Microsoft is buying Activision Blizzard for $68.7 billion [FTC sues to stop - CMA issues updated preliminary findings]

[majob]

53 minutes ago, TJ_Solo said:

 

But when will it stop? It isn't as if the regulators will say "we accepted the last merger, so all your future ones are okay too".

People say the floodgates will open as if this is a precedent setting court decision when it really is just the decision of one case not all future cases.

When will it stop? Microsoft's own words were: "when we're satisfied"

 

And I want you to keep in mind that Microsoft is already a corporate giant and they were just allowed to buy a large chunk of the gaming market. This acquisition was the limitus test and they passed. They can paint any and all new acquisitions going forward now as "allowing competition and innovation" against Sony's  "monopoly". 

[Jeanolt]

Worst part is that if you don't count Bethesda and Activision, this gen Xbox has the worst catalogue of exclusives I've ever seen, showing they really weren't prepared for a new generation without this plan B (maybe it was part of the plan all along).

 

I saw people saying after MS bought their first 6-7 studios, that they were ready to eliminate Sony from the market. Little did they know, there's nothing to see still in 2023 and PS5 is as dominant as ever.

Edited March 25, 2023 by Jeanoltt

[Rozalia1]

4 hours ago, jgm4789 said:

Yeah, it isn't the fact that its buying activision that bothers me but the fact that they intend to buy up more companies that concerns me as who knows what they will aquire next. Microsoft was already way too big before even buying bethesda and buying activision is just even more yikes. They could potentially even try to buy valve or epic, two companies that are far more influential in the grand scheme then activision could ever hope to be. Buying epic especially would damage the industry far more then buying ea or ubisoft would as that would mean they control the unreal engine and with so many games using that tech microsoft would own 70% of the industry overnight.

 

They should not be able to buy Valve or Epic. Both companies with their current management won't sell though granted there can always be new management, but even in such a case we'd have to hit a new level of corruption in the west for it to be rubber stamped. Valve you could say in a sense is the PC market, which Microsoft is a competitor in too, so they'd basically be buying up the market on that. Epic meanwhile has the Unreal Engine which would grant Microsoft massive power over companies big and small.

 

EA would make the most sense to go after. Ubisoft from everything we know would be a very bad company to buy so Microsoft should spare them, but I suppose it is possible Microsoft gets so confident on their power to buy their way to success that they decide that they may as well just in case. The only problem is buying up all of that so quickly and brazenly might well overload their powerful PR machine and cause backlash from gamers where they refuse to buy Microsoft's bought company's games even if they're on other platforms. The Valve/Epic thing has shades of that but when it comes to other products there have been cases of such a backlash, where a company's product becomes dead to consumers for an offense they've taken to heart.

 

Personally nothing Microsoft has been targeting is anything I care all that much about thankfully. I've played some of those company's games for the experience and so if I comment on those type of western games I'm not speaking without any first hand knowledge. I bought a CoD game way back just to see what all the fuss was about for example. For those who do and think Microsoft is wrong in doing this though? Choice to make when the time comes. If the games are on other platforms or not, purchasing them will only reward Microsoft for their tasteless behaviour.

 

3 hours ago, D-E-U-S-X said:

We can all learn from Microsoft - Do you want success? Buy success!

The same goes for talent and popularity.

 

What Steve Jobs said about Microsoft was true then and it's true now. A tasteless company that knows only how to throw their money around.

 

4 hours ago, AJ_-_808 said:

And thus begins the wave of acquisitions on both sides.  Sony is going to have to try to get some multiplatform publishers instead of small homegrown ones just so MS can't buy everything and make it all exclusive.

 

Sony has only 5 billion set aside for that, and while that number can certainly change it would be counter to their strategy thus far. There is no point in trying to compete with Microsoft in a buyout war as Microsoft can without issue spend x10s what Sony can. Best bet is to gamble on buying up small companies and building them up. Do it right, as Sony has done a lot of, and you turn millions into billions.

 

Sony made the comment in one of the responses to regulators that Microsoft aims to make a Nintendo out of them so to speak. This is obviously the case as Microsoft is clearly aiming to cut off much of the third party support that Sony gets so they're left in a situation like Nintendo is. The thing with that however is... that could end up a good thing. It could also completely destroy Sony in the market of course, but if they can pull off becoming like Nintendo then they'd become very strong indeed. Microsoft meanwhile with the Frankenstein's monster they're creating would struggle in such a scenario I think.

