Microsoft / Activision Deal Approval Watch |OT| (MS/ABK close)

Do you believe the deal will be approved?

  • Yes, will be approved without changes.

    Votes: 221 24.9%

  • Yes, will be approved but with structural changes to ABK.

    Votes: 102 11.5%

  • Yes, will be approved but only with behavioral concessions.

    Votes: 262 29.6%

  • No, will not be approved.

    Votes: 301 34.0%
  • Total voters
    886
  • Poll closed .
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Warablo said:
I don't know, some of Sony's timed exclusives are like 1-2 years or just never release on Xbox. Think there was even some entire game modes totally exclusive in Destiny or CoD. In Xbox's dominant days, the most you'd get is 1-2 months. Then they tried a 1 year exclusive with Tomb Raider and got crucified.
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Theres a difference though - the framework for those sorts of deals was basically first started with MS and its marketing deals on things like CoD and other titles back in the 360 era. But even during that era, folks really forget, but PS and the PS3 was still a WW relevant brand and console. Any such deal made was still putting that far larger market reach off the table for them, so even when MS was 'in charge', publishers still didn't want to completely cut out PS marketing entirely.

The PS4 era was a different matter. For most publishers, the PS4 audience was buying more consoles, spending more money, and it was a true WW audience, whereas MS mainly only does numbers in NA and UK. This is precisely why things like the Tomb Raider deal got such a significant backlash; MS has always had an issue with their global brand appeal, and Phil has done nothing since he's come in in 2008 to try and correct this glaring issue.
 
Hendrick's said:
What about the last decade? It's clear that MS has backed away from moneyhats where Sony has doubled down.
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MS went from moneyhatting singular games to moneyhatting them in perpetuity - the notion that MS is no longer operating on money hats is absolutely ludicrous.

There are loads of indie games as well as some 3rd party titles that MS has gone out of their way to money hat. Heck, loads of launch titles like The Medium were Xbox exclusive for a year.
 
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Godot25 said:
It wasn't 3 year deal, but 3 years on top of existing contract which is ending in 2026 (I think) (so until 2029 probs). And If your theory is correct and Microsoft wants to took away COD from PlayStation, why on Earth would they offer 3 more years preemptively in January when no concerns from regulators was raised? You would think that if Microsoft is so obsessed about making COD exclusive, they would offer no contract until they are forced by regulators, right? Otherwise what was the point?

Sony knows that COD will stay on PlayStation even without deal. Everybody with brain cells knows that. COD is game developed by 8 studios and is designed to recoup development cost back not only by selling game for 80€, but with live service. And to have successful live service you need every possible player imaginable. Also, you are shutting down potential new entrant on the market by keeping game multiplatform. Sony just keeps pressing on this issue because they want this deal blocked. Not because they are afraid that they will loose Call of Duty. They are afraid of COD on Game Pass, so they want deal shut down in it's entirety.

Otherwise why the fuck are they not accepting deal that would make sure that they will have COD until 2036? Even with option to have COD on PS Plus? Because to accept this deal they would probably be required to drop objections about this deal. Which they are not willing to do, because they want it to shut down. It's hardball from their side of court because if they loose they would be without a deal, but there is 0% chance that Microsoft will make COD exclusive even without it.

Will Microsoft make some ABK games exclusive after buyout? Yup. Plenty. But not COD, not Overwatch. Because they live a breathe thanks to huge audience. They need it to continue making new content for that games.
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A 3-year offer on top of the existing contract is a 3-year deal.

All you're doing is ranting about nothing. There's enough evidence to show that Microsoft word is not reliable. This is why contracts exist because a verbal agreement means jack shit. This is one of the reasons why there are concerns with the regulators because they can turn on their word in a second once the deal passes through.

Microsoft has been involved in a lot of shady practices for decades, and you want to believe they're this friendly tech giant that everybody loves.

They're not.

If any major corporation sees an opportunity to get rid of the competition, then they'll do it.
 
