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.
Heisenberg007 said:
So the industry consolidation is because of Sony. "Influencers" lol.

QePlUW0.png


By this logic, Sony should acquire all studios and publishers that Microsoft ever got a timed exclusive from, and that consolidation will be Microsoft's fault?
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John is a dumbass.
 
James Sawyer Ford said:
Microsoft was going to try and buy the industry regardless of timed exclusive deals Sony made lol

This is just an excuse, and a poor one at that, at trying to create a false equivalency in behavior.
Click to expand...

Agreed, although I would add a rather transparent attempt at deflection too. For a certain subset of people, the best way to handle negative news about MS is to somehow make it Sony's fault.
 
Heisenberg007 said:
100%. I have stopped giving Digital Foundry and Eurogamer any views. I hope more people boycott these paid shills at worse or ignorant influencers at best.
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Nah, even if John and the rest of digital foundry have questionable takes from time to time they're still the best in the biz when talking about technical analysis of both current and retro games. And no, NXgamer and analista de bits are not even close to good replacements for the high quality content that DF provides to the gaming community.
 
mansoor1980 said:
the oppression of bethesda at xbox will take its toll on todd howard , i fear for his future

1686565423_The-Elder-Scrolls-6-could-be-the-last-installment-of.jpg
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poor guy, beyond his "opaque" marketing I remember his statements about how much Bethesda feels the weight of starfield being a killer console application for xbox while in private the zenimax bosses wonder why it has become exclusive...
what microsoft did with zenimax is disgusting for the market, it is already a huge precedent and despite this it is accepted by all. although they have always done this, ever since they bought bungie by deleting halo on mac
 
I think we've had all the fun from this and the rest of it will be pretty boring.

If Satya is called (don't remember) he'll get MSs lawyer to Camile Vasquez the FTC lawyer.

'Hi Satyya'

'Objection leading the witness'
 
Varteras said:
Lol I appreciate what I assume was a compliment. Honestly, though, video game journalism has been an incredibly low bar for quite some time now. Objectivity is increasingly rare to find. Sticking to the actual facts seems to be an impossibility. Everyone wants to inject their own speculation and pass it off as fact. Either because they don't like what the reality is or because they don't like knowing that they don't actually know. It's a pathetic attempt at validation. There is very little legitimate journalism going on these days. Most who wear the title didn't actually do anything to earn it. They're little more than glorified bloggers who managed to land a job in a largely useless part of the industry that is predominantly found among the worst echo chambers of regions of whatever country they're from.
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Video game journalism has been joke for decades now. It's nothing new.
 
Heisenberg007 said:
Well, the cat is out of the bag:
  • Xbox wanted to "spend Sony out of business" so they could have the complete control and monopoly on high-end console gaming.
  • Xbox was targeting to buy 100s of developers. "We bought Starfield because of potential timed exclusivity" was just bullshit because if that were true, what was their reasoning to buy other studios, like HouseMarque and Ember Lab that hasn't even produced an Xbox game?
  • TES6 is exclusive when Phil Spencer kept lying that platforms haven't been decided yet.
Microsoft is even more gross than I thought they were.
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Based on the leaked documents (i'm not sure if you're tracking them), Microsoft wrote out what each developer could bring to Xbox and their strengths and weaknesses. This was probably the guiding principle behind what studios to acquire. They mentioned IOI for example, their struggles to have a hit AAA game outside of Hitman,and how SE isn't as close to them anymore as it may be a hard team to lead. Its probably not BS to assume Starfield was listed as a positive reason to acquire Zenimax.

Also, I think Xbox wanted to outspend Sony across the industry but opted to make strategic acquisitions. Regardless, none of those strategic approaches has made xbox more attractive (yet, waiting on Starfield).
 
Banjo64 said:
adamsapple adamsapple you said the other thread is a duplicate, but I can't find you're view on Matt Booty's email in this thread either, unless I've missed it?

Care to share your thoughts
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4hrk2d.jpg




Too many threads already.