 

3 hours ago, TJ_Solo said:

But when will it stop? It isn't as if the regulators will say "we accepted the last merger, so all your future ones are okay too".

People say the floodgates will open as if this is a precedent setting court decision when it really is just the decision of one case not all future cases.

 

Market % isn't a concern because Microsoft is nowhere near a monopoly in it. This deal going through puts them at 14% in the overall gaming market for example. A definition only including Sony or Sony/Nintendo would be tighter but not enough to matter as regulators judge their markets and the only one that would trigger issues would be America, which will be overruled in court if they go against Microsoft. So under those parameters nothing at all stops them from continuing to buy up companies as long as they don't go beyond 40% or so.

 

It's why Cloud gaming is the main issue here as Microsoft has 70% in that already, but if these laughable 10 year deals are enough to clear it then they'll just 10 year deal everything and get it all through.

20 minutes ago, Jeanoltt said:

Worst part is that if you don't count Bethesda and Activision, this gen Xbox has the worst catalogue of exclusives I've ever seen, showing they really weren't prepared for a new generation without this plan B (maybe it was part of the plan all along).

 

I saw people saying after MS bought their first 6-7 studios, that they were ready to eliminate Sony from the market. Little did they know, there's nothing to see still in 2023 and PS5 is as dominant as ever.

 

I remember journalists, supporters, and Microsoft itself basically saying they were going to crush PlayStation because Gamepass alone was going to do the job. I'm thankful that all of those listed groups are grossly incompetent and so were completely wrong as I really do not want this subscription future that these people want.

[steel6burgh]

Microsoft sends us 20 series s digital consoles to every 1 series x almost.  playstation is the opposite.  they send 20 disc versions to every 1 digital.  Lately not even that much probably.  Clearly their is a console war going on and it has more at stake than the past console wars.  If we support this subscription service digital future we will end up with games that gotta be made for a subscription service.  To do that developers will have to spend less money making them and in many cases quality may very well suffer.  Of course there will always be that hand full of indie developers that can make a great experience with a small budget.  however, imagine telling Ubisoft and Rockstar they gotta make Red Dead and the next Ghost Recon for day one digital subscription service with 1/3 the budget.  Imagine the disaster that would be!  Microsoft is pedaling series S consoles at a price point half the price of the true next gen xbox x console.  

 

Microsoft makes a shit product.  They want you to buy batteries they can't even make a rechargeable controller.  Seems like a pretty standard thing to me.  Here we got Bill Gates the big environmental hypocrite jet flying wokester, producing the worlds most environmental unfriendly controller to save money.  I work in  gaming and can't even name a microsoft exclusive someone has bought from our store in the past 3 months.  We also sell 3 playstation and 2 switches to every one xbox. 

 

So microsoft bought Activision, they'll screw it up too.  Sony will make them eat it.  Watch!

[AJ_-_808]

3 hours ago, Rozalia1 said:

Sony has only 5 billion set aside for that, and while that number can certainly change it would be counter to their strategy thus far. There is no point in trying to compete with Microsoft in a buyout war as Microsoft can without issue spend x10s what Sony can. Best bet is to gamble on buying up small companies and building them up. Do it right, as Sony has done a lot of, and you turn millions into billions.

 

Even if said games aren't your personal preference, there's no denying that Doom, Wolfenstein, Fallout, and Elder Scrolls are big names. Add Diablo & Call of Duty to that, and regardless of Sony's superior home grown exclusives, it's still going to take a mean hit.

 

What happens next if MS tries to buy up Take Two, for example, and take Red Dead & GTA as exclusives.

 

EA has been looking for a buyer ever since Activision got a crazy offer. Ubisoft is open to offers. WBGaming has been shopping around their studios for a couple years now.  MS can do a lot more damage with third party studios

 

Sony's rumored next acquisition is Square, which largely doesn't develop for Xbox anyway.

[majob]

4 hours ago, AJ_-_808 said:

 

 

Sony's rumored next acquisition is Square, which largely doesn't develop for Xbox anyway.

