Microsoft's acquisition of Activison Blizzard

Dabaus

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28 Jun 2022
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Regardless of this judge rules, I don’t have much hope, I’ve yet to see how they get around the cma.
 

Loy310

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14 Aug 2022
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Been at work since Jim’s video testimony ended.
Anyone kind enough to give a quick summary on how the ms and ftc economist did?
Would greatly appreciate it. Thanks
 

BlueLyria

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29 Apr 2023
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Been at work since Jim’s video testimony ended.
Anyone kind enough to give a quick summary on how the ms and ftc economist did?
Would greatly appreciate it. Thanks
Bloodbath, MS's lawyer made the dude run in circles for like an hour, she's ruthless.
Jimbo did pretty ok, possibly one of the best suits of the Hearing with Sarah Bond, I'd argue so far that the worst witness was Dr. Robert Lee, and then Phil Spencer, but there's a chasm between them and a small hop between Phil,Pete Hines, Jimbo and Sarah
 
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Cool hand luke

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14 Feb 2023
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Bloodbath, MS's lawyer made the dude run in circles for like an hour, she's ruthless.
Jimbo did pretty ok, possibly one of the best suits of the Hearing with Sarah Bond, I'd argue so far that the worst witness was Dr. Robert Lee, and then Phil Spencer, but there's a chasm between them and a small hop between Phil,Pete Hines, Jimbo and Sarah
St-st-stutterin Sarah Bond at the top? I can dig that ranking.

I'm not able to follow these live. Dare I ask for the best place to get an unbiased review of the day just gone?
 

Cool hand luke

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14 Feb 2023
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I read the tweaktown twitter guy's summary and then the verge's and again, I honestly can't see what the doomsdaying is about. The FTC is making a case that Microsoft has incentive to foreclose, that Jim Ryan thought so, had Lee offer a plausible model, had him give an excellent breakdown of why even GP as a subscription service was a separate market by likening it to Netflix and B2O movies, and supported it with internal Microsoft documents corroborating they would pursue sub service exclusivity.

Meanwhile, bizarrely, again, we had Bonkers Beth Wilkinson go off on a tangent about Sony, this time about how they retaliated to the announcement of an acquisition by making...FFXVI exclusive? And their economist tried to suggest COD was not unique, but even Judge Coley called it a unicorn in gaming.

Edit: Sorry, I'm just shaking my head in disbelief here at the Beth Wilkinson thing. It's no wonder every Xbox shill is shitting up forums with "Sony, too!!!" when Microsoft's legal counsel thinks it's an appropriate defence to a regulator wanting to block you from an anticompetitive acquisition because of your history of anticompetitive behaviour.

Microsoft is like the snitch child in elementary. Pathetic.
 
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Sleepy Brown

Banned
5 Jul 2022
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Nah. CMA already killed the deal. There's no way around this.
There definitely is a way. The CMA won't be able to hold once the FTC flubs out.
This whole thing is just wasting everybody's time. So Microsoft and Activision-Blizzard have to wait longer to get the deal done.
But the deal will be done. Activision-Blizzard will be a Microsoft company. And then this whole CMA/FTC/Sony charade can finally end.
 

Nhomnhom

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25 Mar 2023
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I read the tweaktown twitter guy's summary and then the verge's and again, I honestly can't see what the doomsdaying is about. The FTC is making a case that Microsoft has incentive to foreclose, that Jim Ryan thought so, had Lee offer a plausible model, had him give an excellent breakdown of why even GP as a subscription service was a separate market by likening it to Netflix and B2O movies, and supported it with internal Microsoft documents corroborating they would pursue sub service exclusivity.

Meanwhile, bizarrely, again, we had Bonkers Beth Wilkinson go off on a tangent about Sony, this time about how they retaliated to the announcement of an acquisition by making...FFXVI exclusive? And their economist tried to suggest COD was not unique, but even Judge Coley called it a unicorn in gaming.

Edit: Sorry, I'm just shaking my head in disbelief here at the Beth Wilkinson thing. It's no wonder every Xbox shill is shitting up forums with "Sony, too!!!" when Microsoft's legal counsel thinks it's an appropriate defence to a regulator wanting to block you from an anticompetitive acquisition because of your history of anticompetitive behaviour.

Microsoft is like the snitch child in elementary. Pathetic.
That's why FFXVI is the MVP, that's why FFXVI is the GoaT! No other game could be seen as the answer to a $70B acquisition.
 

JohnnyLove

Member
3 May 2023
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As far as we know, the CMA has sufficient powers to single-handedly block such deals. It certainly doesnt need FTC or EC. MS will try to put more pressure on it, but I suspect the CMA will be even harder on it, especially after Microsoft's insults.