Microsoft's acquisition of Activison Blizzard

[Dabaus]

Buddy out here making the argument that the deal should go through because they’re competing against the Chinese and Japanese companies. Surely framing this as an East vs West competition won’t backfire for Microsoft should this deal go through right?

 

[Old Gamer]

Buddy out here making the argument that the deal should go through because they’re competing against the Chinese and Japanese companies. Surely framing this as an East vs West competition won’t backfire for Microsoft should this deal go through right?

Appealing to jingoism and imperialism as a geopolitical motivation. At least he's not hiding behind a fake pro-consumer façade unlike his buddy Phil.

 

[AshHunter216]

Buddy out here making the argument that the deal should go through because they’re competing against the Chinese and Japanese companies. Surely framing this as an East vs West competition won’t backfire for Microsoft should this deal go through right?

Lol, Bobby may be jinxing himself here.

Also, it really seems like the CMA are dragging their feet on making their statement.

 

[AshHunter216]

Appealing to jingoism and imperialism as a geopolitical motivation. At least he's not hiding behind a fake pro-consumer façade unlike his buddy Phil.

You'd be surprised how many times I've seen people on Twitter go full nationalism over this Xbox vs Playstation thing. Some have even argued that if you prefer Playstation over Xbox, you hate America.

 

[Deleted member 417]

Activision Blizzard Reports Highest Microtransaction Revenue Ever

The company's 2021 financial results are in, and it made more money than ever. More than that, it earned a record $5.1 billion just from microtransactions. That's a lot of horse armor.

www.extremetech.com

Activision Blizzard Reports Highest Microtransaction Revenue Ever​

Activision Blizzard also makes a ton of money. The company’s 2021 financial results are in, and it made more money than ever. More than that, it earned a record $5.1 billion just from microtransactions, reports TweakTown. That’s a lot of horse armor.

The overall revenue was “only” the second-highest ever, but the in-game revenue was the highest it has ever been

When you see numbers like this, Microsoft’s enormous purchase offer starts to make more sense. When added to Microsoft’s existing game revenue, Activision Blizzard will put it within striking distance of Sony, which currently earns almost twice as much revenue from its game properties

Interestingly, the MTX comes from 3rd party sales. This creates an interesting bind:

Microsoft make all ABK games exclusive and take the hit on revenue, which helps their case about not buying the industry, while reducing competition in the market

or

Microsoft agree to leave the games 3rd party and keep competition in the market, while reaping the rewards of higher revenue, at the cost of new exclusive titles.

 

[Deleted member 417]

You'd be surprised how many times I've seen people on Twitter go full nationalism over this Xbox vs Playstation thing. Some have even argued that if you prefer Playstation over Xbox, you hate America.

I do hate America. That's not why I game on Playstation though.

 

[Old Gamer]

Activision Blizzard Reports Highest Microtransaction Revenue Ever

The company's 2021 financial results are in, and it made more money than ever. More than that, it earned a record $5.1 billion just from microtransactions. That's a lot of horse armor.

www.extremetech.com

Activision Blizzard Reports Highest Microtransaction Revenue Ever​

Interestingly, the MTX comes from 3rd party sales. This creates an interesting bind:

Microsoft make all ABK games exclusive and take the hit on revenue, which helps their case about not buying the industry, while reducing competition in the market

or

Microsoft agree to leave the games 3rd party and keep competition in the market, while reaping the rewards of higher revenue, at the cost of new exclusive titles.

If they cared about revenue, they would have left gaming years ago.

 

[AshHunter216]

Activision CEO making the rounds in the press. What I don't get is where he's getting this figure of Sony/PlayStation studios being 80 years old from. That is simply not accurate.

Bobby Kotick warns UK risks ‘becoming Death Valley’ if it blocks Microsoft deal | VGC

Activision Blizzard’s CEO claims regulators are “confused” about who’s competing with who in games…

www.videogameschronicle.com

 

[FatKaz]

Activision CEO making the rounds in the press. What I don't get is where he's getting this figure of Sony/PlayStation studios being 80 years old from. That is simply not accurate.

Bobby Kotick warns UK risks ‘becoming Death Valley’ if it blocks Microsoft deal | VGC

Activision Blizzard’s CEO claims regulators are “confused” about who’s competing with who in games…

www.videogameschronicle.com

They defintley still feel anxious about the CMA. Considering they've probably been speaking to them over the last few months, surely it's moving towards harsh remedies if not a block? I'll be surprised if they get off light.

