So this deal now needs regulator oversight for the next 15 years not only for Microsoft but also for Ubisoft?
Isn’t this what the CMA doesn’t like?
Again, grats CMA
lol
The people you are talking about aren’t serious sources.
And the legal question would have taken years to resolve and given the current legislation it’s very hard to see how MS would have won. The process would have taken a very long time, been very destructive.
I suspect they examines all options but some things would have been thrown out very quickly.
If you think about it if they were prepared to give away cloud rights there are a multitude of remedies they could have explored here…clearly they were steered down this path of cooperation by their legal advice.
I really hope King and ABK games on GP ends up being worth all this trouble for MS. IMO that money could have been better spent on other studios, Sega, expanding investment in global publishing, and other investments. I’m guessing them lowering the priority on cloud gaming helped them come to this solution.
At least now we’re one step closer to this madness ending.
2 Likes
I mean it wasnt worth for him to wake up to this
People are a little too in their feelings about this.
I don’t see this as particularly high impact for MS and the value ABK brings to Microsoft gaming. This is essentially the olive branch that was needed to get the deal done.
It addresses the singular concern that the CMA had; that MS would still be picking the winners in the cloud market.
In this scenario it removed MS from the equation and gives cloud providers access to the titles. Access that MS was already willing to give but the CMA was uncomfortable with them being the decision maker on it, so Ubisoft becomes the arbiter of access.
They don’t own the games, the technology, or anything of the sort. They are simply gate keepers to cloud access deals. Considering no one seems to be too keen on the cloud to begin with, I feel like this should be viewed as a win.
3 Likes
Given that Segas still available and Microsoft will keep buying until it makes sense for them not to. It was worth it.
Because ubisoft chose to?
1 Like
No because the CMA’s issue was with what they determined to be the cloud gaming market leader acquiring a bunch of what they determined to be valuable IPs that could allow said market leader to now or in the future restrict access to the market for competitors.
Any contract that MS signed as a remedy that wasn’t ‘permanent or structural’ would need monitoring because as per the CMA’s view what would stop them in 5 years from deciding they had incentive to rip it up and restrict access to their acquired IP? Or to do it more subtly and simply start charging competitors non fair market access rates.
The difference here is Ubisoft are buying the rights to stream these games and control of those rights from Microsoft/ABK in a deal where they can then sell them on at fair market value as they choose. But that is no different to ABK now…they could do exactly that.
The fundamental difference is the deal to sell rights is permanent….and lasts 15 years…it can’t just be undone because MS change their mind. And fundamentally it is addressing the ‘market leader’ owning the streaming rights to these games and being able to use that to close out competition.
The difference is that if Ubisoft signs an exclusivity agreement with some cloud gaming provider now….it is doing so on market terms…which the CMA are ok with. Anyone could compete for it. Whereas if MS buy the IP and decide to make them exclusive to their cloud platform that is not a competitive market. In the CMA’s eyes.
1 Like
AWS is the number 1 cloud giant though.
Did i ever say they did. Read what i write again lol.
I would wager it is because Ubisoft does not have a cloud streaming service. It makes them an impartial arbiter.
Microsoft giving up 15 years of cloud exclusivity in a market that they positioned themselves to be dominate in tells me xCloud numbers have been pitiful and cloud is nowhere close to being a market where holding out on licenses in hopes of a bigger payout is viable.
10 Likes
From the 2023 Prediction thread
2 Likes
I see this more as a case of it not being worth the hassle and less legally driven. To go the nuclear route, whatever that may be, over a delivery method that may take off in a decade or so is not worth it when a path forward presents itself.
The fact that MS was handing out 10-year cloud streaming commitments like candy should be all anyone needs to see how little confidence MS has in cloud gaming becoming mainstream in the interim.
1 Like
Wait that clears it up for me so Ubisoft will get cloud gaming rights forever for all games past, present and future right up until 2038 and after 2038 the rights go straight back to Microsoft.
So what the hell is the big deal haha, we know Microsoft has great BC so it’s not like the old COD games in 2038 would only be accessible via streaming. In theory it seems like after 2038 everything ABK could become exclusive as I don’t think there would be anything stopping them from 2039 onwards.
More than anyone here or online combined, can we not do the silly twitter takes.
5 Likes
When you see this level of UK government intervention on how private money is spent ANYWHERE in the world , no wonder so many UK people vote Tory to reduce the role of the state…to the detriment of so many other more important statutory roles. People wrongly think “Big State Bad” as a result of this kind of CMA meddling, in the same way that Khan et al in the US think “Big Tech Bad”.
CMA simply got this one wrong. Choose your battles.
After the FTC appeal was denied, there were reports from bloomberg Et al that ‘people familiar with the matter’ said that ring fencing was a option on the table. I believe it might have even been written into the new contract extension with ABK as a ‘nuclear option’. Although, I can’t be sure of that. Remember, FWIW the FTC brought the case forward because their sources suspected that MS were about to close over the CMA.
Either way, working with the CMA rather than ‘around’ them is definitely the best option. It will make any future deals easier. However, they do now need to worry about the EU’s response to this.
I’m thinking the same
Either ABK is simply too valuable that even their cloud golden goose is worth taking a hit or they don’t see cloud gaming exploding anytime soon, maybe both
nope, they will look then if doesn’t have issues they will clear it instantly, CMA is we will need to wait (for me is fine since the deal is more likely to close)