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

Do you believe the deal will be approved?


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You forgot one….

 
So have those remedy papers been released to MS?

I though we would get PR by now.

They are happy with the remedies = Chest thumping PR
They are unhappy with the remedies = Hissy fit PR

I mean microsoft aint missing the opportunity to make their feelings public.
 
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So have those remedy papers been released to MS?

I though we would get PR by now.

They are happy with the remedies = Chest thumping PR
They are unhappy with the remedies = Hissy fit PR

I mean microsoft aint missing the opportunity to make their feelings public.
The CMA final decision will arrive in just over a week. I don't think there is a need to make public statements or apply pressure if the feelings are positive or with the big possibility of being addressed.

In other words, in this case, the fact that there is no public statement leads more to think that things are looking good for MS than the opposite.

That said, in a short time we will know the truth.
 
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The CMA final decision will arrive in just over a week. I don't think there is a need to make public statements or apply pressure if the feelings are positive or with the big possibility of being addressed.

In other words, in this case, the fact that there is no public statement leads more to think that things are looking good for MS than the opposite.

That said, in a short time we will know the truth.
If the public lobbying for the deal with billboards ads in the tube and newspaper ads are still happening - right now - then I think it is going down to the wire, with a block for Cloud SLC most likely and the advs are about pre-lobbying for an attempted CAT challenge of the decision, which I believe would fail - in all situations - if they don't get this over the line next week.
 
If the public lobbying for the deal with billboards ads in the tube and newspaper ads are still happening - right now - then I think it is going down to the wire, with a block for Cloud SLC most likely and the advs are about pre-lobbying for an attempted CAT challenge of the decision, which I believe would fail - in all situations - if they don't get this over the line next week.
I found the announcement of the EE deal weird aswell.

If they announced it and didn't link it to the abk deal i would have been like whatever, but phil in his tweet did link it. Which is bizzare as it contributes nothing to the actual CMA concerns.

Sure you bringing the games to more people, but it's still through your own platform.
 
So have those remedy papers been released to MS?
Will basically have to had been, 5 working days to respond and we have like 6-7 days left.

I found the announcement of the EE deal weird aswell.

If they announced it and didn't link it to the abk deal i would have been like whatever, but phil in his tweet did link it. Which is bizzare as it contributes nothing to the actual CMA concerns.

Sure you bringing the games to more people, but it's still through your own platform.
We don't exactly know how the EE deal will look, they may be trying to kinda repeat what one of the US telco's did unsuccessfully but I suspect it won't be relevant to the decision. It's seems like just EE using the open licensing deal that MS offered.
 
Will basically have to had been, 5 working days to respond and we have like 6-7 days left.


We don't exactly know how the EE deal will look, they may be trying to kinda repeat what one of the US telco's did unsuccessfully but I suspect it won't be relevant to the decision. It's seems like just EE using the open licensing deal that MS offered.
It'd be hilarious if the EU and UK approved the deal with absolutely no concessions for console or cloud.
 
It'd be hilarious if the EU and UK approved the deal with absolutely no concessions for console or cloud.
I would say that's rather long odds, I think there will be some concessions for cloud.

But yeah, it would be rather funny if the EC/CMA concludes like that. The FTC would be very lonely.
 
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Also i saw a post by idas a while back of EC market testing the remedies by MS, so wouldn't CMA do the same thing? I mean they seem to be more hesitant on behavioural remedies, so i thought they would have exercised similar due diligence.

Or maybe that's whats been happening in the background for the last few weeks with the CMA, other then taking responses from other parties?
 
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Also i saw a post by idas a while back of EC market testing the remedies by MS, so wouldn't CMA do the same thing? I mean they seem to be more hesitant on behavioural remedies, so i thought they would have exercised similar due diligence.

Or maybe that's whats been happening in the background for the last few weeks with the CMA, other then taking responses from other parties?
Yeah, depending on the markets that they believe that there is SLC's they (both the CMA and the EC) will ask for feedback from relevant third parties in that market(s).

I think Sony will get asked by both. Think more parties will get asked for feedback from the EC.
 
It'd be hilarious if the EU and UK approved the deal with absolutely no concessions for console or cloud.
It would be funnier if that happened and the FTC case collapsed, only for the gamer's lawsuit to expose all sorts of things we never knew and got the whole deal blocked in the process while dragging out for years.
 
I found the announcement of the EE deal weird aswell.

If they announced it and didn't link it to the abk deal i would have been like whatever, but phil in his tweet did link it. Which is bizzare as it contributes nothing to the actual CMA concerns.

Sure you bringing the games to more people, but it's still through your own platform.
Someone mentioned EE are already in partnership with them in some way, so I could see it being a move to evidence their claims of bringing games to more gamers, so in the event this deal was blocked, they could jump right back on the horse and try to buy EA or T2 or Ubisoft - or Sega if it was a Wednesday - with these other EE/GeforceNow type deals giving them a better starting point to their claims with regulators.
 
I don't think there's any real reason for MS to buy a Japanese company unless it's specifically Sony or Nintendo.

The more likely next acquisition targets would be EA or Take 2. If MS can deny FIFA + Madden or GTA from Playstation then it's likely Game Over for Sony.
 
I don't think there's any real reason for MS to buy a Japanese company unless it's specifically Sony or Nintendo.

The more likely next acquisition targets would be EA or Take 2. If MS can deny FIFA + Madden or GTA from Playstation then it's likely Game Over for Sony.
What do you mean deny? There is no chance MS could make EA Sports FC or GTA exclusive. FIFA/EASFC is up there with CoD and GTA is even bigger.

That said, even getting the marketing rights for those games or putting them on game pass would be another severe blow to Sony.

MS could afford to buy EA and TakeTwo but I doubt either will happen. It would be insane if it did though lol. Then again it's still insane to think that MS will own Activision and Blizzard so who knows.
 
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South Africa Competition Tribunal reasons for approving the Microsoft Activision merger

The primary competition concern in this transaction arose from the (vertical) concern that Microsoft may, post-merger, restrict the distribution of Call of Duty to the Microsoft console, Xbox, or make Call of Duty available on terms that exclude or undermine the ability of other console manufacturers to compete.

The Commission found that the proposed transaction is unlikely to result in significant foreclosure concerns as the parties do not have the ability and incentive to foreclose competing game distributors, particularly Sony (Playstation) and Nintendo (Switch).

Furthermore, the merging parties have made undertakings to continue supplying Call of Duty games to other console manufacturers.

Therefore, the Commission found that the proposed transaction is unlikely to result in a substantial prevention or lessening of competition in any relevant markets. The Commission further found that the proposed transaction does not raise any substantial public interest concerns.
 
I don't think there's any real reason for MS to buy a Japanese company unless it's specifically Sony or Nintendo.

The more likely next acquisition targets would be EA or Take 2. If MS can deny FIFA + Madden or GTA from Playstation then it's likely Game Over for Sony.
I don't think a Japanese company would want to get bought by Microsoft either, unless it was bundled in like Tango Games. Though if the company usually just make PC games I don't think they would mind I suppose. I don't think Sony needs to buy any Japanese devs either, they are already the premium device as it is.
 
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Microsoft is said to have broadened a remedy offered to the European Commission in connection with the company's proposal to buy ABK for $68,7 billion. The commission is seeking third party feedback on the expanded offer. The change is said to relate to the ability of customers to download video games from the ... (Paywalled)

https://thecapitolforum.com/microso...xpands-ec-cloud-remedy-as-cma-talks-continue/

the cma remedy seems the same as the EC.
Saw that on the other place, it seems like an interesting one both commercially and technically.
 
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