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

Yurinka

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DFC Intelligence agrees with me estimating that Sony will increase their lead over MS in the next few years even considering what the ABK acquisition could help them, I just created a separate thread with the complete info here.
 

Nhomnhom

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This sounds like bullshit fantasy. Sony wont be MS only issue, they will have to contend with apple and google if they start gobbling up this that and the other. The games you listed drop once a generation other than COD correct? Its 10 games in xbox vs hundreds of exclusives on PS.

MS might be the 1 that is done for if any if these devs thin out or if any of these games miss.
I'm not an Xbox fan I just think it would be ridiculous to expect Sony doesn't need to do anything. Just because Xbox has been poorly run so far doesn't mean they can be simply dismissed. If this is it, maybe Sony won't have to do that much but MS doesn't look like they are done with their acquisitions.

Xbox now has a lot more developers, a lot of big IPs and are clearly willing to spend big. What they don't have is market share and success, but that is something that could realistically change next gen.
 
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Nhomnhom

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Except all you said contradicts with facts since Sony have 100% focus on their internal studios.
Sony doesn't have 100% focus on their internal devs, far from it, for years they have relied a lot on marketing deals and temporary exclusives. They only started acquiring devs after MS started to go in that direction. For most of the PS4 gen Sony was closing studios.

Another thing I don't like it the lack of new IPs this gen from Sony and the lack of future announcements. They have the track records but at some point they need to paint a clear picture of their future and it better not be Horizon MMO, Horizon F2P/GaaS, Horizon Series and so on.
 
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Loy310

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I'm not an Xbox fan I just think it would be ridiculous to expect Sony doesn't need to do anything. Just because Xbox has been poorly run so far doesn't mean they can be simply dismissed. If this is it, maybe Sony won't have to do that much but MS doesn't look like they are done with their acquisitions.

Xbox now has a lot more developers, a lot of big IPs and are clearly willing to spend big. What they don't have is market share and success, but that is something that could realistically change next gen.
no one said you was an xbox fan, what im saying is your take on sony not doing anything for a handful of games is ridiculous and unscientific.. What did you catch that regulators missed? You think regulators are going to put Sony in a position to fail?
You realize how many more exclusive Sony have over MS that these mergers wont and is impossible to put them out of business?
Have we seen sony’s hand yet?
What do you know that we and regulators dont know?
MS would not even agree with your bullshit doom take.
 

Nhomnhom

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no one said you was an xbox fan, what im saying is your take on sony not doing anything for a handful of games is ridiculous and unscientific.. What did you catch that regulators missed? You think regulators are going to put Sony in a position to fail?
You realize how many more exclusive Sony have over MS that these mergers wont and is impossible to put them out of business?
Have we seen sony’s hand yet?
What do you know that we and regulators dont know?
MS would not even agree with your bullshit doom take.
Assuming this deal passes regulators are pretty much putting Sony in an a terrible position. Size matters, getting cut from key partners matters, MS signaling that they are willing to spend what it takes matters. Things are adding up and Sony is getting chocked out at this pace.

Sony plan can't be to simply trust that Phil Spencer will fumble it all again.
 
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Rivet

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Meanwhile, MS just ended the $1 GamePass promo. Like I said multiple times, GamePass price will rise, quality will drop. And nobody will benefit from this deal if it goes through, certainly not Xbox fans who'll pay for everything and more.

Green team is still in denial stage. Can't wait for the moment they finally understand they've been cheerleading all this time only to get fucked from behind by their beloved corp. It may take a few years.
 
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Yobo

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Yes, as I remember it was a budget of -back then $18B- to spend in a 3 years period or so that ends next year.

Next year Sony will be in a different context: with more money, in a growing trend, after the Zenimax and ABK acquisitions and with a new president who particularly wants to invest in media (games, movies and music).

If they make a new budget for the next 3 years or so pretty likely will be bigger, or to don't make a similar budget for the next period. Or they could review the existing one before it expires.


