Support NeoGAF

[Gamezone]

Does the EU decision somehow make any changes? Isn't the deal still blocked in the UK? Can someone please explain.

 

[Thirty7ven]

Is the prevailing thought by the nutjobs that whenever a company like MS doesn’t get what they want they can just threaten to remove their services from the country? And people are ok with this? Specially from the company that just bought a non profit meant for open source A.I company and turned that shit around and is now leading the shit show of full speed A.I no fucks given?

 

[Rick Dangerous]

Is the prevailing thought by the nutjobs that whenever a company like MS doesn’t get what they want they can just threaten to remove their services from the country? And people are ok with this? Specially from the company that just bought a non profit meant for open source A.I company and turned that shit around and is now leading the shit show of full speed A.I no fucks given?

We're aligned What happened with Open AI proved me that EU regulators are actually against Europeans and under heavy lobbying from GAFAM. Or corrupted.

 

[Elios83]

Does the EU decision somehow make any changes? Isn't the deal still blocked in the UK? Can someone please explain.

Nothing changed relatively to UK and the FTC intentions.
Microsoft and Activision will have to decide what to do in July when their acquisition contract ends.

If they decide to go on they will basically waste an other year and half to have the same identical verdict from CMA with a 80-90% chance (actually it's unlikely this will go past CAT, since all the three biggest regulators reached the same concerns with their investigations).
In parallel they will go in court with FTC in August and even there they would waste a year to get a ruling that could be appealed by FTC.
A never ending story over a deal that will make both companies lose years of strategic planning and with all the remedies involved would not have the impact that Microsoft wanted in first place (when they thought they could get away with three years of COD to Sony and no cloud remedies at all).

Activision might simply decide to back out in July, get the 3 billions for MS, try again with Meta or an other company with a higher chance of approval success.

 

[adamsapple]

Read the EU comission decision again.

I already replied a few posts later, the difference that one regulatory was ok with the remedies and another wasn't.

 

[demigod]

The dead queen or you are talking about some influential British drag queen?
Easily leaving the UK?
Easily? Firing all employees, selling all assets, losing all profit from the UK business? That's "easy" for you?
Leaving the UK would cost them more than 3bn they have to pay ATK!

The same folks that are cheering for them to leave are the same twittards that are championing the deal is good and would bring more jobs to the UK.

 

[truth411]

Nothing changed relatively to UK and the FTC intentions.
Microsoft and Activision will have to decide what to do in July when their acquisition contract ends.

If they decide to go on they will basically waste an other year and half to have the same identical verdict from CMA with a 80-90% chance (actually it's unlikely this will go past CAT, since all the three biggest regulators reached the same concerns with their investigations).
In parallel they will go in court with FTC in August and even there they would waste a year to get a ruling that could be appealed by FTC.
A never ending story over a deal that will make both companies lose years of strategic planning and with all the remedies involved would not have the impact that Microsoft wanted in first place (when they thought they could get away with three years of COD to Sony and no cloud remedies at all).

Activision might simply decide to back out in July, get the 3 billions for MS, try again with Meta or an other company with a higher chance of approval success.

If this is accurate, then the acquisition is still pretty much dead, the real test imo is will Activision say no to $3 Billion dollars when the time comes up. $3 Billion dollars is hard to say no to.

 

[digoutyoursoul]

It just seems to drag on. So boring , tedious. At least the showcase isn’t too far away.

 

[Bernoulli]

If this is accurate, then the acquisition is still pretty much dead, the real test imo is will Activision say no to $3 Billion dollars when the time comes up. $3 Billion dollars is hard to say no to.

Activision could win more if they decide to extend and appeal
Because even of the appeal fails they will get more money because MS extended
Easy 6 billions

 

[Dick Jones]

Does the EU decision somehow make any changes? Isn't the deal still blocked in the UK? Can someone please explain.

The EC have backed up the CMA claim while accepting the MS deal. The deal is still blocked by the CMA so the deal is dead currently pending a successful judicial review to the UK CAT. If that is not overturned, it's as dead as fuck.

The trojan horse of today's decision is although it's a positive for MS, the EC have also aided the CMA conclusion damaging the MS appeal that the CMA acted irrationally as it highlighted the potential risk of a monopoly.

