Was interesting hearing the judge talk about whether cloud gaming is just another delivery method for the same games so it gets included along with mobile, console and PC. If Microsoft can persuade the tribunal on that point the CMA’s case basically falls apart
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Ha. There are people far better qualified than I am to do a commentary on the CAT case. An understanding of the CMA and their framework and regulatory scope via a friend of mine is not going to help me unpick the intricacies of this case. The precedent and whatever has been discussed. Now we are at the point where all that matters is what happens.
The experts in UK law are needed to really understand the situation now. I certainly wouldn’t want to pretend that I can offer anything on the case now that hasn’t been said already.
However as already observed the cma look ill prepared for this.
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Yea, every forum that has a long thread about this has some forum guy thinking he has all the ins and outs of this when this case is a one of a kind case, even the people directly involved with this do not know how it will all turn out so any forum dwellers that are trying to portray some sense of knowing how this is going to turn out is pretty much full of crap.
Sorry but that is the case with EVERY thread on every gaming forum about this acquisition. No one really knows shit and anyone pretending to know is likely more full of crap then those seeing this as a one time thing where no previous cases can be used to predict this one.
No one knows shit and those pretending to should be taken with a HUGE grain of salt.
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True. My cousin Frank said this was a done deal!
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SummerSlam coming in early.
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Activision (NASDAQ:ATVI) rose 1.7% amid an appeal hearing in the UK over its antitrust regulator’s block of the $69 billion Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) deal is going “fairly well.”
Competition Appeal Tribunal Justice Marcus Smith set the trial to start on July 24 and it could last 10 days, though will likely be less, likely 6 days, according to a livestream of UK hearing on Tuesday.
The judge appears to be moving the case along quicker to trial than many expected, and some things he said as far as the Competition and Markets Authority may be viewed positively for Microsoft (MSFT), according to CNBC’s David Faber.
Microsoft (MSFT) asked for a July 17 date for a four-day hearing, according to a Bloomberg account of the hearing. The CMA argued the date would be too soon and asked for a late-September or October hearing.
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It’s pretty obvious now that the FTC and CMA have colluded to try and delay the deal in the hope MS would give it up. I suspect they felt the two jurisdictions could work together to block this. Probably tried to include the EU too.
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At least its going to be over quickly.
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I do not think it would be appreciated. Escaping EU influence to fall into US influence is not the best political message to send out there.
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I got to say I don’t understand why Zappy gets a lot of heat because all this courtroom stuff is demonstrating their point from the very beginning. The CMA’s actions were not rooted in due process and logic.
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Most people in this thread agree that the CMA’s actions were not rooted in due process and logic. That is not unique to any one specific individual here.
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Most folks agree right now but at one point everyone, including pundits, were expecting the CMA to approve it and Zappy said that they wouldn’t because the CMA isn’t looking at it from a logical perspective. They took heat for that.
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The CMA and FTC are aligned in that they aren’t trying to simply manage competition but seemingly act as police, judge, juror and executioner with political motives. Political with a small p. I’m not convinced they have any real end game though. Make a name for themselves to what end? But they both seem to be missing the pragmatism of the EU and an ability to work constructively.
Both have completely misused this case to try and crack down on big tech and in doing so erroneously it weakens their ability to deal with the actual bad things big tech try and pull. It’s infuriating. But I mean there were lots of signs along the way.
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Put it this way today was a good step for Microsoft, the judge was asking some of the same questions Microsoft is arguing and the judge didn’t seem to have many issues with Microsoft’s lawyers.
One thing I would like to point out is the Microsoft lawyer was very well put together and the judge I don’t think once interrupted the Microsoft lawyer, yet multiple times did so to the CMA lawyer and at one point they were talking over each other haha.
My general vibe is Microsoft won the day and they’re in good hands, though it will still be tough and it’s not a slam dunk and they have more than one person to convince and there was only one there today so keep that in mind.
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It’s important for MS to get the court to disclose the communication between CMA and FTC. Not just for building a case of irrationality in the UK, but also to expose the FTC here in the US.
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I don’t fully agree with level headed(to some extent yes, as they look at all the information), but I don’t think singling out Zappy about this is a good thing.
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So in the interest of staying on topic, the CMA isn’t going to be allowed to make a new argument or anything to try and block the deal? Any chance Google speaks up? or are we thinking that Microsoft winning this case could open up more opportunity for them than just being petty as always?
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