• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

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.
MasterCornholio

MasterCornholio

Member
Topher said:
Remember that time when folks were saying the EC was biased because one guy who worked for EC said he owned a PlayStation?

artworks-000120720438-op7cln-t500x500.jpg
Click to expand...

I remember the Sage guy saying they were corrupt when that happened. Pretty sure he's going to praise them if they approve it.
 
Bernoulli

Bernoulli

M2 slut
there were antitrust problems with microsoft before even the ABK deal

www.wsj.com

Microsoft Goes on Offensive in Europe to Combat Cloud Concerns

The software giant has embarked on a campaign in Europe to create allies and disarm critics as it comes under greater scrutiny in one of its largest markets.
www.wsj.com www.wsj.com

www.techzine.eu

Microsoft goes on the offensive in Europe to combat cloud concerns

Microsoft is attempting to sway organizations into dropping antitrust complaints by offering collaborations and marketing promotions. A lawyer for cloud
www.techzine.eu www.techzine.eu
 
Zannegan

Zannegan

Member
Three said:
I just hate the guy's hypocrisy for companies who aren't his clients. He cheers on regulation when it's the likes of Apple on the receiving end of it. I don't think he has a mental illness but he does come across as a narcissist calling others insane or crazy when things don't go his way. Personally, I hope the UK upholds the block and he can wallow in his own self pity.
Click to expand...
I mean, to be fair, as this deal has seemed to vaccilate between probable pass and probable denial, we've seen plenty of that on this board from fanboys (in both camps) who had no idea tha CMA existed a year ago but see themselves as experts after watching a handful of videos telling them what they wanted to hear.

...on the OTHER other hand, none of them get paid for their opinions. This dude's self-delusion is on another level.
 
SoloKingRobert

SoloKingRobert

Banned
X-Wing said:
I just don't know how the EC could justify passing this when Microsoft has at least two other antitrust cases against them being looked at in the European Union.
But... I won't be surprised if they pass it.

[/URL]

[/URL]
Click to expand...
Microsoft doesn't have a Monopoly in the Gaming Division since Sony dominates the console market. Same with cloud, you have huge players like Amazon's Luna cloud gaming, Nvidia's GeForce etc..
 
Banjo64

Banjo64

cumsessed
You know what, we’re giving credit to brain dead takes by repeating them, so here’s mine.

Let Microsoft leave the UK, but we’ll nationalise Rare, Playground and NT without recompense to Microsoft.

Sell Rare to Nintendo for £1, Playground to Sony for £1 and Ninja Theory can become a support hub for the DVLA.
 
Topher

Topher

Identifies as young
Zannegan said:
I mean, to be fair, as this deal has seemed to vaccilate between probable pass and probable denial, we've seen plenty of that on this board from fanboys (in both camps) who had no idea tha CMA existed a year ago but see themselves as experts after watching a handful of videos telling them what they wanted to hear.

...on the OTHER other hand, none of them get paid for their opinions. This dude's self-delusion is on another level.
Click to expand...

Definitely a big difference between people on a forum who have tried to become more knowledgeable on the subject being discussed and a guy like this who proclaims himself to be an authority on the subject. You are right, though, that watching some videos and a couple dozen google searches doesn't make anyone an expert on any of this. I don't think anyone here has claimed to be an expert either though. Whether or not they "see themselves" as such.......no idea.

SoloKingRobert said:
Microsoft doesn't have a Monopoly in the Gaming Division since Sony dominates the console market. Same with cloud, you have huge players like Amazon's Luna cloud gaming, Nvidia's GeForce etc..
Click to expand...

Again, this has nothing to do with the console market. Neither Amazon or Nvidia are attempting to purchase a gaming publisher like Activision Blizzard. If they were then they would immediately become the leader in cloud gaming. Now imagine if either of them already owned publishers such as XGS and Zenimax. Now we are talking about a dominant position for years to come. That's exactly what CMA seems to be seeing happen with the Microsoft-ABK acquisition.
 
Pelta88

Pelta88

Member
Mibu no ookami said:
Notice how he (Hoeg's Law) still hasn't put a video out about the CMA blocking this. I know he is recovering from his stroke but that didn't stop him from putting out series of stroke recovery videos as well as an Apple v Epic video. He doesn't want to lose his audience.
Click to expand...

I think it points to an underlying desperation from the XB community for some type of forward momentum. It's been 10 years of swearing they're ok to "wait." Activision opened the floodgates. The community pivoted from the "Everything is fine" and "Phil got us and we got Phil" stance. To openly admitting that the situation is desperate.

These admissions generate receipts that they can't just gravitate away from.

