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Microsoft-Activision acquisition verdicts have been postponed pending further investigation by the governments of Australia and New Zealand

https://pledgetimes.com/microsoft-a...nd-new-zealand-postpone-acquisition-verdicts/
Governments of Australia and New Zealand they decided to postpone the verdict on the approval ofacquisition of Activision Blizzard from Microsoft.

As for New Zealand, this is yet another postponement by the Commerce Commission, the third to be exact. The request for evaluation was examined on 27 July with the date for communicating a response set for 11 August, subsequently postponed first to 2 September and later to today, 9 September. The New Zealand Antitrust Authority has announced that it has decided to further extend the investigation until11 November.

The antitrust of Australia instead began its investigation on June 16 and should have revealed its decision on September 15. However, a few hours ago the Australian Competition & Consumer Commision website announced that the procedure was suspended pending receiving new information from Microsoft, with the new date yet to be defined.

As reported a few days ago on our pages, the UK CMA has also decided to extend its investigations due to the concern of a possible anti-competitive situation that could be created if Activision Blizzard were incorporated by Microsoft. It must be said, however, that all these postponements are partly justified by the scope and importance of this operation. For the moment, in the world only Saudi Arabia has offered a clear judgment, approving the acquisition.


So for New Zealand, this is the third postponement on an approval decision on the acquisition. Extending the investigation for unknown reasons until November 11th.

But for Australia that are postponing because NEW information has come from Microsoft, whether it's directly from Microsoft, or more information had come out about Microsoft causing them to freeze the approval process is unclear, because if it came from Microsoft they would likely have went down the path of approval unless Microsoft gave them information which may work against the, but Microsoft has clever PR and attorneys so I doubt that entirely.

What's interesting about he Australian one is they were supposed to reveal the decision on the 15th, late next week. The fact they are announcing a delay pending review makes me think that something is wrong. They only made the delay announcement a few hours ago so they must have received last minute information that caused them to move the date. We don't know if it's good or bad though, but given the delay I lean on the latter.

It is possible Australia communicated with nearby New Zealand with what they found, resulting in their extension as well. New Zealand has already extended their previous investigation to today's date sept 9th, but have now went further to November 11th. Very concerning since Microsoft was hoping to get this deal done quick, many red flags are showing up and now I'm starting to wonder if the deal will go through at all.
 

SlimySnake

Flashless at the Golden Globes
lol New information from microsoft... what could it be? Information on their liaisons with columbian hookers?

Sounds to me like they were going to reject it and MS was like hold up a second and offered some new numbers and quotes from industry analysts saying it wont create a monopoly. I dont see why MS will offer information that would delay a positive ruling.
 
Not necessarily an omen, but could spell further roadblocks to come. This would make three investigative agencies now having some type of notable issue with the terms of the acquisition based on previously provided information and new info which may've come from other MS corporate statements or actions contradicting terms established with prior acquisitions (i.e Zenimax, though I can't think of anything in this one's case aside arguably Starfield?)

We might be looking at MS needing to offer some rather chunky concessions to get approval across the board to get the deal done. Sure they can just sue everyone, but that won't be a good look for other would-be acquisitions in the future, either. Trust me, ALL these gaming publishers are watching MS's moves on this with a fine microscope; anything MS does that shows greed or lust for power, etc. will make other publishers more reluctant to sell to them, or do deals with them either for that matter.

It's gonna be interesting to see how this all plays out.
 
This Is Fine GIF
 

Menzies

Banned
I suspect the smaller markets feel more emboldened to 'do their job' on the backing of news that bigger markets are holding it up anyway...
 

Begleiter

Member
lol New information from microsoft... what could it be? Information on their liaisons with columbian hookers?

Sounds to me like they were going to reject it and MS was like hold up a second and offered some new numbers and quotes from industry analysts saying it wont create a monopoly. I dont see why MS will offer information that would delay a positive ruling.
The most likely scenario is that they can't make a decision on the information held and have asked for more - it's suspended pending new information, as in they'll unsuspend when they get it. I doubt it was on the verge of rejection until Microsoft begged them for more time.
 
The good thing about this acquisition not being finalized?
No major acquisitions have happened ever since January in this industry, lmao.

Sony isn't going to do shit until this one is solved. They won't buy anything major that could potentially help MS right now for sure...and the other big players probably the same thing.
 
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coffinbirth

Member
lol New information from microsoft... what could it be? Information on their liaisons with columbian hookers?

