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 .
Status
Not open for further replies.
Topher said:
And then she waited over two weeks to post it on twitter. It is a bit strange.



I think it is strange that he would say this knowing MS and ABK are engaged in a heavy public relations campaign with the whole thing.
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Timing is really odd, why now bring this up?

Plus he had to know its going to leak

I can't decide if he was genius or really stupid for saying this in her earshot
 
I mean, whichever way you try to spin it, it's not something you say when clear headed. Unprofessional.

Fucking Geordies, he was probably hungover or something. Big night on the toon in Belgium like before the hearing :messenger_tears_of_joy:
 
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Gobjuduck said:
because it came out today, that Sony told UK regulators xbox was not willing to offer solutions. Making it seem like Microsoft is the difficult party.

She basically quoted Jim being stubborn and not willing to find a solution, in response.
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That's not what was said at all.
 
Heisenberg007 said:
Game Pass price will likely be increasing soon even if they don't get ABK. After ABK, it will definitely go up. They can't offer such a premium catalog of games at the same cost. It's extremely unlikely.
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Exactly you can't be so ignorant to think prices will eventually rise look at every other subscription service like Netflix, Stan. (Australia) and Disney+ they have all gone up in price and have had frequent price rises annually now. They try and lure people in the first few years with a locked price usually at that $10 a month plan for the first few years to build up subscribers.
 
HeisenbergFX4 said:
Timing is really odd, why now bring this up?

Plus he had to know its going to leak

I can't decide if he was genius or really stupid for saying this in her earshot
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Or just incredibly overconfident. Either way, this doesn't put either Lulu or Jim in the best light.

adamsapple said:
Yep, that's definitely gonna put a damper on future Sony/MS deals like continued Azure usage for gaming services and stuff. Jim 'bridge burner' at it.
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It was revealed not too long ago that Sony is using AWS for its gaming services.
 
Aguero9320 said:
I mean, whichever way you try to spin it, it's not something you say when clear headed. Unprofessional.

Fucking Geordies, he was probably hungover or something :messenger_tears_of_joy:
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On the contrary being up front, direct and honest with your intentions is the most professional thing you can do. Especially when you are delivering news or information that the other party doesn't want to hear.
 
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Topher said:
It was revealed not too long ago that Sony is using AWS for its gaming services.
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potential future deals, they've signed agreements for working on Azure once before as well, probably gonna be a while before they do anything like that again.
 
adamsapple said:
potential future deals, they've signed agreements for working on Azure once before as well, probably gonna be a while before they do anything like that again.
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They signed an MOU to explore the possibility, but sounds like it didn't pan out. But burning bridges works both ways. So yeah, probably not much chance of either looking to partner any time in the future.
 
Banjo64 said:
Ok the contrary being up front, direct and honest with your intentions is the most professional thing you can do. Especially when you are delivering news or information that the other party doesn't want to hear.
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Not if it undercuts your legal arguments. Which it does - to say there's no terms that can be offered which would change your mind is not going to play well in a process built around acceptable remedies.

I almost guarantee he wouldn't be allowed to say that publicly, and I think there's a chance someone got under his skin and he lost his cool a bit (as seems to have been intimated, who knows if accurately). "Why won't you talk to us about a deal Mr. Ryan?' Etc.

The wording is a little personal - I just want to block your merger. He doesn't get to block anything, and I'd imagine he knows that… Which is why it's being used against him now by the opposition.

Not a fatal error, but IMO, not an insignificant one either. This thing just keeps on going. I love and hate it.
 
Dunno what Lulu is on about, I was in the meeting and all Jim did was talk about his cats. The EC was confused but let him ramble on abit.

Quite a touching speech really.
 
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Thirty7ven said:
You think I'm going to read all that from a walking billboard for a game that isn't out yet and we have seen barely anything from?

Whatever it was, I'm happy for you. Though gig you have, my condolences.
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It was a good story. I laughed. I cried. Well....mostly I laughed.
 
fred420170 said:
Sounds like a Sony problem. If this is really their business model and they depend on third party games to survive this badly that's their problem, not Microsofts. They are complete morons if this is true and need to do a top down re-organization of the company & fire lots execs that made these dumb decisions years ago.
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How is this a Sony problem when this MS acquisition spree that started in like 2019 is because their studios were barely functioning and releasing games after almost 2 decades in this business? Lmao
 
Tiago Rodrigues said:
How is this a Sony problem when this MS acquisition spree that started in like 2019 is because their studios were barely functioning and releasing games after almost 2 decades in this business? Lmao
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Yes it was not because they had 4-5 single team studios not all. When Sony had over twice as many and a few multiple teams. Yes its totally possible to release 5 AAA games a year with 4-5 teams :rolleyes: . It funny even with all those studios-teams sony still went on a money hat world tour to try and finish off Microsoft.
 
