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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LoveCake said:
Your last paragraph is why it's anti-competitive.
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We all know that streaming will never take off, and physical discs are and will be the preferred way of delivering games to customers. Spending money on an imaginary streaming business that will never exist in the future therefore cannot be anti-competitive. Rather, it's a huge waste of money.
 
Goalus said:
We all know that streaming will never take off, and physical discs are and will be the preferred way of delivering games to customers. Spending money on an imaginary streaming business that will never exist in the future therefore cannot be anti-competitive. Rather, it's a huge waste of money.
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Tell that to Netflix.
 
Goalus said:
We all know that streaming will never take off, and physical discs are and will be the preferred way of delivering games to customers. Spending money on an imaginary streaming business that will never exist in the future therefore cannot be anti-competitive. Rather, it's a huge waste of money.
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So exactly what happened to film and music entertainment industry?
 
Goalus said:
We all know that streaming will never take off, and physical discs are and will be the preferred way of delivering games to customers. Spending money on an imaginary streaming business that will never exist in the future therefore cannot be anti-competitive. Rather, it's a huge waste of money.
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I tend to agree that streaming games is not going to take off yet. I disagree that physical disc is going to be the preffered way to deliver games. The happy middle is to download your games from the store and in most instances preload your games so you don't have to deal with delivery issues on launch.
 
Seeing as the 10 year deal is not a thing anymore, are MS contractually obliged to keep releasing COD at least on PS5 or just the next COD game?

I don't see MS keeping COD on Playstation for much longer than they have to. They have funded huge amounts of upfront sales for games to appear on game pass and have spent 70 billion buying Activision. They don't need PS COD money to fund Xbox games.
 
chromatic9 said:
Seeing as the 10 year deal is not a thing anymore, are MS contractually obliged to keep releasing COD at least on PS5 or just the next COD game?

I don't see MS keeping COD on Playstation for much longer than they have to. They have funded huge amounts of upfront sales for games to appear on game pass and have spent 70 billion buying Activision. They don't need PS COD money to fund Xbox games.
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I don't see it going exclusive. It's just an astronomical amount of money to lose.
 
chromatic9 said:
Seeing as the 10 year deal is not a thing anymore, are MS contractually obliged to keep releasing COD at least on PS5 or just the next COD game?

I don't see MS keeping COD on Playstation for much longer than they have to. They have funded huge amounts of upfront sales for games to appear on game pass and have spent 70 billion buying Activision. They don't need PS COD money to fund Xbox games.
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They will have to, even if they are not contractually obliged. To appease the regulators and to pave a smoother road for future acquisitions.
 
wolffy66 said:
I don't see it going exclusive. It's just an astronomical amount of money to lose.
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Well they could do a delayed release on PS or make it miss out on DLC and the like. At best I see MS making COD on PS for a while to entice them over to a superior version before dropping it.

ArtHands said:
They will have to, even if they are not contractually obliged. To appease the regulators and to pave a smoother road for future acquisitions.
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They haven't with Zenimax games, no appeasement there to pave a smoother road for this deal.

As people have said the cases against this buyout focused on the cloud. Seems up to MS once any existing contract Sony has finishes.
 
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chromatic9 said:
Seeing as the 10 year deal is not a thing anymore, are MS contractually obliged to keep releasing COD at least on PS5 or just the next COD game?

I don't see MS keeping COD on Playstation for much longer than they have to. They have funded huge amounts of upfront sales for games to appear on game pass and have spent 70 billion buying Activision. They don't need PS COD money to fund Xbox games.
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So you think Satya Nadella and Phil Spencer are blatant liars?
 
chromatic9 said:
Well they could do a delayed release on PS or make it miss out on DLC and the like. At best I see MS making COD on PS for a while to entice them over to a superior version before dropping it.



They haven't with Zenimax games, no appeasement there to pave a smoother road for this deal.

As people have said the cases against this buyout focused on the cloud. Seems up to MS once any existing contract Sony has finishes.
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The regulators were putting CoD, not Zenimax games inside the reticle for the past year. So its fair to say its going to be different.
 
Jigsaah said:
Top of the morning to ya folks!
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We are back to our dumb shit since the news cooled down.
angry tom and jerry GIF
 
feynoob said:
Yes. Never trust an American CEOs.
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Sure, but Microsoft is going to get crucified by the gamer community if they make COD exclusive. Not to mention it would be financially stupid. But it seems some here are eager for Microsoft to go back on their word. Anything to win the console war, I guess.
 
Topher said:
Sure, but Microsoft is going to get crucified by the gamer community if they make COD exclusive. Not to mention it would be financially stupid. But it seems some here are eager for Microsoft to go back on their word. Anything to win the console war, I guess.
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If they do it tomorrow? Sure. If they do it in 5 or so years? Probably be met with apathy.
 
