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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GHG said:
Can't say I agree with this stance. That's exactly how companies become too big and too powerful. Ultimately it comes down to whether or not you're happy for corporations to rule the world or not.
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Sometimes reasonable people just have to agree to disagree. And disagreement with reasonable people makes places like this fun. Ain't nobody got time for circle jerks and singular thought processes.
 
In Cold Blood said:
Sony won't sit still, but there is layers.
People thinking that Sony is going to suddenly spend 20% of their entire market cap on game company aquisitions is not reality.
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They won't need to. They're already well ahead of Microsoft. They still have far more exclusives, and they're far more trusting. Microsoft is a known liar, and they're not a great company for publishers.
 
splattered said:
Why do people keep pointing out the Biden appointee part? I thought it was largely democrats that were against this deal and the republicans wanted to see it go through because Japan? Or maybe not... can't keep up.
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It is clear that Microsoft is one of the biggest donors of both parties. I think it is more important whose pocket money falls in.
 



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Hero of Spielberg said:
Just about every other regulator in the world has also scrutinised it and found no reason to block.
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And those regulators only have the capacity to judge the merits of the merger based on the impact it will have on their jurisdiction and their jurisdiction alone. Based on that it's not difficult to see why the rulings have been what they are in places where xbox barely has any presence and there is no cloud gaming industry to speak of.
 
Hayabusabruh said:
So it's official? Microsoft owns Activision?
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Not yet, but all signs point to it happening soon.


GHG said:
And those regulators only have the capacity to judge the merits of the merger based on the impact it will have on their jurisdiction and their jurisdiction alone. Based on that it's not difficult to see why the rulings have been what they are in places where xbox barely has any presence and there is no cloud gaming industry to speak of.
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I mean .. sure they all judged based on their own impact, but this is how all big mergers like this work. The process was not altered in any way just for this case.
 
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Hero of Spielberg said:
I think they're already facing a lot of political and business scrutiny and now they're alone in the fight (so to speak) they're probably looking to be pragmatic and take a win. Call would have come from MS as soon as judgment came down and CMA said ok let's see what we can figure out.
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The discussions and agreement with the CMA to put the appeal on halt and try an other round of negotiations with MS are not something that started today. It's impossible.
It probably started weeks ago, the visit Brad Smith had with the UK chancellor probably had a hand in it.
And the FTC knew, hence why the sudden request for the PI. They truly saw their PI as the last ditch effort to block the merger.
This is why people didn't understand and were asking why now?
CMA just waited for the verdict to announce it hoping the deal would be killed.

Anyway let's see what happens in the next days, my impression is that FTC will try to appeal and get an extension to the TRO.
CMA might be considering to settle asking further remedies about the cloud market.
They just didn't seem ready and willing to face an appeal until the end of this year and CAT didn't allow for that.
I think it's really unlikely the deal won't go through at this point but let's see what happens.
 
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adamsapple said:
How do we know that wasn't purely a financial cost-benefit decision?

You'd think if there was such a contract, it would have been mentioned at least one in the many emails and document that leaked and many of which got their own dedicated news articles and topics.

But absolutely nothing on that front.




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Microsoft wanted to go to District of Colombia, FTC wanted to go to Northern California where the same court and judge was already overseeing the Gamers vs Microsoft lawsuit.

So it was FTCs ask to stay in the same place where the same judge was already working on a related case.
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That's the funniest shit in all of this. FTC wanted that judge. They knew that her son work for Microsoft and they were okay with it.

And yet. Big conspiracy theory on GAF 😂😂😂

I'm sure by the time CMA will annouce deal with Microsoft we will have another theory that Microsoft is keeping son of head of CMA as a hostage 😂
 
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fred420170 said:
Damn, the CMA and MS already made a deal according to CNBC about 5 minutes ago.. Deal is closing.
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Well it's 23:18 here in the UK, and being a government regulator the CMA would have stopped work at 17:00, 6 hours and 20 minutes ago.

So I'm not sure why they would have cracked a deal now, when just before their shift ended they'd only agreed to try to come to a resolution.
 
