Microsoft's acquisition of Activison Blizzard

[AshHunter216]

This is something I've mentioned in the past. Even other major tech companies of their day like NEC pulled out of gaming after a single failure (PC-FX). Same with Panasonic/Matsushita with the 3DO. Sony would have done the same if PS1 ended up bombing, despite being notably bigger than Nintendo and Sega at that time.

Microsoft have been using the Netflix model in gaming since the get-go and while it's one thing to leverage resources and profits from other divisions to help get a new division up and going (after all, Sony did this for the PS1), most normal companies intend for that new division to eventually become self-sustaining, as in able to generate its own profits, within a reasonable amount of time. 22 years is not a reasonable amount of time unless you can continuously leverage profits from other parts of the company to sustain mounting losses in a less-critical market in ways that can bleed competitors out on no other merits besides having less money.

The only time this would have worked for Microsoft in a way that could arguably be considered "fair" was the 360 era, because while doing just as described, Sony actually did make several mistakes of their own early on, causing self-inflicted damage. But Microsoft did not capitalize, and lost that opportunity. Now they're leveraging market valuation and profits from Windows, Azure and Office to finance the largest gaming acquisition in history, in order to artificially boost their gaming revenue and starve a competitor of content (and free access to that content i.e without the ownership of another platform holder/competitor getting in the way).

No matter what Satya Nadella or anyone else at Microsoft want to say, that is not "competition".



That line always bothered me because in the context of that interview and knowing where Xbox is today, he should've said there's no world where Starfield's an 11 out of 10 and people go out to buy an Xbox. It just goes to show how much some Xbox fanatics pretend otherwise, Microsoft themselves very much still see Sony and PlayStation as a competitor, and I think they see them as such because they are a stepping stone towards taking on companies like Apple and Google in gaming.

Out of three, they assume Sony would be the "easiest" to dismantle and as you said, COD ownership is the key way they want to accomplish that. Then combined with ownership of other ABK IP, alongside what they already purchased in Zenimax, and some of their pre-publisher acquisitions, that starts to create an easy way to go after a chief rival in the core console gaming market. That's in addition to mentions of even more acquisitions (or at least the intention) from Microsoft, while it seems Sony are leaning in the opposite direction of that type of strategy.

It's also just funny to hear Phil Spencer say they can never "out-console" Sony or Nintendo but then in the same interview show they still have the yearning of outselling PlayStation and outstripping it in market share.

It's all about saying one thing while attempting to do the opposite for them. They care a whole lot about being seen as the good guys and they put a lot of effort into how their brand is perceived.

 

[FatKaz]

I do remember a UK lawyer on that Resetera thread saying something to that effect before it was overrun.

Yeah it was pixis.

It was really funny actually. He would come into the thread and mention how phase 2 pretty much indicated the deal was coffin dodging(to paraphrase). The entire thread would start a mini meltdown and no one would engage him as he has expertise in this area.

 

[riesgoyfortuna]

This guy prof again, yes my man you recently registered by casuality, sure jan why this People are so poor at lying?

 

[AshHunter216]

Yeah it was pixis.

It was really funny actually. He would come into the thread and mention how phase 2 pretty much indicated the deal was coffin dodging(to paraphrase). The entire thread would start a mini meltdown and no one would engage him as he has expertise in this area.

Yeah, that name sounds right. I think there was another one as well that rained on their parade a bit over there. Those kinds of posters seem to have abandoned the thread though.

 

[KickNamesTakeAss]

I wouldn't be surprised when the ABK deal falls through that they pivot to video streaming to copy-cat Amazon and Apple.

Pondered this too but when you look at how MS like to do business they wouldn't be happy commissioning work or buying entertainment from other companies like Amazon / Apple / Netflix etc there's no guarantees for success there (look at Halo Tv series). No, MS would look to acquire a huge successful entertainment company and make that content exclusive if they could get away with it.

In fact MS' brazen attempt to disrupt and control the gaming market makes me wonder why MS fans don't ask them to enter other markets that would help them in everyday life.

Starting with Holiday Pass, allow MS to acquire the largest airlines, holiday and hotel companies giving families and individuals free access to holiday packages anywhere in the world for £10 a month.

Fuel Pass, just allow MS to buy the largest oil companies in the world then offer fuel to everybody priced at monthly £10 sub.
Energy bills too expensive, just allow MS to buy the largest energy suppliers around the world then offer everyone Utility Pass.
Movie Pass crashed and burned but allowing MS to buy the largest Hollywood studios and cinema chains it could work.
Cars, housing you name it, just allow MS to buy the largest suppliers in those markets then offer it back to everyone for £10 per month.

What great value and innovation.

That line always bothered me because in the context of that interview and knowing where Xbox is today, he should've said there's no world where Starfield's an 11 out of 10 and people go out to buy an Xbox. It just goes to show how much some Xbox fanatics pretend otherwise, Microsoft themselves very much still see Sony and PlayStation as a competitor, and I think they see them as such because they are a stepping stone towards taking on companies like Apple and Google in gaming.

