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

Do you believe the deal will be approved?


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All those super-fans of these games who haven't already bought them for pennies over the years?

Yeah… sure.
the games are unplayable at this point due to full on hacking, and those games are still going for 20-50 bucks at anytime without dlc Id jump for joy if Sony offered a killzone2-3 mp suite
 
Well it's like DRM. People always find away around it. Thinking that Microsoft can make it impossible for cheaters is just wishful thinking.
Yeah it would be impossible to eliminate it completely but they could clean it up quite a bit though.

Buuuut damn, I cannot wait until this is over so whoever has meltdowns can get it out of their system and we can talk about the important thing: GAMES.
 
I wont lie I was just hoping this deal went through because I wanted all the old cods on gamepass without cheaters

Because MS might actually go back to the old games and implement anti cheat and clean them up would be a big win for gamepass

There was a huge demand for the older games to be BC the most voted BC games actually, people stopped playing because of cheaters and hackers, deliver those games on gp free of hackers and maybe a resolution bump and thats a huge value to gamepass.
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Yeah it would be impossible to eliminate it completely but they could clean it up quite a bit though.

Buuuut damn, I cannot wait until this is over so whoever has meltdowns can get it out of their system and we can talk about the important thing: GAMES.

Wishful thinking, sadly. It will just turn into who the next acquisition from Microsoft will be, regardless of how this deal goes. Which will be closely followed by how Sony plans to respond, as they have already made it clear that they're gearing up for a heavy investment push into entertainment. This won't stop until the consolidation phase largely ends. Which will take months, possibly years, before people realize it's done.
 
Wishful thinking, sadly. It will just turn into who the next acquisition from Microsoft will be, regardless of how this deal goes. Which will be closely followed by how Sony plans to respond, as they have already made it clear that they're gearing up for a heavy investment push into entertainment. This won't stop until the consolidation phase largely ends. Which will take months, possibly years, before people realize it's done.
You forgot the revenge fantasies, how Microsoft will make Jim Ryan pay for what he did, and how Xbox will use those $70 billion to get every AAA game as an exclusive.

We have much to look forward to.

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Only 1 hour left for Microsoft and ABK then. lol
I don't think it works that way.
Activision could still be interested to sell at the same price, or take advantage of the contract and come back with a higher price.

I don't see why they would still want to sell though, unless they got bored of making money.
And let's be completely honest here. Activision is too big to be boycotted, even for the sexual harassment stuff. Even Era with their high moral horse didn't do anything other than "yikes" and they would never ban their games like Hogwarts Legacy.
 
I don't think it works that way.
Activision could still be interested to sell at the same price, or take advantage of the contract and come back with a higher price.

I don't see why they would still want to sell though, unless they got bored of making money.
And let's be completely honest here. Activision is too big to be boycotted, even for the sexual harassment stuff. Even Era with their high moral horse didn't do anything other than "yikes" and they would never ban their games like Hogwarts Legacy.
Technically, all possibilities are open, sure. But, realistically, the deal will be essentially dead in about 35 minutes from now. For instance,
  • As you said, why would they still want to sell. ABK is likely walking away.
  • They sold for $95 per share when there shares were around $66 per share. They are at $82 now. Why wouldn't they want a 35% premium on $82 now?
  • Why would ABK forgo $3 billion in cash that they could have right now and still get to keep their company that's raking in even more cash now.
Most importantly, both Kottick and Microsoft said during the hearing that they want to close the deal before 18. Otherwise, the deal is dead.

Their words.
 
I don't think it works that way.
Activision could still be interested to sell at the same price,

This is the question… are they? And if not, how do they diplomatically say "thanks but we're out" to MS now.

Spicy….

or take advantage of the contract and come back with a higher price.

This is more problematic I think. I imagine if MS would increase the offer ATVI shareholders may be keen to continue, but that would require a new round of voting and they'd still be prohibited by the UK from doing the acquisition and of course maybe still at risk in the USA.

Tricky to negotiate under those conditions. MS would have to offer an inflated price to offset the risk it never happens, and ATVI's business stagnates while waiting.