So now these fake FTC lawyers are making a fast buck from telling them the equivalent of... "It will still happen just wait, listen to me, and subscribe." Gaming frauds who don't have a gamer score or trophy to speak of feeding cope and hope to the XBOX community.
 
Last edited:
Mibu no ookami

Mibu no ookami

Demoted Member® Pro™
Pelta88 said:
I think it point to an underlying desperation from the XB community for some type of forward momentum. It's been 10 years of swearing they're ok to "wait." Activision opened the floodgates. The community pivoted from the "Everything is fine" and "Phil got us and we got Phil" stance. To openly admitting that the situation is desperate.

These admissions generate receipts that they can't just gravitate away from.

So now these fake FTC lawyers are making a fast buck from telling them the equivalent of... "It will still happen just wait, listen to me, and subscribe." Gaming frauds who don't have a gamer score or trophy to speak of feeding cope and hope to the XBOX community.
Click to expand...

I actually feel bad for everyone involved (aside from these shills and suck-ups).

Microsoft has mismanaged the situation from the start. They had success at the wrong time and their decisions afterward put them into a really rough spot that they didn't make good decisions to get out of it. They're now in desperation mode and their decision-making isn't one that is conducive to getting into a better space.

Many people called the Bungie buy a desperate move and maybe it was, but it was a lot more sound than Zenimax or Activision.

Plus there is the historic irony involved, that Bungie is the one studio that had historically propped up Xbox and now Sony owns them. I think both parties (Sony and Bungie) probably relished in that irony.
 
gothmog

gothmog

Gold Member
Pelta88 said:
I made the comparison because this is a US based board and many seem unfamiliar with our political processes. It's weird. Damn near outright ludicrous to see some takes.

1. Microsoft should just leave the UK... For COD :messenger_tears_of_joy:
2. Pay off the government
3. After slandering the CMA, Microsoft will get the CMA to reverse the decision via appeals
4. Get Nadella to Persuade the CMA

None of these apply to the UK because the UK is not a Banana Republic. None of the above is even an option.
Click to expand...
Who knew that video games was going to be the spark that lead to World War 3?
 
Mibu no ookami

Mibu no ookami

Demoted Member® Pro™
DC has always been more popular than Marvel.

Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Justice League, Green Lantern... Outside of maybe Spider-Man, nothing Marvel really had came close.

For Marvel it had always been Spider-Man, X-Men.......... and then well below that Fantastic 4 and Avengers.

It's no coincidence that Sony's major (not including the VR game) are Spider-Man and Wolverine.

But you've seen how their movies have been mismanaged. Dark Knight had as good a box office as basically any Marvel movie and even Aqua man performed well at the box office.

It's their rush to compete that has negatively impacted them.

Batman v Superman would have been a much more successful movie had they cast Bryan Cranston instead of Jesse Eisenberg. That was a really poor idea of making Lex Luther into more of a Mark Zuckberg-like villain. Had they taken their time with the CG in Justice League and waited to do reshoots with Henry Cavill, the film wouldn't have been so poor, but they had to rush it out. Wonder Woman should have been directed by Kathryn Bigelow instead of Patty Jenkins. I guarantee you the sequel wouldn't have been so trash. Even said, the first movie almost cleared a billion by itself.

Again, moves made out of pure desperation USUALLY fail.

Xbox is even more poorly managed than WB.
 
Banjo64

Banjo64

cumsessed
MasterCornholio said:
So basically.

Life Smash GIF


That's what this is sounding like to me. Sure they can appeal and complain but they will probably not get the results they want. If anything the CMA will just request them to make further concessions (ex divestments) to allow the merger to happen. I seriously doubt Microsoft will do that since they made it clear they want all of ABK.
Click to expand...
No.

The time for offering concessions is at an end. The timeline for that has expired and the decision is rendered. Microsoft will not be allowed to try again for 10 years. This isn’t posturing or sabre rattling from the CMA in order to get their way, they have rendered their verdict.

That’s why I voted that the deal would be approved with structural remedies. I thought it was beyond the realms of possibility that MS would ignore the CMA’s direct advice.
 
MasterCornholio

MasterCornholio

Member
Banjo64 said:
No.

The time for offering concessions is at an end. The timeline for that has expired and the decision is rendered. Microsoft will not be allowed to try again for 10 years. This isn’t posturing or sabre rattling from the CMA in order to get their way, they have rendered their verdict.

That’s why I voted that the deal would be approved with structural remedies. I thought it was beyond the realms of possibility that MS would ignore the CMA’s direct advice.
Click to expand...

Well looks like the CMA got the 10 year deal from Microsoft.

:messenger_winking_tongue:

Microsoft: We made all these 10 year deals.

CMA:
Charlize Theron Oscars GIF by Budweiser
 
Last edited:
PaintTinJr

PaintTinJr

Member
Bernoulli said:
I have no words...





