Microsoft's acquisition of Activison Blizzard

[FatKaz]

Got to love the outbursts from MS and it's shills.

Who's "crying", "desperate", "embarrassing" now?

 

[Johnic]

MS shills must be on suicide watch. That muller guy is on a verge of a breakdown. Fucking hell how do you live like that?

 

[John Elden Ring]

Microsoft: "This is the darkest day in our four decades in Britain"​

 

[Gediminas]

The meldown is still going on.
Hope MS appeals this and that it drags for 3+ years.

nah, shareholders will cut losses and move on. they won't risk lose even more money when it is already block and CMA almost never lost an appeal.

 

[Zeroing]

No worries bro, how is everything?

Any thoughts on the happenings?

I am well, currently relaxing on the beaches on Algarve. And you?

I just am just glad that the CMA saw Microsoft and Activision for what they truly are, greedy cooperations who just want to take on the market before anyone else so they can fully control it. The fact they used media, fans and even used policial blackmail on a foreigner country just shows Microsoft true colors.

I said this over and over yet I was banned from Ree, I am glad I still can grasp reality.

Just saw the statement from Activision and yeah blaming UK and saying this will be the country’s doom it’s so out of reach.

When corporations think they are above any country…. That’s a red flag.

Other than that, the “Xbox will be fine” articles are already pouring out , so normal as usual. Nobody in the media dares to tell the truth, Xbox is a devalued brand with no impact in gaming.

 

[avenovah]

Microsoft: "This is the darkest day in our four decades in Britain"​

 

[daniel5043]

Honestly Americans have way to much hubris for what they are

 

[Darth Vader]

How we have dipshits ignoring this one paragraph is just mind-blowing.

We found that the Microsoft Cloud Remedy had several shortcomings connected with the growing and fast-moving nature of cloud gaming services. In particular, the scope of the remedy was limited to cloud gaming providers with specific business models. As a result, Microsoft would not have to supply Activision’s full range of games to providers that, absent the Merger, may have entered into a different type of commercial relationship with Activision (eg, through exclusive content, joint marketing arrangements, or a multi-game subscription service like Game Pass) or to cloud gaming providers that may decide to operate using a non-Windows PC operating system (eg Linux). It also did not provide for competition through differentiation in content. The complexity of the remedy, in the context of a dynamic market that is evolving, also meant that it had a high risk of circumvention, and that it would have been difficult to monitor effectively. In light of these shortcomings, we could not be sufficiently confident that the Microsoft Cloud Remedy would have addressed our concerns, and we found that the only effective remedy to the SLC is to prohibit the Merger.

 

[Swift_Star]

How we have dipshits ignoring this one paragraph is just mind-blowing.

Because it destroys everything they argue about.
MS 100% shot themselves in the foot with the desperate deals they made.

 

[ethomaz]

Bloomberg - Are you a robot?

www.bloomberg.com

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's spokesman, Max Blain, told reporters that Microsoft President Brad Smith was misguided in saying that the decision to block the deal was "bad for Britain." Smith spoke earlier to the BBC, criticizing the move by the UK's Competition and Markets Authority to intervene in the blockbuster gaming deal.

 

[Darth Vader]

And for the dipshit that keeps talking costs and "laws of physics".

Cloud gaming has historically faced some unique challenges relative to consoles. It requires users to have a fast and stable internet connection capable of streaming graphically complex games. It must overcome latency (ie, the time it takes for data to travel from a gaming device to a cloud server and back), which can introduce delays and affect gameplay. The computing, bandwidth, warehousing, and utilities costs associated with cloud gaming are high, and this has led some in the industry to question whether it can ever be profitable.

The evidence we have gathered indicates that cloud gaming service providers already have, or soon will, overcome these challenges. In terms of demand, as set out above the market is already sizeable, and the evidence indicates it is poised to continue growing in the next few years. In terms of latency, some providers noted that they have already successfully streamed graphically complex games, such as CoD, with good results in terms of gameplay. As for profitability, although providers have had mixed results and continue to explore different avenues to monetise their service and gaming content, the evidence suggests that costs will continue to fall as demand grows and providers are able to scale their offering. These expectations are backed up by considerable amounts of investment into this market by a range of market participants.

[...]