And let's be completely honest here. Activision is too big to be boycotted,

This is the thing about ATVI terminating the deal next Wednesday.

MS cannot afford to get pissy about it - ATVI are still the biggest 3P publisher. MS can't make an enemy of them - they have to pay the $3bn and smile when they do it.

But those MS internal mails we saw - they sure don't seem like the kind of personalities to know how to play this game.

I think there's a good chance MS meltdown and it gets ugly between them and ATVI.



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This is the question… are they? And if not, how do they diplomatically say thanks but we're out to MS now.

Spicy….



This is more problematic I think. I imagine if MS would increase the offer ATVI shareholders may be keen to continue, but that would require a new round of voting and they'd still be prohibited by the UK from doing the acquisition and of course maybe still at risk in the USA.

Tricky to negotiate under those conditions. MS would have to offer an inflated price to offset the risk it never happens, and ATVI's business stagnates while waiting.



This is the thing about ATVI terminating the deal next Wednesday.

MS cannot afford to get pissy about it - ATVI are still the biggest 3P publisher. MS can't make an enemy of them - they have to pay the $3bn and smile when they do it.

But those MS internal mails we saw - they sure don't seem like the kind of personalities to know how to play this game. I think there's a good chance MS meltdown and it gets ugly between them and ATVI.

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Exactly, that's the thing many are overlooking.

ABK will not (must not) agree to stay bound in these chains, say no to accepting $3 billion, all to still sell to Microsoft at $95 per share, which now turns out to be only a 15% premium.

If that sale price increases (which it will, obviously), shareholders get to vote for it again, and that's an entire process for which there is not enough time. And all that will still be happening in a world where the CMA has already blocked the acquisition.
 
Technically, all possibilities are open, sure. But, realistically, the deal will be essentially dead in about 35 minutes from now. For instance,
  • As you said, why would they still want to sell. ABK is likely walking away.
  • They sold for $95 per share when there shares were around $66 per share. They are at $82 now. Why wouldn't they want a 35% premium on $82 now?
  • Why would ABK forgo $3 billion in cash that they could have right now and still get to keep their company that's raking in even more cash now.
Most importantly, both Kottick and Microsoft said during the hearing that they want to close the deal before 18. Otherwise, the deal is dead.

Their words.

Yeah. When Microsoft approached them with the deal, their share price was still falling. It bottomed out at $56 a share in early December 21. By the time the deal was announced, their share price was stabilizing and had climbed back to about $66 a share. Between successful releases, their legal troubles having faded, and their stock price only dipping to the mid 70's when the CMA blocked it, going right back up shortly after, ABK's shareholders have reason to believe that the company can get its market value back in good time. Bobby likely isn't thrilled about the idea of Phil and Satya being his bosses. He's been indicating that ABK has plans and plenty of money to work with should the deal fail. I could be entirely wrong, but I think ABK has shifted from "sell to get out" to "stay and expand".
 
Good ole Microsoft will go back and punish those dirty cheaters in the old cod games, absolutely. They wouldn't just dump everything into gamepass as is and call it a day right? No... not microsoft

:messenger_tears_of_joy:
 
i was kinda busy with IRL stuff (son recovering from an open heart surgery) and missed everything.

Deal is dead in 10 minutes because ATVI don't have time to gather shareholders for renegotiation, right?
 
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This is the question… are they? And if not, how do they diplomatically say thanks but we're out to MS now.

Spicy….

This is more problematic I think. I imagine if MS would increase the offer ATVI shareholders may be keen to continue, but that would require a new round of voting and they'd still be prohibited by the UK from doing the acquisition and of course maybe still at risk in the USA.

Tricky to negotiate under those conditions. MS would have to offer an inflated price to offset the risk it never happens, and ATVI's business stagnates while waiting.

This is the thing about ATVI terminating the deal next Wednesday.

MS cannot afford to get pissy about it - ATVI are still the biggest 3P publisher. MS can't make an enemy of them - they have to pay the $3bn and smile when they do it.

But those MS internal mails we saw - they sure don't seem like the kind of personalities to know how to play this game. I think there's a good chance MS meltdown and it gets ugly between them and ATVI.

