@theam0g: "You are literally clueless when it comes to business and it shows."
True, I don't have an MBA, but I do know enough about the gaming business to know that if the slow rolling out of ABK content onto Game Pass was due to regulatory hurdles, they can outright say so and likely would, but they are not. They're not claiming its due to some transitional logistical challenges either, nor would such an excuse make much sense if they did. It's frustrating not having a clear answer why they're slow rolling their content onto Game Pass, and more so having waited until zero hour after nearly 2 years of regulatory oversight to start manage expectations about when content will arrive only now.
If it's due to lingering contractual obligations with Sony, we know that would prompt silence and ambiguity over NDAs. And we know the kind of terms Sony includes in their marketing arrangements since the RE8 marketing contract leak, where titles are prohibited from being on subscription services 1 year from release, plus a 120 day priority negotiation window to match any price a competitor would offer to bring games to a subscription service. This can be assumed to be boilerplate for Sony and explains why both Deathloop and Tokyo Ghostwire had to be added to PS Plus at same time they released on Game Pass or else Microsoft would have to wait an extra 4 months to release it on Game Pass. They could have released those for sale then add them to Game Pass later, but that weakens their commitment to offer first party games to Game Pass on release. The implications of Sony's marketing terms were made more clear by the totality of these circumstances.
If the slow roll out of ABK content were for similar considerations, MW2 (2022) can plausibly arrive on Game Pass one year after release if it releases on PS Plus at same time, but I don't think MS will do this though because it's too big of a game to just give Sony cheap just to overcome a contractual hurdles. That means waiting an additional 120 days after the one year post launch to add it to Game Pass. If same terms apply for MW3, that there similar contractual obligations with Sony, the same thing, it'll be added to Game Pass in 2025 for same reasons.
As for Modern Warfare 2 (2022), they said early 2024 generally for their games, but if I have no idea what I'm talking about then I'd be far off the mark to expect MW2 (2022) specifically no earlier than Februrary 25th 2024 because that'd be 1 year plus 120 days. Deathloop took 1 year + 6 days to to end up Xbox with the 1 year exclusivity deal, Ghostwire Tokyo took 1 year + 18 days. Microsoft also had to negotiate with Sony just to get those games on PS Plus (to close the 120 day priority negotiation window) so perhaps that's why it took 6/18 days after the 1 year ended to see these on Xbox and Game Pass, and perhaps this won't be a hurdle since it doesn't appear Microsoft will add these to PS Plus to get them on Game Pass quicker, and if that's not the case, we'll see how close to February 25th MW2 (2022) releases on Game Pass.
This of course assumes the ABK communique is in line about Microsoft's plans. Microsoft could always offer MW2 on Game Pass but if Sony's contracts are still relevant, they'd have to offer it on PS Plus at same time. Or perhaps the ABK representative who made this comment wasn't privy to the details of the new contract Microsoft hammered out with Sony, whereby the 10 year commitment nullifies any of these remaining obligations, in exchange for the commitment, adjusting the royalty split back to industry standard 30% instead of the 15% the FTC leaked Sony was taking to have the COD marketing deal, plus whether they'll still have timed exclusive DLC access they had arranged prior. But we won't know until we see content roll out and can contemplate the reasons for the timing.
Sure, pure speculation on my part, not to any one thing but to a number of different scenarios that could play out, but I stand by my reasons to see these as potential scenarios of content rollout. That doesn't mean I don't know business in a basic sense. I shouldn't be faulted for not having access to privileged information. But if you have a stronger grasp of what's going on, what's going to happen, when, please, enlighten me, enlighten the rest of us, I'd just like to know what's going on at this point, because frankly everyone seems in the dark about this slow rollout of ABK content.
So please, mock my business savvy and come at me like some master of the universe business professional yuppy who snorts coke off a luxury hookers tits through rolled up edition of some Six Sigma magazine and screaming at the moon "this is business people!", you clearly know better, so please, shouldn't be a problem to tell me: what content can we expect, when can we expect it, and why will the content arrive when it does? I really would love to know. I got no shame on being wrong, I'd love to be wrong, I'd love in a week or two we see the entire ABK catalog dumped onto Game Pass so I can enjoy it. I have no reason to think that'd be the case, I'd love it to be.
I previously mentioned this ambiguity can be interpreted as Microsoft merely trying to help pay for the deal by refusing to add it to Game Pass to maximize revenues of ABK content through the holidays. The pickle being if this is not the case and this is due to contractual obligations with Sony, they can't say enough to deny the notion, but just my opinion, they need to as ambiguously as possible say the delay is to contractual obligations and leave it at that, let Sony try to litigate a breach of some NDA and try proving to an arbitrator any amount harm was done by such a statement. Otherwise, this silence can, depending on the mob mentality of the gaming community, potentially come back to bite Microsoft in the ass by people just assuming Microsoft is withholding content for money, i.e. they're being greedy.
I wouldn't humor such a notion but the fact Diablo IV will also be slow rolled out gives me pause about the excuse of Sony contractual obligations. I never paid the game much mind but I've seen no indication there's been a marketing arrangement with Sony for the game, hence it wouldn't make sense to be delayed as such. This potentially points to MS being greedy, or at very least, that'll be the ammo for those pushing such a narrative, and I've no doubt haters will go there.
There is one scenario I've contemplated but I've never explored the specifics of in the past, but essentially murmerings of Sony's exclusionary deals don't just center around specific games, but can also loosely encompass a developer or publisher's catalog, controlling what other games they can release on a competitor's system or service. While this would be a gross over-reach of Sony and blatantly anticompetitive, yet the notion might give me hope as well, a sense of optimism about what it means if content starts rolling out in early 2024.
This could be a scenario where such wide exclusionary terms were tied to the MW2 (2022) deal, whereby Microsoft could have renegotiated the MW3 (2023) deal to no longer include 1 year prohibition from competing services, the 120 day priority negotiation window, in exchange for higher royalty cut, but can't be put it into action as a day one Game Pass release until MW2's broader lingering terms expire, thus no Game Pass at launch. That could mean MW2/MW3, and everything else being held back by Sony's lingering terms tied to MW2 (2022) would be dumped onto the service at roughly the same time, when the 1 year + 120 days expires for it, late February next year. I like this scenario best. It's a reach, but a most optimistic outlook considering the ambiguity of the slow roll out of content. That'd at least provide explanation as to Diablo IV's delay to Game Pass,. But, that's one potential explanation, others could be simply Sony despite not having a comprehensive deal still paid ABK to exclude it from Game Pass. Or perhaps MS is just being greedy. We won't know because nobody will say jack shit to provide clarity.
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