Hallelujah Hippokrates

 Someone needs to buy themselves a mirror!

Whilst the world moves on, there is one company stuck very much in the same war they've waged for over a year now, standing up with the FTC to argue for what they consider to be inalienable rights. That's right, Sony are still very much staunch in their battle against Microsoft to prevent the Activision acquisition that the mega-company put up the money for an age and a half ago- dragging out proceedings far part their seemly natural span. As we are now the UK are bulging out their eyes at the Microsoft purchase as though this country has any amount of power when it comes to the Entertainment industry. We already saw them balk and cower when it came to sticking any sort of regulations on the 'Lootbox industrial complex', now we're going to believe that this government are going to risk Activision, the publisher of some of the biggest titles in the country, skipping out from the market? In this proto-recession? As if.

But still we have to play along with the presumption that the world is 'one bad day away' from cutting off Microsoft from Activision in fear of that 'one big monopoly' eventuality that most industries sail away just happily with. (I guess gaming hasn't paid enough blood money to the corruption machines yet. But that topic is neither here nor there for the moment.) In truth, the very spirit of this injunction spits in the face of 'fair competition' for squeaking out an interpretation of the current industry completely anathema to the reality that rest of us actually live within. There is obviously a huge line to cross whereupon Microsoft would certainly make themselves monopolists to cross, buying a popular studio when they are the least popular console on the market right now is certainly not it. And the fact that the leaders of the console market right now are supporting these blocking attempts should really spell that out in plain text.

Microsoft have been very explicit in their promise that Activision absolutely won't be pulling any upcoming Call of Duty games from the Sony console following the purchase. But rather bask in the good grace of that compromise, the Sony executives have done nothing but whine and cry incessantly about the fact that anyone else gets to dive into the world of exclusivity instead of them. Despite the fact that Playstation cut its teeth and securing high quality exclusive titles that established their platform as the only place to enjoy the pinnacle of gaming art- they can't seem so stomach anyone else even hinting at becoming competition. As though embodying a new-world Odysseus who's hubris led him to swipe away Athena's Olive branch: Sony have declared that they will straight up refuse to tell Activision the specs of their follow-up console if the deal goes through, essentially forcing Activision to go exclusive for Microsoft somewhere down the line. Is this self-destructive behaviour at this point?

And more recently Sony have decided to weaponize the recent reveal of Starfield and it's many exciting figures as a prime example of Microsoft exploiting their powers to rip away Bethesda products from Sony, ignoring the fact that Sony have been a thorn in Bethesda's side for over a decade at this point! Bethesda games never seem able to run with any consistency on Sony hardware leading to tidal waves of bugs that slowed down everyone other platform in the bustle, Sony staunchly spat back at cross-play and cross-progression which halted any such plans for ESO or Fallout 76 and Sony fought back against the idea of player built mods so much that painful stipulations had to be laid on new player-built assets, download limits and all the fun stuff when it came to modding for Fallout 4. What a great 'relationship' to jeopardise.

However it would seem there's a little something more personal working behind Sony's vitriol in this sector. Some might remember the way that Sony acquired the rights to Deathloop for an exclusive year, and as it turns out that wasn't the only Bethesda product they had an eye on. Also in their crosshairs was Ghostwire Tokyo, which I always thought looked more like a Sony-geared game, and... hang on, Starfield? That's right, Sony was apparently in talks to buy exclusivity rights for Starfield and that triggered Microsoft to jump in and buy Bethesda for fear of losing one of their closet friendships. Sony are now crying the 'exclusivity alarm' thanks to a deal they themselves were eyeing up before it was snatched away from them! Pot meet kettle, I think!

This alone opens up a whole new world of dread because just think: what if PlayStation actually managed that deal? Xbox would be sunk, literally! All of their deals over the years have been to purchase studios that appeal to niches, but nothing with large mainstream appeal that could be considered a system seller. The best of Bethesda's best have always held that accolade, but if the dominant system had snatched it away then there would be no competition between Xbox and Sony whatsoever- the Series X, for all of it's apparent technological advantages would essentially be an oversized paperweight that exists only to play Halo Infinite. And if you're lukewarm on Halo? Nothing at all. But to be fully honest, that isn't the reason why I dread. I dread for Starfield' s future.

Because perhaps the most exciting thing about Starfield is the possibility for the modding community to go wild on the game after it launches. Tear it apart and put it back together again with the kind of mods that will challenge the very limits of what the game is and can be; I honestly think this will end up as one of Bethesda's most heavily modded titles. But what if Sony got their grubby mitts on it? Their best titles have fought for actual years to make it onto any other platform, by the time Starfield made it's way to the real fans (and I have absolutely no doubt in my mind that Bethesda would only ever had agreed to a limited term exclusivity; it would actually moronic to do anything else.) the wind would be lost from the sails and the allure of modding Starfield would have dulled. There would have been a community anyway, of course, but just look at Fallout 4's meagre modding scene as proof that when the game doesn't land as it should, the flower just doesn't blossom.

I'm not one for the wants of the megacorporations, and I could care less for Microsoft's monopolistic tendencies, but I hate a liar and a hypocrite even more. Sony builds it's condemnations on waifish foundations that wither to the slightest introspection, but they cower behind the false veneer of 'toughness' that paltry regulators feel it's their duty to put up. Microsoft should have judgemental eyes on how they choose to expand, and regulating power of injunction should be wielded if they go too far- but maybe those injunctions should wait until Microsoft declares any intent to actually deprive Sony of any of this content their terrified about losing. You know, the same way they've bought exclusive content from Activision for years before this deal? Here we are again, arguing about two companies playing a game that hurts the consumers most of all; gaming summarised neatly.