cash_longfellow
Gold Member
Nice thread, lots of info. I’m not going to read any of it, but thank Jesus that you came along and stopped every third thread from being about this….you are the real hero 
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Ctrl+Alt+Deceive: All The Dirt, Info, Lies, and LOLs We Found During FTC vs. Microsoft
- Thread starter Heisenberg007
- Start date
Heisenberg007
Gold Journalism
I felt there was something missing. A vacuum.
Then I got
Hendrick's
[only] laugh emoji on this thread, and my life was complete again! 
Then I got
Hendrick's
[only] laugh emoji on this thread, and my life was complete again!
Ah, good call. What people often do is include a url to an image backup underneath the tweet embed.
GHG
Member
I felt there was something missing. A vacuum.
Then I got
When he drops one of those you know you're doing something right.
Heisenberg007
Gold Journalism
I do encourage you to read it, though. I genuinely believe this is important for gamers to know what they are dealing with and how people are trying to affect the hobby we all love.Nice thread, lots of info. I’m not going to read any of it, but thank Jesus that you came along and stopped every third thread from being about this….you are the real hero
He's blessing you with the Holy Waters of his eyes per the MS Evangelist Bible.I felt there was something missing. A vacuum.
Then I got
Heisenberg007
Gold Journalism
He's blessing you with the Holy Waters of his eyes per the MS Evangelist Bible.
Heisenberg007
Gold Journalism
Yeah that's a good idea. I'll add them tomorrow!
GHG
Member
He's blessing you with the Holy Waters of his eyes per the MS Evangelist Bible.
Thought Experiment 31:16
Thus saith the Phil; Refrain thy voice from weeping, and thine eyes from tears: for thy work shall be rewarded, saith the Phil;
Topher
Gold Member
Actually Bethesda was the one shopping their own games for exclusivity money*. The rumor that Sony was attempting to buy Bethesda exclusives predates all of this.
*Correct me if I'm wrong here,
Heisenberg007
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The Fuzz damn you!
Gold Member
An outstanding effort, well done.
Not wanting to criticise, but for completeness, the details of Ryan’s demands regarding Phil’s proposed Avtivision deal would be nice to see here (price / date / release / subscription parity). Seems relevant to the other COD info presented.
Edit— it’s all there, I’m just fucking blind.
Not wanting to criticise, but for completeness, the details of Ryan’s demands regarding Phil’s proposed Avtivision deal would be nice to see here (price / date / release / subscription parity). Seems relevant to the other COD info presented.
Edit— it’s all there, I’m just fucking blind.
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Heisenberg007
Gold Journalism
Yep. Pete Hines also suggested and shopped for Deathloop's exclusivity.Actually Bethesda was the one shopping their own games for exclusivity money*. The rumor that Sony was attempting to buy Bethesda exclusives predates all of this.
*Correct me if I'm wrong here,
Heisenberg007
Gold Journalism
Is there something else on it that's not covered in Jim Ryan's email reply to Phil Spencer? If there is, I may not be familiar with it. Please share some resources about that, and I'll add that to the post tomorrow. Thanks!
ShadowkillXNA
Member
Wrong, you perceive it to xbox hate, when in reality everything in the op is factual.I know this is an Xbox hate circle jerk but I just want to say, why would a list of ABK games that MS would keep multi platform include a game like Overwatch, which is dead and no longer playable? Maybe by “Overwatch” MS just meant like, the only version of Overwatch that is playable
bitbydeath
Member
I do wonder if the CMA had any of this content, or will be planning on adding it since it was never released during their investigation.
poppabk
Cheeks Spread for Digital Only Future
He lied about the Japanese acquisitions in court or he just denied rumors that could jeopardize the potential acquisitions.
cash_longfellow
Gold Member
I meant that I’m not reading through it because I’ve read all of the separate threads. I’ve bookmarked this one and plan on keeping up with it, and hope you keep it updated
Gambit2483
Member
I feel so dirty after reading all of that.
What a scummy industry this is behind d the scenes. How anyone still supports in favor of MS after reading all of that is beyond me.
What a scummy industry this is behind d the scenes. How anyone still supports in favor of MS after reading all of that is beyond me.
Hawking Radiation
Member
All of that reads to me like:
Xbox wants to bulldoze their way (aka buy up everything) to becoming market leader.
Xbox wants to bulldoze their way (aka buy up everything) to becoming market leader.
Topher
Gold Member
Crayon
Member
"Our weapons are psychological, economic and political." - Effective Evangelism, Microsoft Confidential, 1 of 4, paragraph 2.
The Fuzz damn you!
Gold Member
Ah, shit, sorry. I’ll blame me being on mobile and looking for that in the “Sony” section. Carry on.
