The madness will never end (pic: Activision)

The Thursday letters page is surprised Nintendo allowed a Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom preview, as a reader offers a free copy of Afterimage.

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Strange days
This is a good day to be a gamer. I’m talking about the Xbox and Activation deal being blocked in the UK, which could mean the USA now say no; a word Xbox doesn’t hear that often. I’ve got nothing against Xbox; when Starfield and a few others of their games come out I might even buy an Xbox Series X and sign up to Game Pass but them buying Activision would of been the worst thing in the history of gaming.

You know full well, soon as 10 years was up, Call Of Duty would of been slapped on Game Pass straight away and become an Xbox exclusive with all previous Call Of Duties. All of Activision’s back catalogue of games would be slapped on there too, within six months, and that would of meant a massive price increase in Game Pass and you know Xbox would of said, ‘You know it’s worth it.’

I don’t know why Xbox don’t take that money and plough it into new games and new IPs. You think how many games they could make for £69 billion. Yes, they can’t catch up with PlayStation 5 this gen but next gen, which will be in about five years, I’d say they could smash it out the park. But just so you know GC, if you can’t tell I feel like I’ve lost a penny but found the winning euromillions jackpot. Life is good.
David

GC: This is no guarantee the deal won’t go ahead. If we had to bet, we’d say it still will.

Trust but verify
Great preview of Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom, GC, I wasn’t really expecting that from Nintendo, but I guess they feel there’s a lot to explain. To be honest, I’d buy a new Zelda game without knowing a thing, a mainline one anyway, and I don’t feel that’s being a fanboy at all. Even the very worst Zelda games are well above average compared to anything else and I feel there is 0% chance of a new one being majorly disappointing.

That’s the sort of trust and confidence that you can only command through four decades of greatness and I think it’s interesting that Sony seems to understand this and yet Microsoft still doesn’t. You can’t buy your success; you’ve got to earn and it prove it over a long time.

I thought it was particularly interesting in the preview, where you say you can’t believe that such a complex game is being made as a big mainstream title and I think that’s what sold me the most. After the success of Breath Of The Wild Nintendo could have phoned this in and released it in half the time, but instead they did something wild that no-one expected and already it looks like they’re going to be rewarded in spades.
Korbie

Dream game
Great to see that Star Wars Jedi: Survivor is a solid game. I get what you mean about the first one not always hanging together quite right – the backtracking was definitely terrible – but I didn’t enjoy it and I think I liked the characters better than you, even if the story was a bit meh.

I never really thought about the whole jetpack thing, but you’re right: if Mando was the hero in these games they’d be over in minutes.

I’ll get Survivor, but I think it is right to say this is not what anyone would describe as a dream game. For me that is the open world bounty hunter game that so many people are wishing would happen. If it’s not I really don’t understand what Disney is doing, because it seems like such an obvious no-brainer.
Hubby

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Red hot take
As certain as the rising and setting of the sun, Microsoft and Activision Blizzard have recently engaged in a display of petulance and intimidation tactics, making threats they will be unlikely to execute, solely because a deal was declined, thwarting their market domination aspirations.

Numerous Xbox aficionados speculate that both companies may exit the UK, to which I assert, ‘by all means, depart the UK.’ After all, the country has a shortage of skilled labour. The UK gaming industry is presently expanding by 14% per annum. Therefore, Activision, shut down your studios and relocate King’s headquarters to another country.

Any employee dismissed due to your tantrum will promptly secure a position at a new studio, likely the next day. I am confident that some of them may even venture to launch their independent studios, funded by UK investors, and duly pay their taxes in the UK as well.
Anon

Busy day
Given Wednesday’s two major stories I gotta say it was a good day. I’d not expected Nintendo to be providing such a large playable preview to journalists. I did expect the positive reception though and it really does sound like a genuine deviation in terms of mechanics from Breath Of The Wild.

I was slightly worried it’d not have enough new tricks to fully separate it, but Nintendo come up to soothe my mild cantankerous grumbling. Putting an arm around me, understanding my concerns and telling me, ‘We’re Nintendo. We know you didn’t like the Mario movie so we made extra effort to give you what we excel at’.

Other positive news is the CMA developed a backbone and blocked the Activision deal. I’ve mostly stayed out of the debate and just assumed that everyone would cave in anyway but in a surprise twist the CMA stood by their concerns and blocked it. I have always been against it, much like I would be if Sony bought 2K and held Microsoft to ransom over GTA or if Sony merged with Nintendo, or even if Nintendo bought Jupiter’s moon Europa and sent us there to swim in a frozen sea of Virtual Boys.

