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[fart town usa]

Lol, silly post.

I wish ms would not appeal and just move on, they could buy dozens of companies or start selling $199 series X machines, or launch a hybrid handheld at $199 for the cash they are throwing around.......

Whatever dude. You're the same guy saying PSVR2 is dead when it's been on the market for 2 months.

What does Xbox lose with the deal falling through? Nothing. It's business as usual for everyone at this point.

 

[OmegaSupreme]

Where’s our resident Xbois?

 

[hyperbertha]

Microsoft should buy the CMA

Sony will block em.

 

[DeepEnigma]

So will this be the end of acquisition wars? Or will we have to endure MS and Sony snatching up more studios.

Studios, sure.

Publishers to play takeaway from decades old 3rd party IPs should be off limits. Especially healthy and revenue crushing ones.

 

[Fabieter]

So will this be the end of acquisition wars? Or will we have to endure MS and Sony snatching up more studios.

There are people on twitter who say they will buy like all smaller publishers from the 68b$ so who knows .

 

[TexMex]

Guess Microsoft is going to have to figure out how to make games again.

 

[Elios83]

So will this be the end of acquisition wars? Or will we have to endure MS and Sony snatching up more studios.

Hopefully it's over and the message is clear that success must be built over the years and not bought off using money coming from other dominant positions.
It's a message not just for Microsoft but also many other companies.

 

[makaveli60]

Don’t really care about it either way, but wow, what a rollercoaster drama this is.

 

[Solidus_T]

Now Microsoft can hopefully focus on using all of that money to make games... can they?

 

[Old_and_Slow]

Regardless of other concerns I like a governing body refusing to roll over for a big corporation.

MS already has a monopoly on PC operating systems, a near monopoly on office and word working software. They don't need to have a game software monopoly either, which is where I think they were ultimately going.

 

[Interfectum]

 

[Dick Jones]

So will this be the end of acquisition wars? Or will we have to endure MS and Sony snatching up more studios.

One can hope. The acquisition warz is shit for everyone.

 

[Gamerguy84]

 

[Flutta]

Fair enough, I kind of agree that M$ was only interested in Cod.

But a new upper management could really make things run a lot smoothly for other Activision Blizzard IPs.

Sorry didn't mean to lash at you. What's happening to AKB will happen to any studio/pub when they get too big for their own good. It's inevitable. You'll have to change the whole leadership from top to bottom to have any meaningful change. That alone is a hard task that not even MS will accomplish, i mean they basically have the same issues in their own backyard.

 

[FullMetalx117]

Lots of golden parachutes were knifed today

 

[Trogdor1123]

Don’t really get this myself. Oh well.

 

[Spitfire098]

wow, so only about 2% of people (voting) saw this coming.

I voted deal to fail because I'm a hater.

 

[Baki]

Bad look for US too using this logic as FTC are taking them to court. And the EC will block too. Then there's China.

US is the biggest economy in the world and $ the worlds reserve currency. The UK is a tiny island nation that just broke off the trading agreement with their biggest trading partners. They are not in remotely the same situation.

 

[Noxxera]

Now Microsoft can hopefully focus on using all of that money to make games... can they?

Helps if they have actual studios that can do good games.

 

[FullMetalx117]

US is the biggest economy in the world and $ the worlds reserve currency. The UK is a tiny island nation that just broke off the trading agreement with their biggest trading partners. They are not in remotely the same situation.

UK is Xbox's 2nd largest market and is very similar to the U.S. culturally. Otherwise Xbox is irrelevant everywhere else. I do agree the american market is the most lucrative but this is basically an FU from their 2nd biggest market. Not good for them

GTA is made in the UK FYI

 

[TheGodfather07]

So will this be the end of acquisition wars? Or will we have to endure MS and Sony snatching up more studios.

Unfortunately we will have to listen to years of ridiculous Microsoft and Activision pr as they try to appeal the decision. Total waste of time.

 

[Fabieter]

US is the biggest economy in the world and $ the worlds reserve currency. The UK is a tiny island nation that just broke off the trading agreement with their biggest trading partners. They are not in remotely the same situation.

The dollar also saw better days and its highley likely that china will be bigger in the future, anyway I think this argument is ridiculous. EU/UK don't have to play ball if they think something isn't right. No country would do that including the US.

