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

Do you believe the deal will be approved?


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Not if MS takes all their games they bought off of the PS5. Everything will be exclusive now.

Take it easy brother, this couldn't have happened at a better time for PlayStation. It's up to Sony to compete just like in sports teams need to compete regardless of the opposition strengthening themselves. This is part of the fun for people like you and I who follow the industry, and not just the games.

At the moment, even with MS acquiring ABK, it's still Sony's game to fuck up.
 
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.
There is nothing to suggest the CMA caved though, and all logic suggests that once Microsoft knew the US was in the bag they asked the CMA to come back to the table to try and thrash out an agreement.
 
Regardless of how you feel about this decision, I think we might have some general consensus on just how bad Lina Khan has performed in her role. Has she had a single win yet during her time in office?

I hope this isn't paywalled for everyone (from back in Feb):


She's got to go...she can't adequately defend shit.
 
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Sorry I guess maybe I'm confused. This was just for the injunction right? This is a bad outcome for them, but like the actual FTC trial hasn't happened yet has it? Or am I totally not understanding things.
 
Tweet from FTC Public Affairs Director. It ain't over yet boys.



Here's to another 1,385 pages of silliness/

Celebrate In Love GIF by Max


Not really surprising since she rushed this decision out in record time.
 
It's embedded in the very tweet your quoted post has.

Here:


We don't know more details as CMA have not made any proper press-releases about anything yet .
Okay, so it is still just running the narrative Microsoft gets everything they want after a CMA capitulation, which may or may not be true, yes?
 
Regardless of how you feel about this decision, I think we might have some general consensus on just how bad Lina Khan has performed in her role. Has she had a single win yet during her time in office?

I hope this isn't paywalled for everyone (from back in Feb):


She's got to go...she can't adequately defend shit.

I don't think she is the problem, she's fighting with one hand tied behind her back. Did you see the state of the people she had to send to court to represent them? I wouldn't even trust those lawyers to represent me in a small claims court.
 
Sorry I guess maybe I'm confused. This was just for the injunction right? This is a bad outcome for them, but like the actual FTC trial hasn't happened yet has it? Or am I totally not understanding things.

This is a seriously bad outcome for the FTC. Anyone telling you differently is full of shit. They can appeal, but it will most likely end in a loss.

Here's Reuters on that topic:


I don't think she is the problem, she's fighting with one hand tied behind her back. Did you see the state of the people she had to send to court to represent them? I wouldn't even trust those lawyers to represent me in a small claims court.

I've had my fill of Democrats or lefties crying about not having power while they're in a position of power. Such predictable nonsense. They lack experience and savvy to get the job done.
 
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Honestly have zero idea what the remedies will be
More than likely something cloud related.

Like MS wont put games on its cloud in the UK and may alternatively act as an option for other companies to use, ie) Xcloud.

That or maybe going forward there would be some concession to games like COD appearing on GamePass on day 1 or something. I doubt that because that would infringe on MS's ability to be competitive to provide a service.
Those would be my best guesses.
 
Tweet from FTC Public Affairs Director. It ain't over yet boys.



Here's to another 1,385 pages of silliness/

Celebrate In Love GIF by Max


There is no denying that certain issues are being stretched here, but such things do not happen without a reason. We may never know what went on behind the scenes over the past few days or weeks, but whatever it was is working in favor of MS so far. Any change in this momentum would be a big surprise to me.
 
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.
Their Movie and music divisions also need to grow. They still want to push their phones, TVs etc.
Their biggest fuck up was buying Bungie. They overpaid for starters. Bungie for Sony was as big as ABK was for MS when you compare it as a proportion of their market cap.
 
Bro, please stop with spreading this fake news. Go look up ANY of Microsofts official quarterly earnings reports. They NEVER mentioned the profitability of GamePass, nor did they EVER stated to shareholders that GamePass is being profitable.

MS and Phil can tell the media whatever the hell they want, to shareholders not so much.
Shareholders have access to the same media. Do you think shareholders are blind? No need for you to be a warrior. Just use common sense.
 
I've had my fill of Democrats or lefties crying about not having power while they're in a position of power. Such predictable nonsense. They lack experience and savvy to get the job done.

What I said is not about "power", it's about having the tools necessary to do the job as an organisation. Part of that is having the capacity to hire people with the necessary experience and savvy.

The people they put in court lacked that and it was abundantly clear from day 2 onwards.
 
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 🤡.
This is how dead the meme is, the trolls have gone from saying Xbox has no games, to MS will own all the games.
 
What I said is not about "power", it's about having the tools necessary to do the job as an organisation. Part of that is having the capacity to hire people with the necessary experience and savvy.