BeardGawd said:
As I've said before ABK and Sony's relationship will never be the same.
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At some point during the harassment scandals, Phil Spencer was denouncing Activision and publicly threatening them to never make business with them again.

Two months later he was praising Activision and announcing he wanted to buy the whole thing. The very same place he was complaining about workplace problems.

Business finds a way. These aren't twitter trolls, they're business people.
 
Aguero9320 said:
Not if it undercuts your legal arguments. Which it does - to say there's no terms that can be offered which would change your mind is not going to play well in a process built around acceptable remedies.

I almost guarantee he wouldn't be allowed to say that publicly, and I think there's a chance someone got under his skin and he lost his cool a bit (as seems to have been intimated, who knows if accurately). "Why won't you talk to us about a deal Mr. Ryan?' Etc.

The wording is a little personal - I just want to block your merger. He doesn't get to block anything, and I'd imagine he knows that… Which is why it's being used against him now by the opposition.

Not a fatal error, but IMO, not an insignificant one either. This thing just keeps on going. I love and hate it.
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I don't think it will have any bearing at all. Primarily because of the person repeating what was supposedly said. Same executive at ABK who was posting memes ridiculing Sony is now repeating what was said behind closed doors to the entire world. If we are going to talk about being unprofessional then Lulu is at the top of that list.
 
Gobjuduck said:
Jim being a stubborn cry baby confirmed.
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This acquisition affects much more things than just your ability to get COD on GamePass. PlayStation makes a lot of money out of Call of Duty, as well as other Activision games.

It's so pathetic watching people believing that this is just about Call of Duty. This affects the entire industry and the entire marketplace.
 
Topher said:
I don't think it will have any bearing at all. Primarily because of the person repeating what was supposedly said. Same executive at ABK who was posting memes ridiculing Sony is now repeating what was said behind closed doors to the entire world. If we are going to talk about being unprofessional then Lulu is at the top of that list.
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And even by her own Twitter posts she prided herself on acting in what people would consider an unprofessional manner.

 
Happy to see that the CMA is not only holding firm on their Preliminary Findings, but its finding out that the only added Behavioral Remedy MS proposed to the CMA is the founding of an external group to assess the technical parity of CoD is just absolutely nonsense. At this point, I wouldn't be shocked if MS secretly wanted the deal to die.


Bumblebeetuna said:
Sony not negotiating in good faith and just want to block MS from being a bigger competitor? Shocking.

Hopefully the regulators aren't so ignorant that they fall for it.
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You realize that the reason regulators already put this much scrutiny on this deal is because Sony essentially petitioned regulators into doing so? Sony's position is not a secret to them - they are opposed to the deal because it affects them.

The notion that this would somehow change a regulator's mind, that someone who would be negatively impacted should this deal go through does not want it to go through, is absolutely nonsense.
 
Topher said:
I don't think it will have any bearing at all. Primarily because of the person repeating what was supposedly said. Same executive at ABK who was posting memes ridiculing Sony is now repeating what was said behind closed doors to the entire world. If we are going to talk about being unprofessional then Lulu is at the top of that list.
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I don't really know who she is (only dip in and out of the thread, it's too much) but I've seen her pop up from time to time.

It might not have any bearing, but it could, which is why he shouldn't have said it. It lowers Sony's voice at the table IMO, and lessens their arguments against behavioural remedies because they seem to be coming from an obstinate place. Microsoft and Activision can just shrug their shoulders and roll their eyes in exasperation. Claim they're being unreasonable.

I don't think how we found out about it matters, because I'm presuming it was said in front of people in that behind closed doors hearing. Otherwise however crazy she may or may not be, she wouldn't have said it so confidently.
 
