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[Fabieter]

I think the best thing to do, is break them all up into smaller companies.

Everyone.

Yea we should break 2t companys into many 80b companies. The valuation of sony is pretty average on a industry level level.

So as a comparison. Ms bought two companys in 2 years basically worth the same as their main competition in the gaming space. Do you understand that? Try to be objective for just a second please.

 

[RoboFu]

Wow some of need to go google Sony and government lobbying. Hell do a neo gaf search for Sony and lobbying lol.

a lot of the “ you don’t own digital “ laws you guys are so against were lobbied for by Sony back in 2010 - 2015.

 

[Hypereides]

Ah yes, corruption. Lovely.

Corruption would imply that what they're doing is illegal. As long as they act and navigate within the boundaries of legislation then what they're doing is entirely fair game. Its sad, but true.

What people can do to counter this is to be more informed.

$1 billion lobbying budget and senjutsu still did it for free.

Unquestionable devotion from any camp is pure lunacy. They literally pretend like all these mega corps are struggling to make ends meet. Its not only that, but they weaponize this behavior to promote their own self interests while neglecting the very same supporters. They don't give a shit about you.

 

[Fabieter]

Wow some of need to go google Sony and government lobbying. Hell do a neo gaf search for Sony and lobbying lol.

a lot of the “ you don’t own digital “ laws you guys are so against were lobbied for by Sony back in 2010 - 2015.

Well its not the topic that sony made the biggest entertainment possible through corruption I mean lobbying of course so why would people bring up other companys which also do this on a much smaller scale. #butsonytoo is whataboutism.

 

[Killjoy-NL]

Yes, but the issue is with people accepting this type of behaviour. Curruption should never be tolerated even if it’s coming from your favorite brand, idol, politician, country etc. Shit needs to be called out. I mean it’s common sense lol. Guess not

I agree, that's why I consider MS to be a cancer to the gaming industry.

 

[Flutta]

Wow some of need to go google Sony and government lobbying. Hell do a neo gaf search for Sony and lobbying lol.

a lot of the “ you don’t own digital “ laws you guys are so against were lobbied for by Sony back in 2010 - 2015.

This thread is about how MS used money to bend the law to their will. Where is Sony in this article?

Sony gets alot of shit and well deserved, stop acting like we don’t give Sony hell on this forum and other places on the internet. This victim mentallity you guys role with everytime MS get critsized is over played.

You where doing great untill now..

 

[Fabieter]

This thread is about how MS used money to bend the law to their will. Where is Sony in this article?

Sony gets alot of shit and well deserved, stop acting like we don’t give Sony hell on this forum and other places on the internet. This victim mentallity you guys role with everytime MS get critsized is over played.

You where doing great untill now..

I would even say that I think its weird we are still on page 2. To play the same game iam sure the thread would be moving faster if it was the other way around.

 

[Goalus]

LMAO Sure you do .
Your own mind is so damn currupted that bribing seems like a normal thing to do ”but but Sony also”, what a sad little individual.

My mind is mainly fed up with paid and unpaid Sony shills agitating against Xbox. If these people didn't exist, I could even see myself starting to like Sony products.

Making deals with devs and giving money to law makers to bypass the law for this deal to go through is not remotly the same thing you d….. m….

MS don't bypass the law.
They're just fending off their corrupt enemies.

You didn’t have to tell me you where an XBOX owner. most of us can tell from a mile away, stupidity is running rampant amongs you.

Funny to hear that from the stereotypical Playstation owner.

 

[RoadHazard]

Corruption would imply that what they're doing is illegal. As long as they act and navigate within the boundaries of legislation then what they're doing is entirely fair game. Its sad, but true.

What people can do to counter this is to be more informed.


Unquestionable devotion from any camp is pure lunacy. They literally pretend like all these mega corps are struggling to make ends meet. Its not only that, but they weaponize this behavior to promote their own self interests while neglecting the very same supporters. They don't give a shit about you.

Sure, legal corruption then. Which is pretty much how I view lobbying (especially the American kind).

 

[Fabieter]

Sure, legal corruption then. Which is pretty much how I view lobbying (especially the American kind).

