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

ToadMan

Member
This is peak loser mentality from jez. Somehow with a great ecosystem and 25 (?) first party studios they are back to square one. How about start with actually marketing your games or services instead of releasing the 30th custom controller.

I know right? Imagine working at an MS studio these days... People who are supposed to be fans of your output basically shitting on you like your work is worthless.
 

Honey Bunny

Member
Obviously very happy about this as anyone who didn't buy Activision shares should be, but now concerned MS is going to buy some actually good but smaller publishers instead. Wish we didn't have this 500 pound gorilla in the room with Sony and Nintendo. Spin off Xbox, Satya!
 
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Unknown?

Member
And that's different than sony going to every third party to remove games from xbox. Should we count the major studio games xbox and playstation lost in the last 5 years.
Those are mostly timed though, never permanent. That's why folk like you always jump on calling them timed.
 

Dane

Member
Remember when Sony bought Gaikai and Onlive like in 2011-12, what happened to it? Are we now punishing companies who decided to do something more?
 

mckmas8808

Mckmaster uses MasterCard to buy Slave drives
Does this mean Sony can go ALL OUT with their next showcase?

Show every damn moneyhat they have just to rub salt into the wound.

YES!!!!!!!!! This is literally what will happen next month. The timing couldn't have been better. Now, they are related, but the timing will be a chef's kiss.
 
Microsoft is not being punished, again, they are the third biggest company in the world, they own several monopolies where their position as market leader can not be disputed.
How can Sony take over cloud gaming when they do not have any cloud infrastructure?
Well, you don’t have cloud gaming only with the cloud infrastructure. Doesn’t matter if Sony will need to purchase cloud capacity from someone or build something from the ground. Sony doesn’t produce all the pieces of the PS5 and still is the market leader.
 

baphomet

Member
So from Brad Sams...apparently the deal isn't done, but it's in a bad spot. He states that Microsoft won't be able to get the deal to go through by June 30th, which means they will have to pay ABK $3 billion unless they renegotiate the deal.

My thing is this? After being blocked by the CMA, ABK is gonna be hurting at least in their stock, so essentially they have to decide whether to bet on the same horse again.

My question, does MSFT have an opportunity to address the regulatory concerns the CMA has in order to get the deal to go through?

No, they already had their chance to address their concerns. They were told behavioral remedies wouldn't be enough and they would need to divest.

That part is over. Microsoft refused, and it's blocked.
 
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Heisenberg007

Gold Journalism
And that's different than sony going to every third party to remove games from xbox. Should we count the major studio games xbox and playstation lost in the last 5 years.
Why just "major studios?"

Shall we count all the games since the console launch that were timed by both companies?
 
You’re not keen on reading, I suppose. It’s already been explained in here several times that MS’ SEC filings made it clear the merger needed approval of all four regulatory bodies to proceed. Which included the CMA.

CMA block = the end, barring an unlikely appeal in Microsoft’s favor. MS can’t just plow ahead and “ditch” the UK market, their second largest one behind the USA. And with this ruling put down by the CMA, it emboldens the EU and US FTC to also oppose it.

It’s dead.
You need to do more research. Other regulators are under ZERO obligation to comply with the UK. That is probably why you used the work "emboldens" rather than "obligates". Seems you are saying MS "wouldn't" or "shouldn't" just ditch the UK but that's your opinion. The fact is there I nothing legally stopping MS from choosing to leave the UK out in the cold and in fact, many insiders have said that this is the most likely course if the UK stands alone in opposing the merger. If this all happens, the UK would eventually dick tuck and endorse the merger bc the ppl of UK will not be happy with having to miss out on everything MS offers, possibly even windows. I would start learning Linux now if I were you, chap.
 