HerpDerpstreit said:
Sony fighting all the subpoenas.

www.fosspatents.com

Sony is officially fighting Microsoft's subpoena in FTC's Activision Blizzard merger case: public filing confirms PlayStation maker brought motion to quash on Friday

This is a follow-up to my Saturday (February 4) post, First procedural dispute between Sony and Microsoft in Activision Blizzard FTC proceed...
www.fosspatents.com www.fosspatents.com
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Of course Sony if fighting tooth and nail to not expose all the exclusive deals that limits/removes games from Xbox.

I really don't care if this deal goes through or not but I hope everything on both parties is aired out on the lines.
 
DeepEnigma said:
One of the biggest games in the PS360 era had a 1 year exclusivity for the DLC. Titanfall, Dead Rising, etc., was perm.
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was the prequel side story DLC for Dead Rising 2 ever released anywhere besides Xbox 360? the case files stuff

edit: nvm I misread what you said initially, yeah exactly Xbox has also had exclusive stuff they've paid that has never been released elsewhere (there's also the Tomb Raider epilogue IIRC?)
 
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Mibu no ookami said:
My guess is the CMA comes back and either says no or here are the remedies.

Divest from COD entirely finding a 3rd party independent publisher to buy the rights to it such as T2, EA, or Tencent.

Either will kill this deal.
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I don't agree that COD should be sold to any of those companies, TBH. They didn't go through the wringer to try acquiring it, the way Microsoft is, and I think that'd just be shifting a ton of power to yet another publisher at the end of the day.

If it comes to divesting COD (and I think this has a real chance of happening), it'll be to spin it off as its own company. Treyarch, Infinity Ward and some other critical COD studio go along with them, and some on the publishing side of ABK to handle that side of stuff. Call it The COD Company, set up a transmedia branch while you're at it. Let Microsoft retain partial ownership but otherwise, the company operates fully independently.

That sounds like a fair deal IMO in terms of a notable concession, if it means MS can still get ABK for other things they claim they really want (like King's mobile output). Dunno how that helps with things on the side of mobile platform holders like Apple and Google; I guess Microsoft would just need to come to the table and try cooperating a bit more with them. Don't know what terms they have stipulated for say Apple+ on Xbox, but they can either ease the terms or expect Apple to have similar terms with Game Pass on iOS, as an example.
 
X-Wing said:
Yes, Microsoft is a small company that can't compete with Sony. Probably why they actually had the upper hand during an entire generation without owning any major publisher.
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What does any of have to do with the facts of my statement? MS is in third place and this deal will not change Sony's dominant market position.
 
Hendrick's said:
That's not a moneyhat lol.
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Sure Jan GIF
 
Warablo said:
I don't know, some of Sony's timed exclusives are like 1-2 years or just never release on Xbox. Think there was even some entire game modes totally exclusive in Destiny or CoD. In Xbox's dominant days, the most you'd get is 1-2 months. Then they tried a 1 year exclusive with Tomb Raider and got crucified.
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Destiny there were some maps for sure. COD both consoles had exclusiveness of DLC either early or exclusive from time to time. I remember TES:Oblivion not coming to PS3 for a year after launch. I am sure there are more examples.

Xbox deserved the Tomb Raider hate mostly because it was a sequel to a game that was already multi-platform. Added on to that was the fact that it sold poorly since the Xbox One was a dud. Oh, and MS paid $100 million for that PR fiasco.
 
SenjutsuSage said:
You know exactly what the you were doing. Let's not play slick now. I'm sure there's no bias in you, which is why you compared Microsoft buying a videogame company to mass death by lethal injection.
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I didn't compare the acquisition to "mass death by lethal injection". Work on your reading comprehension because it is atrocious.

Remove your asshole from Microsoft's cock for ten seconds so you can read and understand this:

I would be against the acquisition of Activision Blizzard King regardless of whether it was Microsoft, Nintendo, or Sony who was the company attempting to acquire them. I have stated this many times. None of these companies are your friend. Every single one of them would behave in the same manner (regarding the euthanizing comment I made previously). Corporations put money above everything else, including ethics and morality.

Now kindly fuck off since you don't seem to understand me.
 
NickFire said:
Honest question. Does commenting on twitter make a lawyer seem more knowledgeable by default?

