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Microsoft / Activision deal prevented to protect innovation and choice in cloud gaming

Noxxera

Member
What evidence have you seen so far that Microsoft would be a better steward? The Master Chief Collection, Microsoft's flagship games, was unplayable for 3 years. Like matchmaking literally didn't work for a year. I was so excited during the midnight release too...

Well I have faith in them because of the gamepass and it seem they're willing to invest more in gaming. But yeah you guys go with the hurr-durr give us good Halo, Fable, GoW games or whatever exclusive shit they have instead of buying studios. And lets face it halo, fable and gow is hardly good enough versus the playstation exclusives.
 

NickFire

Member
Microsoft is by buying Activision/Blizzard. However UK doesn’t like competition especially since Sony is a big employer in UK.

Make no mistake this isn’t about cloud. This is about protecting Sony. Literally no major cloud provider is upset at MS acquisition.
You got it all backwards. UK loves competition. They are literally forcing MS to actually compete in the gaming sphere. If they hated competition they would have allowed MS to move forward using enterprise money to make competition with them in gaming sphere very difficult.
 

envyzeal

Member
I've been saying this since 2016, he's just been all about "hope" and never had anything to back it up. In 2015 he called it the best Xbox line up ever and I was like wtf! I thought it was PR but he ACTUALLY believed it.
IdEqpJ8.jpg
 
Microsoft is by buying Activision/Blizzard. However UK doesn’t like competition especially since Sony is a big employer in UK.

Make no mistake this isn’t about cloud. This is about protecting Sony. Literally no major cloud provider is upset at MS acquisition.
Hmmm...a simple google search shows that Microsoft has 6,000 employees in the UK versus Sony having 4,500
 

FrankWza

Member
If Xbox was really confident in their management skills - they could theoretically use the 70 billion to start a couple of studios and poach talent from ATVI with fat paychecks to make a COD clone. They probably should've bought Respawn when they had the chance. I don't think Xbox is confident in their management skills
They were always about playing takeaway. That was and is their only shot. From a gamer standpoint, nobody lost a thing today. They were always going to have access to these games. The wanted to buy the IPs and the control
 
Well I have faith in them because of the gamepass and it seem they're willing to invest more in gaming. But yeah you guys go with the hurr-durr give us good Halo, Fable, GoW games or whatever exclusive shit they have instead of buying studios. And lets face it halo, fable and gow is hardly good enough versus the playstation exclusives.
There was a point in time I'd argue that Halo and Gears of War were bigger/stronger than any exclusive Sony had. And they botched it
 

Baki

Member
While I do think the UK was dumb from breaking out of the EU you need to remember - A LOT of wealth is managed in the UK. Like we're talking about wealth from the medieval times. It's the financial hub of Europe no matter how much Germany or the Swiss or whoever would argue otherwise.

UK also seems to be the favorite wealth hub of the Middle East - there's a reason why Qatar funded the Shard. London is powerful, don't sleep on them, they certainly have global influence
It's bad for UK startup funding. Why invest in UK startups if the CMA will block their future exit opportunities. All those UK startups will be convinced to re-incorporate in the US.
 

Antwix

Member
Hopefully this serves as a wake up call for them.
Phil Spencer has been making empty promises for a decade. Time for him invest in his studios and get some quality games out there.

2014:

ejoF9xi.jpg


2015:
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2016:
q64iVYM.jpg


2017:
UCtlWtd.jpg


2018:
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2019:
b3Jz6A1.png


2020:
vaSU3rj.png


2021:
PHAaAXa.jpg


2022:
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2023:
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All this promises and still no game of the year candidate.
Starfield will be the GOTY candidate in 2023.
Starfield DLC will revitalize the game in 2025.
Starfield Special Edition will be the GOTY candidate in 2026.
Starfield Remastered for Xbox Series XXX will the GOTY candidate in 2028 before it's finally surpassed by Elder Scrolls 6 in 2029.

Now please excuse me while I refill my copium tank.
 

Baki

Member
Microsoft is by buying Activision/Blizzard. However UK doesn’t like competition especially since Sony is a big employer in UK.

Make no mistake this isn’t about cloud. This is about protecting Sony. Literally no major cloud provider is upset at MS acquisition.
No it's not. The UK would rather appease MS, which is one of the 5 biggest companies in the world and highly influential with the US. Why would the UK prioritise a tiny Japanese company in comparison.
 

