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 .
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skit_data

skit_data

Member
I find it pretty ironic and somwhat surreal that the deal falling through will result in MS gaining absolutely nothing and having to give Kotick and co. an almost equal sum of money that Sony spent for strategic investments for their whole fucking company in the last few years.

Edit: Ok, I might misremember their strategic investments budget… was it 5 billion? Nah, must’ve been more
 
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Topher

Topher

Identifies as young
killatopak said:
I see. Good point. However I don't get why bringing COD to the Switch has become such a huge point during the trial if they're a non factor.
Click to expand...

Microsoft was throwing around 10 year deals like it was candy. It was posturing. Microsoft made this whole thing as much of a public spectacle as they possibly could.

skit_data said:
I find it pretty ironic and somwhat surreal that the deal falling through will result in MS gaining absolutely nothing and having to give Kotick and co. an almost equal sum of money that Sony spent for strategic investments for their whole fucking company in the last few years.

Edit: Ok, I might misremember their strategic investments budget… was it 5 billion? Nah, must’ve been more
Click to expand...

Microsoft could possibly have to pay ABK the same amount of money to NOT be acquired as Sony did in acquiring Bungie.

Jimmy Fallon Omg GIF by The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon
 
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Astray

Astray

Member
Interesting piece from GI.biz:

www.gamesindustry.biz

Is Xbox's future brighter without Activision? | Opinion

Over the past year or so, a note of discord has crept into the generally enthusiastic response to Microsoft's current c…
www.gamesindustry.biz www.gamesindustry.biz

Topher said:
Microsoft was throwing around 10 year deals like it was candy. It was posturing. Microsoft made this whole thing as much of a public spectacle as they possibly could.
Click to expand...
It was legit a circus at times.
 
demigod

demigod

Member
feynoob said:
I have been playing GeForce these past 2 days, and it's close to a high end PC.
And that is me playing New world on max settings, which is an MMoprg. Meaning it needs internet connection all time.

Cloud gaming will be the future, just from this experience alone. It breaks a lot of barriers and don't have to spend money buying this high end computer.
Click to expand...
Fake PC gamer confirmed.
 
ToadMan

ToadMan

Member
Elios83 said:
We're getting close to EU's decision.
It will be interesting to see if the CMA's decision will have an influence on their judgement.
We know that internally EU and CMA have followed parallel paths, both dropped the console concerns in March, both are concerned about cloud market, EU asked Microsoft to make more concessions on cloud.
The difference is that EU has probably considered more seriously a solution based on a set of behavioural remedies as they fear more the legal and political consequences of their decisions than the CMA.
But with CMA blocking and FTC willing to block, they're now in the position to kill this deal out of the misery of being dragged for an other 18 months while not looking weak and willing to compromise to please big companies.
So we'll see what they decide at the end.

Nevertheless an other important date will be in late July when the current contract between Activision and Microsoft ends. At that point things will need to be renegotiated and given that the conditions around the deal have totally changed it won't be an easy decision to extend the whole thing from both sides and shareholders will have to agree again.
Click to expand...

Given how the regulators say they collaborate on these multi-jurisdiction matters (and we know the CMA met with the FTC, so presumably they met with the EU too), I can certainly comprehend that the EU and CMA are in lock step in the matter.
 
ToadMan

ToadMan

Member
killatopak said:
I see. Good point. However I don't get why bringing COD to the Switch has become such a huge point during the trial if they're a non factor.
Click to expand...

It wasn't a good point - it's a non-sequitir.

But setting that aside, there hasn't been a trial, and the regulator in the UK decided there was no problem in the console market if MS were to acquire ABK.

So COD on Nintendo was an entirely wasted gesture on MS part - it was only made huge to try and sway regulators who ultimately decided it was irrelevant anyway.
 
feynoob

feynoob

Banned
Astray Astray
About redfall, the issue was at the start of development. Making a co-op game was doomed to fail, as those games dont last that long these days. Arkane should have changed the settings and matched dishonered atmosphere.
MS is still to blame for releasing the game, and hyping it in 2021 E3. They should have checked the game, instead of being hands off. After all, without oversight, you are not sure whether the game will be good or not.