Out of three, they assume Sony would be the "easiest" to dismantle and as you said, COD ownership is the key way they want to accomplish that. Then combined with ownership of other ABK IP, alongside what they already purchased in Zenimax, and some of their pre-publisher acquisitions, that starts to create an easy way to go after a chief rival in the core console gaming market. That's in addition to mentions of even more acquisitions (or at least the intention) from Microsoft, while it seems Sony are leaning in the opposite direction of that type of strategy.

It's also just funny to hear Phil Spencer say they can never "out-console" Sony or Nintendo but then in the same interview show they still have the yearning of outselling PlayStation and outstripping it in market share.

Agreed, they really see Sony as the easier prey to kill first before moving on the bigger fish. But I do wonder just how much damage PlayStation could realistically do to MS if left unopposed. How much of the PC market could PS really take. All I do know is MS are really opposed to the idea of PlayStation enough so to name their console before it was Xbox "Project midway" historical significance aside it wasn't built to compete but to destroy.

 

[Nhomnhom]

Pondered this too but when you look at how MS like to do business they wouldn't be happy commissioning work or buying entertainment from other companies like Amazon / Apple / Netflix etc there's no guarantees for success there (look at Halo Tv series). No, MS would look to acquire a huge successful entertainment company and make that content exclusive if they could get away with it.

This make me fear MS buying Warner and ruining HBO.

 

[Loy310]

They some straight hoes at ms. They just dont want to move on. If they have their way then we might aswell just get rid of regulators in every country.

Microsoft’s Smith Set for Talks With UK Chancellor Over Activision Deal Ban

Microsoft Corp. President Brad Smith will meet with UK Chancellor Jeremy Hunt next week to voice his frustration over the shock decision by Britain’s competition regulator to block its $69 billion takeover of Activision Blizzard Inc.

www.bloomberg.com

 

[KiryuRealty]

Pondered this too but when you look at how MS like to do business they wouldn't be happy commissioning work or buying entertainment from other companies like Amazon / Apple / Netflix etc there's no guarantees for success there (look at Halo Tv series). No, MS would look to acquire a huge successful entertainment company and make that content exclusive if they could get away with it.

In fact MS' brazen attempt to disrupt and control the gaming market makes me wonder why MS fans don't ask them to enter other markets that would help them in everyday life.

Starting with Holiday Pass, allow MS to acquire the largest airlines, holiday and hotel companies giving families and individuals free access to holiday packages anywhere in the world for £10 a month.

Fuel Pass, just allow MS to buy the largest oil companies in the world then offer fuel to everybody priced at monthly £10 sub.
Energy bills too expensive, just allow MS to buy the largest energy suppliers around the world then offer everyone Utility Pass.
Movie Pass crashed and burned but allowing MS to buy the largest Hollywood studios and cinema chains it could work.
Cars, housing you name it, just allow MS to buy the largest suppliers in those markets then offer it back to everyone for £10 per month.

What great value and innovation.



Agreed, they really see Sony as the easier prey to kill first before moving on the bigger fish. But I do wonder just how much damage PlayStation could realistically do to MS if left unopposed. How much of the PC market could PS really take. All I do know is MS are really opposed to the idea of PlayStation enough so to name their console before it was Xbox "Project midway" historical significance aside it wasn't built to compete but to destroy.

That’s what gets me about people not understanding Phil’s bit about Starfield not being good enough to make people get rid of their PS5s.

Microsoft doesn’t want Xbox to be one of your consoles, they want it to be your ONLY console. MS wants to monopolize every market they enter, and anything else is seen as a failure by their management and board.

 

[AshHunter216]

They some straight hoes at ms. They just dont want to move on. If they have their way then we might aswell just get rid of regulators in every country.

Microsoft’s Smith Set for Talks With UK Chancellor Over Activision Deal Ban

Microsoft Corp. President Brad Smith will meet with UK Chancellor Jeremy Hunt next week to voice his frustration over the shock decision by Britain’s competition regulator to block its $69 billion takeover of Activision Blizzard Inc.

www.bloomberg.com

Doubling and tripling down on the political pressure I see.

 

[Swift_Star]

They some straight hoes at ms. They just dont want to move on. If they have their way then we might aswell just get rid of regulators in every country.

Microsoft’s Smith Set for Talks With UK Chancellor Over Activision Deal Ban

Microsoft Corp. President Brad Smith will meet with UK Chancellor Jeremy Hunt next week to voice his frustration over the shock decision by Britain’s competition regulator to block its $69 billion takeover of Activision Blizzard Inc.

www.bloomberg.com

The Chancellor has no power over the CMA.

 

[FatKaz]

They some straight hoes at ms. They just dont want to move on. If they have their way then we might aswell just get rid of regulators in every country.

