Support NeoGAF

[quest]

Of course you haven’t agreed with the CMA - after all they are trying to protect consumers. All consumers, not just one insular aggressive minority that cheerleads for MS.

What the CMA is not doing is allowing MS to attain a dominant market position through acquisitions - a position which they’ve been unable to earn through honest endeavour to date.

So they are protecting Nintendo customers from being able to purchase COD or Nvidia now customers from playing COD on the service. No they are protecting Sony and its customers. I don't see them shutting down Sony taking games from others from major studios. No final fantasy is not the same as high on life.

 

[IFireflyl]

It wasn't ballsy, Sony knew what they were doing, actually they were involved in gaming with the MSX, they developed and published games on 16-bit consoles, and they were actively involved with the SNES CD prototype, this led them to develop their own console and build relationships with third-parties to secure exclusive content such as Tekken, Final Fantasy, etc..

MS experience on the console market when they released the OG XBOX was their partnership with SEGA for the Dreamcast OS, just like that.

Of course it was ballsy for Sony to enter the market when Nintendo pulled out of the partnership with Nintendo internally Sony's head office didn't think it would work and execs thought of the PlayStation as a toy. Microsoft technically in a way had more experience or understanding with the gaming lanscape because of the PC market and so forth so don't dismiss that like they walked in blindfolded and shit.

To add to ArcaneNLSC 's response:

https://www.referenceforbusiness.com/biography/F-L/Kutaragi-Ken-1950.html

Ken Kutaragi was an engineer at Sony when he created the PlayStation video-game console and pushed the company to build it. Once dismissed by Sony executives as a mere toy, PlayStation became Sony's cash cow, contributing 60 percent of the company's operating profits in 2003.

The executives were only onboard with this because they president of Sony was so angry with Nintendo. None of them expected PlayStation to take off like it did. It was a ballsy move, and it paid off in a way that nobody could have foreseen.

 

[Punished Miku]

Of course you haven’t agreed with the CMA - after all they are trying to protect consumers. All consumers, not just one insular aggressive minority that cheerleads for MS.

What the CMA is not doing is allowing MS to attain a dominant market position through acquisitions - a position which they’ve been unable to earn through honest endeavour to date.

As expected, I don't agree with any aspect of what you wrote - from beginning to end. Congrats.

 

[Topher]

Calling bullshit on those saying Dring is "shill". This was about as accurate, level-headed an assessment of the what is going on as I've seen.

Did Microsoft do enough to convince Europe to let them buy Activision Blizzard? | Opinion

This article has been updated and edited for clarity, plus a correction over the timing of a tweet from an Activision B…

www.gamesindustry.biz

Nice to see we have something other than the Jez Cordens and Tom Warrens of the world out there giving a sober view on all this.

 

[ArcaneNLSC]

Sony, as MS, have bought, buy and will buy studios, and that's perfectly fine. But it seems like Sony acquisitions are accepted and even cheered, whereas when MS get criticized for any acquisition, and I'm not saying this to make MS look like the victim in here, mostly because they are in this third place because of their poor management on the XBOX division.

And when it comes to Gaikai, I would like to remember it was the best cloud gaming technology on the market back then, how has it evolved since then?

No one criticized the smaller studio buys like Ninja Theory and that maybe Undeadlabs because State of Decay was well underwhelming when they purchased it so it was a questionable purchase at the time. The bethesda and Activision is rightfully due for criticism due to their size and how established they were as 3rd party. The smaller studios seemed like they were going to take the organic growth approach. Cloud gaming is still at a early development stage really for it to be completely viable if it ever does. Too much can happen to hinder it from success. It might be more beneficial internally in the company at this stage and continue R&B which will take many more years and waiting for the right infrastructure globally.

 

[intheinbetween]

It seems you forgot just how dominant MS was during 7th gen, if anything it shows how much incompetent the xbox management post Peter Moore/Allard

I don't forget it, they had a great team leading the 360 but top management destroyed it. I would even say Kinect was a fun gimmick that if managed properly could've done better, but whoever was responsible to define the successor of the 360 killed their chances of being successful onwards.