Topher said:
Sure, but Microsoft is going to get crucified by the gamer community if they make COD exclusive. Not to mention it would be financially stupid. But it seems some here are eager for Microsoft to go back on their word. Anything to win the console war, I guess.
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They won't make COD exclusive. That is one is a sure thing. As long as mtx exist, PS is guaranteed to have COD.

Bethesda makes sense, as they help Xbox sell consoles. Same with other Activision SP games that isn't COD.
 
Banjo64 said:
If they do it tomorrow? Sure. If they do it in 5 or so years? Probably be met with apathy.
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Disagree. We are talking about Microsoft pulling COD from the game's largest platform. That is going to be a major PR disaster for Microsoft even if they had not swore over and over again that it will never happen.
 
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feynoob said:
We are back to our dumb shit since the news cooled down.
angry tom and jerry GIF
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Nice gif choice. For some reason I remember that episode from cartoon network 20 odd years ago. It started like that then they try being nice to each other for a change then it finishes with that same scene in the gif 🤣

Anyway, thank fuck this is all over. I'm calling it. What will be the next big acquisition and by who I wonder?
 
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Tangerine said:
Nice gif choice. For some reason I remember that episode from cartoon network 20 odd years ago. It started like that then they try being nice to each other for a change then it finishes with that same scene in the gif 🤣

Anyway, thank fuck this is all over. I'm calling it. What will be the next big acquisition and by who I wonder?
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Take 2.
 
Tangerine said:
Nice gif choice. For some reason I remember that episode from cartoon network 20 odd years ago. It started like that then they try being nice to each other for a change then it finishes with that same scene in the gif 🤣

Anyway, thank fuck this is all over. I'm calling it. What will be the next big acquisition and by who I wonder?
Click to expand...

I've already "called it" twice in this thread and this thing is still going.

Joe Biden Oops GIF by The Democrats
 
cebri.one said:
Netflix had to rethough the whole model last year because it was not profitable. So they increased cost for consumers, more ads, prohibition of shared accounts: https://www.tomsguide.com/news/netf...-and-account-sharing-crackdowns-could-be-next

Which is what is coming to GP once MS has market dominance.
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Uh… MS already raised prices, cancelled the family plan sharing thing, removed the deals that made GPU cheaper, and the content of GP has nosedived this last year in terms of 3rd Party content.

First party hasn't nosedived because it was pretty sparse already, what has been released is AA stuff …. and Redfall of course.


And that's with MS well down the list of game publishers - were they 9th or something by revenue? I can't wait to see what they do if they become "dominant".
 
cebri.one said:
Netflix had to rethough the whole model last year because it was not profitable. So they increased cost for consumers, more ads, prohibition of shared accounts: https://www.tomsguide.com/news/netf...-and-account-sharing-crackdowns-could-be-next

Which is what is coming to GP once MS has market dominance.
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The difference is Netflix one streaming content which takes 2-3 hour to finish, or binge watch the entire show.
The cost would be higher unlike gamepass.

A low budget movie can cost about $30 million, while an expensive production with high-tech special effects can run into millions of dollars. Usually, Hollywood films have budgets ranging from $100 million to $200 million, which means that they are more complex and require more time than other films.
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Games on the other hands take time to finish, which means MS will need less content unlike Netflix. That results in less cost.

But my point wasnt about the content or the price tag. But the streaming aspect of Netflix. They went from renting DVDs to full streaming. Thanks to that, everything is streaming now.

Gaming will be like that soon. People can deny as much as they want to, but it's coming. These publisher, even Sony included wants to maximize their sales. Streaming allows them to do that. They basically controll their content.
 
Topher said:
Sure, but Microsoft is going to get crucified by the gamer community if they make COD exclusive. Not to mention it would be financially stupid. But it seems some here are eager for Microsoft to go back on their word. Anything to win the console war, I guess.
Click to expand...

Indeed, and its really stupid because from a purely console perspective there are limits on the number of units they can manufacture in any given year. Even if you were to assume they could double demand, they'd struggle to meet that supply.

Nothing is going to happen overnight, especially not during a console generation. Everyone involved will have years to respond to changes in the marketplace, and in that intervening time no doubt all sorts of unexpected stuff can and will crop up.

I have to be honest and say that throughout this process of regulatory insight I've thought that Sony's intent has been primarily to slow things down, as while its still in flux MS' attention needs to be fully focussed on this particular front giving them (Sony) time and opportunity to investigate deals of their own.

Stopping it from going through may have been their ideal conclusion, but I highly doubt they'd be banking on it, especially given how important to Sony the Playstation business is. Which in turn leads to the obvious question: Who's getting acquired next?
 
OmegaSupreme said:
This is finally done with then? Whatever are we going to talk about now?
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Well MS have made a $69bn investment in gaming here. Not so long ago they made a $7bn investment.

