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

[Rozalia1]

We should get some major news within the next week I believe but it has been very slow recently yes. The gamer lawsuit has been refiled and apparently Sony actually is helping them a bit and as such we might possibly end up seeing the deal Microsoft sent Sony way back when.

 

In other news:

 

 

Xbox infamous for their lack of advertising is already advertising CoD in public like it already belongs to them. Confidence? Arrogance? We'll see. Speaking of advertising... Xbox I think will be for a rude awakening if they think their terrible marketing will be enough with CoD. Companies don't put loads of money into marketing for charity purposes, even big titles need it to be competent and to a good level. Now granted, Activision will likely retain their own marketing division for a while but at some point as these things go it'll get dissolved and then is when it can go real bad. 

[ARobinGaming]

Just wanted to mention that I really appreciate your threads about the goings on with Microsoft and Xbox. I tend to look on twitter for gaming news but the playstation hashtags seem to be filled with toxic Xbox gamers as of late even though I've muted them so it's hard to not get a pro Xbox bias there. 

[oIMyersIo]

On 13/04/2023 at 4:43 PM, Rozalia1 said:

We should get some major news within the next week I believe but it has been very slow recently yes. The gamer lawsuit has been refiled and apparently Sony actually is helping them a bit and as such we might possibly end up seeing the deal Microsoft sent Sony way back when.

 

In other news:

 

 

Xbox infamous for their lack of advertising is already advertising CoD in public like it already belongs to them. Confidence? Arrogance? We'll see. Speaking of advertising... Xbox I think will be for a rude awakening if they think their terrible marketing will be enough with CoD. Companies don't put loads of money into marketing for charity purposes, even big titles need it to be competent and to a good level. Now granted, Activision will likely retain their own marketing division for a while but at some point as these things go it'll get dissolved and then is when it can go real bad. 

I don’t necessarily think it’s either confidence or arrogance, but moreso that they already know the outcome.

 

If this did end up falling through, it would be another embarrassment to an already bruised Xbox division. 

[Rozalia1]

 

Either the Cheque must have cleared late for this particular corrupt pro-business individual, or Microsoft has continued trying to get more on side for their disgusting efforts. The letter itself is something alright also. Accuses Sony of evil lobbying to oppose Microsoft which, come on man. Bungie even gets a mention as being "concerning" that Sony got to buy them, yet apparently Microsoft buying way more is no problem at all.

 

The defence if they are pressed on this is an obvious one. Microsoft does not have a monopoly and so they should be allowed to buy however much they want as long as they do not reach that threshold. Some who have some shred of shame would put the amount to stop at for Microsoft at 40-50%, those without shame would put it at 70%. The problem with that view, which is what the current FTC is trying to overturn, is that it simply does not work to stop the big companies from destroying competition as they know the rules and they abuse them. Let me put it this way. Company A is at 20% but much bigger & richer than Company B at 40%, you then have a number of other companies worth smaller %s. Company A can put money into better competing to hope to get more % to better match B... or they could first buy other companies to get parity with B and then start mass spending and expanding which unless their efforts completely bomb will naturally lead to them hastily overtaking B. That has not lead to better competition, it has simply served as a shortcut for a bigger company to overtake the smaller one and predictably if the big company is able to take over the market they will instantly visit all manner of negative things upon it. 

 

---

 

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/federal-trade-commission-ap-supreme-court-washington-arizona-b2320015.html

 

The Axon case that could relate to this one also concluded in the American supreme court. Straight up 9-0 in favour of big business, no partisan issues on this matter oh no. These things are complicated and not always as simple as they seem so I have heard that while a big deal, certainly over time if judges just continuously rule against the FTC (and SEC), it actually shouldn't affect this case too much if the common assumption that the FTC would lose in court against Microsoft is true. As it was the FTC would take Microsoft to court and waste a bunch of time even if they lost. With this change the FTC attempting it would be met with Microsoft putting them in court... which wastes a bunch of time. So this only matters if the FTC was going to beat Microsoft in such a future court case and now can get denied that by Microsoft's challenge. That is how I understand it.

 

16 hours ago, ARobinGaming said:

Just wanted to mention that I really appreciate your threads about the goings on with Microsoft and Xbox. I tend to look on twitter for gaming news but the playstation hashtags seem to be filled with toxic Xbox gamers as of late even though I've muted them so it's hard to not get a pro Xbox bias there. 