Hope this will be an important lesson for MS. They needed a wake up call for the rest of their studios. This hands off approach was not helping them alot.
 
T

Three

Member
THE DUCK said:
That's a whole new ball of wax, by that kind of logic meta should be blocked from any vr game company purchases. Has that happened? And what of hybrid handhelds, are Nintendo being blocked on all software company purchases since they have easily of 70% of that market. If your going to apply a policy of preventing monopolies, it should be applied to all areas. Good luck.
Click to expand...
The FTC actually did try to block Meta from buying Within but the CMA didn't have an issue with it. However, Nintendo have not tried to buy anything but if they bought a company that made it more difficult for competitors in the handheld market then why not if it harms competition?
 
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E

Elios83

Member
ToadMan said:
Given how the regulators say they collaborate on these multi-jurisdiction matters (and we know the CMA met with the FTC, so presumably they met with the EU too), I can certainly comprehend that the EU and CMA are in lock step in the matter.
Click to expand...
They certainly share the same sentiments and conclusions but the verdict can be different because they have to consider the different legal and political environments where they operate. EU's decisions can be appealed more easily and they suffer from more political pressure compared to CMA.
Because of this it makes sense that EU has investigated deeper than CMA if a solution based on behavioral remedies could work instead of blocking.
The question is if the CMA's decision has given them enough confidence/balls to not go for the compromise to please the big tech company and avoid possible appeals.
They're in a position to kill the deal this month by siding with CMA and FTC or to allow that this is dragged into court and through appeals for an other year and half.
 
gothmog

gothmog

Gold Member
Astray said:
Interesting piece from GI.biz:

[/URL]


It was legit a circus at times.
Click to expand...
The future is only brighter if they act in a completely different way to how they have been. I just can't see it given how smugly resistant they have been to changing. I'd love to be proven wrong but I feel like we're only going to see them hold on tighter to their beliefs. My issue, just like the ABK deal, is that treating games, developers, and publishers like museum pieces to be acquired desensitizes people to the artistic and fun aspect of games. Redfall getting released in that state shows that it was more about just releasing something than releasing something good. Caring only about getting things out the door without an eye towards quality moves us closer to other media markets where they shovel crap out regularly no matter how poorly written or made it is. There is a slippery slope and I hope this whole deal failing would help people like Phil and Satya realize that maybe they need to rethink what they are trying to accomplish.
 
Astray

Astray

Member
feynoob said:
Astray Astray
About redfall, the issue was at the start of development. Making a co-op game was doomed to fail, as those games dont last that long these days. Arkane should have changed the settings and matched dishonered atmosphere.
MS is still to blame for releasing the game, and hyping it in 2021 E3. They should have checked the game, instead of being hands off. After all, without oversight, you are not sure whether the game will be good or not.

Hope this will be an important lesson for MS. They needed a wake up call for the rest of their studios. This hands off approach was not helping them alot.
Click to expand...
They should have just killed the project, the amount of issues in the game is genuinely beyond one single person, the buck stops with Spencer yes, but QA, product managers, marketing etc etc are all implicated in this trainwreck to varying degrees.

I think Microsoft are just.. incapable of developing anything that requires any kind of taste, the Steve Jobs thing is a meme by now, but after Redfall, I definitely believe it because there is no way that anyone who picked up a controller in their lives would make that their 1st game to get a price increase!
 
feynoob

feynoob

Banned
Astray said:
They should have just killed the project, the amount of issues in the game is genuinely beyond one single person, the buck stops with Spencer yes, but QA, product managers, marketing etc etc are all implicated in this trainwreck to varying degrees.

