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

[Rozalia1]

41 minutes ago, SelectiveGamer said:

@Rozalia1

 

Unlike last time where I shared the video... I won't do so this time but I'm just letting you know now... that YongYea put out another video that, despite him saying he 'doesn't have a horse in this race' and 'doesn't care what happens' seemed very pro-Xbox and pro-acquisition by sharing the news about Starfield possibly being PS5 exclusive so Xbox responded by buying the entire company

 

Wow, thanks for reminding me. I was wondering with the Kiryu voice actor thing where I had heard the name and you've just reminded me. Wow.

 

I looked it up briefly and the first thing he does is cite the Verge's Tom Warren. When a Microsoft supporting shill is the source he is using then it'll certainly colour a person's views towards siding with Microsoft. What people need to always remember is that it is literally part of Microsoft's playbook to humiliate their opponents publicly and to use astroturfing and "independent" people for such purposes. Whatever the FTC does in court is simply irrelevant, the narrative will always be that they are incompetents who have zero case and are a joke. For example. Lawyers will ask questions to establish things and also to make it harder for whoever is questioned to mess around, as they'll have what they just said on the record. This is all basic stuff. In the Microsoft spin machine this is framed as the FTC lawyers knowing nothing about gaming and wasting everybody's time.

 

Though he then cites Jez Corden and Destin which... Warren is a shill, but largely maintains a respectable air that allows him to claim indignation if someone claims he is a shill and claim otherwise. He is also smart on some things to disengage shill mode so he can maintain credibility. Those two are some of the most obvious and pathetic shills out there (there are even worse somehow). As I said before, I don't know this YongYea guy and if he is a signed up shill, but if he gets his information from just Microsoft shills then he isn't worth anything. Alternatively he may well know better, but is just being cynical about this. People with followings online who go against the Microsoft narratives get astroturfing ran against them so going against Microsoft is far more dangerous for your brand than going against Sony.

 

As for the Starfield matter. It literally came out in court that Bethesda was who was asking Sony about exclusivity for their games. So no, Sony wasn't going to them to help destroy Microsoft, they were helping out Bethesda out as Bethesda was doing bad business wise and felt they needed to get such deals to help themselves out. Even Spencer, being in court, doesn't say that Starfield was going to made an exclusive to PlayStation, just "potentially", which is a weasel word here. Microsoft could claim that "potentially" Sony was going to make CoD exclusive to the PlayStation, hence their purchase, and it would have the same weight. 

 

In fact, this narrative of Sony going to many developers seeking to get exclusive deals, naturally to hurt Microsoft, I'm pretty sure was first cooked up by this Tom Warren character. Could be wrong and someone first reported it and then he did, but it does make me suspicious thinking about it. Not that such a thing is impossible, but looking at Xbox... if destroying them is what you're after then no one does a better job at that than Xbox's own management.

 

He also cites the silly narrative that Jim Ryan at one point, right at the start, told those below him to not worry and that PlayStation will be fine. To begin with, as a leader it is your job to tell people to not panic about whatever has happened. Second, Jim Ryan is not allowed to later change his mind due to how Microsoft is acting and go the other way on it? Yet meanwhile Microsoft in reportedly 2019 saying they wanted to do buyouts to destroy PlayStation... that was just some old thing Microsoft has moved on from. A serious thing like that Microsoft can at a snap move away from according to these people. Jim Ryan though? If he at any point didn't say all this was bad then that is that, he is lying going forward if he says it is bad.

Edited June 24, 2023 by Rozalia1

[Oberlin1694]

None of this looks good for Microsoft. They’re being caught out at every single turn it seems.

 

They outright lied during the acquisition of Bethesda and that’ll likely be enough to see the ABK deal fall through, and with any luck block them from buying any other studio’s too.

 

If I was the FTC/Judge I’d start questioning the Bethesda acquisition, the lies, the broken promises and the like. 
 

