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[64bitmodels]

SE is a big publisher

a big publisher who exclusively makes games for Playstation most of the time.

at least with Fromsoftware all of their Souls games went to PC with the exception of Bloodborne and Demons souls remake.

If sony gobbled up fromsoftware people would be angry, but if Square enix were acquired it'd be expected and unsurprising

 

[ChoosableOne]

I'm sad as a Gamepass owner, but happy as a gamer. Microsoft has to work harder to gain more market share, like using their own studios efficiently.

 

[Zheph]

a big publisher who exclusively makes games for Playstation most of the time.

This is simply not true unless you think only about their big AAA and even that its not only on PS

 

[DeepEnigma]

They still publish games just not those ones

Mainly on Sony consoles with PC scraps and a less than a handful of hand-me-downs to other platforms. They are not this massive third party publisher like they used to be.

They will just be mainly a FF factory going forward if they get swallowed up.

 

[Unknown?]

Ori is maybe the only example?

Rise of the Tomb Raider, GTA4 DLC, etc.

 

[TheGodfather07]

EU, please do everyone a favour and shut Activision and Microsoft the fuck up! It's so embarrassing. So far, 2 of the regulators want to block but they still think they can win? Are they fucking stupid or what? You know the saying, pride comes before the fall.

 

[SportsFan581]

Microsoft literally signed a deal to bring all of Activision's games to all cloud gaming providers, currently ZERO of them have access to those games.

no, its makes no sense

Not to mention the most well funded "cloud as a platform" provider launched so far literally died on the vine during the proceedings.

Plus, I don't see how they figure MS has such a big piece of the cloud gaming pie. I'm sure that the number of GP users utilizing cloud gaming every month is considerably smaller than the number of users utilizing Geforce Now, likely some more of the CMAs trademark math there.

Apparently MS didn't offer up an open licensing model for it, probably should have. Maybe the logistics of that just weren't feasible to them.

 

[ShaiKhulud1989]

I love how Microsoft employees are melting over this

Once again it is baffling how bad MS and ATVI PR stints at actually presenting the case to the governing bodies. The statement from CMA was a huge red cross written in a surprisigly clear language, fume around it all you want, the appeal almost 100% won't change the initial descision anyway due to the way CMA review process works. But those frankly childish statements from Kotick, Smith and Lulu are literally just like trying to extinguish oil fire with high octane gasoline.

 

[Spitfire098]

Yo this had not been a good couple of weeks for green rats

 

[SEGAvangelist]

Rise of the Tomb Raider, GTA4 DLC, etc.

I'm referring to games that come to Switch and not Xbox.

 

[Honey Bunny]

From the Polygon article today:

An Activision Blizzard spokesperson issued an even punchier, almost threatening response. “The CMA’s report contradicts the ambitions of the U.K. to become an attractive country to build technology businesses,” it said. “We will work aggressively with Microsoft to reverse this on appeal. The report’s conclusions are a disservice to U.K. citizens, who face increasingly dire economic prospects. We will reassess our growth plans for the U.K. Global innovators large and small will take note that - despite all its rhetoric - the U.K. is clearly closed for business.”

Wow!

This dire economic backwater is their 2nd largest market isnt it? What idiots.

 

[drganon]

Mainly on Sony consoles with PC scraps and a less than a handful of hand-me-downs to other platforms. They are not this massive third party publisher like they used to be.

They will just be mainly a FF factory going forward if they are not swallowed up.

Id still prefer they stay independent.

 

[Banjo64]

Once again it is baffling how bad MS and ATVI PR stints at actually presenting the case to the governing bodies. The statement from CMA was a huge red cross written in a surprisigly clear language, fume around it all you want, the appeal almost 100% won't change the initial descision anyway due to the way CMA review process works. But those frankly childish statements from Kotick, Smith and Lulu are literally just like trying to extinguish oil fire with gihh octane gasoline.

Working in partnership openly and honestly?

Acting like little children trying to force your way and having a tantrum?

 

[ToadMan]

Market not even open, it's going to the floor

Good time to buy though. This will get oversold now out of panic and negativity, but actually this is good news for ATVI. From a financial perspective they can go on to make more money from actually selling content rather than loss leading it on a sub service.

And who knows, maybe MS find a way to make an acquisition happen eventually and they end up buying at a premium.

