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Microsoft / Activision deal prevented to protect innovation and choice in cloud gaming

it's the stance Activision has chosen it seems

nPZqg2T.jpg


again another spicy last quote :messenger_grinning_sweat:
It's a bad call to threaten to throw hands with a country because you couldn't get your bonus from a merger.
 

Fabieter

Member
Sony already uses Azure. So I don't see why they couldn't just continue paying Microsoft to use it. They blocked this assuming that I GUESS Sony is going to build its own cloud infrastructre (yeah right). Sony will never be able to afford to build anything rivaling Azure.

Afaik they dropped the azure deal month ago and went with amazon. Yea you are right they couldn't. There like 5 to 10 companys worldwide that do so. So what was your point again?
 

Noxxera

Banned
we aren’t just talking about the past few years when we say stuff like that, it’s going all the way back to 2008 when Phil Spencer took over as the head of Xbox Game Studios, it’s been a problem for Xbox since after the first half of the 360 gen (they knocked it out of the park those first few years)
Ahh okay I see, well I don't mind if he gets replaced but he seems like a chill dude at least. Maybe bad at his job but yeah I'm all for it if another will run Xbox better.
 

Thirty7ven

Banned
So we should cripple Microsoft's ability to expand their games portfolio while we give Sony time to sit there and build up their cloud gaming infrastructure so Sony can have the best games, the best cloud, and the best console. While Microsoft just closes the Xbox division. Yeah, makes sense.

Punish Microsoft for already having cloud infrastructure while giving Sony a chance to get it so Microsoft can never compete/use their advantage. I see now.

Uh? MS is running laps around Sony on Cloud. They bought a bunch of studios, a publisher and they bought a bunch of big storied IP. They have the manpower, the financial means, the IP and the incentive to compete.

Basically what you are saying is that MS's gaming division is run by hacks, but they can fix that if they want to. How about you keep demanding them to come up with good product instead of buying the audience? Demand more, have some respect for yourself. MS isn't a little leaguer.
 
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graywolf323

Member
Ahh okay I see, well I don't mind if he gets replaced but he seems like a chill dude at least. Maybe bad at his job but yeah I'm all for it if another will run Xbox better.
I think Phil has been mostly fine as the head of Xbox as a whole since taking over from Mattrick in 2014, but how Booty still has the job as the head of XGS since then I don’t understand
 

Zheph

Member
I guess I stand corrected on her putting the keyboard down. But I don’t think this is a smart route for the company at large either. Perhaps I’m wrong though and investors love threats to slow down enterprise because someone said no to one thing.
Completely agree but they took another road just like timdog who is having a proper meltdown
 
They're going to take the money from this failed acquisition and put it elsewhere. I'd just about bet on it. It won't go to Xbox division. Xbox will be on a path to death if they don't start coming up with some serious innovations soon.
Acquisitions was basicly how Xbox ask for money from head office. Instead of saying they need money, Xbox say they want to buy an asset. And MS agreed to it because arguably if you buy something worth 70 billion, your asset profile didn't change. You spent 70billion, you get something worth 70 billion that you can sell later.

But asking for 10 billion to develop 1st party games means you spent 10 billion but getting unproven gaming IP and assets that might not worth that much if you mess up. That makes it much harder to get the funding.
 

Saber

Member
If I’m Sony, I announce a move to buy T2 and FromSoftware today.

Like hell I would be in favor of this crap.
I may be against this stupidity of Microsoft throwing huge tons of money to win the market. But no way I would agree with Sony buying Fromsoftware. It would be disgusting to see the changes they would make to the company and the games, FromSoftware artistic freedom is better off without Sony ruining them.
 
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FrankWza

Member
If I’m Sony, I announce a move to buy T2 and FromSoftware today.
When the AB deal was announced a lot of people thought Sekiro would be included and were celebrating.
Better this way though. Taking away games permanently isn't good for anyone. Create and cultivate. Make your own exclusives.
 

Robbinhood

Banned
PlayStation gamer's will be really happy when all the benefits of having competition disappear. Like how you got PS+ catalogue because of Game Pass. or how the PlayStation network came to exist because Sony needed to match Xbox Live. Can't wait for PlayStation to enjoy a monopoly of zero innovation because they don't have to innovate because they're the only option for a powerful home console.