 

[ArcaneNLSC]

To add to ArcaneNLSC 's response:

https://www.referenceforbusiness.com/biography/F-L/Kutaragi-Ken-1950.html



The executives were only onboard with this because they president of Sony was so angry with Nintendo. None of them expected PlayStation to take off like it did. It was a ballsy move, and it paid off in a way that nobody could have foreseen.

 

[Thirty7ven]

As expected, I don't agree with any aspect of what you wrote - from beginning to end. Congrats.

The only thing you agree with is MS hoarding IP and rewriting history. Don’t think I’ve ever seen you take MS to task on anything.

 

[intheinbetween]

No one criticized the smaller studio buys like Ninja Theory and that maybe Undeadlabs because State of Decay was well underwhelming when they purchased it so it was a questionable purchase at the time. The bethesda and Activision is rightfully due for criticism due to their size and how established they were as 3rd party. The smaller studios seemed like they were going to take the organic growth approach. Cloud gaming is still at a early development stage really for it to be completely viable if it ever does. Too much can happen to hinder it from success. It might be more beneficial internally in the company at this stage and continue R&B which will take many more years and waiting for the right infrastructure globally.

Well, many did, the meltdown when MS acquired Ninja Theory was palpable on GAF, heck MS acquired a third-party studio that developed second-party titles for Sony.

I agree acquiring Zenimax and Bethesda is way different (both include multiple studios), but this industry is so healthy that even by acquiring those studios (included in the publishers) there are dozens or hundreds of other studios that develop and release games for all platforms almost on a daily basis. Also, all this argument over this acquisition it's because of a single game, CoD, which is a shame due to the current ip portfolio in ABK.

This deal doesn't hurt the industry, this won't lead to monopoly, this is a healthy industry, there are three console platform vendors and at least two hybrid ones (cloud gaming: Luna and GeforceNow), time will tell if Sony, MS and Nintendo endup relying on their own cloud gaming subscription model in the same way as Netflix of Spotify do since more than a decade ago.

 

[FoxMcChief]

Of course you haven’t agreed with the CMA - after all they are trying to protect consumers. All consumers, not just one insular aggressive minority that cheerleads for MS.

What the CMA is not doing is allowing MS to attain a dominant market position through acquisitions - a position which they’ve been unable to earn through honest endeavour to date.

 

[EverydayBeast]

Call of duty being exclusive wouldn't bother me at all yes some of my favorite moments were with the franchise but those were with cod4.

 

[Punished Miku]

The only thing you agree with is MS hoarding IP and rewriting history.

That's an unfair, and uncharitable summary of my agreeability, sir. Your slander will not go unnoted.

Spoiler

 

[Topher]

He goes political in the third paragraph to elicit a response. Pass.

This is the "political" third paragraph?

"It was a theatrical flourish which, apparently, he also did within the closed European Commission hearing earlier that day. There was something frankly Trumpian and performative about the whole thing, and somewhat sums up the entire regulatory battle over whether this deal gets over-the-line."

 

[GHG]

That's an unfair, and uncharitable summary of my agreeability, sir. Your slander will not go unnoted.

Spoiler

And what an honorable list it is.

 

[Elios83]

Chris drings take on the matter.



He goes in hard in the article and normally his a reserved dude. But he sees through the microsofts/acitivisions bullshit.

Ahah omg he basically called out every single bullshit and fake PR smoke and mirrors Microsoft attempted to do to transform the whole thing in a mediatic circus without mercy.

 

[demigod]

It seems you forgot just how dominant MS was during 7th gen, if anything it shows how much incompetent the xbox management post Peter Moore/Allard

They are just rewriting history

 

[ArcaneNLSC]

I agree acquiring Zenimax and Bethesda is way different (both include multiple studios), but this industry is so healthy that even by acquiring those studios (included in the publishers) there are dozens or hundreds of other studios that develop and release games for all platforms almost on a daily basis.

This deal doesn't hurt the industry, this won't lead to monopoly, this is a healthy industry, there are three console platform vendors and at least two hybrid ones (cloud gaming: Luna and GeforceNow), time will tell if Sony, MS and Nintendo endup relying on their own cloud gaming subscription model in the same way as Netflix of Spotify do since more than a decade ago.

