Microsoft buys Activision-Blizzard

Yep, that's true. It's also because the initial agreement between the two parties would limit Activision-Blizzard from doing anything relatively radical or unusual outside the normal course of business (develop new IPs, anything that could materially effect the company's value) so in essence it would be to compensate the effective standstill whilst the deal goes through.

The discussion is about gaming. That streaming reference was your HMV/Netflix comparison, streaming films good, streaming some games not as good, simples. And Gamepass does streaming, and if people are to be believed GP will be on TV's and everything else MS can get it on to, and most of those will be streaming I'd imagine, can't see a TV having a spare 150Gb to install CoD, unless you do it on an external drive, so adding even more to it, just get an Xbox at that stage, etc, etc. So it does streaming. Yes, you have the option to download, which I do every single time because I don't like streaming games. (I have GPU, so maybe streaming is only available with that? I dunno)

People seem to be comparing GP to just straight up buying games on PS. I compare GP to Now/Plus, with GP being more expensive (at full price) but has the added benefit of some day 1 games owned by MS (although Sony seem to be starting that with Shadow Warrior 3 coming to Now on Day 1). Remove the day 1 games (which I will, because most games I play are either PS exclusive or on both, and I prefer playing the PS5), and I personally think it's about the same value as Plus/Now because it has the same amount of crap floating around all the other good games. But that's completely subjective.

Call me a big fanboy if you want, but if preferring the PS over Xbox simply means that, then yes. Grand. I do prefer it, I prefer the fact that it actually feels like a next gen console compared to the Xbox One X Pro Series X, the DualSense is amazing but again that's highly subjective and personal. I already said GP is currently excellent value, but I can't see it lasting, it can't last especially if they do start getting a lot of people signing up. With the rewards stuff too, you can keep getting GP for free technically, and people think that will continue forever? Come on now.

Re: the features Xbox added, they don't bother me. I don't need instant on games. Pre-downloading games I may never even buy... I don't need them, I have a 1Gb FTTH connection, I can download most games in under 20 minutes. But I can see why some people would like these features. I won't mention the power draw between standby and instant-on for the SX.... ok I will!

Regulatory Standby 0.5 W

Instant-On 13 W

So for the last time, I prefer PS, it's a personal choice. But it doesn't preclude me from commenting my opinion on these threads, and it certainly doesn't mean that my opinions are wrong, they're just opinions. People get way too worked up over this... I had a 360 during the PS3 era because Sony did drop the ball then, but I don't believe I'm wrong in saying the PS4>Xbox One, and the PS5>XSX is my personal opinion based on having both.

It's in black and white above. I believe they're the same if you take out the day 1 games. Post #14 was the first mention of Sony. Yes, you're right, nothing to be gained because people obviously don't like differing opinions.

Yes. Thought I made that clear. Gamepass' real draw is the Day 1 games. Take them away, and you've the same level of random games with some gems as Now. GWG, same as Plus (I'd actually say worse, getting a 360 game... yah....). GPU, minus the day 1 games, is the same as Plus/Now. Day 1 games, checking the main MS site https://www.xbox.com/en-US/xbox-game-pass/play-day-one , there's only 1 of 8 upcoming day 1 games I'd be interested in (Atomic Heart). The rest not so much. So even the Day 1 thing is subjective. Great to get loads of games on day 1, not so much if they're games you're probably not going to play. Even with this purchase, if it does go through, none of their games really interest me, so adding them to GP Day 1 has no effect on my decision making.

So again, and hopefully clearly and for the final time, Xbox/Sony/Nintendo/GP/PS+, doesn't matter. At the end of the day, people will do what they want to do based on their own personal opinions. I prefer Sony, most of my favourite games are Sony, the vast majority of my gaming memories are on Sony consoles but the 360 gets my first proper online FPS experience, which made me play it more that gen (MW, MW2, MW3, I was welded to those games).

GPU is excellent value right now, but in my opinion won't continue the way it is. I'm not a business insider, I'm not even that interested in this deal tbh. But I am interested in talking about gaming, and giving my opinions. I don't expect anyone to agree, but at the same time I don't want people to just assume I'm x, y or z because I don't agree with their opinions. Can't believe how often I have to explain opinions on an opinions site...

I would if I could find a Series X to buy. Once the Feb-April run of games is over I'll try again to find one.

But in many ways I do agree with what Potential Monke is saying, in that while the Day 1 free releases are incredible value, most of them don't appeal to me. Again, not to say it's not great value, but it's not that valuable to me in that regard. Though there have been games like Hades and Death's Door that came at release or quite quickly to Gamepass that I paid about 2months worth of a Gamepass subscription each to buy on PS5, so it's definitely something that at the very least would probably balance out over the space of a year. I might not be saving money as such, but I'd still have the option to try some of the games like Halo, Fallout etc that don't really appeal to me, but for free I'd give them a whirl.

I was mostly looking at Gamestop the last month or so as I'll trade in my PS4 Pro for it. I did consider the Series S but worried about storage space, and if I'm trading in PS4 I could do with something with a disc drive for dvds & blurays (have digital PS5). Not that I use a lot of physical media these days, but it'd make all DVDs/Blurays I have redundant.

Not too bothered about waiting a while at this stage anyway as I have Horizon, Elden Ring and I'll probably play GTAV again on PS5.

It seems disingenuous to speculate on a hike in Game Pass pricing but base its future value on the current library only, when we know full well what games/franchises will be coming the service in the coming months and years.