 

Thank you, means a lot. What you say is very much the case, an element of what I refer to as Microsoft's PR machine. It's all so loud when Xbox has never been less popular (not counting the 1st Xbox where they were mostly unknown) that it all starts smelling of having astroturfing going on. From what I recall Microsoft actually did engage in such things during the Xbox One launch period so it wouldn't be unprecedented. Would also help explain their baffling lack of marketing if they're instead diverting funds towards astroturfing in the belief that such efforts are more effective than traditional marketing.

 

15 hours ago, oIMyersIo said:

I don’t necessarily think it’s either confidence or arrogance, but moreso that they already know the outcome.

 

If this did end up falling through, it would be another embarrassment to an already bruised Xbox division. 

 

Perhaps that is what they think, but it has backfired on them once already so if it happens again I think it goes beyond embarrassing at this point. Strange to me that they can't even wait a week or two to avoid possibly looking foolish.

[MidnightDragon]

20 hours ago, Rozalia1 said:

 

Either the Cheque must have cleared late for this particular corrupt pro-business individual, or Microsoft has continued trying to get more on side for their disgusting efforts. The letter itself is something alright also. Accuses Sony of evil lobbying to oppose Microsoft which, come on man. Bungie even gets a mention as being "concerning" that Sony got to buy them, yet apparently Microsoft buying way more is no problem at all.

 

The defence if they are pressed on this is an obvious one. Microsoft does not have a monopoly and so they should be allowed to buy however much they want as long as they do not reach that threshold. Some who have some shred of shame would put the amount to stop at for Microsoft at 40-50%, those without shame would put it at 70%. The problem with that view, which is what the current FTC is trying to overturn, is that it simply does not work to stop the big companies from destroying competition as they know the rules and they abuse them. Let me put it this way. Company A is at 20% but much bigger & richer than Company B at 40%, you then have a number of other companies worth smaller %s. Company A can put money into better competing to hope to get more % to better match B... or they could first buy other companies to get parity with B and then start mass spending and expanding which unless their efforts completely bomb will naturally lead to them hastily overtaking B. That has not lead to better competition, it has simply served as a shortcut for a bigger company to overtake the smaller one and predictably if the big company is able to take over the market they will instantly visit all manner of negative things upon it. 

Unsurprisingly, he's also been given money by MS. Think this is just them trying to cause more distractions in hopes of getting Sony to go away. One good thing is Sony's not currently required to do this. He'll probably try to go to court to get an order next if they ignore him. Again, if things changed every time a Senator or someone in the House made a lot of noise, things would be very different. As it is, very little changes. 

 

Of course the gaming media will also side with Microsoft every time, but last I checked, despite that and MS's blatant lying and bribery to get their way, PS5 was still leading sales. So MS's still acting desperate and it shows.

Edited April 16, 2023 by MidnightDragon

[Eraezr]

Whatever happens, I hope a lawyer(s) involved who was able to see both sides, writes a book about this bitter battle and how the acquisition played out. David Shippie did something similar on the R&D for PS3's CELL and Xbox 360 in his book 'A Race for a New Machine'. That was a mindblowing book of corporate espionage that knifed Ken Kutaragi in the back. To think that Sony and Toshiba engineers unwittingly helped build the Xbox 360's CPU!

 

Obligatory: Fuck IBM.

[Rozalia1]

The CELL is interesting for what could have been. Still, credit to Cerny who designs their consoles now because even with weaker on paper specs the PS5 (which is a lot cheaper to make) is beating out the Xbox X often enough, most embarrassing recently being on Ghostwire Tokyo which is a Microsoft 1st party title.

 

Still waiting on further news on the Activision buyout. I believe South Africa has pretty much cleared it but such news is basically irrelevant. What I will say is it is all very surprising to see so much negative news hit Xbox again and again. Considering Microsoft's main argument for why they should buy Activision is that they suck (I would view such an argument as to why they shouldn't be allowed, but whatever), it does make you wonder if Microsoft is allowing all this negative PR to keep hitting them with the idea that it'll help them clear the deal, or alternatively so when they start putting out games they'll look even better. I personally hope that isn't the case and instead the PR machine is simply breaking down and increasingly unable to protect them.