 

[Nydius]

Activision might simply decide to back out in July, get the 3 billions for MS, try again with Meta or an other company with a higher chance of approval success.

It feels like it’s been going on for so long that maybe I’m misremembering, but I don’t think Activision was looking to sell when the merger offer happened.

They were in the middle of a bunch of smaller crises — sexual harassment claims against both Kotick and Blizzard, reports of bad crunch conditions at various ABK studios, ABK workers looking to unionize and potentially strike, etc — but I don’t recall any discussions of Activision being on the market.

Microsoft swooped in with an offer that was too good to refuse, above Activisions valued price, and Kotick saw a way to get out from a barrage of negative press by taking the merger.

I’m not sure they’d need to shop around for other suitors if/when the deal falls through. It gave them enough cover to weather the storms they were dealing with at the time.

 

[LoveCake]

Good news for MS, bad news for gaming.

 

[truth411]

The EC have backed up the CMA claim while accepting the MS deal. The deal is still blocked by the CMA so the deal is dead currently pending a successful judicial review to the UK CAT. If that is not overturned, it's as dead as fuck.

The trojan horse of today's decision is although it's a positive for MS, the EC have also aided the CMA conclusion damaging the MS appeal that the CMA acted irrationally as it highlighted the potential risk of a monopoly.

Thanks for the explanation.

 

[Dick Jones]

I already replied a few posts later, the difference that one regulatory was ok with the remedies and another wasn't.

So if both the CMA and EC highlighted the risk of a monopoly, it will be significantly harder for MS to prove the CMA acted irrationally. The medicine doesn't need to be the same to be irrational.

 

[M1987]

Does the EU decision somehow make any changes? Isn't the deal still blocked in the UK? Can someone please explain.

It doesn't change a thing,the deal is dead,and the CMA won't change it's mind no matter how hard people try to convince themselves they will

 

[ChorizoPicozo]

but I respectfully disagreed

uhh i will need to see the receipts to believe that chief

 

[IllegalLemon]

Bobby keeping to the tune for Christmas in July (3bn) He was hardly going to say "we're proper fucked like a female Activision employee, lol!"

At the end of the day, Bobby isn't making the decisions here. The shareholders and stockholders do. So, come July, if the shareholders say enough is enough, then there ain't a damn thing Bobby could do about it, regardless of whether or not it threatens to burn the money suitcases that Microsoft promised him in return for the deal going through.

 

[crunchyBiscuits]

The 0% revenue deal?

Amazing deal!

You might even call it the best deal in gaming

 

[Elios83]

If this is accurate, then the acquisition is still pretty much dead, the real test imo is will Activision say no to $3 Billion dollars when the time comes up. $3 Billion dollars is hard to say no to.

The real test is indeed at the end of July.
Activision might try to collect the 3 billions or to get the deal extended they will ask MS to offer much more than 95$ per share so that they can propose the deal again to their shareholders.
They will claim that it is now too risky to go ahead with it and it would make them lose further strategic time with no possibilities to make marketing partnerships and deals with other companies for years with an uncertain outcome.
At that point and with a low chance of success Microsoft will lose motivation.

 

[Three]

It is an industry standard set by Nvidia the only ones who have a rival streaming platform of note. It also is similar to things like Movies Anywhere.

The problem is that a movie doesn't cost upwards of 70 dollars and doesn't have microtransactions.

They know they are already beating "the standard set by nvidia" with subs and most of their money will come from the subs and microtransactions. The $70 from the stragglers would just be bonus income in the future as it dwindles. When did the last gamepass release sell a comparable number of copies? Do people go and buy netflix releases on DVD? I'm all for nvidia's strategy but they are simultaneously killing game sales where that wouldn't even matter.

 

[Dick Jones]

At the end of the day, Bobby isn't making the decisions here. The shareholders and stockholders do. So, come July, if the shareholders say enough is enough, then there ain't a damn thing Bobby could do about it, regardless of whether or not it threatens to burn the money suitcases that Microsoft promised him in return for the deal going through.

He would be able to present it in such a way to benefit himself. See his history. The deal won't continue without an extra incentive (a few more billion). ABK won't drag this further for free.

