When this ride finally ends (I believe we are in the bit where the coaster slowly enters the hub and the gates open) we’ll all rest easy……for 5 minutes until another big purchase within the industry occurs.
We’ll be back……we’ll always be back.
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I hope for a few partner studio acquisitions before the next publisher. There are very good candidates to acquire and it will take much less time to be validated. We could celebrate this all together before the next big deal that will keep us in suspense for several months lol
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I’d much prefer this be the case and I think it will be.
One thing I think of with dev acquisition is what is the immediate/short term benefit. Mainly what do they add to game pass that it already doesn’t have. IOI = Hitman for example.
This makes me think what single devs have multiple good IPs that they could quickly add to game pass. At first I thought techland with dead island & dying light as it’s 2 IPs not just 1, but I guess they are out.
This isnt really that important but I have not seen this mentioned before. In the merger agreement it states that the consummation of the merger will occur at 6:00 am pacific time. Here are the exact words.
The Closing . The consummation of the Merger will take place at a closing (the “Closing”) to occur at (a) 6:00 a.m., Pacific time by remote communication and by the exchange of signature pages by electronic transmission or, to the extent such exchange is not practicable or the Parties otherwise agree in writing, at the offices of Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP, 425 Lexington Avenue, New York, NY 10017, on a date to be agreed upon by Parent, Merger Sub and the Company that is no later than the third Business Day after the satisfaction or waiver (to the extent permitted hereunder) of the last to be satisfied or waived of the conditions set forth in Article VII (other than those conditions that by their terms are to be satisfied at the Closing, but subject to the satisfaction or waiver (to the extent permitted hereunder) of such conditions); or (b) such other time, location and date as Parent, Merger Sub and the Company mutually agree in writing. The date on which the Closing actually occurs is referred to as the “Closing Date.” Page 20
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There’s always option B, which is something else but it has to be in written agreement. With how spelled out option A is, that seems to be their preferred option.
So it’ll be a pseudo ordinary morning when at 9 AM EST we’ll see the announcements about it being formally closed deal.
I think it’s best to let the publishers do these partner acquisitions. ABK and Zenimax have already each made at least one acquisition since this whole ordeal and it’s easier when it done by a subsidiary that when Microsoft’s name is plastered all over.
Problem is that most single devs don’t publish their own games, so there is no immediate benefit. They come with no back catalog and most likely already have publishers lined up for their next game.
Obviously there are exceptions for some of the larger ones.
Agreed also I think the single dev route is always open and easier, buying publishers at a point begins to be frowned at by all. better to get as many publishers as possible now than later when they can claim you’re too big. ABK can at some point absorb certain Affinity, Eidos and more, same can be said for Zenimax or Sega if they are acquired.
Pretty sure the next news we hear is whatever the offer to the CMA is. If it’s a divestiture of ABK cloud rights in the UK, they would need to have a deal in place for who is taking those subject to the deal closing which may be the reason for the slight delay
Should be next week right?
They told CAT they should be able to provisionally have something the week of the 7th, with a week then to get third party views.
So I suspect that week of the 7th might be the next we hear something
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That something is hopefully we are happy with this tiny action MS has agreed to.
If it selling the cloud streaming rights to ActiBlizzard games in the UK. To me it’s stupid but they will get them back for less than they sold them for so not a big deal.
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Yes, I suspect it will be the cloud gaming rights to someone like EE.
Might end up costing the UK consumer a bit more unless they come to some sort of agreement to make it free to ultimate members somehow
I might be wrong but what I’m thinking is that they will still be able to put ABK games in gamepass/xcloud but a third party will be in charge for everyone else. It will answer the CMA’s concern about who will compete with xcloud using ABK content without Microsoft dictating the market.
My thoughts are that if they sell they rights and they are worth say £50m. That allows the company buying to sell them to whoever wants them. So for MS to get non exclusive rights back for themselves that’s worth way less.
It’s a by product of the stupid situation CMA has created. MS are already obligated to offer those rights to anyone who wants them now or in future for free. Instead of that I just don’t see how they don’t profit from the same rights along with EE at the cost of the other cloud companies.
CMA should just say there’s been a material change and we will now accept the EU remedy on the basis that they will monitor it.
There are billboards all over glasgow for EE: Best Network for Gaming so there is somewhat of a push for it.
It will be funny if it turns out to be EE since BT owns them. So it’ll just jump from one mega Corp to another and not achieving much. CMA just wasting everyone’s time.
As you say if it’s Xcloud in its entirety then the CMA will ironically be creating a monopoly! None of the other telecommunication companies will be able to offer a similar perk for the same price.
I have a feeling it might just be COD cloud gaming rights or just ABK content. I’m not sure how they could sell Xcloud in the UK as it’s running on Xbox hardware in a MS data centre, would they sell the hardware and data centre? Also the technology is proprietary, therefore would they license the tech to EE too?
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If only they’ve done their job…
Yeah that’s right. I don’t consider they did a mediocre job, they straight up didn’t do anything.
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