Sony has been rumored to be buying SE for years, it comes up every generation. I put no stock in it, especially since Forespoken underperformed after Sony paid for timed exclusivity

[TJ_Solo]

11 hours ago, majob said:

When will it stop? Microsoft's own words were: "when we're satisfied"

 

And I want you to keep in mind that Microsoft is already a corporate giant and they were just allowed to buy a large chunk of the gaming market. This acquisition was the limitus test and they passed. They can paint any and all new acquisitions going forward now as "allowing competition and innovation" against Sony's  "monopoly". 

 

But that isn't what regulators are there for. Using this logic regulators would simply to watch one or many corporations devour other corporations until satisified.

This decision is just this decision. It doesn't make the next one easier or more likely to go through. 

It isn't a litmus test or precedent setting legal decision. I know this is what people online have been saying and it is complete hogwash. They have their understanding of legal proceedings turned on their head. For the "floodgates" to open what would need to occur is the FTC(or any regulatory agency) being sued by a company and then a court finding that the FTC has no right controlling mergers and acquistions. This would create legal precedence to complete undermine and nullify an regulator's power. That isn't what happened. What happened was simply regulators saying "Yes" instead of "No", either outcome being possible with any case.

 

Single studio purchases may always go through with a quick, easy review process.

However, another multi-billion dollar deal or bigger from MS? It will just be another repeat of this; a year+ of review and determination regardless of the end decision.

 

 

 

[Danyy___85]

I actually wished they would have left Bethesda alone and bought Activision/Blizzard only. I will miss games like Doom, Elder Scrolls, Fallout... The Obsidian RPG's... A possible New Vegas Remake/Remaster, Pillars of Eternity Sequels, The outer Worlds... Bethesda has many great IP's that PlayStation won't see any of this anymore. Of course you can go and buy an Xbox, but sometimes it's not just that simple. 

 

The Activision games for me are meh, i do look forward for the new Diablo 4 that looks really damn good! I loved Diablo 3, and that was it from them for me of course, many others might really love Activision/Blizzard games, they also have enourmous amouts of IP's. But with them, i'm not at all bothered, i am for Bethesda tho. And i hope they will stop here, or else things can get messy for PlayStation. 

 

Sony already entered the From Software as an investor, and the thing they can go for is to make the other publishers close to them more in some ways. And i also believe that many Devs won't sell themselfs to a platform. But if this goes through (Wich it will) we will see if Xbox ends there... Probably they will not. 

[majob]

26 minutes ago, TJ_Solo said:

 

 

 

 

Regulators today already largely stand by and let giants gobble up other businesses and Microsoft's statement is legally vague precisely to avoid having it used against them in future legal scrutiny. 

 

This decision owes part of its success to the success of Disney's purchase of 20th century FOX which effectively set a precedent as well as showcasing the impotence of regulators. The FTC doesn't control mergers and have never done so, they merely investigate whether an acquisition would qualify as anti trust and file suit with federal courts who actually do have the power to block a merger. They've  also been terrible at their job lately which is why Microsoft has already said they were going to ignore them if the CMA and EU gave them the greenlight. And this was absolutely a limitus test because they've bought two major publishers in the span of three years and have already stated they plan to buy more. All of this scrutiny didn't deter them, they have money to burn, all the time in the world and already are the loss leader so long term profitability isn't a factor.

Edited March 25, 2023 by majob

[Valtekken173]

I actually don't mind this deal. Granted, I realized limiting yourself to only one platform is unbelievably stupid so I have every console from every manufacturer (previous gen, haven't made the jump to current gen yet) and this deal, like the previous ones, doesn't damage me all that much. That being said, though...I despise Activision's current management so fucking much that I'll literally take a deal with the devil over keeping the current shitheads at Activision in charge (assuming Microsoft shitcans most of the management, which I think will be the case after all the PR disasters they've been involved in). ANY change is a good change in my eyes, including exclusivity for MS consoles if that's what it takes for things to improve. Activision has just a few IPs they can dangle over my head, and none of those are in active development (DJ Hero, [Prototype], Blur, maybe THPS) so this deal wouldn't take anything interesting away from me even if I only had a PlayStation. Hell, if anything this deal has the potential to revitalize at least one of those IPs since the focus shifts back to making games that sell consoles instead of making games that sell microtransactions.