I think Microsoft are just.. incapable of developing anything that requires any kind of taste, the Steve Jobs thing is a meme by now, but after Redfall, I definitely believe it because there is no way that anyone who picked up a controller in their lives would make that their 1st game to get a price increase!
Click to expand...
Their issue is hands off approach.
Arkane needed guidance and so 343i. They need to change that policy soon 🙁.
 
Astray

Astray

Member
Edmund said:
I've always wondered why would anyone be an Xbox Fanboy.
Click to expand...
Same reason anyone would be a Sega, Nintendo or Sony fan: It was the console that they had the most nice memories with during their formative years.

Xbox has something special about it though, Microsoft tend to market the brand of Xbox more than they actually manage it as an ecosystem, being an Xbox fan is like being a fan of the Knicks or Inter Milan, it stopped being about what the club does and more about what the club IS.

feynoob said:
Their issue is hands off approach.
Arkane needed guidance and so 343i. They need to change that policy soon 🙁.
Click to expand...
Xbox is hands off when there's a big failure and they need to avoid blame, when they do something good it's always because of how amazing they are and how well they developed their pipeline.
 
Edmund

Edmund

is waiting for Starfield 7
Astray said:
Same reason anyone would be a Sega, Nintendo or Sony fan: It was the console that they had the most nice memories with during their formative years.

Xbox has something special about it though, Microsoft tend to market the brand of Xbox more than they actually manage it as an ecosystem, being an Xbox fan is like being a fan of the Knicks or Inter Milan, it stopped being about what the club does and more about what the club IS.

Xbox is hands off when there's a big failure and they need to avoid blame, when they do something good it's always because of how amazing they are and how well they developed their pipeline.
Click to expand...

That explains. One of my closest friend is a Leeds United fan and he's always angry about how shit they are, yet he's still a fervent fan of Leeds United.

My circle of friends asked him how he got started to become a Leeds fan and he said he's been watching them since he was a kid.

Every year when Leeds doesn't get relegated, he'd give us all a treat. Lol.

Your explanation and feynoob feynoob 's makes perfect sense.
 
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Astray

Astray

Member
Edmund said:
That explains. One of my closest friend is a Leeds United fan and he's always angry about how shit they are, yet he's still a fervent fan of Leeds United.

My circle of friends asked him how he got started to become a Leeds fan and he said he's been watching them since he was a kid.

Every year when Leeds doesn't get relegated, he'd give us all a treat. Lol.

Your explanation and feynoob feynoob 's makes perfect sense.
Click to expand...
Yeah I surfed the Xbox merch store the other day, genuinely reminded me of the stuff I'd see in Arsenal's store or something. The merch itself is honestly quite well done, there was a water bottle I really liked, but I just can't bring myself to buy something that Colt Eastwood would buy and display in his streaming set or whatever.

Also it genuinely looks like Leeds are going down this season. Bielsa tax + unsuitable signings really hit them hard.
 
Edmund

Edmund

is waiting for Starfield 7
Astray said:
Yeah I surfed the Xbox merch store the other day, genuinely reminded me of the stuff I'd see in Arsenal's store or something. The merch itself is honestly quite well done, there was a water bottle I really liked, but I just can't bring myself to buy something that Colt Eastwood would buy and display in his streaming set or whatever.

Also it genuinely looks like Leeds are going down this season. Bielsa tax + unsuitable signings really hit them hard.
Click to expand...


Do you think they'll be relegated? I don't follow football (I'm a MMA guy) but it looks like they are quite safe? Their goal difference is at - 25. The 3 below them are at - 32. (Everton is at - 25)

My friend is praying that neither of the 3 teams below win any match. Do you think Leeds can beat West Ham? That's the only low tier team left for them to play.

I was quite surprised Leeds managed to lose only 1-2 to Man City. My friend was predicting a 7-0 thrashing lmao.
 
Astray

Astray

Member
Edmund said:
My friend is praying that neither of the 3 teams below win any match. Do you think Leeds can beat West Ham? That's the only low tier team left for them to play.
Click to expand...
IMO it won't happen, West Ham seems to have found their mojo again right when they needed it (European Conference League drained them this season).

