Okay sure, CADE marks a relative exception to this - the majority of regulators have been pretty quiet throughout this entire process though and even with CADE they simply made their findings documents publicly available - The CMA has gone well above this and has very intentionally made their process public, they’ve been making public statements throughout the process and even seem to even have a press team releasing information on twitter and breaking it all down with graphics.
I think it helped that CADE made their discovery documents and interviews available to the public. It lends credibility to the decision making process.
The CMA is very political and selective with what is released publicly. It takes away credibility from their decision making process.
And that’s why Microsoft also went public with their statements even earlier. Microsoft knows what to do.
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I think it was Jez who made a point about how if the deal fell through, that MS should start moneyhatting and getting timed exclusitivity the same way Sony does on third-party titles, and longer than just 3 months.
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Lock up COD for the next 10 years if it happens. We saw Amazon pay 11 billion for 3 years of NFL Thursday games. Big moves can be expected and I wont be surprised if this deal fails if Playstation never gets another COD.
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I mean, honestly, if the deal falls through what the CMA and regulators are basically saying is “what Sony is doing okay, what you are doing is not” which is in a way, basically telling microsoft that if you want to compete, you can do so by following Sony’s playbook.
Part of me thinks Sony knows this, and their whole goal isn’t necessarily to block the deal as much as get concessions. If Microsoft is basically told to play the game on Sony’s terms, things will get ugly, fast. Microsoft shifting it’s billions of dollars from acquisitions of major gaming publishers to moneyhats, would basically lead to Sony being priced out of those types of business deals.
Up till now, Microsoft not doing those deals has really been an effort to maintain a good image (something microsoft seems to really care about in a post Satya world), paired with a preference towards owning the studios, and the IP, but Microsoft won’t really have a choice if this acquisition gets dropped.
While I think Microsoft would not be thrilled with the proposition, it would absolutely be a case of Sony
I think Microsoft should start doing that aggressively anyway. Sony showed that they are not trying to play nice at all.
They have the public support for that as Game Pass gives them a lot of goodwill at once.
I think Microsoft is done “playing nice” regardless of the outcome of this deal. If the acquisition goes through expect them to buy more, and if it doesn’t expect them to focus their targets on smaller studios, while dumping stupid amounts of money into marketing deals and moneyhats.
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The thing is that in the beginning of the dea, Microosoft was happy-go-lucky with Sony. Situation started to escalate with Brazil and then it spilled into the public with the current war happening essentially with Sony via CMA proxy vs Microsoft. Also even Twitter accounts started to engage into console warring so … 
I do curious about EU and FTC conclusions.
Which I find illogical since they’ll do something perpetually definitive in a block or divesture instead of behavioural concession for something that might not happen. They also have the power to rewind decisions so it’s not like there isn’t a remedy for actual anti-competitive behaviours.
In other laws it’ll be like we’ll throw this guy in jail because he has the potential to commit a crime.
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It is, because you cannot predict the future. Not to mention heavy regulation has always stiffled the innovation.
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Great Briton is a small market compared to the United stated Europe and Asian markets. I sure Microsoft will agree with Sony demands just in Great Briton. The only people being hurt is the consumers there.
Sony’s demands are inadequate. Microsoft won’t agree to them. Microsoft has no reason to concede.
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If the deal is approved in EU and USA, it’s closing no matter the outcome in UK.
CMA will have to choose between COD + Xbox or No COD No Xbox.
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Yea it will be interesting what happens in EU/FTC
If it passes without/barely any concessions in those areas it will surely put a lot of pressure on the CMA
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I only come into this thread at times…some people really think this is getting blocked??
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Well some people believe that the deal is dead so…
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uk=! entire world
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Not for a lack of trying
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