"good 3rd party publishers" are getting harder to find Ubisoft is in a crisis period. Square sold off a lot of its studios and IP for under performing. Capcom are hit and miss aside from a few titles. EA have made some improvements in recent years but still have their EA moments. Take Two don't look as though they'll hit that huge amount of titles they promised in a 5-6 year window and are still just banking on GTA Online these days and then the VC purchasing in NBA 2K and that.

This deal will be a cancer to the industry and will become a monopoly. 10 year deals with no guarantee of extension is short term in the video game and tech industry MS will play the long game and act all nice to get what they want its part of their DNA. Netflix is in a financial hole so let's see how your theory pans out then.

 

[FoxMcChief]

And what an honorable list it is.

That’s that chick from Tammy & The T-Rex!

 

[intheinbetween]

"good 3rd party publishers" are getting harder to find Ubisoft is in a crisis period. Square sold off a lot of its studios and IP for under performing. Capcom are hit and miss aside from a few titles. EA have made some improvements in recent years but still have their EA moments. Take Two don't look as though they'll hit that huge amount of titles they promised in a 5-6 year window and are still just banking on GTA Online these days and then the VC purchasing in NBA 2K and that.

This deal will be a cancer to the industry and will become a monopoly. 10 year deals with no guarantee of extension is short term in the video game and tech industry MS will play the long game and act all nice to get what they want its part of their DNA. Netflix is in a financial hole so let's see how your theory pans out then.

It's perfectly fine to disagree, from my experience and based on the events that are occurring, I believe this deal won't hurt the industry. And IF this deal is happening it's because ABK wants to be acquired, this is not a hostile takeover, it's ABK the one who wants to be acquired (merged or whatever) by Microsoft, and if they want this it's because the company isn't in good shape, otherwise they (their stockholders mostly) would prefer to stay independent.

If MS don't acquire it I think ABK will look for other buyer.

 

[X-Wing]

Ahah omg he basically called out every single bullshit and fake PR smoke and mirrors Microsoft attempted to do to transform the whole thing in a mediatic circus without mercy.

Yep. You have to be pretty high up in Microsoft’s asshole to not see it though.

 

[Punished Miku]

Don’t think I’ve ever seen you take MS to task on anything.

And that would prove that you don't know me that well, or history. I trashed them for the whole 2nd half of 360, skipped Xbox One and only bought a Series console after they convinced me with a great E3 (bought it 3rd after Switch and PS5 first). As for the last 2 years (which is all you probably know about), I'm a satisfied customer and have enjoyed the console.

Absolutely scandalous.

 

[gothmog]

Chris drings take on the matter.



He goes in hard in the article and normally his a reserved dude. But he sees through the microsofts/acitivisions bullshit.

I don't understand what would have swayed regulators? You don't think the EU sees through this bullshit? Europe has always been tough on Microsoft and unswayed by their tactics.

 

[GHG]

That’s that chick from Tammy & The T-Rex!

Denise Richards.

Only knew her from wild things.

 

[Heisenberg007]

Five years around then were key to invest in console gaming, nowdays is almost impossible to consider a new player.

Nope. Those first 5 years don't matter at all.

By the end of the 7th generation, both Xbox and PS had a similar level of market share: 88 million (PS3) and 84 million (Xbox 360).

Microsoft lost the market share through its own stupidity: they put out an awful product that was $100 more expensive than the PS4, stopped releasing good first-party games, shut down first-party studios, forced DRM, prevented game resells, and asked people without a stable internet connection to stick with the Xbox 360.

Consequently, they lost grounds to Sony who put out a more powerful console at $100 cheaper price point with great games to boot.

Now that MS has lost the market share, it is now crying that they can't compete. That cannot be the justification for buying multiplatform games, developers, and publishers.

 

[X-Wing]

I don't understand what would have swayed regulators? You don't think the EU sees through this bullshit? Europe has always been tough on Microsoft and unswayed by their tactics.

Microsoft spends millions every year lobbying the EC. Despite the fact that Microsoft cloud services have been considered illegal in some countries for violating GDPR, Microsoft still has a monopoly on enterprises and schools. We will see for how long Europe can resist.

 

[RoadHazard]

It seems you forgot just how dominant MS was during 7th gen, if anything it shows how much incompetent the xbox management post Peter Moore/Allard

MS has never been "dominant". I guess with the 360 they kinda were in the US specifically, but globally they ended up third even in that generation.

