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 .
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Not open for further replies.
TheDreadLord said:
Wow, I thought that no company wanted to extend its consumer base os lead its segment.
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You skipped the part where they are removing the largest userbase for these games like with Zenimax games.

More players? Oh, easy! Every Playstation owner will just buy an Xbox now! More players!
Learned people call these maneuvers "anti-consumer practices".
 
DeepEnigma said:
No, the CMA has new ammunition if CAT kicks it back, but...


And CAT has not kicked anything back yet this year to the CMA and found they did everything proper, so far...
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Ok I got it and yea I agree they have a lot more ammunition now. Do we know if they had access to all those emails? I think the email with Phil asking them to do everything they can to get around the minecraft contract was damning. I don't know how anyone see's Phil saying that and then turns around and accepts the contracts they are offering to these companies.
 
Solidus_T said:
It's really wild that he keeps up with this "more players" PR when the case revealed that his intentions are to take these games away from other platforms.
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Only one platform. This deal is just a solid part of the plan to take Sony out of the market.

Players who play cod will go where cod is and remember Sony didn't sign a 10 year deal. They can take cod out next year from ps.
 
Topher said:
Suddenly this thread is popular.

Happy Eddie Murphy GIF by Laff
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I will admit last couple of days I paid more attention to this thread waiting to see which way the ruling would go
 
mayham2199 said:
It would just seem weird for them to close the deal when they aren't allowed to and then try and argue their case in court against the CAT after having already disrespected the whole process.
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Only in the UK does the CMA have authority right? Surely they can't stop a merger in another country right?
 
Kilau said:
Nah, it's a done deal. The UK will find a way to as Brad just put it "creatively" come to a solution. This has all just been a side show while various entities take their pound of flesh. Move on and accept the new normal.
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I very much doubt it.

Only the other day a major Water company in the UK - nearly went bust after years of doing things wrong - and the Water regulator was the first people called out for failing to regulate them properly by MPs and news outlets.

The CMA has just expanded with a extra 250 staff in Manchester IIRC from the select committee meeting with the Head of the CMA just a month or so back. By the time the CMA have fined Microsoft for closing over them, they'll be opening offices in Glasgow and Swansea, Wrexham or Cardiff too IMO.
 
As for all the people hating the deal. We'll, Activision games aren't going anywhere. They already secured deals with Sony for years so COD isn't suddenly going to stop. As for how long it goes after the marketing deal is over who knows.

And besides games like COD and Diablo only sell to a small number of gamers in PS anyway. And the rest of Activisions heavy hitters are PC or mobile games which don't come to console anyway.

So in reality, it's a minor loss to gamers unless Ms cuts the cord 3 years from now and a gamer is a hardcore COD player. And the other big console game Diablo just released. So no gamer needs to think about Diablo 5 until probably the year 2033.
 
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I guess the real question here is... is this a net positive or negative for the gaming industry, competition and gamers overall?

When an industry cannibalises, it's almost never a good sign for consumers. Having only 1 or 2 providers for a service is a monopoly.

Interested to see how Sony intends to respond from a business/IP perspective. They can sell as many consoles as they like, but that doesn't matter when your opposition can literally do everything possible to shut down your operations.

Interesting times ahead...

We won't see the real impact of this until generation 10; so roughly 4.5 years from now.
 
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splattered said:
It's up to Sony to negotiate it though. Jim tried to go too hard demanding all of Bethesda and Activision games go to Playstation... he probably didn't think MS would even get to this point. If i were them i would have a serious sit down with Microsoft belly up to the bar trying to make this as advantageous for both parties as possible. Ball is nearly in their court...
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Again, there will be no negotiation. Did you forget about Zenimax already? The plan from the beginning was exclusivity. The only reason CoD would stay is because of how big it is and how much money it makes on PlayStation. For a while, anyways. They were already looking into how to make Minecraft exclusive. This isn't a matter of Sony playing nice. It never was.
 
Sanepar said:
Only one platform. This deal is just a solid part of the plan to take Sony out of the market.

Players who play cod will go where cod is and remember Sony didn't sign a 10 year deal. They can take cod out next year from ps.
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Only one platform that happens to be the biggest player base by a margin. More players though, right?
 
DeepEnigma said:
No, the CMA has new ammunition if CAT kicks it back, but...