Sounds to me like they were going to reject it and MS was like hold up a second and offered some new numbers and quotes from industry analysts saying it wont create a monopoly. I dont see why MS will offer information that would delay a positive ruling.
They simply could've asked Microsoft to supply additional information and are now reviewing it after receiving it.
 

SlimySnake

Flashless at the Golden Globes
The most likely scenario is that they can't make a decision on the information held and have asked for more - it's suspended pending new information, as in they'll unsuspend when they get it. I doubt it was on the verge of rejection until Microsoft begged them for more time.
I mean its possible, but they have delayed the ruling 3 times now pending review of new Information from MS. If the ruling was in MS's favor, do you think MS would be risking the delays by offering new information?

I dont even know how this affects the acquisition. As long as it passes in the U.S, thats all that matters, no? And US is very friendly with big corps. No one rejected the Disney/FOX deal or the AT&T/Time Warner merger. Both were worth the same amount of cash. Whats the worst case scenario here? They wont be able to sell their games to a market that has 16 million australians and 5 million Kiwis? You have more people in the five NYC boroughs. They will live.
 

DenchDeckard

Moderated wildly
So does the whole world need to agree? Does this hold it up completely or can MS close s d sort this shjt later. I guess that's not possible.
 
Sony has been acquiring studios unchecked since Sega dropped out of the hardware business and collected all of their monopoly cards. Why is it suddenly a problem when MS acquires a studio, because of its size? The sum of Sony's acquired studios over time far exceeds this one time purchase.
But MS isn't buying a studio. It's buying a huge ass publisher with countless IPs and one of the biggest gaming IPs.

You do know Sony bought like 6 studios between Dreamcast flopping and Insomniac in 2019...right?
Guerrila Games, Media Molecule, Sucker Punch, Evolution studios and a couple others that are now closed. Half of these studios had like 30 people in them and all of them were already working as full time PlayStation developers, lmao. The industry outside Sony didn't lose anything. Sony was already getting all games from these.
 

Yoboman

Member
Sony has been acquiring studios unchecked since Sega dropped out of the hardware business and collected all of their monopoly cards. Why is it suddenly a problem when MS acquires a studio, because of its size? The sum of Sony's acquired studios over time far exceeds this one time purchase.
Well thats blatantly untrue. Sony have 15 first party studios - 16 if you count Bungie

MS will have 33 when this acquisition completes
 
The good thing about this acquisition not being finalized?
No major acquisitions have happened ever since January in this industry, lmao.

Sony isn't going to do shit until this one is solved. They won't buy anything major that could potentially help MS right now for sure...and the other big played probably the same thing.

well tencent and embracer are still shopping but yeah
 

SLB1904

Banned
Sony has been acquiring studios unchecked since Sega dropped out of the hardware business and collected all of their monopoly cards. Why is it suddenly a problem when MS acquires a studio, because of its size? The sum of Sony's acquired studios over time far exceeds this one time purchase.
Come on dude. Companies both Microsoft and Sony are buying are small. You could make a case for Bethesda but none of them comes close to Activision hence the price
 
The good thing about this acquisition not being finalized?
No major acquisitions have happened ever since January in this industry, lmao.

Sony isn't going to do shit until this one is solved. They won't buy anything major that could potentially help MS right now for sure...and the other big played probably the same thing.

Apple and Amazon don't seem to care.

But MS isn't buying a studio. It's buying a huge ass publisher with countless IPs and one of the biggest gaming IPs.

You do know Sony bought like 6 studios between Dreamcast flopping and Insomniac in 2019...right?
Guerrila Games, Media Molecule, Sucker Punch, Evolution studios and a couple others that are now closed. Half of these studios had like 30 people in them and all of them were already working as full time PlayStation developers, lmao. The industry outside Sony didn't lose anything. Sony was already getting all games from these.

I can't wait to play Soul Caliber III on my Xbox and Gamecube right after the 2nd game was a successful well covered cross-platform title with great mind share, and also the GTA trilogy.

Oh no. I can't play them. Why did this happen?
 
lol New information from microsoft... what could it be? Information on their liaisons with columbian hookers?

Sounds to me like they were going to reject it and MS was like hold up a second and offered some new numbers and quotes from industry analysts saying it wont create a monopoly. I dont see why MS will offer information that would delay a positive ruling.
No, you don't extend if you want to reject it. You just reject it if it's a clear case,
But the most reasonable explanation is lazy government officials had not enough time so far. Or they chicken out and don't want to approve with some of the big boys already made a call.


