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[cash_longfellow]

Nice thread, lots of info. I’m not going to read any of it, but thank Jesus that you came along and stopped every third thread from being about this….you are the real hero

 

[Heisenberg007]

I felt there was something missing. A vacuum.

Then I got Hendrick's [only] laugh emoji on this thread, and my life was complete again!

 

[EviLore]

I actually have taken screenshots of all the tweets and saved them in my private G-drive folder. As a backup.

I thought about adding images (instead of links to Tweet) in this thread, but then the tweets themselves added more transparency and additional context because of the preceding and following tweets. I'll try to find a middle-ground.

One request: if you know of any popular YouTubers, influencers, or gaming media journalists, please share this thread with them. The thread will gain traction, but, more importantly, some of this news might be covered more adequately by some publishers. Thanks!

Ah, good call. What people often do is include a url to an image backup underneath the tweet embed.

 

[GHG]

I felt there was something missing. A vacuum.

Then I got Hendrick's [only] laugh emoji on this thread, and my life was complete again!

When he drops one of those you know you're doing something right.

 

[Heisenberg007]

Nice thread, lots of info. I’m not going to read any of it, but thank Jesus that you came along and stopped every third thread from being about this….you are the real hero

I do encourage you to read it, though. I genuinely believe this is important for gamers to know what they are dealing with and how people are trying to affect the hobby we all love.

 

[Nonehxc]

I felt there was something missing. A vacuum.

Then I got Hendrick's [only] laugh emoji on this thread, and my life was complete again!

He's blessing you with the Holy Waters of his eyes per the MS Evangelist Bible.

 

[Heisenberg007]

When he drops one of those you know you're doing something right.

He's blessing you with the Holy Waters of his eyes per the MS Evangelist Bible.

 

[Heisenberg007]

Ah, good call. What people often do is include a url to an image backup underneath the tweet embed.

Yeah that's a good idea. I'll add them tomorrow!

 

[GHG]

He's blessing you with the Holy Waters of his eyes per the MS Evangelist Bible.

Thought Experiment 31:16

Thus saith the Phil; Refrain thy voice from weeping, and thine eyes from tears: for thy work shall be rewarded, saith the Phil;

 

[Topher]

Jim trying to take Starfield exculsive isn't that important I assume or are we choosing not take take Phil's word in this particular subject only?

Actually Bethesda was the one shopping their own games for exclusivity money*. The rumor that Sony was attempting to buy Bethesda exclusives predates all of this.

*Correct me if I'm wrong here, Heisenberg007

 

[The Fuzz damn you!]

An outstanding effort, well done.

Not wanting to criticise, but for completeness, the details of Ryan’s demands regarding Phil’s proposed Avtivision deal would be nice to see here (price / date / release / subscription parity). Seems relevant to the other COD info presented.

Edit— it’s all there, I’m just fucking blind.

 

[Heisenberg007]

Actually Bethesda was the one shopping their own games for exclusivity money*. The rumor that Sony was attempting to buy Bethesda exclusives predates all of this.

*Correct me if I'm wrong here, Heisenberg007

Yep. Pete Hines also suggested and shopped for Deathloop's exclusivity.

 

[Heisenberg007]

An outstanding effort, well done.

Not wanting to criticise, but for completeness, the details of Ryan’s demands regarding Phil’s proposed Avtivision deal would be nice to see here (price / date / release / subscription parity). Seems relevant to the other COD info presented.

Is there something else on it that's not covered in Jim Ryan's email reply to Phil Spencer? If there is, I may not be familiar with it. Please share some resources about that, and I'll add that to the post tomorrow. Thanks!

 

[poppabk]

Did we ever get the redacted document where Sony stated that MS were paying to keep games off rival subscription services? Seems like that was a big revelation on Twitter but then the evidence never actually materialized.

 

[ShadowkillXNA]

I know this is an Xbox hate circle jerk but I just want to say, why would a list of ABK games that MS would keep multi platform include a game like Overwatch, which is dead and no longer playable? Maybe by “Overwatch” MS just meant like, the only version of Overwatch that is playable

Wrong, you perceive it to xbox hate, when in reality everything in the op is factual.

 

[bitbydeath]

I do wonder if the CMA had any of this content, or will be planning on adding it since it was never released during their investigation.

 

[poppabk]

Phil Spencer incorrectly denied reports of Japanese acquisitions​

I think we call that lying where I come from.

Lying on court is kinda of a big deal. Why don't you try doing that yourself and see how that works.

He lied about the Japanese acquisitions in court or he just denied rumors that could jeopardize the potential acquisitions.

 

[Draugoth]

The true Xbox Showcase in the end was the FTC Trial.

 

[cash_longfellow]

I do encourage you to read it, though. I genuinely believe this is important for gamers to know what they are dealing with and how people are trying to affect the hobby we all love.

I meant that I’m not reading through it because I’ve read all of the separate threads. I’ve bookmarked this one and plan on keeping up with it, and hope you keep it updated

 

[Gambit2483]

I feel so dirty after reading all of that.