Loomy
Thinks Microaggressions are Real
The issue is that they've put all their chips into GamePass and xCloud. Which is fine. But as Netflix found out, if you're relying on other people's content for your on demand content delivery service, you're going to be SoL when those people decide to keep the content to themselves.
Microsoft's problem is that they are going all in on GamePass, needing content, and also being one of the least consistent publishers out there. It's why they're trying to buy up all the content, otherwise GamePass is going to eventually turn a huge sinkhole for Microsoft.
Freelance Yakuza
Member
I don’t see this as a list of what occurred. It’s talking points.
It doesn’t relate to the actual legalities.
It’s list wars on steroids.
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drganon
Member
The trick with Phil is that if his lips are moving, he's lying.
The Fuzz damn you!
Gold Member
So what’s missing? Maybe turn it into a discussion instead of further polarising the issue
So many people coming into these threads to claim that Xbox / MS / Phil is being unfairly attacked, without ever taking to time to present the “unfair” part of their claim.
StreetsofBeige
Gold Member
OP spends way too much time on the MS/Activision topic.
MasterCornholio
Member
FrankWza
Member
Nydius
Member
Unfortunately, even after reading it in a concise manner like that, I'm not sure the FTC reached the threshold of illustrating imminent harm to consumers needed for the PI.
(Edit: For clarification before someone asks or says something else, the entire point of a preliminary injunction in anti-trust cases like these is to stall the merger until the full trial because the FTC believes if the merger is allowed to proceed before the full trial, it would create immediate harm to consumers or the market as a whole, and then would make it significantly harder to disentangle the companies should a full trial outcome determine anti-trust violations exist.)
There's a ton of shady shit there, to be certain. Since Microsoft has committed to maintaining the status quo not only now but for several years and damn near everyone who testified about cloud has called it a nascent market, I don't see how there's an argument that immediate harm exists. Not even to Sony. Even if the judge were considering the harm to Sony exclusively, the e-mails and testimony from Ryan that make it sound like he's not all that bothered by exclusivity and merger agreements tends to throw a bucket of water on that particular fire.
Dunno, the more I reread the testimony and filings, the more I'm leaning toward the judge siding with Microsoft on this.
Microsoft is walking out with a pair of black eyes plus a whole lot of body bruises, and if the FTC pursues it to the full trial I'm sure we'll hear a lot more of the internal dirt. Dirt that should definitely be considered when deciding on the merger in a full trial; However, here the dirt doesn't seem to rise high enough to the imminent harm qualifier.
Guess we'll find out Wednesday or later this week.
(Edit: For clarification before someone asks or says something else, the entire point of a preliminary injunction in anti-trust cases like these is to stall the merger until the full trial because the FTC believes if the merger is allowed to proceed before the full trial, it would create immediate harm to consumers or the market as a whole, and then would make it significantly harder to disentangle the companies should a full trial outcome determine anti-trust violations exist.)
There's a ton of shady shit there, to be certain. Since Microsoft has committed to maintaining the status quo not only now but for several years and damn near everyone who testified about cloud has called it a nascent market, I don't see how there's an argument that immediate harm exists. Not even to Sony. Even if the judge were considering the harm to Sony exclusively, the e-mails and testimony from Ryan that make it sound like he's not all that bothered by exclusivity and merger agreements tends to throw a bucket of water on that particular fire.
Dunno, the more I reread the testimony and filings, the more I'm leaning toward the judge siding with Microsoft on this.
Microsoft is walking out with a pair of black eyes plus a whole lot of body bruises, and if the FTC pursues it to the full trial I'm sure we'll hear a lot more of the internal dirt. Dirt that should definitely be considered when deciding on the merger in a full trial; However, here the dirt doesn't seem to rise high enough to the imminent harm qualifier.
Guess we'll find out Wednesday or later this week.
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Elog
Member
Firstly - thanks to the OP for an excellent summary.
Secondly, despite being a fairly cynical person at times I must say that I am stunned by how rotten the MS corporate culture is. They are completely open with stating one thing in public and then doing the complete opposite in private. Instead of focusing on delivering great products/ services to their customers they focus on making competition worse.
All private entities have shades of this or moments of this. Here it seems to be core parts of their strategy. I really believe it is a genuinely bad look for MS. No surprise that they have the struggles they have (and not only in gaming).
Secondly, despite being a fairly cynical person at times I must say that I am stunned by how rotten the MS corporate culture is. They are completely open with stating one thing in public and then doing the complete opposite in private. Instead of focusing on delivering great products/ services to their customers they focus on making competition worse.
All private entities have shades of this or moments of this. Here it seems to be core parts of their strategy. I really believe it is a genuinely bad look for MS. No surprise that they have the struggles they have (and not only in gaming).
