Activision-Blizzard games will not appear on any subscription services if the merger with Microsoft does not go through.

In a recent 111-page response letter to UK regulators, Microsoft reveals some rather interesting details about Activision's thoughts on subscriptions. According to Microsoft, who cites internal data and sworn testimony from executives, Activision has no plans to bring its big mainline games to a subscription service if the merger is not approved.

This is particularly interesting because of a pre-existing deal that Activision made with Sony. Some time ago Activision had signed a big multi-year marketing and licensing deal with Sony that offered exclusive Call of Duty content on PlayStation. Part of that contract stipulated that Activision could not release Call of Duty on Game Pass. According to Microsoft's recent statements to the CMA, Activision had no plans to release Call of Duty (or any of its big games) to Game Pass anyway.

Microsoft has suggested that Sony disrupt disrupt a business model that has delivered nearly 10 years of success in order to boost the value of PlayStation Plus.

Right now both Sony and Microsoft are going head-to-head with the Activision merger. Sony is arguing against the deal and says it will "threaten the gaming ecosystem," where as Microsoft argues the deal is great for consumers and competition. One of the main arguments is that Sony's PlayStation Plus will have a hard time competing should Activision games become offered exclusively to Game Pass and not available on PS Plus.

So what is Sony to do? Microsoft says that, at minimum, Sony could offer day-and-date releases of key first-party and third-party games on PlayStation Plus. In other words, Microsoft is advising Sony to essentially break the so-called "virtuous cycle" that has helped sustain the multi-billion dollar PlayStation empire.

Neither Sony nor Microsoft are willing to allow either company's competing services on their respective platforms.

Sony's latest response to the Microsoft-Activision merger reveals interesting new information. Sony tells UK regulatory body the CMA that Microsoft will not allow PlayStation Plus on Xbox, which presumably means the company tried to offer its subscription service on Microsoft's ecosystem.

Microsoft had likewise previously offered to bring Game Pass to Sony's platform, suggesting that PlayStation gamers could still access any content that would theoretically be Game Pass-exclusive and thereby circumventing one of the CMA's theories of harm arguments against the Microsoft-Activision merger.

Microsoft's recent comments about Grand Theft Auto 6's release date are based on rumors, not concrete information.

Microsoft recently made a 111-page response arguing why it should be allowed to merge with Activision. That document, which about as long as a novella by Stephen King, outlines a ton of information regarding the games industry, key metrics, and new releases. One of the games mentioned in Microsoft's response is a potential release year for Rockstar Games' massively anticipated GTA 6.

"The highly anticipated Grand Theft Auto VI is expected to be released in 2024," Microsoft wrote. But like everything else in this document, we have to check the sources. As it turns out, Microsoft--more specifically, Microsoft's lawyer--is directly basing this statement on a rumor post from TechRadar. Therefore it can't be taken as fact, or as something that Microsoft believes. Counsel is simply stating that the industry, analysts, and gamers believe it to be the case because of this article--not that Microsoft believes it to be the case.

If Microsoft is allowed to merge with Activision, then Xbox will become a "one stop shop" for shooter video games, Sony has told regulators.

Sony's latest response to the Microsoft-Activision merger has made some new arguments against the deal. Sony's core argument boldly claims the merger would threaten the games industry during a pivotal point, but more specific arguments include Microsoft acquiring a much larger share in the very lucrative shooter genre.

Sony has told the UK's Competition and Markets Authority that Microsoft would essentially hold too many popular FPS franchises following the Activision merger, including Call of Duty, which dominates the premium console shooter space with over $31 billion in revenues generated to date. Other franchises would include Overwatch, which certifiably became a billion-dollar series in 2017, joining other wholly-owned Xbox megahits like Halo.

Sony's latest response letter to UK regulators argues heavily against the Microsoft-Activision merger and uses very expressive language to describe multi-billion franchises like Call of Duty.

Before we delve any deeper, there's something I'd like to make clear in this article: This new document is not Sony's official response to the merger itself, but a direct response to the CMA's Issues Statement that was published on October 14. Sony's response was published on October 28 and is nearly 1 month old. It does not include recent developments or reflect recent statements made by Phil Spencer, e.g. the 10-year Call of Duty offer.