No, it's more like this:

Sony: "We more than double in the main metrics our direct competitor, we don't give a fuck if they get 1% or 2% of console market share with the ABK acquisition because we already invested in other things that will help us grow more than that without needing to waste dozens of billions. "

Nobody is 'choking' PS and these few acquisitions we saw in recent years represent a tiny portion of the market. ABK, Zenimax, Bungie and Zynga are maybe the only top 50 companies acquired in recent years, so most of the top 50-100 biggest companies of gaming are there same and the top players only have a small market share in the gaming industry.

Sony continues and will continue in the top 2 in gaming and top 1 in consoles. Is not that they are in a hurry for acquisitions or something like that. MS spends like $100B on acquisitions and almost give away their AAA games because they are desperate for attention and have no idea on how to compete against Sony, not because it makes sense.
How do you know it will only shift by 2%? The console space has had wild swings in dominance for minor things like Kinect being packed in, PS3 being $100 more expensive or WiiU having an ugly design and switch having a pretty design

You think buying up many of the biggest gaming IP on Earth is only going to have marginal impact?

Most gamers don't even realise yet that all these publishers have been bought and future games won't be on PlayStation. Its when the next Elder Scrolls, DOOM, Fallout, Diablo, Overwatch, Crash, Spyro, Tony Hawk and eventually COD come out with no PS version existing that the market forces will react
 
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Bryank75

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Meanwhile, MS just ended the $1 GamePass promo. Like I said multiple times, GamePass price will rise, quality will drop. And nobody will benefit from this deal if it goes through, certainly not Xbox fans who'll pay for everything and more.

Green team is still in denial stage. Can't wait for the moment they finally understand they've been cheerleading all this time to get fucked from behind by their beloved corp. It may take a few years.

Yup, they really are morons....cheering for fucked they will be in the not too distant future.

No offense to the good ones out there.... we have some great members that are Xbox players but a lot of the guys on twitter and elsewhere have used this as a weapon to attack PlayStation and PS fans day and night.
 
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Lord Mittens

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Yup, they really are morons....cheering for fucked they will be in the not too distant future.

No offense to the good ones out there.... we have some great members that are Xbox players but a lot of the guys on twitter and elsewhere have used this as a weapon to attack PlayStation and PS fans day and night.

@Sircaw is a treasure Xbox ambassador and should be protected at all costs
 

Nhomnhom

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Meanwhile, MS just ended the $1 GamePass promo. Like I said multiple times, GamePass price will rise, quality will drop. And nobody will benefit from this deal if it goes through, certainly not Xbox fans who'll pay for everything and more.

Green team is still in denial stage. Can't wait for the moment they finally understand they've been cheerleading all this time to get fucked from behind by their beloved corp. It may take a few years.
Great thing if the 1$ promo ends, people that push for subscriptions better start paying full price for it. It was such an easy system to abuse that was there just to inflate the numbers.

I wouldn't put it past MS to do a complete 180 when it comes to gamepass now that they grew so much in size. Like the time that they were praised for not raising the price of a console they had to discount to move, for not raising the price of all the AAA games that they didn't even release or for pushing for corssplay only when they had a lot less players.

Now for 4 months of GPU you'd be able to just buy Starfield and own it for good, terrible deal for PC players that don't already need Gold. $15 a month on Steam promos will net much better games for you to play that you get to pick and keep.

Notice how so many of the most rabid Xbox supporters are broke reward addicts and promo abusers. Actually paying $15 a month for Pentiment, As Dusk Falls and Tunic to be the highlights of the year suddenly doesn't look so inviting.
 
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Yurinka

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How do you know it will only shift by 2%? The console space has had wild swings in dominance for minor things like Kinect being packed in, PS3 being $100 more expensive or WiiU having an ugly design and switch having a pretty design
With the PS3 as exception, these things didn't play any major role and there were many other causes, some of them more important. Lauch aligned PS3 sold faster than its competitor and ended outselling it. I think the major Switch causes of success was having the portable console monopoly + merging the Nintendo home + portable markets/developers/userbases.

Regarding the 2% (it's just a rough estimation) is basically comparing their PS yearly revenue/userbase vs the aprox. CoD revenue/userbase and making a rough estimation (or looking at the related CMA survey plus Sony and MS estimations) of people who could leave.

You think buying up many of the biggest gaming IP on Earth is only going to have marginal impact?

