Microsoft-Activision-Blizzard Discussion Thread |OT3| - Sony bends the knee!

[Searsy82]

Im just glad for him that it is over. He may have aged 5 years today.

[Xavim_Jeager]

huh they opened the cam on zoom

[Daniel]

@Xavim_Jeager

huh they opened the cam on zoom

hah didn’t notice that

[Vivir]

might be one of those situations where the opposition might make you look good but the “allies” in Nividia, etc etc might make you look bad lol.

[AtticusFincher]

Worthless Nvidia testimony since Microsoft is already putting their games on Geforce Now.

[Vonterribad (Matt)]

@BigMacTonight

Ive seen a bunch of pro Sony people make the claim that Matt Bootys email about buying sony out of the competition is a major smoking gun and that alone will win the case for Sony. Of course, im calling bollocks on that claim, but id still say there is a slight chance they are right.

A lawyer once told me the whole ‘smoking gun’ is a movie/tv trope. Cases go on for far to long and both sides are aware of far too much about whats been said submitted etc

[Vivir]

Dr Bailey is spitting right now.

[Knottian (Daniel)]

@AtticusFincher

Worthless Nvidia testimony since Microsoft is already putting their games on Geforce Now.

I’m not sure it’s as worthless or “damaging” as it’s being portrayed as; Nvidia clearly painted that this deal was different and has been different than the Zenimax deal in several regards, all of which could be viewed as positives from Nvidia’s perspective. This shows that Microsoft was already aware of those differences when they made the agreement for the ABK portfolio, his “concerns have been addressed” seems pretty definitive of a case to shut down the FTC as any

@BaronVonStocker

Just because a loud subset of people think something is significant doesn’t make it so; it was in the “gamers” lawsuit and didn’t help them and was brought up on the first hearing day with no significance either.

People should really familiarize themselves with the Dunning-Kruger effect….

Edited to fix the weird formatting

[Xavim_Jeager]

that sounded like more future acquisitions incoming

[BigMacTonight]

@Vonterribad

A lawyer once told me the whole ‘smoking gun’ is a movie/tv trope. Cases go on for far to long and both sides are aware of far too much about whats been said submitted etc

I used that term in lack of a better word to describe a piece of evidence that would automatically win the case for one side. Have to admit i was playing devils advocate to see what people in here make of that take. From what ive heard about this case, i think the only way the ftc would win this one was if the judge was corrupt and had some leanings to the ftc, but from thier frustrations it doesnt sound likly

[Xavim_Jeager]

wow

[Knottian (Daniel)]

@Rsebi

LOOK at the difference between MS witness and Lee…the MS witness is speaking clearly, articulating, showing and using data and facts

Lee did nothing but spout nonsense

The only thing that could have made that testimony better for Microsoft, would have been for Beth to remind Lee that opinion is not data.

[Don-Vito (Vito)]

This lady is about her business.

[peter42O]

@Hue

I don’t think it would take much to transition them to AAA either, some of their games already feel AAA IMO. Easily one of my favourite publishers right now. Plus they own the Plague Tale IP which they will need if they get Asobo too .

Agreed.

A Plague Tale Requiem is such a great game, Evil West was good and im looking forward to Atlas Fallen, Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 and Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden. Would love to see Microsoft acquire Focus with Asobo and Dontnod. That way, a third Plague Tale would be a near given and maybe, just maybe, I can get my Vampyr 2!!!

@Haven

Problem is they don’t really have many studios of their own.

Focus Entertainment

They have 8 studios with Deck 13 being the most prominent one. Dotemu would probably be second on that list. But get an Asobo and Dontnod who have worked with Focus multiple times and boom, the next great AAA publisher baby!!!

@Knottian

spending millions on cases like the Kroger/Albertson’s merger (a case where consumers actually are harmed and they’ve had longer than this case).

Wait…the FTC still hasn’t looked into this merger? If so, WOW!! SMH!!

[MasterChief]

This clown show is what you get when the FTC only wants yesman and people with the same ideology in there, this is why they were asking to eliminate court hearings for their cases, if the CMA had to play by the same rules the same shit would’ve happened to them.

[anon74828371]

SAN FRANCISCO, June 27 (Reuters) - Arguing for the government on Tuesday in its legal fight against Microsoft’s (MSFT.O) $69 billion deal to buy game maker Activision Blizzard (ATVI.O), Harvard economist Robin Lee struggled at times to plainly demonstrate how the planned deal would hurt gamers.

(…)

Lee acknowledged that his analyses did not account for anything but full exclusivity of “Call of Duty” on Xbox and did not show what may occur if the game was available on Nintendo’s (7974.T) Switch. If the deal goes through, Microsoft has pledged to provide the game to Switch for 10 years.

Microsoft attorney Beth Wilkinson pressed Lee in an effort to poke holes in his analysis of the deal, pointing out limitations of his economic modeling. At times the questioning grew testy, including when Wilkinson said forcefully, “Professor Lee, can you answer my question?” on a fine detail of his reports.

Appearing to grow frustrated with the difficulty in parsing Lee’s answers, Wilkinson at one point mapped out his market share assumptions on a white board visible to the judge.

Microsoft attempts to pick apart US legal argument against deal to buy...

[Xavim_Jeager]

I thought it was today, but tomorrow is when the fun begins.

[Searsy82]

I didnt realize that FTC expert was their last and “star” witness.

Brutal.

[KageMaru]

Well that was another fun day. Looking forward to tomorrow with Kotick and the rest of the economist’s questioning. Curious on how the FTC lawyers will try to dismantle Liz’s points seeing how well formed her data and conclusions are. As someone who works at a firm that handles M&As, this has been interesting to say the least.

[AtticusFincher]

I’m sure Professor Lee is good at his job but the difference here has been night and day. The FTC tasked him with making data for their conclusions vs Microsoft just letting the data inform the conclusions.