Nothing against Attorney Hoeg, who rightly corrected his initial take. But there were definitely lawyers who understood the difference between commitment and intended message before becoming twitter Rockstar's.
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He's an idiot, and a fanboy to make matters worse. His little gang of new age lawyers went to YouTube to do a livestream of Johny Depp vs Amber Heard's trial, do a song and dance show to get paid in coins like some bath tub streamer.
 
Ass of Can Whooping said:
Yup it's a moneybag. Even worse
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So the first two Bethesda games out of MS were moneyhat timed exclusives for Sony. Paying the salaries and upkeep of an entire publisher is not a moneyhat. Leveraging your position as the market leader to sign timed exclusive deals for brand association in an effort to supress a competetior is smart but probably more slimy imo.
 
They aren't leveraging their market position. Leveraging their market position would be more like Sony undercutting MS on their store cut. Or Sony tells a publisher they won't allow a release of a game on their system unless they get bonus content. Etc
 
Hendrick's said:
Yes they have. What is the last AAA moneyhat MS did? I believe it's Tomb Raider. And the entire world flipped out over that. Sony does this every day and no one says a word.
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High on Life. $60 game timed exclusive. Money hatting is not limited to AAA games.

Just going to :messenger_grinning_smiling: right back at the laughing reaction. So many of us (Xbox/PC owners) were enjoying and celebrating High on Life. Ridiculing the low review scores. Talking about what a great game it is. But now when we talk about money hatting, High on Life somehow doesn't count? Yeah....I'm laughing.
 
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Thirty7ven said:
They aren't leveraging their market position. Leveraging their market position would be more like Sony undercutting MS on their store cut. Or Sony tells a publisher they won't allow a release of a game on their system unless they get bonus content. Etc
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They definitely leverage their position at times. Would be stupid not to.

But that's a distraction argument. No one is blocking competition, and competition does not need justification. The issue is unfair competition, and whether this deal counts.
 
Thirty7ven said:
They aren't leveraging their market position. Leveraging their market position would be more like Sony undercutting MS on their store cut. Or Sony tells a publisher they won't allow a release of a game on their system unless they get bonus content. Etc
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You mean like the infamous Indie Clause?
 
Whatever happens it's clear Microsoft is desperate. It doesn't matter how many trillions microsoft has in their war chest, decades of mismanagement has left their gaming division with a 68 Billion dollar deficit.

I've never seen Sataya look so sullen.
 
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Nadella and Bobby Kotick's PR rounds today makes me believe this deal is about to get blocked and they know it. Both guys sound extremely desperate with their wordings.

I wonder what kind of remedies the CMA will come up with and if they are going to be too much for MS to accept.
 
Poltz said:

Bringing up Xbox console market share in Japan.
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Why doesn't he look at the reasons why their market share is so small in Japan?

Absolute jokers. It becomes clearer and clearer day by day that they don't have any idea about what makes this industry tick.
 
Pelta88 said:
Whatever happens it's clear Microsoft is desperate. It doesn't matter how many trillions microsoft has in their war chest, decades of mismanagement has left their gaming division with a 68 Billion dollar deficit.

I've never seen Sataya look so sullen.
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Poor guy. Wonder if that 40 something million he took home last year could bring him some comfort?
 
Honestly that statement regarding Japan is so fucking emarrasing.

You are the second biggest company in the world by market cap, you've been in the industry 20+ years and can't make a dent in Japan, so you blame your competition instead of doing some self-assessment.

Meanwhile both Nintendo and Sony, both of whom combined barely make up 10% of your market cap, both manage to beat you on your home turf on an individual basis.

And you're trying to tell me that the only way you can "compete" (yes, compete, not even win or dominate) is by purchasing a company that is out of reach for both of your competitors?

go away gtfo GIF
 
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GHG said:
Why doesn't he look at the reasons why their market share is so small in Japan?

Absolute jokers. It becomes clearer and clearer day by day that they don't have any idea about what makes this industry tick.
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Frankly, it's mind-boggling to me. The whole 'poor, lil' MS' narrative is so completely transparent and they're not only trying it, but digging in even deeper with it. Their market share is small in Japan due to their own decisions. It's also small or even non-existent in many parts of the world. Their strategy and decisions over years has caused this. But to take no responsibility for it and instead try to leverage it for anti-competitive advantages is peak MS.
 
