I dont agree that selling the streaming rights to Ubisoft is this massive L for MS. I see it as yet another publisher MS now has their tentacles in and we all know how that goes.
Microsoft's acquisition of Activison Blizzard
- Thread starter Darth Vader
- Start date
How is it corrupt? They had issue with cloud streaming of games and MS decided to sell the rights to all ABK games to a third party, now the cloud streaming aspect of the deal no longer gives MS any additional power in that market because of ABK titles. So now the CMA has a new deal to look at that addressed their only reason for blocking the acquisition. Were they corrupt for blocking the original deal because of cloud streaming? Are they corrupt now for re-evaluating a deal that involves selling the rights to streaming to an independent company? Or are they just corrupt because only PlayStation is good and the CMA should support that truth in how they operate?
They blocked the original deal and their only remedy was full prohibition of ABK altogether. There has been a sudden turn ever since the FTC lost their case and now they believe they could work something out and come to an agreement, which was basically said during the CAT hearing.
So people are questioning why they would only suggest full prohibition and then lower the bar dramatically. We don't know for sure if they're going to accept this deal, but what we said during the CAT hearing makes it appear like that's what they're going to do.
I'm happy some Playstation people will still choose to play some cloud games from ABK, that is great news. I just enjoy Gamepass and PSPlus. Subscription services are fantastic, especially day 1 content.
While you didn't suggest this, I have heard it elsewhere: this ensures MS can never buy Ubisoft because the conditions of the ABK purchase require Ubisoft to operate independently of Microsoft, so that's a win in and of itself.
The biggest win is still MS not being allowed to buy anymore publishers/devs. They can fuck right off.
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No, or at least not as a new case, because Microsoft's agreement with the CMA to sell streaming rights of their output does not actually change the US ruling that they can merge without preconditions. That said, the FTC is still pursuing its case against Microsoft, they never abandoned it. They just failed to get an injunction to prevent Microsoft from proceeding with the deal. While Microsoft is free under US law to close the deal currently, they would still have to obey whatever remedy the FTC demands if it loses its court case to them in the end (highly unlikely such a thing would happen in the end, though, as SCOTUS is very conservative rright now on issues related to government agencies interfering in private business.)
Also, while those CoD agreements would still be binding for both Activision and Ubisoft in this deal, Microsoft seemingly does not have to make PS or Switch ports of anything other than CoD. So if it wants to make a Crash game with only Xbox and PC skus then Ubisoft would be free to put every version they have on U-Connect, its just that no PS version would exist to do so wirh.
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But they still have a relationship with Ubisoft because they release games on Xbox so they could make a deal for UBI+ on Game Pass like EA Play or more Day 1 on GP in exchange.
Ubisoft will become a better partner for deals and marketing. They will probably host all their games on Azure when the deal with Amazon expires. Privileged relationship and win win for both of them.
I'm sure Sony just lost another partner after Bethesda, Activision Blizzard, Sega and now Ubisoft.
Something like Ubi Classics on PS+ could become GP exclusive really quickly as soon as the contract with Sony ends.
I think I read that Ubisoft said the titles would be available to PS users via ubi classics. Basically anything that would be seen as Microsoft getting around this deal would trigger an antitrust investigation.
Just because I have a different opinion than you, Don't need to be rude.
Have a good night. I'm off to bed. Try and be more kind to people with differenting opinions. It's just video games.
Subscription services have not been good, healthy or positive for any industry they cannibalized. Historically they're pretty cool to start with, as they offer unprecedented access to goods, at extremely low prices -- this functions as a market undercut which slowly kills all alternatives as they cannot afford to compete. Once each of those markets is dominated by their respective subscription service, prices begin to go up, developer/artist/musician/director/publisher contracts become lower in value as "shelf space" is no longer premium value to the service and it's not like they have any alternative anyway, and because of all of these points, the quality of the offer itself starts to decline rapidly.
Shows get cancelled more often, musicians at the lower and mid levels can no longer survive because individual streams pay almost nothing and will only ever be livable if in gigantic bulk, movies further polarize wherein you only have very low risk tiny indies or extremely gigantic AAA gambits because it is no longer viable to make a mid-sized project that can pay for itself with ticket costs, because that's not a thing anymore for anything below Disney.
So, no, subscription services don't have a good track record at all, bud. Gaming will not be different; all the same issues (related to costs and ongoing expenses) are even worse in the games industry and you will see that very clearly expressed on your Game Pass once you realize that Microsoft no longer has any incentive to give some farming indie game a contract as they're aware that it will not add any value to the service realistically, especially when they no longer need any "volume" due to buying out every publisher in the Milky Way -- and trust me, that is exactly what they are aiming for.
This is perhaps why people are being a bit mean to you. All of this is blatantly obvious stuff for the last 15 years; there's a wealth of evidence for this, it's all extremely well documented and it all falls squarely with Microsoft's strategies of yester year which were problematic at the time, as they are today. So when someone argues otherwise, it comes off as either trolling or just blatant bootlicking.
Thats very well put, But I can still enjoy subscription services. It's my opinion and apparently millions of others as well. I like it, It works good for me and the kids. There is no need to be mean to anyone for a difference in opinion. Especially on a gaming forum where we are supposed to have fun. If MS or Sony buys everything up and I know longer enjoy gaming, I will walk away. It is not life or death. Many more important things other than video games .
Do you guys think MS put the cart before the horse in the sense that they 100 percent banked on this will be the generation cloud gaming takes off? Kind of how late in the 360 generation they built the xbone around kinect because the assumption was that would be the future? With Ubisoft having 15 years of cloud streaming of ABK games, it really does seem like MS has conceded cloud not being the future anytime soon.
So it seems to me they have (reluctantly):
-conceded the console arena based on sales and market shares. Bleeding money on hardware and just recently spiked to price making their dire situation even worse.
-Admitted subscription gaming (gamepass) growth has stalled out
- Admitted cloud hasnt taken off like they thought and plan on giving steaming right to ABK games to Ubisoft for 15 years
So my question is, where do they go from here? WHAT is even the point of remaining in gaming for them other than to say "Me too?"
So it seems to me they have (reluctantly):
-conceded the console arena based on sales and market shares. Bleeding money on hardware and just recently spiked to price making their dire situation even worse.
-Admitted subscription gaming (gamepass) growth has stalled out
- Admitted cloud hasnt taken off like they thought and plan on giving steaming right to ABK games to Ubisoft for 15 years
So my question is, where do they go from here? WHAT is even the point of remaining in gaming for them other than to say "Me too?"