And CAT has not kicked anything back yet this year to the CMA and found they did everything proper, so far...
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Just small businnes with nothing close like this deal. Ms has all the money and power like all big techs. It is over. Look to stock price. The deal is done.
 
This Court's responsibility in this case is narrow. It is to decide if, notwithstanding these current circumstances, the merger should be halted—perhaps even terminated—pending resolution of the FTC administrative action. For the reasons explained, the Court finds the FTC has not shown a likelihood it will prevail on its claim this particular vertical merger in this specific industry may substantially lessen competition. To the contrary, the record evidence points to more consumer access to Call of Duty and other Activision content. The motion for a preliminary injunction is therefore DENIED.
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Corley's ruling.
 
Topher said:
Suddenly this thread is popular.

Happy Eddie Murphy GIF by Laff
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And the people who are coming back after evaporating after the CMA's block are the ones who think that people will suddenly disappear. Funny that.

What they fail to realise is the fact that most of the discussion in this thread has not been juvenile mud-slinging.
 
Sanepar said:
Only one platform. This deal is just a solid part of the plan to take Sony out of the market.

Players who play cod will go where cod is and remember Sony didn't sign a 10 year deal. They can take cod out next year from ps.
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I doubt they take it out next year. But I fully expect them to announce the first next generation COD will be available only where Gameopass is.
 
Nydius said:
LOL at getting "infraction points" for a quasi-joking post that yet accurately predicted the meltdown that was coming. 🤣

I digress, here we are and the meltdown has commensed. Corleys decision was so thorough that anyone who thinks there will be an appeal is delusional. Not only did she point out that the FTC failed on every point, she told them they almost certainly wouldn't win a full hearing.

Guess I wasn't "gaslighting" after all, huh mods? But go ahead, rack up more points for this post too. 🤷‍♂️
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shes delusional to think that MS buying a gaming company worth 80% of Sony's ENTIRE market cap and 2x that of their playstation business is not anti-competitive.

This is basic economy 101 but this is America where we let shit like this go unchecked and have it blow up in our faces time and time again. See the Time Warner AT&T merger and the AOL and Time Warner merger back in the 2000s.

CMA was crucial in nvidia dropping its bid for ARM so hopefully they do the same here. The U.S sucks at this stuff and always sides with corporations.
 
Heisenberg007 said:
I was the one who quoted you and brought up Tuesday a few days ago.

But I have been thinking about it since then. Honestly, it could go either way, but logically, you would have the FTC or Microsoft to have the full 5 business days. That means the current timeline has already stretched it to July 18 EOD.

The alternative is weirder -- if they are counting the decision day as the 1st business day. In that scenario, what if the judge publishes her decision at 4 PM. FTC/MS will have only 1 hour of that business day to work on the appeal. That doesn't sound fair.
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They don't need to wait till a decision is made to work on what their next step is going to be, they likely have planned out their steps for either scenario.
 
Boom out of nowhere.

So much for my theory we were gonna be waiting.

And a reduced restraining period too. 🤣

Well - lets see. MS-ABK have Monday and Tuesday to close before the 18th deadline.

Will they, won't they?
 
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Sanepar said:
Only one platform. This deal is just a solid part of the plan to take Sony out of the market.

Players who play cod will go where cod is and remember Sony didn't sign a 10 year deal. They can take cod out next year from ps.
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CoD isn't going anywhere on platforms where it already exists. The deal makes zero financial sense when you take CoD exclusive.
 
StreetsofBeige said:
As for all the people hating the deal. We'll, Activision games aren't going anywhere. They already secured deals with Sony for years so COD isn't suddenly going to stop. As for how long it goes after the marketing deal is over who knows.

And besides games like COD and Diablo only sell to a small number of gamers in PS anyway. And the rest of Activisions heavy hitters are PC or mobile games which don't come to console anyway.

So in reality, it's a minor loss to gamers unless Ms cuts the cord 3 years from now and a gamer is a hardcore COD player. And the other big console game Diablo just released. So no gamer needs to think about Diablo 5 until probably the year 2033.
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I find it hard to believe that you honestly believe that with everything that's come out about the truth with Microsoft's handling of Bethesda
GHG said:
And the people who are coming back after evaporating after the CMA's block are the ones who think that people will suddenly disappear. Funny that.

What they fail to realise is the fact that most of the discussion in this thread has not been juvenile mud-slinging.
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at least it wasn't while they were gone
Vox Machina said:
CoD isn't going anywhere on platforms where it already exists. The deal makes zero financial sense when you take CoD exclusive.
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but the Bethesda deal did?
 
