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Microsoft / Activision deal prevented to protect innovation and choice in cloud gaming

Ar¢tos

Member
Well this is worse for Sony. MS will then make many exclusive deals with Activision then, and make games not even playable on the Playstation. Before, MS agreed to put them on the system.
Buying studios/publishers adds value to the brand, paying for exclusivity (and it will be paying a LOT, since Sony has the biggest slice of the market) adds nothing, so shareholders would never approve the funds for that for huge AAA games.
 

Dick Jones

Gold Member
Look at the absolute state of these people:


"MS, hear me out. What we should do is reengage with UK and CMA, with thinly veiled threats about potentially allowing disastrous cybersecurity breaches against the nation. Surely they'll budge, and we'll get COD on Gamepass! Everyone wins!"

ftViWRi.jpg
 

zomboden

Banned
Look at the absolute state of these people:


"MS, hear me out. What we should do is reengage with UK and CMA, with thinly veiled threats about potentially allowing disastrous cybersecurity breaches against the nation. Surely they'll budge, and we'll get COD on Gamepass! Everyone wins!"



Front page of BBC news. Microsoft is definitely not backing down. They are going to try and bully UK into submission on this deal I think.
 

Ozriel

M$FT
Because unit sales are currently the one and only metric for success in the console space, and no amount of dismissing or PR talk will change this fact. MS themselves admitted the importance of console sales to increase subscriber growth of Gamepass, and its growth has stunted as the result of low demand for their consoles.

Increased console sales lead to software sales, subscription growth, revue, and profit. It is the barometer for success unless you or MS can prove otherwise. Given the lack of details MS provides with Gamepass profits and userbase, I'd presume even MS agrees with this.

The cloud or Netflix of gaming may be the future, but not in this current climate. We're talking about the current market.

I’m not asking if console sales are an important success metric. I’m asking why you’re insinuating that not selling the most consoles means you’ve failed and your business isn’t viable.
 

Ozriel

M$FT
Look at the absolute state of these people:


"MS, hear me out. What we should do is reengage with UK and CMA, with thinly veiled threats about potentially allowing disastrous cybersecurity breaches against the nation. Surely they'll budge, and we'll get COD on Gamepass! Everyone wins!"


What an absolutely stupid tweet.

I’d be happy if the acquisition went through, but not at the expense of damaging independent and thorough regulation.

This FOSS guy has done numbers on his reputation as part of this saga.
 

Gojiira

Member
i was hoping the deal closed so it will make Microsoft future acquisition even harder tbh.
Agreed, really wanted them to struggle here but it go through. But ultimately I wanted it to be easier for Sony to make future acquisitions citing the disparity between them and MS. Oh well.

Still glad to see CMA recognised MS’ intention to create a monopoly. Fuck them.
 

NickFire

Member
I’m not asking if console sales are an important success metric. I’m asking why you’re insinuating that not selling the most consoles means you’ve failed and your business isn’t viable.
Didn‘t MS themselves try conditioning everyone to believe that? They were the ones claiming they needed to buy AB to compete while showing pie charts they offered In support of the position they are small potato’s in consoles after all.
 

Topher

Gold Member
I'm truly amazed that the President of Microsoft is leveraging cybersecurity of an entire country as a potential consequence of blocking this acquisition. If UK security is truly hanging in the balance here then they should really reassess their dependence on a single corporation who will make threats against the entire country like a spoiled rotten child not getting their way.

This is about video games. Microsoft should be embarrassed by this shit.
 
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Ozriel

M$FT
Didn‘t MS themselves try conditioning everyone to believe that? They were the ones claiming they needed to buy AB to compete while showing pie charts they offered In support of the position they are small potato’s in consoles after all.

Did they ever claim they were making losses, unprofitable or about to go out of business when showing off those pie charts?

Most of that was put forward to show that ‘monopoly’ concerns were unwarranted.
 

Reckheim

Member


Front page of BBC news. Microsoft is definitely not backing down. They are going to try and bully UK into submission on this deal I think.

That'll work out great for them.

Over the years MS has created a 'good guy' image with regulators; much more then any of the other 4 big tech companies. Having them throw all that away over Activision is incredibly dumb. Especially since this will be coming back to CMA regardless of what happens with the appeal.

They are going about this the completely wrong way if they want to sway anyone in the UK.
 
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NickFire

Member
Did they ever claim they were making losses, unprofitable or about to go out of business when showing off those pie charts?

Most of that was put forward to show that ‘monopoly’ concerns were unwarranted.
I don’t think they are in danger of going out of business at all. Just pointing out that they conditioned the audience to believe they are having trouble competing. Which is exactly what they did. We can argue it was nonsense, and we’d be right.
 

GHound

Member
I'm truly amazed that the President of Microsoft is leveraging cybersecurity of an entire country as a potential consequence of blocking this acquisition. If UK security is truly hanging in the balance here then they should really reassess their dependence on a single corporation who will make threats against the entire country like a spoiled rotten child not getting their way.

This is about video games. Microsoft should be embarrassed by this shit.
Microsoft is quickly reaching the point where their public statements are as embarrassing as their internet fangirls. Too much more of this and I'll start thinking all of that revenge porn fanfiction the keyboard parasites cook up actually has some merit.
 

DJ12

Member
I don't know how mad Microsoft and Activision really are. Behind closed doors I mean.

But let's just say... you better hope the CMA isn't the only regulatory body stopping the deal. All I'm saying.