 

As for the future on the other side, I personally want Sony to buy Capcom and take DMC away from every other platform. Maybe Square Enix, maybe Ubisoft (especially if Ubisoft keeps on crumbling, like it has lately, in quality). I'd like Konami but that's a pipe dream IMO. Dunno how viable SEGA or Bamco are, but those are nice options as well. Take Two is unrealistic, no idea why some pick it as a viable option. EA looks like it'd be a better fit for Microsoft for historical and brand reasons in my eyes. If we're talking single development studios, buy Platinum and screw Nintendo over a bit.

[majob]

1 hour ago, Valtekken173 said:

 

Market consolidation is never a good thing, no matter what the previous circumstances were. It could be Sony buying ABK and I'd still be against it. This isn't about fanboys and plastic boxes. This is about one of the richest companies on earth trying to establish a monopoly and the fact they're getting away with it is the problem.

 

As for acquisitions Sony doesn't have enough money on hand for a major publisher and it would be a fools errand to buy one in retaliation. Capcom in particular is family owned, no one is buying them unless the family decides to sell

Edited March 25, 2023 by majob

[TJ_Solo]

Quote

Regulators today already largely stand by and let giants gobble up other businesses and Microsoft's statement is legally vague precisely to avoid having it used against them in future legal scrutiny. 

 

Except they don't. 
Sure there have been some headline cases that people will casually reference but the entire ongoing case log for the FTC is full of contested mergers. Some fail some succeed. 
Don't let "Oh Disney bought Fox"(the have an new head of the FTC since this deal went through) bias you against the entire landscape of mergers. You can look up their cases beyond the news headlines.

The FTC supposedly has new view on mergers and are less lax now than say the early 00s or late 90s. Is it hotair? Dunno but a lot of political types have a lot to say about the new position of the FTC,

 

I can't comment on too specifically on non-US regulators.

 

 

[AJ_-_808]

1 hour ago, majob said:

Market consolidation is never a good thing, no matter what the previous circumstances were. It could be Sony buying ABK and I'd still be against it. This isn't about fanboys and plastic boxes. This is about one of the richest companies on earth trying to establish a monopoly and the fact they're getting away with it is the problem.

 

Agreed 100%

Small singular developer studios is fine, but major publishers should never be allowed to be bought by either platform holder.  Bethesda and Activision should have been made to sell off some studios in the same way Square Enix did to allow for a lesser impact.

 

The problem now is, MS has 1 recent big buy and another one approaching completion, plus whatever else is coming down the line.  As much as consolidation is bad, Sony is going to have to start buying something just to avoid losing it.  What other option is there, aside from the gamble of becoming like Nintendo?

[Sendai-Horatio]

33 minutes ago, AJ_-_808 said:

What other option is there, aside from the gamble of becoming like Nintendo?

There's many people who want this simply because it would alienate Sony's current customer demographics and put them forever in last place. Sony becoming a Nintendo clone company has never worked in it's favor in the past and it wouldn't work now. They will more then likely will have to convert former third parties into first parties if Microsoft plans to continue buying companies. Having strong third party support was always a part of PlayStation but if the corporate ecosystem becomes a "buy it or lose it" situation then they stand to lose many types of games and franchises that have been with PlayStation since the beginning. Like if Square Enix gets bought up you can't just materialize a Final Fantasy out of thin air to replace that. There's decades of installments made by developers with lots of experience making RPGs and a fanbase around the series that a copycat franchise can't replace. Any type of new game would not have that built in momentum to generate an audience. So you're also increasing your risk by making a new series that's based around a genre that's also very expensive to develop for.

Edited March 25, 2023 by Sendai-Horatio

[majob]

2 hours ago, TJ_Solo said:

 

 

The current head of the FTC is 0-7 in her cases so far, she's full of bluster but produces no results. If the FTC had a case they would have filed federal charges by now and they haven't. They bluffed and Microsoft called them, failing to realize that they've been doing that song and dance for decades and know the system and what they can get away with

Edited March 25, 2023 by majob

[Rozalia1]

10 hours ago, AJ_-_808 said:

Even if said games aren't your personal preference, there's no denying that Doom, Wolfenstein, Fallout, and Elder Scrolls are big names. Add Diablo & Call of Duty to that, and regardless of Sony's superior home grown exclusives, it's still going to take a mean hit.

 

What happens next if MS tries to buy up Take Two, for example, and take Red Dead & GTA as exclusives.