Leeds just hired the legendary BIG SAM himself though, so who knows?
 
Edmund

Edmund

is waiting for Starfield 7
Astray said:
IMO it won't happen, West Ham seems to have found their mojo again right when they needed it (European Conference League drained them this season).

Leeds just hired the legendary BIG SAM himself though, so who knows?
Click to expand...


Idk who big Sam is as I don't follow football but my friends have been laughing that Harry Maguire has scored more goals than Patrick Bamford (striker for Leeds).

Bamford's wife is hot asf though. Reminds me of a young Megan Fox.
 
U

Unknown Soldier

Member
Mibu no ookami said:
Portable console gaming isn't a nascent industry, it's been around for decades and it's largely been eclipsed by mobile gaming.
Click to expand...
Judging by Switch sales I wouldn't say it's been eclipsed, I would say that portable gaming still has it's place and mobile has it's own place and they do not compete. Which is the whole point of this CMA ruling, actually. Console, portable, mobile, cloud, all different markets because they do not cannibalize each other.
 
S

StealthGoblin

Banned
Topher said:
No, it is not about SIE. It is about the overall cloud gaming market. Look at all the other companies listed.
Click to expand...
Sony putting in the work and putting that under the nose of the CMA, EU and FTC while everyone focused on the console market was an excellent bit of work on their part.

It’s interesting that they haven’t commented since the decision, but it’s clear Sony did stick several knives in.
 
gothmog

gothmog

Gold Member
Unknown Soldier said:
Judging by Switch sales I wouldn't say it's been eclipsed, I would say that portable gaming still has it's place and mobile has it's own place and they do not compete. Which is the whole point of this CMA ruling, actually. Console, portable, mobile, cloud, all different markets because they do not cannibalize each other.
Click to expand...
I'd say you both have points. Switch is a console. It's a portable as well. Consoles have become more like PCs. PCs have become more like consoles. They do cannibalize each other, but the markets are expanding so rapidly it's hardly a concern. Use case based markers rather than device centric markets. People who want a dedicated experience will buy almost exclusively in their niches. Those who want to service multiple use cases will gravitate towards high end mobile, laptops, and multi use gaming devices.

It's pretty exciting when you think about it. Steam deck alone has brought attention to SoC based portables and now they're coming out of the woodwork.
 
POKEYCLYDE

POKEYCLYDE

Member
ToadMan said:
It wasn't a good point - it's a non-sequitir.

But setting that aside, there hasn't been a trial, and the regulator in the UK decided there was no problem in the console market if MS were to acquire ABK.

So COD on Nintendo was an entirely wasted gesture on MS part - it was only made huge to try and sway regulators who ultimately decided it was irrelevant anyway.
Click to expand...
Someone asked for information, I provided it.
 
demigod

demigod

Member
Heisenberg007 said:
There are 3 points that are important to mention here:
  1. "So what if ms owns all of cloud gaming if it's only 5% of the whole industry.">>
    1. You're assuming that Cloud gaming is a part of the current console gaming industry. That's not the case, however. It was already established that Cloud gaming is a separate market, just as console gaming is. So Cloud gaming is not 5% of another industry. It is 100% of its own industry, and Microsoft has a 70% market share of that industry, which is expected to grow YoY.
  2. "They act like cloud gaming will replace regular gaming and yet all signs point to that NOT happening at all.">>
    1. The CMA posted a big section -- with input from third-parties as well as data from Microsoft's internal strategy documents -- that showed how fast Cloud gaming is growing and how it's expected to become a huge part in the very near future.
  3. "They could have asked ms for numbers on how many users, how often use the service vs total numbers that have tried it.">>
    1. Microsoft also already declared those numbers, i.e., 20 million people use or have used xCloud.
Click to expand...
Ms inflating numbers backfired on them, fucking hilarious.
 
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