The people they put in court lacked that and it was abundantly clear from day 2 onwards.

Then I think we're saying the same thing maybe...I just don't have any tolerance for it anymore. I'm halfway expecting to see some Democratic fundraising email in my inbox which uses this ruling as the rally cry.
 
Maybe no xcloud for UK game pass since that will remove the primary cloud based hurdle they had.

That seems the most likely thing to me at least.
It would never be enough for the SLC, if the CMA are actually doing their job right and pushing back correctly.

Cloud game providers aren't specific to nations because they have to scale at a international level, so Azure still being able to lever all of the ABK content in the rest of the world and become a defacto cloud game monopoly outside the UK would have identical harm.

It would still prevent anyone else from being able to compete on an international scale, even if they innovated, they would be drowned out by the content they could never offer on equal terms.

It has to be more than that, or the CMA should all be looking for new jobs IMO.
 
It would never be enough for the SLC, if the CMA are actually doing their job right and pushing back correctly.

Cloud game providers aren't specific to nations because they have to scale at a international level, so Azure still being able to lever all of the ABK content in the rest of the world and become a defacto cloud game monopoly outside the UK would have identical harm.

It would still prevent anyone else from being able to compete on an international scale, even if they innovated, they would be drowned out by the content they could never offer on equal terms.

It has to be more than that, or the CMA should all be looking for new jobs IMO.

The CMA's primary concern is the UK market, removing xcloud from UK will resolve their concern. I don't think they ever concerned themselves with international affairs in their decision.

Should they have ? that's a different argument altogether.
 
Then I think we're saying the same thing maybe...I just don't have any tolerance for it anymore. I'm halfway expecting to see some Democratic fundraising email in my inbox which uses this ruling as the rally cry.

No don't worry, we are broadly saying the same thing.

The only thing that might differ is whether or not we might agree on whether Lina Khan as an individual is fit for the job or not.
 
I call that caving, bro.
Accepting an invitation to negotiate is not caving. If they accept remedies that don't address their concerns, that would be caving. They have a duty to try and come to an amicable resolution, and to show willing to engage openly and honestly up until the final whistle.
 
This is a mesmerically weird gif bro. I can't figure out if she's 15 or 25. Is she smiling or grimacing? Is that supposed to be a dance? Am I legally allowed to be turned on by this, or should I be on my way to sign a register? So many questions.
man if you have to ask...
 
Their Movie and music divisions also need to grow. They still want to push their phones, TVs etc.
Their biggest fuck up was buying Bungie. They overpaid for starters. Bungie for Sony was as big as ABK was for MS when you compare it as a proportion of their market cap.

PlayStation is being tapped to fuel their entertainment arm in general. It's why they have been so adamant about transmedia with their IP. They've said very little about TVs and phones. There isn't much to invest in or acquire there. It's clear that entertainment, mostly gaming, is their biggest growth vector. Even the head of Sony Pictures said that the real growth opportunity is in gaming. They're not planning to spin off their financial arm for shits and giggles. They already spoke about the industry consolidation and how they "won't be left behind". Such a move is to make a big investment push. Doing so leaves PlayStation as their biggest moneymaker and they really need it to grow to offset the loss of their finance revenue and profits.

You're also way too stuck on relative market value. T2 was willing to spend $12 billion to buy Zynga. Which was approaching 2/3 of T2's market value. That's still half of it today. T2 didn't even have the cash for that. They still had to borrow some cash and then pay for the other half in a stock swap. You're grossly underestimating what a company will do when it really wants something.
 
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The CMA's primary concern is the UK market, removing xcloud from UK will resolve their concern. I don't think they ever concerned themselves with international affairs in their decision.

Should they have ? that's a different argument altogether.
Not just the market, but businesses and jobs from those businesses too. If those businesses can't compete, then the CMA have failed miserably to do their job.
 
She also said, we aren't here to protect Sony, we are here to protect the consumer.

Which was an inappropriate response to make when considering the potential violations and legal statutes the FTC is citing. I know NeoGAF won't/don't understand why that is so, but as a federal judge overseeing an antitrust case, she should.
 
When a Biden appointed, life long Democrat judge rules against Bidens FTC, you know they really shouldn't have tried to block the merger.
I hope MS gets awarded all of their costs against the FTC. Not only should they lose, but they should pay a price as well.
 
There is nothing to suggest the CMA caved though, and all logic suggests that once Microsoft knew the US was in the bag they asked the CMA to come back to the table to try and thrash out an agreement.
The same thought crossed my mind, but we just had reports about them getting denied more time like a week ago. Hence, I will continue to believe they cut a deal, or intend to, until and unless we get reason to believe otherwise.
 
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