That simply can’t be true
According to the law in the US they do have to take into consideration the competition in a vertical merger. Basically it says that if the entity being purchased is an essential input to their competitors business the merger/acquisition can be blocked. I think this is why the FTC concentrated so much of their case on how important COD was to PS.
On the cloud front I think the FTC argument is that Microsoft owning ABK would be a significant barrier to entry for potential new entrants to the market which is another part of the vertical merger laws
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I honestly wouldn’t be surprised if the FTC appeals either… it will likely drag on until August when they originally intended.
I think they will do too, they’re very much against the deal but I think they will need to make substantive changes to a new application and have to also come up with their reasoning on why they think judge Corley got it wrong with evidence which persuades another judge to side with them which won’t be easy
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Non-American here, I gotta ask why FTC is against this deal so much. it just baffles me that they are just so unhinged to die on this hill.
In this case, MS is clearly the underdog in the market. The competitors are foreign and clearly still plenty competitive after the merger. the deal is also pro-customer in the short term with game pass. all potential theories of harm are long-term and difficult to predict, and there are multiple remedies that can be put in place to prevent those. MS has shown enough goodwill to implement remedies.
And yet the FTC is just so dead set to stop this, I understand their agenda is to reign in big tech, but they really should pick their case better, at the moment they are acting like a government agency that try to block a legal transaction by abusing powers. all they showing so far is totally ignoring customer interest and instead protecting the market leader. abusing power with delay tactics without substance, and removing internal checks and balances. all these are looking rather bad in the public eye. how is this going to convince people to take their side?
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We have an ideologue running the FTC. She doesn’t care about consumers she just wants to seem tough on big mergers.
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They both have mid range PCs as well but mostly play on PS5. However I think it’s starting to sink in that other games, including ES6, will have the same fate!
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I think it’s just ftc being against big tech. They want to get a win with the public that they can stop big tech. I think if it was any other company acquiring ABK then they wouldn’t care as long as it’s not big tech.
Competition wise a company that is last place shouldn’t go through this many hurdles . Especially for an American company go against foreign companies
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I was going to ask about this myself.
This likely to leak before it’s official? Idk how it works.
I don’t think any of this would apply as Steam/Valve, Nintendo and other stores already prove that CoD is not essential input. Which is why they are trying so hard to create a market where only Xbox and Playstation compete.
Nintendo in the console space specifically as they used to have CoD, but no longer have it on their stores.
As for cloud, I think it can’t be thought as it’s own market because Microsoft using Xboxs to create their servers puts a massive emphasis that it’s reliant on consoles for it’s content. And other cloud gaming providers relying on Pc stores(valve, gog, epic, msstore) for content, stores which Microsoft argues make PC competitive to consoles.
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They want to lose to stress the point that laws are non adapted. Khan already asked the laws to be changed. She wants to be unchallenged and unchallengeable.
Khan is an activist with no political background. She was appointed by Biden to please his millennial audience. As an old-school politician he was probably not prepared to the win-or-destroy mentality of the new generation. At the end, she will probably be retired with discretion.
I also do not think her mentality is shared within FTC considering the low-moral of the troops and the many desertions. Khan has a dictatorial way of handling of FTC affairs that will not help her, I doubt she has many partisans, but currently within the democrats few dare to challenge her so close to the elections.
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At least it kept them busy I suppose. So what is your surprising moment from here?
Tell them to buy an Xbox or get a gaming PC.
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It did before the CMA decision, a few mins prior. It dropped quite a bit.
Ok my first complaint, that shelf is way too low to be keeping an Xbox Series X in. It must be overheating when gaming if it’s kept there.
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If the FTC loses the PI and then appeal, can Microsoft still close the acquisition or they would need to extend the deadline?
Would be up in the air I think. The FTC would have to get a TRO extension if an appeal ruling wasnt within 5 days of a PI denial.
The FTC will take this all the way through for sure, expect more theatrics if they don’t get their PI.
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I don’t think so. If they go any further that will really trigger congress on them. This has already become too public I don’t think they can take any more hits. If they lose here, I think they will withdraw. The FTC have a lot more battles to fight and it doesn’t look like they are getting any more funding. I believe Lina and the FTC are already under investigation and this deal will no doubt be part of that.
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I have no idea how far they will take it, but I am doubtful they would receive an extension of their TRO.
For reference, they attempted to receive an extension of a TRO in the Meta-Within case and were denied. I think its also Judge Corley that would need to extend the TRO, not the 9th circuit that they would be appealing to.
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