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[Godot25]

"If you send an email saying you're going to shoot someone in 2019, but don't actually buy the gun and commit said act until 2023, then that email isn't evidence of your intentions" - Feynoob's logic.

So by that logic Microsoft already killed PlayStation? Or what are you blabbing about? Because last time I checked PlayStation raked 8 billions in revenue per quarter.

 

[modiz]

So you won't send devkits early if you are worried about "secrets being leaked"
Same is for Microsoft with Bungie games and MLB games since both those studios are owned by Sony.
Of course you are then risking that first games on that platform would be badly optimised, but you need to weigh in risk factor.

MS didn't know this gen and still came out with better hardware.

 

[Godot25]

leaks are not the problem, the problem is that your main competitor knows the hardware you will sell on the market, an advantage that I don't remember in gaming.
for example, microsoft could very well have made its dualsense if it had known it immediately, so as to cancel one of the advantages of ps. and applies to any feature of future competitor hardware

As I said. It is the same "worry" that Microsoft needs to manage in future considering that MLB releases games on Xbox and Bungie remained multiplatform studio despite them being owned by Sony.
So it's really not a problem.

 

[feynoob]

"If you send an email saying you're going to shoot someone in 2019, but don't actually buy the gun and commit said act until 2023, then that email isn't evidence of your intentions" - Feynoob's logic.

Good twist.

 

[modiz]

As I said. It is the same "worry" that Microsoft needs to manage in future considering that MLB releases games on Xbox and Bungie remained multiplatform studio despite them being owned by Sony.
So it's really not a problem.

We can be sure Jim also tried to use that argument but if even CMA dropped the console SLC even they saw it as irrelevant as any sane person would.

 

[Bernoulli]

Showcase inside the court?

 

[feynoob]

So by that logic Microsoft already killed PlayStation? Or what are you blabbing about? Because last time I checked PlayStation raked 8 billions in revenue per quarter.

He likes to twist stuff around. Let him have this moment.

 

[feynoob]

Showcase inside the court?

They are trying to corporate the court.

 

[Calverz]

Yep. Idiots.

 

[Calverz]

Showcase inside the court?

Perfect dark!

 

[Sanepar]

What happens if ABK is not enough to move install base in direction of Xbox? What they will do next? If u look on relevant ABK games some will not show a sequence for a long time like Diablo or Overwatch. COD will be relevant in 10 years? we do not know. Without COD and a new Blizzard game what is relevant in ABK to disrupt playstation business?

 

[Mr Moose]

MS didn't know this gen and still came out with better hardware.

Yeah sure that's why they said their clocks are locked/"sustained" before Sony had mentioned boost clock shit.

Those frequencies are completely locked and won't adjust according to load or thermal conditions - a point Microsoft emphasised several times during our visit.
But up until now at least, the focus has been on the GPU, where Microsoft has delivered 12 teraflops of compute performance via 3328 shaders allocated to 52 compute units (from 56 in total on silicon, four disabled to increase production yield) running at a sustained, locked 1825MHz. Once again, Microsoft stresses the point that frequencies are consistent on all machines, in all environments. There are no boost clocks with Xbox Series X.

 

[GHG]

Showcase inside the court?

Lulu's gonna dance.

 

[ToadMan]

I like how it's gone from "They didn't really say that, no evidence, it's redacted, lalala"

To now being "it was 2019, it doesn't count".

If anything, the email being from 2019 only serves to build a pattern of behaviour considering what's happened since then.

And yes, it does count, there's a reason they asked for documents going that far back.

MS offering these 10 year deals and “some” people say that’s a long time. - but years and decades are the timescales businesses work to.

They didn’t decide to buy ABK the day before they called Bobby.

This whole acquisition process is already getting on for 18 months.

An email from 2019 about an acquisition negotiated in 2021 and announced 2022 is a blink of an eye in business.

Especially in the context of buying zeni prior to that delaying the ABK move to get the easy prey.

Personally I think this kind of email - if it is worded as aggressively as reported - is damning in terms of MS business strategy.

The apporval for zeni was based on MS acting in consequence of direct fiscal impacts, and the same argument was used to dismiss the console SLC. That it would be financially implausible for MS to take ABK content exclusive and recoup the ensuing loss. But this argument presupposes that PlayStation remains a viable competitor.

Yet here is MS demonstrating they will go to lengths to remove PlayStation from the market and in that case all the math charges.

 

[MDSLKTR]

Showcase inside the court?

Sony's equipment:

 

[feynoob]

Sony's equipment:

If they do that, we going to lose an important meme.

 

[Topher]

 

[Hudo]

For god's sake, they should just buy Sony and be done with it. And if the CMA blocks that, just buy the CMA as well.

