Microsoft's acquisition of Activison Blizzard

[AshHunter216]

“Exceptional” CMA move aims to mitigate appeal risk in Microsoft/Activision Blizzard merger, say lawyers

As a 26 April deadline for the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) to rule on the Microsoft/Activision Blizzard merger approaches, with a source involved in the process expecting the watchdog to issue its final […]

www.equityreport.co.uk

Does anyone have the highlights for this article?

Sounds like it has interesting information.

Interesting. I've tried to get full articles from them before but was unsuccessful. Another website may summarize what it says a few days later.

 

[Ludwig]

Interesting. I've tried to get full articles from them before but was unsuccessful. Another website may summarize what it says a few days later.

Idas has summarized it:

- Final report coming on April 26th or the day before.

- The addendum to the PF, something “exceptional” and “very unusual”, was probably done to mitigate the risk of a third party (Sony) questioning the final decision. The CMA could have just dropped the theory of harm but without a detailed explanation about the change, that could have opened the door to a complaint about procedural irregularities.

- One lawyer expects the CMA to impose behavioural remedies.

- The same lawyer believes that an appeal by Sony is unlikely to succeed.

 

[AshHunter216]

Idas has summarized it:

Damn, I bet the Xbox fanboys on era are celebrating hard right now. If true, I wonder what Microsoft did to get the cma to let them off so easy with this.

 

[Johnic]

I don't know why people are surprised. As soon as the CMA did a 180 based on some very shifty data provided by MS, you knew they were on the take.

Expect no remedies at all.

 

[Ludwig]

Damn, I bet the Xbox fanboys on era are celebrating hard right now. If true, I wonder what Microsoft did to get the cma to let them off so easy with this.

CMA believes that MS has no incentive to remove COD from PS.

ABK is literally the size of PS. Xbox was considerable bigger than PS after Zenimax but now they are close to 3x the size.

 

[AshHunter216]

CMA believes that MS has no incentive to remove COD from PS.

ABK is literally the size of PS. Xbox was considerable bigger than PS after Zenimax but now they are close 3x the size.

It sucks, but we'll just have to deal.

 

[Gods&Monsters]

Why bother doing all this work? Regulators are totally useless. Just let MS do whatever they want and that's it.

 

[Ludwig]

It sucks, but we'll just have to deal.

Let's hope Sony is smart enough to realize that one can't compete with every legacy tittle. And Sony does some serious acquisitions and mergers of their own.

 

[Cool hand luke]

Idas has summarized it:

How much is that rat's editorialising and how much is in the article? The CMA did not drop the theory of harm, they just concluded erroneously that there is no SLC in the console market. In cloud, where MS has a true monopoly, the SLC hasn't been addressed at all by Microsoft's empty gestures.

 

[Yobo]

How much is that rat's editorialising and how much is in the article? The CMA did not drop the theory of harm, they just concluded erroneously that there is no SLC in the console market. In cloud, where MS has a true monopoly, the SLC hasn't been addressed at all by Microsoft's empty gestures.

Looking at what the CMA pulled with the console space, don't expect anything to come of cloud gaming

In reality this whole probe is just protection regulators when it inevitably ends up causing harm to the market

 

[Darth Vader]

Not sure if I'd trust this, but ChatGPT can be used to bypass paywalls if you trick it, and it gave me this summary.

• The UK's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is taking an unusual step in the proposed merger between Microsoft and Activision Blizzard, in an effort to mitigate the risk of the merger being overturned on appeal.
• The CMA has asked for a hold separate order, which would require Microsoft to keep Activision Blizzard separate from the rest of its business until the CMA has completed its investigation and made a final decision on the merger.
• This would prevent Microsoft from integrating Activision Blizzard's assets and operations into its own business before the merger has been approved by the CMA, and would also prevent Microsoft from benefiting from any potential cost savings or other efficiencies resulting from the merger during this time.
• The CMA's decision is unusual because hold separate orders are typically only used in cases where there is a high risk of harm to competition or consumers, and the CMA has not yet reached a conclusion on whether the merger between Microsoft and Activision Blizzard would result in harm.
• Lawyers have noted that the CMA's decision may be a response to recent successful appeals of CMA merger decisions, and may be an effort to mitigate the risk of the Microsoft-Activision Blizzard merger being overturned on appeal.
• The CMA's decision may also signal a more cautious approach to mergers and acquisitions in the UK, as the regulator seeks to balance the need for competition and consumer protection with the desire to encourage investment and innovation in the economy.

