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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Kiraly said:
When's the last time Microsoft paid to keep games off the other platform for TWO YEARS? I'll wait.
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December 2021. The Gunk.

BkOgWQf.jpg


Now I'm fully expecting for the goal post to be moved to "AAA games only"
 
Heisenberg007 said:
Are you expecting structural remedies? It feels like it'd be too complicated to propose, implement, and monitor.

FTC has also hinted that they are not interested in structural remedies because of the complications involved. I feel the CMA will also think on the same lines. What do you think about its possibility?
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I don't think spinning out A from ABK (the most obvious structural remedy) is particularly complex but it may be a bit too far a stretch for MS (personally it shouldnt be if they are serious about the universal app store).

Regulators are a bit fifty/fifty on the application of behavioural/structural remedies. I think they just want something simple and viable on those aspect that you highlighted. There was someone that highlighted the number of phase 2 deals the CMA passed with remedies. Activision imo is a viable standalone business.

Edit: need to renew myself on the cargotech merger and the differences between the EC reasoning for approval and the CMA, it came down to a disagreement on the remedies.

My weird remedies are more likely to be behavioural ones and may be due to Azure or store licensing.

I think it's interesting to think about the fact that a large part of the roles of the CMA DMU is akin to enforcing behavioural remedies and I would argue so is a large chunk of the EU's DMA. Its a stretch of an analogy but interesting to think about.
 
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Imagine being so desperate to crap on Xbox that you're making a list of AAA games and you're including bullshit like High on Life and goddamn F2P CrossfireX, which I wouldn't even describe as AA, it's more like aa.

HoL was a good game but the almost universally shared hope for a sequel is for it to be a bigger budgeted and more full title. What they price the game as is completely irrelevant.

As if anything MS has signed lately compares to something like Final Fantasy anyway 😆
 
Bumblebeetuna said:
Imagine being so desperate to crap on Xbox that you're making a list of AAA games and you're including bullshit like High on Life and goddamn F2P CrossfireX, which I wouldn't even describe as AA, it's more like aa.

HoL was a good game but the almost universally shared hope for a sequel is for it to be a bigger budgeted and more full title. What they price the game as is completely irrelevant.

As if anything MS has signed lately compares to something like Final Fantasy anyway 😆
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So let's ignore MS stepping in and cancelling one of the biggest multiplatform titles in years (Starfield) on Playstation. Are you for real?

This is even worse as we heard they had a build running on PS5.
 
A clown from Era is hoping Microsoft is talking to Rishi Sunak now if the deal gets blocked. Lmao.

So much anguish and energy spent on a plastic box.
 
Heisenberg007 said:
December 2021. The Gunk.

BkOgWQf.jpg


Now I'm fully expecting for the goal post to be moved to "AAA games only"
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Actually if you call CrossfireX, HIgh on Life, Valheim, Octopath etc, AAA games, i don't see why this Gunk game couldn't be an AAA too.

Not to talk that games like Warhammer: Darktide or Stalker 2 should release both on Xbox and PS in 2023, 3 months earlier on Xbox but that's it, the fact that these games are on XGP is a bigger deal than a couple months exclusivity. While games like Forspoken which are already out, will be able to release on Xbox after 2025, how exciting.
 
CMA might kill the Deal today or ask for Structural Remedies which would be a pain for everyone involved.

CMA has taken the FTC route, no meetings & shit like that apparently.

EC has been more open about the deal than FTC & CMA.

CMA doesn't give a flying shit about Behavioral Remedies.
 
Edmund said:
A clown from Era is hoping Microsoft is talking to Rishi Sunak now if the deal gets blocked. Lmao.

So much anguish and energy spent on a plastic box.
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It's hilarious watching how emotionally invested some people are in this deal. The whole thing is a clown show to me.

I think there's a good chance it will get blocked and I'm wondering what some of these people that have invested a whole year arguing for why this deal should go through will do with their lives after it gets blocked by CMA.
 
Ronin_7 said:
CMA might kill the Deal today or ask for Structural Remedies which would be a pain for everyone involved.

CMA has taken the FTC route, no meetings & shit like that apparently.

