Microsoft's acquisition of Activison Blizzard

[riesgoyfortuna]

Some context?

The

Was there ever a mask to begin with? Anyone that understands coverage favoritism, partiality by omission etc, specially a trained eye used to being around/analyzing political partisanship, geopolitics etc will see through those boys like a knife slicing through butter. It's amateur hour.

The worst part about DF being a partisan rag of Nvidia and Microsoft is seeing the PlayStation community complete inability to shake them off by way of ignoring them. Every time I see a PS fanboy counter-troll Xbox or PC using DF videos and "findings" I got to . Nice job amplifying, and defacto legitimizing them idiot. Then the obvious - don't cry and eat the bitterness when they push their hands on the lever to favor the competition if you enable them. As for NXGamer, the second he made a pact with IGN for exposure, that was it. He can't break out big - nonsensical.

and analista del bit a well now ms beggar

 

[thicc_girls_are_teh_best]

The latest digital foundry with Tom warren its a full mask off for these guys, also warren in video its a little fat fella with stupid voice, it explain a lot of things

I stopped watching Digital Foundry content a good while ago. Even the DF Retro series, I think I'm going to skip those in the future because of John. Besides there are other content creators who have done better retrospectives on gaming hardware & games and don't seem to cap or shill for a near $3 trillion mega-conglomerate with some of the most ridiculous statements ever ("Series X WAS their mid-gen refresh, guys!!!").

And to be perfectly honest, channels like Digital Foundry are more or less redundant these days. We can tell what a bad game looks like; I don't need someone to count pixels to show me why RedFall looks like trash visually, nor do I need them to do it to tell me why Burning Shores looks amazing. The tech these games are using now is more of smaller incremental advances of techniques which were already well-established in prior generations.

 

[Swift_Star]

I stopped caring about DF because it’s worthless. There’s nothing I can do about performance of the games and the differences are ridiculous, they nitpick every single stupid stuff. Zooming an image 200x to see aliasing is utter stupid.
Counting pixels is stupid.
Fps floating in a 55~60fps windows is stupid.
DF is stupid. It takes the joy away from gaming.
It’s a stupid channel with stupid presenters.

 

[Gods&Monsters]

The CAT judge approved to drop the appeal. Now only the new deal with the CMA stands in the way.

By an Order of the President dated 21 July 2023, the application made jointly by the CMA and by Microsoft – and with the support of Activision to adjourn the hearing of Microsoft's judicial review application (which is due to be heard on Friday 28 July 2023, with a time estimate of six days) was granted.

 

[nongkris]

The CAT judge approved to drop the appeal. Now only the new deal with the CMA stands in the way.

This won't happen but for entertainment purposes, since CMA never saw the new deal, what if it also sucks and they chose to not accept it. Wouldn't the old deal automatically fail now that the appeal is dropped

 

[Arminius]

Was Judge Smith compromised?

 

[Gods&Monsters]

Was Judge Smith compromised?

This won't happen but for entertainment purposes, since CMA never saw the new deal, what if it also sucks and they chose to not accept it. Wouldn't the old deal automatically fail now that the appeal is dropped

It's now political with the US government and politicians getting involved. Other US companies like Google, Amazon or Apple don't have the same privilege. The CMA will have to let it go through no matter what even if the deal sucks.

 

[Arminius]

It’s Joever.

 

[Zzero]

I stopped caring about DF because it’s worthless. There’s nothing I can do about performance of the games and the differences are ridiculous, they nitpick every single stupid stuff. Zooming an image 200x to see aliasing is utter stupid.
Counting pixels is stupid.
Fps floating in a 55~60fps windows is stupid.
DF is stupid. It takes the joy away from gaming.
It’s a stupid channel with stupid presenters.

Yes, I'm sure the technical, detail oriented channel is "stupid" and not the person who doesn't see the point. Even if you don't get use for their content it still pushes the PC gaming industry in the right direction, just like Total Biscuit's PC options and UI critiquing content did a decade ago.

 

[On Demand]

The CAT judge approved to drop the appeal. Now only the new deal with the CMA stands in the way.

Was hoping he would deny it and push the appeal all the way to October.

This new deal doesn’t exist. CMA is just making shit up to try to get it passed.

 

[DForce]

Not surprised.

They were basically giving too many hints during the conference that they were going to accept the new deal. The CMA went from a full prohibition stand to just... a partial cloud divestment in the UK.

 

[Edmund]

The worst part about this deal going through is not the Xbox fans rubbing salt in our wounds. That's fine with me. What I hate is that smug bitch Lulu Cheng and Brad Smith getting away with their unprofessional behaviour. And Phil Spencer despite his lies, still being heralded as some good guy.

I'm just feeling so sick.

MS is just going to buy up the industry with no one daring to oppose them right? This is fucking scary.

 

[Arminius]

People keep saying Microsoft can never buy Japanese publishers because of the Japanese government. What people should have learned is pay people enough money, and they’ll look the other way. Money talks.

 

[Eternal_Wings]

People keep saying Microsoft can never buy Japanese publishers because of the Japanese government. What people should have learned is pay people enough money, and they’ll look the other way. Money talks.

