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

Do you believe the deal will be approved?


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feynoob

Banned
Here is the lawyer.
https://www.monckton.com/barrister/daniel-beard-kc/
Daniel.BEARD-QC-HS-28051-scaled.jpg
 
What does CMA mean by cloud? Xbox Game Pass users? That's like saying Nvidia offers Free cloud to billions of people since they have a free tier. PlayStation Plus offers cloud service to all their PS Plus subscribers since it's now unified. I think CMA will lose this case...

Majority of UK games doesn't even use the cloud on Xbox Game Pass Ultimate. You need Xbox Game Pass Ultimate if you want to play online with other games via Xbox Live. It's flawed.
 
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feynoob

Banned
What does CMA mean by cloud? Xbox Game Pass users? That's like saying Nvidia offers Free cloud to billions of people since they have a free tier. PlayStation Plus offers cloud service to all their PS Plus subscribers since it's now unified. I think CMA will lose this case...
Nvidia has no content, while gamepass has content.
Nvidia users have to buy contents, which nvidia approves. And those content cost alot of money.

Xcloud on other hand uses gamepass ultimate, which has EA play and gamepass content.
https://www.xbox.com/en-US/play/gallery/all-games

Now add Activision content and you are looking at possibe monopoly.

But that is not the only thing. Xcloud can be streamed on browser, mobile and smart tvs. No other streaming system can do all these steps at the same time. That is how advanced xcloud is.
 
Nvidia has no content, while gamepass has content.
Nvidia users have to buy contents, which nvidia approves. And those content cost alot of money.

Xcloud on other hand uses gamepass ultimate, which has EA play and gamepass content.
https://www.xbox.com/en-US/play/gallery/all-games

Now add Activision content and you are looking at possibe monopoly.

But that is not the only thing. Xcloud can be streamed on browser, mobile and smart tvs. No other streaming system can do all these steps at the same time. That is how advanced xcloud is.

Like I said you need Xbox Live if you want to play online with your friends. Best option would be Xbox Game Pass Ultimate since it's the cheapest, compared to getting 2 subscriptions separately. EA Play is only Game Pass for a limited time. I'm from the UK, I have Xbox Game Pass Ultimate.. Do I stream? No.

CMA case is flawed if they think all Xbox Game Pass Ultimate users stream via cloud.

There's other streaming services that's on Smart TVs, Consoles, Smartphones etc.. Ubisoft Plus includes their streaming service that's on Xbox consoles.
 
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feynoob

Banned
Like I said you need Xbox Live if you want to play online with your friends. Best option would be Xbox Game Pass Ultimate since it's the cheapest version, compared getting 2 subscriptions separately. EA Play is only Game Pass for a limited time. I'm from the UK, I have Xbox Game Pass Ultimate.. Do I stream? No.
This isnt about you, but the competition of future cloud gaming.

MS has tons of content at their disposable. They are in the process of acquiring the biggest gaming company, which has the biggest game in the world. MS would be the king of cloud gaming.

Think of it like how Sony is the king of consoles, while apple and andriod control the mobile market. That is the position of MS in the cloud gaming space. They have huge advantages over others. They can afford to makes losses, which expanding xcloud. Other companies cant compete with MS money and resources.

You are essentially killing other competition. Its all windows situation again.
 
This isnt about you, but the competition of future cloud gaming.

MS has tons of content at their disposable. They are in the process of acquiring the biggest gaming company, which has the biggest game in the world. MS would be the king of cloud gaming.

Think of it like how Sony is the king of consoles, while apple and andriod control the mobile market. That is the position of MS in the cloud gaming space. They have huge advantages over others. They can afford to makes losses, which expanding xcloud. Other companies cant compete with MS money and resources.

You are essentially killing other competition. Its all windows situation again.

This is about the UK. PlayStation dominates the Cloud Gaming sector in the UK.
 
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Yes. And I told you, why MS is dominant in that position.

They have the content and resources to topple any competition that can challenge them.
You've just admitted you prefer Sony to have a Monopoly in the UK. They dominate the Gaming Consoles over 70%, and Gaming cloud sector here in the UK.

That's why CMA statement is flawed if they're looking to the future. What future? That's like saying Sony shouldn't acquire any more Gaming companies since they have over 70% console market lead here..
 