Click to expand...

These people are pure comedy gold IMO - thinking their little $2-3Trillion worth corporate lord is comparative to a nation that owns the bulk of the fishing waters in Europe. The entire value of their company wouldn't be enough to buy 10% of those territorial waters, if we were even prepared to sell them.

The only reason people are pivoting so hard on this issue IMHO is not because of ATVI and CoD, but because the CMA decision has delimited the end of the road for all significant MSFT business expansion by acquisition (and Amazon, Apple, Meta, etc) and the idea and idle threat of leaving the UK to get around that dead end might be a genuine strategy long term.
 
Last edited:
Kilau

Kilau

Member
Three said:
Maybe it depends how much they need your "influence" but they send out swag to ambassadors occasionally.


That Carlo guy runs some YouTube show and is appearing in some videogame apparently so I'd imagine he gets the xsock privileges.
Click to expand...

Lol fun, I’ve done the missions for xp but I don’t check that dashboard often and I have zero influence so that makes sense.

I actually still have a PlayStation cap and t-shirt from the old PSU program.
 
Dick Jones

Dick Jones

Banned
SoloKingRobert said:
Oh, no... They might confuse the Americans..
Click to expand...
The level could be the UK getting attacked and halfway through the level you can hear on tv commentators saying if only the UK accepted the MS/ABK acquisition but now it has no cyber security.

They might as well go full dickhead if MS are stupid enough to pull their business from the UK
 
feynoob

feynoob

Banned
Pelta88 said:
I made the comparison because this is a US based board and many seem unfamiliar with our political processes. It's weird. Damn near outright ludicrous to see some takes.

1. Microsoft should just leave the UK... For COD :messenger_tears_of_joy:
2. Pay off the government
3. After slandering the CMA, Microsoft will get the CMA to reverse the decision via appeals
4. Get Nadella to Persuade the CMA

None of these apply to the UK because the UK is not a Banana Republic. None of the above is even an option.
Click to expand...
Except you guys are useless in football department.

Who the hell allows Sheik mansoor pockets to control mancity and why the hell do saudi get to own newcastle? And now Qatar wants to buy Man utd.

Angry Nbc GIF by Law & Order
 
Bernoulli

Bernoulli

M2 slut
Last edited:
DeepEnigma

DeepEnigma

Gold Member
feynoob said:
My favorite part is confusing market share to monopoly.

Critical thinking education should be a must class if you attend highschool or a college.
Click to expand...
We can't have smart critical thinkers en mass coming out of institutionalized ant farms. Those are only reserved for students who's parents get their names on a building.
 
Last edited:
Astray

Astray

Member
Banjo64 said:
That’s why I voted that the deal would be approved with structural remedies. I thought it was beyond the realms of possibility that MS would ignore the CMA’s direct advice.
Click to expand...
I actually went for full block, but I will admit that I had a rethink once the console SLC was dropped.

Everyone in gaming was and still is so laser-focused on the console stuff that we completely forgot the cloud stuff, perhaps that was a key part of Microsoft's shell game here.
 
MasterCornholio

MasterCornholio

Member
adamsapple said:
No.
Click to expand...

I think there were multiple sources that said the CMA was going to approve this. Thats where the confusion with Reuters is coming from.

Financial Times - British CMA expected to approve Microsoft-ABK acquisition
Click to expand...

There was them and then people like Pachter, Florian, Microsoft, Lulu and a couple of others.

Not counting anyone from the forums BTW.
 
Last edited:
feynoob

feynoob

Banned
solidus12 said:
Didn’t Reuters say that the CMA would approve the deal only for the opposite to happen?
Click to expand...
That was times financial.
MasterCornholio said:
I think there were multiple sources that said the CMA was going to approve this. Thats where the confusion with Reuters is coming from.



There was them and then people like Pachter, Florian, Microsoft, Lulu and a couple of others.

Not counting anyone from the forums BTW.
Click to expand...
It was times financial. Everyone was quoting them.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

Microsoft has Closed the Activision Blizzard King Deal
22 23 24 25 26
1K
94K
MasterCornholio replied
Microsoft now says the CMA was ‘tough and fair’ over Activision Blizzard deal
Opinion Business Game Dev
17
3K
SportsFan581 replied
FTC appeals to block already-completed Microsoft-Activision deal
2
63
7K
Mythoclast replied
  • Locked
UK minister defends CMA's decision to block MS/ABK
News
0
1K
Daniel_Mallorca1985 replied
  • Locked
Microsoft to sell off Activision cloud gaming rights to Ubisoft in bid for UK approval
News Business 2 3 4
154
17K
Spyxos replied
Top Bottom