 

[ShaiKhulud1989]

The fastest self-own in this thread so far

 

[Drell]

For god's sake, they should just buy Sony and be done with it. And if the CMA blocks that, just buy the CMA as well.

Ladies and Gentlemen, that's exactly the cliché of an american we have over there.

 

[Thirty7ven]

It really gets tiresome to deal with these media shills. Depressing.

 

[GHG]

MS offering these 10 year deals and “some” people say that’s a long time. - but years and decades are the timescales businesses work to.

They didn’t decide to buy ABK the day before they called Bobby.

This whole acquisition process is already getting on for 18 months.

An email from 2019 about an acquisition negotiated in 2021 and announced 2022 is a blink of an eye in business.

Especially in the context of buying zeni prior to that delaying the ABK move to get the easy prey.

Personally I think this kind of email - if it is worded as aggressively as reported - is damning in terms of MS business strategy.

The apporval for zeni was based on MS acting in consequence of direct fiscal impacts, and the same argument was used to dismiss the console SLC. That it would be financially implausible for MS to take ABK content exclusive and recoup the ensuing loss. But this argument presupposes that PlayStation remains a viable competitor.

Yet here is MS demonstrating they will go to lengths to remove PlayStation from the market and in that case all the math charges.

How quickly they were able to get the M&A DD side of things done after the initial conversations with Bobby should have raised a few eyebrows, but alas.

Following Microsoft's offer to acquire Activision, Activision shopped themselves around, "Company D" refused to proceed based on the shortened due dlillegnce period being afforded to them (due to - "Mr. Spencer noting Microsoft’s desire to move expeditiously into exclusivity that day and the due diligence process") :

"On December 20, 2021, Messrs. Kotick and Kelly, together with a representative of Allen & Company, had a video conference with senior executives from Company D. Mr. Kotick discussed that Activision Blizzard could represent an attractive strategic combination for Company D, but explained that circumstances had changed since he first spoke with Company D’s chairperson and that it now was likely that, very shortly, Activision Blizzard would not be in a position to engage in additional discussions for some period of time. Mr. Kotick also suggested that Company D could readily perform due diligence on Activision Blizzard in the meantime based on publicly available information. The representatives of Company D expressed that Company D was not prepared to proceed expeditiously on the basis of publicly available information and implied that Company D would only be interested in relaying an indication of interest if provided with an opportunity to review confidential information. Following this call, no further discussions were held with Company D."

Meanwhile Microsoft were able to get the entirety of their due dillegence process completed in the matter of weeks (usually for deals of this size it can take anywhere from 3-6 months):

"On December 27, 2021, access was provided to representatives of Microsoft and its outside advisors to a virtual data room hosting Activision Blizzard materials. Microsoft and its advisors engaged in due diligence from the period of December 27, 2021 through the execution of the merger agreement on January 18, 2022, which process included a number of videoconference meetings and telephone calls attended by members of Activision Blizzard senior management, representatives of Activision Blizzard’s outside legal, financial and accounting advisors, members of Microsoft senior management and representatives of Microsoft’s outside legal, financial and accounting advisors, as applicable, on various business, financial, tax, accounting and legal matters."

That's 3 weeks over the Christmas/new year period (!) to complete due diligence on a $70 billion acquisition.

Considering the timeframes involved it all goes far beyond being "opportunistic".

All italicised text comes from here:

tm225196-3_prem14a - none - 30.4845416s

www.sec.gov

 

[feynoob]

For god's sake, they should just buy Sony and be done with it. And if the CMA blocks that, just buy the CMA as well.

Only Bryank75 can buy Sony.

 

[NickFire]

Someone page crabapples and let him know MS is using verge articles from 2017. He deserves a fair chance to spin why verge articles from 2017 matter when MS emails from 2019 obviously have no possible relationship to anything at all.

 

[Ar¢tos]

Using The Verge articles for anything is a sign of absolute desperation.

Edit: Nvm, my brain mixed Verged with Wired. DUHHH

 

[GHG]

They're back to quoting "industry commentators" are they?

 

[feynoob]

Using The Verge articles for anything is a sign of absolute desperation.

They are clowns.
They cried about gamespot reviews.
The judge shouldn't waste his time with them.

 

[Ar¢tos]

They are clowns.
They cried about gamespot reviews.
The judge shouldn't waste his time with them.

I edited the post because I actually don't know Verge, never bothered with it, was confusing with The Wired.

 

[GHG]

I edited the post because I actually don't know Verge, never bothered with it, was confusing with The Wired.

They are quoting Tom Warren's articles.

That's all you need to know.

 

[FrankWza]

Someone page crabapples and let him know MS is using verge articles from 2017. He deserves a fair chance to spin why verge articles from 2017 matter when MS emails from 2019 obviously have no possible relationship to anything at all.