In Cold Blood said:
While Sony ain't going anywhere, they have a real issue that fans should be concerned about.
The amount of their aquisitions that has gone into GAAS games, PC porting studios and Bungie who is going to remain multiplat, is going to make it a minimum gain for single player exclusives.
They are playing catch up with MS in getting a viable GAAS game, and because their internal studios have no PC capabilities, they are having to invest in that to continue their PC strategy.
This isn't MSs fault.

They need to acquire studios that will give them new exclusive single player games.
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That and they need to have that PS5 Slim for $399 and it needs to be the ONLY PS5 shipping this Holiday!!! Instead of spending money on buying publishers, spend the money on lowering the cost of the PS5 hardware.

HeisenbergFX4 said:
All this happened so fast today

;)
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So it's been planned for a few weeks at least I'm guessing.
 
In Cold Blood said:
The CMA is shitting itself, and the deal will close.
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Ignorant drivel. The CMA is a professional and highly respected regulatory body. Whatever happened was a result of new evidence and/or a review of their conclusion.

In Cold Blood said:
COD will stay multiplat forever. MS wants that money, and there is no way they backtrack on that after everything they have been through.
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Considering they were looking for a way to make Minecraft exclusive and already explored such an option for ABK, I wouldn't count on this.

In Cold Blood said:
All other Activision games will most likely be Xbox exclusives, including the new Rumoured Infinity Ward IP..
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Of this there should be no doubt.

In Cold Blood said:
COD will be in GP day and date, and you better believe that subs will increase as will sales of Xbox.
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Probably not by as much as you think. As long as CoD is multiplat, don't expect the needle to shift much.

In Cold Blood said:
Microsoft won't try to buy another massive publisher like T2, Ubi, EA, Embracer etc.
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Absolutely no one should bet on this.

In Cold Blood said:
They may also buy a Japanese publisher like Square, Capcom or Sega.
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The fact that they targeted both Square and Sega years ago, yet neither happened, should tell you something isn't working out for their ambitions to own a Japanese publisher. Sega also announced they have no plans to be acquired. That may change in the future, but for now there is no reason to think it will.

In Cold Blood said:
The meme "xbox has no games" will forever go on the scrapheap.
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Not if they continue to mismanage what they have.

In Cold Blood said:
Sony won't buy a major publisher like T2, EA etc, as they don't have the money, and it would never go through the regulators as we have seen.
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For Sony's financial ability, that is an ignorant statement. Smaller companies than Sony have been granted $70 billion in loans to finance an acquisition. The only thing holding them back is their willingness to take on a lot of debt. If Sony really wanted to buy either, there is really no financial reason they couldn't.

As for regulators, allowing Microsoft to buy ABK ruins any regulator attempt to stop Sony from buying EA or T2. The Xbox division's revenue will now be incredibly close to PlayStation's. They will now have many franchises that perform incredibly well commercially. Including already being very competitive in the US and UK. Being owners of phenomenons like Minecraft and CoD will make it hard to argue against allowing Sony something like GTA. The ABK purchase isn't in a vacuum. It changes the power dynamic in a way no other acquisition could. This greatly lightens Sony's position in the market and gives them room to maneuver for acquisitions.

I know you're cumming buckets right now. But post-nut clarity should kick in anytime soon.
 
Kilau said:
They were wrong how? Maybe you would have a point if no regulator had issues or tried to stop the deal but that isn't the case is it?

For the record, I did say the PI would be denied and that the deal would go through but to act like because a judge denied a PI means all the events of the last 7 months just didn't happen is asinine.
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If you are saying the comment doesn't apply to you, why are you responding to it as if it called you out?

It applies to many here.
 