 

[gothmog]

Microsoft definitely picked the wrong week to release Redfall. If they had released it this week nobody would have even noticed it was coming in hot.

 

[SoloKingRobert]

From the looks of it, it seems CAT and the British Prime Minister will be pressuring the CMA to overturn the decision. Let the meltdown begin.....

 

[jm89]

From the looks of it, it seems CAT and the British Prime Minister will be pressuring the CMA to overturn the decision. Let the meltdown begin.....

What on earth are you talking about?

CAT appeal hasn't even started. The pm said nothing about pressuring CMA on this deal.

 

[Elios83]

From the looks of it, it seems CAT and the British Prime Minister will be pressuring the CMA to overturn the decision. Let the meltdown begin.....

Is your source Florian?

 

[adamsapple]

So if both the CMA and EC highlighted the risk of a monopoly, it will be significantly harder for MS to prove the CMA acted irrationally. The medicine doesn't need to be the same to be irrational.

That's going to be a job of the two very highly paid lawyers that both Microsoft and Activision have higher separately.

 

[Nydius]

From the looks of it, it seems CAT and the British Prime Minister will be pressuring the CMA to overturn the decision. Let the meltdown begin.....

Mate, you need to stop believing everything you read on Twitter.

The whole "Prime Minister is weighing in thing" was discussed in here about 15 pages ago. It's not what you think it is.

 

[OmegaSupreme]

From the looks of it, it seems CAT and the British Prime Minister will be pressuring the CMA to overturn the decision. Let the meltdown begin.....

 

[feynoob]

28 pages until we hit 1000 pages guys.

 

[jm89]

That's going to be a job of the two very highly paid lawyers that both Microsoft and Activision have higher separately.

Shame that the previous highly paid lawyers couldn't stop the CMA from blocking it

 

[feynoob]

From the looks of it, it seems CAT and the British Prime Minister will be pressuring the CMA to overturn the decision. Let the meltdown begin.....

 

[Topher]

uhh i will need to see the receipts to believe that chief

Don't know why. I respectfully disagree with people all the time here on GAF.

or do you mean him in particular?

From the looks of it, it seems CAT and the British Prime Minister will be pressuring the CMA to overturn the decision. Let the meltdown begin.....

Based on.....?

 

[feynoob]

That's going to be a job of the two very highly paid lawyers that both Microsoft and Activision have higher separately.

Lawyers big enemy is MS. They are the reason why CMA blocked this deal. They cant keep their mouth shut.

Microsoft has an ambitious plan to grow its gaming business from primarily Xbox consoles to cloud services, subscription platforms, and screens of all sizes. And if the Game Pass platform is the engine to make it happen, the acquisition of Activision Blizzard is a major source of fuel.

https://www.protocol.com/newsletters/entertainment/phil-spencer-microsoft-xbox-interview

 

[SoloKingRobert]

Is your source Florian?

Mate, you need to stop believing everything you read on Twitter.

The whole "Prime Minister is weighing in thing" was discussed in here about 15 pages ago. It's not what you think it is.

Don't know why. I respectfully disagree with people all the time here on GAF.

Based on.....?

Cloud Gaming. CMA has made some flawed remarks. CAT has actually overturned CMA decisions before, like the Compare the Market Case.

 

[feynoob]

Cloud Gaming. CMA has made some flaw remarks. CAT has actually overturned CMA decisions before, like the Compare the Market Case.

If MS wins this case, I will worship phil and satya for the rest of my life. And i will also have a picture of brad smith on my bedroom.

 

[Duchess]

The whole "Prime Minister is weighing in thing" was discussed in here about 15 pages ago. It's not what you think it is.

To be fair, we do have the Tory party running the country, so a few brown envelopes will be all that's needed.

(or maybe they could clap..?)

 

[Bernoulli]

From the looks of it, it seems CAT and the British Prime Minister will be pressuring the CMA to overturn the decision. Let the meltdown begin.....

Sir Florian Mueller has confirmed the confirmation that the CMA will pressured with more pressure as we speak
By the looks of it it seems that the CMA is looking very pressurized

 

[Bojanglez]

Because the remedies are and should be enough for any sensible person.

