Microsoft's acquisition of Activison Blizzard

[Crow]

You've been arguing all night and yet you ignored my reply about your "CCP bad MS is good"? Microsoft is one of the biggest US companies in China. They have more influence in China then Tencent will ever have in US or anywhere. I expect you to be consistent and stop supporting MS right this second.

Microsoft’s Big Footprint In China Is Out Of Step With U.S. Security Concerns

The world's biggest software provider is a major player in the Chinese market. That entails significant challenges for U.S. security.

www.forbes.com

CCP is a foreign enity(government) that has hostile intention to the western world. MS is just a company and its American. I would rather prefer MS to own it then Tencent. Tencent has very strong ties to the CCP. If Tencent tried to buy a big american company, the DOJ would never allow that. China Also doesn't allow American companies to buy chinese companies i believe. The US should enforce that to China as well. Even playing field.

 

[BlueLyria]

For me, it's Atlus. Although they've never been good for releasing their games on all systems, I've loved all the ones I've played. It would be pretty sad to see their games only available through MS.

Atlus was huge in my teenage years with Persona 3, 4 and Etrian Odyssey, Sega for me was Yakuza, Super Hang On (Still one of my favorite Mega Drive games to this day), After Burner, Valkyria Chronicles, 7th Dragon and the biggest of them, PSO2.

 

[BlueLyria]

CCP is a foreign enity(government) that has hostile intention to the western world. MS is just a company and its American. I would rather prefer MS to own it then Tencent. Tencent has very strong ties to the CCP. If Tencent tried to buy a big american company, the DOJ would never allow that. China Also doesn't allow American companies to buy chinese companies i believe. The US should enforce that to China as well. Even playing field.

Funny, as someone outside of the USA, I view China as a more favorable alternative than Microsoft. (Which btw also has strong ties to the Government)

 

[Crow]

Funny, as someone outside of the USA, I view China as a more favorable alternative than Microsoft. (Which btw also has strong ties to the Government)

Well in the western world, that's a unpopular opinion. MS is more preferable then China.

 

[BlueLyria]

Well in the western world, that's a unpopular opinion. MS is more preferable then China.

The "western world" doesn't revolve around USA and it's political allies, I'll refrain from getting into any kind of actual political talk, but China is a bigger partner for my country than the USA is.

MS is not a better alternative than Tencent.

 

[Crow]

The "western world" doesn't revolve around USA and it's political allies, I'll refrain from getting into any kind of actual political talk, but China is a bigger partner for my country than the USA is.

MS is not a better alternative than Tencent.

The western world is pretty much the US and its allies. Believe it or not. its a fact. US,Europe, Canada, New Zealand, Australia is the western world. MS is a better alternative than Tencent.

 

[BlueLyria]

The western world is pretty much the US and its allies. Believe it or not. its a fact. US,Europe, Canada, New Zealand, Australia is the western world. MS is a better alternative than Tencent.

The world is bigger than a few countries, and the change in dynamics in the last decade proves this.

As someone outside of the USA, what's the difference of being spied on by the CCP or the US Gov? At least China is a bigger partner.
And I know Tencent won't make any exclusive mandates, the only assurance I can give you is that they will leverage IPs to the p2w mobile game farms, since those make huge bank in SEA and Mainland China

 

[thicc_girls_are_teh_best]

CCP is a foreign enity(government) that has hostile intention to the western world. MS is just a company and its American. I would rather prefer MS to own it then Tencent. Tencent has very strong ties to the CCP. If Tencent tried to buy a big american company, the DOJ would never allow that. China Also doesn't allow American companies to buy chinese companies i believe. The US should enforce that to China as well. Even playing field.

You couldn't be more wrong if you tried. MS has as much if not more ties to the American government than Tencent does to the CCP. It's also like you outright ignored the article that poster linked, showing how deep Microsoft's connections to the CCP actually are. Because, you know, you aren't a foreign company big in China if you aren't connected in some way to the CCP. Ask Disney :/.