EC has been more open about the deal than FTC & CMA.

CMA doesn't give a flying shit about Behavioral Remedies.
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Microsoft has a history anyways so why offer them things that you know you will have to enforce later? Better off to just say we have no reason to trust you and block it.
 
mrmustard said:
This game is a timed exclusive? I thought it was a full exclusive commissioned work like Bloodborne or Death Stranding.
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It's not like Bloodborne or Death Stranding (which are similar to MS Flight Simulator and Contraband), as they were commissioned under the PlayStation Studios banner / XGS banner.

The Gunk is one of those rare cases in which Xbox just paid money to exclude the game forever (instead of 6 months, 1 year, or 2 years).
 
FIREKNIGHT2029 said:
It's hilarious watching how emotionally invested some people are in this deal. The whole thing is a clown show to me.

I think there's a good chance it will get blocked and I'm wondering what some of these people that have invested a whole year arguing for why this deal should go through will do with their lives after it gets blocked by CMA.
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It's not about the games, it's always about console warring. PlayStation fanboys hope that the deal fails to mock Xbox fanboys and vice versa. That's it.
Heisenberg007 said:
It's not like Bloodborne or Death Stranding (which are similar to MS Flight Simulator and Contraband), as they were commissioned under the PlayStation Studios banner / XGS banner.

The Gunk is one of those rare cases in which Xbox just paid money to exclude the game forever (instead of 6 months, 1 year, or 2 years).
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If you say so i believe you. I don't know much about that game, didn't even play it. I thought it was one of those games that wouldn't have been made without the money from Microsoft. If it's just moneyhatting to keep it of PlayStation it's the same scumbag move as usual with timeds.
 
Warablo said:
Basically Sony wasn't granted its 4th extension by Microsoft or regulators. Not even responding to the FTC subpoena either.
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Oh …. Hehe. You kissed missed(!) the first part of this article. I'm sure it was just an accident on your part though.

Microsoft had previously waived its right to oppose three Sony motions for an extension. But when Sony wanted a fourth extension, Microsoft's position apparently came down to "enough is enough." Therefore, ALJ Chappell would have had to resolve the scheduling dispute. But he never had to:

A notice that was filed yesterday and just became public today (PDF) says that on Friday, Sony Interactive Entertainment "confidentially filed with [the FTC's in-house court] a motion to limit or quash Microsoft's subpoena" and, therefore, "withdraws as moot its motion for extension of time."

The filing reveals that also on Friday, but prior to the motion to quash, Sony "filed a motion for leave to file a proposed reply in support of its motion for extension of time to move to limit or quash Microsoft's subpoena." That means Sony asked ALJ Chappell for permission to reply to an opposition brief by Microsoft. Neither that motion for leave nor Microsoft's opposition brief are publicly discoverable by the time of publication of this post. But there must have been an opposition brief by Microsoft as Sony would otherwise not have had anything to (ask for permission to) reply to.

There are only two possible reasons for which Sony abandoned its motion for leave to file a reply and brought a motion to quash right away:

  • ALJ Chappell may have told Sony's counsel informally that the motion was going to be denied because a fourth extension is one too many.
  • Sony may have tried to reach ALJ Chappell's office on Friday, couldn't find out what was going to happen, and then brought its motion to quash because it was--in the absence of an extension--running out of time.
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If you'd prefer to read the whole article rather than than the poorly cut version @warbalo presented, it's here

http://www.fosspatents.com/2023/02/sony-is-officially-fighting-microsofts.html?m=1

Anywho, the author of this article clearly has his spin so let me put mine.

MS were happy to string this out while it suited them and Sony was content to play along - more time, more money wasted on MS and ABKs part.

Now MS have chosen not to extend, Sony will quash the subpoena - something they could have done day one give the ridiculous fishing trip MS tried to go on.

This guy says Sony didn't have reasonable grounds to get an extension - of course not, we all know this subpoena from MS is illegitimate and unenforceable. The Judge knows it'll get quashed and wants to move this along too.