This looks like it’ll end very badly for Microsoft. And they duped Disney with Indians Jones being Xbox exclusive. Disney won’t like that at all, they love their money and a huge project not being available on the best-selling platform? I don’t think that’ll stand 

[AJ_-_808]

2 hours ago, Lance_87 said:

 

I think Phil Spencer said he's not 100% sure about total exclusivity as the game is very far from release. He's a childish phony, anyway.

https://www.gq-magazine.co.uk/culture/article/xbox-phil-spencer-todd-howard-interview

 

It's from Nov 2021. Near the bottom of the article/interview it states "It’s been confirmed that next year’s Starfield, arguably the biggest game of 2022, will be Xbox and PC only. Spencer says he sees the same for The Elder Scrolls VI. "

 

So either Spencer is lying again or he can change his mind about exclusives, but Jim Ryan cant about his opinion on the merger.

[Rozalia1]

53 minutes ago, Oberlin1694 said:

None of this looks good for Microsoft. They’re being caught out at every single turn it seems.

 

They outright lied during the acquisition of Bethesda and that’ll likely be enough to see the ABK deal fall through, and with any luck block them from buying any other studio’s too.

 

If I was the FTC/Judge I’d start questioning the Bethesda acquisition, the lies, the broken promises and the like. 
 

This looks like it’ll end very badly for Microsoft. And they duped Disney with Indians Jones being Xbox exclusive. Disney won’t like that at all, they love their money and a huge project not being available on the best-selling platform? I don’t think that’ll stand 

 

I've noticed a few things which could prove critical in the future. The FTC talked on the matter of CoD and Xbox giving Activision a more favourable rate. Bond I believe it was, on record stated that CoD was, I believe the term used was "critical content", but then realising what that meant stated something like it wasn't "essential content". So CoD was such a big deal that Activision basically forced a better rate out of Microsoft with the mere idea that they might not make it exclusive, but simply not make a next gen version/delay it, and Microsoft argues that CoD isn't important? Then why not just tell Activision to go kick rocks?

 

Then later they got Spencer if I recall correctly stating that Sony has put them in third place through their exclusive games. They also asked if Spencer has any intention of leaving third place and as should be no surprise after that infamous interview, Spencer said he didn't, after all it is hopeless according to him in that interview. The thing here is, if Sony beat Microsoft down into third place through exclusive games as Spencer said, then doesn't Microsoft have all the motive in the world to use exclusives from their bought out companies, which would include CoD, to try and bring Sony down? Of course they do, especially as we know full well that Microsoft simply does not care about losing money when they're chasing a monopoly.

 

19 minutes ago, AJ_-_808 said:

https://www.gq-magazine.co.uk/culture/article/xbox-phil-spencer-todd-howard-interview

 

It's from Nov 2021. Near the bottom of the article/interview it states "It’s been confirmed that next year’s Starfield, arguably the biggest game of 2022, will be Xbox and PC only. Spencer says he sees the same for The Elder Scrolls VI. "

 

So either Spencer is lying again or he can change his mind about exclusives, but Jim Ryan cant about his opinion on the merger.

 

It is just pathetic how Microsoft and their goons operate. They'll be vague if not claim otherwise about obvious things we all know the answer to, but their goons will say we can't say for sure and blah blah blah. When inevitably it comes out, be it with Microsoft doing it or it coming out somehow, the goons all in unison, who had up to that point been denying everything, will all say that obviously that was what it was. Anyone who thought otherwise was a fool.

 

Take Bethesda's games for example. Anyone with a brain knew that both Starfield & Redfall had been developed for PlayStation even if never announced as such. Why would Bethesda just randomly make those games exclusive? For the collapsing Xbox at that. The defence force would say that such a thing can not be proven, good guy Microsoft wouldn't cancel games set to release on PlayStation and you can't prove otherwise even though it is plainly obvious. It comes out that both games had PlayStation versions cancelled. 'Well duh' is their response. They knew all along everyone else was right, but it served Microsoft for them to act dumb about it so they did.

[Rozalia1]

Didn't note it at the time as I was busy, but some stuff came out regarding Minecraft. Unsurprisingly, what should be a notable story is getting very little play even though Microsoft has used it so heavily in one of their deceptive narratives.

 

It came out in court that Spencer and other top management at Xbox wanted Minecraft Dungeons as an Xbox exclusive, but weren't able to do what they wanted. How I see that is that what I and some others have always believed regarding Minecraft being multiplatform is true. When Mojang was sold it was part of the sale that Minecraft would continue to be multiplatform. Everyone involved in the deal is obviously under heavy NDAs and Microsoft keeps it secret because it is more useful for their PR machine for people to think Microsoft is being a "good guy" in keeping Minecraft multiplatform, then literally being forced to keep it as such.