In relation to cloud gaming services, Microsoft has a combination of assets that we consider is difficult for other cloud gaming service providers to match. By owning Windows, the OS for which the vast majority of PC games are designed, Microsoft could stream games from Windows servers without having to pay a Windows licensing fee or adapt games designed for Windows to an alternative OS. By having Xbox Cloud Gaming and Azure, Microsoft has both a short-term and a longer-term solution to host cloud gaming, leveraging its large and well distributed global cloud infrastructure to stream its games without having to pay a fee to third-party cloud platforms. And by having an existing console ecosystem, Microsoft has a range of popular games that it can offer. As such, we consider that Microsoft has a strong position in cloud gaming services and will remain an important competitor as the market expands and evolves.

 

[Swift_Star]

Bloomberg - Are you a robot?

www.bloomberg.com

One Hit KO right there, folks.

 

[Darth Vader]

This is why the contract charade was not sufficient as a behavioural remedy. Can't wait for people to say "but Sony bad".

We found two significant limitations in scope for the Microsoft Cloud Remedy.

First, it was limited to a model whereby gamers had to first acquire the right to play certain games (eg, by purchasing them on certain stores or subscribing to them on certain services) in order to stream those games on certain cloud gaming services. It did not make any provision for a different type of commercial relationship between cloud gaming service providers and the game publisher (ie, Activision). As such, it restricts the ability of cloud gaming service providers to access Activision’s games through other strategies and business models (some of which we already see in the cloud gaming market), such as joint marketing arrangements, exclusive or early access to content, or multi-game subscription services. In our view, and consistent with our competitive assessment, this is a dynamic market in which there is a reasonable chance that different providers will compete using a range of different business models, and that these providers would have had access to Activision’s content absent the Merger.

Second, the Microsoft Cloud Remedy applies to current and future PC and console versions of Activision games. The PC versions are those that are developed to run on a Windows OS, as well as other PC OS versions as may be released by Microsoft during the term of the remedy. We found that, absent the Merger, Activision would seek to maximise the value that it can derive from these games, which would have involved considering making non-Windows PC versions of its games (as it has already done in some cases). However, after the Merger, Microsoft’s incentives to make these games compatible with rival OS would be significantly lower, as this would both increase the attractiveness of rival cloud gaming services and divert demand away from Windows OS. This means that, in effect, cloud gaming services wishing to stream these games would have to use, or be compatible with, the Windows OS version of those games. This could exclude or restrict providers that may wish to provide cloud gaming services using other operating systems (such as Linux), either now or in the future. The Microsoft Cloud Remedy would therefore put non-Windows based cloud gaming services at a disadvantage, and potentially distort the choice of OSs for new entrants.

 

[Darth Vader]

Like, really, just read the first few pages of this document and the reasoning is pretty solid and self-explanatory.

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/644939aa529eda000c3b0525/Microsoft_Activision_Final_Report_.pdf

 

[Darth Vader]

We recognise that having Activision’s content available on Game Pass is an attractive prospect to some customers and something that, based on the comments that we received from the public during this investigation, seems to explain much of the support for this Merger by those in favour of it. But, on balance, we found that having this new option to pay for content that is already available on a buy-to-play basis on Xbox would not outweigh the overall harm to competition (and, ultimately, consumers) arising from this Merger in the sizeable and rapidly expanding market for cloud gaming services.

 

[AshHunter216]

Yep, this is nothing more than a manchild throwing a tantrum. He'll have to grow up and eat it. This is a really bad look for MS.

I.E. they're giving up on the "good guy Microsoft" facade.

 

[SSfox]

Microsoft: "This is the darkest day in our four decades in Britain"​

Imagine if MS put this type of Energy on making great games

 

[ksdixon]

Leo and Paul are salty as fuck on the Windows Weekly podcast about ABK-BLOCK. Paul just called England the Florida of Europe ffs.

I'm only about 4mins in yet.

 

[AshHunter216]

Imagine if MS put this type of Energy on making great games

As I've said before, they put more time and energy into pushing this deal than they have ensuring the quality and success of any of their games.

 

[ksdixon]

As I've said before, they put more time and energy into pushing this deal than they have ensuring the quality and success of any of their games.

They put more time and energy into Xbox Deodorant than making good games ffs.