Some of the "legal lobbying" is definitely not legal behind the scenes. Only a sweet summer child would believe that companys always go with the law. We also have conpanys all around the world still doing business with sanctioned countries, but guess what? Goverment mostly don't care for that either.

 

[RoboFu]

Well its not the topic that sony made the biggest entertainment possible through corruption I mean lobbying of course so why would people bring up other companys which also do this on a much smaller scale. #butsonytoo is whataboutism.

Read the posts in this thread and that’s why. People trying to act as if MS is the bad guy for lobbying with 1 billion budget!!! Omg!! MS is the bad guy for a lot reasons but lobbying is a standard set long before either ms or Sony got in the game.

 

[Ozriel]

So as a comparison. Ms bought two companys in 2 years basically worth the same as their main competition in the gaming space. Do you understand that? Try to be objective for just a second please.

Yes. And the acquisition went through because they were able to show regulators that they’d still be making less revenue and have smaller marketshare than their main competitor post acquisition.

You should be more objective about these things.

This thread is about how MS used money to bend the law to their will. Where is Sony in this article?

Thats not what the Financial Times article is about, though.

Why am i not surprised seeing you shilling and acting like a corpo boot licker over and over again.

Do you know what a bribe is? Do you also know why people do bribes?

Ofcourse you do but here’s a reminder:
”You pay a bribe to get someone to do something they wouldn't do otherwise. It's usually dishonest and often criminal”

If the politicians and the judges where not currupted this deal wouldn’t go through and the higher ups at MS would be infront of a judge by now.

I know many of you aren’t exactly the soul of scholarship, but nowhere in the FT article does it accuse MS of paying bribes…or even insinuate this.

Every single regulator published their rationale for signing off on the deal. Every one. It is rather lazy that none of you can pick up these documents and logically refute the arguments inside. Instead we get these tired arguments of ‘bribery’.

 

[IllegalLemon]

We're headed to it. I can see the groundwork already being laid out. I just hope we don't destroy ourselves before we get to find out if we can become legends in our own version of Night City.

Eurodollar next?

 

[Topher]

Read the posts in this thread and that’s why. People trying to act as if MS is the bad guy for lobbying with 1 billion budget!!! Omg!! MS is the bad guy for a lot reasons but lobbying is a standard set long before either ms or Sony got in the game.

Who cares? When MS is the bad guy call MS the bad guy. When Sony's the bad guy call Sony the bad guy. This MS/Sony being the bad guy is ok because others were the bad guy first is just absurd.

 

[Fabieter]

Read the posts in this thread and that’s why. People trying to act as if MS is the bad guy for lobbying with 1 billion budget!!! Omg!! MS is the bad guy for a lot reasons but lobbying is a standard set long before either ms or Sony got in the game.

It's not the topic. We also know that Zuckerberg lobbied against tiktok because tiktok is beating his ass but its not part of the conversation either.

 

[Fabieter]

We're headed to it. I can see the groundwork already being laid out. I just hope we don't destroy ourselves before we get to find out if we can become legends in our own version of Night City.

Did you play cyperpunk77 with a hardcore mod? Life isnt like that tho, i would rather the humanity to vanish before that happens.

 

[Flutta]

Read the posts in this thread and that’s why. People trying to act as if MS is the bad guy for lobbying with 1 billion budget!!! Omg!! MS is the bad guy for a lot reasons but lobbying is a standard set long before either ms or Sony got in the game.

Lobbying is legalized bribery. Lobbying is just a PR fluff term to disguize what we all know is a shitbag under the table deals to get what you want even if it’s against the law. And yes MS is the bad guy in this case it doesn’t matter how much you and the others cry about how normal bribing oh sorry meant Lobbying is.

 

[Ozriel]

Lobbying is a legalized bribery. Lobbying is just a PR fluff term to disguize what we all know it’s a shitbag under the table deals to get what you want even if it’s against the law. And yes MS is the bad guy in this case it doesn’t matter how much you and the others cry about how normal bribing oh sorry meant Lobbying is.

Still waiting for you to push out your well reasoned analysis why the regulator decisions on the acquisition were against the law.

 

[Goalus]

Yes. And the acquisition went through because they were able to show regulators that they’d still be making less revenue and have smaller marketshare than their main competitor post acquisition.

You should be more objective about these things.