 

Minecraft is often used by Microsoft's army as an example of Microsoft keeping a game multiplatform and evidence that they'll keep CoD multiplatform, and anything with "wide appeal" at that. The reality, as so many of us knew all along, is Microsoft bought Mojang when Xbox was at its lowest point so they were forced to accept certain conditions that Microsoft would normally never accept. Now that isn't to say they can't at some point overcome whatever is said in the contract, it could have a time clause for example. In fact, they bought Mojang in 2014 and... we know how much Microsoft has been loving those 10 year deals. So once we hit 2024/2025 they might be able to make Minecraft exclusive (related expansions or new versions at least), citing big bad Sony being evil as the reason why I'm sure, if not directly then via their astroturfing agents.

 

Speaking of evil overlord Sony. Spencer stating in court that anything they have on PlayStation, Sony takes a 30% (standard) fee and then uses it against poor little Microsoft was as pathetic as it gets. Not to mention, if you actually take the statement seriously... doesn't that go against Microsoft keeping CoD on PlayStation anyway? After all, Sony would use that CoD money to then hurt Xbox, so why not pull CoD from PlayStation so Sony no longer gets CoD money to hurt them? Seems we know ahead of time what Microsoft has ready to send to their astroturfers to spread if they were to make CoD exclusive. They're all telling us right now that Microsoft would never do that as it makes too much money, but if Microsoft does do it, then the story will be that they are depriving Sony of money they'll use to attack Xbox. Thankfully we should not need to worry about dealing with such nonsense, as the deal should soon be confirmed dead.

[MidnightDragon]

MS blamed Sony for there being no Minecraft on PS5 for not wanting to give them a devkit.

 

https://www.playstationlifestyle.net/2023/06/26/no-minecraft-ps5-because-of-sony/

 

On one hand, kinda sucks. On the other hand, if I was Sony, wouldn’t want to hand the devkit to my biggest competitor. And doubt MS would be any different if the shoe was on the other foot.

 

This doesn’t change the fact I’m sick of hearing about this and want it done. 

[turniplord]

24 minutes ago, MidnightDragon said:

MS blamed Sony for there being no Minecraft on PS5 for not wanting to give them a devkit.

 

https://www.playstationlifestyle.net/2023/06/26/no-minecraft-ps5-because-of-sony/

 

 

This is total BS though - Minecraft Legends is a native PS5 game, so they have dev kits. They've probably had one for at least a few years in Mojang, they just chose not to do a PS5 version because they simply didn't want to or saw no benefit in doing so because the PS4 version works fine in BC mode. There's not even an Xbox Series upgraded version, just the One X running in BC mode.

Their excuse of not having a dev kit is pathetic though, all Minecraft would get is a bump in resolution and framerate. I've talked to indie devs previously that don't even have PS5 dev kits yet they were able to launch on both PS4 and PS5 because all they did was bump those two settings. They also had Bethesda, which has access to the dev kits for Ghostwire and Deathloop, as well as Skyrim and the upcoming Fallout 4 (unless they've forgotten they were supposed to be doing that).

[D-E-U-S-X]

@Rozalia1

 

It's unbelievable how dedicated you are to this cause. In this threat you must have written approximately 68.7 billion words?

[Mellenthin]

1 hour ago, MidnightDragon said:

MS blamed Sony for there being no Minecraft on PS5 for not wanting to give them a devkit.

 

https://www.playstationlifestyle.net/2023/06/26/no-minecraft-ps5-because-of-sony/

 

On one hand, kinda sucks. On the other hand, if I was Sony, wouldn’t want to hand the devkit to my biggest competitor. And doubt MS would be any different if the shoe was on the other foot.

 

This doesn’t change the fact I’m sick of hearing about this and want it done. 

 

I can only concur. Not trying to sound like a complete leftist, but this is capitalism and corporatism in a nutshell - eternal distrust, dishonesty and propaganda.

 

If somehow the courtroom would be as in Liar Liar with Jim Carey for the cost of my right arm, I would be hard pressed not to go through with it.

