Microsoft's acquisition of Activison Blizzard

[KiryuRealty]

Meanwhile, MS' response is the definition of pushing your luck. They're basically saying "Yep, CMA was right to agree with us, but they didn't agree with us enough. Here's why." And then they try to say how the benefits the CMA is attributing to MS in the event of console foreclosure is still *too high*.

The arrogance is unreal. They unprecedentedly changed their minds and MS is still saying not good enough. Like move on, bruh.

Yeah, they may be fucking themselves pretty badly with that.

 

[FatKaz]

Meanwhile, MS' response is the definition of pushing your luck. They're basically saying "Yep, CMA was right to agree with us, but they didn't agree with us enough. Here's why." And then they try to say how the benefits the CMA is attributing to MS in the event of console foreclosure is still *too high*.

The arrogance is unreal. They unprecedentedly changed their minds and MS is still saying not good enough. Like move on, bruh.

They are even trying to convince the CMA of the cloud market not being distinct from the console market to try and get them to do a u-turn on that aswell.

Whatever happens now CMA are gonna look like a bunch of clowns.

 

[AshHunter216]

Meanwhile, MS' response is the definition of pushing your luck. They're basically saying "Yep, CMA was right to agree with us, but they didn't agree with us enough. Here's why." And then they try to say how the benefits the CMA is attributing to MS in the event of console foreclosure is still *too high*.

The arrogance is unreal. They unprecedentedly changed their minds and MS is still saying not good enough. Like move on, bruh.

It's like they're angry that anyone would ever even consider questioning their intentions. Pretty arrogant.

 

[Cool hand luke]

Funnily enough, in that garbled academic response to the addendum from the guy who's a paid consultant to Microsoft, the author states

For example, cloud-gaming-as-a-complement services such as Boosteroid and NVIDIA’s GeForce Now do not actively compete against Microsoft when it comes to their cloud gaming services; Boosteroid and GeForce Now are specialized cloud-streaming complementors, whereas Microsoft offers an integrative gaming platform with Game Pass in which cloud gaming acts as a small (but significant) feature. Similarly, Xbox and Game Pass do not compete against cloud-gaming-as-an-input services such as Ubitus and GameStream, which also are much more specialized in their offerings and are targeted at drastically different customers (see Table 1). For instance, most of GameStream’s customers are businesses that are not even part of the video games industry. It should not come as a surprise therefore that Microsoft has been quick to sign ten-year licensing deals for Activision content with NVIDIA, Boosteroid and Ubitus as part of its remedies drive.30 Bringing Activision’s games to services like these can help grow Microsoft’s publishing revenues while posing little substitutive threat to its own gaming platforms.

He thinks he's helping, and his conclusion is acquisition good and Microsoft would not foreclose, but this spells out what everyone already knew:

Microsoft is signing deals with BYO providers, not competitors, at no risk to its dominance. These are entities that cannot possibly compete with it and they're dressing it up as a positive for the market. They still own the content and will consolidate their hold on the cloud gaming market.

 

[AshHunter216]

Funnily enough, in that garbled academic response to the addendum from the guy who's a paid consultant to Microsoft, the author states


He thinks he's helping, and his conclusion is acquisition good and Microsoft would not foreclose, but this spells out what everyone already knew:

Microsoft is signing deals with BYO providers, not competitors, at no risk to its dominance. These are entities that cannot possibly compete with it and they're dressing it up as a positive for the market. They still own the content and will consolidate their hold on the cloud gaming market.

Agreed, the cloud companies they've signed deals with would never be direct competitors given their BYOG model vs something like Xcloud or even PSNow. This might be why MS have added in the arguments about the cloud market not being large enough to worry about anyway in case the regulators figure out this detail.

 

[ManPhlaps]

So whose ResetERA account are you the spawn of?