Thats not what the Financial Times article is about, though.


I know many of you aren’t exactly the soul of scholarship, but nowhere in the FT article does it accuse MS of paying bribes…or even insinuate this.

Every single regulator published their rationale for signing off on the deal. Every one. It is rather lazy that none of you can pick up these documents and logically refute the arguments inside. Instead we get these tired arguments of ‘bribery’.

That's an awful lot of facts.
Don't ruin this thread.

 

[Beer Baelly]

 

[Fabieter]

Still waiting for you to push out your well reasoned analysis why the regulator decisions on the acquisition were against the law.

You just such a sweet summer child.

 

[Ozriel]

You just such a sweet summer child.

There’s no substance to this response. As expected.

What’s your analysis of the decisions taken by CADE, the EU, the Chinese regulatory authorities, CMA etc that leads you to believe they were bribed into accepting the deal?

Curious how NVIDiA and SoftBank weren’t able to just simply slip cash to global regulators to make them sign off on the ARM deal.

 

[Fabieter]

another meaningless, empty diversion.

What’s your analysis of the decisions taken by CADE, the EU, the Chinese regulatory authorities, CMA etc that leads you to believe they were bribed into accepting the deal?

Curious how NVIDiA and SoftBank weren’t able to just simply slip cash to global regulators to make them sign off on the ARM deal.

Yea actually ms did fucked up the deal for nvidia anyway If you are someone who gives a big cooperation this much benefit of a doubt especially with their history than you aint someone worth talking to. Keep up the good fight warrior.

 

[Mr Moose]

The cunt that threatened the UK? Yeah, fuck him. Twat.

 

[Goalus]

Keep up the good fight warrior.

Avatar checks out.

 

[RoboFu]

Lobbying is legalized bribery. Lobbying is just a PR fluff term to disguize what we all know is a shitbag under the table deals to get what you want even if it’s against the law. And yes MS is the bad guy in this case it doesn’t matter how much you and the others cry about how normal bribing oh sorry meant Lobbying is.

Lol the only people crying are you guys because the deal went through.

Lots of people lobbied in this case including Sony which is another reason why Sony’s lobbying is relevant. MS proved their case and won. Now you guys can’t stop crying about it.

And to many gamers who own PCs or multi consoles it matters very little. Hell COD could have gone down hill the next couple of years anyway.

MS is taking a big risk here. All this means to the majority of players is that Sony can no longer buy or strong arm exclusive content for activision games.

 

[Horseganador]

With 1000 million you can "grease" any matter very well.

 

[mansoor1980]

The cunt that threatened the UK? Yeah, fuck him. Twat.

kneel before LORD BRAD SMITH

jk

 

[killatopak]

This lobbying is fine because other do it too.

This is a bad argument. Just saying. I hate what lobbying did to my country. It’s rife with corruption down to the local government because of this. Endless construction work that never finishes.

 

[Fabieter]

The cunt that threatened the UK? Yeah, fuck him. Twat.

He deserved to lose its job over that. You can't do any mistakes like that in a position like him.

 

[Fabieter]

Lol the only people crying are you guys because the deal went through.

Lots of people lobbied in this case including Sony which is another reason why Sony’s lobbying is relevant. MS proved their case and won. Now you guys can’t stop crying about it.

And to many gamers who own PCs or multi consoles it matters very little. Hell COD could have gone down hill the next couple of years anyway.

MS is taking a big risk here. All this means to the majority of players is that Sony can no longer buy or strong arm exclusive content for activision games.

So you are goalposts it not just to sony lobbying too but poor ms always gets stromarmed by mighty sony. Really?

People don't grasp that this transaction will change the whole game forever and all they see is"muh gamepass gets more games for free1!1!1!". No critical thinking at all.

 

[Flutta]

Lol the only people crying are you guys because the deal went through.

Lots of people lobbied in this case including Sony which is another reason why Sony’s lobbying is relevant. MS proved their case and won. Now you guys can’t stop crying about it.

And to many gamers who own PCs or multi consoles it matters very little. Hell COD could have gone down hill the next couple of years anyway.

MS is taking a big risk here. All this means to the majority of players is that Sony can no longer buy or strong arm exclusive content for activision games.