DForce said:
Same confirmation that PS5 wouldn't have ray tracing or that it's really a 9tf console?
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Season 7 Oops GIF by Workaholics
 
SneakersSO said:
Happy to see that the CMA is not only holding firm on their Preliminary Findings, but its finding out that the only added Behavioral Remedy MS proposed to the CMA is the founding of an external group to assess the technical parity of CoD is just absolutely nonsense. At this point, I wouldn't be shocked if MS secretly wanted the deal to die.



You realize that the reason regulators already put this much scrutiny on this deal is because Sony essentially petitioned regulators into doing so? Sony's position is not a secret to them - they are opposed to the deal because it affects them.

The notion that this would somehow change a regulator's mind, that someone who would be negatively impacted should this deal go through does not want it to go through, is absolutely nonsense.
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I meant not falling for their entire weak argument, not just that supposed comment from Ryan.
 
Aguero9320 said:
Not if it undercuts your legal arguments. Which it does - to say there's no terms that can be offered which would change your mind is not going to play well in a process built around acceptable remedies.

I almost guarantee he wouldn't be allowed to say that publicly, and I think there's a chance someone got under his skin and he lost his cool a bit (as seems to have been intimated, who knows if accurately). "Why won't you talk to us about a deal Mr. Ryan?' Etc.

The wording is a little personal - I just want to block your merger. He doesn't get to block anything, and I'd imagine he knows that… Which is why it's being used against him now by the opposition.

Not a fatal error, but IMO, not an insignificant one either. This thing just keeps on going. I love and hate it.
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Folks really think this will affect how regulators are looking at this? Everything Sony has supplied to regulators spells out that they don't want the deal to go through. They have never, not once, intimated that there was some set of remedies that would appease them, so i'm not sure why you think the regulators expected this.

Moreover, today we have learned that MS' proposed behavioral remedy for the CMA is the formation of an independent performance parity group, and offered nothing to address the CMA's actual preliminary findings or anything geared towards the structural remedies the CMA indicated they wanted to see.
 
adamsapple said:
Yep, that's definitely gonna put a damper on future Sony/MS deals like continued Azure usage for gaming services and stuff. Jim 'bridge burner' at it.
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Ya im sure MS will love to lose Sonys Azure business and risk losing them to another competitor. Im sure they would love to have that chunk of business for Azure
 
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Aguero9320 said:
I don't really know who she is (only dip in and out of the thread, it's too much) but I've seen her pop up from time to time.

It might not have any bearing, but it could, which is why he shouldn't have said it. It lowers Sony's voice at the table IMO, and lessens their arguments against behavioural remedies because they seem to be coming from an obstinate place. Microsoft and Activision can just shrug their shoulders and roll their eyes in exasperation. Claim they're being unreasonable.

I don't think how we found out about it matters, because I'm presuming it was said in front of people in that behind closed doors hearing. Otherwise however crazy she may or may not be, she wouldn't have said it so confidently.
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Probably best to not have said it, I agree. But I don't know how confident she is in repeating something that was supposedly said two weeks prior. If she had some out immediately and said it then maybe but she opted to post idiotic memes on twitter. I'll have to just disagree on the "how" we found out mattering. I think it does. Either way, it looks like petty "he said, she said" bickering and that's probably how the regulators will look at it as well.
 
Aguero9320 said:
Where did you see that?
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www.equityreport.co.uk

CMA prepared to diverge from counterparts on Microsoft/Activision Blizzard merger decision

The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) would not refrain from diverging from the position of other regulators such as the European Commission (EC) in its final report on the proposed merger between Microsoft and […]
www.equityreport.co.uk www.equityreport.co.uk

If the expectation is that the EC is expected to pass the deal with the terms MS presented 2 weeks ago (supposedly), then the CMA indicating to folks that they are prepared to block it is not a stretch. It doesn't sound like the CMA is being swayed at all.
Bumblebeetuna said:
I meant not falling for their entire weak argument, not just that supposed comment from Ryan.
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You can claim its a weak argument, but clearly both the FTC and the CMA are willing to go the distance. Its fine if you think the arguments are weak, but its quite clear that to the people that matter in this entire ordeal, their arguments are landing.
 
SneakersSO said:
Folks really think this will affect how regulators are looking at this? Everything Sony has supplied to regulators spells out that they don't want the deal to go through. They have never, not once, intimated that there was some set of remedies that would appease them, so i'm not sure why you think the regulators expected this.

