Microsoft's acquisition of Activison Blizzard

[FatKaz]

FTC filing this injunction fully backfired.

Yup they should never have filed for it. I was saying this weeks ago, they fell for microsofts bluff.

As opposed to... not filing it and letting it go through regardless?

They would have to close over the CMA aswell which would have been illegal. I just don't see them doing something drastic like that, it was a bluff to get them into court sooner.

 

[Nhomnhom]

I'm pretty sure the opposite reasoning can be applied. If none of the arguments applied to the biggest multiplatform publisher around, then no argument would be able to work for even smaller japanese publishers. This block was needed as a ceiling on how far MS would be allowed to go. Letting this acquisition through means there is absolutely no publisher big or small that isn't allowed, as they now have the precedence from the courts for it.

Not to mention that they already told multiple times that they are not stopping with ABK. MS is willing to do whatever it takes to control the game industry now.

Now that they already spent $80B why not spend a little more to establish complete control? There is not even an acquisition as big as ABK to be made.

 

[Ezekiel]

As opposed to... not filing it and letting it go through regardless?

Nah, the biggest issue was that a judge who knows NOTHING about gaming was the one deciding its future.

Yeah, kinda wild if this whole thing ultimately was decided by one non-expert person, who got 4-5 days of hearings and called it.

 

[Swolf712]

Stuff we already knew. Nobody was worried about WWS output except trolls. The IP retention war Sony is losing is worrying.

Have you browsed this thread at all? Supposedly, none of these exist, according to some folks here.

 

[Danja1187]

As opposed to... not filing it and letting it go through regardless?

Nah, the biggest issue was that a judge who knows NOTHING about gaming was the one deciding its future.

Fully agree about the judge. I knew from she kept going back to COD even when the FTC kept staying course about the overall Activision/ Blizz IP's.

But would it have gone through had they not filed? Genuinely asking not gon a pretend to be versed on these legal stuff.

 

[On Demand]

As opposed to... not filing it and letting it go through regardless?

Nah, the biggest issue was that a judge who knows NOTHING about gaming was the one deciding its future.

I don’t believe MS planned to close any deal with Activision at all. If they did they would not appeal the CMA.

All it did was move up the court case. To MS favor. Which was probably the plan all along.

 

[Danja1187]

Have you browsed this thread at all? Supposedly, none of these exist, according to some folks here.

I just pop in and out of the forum and post and go most times.

 

[Johnic]

A little something to comfort our Doomposting friends in these trying times.

Doesn't really matter if MS keeps buying out the industry. They'll already have a hard time keeping up with releases when compared to MS' number of studios. And they need these big 3rd party support to bring in money. They're losing IPs.

 

[Swolf712]

Yup they should never have filed for it. I was saying this weeks ago, they fell for microsofts bluff.

They would have to close over the CMA aswell which would have been illegal. I just don't see them doing something drastic like that, it was a bluff to get them into court sooner.

You would be surprised what Microsoft has been willing to do in scenarios like this.

 

[Ezekiel]

Yup they should never have filed for it. I was saying this weeks ago, they fell for microsofts bluff.

I doubt that if the FTC didn't file for PI, anything would be different.

 

[FatKaz]

You would be surprised what Microsoft has been willing to do in scenarios like this.

They defintley did some scummy shit, but none of it was really illegal.

 

[Nhomnhom]

A little something to comfort our Doomposting friends in these trying times.

Firesprite, Insomniac, Naughty Dog, Guerilla and Sucker Punch all working on multiplayer games?

 

[Swolf712]

Doesn't really matter if MS keeps buying out the industry. They'll already have a hard time keeping up with releases when compared to MS' number of studios. And they need these big 3rd party support to bring in money. They're losing IPs.

Holy sweet Jesus I'm going to have to keep repeating myself for a decade in this thread.

Have you browsed this thread at all? Supposedly, none of these exist, according to some folks here.

 

[nongkris]

Can someone tell me why FTC decided to even file this injunction now? They waited a whole year to do it right when the tide was turning against MS and allowed them to swing the momentum back in MS' favor. And not to mention their horrible showing about barely bringing up the cloud monopoly at all.

 

[Danja1187]

Yup they should never have filed for it. I was saying this weeks ago, they fell for microsofts bluff.

They would have to close over the CMA aswell which would have been illegal. I just don't see them doing something drastic like that, it was a bluff to get them into court sooner.

Yup! It was obviously a bluff and FTC took the bait.

Can they appeal or not?

 

[FatKaz]

Can someone tell me why FTC decided to even file this injunction now? They waited a whole year to do it right when the tide was turning against MS and allowed them to swing the momentum back in MS' favor. And not to mention their horrible showing about barely bringing up the cloud monopoly at all.

They filed for it as MS told them they would no longer notify them before merging.

So FTC got spooked and thought they would merge before the court proceedings could take place so filed the injunction.

But problem is for MS to close they would have to do it over the CMA aswell, which would have been illegal.

 

[Swolf712]

I feel it's also necessary to remind people: you will not see a response to this from Sony. Not for several months at the absolute soonest. Deals like this take a LOT of time and effort to set up and get rolling.

Please keep that in mind before spamming "BUT THEY'RE NOT EVEN TRYING!" over and over.

 

[FatKaz]

Yup! It was obviously a bluff and FTC took the bait.

Can they appeal or not?

They can, but considering even the CMA are back to negotiating and possibly accepting somehting, and also in the past they dropped out after a PI got denied it's not looking good for an appeal. But who knows, they haven't said anything yet about appealing.

 

[On Demand]

I don’t see the point of any regulatory companies when the courts can just override everything.

FTC is basically useless in that instance.

The U.K. being independent is how all regulations should be.

 

[Nhomnhom]

I don't get why people are blaming the FTC, seems like the never had a chance and just did what they could. The big news today is the CMA signaling that they are going to buckle.