Yea people discussing this as if it was actually based on anything but politics and ability to influence/corrupt the regulators. This was always a long shot for Sony, it hardly matters what strategy they used, it was not up to them.
Mind you everyone should know this is how it works. Was kinda amusing then as it's now when some users here laughed at the idea that somehow the precious "EU" was a vassalage pushover bunch when I mentioned it earlier. Back when it was all "good news" - and the "good guys" were giving the impression they were on the case to bring "evil" MS to heel (quality theater). Some posters were so sure of their worldview so blindly that they disrespected themselves by going to bat for these bureaucrats as if they knew it all (out of some false sense of desperate hope). But it's not about serving crow on such an unfortunate thing. I will say though, never again, if you can help it, be the idiot that bats hard and displays ignorance with pride on subjects you have a superficial understanding of - specially any that concerns government bureaucrats and public servants of "non-banana" republics aka democracies. Banana republics learn the ways from the teachers - always. Sophistication in means and ways doesn't change the essence of the acts. I've been around the rot so I understand it well but if you take a critical look at governance all around you, if you ask the right questions, you'll spot the rot just the same, and arrive to the same conclusions, eventually.
You even got a paper trail on a news site and you know absolutely nothing is going to happen (corruption will get rewarded). You can only laugh.... for the world moves on, and tomorrow the sun will rise again and you'll have the same problems you had yesterday to deal with. Everyone will continue to look after themselves until all of it reaches critical mass and explodes.... hopefully without a world war reset this time, as is usually the case when all goes to shit. We're quite a few decades from boiling point still so, "rejoice and enjoy" Pax Americana, Pax "Westernia" while it lasts - you got but no choice.
The real questions were never asked, what I hoped would have happened at least was Xbox financials being exposed but no, the sustainability of the model and how it would lead to MS having all the leverage over third-party devs if it succeed was never brought up. After some point the focus turned all towards Sony as if they were the ones trying to buy a publisher and in need of justifying their business model, completely absurd.
