Microsoft’s bringing some formerly-exclusive first party titles to Sony and Nintendo. AFAIK, there is no reciprocation on either end.
Which honestly isn’t as huge and earth-shattering of a deal as it sounds, as Microsoft has a history of bringing over exclusives… but this is a lot more than we’re used to seeing, and considering that Microsoft is currently the weakest platform, it might be the start of a change in tactics.
Nintendo really only has a small number of titles keeping them in the game and they’re all exclusive. If series like Pokemon and Mario became available on other consoles I’m not sure they’d survive, I think Sony can spare a few though.
There is this false belief that Nintendo is the poor third force in the market, with two IP’s and on the brink of collapse.
Nintendo is the best of all. He sells a tablet that was already obsolete when it came out and earns a disproportionate amount of money. It is the house with the most proprietary and first party IPs. It’s practically always first in Japan.
Nintendo is the healthiest and richest company of all.
I always assume Sony is doing the worst followed by Xbox and then high above them is Nintendo looking down on the pathetic fools who think that they can compete with PC.
Nintendo is the healthiest **GAME** company of the 3. Microsoft is a PC software company with a game division, and Sony is a consumer electronics company with a game division. Nintendo is the only one with gaming as its main focus.
The switch is possibly going to be the greatest selling console of all time by the end of this year, and you’re saying they’re only just keeping in the game? 🤣🤣🤣🤣
For Sony though Having the Playstation successful is a matter of survival cause there TV and Camera Division while profitable are not finance busters though there Mirrorless cameras rock. There phone division is a tiny sliver of the Android market and even smaller in the overall phone market. Sony heavily leans of the Playstation brand and income overall Nintendo while prob smaller in a way than Sony has virtually no debt and lot’s of cash reserves industry analysts believe Nintendo could if they cut right back could run the company for over 10 years making no money before they ran… Read more »
Makes sense when you think about it for four reasons. Despite what these comics say, Nintendo isn’t really in the console wars but they’re doing their own thing. In fact, I pointed out that the Switch is the supplementary console for PS4/XB1 and even for PS5/XBoxX. If you own one and a Switch, you don’t really need the other except for a couple first party games. As for Sony, there were increasing signs during 2023 that Sony is internally entertaining the idea of switching over to being a software-only publisher as they are increasingly releasing their exclusives on Steam as… Read more »
I don’t follow this stuff mostly because Sony disappointed me, MS I’ve always had a love/hate relationship (PC user a lot of the time), and Nintendo is okay, but I’m not as able with the little sticks and pads and whatnot and the gameplace they offer. So: If Sony were to drop the hardware, and Switch is doing its own thing, does this mean that most games are going to happen on PCs (or Steam Decks or the like) versus consoles? Wasn’t everyone telling us that PCs were dead for gaming platforms (I recall that)…? What about all the folks… Read more »
Microsoft isn’t the weakest platform; they’re just playing by different rules. You can’t possibly forget that they recently devoured several huge game publishers and their catalogs. They’re not making money off of console sales; they’re making it off of Xbox live subscriptions, which they can get from both Xbox and PC players. Not to mention now they’re getting income from PC players buying the games without the subscriptions.
Honestly, I’m surprised Tim hasn’t drawn this comic showing the Xboxes getting PC reinforcements.
There is this false belief that Nintendo is the poor third force in the market, with two IP’s and on the brink of collapse.
Nintendo is the best of all. He sells a tablet that was already obsolete when it came out and earns a disproportionate amount of money. It is the house with the most proprietary and first party IPs. It’s practically always first in Japan.
Nintendo is the healthiest and richest company of all.
I mean – I’d say that of all three, Sony is the one that’s the most stable. Nintendo’s doing fantastic at the moment, but they’re transitioning to next gen and that’s always precarious. Plus… there’s a *reason* they use underpowered hardware and go after a wider market.
I do think that their focus on lower-powered hardware has really helped them out, because they don’t need to have the same insane level of financial and time investment in each game that Sony and Microsoft does, and they can then take more risks.
Well, that one I’m not so familiar with. I know that Microsoft agreed to distribute Call of Duty across all platforms for the next ten years, but I didn’t think that extended to other games.
