Microsoft's acquisition of Activison Blizzard

Yobo

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29 Jun 2022
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I would definitely prioritise From Software and Capcom over Square Enix but sometimes it is just who is available

If Squares available then Sony need to get in there to prevent sales going to Microsoft

They still have valuable IP like FF, Dragon Quest and KH. Man you can't describe them as anything less than dumb for selling off their Western divisions with some really good IPs though. I honestly don't think they are worth $6 billion and would require a TON of work to get them back to their best
 

Cool hand luke

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Xbox will never be big in Japan, so permanently shutting them out and having a home market to bolster the coffers is a wise investment. Level 5, Capcom and Square Enix are all good acquisition targets for DQ, MH, and the random giant-in-Japan IPs L5 concocts every so often. It lets them move into mobile gaming a lot more to expand their revenue streams, as those games all make a killing on Switch.
 

laynelane

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I thought they were having this senator say that because they were just grasping at straws but with More information it’s almost like a preemptive of something.

Of course I don’t think Sony is 98 percent of the games market is going to fly in Japan in a court or anything. How many famitsu sales charts are there where the pie graph is a Pac-Man of Nintendo consoles eating every one?

That was my read too, along with the article about Japanese regulators colluding with Sony against MS. Whenever this kind of PR comes around, something is happening behind the scenes. I thought it was bad news for MS, but today's news was just big - not necessarily bad. So, I also wonder if this a preemptive maneuver of some sort. Also, the collusion and 98% market share is just so exaggerated and easily disproved. It definitely reeled in their more extreme fans, but was that the only purpose?
 

CloudStrife

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9 Jul 2022
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Didn't Sony have to turn over documents related to deals the have made over the last several years and projects in the works? I wonder if what the CMA saw there played a major part in the change of heart for the CMA.
 
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Zzero

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Funny how all the people who complain about Taito being some sort of poison pill for Sony neglect to mention that Sega has an even bigger arcade presence and Capcom has one too.
 

Cool hand luke

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Didn't Sony have to turn over documents related to deals the have made over the last several years and projects in the works? I wonder if what the CMA saw there played a major part in the change of heart for the CMA.
That was to the FTC - the CMA hasn't seen anything there.
 

Plextorage

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Didn't Sony have to turn over documents related to deals the have made over the last several years and projects in the works? I wonder if what the CMA saw there played a major part in the change of heart for the CMA.

That was FTC and still didn't change decision about the merge
 

Yobo

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Funny how all the people who complain about Taito being some sort of poison pill for Sony neglect to mention that Sega has an even bigger arcade presence and Capcom has one too.
Why would that be an issue if it's profitable?
 

Fenton

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Xbots in the media are disgusting. Their only agenda is MS good, Sony bad.

Tom Warren gleefully covered this

But he totally ignored this
 

Johnic

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Xbots in the media are disgusting. Their only agenda is MS good, Sony bad.

Tom Warren gleefully covered this

But he totally ignored this
MS started investing into influencers and shills this gen to the point it's not even funny. They're all over the place. I've never seen a media push this big in the industry before. They're everywhere. Not just gaming sites but "gaming journalists" on a payroll as well. And it's not reporting on the industry, it's intentionally twisting facts to suit MS.

There isn't a single genuine, decent xbox content creator on youtube. Not a single one. matt, destin, randal, colt, dealer. All twist the narrative to serve their corporate overlord and the zealots that watch them.

Seriously, I don't remember seeing a worse fanbase in gaming before. It's so bad that, as an owner of a Series X and a GPU sub, it's putting me off the brand completely. You want to discuss games but it's all this zoo of animalistic screeching about money and acquisitions. Seriously, it's some Scientology level brainwashing on that side. Hand draw an xbox logo and post it on reddit. Hundreds of likes. They'll cheer for anything xbox. Anything. If Phil started kicking puppies, they'd applaud it.

Sorry for the rant but I'd just like to have a decent place to discuss xbox stuff.
 

Zzero

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Why would that be an issue if it's profitable?
If its not something the purchasee actually wants to be involved in, then its just a distraction. The arcade business could be kept on as a red-headed step child, possibly as its own small division or as part of Aniplex (anine and manga) or SME (music, already has some small game stuff,) or sold to some other party probably for less than its worth. Generally speaking, companies want to make fewer things at a high profit than lots of things at little profit. Compare, say, Epic to Embracer, Epic makes way fewer things but the things it does make are all insanely profitable (Fortnight, Unreal Engine, a select few recent purchases like Fall Guys) vs Embracer which makes loads of tiny games. Many people, including myself, think Embracer is a house of cards and the floor will collapse out from under them some day.
 

Dick Jones

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5 Jul 2022
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MS started investing into influencers and shills this gen to the point it's not even funny. They're all over the place. I've never seen a media push this big in the industry before. They're everywhere. Not just gaming sites but "gaming journalists" on a payroll as well. And it's not reporting on the industry, it's intentionally twisting facts to suit MS.

There isn't a single genuine, decent xbox content creator on youtube. Not a single one. matt, destin, randal, colt, dealer. All twist the narrative to serve their corporate overlord and the zealots that watch them.