SA did make a call already. As you see it's easy if you want to and see it as a clear cut case.
 
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MrQuat

Neo Member
So MS don't destroy the industry 🤷‍♂️

I’m afraid you’re probably pissing into the wind for most folks here mate. This is the right answer and obviously so.
I don’t know much of the detail of these things but maybe the regulatory bodies could consider approving the acquisition with the caveat that the XBox division be structurally separated from Microsoft?
 

IFireflyl

Gold Member
Sony has been acquiring studios unchecked since Sega dropped out of the hardware business and collected all of their monopoly cards. Why is it suddenly a problem when MS acquires a studio, because of its size? The sum of Sony's acquired studios over time far exceeds this one time purchase.

Where are you coming up with this ridiculous assertion?

Sony Acquisitions:
May 21, 1993 - Psygnosis
December 1, 2000 - Bend Studio
January 22, 2001 - Naughty Dog
August 7, 2002 - Incognito Entertainment
December 7, 2005 - Guerrilla Games
January 25, 2006 - Zipper Interactive
May 15, 2007 - Sigil Games Online Inc
September 20, 2007 - Evolution Studios, Bigbig Studios
March 2, 2010 - Media Molecule
August 2, 2011 - Sucker Punch Productions
January 8, 2019 - Audiokinetic
August 19, 2019 - Insomniac Games
June 29, 2021 - Housemarque
July 1, 2021 - Nixxes Software
September 8, 2021 - Firesprite
September 29, 2021 - Fabrik Games
September 30, 2021 - Bluepoint Games
December 10, 2021 - Valkyrie Entertainment
February 1, 2022 - Lasengle (gaming division of DelightWorks)
March 21, 2022 - Haven Studios
July 15, 2022 - Bungie
August 29, 2022 - Savage Game Studios

That is every video game acquisition by Sony to date. That is 22 acquisitions in almost 29 years, and over half of those were within the last five years. This is almost identical to Microsoft who is at 19 video game acquisitions in the same time frame (assuming the Activision/Blizzard acquisition goes through).

Microsoft Acquisitions:
January 11, 1999 - FASA Interactive
April 19, 1999 - Access Software
June 19, 2000 - Bungie
December 5, 2000 - Digital Anvil
May 3, 2001 - Ensemble Studios
September 24, 2002 - Rare
April 6, 2006 - Lionhead Studios
October 12, 2011 - Twisted Pixel Games
June 5, 2012 - Press Play
November 6, 2014 - Mojang
June 11, 2018 - Ninja Theory
June 11, 2018 - Undead Labs
June 11, 2018 - Compulsion Games
June 11, 2018 - Playground Games
November 10, 2018 - inXile Entertainment
November 10, 2018 - Obsidian Entertainment
June 9, 2019 - Double Fine Productions
September 21, 2020 - ZeniMax Media
January 18, 2022 - Activision Blizzard

Not only did Microsoft start acquiring publishers/developers/studios before Sony, but they have almost the same number of acquisitions. Additionally, Microsoft's acquisitions are far larger (collectively) than Sony's. Pretending that Sony has been an insane force in the acquisition game is idiotic.
 
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PhaseJump

Banned
Microsoft should just be subtle and find the right people to threaten or bribe with investment. I'm sure the temp stewards of their upside down clown economies could use a few dinner plate fundraiser sponsorships.
 

Yoboman

Member
I mean I get it. But I find fascinating both ms and Activision are Americans. You would think that's something for Americans to deal with
Also what if some don't aprove? What happens?
The regulators may sue, so it becomes a legal battle.
 

Menzies

Banned
So does the whole world need to agree? Does this hold it up completely or can MS close s d sort this shjt later. I guess that's not possible.
No, the whole world does not need to agree. Microsoft can pack up their Xbox toys from whichever market doesn't accept the deal and leave. Or more likely, they agree to additional concessions in that market, such as not putting CoD on GamePass, as an example.

It would be very interesting to see Microsoft 'call their bluff' in those markets and leave. Not sure what 'competition' they are leaving open with PlayStation against...PlayStation in a tight 1 horse race :messenger_tears_of_joy:
 

reksveks

Member
I mean I get it. But I find fascinating both ms and Activision are Americans. You would think that's something for Americans to deal with
Also what if some don't aprove? What happens?

