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.
Ass of Can Whooping Ass of Can Whooping
Cant you control yourself?
What The Wtf GIF by A Black Lady Sketch Show
 
Astray said:
Kotick had an interview with NYPost, and it went as you'd expect..
[/URL]
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Bobby: "..because of regulatory burdens from governments that don't have the willingness to invest in understanding the industries they are attempting to regulate. From cures for cancer; to games that connect people"

CMA seems to have done a good job so far in curing at least one tumerous growth.

Bobby: "Fortunately, there is still some hardware innovation happening in the US. Meta is leading the development of Virtual Reality based gaming"

Ah, he's looking to Golden Parachute into Meta. Good fit IMO.
 
GHG said:
Nah, there are just a disproportionate amount of fakers here.

The claim:

"I'm a PC gamer through and through, I'm neutral I promise"

The reality:

*has a low-mid tier PC*

*barely has any games on Steam*

*stans for the windows store*

*doesn't understand the problems with the Epic games store*

*defends Microsoft and Xbox at every opportunity*

*has no issue with Denuvo or other similar DRM*

*never takes part in any PC hardware or PC specific game discussions*

*has irrational hate for Sony*

*shills gamepass, loves "free" games but is nowhere to be seen in humble bundle discussions or when games are actually free and are being given away*

*hates on the Steam Deck, advocates xcloud and the Series S*

GIF by VH1
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Eeek.

I tick some of those boxes.
I like Epic Store (free shit is ace), I love my PS5 and RTX3080 powered PC, I couldn't give a shit about DRM (not once has it impacted any game I have bought), I love Steam and have
gcwerxj.png
and very clearly have poor impulse control!

I'm taking myself straight back to the store I bought myself from and will request a refund!
 
Blight0r said:
Eeek.

I tick some of those boxes.
I like Epic Store (free shit is ace), I love my PS5 and RTX3080 powered PC, I couldn't give a shit about DRM (not once has it impacted any game I have bought), I love Steam and have
gcwerxj.png
and very clearly have poor impulse control!

I'm taking myself straight back to the store I bought myself from and will request a refund!
Click to expand...

You don't tick most of the boxes, so it's fine, we can be friends.

Level up rookie (and get away from the devils number ASAP, Phil will come for you).

rmzAct9.png
 
GHG said:
You don't tick most of the boxes, so it's fine, we can be friends.

Level up rookie (and get away from the devils number ASAP, Phil will come for you).

rmzAct9.png
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Dude, its already moved on -
h33hZ8u.png
! Hahaha.

Hmm, for some reason it looks different on my left hand list. 673?

ZNUkW43.png
 
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adamsapple said:
Mark Wahlberg Chill GIF



The appeal process and subsequent things will take some time, you guys need to get ready for months more of this.
Click to expand...

Orangutan Lol GIF


Here's the best bit: there is no appeals process.

They can only allege the CMA of wrongdoing, and that would be a very serious allegation. To the degree it could possibly endanger Microsoft's contracts with the UK government.
 
Tams said:
Orangutan Lol GIF


Here's the best bit: there is no appeals process.

They can only allege the CMA of wrongdoing, and that would be a very serious allegation. To the degree it could possibly endanger Microsoft's contracts with the UK government.
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That's where you're wrong kiddo.

i4O9XwB.jpg
 
Tams said:
You didn't read the last part, kiddo.
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Your first sentence was "There is no appeals process". That's wrong.

You then say they can only allege wrong doing. That is wrong.

They appeal the CMA's decision to CAT on the grounds of irrationality, illegality or procedural impropriety.

Appealing in and of itself won't damage any relationships they have with the UK government, and there's no world where appealing the CMA's decision (in your words) endangers "contracts" they have with the UK government.
 
MasterCornholio said:
Christmas Judging GIF by discovery+


That's my question because I don't really know what they need to get the CMA to change their verdict.
Click to expand...


Probably remedies or assurances about cloud. EU had that before but then they said their concerns were sufficiently addressed. With CMA, it was all about CoD which got satisfied but then this came up.'
 
adamsapple said:
Probably remedies or assurances about cloud. EU had that before but then they said their concerns were sufficiently addressed. With CMA, it was all about CoD which got satisfied but then this came up.'
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This messes up the remedy that MS provided to EU.

MS should worry about EU and how this outcome affects the EU decision.
 
adamsapple said:
Probably remedies or assurances about cloud. EU had that before but then they said their concerns were sufficiently addressed. With CMA, it was all about CoD which got satisfied but then this came up.'
Click to expand...

The issue is that based on one their original arguments which they corrected. The conclusion is based on something different.

Either way I don't see it being easy for them.
 
adamsapple said:
Probably remedies or assurances about cloud. EU had that before but then they said their concerns were sufficiently addressed. With CMA, it was all about CoD which got satisfied but then this came up.'
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Please, don't do that.

It is bad enough Xbox literally have hype-men - do they have hype-women too? - but we all read the same summary/full reports before the CMA final report, and the Cloud SLC was clearly mentioned in all, and even in the amended provisional report where they removed the console SLC it was mentioned as not addressing the Cloud SLC. The original remedy was divestment too, so it didn't just appear as you now claim.