 

[AshHunter216]

They defintley still feel anxious about the CMA. Considering they've probably been speaking to them over the last few months, surely it's moving towards harsh remedies if not a block? I'll be surprised if they get off light.

Microsoft seems to be acting (publicly) confident about the CMA, but the NYT had anonymous sources that expected some degree of opposition. I can't imagine the CMA not giving at least some level of opposition to the deal given that their biggest peers already have.

I also read about a CMA case with Apple where Apple was complaining that the remedies requested were too harsh.

 

[FatKaz]

Microsoft seems to be acting (publicly) confident about the CMA, but the NYT had anonymous sources that expected some degree of opposition. I can't imagine the CMA not giving at least some level of opposition to the deal given that their biggest peers already have.

Yeah saw that article. Microsoft recently responded to that article, saying they are still confident.

But it's weird if they are confident, then why did kotick just straight up insult the UK.

He said this

If a deal like this can’t get through, they are not going to be Silicon Valley, they will be Death Valley,

 

[AshHunter216]

Yeah saw that article. Microsoft recently responded to that article, saying they are still confident.

But it's weird if they are confident, then why did kotick just straight up insult the UK.

He said this

Either MS just wants to put on a brave face in public to keep their stock value from dropping, or they feel like they've convinced the CMA.

 

[Heisenberg007]

Yeah saw that article. Microsoft recently responded to that article, saying they are still confident.

But it's weird if they are confident, then why did kotick just straight up insult the UK.

He said this

Lmao this sounds like a threat.

 

[FatKaz]

Either MS just wants to put on a brave face in public to keep their stock value from dropping

Yeah that would make sense. Need to puff the chest out as stock dropped 4% yesterday.

, or they feel like they've convinced the CMA.

That I would find strange. I guess the way I'm looking at it is, if I've spent months negotiating with an organisation that will decide my future and it's going all good, I keep my mouth shout and let them do their thing. Heck maybe even praise them.

But if it's going negatively and I can't do anything about it, and I'm pissed maybe I start throwing lightly veiled threats and insults.

 

[AshHunter216]

Yeah that would make sense. Need to puff the chest out as stock dropped 4% yesterday.

That I would find strange. I guess the way I'm looking at it is, if I've spent months negotiating with an organisation that will decide my future and it's going all good, I keep my mouth shout and let them do their thing. Heck maybe even praise them.

But if it's going negatively and I can't do anything about it, and I'm pissed maybe I start throwing lightly veiled threats and insults.

Yeah, I will say that one side has been a lot more vocal about this whole ordeal than the other in terms of both social media and news media.

 

[KiryuRealty]

Microsoft seems to be acting (publicly) confident about the CMA, but the NYT had anonymous sources that expected some degree of opposition. I can't imagine the CMA not giving at least some level of opposition to the deal given that their biggest peers already have.

I also read about a CMA case with Apple where Apple was complaining that the remedies requested were too harsh.

CMA remedies are usually harsh as fuck, and in this case they also have the lingering sting of MS straight up lying to them on the Bethesda deal, so I’m expecting the only proposed remedy being MS divesting all of their games assets to get the deal approved.

We all know that MS won’t ever agree to that one.

 

[Dabaus]

Lmao this sounds like a threat.

It does sound like a threat. I would assume you dont threaten people and go on a media tour begging to get you way (Let us compete!) if things are going your way.

 

[AshHunter216]

CMA remedies are usually harsh as fuck, and in this case they also have the lingering sting of MS straight up lying to them on the Bethesda deal, so I’m expecting the only proposed remedy being MS divesting all of their games assets to get the deal approved.

We all know that MS won’t ever agree to that one.

Seems like with these huge companies there would likely have to be harsh restrictions, otherwise it would be sending the message that they could do almost anything they wanted to.

 

[Aidendelaney95]

Kotick insulting the UK like he had is just giving its courts the ammo needed to block the deal. Might just do it out of sheer spite now.

 

[Aidendelaney95]

Activision CEO making the rounds in the press. What I don't get is where he's getting this figure of Sony/PlayStation studios being 80 years old from. That is simply not accurate.

Bobby Kotick warns UK risks ‘becoming Death Valley’ if it blocks Microsoft deal | VGC

Activision Blizzard’s CEO claims regulators are “confused” about who’s competing with who in games…

www.videogameschronicle.com

Dementia as well as decrepit.