 

[Deleted member 417]

I wish they would just approve it already so we can sit and laugh at more studios going to heck under the umbrella of Microsoft.

At this point, Xbox are on track to kill more franchises, studios and IPs than EA

 

[Wraith Phantom]

I wish they would just approve it already so we can sit and laugh at more studios going to heck under the umbrella of Microsoft.

At this point, Xbox are on track to kill more franchises, studios and IPs than EA

I have been over this crap.All outcomes lead to savage Sony. If this deal goes through essh. These bots had no games now. Starting playing Netflix and Luna. Lol

 

[Bryank75]

Not sure if I'd trust this, but ChatGPT can be used to bypass paywalls if you trick it, and it gave me this summary.

Very very interesting, I wasn't even aware such an action was available.

Microsoft lawyers seemed to imply they would try and push on with the acquisition even if FTC were suing but this might really put a wrench in the works and slow it all down.

This is all costing Microsoft so much money and they are not gaining a single bit of ground. In fact they seem to be losing ground as we go on.... what is the play if they can't sell consoles and the subscriptions are not growing either?

Is it just a vindictive move to hurt others? Because the only thing left is to go 3rd party and leave the hardware and platforms up to others.

 

[FatKaz]

Not sure if I'd trust this, but ChatGPT can be used to bypass paywalls if you trick it, and it gave me this summary.

If this is accurate then deal is most likely going through. CMA have pretty much made up their minds on approving, but just doing extra investigation before allowing them to formally merge.

 

[AshHunter216]

Not sure if I'd trust this, but ChatGPT can be used to bypass paywalls if you trick it, and it gave me this summary.

That has a lot more details than what Idas is implying. Interesting

 

[FatKaz]

That has a lot more details than what Idas is implying. Interesting

Yeah odd he missed that.

But thinking about it why give this hold order if you decision date is the 26th and Microsoft won't merge after this date anyway?

Perhaps a delay?

 

[AshHunter216]

I also asked ChatGPT to summarize the article and it says this. The mention of the DOJ is interesting.

Edit: I tried chatGPT with a different non paywalled article and it seems like it can get things very wrong.

The article discusses the recent announcement by the UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) that it will be taking an "exceptional" step in reviewing the proposed merger between Microsoft and Activision Blizzard. The CMA will be conducting its Phase 2 investigation simultaneously with the US Department of Justice's review of the merger, in order to mitigate any potential appeal risks.

The article quotes several lawyers who believe that this move by the CMA is unprecedented, and may be an attempt to avoid a repeat of the situation in which the CMA's decision to block the merger between Sabre and Farelogix was later overturned on appeal. The lawyers also note that the CMA's decision to conduct a simultaneous review with the US DOJ could lead to a more coordinated and efficient review process.

The article also discusses the concerns that have been raised by some industry experts and lawmakers about the potential impact of the Microsoft-Activision Blizzard merger on competition in the gaming industry. These concerns include the potential for the merged entity to dominate the PC gaming market, and the impact on smaller game developers who may struggle to compete with the combined resources of Microsoft and Activision Blizzard.

Overall, the article suggests that the CMA's decision to conduct a simultaneous review with the US DOJ may help to address some of these concerns, and could lead to a more robust and effective review process that takes into account the interests of both UK and US consumers.

 

[Puff]

I swear Xbox discussion on forums is just about who they buy next, No actual discourse on the games they make

PS & Nin fans always asking for games unlike xbots asking for acquisitions

lmao was Obisidian, Ninja Theory, Zenimax, inXile, ActivisionBlizzard not enough? You filthy little cunt

 

[FatKaz]

Edit: I tried chatGPT with a different non paywalled article and it seems like it can get things very wrong.

I wonder if it's just aggregating stuff from all over the place