 

[solidus12]

 

[BiohazardX95]

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.

While I agree that they should not Buy them I don't agree with the later statement about the Freedom as they have already Made games for Sony like demon's souls and bloodborne and those games are great.

 

[lefty1117]

Interesting ... so they're worried about the cloud gaming dominance. Then I would think the CMA has no concerns if MS wants to make a bid on EA or 2k. IN retrospect one of the things we heard months ago was the possibility of Activision divesting parts of the company to get the deal approved. Guess that was the signal all along. On one hand Sony will be happy about this (even though in the end their arguments had nothing to do with it), on the other hand now you've got a pissed company with 65 billion and a better understanding of what acquisitions will be allowed. Sony has been continuing to make acquisitions during this drama so I think the road ahead is clear for MS, if they want to take it.

 

[GMCamaro]

Cloud gaming

 

[Filthy Casual]

Good news. I don't care what the reasoning is, but I don't see any way in which a large publisher being brought out for $70 billion by a platform holder can be viewed as a positive development in the industry.

 

[BoxFresh123]

I'm calling BS. This is 100% on Lulu Cheng being annoying as fuck throughout this whole thing.

 

[kyoji]

the correct, and most impartial decision. who would have thought, letting a 3rd party remain and run their business as a 3rd party is the right thing?

 

[DeepEnigma]

Id still prefer they stay independent.

Agreed.

 

[Hugare]

Thats good. MS already has way too many studios to work with now that they have Bethesda.

And as show here, they would have killed cloud gaming.

Hopefully Sony will be scared to also buy studios instead of building their own

 

[IlGialloMondadori]

I'm calling BS. This is 100% on Lulu Cheng being annoying as fuck throughout this whole thing.

I think you're right on this.

UK was like, "Okay, you know what? Fuck this assclown. This your friend? Fuck you too, then."

 

[solidus12]

 

[BiohazardX95]

Interesting ... so they're worried about the cloud gaming dominance. Then I would think the CMA has no concerns if MS wants to make a bid on EA or 2k. IN retrospect one of the things we heard months ago was the possibility of Activision divesting parts of the company to get the deal approved. Guess that was the signal all along. On one hand Sony will be happy about this (even though in the end their arguments had nothing to do with it), on the other hand now you've got a pissed company with 65 billion and a better understanding of what acquisitions will be allowed. Sony has been continuing to make acquisitions during this drama so I think the road ahead is clear for MS, if they want to take it.

My Guess If they want to appeal they still cannot Buy Big companies, they have to throw this activision deal to the garbage first.

 

[ShaiKhulud1989]

Well, technically, it is closed in a way.

 

[Luigi Mario]

Did Lulu delete all her previous tweets related to this deal or am I overlooking them?

She’s in complete meltdown mode. She should probably stick to covering for Bobby “I will have you killed” Kotick.

 

[MikeM]

Me with a PS5: happy.

Me with PC gamepass: sad.

Me as an overall consumer and gamer: happy.

Suck it Kotick. Wait a while longer for your golden parachute.

Interesting that cloud was the issue and not the pure gaming IP side. The warriors are out on full force now lol wonder what kind of video Colt’s gonna put out now.

 

[Klosshufvud]

Reading the comments, I just realized the people who boast about "salt generated" are usually the saltiest motherfuckers themselves. I wonder what their reactions are now. You never see that, do you?

 

[GHG]

Ok didn't impact the stock opening too much, they're executing on all fronts except for Xbox which frankly isn't that important to their business

I do have to wonder about their dedication and future of it if this doesn't go through

It's already down over 9% and about half a percentage away from becoming short sale restricted for the day. Not much more downside is realistic for today unless some big players want to suddenly unload here (which is unlikely, they will probably wait for the opportunity on the next technical bounce).

 

[lefty1117]

My Guess If they want to appeal they still cannot Buy Big companies, they have to throw this activision deal to the garbage first.

Yep, either that or modify the deal to divest King or whatever is the "cloud" piece of AB. Though I'm guessing knowing that they had that behemoth's revenue coming in made it more palatable to sign the non-exclusivity agreements for COD. Without the full company that may not be such a sweet deal for them. Speculation of course. If it's really about bolstering the games catalog and buying up good IPs for future use, you would think they would be OK with divesting the cloud piece if that's what the holdup is. Failing that, turn attention back to making targeted acquisitions in the console/pc space.

