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

Do you believe the deal will be approved?


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I wonder how they define the 'cloud market' considering that it isn't a stand alone product offered by MS. If a product isn't sold and doesn't generate revenue for the company what sort of market could it be in? How is it different from a feature that all console manufacturers have?

I wonder when you'll stop spouting this. You keep making this argument, and it has never not been dumb as fuck.
 
There are 2 reasons why Sony would consider signing a deal with MS prior to ABK deal closing:
  1. It looks like regulators are going to approve the deal, this is their chance to get the best concessions
  2. They've secured COD, have their own acquisitions in mind (e.g. Take2), and don't want regulators to be a roadblock
But in no scenario is "Joost" speculation right (i.e. Sony can get a better deal from MS than an independent COD company). If the company is independent, they need the brand to be long-term viable, they're going to do a deal with the platform that has the most COD users and has a 2:1 advantage in mindshare and install base. That's the PS5.
 
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Man....there is no telling what is in that bag. And I don't want to know. :messenger_open_mouth:
I want to know and I want it to be poop.
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Highly, highly doubt SuperJooster is at all real, btw. If negotiations are happening between the two parties, it could be on any number of things. No one has even said its related to the acquisition.

Most of Wall St. is now thinking Sony is gonna win this fight, so I highly doubt they'd bite on any deal. We'll see though.
 
Highly, highly doubt SuperJooster is at all real, btw. If negotiations are happening between the two parties, it could be on any number of things. No one has even said its related to the acquisition.

Most of Wall St. is now thinking Sony is gonna win this fight, so I highly doubt they'd bite on any deal. We'll see though.


It could, but in the context of the inquiry it really doesn't seem like it would be anything else but this whole kerfuffle.
 
Let me tell you something from decades of experience from European football transfer sagas - when people are resorting to tracking planes it never ends the way people expect it to.
 
Let me tell you something from decades of experience from European football transfer sagas - when people are resorting to tracking planes it never ends the way people expect it to.

The only other plane watcher I've heard about got his account banned on twitter for accessing public information :(
 
I'd love to see the financials on their Xbox cloud monopoly. It's clearly something regulators are concerned about.
The funniest thing is that Xcloud still just a feature packed on gamepass ultimate, not a standalone service and still doesn't allow players to use their owned library yet. Good luck on taking financials over something that still on a very beta phase and its technically a "freebie"
 
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The funniest thing is that Xcloud still just a feature packed on gamepass ultimate, not a standalone service and still doesn't allow players to use their owned library yet. Good luck on taking financials over something that still on a very beta phase and its technically a "freebie"
Delivered by Azure, which is probably what they're concerned about. Hard to compete in game streaming when the tech giant both provides free infrastructure for streaming as well as uses their money to buy up whole publishers and their catalogs.

I recall Google citing this as one of the reasons Stadia was shutting down.
 
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I don't get how they can argue for monopoly in cloud.
Did you read the provisional findings by the CMA?

People keep asking these questions and raising concerns about things but never read the documents 😑 It's all in there.

xCloud has a 60-70% share in the UK cloud gaming market. PlayStation has a 10-20% share in the UK Cloud gaming market. This is according to the CMA after assessing Microsoft's and Sony's internal documents.

So xCloud is already a monopoly in the UK and will become an even bigger one if MS acquires ABK.
 
By the way, this SuperJoost "claim" is hilarious 😄

The guy says on his website, "I have no horse this race, nor do I own shares in any of the companies involved, and I am not compensated."

Then proceeds to create and submit this 20-page document (!) to regulators to convince them to let Microsoft buy ABK. 🤣

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Notice the keywords:
  • "improved competition"
  • "will benefit consumers"
"I have no horse in this race"

Season 3 GIF by Parks and Recreation
 
1) not taking anything from the whole plane story
2) the paragraph around the reasons they (CMA) felt comfortable defining cloud streaming market felt quite speculative but it is what it is. Will be interested to see what the final EC papers say, if its rather similar

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Slow week in general.
 
Can someone PLEASE summrize what the hell is going with this deal.

It is impossible to follow the news now, jesus...
Summary: All 3 main regulatory bodies (UK, US, and EU) have opposed the deal as it was originally conceived.

The CMA/UK is the frontrunner and presented a list of structural remedies, which basically means they may approve the deal if Microsoft lets go of Call of Duty/Activision. Another option would be for Microsoft to convince the CMA (they're not convinced at the moment) to let them also keep COD/Activision, and MS will ensure console and cloud parity of COD in perpetuity (practically impossible).

Activision has also started taking steps to protect itself if the acquisition fails.

At the moment, the deal is more likely to fail than to pass. Even if it does pass (slim chance), it won't be in its original form.
 
Summary: All 3 main regulatory bodies (UK, US, and EU) have opposed the deal as it was originally conceived.

The CMA/UK is the frontrunner and presented a list of structural remedies, which basically means they may approve the deal if Microsoft lets go of Call of Duty/Activision. Another option would be for Microsoft to convince the CMA (they're not convinced at the moment) to let them also keep COD/Activision, and MS will ensure console and cloud parity of COD in perpetuity (practically impossible).

Activision has also started taking steps to protect itself if the acquisition fails.

At the moment, the deal is more likely to fail than to pass. Even if it does pass (slim chance), it won't be in its original form.
But it got approved in Chile
 
Delivered by Azure, which is probably what they're concerned about. Hard to compete in game streaming when the tech giant both provides free infrastructure for streaming as well as uses their money to buy up whole publishers and their catalogs.

