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[reksveks]

What about divestment? Could the CMA potentially order Microsoft to divest Windows or Azure, instead of ATVI in that premature closing scenario?

I am not sure about that, I suspect the CMA if they could, would ask for MS to divest Xbox.

we will for sure have a new record when a company closes the deal after you blocked them

Definitely

 

[Zathalus]

What part of that devices is "thin"? The Windows 10 x64 OS? The 4 brawny Ryzen mobile CPU cores running at 3.5Ghz? The 16GBs of DDR4 Ram? The Radeon Vega 8 integrated graphics? Or the SeriesX or PS5 price tag?

It is a "thin client" by HP marketing, but has all the brawny components of a Desktop in SFF case. That's hardly comparative to RPi 400 or a smartphone or the WiiU tablet or incoming Project Q.

There's nothing cloud gaming impressive about GeforceNow if that's the client hardware requirement

It is, by definition, a thin client. A thin client has always simply been a low power PC optimised for remote usage. But I'm glad you ignored every other thing that can stream GeForce Now that has been repeated to you. You mention smartphone while conveniently forgetting that almost any smartphone can stream GeForce Now just fine. Almost any smartphone, any half decent PC, Google TV devices, Samsung and LG TVs and even streaming handhelds like the Logitech G Cloud have zero issues streaming. If Sony allowed it then Project Q could certainly do it as well.

 

[SixPin]

Microsoft can close the acquisition in the US and still continue the appeal in the UK. I think they always intended to go to federal court, and now it's the right moment because it can pressure the CMA/CAT. The FTC is not asking for the judge to block the deal, so it's not the same as the gamer's lawsuit.

Right now, the negotiations between Microsoft and Activision is all that matters. I'm 50/50 they will extend. I don't think Kotick cares about the price, but the board has a fiduciary duty.

 

[PaintTinJr]

Doesn't matter what party it is. A bill like this would have a huge consequence on big companies.
They would do all they can to block it. 10% global fine isnt a joke. That is a massive loss of money.

It is an edge case tool, 99.999999% of companies would never worry about it, because they aren't stupid enough to find themselves on the wrong side of that bill.

It is intended as a deterrent, not a parking fine. We are getting close to a general election and that is an easy bill for everyone to back and get their "4 the people" badge. Banjo64 is correct IMO.

 

[ShaiKhulud1989]

Microsoft can close the acquisition in the US and still continue the appeal in the UK.

It will cost them tens of billions in fines and probably a full break-up, but if SixPin said so...

 

[feynoob]

It is an edge case tool, 99.999999% of companies would never worry about it, because they aren't stupid enough to find themselves on the wrong side of that bill.

It is intended as a deterrent, not a parking fine. We are getting close to a general election and that is an easy bill for everyone to back and get their "4 the people" badge. Banjo64 is correct IMO.

I mean they ate the Brexit dream. I would hold myself down. It's only slam down once they approve it.

 

[DeepEnigma]

Microsoft can close the acquisition in the US and still continue the appeal in the UK.

Then why haven't they?

 

[PaintTinJr]

It is, by definition, a thin client. A thin client has always simply been a low power PC optimised for remote usage. But I'm glad you ignored every other thing that can stream GeForce Now that has been repeated to you. You mention smartphone while conveniently forgetting that almost any smartphone can stream GeForce Now just fine. Almost any smartphone, any half decent PC, Google TV devices, Samsung and LG TVs and even streaming handhelds like the Logitech G Cloud have zero issues streaming. If Sony allowed it then Project Q could certainly so it as well.

And I got no reply about what measured resolution and latency, and if the experience is an exact match for the Desktop PC client experience, and then described my own experience of inferior metrics and rendering with a smartphone with local cloud play.

Feel free to tell me that DF could measure resolution, frame-rate, IQ and latency on any android 10 smartphone pair with a pad and using USB-c to hdmi and get the same results as their benchmarks with v-synch off and I'll take your point.

 

[Banjo64]

Doesn't matter what party it is. A bill like this would have a huge consequence on big companies.
They would do all they can to block it. 10% global fine isnt a joke. That is a massive loss of money.

I don’t think you know Parliament but I’m happy to revisit this whenever they pass it.