 

[Rubik8]

I'm sad as a Gamepass owner, but happy as a gamer. Microsoft has to work harder to gain more market share, like using their own studios efficiently.

GamePass owner? Hate to break it to you but you own nothing. You are a renter.

 

[ToadMan]

From what I've read, people are vastly overestimating how plausible an appeal is.

Apparently the appeals authority (CAT) cannot review the merits of the case, only whether the conclusions comport with the law.

So if I'm reading this right, that this will create competition issues in cloud gaming is THE expression of the United Kingdom.

Yes this is correct.

MS can appeal on the basis the CMA has made procedural errors or acted "irrationally". And as was pointed out before, this is one of the reasons the CMA has been going through the various processes it has been going through - to dismiss suggestions of procedureal failures or irrationality in decision making.

However, even in the event the CAT agrees with MS, the net outcome is to get the CMA to review it's own decision again. And of course the result of that is the CMA agrees with it's first decision.

And then that's that - in the UK the CMA sets the law on behalf of government. It's underlying decsions cannot be appealed to a higher authority.

 

[Robbinhood]

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

Well its moot because MS isn't going anywhere, but just comparing the two console makers, I know which I'd rather lead the industry.

Still, all these companies are competing for your time first and foremost. Sony already has the majority of the "AAA" market, Xbox owners would in that case split among PC, PS, Switch and something else entirely.

 

[TheGodfather07]

The meltdown on era is delicious! Lol they were acting like experts throughout this whole thing. As usual they know FUCK ALL about anything. Twats. Now they are doubling down on the cma being biased to sony! Absolute pathetic bunch they are. It wasn't even blocked because of consoles!! What does sony have to do with it?

 

[SlimySnake]

I love how Microsoft employees are melting over this

80% Uk citizens buy their games on ps5 or PC. 65% on ps5. This deal would’ve forced Them to buy an Xbox that they clearly don’t want or upgrade to PC which can be more expensive. This protects consumer choice.

 

[poodaddy]

Genuinely surprising, it really seemed like it was going through. Oh well, doesn't affect me in any way. I find all the cheering and warrior stuff in this thread odd though. These companies don't care about any of us, it's odd how emotionally invested you guys are in them.

 

[James Sawyer Ford]

What wonderful and surprising news to wake up to

Consumers and gamers win.

 

[Heisenberg007]

Use my profile photo instead

 

[64bitmodels]

MS isn't going anywhere,

Don't be so sure about this, this block is a major arrow in the knee for them. At the very least Phil is not gonna have a good next 3 years of his career

 

[GHG]

The meltdown on era is delicious! Lol they were acting like experts throughout this whole thing. As usual they know FUCK ALL about anything. Twats.

They don't live in the real world at all. How a community manages to be wrong about absolutely everything in life with such profound consistency is beyond me, but that's the environment and echo-chamber they've created for themselves.

Let them rot.

 

[mansoor1980]

i must say i am shocked at this , i thought the deal will go through easily

 

[Fabieter]

SE is a big publisher

They are close to bungie in value.

 

[Heisenberg007]

It's already down over 9% and about half a percentage away from becoming short sale restricted for the day. Not much more downside is realistic for today unless some big players want to suddenly unload here (which is unlikely, they will probably wait for the opportunity on the next technical bounce).

ABK share? It's fine. It'll recover once Microsoft pays the $3 billion penalty to ABK. Free money for them.

 

[Captain Toad]

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.

Sony already owns a percentage of From and has had a close working relationship with them for years

 

[Torrent of Pork]

Good time to sweep in and pick up some ABK shares on the cheap before Tencent makes the offer.

 

[DeepEnigma]

 

[GHG]

ABK share? It's fine. It'll recover once Microsoft pays the $3 billion penalty to ABK. Free money for them.

Yeh I'm referring to Activision's stock.

The business fundamentals there remain intact with or without this deal, but looking at the volume of shares that have been accumulated since the deal was announced there's still some room to the downside still to go, just not today.

The people in this purely for the arbitrage opportunity will now want out.

Edit: and just as I say that it becomes SSR. Predominantly real sellers from here on out today.

 

[Unknown?]

Reminds me of when they bought Rare and thought they owned Donkey Kong.