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Sounds like Nadella and Kotick are reading from the same silly script.

The UK's Competition and Market Authority (CMA) is this week expected to issue its provisional findings on the $69 billion deal and notify the relevant parties of possible remedies to any antitrust concerns it may hold.

"If a deal like this can't get through, they are not going to be Silicon Valley, they will be Death Valley," Kotick told CNBC in a televised interview on Tuesday, the same day as UK prime minister Rishi Sunak announced the creation of a new standalone government department for science, innovation and technology.

Microsoft is said to have paid close attention to the CMA, as it's seen to be less predictable than regulators in the EU and USA, and could potentially influence their decisions on its proposed deal.

In September, the CMA said its investigation into the merger had been expanded to a second inquiry phase due to several antitrust concerns.

Notably, the watchdog said it was worried about the impact the acquisition could have on PlayStation's ability to compete given that the deal would see Microsoft gain ownership of the Call of Duty series, which Sony has called "irreplaceable".

In a bid to address these concerns, Microsoft recently said it had offered Sony a 10-year, legally enforceable contract to make each new Call of Duty game available on PlayStation the same day it comes to Xbox.

The proposed acquisition has often been framed as the Xbox maker seeking to purchase Call of Duty, a viewpoint Xbox boss Phil Spencer has called "a construct that might get created by our console competitor".

And in his interview with CNBC, Kotick echoed previous claims by Spencer that that deal is primarily driven by Microsoft's mobile gaming ambitions.

"Over the last 10 years the business has evolved to being principally on phones, and so those are much more accessible," he said.

"So I think what you're going to see is people will be playing games, they're mainly for free, and the question is how much premium content will they consume, and I don't think that we really know. But I think the good news is the industry has largely evolved from a business that was about these specialist devices to these very broad appeal devices."

Kotick said he thinks that regulators scrutinising the deal have failed to grasp this and are somewhat "confused" about who's competing with who in the games business.

"Whether it's the FTC or the CMA or the EU, they don't know our industry, so they're trying to come up to speed and understand the industry better," he claimed.

"I don't think they fully appreciate that it's a free-to-play business, that the Japanese and Chinese companies dominate the industry. You look at Sony, you look at Nintendo, they have these huge libraries of intellectual properties. Sony studios goes back 80 years, Nintendo has the very best characters that exist in video games.

"And I think they are a little bit confused where competition is today. The best companies in the world right now are companies like Tencent and ByteDance, and these are companies that all have protected markets.

"We've struggled to enter the Japanese market, we can't enter the Chinese market without a joint venture partner, so the competition isn't actually European companies, American companies, it's really those companies in Japan and China."
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www.videogameschronicle.com

Bobby Kotick warns UK risks ‘becoming Death Valley’ if it blocks Microsoft deal | VGC

Activision Blizzard’s CEO claims regulators are “confused” about who’s competing with who in games…
www.videogameschronicle.com www.videogameschronicle.com

Season 3 Nbc GIF by The Office
 
GHG said:
And you're trying to tell me that the only way you can "compete" (yes, compete, not even win or dominate) is by purchasing a company that is out of reach for both of your competitors?
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That's the entire rub and shows the whole bullshit in all of this. Mental gymnastics around this, fanatics. Do it.
 
DeepEnigma said:
That's the entire rub and shows the whole bullshit in all of this. Mental gymnastics around this, fanatics. Do it.
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You know what, they have made such a clown show of themselves throughout this ordeal that I'm now 100% pro acquisition.

The circus is yet to come to town. They really don't know what they are doing. The crash and burn will be spectacular.
 
Hendrick's said:
What about the last decade? It's clear that MS has backed away from moneyhats where Sony has doubled down.
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Microsoft haven't backed away.

Companies just wants to be money batted by the platform with most players.

Microsoft would have done the same if they could.
 
GHG said:
You know what, they have made such a clown show of themselves throughout this ordeal that I'm now 100% pro acquisition.

The circus is yet to come to town. They really don't know what they are doing. The crash and burn will be spectacular.
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Come on, dude. With that much money, how can they fail?

Off topic.....anyone know where I can buy a charger for my phone?

Nokia-Lumia-530-power-jpg-e1572961540183-630x557.jpg
 
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