Well it’s pretty hard for foreigners to try. The laws are strict for overseas companies. MS tried twice to buy Square Enix and Sega. Both rejected them twice. This is a clear message that no major pub in Japan wants to be controlled by an American company. I honestly doubt the problem was money alone, it’s the Japanese corporate culture which prohibits themselves to sell to a western company.
Because with the day a Japanese pub would sell themselves to MS, they can consider themselves dead in a couple of years. It would also occur a mass exodus of talent. Shinji Mikami left because he didn’t want to be prisoned by Microsoft.

 

[Gods&Monsters]

MS is just going to buy up the industry with no one daring to oppose them right? This is fucking scary.

Yes. In a few months they will buy another publisher because their market share won't change with the Activision purchase so they can use the same tactic. Regulators don't want to but there's nothing in the law to stop them.

All this talk about stopping Big Tech doesn't include Microsoft. They're free to do whatever they want because they have people in every government worldwide.

 

[Eternal_Wings]

Yes. In a few months they will buy another publisher because their market share won't change with the Activision purchase so they can use the same tactic. Regulators don't want to but there's nothing in the law to stop them.

All this talk about stopping Big Tech doesn't include Microsoft. They're free to do whatever they want because they have people in every government worldwide.

I think Microsoft will not stop. They probably wait for a year or more and then try to grab a pub with potential to lure players to Gamepass. Well there is indeed a publisher who has loved franchises on Xbox and keeping players busy for a long time: Ubisoft. Right now there value is really low and they are financially hurting a bit. Ubisoft is down. I think they would welcome that. Also MS knows a Sega would not help. The 3 day embargo did nothing for them.

 

[Gediminas]

I think Microsoft will not stop. They probably wait for a year or more and then try to grab a pub with potential to lure players to Gamepass. Well there is indeed a publisher who has loved franchises on Xbox and keeping players busy for a long time: Ubisoft. Right now there value is really low and they are financially hurting a bit. Ubisoft is down. I think they would welcome that. Also MS knows a Sega would not help. The 3 day embargo did nothing for them.

That's why most strategic move for Sony would be to buy Ubisoft. It wouldn't cost much. Upcoming games will boost their worth. Plus m$ is occupied. It is basically most important buy for Sony in the west.

 

[Eternal_Wings]

That's why most strategic move for Sony would be to buy Ubisoft. It wouldn't cost much. Upcoming games will boost their worth. Plus m$ is occupied. It is basically most important buy for Sony in the west.

Well if even Sony would have interest, Ubisoft would need to be willing to sell. Honestly I doubt how close of a relationship Microsoft and Ubisoft have. Ubisoft also fended two years ago a hostile takeover off. I can imagine they have specific conditions under which company they would want to work. I honestly don’t see Sony attempting to buy them. Because unlike Japan, I think Microsoft would be able to bid here. Ubisoft is also too big with 20k employees. This would cost Sony too much resources to restructure them. Also it seems like French people do prefer Americans over Japanese. Probably a culture thing.
Sony does value other franchises such as Final Fantasy, Resident Evil, Silent Hill etc. more than AC. I mean look who has always marketing rights for Ubisoft games: Microsoft. Best outcome would be if Amazon or Tencent would buy them.

 

[Danja]

Well if even Sony would have interest, Ubisoft would need to be willing to sell. Honestly I doubt how close of a relationship Microsoft and Ubisoft have. Ubisoft also fended two years ago a hostile takeover off. I can imagine they have specific conditions under which company they would want to work. I honestly don’t see Sony attempting to buy them. Because unlike Japan, I think Microsoft would be able to bid here. Ubisoft is also too big with 20k employees. This would cost Sony too much resources to restructure them. Also it seems like French people do prefer Americans over Japanese. Probably a culture thing.
Sony does value other franchises such as Final Fantasy, Resident Evil, Silent Hill etc. more than AC. I mean look who has always marketing rights for Ubisoft games: Microsoft. Best outcome would be if Amazon or Tencent would buy them.

So basically Sony shouldn't make a bid for anyone outside of Japan since Microsoft can always attempt to outbid? What kinda logic?

Sony and Ubisoft have a very good relationship actually which is why Playstation also currently has the marketing rights for the upcoming AC game... Like they've done many times in the past since they rotate them yearlylast generation. Also did you know AC was originally meant to be a PS3 exclusive? Who first debuted and marketed Watch Dogs as well? Sony also aligned with them for the Avatar game. Ubisoft+ came to Playstation before Xbox and most importantly... Ubisoft makes more money on Playstation.

Ubisoft is huge indeed but they also have developers in Areas Sony doesn't, it's an easy win. They also can make them a subsidiary of Playstation / SIE allowing them to keep GaaS stuff Multiplat but reel in the Single Player stuf.

Also use that workforce to assist other smaller WWS teams with their GaaS post launch.

I'd love to see them join Worldwide Studios personally.

 

[Deleted member 223]

It's now political with the US government and politicians getting involved. Other US companies like Google, Amazon or Apple don't have the same privilege. The CMA will have to let it go through no matter what even if the deal sucks.

They do too.