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

Do you believe the deal will be approved?


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FrankWza

Member
Benji was always unstable due to his publicly known mental problems so it's kinda disingenuous to diss on the guy.

That being said, Twitter segment that I call 'Warren's Corner' was unbearable. And we're into prelimenary hearings, folks. The literal nothingburger if we speak about the deal's future.

I'm so glad that CAT process is not public and focused pretty much on CMA's due dilligince. Because with FTC vs MS it's pure show with no substance.
I'm not dismissing the mental heath aspect, but it's become an easy way out for people to leave a situation they don't want to deal with. Sometimes, after entering the situation voluntarily and in order to gain something of value or because it's their job. They want to have it both ways which is really convenient.
He's on Twitter so....
 

adamsapple

Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
It's not in question. He is mentally fragile, has apparently talked about suicide in the past, and yet continues to try and make his living in one of the most toxic places on the internet. That is on him to walk away from for his own good. But he keeps coming back. At some point, you need to realize you're asking for it, and it's not worth it. Complaining about how shitty people are never changed anything. Refusing to engage in those circles does. At the very least for you.

And his take was completely missing the point of the FTC's moves.

Twitter is a cesspool, I'm more referring to the posters doing it here, sure he tweeted something you (the greater you, not you specifically) disagree with but the "oh man he's had mental issues, he's unhinged" kind of replies are too much. Just leave the laugh emojis and move on.
 
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Stafford

Member
Especially since Phil Spencer will be long gone by then

Yeah I guess that's the tricky part. Basically Satya had to swore under oath, but he too will be gone after several years.

Ah well, I'm not even worried. If it succeeds, cool, I get to play all the CoD campaigns I missed out on, which are a lot because it became too much to buy them every year. Also I'd like to seee what kind of new IP, new ideas these other studios might come up with.

If it fails, it fails.
 

Nydius

Member
There is the option to not use it at all then?
Honestly, and a bit off topic, the best decision I ever made was to delete my Twitter and TikTok accounts. I have to keep Facebook due to family and friends who use Messenger, but I only check Facebook (and Instagram by association) maybe once a day. Definitely improved my overall mental health and outlook on things.
 
Didnt sarah bond say that Phil Spencer is the decision maker to avoid going on record?

Definitely a tactic by MS lawyers. They think they are clever. Lets hope Lina Khan's lawyers are smarter than that.

I don't know why regulators take these statements at face value.

Companies shit all over them after 5-10 years and the consequences are just then being felt.

I hope the FTC strongly argues the issues with these "comments under oath" they are made by individuals, not corporations.
 

Bry0

Member
I guess the question is where does "cultivating influencers" end and "paid shilling" begin? Because if you look at a lot of these 'influencers', they all seem to simply copy/paste the company line. Take the Redfall situation for example. Literally up until the last few days of release, they were all parroting the same praises for the game. How it was fantastic, polished, amazing, and would be a tentpole exclusive for the Xbox brand. Until -- surprise! -- the game came out and everyone could see it was crap. Then they were scrambling to cover their backsides or gave disingenuous non-answers as to why they were praising the game that was so blatantly flawed.

I don't begrudge cultivating a community following. I've been on record saying I think the Ambassador program was an absolute stroke of genius on the part of the Xbox brand. But when influencers begin peddling the company line for payment and perks, well, they're no longer "influencers". They're staff.
Yeah. Some people have no integrity and will do/say anything to grow their own following/income. We are left to sort through the crap ourselves. There are no ethics in the age of social media. It’s a PR free for all because there are no media gatekeepers anymore. There are absolutely gaming versions of “iJustine” That is true.

Also concur. Nuked my Facebook and recently twitter. Best decision I’ve ever made for my well-being.
 
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Astray

Member
Twitter is a cesspool, I'm more referring to the posters doing it here, sure he tweeted something you (the greater you, not you specifically) disagree with but the "oh man he's had mental issues, he's unhinged" kind of replies are too much. Just leave the laugh emojis and move on.
He tends to air out a lot of these thoughts online though, and with no prompting from others.

I have sympathy for him as a person, but if he wants to wade into the gaming divorce case then he needs to either have thicker skin or just don't do anything and let the discussion be.
 

Varteras

Member
Twitter is a cesspool, I'm more referring to the posters doing it here, sure he tweeted something you (the greater you, not you specifically) disagree with but the "oh man he's had mental issues, he's unhinged" kind of replies are too much. Just leave the laugh emojis and move on.