Or how the IP's would die if Microsoft completely exits gaming (unlikely). There's a slim chance that there is never another Fallout or Elder Scrolls game made, ever.
Gaming is in better hands with Playstation as we seen in the last 30 years with them as the leader. Healthy Japanese market, games being made in a free market with competition and non egregious practices. Things just work.

When MS was briefly commanding the market....you had a shift to Kinect, introduction of paid online and microtransactions and their attempt to remove the physical media. Imagine they bought Activision, they wouldn't stop there. They are usually destructive when being aggressive. MS isn't going anywhere but if they did, Sony would still be competing with Nintendo and mobile/PC. Competition wouldn't die.

For a normal company, selling 50-60 million of consoles in a generation of 6-7 years should be profitable. The console online store take 30% of any games or DLC sold there. It's a very comfortable position to be in. A lot of companies would buy the position MS is currently at.

It's just that Microsoft is greedy and does not want to waste time earning less than a billion for a division (profit). Gaming does not make sense for them unless it's earning (profiting) 10 billion and cornering the market. That's why they want to monopolize the market.
This is a fantastic point. MS wants to dominate the market or they have little interest in it.
 

64bitmodels

Reverse groomer.
Sony would still be competing with Nintendo and mobile/PC. Competition wouldn't die.
not really, Nintendo, mobile and PC are completely different sections or the market. sony would have the powerful AAA console section entirely to themselves
if Microsoft goes third party Valve's gotta take their place
 
they should do it
remove future windows versions from UK computers and remove Xbox entirely. That'll force companies to make linux versions of their products and use more open source software since Windows is missing from a gigantic market
Actually, when you put it like that, yeah, it's actually probably a good idea.
 

Heisenberg007

Gold Journalism
Would get blocked
Would it?

The CMA determined that even removing COD (the biggest game ever) wouldn't affect competitor consoles. How would that apply to GTA then?

Remember, the CMA removed the console SLC. They blocked it because Microsoft has a 70% share of the cloud gaming market. Sony has only a 20% market share 😄 They can easily frame it as a tool to increase their cloud gaming market share, and it will likely get approved lol.
 

LQX

Member
This seems like such a cop-out in that blocking it in any other way did not make much sense. Moreover, if anything Sony and Nintendo just do not take cloud gaming that seriously for there to be much competition. Sony had the foresight but has mostly regulated it to old games.
 
I don't like MS buying ChatGPT but it is what it is. I don't want MS's hands in AI industry as I don't want it to turn into a Windows situation again. But if that's what will keep Nadella to look away from the gaming industry then I'd rather have him have it and leave gaming alone.

Well it's better as they will have to fight another mega-corp in Google in the AI space. I don't think they will run away with that market as a result but it does require $BILLIONS to compete in. It costs $700,000 a day to run Chat GPT apparently.

So hopefully this expenditure will keep resources away from gaming and stop them trying to buy everything.
 

Banjo64

cumsessed
“The deal would reinforce Microsoft’s advantage in the market by giving it control over important gaming content such as Call of Duty, Overwatch, and World of Warcraft. The evidence available to the CMA indicates that, absent the merger, Activision would start providing games via cloud platforms in the foreseeable future.

The cloud allows UK gamers to avoid buying expensive gaming consoles and PCs and gives them much more flexibility and choice as to how they play. Allowing Microsoft to take such a strong position in the cloud gaming market just as it begins to grow rapidly would risk undermining the innovation that is crucial to the development of these opportunities.”


Sounds like MS knew Bobby was going to put his games on cloud services at some point and said nope thats our playground and we dont want to compete against abk in cloud so we will just buy yall for a ludicrous amount of cash.
MS was trying to buy out a future cloud competitor and the biggest one at that, then use its library to dictate to smaller cloud platforms. This would have absolutely killed cloud gaming imo.

Good fucking work cma.

MS after the console concerns were dropped thought the cma was feeling them and decided to offer the least they could offer for cloud remedies as a result, and the cma even called them out on that general demeanor also.
MS fangs came out once Sony was no longer an issue and the cma saw that ugly, hideous beast finally revealed, with blood dripping from its mouth and decided the best thing to do was to slew this beast and put its carcass out on display in the town center.
God bless internal documents - they never lie.
 
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