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 .
Status
Not open for further replies.
ManaByte said:
If Sony can't make a comparable GAAS shooter to replace COD as a PSN driver in FIVE YEARS they should just give up. Nintendo did it on the fucking Wii U and its 13.5 million unit install base with Splatoon and now they have the highest selling game of all time in Japan.
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I totally agree but brand recognition is a bitch. A large chunk of people would just buy Xbox next gen to play Fifa/COD/Fortnite.
 
BennyBlanco said:
I totally agree but brand recognition is a bitch. A large chunk of people would just buy Xbox next gen to play Fifa/COD/Fortnite.
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Splatoon 3 is the highest selling game in Japan. EVER.

Sony could do the same with the shooter IPs they owned if they actually invested in them.
 
ManaByte said:
Splatoon 3 is the highest selling game in Japan. EVER.

Sony could do the same with the shooter IPs they owned if they actually invested in them.
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Nintendo just rules Japan with an iron fist at this point. They know their audience over there and deliver the goods for them.

Sony definitely has more than one FPS in the works. Will any of them get traction? Who knows. Ubisoft has been trying to get into the space for a while and their stuff keeps flopping even as f2p games.
 
3liteDragon said:
Lmao, prepare for 1000's of cringe fanboy pieces like this if the deal falls apart. Sony's about to become public enemy #1 for these guys.
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I think they already are and have been for a while now. It's been jarring to see the whole blame Sony movement in action - every time I think it can't get worse, it does. Now we have MS doing it in legal documents to the CMA and "journalists" talking about revenge for a possible acquisition failure and absolutely no interest or understanding of the multiple issues at play. Still, you're right in that there will be an increase if the deal falls apart. Cringe for days. :goog_confounded:
 
Hero of Spielberg said:
Would it be large enough chunk for MS to overtake Sony as market leader do you think?
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Who can say? Xbox 360 was hugely popular. Maybe COD popularity slows down over the next few years and something else comes along.

I don't even know if you could say Sony is market leader. Nintendo sells more hardware and profits more.
 
FfYxIQpWIAAbyUO


Source, from our very own: https://twitter.com/SenjutsuSage?s=20&t=h_qQfQqbIDlMPExkX_Nq9A
 
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ManaByte said:
If Sony can't make a comparable GAAS shooter to replace COD as a PSN driver in FIVE YEARS they should just give up. Nintendo did it on the fucking Wii U and its 13.5 million unit install base with Splatoon and now they have the highest selling game of all time in Japan.
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I don't get why people are taking these arguments from corporate lawyers seriously. MS is going to say whatever they can to get the deal done. Sony is going to say whatever they can to block it. That's all this is.
 
ManaByte said:
Splatoon 3 is the highest selling game in Japan. EVER.

Sony could do the same with the shooter IPs they owned if they actually invested in them.
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In Japan they play mainly handheld. In the west we don't.

Can't really compare it like that.
 
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BennyBlanco said:
Who can say? Xbox 360 was hugely popular. Maybe COD popularity slows down over the next few years and something else comes along.

I don't even know if you could say Sony is market leader. Nintendo sells more hardware and profits more.
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Difficult to say I agree. I think with most of the concerns about the acquisition there's a lot of water to go under the bridge for them to actually pan out. Interesting to see what the final decision is as I imagine MS would be pushing that angle.
 
ZehDon said:
That's not really how businesses work. After Sony clowned Microsoft's Xbox last generation (their Godly "sharing games on PS4" video must have fucking stung) Microsoft was only too happy to sign a deal with Sony to help with their cloud infrastructure. You don't get to be a trillion-dollar company by holding grudges.

If the deal falls apart, and I seriously doubt that it will - if anyone knows how to close M&A, it's fucking Microsoft - their will some pretty sizeable fallout. Activision Blizzard's stock will tumble, and Kottick will likely be ousted. Microsoft's stock will also take a hit, because it's USD$70b purchase likely means its projected forecasts for Game Pass growth and gaming division revenue go out the window and they're back to square one on planning how to get Game Pass to 100 million subscribers.

What will be really interesting is what happens for Xbox if their plans are disrupted. With USD$70b allocated, I suspect Microsoft still invests elsewhere for Xbox. They might not get ABK, but that just means Nadella could go shopping to fill that revenue and adoption driver gap.
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Responding against a company that stopped your biggest acquisition in history is exactly how business works.
 