GHG said:
And those regulators only have the capacity to judge the merits of the merger based on the impact it will have on their jurisdiction and their jurisdiction alone. Based on that it's not difficult to see why the rulings have been what they are in places where xbox barely has any presence and there is no cloud gaming industry to speak of.
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Well even where Xbox have more standing they couldn't get console arguments across the line (not even CMA) and the cloud market is basically non existent everywhere
 
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Hero of Spielberg said:
Just about every other regulator in the world has also scrutinised it and found no reason to block.
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MS noted 4 regulatory agencies that mattered. The rest of the world could say yay or nay and nobody would have cared.

Of the 4, half blocked the deal, one required remedies and the one no condition approval being China means very little.

But hey, a judge denied a PI so that means the deal was always great for everyone.
 
Godot25 said:
That's the funniest shit in all of this. FTC wanted that judge. They knew that her son work for Microsoft and they were okay with it.
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We know they picked the district, but I've seen no evidence the FTC wanted this particular judge.

That said, they did not stomp their feet (as far as I know) about the obvious conflict of interest. So its fair game to say they were ok with her IMO, even though I'll never understand why they did not,
 
PaintTinJr said:
The article said it had been offered. I didn't see anywhere that the CMA accepted the offer.

Is there a link to the acceptance confirmation by the CMA?
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Microsoft and the CMA have agreed on a small divestiture to address the regulator's concerns, CNBC's David Faber reported.
 
PaintTinJr said:
I think you are delusional and just buying into the narrative that Microsoft are in control - after a foregone conclusion of a judge not applying the law to side with the FTC in the US - and now think that smoke and mirrors show applies in the UK too. It doesn't, and the only reason the CMA will have agreed to this negotiation is because Microsoft will have gone cap in hand to avoid the block and lose their shareholders $3b.

Despite Microsoft acting like idiot children with the CMA and PR lobbying with our press, the CMA are above all that, and will still attempt to help Microsoft avoid the deal collapsing and costing them money. The major difference will be what the CMA consider "the deal" and what Microsoft considers "the deal".

CNBC have already implied that Microsoft have offered a divestment, as a structural remedy. The CMA wanted all of Activision divested originally IIRC, so we can assume if a solution comes, "the deal" is being carved up at the CMA's behest, and not the other way around.

It is really now a decision of how much Microsoft are prepared to concede - in the areas the CMA can't legally budge on and defend their work, too - to avoid losing $3b for nothing and having had all their laundry in public for 18months.

The negotiation is a sign the deal is dead on the 18th of July if an impasse isn't reached, because litigating beyond that date had no benefit to Microsoft - otherwise they would have "fought and won!" as the narrative has been.
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Is this what you were referring to?
 
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adamsapple said:
I mean .. sure they all judged based on their own impact, but this is how all big mergers like this work. The process was not altered in any way just for this case.
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That's my point. The individual regulators should seek to look at the impact it will have on the market they oversee. The regulators in the US would like to take a closer look at this but the process they have to adhere to makes it very difficult for them to even get to that stage.

Hero of Spielberg said:
Well even where Xbox have more standing they couldn't get console arguments across the line (not even CMA) and the cloud market is basically non existent everywhere
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Considering the number of cloud users cited by various parties throughout this process this simply isn't the truth.
 
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In Cold Blood said:
While Sony ain't going anywhere, they have a real issue that fans should be concerned about.
The amount of their aquisitions that has gone into GAAS games, PC porting studios and Bungie who is going to remain multiplat, is going to make it a minimum gain for single player exclusives.
They are playing catch up with MS in getting a viable GAAS game, and because their internal studios have no PC capabilities, they are having to invest in that to continue their PC strategy.
This isn't MSs fault.

They need to acquire studios that will give them new exclusive single player games.
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I don't think Sony has anything to worry about in that department honestly. MS has gone a very long time delivering very little to their customers and still did just fine. All Sony has to do is keep doing what they are doing. I think expanding their IPs into TV like they are doing are also going to help them continue to grow their audience and game sales
 
Corrik said:
If you are saying the comment doesn't apply to you, why are you responding to it as if it called you out?

It applies to many here.
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It's the implication that the judge's ruling somehow makes this deal good now and it's only Sony fanboys that could see any issues.
 
PaintTinJr said:
The article said it had been offered. I didn't see anywhere that the CMA accepted the offer.

