UK CMA Says Microsoft-Activision Deal Will 'Not Result in a Substantial Lessening of Competition'

[Nhomnhom]

Everyone says gamers aren’t business minded and Sony execs or other employers know what they are doing, well.… Its time to show if they have the brains and fast enough to save other IP’s from leaving Playstation forever.

MS getting a few more publishers along with their IP’s, is gonna be bad news for PS. PS can make all the new IPs they want, but they will need to do alot more than they are currently doing. And it would be nice to keep some from going to MS.

Can Sony even afford to bet on new IPs now that they have to go against so many big and established IPs?

Can they even afford to ignore Uncharted, TLoU, God of War? Maybe in the short term they can (doesn't look like they are doing it, speacilly if you look at how much they are milking Horizon) but certainly not in the long term when going against the likes of CoD, TES, Diablo, THPS, Fallout, Warcraft, etc. MS is actually the one now that has a bunch of studios to work on all these IPs with room to spare.

Im not worried about Square tbh. Its the others. CDPR, Sega, Level 5, EA, Tecmo, Koei, Take two etc

Capcom, Konami and Namco aren’t going to MS but the others might do. And yes, some people aren’t fans of the above but they have plenty of fans and when you keep adding it up, its gonna be bad news for everyone else not MS.

Im not worried about Square tbh. Its the others. CDPR, Sega, Level 5, EA, Tecmo, Koei, Take two etc
Capcom, Konami and Namco aren’t going to MS but the others might do. And yes, some people aren’t fans of the above but they have plenty of fans and when you keep adding it up, its gonna be bad news for everyone else not MS.

Nintendo pretty dumb when it comes to these things. Right now they are on a roll now, but they are always one step away from having a Wii U, Gamecube or N64 generation. Below 35million units is kind of a failure and Nintendo hits that make 3 out of 7 console generations. They aren’t as invincible as everyone thinks

Nintendo has all eggs in one basket now, so if they ever get another WiiU they are done for as platform holders specially with how weak Nintendo is on services/digital distribution. Same for Sony and another console like the PS3 that fails to outsell Xbox in NA.

 

[Yurinka]

Shame but the deal being approved was always the most likely scenario. S

The deal still isn't approved. The CMA now isn't worried about consoles, but continues worried about cloud gaming market, so they can still block the deal. Or well, the US regulator can block it too.

In any case, since the start I always thought it was going to be approved by every single regulator.

Nintendo will be the next target if MS gets past Sony.

Both in consoles market, game subscriptions market and in the overall gaming market after this acquisition MS will continue behind Sony.

 

[Yobo]

lmfao... yea, they updated their info and found that what MS was saying from the start is true, and that making COD exclusive made no sense... despite Sony and their fanboys constantly claiming otherwise...

...and now we have those same people saying "well duh... but this doesn't mean anything"...

Let's put it this way... before the issue was the console and cloud markets... now the issue is just the cloud market.. and MS will address that, and largely already have.

So not addressing anything I stated?

Leave the goalposts where they were and address it, or we can just consider your argument shut down

 

[Nhomnhom]

The deal still isn't approved. The CMA now isn't worried about consoles, but continues worried about cloud gaming market, so they can still block the deal. Or well, the US regulator can block it too.

In any case, since the start I always thought it was going to be approved by every single regulator.


Both in consoles market, game subscriptions market and in the overall gaming market after this acquisition MS will continue behind Sony.

Regardless, now they know what they are up against and if they are not dumb they should go all in on securing the future of PlayStation. They are clearly exposed to MS buying up their partners and chocking them out long term.

In the now unlikely event that MS fails to acquire ABK they'll go for EA or for a combination of other smaller publisher.

 

[Yobo]

Regulators will not allow Sony... the market leader, to purchase a company the size of Take Two.

And Sony can't afford to pay what Take Two would demand. Take Two does not want to be bought in the first place, unlike Activision ... which makes it a VERY different proposition entirely. Sony wont risk an acquisition knowing full well that it likely wouldn't pass regulatory scrutiny.

Japanese companies make far more sense, and are within reasonable price ranges, and are far more likely to pass.

Nope, all the precedent is there to show why they wouldn't make GTA exclusive as a result of loss in revenue. And Take 2 is 1/3 the size of Activision

 

[Remij]

So not addressing anything I stated?

Leave the goalposts where they were and address it, or we can just consider your argument shut down

Your goalposts are in another field. Go cry over there.

 

[Yobo]

Your goal posts are in another field. Go cry over there.

Lacking in any critical thinking and in any originality. Must be tough being you

 

[Remij]

Nope, all the precedent is there to show why they wouldn't make GTA exclusive as a result of loss in revenue. And Take 2 is 1/3 the size of Activision

You don't know that... You can't make the same conclusion between COD and MS, to Sony and GTA. The vast majority of COD sales are on PS. It CLEARLY doesn't make sense for MS to remove the title from the platform which produces the most revenue.. In the case of GTA... PS will still be the platform which produces the vast majority of revenue for the title... so Sony could very easily theoretically make GTA exclusive and make it work for them.

