will be left? EA, Take-Two, and perhaps Warner Bros.? It's a far cry from the multitude of publishers that existed just a few years ago, all competing with each other to produce better games for gamers. Now, there are only a handful of companies that own everything, and there is no real competition. Any game that is not an instant hit is at risk of getting its studio shut down.
It's concerning to think about how far this will go. Will someone buy EA? Will Japanese publishers also be acquired? And will it all end with just Microsoft and Sony competing against each other? One thing is for sure, I don't like where this trend is heading.
[This article has been trending online recently and has been generated with AI. Your feed is customized.]
[Generative AI is experimental.]
