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[Fbh]

Didn't expect this, though I guess they can still appeal.

Personally I feel mixed about this.
On the one hand I don't like this push the industry is having towards consolidation so this is good. On the other hand if the deal falls through it opens up budget for MS to buy devs/publishers I actually care about which would suck.

 

[bentanchorbolt]

I can't help but feel like if either Amazon or Google had a good business model for cloud gaming the concerns would have been lessened. Stadia didn't fail because MS or nVidia dominated them -- they failed because their business model was bad and they offered consumers a product with low confidence for success. Buying games to exclusively play on the cloud, when most gamers already have a PC or console at home therefore access to better versions of the game, it just doesn't make sense.

 

[diffusionx]

Good to know the CMA declined to probe Apple cloud gaming when it mattered and CAT upheld Apple's appeal. Now the CMA over corrected with ABK IMO, appeals will be interesting.

You should read the article. That was an appeal on procedural grounds, stating that the CMA had no right to investigate. This would be an appeal of a CMA decision, one that came after an investigation all agree they had the right to undertake.

 

[lucbr]

So, according to the CMA, microsoft dominates the PC market, with Windows, and already dominates the cloud gaming market, considered the market of the future. It is a monopoly.

On the other hand, unlike what is said here, to have reached so high, Microsoft is far from being this inefficient and terrible company. On the contrary, seens the most innovative. If anyone is transforming the industry, for better or worse, it's Microsoft.

 

[thicc_girls_are_teh_best]

How gross are these corpos, trying to instill fear that UK citizens are going to suffer because of this, give me a fucking break with these threats.

No golden parachute for Lulu today...

 

[Raziel]

MS really tried to buy COD

 

[mansoor1980]

 

[Ozzy Onya A2Z]

This boogie man being propagated by the PR/fanatic channels was always so silly. But with that said, Tencent doesn't compete in the console/platform business. 40% is not a controlling share, and their investments remain third party for all gamers to enjoy.

And yet R reksveks posted about Tencent ramping up international investments over Chinese mainland ones. Tencent has an MO of small investments that ramp up to just below regulatory radar.

If you're more for Chinese state owned control of gaming I cannot say I agree with that. Look what the CCP did recently putting 14,000 devs/studios out of business with their gaming clamp down.

 

[Thirty7ven]

This boogie man being propagated by the PR/fanatic channels was always so silly. But with that said, Tencent doesn't compete in the console/platform business. 40% is not a controlling share, and their investments remain third party for all gamers to enjoy.

CHINA BAD CHINA COMING CHINA CHINA

 

[ToTTenTranz]

Damn, I honestly thought this was going thru.

Interesting that it boiled down to Microsoft's position in Cloud that was the road block and not console gaming. The CMA's public statements were pretty eye opening, as to what they had fears over... it wasn't the console space, it was the mobile/cloud gaming space.

It could be that this was the CMA's way to guarantee they wouldn't get accused of favoring Sony, which is what's happening to the FTC right now.

 

[NeonDelta]

Was looking forward to playing previous cod single player campaigns through game pass for pc. Oh well.

 

[DryvBy]

It should be illegal to block acquisitions based on hypothetical future situations. They assume cloud gaming is going to take off in popularity and they assume that Sony won't have infrastructure to compete with Microsoft by the time that happens. Dumb decision all around.

Really bad news for Xbox. Will only slow sales down more. Not looking good. Good chance people will look back on this as CMA killing the Xbox brand.

Let's test this belief.

Sony should be allowed to buy Activision now. Do you agree?

 

[Ozzy Onya A2Z]

The appeal that Apple won was for an investigation. We are well past that stage in this process.

It does highlight a potential appeal argument based on CMA asleep on Apple and over correcting with ABK/MS. Possible argument is what I was getting at, not the stage comparison.

Just looking at possible moves MS could chase after, as they're on comms saying they're appealing.

 

[drganon]

 

[thicc_girls_are_teh_best]

Yeah, that money will be spent elsewhere. But I’m thinking more if this is dead for sure? Will they try to fight this?

And what happens to ABK? If this fails they’re still looking for a buyer I assume, so will they be forced to sell off parts instead of the entire business?