Most gamers don't even realise yet that all these publishers have been bought and future games won't be on PlayStation. Its when the next Elder Scrolls, DOOM, Fallout, Diablo, Overwatch, Crash, Spyro, Tony Hawk and eventually COD come out with no PS version existing that the market forces will react
It isn't the biggest gaming IP, and its sales are only a very small portion of the yearly PS software sales. And a big part of these CoD PS users already have Xbox or PC gaming or even if not would continue on PS playing other games.

So yes, it would have a marginal impact and this is why all regulators keep saying it won't be an issue for the console market after looking at the related market numbers.

PS CoD sales are around 10% of the PS MAU, meaning around 90%+ of PS users don't buy CoD. And this is CoD, the other IPs sell way less so their impact is way smaller. There are a shit ton amount of games being sold for PS and only a very small portion of them are ABK/Zenimax games, even if CoD is one of the (or the) best selling ones every year.
 
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Killer_Sakoman

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How do you know it will only shift by 2%? The console space has had wild swings in dominance for minor things like Kinect being packed in, PS3 being $100 more expensive or WiiU having an ugly design and switch having a pretty design

You think buying up many of the biggest gaming IP on Earth is only going to have marginal impact?

Most gamers don't even realise yet that all these publishers have been bought and future games won't be on PlayStation. Its when the next Elder Scrolls, DOOM, Fallout, Diablo, Overwatch, Crash, Spyro, Tony Hawk and eventually COD come out with no PS version existing that the market forces will react
Except for CoD and DOOM, almost all other titles come every 10 years. But you are right, Sony lost many big 3rd party titles p
 

Nhomnhom

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How do you know it will only shift by 2%? The console space has had wild swings in dominance for minor things like Kinect being packed in, PS3 being $100 more expensive or WiiU having an ugly design and switch having a pretty design

You think buying up many of the biggest gaming IP on Earth is only going to have marginal impact?

Most gamers don't even realise yet that all these publishers have been bought and future games won't be on PlayStation. Its when the next Elder Scrolls, DOOM, Fallout, Diablo, Overwatch, Crash, Spyro, Tony Hawk and eventually COD come out with no PS version existing that the market forces will react
Over time the impact is likely to be huge. CoD is just the tip of the iceberg, those other big IPs add up.

The big assumption here is that MS won't just fuck it all up like always, Sony can't count on that forever.
 
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Yobo

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With the PS3 as exception, these things didn't play any major role and there were many other causes, some of them more important. Lauch aligned PS3 sold faster than its competitor and ended outselling it. I think the major Switch causes of success was having the portable console monopoly + merging the Nintendo home + portable markets/developers/userbases.

Regarding the 2% (it's just a rough estimation) is basically comparing their PS yearly revenue/userbase vs the aprox. CoD revenue/userbase and making a rough estimation (or looking at the related CMA survey plus Sony and MS estimations) of people who could leave.


It isn't the biggest gaming IP, and its sales are only a very small portion of the yearly PS software sales. And a big part of these CoD PS users already have Xbox or PC gaming or even if not would continue on PS playing other games.

So yes, it would have a marginal impact and this is why all regulators keep saying it won't be an issue for the console market after looking at the related market numbers.

PS CoD sales are around 10% of the PS MAU, meaning around 90%+ of PS users don't buy CoD. And this is CoD, the other IPs sell way less so their impact is way smaller. There are a shit ton amount of games being sold for PS and only a very small portion of them are ABK/Zenimax games, even if CoD is one of the (or the) best selling ones every year.
If they don't buy COD, they may buy Diablo or Overwatch or Elder Scrolls or Crash or Fallout. All of these add up as entire segments of franchise userbases who want to keep accessing these games need to switch platforms.

I am not sure where you got 2% from for COD though, as far as I've seen the switching rate was not disclosed

Results indicated that 24% of respondents would have bought an Xbox, a PC, or no gaming device at all instead of a PlayStation. Adjusting this figure to account for all PlayStation users rather than the respondents considered in the survey, we found that withholding CoD from PlayStation would have made []% of UK PlayStation users move away from PlayStation.416
 
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