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

Do you believe the deal will be approved?


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  • Poll closed .
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Bernoulli

M2 slut
Definitely would like to see that as well. But I'll be reviewing the calculations the CMA made to get a better understanding on Microsofts appeal. Afterall the data is one of their main complaints.
You can't do that because you can't have access to the data, most of it is redacted and MS can't ask CMA to provide the data

CAT doesn't care about the data either, they just look if the decision argument makes sense and that the data os credible

It was well explained by someone on era bur don't remember who

Basically CMA can't be attacked on math/data unless they actually falsified/forged data

And the CMA used multiple points to get to the conclusions not only based on math
 
You can't do that because you can't have access to the data, most of it is redacted and MS can't ask CMA to provide the data

CAT doesn't care about the data either, they just look if the decision argument makes sense and that the data os credible

It was well explained by someone on era bur don't remember who

Basically CMA can't be attacked on math/data unless they actually falsified/forged data

And the CMA used multiple points to get to the conclusions not only based on math

Damn well I'm still going to look though it. However the redaction will make it a lot more difficult.
 

Topher

Gold Member
CMA ain't scared....

The CMA reiterated its position on Friday, with a spokesperson saying: "We prohibited this deal as we had concerns that it would reduce innovation and choice in the cloud gaming market in the UK. We will defend our position in court."

 

Bernoulli

M2 slut
CMA ain't scared....

The CMA reiterated its position on Friday, with a spokesperson saying: "We prohibited this deal as we had concerns that it would reduce innovation and choice in the cloud gaming market in the UK. We will defend our position in court."



What solution received public support?
the 10 years deals where they get to keep 100% of the revenue?

Rima Alaily, Microsoft Corporate Vice President and Deputy General Counsel, said the CMA's decision was "flawed for multiple reasons, including its overestimation of the role of cloud streaming in the gaming market and our position in it, as well as its unwillingness to consider solutions that received overwhelming industry and public support".
 

Topher

Gold Member
What solution received public support?
the 10 years deals where they get to keep 100% of the revenue?

Well it did get support from those who took the deals. Of course, why wouldn't those company's take the deal? They are not getting Activision's games otherwise.
 

Bernoulli

M2 slut
Well it did get support from those who took the deals. Of course, why wouldn't those company's take the deal? They are not getting Activision's games otherwise.

The CMA said multiple studios and publsihers came to tell them their concern and that they were against it

Most of those that took the deals was only strategic
The small cloud providers got more exposure while getting more games
Nvidia has a hardware deal with Microsoft for AI so that facilitates their collab

Google provided to the CMA alot of proof that Microsoft's Bethesda acquisition was what caused to close Stadia
 

Topher

Gold Member
The CMA said multiple studios and publsihers came to tell them their concern and that they were against it

Most of those that took the deals was only strategic
The small cloud providers got more exposure while getting more games
Nvidia has a hardware deal with Microsoft for AI so that facilitates their collab

Google provided to the CMA alot of proof that Microsoft's Bethesda acquisition was what caused to close Stadia

Yeah, I get what you are saying but at the same time Microsoft is talking about "public support". It's just PR. There are all kinds of motives for various entities to publicly support this deal. None of it matters. CMA isn't conducting a popularity contest.
 

Dick Jones

Gold Member
Microsoft accepted the EC's decision that included the cloud market as its own separate market. They needed to push back, accept the final report but state there are flaws in their definitions that they will follow up with the EC separately. The CMA will point to MS' acceptance of the EC's cloud market definition and MS will be standing there holding their mickey in their hands.
 

adamsapple

Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
Further attempts at pushing witch hunts and derailing the thread shall be dealt with accordingly. Discuss the merger and whether it is/is not getting approved.

Nice To Meet You Nicolas Cage GIF by Nordisk Film Finland



Finally, thank you.
 