Heisenberg007 said:
  • Xbox was targeting to buy 100s of developers. "We bought Starfield because of potential timed exclusivity" was just bullshit because if that were true, what was their reasoning to buy other studios, like HouseMarque and Ember Lab that hasn't even produced an Xbox game?
Click to expand...


List of considerations and 'developers to keep an eye on' is not 'targeting to buy'.

Heisenberg you are truly the Geo TV of Neogaf :messenger_grinning_squinting:
 
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Varteras said:
Lol I appreciate what I assume was a compliment. Honestly, though, video game journalism has been an incredibly low bar for quite some time now. Objectivity is increasingly rare to find. Sticking to the actual facts seems to be an impossibility. Everyone wants to inject their own speculation and pass it off as fact. Either because they don't like what the reality is or because they don't like knowing that they don't actually know. It's a pathetic attempt at validation. There is very little legitimate journalism going on these days. Most who wear the title didn't actually do anything to earn it. They're little more than glorified bloggers who managed to land a job in a largely useless part of the industry that is predominantly found among the worst echo chambers of regions of whatever country they're from.
Click to expand...
They should and could bring in a corespondent to assist. This is centering on the largest acquisition by a large margin in the history of an industry that's around 50 years old. Bring in an expert.
 
FritzJ92 said:
Based on the leaked documents (i'm not sure if you're tracking them), Microsoft wrote out what each developer could bring to Xbox and their strengths and weaknesses. This was probably the guiding principle behind what studios to acquire. They mentioned IOI for example, their struggles to have a hit AAA game outside of Hitman,and how SE isn't as close to them anymore as it may be a hard team to lead. Its probably not BS to assume Starfield was listed as a positive reason to acquire Zenimax.
Click to expand...
Starfield was likely an important asset and a part of the equation, but I don't believe that Starfield's potential timed exclusivity was the primary reason at all. They just wanted Zenimax, the studios, and its IPs. And that's a fair enough reason. To say that their primary motivation was because Sony's potential timed exclusivity is disingenuous IMO.
FritzJ92 said:
Also, I think Xbox wanted to outspend Sony across the industry but opted to make strategic acquisitions. Regardless, none of those strategic approaches has made xbox more attractive (yet, waiting on Starfield).
Click to expand...
I disagree here. While all acquisitions are strategic in nature (they wouldn't spend billions of $ until the acquisitions furthers their strategic business goals), this is very much in line with their "outspend Sony" email. Since that email, they have spent nearly $80 billion in acquisition -- almost 80% of Sony's entire market cap -- money that Sony could never spend.

The biggest outcome of those acquisitions so far has been about making games exclusives and not releasing them on PlayStation.

This is perfectly in line with that strategy.
 
Heisenberg007 said:
Well, the cat is out of the bag:
  • Xbox wanted to "spend Sony out of business" so they could have the complete control and monopoly on high-end console gaming.
  • Xbox was targeting to buy 100s of developers. "We bought Starfield because of potential timed exclusivity" was just bullshit because if that were true, what was their reasoning to buy other studios, like HouseMarque and Ember Lab that hasn't even produced an Xbox game?
  • TES6 is exclusive when Phil Spencer kept lying that platforms haven't been decided yet.
Microsoft is even more gross than I thought they were.
Click to expand...

And yet Sony tries to do the same but they are broke compared to MS. Who doesn't want to dominant their industry?
 
I just looked over the thread in the other site and my lord for a community that claims to be forward-thinking and all about the benefits of gamers they sure do love the Microsoft cool-aid there. I mean my god no matter what dirt is dug up on microsoft they defend that shit like its perfectly fine, anyone who criticizes or speaks out against Microsoft gets banned etc its legit concerning.
 
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SABRE220 said:
I just look over the thread in the other site and my lord for a community that claims to be forward-thinking and all about the benefits of gamers they sure do love the Microsoft cool-aid there. I mean my god no matter what dirt is dug up on microsoft they defend that shit like its perfectly fine, anyone who criticizes or speaks out against Microsoft gets banned etc its legit concerning.
Click to expand...
Retardera isn't fond of any dissent, regardless of the topic.
 
