5 ms·

I hate to see a monopoly in the gaming industry. Controlling the content will prevent any competition both in gaming consoles and in PC gaming. Forget about gam

I hate to see a monopoly in the gaming industry. Controlling the content will prevent any competition both in gaming consoles and in PC gaming. Forget about gaming on Linux or any new platform. Forget about sony's PlayStation and Nintendo. We are going to see the real face of Microsoft. What do you think Microsoft will do next? Buy unreal engine and unity and have control over the content and the tools to make them? We NEED open source game engines (Godot, Bevy) more than ever.

nivenkos 5y ago
Seems they're more likely to target the games than the engines though? They have so much money they could easily buy Ubisoft, EA and Take-Two and make all major games Xbox and Windows 11+ exclusives.
oneoff786 5y ago
I think no chance that Tim Sweeney sells Epic. Unity is a public company and I think would benefit immensely from being acquired by Microsoft.
- faisal_ksa 5y ago
  Everything is for sale for the right price. And what is good for Unity does not mean it's good for the consumers.
  - oneoff786 5y ago
    Well unity is dropping the ball hard for consumers so something different would likely be an improvement
- kizer 5y ago
  I made this point in another comment thread, but I think MS would make a competitor to Unreal/Unity instead. Think of all the game engine talent they now have. The IW engine for CoD, Halo’s slipspace, WoW. They could readily assemble a team to build an engine on par with Unreal.
  - oneoff786 5y ago
    I could see it happen, but I feel a lot of these home grown engines are just too driven by tribal knowledge to be easily released to the public.
    - sk0g 5y ago
      If it's any consolation, so too is Unreal, from my experience. A lot of the times the only documentation on a feature will be random Youtubers, and an official 3 hour stream from 4 years ago. Oh and the source code, of course.
- gimmeThaBeet 5y ago
  I agree, imo unless something drastic changes, there's little chance Tim Sweeney sells control of epic. But I believe Tencent bought nearly half of it all the way back in 2012 I think? I think they raised money from some PE groups a few years ago, the internet seems to agree that Tencent still has 40%? But, it being a private company, I wouldn't stake too much on the accuracy of that. Point is I agree it's not for sale, for the reason you describe, but also that one of the leviathans already has nearly the entire minority interest.
  - Danieru 5y ago
    > internet seems to agree that Tencent still has 40%? The internet has no updated information based thr original press release. Since that 40% Sonys purchase would have further diluted tencent. The only thing we know for sure, because he's said so: is Tim has a controlling stake. We do not know if there is a dual class of shares, but that would be a simple tactic to maintaining comtrol.
cududa 5y ago
You can run gamepass on Linux, so when all these games hit gamepass (which they will) it’s a net positive for Linux gamers.
- belthesar 5y ago
  If you've got a lead on how to do this, I'm interested. Last I looked, Gamepass on Linux only worked for streamed titles through a browser.
- vymague 5y ago
  How? Quick googling says no.
- faisal_ksa 5y ago
  You could run them on Linux for how long? MS will not allow any competition for its dominance over PC gaming. And trust me, they will use gamepass against Linux gaming and Valve and others.
  - skohan 5y ago
    Yeah exactly, MS will only play nice as long as they have to. If they own most of the popular AAA titles, you'd better believe everyone is going to have to use their launcher, with DRM which doesn't work on Proton, and log in to a MS account to play games.
  - intrasight 5y ago
    How much longer do you think "PC gaming" is going to be a thing? Do you think it'll make the transition to VR? I don't.
    - recursive 5y ago
      Nor do I, but I think non-VR gaming is going to be bigger than VR gaming for a long time, maybe forever.
      - 5y ago
TameAntelope 5y ago
A real monopoly in video gaming isn't nearly as valuable as it first seems. Firstly, "video gaming" is really competing against things like reading a book, walking your dog, board games, etc., so it's not like Microsoft can just start jacking up prices and people will have nowhere to go with their time. Secondly, creating and releasing new games has never been easier. So many small indie game companies are creating great games to compete with blockbusters like CoD and LoL, the ecosystem for game development is plenty healthy, with or without Activision belonging to Microsoft. Thirdly, they haven't done what you're saying with the games they have released; you can play Minecraft on the Switch [0]. Maybe wait for Microsoft to actually do the thing you're worried about before criticizing them for it! They have had opportunities to be exclusive and they haven't taken them, so it's not so simple as to just assume they will no matter what. I'm not worried about the industry, but I am cautiously optimistic about what Microsoft will be able to do with some IP that I've loved for most of my life. [0] - https://www.nintendo.com/games/detail/minecraft-switch/ https://www.nintendo.com/games/detail/minecraft-switch/
- avrionov 5y ago
  Reading books lost the competition long time ago.
- DaiPlusPlus 5y ago
  > Firstly, "video gaming" is really competing against things like reading a book, walking your dog, board games, etc You're not wrong, but I can't agree with this.
  - TameAntelope 5y ago
    I avoided saying the words in my parent comment to try and minimize controversy, but if you're interested in learning more, what I describe is referred to as the "attention economy"[0]. The "information overload" problem has been known about for at least 40 years! [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attention_economy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attention_economy
  - klabb3 5y ago
danhab99 5y ago
I'm worried that the gaming industry is on a decline. Some of the biggest games are >5 years old, I can't think of a big franchise that started in the last 5 years, the steam greenlight program is a pile of shit, and new games are getting held to the standard of existing games which discourages new-comers. I almost wanna throw my hands up and give in, like how big can a problem be before it stops being a problem.
- jayd16 5y ago
  Valheim, Fall Guys, Genshin Impact we're in the last few years.
- jonny_eh 5y ago
  See: https://www.twitch.tv/directory?sort=VIEWER_COUNT https://www.twitch.tv/directory?sort=VIEWER_COUNT Looks like Rust, Valorant, Apex Legends, and Escape from Tarkov are in the top 10 on Twitch. All came out within the past 5 years.
- simooooo 5y ago

nivenkos 5y ago

Seems they're more likely to target the games than the engines though? They have so much money they could easily buy Ubisoft, EA and Take-Two and make all major games Xbox and Windows 11+ exclusives.