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Alex Scott

Member
You've just admitted you prefer Sony to have a Monopoly in the UK. They dominate the Gaming Consoles over 70%, and Gaming cloud sector here in the UK.

That's why CMA statement is flawed if they're looking to the future. What future? That's like saying Sony shouldn't acquire any more Gaming companies since they have over 70% console market lead here..
Why are you excluding Nintendo?
 

feynoob

Banned
You've just admitted you prefer Sony to have a Monopoly in the UK. They dominate the Gaming Consoles over 70%, and Gaming cloud sector here in the UK.

That's why CMA statement is flawed if they're looking to the future. What future? That's like saying Sony shouldn't acquire any more Gaming companies since they have over 70% console market lead here..
Buddy, no one gives a crap about Sony. CMA decision isnt about consoles. Its about cloud gaming, which is the future of gaming.

These console business dont have long legs. They are going to die in 1-2 gens after this gen, due to the cost of making them and their limited reach. Its why Sony and MS are investing in cloud gaming.

CMA is protecting this market from MS. They have Azure advantage and their enermous resources to get content to their service and expand xcloud. If you add Activision content, then they basically have no competition.
 
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IFireflyl

Gold Member

How are you making the argument that Sony/PlayStation is dominating the U.K. market when you have no evidence of the cloud gaming market share in the U.K.? The only thing you showed is that Sony/PlayStation had a lead on Xbox globally in 2021. Sony/PlayStation not only lost that lead, but they lost it by a crazy amount in less than two years.

Microsoft/Xbox went from having 20% - 30% of the global cloud gaming market share, to now having 60% - 70%. By contrast, Sony/PlayStation went from having 30%-40% of the global cloud gaming market share, to now having 10% - 20%. That is an insane jump for Microsoft/Xbox, and a heavy hit for Sony/PlayStation.

Regardless, don't spread FUD. You don't have data that shows the market share by region, so stop spreading rumors that Sony/PlayStation is dominating the cloud gaming market in the U.K. If evidence ever comes out to support this claim, then by all means provide it.
 
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feynoob

Banned
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hlm666

Member
But that is not the only thing. Xcloud can be streamed on browser, mobile and smart tvs. No other streaming system can do all these steps at the same time. That is how advanced xcloud is.
Geforce now does that all aswell, some of you guys need to maybe look at some of these things before making false claims.
 

HoofHearted

Member
We are missing out 2 of our good players (William saliba and tomiyasu) to injuries. Plus our back up player(Rob holding) was playing as Centerback, which nullified our attack. The other CB(Ben White) is playing RB and cant play CB, since tomiyasu is injured.
Its why our defense is shit these days.

And now the other centerback is injured. It completely derailed our end goal.
https://www.arsenal.com/news/arteta-gabriel-and-salibas-injury-status



The only soccer player I know is the one that fakes getting hurt all of the time (and there appear to be several of them that do the same thing)…

Just get off the fucking field if you’re hurt … and if you’re not - you should be penalized for delay of game and thrown off the field.
 
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feynoob

Banned



The only soccer player I know is the one that fakes getting hurt all of the time (and there appear to be several of them that do the same thing)…

Just get off the fucking field if you’re hurt … and if you’re not - you should be penalized for delay of game and thrown off the field.

Getting your feet kicked by pro footballers is painful. I easily feel pain, when kids kick my knees. I cant image the level of those pains.
Other than that, its funny to see some fake dives with 0 contacts. We usually get highlights of those dramatic effects on R/soccer.

Geforce now does that all aswell, some of you guys need to maybe look at some of these things before making false claims.
Wasnt aware of geforce browser streaming.
https://blogs.nvidia.com/blog/2022/08/18/geforce-now-thursday-august-18/
I only thought it was Xcloud after stadia closed their servers.

Still not enough, when MS has the content ready, unlike geforce which is B2P.
 

Clear

CliffyB's Cock Holster
Buddy, no one gives a crap about Sony. CMA decision isnt about consoles. Its about cloud gaming, which is the future of gaming.

More than that, "Cloud" is arguably the future of more than just gaming, its the future of *everything* digitally connected.

Cloud, technically means any non-local resource. Be it data storage, compute, streaming, whatever.