[Rozalia1]

The only update is that Lina Khan of the FTC had to facedown a bunch of corrupt pro-business congressmen taking the field for Microsoft, trying to make her out to be unamerican for "supporting" the Japanese and Chinese over Americans (can you imagine how they'd be acting if Khan was ethnically East Asian?). Thankfully Lina Khan is the sort who knows who she is dealing with and appeared completely unfazed by their pathetic efforts.

 

Wishing all of the best to her and her team. Not simply so they can destroy this deal, but in general as them winning would be a big blow to the corruption big business wields.

[MidnightDragon]

On 4/20/2023 at 11:02 AM, Rozalia1 said:

The only update is that Lina Khan of the FTC had to facedown a bunch of corrupt pro-business congressmen taking the field for Microsoft, trying to make her out to be unamerican for "supporting" the Japanese and Chinese over Americans (can you imagine how they'd be acting if Khan was ethnically East Asian?). Thankfully Lina Khan is the sort who knows who she is dealing with and appeared completely unfazed by their pathetic efforts.

 

Wishing all of the best to her and her team. Not simply so they can destroy this deal, but in general as them winning would be a big blow to the corruption big business wields.

At least she wasn’t intimidated by a bunch of incompetent morons who are more or less on Microsoft’s payroll. 

[MidnightDragon]

While the final outcome was never in doubt, I can’t say I won’t be sad that MS’s true colors were exposed and this wasn’t completely uncontested for a change. Hopefully they won’t succeed in their next attempt to keep playing Monopoly. This won’t hurt as much as Bethesda did. Not even mad anymore. Just disappointed and resigned. All these big companies swallowing up smaller ones will just hurt us all in the long run.

Edited April 25, 2023 by MidnightDragon

[mcnichoj]

https://twitter.com/iThreeBit/status/1650895308702773248?t=zmLkAfvs5pf0ew5-9PZ_OA&s=19

Why are people surprised by this stuff? Did everyone miss how Street Fighter V never came to Xbox? It's also nothing new, it's straight outta the Nintendo playbook back when they started in the industry, then Microsoft used an amended version of it for a moment during the 360 era (games couldn't come out on PS3 before coming to 360) and then for whatever goofy reason Sony started doing it during the PS4 (out the gate they had a 2:1 lead on Xbox One, exclusive content deals was just wasted money) and that's how we ended up here. Every time companies do this, it ends up biting them in the ass. It's anyone's guess what, if any, repercussions will come towards MS for the ABK deal though. In the past it was just exclusive single games but now we have an entire exclusive company with a CoDillion Dollar Franchise™. Really no one has the money or IP to compete with this deal.

[MidnightDragon]

 

24 minutes ago, mcnichoj said:

https://twitter.com/iThreeBit/status/1650895308702773248?t=zmLkAfvs5pf0ew5-9PZ_OA&s=19

Why are people surprised by this stuff? Did everyone miss how Street Fighter V never came to Xbox? It's also nothing new, it's straight outta the Nintendo playbook back when they started in the industry, then Microsoft used an amended version of it for a moment during the 360 era (games couldn't come out on PS3 before coming to 360) and then for whatever goofy reason Sony started doing it during the PS4 (out the gate they had a 2:1 lead on Xbox One, exclusive content deals was just wasted money) and that's how we ended up here. Every time companies do this, it ends up biting them in the ass. It's anyone's guess what, if any, repercussions will come towards MS for the ABK deal though. In the past it was just exclusive single games but now we have an entire exclusive company with a CoDillion Dollar Franchise. Really no one has the money or IP to compete with this deal.

Yeah. Hopefully when the next time inevitably comes, the regulators grow some brains. Likely will be a while before we see the full implications of this deal. Hell, we still haven’t seen the full repercussions of the Bethesda deal, either. 

Edited April 26, 2023 by MidnightDragon

[Rozalia1]

The time is nearly upon us for the CMA's decision. Microsoft/Activision has yet to blow their lid so that would imply it is all going smooth for them... though I do believe the CMA does tend to keep things secret until the last moment so they could well not know yet.

 

The chances of a pass are 90% in their favour, but even if it goes their way there is little point being upset or angry. The world is a very corrupt place and big business like Microsoft take advantage of that all the time. That is life. All you can do is trust in the belief that talent will win in the end. Microsoft may have all that money, they may buy all those companies, but they seemingly are unable to buy taste.