Well it's one thing to just look at an individual IP and in that regard, yeah, Elden Ring is the only one with the selling power of COD. But we also don't know if that is a sustainable selling power i.e will Elden Ring 2 have a similar performance or will it drop? We don't know yet and won't know for several years. But that IP still has to "prove" itself in terms of having big selling power beyond a single entry.

Realistically, while you're right that Japan itself is a bit of a lost cause for non-mobile game software (unless you're Nintendo), the truth is Capcom, Square-Enix etc. have games that resonate REALLY strongly with Western audiences and that's a bit reason why I think Sony should secure those publishers so should the opportunity arise. It doesn't matter if Street Fighter 6 does like 250K lifetime in Japan when it could do 8+ million lifetime outside of Japan, but the point is it comes from Capcom, a Japanese 3P publisher.

And IMO, when you cumulatively look at a lot of the IP some of these Japanese publishers have, and look at not just the sales but also cultural cache they have in gaming and even in the mainstream, it doesn't matter if a single one individually can't go up against COD; just a few of them combined can do so on one or several metrics, and for a lot of people, almost any one of those IP are more exciting for them than COD. Again just sticking with Capcom as an example, you have Resident Evil, Street Fighter, Devil May Cry, Monster Hunter, Ghouls 'n Ghosts and then when you dig further back into the vault, Onimusha, Rival Schools, Breath of Fire, 1945 etc.

IIRC, each of the RE remakes have done at least 8 million copies average, and the new RE games have done like 10 million if not more in sales. That's great sales revenue there, not to mention these are all known for being high-quality games, and they've building on a nostalgia cache that's been forming since 1996. That's market value in both tangible and non-tangible forms. There are other Japanese publishers with similar qualities IMO, like Square-Enix, Sega, Bandai-Namco etc. Also IMO, there's added value in that many of them have been with PlayStation since the beginning and some are very much responsible for a lot of the build in early brand value and fandom for the PlayStation brand as a whole.

So those are my reasons for why I think, if it comes to Sony needing to make some acquisitions, they need to target at least a couple of prominent Japanese 3P publishers, and IMO the two best fits would be Capcom and Square-Enix, if they're willing to sell. I don't personally think many Western publishers are worth buying for them, not to mention the few who would be, like Take-Two, just would command too much a price and Sony would be better off buying shares into those companies and investing into them as much as possible, kind of like what they've been doing with Epic.

EA doesn't even have the FIFA license anymore so that really cuts into their value, plus they're kind of in Take-Two territory where it'd command a bit too much plus Sony could do just as well simply buying shares into them. I doubt Epic are going to get acquired by anyone, certainly not another platform holder, and in any case Sony have a good amount of shares in them and can buy more into the future. Epic are also way too involved with their UE5 push into all areas of entertainment to ever consider locking down games like Fortnite exclusively to any one platform, or play favorites in terms of content for one platform, even if they were acquired. They clearly don't want to fracture their fanbase with that type of stuff.

I know some people say Sony could go after Ubisoft and/or CDPR, but I think both of those would be redundant, plus Ubisoft have a TON of staff and in the case of an M&A, lots of redundancy to cut. CDPR are very talented but Cyberpunk didn't perform the way it should've and the only other game they have is The Witcher. They also seem overvalued in the market, so there's also that.

Jesus Christ dude, first with the paranoid delusion, then the wall of text.


Get a grip?

 

[Cool hand luke]

Jesus Christ dude, first with the paranoid delusion, then the wall of text.


Get a grip?

This development must have hit a nerve, huh

 

[ManPhlaps]

This development must have hit a nerve, huh

Sigh.

Ok, watch and wait.

 

[Cool hand luke]

Sigh.

Ok, watch and wait.

Come out and say what you think will happen.

 

[Dabaus]

It's like they're angry that anyone would ever even consider questioning their intentions. Pretty arrogant.