I guess it depends on how serious MS are about that mobile storefront. Because I can guarantee, they aren't reinvesting $69 billion into the Xbox division. That is NOT happening; ABK presented a unique opportunity, that's why they were willing to spend that amount of money, and Xbox would've been one of the beneficiaries of that purchase.

This IMO puts even more pressure on Starfield later this year, it's going to be a litmus test to see if Xbox is worth pursuing as-is or if they need to make some significant changes to its business structure to justify keeping it around. And I've already given thoughts on what those changes could look like in the past.

It does highlight a potential appeal argument based on CMA asleep on Apple and over correcting with ABK/MS. Possible argument is what I was getting at, not the stage comparison.

Just looking at possible moves MS could chase after, as they're on comms saying they're appealing.

But if anything the CMA overcorrected to MS/ABK's favor with the update to their original PF. This block is due to cloud concerns, which never went away, and clearly MS's 10-year deals weren't enough to dissuade the cloud concerns which were always there.

 

[mansoor1980]

 

[DeepEnigma]

And yet R reksveks posted about Tencent ramping up international investments over Chinese mainland ones. Tencent has an MO of small investments that ramp up to just below regulatory radar.

If you're more for Chinese state owned control of gaming I cannot say I agree with that. Look what the CCP did recently putting 14,000 devs/studios out of business with their gaming clamp down.

And? I am not a fan of the CCP like anyone else, but as long as it's not a controlling stake, then that shit happens. Just like American companies and Japanese companies, etc, etc, all have foreign non controlling investments in companies that are in other countries.

Once again, Tencent's interests are not of playing takeaway, while effectively making their console competition smaller on the backs of daddy's money for their own failures for 20+ years, they love that third party revenue.

 

[TheDarkPhantom]

Congratulations MS, now you get the opportunity to actually do something with all the studios you've gobbled up (and mismanaged) and finally *compete*. Pro-tip: stop relying on HALO, Gears and Forza as you've done *every single gen* and actually try to innovate and give the industry new IP of the highest quality, 5 generations of PlayStation supremacy should have given you an inkling of how it's done.

Oh, and fire the used car salesman whose only real talent is delivering empty promises

 

[Rubim]

Let's test this belief.

Sony should be allowed to buy Activision now. Do you agree?

Not because of current console market.

 

[XXL]

I'm thinking there is going to be a big shake up at Xbox.

With this and the rate they are getting outsold by, things have to change. It will be interesting to see what happens.

Also, the full weight of the world is now resting on Starfields shoulders.

 

[MatrixReloaded101]

It was a good run, thanks for the memories Xbox

 

[MasterCornholio]

God damn.

Xbox as a brand is in real trouble.

 

[zomboden]

Let's test this belief.

Sony should be allowed to buy Activision now. Do you agree?

No because they are the market leader

 

[Graciaus]

Pathetic. If it was Sony that bought them no one would care.

 

[oldergamer]

They said they're going to appeal to CAT but at this point their chances are super low if not zero.
This will also give fuel to the FTC case.

It won't help the FTC case. There is already pressure on the FTC to not pursue blocking it due to Sony's market share alone.

 

[VAVA Mk2]

Let's test this belief.

Sony should be allowed to buy Activision now. Do you agree?

Sony doesn't have enough cash on hand to buy it.

 

[a multicultural team of v]

No because they are the market leader

Sony is the leader in cloud gaming?

 

[Represent.]

Yeah and like 20 of those are indie studios. Sure gonna compete against Last of Us Part 3 etc with another Ori game. LMAO idiot. Personally I couldn't give less of shit about CoD. I want the purchase to go through so we hopefully can see some great blizzard games being made. I must be clueless af thinking blizzard will improve if the purchase go through right?

You’re here championing a company that has 23 studios and still struggles to deliver. They are the idiots. Your anger is misplaced.

They just bought fucking Bethesda. They have more than just indie studios. Get real. If you can’t deliver with 23 studios then the problem is management. More studios under their belt won’t change anything if the are all poorly managed.

Eat what’s on your plate before you go and order more food. Simple

 

[Pelta88]

 

[DeepEnigma]

Pathetic. If it was Sony that bought them no one would care.

 

[solidus12]

I Hope he’s still breathing

 

[TheDreadLord]

Tbh, CMA’s argument is pretty dumb. Almost sounds like they have no clue what they were deciding about.