Microsoft’s Smith Set for Talks With UK Chancellor Over Activision Deal Ban

Microsoft Corp. President Brad Smith will meet with UK Chancellor Jeremy Hunt next week to voice his frustration over the shock decision by Britain’s competition regulator to block its $69 billion takeover of Activision Blizzard Inc.

www.bloomberg.com

Looks like a company who is confident in their appeal /s

The thing with the renegotiation with abk for the merger is those conversations may actually take place much earlier then july. So if those talks did fail and abk did pull out we may even here about it in June.

This seems to me like ms trying to put on a show for abk to get them to stay on, and they need put on this show much earlier then july.

 

[Satoru]

This guy prof again, yes my man you recently registered by casuality, sure jan why this People are so poor at lying?
View attachment 1516View attachment 1516

"I am a US lawyer" I really love the appeal to authority. A US lawyer can work in McDonalds in the UK, they are not qualified to talk about British law.

 

[Eternal_Wings]

"I am a US lawyer" I really love the appeal to authority. A US lawyer can work in McDonalds in the UK, they are not qualified to talk about British law.

True story. US has all their knowledge because they kidnapped a lot of European scientists/experts back then to WW I & II.

 

[Cool hand luke]

They some straight hoes at ms. They just dont want to move on. If they have their way then we might aswell just get rid of regulators in every country.

Microsoft’s Smith Set for Talks With UK Chancellor Over Activision Deal Ban

Microsoft Corp. President Brad Smith will meet with UK Chancellor Jeremy Hunt next week to voice his frustration over the shock decision by Britain’s competition regulator to block its $69 billion takeover of Activision Blizzard Inc.

www.bloomberg.com

Do they still hang people in the UK? Brad Smith should swing for bribery and thuggery.

 

[Dr Bass]

Despite MS's best efforts to downplay the significance of COD to regulators its the key piece they need for future plans of growth.

In fact it's scary how many of MS future plans rely on having COD and why divestiture was never an option.

Talk about putting the cart before the horse.

Phil Spencer called the deal an accelerant, internal MS documents from CMA say its more than that. The documents note how MS want to change the behaviour and habits of gamers and condition them to a cloud gaming only future. MS's plan requires the need to acquire and restrict access to a huge enough IP. The IP needs to be big enough to get people to switch (COD or GTA size) and current games in MS's roster are no where near big enough.

Lets also recall Phil Spencer's recent interview “There is no world where Starfield is an 11 out of 10 and people start selling their PS5's that’s not going to happen.”

Odd comment right?! why is Phil trying to get people to sell their PS5. Well you just got a glimpse into MS internal thinking. Starfield will not move the needle but owning and restricting COD in some way could make people sell their PS5's. So there's another plan in jeopardy.

Also note PlayStation is the reason MS got into console gaming. XBOX is nothing more than a defensive move. 20 years in the console hardware game and they've tied their hopes on leveraging COD (and/or other huge acquired IP like say GTA) to eventually kill PlayStation. I can't see any other way for them to beat PS or any contingency plan open to MS that can get the desired result if the deal falls through. This is the big one for me.

You already touched on MS's universal app store plans to take on Apple and Google mobile stores, but this also requires having COD to make any real dent in getting people to switch from what they're happy using today. During behavioural remedies CMA looked into the scenario of MS offering competition to the mobile giants their conclusion was to call it anti-competitive. So another plan in jeopardy.

In conclusion MS future plans REQUIRE owning and leveraging a huge IP. Without it they can't realistically get people to switch from Apple & Google stores or get people to sell / switch from their PS5's.

MS can act all tough in the public arena but their actions and mind blowing bullying and pressure tactics show this is a desperate move by a desperate company trying to remain relevant against better competition.

Username checks out.

 

[KiryuRealty]

Do they still hang people in the UK? Brad Smith should swing for bribery and thuggery.

Buggery?

 

[Cool hand luke]

It must be frustrating being on MS' payroll and having randos on the internet discredit you and shut you down at every turn. This thread and Neogaf's are an anathema to shills.

 

[KiryuRealty]

It must be frustrating being on MS' payroll and having randos on the internet discredit you and shut you down at every turn. This thread and Neogaf's are an anathema to shills.

MS is like a cult. You either turn into one of the hive or you don’t make it for long.

 

[Wraith Phantom]

I dont recall facebook and Nvidia do all these desperate moves. When their attempts got blocked. This is like when you are in the last stages of the boss fights. And it's starts throwing all these random moves. This is it.

Talking to politicians , issue threats , talking about acquiring the company by outside means without regulatory authorization. Random 10 year deals, agreeing with random country's on approval.

How many times do you need to politicians are you gonna try and pay off. CMA is independent son. Polticitioms can't save you. Meanwhile FTC is watching this youtube style seeing every attack pattern.

 

[Aidendelaney95]

Jesus, I just want this to end.