Unknown?

Member
There's nothing capitalistic about government intervention in anything.

When it actively redistributes resources, like in this case, that's socialism.

Which, as an ardent supporter of socialism, is just fine in my books.
Agreed. All these mega corps got big due to government picking winners and losers. Microsoft, Google, Facebook have all gotten government funding early on which helped cement them.

Resources are redistributed through inflation all the time. 99% lose purchasing power but those who get to create the money benefit greatly by spending it before prices go up. There's your socialism.
 
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How many of them have to do with gaming?
Sony probably has a little more with the studios they have there. But what's your point? Gaming is relatively peanuts to Microsoft and in general to the economy, the non gaming Microsoft employees probably contributing more to GDP
 
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Dr_Ifto

Member
People who say that Blizzard games would be in a better state at release if under Microsoft are delusional. Look at the state of their flagship at launch. Look at the Halo Chief Collection. Microsoft is not Activision's savior. It will just be another cog in the wheel of a bloated gaming divison that is not cohesive with a great management structure.
 

Sleepwalker

Member
Hopefully this serves as a wake up call for them.
Phil Spencer has been making empty promises for a decade. Time for him invest in his studios and get some quality games out there.

2014:

ejoF9xi.jpg


2015:
9T8suus.jpg


2016:
q64iVYM.jpg


2017:
UCtlWtd.jpg


2018:
SkXpPjd.png


2019:
b3Jz6A1.png


2020:
vaSU3rj.png


2021:
PHAaAXa.jpg


2022:
9td8HBs.png


2023:
CIy4sN6.jpg


All this promises and still no game of the year candidate.

Phil Spencer looks like a kid I used to go to high school with, he would steal books out of classmates bags and sell them to some book reseller guy down the street. Could never bring myself to trust spencer because of that.
 

Baki

Member
ah yes, they should look to that tiny quirky startup Activision-Blizzard
There was a tiny quirky UK startup called Revolut in 2015 that is now valued at $30B today. Stripe, a $90B startup, was founded by British guys that moved to the US. Downstream capital and investment matters.
 
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chonga

Member
Hopefully this serves as a wake up call for them.
Phil Spencer has been making empty promises for a decade. Time for him invest in his studios and get some quality games out there.

2014:

ejoF9xi.jpg


2015:
9T8suus.jpg


2016:
q64iVYM.jpg


2017:
UCtlWtd.jpg


2018:
SkXpPjd.png


2019:
b3Jz6A1.png


2020:
vaSU3rj.png


2021:
PHAaAXa.jpg


2022:
9td8HBs.png


2023:
CIy4sN6.jpg


All this promises and still no game of the year candidate.
When he wore that State of Decay shirt, people thought he was teasing a new game.

Turns out he was just foreshadowing the fortunes of the Xbox business.
 
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diffusionx

Gold Member
There was a tiny quirky UK startup called Revolut in 2015 that is now valued at $30B today. Stripe, a $90B startup, was founded by British guys that moved to the US. Downstream capital and investment matters.
once you get to that size you dont need an "exit opportunity", you're a massive company, and in any case, you can be damn sure that any jurisdiction is going to take a good hard look at it. Remember FTC was/is planning a lawsuit over this thing.
 
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devilNprada

Member
There's nothing capitalistic about government intervention in anything.

When it actively redistributes resources, like in this case, that's socialism.

Which, as an ardent supporter of socialism, is just fine in my books.
Breaking up monopolies (competitive markets) is fundamental to capitalism.
Not sure where you get capitalism means an unregulated free for all...
 

LoveCake

Member
I am glad the deal hasn't gone through yet, it will bad for gaming imo.
I think it might get through on appeal though, depends on what the other territory's do.
 

Bernardougf

Gold Member
The Disney-fication of the VG industry has been dealt a blow. Good on you CMA.
Comparing MS to disney is low even for me .... modern disney is a well oiled industry of pure wokeness and killing popular IPs ... they are fine to burn billions to mantain the message .. MS dosent go that low or stupid
 

Three

Member
Why couldn't Activision just sell off studios one at a time to the highest bidder or is that too simplistic?
Because Activision and its shareholders want what's best for Activision. To make money not to lose it. If they start selling off studios what would the shareholders and company gain?

