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

[Outrun]

What do you guys think will happen, if The deal passes through in the EU, and MS wins the FTC case in the US?

Does the UK somehow bring this up for review?

[CallMeCraig]

@Zappy5

I don’t think they have some mad political reason to block this one specifically - they are measured on a KPI of protecting consumer future markets and in this instance for example they applied their framework to the merger identified a risk (it doesn’t matter if the risk is 1% or 99%) and then looked at what remedies could remove that risk. The conclusion (and I think they are correct) is that only removal of the most significant IP from the deal removes the risk.

But their ‘data’ (2 years is not data but i digress) show these remedies decrease the risk of smaller companies having a chance in cloud. The data they have says from the last 2 years smaller companies (like Google, NVidia) lost market share to Microsoft because they have no access to content. By blocking the deal this doesnt change. Microsofts remedies give them access to content.

If they really care about the consumer they should draft up laws or support it to make sure content can be everywhere without restrictions.

[DoctorFaustus]

@GamingFirefighter

Great read.

[Resist]

I see we are back at the point where Zappy is making 50 posts a day in this thread arguing how the CMA is actually right lol.

[howlingmosquito (mosquito)]

@Outrun

What do you guys think will happen, if The deal passes through in the EU, and MS wins the FTC case in the US?

If the deal fails. Microsoft enters a 10-20 year deal as the only Cloud partner for ABK games. Deliberatly fucking the CMA in the ass.

Next step…lobby to get the UK to dissolve the CMA or get the UK to rejoin the EU. Microsoft knows this is going to affect them in general in the future, it needs to be resolved.

If it passes everywhere else then Microsoft has a strong basis for CMA acting irrationally. They wont just appeal, they will lobby for the CAT to overrule the CMA.

[MJ_INC]

@Zappy5

…BK IPs make it more likely that MS in the future could monopolise the market….and I think everyone has to say ‘yes’ to that. Does it make it likely or not is not the question they ask. The second part is true but MS themselves have spent ages, talking about the cloud and indeed at the start of this process talked about cloud gaming as a significant imperative to it. All regulators seem to have reached a conclusion that a cloud gaming market exists to one extent or another it’s now just a question of how they deal with the threat to that. The CMA have been instructed to take a hard line. The EU have the same conclusions but more leeway to allow behavioural remedies. Ultimately I think what people are missing is that the fault lies not with the CMA but with the remit government has given them.

On the first part I have to very much disagree. There’s no way I would put Microsoft+ABK dominating when that wouldn’t can’t do that on console. If Nintendo or Sony were to make the same offering as Microsoft they would be in a stronger position thanks to the strength of their IP and their history

On the second if they’re are not going to look at gaming overall and will break it down to it’s smallest component then in theory they can block any acquisition

And yes I do agree it’s a government remit and that’s why I think Microsoft have to go through political channels to get anything done

[Haven (Victor)]

@Zappy5

I think you are missing the fact that for nascent markets the CMA have the ability to make forecasts based on uncertain or even no data and predict risk likelihood. They themselves admit that its just a case of determining if something is possible or not.

That’s pretty ludicrous and is the very definition of irrational to make a forecast based on no data. Which begs the question why have laws if you can just come up with something and say it’s just what I think. Honestly, I don’t think that will stand. There must always be some kind of data to base predictions or forecast on. Many that are now reading through the CMA summary are finding inconsistencies in it especially after the CMA head came out saying they did a thorough investigation.

[nursegamer20]

All this “predicting the future” stuff is fundamentally flawed anyway. Whether it’s the CMA or the EU who has been doing it, doesn’t matter, blocking a company for potentially making a breakthrough/disruptions in a industry, which of course, would naturally, would lead to that company having a big marketshare(at first anyway, look at netflix then and now), undermind the concept of a free market. What these naive regulators are doing is hampering innovation, preventing growth of existing companies, and also scaring companies to invest. Its not the job of the government to be the “invisible hand”, and pick and choose who can do certain things and what not. We can’t be naive that it won’t affect the UK, it will, and it will affect the rest of the west as well. Like I said before, we have a tendency to overcorrect and lts gonna bite us in the ass. We have competition now in terms of being the destination for investments from fast growing developing countries now, and yet we keep hampering our own growth because of some flawed ideology, its embarrassing for me even as a liberal. We can laugh at the suggestion that Microsoft or other companies will leave Britain(they won’t of course), but they will do whats best for their company, and they will go to a friendlier business environment instead. Who stands to lose during this situation? the regular folks who then suddenly have less job prospects, less companies to fund/acquire their start ups etc.