Seriously, I don't remember seeing a worse fanbase in gaming before. It's so bad that, as an owner of a Series X and a GPU sub, it's putting me off the brand completely. You want to discuss games but it's all this zoo of animalistic screeching about money and acquisitions. Seriously, it's some Scientology level brainwashing on that side. Hand draw an xbox logo and post it on reddit. Hundreds of likes. They'll cheer for anything xbox. Anything. If Phil started kicking puppies, they'd applaud it.

Sorry for the rant but I'd just like to have a decent place to discuss xbox stuff.
We'll see them defend Bobby Kotick in the future when he is Xbox 's top official. He hasn't been found guilty in court and the like.

I saw an @adamsapple comment that it would be unpalatable for him (not his exact words) to see Bobby in Phil's spot. I'd like to think he would still think that after Bobby takes over.
 
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Puff

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That was my read too, along with the article about Japanese regulators colluding with Sony against MS. Whenever this kind of PR comes around, something is happening behind the scenes. I thought it was bad news for MS, but today's news was just big - not necessarily bad. So, I also wonder if this a preemptive maneuver of some sort. Also, the collusion and 98% market share is just so exaggerated and easily disproved. It definitely reeled in their more extreme fans, but was that the only purpose?

I'm surprised it hasn't been called out yet for its borderline xenophobic subtext. It's the same "panic" that a lot of American news publications did about Japanese electronic companies in the late 1980s.

An attempt by Microsoft or any persons strongly associated with them to curtail a competitor's ability to respond to their acquisition strategy with an acquisition strategy of their own, should be further proof of the real intent: to starve that competitor out of content options by eating up the independent 3P market of its most valuable companies & IPs, because doing so will create foreclosure.

Embrace = "Friendly" MOU agreement between MS and Sony Corp in 2019

Extend = Targeted 3P acquisition strategy mainly aimed at SIE disguised as attempts to stop other Big Tech companies

Extinguish = Prevent main target (SIE) from making acquisitions in response; acquire as many of the valuable 3P companies & IP in market on BS metrics to create natural foreclosure by controlling access to once-independent 3P content & talent.

Honestly, Microsoft have never really changed that EEE strategy since the 1980s; they just wrapped it in a prettier "pro consumer", "friendlier" bow.


Yep. I'm not wasting my time on them anymore. I thought about writing in a response but what is the point? They just want to appear like they are listening but none of these responses are going to be considered in any meaningful way to make them reconsider their "new" takes.

Like I said, if these regulators want to sign a death warrant for this industry, let them. Greed and corruption will ultimately befall them and everyone around them complicit within it. Too bad it'll drag down an entire industry along with them.
 
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FatKaz

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So basically, the CMA went blind all of a sudden for some reason. They know the issues, they...just don't care now?
Not completely, some of us discussed this yesterday but the CMAs conclusion is still the same either divestment or prohibition is the preferred outcome, with them not seeing any reason for behavoruial remedies. Although as before they still are allowing ms to convince them on the latter.

No doubt the console concerns is gone, now the question is do the CMA hold onto the same conclusion regarding cloud.
 
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Also another thing with the CMA's new findings in what @Puff posted. Funny thing is, I have always considered MS doing GP-related exclusive perks with ABK content would have been in the realm of possibility and acceptance. It'd be their choice and might as well provide something to benefit customers in your ecosystem, right? I felt they would try that seeing as how they lined up perks for RIOT games on PC Game Pass, for example.

MY problem is that suddenly the CMA have this rather big turnaround from their initial provisional findings to these new statement where it seems they are suddenly cool with things they appeared vehemently against initially. So they think only a "small fraction" of PlayStation COD players would switch to Xbox if Microsoft made COD perks exclusive to Game Pass & Xbox, when I know they have seen many people (including quite a lot of disillusioned ones) in online discussion around this acquisition, imply that Sony doing similar with exclusive COD content on PS4 is a reason why MANY Xbox people eventually switched to PS4 last gen?

I mean let's not kid ourselves; Microsoft isn't going to limit those perks to just a couple crappy skins. They're going to at least try copying Sony's strategy and, fair enough. But if Sony's strategy supposedly helped cultivate a large swath of people tied to the COD franchise to switch from Xbox to PlayStation, how would Microsoft doing the same suddenly NOT cause that to happen in their favor, particularly if they pair that with making new COD available on Game Pass Day 1 (either in full, or just as some partial offering) which therein naturally provides a 20% discount on a purchased copy through the Xbox storefront?

Or maybe the CMA in fact do not consider Sony's exclusivity strategy with COD last gen as having a significant impact on COD player migration from Xbox to PlayStation. I guess that is always possible. But we know there are certain fanboys and fangirls who swear it did, and have argued as such, but now they will hide behind these new CMA findings to pretend that Microsoft doing similar suddenly will be "no big deal".

Always convenient for those types, isn't it?

Not completely, some of us discussed this yesterday but the CMAs conclusion is still the same either divestment or prohibition is the preferred outcome, with them not seeing any reason for behavoruial remedies. Although as before they still are allowing ms to convince them on the latter.

No doubt the console concerns is gone, now the question is do the CMA hold onto the same conclusion regarding cloud.

Do you know where I can access the full report of their new findings? And how many pages is it, specifically?

I'm not necessarily trying to get caught up in reading legal documents for my weekend 🤣
 
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