The CMA said multiple studios and publsihers came to tell them their concern and that they were against it

Most of those that took the deals was only strategic
The small cloud providers got more exposure while getting more games
Nvidia has a hardware deal with Microsoft for AI so that facilitates their collab

Google provided to the CMA alot of proof that Microsoft's Bethesda acquisition was what caused to close Stadia
At the end of the day, there's only going to be 6 services at the most when it comes gaming Microsoft, Sony, Nintendo, Steam, GoG and Epic. It'll be the same way in the cloud. Too many services will crash the gaming industry again. Google can say whatever they want about Microsoft buying Bethesda. Stadia failed because it was cloud only.
 

DeepEnigma

Gold Member
We won't know until after the CAT makes a ruling. It could end there or continue on indefinitely.
Isn't the contract timeline up in July? If shareholders are not confident past that date with a long appeal process, since it will hold up any third party marketing deals and the like going into next year and beyond, it may not make it past July.
 

Nubulax

Member
The CMA said multiple studios and publsihers came to tell them their concern and that they were against it

Most of those that took the deals was only strategic
The small cloud providers got more exposure while getting more games
Nvidia has a hardware deal with Microsoft for AI so that facilitates their collab

Google provided to the CMA alot of proof that Microsoft's Bethesda acquisition was what caused to close Stadia
The thing I find funny is people act like MS is acting like such a good guy and being generous.... Do you not still have to BUY the game on most if not all those streaming platforms in order to play it.. why the F would MS even care if you have to buy the game first, they get all that sales money
 

Pelta88

Member
If you believe someone is astroturfing, report them. People who use Florian as an “authority” will be treated the same way when people post tweets about any notable console warrior or Astroturfer from any major company. Report them if you believe they are console warring.

Finally!

Everyone in this thread who wants to discuss this thing based on the merits, waiting on the next Foss on Senju tweet to be posted here like

25c0a02e987da5eddb6fee357474410883d0b863.gif


Tired of seeing those guys mental derangement play out tweet by tweet, page after page.
 
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POKEYCLYDE

Member
IMO this acquisition is turning this generation to poop. If things are truly being held back to not jeopardize this deal, I hope it ends sooner rather than later. If things are not being held back, well... ...that sucks even more.
I don't think things are being held back because of this acquisition. I think it's just the AAA dev landscape. If things were being held back just for optics, Redfall would have released in a good state. If things were being held back for optics, Pentiment/HiFi Rush would have been held back (even though they weren't AAA, they came out to critical success).

GoW Ragnarok came out during this acquisition. So, it's not like Sony is trying to obfuscate the quality of their games. Especially after the CMA's decision to block based on cloud, entirely dropping the console SLC.

The factions delay isn't about this acquisition. Sony focusing on shitty live service games isn't about this acquisition. Delays and lower quality releases have nothing to do with this acquisition, it's just how this generation is going.
 

reinking

Gold Member
I don't think things are being held back because of this acquisition. I think it's just the AAA dev landscape. If things were being held back just for optics, Redfall would have released in a good state. If things were being held back for optics, Pentiment/HiFi Rush would have been held back (even though they weren't AAA, they came out to critical success).

GoW Ragnarok came out during this acquisition. So, it's not like Sony is trying to obfuscate the quality of their games. Especially after the CMA's decision to block based on cloud, entirely dropping the console SLC.

The factions delay isn't about this acquisition. Sony focusing on shitty live service games isn't about this acquisition. Delays and lower quality releases have nothing to do with this acquisition, it's just how this generation is going.
well... ...that sucks even more.
 

gothmog

Gold Member
I don't think things are being held back because of this acquisition. I think it's just the AAA dev landscape. If things were being held back just for optics, Redfall would have released in a good state. If things were being held back for optics, Pentiment/HiFi Rush would have been held back (even though they weren't AAA, they came out to critical success).

GoW Ragnarok came out during this acquisition. So, it's not like Sony is trying to obfuscate the quality of their games. Especially after the CMA's decision to block based on cloud, entirely dropping the console SLC.

The factions delay isn't about this acquisition. Sony focusing on shitty live service games isn't about this acquisition. Delays and lower quality releases have nothing to do with this acquisition, it's just how this generation is going.
True, but everyone is overanalyzing what's going on and that is related to the acquisition.
 
