Bonum Certa Men Certa

Epic Betrayed by Microsoft -- Claim



Summary: Epic and Microsoft as Samson and Delilah; epic failures for Yahoo! after Microsoft deal

AS we delve deeper into Xbox realities, we keep finding that everything that touches Xbox 360 gets burned (sometimes literally). FASA Interactive recently warned that Microsoft betrays partners like itself (even “destroys” them, to use the exact words) and now we find more stories like this in the news:



i. Analyst Thinks Epic Regrets Microsoft Deal

Epic is the publisher behind the smash hit Gears of War franchise. Analyst Michael Pachter has said that he believes Epic is regretting its decision to tie up exclusively with Microsoft. Pachter told GameTrailers, "I think the Epic guys can't wait until they can start doing multi-platform games."

His opinion is based on profits. Sure there are a lot of Xbox consoles on the market but Pachter figures that if the Gears of War games had been offered on the PS3 it would have sold an additional 3 to 4 million copies.


ii. Epic Regrets Microsoft Exclusivity Deal, Says Pachter

Asked if he think Gears will go multiplatform, Pachter clarified. "I don't, I think Microsoft has a contract to make sure they get that sequel," he said. "But I think Epic regrets signing that contract. You're up to 11 million PS3s in the U.S. and probably similar number in Europe, you got a 20 million addressable market with a game like Gears of War. I mean, that thing would easily sell 3 or 4 million on the PS3, that's a lot of profit. No way is it worth it."


So, there are likely to be regrets about the partnership -- even a regret which Epic is trying to deny. All those companies that lost their way after Microsoft deals are probably in denial. People love to convince themselves that they rarely made mistakes; it makes life much easier to get on with. As a side note, exclusivity deals should be considered illegal as they harm the market as a whole; they leave out externalities altogether.

As some readers may recall, Epic was turning bitter about GNU/Linux [1, 2] after those affairs with Microsoft, so this is quite relevant to us. Microsoft partnerships are consistently harmful as the corporate hijack of Yahoo! recently taught us (the European Commission can still rescue Yahoo! from Microsoft). Yahoo! had a very tough year despite or because of the Microsoft intervention. Yahoo Shopping is reportedly going into the dustbin or being outsourced. That's just the latest among other victims that include Geocities (I had a Web site there since I was 15).

Relatively quietly Yahoo has decided to outsource most of Yahoo Shopping to PriceGrabber. This is analogous to what Yahoo is doing with Microsoft-Bing in search — just not with Microsoft. Merchant listings will now come from PriceGrabber and e-commerce sellers will only be able to get into Yahoo Shopping via PriceGrabber or Yahoo Search (Bing).


To name other victims, there is of course Zimbra, which was put in the hands of former Microsoft employees whose actions speak for themselves. Whether they can put up a fight against their former employer (let alone want to) is somewhat questionable because of employee ties not just at VMware but EMC too (it virtually owns VMware). We wrote about this before [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6]. Also see:



Microsoft Nick chooses to believe (and he is not alone [1, 2]) that former Microsoft managers will fight against a Microsoft cash cow, but we are skeptical. VMware gives APIs and SDKs [1, 2], but this is not the same as source code with the rights granted by the GPL. VMware recently removed the GPL from a SpringSource product. EMC will probably be pleased.

EMC and Microsoft



Comments

Recent Techrights' Posts

Comparing U.E.F.I. to B.I.O.S. (Bloat and Insecurity to K.I.S.S.)
By Sami Tikkanen
New 'Slides' From Stallman Support (stallmansupport.org) Site
"In celebration of RMS's birthday, we've been playing a bit. We extracted some quotes from the various articles, comments, letters, writings, etc. and put them in the form of a slideshow in the home page."
Thailand: GNU/Linux Up to 6% of Desktops/Laptops, According to statCounter
Desktop Operating System Market Share Thailand
António Campinos is Still 'The Fucking President' (in His Own Words) After a Fake 'Election' in 2022 (He Bribed All the Voters to Keep His Seat)
António Campinos and the Administrative Council, whose delegates he clearly bribed with EPO budget in exchange for votes
Adrian von Bidder, homeworking & Debian unexplained deaths
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Sainsbury’s Epic Downtime Seems to be Microsoft's Fault and Might Even Constitute a Data Breach (Legal Liability)
one of Britain's largest groceries (and beyond) chains
 