I have no clue about a process of this size and all the surrounding legalities, but I have a question.
I keep seeing more and more people say that there are blatant errors and holes in CMAs arguing in the case against MS.
If there are provable errors in the findings that lead to them denying the acquisition, is there actually any legal ground for MS to fight the decision?
Or if Sony can provide documents that show Microsoft is willingly obscuring data, gimping numbers etc. that lead to CMA OK-ing the deal, has Sony any ground to fight that?

I wondered because I assumed the CMA is a state authority, but there also have to be ways to challenge the decision, for either MS or Sony.
 
DeepEnigma said:
MS should invest in all their IPs as well, instead of buying 3rd party publishers to play keep off the competition.
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ManaByte said:
Splatoon 3 is the highest selling game in Japan. EVER.

Sony could do the same with the shooter IPs they owned if they actually invested in them.
Click to expand...

michael-jackson-i-love-this-song.gif


Let's all sing it together: "aaaaall first party platforms in the house tonight, should go out and build their own FPS instead of buy! And you don't ahve to speeeeend a dime, everybody has the ip and tiiiiime"
 
Balducci30 said:
I still don't get why you would pay 70 billion for activision and their IP's
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Same on why Cell had to absorb C18 to become more powerful, that was the only way for him to become stronger than all sayans and the strongest in the universe. He could have trained to be as powerful as the best sayans but it would take him hundreds or thousands of years, and even then you need to consider than sayans would still become also stronger with the time as they naturally keep training, so in that case that's like a "never" case for Cell to ever be a strong as sayans. So absorbing C18 as his only option to stand a chance VS Goku and cie. Just like MS only option to compete VS Sony and even Nintendo is by absorbing the biggest publishers like Acti and Beth in the industry.
 
Drewpee said:
Responding against a company that stopped your biggest acquisition in history is exactly how business works.
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Not at all. You develop a new strategy that achieves your goals and get on with it. In Microsoft's case, it's getting as many Game Pass subscribers as possible. With no Call of Duty to drive that, the goal doesn't change - they'll just develop a new strategy to achieve it.
 
FfY8tILXoAEDnla




Whelp, looks like even if the deal closes, MS won't be able to put new CoD games on game pass day 1 as part of honoring the Sony x Activision agreements which include keeping the games off of game pass.
 
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3liteDragon said:
FfYxIQpWIAAbyUO


Source, from our very own: https://twitter.com/SenjutsuSage?s=20&t=h_qQfQqbIDlMPExkX_Nq9A
Click to expand...
And there were people in here that actually believed they could not imagine Sony been paying developers not to have their games come to the platform.

Resident Evil, and Call of Duty are now known to be struck by that, and I wouldn't be surprised if they'd block several other games.

I know it's an old tweet, but it still shows Sony are paying heavy money to prevent game pass to get some of the bigger games.

Should invest in their own similar service instead of ruining it for the players, even though they are green rats.
 
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adamsapple said:
FfY8tILXoAEDnla




Whelp, looks like even if the deal closes, MS won't be able to put new CoD games on game pass day 1 as part of honoring the Sony x Activision agreements which include keeping the games off of game pass.
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In my opinion, the existence of that clause in Sony's agreement with Activision Blizzard demonstrates their anti-competitive nature in the game subscription service arena, undermining one of their chief complaints and the CMA's stance that Microsoft's position would enable it to dominate that arena. Sony is actively ensuring its competitors can't enhance the value of their own services with non-Sony parties, so that it doesn't have to try and compete.
 
The_Mike said:
And people in here have said they could not imagine Sony been paying developers not to have their games come to the platform.

Resident Evil, and Call of Duty are now known to be struck by that, and I wouldn't be surprised if they'd block several other games.
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Uh…yeah, more than likely any game Sony has a marketing deal with. This is not new. People said they couldn't imagine what's been known for months?

Suspicious Kenan Thompson GIF by Saturday Night Live
 
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Topher said:
Uh…yeah, more than likely any game Sony has a marketing deal with. This is not new. People said they couldn't imagine what's been known for months?

Suspicious Kenan Thompson GIF by Saturday Night Live
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And I'm so sure Microsoft would allow Sony to put stuff on PS+ in a launch window for free, to gamers for games they have marketing deals with too.