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I consider this part on page 20 to be remarkable:

"Although the Agreement allows either party to terminare the merger agreement if the transaction has not closed by July 18, 2023, and appears to obligate Microsoft to pay Activision a termination fee of $3 billion, the FTC did not file this action to preliminarily enjoin the merger until June 12, 2023-less than six weeks before the termination date. The Court related this action to a pending private antitrust action seeking to stop the merger."
 
The future of gaming is "You will own nothing, and you will be happy"

This is the future of the world in general. Your life will be rented.

Make no mistake, Microsoft wants a complete monopoly on game streaming. This is their ultimate goal. Unfortunately, streaming is the future.
The generation of gamers over the age of 25 is getting smaller, while the younger generation under the age of 25 is getting bigger and bigger. Gaming is getting bigger and bigger. More young people are gaming compared to older folks. This new and young generation – 25 and younger – are mostly all on board for streaming and their lives for rent.

Anywho... as I presumed... this generation would be my last of full investment. I may stream Elder Scrolls 6 when it releases in 2026 or 2027.

That's enough doom and gloom for today.
bill-gates-klaus-schwab.png
 
mansoor1980 said:
quick sony , buy take 2 , capcom and from software
also announce that bungie games will be ps console exclusive
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I'd rather nobody buy's anybody else.

After this regulatory shit-show I'd like to think all the majory players will think twice before attempting to purchase another large publisher, but who am I kidding?
 
Yonyx said:
I consider this part on page 20 to be remarkable:

"Although the Agreement allows either party to terminare the merger agreement if the transaction has not closed by July 18, 2023, and appears to obligate Microsoft to pay Activision a termination fee of $3 billion, the FTC did not file this action to preliminarily enjoin the merger until June 12, 2023-less than six weeks before the termination date. The Court related this action to a pending private antitrust action seeking to stop the merger."
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did the judge not pay attention at all as to why the FTC didn't file the action before then? 🤦‍♂️
 
Not surprised the US of A sucks when it comes to fighting big corps oh well I blame it more on gamers for supporting consolidation in the name of "gamepass" I think it's more shocking to not see pushback from the games media there's pretty much no debate on the ramifications of consolidation it's lazy journalism
 
adamsapple said:
Corley's ruling. To the contrary, the record evidence points to more consumer access to Call of Duty and other Activision content.
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lol shes completely delusional. MORE? does she really believe cod can run on a switch? i tried downloading Black Ops Cold War on PS+ last night and it required 312GB of space minimum. And thats just the space. good luck getting it to run even at 30 fps on a PS3 era hardware.

And if she's talking about the cloud, nothing was preventing MS from signing activision to a cloud contract. You dont have to buy a company for $70 billion to get their games on the cloud. 99% of the content on the cloud is third party.
 
splattered said:
It's up to Sony to negotiate it though. Jim tried to go too hard demanding all of Bethesda and Activision games go to Playstation... he probably didn't think MS would even get to this point. If i were them i would have a serious sit down with Microsoft belly up to the bar trying to make this as advantageous for both parties as possible. Ball is nearly in their court...
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He's just playing harball, as he should
 
This isn't a good deal at all for gamers in my opinion as someone who owns the both systems I am going to be fine.

Microsoft will eventually reduce the content over the next 10 years or more on Playstation. For those that say Sony will still get Call of Duty in what form? They will eventually make exclusive modes on Xbox exclusive weapons characters and etc this will slowly. All sudden no one cares about timed exclusives or exclusive content.

They will do this across all Activision games within the next 10 years. The fact that could not answer about Elder Scrolls 6 shows you the plan they have the Netflix of gaming has just begun
 
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GHG said:
I'd rather nobody buy's anybody else.

After this regulatory shit-show I'd like to think all the majory players will think twice before attempting to purchase another large publisher, but who am I kidding?
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I'm with you but if after all this Microsoft comes out with ABK, I don't see how they could stop Sony or even Nintendo from buying a smaller company

unless it somehow amounts to it's okay for one of the largest companies in the world to try to buy out their competition but you smaller companies just have to suffer
 
This will force Microsoft to buy out every other company because they just got the go-ahead now.

Phil is a liar, and he won't stick to those supposed agreements with the other platforms.
 
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