People Don't Just Kill Themselves (Same for Other Animals)
And recent reports about Boeing whistleblower John Barnett
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, March 18, 2024
IRC logs for Monday, March 18, 2024
Suicide Cluster Cover-up tactics & Debian exposed
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Gemini Links 19/03/2024: A Society That Lost Focus and Abandoning Social Control Media
Links for the day
Matthias Kirschner, FSFE: Plagiarism & Child labour in YH4F
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Linux Foundation Boasting About Being Connected to Bill Gates
Examples of boasting about the association
Alexandre Oliva's Article on Monstering Cults
"I'm told an earlier draft version of this post got published elsewhere. Please consider this IMHO improved version instead."
[Meme] 'Russian' Elections in Munich (Bavaria, Germany)
fake elections
Sainsbury's to Techrights: Yes, Our Web Site Broke Down, But We Cannot Say Which Part or Why
Windows TCO?
Plagiarism: Axel Beckert (ETH Zurich) & Debian Developer list hacking
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Links 18/03/2024: Putin Cements Power
Links for the day
Flashback 2003: Debian has always had a toxic culture
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
[Meme] You Know You're Winning the Argument When...
EPO management starts cursing at everybody (which is what's happening)
Catspaw With Attitude
The posts "they" complain about merely point out the facts about this harassment and doxing
'Clown Computing' Businesses Are Waning and the Same Will Happen to 'G.A.I.' Businesses (the 'Hey Hi' Fame)
decrease in "HEY HI" (AI) hype
Free Software Needs Watchdogs, Too
Gentle lapdogs prevent self-regulation and transparency
Matthias Kirschner, FSFE analogous to identity fraud
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Gemini Links 18/03/2024: LLM Inference and Can We Survive Technology?
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, March 17, 2024
IRC logs for Sunday, March 17, 2024
Links 17/03/2024: Microsoft Windows Shoves Ads Into Third-Party Software, More Countries Explore TikTok Ban
Links for the day
Molly Russell suicide & Debian Frans Pop, Lucy Wayland, social media deaths
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Our Plans for Spring
Later this year we turn 18 and a few months from now our IRC community turns 16
Open Invention Network (OIN) Fails to Explain If Linux is Safe From Microsoft's Software Patent Royalties (Charges)
Keith Bergelt has not replied to queries on this very important matter
RedHat.com, Brought to You by Microsoft Staff
This is totally normal, right?
USPTO Corruption: People Who Don't Use Microsoft Will Be Penalised ~$400 for Each Patent Filing
Not joking!
The Hobbyists of Mozilla, Where the CEO is a Bigger Liability Than All Liabilities Combined
the hobbyist in chief earns much more than colleagues, to say the least; the number quadrupled in a matter of years
Jim Zemlin Says Linux Foundation Should Combat Fraud Together With the Gates Foundation. Maybe They Should Start With Jim's Wife.
There's a class action lawsuit for securities fraud
Not About Linux at All!
nobody bothers with the site anymore; it's marketing, and now even Linux
Links 17/03/2024: Abuses Against Human Rights, Tesla Settlement (and Crash)
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, March 16, 2024
IRC logs for Saturday, March 16, 2024
Under Taliban, GNU/Linux Share Nearly Doubled in Afghanistan, Windows Sank From About 90% to 68.5%
Suffice to say, we're not meaning to imply Taliban is "good"
Debian aggression: woman asked about her profession
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Gemini Links 17/03/2024: Winter Can't Hurt Us Anymore and Playstation Plus
Links for the day