 

[Pelta88]

Where’s our resident Xbois?

MIA

What's hilarious is that they think we haven't noticed. Shout out to them.

 

[James Sawyer Ford]

Unfortunately we will have to listen to years of ridiculous Microsoft and Activision pr as they try to appeal the decision. Total waste of time.

At some point you’d think Activision would take the money and run

I think they can decide to back out after the summer

 

[Captain Toad]

Moral of the story: competition is only good for consumers unless the leader feels threatened.

A huge company leaning on 70 billion dollar acquisitions instead of contributing organically is good for competition?

 

[IFireflyl]

I see. Appreciate the level headed explanation. Thread is chock full of warriors giving their biased answers. I'm just trying to understand what's going on.

Oh well, on to the next one I guess. Do you think MSFT will chill for a sec and just work on the current teams they have? I said back when they bought the first gaggle of studios that they need to chill and actually manage those first. Then they came with Bethesda and I thought it was a bad idea, because they never managed this many studios and they've already shown that they haven't trouble managing what they already had.

Then comes Activision and I just throw my hands up at this point, like maybe they know more than me. I dunno, common sense and a pauper's wallet maybe let me have a better sense of reality.

Xbox needs to chill out...fix their internal issues and get back to focusing on the games and just putting out a great product. All the games that were decent were in development prior to their acquisition or were primarily for Xbox to begin with.

As far as MSFT goes, they really only have three options:

1. They can throw in the towel and move out of the hardware side of console gaming. With cloud being their big thing I don't think they would want to leave gaming entirely, especially not with the studios that they already have. Their existing studios could then be permanent third-party studios for other hardware and/or for cloud gaming.
2. They can continue with their acquisition spree, but focus on smaller studios/publishers. To be clear, the only thing preventing Microsoft from obtaining this acquisition was the scale. None of the regulatory bodies batted an eye when it came to Zenimax. That was a huge acquisition, and it went through with ease. Activision Blizzard made Zenimax look tiny though, and that is what caused the scrutiny.
3. The can pause their acquisitions and restructure to provide their existing publishers/studios with the necessary tools and leadership that they need to thrive, both separately and conjoined.

The third option is what I want them to go for since I am against both MSFT and SONY gobbling up third-party studios and making them exclusive to their platform. The second option is the most realistic option though. I threw out the first option as it is possible for them to go that route, but that is highly unlikely.

I truly do want Microsoft to succeed. They have IPs that I love, and they provide competition for Sony. Those are both great things. I just don't like HOW they are trying to succeed. I am also sad because I don't think they're ever going to port Lost Odyssey to PC.

 

[Baki]

The dollar also saw better days and its highley likely that china will be bigger in the future, anyway I think this argument is ridiculous. EU/UK don't have to play ball if they think something isn't right. No country would do that including the US.

EU can get away with it because the economy is so big. UK can’t.

 

[solidus12]

The face of a man who has lost everything, and yet he will still be able to play those games on his favorite plastic box

 

[Astray]

Big Jim is chillin rn.

 

[Ar¢tos]

.

Where’s our resident Xbois?

Most likely deciding what to do next and how to act in their Discord server.

 

[bluecowboys]

Actually Xbox would suffer pretty badly if they pull out of the UK. I don't believe Miscrosoft wants that.

How? Xbox isn’t doing all that well in UK to begin with. The activision and blizzard deal is worth more money than Xbox in UK

 

[Gudji]

 

[VAVA Mk2]

this just gets better and better

The CMA is dense... Microsoft could either invest in ports to lower end hardware or offer CoD to Nintendo and less powerful hardware via GamePass. They contradict themselves here although it does make fun of Nintendo and basically say we need a Switch 2 now.

 

[DeepEnigma]

How? Xbox isn’t doing all that well in UK to begin with. The activision and blizzard deal is worth more money than Xbox in UK

So tell them to do better.

 

[MasterCornholio]

How? Xbox isn’t doing all that well in UK to begin with. The activision and blizzard deal is worth more money than Xbox in UK

You have to look at their strongest regions. If Xbox doesn't have the UK then that severely reduces their numbers.

You just need to let Xbox know they can do better.

 

[FullMetalx117]

EU can get away with it because the economy is so big. UK can’t.