"The proposed remedies

To address the competition concerns identified by the Commission in the market for the distribution of PC and console games via cloud game streaming services, Microsoft offered the following comprehensive licensing commitments, with a 10-year duration:

A free license to consumers in the EEA that would allow them to stream, via any cloud game streaming services of their choice, all current and future Activision Blizzard PC and console games for which they have a license.
A corresponding free license to cloud game streaming service providers to allow EEA-based gamers to stream any Activision Blizzard's PC and console games.
Today, Activision Blizzard does not license its games to cloud game streaming services, nor does it stream the games itself. These licenses will ensure that gamers that have purchased one or more Activision games on a PC or console store, or that have subscribed to a multi-game subscription service that includes Activision games, have the right to stream those games with any cloud game streaming service of their choice and play them on any device using any operating system. The remedies also ensure that Activision's games available for streaming will have the same quality and content as games available for traditional download.

These commitments fully address the competition concerns identified by the Commission and represent a significant improvement for cloud game streaming compared to the current situation. They will empower millions of EEA consumers to stream Activision's games using any cloud gaming services operating in the EEA, provided they are purchased in an online store or included in an active multi-game subscription in the EEA. In addition, the availability of Activision's popular games for streaming via all cloud game streaming services will boost the development of this dynamic technology in the EEA. Ultimately, the commitments will unlock significant benefits for competition and consumers, by bringing Activision's games to new platforms, including smaller EU players, and to more devices than before."

They don't address the monopoly MS will have on the cloud gaming operating system space. This move with tighten their grip on that space as these 'rival' (partners and clients of Microsoft) game services will presumably be forced to license Windows to stream PC versions of the game.

I can see from a very superficial view how the EC think they are helping consumers, because the end result (for 10 years) means they can play on any operating system they want. But within that 10 years the server side infrastructure for cloud gaming is largely controlled by Microsoft.

A true remedy in the public interest would have been to insist MS produce Linux versions of their games of equal standard that are made available to cloud gaming providers, this way the infrastructure side of the problem world be mitigated too.

 

[splattered]

If MS wins this case, I will worship phil and satya for the rest of my life. And i will also have a picture of brad smith on my bedroom.

You know you gotta post picture proof right?

 

[GHG]

From the looks of it, it seems CAT and the British Prime Minister will be pressuring the CMA to overturn the decision. Let the meltdown begin.....

You know what, even though this means it all drags on, I'm glad the EC made the decision they did.

Let us have entertainment.

 

[feynoob]

You know you gotta post picture proof right?

I will.

 

[DeepEnigma]

They don't address the monopoly MS will have on the cloud gaming operating system space. This move with tighten their grip on that space as these 'rival' (partners and clients of Microsoft) game services will presumably be forced to license Windows to stream PC versions of the game.

I can see from a very superficial view how the EC think they are helping consumers, because the end result (for 10 years) means they can play on any operating system they want. But within that 10 years the server side infrastructure for cloud gaming is largely controlled by Microsoft.

A true remedy in the public interest would have been to insist MS produce Linux versions of their games of equal standard that are made available to cloud gaming providers, this way the infrastructure side of the problem world be mitigated too.

Here is the kicker. They mentioned awareness to that fact... yet...

Chaching!

 

[feynoob]

You know what, even though this means it all drags on, I'm glad the EC made the decision they did.

Let us have entertainment.

This year has been a rollercoaster of entertainment and twists.

 

[The Pleasure]

I will show you their pressured response.

Did someone give him gamepass for his birthday and now he thinks he owns all his games?

 

[Bernoulli]

Is this possible ?

 

[DeepEnigma]

Is this possible ?

If they get ABK in the end, the price increase will come 6 months after the games land on it. But they will PR their way around that it totes wasn't the acquisition as to why.

 

[Yoboman]

We still all pretending we have an idea what will happen next

 

[Dick Jones]

That's going to be a job of the two very highly paid lawyers that both Microsoft and Activision have higher separately.

Can they legally distinguish between Superman and Spider-Man?

 

[Calverz]

We still all pretending we have an idea what will happen next

Yes. There are many experts here on neogaf.

 

[feynoob]

Can they legally distinguish between Superman and Spider-Man?

Both are alien creatures living among us mortal humans.