Is there a link to the acceptance confirmation by the CMA?
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It's very weird. CNBC released two articles. One where it was just offered and the other where it stated they accepted. The one that said it was offered was dated\timed after the one saying it was accepted. I don't know which one is right.
 
mayham2199 said:
I don't think Sony has anything to worry about in that department honestly. MS has gone a very long time delivering very little to their customers and still did just fine. All Sony has to do is keep doing what they are doing. I think expanding their IPs into TV like they are doing are also going to help them continue to grow their audience and game sales
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Not if MS takes all their games they bought off of the PS5. Everything will be exclusive now.
 
In Cold Blood said:
Sony won't sit still, but there is layers.
People thinking that Sony is going to suddenly spend 20% of their entire market cap on game company aquisitions is not reality.
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If Sony goes through with removing their financial arm, that leaves PlayStation as its biggest revenue generator by far. They are focusing heavily on entertainment. Removing that financial arm also means that they need to find a way to increase revenue and profits of their remaining arms. Because their financial division was a significant part of that. If Sony feels threatened and wants to dramatically grow in entertainment, they will have to do exactly what you think they won't. Because PlayStation will be the company's future.
 
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Banjo64 said:
Well it's 23:18 here in the UK, and being a government regulator the CMA would have stopped work at 17:00, 6 hours and 20 minutes ago.

So I'm not sure why they would have cracked a deal now, when just before their shift ended they'd only agreed to try to come to a resolution.
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You really think all UK civil servants down tools bang on 1700 every day? 🤨
 
What makes me laugh the most is people loving cod will be game pass. for alot of people cod is their only game maybe one or two others a year.
If this is you, then you'll spend more money a year to play cod than buying it.

In Cold Blood In Cold Blood did you actually say bring up the Xbox has no games meme will forever begone?

Congrats, took them 20 years to go fuck it and buy the entire industry. Huge win there 🤡.
 
Alex Scott said:
If CMA and MS have agreed on a remedy then we will know tomorrow.
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Unless (the UK)we've imported some US money wins regulation to the CMA, I can't see the divested parts of the deal being anything short of what is needed to satisfy their SLC. How they can achieve that without Microsoft divesting Activision and its entire library is a conundrum IMO. Unless Microsoft's idea of small investment is different to the regular meaning of the word small.
 
NickFire said:
We know they picked the district, but I've seen no evidence the FTC wanted this particular judge.

That said, they did not stomp their feet (as far as I know) about the obvious conflict of interest. So its fair game to say they were ok with her IMO, even though I'll never understand why they did not,
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They for sure know that case will be given to judge who oversees Gamers case because that's just how system in US works.

If not, it would tell us everything about quality of FTC nowadays.
 
DeepEnigma said:
They forced Facebook to sell Giphy and Giphy did not even reside in the UK. So who knows.
www.theguardian.com

Facebook owner Meta sells Giphy at a loss of more than $260m

Stock image service Shutterstock buys gif search engine after Meta’s acquisition blocked by regulators
www.theguardian.com www.theguardian.com
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What some ppl, for or against the merger, fail to realize is even if its allowed to go thru....like that and other cases....if the company is seen as overstepping...there can still be consequences.

MS has gotten anti trust investigations about their own products they created...

Completing an acquisition doesn't mean that company is off the hook forever. I always maintain MS needs to be smart with any recent and future acquisition.
HeisenbergFX4 said:
All this happened so fast today

;)
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All this tells me is......







PS5 Pro info is coming soon. No one's 100% perfect when it comes to having info....but your track record is extremely good.
 
Topher said:
As others have pointed out, CMA caved when FTC lost. It is not a coincidence that CMA's announcement happened immediately after the judge's ruling.

MS leaving the UK was never going to happen. That's just a bullshit fantasy.
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Well the optics alone were never going to be good for CMA once the FTC lost. At some point - CMA had to realize that they were the only one to actually stand in the way of this thing. The only reasonable option now is to work out a "win" of some form....
 
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