Moreover, today we have learned that MS' proposed behavioral remedy for the CMA is the formation of an independent performance parity group, and offered nothing to address the CMA's actual preliminary findings or anything geared towards the structural remedies the CMA indicated they wanted to see.
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I think they said the Microsoft proposals were 'nowhere near good enough'? That would suggest something else could be… But it seems not.

Also not sure why you are so dismissive of an independent group funded by Microsoft - it directly answers their main objection to not accepting a behavioural remedy (too difficult to administer).

Do you think they are so incompetent to propose something as patently ridiculous as you believe it be? Or is there any chance that they have had offline conversations that might give them hope it might fly?
 
SneakersSO said:
[/URL]

If the expectation is that the EC is expected to pass the deal with the terms MS presented 2 weeks ago (supposedly), then the CMA indicating to folks that they are prepared to block it is not a stretch. It doesn't sound like the CMA is being swayed at all.
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Okay, so you didn't 'hear' that they are standing firm. Thought I'd missed something (and I had seen that link). That's been the CMA's default since Brexit btw. They consider themselves independent of the EC. Which they are.
 
ToTTenTranz said:
At some point during the harassment scandals, Phil Spencer was denouncing Activision and publicly threatening them to never make business with them again.

Two months later he was praising Activision and announcing he wanted to buy the whole thing. The very same place he was complaining about workplace problems.

Business finds a way. These aren't twitter trolls, they're business people.
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I hear you but this is literally hurting the pockets of anyone at Activision that holds shares in the company. Management, directors, long term employees, large shareholders. And it's plain to see that Sony is lying that losing COD would mean they couldn't compete just to block the deal. Now we have confirmation that Jim was never negotiating in good faith. I just don't see how Sony comes out of this unscathed.
 
Topher said:
Probably best to not have said it, I agree. But I don't know how confident she is in repeating something that was supposedly said two weeks prior. If she had some out immediately and said it then maybe but she opted to post idiotic memes on twitter. I'll have to just disagree on the "how" we found out mattering. I think it does. Either way, it looks like petty "he said, she said" bickering and that's probably how the regulators will look at it as well.
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If I had to guess, I'd say the transcripts have just been approved and circulated… I don't think she just shot from the hip there.

Funny stuff, whatever is happening behind the scenes! I'm getting too sucked into the thread again so ducking out, but appreciate the reasoned conversation with you always!
 

BeardGawd said:
I hear you but this is literally hurting the pockets of anyone at Activision that holds shares in the company. Management, directors, long term employees, large shareholders. And it's plain to see that Sony is lying that losing COD would mean they couldn't compete just to block the deal. Now we have confirmation that Jim was never negotiating in good faith. I just don't see how Sony comes out of this unscathed.
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it sends a message.
 
Aguero9320 said:
Also not sure why you are so dismissive of an independent group funded by Microsoft - it directly answers their main objection to not accepting a behavioural remedy (too difficult to administer).
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If you are being paid by someone to monitor them, then you are implicitly being incentivized to say that everything they do is above board. Same as what happened with Arthur Anderson and Enron ages back.

This entire case essentially boils down to a trillion dollar corporation replying with "trust me" to anyone who dares criticize the deal.
 
Topher said:
I don't think it will have any bearing at all. Primarily because of the person repeating what was supposedly said. Same executive at ABK who was posting memes ridiculing Sony is now repeating what was said behind closed doors to the entire world. If we are going to talk about being unprofessional then Lulu is at the top of that list.
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I could see there being a credibility issue because of her interest and the way she has been criticizing Sony has been unproffessional. But she would get sued for libel if what she said was untrue and so far she hasn't taken down that tweet.

Also Jim Ryan did reveal details of a private meeting when he revealed MS only offered 3 yrs beyond the current deal for CoD. So it seems these kind of leaks are fair game? I dunno
 
Astray said:
If you are being paid by someone to monitor them, then you are implicitly being incentivized to say that everything they do is above board. Same as what happened with Arthur Anderson and Enron ages back.

This entire case essentially boils down to a trillion dollar corporation replying with "trust me" to anyone who dares criticize the deal.
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That's not true. My company pays towards an independent body in our own industry to regulate a certain part of it at the insistence of the US Government due to past failures (not by me I might add lol).

Works really well. Costs us a fortune and they regularly hold us to task.
 
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