Sony's messaging has become much more specific and targeted in this brief. While Microsoft's tone with Call of Duty is now much more confident and adamantly against exclusivity, Sony's language makes it clear that the deal should not go through at all. There's some holes in Sony's arguments to be sure, and most of the document is re-asserting the CMA's position on the merger, but the platform-holder is making some stark and bold comments regarding the merger.

CD Projekt RED shows its peers how to do a real next-gen upgrade with The Witcher 3's impressively robust update.

New-gen game upgrades should be a lot more than simple visual upgrades--they should be more like The Witcher 3's upcoming re-release. CD Projekt RED has detailed the massive amount of added value that this upgrade brings to the core Witcher 3 experience, and many of the features actually help evolve and adapt the open-world RPG to a more modern day gaming market.

Apart from the significant visual upgrades on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S, which includes raytraced global illumination, optimized frame rates and FSR 2.0 / DLSS support, there's a bunch of great new additions that will improve gameplay. These big updates include a quick cast feature that will make it so you "never have to go into the radial spell menu ever again," a new dedicated photo mode, and an awesome new map feature that lets you filter out the messy icons. There's also quest fixes that will retroactively unlock across all platforms, and cross-save/progression that will allow PC gamers to pick up and play their old save on a PS5, for example. The console versions even include the HD Reworked mod.

Pokemon Scarlet and Violet has broken new sales records and the duo now has the biggest launch in franchise history.

Despite ongoing controversy regarding in-game performance and often-hilarious glitches, the new Pokemon duo on Switch is performing extremely well. The game has broken all previous records for any Pokemon series release with 10 million copies sold digitally and physically in the first 3 days of availability.

Nintendo confirms that Pokemon Scarlet and Violet also achieved the highest worldwide launch sales out of any video game in the history of all Nintendo video games. For comparison's sake, the previous Switch record-holder, Animal Crossing New Horizons, managed to sell 11 million copies in 11 days' time during the height of the coronavirus. The previous best-launched Pokemon game was Arceus, which had sold over 6.5 million copies in 7 days.

Sam Bankman-Fried recently penned a letter to FTX employees apologizing for the collapse of the company. This letter has managed to get out to the media.

Cointelegraph reports that it has read a copy of the letter Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) dated November 22, the former FTX CEO explains what led to the liquidity crunch that resulted in declaring bankruptcy, the accusations about him in the media via leaked text messages, and other factors that have influenced where the exchange is today. According to SBF, one of the main factors that caused the bankruptcy was the market downturn that caused the assets FTX was holding to rapidly decrease in value, which was quickly followed by a "run on the bank".

The former CEO writes that "I never intended this to happen", and that he wasn't aware of the "full extent of the margin position, nor did I realize the magnitude of the risk posed by a hyper-correlated crash." SBF continued and described his personal role in the collapse of the company as a complete failure in oversight, and that he wishes he was "more skeptical of large margin positions". Furthermore, SBF wrote that he should have had procedures in place based on simulated crashes/bank runs similar to what effectively killed the cryptocurrency exchange.

About 1 million Tesla owners are expected to get a significant upgrade to their sound system when the company rolls out a software update that enables Dolby Atmos.

According to an exclusive report from BGR, Tesla is currently working on an upcoming software update that will improve the sound quality of the vehicle's speakers. The publication spoke to an unnamed source that said the company has been working with major record labels for several months to fine-tune the software and make Dolby Atmos available in Tesla cars. Notably, the software update will be rolled out to 1 million Tesla vehicles that are on the road, and all newly manufactured Tesla cars will come with the software already installed.

For those that aren't familiar with Dolby Atmos, the software is a surround sound technology that is developed by Dolby Laboratories. The technology, originally designed for the cinema market, began to be implemented in 25 cinemas worldwide in 2012, and as of 2022, there are more than 10,000 Dolt Atmos-enabled cinemas. The software itself adds height channels that enable sounds to be interpreted as 3D objects, creating a more immersive surround sound experience with more accurate sound.