Right now, we’ve got Pentiment, and the rumors are that it’ll be Grounded, Sea of Thieves, and something else. I haven’t paid too much attention since last month when the news hit.
I decided to look it up; from the sounds of it they offered up to the UK CMA the entire Activision-Blizzard games catalog to their competitors. So this could be what it’s about.
Laughing and thank you’s, more than anything else. Microsoft has no choice since their console marketing ploys last year went the wrong direction sales wise (-24%). At the same time the PS5 sales were up by 77%, surpassing the Switch(-17%). The Switch has been around the longest and has always sold more consoles than the X/S consoles. Microsoft needs the money to stay afloat, and they know from Tomb Raider that the PS5 is far better the choice for single player games.
JozMk.II
8 months ago
Ah, here’s the cliffhanger! Admittedly good choice for a time to break away from the main storyline
Lord Foxxy Foxington
8 months ago
So in this fight Nintendo is winning and has the majority of the big guns, right?
Yes, Nintendo is winning, and they have some of the biggest and most well-made guns being used in the entire war.
…
But all of their guns can only shoot 9mm ammo.
In the series here at CAD, or as a console as a whole? In RL Nintendo has always been a force to be reckoned with. Gameboy (colour), NES, SNES, 64, GC, and switch were all booming. Even with missteps like the WII they were surviving. They have ironically been the most innovative of the bunch, trying out many different ways to interact with the games. Their power isn’t in the graphics, it was gameplay. If I come together with 3 friends I generally grab a Nintendo device. Hell on the next LAN we’ll have a SSB tournament with 8 players,… Read more »
The Wii wasn’t a misstep. It made them a LOT of money. Mostly because it appealed to casual gamers and to older folks who didn’t game at all, but found the motion controls a fun way to play with their kids. It was the WiiU that hurt Nintendo. Sales for that unit were awful. (Though I own one and really liked it.) Probably the problem with that console is that most casual Wii owners didn’t see a reason to upgrade when the only difference was graphical improvements, and hard core gamers regarded it as an underpowered console. And it didn’t… Read more »
There were missteps in the Wii era. It did amazing, but Nintendo lost their grip with their core market AND their casual market halfway through its lifespan, and phones and tablets started snatching up that casual market. Wii only did amazing for the first half of its lifespan.
The Wii U is not the first misstep; the Wii U is a failure to accurately see the failures of the Wii and course correct appropriately.
Marsh
8 months ago
Give them bugged weaponry. Got it.
Gonfrask
8 months ago
At least he is not trying to get “kill yourself and five enemies with a grenade” achievement…
Bwauder
8 months ago
Nothing wrong with giving the enemy 1/2 of the new weapons supplied, as long as it uses a completely different ammunition type to anything else available, and you forget to give them any of that.
199x: PC gaming is dead (image of the consoles laying combined fire into a beige husk, somehow still staggering forwards).
Various dates, similar, adjusted for the generation.
Switch launch: Nintendo high command deciding to go where the PC can’t follow.
Steam deck launch:
Robert
8 months ago
No, not after getting a ping.
Robert 'CockRoach' Archer
8 months ago
Anyone else getting some RvB vibes from this one?
Figgly
7 months ago
looks like the theories were right. the people behind this war aren’t interested in winning it, they’re interested in keeping it going forever.
Eldest Gruff
7 months ago
Ahhh, so this is where Nintendo and Microsoft meet up for lunch every other week and discuss Minecraft and adding more characters to Smash.
Jim
7 months ago
I keep hoping for the Steam Deck to arrive. I imagine it as “Master Blaster” from Mad Max: the small but manipulative munchkin that rides on the shoulders of PC/Steam gaming.
24
I don’t follow consoles much, does that reference some sort of cross-console compatibility, or no-longer-exclusive titles?
Microsoft putting out Activision games on PS5 and Switch.
Microsoft’s bringing some formerly-exclusive first party titles to Sony and Nintendo. AFAIK, there is no reciprocation on either end.
Which honestly isn’t as huge and earth-shattering of a deal as it sounds, as Microsoft has a history of bringing over exclusives… but this is a lot more than we’re used to seeing, and considering that Microsoft is currently the weakest platform, it might be the start of a change in tactics.