 

EA has been looking for a buyer ever since Activision got a crazy offer. Ubisoft is open to offers. WBGaming has been shopping around their studios for a couple years now.  MS can do a lot more damage with third party studios

 

Sony's rumored next acquisition is Square, which largely doesn't develop for Xbox anyway.

 

Certainly won't deny that, simply stated that thankfully I'm not affected. Little point in someone like me saying I won't reward Microsoft and buy their ill gotten games because I don't buy those games already anyway. Anyone who does and have a problem with Microsoft's efforts will have to make that choice however.

 

Them getting those next would be big stuff yeah and if they can get this through then they could get those through. Once again I would not be personally fussed in regards to my own game playing as I don't care for those companies, but anyone that does once again has to make the decision. 

 

The reality of this situation is Microsoft is buying CoD for the revenue so they can attempt to get their Gamepass strategy in the positive and expand it further with the goal of killing their competition. Making CoD exclusive right now would actually be foolish I certainly agree with their supporters on that because Gamepass simply isn't there yet. Taking money from PlayStation gamers is thus the smart move, but once they reach enough mass the smart move then becomes to remove them off PlayStation. 

 

1 hour ago, AJ_-_808 said:

Agreed 100%

Small singular developer studios is fine, but major publishers should never be allowed to be bought by either platform holder.  Bethesda and Activision should have been made to sell off some studios in the same way Square Enix did to allow for a lesser impact.

 

The problem now is, MS has 1 recent big buy and another one approaching completion, plus whatever else is coming down the line.  As much as consolidation is bad, Sony is going to have to start buying something just to avoid losing it.  What other option is there, aside from the gamble of becoming like Nintendo?

 

You can only use what you have. You never want to get into the money match with someone far richer than you as you simply can't win such a thing. This is the truth in everything. A big reason the Soviet Union fell apart was them getting into a money match with America that they simply could not win. 

 

Its a heck of a gamble yes, but the only way to face off against such a crude company like Microsoft. On a positive note if Sony can succeed then they have the potential to become even greater than Nintendo, something Microsoft cannot do no matter how many of these companies they buy. Speaking of said companies... Bethesda was a failing company and that is when they weren't having their game sales cannibalised by Gamepass and were on PlayStation. Activision lives and dies with CoD and other old properties they've kept going so them having those fall apart would be very bad as replicating that success, especially with Microsoft's policies, would be difficult. Gamepass also looms over everything as that needs to be a success sometime soon or it'll mean very bad things for them.

 

4 hours ago, Valtekken173 said:

I actually don't mind this deal. Granted, I realized limiting yourself to only one platform is unbelievably stupid so I have every console from every manufacturer (previous gen, haven't made the jump to current gen yet) and this deal, like the previous ones, doesn't damage me all that much. That being said, though...I despise Activision's current management so fucking much that I'll literally take a deal with the devil over keeping the current shitheads at Activision in charge (assuming Microsoft shitcans most of the management, which I think will be the case after all the PR disasters they've been involved in). ANY change is a good change in my eyes, including exclusivity for MS consoles if that's what it takes for things to improve. Activision has just a few IPs they can dangle over my head, and none of those are in active development (DJ Hero, [Prototype], Blur, maybe THPS) so this deal wouldn't take anything interesting away from me even if I only had a PlayStation. Hell, if anything this deal has the potential to revitalize at least one of those IPs since the focus shifts back to making games that sell consoles instead of making games that sell microtransactions.

 

Make sure you prepare to be disappointed. You think Microsoft is going to go into Activision and remove Kotick and his guys from management? Infamously "hands off" Microsoft? Kotick's scandal was an eternity ago by this point and Microsoft has a powerful PR machine to protect him. Nadella himself has only talked up Kotick and Nadella is well known for protecting those he likes from consequences (reportedly he has it known that if there is bad stuff about someone he likes then he doesn't even want to be informed about it). If Kotick goes it'll be because he wants to retire, but his guys will certainly keep going.

 

1 hour ago, Sendai-Horatio said:

There's many people who want this simply because it would alienate Sony's current customer demographics and put them forever in last place. Sony becoming a Nintendo clone company has never worked in it's favor in the past and it wouldn't work now. They will more then likely will have to convert former third parties into first parties if Microsoft plans to continue buying companies. Having strong third party support was always a part of PlayStation but if the corporate ecosystem becomes a "buy it or lose it" situation then they stand to lose many types of games and franchises that have been with PlayStation since the beginning. Like if Square Enix gets bought up you can't just materialize a Final Fantasy out of thin air to replace that. There's decades of installments made by developers with lots of experience making RPGs and a fanbase around the series that a copycat franchise can't replace. Any type of new game would not have that built in momentum to generate an audience. So you're also increasing your risk by making a new series that's based around a genre that's also very expensive to develop for.

