Also something else real quick (I'm still catching up on some back pages ITT), it kind of dawned on me the following seeing some other responses on Twitter...
No matter how you cut it, Sony still gets cloud access to all ABK games for the next 10 years.
The EC basically made MS accept temporary divestiture for the cloud side of the market. In a way, they're actually kind of genius.
Even though Sony's cloud streaming is tied to PS+, the fact is they still do provide cloud streaming of gaming content, same as Microsoft, whose xCloud is still bundled with Game Pass, so they both fall into the market definition of being cloud providers.
Microsoft's original blog press release for Boosteroid specifically mentions Xbox PC (XGS) games and ABK PC games being a part of the deal. Well, the only PC games Activision specifically has are some of the COD titles, meaning a host of console-exclusive games which were exempt.
Microsoft's deal with Nintendo was explicitly for Call of Duty in terms of ABK games...why not
ALL ABK games
?
That's because Microsoft never intended to make all ABK games available on Nintendo platforms, just ABK, and we can extrapolate that to also including cloud versions since the 10-year deals MS have signed with BYOG providers requires customers to buy the game from another storefront to then stream on their services. How would a Nintendo customer stream a copy of Overwatch 2 on Nintendo's cloud network if they can't buy it from the e-Shop, and knowing full well Nintendo won't let them buy it from another storefront to then play on the Switch (which depending on the storefront, would not even be the Switch version)? They wouldn't have that capability under the
original terms.
So now look at the EC's statements for clearing approval of the deal; it's now a free license for all cloud providers of all ABK PC
AND console games. What's that mean for, say, Sony? Well, it means any ABK game for console that gets a PlayStation version can be streamed through PS+ without Sony paying Microsoft a license for the streaming rights (nor the gamer paying MS an amount for the streaming rights; they would still need to pay to buy the game and if accessing it through PS+ in lieu of purchasing, Sony would have to pay MS a fee to include the game in PS+ because Sony would be the one purchasing the game in this case instead of the end customer). However, it
ALSO means even in the case MS decides to foreclose porting ABK games to Sony consoles with native versions, Sony can just as easily partner with any of these other cloud providers (such as Boosteroid) and integrate their service into a PS+ tier at no extra cost for subscribers, and allow them to stream the PC version of those games on PlayStation.
Which basically means PS customers would still have some form of access to all ABK games, as under Microsoft, there would be the directive for all ABK games to be Day 1 on PC. No more console-exclusive ABK games. Sony partners with a cloud provider streaming PC versions of the games via a BYOG model, means in effect Sony PlayStation owners still get all ABK games (albeit cloud only unless MS makes native versions for PlayStation) for the next 10 years if the deal is approved and completed. All of this, without needing to ever once consider enabling some form of Game Pass on PlayStation.
Additionally, Sony could counter MS's 100% cut on MTX sales by simply increasing the revenue cut they take from ABK game sales on PlayStation, for example from the normal 30% cut to a higher 40% cut. There's no realistic scenario where MS would stop making native versions of all ABK games, and the big guns like COD will still get native releases. So those particular points stressed by Microsoft, are truthful. But it could also bite them if Sony took an avenue of increasing their cut on B2P sales of those games to offset MS's 100% gross on MTX purchases of cloud instances of ABK games on the platform.
It's just a bit funny realizing these implications now, because it really seems like the EC neutered Microsoft, and Microsoft accepted regardless just to get clearance in one of the big three regulatory markets. Basically, it's a soft, temporary divestiture on the cloud side of things, and it also circumvents some potential full foreclosures on the console side (i.e PlayStation) since MS's own policy mandates Day 1 on PC for all 1P games, and ABK would now fall under 1P, subjecting them to the same policy, and Sony having rather easy workarounds to secure at least cloud access of those games to PlayStation owners even if Microsoft began foreclosure of native releases of ABK games on Sony consoles during the 10-year time span.
I'm not saying any of this to somehow imply support or even opposition towards the deal FWIW, just to illustrate how the EC's approval isn't the big W some people were cheerleading for yesterday. A lot of them turned their anger towards the CMA's response, but they should probably actually redirect it towards the EC if they want to be blindly mad at a regulatory body. The EC basically made Microsoft its bitch in return for Microsoft saving face in the market getting one of the big three to approve their deal. And there is no way that is
not at least kind of hilarious