What a scummy industry this is behind d the scenes. How anyone still supports in favor of MS after reading all of that is beyond me.

 

[Hawking Radiation]

All of that reads to me like:

Xbox wants to bulldoze their way (aka buy up everything) to becoming market leader.

 

[Topher]

All of that reads to me like:

Xbox wants to bulldoze their way (aka buy up everything) to becoming market leader.

 

[Crayon]

I feel so dirty after reading all of that.

What a scummy industry this is behind d the scenes. How anyone still supports in favor of MS after reading all of that is beyond me.

"Our weapons are psychological, economic and political." - Effective Evangelism, Microsoft Confidential, 1 of 4, paragraph 2.

 

[The Fuzz damn you!]

Is there something else on it that's not covered in Jim Ryan's email reply to Phil Spencer? If there is, I may not be familiar with it. Please share some resources about that, and I'll add that to the post tomorrow. Thanks!

Ah, shit, sorry. I’ll blame me being on mobile and looking for that in the “Sony” section. Carry on.

 

[Loomy]

All of that reads to me like:

Xbox wants to bulldoze their way (aka buy up everything) to becoming market leader.

The issue is that they've put all their chips into GamePass and xCloud. Which is fine. But as Netflix found out, if you're relying on other people's content for your on demand content delivery service, you're going to be SoL when those people decide to keep the content to themselves.

Microsoft's problem is that they are going all in on GamePass, needing content, and also being one of the least consistent publishers out there. It's why they're trying to buy up all the content, otherwise GamePass is going to eventually turn a huge sinkhole for Microsoft.

 

[Freelance Yakuza]

Crayon thanks for the gold
totally unexpected

 

[Corndog]

I do encourage you to read it, though. I genuinely believe this is important for gamers to know what they are dealing with and how people are trying to affect the hobby we all love.

I don’t see this as a list of what occurred. It’s talking points.
It doesn’t relate to the actual legalities.
It’s list wars on steroids.

 

[drganon]

Phil Spencer incorrectly denied reports of Japanese acquisitions​

I think we call that lying where I come from.

The trick with Phil is that if his lips are moving, he's lying.

 

[The Fuzz damn you!]

I don’t see this as a list of what occurred. It’s talking points.
It doesn’t relate to the actual legalities.
It’s list wars on steroids.

So what’s missing? Maybe turn it into a discussion instead of further polarising the issue

So many people coming into these threads to claim that Xbox / MS / Phil is being unfairly attacked, without ever taking to time to present the “unfair” part of their claim.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

OP spends way too much time on the MS/Activision topic.

 

[MasterCornholio]

OP spends way too much time on the MS/Activision topic.

Do you rike it?

 

[FrankWza]

The trick with Phil is that if his lips are moving, he's lying.

Except when he has to ask his bosses for that buyout $

 

[XXL]

Thanks! I haven't been around much (been busy with other things) so this is much appreciated.

 

[Nydius]

Unfortunately, even after reading it in a concise manner like that, I'm not sure the FTC reached the threshold of illustrating imminent harm to consumers needed for the PI.

(Edit: For clarification before someone asks or says something else, the entire point of a preliminary injunction in anti-trust cases like these is to stall the merger until the full trial because the FTC believes if the merger is allowed to proceed before the full trial, it would create immediate harm to consumers or the market as a whole, and then would make it significantly harder to disentangle the companies should a full trial outcome determine anti-trust violations exist.)

There's a ton of shady shit there, to be certain. Since Microsoft has committed to maintaining the status quo not only now but for several years and damn near everyone who testified about cloud has called it a nascent market, I don't see how there's an argument that immediate harm exists. Not even to Sony. Even if the judge were considering the harm to Sony exclusively, the e-mails and testimony from Ryan that make it sound like he's not all that bothered by exclusivity and merger agreements tends to throw a bucket of water on that particular fire.

Dunno, the more I reread the testimony and filings, the more I'm leaning toward the judge siding with Microsoft on this.

Microsoft is walking out with a pair of black eyes plus a whole lot of body bruises, and if the FTC pursues it to the full trial I'm sure we'll hear a lot more of the internal dirt. Dirt that should definitely be considered when deciding on the merger in a full trial; However, here the dirt doesn't seem to rise high enough to the imminent harm qualifier.

Guess we'll find out Wednesday or later this week.

 

[Elog]

Firstly - thanks to the OP for an excellent summary.

Secondly, despite being a fairly cynical person at times I must say that I am stunned by how rotten the MS corporate culture is. They are completely open with stating one thing in public and then doing the complete opposite in private. Instead of focusing on delivering great products/ services to their customers they focus on making competition worse.

All private entities have shades of this or moments of this. Here it seems to be core parts of their strategy. I really believe it is a genuinely bad look for MS. No surprise that they have the struggles they have (and not only in gaming).

 

[Slicker than your average]

Good work op. A great idiot proof read of everything that's happened.