I see, so basically you can’t see past your nose.

I’m a PC, PS5, and a Switch owner and MS trying to destroy this industri matters alot to me. There are alot of us that do care actually.

Please explain why Sony can strong arm exclusive content/games from AKB while MS couldn’t? Please indulge us.

 

[StueyDuck]

Having more money wins...

Guys just saved you a whole useless article read

 

[Ozriel]

People don't grasp that this transaction will change the whole game forever and all they see is"muh gamepass gets more games for free1!1!1!".

Doesn't necessarily have to mean it's changing things for the worse, does it?

No critical thinking at all.

The irony

 

[Topher]

This lobbying is fine because other do it too.

This is a bad argument. Just saying. I hate what lobbying did to my country. It’s rife with corruption down to the local government because of this. Endless construction work that never finishes.

Lobbying isn't bribery.

That is also a bad argument. What do people think that $1 billion is for? That's money for "campaign finance" contributions which is, in reality, legalized bribery. It is money given to elected officials for the purposes of gaining political favor. That is the definition of bribery. Doesn't matter if it is legal or not.

 

[Ozriel]

I’m a PC, PS5, and a Switch owner and MS trying to destroy this industri matters alot to me. There are alot of us that do care actually.

How exactly are they 'trying to destroy the gaming industry' by working to strengthen Xbox and Microsoft gaming? They aren't the harbingers of 'consolidation', and they're hardly the only ones buying studios.
At least this deal leaves the devs significantly happier, spreads COD to the next gen Switch and (if you believe the CMA) improves competition in the cloud streaming space.

Please explain why Sony can strong arm exclusive content/games from AKB while MS couldn’t? Please indulge us.

Both parties could. It's just significantly more costly for the one with the much smaller market and mindshare.
Quite an interesting parallel to their relative ability when it comes to the scale of acquisitions.

 

[Thirty7ven]

Corruption is totally cool guys and everyone is doing it so #TheyToo

 

[Flutta]

Still waiting for you to push out your well reasoned analysis why the regulator decisions on the acquisition were against the law.

I didn’t answer you post because i was trying to figure out who you were. Then it hit me, you are one of those elite type MS/Xbox defender that sometimes pops up trying to be clever with your wordings.

What type of answer will satisfy your green heart? If there is any that is. Please make it easy for me i really care about what you think. You want video recordings or audio of these regulators dealings with MS? Or maybe money transfers?

Or better yet lets start somewhere simple why you think bribery is an acceptable company practice?

 

[HarryKS]

Since the Tiktok acquisition attempt, it's been quite evident Microsoft has set itself up to be the American empire's tech lapdog. It will serve them well. It makes sense for both parties. The Chinese do it as well.

 

[Skifi28]

Since the Tiktok acquisition attempt, it's been quite evident Microsoft has set itself up to be the American empire's tech lapdog. It will serve them well. It makes sense for both parties. The Chinese do it as well.

In China it feels like the government owns the tech companies. In US it feels like the tech Companies own the government.

 

[Fabieter]

In China it feels like the government owns the tech companies. In US it feels like the tech Companies own the government.

Well not directly but investment companys like vanguard and blackrock for sure can push for anything what they want.

 

[DenchDeckard]

Yea we should break 2t companys into many 80b companies. The valuation of sony is pretty average on a industry level level.

So as a comparison. Ms bought two companys in 2 years basically worth the same as their main competition in the gaming space. Do you understand that? Try to be objective for just a second please.

I would even say that I think its weird we are still on page 2. To play the same game iam sure the thread would be moving faster if it was the other way around.

So, now it's you doing the whataboutism and persecution complex. I've been told it's not allowed around here, but don't worry. I won't report you.

So what you're essentially saying is only Microsoft should be broken down because of their size but other companies are OK?

I'll just add, as someone who did pay attention to the last 20 months..I'm sure a lot of people did.

The FTCs arguments and case was so bad...Microsoft had an easy job...the FTC didn't have a leg to stand on. All other countries passed it and although the uk was the only one who took issue, and it was nothing to do with the console market....

...so, I really struggle to understand what some are trying to imply with this deal. Maybe, be angry at the FTC for doing such a shit job.