 

16 hours ago, MidnightDragon said:

While the final outcome was never in doubt, I can’t say I won’t be sad that MS’s true colors were exposed and this wasn’t completely uncontested for a change. Hopefully they won’t succeed in their next attempt to keep playing Monopoly. This won’t hurt as much as Bethesda did. Not even mad anymore. Just disappointed and resigned. All these big companies swallowing up smaller ones will just hurt us all in the long run.

 

Their PR machine will I'm sure attempt to make all of that go away. Like with yourself, neither of those big publishers they picked up are ones I care about so whatever on that end, but Microsoft is of course not finished. If they get this then nothing stops them continuing because they'll still have available to them all of the same arguments. Going by Microsoft's recent efforts their aim does seem like it would be a Japanese publisher, using the argument that as they have what amounts to 0 marketshare in Japan (last month they sold a bit under 300 consoles while Sony sold 40k+) then they should be allowed to buy whatever they want there, and if anybody Japanese doesn't like it then their shills like that Cantwell woman will try to politic against Japan. Though admittedly their paid shills shouldn't be currently be strong enough, but a Republican victory in the next election should see to that.

 

Of course picking up a Japanese publisher wouldn't in anyway help Microsoft as that publisher's business would instantly disintegrate and they'd have to be shuffled towards making stuff that might actually sell on Xbox (modern war battles and the like), however as Spencer revealed when he accused Sony of doing this (accuse the enemy of doing something you yourself are doing) the aim would be to grow their business by making the competitor smaller, which as long as the competitor is reduced in size doesn't actually require you yourself to get any bigger/more successful.

 

39 minutes ago, mcnichoj said:

https://twitter.com/iThreeBit/status/1650895308702773248?t=zmLkAfvs5pf0ew5-9PZ_OA&s=19

Why are people surprised by this stuff? Did everyone miss how Street Fighter V never came to Xbox? It's also nothing new, it's straight outta the Nintendo playbook back when they started in the industry, then Microsoft used an amended version of it for a moment during the 360 era (games couldn't come out on PS3 before coming to 360) and then for whatever goofy reason Sony started doing it during the PS4 (out the gate they had a 2:1 lead on Xbox One, exclusive content deals was just wasted money) and that's how we ended up here. Every time companies do this, it ends up biting them in the ass. It's anyone's guess what, if any, repercussions will come towards MS for the ABK deal though. In the past it was just exclusive single games but now we have an entire exclusive company with a CoDillion Dollar Franchise. Really no one has the money or IP to compete with this deal.

 

They aren't, it's Microsoft astroturfing. Random nobodies saying stuff happens all of the time but when they get boosted like this you can write it off as the PR machine putting in the work.

 

To begin with this claim (which happened ages back and isn't new information) comes from Microsoft itself who included Bloodborne among the list of games, a game whose IP is owned by Sony, so the premise is faulty to begin with considering what they're including. Additionally the "everyone else" is PC, which is the exact same thing that Microsoft itself does. No PlayStation, PC is fine.

[MidnightDragon]

Well, like I said, this stuff doesn’t seem to be helping MS much, but remains to be seen. https://kotaku.com/xbox-series-x-s-sales-microsoft-next-gen-exclusives-1850375665

 

Also @Rozalia1 MS’s tactics are considered bad business in Japan and it’s hard for non-Japanese to own a Japanese company, so they would probably have to try their luck with a smaller developer. Their attempt to buy Nintendo comes to mind. Without getting too political, as you said, probably won’t really change unless there’s a change of what party is in charge. We still have until at least January 20, 2025 before that’ll happen. 

 

The FTC fight will likely go on, but since the UK is likely to approve tomorrow and signs are pointing to the EU doing the same next month, not much point. 

Edited April 26, 2023 by MidnightDragon

[Tsundokuist]

 

On 20/01/2022 at 9:28 PM, DEI2EK said:

But it’s true, Sony lost Japan to Nintendo and Microsoft is buying all these western developers

whats left for Sony?