I suspect if people were more aware of how broad the definition is, they'd understand the CMA's objection better. Its not about what GamePass/Xcloud is today, because those are just the service options that MS is offering consumers at the moment. The concern is that having the market-leader in terms of infrastructure also owning market-leading content makes competition virtually impossible because it'd be like Amazon buying out the top-brands in a certain product category.

Sure, they might offer to make these products available on other storefronts, to other vendors, but they have every reason to set their prices to advantage themselves. Meanwhile they could "protect" these products top-ranking market position by biasing them in search results over competing products because they have the market leading storefront.

This synergistic leveraging of advantages is what's usually described as a network effect, because its a new mode of engineered monopolism that's only really become a thing with the rise of e-commerce - where discoverability and "reach" (MAU/page impressions) are king.

As the CMA points out, its a regulatory nightmare to police and so the simplest and most practical solution is to block these huge mergers or only approve them after appropriate structural remedies are implemented.
 

feynoob

Banned
I am right now on highest tier for GeForce now, and have to say, it's not bad.

I am currently playing New world. And the experience so far is like my own computer at max settings. No issue yet so far.
 

Bernoulli

M2 slut
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.
he didn't beat brussels, they are still on the case
EU and the CMA are going hard on GAFAM and i love it, go EC and CMA cripple them the most you can

Microsoft committed to certain promises to keep games such as Call of Duty available on other consoles."
doesn't make sense because EC have only cloud concerns nothing about consoles
 

Heisenberg007

Gold Journalism
What does CMA mean by cloud? Xbox Game Pass users? That's like saying Nvidia offers Free cloud to billions of people since they have a free tier. PlayStation Plus offers cloud service to all their PS Plus subscribers since it's now unified. I think CMA will lose this case...

Majority of UK games doesn't even use the cloud on Xbox Game Pass Ultimate. You need Xbox Game Pass Ultimate if you want to play online with other games via Xbox Live. It's flawed.
They are using Microsoft's own numbers.

QiPIG6H.jpg
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Heisenberg007

Gold Journalism

Mozza

Member
We are missing out 2 of our good players (William saliba and tomiyasu) to injuries. Plus our back up player(Rob holding) was playing as Centerback, which nullified our attack. The other CB(Ben White) is playing RB and cant play CB, since tomiyasu is injured.
Its why our defense is shit these days.

And now the other centerback is injured. It completely derailed our end goal.
https://www.arsenal.com/news/arteta-gabriel-and-salibas-injury-status
You have lost to Man City twice this season though.
 

PaintTinJr

Member
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.
Headline is a little misleading

Mr Beard had represented Microsoft in the late stages of hearings with the CMA, before the regulator blocked the takeover in April.

And I'm pretty sure this next part below is also poorly researched or misleading, as there have been other major deals since Brexit the CMA have blocked
The CMA’s decision, the first major acquisition it has rejected since assuming new merger powers after Brexit, led to accusations from Activision that Britain was “closed for business”.

It is also quite telling they have no quote from the KC and only words from Kotick and Microsoft about their commitment to the deal following the block decision.
 

Heisenberg007

Gold Journalism
Headline is a little misleading



And I'm pretty sure this next part below is also poorly researched or misleading, as there have been other major deals since Brexit the CMA have blocked


It is also quite telling they have no quote from the KC and only words from Kotick and Microsoft about their commitment to the deal following the block decision.
the biggest telltale that this article is bullshit is that they are talking about potential EU remedies are about "keeping COD on other consoles."

If the CMA (with a 56% PlayStation market share) didn't force Microsoft to keep COD multiplatform, why would EU (with an 80% PlayStation console market share) force Microsoft to do that?

Any remedies that EU asks will also be related to the Cloud gaming market.
 

THE DUCK

voted poster of the decade by bots
All these numbers being thrown around, I see monthly average users. But how do you benchmark markets hare when xloud is included free with gamepass? Same for Sony's service. How do you decide what percentage of the fees "belong" to cloud gaming?

So what about actual revenue paid just for cloud gaming? I didn't read all of this, but isn't it possible that nvidia is the clear market leader by a landslide based on the criteria of having to pay money just for cloud gaming?
 

PaintTinJr

Member
the biggest telltale that this article is bullshit is that they are talking about potential EU remedies are about "keeping COD on other consoles."