While I do think the UK was dumb from breaking out of the EU you need to remember - A LOT of wealth is managed in the UK. Like we're talking about wealth from the medieval times. It's the financial hub of Europe no matter how much Germany or the Swiss or whoever would argue otherwise.

UK also seems to be the favorite wealth hub of the Middle East - there's a reason why Qatar funded the Shard. London is powerful, don't sleep on them, they certainly have global influence

 

[skit_data]

You guys know what is best about these news?

”Pachters law of opposite outcome” still holds true.

I was afraid we’d have to throw it in the bin for a while there but once again Pachter proves he can always be used as a litmus test regarding future events by simply always being wrong as fuck.

 

[SEGAvangelist]

Guess Microsoft is going to have to figure out how to make games again.

I'm sure they will after more of those Sony-style "organic" acquisitions.

 

[Fabieter]

EU can get away with it because the economy is so big. UK can’t.

Treatining a country over enforcing laws is something.

 

[TexMex]

I'm sure they will after more of those Sony-style "organic" acquisitions.

 

[Elios83]

Unfortunately we will have to listen to years of ridiculous Microsoft and Activision pr as they try to appeal the decision. Total waste of time.

I doubt they can afford that.
How can these companies continue to be hands tied for years? They're literally losing years of strategic planning.
Activision doesn't even know what is going to happen to COD's marketing partnership after the deal with Sony expires and they can't make other deals in the process.

That's not even considering that a CMA decision can't be appealed easily. It's not even a real appeal.
They can go to CAT but if they can't prove significant procedural mistakes or irrationality or foul play involved their request won't even be considered.
And in the remote case CAT agrees the whole thing just goes back to CMA, it can take an other year of investigations to get the same ruling.
In the meantime the breakup fees will reach what? A Bethseda acquisition size?

In summer they'll also have an other ordeal with the FTC.
They should just move on and execute on a different strategy.

 

[DeepEnigma]

I'm sure they will after more of those Sony-style "organic" acquisitions.

They did 14 of them in the past 7 years, have you been asleep?

 

[darrylgorn]

Who knew we could have pure socialism in 2023.

 

[Sleepwalker]

The CMA is dense... Microsoft could either invest in ports to lower end hardware or offer CoD to Nintendo and less powerful hardware via GamePass. They contradict themselves here although it does make fun of Nintendo and basically say we need a Switch 2 now.

The CMA literally said they don't think they would be able to port COD at a "similar level of quality compared to the offering on PS5 and Xbox" to Nintendo. They are fully aware they can make a shitty port and throw it on the switch lol.

 

[hemo memo]

If I’m in MS shoes I would honestly just pull out from the UK. The UK market is in the loss here. Just stop selling your games on the UK and let the CMA take the heat and hardcore gamers will import the games anyway. Appeal? C’mon just stop this stupid influence game as if they didn’t approve this deal after all the deals and contracts you made then they obviously wouldn’t. Seriously. Just skip the UK market.

 

[Bernardougf]

yeah this is the argument that doesn't hold water with me. You're acting like Sony hasn't been making acquisitions for YEARS, as if they haven't actually built up their business through acquisitions. Because they have. For a lot of companies the path to getting to a "better state" is via acquisition - bringing in better talent and IPs. I don't question the comment about management issues because the fact that they have to rely on this speaks to that, but to say making acquisitions is not a valid path (one which the competition heavily utilizes) just isn't true.

As I said it .. if they were competent with the things they already bought and own I would be more accepting.. in their current state of management I am against ... they are failing and had all the chance and time to succeed.. so no .. they cant buy the industry and brute force fake success.... thanks the CMA

 

[Ivan]

Just imagine how many great new games and studios they could build with that money... Or even ONE game with all that money

 

[FullMetalx117]

If I’m in MS shoes I would honestly just pull out from the UK. The UK market is in the loss here. Just stop selling your games on the UK and let the CMA take the heat and hardcore gamers will import the games anyway. Appeal? C’mon just stop this stupid influence game as if they didn’t approve this deal after all the deals and contracts you made then they obviously wouldn’t. Seriously. Just skip the UK market.

Great idea, xbox already barely sells, just off their 2nd biggest market. Lol

 

[recursive]

Nah definitely not for the best, imagine how much better games blizzard would make.

Please elaborate.

 

[Barneyco]

Why couldn't Activision just sell off studios one at a time to the highest bidder or is that too simplistic?