Add South Korea to the list of countries that have approved.
Here’s an article on it. Note that the Korean regulator is also the FTC, so the article is referencing the Korean FTC:
29 Likes
I was so confused for a second😅
5 Likes
19 Likes
9 Likes
12 Likes
Be interesting to see the timeframe of the case management meeting today and how quick turnaround they do give it.
Indeed. looks like that comity part of the case will definitely stand.
China documentation
5 Likes
Based on the recent interview of the CMA head, CMA really believe that blocking the US Big Tech will allow the UK startup to grow and become Big Tech as well.
This is both naive and protectionist to the max.
17 Likes
Naive and protectionist - welcome to Brexit Britain mate!
13 Likes
the idea that a start up could become as large as a Microsoft is fanciful, but a start up being able to license streaming games is actually plausible…
3 Likes
If the games are Call of Duty games, it is very naive to think that ABK will not go to the highest bidders, which will never be a startup, ever.
There is a very good reason all those small cloud providers are 100% behind the deal.
8 Likes
oh, totally. i actually took out a “because Microsoft are doing free licensing” from the second sentence
2 Likes
It’s very naive, most Tech Startups will cash out when they realise that to reach scale, they need more resources, something a startup doesn’t have. Unless governments are going to give them money to scale up to the level of Big Tech companies, Big tech companies are the only way to reach at scale because of their resources.
1 Like
conspiracy time! notice how the ONLY places who have blocked or threatened to block are places Sony went to complain the hardest 
4 Likes
MLex post from Idas about the Korean FTC decision, one part I find interesting was this
The regulator said even if Microsoft were to provide Blizzard games, to Nvidia via a streaming license, it would likely boost the revenue from game downloads, reducing Microsoft’s incentive to block access
That make so much sense, because Microsoft profits from the GeForce Now customer base why would they remove it, it sort of ties it up perfectly and is win win for both parties. Sure this will probably slow the growth of xCloud in a way but it does at the benefit of a game sale which I’d assume is probably just as important.
Here's the whole report
New report from MLex with more details about the KFTC decision:
-
KFTC’s Im Kyeong-hwan said during a background briefing with reporters that: “There might be criticism that we have taken a lenient approach to the merger involving a Big Tech company, especially as some global regulators like those in the EU or the US, have raised issues about the deal”. “But we’d like to highlight that we have carefully scrutinized the impact it might have on the competitive landscape within our local markets and made our assessments accordingly.”
-
The regulator’s review primarily focused on the potential for competition to be stifled in console and cloud gaming services , to see if MS could choose to supply Blizzard’s popular games exclusively to its own platforms. The review concluded that the likelihood of Microsoft implementing such a strategy is small, and, even if Microsoft were to do so, the chances of other competitors being pushed out of the markets are low due to the combined market shares of their games being relatively small and the presence of other game developers with a variety of popular titles.
-
The KFTC did not express any concerns about the potential for Microsoft to obstruct competition by blocking access to Blizzard games on Sony’s PlayStation because the combined market share is very small, at most 2 percent , Blizzard’s comparatively lower game popularity in South Korea and the robust alternative sources of supply available to Sony.
-
Call of Duty’s market share is less than 2 percent in South Korea , while it’s up to 8 percent globally.
-
While the KFTC expressed uncertainty about Microsoft’s potential incentives for limiting the Blizzard games on PlayStation, pointing out to the company’s move to restrict access to certain titles from Zenimax, as a long-strategy, they didn’t find any no clear short-term monetary benefits .
-
The market shares, based on game sales in 2021, are PlayStation with 70 to 80 percent, Nintendo with 10 to 20 percent, and Xbox with 0 to 10 percent.
-
The KFTC noted that if Microsoft’s competitiveness increases as a result of the merger, it could paradoxically enhance competition within the console gaming market.
-
The KFTC differed from its UK and EU counterparts regarding cloud gaming , determining that the deal’s vertical integration of cloud gaming distribution and services markets does not pose a competitive threat by restricting Nvidia and other competitors’ access to Blizzard games.
-
The KFTC pointed out that Microsoft and Blizzard’s combined share of the cloud gaming market is small, sitting between 4 to 6 percent , and there are numerous other distributors, including Smilegate, Tencent and EA, providing popular titles like Lost Ark, League of Legends or Battlefield.
-
In South Korea the popularity of console games is eclipsed by PC games, which limits Microsoft’s ability to block competition , given that it delivers only console games, not PC games, via cloud. The regulator said even if Microsoft were to provide Blizzard games, to Nvidia via a streaming license, it would likely boost the revenue from game downloads, reducing Microsoft’s incentive to block access.
-
The KFTC also underlined that while it’s true that Microsoft commands a significant market share in cloud gaming, 60 to 70 percent , and that there’s a notable entry barrier in the cloud gaming services market, the popularity of Blizzard games, again, is not overwhelming, and considering the domestic preference for PC games over consoles, Nvidia could potentially have a brighter future since it provides existing PC games via cloud .
-
The KFTC said that the cloud gaming service market is still nascent, with the leading businesses shifting annually: Microsoft in 2020 and 2022, and Nvidia in 2021. The market currently represents just 0.02 percent of the total gaming market (in South Korea, I guess) , and with potential future entrants like Sony and Amazon, the competition isn’t likely to be stifled.
5 Likes
The places Sony went hard in were also the places anyone who knew the regulatory landscape knew mattered and knew had a decent chance of blocking it.
Correlation vs causation?
3 Likes
My comment was mostly in jest, just found it funny and I know those two were always gonna be the battlegrounds because it was the only 2 locations Microsoft was close to Sony.
This is going to be fun.
11 Likes
They use MS Teams but apparently they will let Microsoft pull out of the UK lol
10 Likes