Revisionist nonsense doesn't strengthen the argument against the CMA decision IMHO, it only continues to illustrate that there is a controlled narrative in play - probably paid for at +$200/hr.
 
PaintTinJr said:
Please, don't do that.

It is bad enough Xbox literally have hype-men - do they have hype-women too? - but we all read the same summary/full reports before the CMA final report, and the Cloud SLC was clearly mentioned in all, and even in the amended provisional report where they removed the console SLC it was mentioned as not addressing the Cloud SLC. The original remedy was divestment too, so it didn't just appear as you now claim.

Revisionist nonsense doesn't strengthen the argument against the CMA decision IMHO, it only continues to illustrate that there is a controlled narrative in play - probably paid for at +$200/hr.
Click to expand...

From what I understand (please correct me if I'm wrong).

The first argument was the console market. Which they discarded due to a math error and coming to a conclusion that Microsoft would never take COD away from their competitors. Thus it didn't form part of their final decision.

The second argument was about the cloud market. Not necessarily what it is currently but what it can be. According to them Microsoft already has a huge market share in it and that will grow even further if they obtain ABK. That's what they are worried about and chose to block the deal on it.

I guess if Microsoft wants ABK they would have to do a lot more than just 10 year deals with their competitors in said market. What that would be to satisfy the CMA I'm not sure of. What's clear is that the concessions they offered are not enough to address their concerns.
 
MasterCornholio said:
From what I understand (please correct me if I'm wrong).

The first argument was the console market. Which they discarded due to a math error and coming to a conclusion that Microsoft would never take COD away from their competitors. Thus it didn't form part of their final decision.

The second argument was about the cloud market. Not necessarily what it is currently but what it can be. According to them Microsoft already has a huge market share in it and that will grow even further if they obtain ABK. That's what they are worried about and chose to block the deal on it.

I guess if Microsoft wants ABK they would have to do a lot more than just 10 year deals with their competitors in said market. What that would be to satisfy the CMA I'm not sure of. What's clear is that the concessions they offered are not enough to address their concerns.
Click to expand...
They don't have to address CMA concerns. They need to prove in an appeal to the CAT that the CMA acted irrationally based on the information and nothing more. If they can't prove that, they are wasting their time readdressing the concerns with the CMA.

The provisional report took consoles out of it but it still highlighted the cloud. It didn't appear as a concern out of the blue. The CMA likely removed the console argument as it was its weakest link to blocking.
 
Dick Jones said:
They don't have to address CMA concerns. They need to prove in an appeal to the CAT that the CMA acted irrationally based on the information and nothing more. If they can't prove that, they are wasting their time readdressing the concerns with the CMA.

The provisional report took consoles out of it but it still highlighted the cloud. It didn't appear as a concern out of the blue. The CMA likely removed the console argument as it was its weakest link to blocking.
Click to expand...

My guess is that they removed it because it can cause some issues if it was appealed. If anything they were just making sure they have a solid argument.

With that said the CMA spent a lot of time coming to that final decision. It's pretty obvious they did a lot of research to come to that decision. To call that hasty or irrational is going to be really difficult to prove.

I know its going to take a lot more than just money to make this go through.
 
MasterCornholio said:
My guess is that they removed it because it can cause some issues if it was appealed. If anything they were just making sure they have a solid argument.

With that said the CMA spent a lot of time coming to that final decision. It's pretty obvious they did a lot of research to come to that decision. To call that hasty or irrational is going to be really difficult to prove.

I know its going to take a lot more than just money to make this go through.
Click to expand...
They can argue from cloud perspective.
But that is a hill to climb.

MS should stop wasting their time and focus on other strategy.
The longer they delay this, the more opportunities that they lose. Just like losing tomb raider devs.
 
feynoob said:
They can argue from cloud perspective.
But that is a hill to climb.

MS should stop wasting their time and focus on other strategy.
The longer they delay this, the more opportunities that they lose. Just like losing tomb raider devs.
Click to expand...

According to the deal they have to make every effort possible to make this go through. However that ends in June and at that point they have to negotiate a new deal with ABK if they want to continue. However at that point it's up to ABK if they want to continue this.

I don't believe ABK will continue if there isn't a good chance with it going through. Plus like you said ABK doesn't want to lose the opportunity to negotiate new deals with Microsofts competitors. They can lose a lot if they don't.
 
Varteras said:
Well, I suppose selling off a successful company to dodge sexual harassment lawsuits is innovative.
Click to expand...
Hell even Trump is in court for the same, but Kotick think he has free out of jail card...and want to see more money than a 3bil when the deal fails. When the deal perhaps goes trough he would get a lot more and maybee a job at MS.
Thats why is defending this deal till Kingdom comes.....
 
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MasterCornholio said:
From what I understand (please correct me if I'm wrong).

The first argument was the console market. Which they discarded due to a math error and coming to a conclusion that Microsoft would never take COD away from their competitors. Thus it didn't form part of their final decision.