Google provided to the CMA alot of proof that Microsoft's Bethesda acquisition was what caused to close Stadia
This may not completely related to this acquisition, but Google's proof is rubbish. Stadia failed for a huge combination of reasons, but lack of Bethesda support is not enough to shut down an entire platform. Stadia failed to attract enough customers because:
1) Cloud gaming is new and there are fewer customers than the established consoles or PC
2) Stadia had no exclusive games at all, there was no reason for anyone to choose Stadia over other platforms
3) Stadia games had to be purchased just like any other platform, however they almost never had sales. Often the games were cheaper on Epic, Steam, or on the consoles
4) The selection of games was smaller than other platforms because Stadia games had to be run on Linux. There was a whole porting process for developers, and not a big enough market to justify that cost.
5) Google has a terrible track record for consumer products. They needed to be OK losing a lot of money to get this off the ground, and they are never OK with that.
6) The users they did have didn't find value in paying for the subscription. Their subscription cost $10 a month and offered two free games a month. That is not competitive with either Microsoft or Sony.

I could go on and on, but I think you get the point. Stadia didn't know what it wanted to do, wasn't committed to success, and cost more. Recipe for failure.
 

Topher

Gold Member
This may not completely related to this acquisition, but Google's proof is rubbish. Stadia failed for a huge combination of reasons, but lack of Bethesda support is not enough to shut down an entire platform. Stadia failed to attract enough customers because:
1) Cloud gaming is new and there are fewer customers than the established consoles or PC
2) Stadia had no exclusive games at all, there was no reason for anyone to choose Stadia over other platforms
3) Stadia games had to be purchased just like any other platform, however they almost never had sales. Often the games were cheaper on Epic, Steam, or on the consoles
4) The selection of games was smaller than other platforms because Stadia games had to be run on Linux. There was a whole porting process for developers, and not a big enough market to justify that cost.
5) Google has a terrible track record for consumer products. They needed to be OK losing a lot of money to get this off the ground, and they are never OK with that.
6) The users they did have didn't find value in paying for the subscription. Their subscription cost $10 a month and offered two free games a month. That is not competitive with either Microsoft or Sony.

I could go on and on, but I think you get the point. Stadia didn't know what it wanted to do, wasn't committed to success, and cost more. Recipe for failure.

Yeah, I agree. Stadia's implosion was inevitable, regardless of Bethesda being acquired. Google's statement to regulators comes across more as a sour grapes middle finger more than anything. But I will say if Stadia had been a viable product then Microsoft might have had a better chance acquiring ABK.
 

ZehDon

Gold Member
IMO this acquisition is turning this generation to poop. If things are truly being held back to not jeopardize this deal, I hope it ends sooner rather than later. If things are not being held back, well... ...that sucks even more.
Sony and Microsoft might have strategically kept things closer to the chest during the initial investigation periods, but with the key players now having ruled, I'd imagine there's little to gain from this approach now. So, I don't think Sony is sitting on a treasure trove of announcements and games. I think Sony pivoted their studios to GaaS and we're simply seeing that play out. With game budgets ballooning (God of War Ragnarok had a USD$200m price tag) I imagine Sony is looking at producing more long-tail titles with massive revenue streams, rather than their traditional one-and-done single player affairs. Microsoft, on the other hand, is a bit of an unknown. I don't think the cloud gaming concerns that stalled this acquisition would be addressed by simply not showing their games, so we may finally see their first real next-gen showcase next month. Or not, and we'll just keeping waiting for next year I guess.
 

poppabk

Cheeks Spread for Digital Only Future
The thing I find funny is people act like MS is acting like such a good guy and being generous.... Do you not still have to BUY the game on most if not all those streaming platforms in order to play it.. why the F would MS even care if you have to buy the game first, they get all that sales money
The thing is the CMA said that MS would keep CoD off the free tier of Geforce Now even though like you said it doesn't are sense as you would already have to own the game.
 