If the CMA (with a 56% PlayStation market share) didn't force Microsoft to keep COD multiplatform, why would EU (with an 80% PlayStation console market share) force Microsoft to do that?

Any remedies that EU asks will also be related to the Cloud gaming market.
Yeah, it reads like a Microsoft paid puff piece where the writer has made a collage from adjacent regulator or merging party statements to give the opinion that the CMA are still to change their minds and be in a position to be influenced by the EC supposedly backing the deal...

when the reality is probably that the EC will be influenced by the full market analysis of the CMA, and will want to be in alignment with CMA to appear decisive and strong, and the timetable wiill then have ATVI shareholders take the $3B and leave Microsoft hanging when trying to defend their actions against the FTC, and cause the CMA appeal to collapse with the deal.
 
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PaintTinJr

Member
All these numbers being thrown around, I see monthly average users. But how do you benchmark markets hare when xloud is included free with gamepass? Same for Sony's service. How do you decide what percentage of the fees "belong" to cloud gaming?

So what about actual revenue paid just for cloud gaming? I didn't read all of this, but isn't it possible that nvidia is the clear market leader by a landslide based on the criteria of having to pay money just for cloud gaming?
The revenue isn't the metric the CMA are concerned with AFAIK, but the ownership and control to have power to foreclose now or later.
 
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Heisenberg007

Gold Journalism
All these numbers being thrown around, I see monthly average users. But how do you benchmark markets hare when xloud is included free with gamepass? Same for Sony's service. How do you decide what percentage of the fees "belong" to cloud gaming?

So what about actual revenue paid just for cloud gaming? I didn't read all of this, but isn't it possible that nvidia is the clear market leader by a landslide based on the criteria of having to pay money just for cloud gaming?
xCloud is not a separate service offered by Microsoft. It is merged with Game Pass. So the CMA is under no obligation to dissect it.

Also, according to data that Microsoft itself shared, Game Pass has 25 million subscribers, and over 20 million people have played games through xCloud.

So 80% of Game Pass users use or have used cloud gaming.
 

Bernoulli

M2 slut
Headline is a little misleading



And I'm pretty sure this next part below is also poorly researched or misleading, as there have been other major deals since Brexit the CMA have blocked


It is also quite telling they have no quote from the KC and only words from Kotick and Microsoft about their commitment to the deal following the block decision.
Mr Beard had represented Microsoft in the late stages of hearings with the CMA, before the regulator blocked the takeover in April.

LOL
 

PaintTinJr

Member
A few hundred pages back we had a brief interview with someone from the EC talking about their timetable relative to the CMA and a brief comment regarding the issue of defending their decisions compared to the CMA.

Now that the CMA has made a final decision and the CAT are under no real pressure to hear an appeal attempt quickly, you have to wonder if the EC can now shortcut their process and just block the deal - even if they know it won't hold on protracted litigation because their decision would make it easier for the CAT to deny an appeal, and by the time the EC would be defending their decision the CMA appeal and final decision would already be done, so defending their decision would go away with the deal, giving them an easy win against the deal without having to really fight it.
 

Dick Jones

Banned
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Okay if you are unhappy with using global figures. Tell me where in the UK are these extra 150m gamers who can get access to Call of Duty. I'm basing this off Microsoft's own ad aimed solely at the UK people.
lB1dwYQ.jpg

  • The current population of the United Kingdom is 68,896,322 as of Saturday, May 6, 2023, based on Worldometer elaboration of the latest United Nations data.

https://www.worldometers.info/world-population/uk-population/

Edit: Also take into account not everyone in the UK is a gamer.

So who the heck is Microsoft selling this add to?

The CMA who only cares about British consumers who game?

This is where Microsofts marketing cuts their testicales off. Who the heck approved this an idiot?
 
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Dick Jones

Banned
https://www.worldometers.info/world-population/uk-population/

Edit: Also take into account not everyone in the UK is a gamer.

So who the heck is Microsoft selling this add to?

The CMA who only cares about British consumers who game?

This is where Microsofts marketing cuts their testicales off. Who the heck approved this an idiot?
Your math is wrong

The UK only ad says 150m more players so you using the current UK population figure is too high as it includes current UK PC and PS Call of Duty players.

Not as off as Microsoft marketing mind
 
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