Activision is not going to negotiate a deal as an independent entity after already selling themselves to Microsoft
The only casual talks with Bobby occurred assuming the deal were to fail
No, they would be legally required to do so; corporations aren't allowed to negotiate deals pre-acquisition as if they are already actually acquired. And again, after the CMA block, the deal looked genuinely dead, like 95/5 Against. Now it's like 95/5 In Favor, in just three months time.
The value of the PlayStation market and such people are saying Sony maybe leveraged for this late deal, they would have actually been able to do so with ABK independently back in March, April, or even early May. With the FTC's failure and CMA apparently open to "different" remedies shortly after FTC's loss, Sony lost their two biggest bargaining chips in the span of a couple of weeks.
They deal with MS now may be 10-years, but guess what else was in the other 10-year deals? MS retaining 100% of MTX and IAP sales. What's to say that has changed whatsoever with the Sony deal? I'm willing to believe it hasn't.
Ms is fine with indiana jones and Starfield not selling 10m each on Playstation 5 which is close to 1b in revenue while still offering the games in gamepass and they passed.
It's okay; some folks are just conveniently acting like Microsoft suddenly "really cares" about their gaming revenue now, and won't undergo strategies that leave money on the table short-term to push direct competitors out of the market altogether long-term. We have leaked documents showing this intent in plain text, but apparently they're just thought experiments :/
Nope. It appears that Microsoft is the one who wanted this deal.... as they've given Sony a 10-year deal.
Sony can go on about their day without the COD deal and still do very well. Microsoft couldn't resist missing out on the billions from Sony.
This deal is not the power play by Sony some of you want to think it was.
And I'm saying that as someone who has ended up vehemently
against the deal over time, after being moderately okay with back at announcement time. Due in large part to the absolutely horrible toxicity Microsoft have enabled online against Sony/PlayStation, their half-truths, bullying and antagonizing of regulatory bodies, and very obvious intentions to push Sony and PlayStation completely out of the market by simply buying their way to dominance with money not earned through the Xbox division's own merits.