 

The debacle that would ultimately ensue would be priceless.?

[MidnightDragon]

1 hour ago, turniplord said:

This is total BS though - Minecraft Legends is a native PS5 game, so they have dev kits. They've probably had one for at least a few years in Mojang, they just chose not to do a PS5 version because they simply didn't want to or saw no benefit in doing so because the PS4 version works fine in BC mode. There's not even an Xbox Series upgraded version, just the One X running in BC mode.

Their excuse of not having a dev kit is pathetic though, all Minecraft would get is a bump in resolution and framerate. I've talked to indie devs previously that don't even have PS5 dev kits yet they were able to launch on both PS4 and PS5 because all they did was bump those two settings. They also had Bethesda, which has access to the dev kits for Ghostwire and Deathloop, as well as Skyrim and the upcoming Fallout 4 (unless they've forgotten they were supposed to be doing that).

Didn’t really think of that. I figured it would get extremely petty, though. It definitely has.

[majob]

Apparently MS tried to buy Sega, and were considering others like Bungie

 

https://www.theverge.com/2023/6/26/23774482/microsoft-sega-bungie-acquisition-targets-internal-email-xbox

[MidnightDragon]

10 minutes ago, majob said:

Apparently MS tried to buy Sega, and were considering others like Bungie

 

https://www.theverge.com/2023/6/26/23774482/microsoft-sega-bungie-acquisition-targets-internal-email-xbox

Really thought MS would get Bungie first. Glad Sega wasn’t whatever the reason. Hopefully it stays that way. And there’s also this. Square Enix poked some holes into one of MS’s arguments.

 

https://www.playstationlifestyle.net/2023/06/26/microsoft-square-enix-statements-final-fantasy-16-ps5-exclusive/

Edited June 26, 2023 by MidnightDragon

[majob]

And Matt Booty is officially confirmed as lying his ass off in court

 

https://twitter.com/TWTHEREDDRAGON/status/1673436039661191170

[MidnightDragon]

39 minutes ago, majob said:

And Matt Booty is officially confirmed as lying his ass off in court

 

https://twitter.com/TWTHEREDDRAGON/status/1673436039661191170

In other news, the sky is blue. Would love to see how he tries to weasel his way out of this. Of course there are people on Twitter defending this. Phil Spencer could shoot someone in broad daylight and they would defend them.

Edited June 26, 2023 by MidnightDragon

[SoliDeoGloriaIHS]

Hey, everyone.  I haven't really stayed on top of this whole thing.  I understand MS is facing some hurdles in the UK and here in the US, but does anyone have any idea how it looks at this point?  I guess what I'm basically asking is if you were all wagering on this, does it look like it will eventually go through or no?  Just wondering if anyone here has been following this whole thing closely.  Thank you. 

[MidnightDragon]

I know the judge denied admitting the email into evidence because it was over two years before this was announced, so guess that made it irrelevant. MS responded by saying the email was from 2019 and it was a strategy they didn’t pursue anyway. Uh, whatever.

[Oberlin1694]

1 hour ago, majob said:

Apparently MS tried to buy Sega, and were considering others like Bungie

 

https://www.theverge.com/2023/6/26/23774482/microsoft-sega-bungie-acquisition-targets-internal-email-xbox

Let’s be real here, none of the Japanese studios are going to go exclusive to Microsoft of all people. Their games primarily sell on PlayStation ad that’s where like 99% of the Asian install base is.

 

If I was Sega due to this whole mess with AKB I’d reach out to Sony and offer them a full 100% exclusivity partnership. Starting with the total removal of every Yakuza game from Game Pass just as a ‘fuck you’ to Microsoft.

 

Theyre literally ♥s, horrible, smarmy, underhanded ♥s

[majob]

1 hour ago, MidnightDragon said:

I know the judge denied admitting the email into evidence because it was over two years before this was announced, so guess that made it irrelevant. MS responded by saying the email was from 2019 and it was a strategy they didn’t pursue anyway. Uh, whatever.

Quite hilarious to claim when there's now emails  confirming MS has been attempting multiple acquisitions now

[ZitMeatloaf]

On 6/24/2023 at 6:49 PM, Rozalia1 said:

I don't know this YongYea guy and if he is a signed up shill, but if he gets his information from just Microsoft shills then he isn't worth anything. Alternatively he may well know better, but is just being cynical about this.

