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Microsoft / Activision Deal Approval Watch |OT| (MS/ABK close)

Do you believe the deal will be approved?

  • Yes, will be approved without changes.

    Votes: 221 24.9%

  • Yes, will be approved but with structural changes to ABK.

    Votes: 102 11.5%

  • Yes, will be approved but only with behavioral concessions.

    Votes: 262 29.6%

  • No, will not be approved.

    Votes: 301 34.0%
  • Total voters
    886
  • Poll closed .
Status
Not open for further replies.
M

MagnesD3

Member
M1987 said:
Gamers who only buy PlayStation are fucked in the next 10 years when Microsoft buy up all the biggest 3rd party publishers and make them exclusive
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Ill just go buy Nintendo and have my PC because Microsoft is gonna do everything in thier power to ruin the industry. Sony is already on thin ice from my point of view as well with how pathetic a line up they have with thier Gaas push, I may not get a Ps6 if things dont get better.
 
feynoob

feynoob

Member
Ass of Can Whooping said:
I'm consistent. I support acquisitions by the king and reject acquisitions by the devil
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suspicious GIF
 
balls of snow

balls of snow

Member
Dick Jones said:
I just want consistency. If you were for this deal you should be okay with a Sony acquisition. Likewise, if you are against this acquisition, you should carry that same energy to the next acquisition thread.

I'm against this, and I would be against any future Sony acquisition of for example Square, Konami or Capcom. The only way I'd be okay is if it remains independent and multiplatform like Bungie is. Otherwise that acquisition can fuck off.

Also imagine buying SE and keeping their board in charge. It would be fucking 343'd before the decade is out.
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Now its not a level playing field though. If sony doesnt get 'even', ms is gonna gobble the rest up sooner or later especially now we know what pushovers regulators ended up being. Thats not fear mongering, ms knows it can get away with it now.

Thats the reason why I was against this particular acquisition, with Bethesda I was ok with since their best games ( Dishonored, Wolfenstein and Evil Within) bomb anyway so ms money can support those risky ip. Even making Beth games exclusive was alright since playstation gamers never really supported those games anyway.

With abk, its clearly taking away games from sony. Cod doesnt need help funding, diablo 4 is a massive success without ms money. Its about content and now that the pandora box is open, let it rip from both sides now.
 
KungFucius

KungFucius

King Snowflake
GHG said:
The reasons Bobby was looking to sell at the time of doing the deal no longer exist. The general market conditions that existed at the time of sale also no longer exist. There's also the fact that had it been prolonged into 2024 it would have meant Activision's usual business activities could have been in jeopardy (for example, they needed to get a new COD marketing deal in place, hence Bobby wanted to try and get that from Jim Ryan even while all of this was going on).

Lots of moving parts, but overall its much bigger than "does Bobby need money".
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Yeah, it's the shareholders who voted for this deal want their payout. That's it, it is not some hypothetical other possibility. They want the money they stand to make when the deal closes and there would be serious fallout from a lot of them if the deal doesn't close.
Dick Jones said:
I just want consistency. If you were for this deal you should be okay with a Sony acquisition. Likewise, if you are against this acquisition, you should carry that same energy to the next acquisition thread.

I'm against this, and I would be against any future Sony acquisition of for example Square, Konami or Capcom. The only way I'd be okay is if it remains independent and multiplatform like Bungie is. Otherwise that acquisition can fuck off.

Also imagine buying SE and keeping their board in charge. It would be fucking 343'd before the decade is out.
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This makes little sense. Many people are coming at this from a fanboy angle or simply wanting cheaper access to CoD on Gamepass. That does not apply on the Sony side. Others want to see MS become more competitive since they are well behind Sony. Sony getting bigger doesn't help that angle. You are just saying that people need to think like you or the exact opposite of you instead of recognizing that this issue is a little more complex than something so binary.
 
Varteras

Varteras

Gold Member
cormack12 said:
+1 I would like to know too.

What does won in US mean? Just that we are still where we were like 6 weeks ago?
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The FTC lost the PI hearing and lost the appeal. Best they can do now is have their administrative court date in August but it's not likely to lead to anything.

CMA has said they will look over a proposal from MS for what some are saying is a divestment option. However, they will not likely come to a conclusion until August 29th. Which doesn't guarantee they will approve.

Current debate is if MS and ABK will close before the 18th, extend for this new development, or if ABK walks and demands $3 billion.
 
E

Elios83

Member
So FTC has lost their attempt to extend the TRO and technically Microsoft could close in the US. At this point their best option is to try to settle with Microsoft, getting some remedies and concessions in exchange of dropping every further opposition.
CMA is the only obstacle and we'll see what happens early next week.
 
Hero of Spielberg

Hero of Spielberg

Member
Varteras said:
The FTC lost the PI hearing and lost the appeal. Best they can do now is have their administrative court date in August but it's not likely to lead to anything.

CMA has said they will look over a proposal from MS for what some are saying is a divestment option. However, they will not likely come to a conclusion until August 29th. Which doesn't guarantee they will approve.