And Xbox's market share is less than 1/3 of Playstation...

 

[Nhomnhom]

Nope, all the precedent is there to show why they wouldn't make GTA exclusive as a result of loss in revenue. And Take 2 is 1/3 the size of Activision

I find it weird that to some people all Sony can do is wait for the inevitable while MS buys up everything and grows massively in size.If that is the case and they can't play the consolidation game then they should sell of PlayStation to a big player that can afford to be in that race before it's value is tanked. PlayStation without a dominant console is just a medium sized publisher.

You don't know that... You can't make the same conclusion between COD and MS, to Sony and GTA. The vast majority of COD sales are on PS. It CLEARLY doesn't make sense for MS to remove the title from the platform which produces the most revenue.. In the case of GTA... PS will still be the platform which produces the vast majority of revenue for the title... so Sony could very easily theoretically make GTA exclusive and make it work for them.

And Xbox's market share is less than 1/3 of Playstation...

If those are the rules then it's Xbox God given right to dominate the console space by being able to grow in size until Sony can't compete anymore in a way that is irreversible. What is Sony going to do when MS has a bigger market share, drastically more devs, much bigger IPs and still much deeper pockets? Even after ABK deal passes there will be a window of many years before they gain market share should MS, by your logic, be allowed to keep buying publisher while Sony isn't.

If Sony isn't going to go all in to defend PlayStation position they are as dumb as a rock and will be irrelevant in 20 years. They are nothing without PlayStation at this point.

 

[Darth Vader]

And Sony can't afford to pay what Take Two would demand. Take Two does not want to be bought in the first place, unlike Activision ...

Your business knowledge is astounding. First, Sony could pay for that acquisition. Second, take two doesn't have wants or needs, it's a company. Any CEO that refuses say a buyout with 50% premium on stocks would be ousted faster than you can write stupid shit on this forum.

You have zero clue how the business world works

 

[Vertigo]

Sony doesn’t need to do shit at to mop the floor with Xbox.

All MS did was buy a way into making money off PlayStation software… because they can’t sell shit on their own… or make consumers desire their products.

RIP Activision.

 

[Loy310]

When I was on resetera, I don't remember ever seeing that PlanetSmasher guy happy. He complained about anything and everything. Amazing that he's still the same. I often wondered if he ever even played games.

I think planetsmasher is like MBG or that other xbox guy in youtube clickbait video titles. You cant complain this much for years and be taken seriously, does it for attention or to stir shit.

 

[Remij]

If those are the rules then it's Xbox God given right to dominate the console space by being able to grow in size until Sony can't compete anymore in a way that is irreversible. What is Sony going to do when MS has a bigger market share, drastically more devs, much bigger IPs and still much deeper pockets? Even after ABK deal passes there will be a window of many years before they gain market share should MS, by your logic MS should be allowed to keep buying publisher while Sony shouldn't.

If Sony isn't going to go all in to defend PlayStation position they are as dumb as a rock and will be irrelevant in 20 years. They are nothing without PlayStation at this point.

Sony has proven they can organically grow and build franchises into multi million sellers over time... MS has proven that they don't/can't do shit regardless of how many publishers they gobble up, MS is a farrrrr looooong way from dominating anything in gaming.

 

[Nhomnhom]

Sony doesn’t need to do shit at to mop the floor with Xbox.

All MS did was buy a way into making money off PlayStation software… because they can’t sell shit on their own… or make consumers desire their products.

RIP Activision.

CoD, Diablo, TES, Fallout, Doom, Warcraft, Overwatch, THPS, Crash, Spiro and so much more. MS can just time it so PlayStation gets cut out of those games come next gen and PlayStation is done for. There is nothing that stops MS from also playing the moneyhat exclusive deals the moment they get a better market share as well we saw that with the 360.

MS counter to Xbox having no market share in Japan is to push Sony out of NA, it's rigth there in their recent public declarations trying to turn this into a USA vs Japan/"America first" issue. That's the main advantage Sony always had over Xbox (on top of Xbox weak internal stable of studios).

MS gaming division is now so big that they could change direction away from Gamepass if it fails and still beat Sony at their own game of exclusive content.

Sony has proven they can organically grow and build franchises into multi million sellers over time... MS has proven that they don't/can't do shit regardless of how many publishers they gobble up, MS is a farrrrr looooong way from dominating anything in gaming.

They never proved that against a company trying to buy up the market and cutting them out of third party support.Not a single PlayStation console would have been successful without third party support, Sony is not Nintendo. You don't seem to be thinking long term.

Sony will fumble at some point and Horizon, Death Stranding and GoT sure as hell ain't going to save them. Spider-man will end upjust like MLB if MS gets a bigger market share.

 

[Remij]

Your business knowledge is astounding. First, Sony could pay for that acquisition. Second, take two doesn't have wants or needs, it's a company. Any CEO that refuses say a buyout with 50% premium on stocks would be ousted faster than you can write stupid shit on this forum.