Nintendo really only has a small number of titles keeping them in the game and they’re all exclusive. If series like Pokemon and Mario became available on other consoles I’m not sure they’d survive, I think Sony can spare a few though.
First – Mario and Pokemon aren’t series; they’re franchises, each with multiple different series under them.
Second – the total number of exclusive IP that Nintendo has dwarfs what Sony has.
… have you ever taken a look at the Smash Bros roster?
There is this false belief that Nintendo is the poor third force in the market, with two IP’s and on the brink of collapse.
Nintendo is the best of all. He sells a tablet that was already obsolete when it came out and earns a disproportionate amount of money. It is the house with the most proprietary and first party IPs. It’s practically always first in Japan.
Nintendo is the healthiest and richest company of all.
I always assume Sony is doing the worst followed by Xbox and then high above them is Nintendo looking down on the pathetic fools who think that they can compete with PC.
Nintendo is the healthiest **GAME** company of the 3. Microsoft is a PC software company with a game division, and Sony is a consumer electronics company with a game division. Nintendo is the only one with gaming as its main focus.
The switch is possibly going to be the greatest selling console of all time by the end of this year, and you’re saying they’re only just keeping in the game? 🤣🤣🤣🤣
For Sony though Having the Playstation successful is a matter of survival cause there TV and Camera Division while profitable are not finance busters though there Mirrorless cameras rock. There phone division is a tiny sliver of the Android market and even smaller in the overall phone market. Sony heavily leans of the Playstation brand and income overall Nintendo while prob smaller in a way than Sony has virtually no debt and lot’s of cash reserves industry analysts believe Nintendo could if they cut right back could run the company for over 10 years making no money before they ran… Read more »
Makes sense when you think about it for four reasons. Despite what these comics say, Nintendo isn’t really in the console wars but they’re doing their own thing. In fact, I pointed out that the Switch is the supplementary console for PS4/XB1 and even for PS5/XBoxX. If you own one and a Switch, you don’t really need the other except for a couple first party games. As for Sony, there were increasing signs during 2023 that Sony is internally entertaining the idea of switching over to being a software-only publisher as they are increasingly releasing their exclusives on Steam as… Read more »
I don’t follow this stuff mostly because Sony disappointed me, MS I’ve always had a love/hate relationship (PC user a lot of the time), and Nintendo is okay, but I’m not as able with the little sticks and pads and whatnot and the gameplace they offer. So: If Sony were to drop the hardware, and Switch is doing its own thing, does this mean that most games are going to happen on PCs (or Steam Decks or the like) versus consoles? Wasn’t everyone telling us that PCs were dead for gaming platforms (I recall that)…? What about all the folks… Read more »
Microsoft isn’t the weakest platform; they’re just playing by different rules. You can’t possibly forget that they recently devoured several huge game publishers and their catalogs. They’re not making money off of console sales; they’re making it off of Xbox live subscriptions, which they can get from both Xbox and PC players. Not to mention now they’re getting income from PC players buying the games without the subscriptions.
Honestly, I’m surprised Tim hasn’t drawn this comic showing the Xboxes getting PC reinforcements.
There is this false belief that Nintendo is the poor third force in the market, with two IP’s and on the brink of collapse.
Nintendo is the best of all. He sells a tablet that was already obsolete when it came out and earns a disproportionate amount of money. It is the house with the most proprietary and first party IPs. It’s practically always first in Japan.
Nintendo is the healthiest and richest company of all.
I mean – I’d say that of all three, Sony is the one that’s the most stable. Nintendo’s doing fantastic at the moment, but they’re transitioning to next gen and that’s always precarious. Plus… there’s a *reason* they use underpowered hardware and go after a wider market.
I do think that their focus on lower-powered hardware has really helped them out, because they don’t need to have the same insane level of financial and time investment in each game that Sony and Microsoft does, and they can then take more risks.
I don’t think it’s a change of tactics. Wasn’t this a part of the anti-trust agreement for acquiring Activision-Blizzard?
Well, that one I’m not so familiar with. I know that Microsoft agreed to distribute Call of Duty across all platforms for the next ten years, but I didn’t think that extended to other games.
Right now, we’ve got Pentiment, and the rumors are that it’ll be Grounded, Sea of Thieves, and something else. I haven’t paid too much attention since last month when the news hit.