I think the overnight crew is still working. Day shift starts later.

 

[Topher]

Someone page crabapples and let him know MS is using verge articles from 2017. He deserves a fair chance to spin why verge articles from 2017 matter when MS emails from 2019 obviously have no possible relationship to anything at all.

Holy shit.....I didn't even notice that. How about it adamsapple ? Why is Microsoft bringing up shit from before the acquisition?

 

[feynoob]

GHG
How do you feel about Kai havertz? We just signed him for 65m from Chelsea.

 

[GHG]

Holy shit.....I didn't even notice that. How about it adamsapple ? Why is Microsoft bringing up shit from before the acquisition?

That's fine because it's about Sony.

We have people going back to 1994 in the other thread.

But somehow, at the same time something said in 2019 isn't relevant to this deal despite it being the very execution of the mindset and strategy they outlined.

 

[adamsapple]

Holy shit.....I didn't even notice that. How about it adamsapple ? Why is Microsoft bringing up shit from before the acquisition?

You can read the article headlines on the right column, just based on a cursory glance, none of them seem to be about acquiring ABK at least

 

[AlphaDump]

I think the overnight crew is still working. Day shift starts later.

Literally.

 

[NickFire]

You can read the article headlines on the right column, just based on a cursory glance, none of them seem to be about acquiring ABK at least

Then why are they exhibits in an evidentiary hearing over that scenario?

 

[modiz]

It really gets tiresome to deal with these media shills. Depressing.

It is only a matter of time where Dring, Totilo and such will need to find a new job anyway.

 

[Topher]

You can read the article headlines on the right column, just based on a cursory glance, none of them seem to be about acquiring ABK at least

I agree. Internal emails stating intentions of the company are much more valid than this. Either way, being prior to the acquisition is completely irrelevant to Microsoft. Works both ways then.

 

[Bernardougf]

I think the overnight crew is still working. Day shift starts later.

Yeah... I lol harder that I should have .. because it just makes perfect sense

 

[GHG]

GHG
How do you feel about Kai havertz? We just signed him for 65m from Chelsea.

Not done yet is it?

But regardless if he's a xhaka replacement I'm ok with it, if it's for him to play anywhere else I'm not.

 

[modiz]

Do people here actually believe the FTC having a chance at their approach? i know the majority here is console wars and shit posting but there has to be a common sense hidden behind all that. You guys don't really think this will end good for FTC, right?

 

[NickFire]

Do people here actually believe the FTC having a chance at their approach? i know the majority here is console wars and shit posting but there has to be a common sense hidden behind all that. You guys don't really think this will end good for FTC, right?

What I know is that people basically said the same thing about the CMA process. Beyond that, I’m just along for the ride and hoping common sense prevails and one company doesn’t buy everything and ruin my hobby.

 

[feynoob]

I agree. Internal emails stating intentions of the company are much more valid than this. Either way, being prior to the acquisition is completely irrelevant to Microsoft. Works both ways then.

The email is a slam dunk, if gamers can provide supporting evidence (American laws). A good lawyer can win this case, if they can connect the dots and satisfy the judge with those arguments.

MS exhibits is them trying to gaslight the evidence court. Shitty tactics lawyers use to get the tactic they desire. Works very well depends on how good your lawyer is.

Let's not forget that this is the company that made this headline.

Xbox boss: Sony wants to ‘grow by making Xbox smaller’

Sony is trying to protect its dominance, says Phil Spencer.

www.theverge.com

 

[feynoob]

Not done yet is it?

But regardless if he's a xhaka replacement I'm ok with it, if it's for him to play anywhere else I'm not.

It's done one hour ago. He is going to replace xhaka for us.

 

[Coulomb_Barrier]

Someone just a week ban for saying “Big tech is bad though”.

Just saw that. Absolutely shocking.

 

[adamsapple]

do as I say, not as I do.

 

[feynoob]

Corporate silly wars continues.

 

[ShaiKhulud1989]

do as I say, not as I do.

Genesis is great. But ironically 'Jesus, he knows me' could be a 2023 Microsoft's corporate anthem.

 

[feynoob]

This childish war between Sony and MS is entertaining so far.

 

[DeepEnigma]

Because it’s more about subtraction than addition to become competitive. There’s better, more honourable ways of becoming competitive.

"No honor amongst thieves."

I have no doubts that MS had plans to buy Activision in 2019. The mail was sent, it was their strategy and the seed was planted. They were looking to stop the PS dominance and this was the idea/solution. They will say anything now to pass this deal and later change the rules.

Of course they did. They even sent an inside man not unlike Nokia.

Same. Same.