There is nothing inherently different from Microsoft owning a company than Tencent, and again, at least Tencent have been actually trying to distance themselves from the CCP these days. Will they ever 100% divorce themselves from the CCP? No, but that also isn't realistic. I'm not against the idea of capping Chinese companies from buying American ones as long as the CCP prevents American ones from buying Chinese companies.

That said, the "fear" of a company like Tencent making acquisitions or purchasing majority shares in game companies in no way validates or justifies allowing Microsoft to consolidate the industry themselves. Unfortunately that's what many seem to think it should be, and they are completely foolish in thinking so.

 

[Crow]

The world is bigger than a few countries, and the change in dynamics in the last decade proves this.

As someone outside of the USA, what's the difference of being spied on by the CCP or the US Gov? At least China is a bigger partner.
And I know Tencent won't make any exclusive mandates, the only assurance I can give you is that they will leverage IPs to the p2w mobile game farms, since those make huge bank in SEA and Mainland China

never said it wasn't. Just telling you want the western world is considered. Difference is China is a foreign enity with hostile intentions to the western world. Which makes MS more preferable then Tencent. This is a popular opinion in the western world.

 

[Crow]

You couldn't be more wrong if you tried. MS has as much if not more ties to the American government than Tencent does to the CCP. It's also like you outright ignored the article that poster linked, showing how deep Microsoft's connections to the CCP actually are. Because, you know, you aren't a foreign company big in China if you aren't connected in some way to the CCP. Ask Disney :/.

There is nothing inherently different from Microsoft owning a company than Tencent, and again, at least Tencent have been actually trying to distance themselves from the CCP these days. Will they ever 100% divorce themselves from the CCP? No, but that also isn't realistic. I'm not against the idea of capping Chinese companies from buying American ones as long as the CCP prevents American ones from buying Chinese companies.

That said, the "fear" of a company like Tencent making acquisitions or purchasing majority shares in game companies in no way validates or justifies allowing Microsoft to consolidate the industry themselves. Unfortunately that's what many seem to think it should be, and they are completely foolish in thinking so.

Yes they have ties to the CCP because they do business there. Like every major american company. Tencent is literally made in China, And has very close ties to CCP members. Yes their is a difference because China has hostile intentions to the western world. The enemy owning your property isnt good. People prefering MS over tencent is a popular opinion in the western world.

 

[thicc_girls_are_teh_best]

never said it wasn't. Just telling you want the western world is considered. Difference is China is a foreign enity with hostile intentions to the western world. Which makes MS more preferable then Tencent. This is a popular opinion in the western world.

Oh okay. I'm sure many displaced peoples in the Middle East, Africa, Latin America and Asian territories have nothing but love for America's military complex...of which Big Tech companies like Microsoft openly enable and help fund/provide technologies to support.

Also you can blame the West for empowering governments like the CCP by pumping them with outsourced labor and manufacturing decades prior and having the Chinese government purchase/absorb tons of Western debt during the banking crisis of the late '00s. But, this is where I'm going to end it with the political stuff here. It's inherently a problem when people try turning to geopolitics to justify a company like Microsoft to consolidate the industry.

These arguments aren't that far removed from the blatant xenophobic dogwhistling I've been seeing used against Sony from Xbox fans on Twitter, and even U.S senators. Stuff Microsoft helped enable during the course of this acquisition, BTW (one of the biggest reasons I am more or less putting the brand on Ignore for a long while).

 

[BlueLyria]

You couldn't be more wrong if you tried. MS has as much if not more ties to the American government than Tencent does to the CCP. It's also like you outright ignored the article that poster linked, showing how deep Microsoft's connections to the CCP actually are. Because, you know, you aren't a foreign company big in China if you aren't connected in some way to the CCP. Ask Disney :/.