Heisenberg007

Gold Journalism


Ya think?

blake shelton shrug GIF by The Voice

Fake Surprised Season 8 GIF by Friends
 

DeepEnigma

Gold Member
You need to do more research. Other regulators are under ZERO obligation to comply with the UK. That is probably why you used the work "emboldens" rather than "obligates". Seems you are saying MS "wouldn't" or "shouldn't" just ditch the UK but that's your opinion. The fact is there I nothing legally stopping MS from choosing to leave the UK out in the cold and in fact, many insiders have said that this is the most likely course if the UK stands alone in opposing the merger. If this all happens, the UK would eventually dick tuck and endorse the merger bc the ppl of UK will not be happy with having to miss out on everything MS offers, possibly even windows. I would start learning Linux now if I were you, chap.
From my understanding, it was in the Activision/MS contract that all 4 major regions had to be unanimous for the deal to go through, that even if one said no, it was dead.
 
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Flutta

Banned
In that case, Microsoft only needs to strike a marketing deal w/ Game Pass to ensure that. An acquisition is absolutely not required.

If everybody starts thinking like that, there won't be any 3rd party left. The industry will be first party only.
You have to understand.. for Xbox fanboys it's not just about having games day one on GP... i believe they get a kick out of it when 3party games are not being released on PlayStation. Having games day one on GP is just to mask what they truly want. Fanboyism is a nasty business. :messenger_beaming:
 

Heisenberg007

Gold Journalism
You need to do more research. Other regulators are under ZERO obligation to comply with the UK. That is probably why you used the work "emboldens" rather than "obligates". Seems you are saying MS "wouldn't" or "shouldn't" just ditch the UK but that's your opinion. The fact is there I nothing legally stopping MS from choosing to leave the UK out in the cold and in fact, many insiders have said that this is the most likely course if the UK stands alone in opposing the merger. If this all happens, the UK would eventually dick tuck and endorse the merger bc the ppl of UK will not be happy with having to miss out on everything MS offers, possibly even windows. I would start learning Linux now if I were you, chap.
Lol @ the idea of Microsoft leaving UK because of this.
  • What happens to all existing Xbox console users in the UK who have already bought the hardware?
  • What happens to all Microsoft Window users in the UK?
  • What happens to all the UK companies and customers who use Azure?
  • What happens to UK Game Pass users who have 3 years of Game Pass left?
lmao. The cope is real.
 

Jigsaah

Gold Member
It was in the Activision/MS contract that all 4 major regions had to be unanimous for the deal to go through, that even if one said no, it was dead.
So basically the only way this could happen is if Microsoft and ABK restructure the deal....excluding the UK....or appeal the decision successfully.

Both situations seem very unlikely.
 
You need to do more research. Other regulators are under ZERO obligation to comply with the UK. That is probably why you used the work "emboldens" rather than "obligates". Seems you are saying MS "wouldn't" or "shouldn't" just ditch the UK but that's your opinion. The fact is there I nothing legally stopping MS from choosing to leave the UK out in the cold and in fact, many insiders have said that this is the most likely course if the UK stands alone in opposing the merger. If this all happens, the UK would eventually dick tuck and endorse the merger bc the ppl of UK will not be happy with having to miss out on everything MS offers, possibly even windows. I would start learning Linux now if I were you, chap.
Why am i back in aol 90s chatrooms
 
Good. Would have been bad for the industry as a whole. Ms has plenty of ips and studios already that they need to focus on making exceptional. They are being extremely lazy and just want to buy their spot to first instead of actually completing. Standard ms practice sadly.
It's true. Not even a hater, MS is just boring/embarrassing at this point.

They're a gadfly when it comes the big three.
 
Hes going to be really sad .. his plans to bring all the games to all the people in the most benevolent action taken on the video game space was blocked ...
I was one of the people who wanted the deal to go through. But honestly purely out of self fish reasons like WoW and Diablo/Blizzard titles for Game Pass. Would have been amazing, do not care for CoD personally. Another reason was because of the internet and Twitter drama, the memes and everything would just be legendary.

