Yes, if we get to that point then whats to stop China or another entity with political ambitions from just blocking every acquisition and imposing massive fines if consumated.
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Stopping doing business in the UK is one of the options though. A completely legitimate option. The only reason people are saying itâs not be is because of how important they are. Iâm sorry but that shouldnât be yet another thing thatâs used against them.
I donât believe for a second that MS would leave the UK. I donât even think there will be a carve up or similar but MS does not need to operate in a country they find hostile to them if they donât want to.
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To me, this shows Microsoft is still very confident. They know that one way or another, this acquisition is going through.
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Timing or not, pulling this now is a great exhibit for the appeal case as to say âMicrosoft wasnât lying after all.â
Iâm very excited to see them continuing to pour evidence out there to show they are doing what they say. They dont delay, they just get things done and then point to them when someone says aomething stupid like that.
Hard to argue theoretical when theres evidence to the contrary.
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Didnât noticed. So cloud gaming isnât Skynet after all, CMA.
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When your biggest competitor (Steam) on the platform you supposedly dominate (Windows) says that they trust you to the point that they decline an offer to sign a legally binding contract, itâs hard to argue in good faith that youâre untrustworthy. 
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CMA:
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I doubt the FTC or CMA will magically gain intelligence and update their stance to allow the deal. That said it seems they will either,
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Battle it to the end and drag it out for as long as possible (and loose)
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Come to terms and let the deal pass but get some sort of concession prize (already taken mostly by the EC)
If someone is to crack first I think itâll be the FTC, theyve gone the admin court route & are likely up first and can even be closed over. Either way whoever clears first has the victory of not being the stand alone fool.
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If they bring support for MS store doesnât that open up Game Pass basically.
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What are some things that people believe the CMA failed to take into account regarding the financial incentive to foreclose content on other cloud gaming services?
They obviously never considered that they were too eager to proof their sovereignty from the EU, looking for a way to boast on the global scale. According to Hoeg it seems they didnât even do any work on the cloud SLC but just used the console model and a future probability. They probably never considered how important this deal was for Microsoft.
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Reality mostly.
Like Microsoft could have killed the iPod and subsequent follow-up products just by not letting early day iTunes work properly on Windows⌠Applying the same OS logic Apple and Android do today. Same with Android or Macs in schools and offices. No MS office support DOA for mass market back when they were trying to get going.
Like the last 20th years of Microsoftâs corporate existence is basically a tale of being unwilling to use their products and size to kill competitors or even actively supporting them. In a way thatâs nearly unprecedented on any other mass market platform.
But weâre all supposed to believe the MS that wouldnât go to war with Android and iOS while they basically decimated Windows in the home PC arena is raring to go with Sony or Boosteroid over Xbox xCloud subs? Please. Lol. Microsoft would (I suspect) much rather sell games and support to companies to create âXbox Liveâ style services and development tools then go to war with PlayStation.
Personally Iâm not willing to ignore a couple decades of corporate strategy and behaviour because of the Netscape incident. Especially when what they were accused of with Netscape is basically a matter of course no brainer in todays world.
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I wonder how long Microsoft is actually willing to let it play out. At some point Is imagine they just close over the FTC.
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Like it says they will try before the outside date. They will obviously need to know if Activision is interested in going beyond the deadline. If Activision during a renegotiation decides to walk after that date then Microsoft will have to close the deal regardless of the UK and US. I have a feeling the UK will give in very quickly. This deal will close this year.
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They keep screwing up the math for one thing, they are counting every Gamepass users as a cloud user to show that MS has this huge head start in cloud gaming where this does not exist. Cloud gaming is still a beta and MS has said only a small number of Gamepass users actually use cloud gaming. If the CMA looked at the actual number of cloud users for Xbox they would see it is a small percentage and MS does not have some huge monopoly in cloud gaming.
Also the CMA refuses to even consider that MS has signed HUGE deal with nearly every cloud gaming 3rd party to provide their games to those services along with a free open license to any new cloud gaming vendors that would want to allow Xbox games on their service.
The CMA screwed up the math on the Console SLC and had to backtrack but they kept those conclusions with the Console SLC and tried to make them fit the Cloud SLC but the numbers do not work their either and MSâs license agreements neuter any idea of MS being able to foreclose other cloud providers.
The EU correctly saw Cloud gaming as an added feature and NOT as a completely new platform that the CMA are trying to pigeon hole Cloud gaming in.
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The fact that the CMAs market share numbers are massively different than the rest of the worlds, even according to sonys rivals, is probably a nail in the coffin for their argument. When a very biased, Sony backed lawsuit still claims MS has 30% less of the overall market share than the CMA does, thatâs a huuugggggeeeee error
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The deal will probably closes. How is the only question and what are the repercussions of it. Regulators have to save face and also show they are not integrist activists (good luck Khan with that).
If MS closes against the regulators, it will show they are powerless and irrelevant, which is bad. If the deal is blocked on vague and unproven reasoning it will show regulators are political activists, which is something business will not react well.
It is quite clear FTC is driven by some young ideological activist (no 31 year old academic with no experience should be nominated at the head of such institution, an institution she joined 2 years before, not long after the end of her study). It is clear in my mind that she was sent to die by the democrats to test the water against the BigTech.
The position with UK is more subtle, but at the end quite aligned with the US.
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