 

[feynoob]

I don’t think you know Parliament but I’m happy to revisit this whenever they pass it.

Aren't they the ones who allowed Saudia to buy new Castle United?

 

[LordCBH]

I don’t think you know Parliament

Parliament is a sick funk band.

 

[Banjo64]

Aren't they the ones who allowed Saudia to buy new Castle United?

How is that relevant in the slightest?

 

[jm89]

Aren't they the ones who allowed Saudia to buy new Castle United?

Get some sleep man.

 

[Sanepar]

What happens if they don't respect the doc filled on SEC and close the deal w/o ftc and cma approval?

 

[splattered]

MS said that if this acquisition doesn't go through, they're shutting the xbox brand down. I can lie too.

What are you even talking about?

 

[Banjo64]

What happens if they don't respect the doc filled on SEC and close the deal w/o ftc and cma approval?

Big cummies from the fantasists

 

[ShaiKhulud1989]

What happens if they don't respect the doc filled on SEC and close the deal w/o ftc and cma approval?

They can't, the deal is literally under the restraining order on parties main soil.

 

[feynoob]

How is that relevant in the slightest?

Just little bit salty.
We had enough of you guys. And with them, we can't enjoy our game.

 

[Banjo64]

Just little bit salty.
We had enough of you guys. And with them, we can't enjoy our game.

 

[OmegaSupreme]

What are you even talking about?

"Do what? Sony said that if MS acquired COD then Sony may never recover..."

 

[Sleepwalker]

Yeah. The latest tier gives you that option.

The problem is you can't stream at 4k 120fps unless you own an nvidia shield or something like that, at least that was the last time I checked. My TV GFN could only do 1080p60 despite my tv being 4k120 and in the highest geforce tier.

Who wants to play in 1080p with a 4080 over streaming? The nvidia shield tv pro is also $180. On top of that the games I actually wanted to try and play were not available in the catalogue.

 

[feynoob]

Already did it. Slipped on the grass and next thing I know, woke up next to this hot lady.

 

[Sanepar]

They can't, the deal is literally under the restraining order on parties main soil.

So or the deal is dead or they will go back to table to have a new deal before July 17th that is it? Becausd cat 1st hearing is july 28th.

 

[Banjo64]

Aren't they the ones who allowed Saudia to buy new Castle United?

But also, to answer your question. No. Parliament has no oversight of football buyouts.

The government wants to regulate football, and may very well end up doing so, despite massive opposition from your beloved Arsenal, Liverpool, United, Spurs and Chelsea.

 

[feynoob]

The problem is you can't stream at 4k 120fps unless you own an nvidia shield or something like that, at least that was the last time I checked. My TV GFN could only do 1080p60 despite my tv being 4k120 and in the highest geforce tier.

Who wants to play in 1080p with a 4080 over streaming? The nvidia shield tv pro is also $180. On top of that the games I actually wanted to try and play were not available in the catalogue.

What tier did you have? They have a new tier for 4k 120fps.
Maybe your tier is the normal one.

 

[ShaiKhulud1989]

So or the deal is dead or they will go back to table to have a new deal before July 17th that is it? Becausd cat 1st hearing is july 28th.

90% it's dead past the initial deadline. 10% is that MS is so crazy about getting activision they're ready to inflate the deal by tens of billions in the middle of a global recession. For a company that is not even that vital for a core business of Microsoft.

 

[SixPin]

It will cost them tens of billions in fines and probably a full break-up, but if SixPin said so...

What do you mean? They can close it and the FTC would ask for an injuction. That's not illegal.

The acquisition has been closed in the EU for example.

 

[Sleepwalker]

What tier did you have? They have a new tier for 4k 120fps.
Maybe your tier is the normal one.

4k streaming is only available on certain TV models, otherwise you'll need an nvidia shield pro, this is to stream on TV. I would never stream to my monitor on my pc when I can just use my gpu instead of paying for a sub lol

 

[feynoob]

GHG
How is riceido? Is it delicious? Arteta is cooking new dish.

 

[Zathalus]

And I got no reply about what measured resolution and latency, and if the experience is an exact match for the Desktop PC client experience, and then described my own experience of inferior metrics and rendering with a smartphone with local cloud play.