Exactly, that's the thing many are overlooking.

ABK will not (must not) agree to stay bound in these chains, say no to accepting $3 billion, all to still sell to Microsoft at $95 per share, which now turns out to be only a 15% premium.

If that sale price increases (which it will, obviously), shareholders get to vote for it again, and that's an entire process for which there is not enough time. And all that will still be happening in a world where the CMA has already blocked the acquisition.

Yeah. When Microsoft approached them with the deal, their share price was still falling. It bottomed out at $56 a share in early December 21. By the time the deal was announced, their share price was stabilizing and had climbed back to about $66 a share. Between successful releases, their legal troubles having faded, and their stock price only dipping to the mid 70's when the CMA blocked it, going right back up shortly after, ABK's shareholders have reason to believe that the company can get its market value back in good time. Bobby likely isn't thrilled about the idea of Phil and Satya being his bosses. He's been indicating that ABK has plans and plenty of money to work with should the deal fail. I could be entirely wrong, but I think ABK has shifted from "sell to get out" to "stay and expand".
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Good ole Microsoft will go back and punish those dirty cheaters in the old cod games, absolutely. They wouldn't just dump everything into gamepass as is and call it a day right? No... not microsoft

:messenger_tears_of_joy:
Why wouldn't they do something easy as that and boast it being on gamepass ? Seems like a win win for them no? Throw Spyro and crash on gp and that bolsters gp even more with ms having to do minimal work
 
Why wouldn't they do something easy as that and boast it being on gamepass ? Seems like a win win for them no? Throw Spyro and crash on gp and that bolsters gp even more with ms having to do minimal work
They dont force their studios/publishers to do anything (other than blocking ps versions of games). Activision will continue to manage itself and whatever catalogue they have will just be added to gamepass warts and all.
 
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i was kinda busy with IRL stuff (son recovering from an open heart surgery) and missed everything.

Deal is dead in 10 minutes because ATVI don't have time to gather shareholders for renegotiation, right?
Glad you're okay.

There is zero evidence that ABK would want to continue the charade that they still want to be acquired by MS. Bobby was pretty clear during his testimony that he didn't agree with Gamepass as a strategy or a business model. In Bobby's mind, the sooner the deal is allowed to die, the better. He has a company to run and he obviously wants to get back to it.
 
i was kinda busy with IRL stuff (son recovering from an open heart surgery) and missed everything.

Deal is dead in 10 minutes because ATVI don't have time to gather shareholder for renegotiation, right?

The deal is not dead.
The idea of closing without an extension of some sort is.
But I find absurd that some people think that Microsoft would bypass the CMA and the UK laws just like that and then the same people seem to believe that no one will sign any kind of extension at least to see the judge's verdict.
We'll see what happens, it's officially Tuesday.
 
They dont force their studios/publishers to do anything (other than blocking ps versions of games). Activision will continue to manage itself and whatever catalogue they have will just be added to gamepass warts and all.
Edit: the gamepass propagators are getting more clever with their propagation 🤭
 
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It was a planned surgery to replace a heart valve and everything is stellar, actually. Thanks!

Point is, I'm totally out of the loop and short recap would be great to read.
I can't imagine a kid going through anything like it. More to power him and you. I hope he'd be up and running in no time.

As for the recap, nothing much, except the deal is pretty much dead (IMO) as the 5 business day deadline is over, and the FTC judge still hasn't shared her decision. New things may emerge between now and 18th, but I think it's Joever.
 
It was a planned surgery to replace a heart valve and everything is stellar, actually. Thanks!

Point is, I'm totally out of the loop and short recap would be great to read.
Glad to hear your kid is doing well!

Basically this is a waiting room on the PI decision, it was expected to arrive today but didn't. Deal still blocked in the UK. Deadline to close july 18th.
 
I really think the judge is waiting for it to fail naturally in all honesty
I don't think so. The reality is that these decisions on average take around 40 days.

There is this weird expectation from gamers that the judge would share her decision before July 11 ends so Microsoft could be accommodated. It's just that weird sense of entitlement that some fanboys have.

