Makes sense but I do think there are a number of COD clones out there now that Sony could align with and market well.
There is nothing on the scale of COD unfortunately. And while Sony could push to get battlefield marketing rights, MS has a good relationship with EA and might push to have it as well and make Xbox THE de facto shooter console. There is also the bad reputation battlefield has built with the last few games and people will be reticent to buy the next title, no matter who has marketing rights for it.
There could always be a console release of Valorant in the future although I doubt thatâd go exclusive anywhere and I donât know what numbers itâs pulling but to me it seems like itâs behind overwatch and cod in numbers but I could be wrong.
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Though the market seems to agree with those thinking the deal will close the next week IâŚjust cant see it with things as they are (the CMA block).
Again, maybe Ms worked something with then to let the deal close in some way this Monday but that is something we dont know.
Jim: Quick, get me Ubisoft. Xdefiant will be ours.
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I think there are other things to consider other than just the FTC and CMA, the stockholders for one. Iâm not sure a delay or extension would sit well with them besides they may want more money. There are investors that could have been banking on the deadline date and might expect some compensation if an extension is decided and I would think they would alert stockholders of an extensions if one was needed way in advance. I think the CAT thing will give answers and I sure hope these closes by Monday or Tuesday.
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I agree that an extension whereby the deal was still uncertain was a hard sell and we were previously talking about extensions whilst fighting multiple regulators in two countries and for a significant period of time. That was tricky.
We are now taping about what? 6 weeks and assuming that the cma are more or less on board thatâs 6 weeks without risk.
Nobody will be turning that down and again reports suggest this is more or less in the works to be done.
The situation in the last two weeks has changed substantially and if itâs just a question of more time for the CMA to publish a report then I see no reason that canât be agreed very quickly.
True 6 weeks may be worth it, but I would still have expected they would have alerted stockholders somewhat earlier. Also, I just donât think they will wait that long. Bobby Kotick is a shrewd businessman he just might try to weasel a little more out of Microsoft considering he was already trying to extend the COD deal while the merger was still ongoing. The extension might look good from the outlook, but I just think it has its own setbacks and with Microsoftâs thoroughness and the way theyâve played things out in these last few weeks they may just be playing chess.
Its not about being delayed past that date but about not being in control or have ability to close after that date. If the PI was granted, then the FTC would keep pushing their ALJ process further and further out with no end in sight.
Thats how I took everything that they said in court about that date and the deal and the injunction.
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18 years ago today, I got an OG Xbox for my 7th birthday, and joined the Xbox family. Pretty funny day for me for them to tweet that lol.
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Happy Birthday!
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September 2004, bought OG Xbox with Halo, Ninja Gaiden, Jet Set Radio Future and Beyond Good and Evil.
Happy birthday!
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And I canât help but wonder what it would do to Xbox Live if all those CoD games become available. Wonât the servers get hammered and XBL maybe having trouble? I know Starfield is a SP only game, but I wonder if we still need to be connected, we probably do. I just wait a smooth launch for that game. It should be fine.
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https://twitter.com/Pappylicious/status/1680024912185139200
I like the energy but I hope hope that the Xbox division donât lose focus because of this deal, look at how ABK sacrificed other studios and franchises just because COD made so much money, I would hate to see this happen to other Xbox studios some day. Like among these giants they have a lot of small studios in comparison like Obsidian, Double Fine, Compulsion and others, I hope theyâll be fine because we all those studios likely will never release games nearly as popular as mainline Bethesda, Playground, Coalition and ABK games but Game Pass and Xbox need small experiences as well.
All the COD games likely wonât be put on Game Pass at once but Iâm sure they can handle it.
Yâall act like Azure isnât MS bread and butter business. Theyâll be fine.
Scaling up cause they have a lot of new players is a good thing to have to worry about on MS end!
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It is a potentially 6 week delay. That provides the FTC cover to have their ALJ trial and find against the merger. If that happens it would be perfectly reasonable to expect a court to grant an injunction pending the results of an appeal to federal court about the FTC internal ALJ findings and determination.
This is a likely scenario given the rules changes and the FTC can and will rush these things if needed to try and get a block.
If the deal is extended I believe that the deal is as likely to fall through as it is to pass.
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The FTCâs case is trash, them having more time does not turn this into a 50/50 situation. The US court system has done itâs job and will continue to do so if necessary.
You guys act like Microsoft is squeezing this through on pure luck and not the merits of the case.
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Scary words my friend, weâre almost there so hopefully no more bullshit.
Predictions for BLizzcon 2023: weâll see announcements for the Blizzard survival game (Xbox/PC exclusive) and StarCraft 3
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That isnt true at all, I would argue that the oppostite is true. People are acting like the whole thing concluded yesterday.
They only that that changed in the last two weeks is that the PI was denied and MS is now allowed to close by the termination date. MS argued the importance of this date repeatedly throughout the hearings.
Now, somehow, magically in the last 12 hours or so the temperature in the room has shifted from âthis is done, Monday or Tuesday is itâ to âwell, MS will now just take their sweet time getting this thing closedâ
The FTC, unless they simply drop the case (which is entirely the sensible thing to do at this point, because, yes, their case is garbage), can still pursue breaking up the deal. Im not going to argue that I think the deal will fail, I agree that it isnât 50/50 at this point. Pursuing it further would just be a giant waste of time.
But I do think that delaying closure goes counter to everything you just did the past two weeks, because the ALJ item is still on the table for now. Now you go into those proceedings having been disingenuous about the important of the initial termination date.
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The thing is that MS want to be able to say at closure âweâve worked constructively with all regulators to assuage and deal with any concernsâ. They already use that line frequently.
They can only do that close ahead of the CMA final order IF the CMA life their interim order. And as Florian has explained doing so would be a one in a million type unprecedented step and theyâd have to also outline why they are doing this and that they will not ever do it again. Itâs probably unlikely.
As Florian has also explained there is no path for the FTC in the window to do anything.
MS would only close over the CMA now if they felt there was no way through and no way to claim âweâve worked with all regulatorsâ type thing.
I donât think itâs impossible they are still trying to negotiate with the CMA to allow closure next week itâs probably something theyâd love to do. But as Florian also says whilst the CMA could do something unprecedented it doesnât mean they will.
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