I think the answer is simpler: he's a YouTuber with 1 million+ subscribers and knows that provocative content (and titles) generate clicks and views. It's how he makes his living. For this topic he sees value in a creating pro-MS videos - I've watched some of his other videos about this deal and they don't hold up well under scrutiny, but there's no doubt they generate views.

 

He's made pro- and anti- videos for all platform holders at some point. Which means either he really is open-minded, or he is tailoring his takes to get the most views. Because he leans hard into provocative titles for his videos, my hunch is door #2.

[Rozalia1]

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

@Rozalia1

 

It's unbelievable how dedicated you are to this cause. In this threat you must have written approximately 68.7 billion words

 

We can thank Microsoft. A consequence of them being so overwhelming with their astroturfing and shills is that certain people will be driven to oppose them.

 

3 hours ago, Spider-Man916 said:

Hey, everyone.  I haven't really stayed on top of this whole thing.  I understand MS is facing some hurdles in the UK and here in the US, but does anyone have any idea how it looks at this point?  I guess what I'm basically asking is if you were all wagering on this, does it look like it will eventually go through or no?  Just wondering if anyone here has been following this whole thing closely.  Thank you. 

 

The CMA has already blocked the deal. On mergers the CMA has never been defeated. Microsoft is appealing at the CAT, but that only forces the CMA to revise their decision and they can still decide the same thing. A previous deal saw the CAT grant a company a successful appeal 3 times, and every time the CMA came back with a block, which in the end caused the company to simply desist.

 

Talk of Microsoft pulling out of the UK and ignoring the decision is pure fantasy. An expensive one at that as CMA has the ability to fine them 10% of their revenue, which will be 20 billion. Every year they are in breach of the CMA's decision. The odds of Microsoft getting the deal through are single digit %s. Not impossible, but they basically require the CMA, who they have astroturfed against and attempted to humiliate numerous times to suddenly 180 on things and accept the deal through. Even in the current issue, the preliminary injunction court case against the FTC, they are looking shaky even though Microsoft has always looked to have good odds on it in the past.

 

3 hours ago, MidnightDragon said:

In other news, the sky is blue. Would love to see how he tries to weasel his way out of this. Of course there are people on Twitter defending this. Phil Spencer could shoot someone in broad daylight and they would defend them.

 

I gave my thoughts in: https://forum.psnprofiles.com/topic/145991-microsoft-exposed-trying-to-kill-playstation/?page=1 in the updated OP. In short the defence is that Booty is a minority based off the start of the email and so this means nothing. The simple reality is that day and date continuing to exist and Microsoft also buying up masses of the gaming industry shows that they were clearly won over by Booty.

 

1 hour ago, ZitMeatloaf said:

I think the answer is simpler: he's a YouTuber with 1 million+ subscribers and knows that provocative content (and titles) generate clicks and views. It's how he makes his living. For this topic he sees value in a creating pro-MS videos - I've watched some of his other videos about this deal and they don't hold up well under scrutiny, but there's no doubt they generate views.

 

He's made pro- and anti- videos for all platform holders at some point. Which means either he really is open-minded, or he is tailoring his takes to get the most views. Because he leans hard into provocative titles for his videos, my hunch is door #2.

 

Is it really provocative to side with Microsoft? In the media it is very much the accepted viewpoint. He'll get a lot less blowback siding with them than against them, though granted, only because of how hard Microsoft astroturfs.

 

2 hours ago, Oberlin1694 said:

Let’s be real here, none of the Japanese studios are going to go exclusive to Microsoft of all people. Their games primarily sell on PlayStation ad that’s where like 99% of the Asian install base is.

 

If I was Sega due to this whole mess with AKB I’d reach out to Sony and offer them a full 100% exclusivity partnership. Starting with the total removal of every Yakuza game from Game Pass just as a ‘fuck you’ to Microsoft.

 

Theyre literally s, horrible, smarmy, underhanded s

 

Remember, they've tried to get the US government to put pressure on Japan. One of the gains with that would be becoming more able to buy Japanese companies. Biden thankfully seems to not be on their side so that has gone nowhere thus far, but an election is soon...