Remember when this was first Announced the ceo was going off how he doesn’t think they need to do any concessions? I don’t think these 10 year deals, and Nintendo ports, and cloud deals were apart of the original vision at all. I really think they believed this would sail right through and are incredulous that it’s being held up. It affects the whole company because they’re locked into this deal for almost a year and a half. Now google, and others, is demanding regulators look at Microsoft’s contracts with other cloud companies which could also apply to this deal as well. They may well yet pull this deal off but I don’t think this what they had in mind at the beginning.

 

[Cool hand luke]

Remember when this was first Announced the ceo was going off how he doesn’t think they need to do any concessions? I don’t think these 10 year deals, and Nintendo ports, and cloud deals were apart of the original vision at all. I really think they believed this would sail right through and are incredulous that it’s being held up. It affects the whole company because they’re locked into this deal for almost a year and a half. Now google, and others, is demanding regulators look at Microsoft’s contracts with other cloud companies which could also apply to this deal as well. They may well yet pull this deal off but I don’t think this what they had in mind at the beginning.

Yep. Huge mistake on Microsoft's part to push this with such fervour. It's going to have consequences down the line for their cloud monopoly and predatory pricing tactics even when it's blocked.

DJ Khaled has a great gif about it.

 

[Dabaus]

Yep. Huge mistake on Microsoft's part to push this with such fervour. It's going to have consequences down the line for their cloud monopoly and predatory pricing tactics even when it's blocked.

DJ Khaled has a great gif about it.

We’ll see. My gut tells me they’ll somehow skate by free with out repercussions for both but I could be wrong.

 

[Gods&Monsters]

Sigh.

Ok, watch and wait.

You were quiet for awhile and suddenly you started posting again. Another worthless account with nothing interesting to say like all the other bots we had here.

 

[Nhomnhom]

All this talk because Xbox players don't want to pay $70 to pay their favorite game, CoD.

Many Xbox player begging for the deal to be approved so they can get Diablo 4 on Gamepass, if you like it so much pay for it, it comes out every 10 years, how hard can it be?

MS set themselves up by selecting the worst possible fan base over the years, just a bunch of cheap and broke bums that don't value games.

 

[FatKaz]

You were quiet for awhile and suddenly you started posting again. Another worthless account with nothing interesting to say like all the other bots we had here.

Put em on ignore, and then no one reply to them. They will be screaming into a void.

 

[Bryank75]

I'm gonna make a thread on what I think COD will become under microsoft in the next few hours.... should be fun.

 

[AshHunter216]

I'm gonna make a thread on what I think COD will become under microsoft in the next few hours.... should be fun.

COD is one of those things that people will buy regardless of actual quality. Depending on how every other purchase is managed, it could end up being the main thing keeping them afloat in the future.

 

[Yobo]

I noticed the Ree thread is completely avoiding the substance of Sony's response

This was the basis for the original reversal. This is the substance of the entire response.

If the CMA agrees then it throws out the entire measurement of LTV being too low which is how they calculated Microsoft will result in X billion in foregone revenue by foreclosing Playstation

 

[AshHunter216]

I noticed the Ree thread is completely avoiding the substance of Sony's response

This was the basis for the original reversal. This is the substance of the entire response.

If the CMA agrees then it throws out the entire measurement of LTV being too low which is how they calculated Microsoft will result in X billion in foregone revenue by foreclosing Playstation

That side, as well as the media, has been ignoring Sony's full arguments in favor of things they can simply take out of context and dunk on them with for a while now.

At least with some of the media they have the excuse of needing something that will get them rage clicks.

We'll just have to see what happens. It seems like the EU completely ignored Sony when they made a similar argument over there.

 

[Cool hand luke]

That side, as well as the media, has been ignoring Sony's full arguments in favor of things they can simply take out of context and dunk on them with for a while now.

At least with some of the media they have the excuse of needing something that will get them rage clicks.

We'll just have to see what happens. It seems like the EU completely ignored Sony when they made a similar argument over there.

Yeah that's legitimately outrageous. I still haven't seen reporting about Hemorrhoid I mean Boosteroid's CEO and company profile changing from Romania to Ukraine just to bolster Microsoft's narrative.