Microsoft / Activision deal prevented to protect innovation and choice in cloud gaming

Sneakysnake said:
They would not be leaving anything behind for any meaningful period of time. They would scare the shit out the the UK regulators and the they would have no choice but to comply. Also, you are seriously overestimating the value of the UK market. MS is an American company. Losing the business of the UK for a few months would be like losing the state of Louisiana for a few months. It's just not that big of a deal.
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Star Trek GIF
 
This needs to be quoted multiple times!!!!

In his Thursday Q&A with staff, he pointed specifically to Microsoft's buying spree and planned acquisition of Bethesda Software later this year as one of the factors that had made Google decide to close the book on original game development.
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In his Thursday Q&A with staff, he pointed specifically to Microsoft's buying spree and planned acquisition of Bethesda Software later this year as one of the factors that had made Google decide to close the book on original game development.
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In his Thursday Q&A with staff, he pointed specifically to Microsoft's buying spree and planned acquisition of Bethesda Software later this year as one of the factors that had made Google decide to close the book on original game development.
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This is what Phil Spencer said as to why Google killed Stadia.
 
Sneakysnake said:
You need to do more research. Other regulators are under ZERO obligation to comply with the UK. That is probably why you used the work "emboldens" rather than "obligates". Seems you are saying MS "wouldn't" or "shouldn't" just ditch the UK but that's your opinion. The fact is there I nothing legally stopping MS from choosing to leave the UK out in the cold and in fact, many insiders have said that this is the most likely course if the UK stands alone in opposing the merger. If this all happens, the UK would eventually dick tuck and endorse the merger bc the ppl of UK will not be happy with having to miss out on everything MS offers, possibly even windows. I would start learning Linux now if I were you, chap.
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Lol. You've shot straight into the "Fucked Up Console Warrior Galaxy"
 
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X-Wing said:
The more I think about this the more hilarious it all becomes. There was this constant attempt to make Playstation look like the boogey man that didn't want gamers to get the "best deal in gaming", and the CMA goes blocking the deal, not because they think the deal endangers PlayStation, but because they understand that Microsoft's larger marketshare on Cloud gaming together with their monopoly on the PC operating system represents a risk to any other player wanting to enter that market.
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Which is dumb though, right? Whether the CMA made the right or wrong decision their reasoning is pretty dumb. MS has such a large marketshare in cloud gaming because they are literally propping up a failing market. No-one is trying to enter the cloud gaming market and does anyone here really think it is going to explode in popularity any day now?
 
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TheGodfather07 said:
microsoft made it a whole lot worse when they decided to shit on the UK and the CMA by claiming they didnt understand and needed to be educated about the games industry. is that really how you sway them? by taking the piss out of them. they deserve this. you reap what you sow.
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Yeah, but what are you gonna do when you deal with people who don't understand the field they are blocking? I am almost certain you could convince the CMA that Halo started as a TV show.

Now we have to continue to shell out for overpriced Sony hardware and super-expensive games from Sony and Nintendo.

Game Pass is the only gamer-first incentive since Valve made Steam, but now we are at the hands of people who are gonna try to squeeze every last drop out of their users. Nintendo sees its customers as super-fans who want to buy everything Nintendo, and Sony views their customers as game whales.

Not to mention all the shitty memes we now have to endure.
 
GHG said:
If anything this will have a positive impact on Microsoft's stock.
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Imagine sincerely believing that investors will think that spunking %70 of MSFT's cash on hand to save Spencer's ass is a great idea. No wonder the stock is going up after the CMA decision was announced.

Topher said:


:messenger_tears_of_joy::messenger_tears_of_joy::messenger_tears_of_joy:
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lmao someone must have just lost a massive bonus on that consulting contract.
 