 

[Ozriel]

I didn’t answer you post because i was trying to figure out who you were. Then it hit me, you are one of those elite type MS/Xbox defender that sometimes popups trying to be clever with your wordings.

What type of answer will satisfy your green heart? If there is any that is. Please make it easy for me i really care about what you think. You want video recordings or audio of these regulators dealings with MS? Or maybe money transfers?

Or better yet lets start somewhere simple why you think bribery is an acceptable company practice?

'Clever with your wordings' is often used here as a substitute for 'demands logical arguments', so I'll allow that.

You've made multiple arguments that the deal was only allowed because of bribery, but you're completely unable to show this. Regulators that approved the deal have publicly shared their reasons for doing so. You're unable to dispute any of this, or even show that you've attempted to read through these reasons and come up with a fact based rebuttal.

I've never said bribery was an acceptable company practice. or even insinuated anything like that. All you're being asked to do is to do some actual work to substantiate your claims vs this emotional wankfest of "They approved a deal that I don't like so they must have been bribed"

We all went through the process with the CMA. We saw how they rejected it at first, demanding structural remedies. Saw how they rejected it again when MS prevailed over the FTC in court and put forward the deal with the EU and the Sony agreement. We saw them accept only after significant structural remedies were put in place around Cloud streaming, with divestment of rights to Ubisoft, under extremely stringent, cast iron terms.
You've looked at all that and still cling to 'bribery' as the reason behind the outcome.

We also had the FTC injunction trial livestreamed, and through it all, we could see the FTC struggle immensely to put forward a case for the deal being anti-competitive.

Not even Sony is alleging bribery or irregularities. But fight on, anyway.

 

[DenchDeckard]

'Clever with your wordings' is often used here as a substitute for 'demands logical arguments', so I'll allow that.

You've made multiple arguments that the deal was only allowed because of bribery, but you're completely unable to show this. Regulators that approved the deal have publicly shared their reasons for doing so. You're unable to dispute any of this, or even show that you've attempted to read through these reasons and come up with a fact based rebuttal.

I've never said bribery was an acceptable company practice. or even insinuated anything like that. All you're being asked to do is to do some actual work to substantiate your claims vs this emotional wankfest of "They approved a deal that I don't like so they must have been bribed"

We all went through the process with the CMA. We saw how they rejected it at first, demanding structural remedies. Saw how they rejected it again when MS prevailed over the FTC in court and put forward the deal with the EU and the Sony agreement. We saw them accept only after significant structural remedies were put in place around Cloud streaming, with divestment of rights to Ubisoft, under extremely stringent, cast iron terms.
You've looked at all that and still cling to 'bribery' as the reason behind the outcome.

We also had the FTC injunction trial livestreamed, and through it all, we could see the FTC struggle immensely to put forward a case for the deal being anti-competitive.

Not even Sony is alleging bribery or irregularities. But fight on, anyway.

Amazing post. well put.

 

[Fabieter]

So, now it's you doing the whataboutism and persecution complex. I've been told it's not allowed around here, but don't worry. I won't report you.

So what you're essentially saying is only Microsoft should be broken down because of their size but other companies are OK?

I'll just add, as someone who did pay attention to the last 20 months..I'm sure a lot of people did.

The FTCs arguments and case was so bad...Microsoft had an easy job...the FTC didn't have a leg to stand on. All other countries passed it and although the uk was the only one who took issue, and it was nothing to do with the console market....

...so, I really struggle to understand what some are trying to imply with this deal. Maybe, be angry at the FTC for doing such a shit job.

The second post was sacasm, but yea I stop right here because some team green members are unable to criticize their favorite company.

 

[Ozriel]

I'll just add, as someone who did pay attention to the last 20 months..I'm sure a lot of people did.

The FTCs arguments and case was so bad...Microsoft had an easy job...the FTC didn't have a leg to stand on. All other countries passed it and although who was the only one who took issue, and it was nothing to do with the console market....

...so, I really struggle to understand what some are trying to imply with this deal. Maybe, be angry at the FTC for doing such a shit job.

It's an incredibly lazy position. The PDFs from the EU, CMA, CADE, Chinese regulators etc are all out there for public consumption. All the steps taken to reach the decisions are detailed there.