So we can all talk about the exciting new IPs and content MS are bringing to more players on more screens.

If there were any new IPs and content from all this "investment" that is.

Anyway, this thread will finally close once the chest beating ends, and we're back to talking about the same games we already knew about for years - ewwwww.
 
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Tangerine said:
Nice gif choice. For some reason I remember that episode from cartoon network 20 odd years ago. It started like that then they try being nice to each other for a change then it finishes with that same scene in the gif 🤣

Anyway, thank fuck this is all over. I'm calling it. What will be the next big acquisition and by who I wonder?
Click to expand...
MS buys Activision monday and Sony buys Sega wednesday 😂
 
feynoob said:
The difference is Netflix one streaming content which takes 2-3 hour to finish, or binge watch the entire show.
The cost would be higher unlike gamepass.



Games on the other hands take time to finish, which means MS will need less content unlike Netflix. That results in less cost.

But my point wasnt about the content or the price tag. But the streaming aspect of Netflix. They went from renting DVDs to full streaming. Thanks to that, everything is streaming now.

Gaming will be like that soon. People can deny as much as they want to, but it's coming. These publisher, even Sony included wants to maximize their sales. Streaming allows them to do that. They basically controll their content.
Click to expand...

Halo Infinite: The Most Expensive Game Ever Made | CyberPunkReview

www.cyberpunkreview.com www.cyberpunkreview.com
 
ToadMan said:
Well MS have made a $69bn investment in gaming here. Not so long ago they made a $7bn investment.

So we can all talk about the exciting new IPs and content MS are bringing to more players on more screens.

If there were any new IPs and content from all this "investment" that is.

Anyway, this thread will finally close once the chest beating ends, and we're back to talking about the same games we already knew about for years - ewwwww.
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Those games were already available everywhere, now they are being excluded from PS. How is that bringing more players?
 
Goalus said:
We all know that streaming will never take off, and physical discs are and will be the preferred way of delivering games to customers. Spending money on an imaginary streaming business that will never exist in the future therefore cannot be anti-competitive. Rather, it's a huge waste of money.
Click to expand...
When was the last time you actually bought a movie on DVD or Blu-ray? Or a Music CD?
 
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cebri.one said:
www.polygon.com

Sony court blunder reveals $200M cost of The Last of Us 2, Horizon Forbidden West

Microsoft and Activision Blizzard’s FTC hearing is pulling back the curtain of the highly secretive industry
www.polygon.com www.polygon.com

Lol if you think AAA games cost 30 million you are way off.
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Except those games take 4-6 years to make them.
Movies on other hand takes about 1-2.5 years.
You can make 2-3 movies at the budget of 300-500m by the time you release 1 AAA game.

You can binge watch movies faster unlike those AAA games.
 
HoofHearted said:
When was the last time you actually bought a movie on DVD or Blu-ray? Or a Music CD?
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I'm leaning toward going back to buying/renting DVDs. Too much turmoil in streaming these days where shows are being removed for the sake of tax breaks among other reasons.
 
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Topher said:
Sure, but Microsoft is going to get crucified by the gamer community if they make COD exclusive. Not to mention it would be financially stupid. But it seems some here are eager for Microsoft to go back on their word. Anything to win the console war, I guess.
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Have you seen the Xbox fans on Twitter? Granted, most of them don't really play any games when you check their profiles, but they would be happier than ever.
 
Mibu no ookami said:
What am I commenting on here?

Whether Sony should be looking at GTA6 exclusivity in the wake of the increased likelihood of ABK closing and a shift away from CoD marketing?

I think it would be important to recognize a couple of things. Whatever the marketing deal Sony had with ABK for CoD would come nowhere close to the amount of money it would take for Sony to make GTA6 exclusive. So we're not talking about a 1:1 transaction here. Even if you include the money Sony would make from charging ABK full freight on royalties, it wouldn't be enough.

GTA6 exclusivity would come at an especially high cost and I think the benefits of which would be somewhat limited.

I'm going to pull a number out of my ass here and say 500 million for exclusivity. When you consider that The Last of Us 2 cost ~200 million to develop, you have to ask yourself does 2-3 major AAA titles all of which would be exclusive and likely profitable with the potential for transmedia revenue make more sense than GTA6 exclusivity. If I'm Sony, I'd rather put that 500 million towards buying FromSoftware and having a permanent asset with the potential of generating content that can sell as well as Elden Ring.

I think we're moving into the phase of the cycle where exclusivity deals, especially on Sony's part as the market leader starts to make less and less sense.

The only way I'm paying for GTA6 exclusivity if I'm Sony is if it's in part a strategy to launch a PC launcher and storefront and the exclusivity extends to PC and not just console.
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So the only way for sony is if they somehow get the hands on t2 instead of just buying exclusivity on gta vi?
 
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