You might be getting an OBOX with Xbat game ticket subscription and call of shooty.
Please note, for all your (I would hope) jest that this deal isn't happening without CMA approval, it needs approval from the US, EU and UK to pass, anyone of those three say no this deal is done.

Could MS start a new process for a new deal excluding the uk, I guess, but that's back to square one for them. Another 2 years before anything actually happens.
 
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jm89

Member


"Guys, can we make a twitter poll and present it to the UK government and they'll overturn so I can get Diablo for free?"

The reasons why the CMA threw the publics opinion in the trash is because folks who where supporting the deal were arguing on mass "oh we want more games on gamepass"

I just feel sorry for the CMA person who had to sift through that.
 
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Please note, for all your (I would hope, jest) that this deal isn't happening without CMA approval, it needs approval from the US, EU and UK to pass, anyone of those three say no this deal is done.

Could MS start a new process for a new deal excluding the uk, I guess, but that's back to square one for them. Another 2 years before anything actually happens.
They could please the UK just by creating an independent subsidiary that publishes COD in UK. Sucks for UK gamers who would get screwed.
 

DJ12

Member
Look at the absolute state of these people:


"MS, hear me out. What we should do is reengage with UK and CMA, with thinly veiled threats about potentially allowing disastrous cybersecurity breaches against the nation. Surely they'll budge, and we'll get COD on Gamepass! Everyone wins!"

It's laughable to suggest MS don't already cause massive cyber security issues in the uk.

How the hell would anyone know next time that it was on purpose.
 
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I'd actually fucking die of laughter if MS successfully appealed this. I got no horse in this race but there are so many bitter cunts out there giving kicks into each other that I just want MS to be successful now. Hopefully the CMA changes their mind or the UK gov steps in to over rule the CMA.

This whole thing shows how pathetic some people are. Imagine defending multi billion/trillion $ companies. Get a grip of yourselves for goodness sake.
 

zomboden

Banned
Please note, for all your (I would hope) jest that this deal isn't happening without CMA approval, it needs approval from the US, EU and UK to pass, anyone of those three say no this deal is done.

Could MS start a new process for a new deal excluding the uk, I guess, but that's back to square one for them. Another 2 years before anything actually happens.
I dunno about the EU but Microsoft has absolutely nothing to worry about with the FTC. American company doing deals on American soil. They will not intervene. American politicians receive huge bags of money as "donations" every year to make sure they do not intervene in stuff like this. Trust me, the FTC will fall in line. You are crazy if you think otherwise.
 
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Ar¢tos

Member
If the CMA changes their ruling over threats, then they'll lose a ton of credibility.
You can't make a big decision and then suddenly change your mind, specially without no new huge evidence/information to back the change.
 

gothmog

Gold Member
I think if things don’t turn around Microsoft will sale Xbox off and it will turn into a publisher. Then Sony will have a monopoly on high end console market.
So what? Basically Sony would become a Dell providing the standardized plastic box while Microsoft provides the binaries. Both powerful but you would probably argue that Microsoft is in the dominant position. Especially if they made it really easy to incorporate Windows OS on let's say something like a Steam Deck or AMD chipsets. Oh and had a ready to go monetization, digital rights, and delivery platform ready to go.

They're basically there. They just need to basically let Sony "win" to get there which is where the problem lies.
 

DJ12

Member
I dunno about the EU but Microsoft has absolutely nothing to worry about with the FTC. American company doing deals on American soil. They will not intervene. American politicians receive huge bags of money as "donations" every year to make sure they do not intervene in stuff like this. Trust me, the FTC will fall in line. You are crazy if you think otherwise.
Again, the FTC and EU can approve this deal if they want, but as a contractual requirement is its approved by the CMA also it won't make a single jot of difference.

This deal is finished.
 
I'd actually fucking die of laughter if MS successfully appealed this. I got no horse in this race but there are so many bitter cunts out there giving kicks into each other that I just want MS to be successful now. Hopefully the CMA changes their mind or the UK gov steps in to over rule the CMA.

This whole thing shows how pathetic some people are. Imagine defending multi billion/trillion $ companies. Get a grip of yourselves for goodness sake.
You are currently cheering on a multibillion/trillion dollar company and hoping for them to get their way over the decision of an independent legal board of a sovereign nation.
 
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ShaiKhulud1989

Gold Member
If the CMA changes their ruling over threats, then they'll lose a ton of credibility.
I'm almost sure that there will be no appeal and all are we getting now is corporate chest-pounding to save face. The deadline for an appeal is 4 weeks and if EU will reject the deal (now it's way more possible) there will be no need of going forward with 3 court headaches simultaneously.
 

PaintTinJr

Member


Front page of BBC news. Microsoft is definitely not backing down. They are going to try and bully UK into submission on this deal I think.

It is just a pure lack of intelligence at Microsoft if they think there is any way to "bully" our UK government to unravel the entire credibility of our democracy by overturning the CMA decision.

This whole situation reminds me of Trump's efforts to buy a farm next to his golf course in Scotland.
 

Fabieter

Member
I dunno about the EU but Microsoft has absolutely nothing to worry about with the FTC. American company doing deals on American soil. They will not intervene. American politicians receive huge bags of money as "donations" every year to make sure they do not intervene in stuff like this. Trust me, the FTC will fall in line. You are crazy if you think otherwise.

So is corruption good now? The fact that this is case shows deep rotten spaces into a democracy.
 
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