 

It’s all a storm in a teacup... I’m sure this has been said before but Activision-Blizzard is a beast in size, they’ll cost a fortune to operate year-on-year. All while losing sales they had before on Sony platforms wherever games are made exclusive. Even then, there are no guarantees for Xbox these games will be well received/high quality. For one thing, it’s a talent-lead industry, Activision already lost a lot of their talent from scandals/working condition talk. More in leadership positions will cash-in their equity after the merger goes through and then leave to do their own thing or be headhunted with the promise of less pressure to deliver sales.

 

Conversely, Sony are currently the single biggest studio in terms of revenue, nobody is taking their own teams/IPs away…
 

Licensed sports games (FIFA, NBA 2K, Madden etc) combined are much bigger than COD and they’re not going anywhere - MLB The Show being Sony developed but multi-platform now is an example of how the Sports leagues don’t want to be exclusive, they want that wider exposure/engagement for the league, not necessarily the money from an exclusivity deal. 
 

On top of that, GTA 6 is surely going to be a bigger event than the next CoD and do we seriously think EA won’t sniff an opportunity/open goal for a new Battlefield/Medal of Honor reboot if Sony lose COD? Do we think Sony won’t also have Bungie or someone else make something to fill that gap?

 

Personally, I hope it works out for Xbox. I’ve never played a single Activision/Blizzard game so I won’t miss them and I’d rather Xbox became the ‘Murica Box so Playstation have to embrace being the Weeb’s machine of choice but it won’t happen, Xbox just want to pad Gamepass. I don’t even think they want to make consoles long-term. I think they’d happily just sell Gamepass subscriptions to PCs, Sony/Nintendo consoles and maybe their own set-top streaming box if they could.

Edited April 26, 2023 by Tsundokuist

[mcnichoj]

2 hours ago, Tsundokuist said:

Licensed sports games (FIFA, NBA 2K, Madden etc) combined are much bigger than COD and they’re not going anywhere

Losing 30% of that 17,000,000,000 IP will still sting.

Hopefully this gets Sony to pump out some more smaller experiences like Stray. While not an explosive industry redefining title, it does help fill the gap in between their years long developed bigger budget entries.

[Z1MZUM]

The death of Bobby Kotick would make me happier then peace in Europe.

[The Alchemist]

 

Very surprising, but welcome news. Interesting to see how this develops.

[NorthPaul93]

I honestly expected the deal to go through, but I'm glad it didn't. ?

[The Alchemist]

8 minutes ago, NorthPaul93 said:

I honestly expected the deal to go through, but I'm glad it didn't. 

 

It still could as it states in the article that MS can appeal the decision, which obviously they will do. But even if it still goes through after that this is still pretty hilarious considering everyone including MS thought this was in the bag. The amount of crying on Twitter is hilarious. I'm going to enjoy this one for as long as it lasts. 

[kidson2004]

Damn, this isn’t good for them. Tom Henderson’s article about it

 

 

 

[NorthPaul93]

6 minutes ago, The Alchemist said:

 

It still could as it states in the article that MS can appeal the decision, which obviously they will do. But even if it still goes through after that this is still pretty hilarious considering everyone including MS thought this was in the bag. The amount of crying on Twitter is hilarious. I'm going to enjoy this one for as long as it lasts. 

I know they can appeal the decision, but from what I understand, it's unlikely the outcome will change in their favor.

[TJ_Solo]

Some people still think that this dea is "in the bag". The brainwashing is crazy sometimes.

[DrBloodmoney]

There will still be a lengthly appeals process, and a lot of dealmaking and wrangling, but this does seem to be a pretty rough body-blow for MS in this whole strange saga.

 

With the CMA blocking the deal, the FTC will be much more emboldened in their action in the US -  and MS seemed to be counting on citing the acceptance they assumed they would eventually get from the CMA as precedent in pushing back against the FTC's well publicised reservations they were already having.

 

I suspect that somewhere down the line, some more watered-down, or more compartmentalised version of a merger will likely still happen - there's too much riding on the deal - both face-saving by MS, and the extent to which this was holding off legal and public perception issues at Activision, as well as the straight up financial elements...

 

...but yeah. Interesting.

I guess we'll just have to see what happens if the other regulators start seeing this surprise punch as a call to arms.

Edited April 26, 2023 by DrBloodmoney

[Breakingthegreen]

I dream of a world where Bobby Kotick is arrested for the abusive work culture he fostered, and I hope this is one step closer to that.