 

[Dick Jones]

I'm impressed that no one is banned yet today.

 

[DeepEnigma]

Sony doesn't have enough cash on hand to buy it.

Which goes to show you the issue in the industry with an acquisition such as this. Thanks for adding to the reasons MS should not be allowed to buy the largest 3rd party publisher in the world. A publisher that has a larger market cap than Nintendo and 2/3 or more of the cap than the entirety of Sony itself.

 

[GHG]

Was looking forward to playing previous cod single player campaigns through game pass for pc. Oh well.

Well the good thing is you can still play them on PC. And the better news, you won't even need to suffer the windows store in order to do so.

 

[Three]

And yet R reksveks posted about Tencent ramping up international investments over Chinese mainland ones. Tencent has an MO of small investments that ramp up to just below regulatory radar.

If you're more for Chinese state owned control of gaming I cannot say I agree with that. Look what the CCP did recently putting 14,000 devs/studios out of business with their gaming clamp down.

So why doesn't a US company like MS just invest in 40% of shares? Wouldn't that be great? Money invested in ABK and possible non-exclusive partnerships for cloud.
Oh right, then they can't use ABK to fuck up the market for other ecosystems without a controlling stake.

 

[mckmas8808]

It’s hard to build up good studios if diversity hiring is more important than to actually hire talent. Go woke, go broke.

We don't have to do that baiting in this thread. A diverse talent pool does exist on planet Earth.

 

[GeoramA]

Let's test this belief.

Sony should be allowed to buy Activision now. Do you agree?

And risk owing $3 billion to ABK once it gets blocked, like MS does now?

I can see Sony investing in them, to keep the marketing deal going.

 

[mansoor1980]

this just gets better and better

 

[MDSLKTR]

Please can someone make sure this Xbox “journalist” doesn’t hurt himself?

 

[diffusionx]

I'm actually impressed that they saw through MS' bullshit on that.

 

[thicc_girls_are_teh_best]

What publishers have they bought? Sony buys small companies and Microsoft already have more developers and much larger workforce with Bethesda.

Well, they bought Psygnosis back in 1993 before the PS console brand even existed, but somehow a purchase 30 years ago is exactly the same as MS buying ABK after being a platform holder for 20+ years.

Also Bungie are technically a publisher, but IIRC that was very recent after ending the publishing contract with ABK for Destiny 2. And they only publish one game, anyway.

 

[zomboden]

Sony is the leader in cloud gaming?

This is disingenuous. Cloud gaming is an accessory to Xbox Game Pass. You can play PS4/PS3 games in the cloud right now with the PS+ catalogue too. You can’t buy games and then play them without a console on either platform.

Sony is the console market leader by a country mile it’s not even close and most people don’t care about cloud gaming

 

[DeepEnigma]

Well the good thing is you can still play them on PC. And the better news, you won't even need to suffer the windows store in order to do so.

The Russian roulette Windows store that may or may not require you to reformat Windows itself when it messes up? Thank fuck, what a piece of shit that is.

 

[Unknown?]

I'm thinking there is going to be a big shake up at Xbox.

With this and the rate they are getting outsold by, things have to change. It will be interesting to see what happens.

Also, the full weight of the world is now resting on Starfields shoulders.

Get rid of Aaron Greenberg, Major Nelson, and Spencer!

Phil thought 2015 was the best lineup in Xbox history. He actually agreed with the BS PR because they had three exclusives the whole year with one being timed.

 

[drganon]

I'm impressed that no one is banned yet today.

I said it earlier, but the guys who were really bragging about this going through and would probably get banned have been completely absent.

 

[jm89]

FTC will probably kick them balls for the same reason and hopefully we get leaks from some of the docs the FTC requested.

 

[solidus12]

Holy shit Colt’s twitter timeline is a treasure mine



It is over indeed

 

[Tams]

Anyway, fuck I should have bought Sony yesterday.

 

[Skifi28]

The Russian roulette Windows store that may or may not require you to reformat Windows itself when it messes up? Thank fuck, what a piece of shit that is.

Don't remind me, I'm not touching this shit ever again. Powering on the PC and wondering if Forza7 and Gears4 would work today or not.