There is nothing inherently different from Microsoft owning a company than Tencent, and again, at least Tencent have been actually trying to distance themselves from the CCP these days. Will they ever 100% divorce themselves from the CCP? No, but that also isn't realistic. I'm not against the idea of capping Chinese companies from buying American ones as long as the CCP prevents American ones from buying Chinese companies.

That said, the "fear" of a company like Tencent making acquisitions or purchasing majority shares in game companies in no way validates or justifies allowing Microsoft to consolidate the industry themselves. Unfortunately that's what many seem to think it should be, and they are completely foolish in thinking so.

I'd like to add that the Chinese Gov is more nuanced than just "the CCP", IIRC didn't Jack Ma and someone else had a big falling out over a difference in views with Xi? Chinese politics are wild and outside of China we can't get a real picture of how they actually work.

never said it wasn't. Just telling you want the western world is considered. Difference is China is a foreign enity with hostile intentions to the western world. Which makes MS more preferable then Tencent. This is a popular opinion in the western world.

And again, the power shift has changed the perception of "the western world", you should more accurately describe it as the US and (some) allies.
Also, you cannot just project the opinion that it's a popular opinion, it's something that changes a lot depending on where you frequent and the people you talk to, specially when it starts involving actual politics.

 

[Crow]

Oh okay. I'm sure many displaced peoples in the Middle East, Africa, Latin America and Asian territories have nothing but love for America's military complex...of which Big Tech companies like Microsoft openly enable and help fund/provide technologies to support.

Also you can blame the West for empowering governments like the CCP by pumping them with outsourced labor and manufacturing decades prior and having the Chinese government purchase/absorb tons of Western debt during the banking crisis of the late '00s. But, this is where I'm going to end it with the political stuff here. It's inherently a problem when people try turning to geopolitics to justify a company like Microsoft to consolidate the industry.

These arguments aren't that far removed from the blatant xenophobic dogwhistling I've been seeing used against Sony from Xbox fans on Twitter, and even U.S senators. Stuff Microsoft helped enable during the course of this acquisition, BTW (one of the biggest reasons I am more or less putting the brand on Ignore for a long while).

Whether or not those people feel wronged about America is irrelevant. We're talking about a country that has hostile intention to the western world, buying companies in their territory. Pretty sure China doesn't allow foreign companies to buy their companies. What does that tell you? Western companies should do the same.

 

[Crow]

I'd like to add that the Chinese Gov is more nuanced than just "the CCP", IIRC didn't Jack Ma and someone else had a big falling out over a difference in views with Xi? Chinese politics are wild and outside of China we can't get a real picture of how they actually work.


And again, the power shift has changed the perception of "the western world", you should more accurately describe it as the US and (some) allies.
Also, you cannot just project the opinion that it's a popular opinion, it's something that changes a lot depending on where you frequent and the people you talk to, specially when it starts involving actual politics.

western world is generally considered those places. It is the popular opinion. Most westerns wouldn't want the Chinese to lead them. Because their a hostile nation. Right now its a neutral relationship but that can change at any moment.

 

[BlueLyria]

western world is generally considered those places. It is the popular opinion. Most westerns wouldn't want the Chinese to lead them. Because their a hostile nation. Right now its a neutral relationship but that can change at any moment.

Yes, and that generalization came to be after the multiple decades of American dominance, which is no longer the case.
And again, you cannot generalize, you're going to find out that even in these places, opinions are way more sour than what you believe.

But I'll drop it, as there seems to be no mutual understanding and @thicc_girls_are_teh_best has put it in a way I could never put in so eloquently. And this conversation has derailed way too much from the topic at hand or even the discussion of Activision being owned by MS vs Tencent.

Apologies @Bryank75 for proliferating this kind of political talk here.

 

[Vertigo]

I can’t even call China a hostile nation when my country has been in perpetual bullshit wars for my entire lifetime.