 

[Ozriel]

Todays pr comes across as a screw you to the CMA, will be interesting to see if the CMA bite.

What a strange thing to say. These are behavioral concessions that the CMA says they're willing to hear MS out on, even though they're skeptical.

I stopped at Azure because mentioning windows and office would have been stupid.

Pretty much the same thing as mentioning Azure.

Azure’s one of the main pillars of Microsoft today, and it’s been growing YoY. You going “No COD, no Azure” is orders of magnitude worse than going with Office or Windows.

 

[Three]

Well they bought: Media Molecule, Evolution, BigBig, Sucker Punch, Sigil, Zipper and even GaiKai during the PS3-PS4, interesting acquisitions, but Sony was active back then with their "organic growth", aka acquisitions

These studios were making Playstation games before much like Playground games were making MS ones before they were acquired. When Sony bought Media Molecule the only game under MM's belt was Little Big Planet. So yeah they bought studios that were making their games. As much as you try this isn't equivalent to Zenimax or Activision Blizzard.

 

[gothmog]

Microsoft spends millions every year lobbying the EC. Despite the fact that Microsoft cloud services have been considered illegal in some countries for violating GDPR, Microsoft still has a monopoly on enterprises and schools. We will see for how long Europe can resist.

Makes no sense. If they're successfully lobbied why do the public song and dance? Seems like they arent swayed by this and Microsoft is desperate.

 

[jm89]

What a strange thing to say. These are behavioral concessions that the CMA says they're willing to hear MS out on, even though they're skeptical.

They literally said they aren't interested in selling of call of duty, when CMA have shown that is their preferred remedy from the PF and from history. So yes it's a screw you to the CMA throwing away their preferred remedy in public.

 

[X-Wing]

Makes no sense. If they're successfully lobbied why do the public song and dance? Seems like they arent swayed by this and Microsoft is desperate.

Thing is, this notion that the EU is somehow tougher with Microsoft than other regulators is false. Microsoft gets away with a lot of shit in Europe and yes, that's thanks to lobbying. I could bet that EU's concerns were far lighter than those from the CMA.

 

[ToadMan]

So they are protecting Nintendo customers from being able to purchase COD or Nvidia now customers from playing COD on the service. No they are protecting Sony and its customers. I don't see them shutting down Sony taking games from others from major studios. No final fantasy is not the same as high on life.

The biggest console market for CoD is PS.

The CMA are protecting the choice of those existing consumers.

CoD on Nintendo? Zero market. Nvidia streaming - not even a drop in the ocean.

Why should existing consumers be harmed so MS and ABK can print money? And why would anyone cheerlead for such an outcome?

 

[gothmog]

Thing is, this notion that the EU is somehow tougher with Microsoft than other regulators is false. Microsoft gets away with a lot of shit in Europe and yes, that's thanks to lobbying. I could bet that EU's concerns were far lighter than those from the CMA.

I believe the EU/EC has fined Microsoft the most of any other government or agency.

 

[X-Wing]

Look who finally is showing his true colors:

 

[Punished Miku]

And that would prove that you don't know me that well, or history. I trashed them for the whole 2nd half of 360, skipped Xbox One and only bought a Series console after they convinced me with a great E3 (bought it 3rd after Switch and PS5 first). As for the last 2 years (which is all you probably know about), I'm a satisfied customer and have enjoyed the console.

Absolutely scandalous.

What about you guys?
GhostOfTsu Thirty7ven ToadMan

It's time for your struggle session. Tell us what consoles you own and why you're not a piece of shit in 30 seconds. GO.

 

[GHG]

Look who finally is showing his true colors:

Finally? The guy hasn't been subtle for anyone paying attention. He even admitted he no longer plays games the other day.




Taking that into account its evident that at this stage his interest can only be economic of nature.

 

[FoxMcChief]

Denise Richards.

Only knew her from wild things.

Starship Troopers bro!

 

[Bitmap Frogs]

This season ending is proving quite thrilling.

 

[ArcaneNLSC]

Starship Troopers bro!

Blue Lagoon The Awakening Bro!

 

[FoxMcChief]

Blue Lagoon The Awakening Bro!