I get where you're comin from. My own point, for clarity, was that that take alone was bad enough, but he also keeps posting in a hellhole and expecting to not have his mental fortitude tested. Not very smart of him. So he not only keeps subjecting himself to the vitriol, but then makes publicly bad takes. Yeah, if someone is actually making fun of his mental health, that's shitty. I don't think it's out of bounds to point out someone not being very smart in more ways than one.
 

Elios83

Member
This kind of statement, in this form, means as much as shit.

Phil Spencer swearing to not remove COD from Playstation for the rest of the PS5 gen was a good pre-staged coup for them.
Quite frankly the only goal they scored in these two days.
Even if the statement is disingenous and it doesn't cover long term, we're on a trial to grant a PI so what matters is imminent damage.
FTC either needs to find a good loophole in their rebuttal talking about how COD being exclusive on Gamepass and XCloud is still a major form of foreclosure, or they need to start leveraging other points and shift the narrative to cloud, what is happening in the UK and so on.
 

SlimySnake

Flashless at the Golden Globes
I don't know why regulators take these statements at face value.

Companies shit all over them after 5-10 years and the consequences are just then being felt.

I hope the FTC strongly argues the issues with these "comments under oath" they are made by individuals, not corporations.
Yeah, thats why all they have to argue is why they didnt add language to the contract to make COD multiplatform in perpetuity like Minecraft. It's not that hard.
 
Phil is easily going to come out of this on top.

Phil's been exposed over the the past 2 days for being a liar and wanting to make everything Xbox exclusive. Including Minecraft.

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Ronin_7

Member
Phil Spencer swearing to not remove COD from Playstation for the rest of the PS5 gen was a good pre-staged coup for them.
Quite frankly the only goal they scored in these two days.
Even if the statement is disingenous and it doesn't cover long term, we're on a trial to grant a PI so what matters is imminent damage.
FTC either needs to find a good loophole in their rebuttal talking about how COD being exclusive on Gamepass and XCloud is still a major form of foreclosure, or they need to start leveraging other points and shift the narrative to cloud, what is happening in the UK and so on.
I fully expect subscriptions and Cloud to be pushed hard 🤣
 

adamsapple

Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
It is rehearsed, but it's also crushing any narratives the FTC lawyer tried to lay down during his questioning. Phil is easily going to come out of this on top.

Yeah, he's handled this really long Q and A pretty well all things considered. Pete HInes and Booty, by comparison, came off like they were completely unprepared to be asked any questions.
 

T-Cake

Member
I'm worried about the console business the way Phil takes about it. If it's static or shrinking, where will we end up playing our games. (I know PC will always be around and I'm a PC gamer myself) but will the consoles just disappear and become thin client cloud devices? I won't be embracing mobile gaming anytime soon.
 
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I'm worried about the console business the way Phil takes about it. If it's static or shrinking, where will we end up playing our games. (I know PC will always be around and I'm a PC gamer myself) but will the consoles just disappear and become thin client cloud devices? I won't be embracing mobile gaming anytime soon.
Shawn Layden said the same thing.
 
Twitter is a cesspool, I'm more referring to the posters doing it here, sure he tweeted something you (the greater you, not you specifically) disagree with but the "oh man he's had mental issues, he's unhinged" kind of replies are too much. Just leave the laugh emojis and move on.

Who here ITT is making fun of Benji for his mental health? I haven't seen it, I think you're reaching there.
 
Funny af that fanboys are all “fuck yeah, Phil is doing so well” when he’s answering his own fucking lawyer.

What did you guys think was going to happen? Even when he starts getting something wrong the lawyer just gets him back on track. Let’s not be retards.
I watched Amber Heard and her witnesses, anything can happen lol
 
"Gaming subscriptions are differentiated by the platforms they're on." So what identity does a subscription service have when it's on every platform?

And if they're differentiated by platform availability, why do you need to further differentiate them by exclusive content? 🤔
 

SlimySnake

Flashless at the Golden Globes
Phil Spencer is insane. He wants to be friends with Playstation and help the indusrey grow but wanted to make MineCraft exclusive, and made Starfield exclusive.
hes a used car salesmen. Thats why i rolled my eyes every time he congratulated a ps exclusive for releasing with rave reviews on twitter. All the while plotting their demise by buying up entire publishers for the sole purpose of putting the same devs out of business.

THats why ive always hated this kumbaya bullshit. This is a cutthroat business and if you want to be a cutthroat businessman, be one. dont pretend to be this nice pro-consumer dude in public. Be honest. I will never forget when he called sony anti-consumer for not sharing their massive audience of online users for crossplay. Especially for F2P games while he charged xbox players a yearly Gold subscription just to play F2P games online when Sony had no such requirement for F2P games. this was in 2017 and he continued to charge for F2P games until around 2020. Man has no shame.
 
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