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Sneakysnake said:
They would not be leaving anything behind for any meaningful period of time. They would scare the shit out the the UK regulators and the they would have no choice but to comply. Also, you are seriously overestimating the value of the UK market. MS is an American company. Losing the business of the UK for a few months would be like losing the state of Louisiana for a few months. It's just not that big of a deal.
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Are we really suggesting that Microsoft will threaten to go on an economic war with an entire country over some deal about gaming which they barely care about? I thought the whole point of these aquisitions was because Nadella wanted more and more customers into subscriptions and gamepass fit the bill. What you are describing is going the exact opposite way and into comic book villain territory.
 
Sneakysnake said:
You need to do more research. Other regulators are under ZERO obligation to comply with the UK. That is probably why you used the work "emboldens" rather than "obligates". Seems you are saying MS "wouldn't" or "shouldn't" just ditch the UK but that's your opinion. The fact is there I nothing legally stopping MS from choosing to leave the UK out in the cold and in fact, many insiders have said that this is the most likely course if the UK stands alone in opposing the merger. If this all happens, the UK would eventually dick tuck and endorse the merger bc the ppl of UK will not be happy with having to miss out on everything MS offers, possibly even windows. I would start learning Linux now if I were you, chap.
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No. The terms of the purchase required approval from regulators including 4 explicitly named regulators, the UK CMA being one so identified.

That is legally binding - without UK approval, this deal is dead regardless of the decision of other regulators.
 
Ozzy Onya A2Z said:
And yet @reksveks posted about Tencent ramping up international investments over Chinese mainland ones. Tencent has an MO of small investments that ramp up to just below regulatory radar.

If you're more for Chinese state owned control of gaming I cannot say I agree with that. Look what the CCP did recently putting 14,000 devs/studios out of business with their gaming clamp down.
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If that's really an issue, then the answer is for lawmakers to put tighter limitations on companies like Tencent in terms of what amount of shares they can buy into gaming companies outside of their country of origin. The solution is NOT to let another large company consolidate a massive 3P publisher just to starve off a foreign company from investing into that 3P.

TheGodfather07 said:
What if the EU don't approve? Are Microsoft really gonna fight all three regulators and think they can turn it around? Lol
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There's already a 66% chance they walk away from this deal with CMA blocking and FTC suing to block the deal. Given the CMA were in discussions with FTC & EU during this process and that sharing of evidence influenced them in part to rule to block the deal, there's a decently increased chance the EC also move to block the deal.

Which if that happens, the deal is definitely dead. The costs for fighting it would not be worth it for Microsoft when they could just, y'know, direct that focus to their current teams of developers and get some stuff going there instead.
 
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Sneakysnake said:
Gunna suck to live in the UK when everyone else in the world is getting Xbox and call of duty and your left out in the cold, gloomy, rainy hellscape known as the UK. MS will simply move on without the UK. They may even move MS as a whole out, not just Xbox. Enjoy your Linux and battlefield!
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UK gov just shot themselves in the foot.
I don't know how much the rest of you know about UK culture (I'm an expert), but honor and shame are huge parts of it. It's not like it is in America where you can become successful by being an asshole. If you screw someone over in UK, you bring shame to yourself, and the only way to get rid of that shame is repentance.
What this means is the UK public, after hearing about this, is not going to want to purchase COD for either system, nor will they purchase any of Acitivsion's games. This is HUGE. You can laugh all you want, but UK has alienated an entire market with this move.
UK, publicly apologize and cancel COD for Playstation or you can kiss your business goodbye.
 
poppabk said:
Which is dumb though, right? Whether the CMA made the right or wrong decision their reasoning is pretty dumb. MS has such a large marketshare in cloud gaming because they are literally propping up a failing market. No-one is trying to enter the cloud gaming market and does anyone here really think it is going to explode in popularity any day now?
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I disagree. Microsoft has 70% of that market, giving them ownership of such a major publisher would not only lock that but reduce the chances to any newcomer to basically zero. This in an already extremely hard to enter market (considering the infrastructure necessary). The CMA isn't here to reward Microsoft for doing a good job in cloud gaming, it's here to make sure that that market remains competitive and that no player gets hold of a monopoly there.
 