The CMA said multiple studios and publsihers came to tell them their concern and that they were against it

Most of those that took the deals was only strategic
The small cloud providers got more exposure while getting more games
Nvidia has a hardware deal with Microsoft for AI so that facilitates their collab

Google provided to the CMA alot of proof that Microsoft's Bethesda acquisition was what caused to close Stadia
Kek what Nvidia has been a Microsoft business partner since the 90s and a hardware partner since MS started their server business decades ago none of that stopped it from trying to stop this merger lmao.
 

Bernoulli

M2 slut
Kek what Nvidia has been a Microsoft business partner since the 90s and a hardware partner since MS started their server business decades ago none of that stopped it from trying to stop this merger lmao.
Nvidia has spoken up in support of Microsoft following the recent news that the UK's Competition & Markets Authority is moving to block the sale of Activision Blizzard to the Xbox company.
 

Heisenberg007

Gold Journalism
Nvidia has spoken up in support of Microsoft following the recent news that the UK's Competition & Markets Authority is moving to block the sale of Activision Blizzard to the Xbox company.
Nvidia’s stance is because of self benefits. Has nothing to do with values or what they think is best for the industry.

Self-serving pricks, all of them.
 

PaintTinJr

Member
This may not completely related to this acquisition, but Google's proof is rubbish. Stadia failed for a huge combination of reasons, but lack of Bethesda support is not enough to shut down an entire platform. Stadia failed to attract enough customers because:
1) Cloud gaming is new and there are fewer customers than the established consoles or PC
2) Stadia had no exclusive games at all, there was no reason for anyone to choose Stadia over other platforms
3) Stadia games had to be purchased just like any other platform, however they almost never had sales. Often the games were cheaper on Epic, Steam, or on the consoles
4) The selection of games was smaller than other platforms because Stadia games had to be run on Linux. There was a whole porting process for developers, and not a big enough market to justify that cost.
5) Google has a terrible track record for consumer products. They needed to be OK losing a lot of money to get this off the ground, and they are never OK with that.
6) The users they did have didn't find value in paying for the subscription. Their subscription cost $10 a month and offered two free games a month. That is not competitive with either Microsoft or Sony.

I could go on and on, but I think you get the point. Stadia didn't know what it wanted to do, wasn't committed to success, and cost more. Recipe for failure.
But going by that list, how would any of that be "rubbish" in regards of the CMA(UK) trying to protect the viability of a nascent cloud market for cloud start-ups - primarily - to bring innovation and competition?

I've bolded the one that is clearly an issue for new companies that can't go toe-to-toe with $2T companies - one that would then have the no.1 third party IP in their first party locker forever.

Google being financially prudent isn't maybe great for us when having to choose between mega-corps, but it is good for us to see how non-mega-corps would fair with similar means in those circumstances IMO and how financial means and desire to use those means is in itself an SLC issue in almost every market.
 
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Bernoulli

M2 slut
Nvidia’s stance is because of self benefits. Has nothing to do with values or what they think is best for the industry.

Self-serving pricks, all of them.
the good thing is that CMA knows that
just like they said in their report that Microsoft plan was to make COD exclusive until regulators stepped in so they can't be trusted

The CMA didn't consider the agreement with Nintendo as evidence that MS was interested in distributing COD to more platforms because the agreement was entered during the review process (page 186)

Regarding the Nintendo agreement, in addition to noting that this theory of harm is primarily focussed on SIE for reasons already explained, we also consider the points discussed in the ability assessment regarding the uncertainty created by certain terms of this agreement also apply to our incentive analysis. With regards to Microsoft's submission that this agreement demonstrates a general intention to distribute CoD on more consoles, we note that this agreement has been entered into during the course of our Merger investigation (and those of other authorities). We therefore do not consider this is reliable evidence of what Microsoft's incentives would otherwise be in the ordinary course.

we note that this agreement has been entered into during the course of our Merger investigation (and those of other authorities). We therefore do not consider this is reliable evidence of what Microsoft's incentives would otherwise be in the ordinary course.
 
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