I believe that is for smaller firms though, because they only have so many resources.
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Yeah and I donāt think it will be that long for them to get an answer (well, not at the point of waiting after July next year). I believe this is has to be one of the acquisitions that has priorities over the others.
Found this online. A dev testifying to the FTC and DOJ.
Hereās an excerpt.
A dev has urged that working conditions must be considered throughout testifying in a hearing held by the FTC and DOJ yesterday. Brice Arnold, a researcher for the company, fears that industry consolidation - and therefore, fewer employers - will give bosses an unfair advantage, and take away workersā bargaining power
Iāll admit: this testimony has me on edge. Iām 60/40 it will pass.
https://www.thegamer.com/activision-blizzard-dev-merger-microsoft-ftc-doj-testimony/
This is irrelevant. This guys feelings have to be backed up by data, and not just some data, a unimpeachable amount of data capable of winning a federal lawsuit against one of the biggest corporations, and American political donors, in the world proving that there would be āless employersā and result in what he is claiming.
That data doesnāt exist as the industry is nowhere near consolidated.
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I doubt that will have an effect. Working conditions should be taken in to account, and Iām sure they will be regardless of what this person says while testifying. We shouldnāt want people to have terrible working conditions just so we can get more games quicker.
From what weāve seen of MS though, theyāre not making working conditions worse for their studios. Given 343 and Bethesda have the authority to delay the biggest xbox releases, as well as them being managed in a way that those delays were necessary, Iām fairly certain that the working demands and culture are set by the individual studios or publishers, not by MS.
MS arenāt their bosses, Activision (or Bethesda, or 343, etc.) are their boss, so the numbers of potential bosses and workers bargaining power to move jobs stays the same. MS own them and fund them, which allows games to get released āwhen readyā and, you would hope, helps avoid having to crunch to meet deadlines.
I would expect working conditions to improve for Activision employees under MS ownership
Complete agree with testimony and there demands
But till now, I havenāt understood the area of authority of FTC yet. Should not employee concerns be addressed in by some HR authority of the government? What role even FTC could play here? Itās more stretching for straw here
FTC does not deal with working conditions. Thatās the whole point of that bill that some senators are trying to push.
Nobody will able to build a case against Microsoft there, considering that Microsoft is literally the best place to work and is well-known for that.
If it puts you on the edge, just stop following the acquisition.
It is like with Twitter - if people canāt handle it, they should not participate there.
I read that the one of the member (who is a anti GAFAM) that has been nominated to the FTC recently could be changed again depending of the midterm elections.
Delay of Starfield and Redfall, could be a huge impact on the analysis. Could, if you put with no fanboy side of view, a look on the market right now (and thatās the first job of the FTC on acquisitions right?), Their is no way someone could told that COD is āmarket killerā.
Fact
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COD sell less than Elden ring this year
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Xbox has a huge Gap on time between games release (bigger that competition)
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COD Br, has less player than GTA online
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PS+ has more subscribers than GamePass (yeh good idea Sony to turn your network access into your gamepass for āwinningā in the number)
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Even if the Acquisition go through, Xbox will still be the second constructor in term of revenues (and probably the third in term of net income)
This is the kind of data that could be put in front of the FTC
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Brad Smith recently made some declarations about how MS will ātackleā with new regulations coming to big tech in EU and although he was more focused on the antitrust claims made by some cloud providers on Europe. He also implies (kind of) what MS will do to these new rules worldwide.
The transcript is in French and I couldnāt find it anywhere in English so I will post the interesting stuff (with google translator :p):
Microsoft President Brad Smith: āGive us rules and weāll figure out how to innovate with themā
Brad Smith was Microsoftās chief legal officer for a very long time. In 2015, Satya Nadella, the CEO of Microsoft, inducted him as president of the company behind Windows software, the Xbox console and the LinkedIn social network. He is the man in charge of talking to the authorities who are trying to regulate the technology sector after years of the Wild West. He is currently on tour in Europe, the opportunity for the Echo to sit with him for a few minutes in the cozy setting of the Solvay library in Brussels.
He said MS still have more work to do and this is just the first step in making happy those complaining on EU (paraphrasing e.e)
We still have to work on interoperability. I asked our teams to look into this. We made a commitment to Europe regarding the interoperability of our services, but that dates back 13 years. The concerns of European companies over the prices charged are a reminder that we may not have given enough thought to this problem in the past.
It was important for us to come today with important and concrete changes. And do it quickly. It would have been a big mistake for me to come to Brussels and say āthis is our last wordā. Weāre not going to be able to fix everything all at once. We want to move fast, get feedback quickly on what we offer, learn fast and we will continue to adapt.
āWhat do you think of the European Digital Market Act? What will this new European regulation of Tech giants change for Microsoft and its dominant position in the market?ā They asked him.
We try to adapt as quickly as possible in the company to be ready for the DMA. We need to identify the services that will be affected by this new legislation. Windows will more than likely be, our app store too, but weāre not sure yet. Concretely, we have a group of lawyers and a group of engineers working to look at this and make sure that we are doing everything we need to do and as quickly as possible. We do not yet know if other of our services will be affected, such as Bing, our internet browser.
When I think of our experience with antitrust proceedings, the number of days, months and years it took us, I wish someone had just told us what the rules were so we could go through them. Itās so hard for a company that is involved in this type of procedure, because you have this uncertainty hanging around and it damages the reputation of the company. So I think it will serve everyone that the rules are clearly defined.
And most interesting of allā¦he talked about the Microsoft-Activision acquisition!!! It was short thoughā¦but he said its moving fast 
You recently acquired Activision, one of the leaders in the gaming industry for $68 billion. Here too, you risk having to show your credentials to prove that the competition can still have a say. Where is this redemption process? They asked. You recently acquired Activision, one of the leaders in the gaming industry for $68 billion. Here too, you risk having to show your credentials to prove that the competition can still have a say. Where is this redemption process?
Itās moving fast, at least fast enough for an acquisition of this size. We have received requests for information on this subject here in Brussels, but also in London and Washington. We answer questions, we give briefings and we provide the information requested. One of our attorneys summed it up nicely by saying, āWeāre coming to the end of the beginning and now weāre entering the beginning of the middle.ā It is a long process and we are still at the stage where we are answering questions. For us, of course, the sooner it is done the better, but we will respect the process.
Seems thereās not second thoughts about the acquisition in Microsoft 
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Im sticking with my original prediction of it closing around the 1-year anniversary of the announcement. January 2023.
I think it closes November 2022. MS dropping all ABK gamrs on XGP as part of thier holiday lineup.
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Thatād be awesome
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I hope it closes as soon as possible, but if the first phase took 5 months, as framed by Brad Smith, and there are two phases left, Im gonna just assume that its going to take longer than iād like.
Then Ill be pleasantly surprised if/when it closes earlier.
I think they knew what they were getting into when they made the offer. The road will be rocky and I only expect it to be finalized around April next year but the benefits would be huge.
Oooh some good news it seems
Brad Smith, President and Vice Chair at Microsoft on the progress of the Activision Blizzard acquisition: āThis is progressing quickly, at least fast enough for an acquisition of this size.ā
https://twitter.com/klobrille/status/1527234413922222080?s=20&t=qso-5HK5K5rhmH_AE2ea_A
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Potentially it might close by the end of year.
I feel like it could happen in November but I wouldnāt be shocked if it was in March either.
Schreier hardest hit.
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What did he do?