You have zero clue how the business world works

TAKE. TWO. WILL. NOT. SELL. FOR. WHAT. SONY. WOULD. OFFER.

 

[Johnic]

Regulators will not allow Sony... the market leader, to purchase a company the size of Take Two.

And Sony can't afford to pay what Take Two would demand. Take Two does not want to be bought in the first place, unlike Activision ... which makes it a VERY different proposition entirely. Sony wont risk an acquisition knowing full well that it likely wouldn't pass regulatory scrutiny.

Japanese companies make far more sense, and are within reasonable price ranges, and are far more likely to pass.

There you go, that's what I'm asking. We don't have to agree but let's have an actual discussion.

Here's the thing. The Activision purchase would put MS slightly ahead of PS in terms of revenue. At that point Sony would be behind and could use that argument, much like MS is using it now. Over time it would erode their market position and they could claim an acquisition of that size is needed.

Here's the baffling thing, though, and it's an argument xbox shills constantly use whenever the deal hits a bump. The regulators aren't here to protect a company's revenue, they're here to protect the consumer. What baffles me is how is eliminating half of the entire console market benefiting consumers. Everyone's focused on COD but this acquisition, much like the Zenimax one, comes with a lot more IPs. IPs that will go exclusive, much like Zenimax ones.

Even if Sony's forced to pay double of what T2 is worth, that's 40 billion. It's well within their means. There's more to resources than pocket money. Debt is frequently used for things like this.

The problem isn't coming up with money, it's would it really be worth it. Yeah, they'd have to jump through a lor of hoops to get it approved. Hell, GTAV is the biggest entertainment product in history if I recall. I agree completely, this would be a hard sell, even with MS owning Activision. But money is not the issue if it's make or break for Sony.

 

[Darth Vader]

TAKE. TWO. WILL. NOT. SELL. FOR. WHAT. SONY. WOULD. OFFER.

And what would Sony offer? Since you're the business expert that doesn't understand how an acquisition works, enlighten me.

 

[nongkris]

Do you guys actually read anything you talk about? The CMA has literally said nothing like that, nothing about marketshare.

They said because of the updated Lifetime Values they received of PS to Xbox switchers, Microsoft would lose much more money than if they kept COD multiplatform. Therefore they concluded that they don't see Microsoft engaging in a foreclosure strategy.

The same argument and precedent will be applied in future cases

That argument by the CMA is dumb because

1) the CMA is dealing with THE Microsoft, the trillion dollar market cap company, in what would be their largest acquisition of all time, a whopping 69 billion, they can easily afford to eat the loss of COD becoming a console exclusive if they want it enough. Judging by Xbox's public comments about the 10 year deal the CMA should surmise that exclusivity is the end game.

2) We see that there is no rhyme or reason to their foreclosure strategy judging by Phil making the next Elder Scrolls exclusive which was a previously multiplatform franchise.

 

[VillaiN]

CoD, Diablo, TES, Fallout, Doom, Warcraft, Overwatch, THPS, Crash, Spiro and so much more. MS can just time it so PlayStation gets cut out of those games come next gen and PlayStation is done for. There is nothing that stop MS from also playing the moneyhat exclusive deals the moment they get a better market share as well we saw that with the 360.

MS counter to Xbox having no market share in Japan is to push Sony out of NA. That's the main advantage Sony always had over Xbox.

MS gaming division is now so big that they could change direction away from Gamepass if it fails and still beat Sony at their own game of exclusive content.


They never proved that against a company trying to buy up the market and cutting them out of third party support.Not a single PlayStation console would have been successful without third party support, Sony is not Nintendo. You don't seem to be thinking long term.

Sony will fumble at some point and Horizon, Death Stranding and GoT sure as hell ain't going to save them. Spider-man will end upjust like MLB if MS gets a bigger market share.

Crash, spyro, thps re irrelevant ips in grand view. Horizon s bigger than those 3 combined. Warcraft s pc ip. Irrelevant for consoles.
Cod s huge get.
Tes, fallout, diablo re big gets. But those games release once a decade. While selling 50% just on ps platforms. I dont see them making service games exclusive like overwatch, diablo.

Will this impr9ve ms position and sales? Absolitely.
Will this destroy sony? No.
WHen ll sony be in big danger? If they remain passive and ms continue buying.
But i dont see ms buying mich more. Maybe one pub like sega in japan. They still have to think about cost. They literaly fired 10k people so they can absorb AB people.

And we re talking about ms here with their mismanagement. They destroyed halo along with 343. CD s helping with perfect dark. Eidos s helping with fable. Lucid s helping rare with sea of thieves.

Sony invested a lot in last decade in first party content. And they look like they wont stop.
Spiderman wont end like mlb. They own movie right. Huge leverage. If disney wants to be budy bud with sony they wont budge about videogame, somwthing they have no interest in.

 

[VillaiN]

TAKE. TWO. WILL. NOT. SELL. FOR. WHAT. SONY. WOULD. OFFER.

Dude even with 50% premium thats like 30B. U saying sony cant afford that?