 

Yeah, you can feel the hatred those people have. Baffles me a bit because I can understand being a fanatic for Nintendo, even Sony, but Microsoft? A completely tasteless and soulless big tech company? Very odd. As for Square Microsoft would find it much harder to manage to cut that off from PlayStation. Not simply the Japanese company issue, but more that Microsoft would have to cut off Nintendo too and make an enemy of them, so Nintendo would raise problems with it. Microsoft would not be able to buy a company like that, continue to release on Nintendo, and cut off just PlayStation. The Japanese FTC should most certainly block any such attempt.

 

1 hour ago, majob said:

The current head of the FTC is 0-7 in her cases so far, she's full of bluster but produces no results. If the FTC had a case they would have filed federal charges by mow and they haven't. They bluffed and Microsoft called them, failing to realize that they've been doing that song and dance for decades and know the system and what they can get away with

 

The FTC knows its failure rate so its also trying to increase the length of time it takes for deals to go through. Right now the FTC doesn't need to file anything and if they did then it would only speed up Microsoft getting it through. By only filing at the last moment when they need to they expand the time it takes Microsoft. 

 

The only hope the FTC has is some manner of change to the system is gotten through before this concludes so they can block Microsoft off.

[SelectiveGamer]

So is the Sony and Microsoft fight over? Or is it going to just continue until the end of time?

[RadiantFlamberge]

On 3/24/2023 at 6:42 AM, ZachBoardyHD said:

Throwback to when Rise of the Tomb Raider became an Xbox Exclusive game for one year before releasing for PlayStation... I just waited the year and not forking out a lot of money for a console just to play it

I played ROTTR on PC back then. I wanted it, but no way was I going to get the Xbox One for it. So glad Xbox exclusive means only Xbox CONSOLE exclusive.

 

Sony just owns a small part of FromSoft, about 14.1% of it, and 16.3% is with Tencent. Kadokawa remains the majority owner. Let it stay that way. I wouldn't want Microsoft or Sony to be the MO.

 

So the UK regulator is giving up... well, shoot. In fact it seems ABK is even welcoming this merger with arms wide open. Another one bites the dust. Who is that damn Microsoft going to gobble up next?

[Rozalia1]

2 hours ago, RadiantFlamberge said:

I played ROTTR on PC back then. I wanted it, but no way was I going to get the Xbox One for it. So glad Xbox exclusive means only Xbox CONSOLE exclusive.

 

Sony just owns a small part of FromSoft, about 14.1% of it, and 16.3% is with Tencent. Kadokawa remains the majority owner. Let it stay that way. I wouldn't want Microsoft or Sony to be the MO.

 

So the UK regulator is giving up... well, shoot. In fact it seems ABK is even welcoming this merger with arms wide open. Another one bites the dust. Who is that damn Microsoft going to gobble up next?

 

Well, there is a reason why I've given 90% and not 100%. The CMA has not in fact given up in the sense that the concerns regarding Cloud gaming still exist and could stop the deal. Unlikely, but possible. Them making such a turn around though, one that has those who know the workings of the CMA are completely shocked by as the CMA overwhelmingly never goes against their findings later in this manner (they've done it all of once in all of their many cases from what I've heard) should imply that this is going through. On the other hand... it could be that they did make some errors that Microsoft with their powerful PR machine might have pressured the CAT to act on, so they're just putting a stop to such a future attempt and then will deny on Cloud gaming grounds by deeming the 10 year deals simply not good enough and that they should be in perpetuity (don't let Microsoft supporters fool you, it is certainly possible as long as who it would apply to is defined) and Microsoft refuses to accept that.

 

As for ABK welcoming the merger... why wouldn't they? This ain't a hostile takeover and they're all going to get paid very well by Microsoft. Most of them also know that if they don't get under Microsoft's machine then they'll likely all get forced out eventually. One of the reasons they've had so little issues so aggressively attacking Sony as they have done.