If Judge Corley takes the same average number of days to release her decision, a decision would come in early August. July 18's deadline isn't really her concern. But some fanboys want(ed) her to prioritize this case only to accommodate Microsoft and ensure this acquisition did not fail.
 
Microsoft decided they wanted to compete with GP.
Everyone was saying it's not making financial sense.
Fans were telling everyone to shut up.
Microsoft execs told everyone to just play the games and let them worry about the business part.
Fans were amazed by these words.
5 years later Microsoft has still 0 new AAA IP games. They are trying to compete by buying big publishers and remove established IP form their competitors platform.
Fan are still trying to convince everyone GP makes sense.
 
who knows when the judge will announce the verdict now. its all in limbo.
She may announce the decision now, but it's July 11 now. Assuming the decision comes today, the 5 business days will stretch it to July 18 EOD. That's when the acquisition expires.

Unless there is a technicality (which I'm not aware of) that a decision coming before the start of the working hours would be considered as if it was announced before that business day. If that is not the case, then the time is pretty much up.
 
Microsoft decided they wanted to compete with GP.
Everyone was saying it's not making financial sense.
Fans were telling everyone to shut up.
Microsoft execs told everyone to just play the games and let them worry about the business part.
Fans were amazed by these words.
5 years later Microsoft has still 0 new AAA IP games. They are trying to compete by buying big publishers and remove established IP form their competitors platform.
Fan are still trying to convince everyone GP makes sense.
Game pass isnt bad. The only issue i see is putting triple A games on there day 1. It needs to be staggered by a couple of months at least.
 
Microsoft decided they wanted to compete with GP.
Everyone was saying it's not making financial sense.
Fans were telling everyone to shut up.
Microsoft execs told everyone to just play the games and let them worry about the business part.
Fans were amazed by these words.
5 years later Microsoft has still 0 new AAA IP games. They are trying to compete by buying big publishers and remove established IP form their competitors platform.
Fan are still trying to convince everyone GP makes sense.
The very definition of a (brand) cult following.
 
I don't think so. The reality is that these decisions on average take around 40 days.

There is this weird expectation from gamers that the judge would share her decision before July 11 ends so Microsoft could be accommodated. It's just that weird sense of entitlement that some fanboys have.

If Judge Corley takes the same average number of days to release her decision, a decision would come in early August. July 18's deadline isn't really her concern. But some fanboys want(ed) her to prioritize this case only to accommodate Microsoft and ensure this acquisition did not fail.
The judge's #1 priority is to make sure her decision is legally solid enough as to not get overturned.

She's absolutely not gonna work to either Microsoft or the FTC's schedule.
 
The deal is not dead.
The idea of closing without an extension of some sort is.
But I find absurd that some people think that Microsoft would bypass the CMA and the UK laws just like that and then the same people seem to believe that no one will sign any kind of extension at least to see the judge's verdict.
We'll see what happens, it's officially Tuesday.
It's all in Bobby's hands now.

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The judge's #1 priority is to make sure her decision is legally solid enough as to not get overturned.

She's absolutely not gonna work to either Microsoft or the FTC's schedule.
Exactly. It is likely going to be the biggest acquisition decision in her career. She wants to make sure everything is solid because she knows that it'll likely get appealed by one or the other party.

She is not in the business of accommodating Microsoft and protecting this acquisition.

Besides, they were still submitting redacted documents to her. She will announce to make those documents public tomorrow (July 12). I don't see a decision coming anytime soon. I also said it to Topher Topher when he asked yesterday; I didn't think a decision would come on Monday at all. And here we are. It's Tuesday already.
 
Game pass isnt bad. The only issue i see is putting triple A games on there day 1. It needs to be staggered by a couple of months at least.

No it isn't bad.
It's not sustainable though, not with the current production values and budgets. And by current, i mean since last decade, before GP was a product available to the consumer.

Couple of months is too short of a time. People can wait a couple of months even when they are paying for the game, just to play it patched. I would say they need to wait at least a year but we need sales charts to be sure.
 