As for the FTC - Sony is maintaining as its right, the option to oppose the subpoena. Again why is that controversial? Sony raised a potential issue with the regulator but its the regulator's case now. Sony is entitled to protect its corporate information from all competitors - not just MS.

Let's see MS put their detailed xbox financials out in public so we can all see how dire their competitive position is…it's only been a 2 decade wait.

EDIT : ok phone screen and editing in a car is problematic
 
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FIREKNIGHT2029 said:
It's hilarious watching how emotionally invested some people are in this deal. The whole thing is a clown show to me.

I think there's a good chance it will get blocked and I'm wondering what some of these people that have invested a whole year arguing for why this deal should go through will do with their lives after it gets blocked by CMA.
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Exactly. Imagine wanting to involve the UK Prime minister over video-games lmao.
 
mrmustard said:
It's not about the games, it's always about console warring. PlayStation fanboys hope that the deal fails to mock Xbox fanboys and vice versa. That's it.
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Although you weren't talking to me (or necessarily about me), I'd like to make a comment here, presenting a different angle.

I, too, want this deal to fail, but not to mock Xbox fans. I am just against industry consolidation, and I also believe this is anti-competitive. I also don't want Sony to buy Activision.

I want Activision games to release on all platforms -- both PlayStations and Xboxs -- so there are equal opportunities for both companies and their consumers. I believe that's the true essence of competition.

And, by the way, I am not even a fan of Zenimax or ABK games. So these acquisitions do not personally affect me at all, but I still feel these are wrong. I have never played a Zenimax game for more than 4 hours (Dishonored 2 clocked at 4 hours before I quit it), and I haven't bought ABK games in almost a decade, except for COD MW 1 in 2019 (which I quit after playing for ~20 hours as I didn't enjoy it as much as I thought I'd).
mrmustard said:
If you say so i believe you. I don't know much about that game, didn't even play it. I thought it was one of those games that wouldn't have been made without the money from Microsoft. If it's just moneyhatting to keep it of PlayStation it's the same scumbag move as usual with timeds.
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Yep. Any deal that takes games away from other gamers is scummy.
 
Heisenberg007 said:
Although you weren't talking to me (or necessarily about me), I'd like to make a comment here, presenting a different angle.

I, too, want this deal to fail, but not to mock Xbox fans. I am just against industry consolidation, and I also believe this is anti-competitive. I also don't want Sony to buy Activision.

I want Activision games to release on all platforms -- both PlayStations and Xboxs -- so there are equal opportunities for both companies and their consumers. I believe that's the true essence of competition.

And, by the way, I am not even a fan of Zenimax or ABK games. So these acquisitions do not personally affect me at all, but I still feel these are wrong. I have never played a Zenimax game for more than 4 hours (Dishonored 2 clocked at 4 hours before I quit it), and I haven't bought ABK games in almost a decade, except for COD MW 1 in 2019 (which I quit after playing for ~20 hours as I didn't enjoy it as much as I thought I'd).

Yep. Any deal that takes games away from other gamers is scummy.
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Of course there are honest gamers that are concerned about the deal, but let's be honest it's just console warring for most people. I know i'm an egoistic scumbag, but i want the deal for free Diablo 4 and don't care about the consequences.

But i would have preferred Ubisoft and some other devs and publishers, because i don't give a ...... about Overwatch, COD and the other non sub Blizzard stuff.
 
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FIREKNIGHT2029 said:
It's hilarious watching how emotionally invested some people are in this deal. The whole thing is a clown show to me.

I think there's a good chance it will get blocked and I'm wondering what some of these people that have invested a whole year arguing for why this deal should go through will do with their lives after it gets blocked by CMA.
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What will happen will be the bitterness and vitriol will be taken up another level for the remainder of the gen. We'll see that on display on the forums, Twitter, Youtube comments unfortunately for anything to do with the rival box.
 
GHG said:
Phil has sold him down the river, that's why. The way you've got to see it is that everything Phil has said in the press, he's said to Sataya behind closed doors and more.