I decided to look it up; from the sounds of it they offered up to the UK CMA the entire Activision-Blizzard games catalog to their competitors. So this could be what it’s about.
Ah, the breakdown of exclusives. Sort of.
Wonder what’s going on in the PS camp.
I can only imagine rage and haughty laughing.
Their comms are down.
Laughing and thank you’s, more than anything else. Microsoft has no choice since their console marketing ploys last year went the wrong direction sales wise (-24%). At the same time the PS5 sales were up by 77%, surpassing the Switch(-17%). The Switch has been around the longest and has always sold more consoles than the X/S consoles. Microsoft needs the money to stay afloat, and they know from Tomb Raider that the PS5 is far better the choice for single player games.
Ah, here’s the cliffhanger! Admittedly good choice for a time to break away from the main storyline
So in this fight Nintendo is winning and has the majority of the big guns, right?
Yes, Nintendo is winning, and they have some of the biggest and most well-made guns being used in the entire war.
…
But all of their guns can only shoot 9mm ammo.
9mm too big. Only ammo they have is 22LR.
9mm casings and paint rounds.
It took them a long time to be relevant in the console war series, but they’re doing fairly well now.
In the series here at CAD, or as a console as a whole? In RL Nintendo has always been a force to be reckoned with. Gameboy (colour), NES, SNES, 64, GC, and switch were all booming. Even with missteps like the WII they were surviving. They have ironically been the most innovative of the bunch, trying out many different ways to interact with the games. Their power isn’t in the graphics, it was gameplay. If I come together with 3 friends I generally grab a Nintendo device. Hell on the next LAN we’ll have a SSB tournament with 8 players,… Read more »
The Wii wasn’t a misstep. It made them a LOT of money. Mostly because it appealed to casual gamers and to older folks who didn’t game at all, but found the motion controls a fun way to play with their kids. It was the WiiU that hurt Nintendo. Sales for that unit were awful. (Though I own one and really liked it.) Probably the problem with that console is that most casual Wii owners didn’t see a reason to upgrade when the only difference was graphical improvements, and hard core gamers regarded it as an underpowered console. And it didn’t… Read more »
There were missteps in the Wii era. It did amazing, but Nintendo lost their grip with their core market AND their casual market halfway through its lifespan, and phones and tablets started snatching up that casual market. Wii only did amazing for the first half of its lifespan.
The Wii U is not the first misstep; the Wii U is a failure to accurately see the failures of the Wii and course correct appropriately.
Give them bugged weaponry. Got it.
At least he is not trying to get “kill yourself and five enemies with a grenade” achievement…
Nothing wrong with giving the enemy 1/2 of the new weapons supplied, as long as it uses a completely different ammunition type to anything else available, and you forget to give them any of that.
Half their weapons – as in ‘the outside, not the key internal parts’ or ‘got the firearms, lack the firing pin…’
Is that aimed at a specific product or just general cross platform play?
More to the fact that Microsoft is planning to release quite a few of their exclusives on PS5 and Switch
The Microsoft facility is looking a bit blown out. Either that or it’s a bold new decor during wartime.
Think that was entirely on purpose.
Guess they need to lay a foundation for a truce or even alliance for the inevitable invasion of the Valve Boards.
199x: PC gaming is dead (image of the consoles laying combined fire into a beige husk, somehow still staggering forwards).
Various dates, similar, adjusted for the generation.
Switch launch: Nintendo high command deciding to go where the PC can’t follow.
Steam deck launch:
No, not after getting a ping.
Anyone else getting some RvB vibes from this one?
looks like the theories were right. the people behind this war aren’t interested in winning it, they’re interested in keeping it going forever.
Ahhh, so this is where Nintendo and Microsoft meet up for lunch every other week and discuss Minecraft and adding more characters to Smash.
I keep hoping for the Steam Deck to arrive. I imagine it as “Master Blaster” from Mad Max: the small but manipulative munchkin that rides on the shoulders of PC/Steam gaming.
In this setting, the equivalent to Blaster would be a civilized non-combatant of the Steam faith.
When you put it like that, it sounds bad.
Crossplay at the crossroads. Can be something similar to the Christmas Truce that had happened during World War I.