oneoff786 5y ago

I think no chance that Tim Sweeney sells Epic. Unity is a public company and I think would benefit immensely from being acquired by Microsoft.

faisal_ksa 5y ago
Everything is for sale for the right price. And what is good for Unity does not mean it's good for the consumers.
- oneoff786 5y ago
  Well unity is dropping the ball hard for consumers so something different would likely be an improvement
kizer 5y ago
I made this point in another comment thread, but I think MS would make a competitor to Unreal/Unity instead. Think of all the game engine talent they now have. The IW engine for CoD, Halo’s slipspace, WoW. They could readily assemble a team to build an engine on par with Unreal.
- oneoff786 5y ago
  I could see it happen, but I feel a lot of these home grown engines are just too driven by tribal knowledge to be easily released to the public.
  - sk0g 5y ago
    If it's any consolation, so too is Unreal, from my experience. A lot of the times the only documentation on a feature will be random Youtubers, and an official 3 hour stream from 4 years ago. Oh and the source code, of course.
gimmeThaBeet 5y ago
I agree, imo unless something drastic changes, there's little chance Tim Sweeney sells control of epic. But I believe Tencent bought nearly half of it all the way back in 2012 I think? I think they raised money from some PE groups a few years ago, the internet seems to agree that Tencent still has 40%? But, it being a private company, I wouldn't stake too much on the accuracy of that. Point is I agree it's not for sale, for the reason you describe, but also that one of the leviathans already has nearly the entire minority interest.
- Danieru 5y ago
  > internet seems to agree that Tencent still has 40%? The internet has no updated information based thr original press release. Since that 40% Sonys purchase would have further diluted tencent. The only thing we know for sure, because he's said so: is Tim has a controlling stake. We do not know if there is a dual class of shares, but that would be a simple tactic to maintaining comtrol.

cududa 5y ago

You can run gamepass on Linux, so when all these games hit gamepass (which they will) it’s a net positive for Linux gamers.

belthesar 5y ago
If you've got a lead on how to do this, I'm interested. Last I looked, Gamepass on Linux only worked for streamed titles through a browser.
vymague 5y ago
How? Quick googling says no.
faisal_ksa 5y ago
You could run them on Linux for how long? MS will not allow any competition for its dominance over PC gaming. And trust me, they will use gamepass against Linux gaming and Valve and others.
- skohan 5y ago
  Yeah exactly, MS will only play nice as long as they have to. If they own most of the popular AAA titles, you'd better believe everyone is going to have to use their launcher, with DRM which doesn't work on Proton, and log in to a MS account to play games.
- intrasight 5y ago
  How much longer do you think "PC gaming" is going to be a thing? Do you think it'll make the transition to VR? I don't.
  - recursive 5y ago
    Nor do I, but I think non-VR gaming is going to be bigger than VR gaming for a long time, maybe forever.
    - 5y ago

TameAntelope 5y ago

A real monopoly in video gaming isn't nearly as valuable as it first seems. Firstly, "video gaming" is really competing against things like reading a book, walking your dog, board games, etc., so it's not like Microsoft can just start jacking up prices and people will have nowhere to go with their time. Secondly, creating and releasing new games has never been easier. So many small indie game companies are creating great games to compete with blockbusters like CoD and LoL, the ecosystem for game development is plenty healthy, with or without Activision belonging to Microsoft. Thirdly, they haven't done what you're saying with the games they have released; you can play Minecraft on the Switch [0]. Maybe wait for Microsoft to actually do the thing you're worried about before criticizing them for it! They have had opportunities to be exclusive and they haven't taken them, so it's not so simple as to just assume they will no matter what. I'm not worried about the industry, but I am cautiously optimistic about what Microsoft will be able to do with some IP that I've loved for most of my life. [0] - https://www.nintendo.com/games/detail/minecraft-switch/ https://www.nintendo.com/games/detail/minecraft-switch/

avrionov 5y ago
Reading books lost the competition long time ago.
DaiPlusPlus 5y ago
> Firstly, "video gaming" is really competing against things like reading a book, walking your dog, board games, etc You're not wrong, but I can't agree with this.
- TameAntelope 5y ago
  I avoided saying the words in my parent comment to try and minimize controversy, but if you're interested in learning more, what I describe is referred to as the "attention economy"[0]. The "information overload" problem has been known about for at least 40 years! [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attention_economy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attention_economy
- klabb3 5y ago

danhab99 5y ago

I'm worried that the gaming industry is on a decline. Some of the biggest games are >5 years old, I can't think of a big franchise that started in the last 5 years, the steam greenlight program is a pile of shit, and new games are getting held to the standard of existing games which discourages new-comers. I almost wanna throw my hands up and give in, like how big can a problem be before it stops being a problem.

jayd16 5y ago
Valheim, Fall Guys, Genshin Impact we're in the last few years.
jonny_eh 5y ago
See: https://www.twitch.tv/directory?sort=VIEWER_COUNT https://www.twitch.tv/directory?sort=VIEWER_COUNT Looks like Rust, Valorant, Apex Legends, and Escape from Tarkov are in the top 10 on Twitch. All came out within the past 5 years.
simooooo 5y ago