And we know these inputs. The NPD data is posted here on GAF, with immense mirth at Microsoft's solid last place in the race and dwindling console sales. Ditto for their increasingly poor marketshare in the EU.
The empirical data is well known here.

But it's the easier path to complain about 'bribery' as justification without providing any reasoning behind it.

 

[DenchDeckard]

It's an incredibly lazy position. The PDFs from the EU, CMA, CADE, Chinese regulators etc are all out there for public consumption. All the steps taken to reach the decisions are detailed there.

And we know these inputs. The NPD data is posted here on GAF, with immense mirth at Microsoft's solid last place in the race and dwindling console sales. Ditto for their increasingly poor marketshare in the EU.
The empirical data is well known here.

But it's the easier path to complain about 'bribery' as justification without providing any reasoning behind it.

It's obvious that there needs to be a new narrative built to try and deal with the salt of this going through.

 

[StereoVsn]

Boohoo some big forgien conglomerate can't come and buy specific Japanese companies. It can try and compete there though without trying to buy it up. What are you upset about?

Impunity from what crime though? I've seen more Japanese videogame figures go to jail for lesser crimes. Meanwhile I've seen US company videogame figureheads dodge sexual harassment charges without a scratch, pay politicians openly, and dump and buy stock before public announcements with actual impunity.

Also, Microsoft is literally worth more then probably all Japanese video game companies out together. It’s also more profitable then all Japanese video game companies put together.

The scale is completely different. It’s ridiculous to compare say Sony buying Bungie with MS buying Activision.

These large Corpos absolutely need to be restrained. That $70billion which is mind boggling amount of money is less then 1 year of MS profit. Not revenue, profit.

People, stop shilling for Corpos, they aren’t your friends.

 

[ActusReusJB]

LMAO Sure you do .
Your own mind is so damn currupted that bribing seems like a normal thing to do ”but but Sony also”, what a sad little individual.

Making deals with devs and giving money to law makers to bypass the law for this deal to go through is not remotly the same thing you d….. m….

You didn’t have to tell me you where an XBOX owner. most of us can tell from a mile away, stupidity is running rampant amongs you.

So you believe that the acquisition of ABK gives Microsoft a monopoly based on the current laws in the gaming space? I think this piece is overblown in terms of the volume that lobbying did.

For those that are against this merger I think it might be better to attempt to get the current legislation changed to prevent acquisitions such as this in the future.

 

[Flutta]

'Clever with your wordings' is often used here as a substitute for 'demands logical arguments', so I'll allow that.

You've made multiple arguments that the deal was only allowed because of bribery, but you're completely unable to show this. Regulators that approved the deal have publicly shared their reasons for doing so. You're unable to dispute any of this, or even show that you've attempted to read through these reasons and come up with a fact based rebuttal.

I've never said bribery was an acceptable company practice. or even insinuated anything like that. All you're being asked to do is to do some actual work to substantiate your claims vs this emotional wankfest of "They approved a deal that I don't like so they must have been bribed"

We all went through the process with the CMA. We saw how they rejected it at first, demanding structural remedies. Saw how they rejected it again when MS prevailed over the FTC in court and put forward the deal with the EU and the Sony agreement. We saw them accept only after significant structural remedies were put in place around Cloud streaming, with divestment of rights to Ubisoft, under extremely stringent, cast iron terms.
You've looked at all that and still cling to 'bribery' as the reason behind the outcome.

We also had the FTC injunction trial livestreamed, and through it all, we could see the FTC struggle immensely to put forward a case for the deal being anti-competitive.

Not even Sony is alleging bribery or irregularities. But fight on, anyway.

This is what i meant with playing with words. Even tho English is my third language i can smell bullshit from far away. All this word salad you just put forward is just a way to avoid the elephant in the room. You either are playing dumb to not understand what's going on or your love for MS is clouding your judgment.
The $1 billion spent by Microsoft on this deal raises valid questions. If this deal is as legitimate as you claim, why did Microsoft need to shell out a whopping $1 BILLION? Let's be realistic about where that money likely went, and it didn't go to starving children in Africa. So let's push for real answers and transparency in this matter and stop this corpo defending bullshit.

And yes LOBBYING = BRIBERY, you can try and dance around this all you like but people with common sense understands what lobbying really means.