[AllianceOfficer]

@nursegamer20

All

Great post

[strawman]

Word counts in the final report:

• Playstation - 541 (+10 Playstation-related abbreviations)
• Xbox - 458 (+22 Xbox related abbreviations)
• SIE (Sony Interactive Entertainment) - 267
• Consumer - 208

They dropped console related SLC a few weeks back to make an appeal more difficult for MS, but if you read the final report, it feels that CMA is interested in protecting a certain competitor in the console space as much as it wants to protect a supposedly nascent market.

[KakkaKarrotKake]

It’s just one man’s opinion and calling him unhinged is a bit much, relax

[GamingFirefighter]

@Jerm411

What a bunch of delusional nonsense…seriously, I’m calling out every time this guy is used as a source because he’s unhinged and is basically a crazed console warrior.

He just can’t accept what has happened, it’s almost laughable.

Anyways….I’ll be curious to see if ABK will want to re-negotiate the 3 billion dollar payment if MS comes wanting to negotiate a new deadline instead of the July one.

How is what he is saying nonsense? The CMA is way out of touch with the gaming industry and are clueless when it comes to cloud technology and that Microsoft acquiring ABK won’t hurt cloud companies from being able to compete. And it’s not just him it’s also basically everyone across Xbox and Microsoft and across the gaming industry calling out the CMA.

https://twitter.com/nvidiagfn/status/1651662502269165586?s=46&t=x67OgPnK2PNMkoMLA_j70A

https://twitter.com/boosteroid_main/status/1651261746626150403?s=46&t=x67OgPnK2PNMkoMLA_j70A

And you realize that if the CMA has the power to block the ABK acquisition they could block any future acquisitions Microsoft looks to acquire in the future. Even Sega

[Jerm411 (Jeremy)]

@GamingFirefighter

And you realize that if the CMA has the power to block the ABK acquisition they could block any future acquisitions Microsoft looks to acquire in the future. Even Sega

Yes…I don’t care. I’d rather they spend the money that they’re using for acquisitions to get their own house in order and support their studios who obviously need it, make more 3rd party Gamepass deals, and THEN maybe look at acquisitions once they’ve done those things.

That’s just me though.

[GamingFirefighter]

@Jerm411

Yes…I don’t care. I’d rather they spend the money that they’re using for acquisitions to get their own house in order and support their studios who obviously need it, make more 3rd party Gamepass deals, and THEN maybe look at acquisitions once they’ve done those things.

That’s just me though.

They already tried that with 343i and the Initiative and look where that got them. Not saying Microsoft shouldn’t give up but it’s a lot easier said than done.

Sometimes acquisitions are the best way for growth.

[Haven (Victor)]

Things seem to be heating up Jez on Twitter: “There’s already been discussions in the UK about how the CMA is killing investment in the country. https://t.co/zv4cRnBCIV” / Twitter

[QuietGamer90 (Tawsif (Rafee))]

@Jerm411

Yes…I don’t care. I’d rather they spend the money that they’re using for acquisitions to get their own house in order and support their studios who obviously need it, make more 3rd party Gamepass deals, and THEN maybe look at acquisitions once they’ve done those things.

That’s just me though.

And you think that’s not happening already? Tango Gameworks seem to be expanding with 19-30 open positions, Zenimax Online Studios opening a new branch, etc.

They have made and continue to make 3rd party GP deals.

[KakkaKarrotKake]

@QuietGamer90

And who is saying that’s not happening? Tango Gameworks seem to be expanding with 19-30 open positions, Zenimax Online Studios opening a new branch, etc.

Pretty much all their studios have grown over the years, I dont know why people think they are only doing one thing at a time

and pumping more money into failed things like 343 isn’t going to do anything until they’ve sorted out management or whatever issues they were having there, which hopefully they’ve done now

[No-1HoloLens-Fan]

@QuietGamer90

And you think that’s not happening already? Tango Gameworks seem to be expanding with 19-30 open positions, Zenimax Online Studios opening a new branch, etc.

Some think that just throwing money on software could improve things drastically. And then some think it is nonsense to have multi dev studios on CoD franchise.

So what it is?

[QuietGamer90 (Tawsif (Rafee))]

@KakkaKarrotKake

Pretty much all their studios have grown over the years, I dont know why people think they are only doing one thing at a time

and pumping more money into failed things like 343 isn’t going to do anything until they’ve sorted out management or whatever issues they were having there, which hopefully they’ve done now

Yeah, as unfortunate as the 343i situation is, that is an exceptional case. In general, other studios have seen growth (at least ones that want to grow).

[nursegamer20]

@Haven

Things seem to be heating up Jez on Twitter: “There’s already been discussions in the UK about how the CMA is killing investment in the country. https://t.co/zv4cRnBCIV” / Twitter

Its gonna get worse, there is a reason why the US congress is investigating Lina Khan about possible collusion with foreign regulators about hampering its own companies, which goes against the interest of the United States. The same conversations will be held in the other side of the pond(U.K. and EU).