Even if CCP were to have regulatory body heavily invested in steering their gaming companies…

My phone listens to my conversations to target me with ads. Every app you use has collected your data. Where’s the difference? Does your government not spy on you? Of course it does.

Microsoft is the greater evil.

 

[Crow]

Yes, and that generalization came to be after the multiple decades of American dominance, which is no longer the case.
And again, you cannot generalize, you're going to find out that even in these places, opinions are way more sour than what you believe.

But I'll drop it, as there seems to be no mutual understanding and @thicc_girls_are_teh_best has put it in a way I could never put in so eloquently. And this conversation has derailed way too much from the topic at hand or even the discussion of Activision being owned by MS vs Tencent.

Apologies @Bryank75 for proliferating this kind of political talk here.

Blame that @Gods&Monsters kid. American dominance is still the same. Their still the only super power in the world. It wouldn't it take rocket science to see most westerns wouldn't want the chinese to lead them. This is obvious.

 

[BlueLyria]

Blame that @Gods&Monsters kid. American dominance is still the same. Their still the only super power in the world. It wouldn't it take rocket science to see most westerns wouldn't want the chinese to lead them. This is obvious.

"American dominance is still the same"

Spoiler: More political BS, Sorry I had to

The USA got kicked out of a desert wasteland by a bunch of ill equipped, barely fed, undertrained and exhausted population. For the second time. They can barely rally support for Ukraine anymore, their own population has grown discontent. Countries that would at one point during the height of the USA dominance beg for a scrap of attention now would rather turn down their talks in favor of aligning themselves towards Russia or China, you're going to have a very rude wake up call when you realize that the world order is no longer that of the 80s. China has grown way bigger than what anyone would expect in the last 30 years, India has been growing exponentially as well. Even Saudi Arabia at one point refused the US. If we were back in the 80s, That would never have happened, Ukraine wouldn't be in the situation they are now, USA would never allow China to push towards the removal of the dollar as the de-facto international currency, the times are changing man.

Oh, and since when is Tencent acquiring a company equivalent to "having the Chinese lead them"?

 

[Crow]

Spoiler: More political BS, Sorry I had to

The USA got kicked out of a desert wasteland by a bunch of ill equipped, barely fed, undertrained and exhausted population. For the second time. They can barely rally support for Ukraine anymore, their own population has grown discontent. Countries that would at one point during the height of the USA dominance beg for a scrap of attention now would rather turn down their talks in favor of aligning themselves towards Russia or China, you're going to have a very rude wake up call when you realize that the world order is no longer that of the 80s. China has grown way bigger than what anyone would expect in the last 30 years, India has been growing exponentially as well. Even Saudi Arabia at one point refused the US. If we were back in the 80s, That would never have happened, Ukraine wouldn't be in the situation they are now, USA would never allow China to push towards the removal of the dollar as the de-facto international currency, the times are changing man.

Oh, and since when is Tencent acquiring a company equivalent to "having the Chinese lead them"?

China will never replace the USD. USD is the reserve currency for a reason. More reliable. America is still the only super power. Don't say your done with the poltics talk when ur still yapping about it

 

[Zzero]

The "western world" doesn't revolve around USA and it's political allies,

You can argue right or wrong but it pretty much is the USA and its political allies. Unless you are one of those people who treats it as a geographic term and includes Latin America.

I'd like to add that the Chinese Gov is more nuanced than just "the CCP", IIRC didn't Jack Ma and someone else had a big falling out over a difference in views with Xi? Chinese politics are wild and outside of China we can't get a real picture of how they actually work.

Jack made the mistake of making a rather milquetoast comment on the need for regulatory reform in order to lessen corruption. At that point the weight of the government turned against him and started hammering his companies. Five years later it still hasn't stopped, only lessened. For those of you wondering why I "haha" the idea of Microsoft having a finger on the scale in court battles, its because I have a wide enough view to see stuff like this going on in places like China where it is very, very blatant.


Of course, I am also totally fine with Tencent, and said as much in the other thread.