Slicker than your average
Banned
Good work op. A great idiot proof read of everything that's happened.
Honestly shows Xbox in such a badlight you'd have to be damaged not to see it. Not that it really matters on a forum.
Honestly shows Xbox in such a badlight you'd have to be damaged not to see it. Not that it really matters on a forum.
Gorgon
Member
Heisenberg007
Howesome job with the thread, mate.
Fatal Chuck Yeager
Member
Not sure what the pun is with the Ctrl Deceive thing but somehow I missed the news that Microsoft though Ninja Theory was worth over 100M in cash.
In 2018? Not sure about that.
In 2018? Not sure about that.
Loomy
Thinks Microaggressions are Real
A play on ctrl+alt+del
Moriarty1889
Member
Yes, this hearing has brought out the worst of MS and Phil. The Xbox brand has been tarnished quite a bit from this mess. Don’t know what will happen or be their next move if this deal fails to go thru for them.
Tripolygon
Banned
When you lay it all like that, yeesh.
bender
What time is it?
Unknown Soldier
Member
I think most people who follow the industry have known this for some years now, but I'm glad that the evidence has come to light so openly because of this FTC hearing.
Hawking Radiation
Member
Heisenberg007
Heisenberg007
Thanks for the summary. It was really tough to keep up with everything that's been going on in this trial. Much appreciated man and hope you have an awesome day.
In fact, all of you green rats and Sony ponies, have an awesome day.
TheGodfather07
Member
Microsoft being allowed to buy any more publishers or even studios is so bad for the industry. They are just so shitty and ruin anything they touch.
Vroadstar
Member
Now this is a good tread
Heisenberg007
great work.
Heisenberg007
great work.
bitbydeath
Member
Is this the equivalent of not letting facts get in the way of a good story?
mckmas8808
Mckmaster uses MasterCard to buy Slave drives
OP, aditional info:
The user KnittedKnight (from IconEra) found this:
The tenets of corporate evangelism appear to still be alive and kicking at MS. Thanks to recent revelations in the FTC case against the ABK/MS merger we got a glimpse of that.
Referring to xCloud Phil Spencer, head of Xbox said: “If we can get them (hardcore Xbox fans) to love it they will evangelize,” he wrote.
https://www.ign.com/articles/the-ftc-trial-unmasks-xboxs-ambitions
For any of you not familiar with Microsoft Evangelism: "Evangelism is War" please take a look at this MS internal memo, referenced on an anti-trust lawsuit dating back 2 decades ago:
https://antitrust.slated.org/www.iowaconsumercase.org/011607/3000/PX03096.pdf
There are many aspects and tenets to Microsoft Evangelism but of relevance, it purports creating a cult-like legion of supporters and followers, VIP or otherwise that promote Microsoft products and monopolistic practices with a cult like fervor - that regards MS competitors, direct or indirect as war participants that must be extinguished by any and all available means.
MS Evangelism is literally a philosophy of corporate religion, where the consumers, specially the hardcore, are the faithful, and guided by faith to the altar of Microsoft and its products. Microsoft being the church while microsoft employees and vips are the clergy.
Xbox Ambassador program, media VIP outreach and access etc is all part of creating this core of fanatical evangelism towards Xbox and potential platforms like xCloud. It should then not surprise the coverage that the FTC trial is receiving by the "media", or how particular forums with compromised moderation staff are resorting to censorship and hive mind harassment not only to shut down dissension or opposing voices but also to promote Microsoft's cause.
Clearly a source of inspiration for MS are the grifters using Christian Religion under the "TV Evangelist" banner to create cult like, for-profit "churches".
All of this is morally and ethically repulsive and plain wrong.
_________________________________________________
"Evangelism is war" is still alive at MS. Phil Spencer refers to xCloud as a platform hardcore Xbox fans should "evangelize".
The tenets of corporate evangelism appear to still be alive and kicking at MS. Thanks to recent revelations in the injuction hearing of the FTC case against the ABK/MS merger we got a glimpse of that. Referring to xCloud Phil Spencer, head of Xbox said: “If we can get them (hardcore Xbox fans)...icon-era.com
I strongly suggest everyone to take a look at the PDF file.
I had no idea that MS spoke this way back in the 2000s. It sounds exactly like Uncle Phil in those 2019 and 2020 emails btw. Seek out the enemy and nuke them from orbit. And then overwhelm devs and the media with information that your goals and vision in "THE WAY" so much so that they feel like it's the only way the world can work.
I totally see why the GamePass is the best deal in Gaming™ tagline is pushed so much now by the media. It's all astroturf marketing.
It’s a huge red flag when you see talking points repeated word for word everywhere.
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