Current debate is if MS and ABK will close before the 18th, extend for this new development, or if ABK walks and demands $3 billion.
Click to expand...
From what I’ve read it’s more that CMA have reset the deadline but are looking to resolve before then. You would think that they’d have already been negotiating
 
ChuckeRearmed

ChuckeRearmed

Member
Elios83 said:
At this point their best option is to try to settle with Microsoft, getting some remedies and concessions in exchange of dropping every further opposition
Click to expand...
There is no point for Microsoft to settle with FTC. FTC can burn all their budget with 0 results and it won't change anything.
 
E

Elios83

Member
Topher said:
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Wasn't he sure they already had a deal with CMA to close on monday?
Wasn't he sure Microsoft would go over CMA?

Anyway I don't get the all eyes on CAT part, that will be just the CAT asking them if/when they want to reschedule the appeal if CMA sticks with the block.
CAT will probably reschedule the appeal in September or case dropped if Microsoft and CMA reach an agreement before.
 
Topher

Topher

Gold Member
Elios83 said:
Wasn't he sure they already had a deal with CMA to close on monday?
Wasn't he sure Microsoft would go over CMA?

Anyway I don't get the all eyes on CAT part, that will be just the CAT asking them if/when they want to reschedule the appeal if CMA sticks with the block.
CAT will probably reschedule the appeal in September or case dropped if Microsoft and CMA reach an agreement before.
Click to expand...

Tom Warren's takes change dramatically hourly it seems. All eyes on CAT because it might reveal where CMA's going with all this. That's the big question really. Is CMA using this as a delay tactic? Using it to back out of their block? Hard to get a handle on it for me.
 
G

Goblinlinguitic

Banned
If MS actually try subvert the CMA's decision and close the acquisition against it I genuinely hope the subsequent fines, asset seizures, financial sanctions, and other assorted responses deployed by the UK government are so severe that MS execs are forced to shutter the Xbox divsion and beg on their collective knees for a reprieve before their shareholders have them executed.
 
Topher

Topher

Gold Member
Goblinlinguitic said:
If MS actually try subvert the CMA's decision and close the acquisition against it I genuinely hope the subsequent fines, asset seizures, financial sanctions, and other assorted responses deployed by the UK government are so severe that MS execs are forced to shutter the Xbox divsion and beg on their collective knees for a reprieve before their shareholders have them executed.
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Jennifer Lawrence Oops GIF


Welcome to GAF?
 
Lord Malachite

Lord Malachite

Member
Varteras said:
It might seem shitty, but it's a snowball effect. One thing leads to another, leads to another, leads to another. Each step for one company justified by what the others did before. The upshot to this industry is that it is very resilient to too much being owned by one company. There are a ridiculous number of startups with good funding and a lot of talent popping up these days. Many of them displaced from the very consolidation some fear, with others having formed from the dying husk of companies already owned.
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This is the tragedy of the decision. As a PlayStation only gamer, I'm not shedding tears for Sony. This deal would be just as shitty if it had been them trying to buy ABK instead of Microsoft. What we've seen happen pretty much around the world is that regulators and courts have now weighed in that there is nothing anti-competitive or anti-consumer about a platform holder buying out a major segment of the industry and potentially locking its content behind their own iron curtain. Microsoft has made "pledges" to keep ABK content on PlayStation and to bring it to Nintendo. But there's no legal obligation for them to do so and let's be brutally honest. MS can afford to leave the many, many billions of dollars on the table by locking Sony out of the content. Sure, it would be very expensive, but they can afford it and may very well see it as the cost of doing business, long-term. Their goal, like any player, is to make their competition irrelevant if not force them out of the space altogether. Anyone thinking Sony wouldn't love to do the same is kidding themselves--the only difference is Sony does not have the resources to push Microsoft out. Microsoft can buy and sell Sony dozens of times over.

Regardless of what MS does or doesn't do with ABK content, the real story here is that legal precedent has now been set. It will be much harder for regulators to bring suit or seek injunctions against further acquisitions from any players in the space, even Microsoft. There would need to be proof that allowing the acquisitions would create a monopoly. Typically, when courts and regulators fail the public in this spectacular a fashion, the only restitution is after the fact. The monopoly is actually allowed to occur, and then government decides "hey wait a minute..."

You can expect a lot of buying out across the board from all sorts of players at the first and third party level, mass-consolidation and very likely attempts to setup iron curtains as platform holders seek to defend themselves. "Oh yeah? Well if you don't give us Game X, you won't get Game Y!" There's a nasty mess coming, and the loser won't be Sony, it will be gamers everywhere.
 
Mozza

Mozza

Member
Varteras said:
Tom Warren. I like my odds better that I'll shove a cactus up my ass and not get poked than him being accurate.



Fuck that. Be a man. If she wanted you to look at her pupils she'd put magnifying glasses over her eyes. Not looking would be disrespectful to the maker of that amazing pair of dirty pillows.
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Very true.
 
Varteras

Varteras

Gold Member
Goblinlinguitic said:
If MS actually try subvert the CMA's decision and close the acquisition against it I genuinely hope the subsequent fines, asset seizures, financial sanctions, and other assorted responses deployed by the UK government are so severe that MS execs are forced to shutter the Xbox divsion and beg on their collective knees for a reprieve before their shareholders have them executed.
Click to expand...
M68vR2F.jpg
 
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