The second argument was about the cloud market. Not necessarily what it is currently but what it can be. According to them Microsoft already has a huge market share in it and that will grow even further if they obtain ABK. That's what they are worried about and chose to block the deal on it.

I guess if Microsoft wants ABK they would have to do a lot more than just 10 year deals with their competitors in said market. What that would be to satisfy the CMA I'm not sure of. What's clear is that the concessions they offered are not enough to address their concerns.
Click to expand...
They have nothing to offer the CMA, now. The process is done, they had their opportunity to offer remedies and they wasted it.

In 10years time - following a failed appeal or successful appeal and re-review by the CMA, with the same block - they can offer more.

People keep thinking this is a level playing field, when the CMA are predisposed to dislike mergers, and once they've done the work to block something, they don't want a do-over to give poor little companies like Microsoft and ATVI a second bite of the cherry after being feed the absolute minimum remeddies for a year. Quite the opposite, they can point to following the procedure, saying No, please try again in 10years if things improve for the deal - they won't, as MSFT's cloud position will make that even harder to argue then.
 
PaintTinJr said:
They have nothing to offer the CMA, now. The process is done, they had their opportunity to offer remedies and they wasted it.

In 10years time - following a failed appeal or successful appeal and re-review by the CMA, with the same block - they can offer more.

People keep thinking this is a level playing field, when the CMA are predisposed to dislike mergers, and once they've done the work to block something, they don't want a do-over to give poor little companies like Microsoft and ATVI a second bite of the cherry after being feed the absolute minimum remeddies for a year. Quite the opposite, they can point to following the procedure, saying No, please try again in 10years if things improve for the deal - they won't, as MSFT's cloud position will make that even harder to argue then.
Click to expand...

I don't even know if Microsoft will try again in 10 years. A lot of things can change in that time span.
 
The only regret I have about this deal don't going through is that I'll never be able to prove that MS would take COD of playstation faster than they can say "10 year deal"
 
Apologies if already posted:

Microsoft hires Brussels-beating lawyer to take on Britain's competition watchdog

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/micr...r-wYpmH7wKdk4vKZcfHlt-ov6x2Kxq_XxyZcb0ZsxNeTH

"Mr Beard of Monckton Chambers is seen as a leading competition barrister and has overturned multi-billion dollar penalties levied on Apple and Intel by the EU in recent years."

"...the European Commission expected to break from the CMA and approve the takeover. Sources close to the investigation said they believed Brussels would allow the deal to go through as long as Microsoft committed to certain promises to keep games such as Call of Duty available on other consoles."

Cue the "who?.gif and "hopium" pics.
 
Last edited:
freefornow said:
Apologies if already posted:

Microsoft hires Brussels-beating lawyer to take on Britain's competition watchdog

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/micr...r-wYpmH7wKdk4vKZcfHlt-ov6x2Kxq_XxyZcb0ZsxNeTH

"Mr Beard of Monckton Chambers is seen as a leading competition barrister and has overturned multi-billion dollar penalties levied on Apple and Intel by the EU in recent years."

"...the European Commission expected to break from the CMA and approve the takeover. Sources close to the investigation said they believed Brussels would allow the deal to go through as long as Microsoft committed to certain promises to keep games such as Call of Duty available on other consoles."

Cue the "who?.gif and "hopium" pics.
Click to expand...
giphy.gif
 
freefornow said:
Apologies if already posted:

Microsoft hires Brussels-beating lawyer to take on Britain's competition watchdog

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/micr...r-wYpmH7wKdk4vKZcfHlt-ov6x2Kxq_XxyZcb0ZsxNeTH

"Mr Beard of Monckton Chambers is seen as a leading competition barrister and has overturned multi-billion dollar penalties levied on Apple and Intel by the EU in recent years."

"...the European Commission expected to break from the CMA and approve the takeover. Sources close to the investigation said they believed Brussels would allow the deal to go through as long as Microsoft committed to certain promises to keep games such as Call of Duty available on other consoles."

Cue the "who?.gif and "hopium" pics.
Click to expand...
 
freefornow said:
Apologies if already posted:

Microsoft hires Brussels-beating lawyer to take on Britain's competition watchdog

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/micr...r-wYpmH7wKdk4vKZcfHlt-ov6x2Kxq_XxyZcb0ZsxNeTH

"Mr Beard of Monckton Chambers is seen as a leading competition barrister and has overturned multi-billion dollar penalties levied on Apple and Intel by the EU in recent years."

"...the European Commission expected to break from the CMA and approve the takeover. Sources close to the investigation said they believed Brussels would allow the deal to go through as long as Microsoft committed to certain promises to keep games such as Call of Duty available on other consoles."

Cue the "who?.gif and "hopium" pics.
Click to expand...

Yeah, umm, EU aren't backing down on that.

Apple won the appeal, though Ms Vestager is now seeking to reinstate the order.
Click to expand...

I've seen interviews with Ms Vestager. She is not going to let this go.
 
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