---

 

 

The previously redacted email comes out. Note how it notes that Google and Amazon are hopeless and only Sony can hope to stop them. Microsoft's internal view is that new competitors are already not able to compete, and naturally their buyouts like Activision will only make it even further impossible for them to do so. Remember that Google and Amazon are titans, and Microsoft sees them as an irrelevance, so what chance does anyone else have? The CMA will I believe be very interested in this email even if Microsoft can get it by this court in America, which is very possible even though this should be a smoking gun.

[TheRetroManiac]

Happy they did not get SEGA, it's bad enough taking Bethesda away but SEGA hell no Microsoft can truly fuck off they just want to gobble everyone up and make it only about them, and It's blowing up in their faces, and I'm happy it is.

 

Just goes to show how bloody desperate they're wanting Sony out of business and still is the goal no matter what they say. Now if they did it with actually owning them in terms of amazing games, and it happened naturally, then that would be Sony's fault, but Xbox just want to dominate and exterminate all competition.

[Zephrese]

The more stuff like this that comes to light, the more evidence (of which we already had plenty) we have of how blatantly corrupt and despicably evil Microsoft is.

 

Which makes it all the more frustrating and disheartening that so many people will ignorantly or voluntarily roll over for them despite how awful they clearly are.

Edited June 27, 2023 by Zephrese

[Oberlin1694]

2 hours ago, TheRetroManiac said:

Happy they did not get SEGA, it's bad enough taking Bethesda away but SEGA hell no Microsoft can truly fuck off they just want to gobble everyone up and make it only about them, and It's blowing up in their faces, and I'm happy it is.

 

Just goes to show how bloody desperate they're wanting Sony out of business and still is the goal no matter what they say. Now if they did it with actually owning them in terms of amazing games, and it happened naturally, then that would be Sony's fault, but Xbox just want to dominate and exterminate all competition.

I don’t see how they ever thought they’d get Sega when some of their games are huge in Asia like Yakuza, Sonic etc. that was a ridiculous pipe dream.

 

Sega doesn’t need the cash either from them seeing as they own an arcade chain in Japan ffs.

 

Xbox will never manage to beat Sony even with buying out studios. I mean they’re Banking on a single exclusive this year to make up for a drought of around 2-3 years. Sony meanwhile just releases exclusives whenever, I mean we just got FF16, Xbox needs to do more to get good games, I know I’ll stick with Sony no matter what as currently Square Enix and Konami look to be supporting Sony a lot more than Microsoft, especially in regards to solid exclusives

Edited June 27, 2023 by Oberlin1694

[boaly2008]

8 minutes ago, Oberlin1694 said:

I don’t see how they ever thought they’d get Sega when some of their games are huge in Asia like Yakuza, Sonic etc. that was a ridiculous pipe dream.

 

Sega doesn’t need the cash either from them seeing as they own an arcade chain in Japan ffs.

 

Xbox will never manage to beat Sony even with buying out studios. I mean they’re Banking on a single exclusive this year to make up for a drought of around 2-3 years. Sony meanwhile just releases exclusives whenever, I mean we just got FF16, Xbox needs to do more to get good games, I know I’ll stick with Sony no matter what as currently Square Enix and Konami look to be supporting Sony a lot more than Microsoft, especially in regards to solid exclusives

 

SEGA sold their arcade business in 2022.

[Z1MZUM]

On 6/24/2023 at 8:35 AM, MidnightDragon said:

Sounds like MS only decided to buy Bethesda to keep Starfield from being a timed exclusive at best. I’m not shocked they would stoop that low, but shows another reason they’re scum. Seems like Phil was getting pissed during the questioning. Not so fun to not get what you want on a silver platter, eh, Philly? 

 

Wasn't Sony trying to make this exclusive to Playstation at some point? I'm sure I read it somewhere.

 

Edit: As I'm older I wanted Sony out of business back in the Sega/Sony battle. Still pissed off at Lik Sang to this day. But I loved to pirate everything on the PS up until the PS3 as I didn't see them worthy for my $

 

What the Actual F happened to Japan Studio? Care allot less with western games.

Edited June 27, 2023 by Z1MZUM