Ultimately Microsoft + ABK could just pull out of those markets. I don't know what % of MS revenue comes from AU + NZ in this case but I don't think it would be huge.

The ones that MS cares about is going to be US, EU, UK and China really. They are basically going to try and normalise concessions/consent decrees across markets but given the digital nature of the products, they might be able to be more flexible as alluded to in the post #32
 

Yoboman

Member
Where are you coming up with this ridiculous assertion?

December 1, 2000 - Bend Studio
January 22, 2001 - Naughty Dog
August 7, 2002 - Incognito Entertainment
December 7, 2005 - Guerrilla Games
January 25, 2006 - Zipper Interactive
May 15, 2007 - Sigil Games Online Inc
September 20, 2007 - Evolution Studios, Bigbig Studios
March 2, 2010 - Media Molecule
August 2, 2011 - Sucker Punch Productions
January 8, 2019 - Audiokinetic
August 19, 2019 - Insomniac Games
June 29, 2021 - Housemarque
July 1, 2021 - Nixxes Software
September 8, 2021 - Firesprite
September 29, 2021 - Fabrik Games
September 30, 2021 - Bluepoint Games
December 10, 2021 - Valkyrie Entertainment
February 1, 2022 - Lasengle (gaming division of DelightWorks)
March 21, 2022 - Haven Studios
July 15, 2022 - Bungie
August 29, 2022 - Savage Game Studios

That is every video game acquisition by Sony to date. That is 21 acquisitions in almost 28 years, and over half of those were within the last five years.
Nixxes, Fabrik, Valkyrie are only support/porting studios and Zipper, Evolution aren't around anymore.

Audiokinetic isn't a game developer and Lasengle was bought by Aniplex (who Sony own), so not sure it really counts. Them and Savage Game Studios will be purely mobile
 
well tencent and embracer are still shopping but yeah
But those aren't really competing with MS for the same things Sony is though. You dont see these antitrust committees mentioning Embracer and Tencent but PlayStation is everywhere.

If Sony tried acquiring Take Two or another big studio / publisher tomorrow, do you think that would help or hurt MS's own acquisition?

Sony didn't hire a lawyer with expertise on mergers and acquisitions 4 months ago for no reason. They are playing the waiting game.
I wouldn't be surprised if that Jim Ryan statement came that same department.

That said...i made piece with the fact this acquisition is going to take the entire year at this point, lmao.
 

kikii

Member
Where are you coming up with this ridiculous assertion?

Sony Acquisitions:
December 1, 2000 - Bend Studio
January 22, 2001 - Naughty Dog
August 7, 2002 - Incognito Entertainment
December 7, 2005 - Guerrilla Games
January 25, 2006 - Zipper Interactive
May 15, 2007 - Sigil Games Online Inc
September 20, 2007 - Evolution Studios, Bigbig Studios
March 2, 2010 - Media Molecule
August 2, 2011 - Sucker Punch Productions
January 8, 2019 - Audiokinetic
August 19, 2019 - Insomniac Games
June 29, 2021 - Housemarque
July 1, 2021 - Nixxes Software
September 8, 2021 - Firesprite
September 29, 2021 - Fabrik Games
September 30, 2021 - Bluepoint Games
December 10, 2021 - Valkyrie Entertainment
February 1, 2022 - Lasengle (gaming division of DelightWorks)
March 21, 2022 - Haven Studios
July 15, 2022 - Bungie
August 29, 2022 - Savage Game Studios

That is every video game acquisition by Sony to date. That is 21 acquisitions in almost 28 years, and over half of those were within the last five years. This is almost identical to Microsoft who is at 19 video game acquisitions in the same time frame (assuming the Activision/Blizzard acquisition goes through).

Microsoft Acquisitions:
January 11, 1999 - FASA Interactive
April 19, 1999 - Access Software
June 19, 2000 - Bungie
December 5, 2000 - Digital Anvil
May 3, 2001 - Ensemble Studios
September 24, 2002 - Rare
April 6, 2006 - Lionhead Studios
October 12, 2011 - Twisted Pixel Games
June 5, 2012 - Press Play
November 6, 2014 - Mojang
June 11, 2018 - Ninja Theory
June 11, 2018 - Undead Labs
June 11, 2018 - Compulsion Games
June 11, 2018 - Playground Games
November 10, 2018 - inXile Entertainment
November 10, 2018 - Obsidian Entertainment
June 9, 2019 - Double Fine Productions
September 21, 2020 - ZeniMax Media
January 18, 2022 - Activision Blizzard
under Zenimax and Activision there are plenty of studios :p
 

Jaybe

Member
Where are you coming up with this ridiculous assertion?