Some of y'all are lost in the plot with normal business practices.
 
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ZehDon said:
In my opinion, the existence of that clause in Sony's agreement with Activision Blizzard demonstrates their anti-competitive nature in the game subscription service arena, undermining one of their chief complaints and the CMA's stance that Microsoft's position would enable it to dominate that arena. Sony is actively ensuring its competitors can't enhance the value of their own services with non-Sony parties, so that it doesn't have to try and compete.
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The big question is, if Microsoft are good enough to call Sony out for it to the CMA, or if the CMA is biased.

It's clear as day that Microsoft doesn't keep cod multiplatform because they want to, but because of previous contracts, but the more Sony talks about being anti competitive, the skeleton just keeps popping out of the closet showing they are world wide champion in doing what they have a current crusade against.

It will be interesting to see if CMA cares about it, or simply ignores it.
 
The_Mike said:
And there were people in here that actually believed they could not imagine Sony been paying developers not to have their games come to the platform.

Resident Evil, and Call of Duty are now known to be struck by that, and I wouldn't be surprised if they'd block several other games.

I know it's an old tweet, but it still shows Sony are paying heavy money to prevent game pass to get some of the bigger games.

Should invest in their own similar service instead of ruining it for the players, even though they are green rats.
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It's called a marketing deal.


Marketing deals are used to attract gamers to your platform by offering them a better deal. No one in their right mind would sign a marketing deal and then allow someone else to put the game on their subscription service.

If Microsoft had a marketing deal for Cyberpunk 2077, then that means they also had restrictions, too.
 
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DForce said:
It's called a marketing deal.


Marketing deals are used to attract gamers to your platform by offering them a better deal. No one in their right mind would sign a marketing deal and then allow someone else to put the game on their subscription service.

Of Microsoft had a marketing deal for Cyberpunk 2077, then that means they also had restrictions, too.
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Has Cyberpunk 2077 ever been on Game Pass?
 
ZehDon said:
Not at all. You develop a new strategy that achieves your goals and get on with it. In Microsoft's case, it's getting as many Game Pass subscribers as possible. With no Call of Duty to drive that, the goal doesn't change - they'll just develop a new strategy to achieve it.
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The only way to have a sustainable subscription service like Gamepass is to invest heavily in 1st party content. Microsoft understands that which is the entire reason they want Activision. They can careless about exclusivity and likely don't care about Xbox console sales, they just want content for their subscription service. Sony will have taken a shot gun to those plans if they are successful at stopping the merger.

I don't agree at all that Microsoft would just move on and change directions. The cool thing is one of us will be proven right in time.
 
I feel like if the deal falls through they need to do their best to regulate gaming in general then. Exclusivity deals such as FF7 re, or scorn, exclusive third party content like missions in legacy, blocking games from services etc need to have strict deadlines or preventative measures since that seems to be the main concern of the deal. Make it an industry wide standard
 
Ghost of Johto said:
I feel like if the deal falls through they need to do their best to regulate gaming in general then. Exclusivity deals such as FF7 re, or scorn, exclusive third party content like missions in legacy, blocking games from services etc need to have strict deadlines or preventative measures since that seems to be the main concern of the deal. Make it an industry wide standard
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That will only hurt 3rd party developers that rely on marketing and exclusivity deals to help fund their games or recover development cost.

A lot of developers, even big ones just don't have the means to mass market their products without sony, microsoft, and nintendo footing the bill
 
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remember_spinal said:
That will only hurt 3rd party developers that rely on marketing and exclusivity deals to help fund their games or recover development cost.

A lot of developers, even big ones just don't have the means to mass market their products without sony, microsoft, and nintendo footing the bill
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As much as I dislike 3rd party exclusive deals, at least all the players have the rights to bid on said exclusivity and that's more favorable than the 3rd party getting gobbled up all together.
 
bender said:
As much as I dislike 3rd party exclusive deals, at least all the players have the rights to bid on said exclusivity and that's more favorable than the 3rd party getting gobbled up all together.
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yeah, its fairly democratic. Nintendo gets their 3rd part exclusives, sony gets theres, and microsoft gets theres…its ultimately up to the dev/pub whether its beneficial for their game or not.

Nintendo for example is probably doing a lot to keep Squares AA games alive, as Sony is spending a lot to mitigate their AAA development cost.
 
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