Some of these takes, man! I need a bigger bucket of popcorn. And I say that as a green rat myself. But there's fans, there's fanboys, and then there are these lunatics. Jesus fucking christ.
 
I'd love to know actual usage statistics for XCloud vs people firing it up for 5 minutes and realizing it blows.


They've really just picked the most absurd of reasons to block the deal.
 
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Bragr said:
Yeah, but what are you gonna do when you deal with people who don't understand the field they are blocking? I am almost certain you could convince the CMA that Halo started as a TV show.

Now we have to continue to shell out for overpriced Sony hardware and super-expensive games from Sony and Nintendo.

Game Pass is the only gamer-first incentive since Valve made Steam, but now we are at the hands of people who are gonna try to squeeze every last drop out of their users. Nintendo sees its customers as super-fans who want to buy everything Nintendo, and Sony views their customers as game whales.

Not to mention all the shitty memes we now have to endure.
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Microsoft could spend 5b to have CoD on gamepass, no need to spend 70b to remove games from platforms.

It shows you it's not about gamepass at all.
 
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Sneakysnake said:
You need to do more research. Other regulators are under ZERO obligation to comply with the UK. That is probably why you used the work "emboldens" rather than "obligates". Seems you are saying MS "wouldn't" or "shouldn't" just ditch the UK but that's your opinion. The fact is there I nothing legally stopping MS from choosing to leave the UK out in the cold and in fact, many insiders have said that this is the most likely course if the UK stands alone in opposing the merger. If this all happens, the UK would eventually dick tuck and endorse the merger bc the ppl of UK will not be happy with having to miss out on everything MS offers, possibly even windows. I would start learning Linux now if I were you, chap.
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Did you ask ChatGPT to come up with a ridiculous post, that makes no sense and is littered with your fanboy hopes and dreams rather than common sense? Or was this all your own work?

I imagine there are lots of legal obligations MS have in the UK that they are contractually obliged to fulfill, I highly doubt they are going to risk that and their reputation over a deal related to gaming. It would make every government in the western world probably use Google, Amazon etc. instead of Microsoft for all future cloud contracts, just in case they threw another hissy fit when regulatory decisions don't go their way. I imagine shareholders would not let it happen either.

I'm not sure if MS have even threatened anything like this? ABK seem to be the most vocal, and as a UK citizen I find some of their comments distasteful and overstating their importance in any of this, they're clearly personally upset that they won't get their big payout.

On a personal note, I'd love it if MS did pull out, it would further encourage competition in many other areas, but it's not going to happen.
 
TheGodfather07 said:
What if the EU don't approve? Are Microsoft really gonna fight all three regulators and think they can turn it around? Lol
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Considering the fact that eu is much more strict than uk when it comes to regulations, they would probably next to block.

Ms, Just walk away.

Walk away and focus on 40 studios you currently have for fuck sake.
 
Jigsaah said:
So basically the only way this could happen is if Microsoft and ABK restructure the deal....excluding the UK....or appeal the decision successfully.

Both situations seem very unlikely.
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This is not just unlikely - it is impossible. The terms of the deal were set, voted on and approved by ABK shareholders.

MS and ABK management cannot just change the terms - they are publicly owned and traded companies, not private.
 
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Something to consider. The cma had to drop the console concerns due to ms calling them out and providing new figures thereby making the cma look incompetent.

I doubt the cma would appreciate looking silly on account of ms calling them out. This might be the cma saying "oh yeah, think you so smart, aight, Lina Khan hold my beer".
The focus on cloud is iron clad argument for the cma, there is no way out for MS after this. The cma clapped the fuck back.
 
So... whats too big for Microsoft to acquire now?

Is Take 2 too big?
Can they acquire anyone..?

It feels like this "Cloud gaming" argument just rules out every "big" deal tbh.
 
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