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[Topher]

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/641d6b7e32a8e0000cfa9381/Updated_version_-_Microsoft_Activision_Addendum_PFs__For_Publication_230324_.pdf

 

[Heisenberg007]

This is huge by the CMA.

A big win for Microsoft's case.

 

[skit_data]

I’m just here to see what awesome avatar Ass of Can Whooping will bring us

Edit: He’s banned?! Since when?

 

[Punished Miku]

And for the record, it's not about gloating. I also agree, it doesn't SLC. Sony is likely still to be the market leader for a long time to come. The whole reason I supported this deal, to hopefully see 3 strong consoles competing.

 

[adamsapple]

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/641d6b7e32a8e0000cfa9381/Updated_version_-_Microsoft_Activision_Addendum_PFs__For_Publication_230324_.pdf

Summary please ?

 

[thismeinteil]

MS must have been pumping out a lot of checks.

 

[adamsapple]

 

[Kilau]

MS must have been pumping out a lot of checks.

CMA were told Sony has 98% of the market.

 

[poppabk]

So it all comes down to cloud gaming - the thing a lot of gamers would best describe as 'neat' but regulators seem to think is the future of gaming.

 

[reksveks]

ROFL here

 

[Topher]

Summary please ?

CMA basically did an about face on everything they said previously. Microsoft does not have incentive to foreclose COD. The acquisition does not significantly lessen competition.

Done deal

 

[Punished Miku]

Microsoft does not have incentive to foreclose COD. The acquisition does not significantly lessen competition.

Done deal

I've been saying that since day 1.

 

[Tiago Rodrigues]

Yup. It's a done deal.

 

[Heisenberg007]

Still reading the rest of the document, but this deal is now 80% going through.

The rest of the 20% doubt is because of how the CMA may be treaing the cloud gaming market and MS's role in that, but that can be managed with behavioral access remedies and Nvidia type deals.

This won't be blocked now.

 

[adamsapple]

CMA basically did an about face on everything they said previously. Microsoft does not have incentive to foreclose COD. The acquisition does not significantly lessen competition.

Done deal

thank you

 

[ChuckeRearmed]

Summary please ?

Essentially only the section 6 is interesting one. But basically CMA believes that removing COD from Playstation would make Microsoft lose too much money and even if Microsoft were to deteriorate COD quality - it would not cause a foreclosure as "That quality deterioration would likely represent only a fraction of the value that PlayStation gamers derive from CoD" as people would play COD anyway.

 

[reksveks]

Will have a look after my meeting but looks like they realised a fuck up with the LTV calculations.

See my post below for a bit more info. It was partially a fuck up with the LTV calculations but also more data.

 

[Andodalf]

All time crow incoming! The incredibly logical outcome will be reached, and as I said a fucking age ago, Jim’s political clout was only enough to pretend to put up a show for shareholders

 

[HundredThousandTrillion]

Maybe in an alternate universe FTC are not trying to block and CMA haven't pushed for structural remedies

To quote Jay-Z “it was all good just a week ago…”

I stand by what I said. EU will pass. We’ll follow suit.

 

[Kilau]

"That quality deterioration would likely represent only a fraction of the value that PlayStation gamers derive from CoD" as people would play COD anyway.

Maybe they understand the market better than we thought.

 

[Ar¢tos]

Oh dear! Xbox gamers better hold tight. Sony is going to get even more aggressive with exclusivity deals after this.

 

[Heisenberg007]

Will have a look after my meeting but looks like they realised a fuck up with the LTV calculations

Not just that, they completely flip-flopped. They are now against their own arguments. Proper circus.

 

[Dick Jones]

Surprised they think that Microsoft will keep their word here. The same rhetoric was used when buying Bethesda so I expect COD to leave PS sooner than the 10 years. The last COD on Playstation will be PS5 only [no next gen, I guarantee it]

 

[Mr Moose]

Reputational benefits: Microsoft stated that, as withholding CoD would
directly contradict Microsoft’s public statements, the effect would be likely
to be very negative given the significant gamer backlash that would
inevitably occur following such a reversal. Also, Microsoft submitted that,
insofar as the suggestion is that those reputational harms would be
outweighed by having CoD on Xbox, there is no good evidential basis for
that conclusion. However, Microsoft conceded that, to the extent that CoD
causes switching, the five-year horizon in the LTV again likely means that
any reputational benefits are captured in the calculation.

Can't wait for Starfield and especially Elder Scrolls coming to PS5 since that's where a lot of those sales would be.

 

[harry mason 1989]

Finally it's over

 

[HundredThousandTrillion]

Oh dear! Xbox gamers better hold tight. Sony is going to get even more aggressive with exclusivity deals after this.

Sony better proceed thoughtfully and diligently. Or they might be next…

 

[Dick Jones]

Finally it's over

We'll send you to Silent Hill Downpour as penance.

 

[Kilau]

Sony better proceed thoughtfully and diligently. Or they might be next…

Bought by MS?

 

[Punished Miku]

Oh dear! Xbox gamers better hold tight. Sony is going to get even more aggressive with exclusivity deals after this.

 

[DJ12]

MS must have been pumping out a lot of checks.

Probs just said they'd start paying the tax on uk earnings instead of farming it through the eu to avoid it lol

 

[ChuckeRearmed]

Surprised they think that Microsoft will keep their word here.

They literally continued to support Minecraft and released games related to that IP on Playstation. Depending on the state of COD IP in a few it might or might not be removed from Playstation. Like Minecraft.

 

[StueyDuck]

Oh dear! Xbox gamers better hold tight. Sony is going to get even more aggressive with exclusivity deals after this.