He got told stories about how they can access 2 billion gamers so gave him the full backing of the organisation. He got told that Google and Amazon were their real competition (US big tech vs US big tech, could there be a more tasty face-off?). He got told stories about infinite revenue growth for gamepass and how it won't impact their software sales revenues, better yet it would cause those to increase. He got told that the Series S would lead to gamers flocking to Xbox, because who doesn't like "value" right?

Sataya believed it so much that he was willing to agree to have some of his annual bonus be contingent on the performance of Xbox of all things (oops).

And now, 3-4 years later, what are the results? What are they now forecasting? I can tell you for a fact, it's not what he was promised, nor was it what he was expecting. Nevermind the fact that as an organisation they are potentially about to get dragged by 3 of the largest regulatory bodies in the world.
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Have you tried writing a novel? Youre really good at making things up.
 
DarkMage619 said:
I wouldn't say any of these are AAA games. Especially compared to titles like Final Fantasy, Silent Hill, and Street Fighter. Yes both companies get timed deals but let's not pretend Death's Door and Tunic are anywhere near what Sony grabs.
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You mean you want games like Forspoken?
 
Heisenberg007 said:
You should read and catch up with the details of the acquisition process so far. A lot of the information in this comment is wrong.
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Well, if my relatively short post contains a lot of errors, I'm sure you can point them out, as I've clearly missed the finer points?
 
Edmund said:
Exactly. Imagine wanting to involve the UK Prime minister over video-games lmao.
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Absolutely ridiculous :messenger_tears_of_joy:
Coulomb_Barrier said:
What will happen will be the bitterness and vitriol will be taken up another level for the remainder of the gen. We'll see that on display on the forums, Twitter, Youtube comments unfortunately for anything to do with the rival box.
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*sigh* It's pathetic watching how the videogame community has gotten so worked up over this deal. It's dominated the news cycle for more than a year now and I seriously can't wait for it to be over. I don't care whichever way the deal goes, I just want it to be over honestly.

Edit: Even though I said just a bit ago I don't care whichever way the deal goes, I kinda want the deal to flop so that Bobby Kotick gets fucked. I also think consolidation is bad for the industry but if the deal goes through I won't lose any sleep over it.
 
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Sony said:
Where?
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Post #22,154.

There's a few that have openly said they have shares in Acti-Blizz and one even said because he has shares that 'affects his views' while console warring with another who criticised Kotick, yet that clown is not banned.... what a cesspit of a site.
 
Coulomb_Barrier said:
Post #22,154.

There's a few that have openly said they have shares in Acti-Blizz and one even said because he has shares that 'affects his views' while console warring with another who criticised Kotick, yet that clown is not banned.... what a cesspit of a site.
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I'm a member of that shitty site but I think they revoked my privileges to post in that thread. They know I would give them a piece of my mind. So many morons concentrated in that thread.
 
FIREKNIGHT2029 said:
I think he's talking about this genius here:

https://www.resetera.com/threads/th...-ot-antitrust-simulator.633344/post-100911904
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Christ. Another clown who thinks Microsoft could stop doing business in such a large market and lose a fuck ton of money and standing doing it just because they said no to them spending $70 billion to buy a huge third-party publisher. I suppose they should threaten to stop doing business in the US, too. You know, since the FTC is the first regulator to actually try to block the deal.
 
Sony said:
Not the biggest fan of the other side, but equating "wondering if" to "hoping to" is a bit of stretch.
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The thought is so dumb that it's beyond words though. It's reaching for something that's an impossibility because of the threat of this not going through.

It's also more evidence again that most of the members there are pro elites/billionaires when it suits their console of choice (the bit about PM Sunak being 'almost a billionaire' and pro business, not that it makes any sense).
 
Coulomb_Barrier said:
The thought is so dumb that it's beyond words though. It's reaching for something that's an impossibility because of the threat of this not going through.

It's also more evidence again that most of the members there are pro elites/billionaires when it suits their console of choice (the bit about PM Sunak being 'almost a billionaire' and pro business, not that it makes any sense).
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Yeah given MS' presence in the UK, the mere idea of them leaving Xbox business over there is inconceivalbe.
 
I'm still hoping for the deal to go though. Having Activisions whole portfolio releasing day and date on GamePass would be great.
 
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