Honestly shows Xbox in such a badlight you'd have to be damaged not to see it. Not that it really matters on a forum.

 

[Gorgon]

Heisenberg007 Howesome job with the thread, mate.

 

[Fatal Chuck Yeager]

Not sure what the pun is with the Ctrl Deceive thing but somehow I missed the news that Microsoft though Ninja Theory was worth over 100M in cash.

In 2018? Not sure about that.

 

[Loomy]

Not sure what the pun is with the Ctrl Deceive thing but somehow I missed the news that Microsoft though Ninja Theory was worth over 100M in cash.

In 2018? Not sure about that.

A play on ctrl+alt+del

 

[Kurotri]

Microsoft is such a vile company. Thank you for the write-up!

 

[Moriarty1889]

Yes, this hearing has brought out the worst of MS and Phil. The Xbox brand has been tarnished quite a bit from this mess. Don’t know what will happen or be their next move if this deal fails to go thru for them.

 

[Tripolygon]

When you lay it all like that, yeesh.

 

[bender]

Heisenberg007 , On behalf of #TeamNintendo

 

[Unknown Soldier]

All of that reads to me like:

Xbox wants to bulldoze their way (aka buy up everything) to becoming market leader.

I think most people who follow the industry have known this for some years now, but I'm glad that the evidence has come to light so openly because of this FTC hearing.

 

[Hawking Radiation]

Heisenberg007 Heisenberg007

Thanks for the summary. It was really tough to keep up with everything that's been going on in this trial. Much appreciated man and hope you have an awesome day.

In fact, all of you green rats and Sony ponies, have an awesome day.

 

[TheGodfather07]

Microsoft being allowed to buy any more publishers or even studios is so bad for the industry. They are just so shitty and ruin anything they touch.

 

[Vroadstar]

Now this is a good tread Heisenberg007 great work.

 

[bitbydeath]

I don’t see this as a list of what occurred. It’s talking points.
It doesn’t relate to the actual legalities.
It’s list wars on steroids.

Is this the equivalent of not letting facts get in the way of a good story?

 

[mckmas8808]

OP, aditional info:

The user KnittedKnight (from IconEra) found this:
The tenets of corporate evangelism appear to still be alive and kicking at MS. Thanks to recent revelations in the FTC case against the ABK/MS merger we got a glimpse of that.

Referring to xCloud Phil Spencer, head of Xbox said: “If we can get them (hardcore Xbox fans) to love it they will evangelize,” he wrote.
https://www.ign.com/articles/the-ftc-trial-unmasks-xboxs-ambitions

For any of you not familiar with Microsoft Evangelism: "Evangelism is War" please take a look at this MS internal memo, referenced on an anti-trust lawsuit dating back 2 decades ago:

https://antitrust.slated.org/www.iowaconsumercase.org/011607/3000/PX03096.pdf

There are many aspects and tenets to Microsoft Evangelism but of relevance, it purports creating a cult-like legion of supporters and followers, VIP or otherwise that promote Microsoft products and monopolistic practices with a cult like fervor - that regards MS competitors, direct or indirect as war participants that must be extinguished by any and all available means.

MS Evangelism is literally a philosophy of corporate religion, where the consumers, specially the hardcore, are the faithful, and guided by faith to the altar of Microsoft and its products. Microsoft being the church while microsoft employees and vips are the clergy.



Xbox Ambassador program, media VIP outreach and access etc is all part of creating this core of fanatical evangelism towards Xbox and potential platforms like xCloud. It should then not surprise the coverage that the FTC trial is receiving by the "media", or how particular forums with compromised moderation staff are resorting to censorship and hive mind harassment not only to shut down dissension or opposing voices but also to promote Microsoft's cause.

Clearly a source of inspiration for MS are the grifters using Christian Religion under the "TV Evangelist" banner to create cult like, for-profit "churches".

All of this is morally and ethically repulsive and plain wrong.

"Evangelism is war" is still alive at MS. Phil Spencer refers to xCloud as a platform hardcore Xbox fans should "evangelize".

The tenets of corporate evangelism appear to still be alive and kicking at MS. Thanks to recent revelations in the injuction hearing of the FTC case against the ABK/MS merger we got a glimpse of that. Referring to xCloud Phil Spencer, head of Xbox said: “If we can get them (hardcore Xbox fans)...

icon-era.com

_________________________________________________


I strongly suggest everyone to take a look at the PDF file.

I had no idea that MS spoke this way back in the 2000s. It sounds exactly like Uncle Phil in those 2019 and 2020 emails btw. Seek out the enemy and nuke them from orbit. And then overwhelm devs and the media with information that your goals and vision in "THE WAY" so much so that they feel like it's the only way the world can work.

I totally see why the GamePass is the best deal in Gaming™ tagline is pushed so much now by the media. It's all astroturf marketing.

 

[EviLore]

I totally see why the GamePass is the best deal in Gaming™ tagline is pushed so much now by the media. It's all astroturf marketing.

It’s a huge red flag when you see talking points repeated word for word everywhere.