Sony Acquisitions:
December 1, 2000 - Bend Studio
January 22, 2001 - Naughty Dog
August 7, 2002 - Incognito Entertainment
December 7, 2005 - Guerrilla Games
January 25, 2006 - Zipper Interactive
May 15, 2007 - Sigil Games Online Inc
September 20, 2007 - Evolution Studios, Bigbig Studios
March 2, 2010 - Media Molecule
August 2, 2011 - Sucker Punch Productions
January 8, 2019 - Audiokinetic
August 19, 2019 - Insomniac Games
June 29, 2021 - Housemarque
July 1, 2021 - Nixxes Software
September 8, 2021 - Firesprite
September 29, 2021 - Fabrik Games
September 30, 2021 - Bluepoint Games
December 10, 2021 - Valkyrie Entertainment
February 1, 2022 - Lasengle (gaming division of DelightWorks)
March 21, 2022 - Haven Studios
July 15, 2022 - Bungie
August 29, 2022 - Savage Game Studios

That is every video game acquisition by Sony to date. That is 21 acquisitions in almost 28 years, and over half of those were within the last five years. This is almost identical to Microsoft who is at 19 video game acquisitions in the same time frame (assuming the Activision/Blizzard acquisition goes through).

Microsoft Acquisitions:
January 11, 1999 - FASA Interactive
April 19, 1999 - Access Software
June 19, 2000 - Bungie
December 5, 2000 - Digital Anvil
May 3, 2001 - Ensemble Studios
September 24, 2002 - Rare
April 6, 2006 - Lionhead Studios
October 12, 2011 - Twisted Pixel Games
June 5, 2012 - Press Play
November 6, 2014 - Mojang
June 11, 2018 - Ninja Theory
June 11, 2018 - Undead Labs
June 11, 2018 - Compulsion Games
June 11, 2018 - Playground Games
November 10, 2018 - inXile Entertainment
November 10, 2018 - Obsidian Entertainment
June 9, 2019 - Double Fine Productions
September 21, 2020 - ZeniMax Media
January 18, 2022 - Activision Blizzard
One of these things is not like the others :p
 

IFireflyl

Gold Member
Nixxes, Fabrik, Valkyrie are only support/porting studios and Zipper, Evolution aren't around anymore.

Audiokinetic isn't a game developer and Lasengle was bought by Aniplex (who Sony own), so not sure it really counts. Them and Savage Game Studios will be purely mobile

That doesn't change the point I made to the person I responded to. They acted like Sony was just buying up video game publishers/developers/studios for decades, and that Microsoft just started this and that's the reason for people freaking out. I proved that person doesn't know what the hell they are talking about. Not only did Microsoft start acquiring publishers/developers/studios before Sony, but they have almost the same number of acquisitions. Additionally, Microsoft's acquisitions are far larger (collectively) than Sony's. Pretending that Sony has been an insane force in the acquisition game is idiotic.
 

Yoboman

Member
That doesn't change the point I made to the person I responded to. They acted like Sony was just buying up video game publishers/developers/studios for decades, and that Microsoft just started this and that's the reason for people freaking out. I proved that person doesn't know what the hell they are talking about. Not only did Microsoft start acquiring publishers/developers/studios before Sony, but they have almost the same number of acquisitions. Additionally, Microsoft's acquisitions are far larger (collectively) than Sony's. Pretending that Sony has been an insane force in the acquisition game is idiotic.
Yeah I agree. Sony's acquisitions have then at 15 first party devs, 5 support/porting devs and 1 mobile dev within Playstation Studios. Plus Bungie and Lasengle as associated developers not under Playstation Studios

MS in comparison have 32 across XGS, Bethesda and ABK. MS were already the biggest before ABK. And only 5 of those were with MS before 2018
 

vj27

Banned
The good thing about this acquisition not being finalized?
No major acquisitions have happened ever since January in this industry, lmao.

Sony isn't going to do shit until this one is solved. They won't buy anything major that could potentially help MS right now for sure...and the other big played probably the same thing.
Didn’t they buy bungie after Microsoft announced the ABK deal. Plus tencent (I think) buying Lotr. I see this deal going through simply because worse things are happening lol. Would be pretty hypocritical.
 
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