They dont force their studios/publishers to do anything (other than blocking ps versions of games). Activision will continue to manage itself and whatever catalogue they have will just be added to gamepass warts and all.
They dont force their studios/publishers to do anything (other than blocking ps versions of games). Activision will continue to manage itself and whatever catalogue they have will just be added to gamepass warts and all.
Ms has been shitty with its studios the last few years very hands off etc agreed. But something as easy as this just to get again more value to gp, good will and nostalgia seems like a new brainer and they could add a new store to the games streamers will bite etc.. and after they acquired Bethesda why wouldn't they make them exclusive? That's like blaming song for making insomniac make sp2 exclusive
 
No it isn't bad.
It's not sustainable though, not with the current production values and budgets. And by current, i mean since last decade, before GP was a product available to the consumer.

Couple of months is too short of a time. People can wait a couple of months even when they are paying for the game, just to play it patched. I would say they need to wait at least a year but we need sales charts to be sure.
Sony's PS Plus Game Catelogue is the best example of a sustainable model for subscription-based services.

I still remember the days of the early 2010's when I spoke to Jim Ryan on Playstation Europe's Blog Website when he was the President of a specific division related to PlayStation Plus.

The way he handled the PS Plus Europe Catelogue was masterful; I kid you not, I was subscribed to both the North American & European PS Plus subscriptions because Europe were getting a way better monthly Catelogue compared to North America.

I vividly remember speaking to Jim Ryan via the Blog's comment section as they were looking for feedback.

10 years later, I'm in an apartment in the middle of God Knows Where typing this comment on a forum while Jim Ryan became the President of Sony Interactive Entertainment 🥲
 
Sony's PS Plus Game Catelogue is the best example of a sustainable model for subscription-based services.

I still remember the days of the early 2010's when I spoke to Jim Ryan on Playstation Europe's Blog Website when he was the President of a specific division related to PlayStation Plus.

The way he handled the PS Plus Europe Catelogue was masterful; I kid you not, I was subscribed to both the North American & European PS Plus subscriptions because Europe were getting a way better monthly Catelogue compared to North America.

I vividly remember speaking to Jim Ryan via the Blog's comment section as they were looking for feedback.

10 years later, I'm in an apartment in the middle of God Knows Where typing this comment on a forum while Jim Ryan became the President of Sony Interactive Entertainment 🥲

To be honest, i think Nintendo does it better.
They ask for 20€ per year and give you access to their old catalogue. They sell you nostalgia with 20€ and new games at a premium price. Their consumers thank them and everyone is happy.
 
I just hope scrutiny from regulators and 3 billion make them quit this toxic strategy

Just imagine they drop another 4 billion for Ubisoft.
While they still may acquire a few smaller publishers or studios here and there, I don't think Xbox will be getting any substantial investment money from Microsoft.

Their investment focus going forward will likely by AI technology.

And regarding gaming, I'm pretty sure that Microsoft will soon pivot towards mobile gaming and abandon the Xbox console hardware (or at least put it way, way behind their backs). So any investments they make in Microsoft Gaming will be towards mobile studios and publishers.
 
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To be honest, i think Nintendo does it better.
They ask for 20€ per year and give you access to their old catalogue. They sell you nostalgia with 20€ and new games at a premium price. Their consumers thank them and everyone is happy.
While I do agree with you that 20 euros a year sounds like a steal, the reality is that Nintendo's service is low-quality when it comes to online multiplayer.

The Catelogue, while nostalgic, is not enough to impress the average gamer nowadays whose accustomed to PS Plus/GamePass in terms of the quality of titles they receive every month for a price that's not too high.

But like you said, that model from Xbox is not sustainable, but MS has the money to burn in order to gain their ultimate goal:

The dissolution of PlayStation.
 
While they still may acquire a few smaller publishers or studios here and there, I don't think Xbox will be getting any substantial investment money from Microsoft.

Their investment focus going forward will likely by AI technology.

And regarding gaming, I'm pretty sure that Microsoft will soon pivot towards mobile gaming and abandon the Xbox console hardware (or at least put it way, way behind their backs). So any investments they make in Microsoft Gaming will be towards mobile studios and publishers.
The outcomes from this is that Sony is gearing up for M&A, it is basically no times until game industry becomes heavily consolidated like movies industry.
 
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