Regardless, I am not upset/angry it didn't go through. It sounded insane from the start and was very hard to believe.
I don't think their appeal will go through tbh
 

Skifi28

Member
You need to do more research. Other regulators are under ZERO obligation to comply with the UK. That is probably why you used the work "emboldens" rather than "obligates". Seems you are saying MS "wouldn't" or "shouldn't" just ditch the UK but that's your opinion. The fact is there I nothing legally stopping MS from choosing to leave the UK out in the cold and in fact, many insiders have said that this is the most likely course if the UK stands alone in opposing the merger. If this all happens, the UK would eventually dick tuck and endorse the merger bc the ppl of UK will not be happy with having to miss out on everything MS offers, possibly even windows. I would start learning Linux now if I were you, chap.
Any money Microsoft gets from gaming is peanuts compared to windows, service subscriptions and contracts with large companies and probably even the government. Are you really suggesting they would leave all that behind for a gaming deal in the UK of all countries?
 

Griffon

Member
Oh yes, green rat tears, good flavor


Holy shit, Britain just saved the whole industry, or just about. I didn't expect such a great news today.

I hope this also tones down any such similar plan that Sony could have had. No more massive publisher consolidations. Make good games with the studios you have or GTFO.
 
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No it just holds the cloud market stagnant until sony puts its games on cloud day 1 and have a monopoly there. Sony now gets to wait until it profitable to take the market. It would be no different than the cma to hold netflix down until the major players wanted in the game. Your punishing those early to a market trying to establish it. Rewarding those who are late to the market on their own accord.

Except, Netflix had (and have) nowhere near the financial might of MS...While they did innovate and blazed the trail, others have been able to close the gap rapidly because of, you guessed it, gobbling up major IPs left and right (Disney). In the scenario that MS inhabits, it would be like if a Disney on steroids were to go first after acquiring some mega entities, with Netflix expected to compete at some point in the future...
 
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THE DUCK

voted poster of the decade by bots
It's true. Not even a hater, MS is just boring/embarrassing at this point.

They're a gadfly when it comes the big three.

Lol, silly post.

I wish ms would not appeal and just move on, they could buy dozens of companies or start selling $199 series X machines, or launch a hybrid handheld at $199 for the cash they are throwing around.......
 

sankt-Antonio

:^)--?-<
Good. MS is to big to begin with. More 3rd party publishers is good for the consumer. EU will follow this decision.
UK saved the ARM chip market from NVIDIA's price gouging and now this.

Apple's walled garden and Lightning connector next.
 
Any money Microsoft gets from gaming is peanuts compared to windows, service subscriptions and contracts with large companies and probably even the government. Are you really suggesting they would leave all that behind for a gaming deal in the UK of all countries?
They would not be leaving anything behind for any meaningful period of time. They would scare the shit out the the UK regulators and the they would have no choice but to comply. Also, you are seriously overestimating the value of the UK market. MS is an American company. Losing the business of the UK for a few months would be like losing the state of Louisiana for a few months. It's just not that big of a deal.
 

Flutta

Banned
Console fan boys glad that the opposite company toke a L.

I personally don't give fuck about consoles, they are inferior gamming plataform anyways, but I was hopping that Microsoft would put Activision Blizzard on the tracks again... Their last games/wow expansions have been a shit show.

Even now that this wow expansion is somewhat playable the game is in such pay to win state that is deplorable.
You can't be serious? How will MS manage to do that exactly? I mean you don't have to dig deep to have an idea on how MS is managing their own studios and IP's...

MS didn't try to acquire AKB because they were in "trouble" or needed "help". They wanted an easy way to victory nothing more nothing less.
 

Thirty7ven

Banned
You need to do more research. Other regulators are under ZERO obligation to comply with the UK. That is probably why you used the work "emboldens" rather than "obligates". Seems you are saying MS "wouldn't" or "shouldn't" just ditch the UK but that's your opinion. The fact is there I nothing legally stopping MS from choosing to leave the UK out in the cold and in fact, many insiders have said that this is the most likely course if the UK stands alone in opposing the merger. If this all happens, the UK would eventually dick tuck and endorse the merger bc the ppl of UK will not be happy with having to miss out on everything MS offers, possibly even windows. I would start learning Linux now if I were you, chap.

Microsoft will leave UK just for you baby. Don’t worry.

You matter.
 
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