Pretty sure it's more like MS is gonna get more aggressive with buying all the publishers.

They got away with buying the biggest publisher of all time. Precedent is set and MS can do anything the want now.

My advice to all gamers is enjoy the next few years while gaming is still gaming till it becomes She-hulks and Thor love n thunders. This is the route it's going and what happens when one entity owns everything.

 

[Bernardougf]

Lets watch the shills narrative the second MS makes COD exclusive .... as I fully expect then to do as soon as the existing contracts are over.. and will happily eat crow if Im wrong

 

[ToTTenTranz]

Aren't senators supposed to represent some of the interests of large employers in their states because that means jobs? All this is complaining about how Sony is the only game in town in Japan at the high end. It's not being bribed and it doesn't have anything to do with the ABK merger.

She's not being bribed to speak in favor of Microsoft in the ABK acquisition?

https://www.opensecrets.org/members.../contributors?cid=N00007836&cycle=2022&type=C

 

[graywolf323]

CMA basically did an about face on everything they said previously. Microsoft does not have incentive to foreclose COD. The acquisition does not significantly lessen competition.

Done deal

it’s such a stunning about face contrary to everything they’d been saying previously that really the only logical conclusion is Microsoft greased the right wheels

 

[Topher]

I've been saying that since day 1.

Well.....we won't know of the long term ramifications for a while, but I've been saying that I believed MS would convince CMA for a while.

 

[Heisenberg007]

Pretty sure it's more like MS is gonna get more aggressive with buying all the publishers.

They got away with buying the biggest publisher of all time. Precedent is set and MS can do anything the want now.

My advice to all gamers is enjoy the next few years while gaming is still gaming till it becomes She-hulks and Thor love n thunders. This is the route it's going and what happens when one entity owns everything.

Yeah. If regulators couldn't block Activision, they can't block anything else.

It's going to be a free-for-all now with Sony, Microsoft, Amazon, Meta, and Tencent consolidating the industry in the next few years.

Was a good ride.

 

[ChuckeRearmed]

Oh dear! Xbox gamers better hold tight. Sony is going to get even more aggressive with exclusivity deals after this.

It is like threatening Xbox with Square Enix acquisition

 

[Ar¢tos]

Sony better proceed thoughtfully and diligently. Or they might be next…

With Japanese laws preventing foreign takeovers... I don't think so...

 

[Punished Miku]

Lets watch the shills narrative the second MS makes COD exclusive .... as I fully expect then to do as soon as the existing contracts are over.. and will happily eat crow if Im wrong

The only way it would make any sense is if GP subs hit Netflix levels around 200 million. Otherwise they just don't gain anything from it.

What they want is MS gaming division to be fully self-sufficient during this long decade of growth / cloud transition. They're fine letting PS gamers buy COD. There are lots of other games to play and they don't want to do a single thing to disrupt players who enjoy buying that every year. It's just not going to happen.

And after all this public scrutiny, it's just virtually impossible. Meet you back here in 2033 for the "I told you so."

 

[Godot25]

Fucking finally we can end this charade.

I wonder if Sony finally bend over their knees and stars asking Microsoft for COD contract

 

[ManaByte]

Lets watch the shills narrative the second MS makes COD exclusive .... as I fully expect then to do as soon as the existing contracts are over.. and will happily eat crow if Im wrong

In ten years when the contract is over? LOL. I still think they’ll go the Fortnite/Apex/Overwatch route with it LONG before then where the campaign is dropped and it’s like all other shooters that are F2P supported by the battle pass.

Or they’ll just break off the campaign like they did Halo and make the MP free.

 

[graywolf323]

Yeah. If regulators couldn't block Activision, they can't block anything else.

It's going to be a free-for-all now with Sony, Microsoft, Amazon, Meta, and Tencent consolidating the industry in the next few years.

Was a good ride.

yep this is honestly the worst possible outcome for gaming IMO, the fact MS somehow got this through with only behavior remedies? will the people cheering this eat crow when the slippery slope ends up being true?

probably not because they only care about GamePass and not having to buy games

 

[Kilau]

Pretty sure it's more like MS is gonna get more aggressive with buying all the publishers.

They got away with buying the biggest publisher of all time. Precedent is set and MS can do anything the want now.

My advice to all gamers is enjoy the next few years while gaming is still gaming till it becomes She-hulks and Thor love n thunders. This is the route it's going and what happens when one entity owns everything.

They’ve said from the start they weren’t done.

That didn’t bother any of the regulators so yeah, they’ll own everything they can buy going forward.

 

[FritzJ92]

700 pages later. We finally got some traction.

 

[Heisenberg007]

Fucking finally we can end this charade.

I wonder if Sony finally bend over their knees and stars asking Microsoft for COD contract

I don't think they need a signed contract. Microsoft will have to comply with the 10-year deal regardless if Sony signed or not.

 

[Tiago Rodrigues]

Oh dear! Xbox gamers better hold tight. Sony is going to get even more aggressive with exclusivity deals after this.

Sony already knew the odds of this getting rejected were slim at best. They have all the lawyers. I’m sure this isn’t a huge surprise for them.

 

[Mr Moose]

They based all of this on MineCraft, they ate MS bait, Jesus.

 

[FBeeEye]

The checks finally cleared. Never had any doubt.

Can you smell the inevitability?

 

[Bernardougf]

In ten years when the contract is over? LOL. I still think they’ll go the Fortnite/Apex/Overwatch route with it LONG before then where the campaign is dropped and it’s like all other shooters that are F2P supported by the battle pass.

Sony dosent signed the 10 year contract.. all they have is the existing contracts with ABK ... if the deal pass it without any remedies (seems the case) that is no 10 year contract