Undercover Brother bro!

I need to watch this movie again. It was fantastic.

 

[ToadMan]

Makes no sense. If they're successfully lobbied why do the public song and dance? Seems like they arent swayed by this and Microsoft is desperate.

The public dog and pony show is for us.

Well not for you and me directly - but onlookers who perhaps don’t have much context or background for what’s at stake.

Ultimately the regulators are swayed a little by public opinion, and a hangry mob cries loudest while those who are content just quietly get on with their lives.

The people who are most likely to suffer harm from this - existing ABK and especially COD players on non-MS platforms - probably don’t have much feeling on it right now. A significant number probably have forgotten this acquisition is even going on - who can blame them?

But MS will try and rabble rouse in hopes the noise will be enough for the regulators to take notice.

 

[Gone]

Nintendo (a console maker)
Nvidia (the cloud competitor)
Steam (the PC "competitor")
are all fine with the deal now and all three could be used as an answer to the 3 concerns raised by the stupid CMA. Now it's just Sony opposing the deal despite Microsoft offer of 15 years.

What's the CMA's excuse now?

 

[gothmog]

The public dog and pony show is for us.

Well not for you and me directly - but onlookers who perhaps don’t have much context or background for what’s at stake.

Ultimately the regulators are swayed a little by public opinion, and a hangry mob cries loudest while those who are content just quietly get on with their lives.

The people who are most likely to suffer harm from this - existing ABK and especially COD players on non-MS platforms - probably don’t have much feeling on it right now. A significant number probably have forgotten this acquisition is even going on - who can blame them?

But MS will try and rabble rouse in hopes the noise will be enough for the regulators to take notice.

Are regulators swayed by this? I'm pretty sure most of the efforts to do this before have failed to sway anybody. Any evidence to back up these theories that it helps?

Yesterday we had a vocal minority say that basically the deal was done and all of these "announcements" were because they knew it was a done deal. Turns out that's bullshit. So who was swayed by any of this in the end?

 

[Jimmyisback]

Selling call of duty never made sense. This deal is still gonna go through anyway without any divestiture needed.

 

[jm89]

Nintendo (a console maker)
Nvidia (the cloud competitor)
Steam (the PC "competitor")
are all fine with the deal now and all three could be used as an answer to the 3 concerns raised by the stupid CMA. Now it's just Sony opposing the deal despite Microsoft offer of 15 years.

What's the CMA's excuse now?

 

[Sanepar]

The biggest console market for CoD is PS.

The CMA are protecting the choice of those existing consumers.

CoD on Nintendo? Zero market. Nvidia streaming - not even a drop in the ocean.

Why should existing consumers be harmed so MS and ABK can print money? And why would anyone cheerlead for such an outcome?

Because they are naive to think all this will be available for them on $1 gamepass deals.

 

[Ozriel]

This generation it doesn't make sense. It would make total sense for future generations tho

A 10 year deal easily goes 2-3 years into the next generation of consoles.

They literally said they aren't interested in selling of call of duty, when CMA have shown that is their preferred remedy from the PF and from history. So yes it's a screw you to the CMA throwing away their preferred remedy in public.

The same CMA that clearly indicated they’re open to listening to MS attempts to convince them that behavioral remedies can alleviate the risks they outlined?

 

[Varteras]

The public dog and pony show is for us.

Well not for you and me directly - but onlookers who perhaps don’t have much context or background for what’s at stake.

Ultimately the regulators are swayed a little by public opinion, and a hangry mob cries loudest while those who are content just quietly get on with their lives.

The people who are most likely to suffer harm from this - existing ABK and especially COD players on non-MS platforms - probably don’t have much feeling on it right now. A significant number probably have forgotten this acquisition is even going on - who can blame them?

But MS will try and rabble rouse in hopes the noise will be enough for the regulators to take notice.

 

[sainraja]

How many accounts die on the day this deal goes one way or another.

I bet we will be so over it that it's only a few.

It's been discussed to death. So yeah, most will be over it haha; outside of some fanboys having their day in the sun.

 

[jm89]

The same CMA that clearly indicated they’re open to listening to MS attempts to convince them that behavioral remedies can alleviate the risks they outlined?

Ok? That's irrelevant to what i was saying.