Feel free to tell me that DF could measure resolution, frame-rate, IQ and latency on any android 10 smartphone pair with a pad and using USB-c to hdmi and get the same results as their benchmarks with v-synch off and I'll take your point.

They measured it on a Nvidia Shield and latency was similar to streaming it from the desktop PC client. If it's fine on 2016 mobile SoC then any modern device would have very little issue.

 

[ShaiKhulud1989]

The acquisition has been closed in the EU for example.

That's not how it works, my man.

 

[Banjo64]

What do you mean? They can close it and the FTC would ask for an injuction. That's not illegal.

The acquisition has been closed in the EU for example.

The acquisition hasn’t been closed anywhere.

 

[feynoob]

SixPin

 

[splattered]

you guys actually making me go back and search for this crap ugh haha

Sorry, it wasn't specifically stated as "If MS acquires COD we may never recover" it was "If MS acquires COD and releases a degraded version of COD on Playstation we may never recover"

Close enough either way, if MS gets ahold of COD we may never recover...

Jim Ryan: 'Our Business Would Never Recover' If Microsoft Degraded Call of Duty on PlayStation

Sony Interactive Entertainment President and CEO Jim Ryan in the company's response to the UK regulator, the Competition [...]

www.vgchartz.com

 

[MasterCornholio]

What do you mean? They can close it and the FTC would ask for an injuction. That's not illegal.

The acquisition has been closed in the EU for example.

It hasn't been closed. What the EC has done is say that it was okay to close it with those concessions. Big difference.

Microsoft doesn't own ABK at this moment.

 

[MasterCornholio]

you guys actually making me go back and search for this crap ugh haha

Sorry, it wasn't specifically stated as "If MS acquires COD we may never recover" it was "If MS acquires COD and releases a degraded version of COD on Playstation we may never recover"

Close enough either way, if MS gets ahold of COD we may never recover...

Jim Ryan: 'Our Business Would Never Recover' If Microsoft Degraded Call of Duty on PlayStation

Sony Interactive Entertainment President and CEO Jim Ryan in the company's response to the UK regulator, the Competition [...]

www.vgchartz.com

He didn't say it would kill playstation. Just that they wouldn't recover to where they are at.

 

[splattered]

He didn't say it would kill playstation. Just that they wouldn't recover to where they are at.

oh come on, what do you think he was trying to imply with that statement?

Ryan said a degraded version of Call of Duty on PlayStation would "seriously damage our reputation. Our gamers would desert our platform in droves and network effects would exacerbate the problem. Our business would never recover."

 

[Topher]

What do you mean? They can close it and the FTC would ask for an injuction. That's not illegal.

The acquisition has been closed in the EU for example.

This acquisition hasn't been "closed" anywhere. It has received approval from the EU. Not the same thing.

Microsoft can close the acquisition in the US and still continue the appeal in the UK. I think they always intended to go to federal court, and now it's the right moment because it can pressure the CMA/CAT. The FTC is not asking for the judge to block the deal, so it's not the same as the gamer's lawsuit.

Right now, the negotiations between Microsoft and Activision is all that matters. I'm 50/50 they will extend. I don't think Kotick cares about the price, but the board has a fiduciary duty.

The CMA has prohibited Microsoft from acquiring ABK.

 

[SneakersSO]

So or the deal is dead or they will go back to table to have a new deal before July 17th that is it? Becausd cat 1st hearing is july 28th.

Okay, lets break this down cause I can tell some folks are forgetting things here.

- There is no universe in which negotiations between MS and ATVI on re-forming a Merger Agreement, which goes into affect after this one expires on July 18th, didn't already begin or weren't currently under. In fact, in such a scenario, you'd see the parties announce a month or two ahead of time that they had already signed an extended agreement, while listing the renegotiated terms. This isn't the sort of thing you wait until July 10th to begin doing. If a deal cannot be closed by the original agreed expiration date, that means there is a significant reason (either financial or legal) as to why you can't, and that now gets factored into any renegotiation.

If you're ATVI, and you just handed 18 months of deal making potential to a major corporation in the hopes of being acquired, and are seeing legitimate factors that could ultimately prevent this acquisition from going through no matter what (CMA), then setting outlandish terms on a number of variables is totally within your purview. The fact that Kotick did a leadership puff piece for ATVI 6-7 weeks before the expiration date of the current Merger Agreement speaks volumes as to how he thinks things are going to go.