I recall Google citing this as one of the reasons Stadia was shutting down.
Yup, only 3 companies with the infrastructure for streaming. Amazon, MS and Google. Ironically Phil mentioned this in an interview and that's certainly being used against MS 😂😂
 
Summary: All 3 main regulatory bodies (UK, US, and EU) have opposed the deal as it was originally conceived.

The CMA/UK is the frontrunner and presented a list of structural remedies, which basically means they may approve the deal if Microsoft lets go of Call of Duty/Activision. Another option would be for Microsoft to convince the CMA (they're not convinced at the moment) to let them also keep COD/Activision, and MS will ensure console and cloud parity of COD in perpetuity (practically impossible).

Activision has also started taking steps to protect itself if the acquisition fails.

At the moment, the deal is more likely to fail than to pass. Even if it does pass (slim chance), it won't be in its original form.
Thank you so much.

God damn this dumb shit just gets out hand if you miss one day of news.

What is the news of sony flying to MS HQ then? Just a rumor?
 
Thank you so much.

God damn this dumb shit just gets out hand if you miss one day of news.

What is the news of sony flying to MS HQ then? Just a rumor?
Just a rumor from one person who is new to this scene (so we don't know if he is credible or not). Logically, it doesn't make sense that Sony would negotiate the deal now with MS when they have the upper hand and the deal is more likely to be blocked.

Also, I noticed that the guy who started this rumor claims to be neutral but actually wants this acquisition to pass. So he may just be starting shit to create FUD in favor of the acquisition.

By the way, this SuperJoost "claim" is hilarious 😄

The guy says on his website, "I have no horse this race, nor do I own shares in any of the companies involved, and I am not compensated."

Then proceeds to create and submit this 20-page document (!) to regulators to convince them to let Microsoft buy ABK. 🤣

bH4laBT.jpg
SDcYQmG.jpg


Notice the keywords:
  • "improved competition"
  • "will benefit consumers"
"I have no horse in this race"

Season 3 GIF by Parks and Recreation
 
Also, I noticed that the guy who started this rumor claims to be neutral but actually wants this acquisition to pass. So he may just be starting shit to create FUD in favor of the acquisition.


Whenever someone has to state that they are neutral or that they have all 3 consoles to show that they are unbiased, 100% of the time, they are fanboys.
 
I don't deny those documents but I don't think there's another chance that the deal will fail.
 
Really? Because there is an opposite mood on twitter

Some people are just grasping at straws finding whatever they can to push their agendas. They also like to get attention telling their audience what they want to hear regardless if it's true or not.
Twitter is full of these people.

Right now chances of this deal to pass without some really significant remedies that would basically change the nature of the deal like Microsoft wanted/intended are next to none.
 
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Delivered by Azure, which is probably what they're concerned about. Hard to compete in game streaming when the tech giant both provides free infrastructure for streaming as well as uses their money to buy up whole publishers and their catalogs.

I recall Google citing this as one of the reasons Stadia was shutting down.
The cloud infrastructure wasn't free. MS invested in the tech. Sony had game streaming before MS did. Difference is MS invested in it much more heavily and now appear to be penalized for that investment even though it isn't a stand alone product and doesn't generate any money on its own. Cloud on Xbox isn't anything close to being a market.
 
The cloud infrastructure wasn't free. MS invested in the tech. Sony had game streaming before MS did. Difference is MS invested in it much more heavily and now appear to be penalized for that investment even though it isn't a stand alone product and doesn't generate any money on its own. Cloud on Xbox isn't anything close to being a market.
Azure costs 10s of billions of dollars to build. There's a reason why only the trillion dollar companies are the big players in this space.
 
The cloud infrastructure wasn't free. MS invested in the tech. Sony had game streaming before MS did. Difference is MS invested in it much more heavily and now appear to be penalized for that investment even though it isn't a stand alone product and doesn't generate any money on its own. Cloud on Xbox isn't anything close to being a market.
Do you think Sony can spend on the level of MS, Google and Amazon?
 
You want people to do their own research before reaching an informed opinion?

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The cloud infrastructure wasn't free. MS invested in the tech. Sony had game streaming before MS did. Difference is MS invested in it much more heavily and now appear to be penalized for that investment even though it isn't a stand alone product and doesn't generate any money on its own. Cloud on Xbox isn't anything close to being a market.
Try reading your comment like this then:

"First-party exclusives weren't free. Sony invested in the games. MS had more studios than PlayStation did. Difference is Sony invested in games much more heavily and now appears to be penalized for that investment."

See the similarities?

If you agree that MS shouldn't be penalized for their cloud investment and dominance, you would also agree that PS should not be penalized for its market share built on first-party investment and games.

That'd make it easier to understand the CMA's decision.

More importantly, MS can spend on the level of PS studios in their games and first-party studios. Sony cannot spend the same amount as MS to build Azure-level cloud services.
 
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It's still funny to me how people thought this deal would be done no concessions.
To be fair, knowing nothing about this legal stuff and seeing how they could buy Bethesda/Zenimax so easily while at the time, everyone here and everywhere was so happy about these games coming "for free" on the gamepass (The best deal in gaming TM), I was afraid nobody would do anything against them and that Microsoft would have bought all the big publishers one by one without any resistance after this.
 
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