The Bethesda acquisition gave Microsoft plenty of new studios to be competitive and I’d rather they knuckled down and started releasing actual AAA games than drag this out until the AI revolution wipes us all out. The comments from Bobby Kotick were a bit condescending. Mentioning the strain of the current financial troubles in this country whilst making out that we’d benefit from the deal reeked of moral turpitude considering he was complicit in the recent troubles at the company, somehow kept his job, and would probably stay on after the deal.

‘Twas a good day
Anon

Palantír predictions
So, the verdict on Microsoft’s proposed Acquisition of Activision Blizzard by the UK regulators; who saw that one coming, eh?

I’m not talking about the verdict per se, which was always going to be a 50/50, yes or no, decision but the reason behind their decision.

It appears that while everyone else was arguing the relative pros and cons of Microsoft acquiring Call Of Duty, and its impact on the current gaming landscape, the UK Competition and Markets Authority was more concerned about the future impact to cloud gaming – a very prescient summary judgement which indicates the regulator has its finger far more on the pulse than anyone gave them credit for.

Afterall, Microsoft is the second biggest Cloud provider, second only to Amazon, and they already have their finger firmly in the gaming cloud pie with even Sony using their Azure cloud platform to power some of their game streaming tech. I have no idea what the regulators saw in their crystal ball, or how Microsoft would leverage Activision Blizzard once acquired to create a monopoly in the fledgling cloud gaming market, but they obviously didn’t like what they saw.

I would have loved to be a fly on the wall in Microsoft’s boardroom this afternoon. I imagine the big cheeses were not best pleased that the UK regulator has not only seen through their poker face but has also, somehow, ascertained what hand they were really holding. Microsoft is not likely to take no for an answer lightly and their press statements regarding the ruling are already acrimonious.

Who knows what happens next? Unfortunately, regardless of the final outcome it feels like gaming in general is going to stagnate further this year as the sparring continues between Microsoft, Sony and the regulator, with neither firm wishing to announce any gaming related developments which could pour further fuel on the fire.
Heinz57

Free sample
In reference to Jezza’s letter yesterday, my brother plays on Xbox and because of Game Pass he has tried and enjoyed lots of games that he would not consider buying or playing normally, which is good. He tends to only play certain genres but with Game Pass he has tried lots of different genres, like Metroidvania games for one.
Andrew J.
PS: There is a load of new Zelda amiibos listed on the UK Nintendo Store that have appeared today, from lots of games including Majora’s Mask, Twilight Princess, The Wind Waker, Ocarina Of Time etc. They are not currently in stock (Wednesday evening) but I expect they will be in stock soon, as they were with the Mario amiibos the other week, when they were listed.

Relatively informed
After reading the CMA’s report into the Activision buyout, I have to say it seems like they did a thorough job. Most of the statements about the gaming markets seem accurate and well informed.

It even appears that they looked at all of Sony’s complaints (at least the public ones) and concluded none of them were valid.

In the end it concludes that as far as console gaming goes there’s no issue, and the issue is entirely cloud gaming.

I don’t think anyone was expecting to read a report that states Microsoft is the current market leader with 60-70% of the market. All that talk about them being last every generation and now they’re no. 1.

The logic that they would have the ability to not offer Call Of Duty to a new small player is fairly sound, and I can see the argument that Game Pass has Call Of Duty but another streaming platform doesn’t, then that might influence a choice. However, the report does seem to go a bit odd talking about how by owning Windows other providers would have to pay them royalties, which while true feels like inflated importance.

It also seems to equate people choosing one console to mean they’d only choose one streaming platform, which I think ignores the fact people choose one console because they cost a few hundred pounds. Take that away and does not having Call Of Duty matter?

Overall, I get the reasoning but it does seem overly based on a prediction that streaming games is going to become really popular. The statement from the CMA including a line that Sony makes better games than Microsoft also felt a bit opinionated and unnecessary.
Tim

Inbox also-rans
I recently backed the Kickstarter for the gorgeous looking hand drawn Metroidvania Afterimage. I have ended up with a spare Steam key and since I don’t play on PC please can you pass it on to a deserving fellow Inboxer on my behalf.
Ooccoo

GC: That’s very generous of you. We’ll pass it on to whoever wants it, in return for a useable Inbox letter.

I’m going to say I believe in a Nintendo Switch 2 reveal this year, probably at Gamescom. I know there’s not much evidence, but it just seems the right timing. Book it!
Kubla

This week’s Hot Topic
The subject for this weekend’s Inbox was suggested by reader TheTruthSoul (PSN ID), who asks how often you play a video game to completion?

What is it that inspires you to finish some games and not others? Are there common elements which influence your decision, or does it depend purely on the quality of the game and external factors?

Do you usually aim to complete a game, and do you have any examples of times when you unexpectedly changed your mind, one way or the other? What do you consider completing a game to mean, and how often do you try to 100% one?

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The small print
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The Thursday letters page is surprised Nintendo allowed a Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom preview, as a reader offers a free copy of Afterimage.