- I've listed a number of reasons why ATVI could outright refuse to re-enter a merger agreement or could simply try to price MS out of wanting to enter one, but its pretty clear based on what we're hearing out of MS' legal teams and the moves being made by the FTC and CMA, that once MS was granted the CAT review date outside of the Merger Agreement (despite loads of Xbox fans claiming at the time that the post-July 18th date that was granted by CAT was somehow a 'win'), MS began to explore very aggressive avenues to close the deal prior to July 18th. This, in combination with Kotick's leadership article, is more than enough to distill that MS doesn't necessarily feel that they will be able to re-enter a merger agreement with ATVI prior to that time.

Heck, even if ATVI were willing to re-enter into a Merger Agreement with MS, MS could also be feeling that the outcome by the CMA is still probably negative, and would seek to save themselves a bit of higher-potential exit/break fees that ATVI will surely ask for should they re-sign a merger agreement. Microsoft has every incentive to try and close the deal before July 18th.

 

[Helghan]

Lol FTC played completely in Microsoft’s hands. Good thing that we’ll know soon enough if this will end successfully for Microsoft.

 

[MasterCornholio]

oh come on, what do you think he was trying to imply with that statement?

Your just imagining things.

It this what you want to happen or what you think he said?

 

[X-Wing]

What do you mean? They can close it and the FTC would ask for an injuction. That's not illegal.

The acquisition has been closed in the EU for example.

Closed or allowed?

 

[ToadMan]

Nope read again. They can close and ignore CMA.

Not accurate - they cannot ignore the CMA. They will have to face the punishment in the UK legal system if the CMA maintains its opposition to the acquisition.

But regardless of that, as of today MS cannot close the deal in any form. It is impossible for them.

 

[LordCBH]

Nope read again. They can close and ignore CMA.

That’s not what their agreement says.

 

[Varteras]

It appears to be ignorance. Being "political" just means believes something different from the poster and their side is all about truth or some bullshit. As if the decision to either approve a giant merger or stop it on the grounds that it will hurt competition is not political. All mergers hurt competition on some level, so the decision on how much is too much will be political to some extent. One party will lean towards business regardless of any real world consumer risks while the other party will lean towards the consumer side. There are other biases anyone looking at this will also bring to the table, especially how they handle hypotheticals. The path the cloud market will take is extremally hypothetical at this point. All we know is that many have failed to gain traction and MS is the lead by offering cloud as a supplement to their platform.

I clarified that I don't want this to be used in some political game. I'm not talking about incidental bias. Rather, any remotely coordinated efforts. Don't be an ass.

 

[splattered]

Your just imagining things.

It this what you want to happen or what you think he said?

I dont want it to happen and it's basically what he said.

 

[Ar¢tos]

Lol FTC played completely in Microsoft’s hands. Good thing that we’ll know soon enough if this will end successfully for Microsoft.

yawn

 

[Darsxx82]

There is also the obligation that this deal must obtain regulatory approval in order to proceed. The agreement clearly states this is Microsoft's responsibility. That is not compatible with ignoring the CMA.

Again, whether or not there was a possibility that MS would decide to close the deal without CMA approval, the appeal and doing everything possible to move forward was the only thing that could make sense. Both things are compatible .

It is assumed that closing without approval without UK would carry the support of Activision (new wording in contract?).

The only thing that remains a mystery is the reason that has made the FTC think that possibility existed and also the times to do it. These times only favor (a priori) MS who is clearly the happiest with the new situation.

 

[MasterCornholio]

I dont want it to happen and it's basically what he said.

Its basically what you think he said.

But he didn't say PlayStation would die. Just that it would be damaged.

Brands can get hurt and still survive. Look at Xbox for example.

 

[Sanepar]

Not accurate - they cannot ignore the CMA. They will have to face the punishment in the UK legal system if the CMA maintains its opposition to the acquisition.

But regardless of that, as of today MS cannot close the deal in any form. It is impossible for them.

So how they are trying to close the deal before July 18th if they know for sure hearings just start July 28th