SABRE220 said:
I just look over the thread in the other site and my lord for a community that claims to be forward-thinking and all about the benefits of gamers they sure do love the Microsoft cool-aid there. I mean my god no matter what dirt is dug up on microsoft they defend that shit like its perfectly fine, anyone who criticizes or speaks out against Microsoft gets banned etc its legit concerning.
Click to expand...
I wouldn't be surprised if the mods there take money from Microsoft. That cesspool of a website is serving as a pure propaganda piece at this point.
 
Heisenberg007 said:
So the industry consolidation is because of Sony. "Influencers" lol.

QePlUW0.png


By this logic, Sony should acquire all studios and publishers that Microsoft ever got a timed exclusive from, and that consolidation will be Microsoft's fault?
Click to expand...
John is a ReRe. Keep towing the company line, softboy.

James Sawyer Ford said:
Microsoft was going to try and buy the industry regardless of timed exclusive deals Sony made lol

This is just an excuse, and a poor one at that, at trying to create a false equivalency in behavior.
Click to expand...
Agencylife Bingo GIF by MX Player
 
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Heisenberg007 said:
So the industry consolidation is because of Sony. "Influencers" lol.

QePlUW0.png


By this logic, Sony should acquire all studios and publishers that Microsoft ever got a timed exclusive from, and that consolidation will be Microsoft's fault?
Click to expand...
When the moronic comparison of exclusivity deals to buying publishers gets shot down too many times you flip to the justification narrative. It just bounces back and forth between these two points in the playbook.
 
So it's now bare for all to see: Microsoft is using their windows and office dollars in an attempt to drive out Sony so they become a gaming monopoly.
 
Heisenberg007 said:
Starfield was likely an important asset and a part of the equation, but I don't believe that Starfield's potential timed exclusivity was the primary reason at all. They just wanted Zenimax, the studios, and its IPs. And that's a fair enough reason. To say that their primary motivation was because Sony's potential timed exclusivity is disingenuous IMO.

I disagree here. While all acquisitions are strategic in nature (they wouldn't spend billions of $ until the acquisitions furthers their strategic business goals), this is very much in line with their "outspend Sony" email. Since that email, they have spent nearly $80 billion in acquisition -- almost 80% of Sony's entire market cap -- money that Sony could never spend.

The biggest outcome of those acquisitions so far has been about making games exclusives and not releasing them on PlayStation.

This is perfectly in line with that strategy.
Click to expand...
The document wording specifically says "... to be able to go spend Sony out of business." This does not align with their spending though. From a value amount yeah it's a lot of money being spent, as you said 80% of Sony's entire market cap. But just because a lot of money is spent does not mean is money spent will put Sony out of Business. For me to agree that they actually pursued this plan then I would need to see Microsoft spending their money in the same manner as Sony but recklessly and directly remove Sony from equally capable deals they would have made.

Sony wanted Starfield timed exclusive, but MS would have to spend more money to get the timed exclusive.
Sony wanted Starwars KOTOR, but MS would have to spend more money to get it from Sony.

Sony was not in the position to acquire many of the studios MS acquired, and thus I don't consider it a path to "Spend Sony out of business." I look at it as MS playing to their financial strength, and at that point, any tagline relative to spending more than Sony is subjectively confirmed.

I know you already disagree, and feel free to rebut everything I said, but I was sharing how I view "spend Sony out of business." None of the deals were equally available for Sony, and none of them would remotely put Sony out of business.
 
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Heisenberg007 said:
FTC may succumb to the corruption and lobbying in the USA (the judge may still rule in favor of Microsoft; her son was also recently employed by Microsoft).

But the good news is that the CMA has already blocked it. So hopefully, and most likely, the deal will fail on July 18.
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no no.. not RECENTLY employed... CURRENTLY.... employed
 
Bitmap Frogs said:
So it's now bare for all to see: Microsoft is using their windows and office dollars in an attempt to drive out Sony so they become a gaming monopoly.
Click to expand...

Will it be obvious to the judge though or Phil's promises will have more value than the many proofs and documentation of how they have acted and executed in the past few years? :messenger_grinning_sweat:
 
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