It would want to maintain its money making businesses. The company isn't going through liquidation:

https://www.gamesindustry.biz/activision-blizzard-revenues-jump-35-as-everything-clicks
 
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VAVA Mk2

Member
The CMA literally said they don't think they would be able to port COD at a "similar level of quality compared to the offering on PS5 and Xbox" to Nintendo. They are fully aware they can make a shitty port and throw it on the switch lol.
Even then, cloud streaming over GamePass would solve the issue and bring a reasonable experience to crap hardware.
 

Pop

Member
Hopefully this serves as a wake up call for them.
Phil Spencer has been making empty promises for a decade. Time for him invest in his studios and get some quality games out there.

2014:

ejoF9xi.jpg


2015:
9T8suus.jpg


2016:
q64iVYM.jpg


2017:
UCtlWtd.jpg


2018:
SkXpPjd.png


2019:
b3Jz6A1.png


2020:
vaSU3rj.png


2021:
PHAaAXa.jpg


2022:
9td8HBs.png


2023:
CIy4sN6.jpg


All this promises and still no game of the year candidate.
When Phil speaks...
weiner GIF
 

MarkMe2525

Member
Hopefully this serves as a wake up call for them.
Phil Spencer has been making empty promises for a decade. Time for him invest in his studios and get some quality games out there.

2014:

ejoF9xi.jpg


2015:
9T8suus.jpg


2016:
q64iVYM.jpg


2017:
UCtlWtd.jpg


2018:
SkXpPjd.png


2019:
b3Jz6A1.png


2020:
vaSU3rj.png


2021:
PHAaAXa.jpg


2022:
9td8HBs.png


2023:
CIy4sN6.jpg


All this promises and still no game of the year candidate.
I agree that Xbox needs to deliver some meaningful content very soon, but I feel as if these statements you made are hyperbole. 2015, 2017, and 2020's headlines seem appropriate. And while they haven't won many "major gaming news outlets" game of the year, they absolutely have had candidates.
 

darrylgorn

Member
Breaking up monopolies (competitive markets) is fundamental to capitalism.
Not sure where you get capitalism means an unregulated free for all...

Like all of these wonderful systems, there is disagreement about semantics.

As far as I'm concerned, the core tenet of capitalism is privatization. We can look at gradients of privatization, but essentially, the less government intervention, the more capitalistic a society is.

Of course, if we're going by Marx, we could argue that Communism is also a stateless society, but lols to that ever happening.
 

hemo memo

Gold Member
The deal was even approved in markets that MS does not even sell Xbox in, fancy that.

The scrutiny was always going to come down to markets where they were the strongest in, not markets they barely even exist in.
Nah this is a CMA issue not because MS is big in the UK. Again, it is an influence game. The appeal is waste of time.
 

Baki

Member
once you get to that size you dont need an "exit opportunity", you're a massive company, and in any case, you can be damn sure that any jurisdiction is going to take a good hard look at it. Remember FTC was/is planning a lawsuit over this thing.
Those companies won't get started in the UK because of an unfavourable regulatory environment. That's why I mentioned downstream capital.
 

Sleepwalker

Member
Even then, cloud streaming over GamePass would solve the issue and bring a reasonable experience to crap hardware.
Which rounds back to their cloud concerns, plus Nintendo didn't agree to bring gamepass to the switch, they just said "sure, you can release cod on switch"
 

Bitmap Frogs

Mr. Community
You need to do more research. Other regulators are under ZERO obligation to comply with the UK. That is probably why you used the work "emboldens" rather than "obligates". Seems you are saying MS "wouldn't" or "shouldn't" just ditch the UK but that's your opinion. The fact is there I nothing legally stopping MS from choosing to leave the UK out in the cold and in fact, many insiders have said that this is the most likely course if the UK stands alone in opposing the merger. If this all happens, the UK would eventually dick tuck and endorse the merger bc the ppl of UK will not be happy with having to miss out on everything MS offers, possibly even windows. I would start learning Linux now if I were you, chap.

April 1 Lol GIF by Pudgy Penguins
 

diffusionx

Gold Member
Those companies won't get started in the UK because of an unfavourable regulatory environment. That's why I mentioned downstream capital.
Possibly, UK has its set of issues as all countries do, but "oh noes a regulatory agency is going to look at us if another company wants to spend $70B to acquire us" is not one of them.
 
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