[MidnightDragon]

And then we have US politicians spewing stupid nonsense like this, pretending they know what they’re talking about. The half million they donated to her probably doesn’t hurt, either.

 

https://www.pushsquare.com/news/2023/03/us-senator-says-sony-has-monopoly-on-high-end-japanese-game-market

[majob]

15 hours ago, RadiantFlamberge said:

 

So the UK regulator is giving up... well, shoot. In fact it seems ABK is even welcoming this merger with arms wide open. Another one bites the dust. Who is that damn Microsoft going to gobble up next?

They're not quite giving up, they still have concerns over Microsoft's vast presence in cloud gaming. They've  merely decided that Microsoft owning Call of Duty doesn't harm Sony's ability to compete so Sony's arguments have been deemed insignificant. Partly Sony's  fault since they merely focused on Call of Duty and not the entire ABK Catalogue

[Sendai-Horatio]

9 hours ago, majob said:

They're not quite giving up, they still have concerns over Microsoft's vast presence in cloud gaming. They've  merely decided that Microsoft owning Call of Duty doesn't harm Sony's ability to compete so Sony's arguments have been deemed insignificant. Partly Sony's  fault since they merely focused on Call of Duty and not the entire ABK Catalogue

The entire ABK catalogue wouldn't have made a dent either. You maybe have King but that doesn't affect the console space, Blizzard has struggled to have a new large industry leading hit for quite some time. Diablo 4 while off to a positive start with reviews is still too new to see if it has staying power, everything else associated with blizzard is in decline. Activision's own titles have mostly been reduced to mobile games or are dormant. They put a stop to almost everything just to focus on Call of Duty themselves. You're not getting a large amount of different titles from Activision in the console space and the ones that are being released that are not Call of Duty have active competition from smaller companies.

[Valtekken173]

On 25/3/2023 at 3:46 PM, majob said:

Market consolidation is never a good thing, no matter what the previous circumstances were. It could be Sony buying ABK and I'd still be against it. This isn't about fanboys and plastic boxes. This is about one of the richest companies on earth trying to establish a monopoly and the fact they're getting away with it is the problem.

 

As for acquisitions Sony doesn't have enough money on hand for a major publisher and it would be a fools errand to buy one in retaliation. Capcom in particular is family owned, no one is buying them unless the family decides to sell

I absolutely do not care about market consolidation when it comes to getting Activision's current management to fuck off. Same goes for EA, for example.

 

Sony doesn't need to acquire companies with money exclusively. A variety of options is on the table, including stock+money and debt+money, or any combination of the aforementioned means. As for Capcom, everybody says they don't want to sell until they sell (see Insomniac for ages before being acquired by Sony).

On 25/3/2023 at 7:29 PM, Rozalia1 said:

Make sure you prepare to be disappointed. You think Microsoft is going to go into Activision and remove Kotick and his guys from management? Infamously "hands off" Microsoft? Kotick's scandal was an eternity ago by this point and Microsoft has a powerful PR machine to protect him. Nadella himself has only talked up Kotick and Nadella is well known for protecting those he likes from consequences (reportedly he has it known that if there is bad stuff about someone he likes then he doesn't even want to be informed about it). If Kotick goes it'll be because he wants to retire, but his guys will certainly keep going.

I disagree. I think Kotick and his clique will fuck off. Maybe not immediately, but they're done, 100%. Hell, Kotick's style of management is at odds with Microsoft's management style, where Xbox is concerned at least. Makes no sense to keep him and his gang there.

[Zephrese]

The amount of shortsightedness (be it willful or not) in some people is equally humorous as it is shocking, at times.

Edited March 27, 2023 by Zephrese

[RadiantFlamberge]

On 3/26/2023 at 4:42 PM, MidnightDragon said:

And then we have US politicians spewing stupid nonsense like this, pretending they know what they’re talking about. The half million they donated to her probably doesn’t hurt, either.

Cantwell probably hasn't ever played a video game since Atari 5200. I bet she'd switch sides quick if Sony offered her a full million.?

 

I hate to say it, but this actually has me rooting wholeheartedly for Xbox SX/SS to fail like Sega Dreamcast. Not that Dreamcast deserved to tank, but Xbox sure does. Let Xbox become another Sega... out of the console business, but still around as a 3rd party for PC, Sony, and Nintendo.